With Fringe filming starting up for season 2 tomorrow, co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci spoke to SuperHeroHype! about the first season success of the show.
In truth, the interview was mostly about Transformers 2, but they did take time out to reveal that they will be adopting a slightly different role next season.
Hit the jump to read all about it:
(includes very minor William Bell spoiler)
SHH!: I think “Fringe” can be considered a success because it survived a season at Fox, which is very rare I would think.
Kurtzman: No, it’s true and it’s just as Bob said. The only way we can really do this is to have an amazing team. I mean, Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman, who are running “Fringe” right now, we would not be able to do what we’re doing if they weren’t so good at their jobs. All credit to them, really.
Orci: It’s really their show, and now we are consultants.SHH!: Do you still have ideas for the show that you’re able to throw at them once in a while?
Orci: Yeah, yeah, no, we try to get over there as much as we can and as much as they’ll have us. (laughs)SHH!: You guys really have helped to keep Leonard Nimoy in the spotlight, and it’s great to have him back. Do you think we’ll see him back for the full 2nd season of the show?
Orci: Yeah, it’s great.
Kurtzman: He’s wonderful. He’s going to be back for several.
Orci: Well, you know, he’s special. You can’t just have him in there all over the place.
Kurtzman: Yeah.
Source: SHH!
This reminds me of the time JJ. Abrams took a ‘back seat’ on “Lost” after the critically acclaimed first season. The good news is Lost continued to go from strength to strength post-JJ. (although I have no doubt that the female characters would have been better off for JJ’s input!).
It’s still a shame that Kurtzman and Orci will be less involved in “Fringe” since they represent two-thirds of the original creative force. I’m sure this news will have some wondering whether Fringe will ever be the same again?
I wouldn’t sweat it though. I think the show is in safe hands with Jeff Pinkner and team. After all, Pinkner was one of the major forces behind the show last season.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I think that despite a few standout episodes in the 2nd half (Bad Dreams, especially), the latter 10 eps showed a lack of focus, direction, originality, and sense of wonder. I hope that the show returns more coherently but it seemed to break between Safe and Bound, and not just due to the excessive delays
Seriously? I personally felt that it was in the second half of the season that the show began to shine and show off it’s full potential. Things seemed to really start to come together and the show began to take off and have a sense of “wonder” and “originality” for me. It felt as though we were getting glimpses at the bigger picture and how things were connected and that they were building up to something big. They’ve established things in season one and built up the framework and all, and I imagine season two will jump right back into that and continue with that same momentum; that it will explore it all much deeper and make more connections. And I’m excited for that.
I’m probably somewhere in between. When I think back to the likes of “Ability” and “Bad Dreams”, the show really tapped into something special. But there were also the ‘No Brainers’ and ‘Unleashed’s', which didn’t do the series any favors.
On the whole, I think the second half of the season was a lot ‘tighter’, but I also felt they held back on us – whether that was intentional or down to a lack of focus, I’m not quite sure?
You know, it’s funny. During the first run-thru (before the end of the season), there definitely were eps that did nothing for me. Now, using the persecutive of looking back, those shows that sort of flopped for me now take on new, fresher and are ultimately far more interesting then they were originally. I can concentrate on the little things (and not worry about catching a glimpse of the Observer and things like that). The result? For me, the season was almost uniformly great. If the production staff keeps this quality up for another year I will be absolutely stunned. It was SUCH great work. So, even now, I’m squeezing my thumbs and hoping…hoping…
Interesting. Especially the point about being able to watch the episodes in a more ‘relaxed’ mode – without having the look out for clues, etc.
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing which episodes feel ‘enhanced’ during my rewatch, as well as those which might seem less magnificent now that the dust has settled on S1.
There are some episodes which left a great impression on me yet it’s hard to quantify why exactly. I like those kind of episodes because it means they resonated on a deeper level (imo). One example, for me, would be “Inner Child”, or “Equation”. Not the most spectacular of episodes, but they had a certain depth to them.
I think the production staff has done a great job overall. But I think they can go up a good few notches. Here’s hoping they deliver the goods we’re looking for!