THRESHOLD: THE COMPLETE SERIES

By: John Sinnott
Review Date: Thursday, August 24, 2006

2005 was the year of the alien invasion show, with SURFACE, THRESHOLD, and INVASION all premiering within weeks of each other on major networks. While none of these shows were renewed for a second season, they are getting a second chance on DVD. One of the more promising shows from this crop was THRESHOLD, a sort of reverse X-FILES. Instead of following people trying to penetrate a government cover-up, this show was told from inside the conspiracy and followed their steps as they covertly tried to save the Earth from an alien takeover.

After a naval vessel comes in contact with an alien probe, the crew is dramatically affected. A piercing sound from the object rewrites the DNA of the crew, and this causes them to either die in a horrific fashion or... change. The survivors become much stronger, nearly indestructible, and have the overwhelming urge to infect other people.

In response to this first contact, the government initiates Threshold, a series of protocols that were created for such an event. A small team of experts is gathered together lead by Dr. Molly Caffrey (Carla Gugino) and consisting of medical expert and curmudgeon Dr. Nigel Fenway (Brent Spiner), Lucas Pegg (Robert Patrick Benedict) a slightly insecure and rather geeky aerospace engineer, and the diminutive Arthur Ramsey (Peter Dinklage) who is a linguist and mathematician with an overactive libido. Rounding out the team is Sean Cavennaugh (Brian Van Holt) the muscle of the team and J.T. Baylock (Charles S. Dutton), the liaison with the government.

This small group has to track down the infected crewmen as well as making sure the public doesn't learn of the invasion. With multiple means of infection and few clues as to the missing crewmen's whereabouts, the team finds themselves rushing to react to each latest infection while desperately trying to save humanity.

This show had a hard time finding its voice. It would jump from play like a hard science fiction show one week then become a police procedural or horror show the next. While many of these episodes were good, it was awkward. There wasn't a strong sense of continuity and the myriad of dropped plots didn't help either.

It wasn't all bad though. The horrific aspects of the show worked very well, and the premise was being developed nicely with some unexpected twists. As the show progressed, it picked up steam. The characters became more fully developed and the plots started to grow out of things that had occurred before. Unfortunately it was a case of too little too late and the show was cancelled before the season was even finished. While they weren't able to wrap up all of the plots, the show has a final sequence that does provide a feeling of closure.


The complete series, including four episodes that were never aired on CBS, comes with some good bonus material. There is an interesting commentary over the two-hour pilot with producers David Goyer and Brannon Braga who revel a lot of behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and a four part featurette on the show which also gives a lot of interesting information, including the plans they had for future episodes and seasons.

While it's not perfect, THRESHOLD held a lot of untapped potential that was just emerging as the series got the axe. It's well worth checking out.