How I Want Fringe To End

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Time to dust out this old blog to get an idea I have down on paper. Digital paper, that is.

Thanks again to the insistence of my friend Katrina, I am hooked on another SciFi series: Fringe.

I am finally caught up on the whole series. This post is going to tell how I want it to end. Be forewarned – if you have not seen the 10th episode of the fifth season ( the current episode as I type this)… there will be spoilers.

Really.

Still reading? Okay… hope you are caught up.

Here is how I want Fringe to end. I don’t want it to end like Lost, Battlestar Galactica, or even Chuck. I want The Dark Knight Rises – a happy ending with loose ends tied up. I like some of the things about the confusing endings, things you can fill in the blank, etc. But let’s face it – all of that is getting cliche. I want something more concrete and, well… happy.

The preview for the last three episodes has Olivia saying “so we can reset time?” I realize this is out of context – Walter could follow up by saying “well, of course not, but…” But I am going to assume that this is the “big plan” of Walter’s for a minute and go with it. I realize that this would be a big cop-out for most shows. But for a show that has already reset time at least once? It has possibilities. As long as they don’t give us Lost.

What I Don’t Want

So here is what I don’t want. They figure out how to reset time, go through with it, fade to white, and then fade in to the date that the series first started. Olivia is walking along the street, walks past Peter, doesn’t know him. Asks him for directions, he answers, and they part ways. She turns around with a look in her eye, and then the credits.

Ugh.

Does she chase him down and ask him out to coffee, or do they go their separate ways? It is left up to you to fill in the ending you want.

Ugh.

I just want a cool SciFi series to have a cool ending that leaves us KNOWING that everyone lived happily ever after. And not in purgatory or heaven or whatever.

What I Do Want

Here is the ending that I want. The Fringe team figures out that they can reset time. They go through hell to get it done. Everyone ends up dying but Peter and Olivia. They get mortally wounded. With their dying breath, they express their love for each other and then flip the time reset button or whatever. Fade to white.

We fade back in, and the time stamp tells us that it is some year after the Observers invaded. But they show us that the bridge is still there, Central Park is still there, etc. The observer invasion never happened.

We see a news report on a TV in a window about how they are making huge progress to clean up the planet, all spearheaded by Massive Dynamic. A bright future is ahead.

Cut to Fringe division. An old Olivia and an old Peter are celebrating a 30 year anniversary and retirement. Everyone is there and alive – Lincoln, Astrid, Broyles, Nina, Charlie, etc. A really old Walter is half senile in the corner, but still himself. Peter and Olivia’s daughter walks in and congratulates them.

We wonder – what happened differently? Was Peter still stolen by Walter? Did they still ruin the other universe?

Then we cut to the alternate universe. Another retirement party. Old Fauxlivia is there. Really old Waternate is there. But then walks in… the other Peter, with their daughter. We realize that both Peters lived and married Olivia. Everyone there is alive and well. How did this happen?

Then we see really old Water and Waternate sneak out of the room. They sneak into a room looking suspicious  They both turn on their windows to look at the alternate universe, but we see that it is different and allows them to talk to each other. We then realize by their banter that they have a very good and long standing relationship through this communication device.

Turns out that Walternate also tried to make the window at the same time, and they discovered a way to communicate early on. Early enough to figure out a way to cure both Peters. Then they also figured out ways to fight pollution or whatever to make both worlds better.

But Walter never crosses over to break the universes. So why is there even a need for Fringe divisions in both universes?

They start making jokes about the times that William Bell crossed over and almost destroyed both universes. But they caught him in time. We see shots of parts of the other universe that used to be in Amber, but no longer are and never were.

Walter then gets this look in his eye and makes a serious statement about wondering how bad it could have gone if something else would have happened.

Cut to the observers in their Big Bang mobile. September is talking to Windmark. He says “Everything turned out as I predicted it would.”

Windmark says “you were right, I was wrong. The universes are fixed and our timeline never existed.”

