For some reason, more than any other genre, science fiction seems to win followers whose devotion is somehow deeper and more passionate than that of say, fans of period pieces or the romantic comedy. Hordes of young women brandishing parasols and men in top hats and jodhpurs didn’t line up for the midnight showing of Jane Eyre, after all. But there is something so compelling, so simultaneously thought-provoking and escapist about well-done science fiction that it resonates with fans in a way that gives birth to the Trekkie, X-Phile, or Lostie.

Fans of Fox’s hit series Fringe have not yet appropriated a pithy moniker for themselves, but their devotion was evident at the Paley Center for Media on May 17th. Fringe fans – Fringeheads? Fringeatics? – commingled with members of the SAG Foundation, the Paley Center, and the press for “An Evening With Fringe,” presented by the Paley Center in conjunction with the SAG Foundation. The show, which was just renewed for its fourth season, focuses on FBI agent Oliva Dunham, played by Anna Torv, who recruits John Noble’s character, the brilliant but mentally disturbed scientist Walter Bishop, along with his son, MIT-dropout Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) to help investigate a series of events that seem to defy explanation using methods of fringe science.

The evening began with a screening of the episode “Entrada” from the third season, whose finale aired May 6th. Laughter periodically punctuated the darkened auditorium as Olivia, Peter, Walter, and the rest of the characters took us deep into a world where shapeshifters are real, the universe is collapsing in on itself, and a mad scientist’s only real Achilles’ heel is a bearclaw from the Bronx.

The screening was fun enough – not many of us have seen Fringe played out on the big screen in an auditorium full of fellow devotees – but there was an almost palpable impatience in the air. As the episode neared the end, however, a door cracked at the right side of the darkened auditorium, and Anna Torv and John Noble were ushered in by the light of the exit stairwell and slipped into seats up front. As the lights went up, Damian Holbrook, senior writer for TV Guide magazine and the evening’s master of ceremonies took the stage and introduced himself.

“But I’m not going to waste any time on me,” he said cannily. “Please help me welcome Anna Torv, who plays Agent Olivia Dunham and John Noble – Dr. Walter Bishop!” The audience erupted into tumultuous applause as Torv and Noble rose and turned to smile and wave at us as they and Holbrook took their seats.

As the applause died down, Holbrook began by asking Torv and Noble about their initial reactions to the pilot script. Both actors responded that they “simply loved it.”

“I’d never seen anything like it. The script read as a feature film,” said Noble.

“It’s science fiction with an emphasis on the science. It set up the characters so beautifully,” added Torv, “I can remember meeting each one of the characters.”

Both Torv and Noble were in Australia at the time of the casting and flew to the States in order to meet with J.J. Abrams, co-creator of other television hits such as Lost and Alias. At the time, Abrams was in the midst of directing the 2009 blockbuster Star Trek.

“I had sent in a tape for another Bad Robot [Abrams’ production company] show, which he had seen, so I tested with a casting agent and three days later, I flew over and actually met with J.J. in the control room of the Starship Enterprise.”

“So did I, as a matter of fact,” interjected Noble.

“You didn’t!” exclaimed a delighted Torv as the audience began to laugh. “Did you really?” Noble nodded, chuckling heartily.

“So, four years later,” continued Holbrook, “the characters are in very different places now than they were. How collaborative is that development process on the show?”

“The creators watched what we brought with us to the show,” said Noble, thoughtfully. “Then they challenge you and see what you’re willing to do. One classic example of that was Anna playing William Bell.” Cheers and applause accompanied this reference to the handful of episodes in Season 3 in which Torv’s character’s body was possessed by the character of William Bell, usually played by Leonard Nimoy. Episodes in which one character is being possessed by another is just one of the examples of the producers’ willingness to take risks, Noble said. Examples of these experiments include the all-musical episode “Brown Betty” in Season 2 and the recently aired “Lysergic Acid Diethylamide,” the fully animated 19th episode of the third season.

