Abrams & Jackson Talk Fringe

Everyone who talks about the new Fox series Fringe invariably compares it to The X-Files which J.J. Abrams claims he has never seen. . . okay, so he was kidding, the truth is, JJ Abrams loves X-Files, Twilight Zone and Night Stalker, but not all of his inspiration comes from genre shows.

“I would say [Fringe is] closer to ER, where you have these ongoing relationships, these ongoing storylines and yet week-to-week when the door bursts open you’re faced with the insane urgent situation of the week,” says Abrams.  “[Another] show I loved was The Practice. That’s another show that would do that well, which is they would deal with the interpersonal relationship stuff. I am so interested in those relationships. When I look back at doing Felicity, and I’m sure Josh felt this way on Dawson’s Creek as well, the problem with those shows is that there’s nothing to interrupt the relationship story. So while there are things here and there that you come up with, there was no franchise that would distract the main characters from their emotional storyline.

“I think a show like ER is a good example of a show where if these characters were not doctors and they were just hanging out, you’d go through their emotional stories in a few episodes. But because of what’s happening everyday, every week on those shows, there’s stuff they have to deal with, there’re fires to put out. . .so The X-Files is definitely a good model. ER for some reason is one that feels more in line with the rhythm of what we’re doing.”

Or maybe he should call it ER on steroids as the plot lines for Fringe tend to lean toward fantastical.

“The truth is that when we did the pilot for Lost, we had the monster appear at the end of the first act. We did that very consciously because we wanted to say to the audience, ‘We’re jumping the shark now,’ like we’re doing crazy stuff from the beginning. We’re not going to wait. On Fringe, we very consciously did what is, in many ways, a preposterous, far-fetched scientific story point in order to say to the audience, ‘This is what you’re going to be getting on the show.’”

But having said that, Abrams back pedals a bit saying that not all of the Fringe plotlines are really as far-fetched as they may seem.

“The show is obviously coming out at a time when every week we hear about some kind of potentially horrifying scientific breakthrough. The reality is that we are in a time where science is out of control. The show will definitely be pushing the edge of the envelope, but I don’t think it’s going to be about that. I don’t think we’re going to be trying to top ourselves every week because then we’ll just be in a race against ourselves and then there’s no way to win that one.

“I feel like the key is to tell stories that are as compelling, as emotional, as funny and certainly as weird and out there as possible, but not to try and have it be exploiting that aspect of the show. I would rather be delving into who these people are and what makes them tick than doing something just for shock value.”

It’s this ‘delving’ into the relationships that attracted Joshua Jackson to the project in the first place.  After years on the successful teen drama Dawson’s Creek, Jackson was content to walk away from TV until Fringe came along.

“TV is exhausting,” says Jackson.  “It takes a little while to recover.”

But now he’s ready to put Pacey behind him as he takes on this new role as Peter Bishop, son of the mad scientist who may be the key to “the Pattern.”

“[Peter's] the extremely reluctant go-between who’s really only brought in by happenstance and then can’t get himself out. [He's the] translator more often than not between “Walter,” who is brilliant, but sort of half cracked, and then “Olivia,” who is an intensely no-nonsense type person. That’s an interesting dynamic because ultimately what that boils down to is a very typical dysfunctional family. And you put that dynamic, something that’s relatable and understandable to everybody, and you put it in this fantastically outrageous world of Fringe and it makes for an interesting day’s work.”

Interesting is putting it mildly.  With car chases, exploding buildings, oozing body parts and cows, there’s an awful lot happening in Peter’s new world, maybe even some romance?

“There’s no doubt going to be a sort of slow burn relationship that develops between [Peter and Olivia],” says Abrams. “I don’t think it will happen exactly as you might think. But there obviously will be a dynamic there that we will play up, but it needs to be done right. There’s a lot going on their lives on the show that are more urgent issues, but there’s definitely going to be over time a relationship between the characters.”

But not in the pilot, says Jackson.  “It would be inappropriate in the pilot because it’s awkward hitting on a woman when her boyfriend is dying in front of her eyes.”

Yeah, I think we’re all in agreement on that point.

Where things get a little vague is in putting a genre label on Fringe.

“The weird thing about Fringe is that, although you can say it’s science fiction, a lot of what we’re talking about is stuff that is at least in the realm of possibility,” says Abrams.  “Some of the stuff that we’re talking about now is not as much sci fi as much as it is just sci, like when Star Trek came out and they had their communicators, that was a cool dream and now we all have communicators in our pockets and it’s real. So when we’re working on an episode and we read, as we did a week ago, that they think we’ve cracked invisibility, you’re like, ‘Okay.’  The stuff that you just would never in a million years think is actually possible is happening every day.

“I think we may be living in the golden age of sci fi for the TV, but I think it’s partially because we’re living in an incredibly advanced, and almost uncontrollably so, period of scientific achievement. It’s pushing that comfortable, almost quaint version of what sci fi is to a very different place, and that’s where Fringe lives.

Fringe premieres tonight, Tuesday, September 9^th at 8 p.m. on FOX.

Photos courtesy of Fox.