September asks “Since balance has been restored we are no longer needed?”

Windmark replies “no, we now never existed and are therefore no longer needed.”

And they dissolve into a bunch of atoms.

The End.

Why Do I Bother With Television?

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Well, another season of TV has finished up, and once again the few shows that I watch are pretty much all cancelled. Such is the rhythm of life for the fan of Science Fiction on television. I thought I would muse a bit on the shows that I liked and what went wrong.

Stargate Universe. This one hurt the most to lose mainly because they really started hitting on some interesting themes. Stargate has always explored the meaning of life and what happens when people start playing God. But what if they found evidence of God? Or is it just a really intelligent alien species that existed before any others – even the ancients? Guess we’ll never know now. This one was probably a bit too dark for the average Stargate fan. But Stargate fans were dwindling, and so the studio decided to copy a Battlestar Galactica vibe. Which I like the combo of, but I think it was just too hard to mix both sides and make many happy.

The Event. I tried not to watch this one, but kept getting sucked in. The problem with this series was its horrible promotion. The first ads made it seem like there was this secret thing referred to as ‘The Event’, and it was about to be  revealed to people who didn’t need to hear it. Then, as the show went on – no mention of The Event.  Like, ever. It was finally brought up in the very last episode of the season. Really odd.  Also, when they were on their mid-season break, they come out with a new set of ads hinting that these aliens were really here before us and guided ancient civilizations and all that. Then, again, nothing about that until near the end. Most people probably bailed once there was no mention of The Event in any actual episode of a show called The Event – probably just afraid of another confusing mystery like Lost. And who can blame them? I loved Lost, even the ending – but who wants to go through that again?

The Cape. This show started well but got uninteresting fast. Just so many things were so unrealistic in a show that tried to be realistic. Especially the disappearing acts – just not possible. Yeah, I know – it was a circus trick! That still didn’t cut it. There were some interesting characters in it – I just wanted it to either be a bit supernatural or a bit more realistic.

No Ordinary Family. I know it was a bit cheesy at times. But both my wife and I got into this, so it was something to watch together. The final was a bit odd to both of us – it seemed like they cut a 2 hour episode down to one hour. The story was just too choppy – it didn’t evolve naturally at all. This show was probably “too SciFi” for average television watchers, while being too normal for SciFi fans.

V. This one was doomed to fail from the beginning. Just way too SciFi-ish for network prime time TV. Throw in a large bit of nostalgia for the original series, and you have something people probably weren’t going to stay with. They made some radical changes in the last episode that I wish had happened earlier in the series (no one believed that the US or many other governments were that gullible to alien visitors). Or I wish that they had another season to explore. But oh, well. Killer cameo at the very last few minutes of the series.

So what do I still watch that is still going? Chuck, Sanctuary, and Fringe. Weird combo. I also like Glee. Not very cool, I know – but I was a geek in high school and I like a show that pulls for the nerds and geeks of the world. Which, of course, is why I also watch The Big Bang Theory.

Every summer I tell myself that I won’t check out any more new series… because they will all get cancelled. I always ask myself “Why bother with television?” And then I go out and get hooked on a whole bunch of them. When will I ever learn?

Dreaming Up Crazy Lost Theories Again

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It’s that time of year again.  New episodes of Lost fuels the imaginations and frustrations of all that partake on this show’s awesomeness.  Or something like that.  If you haven’t seen this season’s premiere yet, better stop reading now.  I will spoil it for you.

No, seriously.

Alright, you have been warned.  So, the writers finally confirmed what most have already assumed: Lost will involve time travel.  And it is interesting that they can’t change the past, but somehow there is something special about Desmond.  Pretty cool, but no big surprises.

I’ve been thinking how that time travel might play out.  Do your remember those skeletons they found in the cave in season one?  The writers later referred to them as Adam and Eve, and said when the series ends, we will see that they had a plan all along because of them.

