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Self promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Sunday, September 5th, 2010 11:55pm PDT - promote requested by original submitter bleedmegood.

When I grow up I want to become like Walter... He is awesomeness personified.

Despite all the terrible bunk "science" stuff on Fringe, it's a great show simply because of Walter's interactions with all the other characters.

I'm not usually one to put aside terribly unrealistic stuff, but for this show I gladly make an exception.

Some spoiler content in this:
I understand that in the end, you're praising the show and the wonderful character that is Walter Bishop, but I've got to question- Your one gripe about a sci-fi show about an alternate universe waging war on us is that it's not very realistic? I just had to ask. Other than that, I couldn't agree more. Nolan is a wonderful actor, and if Fringe was a more popular program, they'd be throwing Emmys his way for his performance. He's had me to the point of tears in some scenes.
>> ^mgittle:

Despite all the terrible bunk "science" stuff on Fringe, it's a great show simply because of Walter's interactions with all the other characters.
I'm not usually one to put aside terribly unrealistic stuff, but for this show I gladly make an exception.

@Abel_Prisc

Yeah, it's not that I have a problem with unrealistic things...it's the degree to which they seem to pass things off as possible or realistic. Obviously it's a subjective judgement on my part, but, for example, look at Star Wars. I think it's very obvious that it's more science fantasy than science fiction. They don't care to tell you how hyperdrives work, or where lightsabers come from, etc. With Fringe, I just feel like they're trying too hard to explain the technology and make it seem real when it's clearly not.

I wish I had a good example off the top of my head to illustrate what I mean, but it's been a while since the show's last season ended. Basically, I'm willing to accept the alternate universe thing, but I don't need details beyond that...I don't need some BS explanation about how the portals work, etc...I think it takes away from the best parts of the show when they fill things in with that stuff.

Take the X-Files...a similar show. Their "explanations" of the crazy shit was always MUCH closer to reality...much more bordering on the possible or the slightly exaggerated. Sure, it wasn't amazing all the time, but I dunno, most of the episodes seemed more plausible. For this reason, I usually prefer to read hard sci-fi, but if I read something that's more fantasy, I want the author to know what he/she's about, not try to pass fantastic stuff off as plausible. Embrace the impossibility of the story, y'know? ...it's fine...people will accept it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction#Subgenres

I know my explanation of my gripe is a little lengthy, hopefully you have some sort of attention span.

I definitely agree about the Emmys, and by no means should anyone take my comments as a reason to avoid the show...I love it despite its flaws.

@Abel_Prisc there's realism and then there's realism.

Lord of the Rings is obviously not realistic - orcs, giant spiders and so on - but it feels real. A good scifi, fantasy or any genre show that takes you out of the real world, still should feel real, or there is no connection with the audience. Some times, you just accept a given thing - "we have warp drives" - even though it isn't realistic, but you accept it as a suspension of disbelief (or leap of faith, if you will). I think Fringe piles on too much in the suspension of disbelief; new things all the time, weirder and weirder... by the end you can't ignore your doubt of the show.

It continues to baffle me to no end how if I acted like this in real life I would be devoid of social life, but when the quirky guy on TV does it, he becomes the widely regarded favorite.

@mgittle
Ah! I understand what you're saying now. Thanks for the response!

>> ^kasinator:

It continues to baffle me to no end how if I acted like this in real life I would be devoid of social life, but when the quirky guy on TV does it, he becomes the widely regarded favorite.


I tried to watch a couple episodes of Fringe, and this guy (plus a bit of the not-as-good-as-X-Files-attempt-at-being-X-Files) is what turned me off of it.

>> ^direpickle:

>> ^kasinator:
It continues to baffle me to no end how if I acted like this in real life I would be devoid of social life, but when the quirky guy on TV does it, he becomes the widely regarded favorite.

I tried to watch a couple episodes of Fringe, and this guy (plus a bit of the not-as-good-as-X-Files-attempt-at-being-X-Files) is what turned me off of it.


dont get me wrong, fringe is actually great. I just find it funny how we would accept otherwise weird people inly when in entertainment, but would avoid them like the plague in real life.