So your friends are sci-fi geeks and they keep raving about this awesome show called Fringe. Except it’s confusing, right? There’s two of every character. Weird people show up each week with different abilities and you’re never sure exactly what’s happening from one episode to the next.

Well, we’re here to bring you up to speed on Fringe in bulletpoint form! Nothing’s going to replace watching the episodes – go out and get yourself some box sets – but we’ll hopefully gloss over four seasons of Fringe in about five minutes!

Why ‘Fringe’?

Fringe gets its name from the idea of ‘fringe science‘ – the study of areas that are traditionally paranormal, like telepathy, telekinesis, time travel among other things. You can see the types of themes that the show explores in the titles for the series.

The Fringe division in the show is a special task force set up to investigate these seemingly supernatural phenomenon. The Fringe division also exists in the parallel universe, but it’s better funded, quasi-militaristic and has closer ties to government. We’ll get to the alt-universe in a minute, don’t worry!

The characters and the people who play them

Okay, the above picture has all the main cast and characters. Left to right, here’s who they are:

• Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole): Astrid is Walter Bishop’s lab assistant. She’s frequently seen helping him with his experiments, and she’s incredibly fond of the man, despite the fact that he always gets her name wrong.
• Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick): Broyles runs the Fringe Division both in the original and alternate universes. He’s not so active these days, and his alt-version died trying to save Olivia Dunham in the last season.
• Walter Bishop (John Noble): Misguided scientist, Walter spend years in a mental institution after performing a series of unethical experiments. He loves nothing more than recreational drugs and has a sweet tooth. Oh, yeah, and after his young son died, he created a machine to cross over to an alternative universe and steal the alternative version of his son Peter. You heard me right. Sadly, when Walter crossed over, he set in motion the gradual ‘bleeding’ together of the two universes that threatens to destroy them all. Heavy.
• Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv): Dunham is an FBI agent who was assigned to the Fringe team. However, over the course of time, we discover that Olivia has ties to Walter Bishop – she was one of the Cortexephan children that Walter experimented on when they were younger. She is also romantically involved with Peter Bishop in the original timeline of the show, although her current Facebook status probably reads ‘It’s Complicated’.
• PeterBishop (Joshua Jackson): Peter is the son that Walter stole from the other universe, trigging the disintegration of two worlds. He was estranged from his father and spent some time as a con man before Dunham and Broyles engaged him to get Walter released. Their relationship became fonder over time, until Peter learned the truth about his kidnapping, after which he went missing. Peter was thought to be the key to a device which brought the two universes together. When he eventually triggered this device, Peter vanished from existence, creating an entirely new reality in which he never existed. Even hardcore Fringe fans get headaches around this point. Peter has somehow managed to return to existence, baffling everybody. We’re still not sure how or why.
• Nina Sharp (Blair Brown): The head of Massive Dynamic, Nina’s been an enigmatic figure over the years. We’re never entirely sure whether she’s working with or against the Fringe division. She seems to be aware of many of the phenomena that Olivia Dunham discovers and has sometimes got experience of performing secretive experiments through Massive Dynamic.
• Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel): A rare character, we met the alternative universe version of Lincoln Lee before we met his Earth-1 equivalent. In the alt-universe, Lincoln is a member of Fringe, and quite a gung-ho character. In Earth-1, Lincoln is an FBI agent, but far more timid than his doppelganger. He only joins the Fringe division on Earth-1 in the fourth season, despite the character having been on the show since the Season 2 finale.

Parallel Universes and their effect:

Anna Torv as the two versions of Olivia Dunham

At the heart of Fringe these days are the parallel universes. They’ve spawned a ton of jargon both on the show and in the fandom. For instance, there are two Olivia Dunhams: on Earth-1 (the original universe the show is set in), Olivia is usually quite serious and often very businesslike. On Earth-2, Olivia is a little looser and more sarcastic and she has red hair. The two characters have come to be known affectionately as Ourlivia and Fauxlivia.

Likewise, Walter Bishop is the Secretary of Defense in the alternative universe. He’s a far more shrewd character than our Walter, which earns him the nickname of Walternate.

Episode titles

Since the introduction of the parellel universes, Fringe adopted a series of different title screens. The silver titles meant the episode would be primarily in the original universe, while the red titles meant the episode was in the alt-verse. Orange titles – I think – are a blend of both universes. And in a special episode set in the 80s, the show had a special retro-themed title sequence.

The Observers

Michael Cerveris as September

Ah, let’s not forget about the Observers! An intriguing mix of mysterious watchers meets Where’s Waldo. They operate above and beyond the events in each episode, often literally just observing events and ensuring that everything is progressing according to some pre-ordained plan. However, even when the Observers aren’t playing a prominent role in the episodes, there’s usually one to be spotted lurking in the background somewhere. Check out The Observer Files for proof.

Here’s what we know about Observers:

• They mostly observe events that the Fringe division are involved in.
• There are several Observers, and they interact both through speech and apparently telepathically.
• They’re all named after months of the year. The most prominent Observer is called September and we’re likely to find out more about him in the next episode.
• Observers don’t typically have direct contact with anyone, but we know that Walter Bishop has spoken with them in the past. One has appeared to Olivia, and Peter will be seen questionning September.
• They’ve been seen to have specialist, retro-styled technology that they use in their work.

Go here to read Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman talk about the development of the Observers.

Elsewhere: Read io9′s fantastic recap of the important plot points from the first two seasons of Fringe. Another great starting point!

What’ve we missed?

If you’re a Fringe fan, here’s your opportunity to fill in new viewers on what they’ve missed and what you love about the show. Please get involved in the comments thread, share your thoughts and most importantly help new Fringe converts find this post.

I wrote this because I think it’s one thing to run a campaign to gain new viewers, but we’ve got to help those new viewers get on board quickly! And with four seasons’ worth of crazy, mind-bending parallel universe stories and fringe science to contend with, let’s help our friends discover one of the smartest, best written and beautifully acted science fiction series in the history of television.