So, based on all that, I am going to guess that, after the Oceanic Six get back to the island, some kind of time travel thing happens and they all go back to before any humans lived on the island.  They find this four toed dude named Jacob, who is really the last of a dying race of beings that inhabited the island, harnessed it’s powers, built statues, etc.  The losties decide that living on the island is better than their awful lives back in the real world, so they decided to make a living there… have kids, etc.  Locke finally gets  a clue and leads the group.  Ben Linus sets a trap to kill Locke and take over leadership, but finally falls to his smug overconfidence and basically falls in to his own trap and dies.  The kids born on the island are found to have immortality and other interesting skills, so Jacob decides that no more child births will be allowed.  To make up for having to pass a harsh rule, Jacob brings back all of the cool characters that have died (Sayid and Hurley’s girlfriends, Jin, etc).   Jacob also creates a list of all the Losties that came back in time to save his island, assuming they are some kind of holy people, and that list is the one that Ben was usuing back earlier in the show.  Something that Jack or Ben or Hurley leaves behind in all the time traveling is found by the Dharma people and that is what starts the whole Dharma initiative on the island.  The last scene we see is a shot of all the Others at a camp or where ever,  and the last living Lostie couple (Jack/Julliette, Sawyer/Kate, Sun/Jin, Desmond/Penny, whoever), very advanced in age, goes in to the cave and lays down to die.  This causes the island to move to where it was at the begining of the series, and the island moving causes a giant satute of Jacob on the beach to crumble away, leaving only a foot.

Television Watching Habits

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Enough blogging about world problems.  Time to look at something fun: Geeky television shows.

Probably my favorite TV show that I watch on broadcast now is Chuck.  It is pretty cheesy, but a great mix of Office Space and, well, some spy movie.  Not James Bond… maybe Austin Powers?  Any way, I love the guest stars they have on each week.  Last week they had Dixon from Alias playing a rogue martial arts trainer.  Classic.  earlier they had John Larroquette basically playing a washed up James Bond type. This week was the boss from Office Space (Gary Cole) playing a major character’s Dad.  Great stuff.

Speaking of Gary Cole, I am also finishing up the entire Babylon 5 universe by watching a short-lived B5 spin-off called Crusade.  Cole played the lead character, who’s second in command is none other than Jin from Lost.  If Lost was on television right now, it would probably be my favorite show.  The previews and sneak peeks from next season look really cool.

I finally finished up the entire StarGate universe on DVD.  Still need to wait for SG:A season 5 to come out on DVD to catch up totally, but it is a great franchise and I wish they would keep the original 2 series going.  I am interested in seeing Star Gate: Universe, but I just wish the others were still around.

Now that I have wrapped up SG and B5, I have moved on to some of the coolest SciFi out there: Battlestar: Galactica.  Awesome stuff – and I am only on season 1.  Time to catch up!

Yes, I do still watch Heroes.  Heroes struggled last season, and really jumped the shark this season.  The last few weeks has improved some.  And they did fire the people responsible for last season and hire the guy responsible for the first season, so we may see some improvement.  The creator also said that using time travel is a mistake, full of problems.  Maybe they will drop that angle.  I mean, this week Claire went back in time and changed her own diapers.  That has to violate some rule of space-time continuum some how.  It is just wrong.

Since I am watching Chuck, I can’t also watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  But I have managed to catch it on-line some time during the weekends after it is broadcast.  Not too bad, has some flaws, but I am curious to see where it goes.

Of course, I also watched the Amazing Race this season.  They had some great moments, but all of the racers seem to blend together from season to season.  We need some more oddballs and competitors back in the race.  But  if those frat boys had won, I would have thrown something at the screen.  That had to be a plot by the producers to keep them in the show- they should have been gone by the second episode.  No one can really be that lucky.

I haven’t gotten in to many other new shows, nor do I plan too.  Too many of them seem like they are going to be like Pushing Daisies – start of with an interesting pilot and then get boring after a week or two.  Pushing Daisies might have made a good mini-series at best.

