I owe Fringe a lot.
Before Fringe I absolutely hated anything labelled 'science fiction'. I wouldn't go near it. One night, around five years ago, when I was about sixteen years old, I was up very late one night and flicking through the channels looking for something good to watch. I came across something which interested me, but I had no idea how much of it I had already missed. It ended up going on for quite some time, so I figured that it was a movie. By the end I was on the edge of my seat, but when the credits suddenly started rolling, I was so confused. The cliff hanger was too much to be a movie, so it had to be a television series. After some googling I found that I had actually been watching the repeat of the first episode of a new sci-fi series called 'Fringe'.
I now owe Fringe my love of Sci Fi.
This show is very close to my heart. That is why, as usual, I stopped when I got afraid it was getting close to finishing (Just in case you don't know, Fringe ended earlier this year). I decided not to watch it, and to prolong Fringe for as long as I could hold out.
I have recently been watching Arrow and on one episode I was absolutely delighted to see Seth Gabel play "The Count". Gabel had been one of my favourite characters in Fringe (it's hard to put them in order but he would be extremely close to number one, if not one), called Lincoln Lee. This may sound so corny but seeing him made me remember how much I missed him, and I realised I had to finish the last season. I had to see how it ended, so I began it, Episode 1 of Season 5, at two in the morning.
I don't want to spoil too much but overall, Season Five was definitely not my favourite. I didn't really get the whole 'Observers' as evil storyline because for the past four seasons we've only really had September as an Observer and he was so lovely. I also never warmed to Etta, I understood why but I didn't like how she was so cold. I didn't like that there was none of the old cast like Broyles, Lincoln or Nina (yes, there were glimpses but not enough!) and I also didn't like that Olivia and Peter weren't as close as they had been.
After that little rant, I want to say that if you have watched the other four seasons of Fringe you will enjoy the fifth, it is a nice finishing point. I'm not sure if there will be anyone out there that has done what I have and watched four seasons and then stopped for some reason, but if there is some of you then this post is for you!
If you haven't watched any of Fringe, please give it a go. It really is quality television with fantastic actors on it (all the main cast are amazing) and a really great, in depth plot. Seriously though, I would like to emphasise how good the cast is. It's got Joshua Jackson who you would know as Pacey from Dawson's Creek, Australian actress Anna Torv who played Nikki in The Secret Life of Us, Australian actor John Noble who has been in everything from Home and Away to Lord of the Rings. That's just the main cast, along with that Lance Reddick was in The Wire and Leonard Nimoy played Spock in the original Star Trek series (and the latest movies too). That cast should be enough for anyone to start watching right now. Do it!
Let me know whether you watch Fringe or not and what you thought about the last season. I love hearing your thoughts! x
If you're like me and you've been watching Teen Wolf a little bit obsessively lately, then you'll probably have found yourself at a bit of a loss after Monday night's mid-season final. To help you (and myself) out, I've compiled a little list for you to have a look at and hopefully you'll find your next favourite show in the Teen Wolf break.
You're missing the supernatural - Have a look at Fringe. It's named after an area of science known as "Fringe Science" which is basically all these weird, wacky and non-mainstream experiments. While you won't find any wolves with six packs, what you will find is experiments more like one where Isaac goes into the ice bath to recall his memories in "Chaos Rising". Other things include an alternate reality, shapeshifters and glyph codes. The cast is absolutely amazing too including Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Seth Gabel, Lance Reddick and Leonard Niomy. Seriously, it's worth watching just for the acting.
Honourable mentions: Vampire Diaries.
You're missing the relationships - Yes Game of Thrones could belong in the drama category, and it does have fantasy/supernatural elements to it, but the main reason why I think Game of Thrones is so successful is because of the detailed and amazingly realistic relationships that every single one of the thousands of characters have. For some reason, even though there are so many characters, it just works perfectly. The relationships have me grinning from ear to ear one second to sobbing my eyes out the next. I won't ever stop saying it: you have to watch it.
