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- TV Series: Fringe
- Episode: Pilot
- Starring: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble
- Written By: J.J. Abrams
- Directed By: J.J. Abrams
- Network: Fox
- Series: Fringe
FRINGE: Pilot
What Happens if You Cross Lost with The X-Files? By
Stephen Lackey
September 10, 2008
Anna Torv leads a "Fringe" team into X-Files territory.
© Fox TV
Fringe is easily the most anticipated new television series of the Fall. This isn’t surprising because the series is coming from the man that brought us LOST, one of the best series on TV. Fringe - at least based on the pilot – ends up being a combination of LOST and another classic series The X-Files. The pilot is good, and shows potential, but not isn’t the knockout that the LOST pilot was. It could easily be that the premiere is too long. The running time is an hour and thirty-five minutes and it’s probably thirty-five minutes too long. Had the story been kept tighter, the pacing may have been much more consistent and more concise. Also, this pilot was written in a rush over just a few weekends in order to get it ready to go back before the writer’s strike. Hopefully follow up episodes will feature scripts that were worked on a little longer.
Even with the pacing being flawed, the execution overall is interesting. When you talk to many fans of The X-Files, they’ll tell you that their favorite episodes of that series were the single story episodes that had nothing to do with the overall mythology. Abrams has presented an opening episode that feels like a single story entry but at the same time it introduces the ensemble cast and sets the tone and the overall story for the series. Abrams has said that this series isn’t like LOST and viewers can come and go with it and not feel “lost” for lack of a better word. Don’t be fooled by his comment though; there is a conspiracy afoot and an overall mythology that gets defined in the last few minutes of the episode. That mythology is what makes the series have potential.
In the series, an FBI agent in brought in as part of a team to investigate a mysterious virus that kills the occupants of an airliner. Luckily this plane had an advanced computer system that simply landed the plane with no problems. She sets out on a path of investigation in a completely different direction than the rest of the team and she gets closest to the answers. Her partner ends up paying for her tenacity by being infected by the virus. In order to save her partners life she seeks the help of a “fringe” scientist who happens to be institutionalized. To get the scientist’s help, she has to get his son involved who is played by Joshua Jackson. Fringe science is exactly what you’d expect – beyond cutting edge, such as cloning and robotics.
The balance that Abrams is trying to strike between serialized television and a case of the week style series hinders the potential for an OMG cliffhanger ending which will be disappointing to some viewers. The set up for the conspiracy is intriguing though. The cast does a fine job in the series with the only issue there being that Anna Torv attempting to channel a combination of Agent Starling and Agent Scully through her character. I’m sure that’s from Abram’s prompting though. Joshua Jackson has proven that he’s more of an actor than the cotton candy show that he started out in with performances in indie films such as Americano and again he’s fine here. There is work to be done in the next couple of episodes to make this series great including greater character development, tonal balancing, and overall a little more flair in the directing. Once this series moves into the standard one hour format and it finds its footing beyond the pilot, this could be a series that lasts with a little cultivation from FOX (that last part is pretty scary). Overall the pilot could have been more exciting, but the roots are in place for an interesting new series.
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