FRINGE BLOGGERS - Blog Fansite for FOX Show FRINGE from JJ. ABRAMS

It’s time for our latest Fringie of The Week contest! Last weeks ‘Ghost Network’ 3-way-tie means that Walter holds 3 victories, Peter 2 and Olivia is off the mark with 1. Vote for your favourite Fringe character from episode 1.04 “The Arrival” using the poll below:

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No new episode this week (Presidential debate), so this one stays open til the eve of episode 5 (Oct. 14).

Spoiler Alert!

Fox have released 10 promotional photos for episode 1.06 - “The Cure”. The photos feature Olivia Dunham, Walter and Peter Bishop, Nina Sharp, Charlie Francis and a trail of dead folks with blood seeping from their eyes. Click to enlarge photos:

Copyright: Fox

The ITN news channel report on Fringe’s arrival in the UK:

The dear Dr. Bishop has posted his latest lab notes post episode 4 - The Arrival (click on image to read).

Whoever writes these notes is getting better at being more mystical and cryptic, but this weeks notes are a lot of fun to read, with much with which to speculate.

Walter focuses on his bald friend - The Observer, as well as Peter’s ‘knowledge’. In particular he states that “the boy brought me whole flies when I only asked for wings” - Does Peter heighten Walter’s genius? Who else is Peter’s mind connected to?

Walter also mentions asking ‘Fisher King’ for answers - in Arthurian Legend, The Fisher King was the last in a line responsible for keeping the Holy Grail safe. Interesting that Walter should make this reference. Is the cylinder The Observer’s equivalent of the Holy Grail? Perhaps this shed’s more light on the importance of the cylinder?

Just like in the previous lab notes, Dr. Bishop once again makes reference to ‘walls’ - “The Walls, the walls, push back the walls!”. This could be a further reference to the Fringe comic (issue #1) where William Bell sees the wall ‘move’.

What’s with the spilled coffee? The letters H.A are legible on the broken mug. What did this spell - Harvard? Or something else?  There is also two photos of the cylinder, the last time it arrived, and a sketch of the cylinder with some equations.

There are also some other interesting notes in there - click on the above image to see what you can find.

In The Arrival you may have picked up on the fact that the Fringe creators gave the Popular Mechanic writers a shout-out (here for image). This seems to have done the trick, as even Popular Mechanics struggle to debunk the scientific credibility of this weeks episode. In all fairness, credit to the Fringe creators for being so on point with the cylinder story-line.

Could a metallic cylinder survive a major explosion unscathed?

Crane accidents at New York City construction sites are all too commonplace these days, but when a crane collapsed and killed three people at the start of “The Arrival” in Williamsburg in Brooklyn, its cause wasn’t a strap failure or faulty weld, but an explosion. The fiery eruption happened when a mysterious cylinder blasted through an unused subway tunnel and into a gas main. When the dust settled, the cylinder was the only thing intact among the rubble.

If the cylinder was at the center of the explosion, how did it not break apart, melt or bend in that fireball? “It was probably kryptonite or unobtainium,” jokes Jack Waddell, the president of Florida-based BlastGard. Waddell’s company produces BlastWrap, a lining consisting of mineral-filled pockets that, when placed on an object, mitigates shock waves and quenches fireballs. According to Waddell, something like BlastWrap would have worked in this situation because the cylinder was right where the blast began. “The sooner the mitigation process starts, the greater the degree to which it prevents the full development of the energy release.”

Assuming this cylinder wasn’t wrapped in Waddell’s perlite-pellet blanket or some similar protective lining, he says the shape of the object might be a reason for its safety. “It’s the perfect vessel to survive because it manages internal and external pressure more efficiently than any shape on the planet,” he says.

Alan Pense, professor emeritus of material science at Lehigh University’s ATLSS Research Center, is no stranger to superstrong materials either. Engineers at the center have been experimenting with high-melting-point steels and oxides that can bend, stretch and compress without breaking. But superstrength might not even have been necessary for this object.

“It’s not outlandish at all,” he says. “In order to melt a structure, you have to have a very high temperature—close to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit—for an extended period of time.” This is a hard threshold to reach, so in a normal, contained explosion, the material would typically survive. “Now, if you had a nuclear explosion, there’s no question you could melt anything.”

Is it possible for the cylinder to tunnel through the earth’s core?

The mysterious cylinder may be able to survive fiery explosions, but what about its supposed ability to tunnel through the planet at any point in the world and come out on the other side? On the show, another cylinder—discovered in 1987—quickly disappeared when it shot like a missile down into the Earth’s core.
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“The idea that you could somehow send something through the Earth’s core is very unlikely because there are no materials I know that can survive that temperature,” Pense says. The inner core is thought to have a temperature up to about 13,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than the surface of the sun. When refractory materials that can handle very high temperatures—bricks, ceramics and so on—begin to melt at 5000 F, it seems impossible for a material such as this cylinder to survive the trip.