Summer Movies So Far

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I have seen a few – but not all that I want to. Got to keep the budget under control, so several will have to wait until the dollar theater. My thoughts so far:

Iron Man just… rocks. It better win a bunch of awards. It’s just that good. And I never was a huge Iron Man fan growing up.

Speed Racer was way under rated. This was a great film. It was the only film I have ever seen that got a standing ovation from the audience when it was over. Seriously.

Indiana Jones and the Title I Can Never Remember was a good flick If it had come out two years after Last Crusade, everyone would have loved it. People just have to remember what they liked about the first one to connect with what is great about this one.

Lost is not a movie – but that season finale was intense. I really liked it, and I was glad they stretched it to three hours. I think the only weakness was that they tried to do too much and probably needed that extra hour that got cut due to the writer’s strike.

Still need to see Prince Caspian, Expelled, Kung Fu Panda, and Sex and the City. Didn’t know I was a SatC fan? Well, I’ not at all. Just seeing if you are paying attention. Also waiting for The Dark Knight, Wall-E, Hellboy 2 (I really liked the first one) and some other ones that I can’t remember now.

LOST: The Island is Hell

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Yep…. been watching Lost. And formulating some theories. So, here goes….

There is this new character named Matthew Abaddon. We first saw him last week in a flash forward, posing as a lawyer that asked Hurley some weird questions about the other survivors. The Lost Easter Eggs Blog posted a creepy slow motion clip of Abaddon leaving the mental hospital. It doesn’t look like a human is leaving. Maybe the smoke monster?

http://losteastereggs.blogspot.com/2008/02/matthew-abaddon-slow-motion-leaving.html

If you look closely, you can see the door handle shining through where his waist should be. Weird.

I also remembered hearing the word Abaddon in the Bible somewhere. I looked it up on Wikipedia quickly, and thought the entry there had some interesting points:

Abaddon (Hebrew Avaddon, meaning “destruction”). In Biblical poetry (Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11), it comes to mean “place of destruction”, or the realm of the dead, and is associated with Sheol. Abaddon is also one of the compartments of Gehenna.[1] By extension, it can mean an underworld abode of lost souls, or hell.

In Revelation 9:11, it is personified as Abaddon, “Angel of the Abyss”,[1] rendered in Greek as Apollyon; and he is described as king of the locusts which rose at the sounding of the fifth trumpet. In like manner, in Rev. vi. 8, Hades is personified following after death to conquer the fourth part of the earth.

Locke’s Dad told Sawyer last season that the island is hell. Maybe so? Or maybe some weird place for lost souls to find peace? But not purgatory, because they have already said that it is not purgatory.

The Best Spaceships in the Galaxy

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IGN.com created a list of the top 10 space ships, based on “pop-culture impact and all around cool means of transpo.” It’s a pretty good list, although I have one gripe: no X-Wing? Come on. That is the top fighter craft in SciFi ever. I would kick that video game space ship out of number 7 and put the X-Wing in there. Why would a video game space ship be in here anyway? Give them their own list. Also, if I really thought about it, I would probably find something to replace number 10, even though that is a cool space ship.

Another thing I have to disagree with: “can’t explain what people were thinking when they came up with TNG‘s D” (in reference to the Enterprise-D of Start Trek: The Next Generation). Whatever! That was the coolest Enterprise ever, even though it is a little dated now.

The coolest thing: Serenity makes the list….

Heroes and Time Travel

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Yes, I still love Heroes. I still think they are doing a great job. Just like last season, they are setting some stuff up. I guess some people have forgotten that once you get into a show, you are supposed to care what happens to the characters and not all of this silly stuff about “going to the next level.” Ummmm….. when you start at a high level, you don’t need to go up.

