There's been a lot of reviews and essays calling Fringe "The X-Files Lite," but I think in this respect, Fringe is the far superior show. As much as I loved Mulder and Scully, in a lot of ways, they were essentially static characters, though Scully did loosen up toward the end.
I have many FEEEELINGS about the XF comparisons. Like, I see where they come from (especially in S1; the show definitely owes a lot to XF in S1), but after that, it grows so different, it's hard for me to even think of them as similar. The philosophies behind each show are pretty much polar opposites: XF is very conspiracy-oriented, everyone's out to get us, the little guy will never win, never-ending darkness, while Fringe is much more about lights in the darkness, working together to save the universes, hope and love in the face of despair.
Structurally, Fringe's mytharc blows XF's out of the water. It actually appears to have been planned from the beginning (or near the beginning), it makes sense, and it's all about how the characters' choices, both in the 1980s and now, have been and continue to drive events. XF, on the other hand, was mostly M&S reacting to the newest piece of information TPTB were trying to keep from them--which, granted, in so far as Carter obviously wanted to create an atmosphere of paranoia and to drag his audience along on M&S's journey of being persecuted, this works pretty well, even if it gets quite repetitive around S5 or so. The reaction-oriented arc, though, makes it more difficult to engage with the show, and since nothing M&S did seemed to change anything, it made it more difficult for them to grow. IMO, anyway.
I do think Scully had an interesting journey--I was always fond of her religious journey in particular, and how her faith worked with and against her skepticism--but it took her nine years to accomplish as much development as Olivia has had in three.
(On the other hand, XF did better standalones, on average. But I'd much prefer better mytharc, less good standalones.)
I have a friend who watched the pilot and HATED Anna Torv, hated her so much she refused to watch another episode.
That is so sad. :(
Because you know the original writers had no intention of doing anything else with the amber.
I do get the impression that the creators wanted it to be more procedural than it ultimately became. Thank god they left, because if it was all like the first half of S1, I would never have stuck with it.
At the time, I didn't actually think dropping John Scott was weird. I think I remembered him sometime in S2, went "huh," and then promptly forgot him again, to the point where when Olivia was referring to having lost her partner three years ago in "Neither Here Nor There," I thought she was talking about Charlie and had to be reminded of Scott's existence by rowdycamels. So it wouldn't really bother me if his storyline stayed dropped. ;)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2011-10-14 06:14 am (UTC)So very amazing, yes.
There's been a lot of reviews and essays calling Fringe "The X-Files Lite," but I think in this respect, Fringe is the far superior show. As much as I loved Mulder and Scully, in a lot of ways, they were essentially static characters, though Scully did loosen up toward the end.
I have many FEEEELINGS about the XF comparisons. Like, I see where they come from (especially in S1; the show definitely owes a lot to XF in S1), but after that, it grows so different, it's hard for me to even think of them as similar. The philosophies behind each show are pretty much polar opposites: XF is very conspiracy-oriented, everyone's out to get us, the little guy will never win, never-ending darkness, while Fringe is much more about lights in the darkness, working together to save the universes, hope and love in the face of despair.
Structurally, Fringe's mytharc blows XF's out of the water. It actually appears to have been planned from the beginning (or near the beginning), it makes sense, and it's all about how the characters' choices, both in the 1980s and now, have been and continue to drive events. XF, on the other hand, was mostly M&S reacting to the newest piece of information TPTB were trying to keep from them--which, granted, in so far as Carter obviously wanted to create an atmosphere of paranoia and to drag his audience along on M&S's journey of being persecuted, this works pretty well, even if it gets quite repetitive around S5 or so. The reaction-oriented arc, though, makes it more difficult to engage with the show, and since nothing M&S did seemed to change anything, it made it more difficult for them to grow. IMO, anyway.
I do think Scully had an interesting journey--I was always fond of her religious journey in particular, and how her faith worked with and against her skepticism--but it took her nine years to accomplish as much development as Olivia has had in three.
(On the other hand, XF did better standalones, on average. But I'd much prefer better mytharc, less good standalones.)
I have a friend who watched the pilot and HATED Anna Torv, hated her so much she refused to watch another episode.
That is so sad. :(
Because you know the original writers had no intention of doing anything else with the amber.
I do get the impression that the creators wanted it to be more procedural than it ultimately became. Thank god they left, because if it was all like the first half of S1, I would never have stuck with it.
At the time, I didn't actually think dropping John Scott was weird. I think I remembered him sometime in S2, went "huh," and then promptly forgot him again, to the point where when Olivia was referring to having lost her partner three years ago in "Neither Here Nor There," I thought she was talking about Charlie and had to be reminded of Scott's existence by