By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photo copyright CBS
I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.
In September 2005 a new sci-fi series debuted on television called Threshold. The show featured several big names including Peter Dinklage as Arthur Ramsey. It would run for one season. CBS messed about with scheduling and did not support the show whose quality is top notch. Such was the show mishandled that the final four episodes went unaired until Sky 1 aired them and now they can also be seen on YouTube.
In Threshold, an alien species that exists in four or five dimensions send a probe to our world. The probe is witnessed by the crew of a ship and emits a signal, sounding like shattering glass, upon which said crew immediately begin to transform. Some survive while the others escape into our society. Rather than an alien invasion with space ships, these aliens transform us at the genetic level into them. Instead of terraforming, they are bioforming us. There is no waste or destruction; everything is intact as the aliens take over. However the process does not work on every person, horribly mutilating them in their death throes. Nor is this signal limited to humans as animals are affected too, for example a senator plays a copy of the probe footage which kills his girlfriend and turns their cat into a vicious mutation.
Molly Caffrey is a high level crisis management consultant whose job it is to come up with plans for disasters including alien contact. Her plan for this scenario is activated and goes under the codename Threshold. Caffrey brings together a team of top specialists including the arrogant Arthur Ramsey whose genius only matches his ego. Played By future Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage, Ramsey would become a key part of Threshold.
He was a free spirit, used to being his own man living as he wished, when he wished. Being forced into Threshold he is monitored and a lot of that free will is taken away. He initially resists but is given an option by agent Cavanagh (Brian Van Holt); door number 1 or door number 2. One leads to working to save the planet or go to a black unit facility where he will be kept indefinitely. Needless to say he picks to fight the aliens.
Ramsey is a mathematical genius fluent in over 200 dialects. His linguistic skills are second to none as he is able to tell if an Asian criminal is faking not being able to speak English. Being trapped by the chains of Threshold makes Ramsey a rebel, always telling his superiors just how he hates being confined by their rules. He is rude and does not know where to draw the line between speaking his mind and keeping his opinions to himself. He becomes a double act with fellow Threshold agent Lucas (Supernatural’s Rob Benedict). Lucas is a lot more timid than Ramsey and is religious. Ramsey scoffs that on the eighth day, God made aliens. He is quick to belittle everyone and everything but we learn as the series progresses that Ramsey is terrified of being converted by the alien signal and all his bravado is a public mask.
But Ramsey is brilliant at what he does and he is vital to the Threshold team. He and Lucas make a great double act going on several investigations together. After being held at gunpoint by a bank robber on the run in the episode The Order, it is Lucas that takes him down with his gun that is designed to stun the infected only. It fires an electrical discharge which will kill a human. When Ramsey finds out Lucas could have fired earlier, he freaks out but Lucas held back until the the robber touched something that would act as a breaker for the charge, stunning him rather than killing him. This demonstrates that Ramsey is all for ‘shoot now ask later’ especially when his life is in danger.
But we see his tender side when he and Lucas have to protect a baby from its infected mother. They work together to fool the Terminator like mother from taking her baby back. In the Crossing, Ramsey’s security guard friend Adams is infected and agrees to be part of an experiment to track what happens when a person is taken over by the infection. Ramsey is not happy with this but gets to say goodbye to Adams. This only makes him both even more fearful of the alien and determined to stop them so he loses no one else. We see the more human side of Ramsey here and he even surprises Lucas in The Order. A local diner is forced to close when they find part of the premises has had infected wood that has been giving off frequencies that make people dream. Lucas is distraught that someone’s livelihood is gone but Ramsey reveals he made sure the reward money for the capture of the bank robber went to the diner owner. Otherwise Ramsey loves to drink, party and gamble. He runs up online gambling debts which Threshold has to take care of bringing him into conflict with his boss Baylock (Charles S Dutton). Baylock knows Ramsey is spiraling out of control and reaches out. In a seeming about face, Ramsey assures him that he is fine and has kicked his bad habits. However he is seen still drinking and falling deeper into his inner turmoil.
Not once is Ramsey’s dwarfism mentioned in the series. He acts just like a regular sized person even having bed scenes. Threshold does a great job of breaking down barriers and stereotypes which has continued to this day. Ramsey is funny when he is scared which is seen when the woman he is in bed with is attacked and killed by a stranger while Ramsey stares in horror. His sense of self preservation is second to none and it is a great shame we never got to see how it played out in a second season. If it had we would have discovered that his dwarfism would have played a key role in a way to stop the invasion. But alas we will never know.
For now all you can do is go to YouTube and watch Threshold in all its shortlived glory and relish the multilayered brilliance of one Arthur Ramsey.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 