You're missing the whodunnit - You want the crime solving element of Teen Wolf again? Miss testing out your skills? Try Elementary. As a die hard fan of the BBC's Sherlock (you should definitely watch that too if you haven't seen it) I wasn't even going to give this a try when it came out last year. Only I kept hearing good things about it and so I reluctantly gave the first episode a go. Although I wasn't hooked straight away, the second half of the series really picks up and had me looking forward to watching it each week. Now I have to admit that I cannot decide between the two and that is something I never thought I would say.
You're missing the drama - You want drama, here it is: Breaking Bad. If you are missing the on-the-edge-of-your-seat, "what's going to happen next" feeling and you haven't seen this series, then you need to start watching now. The show is currently airing it's last season, which is really a shame, but there are five beautiful, heartbreaking, drama-filled seasons to love. Once you start watching you won't be able to stop, you'll be clicking on the play button episode after episode, and I have to confess that I lost a lot of sleep watching this series, so you've been warned.
Honourable mentions: Orphan Black.
You're missing the comedy - New Girl. It has me laughing out loud every episode without fail. This show makes me want to leave home and live with three guy roomates just in case they turned out to be exactly like Nick, Schmidt and Winston. I would even be happy with just a Nick. He is seriously my dream guy - hilarious, awkward and looks like Jake Johnson. Season Three begins in a few weeks time, so it's a good time to start if you haven't yet.
Honourable mentions: Misfits.
Other suggestions: Teen Wolf (1985) - the film that the television series was based on. There's a Scott (played by Michael J. Fox), a guy named Stiles and a Coach. I've never seen it, so I can't say whether it's worth watching, but obviously the creators of the tv show saw it's potential.
An American Werewolf in London (1981).
Or you could just start again, and begin re-watching Teen Wolf from Season 1. I wouldn't mind doing that myself actually.
What I am doing is catching up with Breaking Bad, which I am currently up to the third season and finishing Orphan Black. What did you guys decide?
Okay, so I have a confession to make: I never would have seen Star Trek if Benedict Cumberbatch hadn't been in the sequel. It's my life mission to see all of BC's movies, and so he sort of forced my hand with appearing as the villain of it's sequel Star Trek: Into Darkness, didn't he?
I tend to do this with a lot of things in my life, not just films and television. I'll judge something massively before I've even had a chance to look into it. One of my friends recently observed that everything in my eyes was guilty until proven innocent. I have to stop doing that. One example (that does happen to be a television series) is that I used to HATE (see how I've not only capitalised it but also underlined and bolded it?) Doctor Who. I had an argument with one of my friends boyfriends over it when I was seventeen. He had just unsuspectingly stated that he enjoyed watching it, totally unaware that he'd walked into a minefield. How could he? How dare he? He couldn't understand how I could judge something so hard without having seen an episode. I couldn't understand how he could be such a dickhead as to watch a stupid sci-fi show about some crazy doctor in space.
Now it's not only one of my favourite shows on television, but my actual favourite show of all time.
Harry, if you're reading this, I'm sorry.
That's not to say Star Trek is now my favourite movie of all time. However, it's definitely changed my opinion. I found it fast-paced, funny and was perfect for someone with absolutely no understanding of the Star Trek world/universe. Chris Pine worked well as James Kirk, although I feel he always plays the same characters. The last movie I saw him in, This Means War (2012), he played FDR, a secret agent who is pretty much Kirk with a different name. That same confident intelligence, self assured, always on the lookout, good looking guy who is charming with the ladies but still has something to prove. I love Zachary Quinto as Spock. It would be hard to play someone who is meant to have show no emotions, but actually does feel a lot beneath the surface. I think he pulled it off wonderfully, and I want to see him in more films soon. I also love it when films have a great minor cast too. Hello Chris Hemsworth, Winona Ryder and Simon Pegg. If I hadn't IMDB'd the movie before I saw it, I never would have known Nero was played by Eric Banner, but it was great to see him too. My biggest love casting wise was Leonard Nimoy as the future, older Spock. I'm sure all of you know this already but Nimoy was the first Spock and I think it's a perfect nod to the original. Nimoy also plays William Bell in Fringe (2009), and anyone in Fringe is loved by me.
Star Trek: Into Darkness is due in Australian cinemas on the 16th of May. Will you be seeing it? Is there a movie or television series you've judged before watching it?
