EVIL PUPPET MASTERS

FINALLY, I can make the announcement that I have been dying to make since…February Thanks to the insane awesomeness that is JJ, Burky and Bad Robot - FRINGE fans now have a place to interact with each other AND with members of the Creative Team AND (hopefully) actors from the show. That place is FRINGE DIVISION — the Offical Site for the Creative Team Behind FRINGE and it is sponsored by J.J. Abrams.

For anyone who is familiar with The Fuselage site that was made for LOST - FRINGE DIVISION should look and feel very familiar to you. It is designed and run by the same duo who made the Fuse: Karri and Artie. In fact - if you are registered on the threaded board of The Fuselage, your registration carries over to FRINGE DIVISION - just login with the same User Name and Password.

The site has been up for a couple of weeks while we have been working the bugs out, but it is a fully operational battlestation so feel free to go give it a spin. My buddy Rick (aka J.R. Orci, one of those writer/producer guys for FRINGE) has already been breaking in his Q&A forum on the threaded board, and a few more VIPs should start appearing over the next couple of weeks. You may notice that I have one of those pretty colored fonts over there - that is because I am a Co-Admin for the site. Feel free to stop by and say howdy

I know this post will probably make some people, specifically those from other FRINGE-related fansites/forums/blogs, mad at or affronted by me. I can’t just sit back and watch this anymore without commenting though - and I’ve been around the online fandoms long enough to have a thick skin for whatever backlash this may incite. If you don’t like this post or feel the need to vehemently disagree with me, then bring it. I will respect you more for fighting for what you believe in than for sitting in the corner on your hands and nodding along.

Before I DO say something, I will post my usual disclaimer that comes along with any of these blog entries that has IMHO as one of the categories. This post is coming from ME and ME ALONE. In no way should this be considered to be the thoughts or reflections of ANYONE in the industry (i.e., BR peeps) who I have the privilege of knowing and/or calling “friend.” I am not now, nor have I ever been, employed by Bad Robot Productions.

With that out of the way - what the hell is the deal with all of the FRINGE fansites that have popped up declaring they are the “most popular” or that they are “THE SOURCE FOR ALL YOUR FRINGE NEEDS” etc.? There is barely a trickle of information available for the show at this point - sorry guys, but there just is not that much to TALK about right now. Not on a daily basis at least. And, um, excuse me, but it is not even JULY yet. And the pilot that has leaked all over God’s green earth? Yeah, that was NOT the final cut - yet bloggers and websites and fans all over are throwing in their two cents…picking it apart frame-by-frame. Casting their votes NOW - for something that will not actually air in its locked form for another TWO MONTHS.

In what land of crazy did this become the norm? And please, don’t start in with how this is good for advertising. Showing ads for FRINGE during American Idol and pretty regularly during the summer? That is good advertising. Posting trailers, then posting trailers with some new scenes periodically - that works, too. The visually dynamic print ads that get the viewer even MORE curious - that’s good stuff. Ads showing up in magazines and sprinkled across websites all over the web, the actors making appearances at the upfronts and (hopefully) Comic Con, the creators giving interviews - I am ALL for ALL of that. But I’m sorry - I am not ready to pick apart the pilot when the BULK of the television audience has not had the opportunity nor the means to see it. And NO ONE has seen the final locked cut - so you could have someone bitching for 10 pages of a forum regarding the music, only to discover when the REAL pilot airs that none of that music was even used (mock me if you want - but you KNOW that is going to happen somewhere).

Leaking an early version of the pilot episode, and thus removing any kind of incentive to actually WATCH the show when it premieres…MONTHS before it premieres…just so people can hem and haw over it AD NAUSEUM on every flippin site online, until the last thing anyone wants to talk about is FRINGE? Guh…so not a good idea. I am not accusing FOX of leaking the pilot intentionally, but they did seem oddly “okay” with it…to the point that they actually ASKED fans who had seen the ILLEGAL DOWNLOADED VERSION OF THE UNFINALIZED PILOT to “let [them] know what you think!!!” Um, 4realz?

To make matters worse - the leaking of the pilot and the decision of some of these upstart FRINGE sites to post it or not post it, essentially turned into a pissing contest. A pissing contest that I got dragged into. For the record - I am not your referee. I do not run to BR every time someone asks me to. GOOD GRIEF, they would hate my guts right now if I did that. I know what fights are worth fighting for. And from THIS POINT FORWARD - I am NOT taking anyone’s side. Evil Puppet Masters is no longer affiliating with ANY Fringe sites, except for OFFICIAL ones. Just keep me the hell out of it, capisce?

