Fringe is just starting up and I loved the pilot. It's JJ Abram's next-gen X-Files, cut with a little Silence of the Lambs and Warren Ellis' miniseries Global Frequency.
It's like the dark mirror universe of the Venture Bros, where all this crazy super science isn't fun at all. "We're supposed to protect a world where one breath of the wrong air can incinerate you from the inside" whines an FBI agent, and they mean it: 130+ die in the first 2 minutes.
It wanders into science fiction subtly. The show is decidedly modern day, but a visit to a corporation reveals walls that are animating billboards, exectives with robotic arms and offices straight out of the Tyrell corporation, all which remind you this isn't our universe. It's buried geekiness doesn't trip your nerd radar until you're already caught up in the adventure.
In HD it's a sight to behold, vividly shot with real inspiration. They lift the Panic Room/GTA IV credits sequence for their establishing shot supers, so "St Claire's Hospital" hovers in the world along the frozen road, even casting its own shadow. They go so far to actually shoot a helicopter scene in Iraq through the B in Baghdad after an overhead shot established the text over the city's roof tops. There's also there's none of the usual TV director's fear of long shots, which allow the action sequences to hang together far better than most stuff lensed for the small screen.
It's like the dark mirror universe of the Venture Bros, where all this crazy super science isn't fun at all. "We're supposed to protect a world where one breath of the wrong air can incinerate you from the inside" whines an FBI agent, and they mean it: 130+ die in the first 2 minutes.
It wanders into science fiction subtly. The show is decidedly modern day, but a visit to a corporation reveals walls that are animating billboards, exectives with robotic arms and offices straight out of the Tyrell corporation, all which remind you this isn't our universe. It's buried geekiness doesn't trip your nerd radar until you're already caught up in the adventure.
In HD it's a sight to behold, vividly shot with real inspiration. They lift the Panic Room/GTA IV credits sequence for their establishing shot supers, so "St Claire's Hospital" hovers in the world along the frozen road, even casting its own shadow. They go so far to actually shoot a helicopter scene in Iraq through the B in Baghdad after an overhead shot established the text over the city's roof tops. There's also there's none of the usual TV director's fear of long shots, which allow the action sequences to hang together far better than most stuff lensed for the small screen.
