Nice timing, universe! On the night of Fringe‘s third-season premiere, Warner’s review copy of the spooky show’s second season (yay alliteration!) landed on my desk. Take a look with me at the Blu-Ray edition, if you haven’t already picked up your copy – Fringe hit home on September 14th.
The Show
I’m going to make a shallow and unsurprising confession here: the only reason I ever watched Fringe was for Mark Valley. I missed the majority of the J.J. Abrams and Co. bandwagon except for being forced to sit through a few episodes of Alias by a friend who was a huge fan, the Robert Patrick cameo in Lost, and watching Star Trek on a flight home from London. In other words, I was sort of predestined to not give a damn.
I was pleasantly surprised to actually give a damn. While it can be uneven at times, Fringe is amazing when it’s great. The second season outdoes the first, I think, because I have a lot more favorite episodes here than I did with season one (Mark Valley aside). There’s the flashback episode “Peter,” which takes place back in the 80’s (complete with an equally cheesy new opening sequence!). There’s “White Tulip,” which features a creepy but stellar performance by Peter Weller. Of course, you can’t talk about the second season without mentioning the musical episode “Brown Betty,” which while it may scream “we’re doing this because of FOX’s insane idea to have a bunch of musical episodes,” is populated by a cast that can actually carry a tune and a plot that actually works. To say nothing of the season’s huge cliffhanger. No, I mean I’m not going to say anything for fear of somehow ruining tonight’s premiere. Just take my word for it that while it’s not all perfect, there are enough stellar episodes in this season of Fringe to justify picking this one up. I dare to say it actually improves on season one. (Even if John Scott is still dead.)
The Blu-Ray Discs
While the box art for the first season of Fringe wasn’t bad, this season is really stellar. It’s got a lot more going on than the classic black minimalism of the first season ever did, and as a result it’s a lot cooler to look at. I appreciate the return of the lenticular effects, which gives the box art a spooky glow at the right angle (no appearing frogs on the box art this time). You lose that effect with the image on the front of the plastic snapcase, but the red tone they’ve chosen for that background makes it look just as awesome.
Fringe conforms to the standard packaging for WB Blu-Ray releases. There’s the plastic snapcase inside the cardboard outer box. On the inside, you get the booklet which contains a basic episode guide and information on the special features (they’re not all on the last disc but scattered throughout). The discs can be flipped through just like a book, and they are some neat-looking discs.
Technical specs-wise, you get video in 1080p high definition, with 1:78:1 widescreen presentation. The audio track is a crisp Dolby Digital 5.1. There are three sets of subtitles: English SDH, French and Spanish. Fringe‘s visual effects and colors benefit from the Blu-Ray upconversion. Considering that the BR version is only $7 more on Amazon as of this writing, I think it’s worth the upgrade to Blu if you have that option.
If I have one complaint, it’s that the commentary tracks are listed as “creative team commentary” throughout. As a commentary track geek, I like to know who’s on my commentary tracks, and which ones they’re on. I’d rather not have to pop in every single disc to decipher that information.
The Special Features
Fringe has a pretty worthy selection of special features for this release. You get three featurettes, six “sidebars,” four commentaries, a gag reel and deleted scenes. Here’s the specifics:
- “The Unearthed Episode”: This is the episode which aired a few days before “Johari Window,” and is actually an unaired episode from the first season (hence the reappearance of Kirk Acevedo’s Charlie).
- “The Mythology of Fringe“: A pretty good featurette which is exactly what it says on the can. Considering the contents of the season, it’s much appreciated for those fans who might have a tough time keeping track of everything that’s happened.
- “In the Lab with John Noble and Prop Master Rob Smith”: A poke around Walter’s lab with the guy who put it all together.
- Four commentaries with series stars and creative team (“Momentum Deferred,” “Peter”, “Brown Betty,” and “Over There, Part 2”). The highlight is “Peter,” which features John Noble and Blair Brown, and is moderated by Damian Holbrook. I’m not really sure why Noble and Brown need a moderator, but it’s great to see them on a track. That track is the only one which shows cast members as participants. It’s also amusing that the musical episode gets its own commentary track.
- “Fringe: Analyzing The Scene” sidebars on six episodes (“A New Day In The Old Town,” “Momentum Deferred,” “Of Human Action,” “What Lies Below,” “Brown Betty” and “Over There, Part 2”). These are exactly what they say they are – spotlights on certain scenes in each episode.
- Gag reel
- Unaired scenes for “Night of Desirable Objects,” “Grey Matters,” “Olivia. In The Lab. With The Revolver.,” “Northwest Passage” and “Over There, Part 2.”
The Bottom Line
Fringe had a great second season. Sure, not all the episodes were great and sometimes it got hard to follow, but you can’t overlook some great episodes and amazing guest appearances to boot. No offense to Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv, but I’m convinced the real star of the show is John Noble, who deserved an Emmy nomination for his work. The BR release is pretty darn good, and makes some great choices in putting commentary tracks on unique episodes (and giving Noble a track), plus putting a lot of special-feature emphasis on the season finale. This one’s a keeper.
You can already own this one on Blu-Ray through any major retailer, or direct from WHV here. Although I suspect true Fringe fanatics already bought it and are probably marathoning their way through Season 2 right now in anticipation of the Season 3 premiere in just hours…
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