I LOVE FRINGE. And I love the people who created the show, who are writing the scripts, who are editing and directing and producing and working behind the scenes. I want the show to succeed like you could not even possibly fathom. But all these pissing contests to see who can collect the MOST email addys from people affiliated with the show, who can get the most sites to affiliate with them, who can legitimately call themselves the END-ALL BE-ALL BEST SITE 4EVAH!!?1!!! for FRINGE…will HURT this fandom more than help it in the end. Especially this early in the game - right now, you are all having a pissing contest into an empty pool.

To be honest - if your intent to have the biggest baddest FRINGE site is due to your hoping to get recognition (from JJ, BR, Fox or whomever), or to gain online fame-like status, or to make a profit… then you will be disappointed. And you are DOING IT FOR THE WRONG REASONS.

The irony in all this is that my “major announcement” that I haven’t been able to actually announce yet is related to a new FRINGE forum - an officially sponsored one. EPM will be affiliated with this forum, because (a) it is official, (b) I am partly responsible for making it happen, and (c) none of those reasons above apply to my reason for doing this. I’m doing it because I love this show and the people behind it - I’m doing it because they asked me to - and I’m doing it FOR THE FANS.

Here’s a secret - BR does it all for the fans, too.

At least I won’t have to worry about anyone posting a link to the leaked pilot on this forum - they’ll be banned if they do Don’t worry - the official announcement for the new forum will be within the next couple of days. I just wanted to get this off my chest - and hope that the other FRINGE sites will make more of an effort to PLAY NICE. I’ve witnessed in-fighting in a fandom take a show down. It is not a pretty sight. Don’t kill this show before it even airs.

If you just can’t wait until August 26th to make up your OWN mind about the Pilot episode of FRINGE, then feel free to traipse over to The Futon Critic to read their review of it. Keep in mind, this is a review of the ACTUAL EPISODE, not just Review #4,815 of the SCRIPT. There are mild spoilers, but not much past what you see in the trailer.

I have mixed feelings about getting reviews of the actual Pilot episode of FRINGE months before the rest of the public will see it. I’m all for publicity and trying to get buzz started for a show, but all of these reviews of the script for FRINGE - the bulk of which have been based on an early version of the script that seems to have been mass produced and passed around liberally (heck, even I got it - and nobody gives me ANYTHING) - have been bordering on ludicrousness already. I would hate to see that happen with the actual Pilot episode as well.

The fact is that unless you are a highly respected and objectively advanced blogger or television reviewer (who isn’t getting a little sumptin’ sumptin’ under the table for giving a guaranteed positive or explosive review) - I could care less what you think of the Pilot episode or the script of the Pilot episode. I have read the infamous early version of the script, but will not review it because (a) I don’t believe in reviewing something that everyone reading this blog can’t read as well and thus can’t compare what they’ve read to what I am saying; and (b) I’m unabashedly biased in certain respects when it comes to Bad Robot Productions, and though I believe I can be objective in a review - the fact is that those boys know my buttons and they push them about 80% of the time. I love their stuff - thus…why this blog exists. My bias is inbred.

I am posting the link to The Futon Critic’s review of the Pilot because I am well acquainted with their site, and appreciate the fact that they post about EVERYTHING in the realm of television - not just what ABC or CBS or FOX, etc., is trying to shove down the throats of the American audience.

I have posted some reviews of the FRINGE trailer, because it has been made available to the widespread audience, so the average reader can be comparative.

According to Variety, J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot are on board to produce “Hot for Teacher” for Paramount and have a couple of other movies in development for Paramount as well. Blurb is below:

Paramount Pictures has purchased Jay Dyer’s spec “Hot for Teacher,” with J.J. Abrams to produce via his studio-based Bad Robot shingle.

Story revolves around three high school boys who vow to have sex before they graduate; one of the teens plots to seduce a hot teacher.

Bad Robot most recently delivered the monster film “Cloverfield” for the studio. The shingle also has a number of projects in various stages of development and production with Paramount, including “Star Trek,” “Morning Glory” and “Men Making Music.”

Dyer is a supervising producer on Showtime series “Californication.” He previously sold to New Line the spec “Multiple Mary,” which Scot Armstrong is attached to direct.

