Fringe: The Complete First Season DVD Review

Posted by Michael Weyer on 09.19.2009

JJ Abrams keeps his streak of stunning TV alive with this amazing show packed with extras to better appreciate the wild twists.

Fringe the Complete First Season
Seven disc DVD set
Warner Bros
1028 Minutes




　

It’s been said you could build two complete networks out of nothing but all the actually great shows Fox has canceled far too soon over the years. That’s especially true for sci-fi dramas. Brisco County Jr, Dark Angel, Firefly, the list goes on. Time and again, the network has tried to replicate the success of The X-Files but it’s hard to catch lightning in a bottle twice.

But JJ Abrams has proven himself a master of catching such lightning. From Alias to Lost, the man has shown a gift for amazing, out-there television. Thus, when he produced Fringe, the result was one of the coolest sci-fi shows in a while and the first in years to truly capture the feeling of X-Files of old. But Abrams doesn’t just follow in other’s footsteps, he blazes his own path. And with this show, that’s one filled with some wild twists and turns, gripping effects and the path to its stunning finale is crafted with true care and balanced by a good cast. The result is pure Abrams in all his glory and the DVD offers that up in spades.

　
The Show

In typical Abrams fashion, the series wastes no time kicking things off as the passengers on a flight from German to Boston suddenly start to literally melt inside out. The plane manages to land on automatic pilot in Boston where a fleet of officials try to figure out what happened. The investigation brings in FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) who has been having an affair with fellow agent John Scott (Mark Valley). The two investigate a possible lead which brings them to a storage facility that is apparently a lab for some chemicals. John gives chase to a suspect who sets off a bomb, blowing the facility apart. Both agents survive but John is saturated in chemicals that begin to turn his skin translucent. Frantic to save the man she loves, Olivia digs into research and uncovers that there's one person who may be able to help: Dr Walter Bishop (John Noble), a brilliant multiple Nobel winner and former government researcher into experiments way before his time. Unfortunately, after a lab accident that killed his assistant, Bishop has been in an institution for the last 17 years. Anna has to go find his estranged son Peter (Joshua Jackson), a college dropout who is a genius but also a con artist. She basically blackmails him with a nonexistent FBI file to get him to come with and get Walter out of the hospital.




With Walter's unique help (which involves an LSD/water tank/wire trip into John's subconscious), Anna is able to arrest the man responsible for spreading the poison into the plane and thus find a cure for John's condition. However, trying to cut a deal, the suspect reveals that John himself was the man who hired him to set off the virus in the first place. John pretty much settles it by killing the suspect and going on the run, Anna chasing him where he's mortally wounded in a car crash, leaving her devastated. During all this, Anna had been approached by Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick), a Homeland Security agent who told her the plane incident was only part of something called "The Pattern." Odd things have been happening across the world, he tells Anna. Children missing for years appear without aging, a woman in a coma recites the exact coordinates of a secret Navy convoy and more, all falling under the heading of "Fringe science," the sort of out-there thinking Walter had been specializing in. Driven by what happened to John, Anna decides to help out, insisting on Walter being on her team and thus Peter has to be around as well. They settle into an empty lab at Harvard where Walter has various gadgets and experiments along with a cow in a corner. Also helping are Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo) and Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole), two other agents.

The power of "Fringe," is that the show does have an overall arc but still offers nice self-contained stories and cases. Such cases are stuff that would make Mulder and Scully freak out such as a woman who gets pregnant in minutes and gives birth to a child that ages from infant to old age in four hours. Or a bus attacked by a chemical that freezes everyone in an amber-like substance. This was apparently foreseen by a man whose brain acts like a transmitter for Pattern events. Many of these events seem tied in to Massive Dynamics, a huge company specializing in many technological advances for the public whose CEO was once Walter's roommate. Anna has met an executive, Nina Sharp (Blair Brown) who was saved from cancer by Massive Dynamics who replaced her arm with a special mechanical one. Anna is unaware that Broyles and Sharp seem to have some understanding as Sharp had to okay Anna's team. Also, the pilot episode ended with Sharp seeing John's body brought in, told it had been dead for five hours and responded. "Question him."

