Rating: - "The Invaders" for our time
"Threshold" is the adult alien invasion series for our time. It's not "Earth Versus The Flying Saucers", or "The Blob" or even "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". It doesn't rework old themes like "Independence Day" or "War of the Worlds".

"Threshold" is "The Invaders" for our time. I think you have to go back to "The Invaders" to find a comparable serious television treatment of alien invasion. Although, like "The Invaders" the paranoia element is part of Threshold, unlike "The Invaders" or "The X Files" the grand conspiracy does not take centre stage. Unlike "Star Gate Command" in "Star Gate", or "Star Fleet" in "Star Trek", the secret defence agency in Threshold is neither squeakly clean or corrupted from above.

In a sense Threshold is as much a "techno-thriller" as sci.fi. In some ways it's the alien invasion story Tom Clancy would have written, if you could imagine Clancy writing something a little less Pentagon-centric than normal.

Threshold is inspired by the science of our time. The producers take a new track with new scientific elements inspired by newer scientific ideas drawn from chaos theory, fractal geometry, genetic engineering and "hyper dimensions". The "science" here of course is about as "scientific" as were the old sci-fi tales which somehow or other never found relativity a roadblock to extraterrestial invasion. But at least the producers deserve full points for trying something new.

Threshold is also inspired by the politics of our time. Armchair theorists are fond of describing "The Thing" (the original) and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (the original) as tales of the cold war and the McCarthyist era. I suspect the armchair theorists of the future will regard Threshold as a tale of 9-11 and the 'war on terror'. The secretive Threshold agency and it's staff pursue their war on the infected invaders whilst wrestling with civil liberties. Somehow or other it's the liberties that always manage to be violated but at least the Threshold chiefs acknowledge their violations. I suspect had the series persisted these theme and it's risks would have more thoroughly been examined.

Threshold is inspired by the society of our time. The lead player is a female consultant who is an effective and capable leader and entirely feminine. Molly Caffrey is no Aliens 2 "tougher than the guys" Lt. Ripley. She's closer to the original Lt Ripley from the original Alien. Someone whose heroism comes from doing her job properly, not one of these "throw out the rule book" Hollywood heroes.

The special effects for the series are excellent as are the personal characterisations. Working in something like Threshold would definitely strain any flesh and blood human being and the Threshold characters all have their personal isuues. And none of the characters is one dimensional either.

The boxed set is a well produced package with quality video transfers. The extras include a brief documentary that acknowledges the unfortunate demise of the series and outlines some of the unfilled storylines the production crew were planning for future series that never came. It's a shame Threshold was killed off too soon. It's a shame there are story arcs left hanging in the air. But it can't be said that Threshold was axed before it got into full stride. It emerged from the gate strong and running and delivered a quality, entertaining and intriguing Sci Fi series from go to whoa. This boxed set is a quality production throughout.

Television Show Collectibles

Movie Searches