Source

In case you hadn’t heard, CLOVERFIELD’s opening weekend is the best January opening EVAH!! There will be no living with those BR folks now…

TEASING! HUGE congrats to JJ, Burky, the Ultimate Drew, Matt Reeves and my buddy Dave Baronoff (who neglected to tell me he had an Associate Producer credit for the movie - w00t!). I’ll be posting my thoughts on the movie soon.

Okay, so a crazy idea popped in my head, and the more I thought about it…the less crazy it seemed. This CLOVERFIELD movie is a big deal to Bad Robot. We all know that the critics are going to tear it up or tear it down, depending on their own agendas (yes, I’m jaded). But I know that the opinions that mean the most to the BR peeps are from THE FANS - which would be YOU and YOU and YOU and YOU, etc.

So here is my idea — first, BOOKMARK THIS ENTRY — then, after you go see the movie, COME HERE AND POST WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT “CLOVERFIELD.” Just hit the comment button, and give me all ya got. My only request is that if you have criticism, make it constructive. After a couple of weeks, I’m going to send the Bad Robot people a “Valentine’s Gift” - your posts about their movie.

****NOTE: THAT MEANS THAT THE COMMENTS TO THIS POST WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR CLOVERFIELD!!! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

Now I’m all giddy

According to SciFiWire, the director for the planned 2-hour pilot of BR’s new television project, Fringe, will be Alex Graves (Journeyman, The Nine, The West Wing). Fringe has a series commitment from Fox and will begin production in February. Graves will serve as an Exec Prod, along with JJ, Burky, Bob Orci & Alex Kurtzman.

I giggled myself silly over this article over at /Film.com, because it proves that viral marketing campaigns CAN be fun when the people behind them are …well, Evil Puppet Masters

It seems that the director of last Monday’s HEROES episode “Cautionary Tales” was Greg Yaitanes, and HEROES EP Greg Beeman revealed a series of photos of HEROES actors holding SLUSHO cups over at his blog that he says were set up by Yaitanes. Now, in the realm of “Six Degrees of JJ Abrams,” Yaitanes directed one of my favorite episodes of ALIAS, called “Another Mister Sloane” (Joel Grey FTW!!), plus two important episodes of LOST - “Solitary” and “Special.” So yeah, he’s connected to the BR boys in some fashion - but why these SLUSHO pics with the HEROES cast? The only explanation is a vague one (you’re shocked, I can tell):

Now, the next group of photos falls into the “don’t ask/don’t tell” category. I credit Greg Yaitanes for staging all these pix, under the supervision of Joe Pokaski. Their cultural significance will become clear in the coming months, so… pay attention!

For my fellow ALIAS fans, I would have to say that the following two pics were my faves:

And for those who watched Monday’s episode of HEROES, that cup that Elle (Kristen Bell) was drinking out of in her car while she waited with Mohinder at the beach should look VERY familiar

Now, what the hell does this have to do with Cloverfield? No idea - but it’s fun, isn’t it?

Could not think of a better way to resurrect the EPM blog than with a link to the SECOND CLOVERFIELD TRAILER, available exclusively over at Empire Online.

For the record…Bad Robot still PWNS me.

GUH!!!! WANTS IT NOW!!!!

This ain’t your daddy’s marketing campaign.

First off — I HAVE NO INSIDER KNOWLEDGE REGARDING THIS MOVIE. I’m just playing along like the rest of you, while being taunted mercilessly by people who DO know.

Here are some sites that we have been led to believe are part of the viral marketing campaign:

http://www.1-18-08.com
http://www.ethanhaaswasright.com
http://ethanhaaswaswrong.blogspot.com

Good hunting.

Bad Robot’s drama pilot (the first one under JJ’s new deal with Warner Bros.) has been cast and they say JJ Abrams will be directing it as well. They are referring to the show, which will air on HBO, by the name of the book it is based on — “The Anatomy of Hope” — but I’m not sure if that is the “official” title of the show. I think most people are calling it “that cancer show JJ’s doing on HBO.”

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JJ and his Bad Robot shingle are developing a medical drama pilot for HBO. It will be based on the Jerome Groopman book “The Anatomy of Hope.”

This was a LONG time coming. Thanks to JJ’s new television and film deals with Warner Bros. and Paramount, respectively, the Man needed some help at Bad Robot. BR has hired Kathy Lingg to handle television projects and Sherryl Clark to oversee BR’s film projects.

Along with these hires, two current BR employees received promotions. The lovely Athena Wickham and the sweetheart Ben Sokolowski are now “creative execs” for BR, having formerly been assistants to JJ and Burky, respectively.

Source: Variety