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"Fringe has always been the little sci-fi drama that could. The series launched strongly in September 2008, amidst a flurry of JJ Abrams/the next Lost buzz, attracting 9.13m viewers. That figure was easily topped the following week, with 13.27m - still the show&amp;#039;s highest ever numbers - tuning in for episode two. But since those early glory days, Fringe has always been the underdog and that&amp;#039;s part of what has endeared the show to sci-fi fanatics the world over. From Jericho to Chuck to Firefly, cult TV aficionados love a good campaign and the fan support for Fringe as it struggled against audience apathy has been really quite something to behold... &amp;gt; Week in Geek - Primeval: New World: the inside story on the revamped dino drama &amp;gt; Week in Geek - Being Human: Why we&amp;#039;re excited for Series Five  With the third season struggling to maintain viewership of around 3.5m in early 2011, a fourth run seemed deeply unlikely. When those figures dipped to below 3m a year later, a fifth season seemed nigh-on impossible. But time and again, Fox saw something in Fringe that was worth preserving - even now that the show is being brought to an end, it hasn&amp;#039;t been &amp;quot;axed&amp;quot; in the undignified manner that other such shows have suffered. Instead, showrunner Joel Wyman and his team were allowed to bring the series to its natural end on their own terms with a final 13-part run. So what is it about Fringe that has engendered the support not only of fans but also of a network that openly admitted it was &amp;quot;losing money&amp;quot; by continuing to produce the show? Much of it is down to that loveable underdog status - look beyond the techno-wizardry, the sci-fi gobbledegook and the bizarro death scenes and what you&amp;#039;ll find in Fringe is actually a rather warm drama with a lot of heart. It&amp;#039;s a show as much about family - about the relationship between a father and son - as it is about parallel universes, time-travel and deadly contagions that melt your face.  [Above: The stars of &amp;#039;Fringe&amp;#039; talk the show&amp;#039;s final season with Digital Spy at the 2012 Comic-Con]  That faltering, difficult but ultimately rewarding father/son dynamic has been brought to life spectacularly across the five seasons of Fringe by John Noble - eccentric scientist Walter Bishop - and Joshua Jackson - his not-quite-offspring Peter. We could write an entire blog about how fantastic Noble is and how unfair it is that he&amp;#039;s been universally snubbed at the Emmys, the Golden Globes and similar Hollywood shindigs - in fact, this writer gave it a fair stab in a September edition of the Week in Geek. But Jackson&amp;#039;s own contribution should not be underestimated. The former Dawson&amp;#039;s Creek star could&amp;#039;ve gone the way of so many former teen idols - and his early cinematic outings in the unimpressive likes of 2000&amp;#039;s The Skulls and 2005&amp;#039;s Cursed did not bode well - but Fringe gave Jackson the chance to prove what he was really capable of. Peter Bishop&amp;#039;s engrossing transformation from snarky maverick to sensitive hero has been a thrill to watch.  Another Fringe star who used the show as a platform to prove their worth is Anna Torv - the Australian star&amp;#039;s performance in early episodes was often unfairly maligned as rigid and wooden, but was in fact a subtle portrayal of a woman - FBI agent Olivia Dunham - who was emotionally unavailable to those around her. So the emotional core of Fringe - in particular, the show&amp;#039;s heartfelt representation of its characters - is key to the show&amp;#039;s success, but the other 50% of what makes this series so great is its wild imagination and willingness to take chances. Yes, imagination and dedication will help you to come up with a new monster-of-the-week each episode, but after the early part of its first season, Fringe sought to move beyond that, introducing a series of bold concepts that would continually redefine what the entire series was. Some of these risks - the introduction of the parallel universe and the decision to alternate between worlds each week for much of the third season - paid off in spades. Others - such as erasing Peter from the timeline - were arguably less successful...  [Above: The stars of &amp;#039;Fringe&amp;#039; talk bringing the series to a close] But we love Fringe because it refused to rest on its laurels and repeatedly went out on a limb to reinvent and reimagine itself - no matter what you thought of the constant changes being implemented, it was impossible as a viewer to get bored. One week, we might be treated to a &amp;#039;standard&amp;#039; hunt for a monster or freakish villain, and the next, we&amp;#039;d spend 42 minutes in the company of an entirely different cast in a world that was not our own. Or Fringe might go animated, or include an extended tribute to the work of Monty Python - the show&amp;#039;s unpredictability was one of its greatest strengths. Imagination and emotion - these have always been the basis for Fringe&amp;#039;s appeal and its continued survival. This series was truly something different - a risk-taker in a business that too often plays it safe. It burnt brightly in the five years it was on air and the Week in Geek will miss it immensely. Are you a Fringe fan? Pay your own tribute to the show below. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/fringe/news/a451127/fringe-a-fond-farewell-to-the-sci-fi-favourite/>