"Fringe" (2008)TV series

Seasons:

1

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

A television drama centered around a female FBI agent who is forced to work with an institutionalized scientist in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena.

Cast

Kirk Acevedo	...	Charlie Francis (1 episode, 2008)
Joan Barrett	...	Old woman on plane (1 episode, 2008)
Joshua Jackson	...	Peter Bishop (1 episode, 2008)
Jasika Nicole	...	Astrid Farnsworth (1 episode, 2008)
John Noble	...	Dr. Walter Bishop (1 episode, 2008)
Peter Outerbridge	...	Doctor (1 episode, 2008)
Lance Reddick	...	Phillip Broyles (1 episode, 2008)
Anna Torv	...	Olivia Dunham (1 episode, 2008)
Mark Valley	...	John Scott (1 episode, 2008)
Bernadeta Wrobel	...	Flight attendant (1 episode, 2008)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Toronto Film Studios, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Bad Robot

Poor man's X-files

This show is by no means awful and it has been competently made and the effects and action for the most part can't be faulted (the robotic arm looked silly and out of place), but where this falls down and where it will no doubt draw unfavourable comparsions with its predecessor are with its writing, directing and acting. Not that they are by any means dire (Lance Reddick is awesome in pretty much anything he does) but its all been done better before. So lets start at the beginning, the cold open could have been lifted straight out of the X-files (in fact i think they may have done something similar) but it works well, its just unoriginal. Then we are introduced to our principles who to be honest are pretty bland, The female FBI agent is pretty dull and compares badly to Scully or even Kate from lost in the depth of character, and the actress who plays her seems to be trying to imitate Elizabeth Mitchell. Lance Reddick was given to little to work with but what he did have, he did well. The father and son scientist were at least interesting with Joshua Jackson continuing to essentially play the same character since Dawson creek, the relationship between him and his father was certainly the most interesting. However too much of the characters back story and personality were delivered via exposition from other characters, which is a sign of bad writing. As is the father and son being overly competent men who essentially know everything about every facet of science. the plot itself was mundane and has a feeling of being to much like lost or the absolutely dire alias in terms of the arc they appear to be setting up. most of the plot is telegraphed rather than unravelled as the story progress and it take a very dull mind not to see just about every twist. All in all its OK about the same quality as Stargate and Alias and certainly fine for casual bit of TV but don't expect to see the quality of Lost or The X-files in its Hey day, if you want that, then buy the box sets or try your luck with the movie in July.