Co-created by J.J. Abrams (the creator of Lost), Fringe is an American science fiction television show that commenced airing in 2008 for its first season. It stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Lance Reddick with John Noble and Kirk Acevedo.
Fringe Division
FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Torv) is called to an airport after an international flight lands on auto pilot and she discovers that the passengers inside have been killed by a flesh-eating virus. In tracking down who is responsible she finds a suspect who sets off an explosion that infects her partner (and lover) John Scott (Mark Valley from Boston Legal) with the same virus that killed everyone onboard the plane. Whilst trying to find a cure for him Olivia discovers an expert in Fringe Science named John Bishop (Noble) who is, and has been, incarcerated in a metal hospital for seventeen years and only his family have access to him. Olivia convinces Bishop’s estranged son Peter (Jackson) to release Walter into his custody and the three work on a way of saving Scott’s life.
Following the incident on the plane, Olivia is recruited by Phillip Broyles (Reddick) to investigate the increasing amount of terrorist attacks that have been orchestrated by advanced sciences, many of which Walter worked on before he was incarcerated.
Despite Walter’s fragile mental state he, Peter, and Olivia investigate a number of bizarre events that are known as “The Pattern” and are all leading up to something bigger and far worse than anything they have seen so far.
The New X-Files
Anyone who managed to sit through Lost all the way to the end will know that when it comes to television shows J.J. Abrams has a habit of making promises that he cannot deliver. He poses question after question that are either not explained, forgotten or the answer the audience had come up with was better. Lost quite literally lost the plot and so in terms of television series J.J. Abrams’ attachment to them does not really do them any favours. Despite this Fringe manages to carve out a nice little niche for itself somewhere between science fiction, horror and ridiculousness.
Without a doubt the star of the show is John Noble (the audience many recognise him as Denethor from Lord of the Rings) as the mentally unstable Dr Walter Bishop, his ramblings, his mood swings, and his struggle to understand things that, due to the drugs he was taking in the hospital, he can barely remember make Walter a very human character. The audience can be forgiven for getting a little teary eyed when he is upset because someone is pushing him on an issue he cannot remember or when he cannot squeeze the answers from his unstable mind. The supporting cast are made up of some familiar faces, like Mark Valley and Joshua Jackson (of Dawson’s Creek), and whilst Anna Torv is not necessarily known she does an excellent job as Dunham, someone who is trying to open their mind to the new sciences and technologies she is seeing.
What Fringe manages to do well is walk the line between what is good science fiction and what is frankly ridiculous. The special effects don’t pull any punches, and the opening sequence on the plane when the co-pilot turns around and his jaw drops off essentially lets the audience know exactly what they are in for. If anyone watches the first few minutes and turns away then they might as well turn the television (or DVD player) off right then and there, however, if they don’t turn away in horror then they should stick with the rest of the series.
The series has a few shaky moments when the audience can (and probably will) struggle not to laugh out loud (the yeti-like creature on another plane is the best example of this). Luckily those moments are relatively few and far between. Fringe manages to stay just the right side of silly and is a very good television series that will hopefully continue to be essential viewing in its second season.
4/5
Excellent science fiction horror series that is a must-see for any fans of the genre.
Christopher Sharman - In 2009 I self-published my first novel entitled The Darkness Saga: The Light (currently available at amazon.co.uk) which has been ...