The first half of the season does get off to a bit of a slow start as the writers are feeling out the material and providing more stand-alone stories rather than Pattern stuff. However, things kick into gear mid-way through when Olivia is abducted by a German scientist who manages to teleport himself out of prison and from there, things get wilder and more amazing. The show’s events seem incredible but they always come up with logical explanations for them tied to today’s cutting-edge science. After all, it wasn’t that long ago DNA, the Internet and atomic energy were considered fiction as well. That balance between fact and fiction helps the show be a bit more realistic than, say, Lost and thus pulls you in better. It also adds layers like the Observer (Michael Cereveris), a bald-headed man who always pops up in every episode, his image showing up in Pattern events going back decades and has some unique ties to Peter and Walter.

The breakout star of the cast is Torv as the Australian actress continues Abrams' track record of finding relatively unknown but quite talented actresses as leads. Her accent flawless, she handles the bizarre goings-on with a professional air, skeptical but willing to accept if the evidence is strong enough. Her own experiences have opened her eyes to the unusual and she handles the action scenes well. But she can also handle the more subtle stuff like her pain over John's betrayal and how much of their relationship was real. She often acts as the audience’s voice, questioning the out-there science and such but is still quite believable as a cool agent who tries to be a pro but finds herself softening a bit as the cases get to her. Olivia is humanized more by the arrival of her sister (Ari Graynor), a single mom who stays with her for a while and her presence lets you see Olivia in a better light. She and Valley had a great chemistry (no surprise seeing as the two actors were married mid-way through the season) and that adds more urgency to Olivia’s quest for answers.




Noble is simply amazing as Walter. His social skills, never good to begin with, were made worse by 17 years of confinement and it's clear he doesn't play with a full deck of cards. Noble captures him perfectly, the quirky attitude on the brink of complete madness, often rambling everything from the chemical formula for root beer to quirky observations. He gets some good lines that get laughs at certain times like when he has a headset in the brain of the man who gets prophetic dreams and seriously remarks "With a little work, I can give you get digital television." But put him into a setting to explain and he'll be razor sharp on the causes of the bizarre events as only he can understand them. Noble is able to inject the show with some fun humor but also a dark edge that plays big time in the final episodes. Jackson puts Dawson's Creek behind him as Peter. He's obviously exasperated with Walter's behavior, having never been close to him and is driven to the brink by his antics. And yet, he can't rid of the fact he's his father as every now and then Walter will let him know he loves his son, just in his own way. Peter gets along well with Olivia, though not in a romantic way, giving her some support in her personal problems and seems to respect her drive. But he still has that edge of his shady past and is ready to unload sarcasm at the first sign of something unusual (which happens quite a lot).

The supporting cast is good with Reddick all business as Broyles, half intimidating and half supporting and keeps a strange vibe that makes you wonder whose side he's on. Brown does a nice job as Nina, not openly wicked but quite conniving and seems to truly enjoy having this power of secrecy. Nicole has a nice touch as Farnsworth (whose name Bishop is always forgetting) who has to handle strange errands for the man. In one episode, he drugs her so he can steal a secret item to keep it out of dangerous hands. She's cool when he apologizes but does have to smile when he says "I'd offer to let you inject me but I'd probably enjoy it." Acevedo is mostly a gruff figure but gets a spotlight when he falls to a deadly condition and has to reassure his wife it’ll all be okay.

