The Animation

[Frog]

It's actually 'cel shading', which is 3d with a cartoon filter. Rotoscoping is either hand-traced video or video with a cartoon filter. I think they should have done the latter, in 3d they looked like they were moving underwater.

[X12Celtics3]

I like the idea of having animation as a creative workaround to Nimoy's absence (if that is the real reason for it), but I have two major problems with it.

1. The main characters didn't look like themselves. I can deal with the robotic movement and such during running scenes (although that was bothersome as well), but more important is that the character's faces look true to real life. Nobody really looked 'good', and William Bell looked painfully bad in particular.

2. Because the cartoon's facial expressions didn't convey much emotion, some scenes simply didn't have the emotional impact that they should have. I don't care how good the writing is, if lines are coming out of the mouth of an emotionless face they lose their meaning. Its like watching a cardboard cutout of the character talk, its not the same.

[bonnie scotland]

Totally agree especially with point 2

[TheOtherMe]

I felt it mirrored "A Scanner Darkly" I wrote a little about it on another thread, but I will just quote myself...

A Scanner Darkly is a 2006 Rotoscoped film directed by Richard Linklater based on the novel of the same name by Philip K. ********. The film tells the story of an undercover police officer who is unknowingly brainwashed by his superiors in order to infiltrate a drug operation fronted and funded by a rehabilitation centre. The movie was filmed digitally and then animated using interpolated rotoscope over the original footage, giving it its distinctive look.

Arctor is an undercover agent assigned to immerse himself in the drug underworld and infiltrate the drug supply chain

Substance D, a powerful psychoactive drug causing a dreamy state of intoxication and bizarre hallucinations; chronic users may develop a split personality, cognitive problems, and severe paranoia.



Note: Philip ******** often writes novels that have alternate realities/histories. One of his works, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", has been referrenced in FRINGE already with episode, "Do Shapeshifter Dream of Electric Sheep?".

[vesh1717]

It's actually 'cel shading', which is 3d with a cartoon filter. Rotoscoping is either hand-traced video or video with a cartoon filter. I think they should have done the latter, in 3d they looked like they were moving underwater.

I KNEW there was another reason that I didn't like the animation. It didn't "click" when I was watching it for some reason. I am a pretty avid gamer when I have the time, and I have always HATED cel-shaded games. When Prince of Persia went to cel-shading I immediately put it on my "will not purchase" list. For some reason I didn't realize this when I was watching this EP, but no wonder I disliked it so much. (as well as the plot) Thank-you for the enlightenment.

[akchan67]

I KNEW there was another reason that I didn't like the animation. It didn't "click" when I was watching it for some reason. I am a pretty avid gamer when I have the time, and I have always HATED cel-shaded games. When Prince of Persia went to cel-shading I immediately put it on my "will not purchase" list. For some reason I didn't realize this when I was watching this EP, but no wonder I disliked it so much. (as well as the plot) Thank-you for the enlightenment.

I disagree with your comments...Ever played Jet Set Radio or its sequel? Cel-shaded games can be very cool when done properly.

[vesh1717]

I disagree with your comments...Ever played Jet Set Radio or its sequel? Cel-shaded games can be very cool when done properly.

Oh I know a lot of ppl disagree with me. I have had many arguments about it, but in the end it is personal taste. I can't stand the look of it, and I think it looks cartoonish and lame. I like it to look as "real" as possible. Like I said, it's all a matter of opinion. I will never be swayed, lol, and I will never give it a chance.

[Frog]

I KNEW there was another reason that I didn't like the animation. It didn't "click" when I was watching it for some reason. I am a pretty avid gamer when I have the time, and I have always HATED cel-shaded games. When Prince of Persia went to cel-shading I immediately put it on my "will not purchase" list. For some reason I didn't realize this when I was watching this EP, but no wonder I disliked it so much. (as well as the plot) Thank-you for the enlightenment.

No problem! If you've ever seen Futurama, I think they manage to pull off cel shading really well. It really only works for objects though, i.e. Spaceships flying past or cartoon city-shots.

[BishopBC]

I think the reason why i was animated besides the fact that Nimoy retired, is because they were linked with the computer. Had it not been for that, there would be no explanation for the look. The PC was processing that visual enviroment up to its capacity. Cell Shaded yes like XIII, and jet set and many others. I took this episode not as animation, I totally took it as a video game. I thought that was the look that they were aiming for. Not sure why so many others took it as a conventional attempt at animation.

I thought this ep was totally aimed for video game players, and inception whores, ( ihate that movie), with the zombie attack and so forth. I loved the ep.

Yes it seems prety obvious they were killing a few birds with one stone, regarding nimoy, but, I think they did a WONDERFUL job. One of my favorite Fringe Episodes to date.

[JustThinking]

Hope it's OK to link this- a Fox discussion of how the animation was made. Very interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMy9r...&feature=share