Threshold (TV series)

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Threshold

promotional poster for Threshold
Format Science fiction drama
Created by Bragi F. Schut
Starring Carla Gugino,
Charles S. Dutton
Brent Spiner
Rob Benedict
Brian Van Holt
Peter Dinklage
Country of origin USA
United Kingdom
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 13 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time approx. 45 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel CBS
Sky One
Original run September 16, 2005 – February 1, 2006
External links
IMDb profile

Threshold is a science fiction drama television series that first aired on CBS in September 2005. Produced by Brannon Braga, David S. Goyer and David Heyman, the series focuses on a secret government project investigating the first contact with an extraterrestrial species.

The series was first shown on Friday nights, but was moved to Tuesday in an effort to boost ratings. This plan backfired, with the show registering a sharp drop in its ratings on its first Tuesday night showing on November 22, 2005, and CBS cancelled the series on November 23, 2005.[1], with four episodes left unbroadcast.

The remaining episodes were aired on Sky One, a channel in the United Kingdom owned by BSkyB, who co-produced the series with CBS. Threshold (the entire series) was released on DVD on August 22, 2006.

The series first aired on the Sci Fi Channel on Friday, October 13, 2006 at 10:00 pm, following a new episode of Battlestar Galactica. [2]

Contents

[edit] Overview

The series stars Carla Gugino as Dr. Molly Caffrey, a high-level government crisis management consultant from the Blackwood Institute whose job is to create contingency plans for use in emergencies ranging from natural disasters to nuclear war. In order to have "all bases covered", one of her plans, code-named Threshold, is developed for dealing with the unlikely eventuality of first contact with aliens. After the crew of a U.S. naval vessel reports an encounter with a UFO, and many members of the crew subsequently die, the Threshold protocol is activated.

Caffrey's Threshold plan calls for the formation of a secret government task force known as the Red Team. As a result, several top scientists are seconded: Dr. Nigel Fenway (Brent Spiner), an individualistic NASA-employed microbiologist; Lucas Pegg (Rob Benedict), a somewhat unsure-of-himself aerospace engineer on the eve of his marriage, and Arthur Ramsey (Peter Dinklage), a mathematics and linguistics genius whose libido makes up for his lack of height. Caffrey's government liaison is Deputy National Security Advisor J.T. Baylock (Charles S. Dutton), while freelance paramilitary operative Sean Cavennaugh (Brian Van Holt) serves as the "muscle" of the group (and apparent potential love interest for Caffrey). Daphne Larson (Catherine Bell) was added to the team in the episode "Outbreak". Caffrey's team works under absolute secrecy, their activities not even known to the Vice-President, or the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Threshold learns that the aliens are attempting to rewrite the DNA of the human race using, in part, an audio signal that somehow alters some people's body chemistry in such a way that they become alien themselves. Central to all this is a fractal triskelion pattern that keeps appearing – in blood, electronic signals, and even the pattern made by city lights. Its significance has yet to be revealed, though Arthur Ramsey interpreted it as representing a DNA pattern in a triple helix formation (like the alien DNA).

The episodes focus on Caffrey and her team as they learn more about the signal, the fractal pattern, and the aliens; often, their work requires them to impersonate different U.S. Government agencies. Compounding the situation is the fact that Caffrey, Cavennaugh and Pegg were exposed to a small part of the signal, which while not (as yet) infecting them, has nonetheless altered their brains, causing the trio to have bizarre, linked dreams, and also receive messages from the aliens with Caffrey, in particular, experiencing frightening, often violent hallucinations. Individuals experiencing these visions have been referred to as "dreamers" by the Threshold Red Team.

An ongoing subplot of the series is the emotional impact Threshold has on Caffrey herself, as she is required to make life and death decisions on an almost daily basis. The impact on other members of her team is also explored.

In one of the unbroadcast episodes, it is revealed by one of the hybrids that the aliens' plans are to save humankind by changing their DNA and the surface of the earth; this is because millennia ago, far out in space, there was a collision of two stars that created a gamma ray burst - the radiation of which is heading for Earth and will, when it arrives in six years, end all life on the surface of the planet. Because of the nature of the revelation (from a hybrid) this explanation is considered suspect and that the hybrid's sole intention is to slow the Threshold program.

According to writer Brannon Braga on the 2006 DVD release, word that production of the series was being terminated was received midway through shooting of the episode "Alienville". The ending of the episode was changed to show Molly having a dream conversation with an alien-human baby (who had been born in the episode, but appeared in the dream as a nine-year-old boy). The boy tells Molly that her Threshold plan will eventually succeed in stopping the alien invasion (the age of the boy implies it'll happen within nine years), but that she would herself die before this happens.

[edit] Future storylines

A featurette included on the August 2006 DVD release of the series confirmed a number of reported and rumored storylines that were planned had the series survived:

  • The series had a three-year arc that would have seen the series change its title each year, from Threshold to Foothold (which refers to the next level of Molly Caffrey's planning, dealing with a mass alien invasion) and Stranglehold (the response to a well-established alien presence on earth).
  • In "Vigilante" (one of the unaired episodes) it is revealed that Ramsay has a drug and alcohol problem. This would have progressed causing Ramsay to "hit bottom" at one point; meanwhile, it would be discovered that the abnormality in Ramsay's brain that caused him to be a dwarf actually made him immune to the alien infection.
  • The Threshold team would learn that 80 more probe ships were headed to Earth.
  • It is learned that the aliens had been sending probes to Earth every 160 years or so, but these probes failed to start widespread infection due to the lack of travel and technology on the planet at the time. The episode "The Burning" hints at this with a buried 320 year old probe. The episode "Outbreak" continued this arc by having Lucas encounter (during a dream state) a 19th Century man who says he fought and defeated the aliens.