The special effects are great, seeming as real as can be and mixing fantastic elements with images that’ll freak you out. One of the clever touches is that when they put in title cards for places, rather than in the corner, they’re actually mixed into the surroundings on screen, a cool image and we still get the mysterious symbols that flash between acts. Watching this first season on DVD is even better than on television because you can see how the stories and clues regarding the Pattern mix in as well as see how deep Walter’s involvement in events is. It all builds up to a stunning finale with two giant twists that will leave you at first stunned, but then appreciate how the clues to them both have been laid out for so long in the year. Even without that layer, the show still has some terrific stories that take sci-fi in new directions, more reality-based but still containing fantastic elements that will wow you. The ensemble and the amazing writing help it all out, providing fans of the genre and just good thrills in general with one hell of a wild ride.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.0
　

Video: Widescreen 1.78:1 ratio, the series is shot in pretty high-def so everything comes off quite crisp on the DVD. That really helps with the fantastic effects and you’ll be amazed how even in the picture, they look pretty real at times. The series also utilizes mood lighting well and the transfer is terrific to pull you in.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10.0
　

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 which is also nice and crisp. As with most Abrams shows, the series relies on a lot of dialogue, sound effects and music to help the show out and they all come through clearly. There’s a Portuguese language track and subtitles in English, Portuguese, French, Spanish and Thai.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10.0




　
　
Bonus Features
　
As you’d expect from a JJ Abrams show, the DVD is packed with some terrific bonus material. First, there are three audio commentaries: “Pilot” by Abrams and co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci; “The Ghost Network” with co-writers David H. Goodman, Orci and executive producer Bryan Burk; and “Bad Dreams” with writer/director Akiva Goldsman and executive producer Jeff Pinkner.

The commentaries are a fun slew of insights. With the pilot, Abrams says he was trying not to do Lost with the plane but didn’t see any other way to start it off. A surprising bit is how Torv was cast literally 48 hours before shooting began and Abrams discusses how he wanted a character was cool and professional learning to open herself up. He and Kurtzman joke about Torv and Valley having no chemistry in the pilot and are now married. Another revelation is how Abrams originally thought the show would be just Walter, no Peter or Anna, just the mad scientist but realized the mystery was more fun. A funny bit is saying that the network was fine with all the wild sci-fi stuff but they thought it unrealistic Harvard would have a free lab to use. Abrams compares his storytelling to J.K. Rowling as, like the Harry Potter books, he’ll have characters break to explain stuff in a way for the audience to understand. Abrams also acknowledges how it’s hard to serve the mythology of the show but he tries to answer the challenge. Some may be annoyed by how he references his own past series but it is good with him saying how he had to make Olivia her own character and not a Sydney Bristow clone

The other commentaries are a bit more loose and on “Ghost Network,” as it seems the guys aren’t interested in telling stories and plug their Twitter stuff a lot. They mention how an actor begged not to be made bald for an experiment scene and propose a drinking game involving the Observer. Speaking of proposing, when Orci mentions his girlfriend, the other guys suggest he put a proposal video into the DVD and make her watch. It’s an okay commentary but a bit annoying to hear the guys fake snoring at the explanation of the plot. But it is nice with them saying that the network pushed a more closed ending than planned, arguing the show “needed a victory” for the audience.

The “Dreams” commentary is great to hear the Oscar-winning Goldsman discuss his first ever TV show experience. He mentions how hard it is doing a subway shoot in New York and the various accents of the real actors. He talks of how he tried to make the Olivia/Boyles scenes warmer, hinting at their respect for each other. A fun revelation is that the man has an aversion to shooting in hospitals so for a scene taking place at an asylum, they actually took over an old church and redressed it. He also brings up some tidbits you may have missed like “number 47” among others.
　

Dechipering the Scene is a great feature on every episode. Each one runs about three minutes, focusing on a major scene of the episode and how it’s put together. It’s pretty fun seeing how it all works and hearing Noble and Torv speaking in their natural accents. A lot of the stuff is pretty big with stunts and setting up for effects and makes you appreciate the final products more.
　
Aside from those, there are also Massive Undertakings, a somewhat longer set of features on certain episodes. For the pilot, they go into how it took four weeks to create the unique makeup for Valley’s condition and shooting the big plane scene and Olivia chasing a suspect across rooftops. "Ghost Network” shows them blocking off an entire tunnel for the opening scene, which had only eight hours to complete. ”Transformation” has them assembling 15,000 pounds of plane parts and creating a strange monster. The finale focuses on the big twist finale and putting it all together.

