FRINGE vs THE X-FILES

Fringe Vs The X-Files, I’m sure you’ve all been wondering…well maybe not, since most of you probably have better things to do. However, as a fan, I feel I should share my thoughts on the matter.

Let’s go back to the beginning. BOOM! The galaxy is born and in this…that’s too far back isn’t it? Okay, all kidding aside, it pretty much started with The Twilight Zone. You had a unique premise of exploring parallel earths of sorts and watching people go through a seemingly hellish nightmare unaware that they stepped into the aforementioned “Zone” that brought them there.

It was full of original stories (one of which was “arguably” the basis for James Cameron’s The Terminator) and had a fair share of memorable episodes, one of which starring William Shatner, a plane and  “Something on the wing”. Eventually, The Twilight Zone ended and thus, so did an era. But in it’s wake came The Outer Limits.

You see, once in awhile something special arrives on your Television (or in any other form of media). You get an original show with an original premise. While it doesn’t always start off quite well, you are interested and watch each and every week. Some of them will become popular but most of the time they get canceled or just fade into obscurity. The popular ones become a phenomenon and a cult following usually develops. After said show inevitably ends, another show comes along that has a similar idea or premise as the previous one. It’s debatable (sometimes heavily) whether or not the new show is ripping off or paying homage to it. I.E. another debate: Twilight Zone vs The Outer Limits.

And while The Outer Limits focused more heavily on Science Fiction than The Twilight Zone did, the show did have a similar style. But was it a rip off or an homage? Aye, there is the rub.

There is no question that The Outer Limits was inspired by The Twilight Zone, but in turn The Twilight Zone was inspired by Radio Shows (The Weird Circle, X Minus One) and earlier TV Shows such as Tales of Tomorrow, What You Need and Science Fiction Theater. And of course the radio work of (Twilight Zone creator) Rod Serling’s hero: dramatist Norman Corwin.

My point? Every idea comes from somewhere, it’s very difficult to just pluck one out of thin air, though it can be done, some of them subconsciously were inspired by something else. Rod Serling was inspired by some familiar concepts and made it his own, thus giving birth to a cult classic. This has been done time and again. Though as time passes, it becomes increasingly difficult to come up with something wholly original or at least a new spin on an already used concept and make it fresh. Especially in this day and age where we get more rip offs than homages and in turn have to suffer remake upon remake. It becomes very taxing.

Mystery and suspense shows of all kinds have been done before and have been around for ages. Hell almost every idea/concept conceivable has been around forever. And while you can connect some of them to previous efforts, the ones that are hard to take apart and pick out the references are the ones that are usually more remembered because there was something that wasn’t done before.

People still talk about The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, both shows have the same storytelling devices but Serling’s is the most memorable because (amongst other things) of it’s originality. It also came up with more memorable and compelling stories which in some circles, people do still talk about. Good shows are the ones that keep people talking even long after they’re gone. And I don’t think that will be the case with Fringe. But I will get to that.

In the years to come, both The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits were remade and revived, but didn’t really have the flavor of the originals. Eventually, other mystery and suspense shows came and went. Some became quite popular and gained cult followings of their own such as: Kolchack: The Night Stalker. But in April of 1990, it seemed we were about to be treated to another television phenomena.

Twin Peaks, though short lived, was a breath of fresh air. It was different and while surreal, it got people talking, well, more specifically asking the same question: “Who killed Laura Palmer?”  At the center of the story was an FBI Agent named Dale Cooper who investigated a murder in a small town. The mystery deepened as he got to know each person in the town. The many people he encountered had many odd quirks but in turn, so did he. It’s one of the reasons why we loved it so much. People would tune in just to find out if the mystery would be solved. Sadly, due to creative differences, the show only lasted 2 seasons and left us in June the following year.

Of course, in it’s wake it had spawned a few imitators, even to this day. Such as: Northern Exposure, the recently cancelled Happy Town, even some video games like: Deadly Premonition and Puzzle Agent.

Co Creator David Lynch was apparently inspired by Peyton Place, a film which dealt with the exposure of the secrets of people in a small mill town in New England. Once again, you had a show that took a premise that had been done and did something new with it and made it it’s own. Which people still talk about to this day.

But lightning seemed to strike twice in the 90’s. After Twin Peaks, in 1993 The X-Files debuted. It became a cult hit and lasted 9 seasons. Show creator Chris Carter stated that he was inspired by Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Twin Peaks. It even featured some cast members from the show itself.

The X-Files, much like Twin Peaks, centered around an FBI Agent. His name was Fox Mulder and he was on a one man crusade to expose “The Truth” the government was hiding. But Mulder was given a partner, FBI Agent Dana Scully who was the skeptic. Each episode dealt with Mulder getting closer and closer to the truth, only to have it be snatched away and later be given a rational explanation by Scully. But Mulder didn’t give up his crusade and strongly believed that the truth was out there.

Out of the shows I’ve mentioned here, this one had the longest run (so far). And just like the others, has a cult following and was heavily talked about when it was on the air. It is debated that after the fifth season, the show’s quality took a dip and while it was primarily filmed in Vancouver, Canada, after the fifth season it moved to California taking away it’s darker tone and trading it for sunnier skies.

Now, ideas are really nothing without quality to back it up. You could have come up with the most brilliant and original idea ever imaginable, but if it’s not executed properly it will fail and will barely be remembered, if at all. The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Kolchak, Twin Peaks, The X-Files; those shows had quality writing and episodes. Each has it’s fair share of memorable moments, all of which are due to the quality of it’s production. They shows are remembered because of all those things that came together to make it work. From it’s conception, creation and execution. Some of them were hindered in their broadcast longevity due to behind the scenes drama, simply because the networks that they were on couldn’t understand what they had. But because they were so unique in their own ways, it’s longevity lasts forever in the collective minds of it’s fans.

