How Fringe Predicted Technological Fears
SCIENCE FICTION
Fringe only had five seasons and was always on the verge of cancellation. Yet, it ended on its own terms, positioning itself in a different category.
Often compared to The X-Files, Fringe built its own unique sci-fi identity and became a classic in its own right. While The X-Files dominated the pop culture of the 90s with nine seasons and two subsequent films, Fringe only had five seasons and was always on the verge of cancellation. Yet, it ended on its own terms, positioning itself in a different category.
It's understandable that these two shows are frequently compared due to their similarities. Both featured eccentric characters, had "monster of the week" episodes, and dealt with modernized sci-fi scenarios. Both shows even aired on Fox. Broadly speaking, both shows focused on an FBI special unit tasked with investigating bizarre cases that were beyond the capabilities of regular detectives. However, there was a notable difference between the two. The X-Files derived its power and influence from the covert, secretive operations of past governments and leaders. In the post-Roswell UFO incident and Watergate scandal era, trust in the U.S. government was eroding, and The X-Files capitalized on that distrust.
When audiences tuned in to watch secret agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), skepticism of the U.S. government wasn’t seen as unpatriotic anymore—it was considered wise. By the time Fringe premiered in 2008, six years after The X-Files ended, the show was looking forward. This forward-looking perspective allowed Fringe to remain fresh, even though it ended in 2013, because it tapped into modern anxieties and fears.
The Fringe team consisted of three core members: Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), consultant Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), and his father, the mad scientist Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble). Supporting roles included Agent Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) and team leader Special Agent Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick). And we can't forget one of the most peculiar members of the team: Gene, the large dairy cow living in Walter’s lab. These characters were tasked with investigating the scientifically bizarre events that Fringe Division dealt with. While the team formed the heart of the show’s main theme of "family," they investigated disturbing cases that contrasted with their quirky, lovable group dynamic.
From the very first episode, it was clear the show wasn’t going to hold back. A plane, using state-of-the-art autopilot technology, makes a smooth landing. However, there was no one to celebrate. Everyone onboard—passengers, crew, and pilots—was dead, reduced to a sticky soup of disintegrated flesh, leaving only gooey skeletons. This technology-driven autopilot and a key passenger on this flying morgue lead Olivia deeper into her investigation and eventually to the massive multinational corporation, Massive Dynamic. In her first conversation with Nina Sharp (Blair Brown), the company’s CEO, Nina nonchalantly points out that their company is so vast that it's impossible to control everything.
Though Sharp’s motives remain ambiguous, the more intriguing character is the company’s founder, William Bell (Leonard Nimoy), a mysterious figure. Is he good or bad? This question formed the backbone of the first season, as the Fringe Division found themselves constantly running into Massive Dynamic. The rise of multinational tech companies had already begun by 2008, but looking back today, the show almost seemed to warn us about the far-reaching power and control such "dynamic" companies could exert.
Not too long ago, a whistleblower from Facebook revealed how the platform had misled its users, intensifying an already turbulent political climate in the U.S. The platform, now rebranded as Meta, continues to face increasing scrutiny over privacy concerns. The Big Five tech giants—Meta, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon—often find themselves criticized for the social transformations they have sparked in people's lives.
Of course, William Bell was just a fictional character, and both he and Massive Dynamic were only one of the challenges facing the Fringe team. Much like in The Fly, where a scientific experiment turns Jeff Goldblum’s character into a monstrous creature, or in The Thing, where an alien life form terrorizes an Arctic research team, Fringe also delved into body horror. Innocent civilians were transformed into grotesque creatures by mad scientists and bioterrorists, becoming biological weapons themselves.
Fringe explored beloved sci-fi concepts ranging from psychic abilities to teleportation. Beyond that, the cases sometimes bordered on the bizarre, even the fantastical. In one episode, a giant spiky reptilian creature bursts out of a professor's chest like a Xenomorph, later revealed to be a macro-sized version of the flu virus. It’s these bizarre cases where the show really shined. As its name suggests, Fringe dealt with fringe theories, speculative and often outlandish ideas.
In the first episode, likely as a nod to The X-Files, the attacks were linked to a conspiracy theory (Broyles tells Olivia, “They call these events the Pattern, like someone’s conducting experiments on the whole world as if it’s their lab”). While the show moved away from straightforward conspiracy theories after its second season, it continued to feature mad scientists and bioterrorists. Nearly ten years after Fringe ended, it’s not far-fetched to say that real-world science has become even more terrifying than the science in the show.
One of the most Fringe-like real-world events is the mysterious Havana Syndrome, where multiple people experienced unexplained symptoms like dizziness and blurred vision, supposedly caused by a sound-based weapon. Strangely, only U.S. government officials in countries like the U.S. and Cuba were affected. Scientists couldn’t provide a medical explanation, leading some to speculate it was a mass hysteria event. The CIA investigated, but there was no conclusive foreign "interference" found, echoing an episode of Fringe’s third season, "The Box," where a similar soundwave-based weapon was featured.
At first glance, it was just a simple metal box. But when opened, it emitted powerful soundwaves that burst eardrums and rendered those nearby catatonic. This event tied into a larger storyline involving parallel universes, allowing the show to fully step out of The X-Files’ shadow by the third season. In the parallel universe, the world was breaking apart, and the same threat loomed for our reality. Like reading from the pages of an unwritten history book, the writers of Fringe showed viewers that the world could spiral into chaos under many different circumstances.
The most recent real-world example of this is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Despite vaccines being developed and safety measures in place, fears over the vaccines' rapid development persisted. These concerns evolved into a political issue, with science being weaponized as propaganda. And then there’s the increasing frequency of natural disasters, which scientists attribute to climate change. In August 2021, Europe experienced unprecedented floods, particularly devastating in Germany, while in December, a rare nighttime tornado in Kentucky caused severe destruction.
Despite all this, if we could put Fringe under one of Walter’s microscopes, one of its most vital components would be hope. Though the show’s scenarios involved apocalyptic threats and terrifying body deformities, it never fully succumbed to darkness. While The X-Files thrived on conspiracy theories and distrust of government, Fringe used its sci-fi themes not to foster pessimism but to caution and warn its viewers. The show reminded us that, despite technological and scientific advancements, those in power are still human in the end.