Why is it that whenever a Sci-Fi show introduces Hispanic characters in a new season, people automatically hate them? Nikki and Paulo in Lost, the Wonder Twins in Heroes? (and that whole “Wonderless Twins” label is getting waaayyy, old, waaayyy fast). The only problem with the twins in Heroes is that they are way more interesting if you follow the Heroes Evolutions online stuff. I think the show producers did make a mis-step there assuming that everyone would be following that and realize that the black tears in the eye thing is part of a Mayan prophecy about the end of the world.

Anyway, I had a random thought about time travel. When Hiro stabbed Sylar at the end of season 1, he was flung away and then teleported back in time. The big explosion was stopped because Nathan decided to step in, change the future, and take the exploding Peter away. Of course, Hiro doesn’t know this in the past. He will still have to come back to the future, find out that the explosion was stopped, and find out his father is dead. Good and bad for him.

But, there was that episode that was five years in the future and tells what happens if Peter does explode. there is the ultra-cool “Future Hiro” there. I was thinking that Hiro would never become this future fighter because the explosion was stopped. The trippy thing is – that “Future Hiro” had still been flung into the past and had still interacted with with his hero Kensai. Learned to fight, go through trials, etc. And then came back to find that the bomb had exploded. Weird. Future Hiro learned to fight in past Japan. So, current Hiro could still become kick-butt Future Hiro. Sweet.

Random, I know. Some day I will actually blog about something other than Heroes.

But the upcoming episodes look soooo cool:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34696

Heroes: Four Months Later….

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So, the new Heroes season is here at last. How good is Heroes? Well, it makes some people cuss, it’s so good. So far, I’m very intrigued with where they are going. I’m starting to see a trend with some of the extra online stuff that I refer to as Heroes Extended Edition. One of things I am noticing is that the Activating Evolution site mentions a lot about how species will begin displaying mutations if there is a global threat to the species – as kind of a survival instinct. On Hana’s blog, there are references to a Mayan prophecy that the earth will end in December 2012. Could it be the shows theory that there is an impending doomsday in the works, and that nature is causing humans to develop super powers in a type of survival instinct? We’re starting to see that some super heroes can have the same power. Could it be that nature will keep bringing up these mutations until it stumbles up the one trait that we all need to survive?

I am guessing that at some point, someone else in the older generation of Heroes also had the ability to see the future. Maybe they saw the impending apocalypse, and have a plan to do something about it? I wonder if they are going to send Hiro to the ancient Mayan culture next, and he will see another hero there that can also paint the future – and that’s where the Mayan prophecy came from 🙂 Probably not, but that would be cool.

Personally, I can’t wait for the 8th episode “Eight Months Ago…” which will go back and answer some of the unanswered questions about the past four months. How did Peter and Nathan survive the explosion? But why do they all think Peter is dead? What happened to Peter the last four months? What does that helix looking symbol mean, anyway? People are making necklaces out of it, so it obviously means something to someone in the show.

What New Shows Am I Interested In This Season?

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To be honest – none. Sure, there are some interesting ones out there. But I probably won’t watch any of them. Why? Because they will probably get canceled.

I’m wondering how long it will be before the TV watching public begins to just stop investing in any new shows with me. Think of the shows that showed promise, or drew a fan base, such as Firefly, that were given bad promotion, and then canceled before given a chance to gain viewers. Sure, you have shows like Jericho that can come back from the dead – but that’s only one so far. So many shows are now trying to latch on to the Lost or Heroes formula: long, complicated plots that span entire series (or at least entire seasons) with intrigue and mystery. The problem is: you dig in, invest in the show, and then it bites the dust. I’m just going to sit back and wait to see if anything makes it to season 2. Then rent the DVDs for season 1.

This is really just the problem with the entertainment industry in general. No investment in anything if it’s not a hit right off the bat. And not to mention over-saturation. there are just too many movies, TV shows, CDs, games, etc pushed out every week. I remember recently that Bono said there may never again be another U2. Not because no one can ever be as good as them – it’s just that the record companies are not supporting and developing bands enough to allow for them to grow into another U2. I think that can be said in all sectors of the entertainment industry: companies are too caught up with getting the next biggest thing out there yesterday.