Getty ImagesImagine, if you will, the creator of Lost doing his riff on The X-Files, in a series that stars future cast members of Mindhunter, Sleepy Hollow, and the John Wick movies. Sounds awesome, right? Well, it already exists, and it’s streaming for free on PlutoTV.Fringe was J.J. Abrams’ followup to Lost, which was still on the air — albeit no longer at the peak of its popularity — when the Fringe pilot aired in November of 2008. (Specifically, it aired between Lost Seasons 4 and 5, a.k.a. where things started to get really weird on the island.) Abrams was also working on his first Star Trek movie at the time, and brought in writers Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci to help develop the series, which the trio compared to The Twilight Zone, the films of David Croneberg, and Ken Russell’s 1980 mind-bender Altered States — and, of course, The X-Files.Series lead Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) was initially conceived as a Dana Scully type, a brilliant, driven FBI agent specializing in all things unexplained and inexplicable. In the pilot episode, she’s joined by brilliant, but eccentric “fringe scientist” Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his son Peter (Joshua Jackson, of Dawson’s Creek fame), who has to sign his estranged father out of a mental institution so he can help Dunham discover the real truth behind what initially appears to be a terror attack. Chemical weapons, floatation tanks, a dairy cow and lab-grade LSD are all involved, adding a welcome dose (no pun intended) of sci-fi weirdness that sets this paranormal FBI drama apart.Also similar to The X-Files, Fringe began with a mix of monster-of-the-week and mythology episodes. As the series continued, however, it began to shift its focus towards its own internal lore, introducing a parallel universe just a few degrees away from our own and setting up a battle between them and us. (J.J. Abrams is gonna J.J. Abrams.) Each of the leads has a parallel self in this alternate reality, adding a fun spin to both their characters’ relationships and the actors’ performances.Fringe’s de facto skeptic, and his mad scientist father. | Moviestore/ShutterstockAlthough it was never exactly a ratings hit, Fringe lasted for five seasons and 100 episodes on Fox before ending its run in 2013. Since then, its complex characters and deep sci-fi concepts have earned it a deeply loyal cult audience, who have kept the show alive through novels, comic books, and obsessive rewatches. The show was released on DVD around its initial airing, and aired in syndication on the Science Channel for a while; still, it’s been difficult to find on streaming — until now.As of March 1, the Fringe Division has been reactivated, as the series’ full run comes to streaming on the free-with-ads streaming app Pluto TV. The service writes in a press release:“Starting March 1, all 100 episodes of Fringe will be available to stream on demand on Pluto TV, expanding the platform’s lineup of serialized, mythology-driven science fiction. Investigations into the unknown are strongly encouraged.”Fringe is now streaming on Pluto TV.