JJ Abrams is definitely one of the golden boys in Hollywood at the moment, especially following the success of the STAR TREK movie. To make matters worse, he is prodigiously talented – writer, director, producer, composer – but thankfully he is also a geeky genre fan with a background in quality TV: Alias, Lost and Fringe. Looking at those shows, there seems to be a common thread of conspiracy theories and weird stuff, with Fringe being no exception.
The show could probably be best described as Abrams’ take on the The X-Files, with strange goings on being investigated by the FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Australian actress Anna Torv), whose partner John Scott is infected with a manufactured virus in the pilot episode, so in order to try and save him she enlists the help of science genius Walter Bishop, whom she has to extract from a psychiatric institution with the aid of his estranged son Peter. Together they form an unlikely team to investigate occurrences of fringe science, such as telepathy, time travel and human combustion, most of which probably originated from Bishop’s lab in his earlier partnership with the enigmatic William Bell, the brains behind the world’s largest corporation, Massive Dynamic.
Like the best TV series, this show is made up of the case of the week strung together with an overriding story arc. Surprisingly, it is the relationship between the mad scientist and his son that is the most interesting, and not that of the show’s attractive female lead, who doesn’t create the same chemistry as Mulder and Scully. Mind you, this is only the first season and the characters’ back-stories and the story’s mythology have only just been established. Overall it is a bit lighter than X-Files, which isn’t to say X-Files didn’t have its humorous moments, but it’s not as funny as Warehouse 13, Eureka or the brilliant Chuck, which all tread similar territory. Having said that, Fringe is engrossing, despite the occasional bit of clunky, clichéd dialogue, and will keep you watching through to the season’s end, which introduces a very familiar face in a surprising, if somewhat cheesy, finale. I watched all 20 episodes in three sittings, and not just because I had to review it. One annoying thing with the show is the way it uses 3D captions throughout to indicate scenes: they look a bit too gimmicky and amateurish. It’s a small point but does detract from the overall impression.
Season two has just started in the US and will no doubt be showing on Sky soon, so if you missed season one you can get it on Warner Home Video DVD from 28 September. Order it now from Play.
We have five DVD box sets of Fringe Season One to give away, courtesy of Warner Home Video. Click on the link below to enter the competition, which closes 21 October 2009.