Each was inspired in some way by it’s predecessor or has some relation to things that came before. In a way, they complement each other and can be appreciated on their own. Sometimes it can be fun to cherry pick the references or similarities they may have in relation to each other.

The X-Files concluded it’s long run in 2002. And of course, people still wanted more. Sadly, once we got our wish, we didn’t really like it as much (see X-Files: I want to believe…well, don’t see it just look it up).

Lost was the next phenomenon to occur. Inspired by: Lord of the Flies, Cast Away, Gilligan’s Island (no, really) Survivor and the PC game Myst; it told the story of a group of plane crash survivors who ended up on a mysterious island. Just like Twin Peaks, people talked about the mystery. Why were they there? What was the island? etc. The show had quality writing, tested the audience and kept them glued to the television waiting for another piece of this seemingly never ending puzzle.

Lost ran for 6 seasons from September 2004-May 2010. It’s finale was one of the most anticipated to date. Sadly, it’s ending divided the fandom and it’s popularity seemingly died down. But it is still quite popular among many.

Lost’s premise, just like others had been done before, interestingly enough by Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling. The show was called The New People. It focused on a group of young college students who were returning from a trip in Southeast Asia when their plane crashed on an island in the south Pacific Ocean. The crash killed several of the college students, and all but one of the adults, who was badly injured and later died. The surviving students were the only human life remaining on the island. The island was unusual in that it had been built up as a site for a potential above-ground nuclear test which never took place, leaving all of the buildings and (improbably) supplies untouched and ready for use by the survivors.

“The New People” reflected the youth-oriented, counter culture of the ’60s. All people over 30 were now dead, and it was up to the young people to start a new society on the island. This premise is also similar to William Golding’s 1954 novel Lord of The Flies.

The New People lasted for one season for 17 episodes and ran from September 1969-January 1970. Granted, this was most likely not one of the other inspirations for Lost and I’m sure that most fans don’t really know about The New People, unless of course they are also Rod Serling fans. It’s just interesting how we’ve basically come full circle here.

During Lost’s run, in 2005 NBC tried to do a similar premise (possible ripoff) to Lost called Flight 29 Down which was about teenagers who crash landed on an island and tried to survive and yadda, yadda. This was more akin to The New People than Lost really, it was mostly aimed at younger viewers and only lasted until 2007 for 3 seasons. Anybody remember this? Didn’t think so.

Which brings us to, Fringe. It premiered in September 2008 and (as of this writing) is still on the air. The show was created by basically the same team that brought you Lost. Similar to The X-Files, it deals with an FBI Agent (this time a female) named Olivia Dunham who, with a team of sorts in a small section called “Fringe Division” under the supervision of Homeland Security, uses Fringe Science to investigate bizarre cases involving the unexplainable. The show has been described as a cross between The X-Files, Altered States, The Twilight Zone and Dark Angel.

The show’s creators, J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have said that Fringe is a direct descendant of The X-Files. It was one of the main inspirations for the show. Hell, they even make references to it, it could almost be considered a sequel to The X-Files. Granted that since the show hasn’t as of yet finished it’s run and is only on it’s 3rd season, not much can really be said. In it’s first season, it was very similar in tone to The X-Files, but as the show went on, it strayed away from the mold and has or is beginning to find it’s own voice.

The writing and quality of the show is very well done. It’s a show that embraces what’s come before and keeps you entertained and watching. It also keeps you guessing. Sometimes there are unexpected twists or character development. Now, as with most things, it really depends on how you look at it. If you take it for what it is, or just watch it for the drama, that of course is fine, but you may or may not be interested for long. What lies in the longevity of a show is it’s mythology.

Fringe and all the other shows that have come before it have a pretty excellent and interesting mythos. The only problem with The X-Files is that towards the end, it just seemed to come apart (arguably like Lost) and got convoluted, maybe it ran longer than it should have. Fringe is still in it’s beginnings and hopefully it’s creators have things thought out in the long term.

Television shows of this caliber usually don’t find their stride until the 3rd season. Fringe has it’s fans and cult following and it is doing well, but even though it’s too early to tell, in my opinion I don’t think this show will be that memorable. It’s just too similar to what’s been done before. It’s a fun show, sure, and we need those but people are making it out to be more than it really is. I don’t believe it’s all flash and no substance, that’s not true at all. What I believe is that it is it’s hyperbole that is it’s undoing.

Some episodes to me come off as a little bland and it just seems to take itself too seriously. Except maybe for one episode (Brown Betty), I don’t think the show has fun with it’s self. I think the problem lies in it’s narrative technique, it’s really nothing new.

As I’ve said, the show is still in it’s beginnings and maybe it’s still too early and possibly unfair to prejudge it. An of course as time passes, it becomes more difficult to come up with anything new. Or maybe people just need to take more risks. But currently, hyperbole and nostalgia are taking over quality. And because of this, the line is becoming more and more blurred as to what is an homage and what is a ripoff. Ideas in shows are presented to be clever and are even hyped up to be so, but when you really look at it they aren’t so clever. Which is a shame because it ruins your concept. Stop putting the man behind the curtain. Do the actual work.

It’s been said that every generation needs it’s own “thing”, whether that “thing” be a TV show or some other media phenomenon, every generation has something special about it. I heard that Fringe has been labeled as the next X-Files. Well, to me, I feel it’s more akin to The Outer Limits.

And that’s all I have to say. Until the next wave.

T.