Threshold: The Complete Series

Every so often in the bland wasteland of television a series comes around that embodies quality, imagination and style. Recently, it seems the response to such as show is clear to the studio executives, cancel it. This is the case with the CBS science fiction thriller, Threshold. To be honest there where some mitigating circumstances around the cancellation, the series came out at the same time as two somewhat similar shows, Invasion and Surface. Perhaps there was just too much of the same genre all at once for the market to bear. Still, Threshold was worthy of a lot more than being added to the pile of television series that died before their time.

Dr. Molly Caffrey (Carla Gugino) is at the top of her profession as a crisis management consultant. Working from the government contracted think tank, the Blackwood Institute, Molly is the world’s leading expert on planning for the unexpected. Usually her work entails contingency planning for such events as natural disasters, nuclear war and other catastrophes. Since the United States government is nothing if not paranoid and comprehensive Molly was commissioned to devise a plan in the event of first contact with alien life forms. The protocol created by Dr. Caffrey was code named ‘Threshold’ and tucked away in some secret government files. Molly never thought that she would ever hear about it again until one night while walking her dog a helicopter lands and whisks her away. The unimaginable had happened Washington has activated the Threshold protocol; the aliens are here. As per the protocol Molly is to assemble a top secret, government funded task force, the Red Team. Dr. Nigel Fenway (Brent Spiner), is a brilliant microbiologist working for NASA. A hold over from the sixties Fenway is high independent almost to the point of being a loner. He is suspicious of the government and mistrusts just about every other human being. He becomes the team’s medical officer. For linguistics and mathematics Molly enlists Arthur Ramsey (Peter Dinklage). He is short in statue but large in ego and hedonistic tendencies. One of the best aerospace engineers in the world, Lucas Pegg (Robert Patrick Benedict) is literally picked up on the verge of his wedding. For security and general muscle the Red Team is joined by the mysterious Cavennaugh (Brian Van Holt).That is not even his real name, his true identity is classified and in effect Cavennaugh does not exist. To him black ops are a mundane day at the office. Interfacing the Red Team with the few government officials that even know about its existence is Deputy National Security Advisor J.T. Baylock (Charles S. Dutton). It is up to him to help Caffrey hold together a team of geniuses with mutually exclusive personalities.

Immediately after the team is formed they are sent to investigate the first contact. One September 16^th 2005 the USS Big Horn encountered a strange, shape shift orb in the sky. The object emitted a signal that resulted in the death of 5 of the 13 member crew. The signal shows up on computer displays as a fractal triskelion and soon appears. The survivors where changed by the aliens; they are extremely powerful, resistant to harm and obsessed with spreading the signal to alter humanity. Those who are exposed to the alien signal develop a third strand of DNA. Apparently it does take some prolonged exposure to make these changes. Caffrey, Cavennaugh and Pegg received a minor dose as they viewed the tapes of the USS Big Horn but their DNA remained the usual double helix. However, they do start having strange dreams of an alien landscape complete with crystalline trees.

The series was more than just a weekly chase of the aliens and their human minions. Attention was given to the affect the work had on the Red Team. Molly was used to being an academic. She was comfortable when she dealt with disasters in the hypothetical. Now, in a blink of an eye, she is forced to make life or death decisions almost on a daily basis. The emotional strain grows in her and culminates when she has to make a decision that will kill everyone in an affected plain including an old friend. Pegg just wanted to get married and work on his engineering designs. Instead he finds himself being held and working in a secret location on work that he cannot discuss even with his fiancée. Ramsey was born a little person but always made up his lack of height with his over inflated ego. He is always trying to play the big man, coming on to the ladies and gambling. Now he is with a group of people smart enough to see through him. Fenway is distrustful but now has to work with a team. His mother most likely has more than one report card with the notation ‘doesn’t play well with other children’. He also has some financial concerns in the form of a few ex-wives that makes him need this job. On all the Red Team members Cavennaugh is the only one used to the covert nature of the work. He is ready and able to take command of any situation even when it requires deadly force. He is somewhat frustrated with the weapons developed to cope with the alien affected humans. Since it is very difficult to kill them they use stun guns with voltage that would be fatal to regular humans. Cavennaugh is much more at home with a good old fashion bullet.

The cast here was exceptional. Carla Gugino may be a beautiful and talented actress but she seems to have trouble getting a series to last. Her previous work on television, ‘Karen Sisco’ lasted seven episodes in 2003 and was resurrected but only for three more episodes. It is not her abilities at fault here, she is a great actress and her film work shows it. She can be the sultry seductress or a mom that is a spy with equal ease. Gugino gives more depth to Molly than most would have. There is an emotional connection that she makes with the audience that pulls you in. Brent Spiner may forever be known as Mister Data from Star Trek but there is a lot more to his credentials. He is able to make his character a quirky but brilliant odd ball out of place but fascinated to be working on such an important project. Charles S. Dutton is one of those actors that shows up in the least likely place and blows you away with his performance. Here he is a government man that is used to doing things by the book. He is now in a situation where the only book to go by is conjecture, the Threshold protocol.

Paramount may have made a mistake with the untimely demise of this series but they are making their mea culpa with the DVD release. The anamorphic video is excellent. The contrast between the light and dark aspects of a scene is without flaw. The color balance is true to life. The Dolby audio is realistic with a full, rich ambience. While only 8 episodes (the pilot was a double so some might say 9) all 12 filmed are presented here. For fans that where left in the lurch with the cancellation this is excellent news. Unfortunately, more questions are raised in the additional episodes than are answered. Key episodes feature two executive producer commentary tracks; one with David S. Goyer, the other with Brannon Braga. There are also some deleted scenes and two making of featurettes to add to the requiem. The show may be gone forever but at least we will always have the DVD.

My name is Molly Caffrey, and I work for the Federal Government. I deal in worst case scenarios, the unthinkable. On September 16th, 2005, the unthinkable happened. An extraterrestrial object appeared off the bow of a naval freighter. The entire crew was exposed to a high frequency signal. Some died instantly. Others began to change. They are now stronger, more resilient. They dream of alien landscapes. And they are driven by the impulse to infect others. Several of the crewmen are now loose in the United States. They will strike anytime, anyplace, anyone. Their goal: to turn us into them. But I have a plan to stop them. That plan is called "Threshold".

Posted 8/9/06