Observers Are Here For Fringe Bloggers

Speaking to Abrams and his collaborators about the new episodes. by Eric Goldman

Press tour

This week, during the Television Critics Association press tour, I had the chance to speak to three of the executive producers from Fringe, including J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinkner.

The most recent episode of Fringe was a very impressive one, bringing back plot points and characters from earlier episodes that seemed initially to be completely standalone. When I asked Abrams if that had always been the plan, he said yes and added, “I would say, you should just wait until these upcoming episodes, because that happens again and again. There are payoffs to standalones [where] you don’t have to have seen the show before, but if you’ve been watching, everything comes together.“

Read the rest of this entry »

J.J. Abrams, who co-created Fox’s SF series Fringe, told a group of reporters that the series is just hitting its stride in the second half of its first season.

“I think that now more than ever, the show has really found its voice,” Abrams said in a group interview Wednesday in Hollywood, Calif. “The episodes that are airing starting next week are the ones that for me are far and away the best episodes and what the show is. I feel like Fringe is a show about these crazy experiments, but in many ways Fringe is an experiment. I feel like we just found a way that the show works best. Those episodes are coming up next.“

J.J. Abrams

Included in those upcoming episodes, starting Jan. 20, is a resolution to the arc of Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and John Scott (Mark Valley). Abrams warned viewers to expect more questions along with those answers.

“There’s a great resolution that’s coming out in a few episodes, but it takes a lot of loose ends and gives closure to those,” Abrams said. “Any show that is working will tell stories, resolve them; other stories will begin, and it’ll just kind of be this staggered thing. That’s where we are. So I really love the episode, and he’s fantastic in it. If you’re watching the show, it explains who he was, why he was doing what he did, why she’s been seeing him.“

J.J. Abrams

Earlier in the day, Fox President of Entertainment Kevin Reilly said he was confident the network would pick up a second season of Fringe. “I’m in love with Kevin Reilly,” Abrams joked, before adding that he himself has not thought that far ahead.

“I hope that’s true,” Abrams said. “It’s sort of like being in the middle of lunch talking about dinner. It’s like the idea of a season two is spectacular. I’m sure I’ll be hungry when dinnertime comes, but I’m in the middle of lunch right now, so I just want to get through lunch.“

J.J. Abrams

In the near future, Abrams is excited about the “slug gigantism” episode.

“Wait until you see this next episode,” he said. “If you’re a fan of gigantic slugs, don’t miss Fringe. That really should be the billboard.”

J.J. Abrams

Fringe airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.

Source

Source: SCI FI Wire

Insight

J.J. Abrams makes reference to gigantic slugs.  Is it possible that this might be an episode solving one of the unsolved patterns from Episode 3 “The Ghost Network”?