Abrams on the FRINGE?

So it’s not movie news but this sounds pretty cool.

J.J. Abrams and his screenwriting duo on MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III and STAR TREK (yes those TRANSFORMERS guys again) are teaming with Warner Brothers and Fox to bring us FRINGE, a new supernatural T.V. show which he hopes will have the same kind of impact as LOST.

A $10 million+, 2-hour pilot will begin production once a suitable director and cast has been found.

From Variety…

“Fringe” mixes elements of “The X-Files” and Paddy Chayefsky’s “Altered States” with what Abrams calls “a slight ‘Twilight Zone’ vibe.” It will focus on brilliant but possibly crazy research scientist Walter Bishop, his estranged son and a female FBI agent who brings them together.

Episodes will explore self-contained mysteries of the paranormal, as well as the relationships between the three leads.

This sounds very much like THE X-FILES but ya know with Abrams, it will be something new and fresh. Here’s some of quotes taken from the trade which gives us lots of info on this…

“It does the stuff my favorite TV shows and movies do, which is to combine genres that shouldn’t fit together,” Abrams said. “It’s definitely meant to scare the hell out of you, but it’s also meant to make you laugh… It pushes all the buttons of things we loved from our childhood.”

Driving the show will be the Walter Bishop character, a larger-than-life figure who bears some resemblance to the titular character in Fox’s “House.” In the pilot, he’s in a mental hospital.

“Imagine that your father is Frankenstein mixed with Albert Einstein,” Orci said. “He’s someone who has the mental ability to solve so many problems but is so different that communicating with them is almost impossible.”

I’m a big fan of LOST, so if it has Abrams name on it then I immediately have to sit up and take notice. I kinda wish he was going the T.V. route with STAR TREK but I guess a new film will bring with it that epic atmosphere that gets us all excited.

Now Abrams, what is going on with THE DARK TOWER my friend?

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