Comments on: Fringe — Episode 6 (Season 2): “Earthling”

By: The non-science of Fringe: Earthling « weak interactions

The non-science of Fringe: Earthling « weak interactions — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:54:29 +0000

[...] episode is debunked at Popular Mechanics and Polite Dissent, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. [...]

By: Grumpy Old Geezer

Grumpy Old Geezer — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:22:22 +0000

Well, even science fiction ought to be believable, and when the science is too stupid, it’s not (rather, it’s switchoffable). And if the magic is magic (ESP, leprechauns, little green men of all colours, …), I wish they could resist from trying to explain it (did the X-files ever try to explain the weird goings on (pseudo)scientifically? can’t remember); the force was cool, the midi-stupid-chlorians were not …

“Hard Sci-Fi doesn’t make for good TV.” Has there been any? On the other hand, stupid science makes you (if not you, then at least me) switch off (I gave up on Fringe a long time ago: these reviews on the other hand are very enjoyable indeed).

By: Marc Mielke

Marc Mielke — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:45:32 +0000

Defying Gravity is just about the hardest SF you’ll ever see on American Television, and that just got killed. I’d consider ReGenesis hard SF, but it’s not clear whether it’s SF at all rather than medical drama.

By: FC

FC — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:06:26 +0000

Hard Sci-Fi doesn’t make for good TV.

By: geozilla

geozilla — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:43:27 +0000

I’m an organic chemist and I have no idea what that molecular structure was supposed to be. Not only did the carbons have fantastic numbers of bonds but there were elements not currently on my periodic table. This kind of thing frustrates me but I can’t wait to have a chance to say “Oh titanium tetrachloride – you sly temptress…”

By: Ikarishinji

Ikarishinji — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:57:43 +0000

Just to leave my opinion about the general trend of comments. Don’t mistake me: I like this site and I find the comments and criticism most enlightening and interesting. More so, sometimes, than the series itself, actually. I fully agree that this episode was quite weak and rather tiresome. Also, I think they are starting to drag the series AGAIN by leaving the main storyline aside and have too many fill-out episodes like this and the last one. However, when it comes to the scientific nonsense: that is why this is just science fiction. I mean, the only true SCIENCE fiction film ever is 2001. The first season of ER had some good contributions by Michael Crichton, so it went ok. But I believe J.J. Adams and the rest couldn’t care less for real science. They just use it as a loose background in order to tell what they consider a thrilling story to the audience. Some people use magic, some call it science. It’s like calling X-Men a science fiction story when their powers are obviously just magic by another name. Most Science Fiction movies and TV series are just that. After all, magic by any other name… that’s what hooks most of the audience.

By: TentacledBeast

TentacledBeast — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:45:44 +0000

Broken link in green letters (”here”).

By: Azide

Azide — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:30:53 +0000

I so wanted that CIA guy at the end to be played by David Duchovny. It wouldn’t have made any sense as a cross-over (Mulder was FBI), but it would have been a neat wink to the fans, especially considering how much this episode in particular was very much like a bad X-Files episode.

As soon as they mentioned radiation, I knew it was going to go off the rails. I liked seeing more of Broyles (thanks Andrew, I still don’t really know his name) but the whole episode was really weak. I agree with the posters above that you’re being generous in only skipping ahead one minute. I think I’m just really interested in where the myth arc is going, so I have very little patience with the freak of the week episodes.

By: Erin

Erin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:40:16 +0000

I’m glad you updated to mention the preview for next week. When they started talking about the “10% of the brain” myth as the whole premise of the episode, I started screaming at the TV “OMG that’s not even close to being true, you IDIOTS!” along with some other choice words…I can’t wait to read your review next week! :-)

By: e

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:30:51 +0000

This ep was painfully boring. I’m surprised you only docked the clock by a minute.