(S02E05) "Whether you admit it or not, your life is something of a nightmare." - Bowling Alley Guy to Olivia
For a minute there, I thought maybe we were in a True Blood crossover with the horned guy in the first few minutes of this episode. But no, it was the usual twisty-turny Fringe-isms involving mind control, computer chips and dream states.
And it appears that something many of us assumed had happened to Peter actually did happen -- though with this show, you can never be sure until it all plays out. It wouldn't surprise me if it's something completely different from what I'm assuming it is. All this, and Mysterious Bowling Alley Guy after the jump ...
(S02E04) "Momentum can be deferred, but it must always be paid back in full. As I always said to Walter, physics is a bitch." - William Bell to Olivia, on the dangers of jumping universes
Cryonics, frozen heads, worm juice, mercury blood, shapeshifters, and Leonard Nimoy were all featured in this episode, and I loved it all.
Let's start with the worm juice. Olivia must have been seriously craving her William Bell memories to drink that awful stuff. And what a trooper that she was able to keep it down, too. I guess it must have worked. She got some of her memories back, along with some help from the bell -- both the bell they chimed during Rebecca's psychedelic adventure and William Bell. Or Willem, as Olivia used to call him.
Is she right not to trust him? Could he have started the war? It's certainly possible, given his mysteriousness. He said for reasons she might understand later, he couldn't come back to this universe right now, possibly never. Why? What's he doing over there? Is he the one building the army? Is he being forced to? Will he and Walter face off eventually?
In anticipation of the season two premiere of Fringe last week (read my review and your comments here), I revisited season one to refresh my brain. There are so many subtleties that connect seasons one and two, and it was good to go back and watch it again.
While there were a few creature-feature episodes that appeared to be stand-alones (but who really knows with this show?), for the most part, much of season one was devoted to weaving an intricate mystery and setting things up for season two. It's too much, really, for one small blog post, but a few things sprang to mind ...
Fox has released a few photos from the Fringe season two premiere, "A New Day in the Old Town," which airs Thursday, Sept. 17, at 9 PM ET. I'm so ready for the return of Fringe, and anxious to see where the show goes this season with the parallel universe storyline. And I've really been missing my Walter fix since season one ended earlier this year.
Interesting that there's no sign of Anna Torv in the photos. Rather, junior agent Amy Jessup (Meghan Markle) is pictured in the last photo after the jump. She's been assigned to an investigation with the Fringe Division. That would be Walter Bishop, Peter Bishop, Astrid Farnsworth and, supposedly, Olivia Dunham. Maybe she got stuck in the alternate universe. Walter apparently made it back!
I was aware that, like fellow Star Trek icon William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy released an album or two in his day. I wasn't aware, however, that Nimoy made a music video that accompanied one of the songs on those albums.
The song is "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" and was released in 1968 (which was during his run on Star Trek) on an album called The Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy. I'm surprised this video did not get more air time on MTV back in the day. Perhaps it should be considered for VH1. More info, and the video, is after the jump.
So William Shatner says he hasn't seen the new Star Trek movie yet. But he says that he knows it has gotten some great reviews and he's really looking forward to seeing it. He also says he'd delighted to be in the next movie.
So what do you think? Is having Shatner in the next movie a great way to please old Trek fans or do you think having yet another character from the original series would be pushing it, considering they already had Leonard Nimoy in the first one (which is pretty much how I'm leaning)?
(S01E20) Oh my. I wondered how they would wrap things up (or not wrap things up) in the season finale, and they definitely delivered the goods. It's no big shocker that we're dealing with an alternate reality; most of us probably saw that coming. But there was that one moment that made me gasp.
We knew Walter had done experiments on Peter when he was a kid, but it never occurred to me that Peter might have died -- or maybe it was just buried in the deep recesses of my brain. When Walter visited the graveyard, I fully expected to see his wife's name on that gravestone. Instead, we saw Peter's.
(S34E22) Justin Timberlake returned for his third turn as host and it was tough not to keep expectations pretty high. I mean, if an vengeful warlock were to suddenly put a crippling curse on his music career (like they do), Timberlake could definitely fall back on being a professional SNL host. Yes, this would become a real profession, just for him.
