Sci-Fi & Fantasy Archives - Page 30 of 32

“Fringe”: Bound

January 21, 2009 Channel Guide Staff 1

They kept us waiting a month, and there’s not so much of a “Previously on Fringe” to catch us up. Oh well. Nobody ever said it was a conventional show. And they did get to the rewind a little later in the episode, making for some clunky-ass exposition. Overall, though, it was nice to have Fringe back. Olivia wakes up to find herself strapped to a table and about to undergo a spinal tap. She notices a white speck on one of her tormentor’s shoes. Think that will pay off later on? She asks why they’re doing this to her, […]

“Fringe”: Safe

December 3, 2008 Channel Guide Staff Comments Off

Posted by SH Fringe finally has its first cliffhanger! Olivia has been abducted by Mr. Jones and his minions for God knows what purpose, leaving Broyles, Massive Dynamic and the Bishop boys in hot pursuit. And a long-lost invention by Walter — a teleportation system similar to what Jeff Goldblum made in The Fly, with the added power of time traveling — has been co-opted by some bad dudes who used it to free Mr. Jones from his German prison cell. That’s the good news. The bad news, and what makes me want to initiate some Pattern-worthy event of my […]

“Fringe”: The Dreamscape

November 26, 2008 Channel Guide Staff Comments Off

Posted by SH Back when Fringe started, J.J. Abrams promised each episode would be reasonably self-contained, so that it would be easy for newcomers to jump in. That meant the overall conspiracy plot would be peppered in periodically, but wouldn’t overwhelm any particular episode. The latest episode is the exception that so far proves the rule. We start with a high-pressure business presentation at Massive Dynamic. It goes well for the guy, a stuffed shirt named Mark Young, until after the deal is done and everyone clears the room. He’s alone, except for the strange-looking butterfly flitting around. It’s a […]

“Fringe”: In Which We Meet Mr. Jones

November 12, 2008 Channel Guide Staff Comments Off

Posted by SH Well, between presidential debates and elections, and the occasional rerun, it’s been awhile since we investigated the Pattern. What a treat then to return with a show that shakes up what has become the standard Fringe formula over its first few episodes. We don’t start with some far-flung incident involving random people, although it seems that way at first. A team of SWAT-type dudes is searching for something at a port in Germany, but comes up empty. Cut to Broyles’ office where the SWAT-type leader, Agent Loeb, is reporting to his boss that they didn’t find anything, […]

“Fringe”: The Cure

October 23, 2008 Channel Guide Staff Comments Off

Posted by SH A woman is dumped out of a van into the street by two people wearing HAZMAT suits. She stumbles into a local diner, and her disheveled, disoriented state causes her waiter to call the local lawman. The woman gets distressed, then everyone’s eyes start bleeding and her head explodes. Just another day at the office for Olivia, Walter and Peter. The incident is traced back to the unbelievably high amount of radiation emanating from the woman’s body. Peter likens it to everyone who was in its path being cooked in a microwave. You know, like that scene […]

Scariest Scary Movie #10 – A Nightmare on Elm Street

October 22, 2008 Channel Guide Staff Comments Off

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, John Saxon) If Nancy Doesn’t Wake Up Screaming, She Won’t Wake Up At All… Quick Plot: A disfigured murderer begins attacking the teenagers of Elm Street… in their dreams. Firsthand Fright: I still remember the nightmare I had about Freddy Krueger when I was eight years old. He was our babysitter! My parents went out and left him in charge of me and my younger sister. And then he tried to kill us!!! He chased us around the house and outside in the dark, wielding all sorts of scary weapons. […]

“Fringe”: Power Hungry

October 15, 2008 Channel Guide Staff Comments Off

Posted by SH What if one of those geeks from an ’80s movie grew up to have superpowers? That’s how much of this episode plays, as we follow a painfully awkward delivery boy who pines away for a receptionist he sees on his routes. He also — unbeknownst to him — has the power to control electricity, which leads to him often inadvertently breaking company equipment and — after seeing his object of affection flirt with another man — bringing an elevator with her in it crashing to the ground. To drive the ’80s feeling home, we’re subjected to an […]

Scariest Scary Movie #19 – Aliens

October 13, 2008 Channel Guide Staff Comments Off

Aliens (1986, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen) They mostly come out at night… Mostly. Here’s what happens: A bunch of space Marines challenge Ripley’s (wo-)manhood and goad her into returning to the alien planet, which has been colonized. Some little girl, Newt, is found wandering. Paul Reiser wants to keep a face-hugging alien as a pet. Bill Paxton is awesome. Ripley falls in love with John Connor’s father. Ripley saves the day. Most Awesome Scene: The alien detector only measuring a 3-D world on a 2-D plane. Ripley with guns and a flamethrower. In the room with the face-huggers. […]

“Fringe”: The Arrival

October 1, 2008 Channel Guide Staff Comments Off

Posted by SH It was just a matter of time, I suppose, before a series that owes so much to The X-Files would come up with its own version of Cigarette Smoking Man. For Fringe, that is The Observer — a bald bloke with no eyebrows who bears more than a passing resemblance to Ed Harris in A Beautiful Mind. Well, except for the eyebrows. Actually, he reminded me initially of the little dude Charlotte married on Sex and the City. Did he have eyebrows? Can’t remember. We meet The Observer at a Brooklyn diner, ordering everyone’s favorite — roast […]

“Fringe”: The Ghost Network

September 24, 2008 Channel Guide Staff Comments Off

Posted by SH Ever since its fairly original pilot, Fringe has been checking off a greatest-hits lineup of paranormal storylines. Last week, it was the bit about cloning. This week, it’s the man-is-envisioning-disasters-before-they-happen story. But thankfully the writers keep finding other ways to keep things fresh, sprinkling plot twists and bits of mystery about the characters’ pasts throughout. We start off with a guy — let’s call him Roy, because that’s his name — going to a confessional, asking his priest to take away the pain. He’s also saying something ominous about a bus. Cut to — uh oh — […]