A network promo for a new series can do a disservice to a show. The early spots for Fringe featured what appeared to be an FBI tandem investigating paranormal events and horrific creatures. This teaser immediately set up an audience to expect a clone of The X-Files. Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) was the smart female agent with Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), as her scruffy male partner. When they explored a dark and dank subterranean space in a preview, Fringe seemed to be Fox’s way to remake the X-Files without paying the original producers for the rights. Luckily the new series was more than a tracing of the classic show. Fringe had a different dynamic at its core with a third character to disrupt the buddy agent routine. Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) is truly a mad scientist committed to a mental hospital. He’s an expert on fringe sciences and the great grandson of The Bride of Frankenstein‘s Dr. Pretorius. Peter Bishop’s a shady character brought in by the FBI to keep his father sane. While Dr. Bishop’s a great help in understanding the supernatural cases, his earlier research might have caused these evils to erupt. Fringe: The Complete First Season launches the mystery of what goes bump in the night and the people that created these bumpees. The truth is closer than out there in many of these cases.
“Pilot” is the 81 minute movie that leads us into Agent Dunham’s new career direction when she investigates an airplane disaster. Instead of crashing, the plane lands at Boston’s Logan airport. Everyone inside the plane has had their flesh eaten away. It’s a really gross effect for 8 o’clock TV. Agent Dunham believes that her only chance at finding the source of the flesh eating is to spring Dr. Bishop from the asylum. This is a rather tense arrangement since the doctor does come off as quite mad in his rambling way. He sets up his lab in a basement on the Harvard campus and gets to work. They think a past associate of Dr. Bishop might be behind the attack. But which one? Turns out his old lab partner is the founder of Massive Dynamic, a huge company that seems to be involved in everything. An executive at the company (Blair Brown from Altered States) doesn’t like the FBI poking around. She has a robotic arm so you know she’s up to no good. “Pilot” is much more exciting than the last X-Files movie.
“The Same Old Story” has a woman give birth a few hours after being knocked up. The baby ages 80 years in a few minutes. Dunham and Bishop tie this case with a serial killer that claims pituitary glands from his victims. “The Arrival” begins the strange appearances of a bald guy who seems to just watch things at significant moments. He’s nicknamed “The Observer.” He’ll end up being part of the mysterious subplots that transcend the season. “The Cure” has people taking a drug that cause them to emit microwaves that explode everything around them including their heads. “In Which We Meet Mr. Jones” introduces a third conspirator to the game besides The Observer and Massive Dynamic. David Robert Jones (Jared Harris) is the head of a group that swears by a manifesto called “Destruction by Advancement of Technology.” The Germans have him in super max prison conditions. He makes his escape when Dunham needs his help to kill a massive parasite that has taken hold of the innards of an FBI agent. But this is not the normal jail break as he uses futuristic technology to vanish into freedom.
“Inner Child” has a strange bald child found in an underground chamber. The kid helps them track down a serial killer. At the end of the episode, the Observer comes into play. What is he really up to? “Bad Dreams” has her dreaming of other people dying. Turns out these murders are happening. Her main suspect is a man who might have been the subject of Dr. Bishop and the head of Massive Dynamic cortexiphan test on small kids. They wanted to enhance kids. Dunham finds she has a direct tie to the suspect. The visit to the insane asylum wasn’t her first encounter with Dr. Bishop. The finale takes us into another dimension. This is a bit more disorienting than The X-Files.
Anna Torv is perfection as the star of the show. She’s got the look of the FBI agent and the inquisitive nature to make her able to digest the fringe science elements. Doesn’t hurt that she looks alluring while floating in a sensory deprivation tank. She’s strong enough to hold back John Noble’s ever evolving forgetful scientist. The only real complaint about the series is they really needed to buy fresh b-roll of Boston for their flyover footage. Whenever the give us the birds-eye views of Fenway Park, there’s no seats on the Green Monster. Even in an alternate universe Boston, the Redsox fans would be perched on top of the wall.
The 19 regular season episodes are remarkable in that they are around 50 minutes long each. Nearly 9 minutes longer than the average hour long drama on network TV. This was done as Fox’s “Remote Free” programming. You didn’t dare click away from the show during commercials since it wasn’t going to be a 50-minute marathon block. Fans will be relieved to know that the strange logo bumpers that ran before the commercials remain. However they no longer warn you that the show will return in 90 seconds. Fringe: The Complete First Season makes it exciting once more to watch the FBI investigate bumps in the night.
The Episodes
“Pilot,” “The Same Old Story,” “The Ghost Network,” “The Arrival,” “Power Hungry,” “The Cure,” “In Which We Meet Mr. Jones,” “The Equation,” “The Dreamscape,” “Safe,” “Bound,” “The No-Brainer,” “The Transformation,” “Ability,” “Inner Child,” “Unleashed,” “Bad Dreams,” “Midnight,” “The Road Not Taken” and “There’s More Than One of Everything.”
The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The show is shot in HD so there’s no smutz on the image. The transfer does get a little grainy in the outdoor scenes. But it’s nothing too distracting. The audio is Dolby Digital 5.1. The show has fun with the sound mixing to make the creature bumps happen in the strangest places. The subtitles are English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Thai.
Audio Commentaries are on “Pilot,” “The Ghost Network” and “Bad Dreams.” J.J. Abrams contributes to the talk on “Pilot.”
The Massive Undertaking are behind the scenes documentaries that focus on certain episodes including “Pilot,” “The Ghost Network” “The Transformation” and “There’s More Than One of Everything.” gives us insight in what it took to pull off the ambitious pilot. How did they get the opening airplane flight to be so scary and maintain network standards?
Roberto Orci’s Production Diary (13:04) is his experiences making the show as co-creator. He exposes that the pilot is shot in Toronto and not Boston. It’s 1 degree as they shoot. Brrrrrr.
Evolution: The Genesis of Fringe (9:06) has them claim they were inspired by Altered States, The Fly and Twilight Zone.
The Casting of Fringe (9:22) gives casting director April Webster a chance to discuss her job. It appears Leonoard Nimoy was supposed to be the scientist.
Gene The Cow (2:47) lets us know how they’ve used two cows on the show. The original cow they cast was thrown off the set for being too horny.
Behind the Real Science of Fringe (10:28) introduces us to the show’s “New Media Consultants.” They have to figure out how to base the paranormal activities into reality. They also locate odd science articles to be the basis of episodes.
Unusual Side Effects (4:31) is the gag reel. There’s a lot of bumping on the set.
Fringe Visual Effects (15:16) shows how the technicians pull out the weirdness.
Dissected Files are deleted scenes on five episodes.
Fringe: The Complete First Season is reminiscent of The X-Files without being a complete clone. The mad scientist angle keeps the action interesting. People without skin and evil monsters popping out of people will impress those who want a touch of gore. Fringe doesn’t give us safe FBI investigations. There’s also a Blu-ray release for those who want the paranormal in 1080p.
Warner Home Video presents Fringe: The Complete First Season. Starring: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson and John Noble. Boxset Contents: 20 Episodes on 7 DVDs. Released on DVD: September 8, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
