Fringe

Starring: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Jasika Nicole, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Michael Cerveris, Kirk Acevado, Seth Gabel, Leonard Nimoy, & Mark Valley

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

It's rare for me to give a television show a perfect rating, but I will say, without hesitation, that Fringe is the best original Science Fiction show to come along in thirty years. When J.J Abrams started working on his follow up to Lost, he wanted to create a show that touched on everything that had been done before it. Fringe takes elements of Star Trek, The X-Files, The Twilight Zone, and others, and incorporates them all into his story. It was a show that was truly ahead of it's time and initially had a lot of network support. 

The premier episode on FOX is the most expensive pilot episode ever made and the fans love it. The first two seasons of Fringe were highly rated, but not in the top ten. Not realizing what they had or the cult following it had behind it, FOX started moving the show around, eventually putting in on Friday nights, where it died after just 100 episodes. Today, the show is carried on in books and several of the cast have talked about the possibility of having it turned into a film franchise. 

The story of Fringe began in 2008, when an airplane with 250 passengers on board, landed itself in Boston, without any survivors. All the agencies show up, including the FBI, who send their liaison officer, Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv). Dunham and her partner/lover are sent to do the dirty work, but stumble upon something unexpected, which puts them at the head of the investigation team. Not believing what she saw, Dunham goes in search of help, and finds a brilliant scientist, who used to do classified experiments for the U.S. Government. There is a problem of course, as the scientist, Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), has been in a mental institution for 17 years. In order to get him out, Dunham must track down and recruit the help of Bishop's son, Peter (Joshua Jackson), who is a con-man, working out of Iraq. With the team in place, they work to solve the impossible case and are asked by Col. Philip Broyles (Lance Reddick), to become part of a classified team of FBI members, who are assigned to work on the strange and unexplainable. 

From parallel universes to time travel to human experimentation and even monsters, Fringe really incorporated everything they could into the story, in one way or another. Anna Torv stars as Agent Olivia Dunham and what a star she is. How J.J. Abrams found her is nothing short of amazing in and of itself. Torv hadn't been in very many things, but had an impressive background, that includes her being a martial arts expert, who speaks multiple languages. They put her talents to use and make her the new head investigator of the Fringe division. Torv was the action star of the show, who turned out to be even more, when the cast met their duplicates from the alternate universe in season 3. I really can not express in words how terrific this woman was and how important her character was to every fascist of the story.

As for the other main character of the story, that's Dr. Walter Bishop played by John Noble. Noble is one of those guys, you've seen in movies and on television all the time, but also the kind of guy whose name you probably didn't know. With Dr. Walter Bishop, John Noble established himself as a Sci-Fi legend. Much in the way his former partner William Bell, played by Leonard Nimoy, is associated with Spock, Noble and Bishop will be forever linked. Not only does his character bring a brilliant mind to the cast, but also brings humor to the show. After being locked in a mental hospital for 17 years, there isn't much Walter won't say or do. He loves to eat, do LSD, and tell people exactly what he thinks, leading to some of the best one-liners I have ever heard in a Science Fiction series.

Fringe isn't all about the strange and unusual, it's also about family, action, love, and humor. I can tell you that it is the single most addictive show I've seen in my entire life. I wound up watching all 100 episodes in under 3 months, and now that it's over, I find myself missing it and thinking about it often. Even though I'm a Netflix member with a large collection, for almost 2 weeks now, I have been sampling other series, looking for something to fill the void. I'm finding myself having trouble even getting into similar shows, the way I got into Fringe. It is one of the best television shows I have ever seen. If you're into Science Fiction this show is an absolute must see. If you're not into Science Fiction, there is still a ton of stuff here for you as well. Do yourselves a favor and treat yourself to this remarkable show while it is still streaming on Netflix.