“One thing I learned from John was the extent to which he really owns the character of Walter,” said Torv, seriously. “I learned from him that if you wanted to, you could really push the bits that you wanted to try and that he would be willing to work with you.”

Holbrook’s next question for the actors, who are both Australian, had to do with being stars on an American TV show and working with a dialect coach. They both affirmed that they frequently work with their coach, Linda Darlow, though not for everything.

“We have lessons for specific words,” said Noble.

“What word trips you up the most?”

“’Anything,’” said Torv without hesitation. “I can’t get it for some reason. I always have to go back and dub it in.”

“Mine is ‘laboratory,’” said Noble, after a moment’s thought. “I always have to think ‘labrador,’ then ‘tory.’”

“Did you work with somebody for the William Bell voice?” asked Holbrook. Torv nodded.

“I worked with Linda, who’s our dialect coach. I listened to a bunch of stuff and then sat with her and went through it with her like that.”

“So, it’s one of our favorite things ever, you doing that voice, so I was hoping that you might possibly read some of these Fringe tweets in William Bell’s voice,” said Holbrook, to mounting laughter. Torv obligingly takes the card, a wry expression on her face as the eager audience collectively leaned forward in their seats.

“’As much as I like Fringe,’” she read aloud in the creaky intonations of the 80-year-old Nimoy, glancing up mischievously, “’hearing the beautiful Anna Torv talk in the creepy William Bell voice is rather ruining past fantasies.’” Laughter and cheers followed.

Once things quieted down again, Holbrook began asking more professionally minded questions. Several had to do with portraying Olivia and Walter’s doppelgangers – cleverly dubbed ‘Fauxlivia’ and ‘Walternate’ – from an alternate universe on the show.

“What’s the difference,” Holbrook wanted to know, “between playing Walter and Walternate and Olivia and Fauxlivia?”

Noble thought that both Walters developed the way they did because of the loss of their sons, directly or indirectly. “Both reacted completely as a man would at the loss of his child, but one used the anger to make himself powerful. One went crazy. The voice of Walternate comes with that – a more powerful voice – and so does the upright physicality of it,” mused Noble.

Because the Olivias have arrived at the exact same place at this point in the show – FBI agents, both with the Fringe Division – Torv tries to look at the motivations for each to find inspiration in playing them slightly differently. “On this side, I see her as being more earnest. She’s achieved what she’s achieved because she really wants to do her best. With Fauxlivia, it’s more that she just wants to win. She’s also a bit more of a fighter, so we’ve tried to express that through her silhouette – more street clothes.”

“She’s got a little bit of a swagger, doesn’t she?” asked Holbrook, eyebrows raised.

“She does. She definitely does,” laughed Torv.

You can tell that Holbrook prepared for the interview keeping both the fans and the aspiring actors and actresses in the audience in mind. Many of the questions had equally as much to do with giving avid fans a glimpse behind the scenes as they did with seeking insight into Torv’s and Noble’s experiences as actors on the show. Noble, in particular, addressed the audience directly several times throughout the evening – not as adoring fans, but as fellow actors.

“You know how it is when you’re preparing for a part,” he said, when Holbrook asked if they’re given much rehearsal time for each episode, “it’s never enough time!”

It was impossible not to be charmed by Torv and Noble; their regard for one another so obviously genuine, their good-natured acknowledgment of their celebrity status self-aware and unpretentious. “I love that when people come up to me on the street, all they want to know is ‘What’s going to happen next?’ It’s nice to be a part of something where the show is the star,” said Torv at one point.

Between laughing at Noble’s imitations of Torv’s expression while filming the scene in which he was completely naked and Torv’s admission that she took the bear claws Walter was munching on in “Entrada” home with her from the set, the evening passed quickly. Too soon, the actors were saying their goodbyes to a standing ovation. As the auditorium slowly emptied, the Fringeaholics, Fringeiacs, and Fringesters were all smiles as they headed upstairs and out into a rainy spring evening that seemed just a little more mysterious – and maybe even a little bit more magical – than it did before.

Sarah D. Mathews contributed to this article.

Fringe will air on Fox Fridays this fall.