　
Robert Orci’s Production Diary is a twelve minute feature on the pilot directed by Orci. He compares the two-hour pilot to shooting a full movie with all the big sets and effects and interviews the actors on set preparing for it all. It touches on the weather as at the time, Toronto had some pretty short days that made filming difficult and wasn’t helped by the temperature being twenty below zero. Orci comes off pretty genial through his ordeals, saying he hopes the show does well so he can talk more on the DVD, which happened.
　

The Genesis of Fringe focuses on how Abrams, Kurtzman and Orci came up with the concept of the show and worked its themes. They acknowledge how David Cronenburg was a major influence in both stories and tones and doing their best to capture that in the series. It goes into how they wanted the overall arc to connect without just a “creature of the week” spotlight and the ad campaign that helped the show get attention before its premiere.
　

Casting of Fringe is self-explanatory, going into how the cast was selected with April Webster talking of what they were looking for. Torv was in Australia at the time and sent her audition tape over the Internet (we see clips of all the auditions) and they instantly knew they had her just two days before shooting started. Acevedo jokes about his agent once bringing him a show about a plane crashing on an island and he shot it down with “I don’t want to do Gilligan’s Island so naturally, he didn’t waste another chance to work with Abrams. A fun bit is casting Blair Brown with Webster saying it wasn’t until they had cast her that she remembered the actress was in Altered States which is one of the show’s big influences.
　

Gene the Cow is a fun feature on the cow used in the lab. They mention how the script called for an Ankole-Watusi but the writers were unaware that it was a shorter cow with large horns four feet apart and so went for a Bos Taurus named Pansy. Trainer Rick Barker discusses using the cow on set as the cast jokes about Pansy being a diva, getting into shots and “L.A. cows are easier to work with.” A funny bit.
　

Behind the Real Science of Fringe has Robert Chiappetta and Glen Whitman as the consultants who try to marry the show to actual facts of science. They use examples from various episodes and relate how real events inspire a lot of this stuff, much of it unknown to the general public. It’s amazing to see how close science really is to stuff like DNA manipulation and that the show is more science than fiction.
　

Unusual Effects is just a blooper reel with most gaffes coming from the actors stumbling over the complicated science stuff and Torv accidentally slipping into her Aussie accent.
　

Visual Effects takes several of the big FX scenes of the season and puts them together to show how they were created. A recurring theme is that they always try to make the effects look as natural as possible and serve the story, not just thrown in there to wow audiences. For the dream sequence of the pilot, Torv laughs about how she got dizzy on a rotating green screen platform. They show how they created the chilling effect of a hideous parasite wrapped around a guy’s heart and even seeing it’s fake, the thing gives me the shivers. For a bit where a man is attacked by butterflies and crashes out a window, they reveal how they had to use real glass as they don’t make fake glass that big. A good focus on how they create such a wild showcase for freaky stuff.


There’s a handful of deleted scenes, nothing too major. One that was wisely cut hints at the eventual final scene of the season and would have given the surprise away. There’s an interesting bit where Olivia discovers that a prisoner has been drawing pictures of her for years without ever meeting the man. The best one is John’s mother, unaware of her son’s actions, coming to Olivia after the funeral and offering her one of John’s medals. Torv is great showing the agony of Olivia not wanting such a reminder but not able to turn the woman down or tell her the truth.


While it might have been nice to have some more focus on the big finale, still a great look at how the show works behind the scenes.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10.0

The 411: Already a cool show, the DVD just enhances the Fringe experience, letting you see how the show is laid out in advance and the care making it feel as real as can be. The great cast better sells it and the result is one of the best cult TV shows in recent memory and one that deepens further with repeated viewing.

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]