Fringe: The Complete First Season on DVD and Blu-ray

‘Fringe: The Complete First Season’ will be released on both the DVD and Blu-ray formats on 30 September, 2009. You’ve not heard of the show, or seen it? Channel 9 showed it for a little while late last year and then axed it, but I believe it has just started being shown on Channel 9’s second digital channel, GO.

The show is the brainchild of J.J. Abrams and crew, a group whose CV includes shows such as ‘Lost’ and ‘Alias’, and the recent Star Trek movie reboot. It stars Australian actors Anna Torv and John Noble, ‘Dawson’s Creek’ alumnus Joshua Jackson, and Mark Valley, previously in ‘Boston Legal’.

What’s the show about? To quote the Warner Home Video press release, it:

“…revolves around three unlikely colleagues – a beautiful, young and determined FBI agent (Anna Torv), a brilliant but off-the-wall scientist (John Noble), and his sardonic, roguish son (Joshua Jackson) – who team up to investigate a series of peculiar deaths and disasters known as “The Pattern.” The trio suspects that someone is using the world as a laboratory. And many of the clues lead them to Massive Dynamic, a shadowy global corporation that may be more powerful than any nation.”

Sounds just a little labyrinthine and Lost-like doesn’t it?

There are 20 episodes in the first season in all, and both discs feature about 6 hours of special features.

Special features – DVD and Blu-ray

  • Evolution: The Genesis of Fringe featurette – the creators of the show discuss how the series unfolded and the qualities that make it so unique
  • Behind the Real Science of Fringe featurette – from teleportation to re-animation, Fringe incorporates recent discoveries in science. Consulting experts and scientists who are the authorities in their field address the areas of science which are the inspiration for the show.
  • A Massive Undertaking: The Making of Fringe (on select episodes) – an in-depth exploration of how select episodes came to be made: from the frozen far reaches of shooting the pilot in Toronto, to the weekly challenges of bringing episodes to air
  • The Casting of Fringe- the story, as told by producers and cast, of how Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble and others came to be cast in the series.
  • Fringe Visual Effects featurette – goes deep into the creation of the shared dream state with some of the biggest VFX shots of the show.
  • Dissected Files: Unaired Scenes
  • Unusual Side Effects: Gag Reel
  • Deciphering the Scene
  • Roberto Orci Production Diary
  • Gene the Cow montage
  • Three Full-Length Commentaries from writers/producers, including J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtman, J.R. Orci, David Goodman, Bryan Burk, Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner

Blu-ray special features

The Blu-ray version of Fringe: The Complete First Season has the special features as listed above, plus:

  • Fringe Pattern Analysis – Take a closer look at 6 select scenes from Season 1 with experts who dissect each scene with notes, photos, and diagrams.
  • BD-Live enabled features include Media Centre, My Commentary, and commentary on Season 1 finale episode.

Price and availability

Fringe: The Complete First Season will go on sale on 30 September, at an RRP of $59.95 for the DVD version and $79.95 for Blu-ray.