Rewind: Why I Like Fringe (slightly) More than X-Files

Hey folks!

Several months ago, I heard Prime had picked up the rights to do another Stargate series. Having never watched the original Stargate or the Atlantis spin-off, I was intrigued. Batgirl hadn't seen the series since it debuted in the late 90s, so she was on board for some long-term sci-fi watching, a few at a time. We're in season 9 of 10! (As an aside, I just heard Prime is no longer interested in doing a new series. Boo! Anway...)

Last night, we saw an episode with John Noble playing a small part. We both yelled, "Walter!" at the screen, because for us, John Noble's defining role was as that wild and woolly scientist on the sci-fi series Fringe. (Itself now something that debuted a while back. Sheesh, I'm sensing a threme. Anyway...) 

Science! (in the UK)

Which reminded me I once wrote a short article about Fringe and Walter, and did so by comparing it to X-Files, which I've added and updated hereafter.

 I was a big fan of the X-Files in its day. The Truth Is Out There! The first episode I saw was "Squeeze" (thanks to my friend Monte telling me there was this show I just had to see).

Many years have passed, and now I've become a big fan of Fringe. I mean, come on; coretexiphan!

At some point after watching Fringe and finishing a rewatch of X-Files, I was struck by the wide philosophical difference between the two shows. These differences influence a given plot in a noticeable, characteristic fashion (though of course outliers exist).

Both shows deal with unexplained, odd, and unlikely phenomena. In fact, I'd say it's obvious that The X-Files was a big influence on Fringe.

In the X-Files, many episodes are devoted to the idea that society can't or won't accept the Truth that Is Out There. Villains are many times scientists working in secret labs or in government facilities. Or, if scientists are not outright villains, then they are part of an uncaring establishment, hidebound in its dogmatic acceptance of the world. In fact, at one point, the FBI agent Dana Scully goes so far as to tell her partner Mulder that she's always accepted the facts that "science" has taught her, and is unwilling to accept that things might be different (which is an odd way to look at science).

In Fringe, one of the main characters is a scientist. All the crazy phenomena and odd occurrences that threaten the world in Fringe are dealt with and mediated by science and the application of reason. Sure, reason in the form of Walter Bishop, but back off, man, he's a scientist.

Thus, my comparison: The X-Files was slightly suspicious of the scientific method, while Fringe is more apt to embrace it. The X-Files is more likely to reject that science can solve the problems that beset us (problems like killer insects escaped the Pleistocene and aliens who live in black goo, granted), while Fringe usually holds that only science can save us (from parallel-dimension shape shifters and collapsing universes, sure). On The X-Files, scientists are more likely to be part of a conspiracy, while on Fringe, scientists are more likely to show us how things really are.

Mainly, I think I've pegged that both these shows lie on a continuum, and those points are in different locations between 'embrace science' and 'suspect science.'

I think you can probably guess--though I love both of these shows--which one I prefer.

Also, Stargate! Can't wait to get into Atlantis after we finish SG-1.