When Fringe premiered last September, critics around the country distilled the new sci-fi drama down to one simple sentence: it's like a cross between Alias and The X-Files. At the time, that's what pretty much guaranteed I'd tune in. I still found that assessment a little odd since I always thought Alias had a healthy dose of influence from Mulder and Scully to begin with.
Regardless, Fringe clearly took a few cues from both shows in many ways. However, after this past Tuesday's episode ("Bad Dreams", S01E17), I stared to get a little annoyed. I've seen this before.
Blame JJ Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci for that. It's one thing to draw ideas from a show you already worked on, but this is bordering on total rip-off. The similarities between Sydney Bristow and Olivia Dunham are so strikingly aligned that it's starting to feel like only names have changed in the hand-off from Alias to Fringe.
From their gifted childhoods shrouded in conspiracies that unfolded during their adult years to being placed in positions that afforded them the opportunities to uncover it all, they might as well be the same person!
The CIA sanctioned tests that Jack Bristow ran on his daughter are the same as the Florida Cortexaphan trials that Olivia was subjected to. Milo Rambaldi and his long list of "before their time" inventions is the same thing as Massive Dynamic and William Bell. Sydney lost Danny and Olivia lost John - both as a result of their jobs. While it hasn't been revealed yet, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Broyles knows more about The Pattern than he's letting on, just in the same way that Arvin Sloan misled Syndey early on. Hell, even Walter looks like Marshall Flinkman with an extra 30+ years tagged on and they certainly share the exact same laboratory quirks.
Like I said - names have changed, but at its core, Fringe is playing out awfully similar to Alias. I'm thrilled that Leonard Nimoy was cast as William Bell and I'm excited to see how the final three episodes play out - I'd love to be proven wrong. All we need now is some creepy familial connection - any takers on Olivia being related to either Walter or Peter?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-23-2009 @ 2:59PM
D said...
Sci-Fi Alias with a dash of stand up comedy from someone like JJ Abrams is like having Emeril cook for you.
Satisfying meal,never dull,familiar ingredients given a new flare a little change in the spice.
Great weekly dinner date.
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4-23-2009 @ 3:41PM
Ryan said...
"All we need now is some creepy familial connection - any takers on Olivia being related to either Walter or Peter?"
Well if she was related to one, she would be related to the other.
Also Peter is more than we have come to believe. Remember Walter did experiments on him as well. Maybe their relationship is actually closer to the Jack-Sydney one.
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4-23-2009 @ 3:41PM
Adam Berkowitz said...
I could criticize the show for being too similar to Alias or X-Files, but I'd rather celebrate that achievement--finally a show worthy of the genre! To boot, while it may seem like a dead end, I'd rather think of these similarities as a springboard which allows JJ's fans to reconnect with something familiar, while catapulting us beyond what Alias and X-files have done.
Personally, I thought "Bad Dreams" was the best episode to date.
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4-23-2009 @ 3:42PM
Richard Lawler said...
I'm more concerned with how much fringe copies itself. How many episodes this season have involved parasites killing their human hosts? First Olivia dreams of herself as her old, dead, partner, now she dreams of herself as her medical test / emotional killer childhood partner.
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4-23-2009 @ 3:42PM
DanGarion said...
Good television annoys you?
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4-24-2009 @ 10:21AM
Tom said...
People who think Fringe is good television annoy me.
4-23-2009 @ 4:15PM
Naf said...
Peter needs to stop being so dismissive of everything. After 17 episodes, you'd think he'd get it by now.
"You killed people in your dreams? No way. That's not possible. No way. No way. That's crrraazzy."
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4-23-2009 @ 4:26PM
matt.hinkley said...
"Peter needs to stop being so dismissive of everything. After 17 episodes, you'd think he'd get it by now."
he was right wasn't he? she didn't kill people the people...the dude was calling for her...not her actually killing them!
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4-24-2009 @ 10:21AM
eugene said...
Oh god... look, these contrivances are hardly new. You could easily draw the same parallels with the first Star Wars movie:
Olivia and Luke have murky hidden pasts.
Olivia and Luke have comedic side kicks
Olivia and Luke may have strange powers that have something to do with their hidden past.
Olivia and Luke are guided by a mysterious mentor who seems to know more than they're letting on.
Olivia and Luke have an enemy that seems to be more connected to them then is immediately obvious.
These types of stories rely on a formula, just like heist films and westerns. Of course you've seen the character before, she's a fucking archetype just like Sydney, just like Luke, just like Dirty Harry, just like Danny Ocean.
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4-24-2009 @ 10:22AM
Tom said...
An excellent point, so I just have to fall back on the fact that Fringe is just so bad at retelling the same story that it ticks me off. Hell, this week it ripped off Medium! There is nothing original about this show--NOTHING! And that is what takes it too far. Plus, the acting a character development is pathetic, and the stories are usually ridiculous to even an open-minded SciFi fan like myself! This show is a flaming turd each week! Its only value is I can blog about how bad it is (which gives me enormous satisfaction, unlike say, watching an episode of the show).
If you want familiar territory that is done with originality, adds to the mythos on which it is based, and makes you think, then try watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Better yet, go out and buy it on DVD.
SAVE SARAH CONNOR!!!
4-24-2009 @ 10:21AM
David said...
Jonathan Toomey is a moron!!!!!
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4-24-2009 @ 11:37AM
Will said...
This was probably the first episode I halfway enjoyed; however, that said, I still think "Fringe" is the poor man's "X-Files." I'm just not really that impressed.
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4-26-2009 @ 10:14AM
Page 48 said...
The thing is, "Alias" was riveting. "Fringe"....not so much. Way too much standalone freak-of-the-week stuff coupled with followup autopsies back at the Harvard lab. Too much goofy schtick from Walter (including weekly penis/anus/bodily fluid reference and weekly untimely food craving). Too much gimmicky comic book Observer guy (with appearances on every FOX show involving a live audience). And, alas, none (repeat, NONE) of that "Alias" edge o' the seat tension or excitement? It's billed as a thriller, but, apparently without the thrills.
"Alias" was brilliant out of the gate but "Fringe" at it's best has a lot of work to do to match a weak episode of "Alias". Sad but true.
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4-28-2009 @ 5:56AM
J. Western said...
"I stared to get a little annoyed. I've seen this before." Maybe all that "staring" made you annoyed :) I like Fringe, I think Walter is wonderful. I think Anna Torv-Valley is a better actress than Jennifer Garner and I loved Alias. I like the relationships in the show. If we look back at the blogosphere in 1993 when The X-Files started you would see, "oh it's just a rip off of the Night Stalker" (kind of was and admittedly so), oh wait there was no blogosphere in 1993... nevermind.
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