In J.J. Abrams I trust. He brought us Felicity, Lost, Alias, and, most recently, the hit FOX show Fringe. If seeing his name on the advertisements didn’t draw you in for the show’s first season, the immensely positive reception must have you dying to test the waters. Fringe begins its sophomore year on Thursday, September 17th, but you’ve still got time to catch up if you missed its debut season, because Warner Home Video will release Fringe: The Complete First Season on DVD and Blu-ray September 8th.
Olivia (Anna Torv), Walter (John Noble), and Peter (Joshua Jackson) are a very unlikely team. Olivia is serious and dedicated to her work, Walter is a brilliant scientist with a kooky side. Peter can do just about anything and has an IQ of 190, but is perpetually sarcastic. Perhaps it’s appropriate that these three make up such an unusual group, because they’re assigned to investigate some very extraordinary events involving fringe science. In particular, the team focuses on “The Pattern,” a series of occurrences consisting of experimentations lacking a source. They eventually discover these happenings may have ties to a mysterious and powerful corporation called Massive Dynamic.
The DVD and BD come with all 20 episodes of the first season, plus over six hours of bonus features. Both the DVD and Blu-ray version sport an impressive list of featurettes, including “Evolution: The Genesis of Fringe,” about how the series came to be; “Behind the Real Science of Fringe,” which looks at actual scientific discoveries that inspired elements of the show; and “A Massive Undertaking: The Making of Fringe.” There’s also “The Casting of Fringe,” “Fringe Visual Effects,” unaired scenes, a gag reel, “Deciphering the Scene,” Roberto Orci’s production diary, “Gene the Cow Montage,” and three full-length commentaries from J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci Alex Kurtman, J.R. Orci, David Goodman, Bryan Burk, Akiva Goldsman, and Jeff Pinkner. If you opt for the Blu-ray edition, you also get “Fringe Pattern Analysis,” which gives viewers a closer look at a particular selection of scenes and access to BD-Live features including commentary on the season one finale episode.
