One fine day, my curious brother, as because of his habit, find a series that was of his interest, downloaded the torrent, and watched it, then he called me that I too should watch it, it’s good, he explained it so wonderfully that I thought to give it a try, hence I asked him to send me the DVD. I got that, and now I have completed that I must say that yes he was correct, this series was awesome, and something different and perfect for my liking. So, here’s the review on a Sci-Fi series which telecast on Fox Tv (Never broadcasted in India) named as Fringe, and I just complete 1st series of it which comprised of 20 episodes each of 40-45 minutes duration (may be telecast as 1 hr episode including advertisement).
About the series: This is a sci-fi thriller series, and totally different. It was first telecast in 2008 on Fox TV and the first series continued for 20 episodes, and was an instant hit because of its unique matter. It was telecast Tuesday 9PM from 9 sept 2008 till 12 may 2009. Till now it has completed 3 seasons and the 4rth season is going on currently, although as per wikipedia sources, it saw a decrease in viewership after season 1. 1st season, which I just completed, got 10.2 million viewers, while 3rd season got 5.83 million viewers only. The series is created by JJ Abrams, ALex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, with wonderful theme music composed by JJ Abrams himself, which perfectly suits to the theme. As said above its basically a sci-fi thriller, which deal with an unusual and unofficial branch of science called "Fringe" Science. It’s kind of pseudo science, and can be termed as an orthodox science, something theoretically possible or its more of an hypothesis but is not yet confirmed practically, or it not possible till date. It comprise those events which looks more on fantasy than reality but can be explained by some real-world entities. As per the diagram available on wikipedia, the order of science starting from reality towards fantasy is as follows-: Mainstream Science, Protoscience, Fringe Science, Pseudo Science and Superstitions. This 1st series continues for 20 episodes and the pilot episode (1st episode) started with a bang when an airplane landed with nobody surviving the biological attack.
About the Plot: As written above, this series basically deals with experimentation of biological warfare and this experimentation is conducted on humans. So these are certain odd cases which are quite impossible and unexplainable which are termed as "the Pattern". FBI has a secret division called Fringe Division, led by Philip Broyles, and he recruits Olivia Dunham to investigate the cases. She loved John Scott very much, but he died, and he was termed as a traitor, but then Olivia started investigating these cases with the help of a half-crazy scientist Dr. Walter Bishop and his son Peter Bishop, and somehow all these events related with Dr.Walter’s earlier studies and experimentation. There’s a villian David Robert Jones, who is actually preparing an army to fight some inevitable war, probably from outer world, and he with his team has conducted all these experiments on children, Olivia was included too in that. He headed a so-called terrorist organization ZFT, and they have a bible of their own ZFT which was written by Dr.William Bell who is also owner of a MNC firm Massive Dynamics which is working in the field of science advancement. That bible talks of another world, and the truth is something different, it isn’t about another world, or aliens, but it’s about an alternate world, i.e. a parallel universe. In the end Olivia and everybody comes to know that their exist two worlds on the same earth, two versions. It’s just like enhanced dejavu. Dejavu, as I am sure most of us has experienced many-a-times (It means a feeling about some incident or happening, which when we faced we thought that it actually happens before, and we have already seen all of that, I have experienced it many times and 2/3rd of the world population experienced it), so the concept is that that dejavu is not just a feeling but it’s altogether a different world, where we have been to and come back, but what if it’s enhanced, and we can actually go there and experience more time in it. This is all about the plot of this serial, quite interesting.
About the Characters: 1. FBI Agent Olivia Dunham, played by Anna Torv. She is an australian actress who played the main character of the series - the FBI agent behind all the unusual cases, herself suffering from the same phenomenon. She is brilliant, and always able to find the culprits behind the incidents, half of them finding because of her unusual power of derivation. Anna did justice to the characters, played wonderfully, she never laughs, and always find herself looking for answers, after her losing her love of lifetime John Scott.
MIT dropout and Main scientist’s son Peter Bishop, played by Joshua Jackson. The best character I liked in the movie. He is brilliant having an excellent IQ and is not a normal person by mind, but he’s a college dropout, and indulge himself in many illegal activities, but later on called by Olivia to help her in special cases termed as "the pattern". The canadian Joshua brilliantly put together the act and I liked when he deals patiently, sometimes frustratingly with his half-crazy scientist father.
The half-crazy scientist Dr. Walter Bishop, played by John Noble. He is a genius, and proposes almost every possible things theoretically, although haven’t proved anything by experimenting. He also assist the fringe division in all the cases, and he is so brilliant that just by seeing the victim, he can guess the cause. He also was charged of experimenting on humans, although never proven, and served 14 years in a mental institution after an accident happened in his lab based in Harvard University basement in which his lab assistant died.
FBI Agent and Olivia’s colleague assisting in her cases Charlie Francis, played by Kirk Acevedo. He don’t now how and what Olivia is doing, but he is always there to help her in all her cases, be it helping with finding info or be it helping her in the field grabbing suspects.
Phillip Broyles, played by Lance Reddick, the main Senior Homeland Security officer, who headed the Fringe Division and recruits Olivia to find the reasons behind all these happenings.
FBI Junior Agent Astrid Farnsworth, played by Jasika Nicole. She always assist the scientist Dr. Walter in his experimentation in his labs, taking care of him and getting all the backend info for everybody.
Nina Sharp, played by Blair Brown. She is the COO of the biggest biological research-based company Massive Dynamics, which in involved in every possible scientific experiments in the world, looking for advancement in technology and is is also partnered with US government for their defence solutions.
John Scott, played by Mark Valley, the love interest of Olivia and a FBI agent himself, who lost his life in the initial episodes, and always there in the memories of Olivia, also shared the secrets with her through sharing memories.
The observer, played by Michael Cerveris. He is an observer from the alternate world, who just observes all the happenings in this world, and is bald.
David Robert Jones, played by Jared Harris. He is the head of ZFT organization, who is conducting experiments on humans, without them even knowing it. He wants to create a team to fight an inevitable war.
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