For me, this year’s Fringe has felt disconnected, and lacking a forward drive. It’s gotten better over time, but the sudden jump 2 decades into the future robbed the series of forward impetus, and it’s taken all this time to even start to get going again.
It reminds me strongly of season 5 of Babylon 5. JMS suffered all these problems because he wrapped many things up in season 4, in case it got cancelled. Then, when it got picked up, he found he’d burnt the story lines that would have pulled the user into season 5.
I went to highschool with one of the principal actresses in The Carrie Diaries. And now I’m kind of worried that this will be the pinnacle of her career, because she is a very nice person and an excellent preformer.
Also, I would argue that there are several differences between Fringe and Babylon 5 (despite having only seen up to the end of the former’s third season). Fringe’s acting and writing are both stronger overall, and there seems to be less of a pre-planned storyline. JMS meticulously mapped out all five seasons of his show, causing him to take over writing duties for the majority of the episodes (and the dearth of other voices, in my opinion, was detrimental to the series’ quality). Fringe strikes me as being more willing to incorporate episodic plots into a larger framework, and I think that the show is stronger because it relies less on its arc. That principle does not apply to all shows, but in this case I think it does.
What I find really strange, and kind of horrible on reflection, about the Carrie Diaries is that she apparently used to have a posse of multicultural multi-race friends and then replaced them entirely with a group of brittle WASPS.
But you see, Pantsless, Carrie Diaries all builds up to the climactic episode where her original multicultural friends all die horribly in an industrial Scrunchie accident. Traumatized, Carrie resolves to have only shallow and disposable friends from then on.
Saddens me that Martha Jones will be wasting her time on this show instead of being awesome on an awesome show. It’s kind of a Richard Castle situation.
Also, John Noble deserves to have ALL THE EMMYS and a few Golden Globes as well.
@Mitchell Hundred:
I agree on the differences between Fringe and Babylon 5.
It’s between both fifth seasons in particular that I see similarities. There was a possibility of cancellation at the end of season 4, so writers wrapped up many threads. When the fifth season comes, new threads have to be developed, which makes them feel weaker than previous threads. (Background here.)
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For me, this year’s Fringe has felt disconnected, and lacking a forward drive. It’s gotten better over time, but the sudden jump 2 decades into the future robbed the series of forward impetus, and it’s taken all this time to even start to get going again.
It reminds me strongly of season 5 of Babylon 5. JMS suffered all these problems because he wrapped many things up in season 4, in case it got cancelled. Then, when it got picked up, he found he’d burnt the story lines that would have pulled the user into season 5.
I went to highschool with one of the principal actresses in The Carrie Diaries. And now I’m kind of worried that this will be the pinnacle of her career, because she is a very nice person and an excellent preformer.
Also, I would argue that there are several differences between Fringe and Babylon 5 (despite having only seen up to the end of the former’s third season). Fringe’s acting and writing are both stronger overall, and there seems to be less of a pre-planned storyline. JMS meticulously mapped out all five seasons of his show, causing him to take over writing duties for the majority of the episodes (and the dearth of other voices, in my opinion, was detrimental to the series’ quality). Fringe strikes me as being more willing to incorporate episodic plots into a larger framework, and I think that the show is stronger because it relies less on its arc. That principle does not apply to all shows, but in this case I think it does.
What I find really strange, and kind of horrible on reflection, about the Carrie Diaries is that she apparently used to have a posse of multicultural multi-race friends and then replaced them entirely with a group of brittle WASPS.
But you see, Pantsless, Carrie Diaries all builds up to the climactic episode where her original multicultural friends all die horribly in an industrial Scrunchie accident. Traumatized, Carrie resolves to have only shallow and disposable friends from then on.
Saddens me that Martha Jones will be wasting her time on this show instead of being awesome on an awesome show. It’s kind of a Richard Castle situation.
Also, John Noble deserves to have ALL THE EMMYS and a few Golden Globes as well.
Oh come on.
Law and Order UK wasn’t that good.
I meant this is keeping her from either appearing on Dr. Who, or being on some other, new, awesome show.
[sarcasm detector broken]
@Mitchell Hundred:
I agree on the differences between Fringe and Babylon 5.
It’s between both fifth seasons in particular that I see similarities. There was a possibility of cancellation at the end of season 4, so writers wrapped up many threads. When the fifth season comes, new threads have to be developed, which makes them feel weaker than previous threads. (Background here.)
Just when you think the Wayans family has gone for good… they bring in their kids.
Oh joy.