As usual, some sketches fell a bit flat, but Timberlake's over-confident, hammy swagger made things a little more interesting. This particular episode also gave us another legendary musical Digital Short with Timberlake and Andy Samberg and a couple of all-around MILFs. It's tough to top a surprise appearance by Leonard effin' Nimoy, but "Motherlover" was certainly the highlight of the evening. Here are some other notable video moments!
Today is Mother's Day, and while J.J. Abrams' new big screen version of Star Trek re-imagines the mythology of the Enterprise crew and vanquishes Spock's mother Amanda in an alternate time line, I prefer to remember Spock's mother the way she was on television. On the original Star Trek episode that aired on November 17, 1967, "Journey to Babel," introduced Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan and his lovely human wife Amanda, when they boarded the Enterprise on a diplomatic mission. It was a shock to Captain Kirk to discover that the elegant older couple were not merely envoys, they were in fact, Spock's parents.
J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek has sparked a huge controversy in the Trekkie universe, a controversy that in the real world amounts to a drunken debate in a dive border town bar over which Darren on Bewitched was more "boneable."
My sneak preview review sparked a wave of supportive and angry comments that I have never seen in my history with TV Squad, which amounts to six months depending on which of my accountants you talk to. My former accountant can be reached at the Tennessee Colony State Prison, Tennessee Colony, Texas.
It seems the angrier of the Treksters are getting their head gear in a bunch because Abrams chose to work Leonard Nimoy into the picture via a time travel plot that completely alters the original history and lore of the original series. As one commentor put it, "instead of obliterating a few minutes of exposition about 20 years we didn't watch, this has obliterated [forty three plus] years of storytelling that we did watch."
This is becoming Leonard Nimoy Squad after yesterday's post from The Today Show, but here's another one, in honor of the new Star Trek film opening today. It's Nimoy on The Late Show with David Letterman giving the "Top Ten Lines Never Before Said In A Star Trek Film."
Like a lot of Star Trek and classic TV fans, I'll be in line for the new movie when it opens tomorrow (actually, tonight in many cities - check your local listings, as they say). Leonard Nimoy is in it (no, that's not a spoiler), and this morning he sat down to talk with Al Roker on Today (video also here). Roker says that Nimoy put the ears on for the first time in 18 years. Wait, 18 years? That can't be right. I feel old.
(S01E19) It's an interesting premise. That we can have several different alternative realities, and if the brainwaves are hitting just right, we have the option to see more than one reality. Or in this case, more than one charred body.
I must say, Olivia handled it way better than I would have. I would have been FREAKING OUT and curled into a fetal position if the whole time-shift thing was happening before my eyes. But she took it all in stride, using it to help solve the case and find the twin sister in the lab. But oy ... what a shocker ...
The show was a hit right out of the gate, garnering huge numbers for its series premiere. It's currently the "number one show for adults 18-49," according to Fox. If that doesn't guarantee you a renewal, then I don't know what will.
Aside from the show's great cast, its quirky sense of humor, and its compelling mysteries, there are two reasons I'll stick with Fringe through season two: Producer J.J. Abrams and Leonard Nimoy.
Star Trek's Nimoy is slated to be around for an episode or two (hopefully more) next season as Massive Dynamic founder William Bell. Nimoy's return to television is reason enough to tune in.
(S01E18) We're definitely getting closer to some sort of revelation on Fringe. Last week, we heard Leonard Nimoy's voice on a videotape as William Bell, talking with Walter about a young Olivia in the room with them. This week, we learned that William Bell, founder of Massive Dynamic and the richest guy in the world, is the person funding ZFT. But it's not all that shocking. We've pretty much known all along that he's involved, unless ... there's some big, new twist about his involvement yet to come.
(S02E04) "Momentum can be deferred, but it must always be paid back in full. As I always said to Walter, physics is a bitch." - William Bell to Olivia, on the dangers of jumping universes
I was aware that, like fellow 
So William Shatner says he hasn't seen the new 
Today is Mother's Day, and while 
J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek has sparked a huge controversy in the Trekkie universe, a controversy that in the real world amounts to a drunken debate in a dive border town bar over which Darren on Bewitched was more "boneable." 
We all knew this was a lock.
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