The episodes that were not aired by CBS also included several plot elements that would probably have been explored had the series continued: for example, Dr. Sloan, the so-called "Vigilante" introduced in the episode of the same name, whose self-appointed mission is to kill infectees (the episode also indicates a romantic attraction between him and Caffrey); the real nature of the gamma ray burst headed for Earth indicated in "The Crossing"; the effect of Threshold on Lucas Peggs' marriage; Cavanaugh's search for his brother (who becomes infected in one of the unaired episodes and provides the aliens with information about Threshold); the development of an alien infectee culture (who refer to themselves as "improved" humans) and their perception that the US government is persecuting them (an element introduced in the final episode, "Alienville"); and the aftermath of Caffrey's orders to increase Threshold's powers in "Outbreak".

[edit] Opening monologue

“ 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". ”

The monologue was used in episodes 1-9, but was dropped for the remaining episodes. It also was not used for any of the episodes in the DVD version.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Main characters

Prior to Threshold's cancellation Brannon Braga announced that Catherine Bell would be joining the series, as would another actress who would appear as Lucas' fiancée. In the unbroadcast episode "Outbreak", Catherine Bell guest stars as Dr. Daphne Larson, a botanist brought in to examine the mutated vegetables from 'Revelations.' She is added as a new member to the Red Team, but except for being referenced by name in "Vigilante", made no further appearances on the series before it ended.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Threshold episodes

Episodes from "The Crossing" onwards saw their first broadcast on Sky One in the UK.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • In "Trees Made of Glass, Part 1", Gunneson (William Mapother) is shot in the chest four times by Caffrey. William Mapother previously played Ethan Rom on Lost, who was killed by four shots to the chest.
  • In "Trees Made of Glass, Part 1", there is a reference to a hostile alien race of Klingons[citation needed] from Star Trek universe. Brent Spiner played Lieutenant Commander Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the subsequent films; in the fourth season of the latter series Star Trek: Enterprise he played a brilliant geneticist responsible for creating Augments, an improved humans race with augmented abilities and strong attempt to achieve global domination; ironically, this geneticist Arik Soong was great-grandfather of Data's creator Noonien Soong—upon understanding that genetically-engineered supermen can't peacefully co-exist with the rest of the galaxy, Arik switched to creation of artificial life. Executive Producer Brannon Braga, and writers Mike Sussman and Andre Bormanis, also worked on various Star Trek series: Brannon Braga wrote a second-season episode of Star Trek: Voyager called "Threshold".
  • Threshold was the first CBS television series to utilize "streaming video" to re-air new episodes after the original airdate. Each new episode was posted on the CBS website five days after its original airdate and remained accessible there for three days. Nancy Tellem, president of the CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group, stated that "the goal here is to recruit new viewers to 'Threshold,' help existing viewers catch up if they've missed some episodes and drive more traffic to CBS.com." Survivor and The Amazing Race both utilized a similar method for post-show interviews and discussions. The following television season (2006-2007) CBS incorporated this concept into a streaming video area on their website called Innertube. The "behind the scenes" video clips for Threshold are still posted on the site under the "past broadcast shows" tab.
  • As mentioned in the "Revelations", the dreams of the glass forest are a direct visual accompaniment to Revelation 15:2: "I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the Harps of God."
  • In "Progeny", Dr. Fenway (Brent Spiner) uses the alias Dr. Martin Wrigley. Both Fenway and Wrigley are the names of professional baseball stadiums (Fenway Park is the home of the Boston Red Sox, Wrigley Field is the home of the Chicago Cubs). Moreover, Brent Spiner is a Chicago Cubs fan and Dr. Fenway has previously indicated a love of baseball.
  • Since the Big Horn incident (up until "The Crossing"), there have been roughly 33 known exposures to the alien signal (not counting dreamers). Of those 33, 10 suffered a bad reaction to the signal, deformed and died. The remaining 23 survived exposure and became an infectee. Of those 23, 3 are at large (the remaining Big Horn crewman), 13 have been killed and 7 have been captured by Threshold.
  • Many of the themes of Threshold bear a striking resemblance to an episode of The Outer Limits entitled "Music of the Spheres".
  • In one of the episodes, Lucas Pegg is seen playing the video game Halo: Combat Evolved. The planet the Halo structure orbits around in the game is a gas giant called Threshold.

[edit] Similarities to UFO

Many elements of the series are similar to that of the 1970s science fiction series UFO.

  • Both Caffrey and UFO's Ed Straker are shown to be loners who run their organizations at the cost of any personal life. Both characters are also shown making cold-blooded decisions in order to save lives.
  • The issue of inflicting collateral damage for the greater good is addressed in both series.
  • Threshold and UFO's SHADO are secret agencies working at arms-length from government, with many high officials unaware of their existence. Both organizations also require loyalty from members; those who do not wish to co-operate face dire consequences.
  • In addition, the heads of both Threshold and SHADO are shown addressing mundane yet crucial issues such as who will pay the bills. (This results in episodes in both series in which the agencies have to prove their worth to bureaucrats in order to stay in operation.)
  • The motivations of the aliens appear to be similar: revising the human species in lieu of full out invasion.
  • The opening sequences of both series are also similar, following the same pattern: a brief sequence outlining the concept of the series (Caffrey's narration, UFO's montage of equipment and personnel), followed by a lengthy teaser to set up the storyline, then in lieu of an opening credits sequence the teaser ends with the show's logo and a musical "sting". Instead of an opening credits sequence, the series credits play out over top of the first scene of Act 1. However, that format is much more widespread in the early 2000s than it was in the 1970s.

[edit] Broadcasters

[edit] External links