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Exploring a New 'Transformation' with Fringe actor Mark Valley
by Troy Rogers
 It's not often that an actor gets to come back from the dead to play an important role in the future of a hit TV series, but for Mark Valley it's just another day in the offices of Fox's fringe science department. After playing the red herring in the pilot of Fringe as mysterious translucent FBI agent John Scott, Mark Valley returned to the show's storylines in a more ambiguous role of a questionable traitor whose loyalties extend far beyond Agent Olivia Dunham. In the February 3 episode of Fringe called "The Transformation," freakish remains are found after an plane crashes and the Fringe crew goes undercover to determine the source of a mysterious virus.
With Fringe about to take flight with a new episode, we performed our own transformation into a recent conference call with a few other outlets to get a few brief minutes with actor Mark Valley so we could talk fringe science, the coolest thing he's learned from being on the show, and what's it's like to play a bad guy ... if in fact that's really what John Scott is.
THE DEADBOLT: With the upcoming episode taking place on an airliner, how is it different from the pilot?
 MARK VALLEY: I have no idea to be honest with you. They were both big airplanes and they had a lot of people on them. But in terms of how it’s different - there are lots of plane crashes on J.J. Abrams’ shows. Imagine being on an airplane with J.J. Abrams?
THE DEADBOLT: Do you believe that something like this could be happening right now?
VALLEY: Well, when you look at something like the spread of the Ebola virus, or some of these other super viruses and strains that attack so quickly, that can sort of get your imagination running. I mean, there are aspects of science fiction in technology that can kind of hint towards what the show portrays. But to answer your question, no, I don’t think so. But then again, I don’t believe in ghosts and some people say there are ghosts. I would just have to see it myself.
THE DEADBOLT: What’s the coolest thing you’ve learned about fringe science since starting the show?
 VALLEY: Well, a couple of things. Probably that LSD can actually be used for practical purposes. Maybe the idea that a virus could actually be grown into a sort of parallel organism. The cold virus is still kind of creeping me out, especially since I have a cold right now. There’s probably going to be classes taught with fringe science text books, you never know. At the local learning annex, ‘Learn fringe science.’
THE DEADBOLT: There’s a debate over whether your character is a good or bad. Me, I think he's bad. So what is the best part about playing a bad guy?
VALLEY: The best part about playing a bad guy is that you get to do bad things, but where I think it’s interesting is how you can justify doing just about anything if you really think about it, you kind of convince yourself. That’s fun and there’s also a liberty you have to render your behavior and so forth. Not only in the acts or things you do that are wrong, but just in the way you behave kind of moment to moment. You can effect that as well and I think that’s always kind of fascinating.
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