# TV series: Fringe (2008+), and Warehouse 13 (2009+)



## Anthony G Williams (Jan 11, 2013)

The success of that famous TV series *The X-Files*, which ran from 1993 to 2002 (was it really that long ago?), has obviously inspired some other programme makers. Two different TV series came along only a year apart, both featuring US government agents who specialise in investigating paranormal phenomena. I've just started to watch them and have seen the first few episodes of each.

*Fringe* features Anna Torv as FBI Agent Olivia Dunham, who becomes involved in investigating some very strange occurrences in the field of "fringe science". The first involves a plane on a scheduled flight which lands automatically, with all the passengers and crew not only dead but with little more than skeletons left of them. To solve the mystery Dunham has to recruit an awkward pair of scientific geniuses, father and son team Walter and Peter Bishop (John Noble and Joshua Jackson). She and her team are then seconded to the Department of Homeland Security, working under Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick) who tells her that what she witnessed is only one of many similar occurrences known as "the Pattern".  Subsequent episodes involve Dunham investigating other mysterious incidents with the aid of Peter Bishop, while his father, still struggling with the after-effects of a long stay in a secure mental unit, works in a makeshift laboratory to discover what is happening and how to counter it.

*Warehouse 13 *features Joanne Kelly as Myka Bering and Eddie McClintock as Pete Lattimer, twoSecret Service Agents who are assigned to a vast, isolated warehouse in a desolate part of the country in order to assist the curator, Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek), in his task of collecting any mysterious objects with unexplained powers which might prove dangerous if left in circulation. The warehouse contents vary from secret inventions by famous scientists to mythological items which contain strange forms of energy which may cause mayhem if released. The agents travel the country, investigating unexplained occurrences to discover whether or not such objects might be involved (which naturally they usually are) and bringing them back for safe keeping. 

How do the two series compare? *Fringe* is more similar in mood to *The X-Files* in that it treats its subject more seriously and frequently involves gruesome biological/medical scenes which push it towards the horror field. I hope this doesn't get worse as it was the increasingly horrific nature of *The X-Files* which eventually turned me off it. On the other hand, it has Anna Torv who has deservedly won awards for her compelling performance in the series; she has immediately joined the select group of actors whose presence is an incentive for me to watch whatever she's in. *Warehouse 13 *has a different feel; it is much lighter with a constant thread of humour running through it, particularly in the odd-couple relationship between the two agents, and it lacks the gruesome aspects. The mood is much more like *Raiders of the Lost Ark*, and there is even a direct connection with that film, in the final scene of which we see the Ark of the Covenant being boxed up and deposited in a vast government warehouse full of such boxes. Well, in effect that's Warehouse 13!

According to the Wiki summaries, both series are regarded as improving as they progress, so it looks as if I may be following them for a while.

 (An extract from my SFF blog: http://sciencefictionfantasy.blogspot.co.uk/)


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## Warren_Paul (Jan 11, 2013)

Having been a fan of Fringe from the very first episode and still watching 5 years later never having missed a single episode I can assure you it really does continue to improve as the episodes go on - although the latest season is debatable by many but I still believe the show is far, far better than how it started. If all I had was the episodic first season to go off, I'd never believe where the show has gone or how good the story has become.

The first season was exploring "The Pattern" in an X-Files episodic style. The second season and later is much, much more than that.


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## GWakeling (Jan 15, 2013)

Warren_Paul said:


> Having been a fan of Fringe from the very first episode and still watching 5 years later never having missed a single episode I can assure you it really does continue to improve as the episodes go on -



I totally agree. The first time I attempted to watch Fringe, I got to episode 3 or 4 and gave up. Just before Christmas, I started a marathon session of back-to-back series and now am absolutely hooked on this show. I'm gutted it's ending!


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## Warren_Paul (Jan 15, 2013)

GWakeling said:


> I'm gutted it's ending!



Considering the shift from episodic random investigations to a real story that happened in the second season, it has to end at some point. Crime dramas and sitcoms for instance can keep going because each episode is a standalone story with very little of an over-aching plot present (and even when there is a plot, it is just something that can easily end and be replaced by something else). But serialised shows, like what Fringe has become, have an end point that they can't go past. And if they try to, you get shows like Supernatural that started off strong, finished its story, yet then tried to keep going - it didn't work. Supernatural lost the plot and is starting to feel more a soap opera than a serialised show.


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## GWakeling (Jan 15, 2013)

Oh no, I totally agree and let's be honest, the final season was totally tacked on and has a different feel because the producers were given a one final season deal. However, it's been said many times in interviews that they had enough for 7 or 8 seasons work, but had to cut a lot because they were initially cancelled at season 4 before being given the small repeal. 

And I agree about Supernatural - it's totally lost it's way. I still watch, but I'm never waiting for the next episode to air.


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## Warren_Paul (Jan 16, 2013)

Yes, the final season is a compressed version, cut to the extreme in order to make the story able to be finished a couple of seasons early, and it shows, but the story always was leading up to this point. You can see all the hints leading up to it even back in the first season.


So hard to write responses without adding in spoilers.


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## GWakeling (Jan 16, 2013)

Warren_Paul said:


> So hard to write responses without adding in spoilers.



EXTREMELY hard!


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