Even if melting weren’t an issue, Pense says the metal might dissolve into the core. He explains that when you throw salt on an icy road, those two solid materials are not at a temperature where they would individually melt. But if you clamp them together, they form an alloy where they are in contact and they dissolve. “What you may find is that these materials, when put in the iron core of the planet, may dissolve into that.”

Pense wonders if perhaps the cylinder isn’t going so deep that it actually hits the Earth’s core. “We can drill many miles into the Earth’s surface and not melt the drilling equipment or the piping, so certainly it could travel at that level,” he says. But then, what about its ability to tunnel through the core at all? “What would be the energy source?” Pense asks. “How would it eliminate the material in front of it? Would it get so hot that the rocks would melt? That’s not a good idea because you might begin to erode the surface of the cylinder.”

Thanks: Popular Mechanics

We have some really great news for all Fringe fans! It’s just been announced that FOX has picked up Fringe for a full season. This means that the 13 episodes originally ordered will now be extended to 22 episodes for season 1. This is a great show of faith by FOX, and it gives JJ and the team more time and confidence to do what they do best - entertain us!

E! Online has more:

Good news: Joshua Jackson is staying in your living room!

The Fox network just confirmed to me that they ordered nine more episodes of Fringe, the freaky-deaky sci-fi series that stars the very attractive people to the left and comes from the keyboards of expert TV makers J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci andJeff Pinkner.

The ratings for the series have been solid (especially in the notoriously fickle but notoriously important 18-49 demographic), which bears out Fox’s decision to pair it with ratings powerhouse House.

If you were worried about investing in watch this show because you were concerned about it getting canceled, hopefully this news will give you more confidence and more reason to support this show.

Thanks to Fringe-Forum.com for the heads-up

There couldn’t have been a more fitting title for episode 4 - after 48 fantastic minutes of “The Arrival”, Fringe well and truly arrived. Even the opening “previously on Fringe” voice-over was a bit special, especially for those of us who thrive on the details. The opening scene set the tone - episodes of “LOST” that open with music are usually a bit special: “Man of Science, Man of Faith”, “Cabin Fever” - this episode of Fringe was no different, Patsy Cline getting us all in the mood for a crazy-good episode. Much had been speculated about the Creepy Bald Guy who appeared to be stalking Olivia through the first three episodes, and his full debut didn’t disappoint, as he continued to observe the unfolding events, from the arrival of the cylinder, to the reactions of those drawn to it. Whilst his eating habits leave much to be desired, you just know this wasn’t just a gross out moment - there are clues to be had there, just as there are from his note-taking - a recording of events in a cryptic language written from right to left. The common consensus among the fans is that he’s an alien - yet observe his attire, his watch, his viewing-piece, his gun - all fairly olden day earth objects, with a futuristic effect. Compare and contrast this to John Mosely’s weapon - a more futuristic-looking gun, with an equally futuristic beam blast. Perhaps The Observer, as he’s now officially been dubbed, is less an alien and more a time-traveller? If it were possible to hybridize time-periods, The Observer seems like he’s mastered it.  

The evolution of Peter was remarkable in this episode, and hats off to Joshua Jackson, he was fantastic and believable, whether he was being the impatient cynic in the first part of the episode, or the open-minded believer, that we saw in the latter stages. The connection of Peter to ‘The Pattern’ and The Observer took us by surprise - we expected Olivia to be further connected after this episode - however it would be foolish to assume that the explicit lack of further Olivia back-story means that she’s not highly intertwined with the deeper arcs of the show - her ‘Zeno’ kayak dream in the pilot episode links her to both John Mosely and The Observer (or those they work for). Back to Peter, this was the episode where Josh Jackson finally shed the “Pacey” identity and became Peter Bishop - the mental conduit of Walter Bishop. How we view communication will be very important on this show - already we’ve had 3 different forms of ‘fringe’ communication in the past two episodes - the Ghost Network’s, ‘ghost network’, and The Arrival’s two forms of mental communication, which we’ll dub ‘nose-plugs’ and ‘mimick’. So Peter is special, he is telepathically linked to his father, perhaps this is why he’s so good a poker with an IQ of 190? Bit of an ego killer, huh?

Perhaps we should look deeper into Peter’s origin story - we know from Walter’s revelation that both he and Peter were saved from certain death by The Observer. But why was The Observer there to save them? We know that The Observer observes pattern events, so can we assume that Peter and Walter are part of the pattern? But what made The Observer break his code of conduct and interfere with unfolding events? So far we’ve seen him watch, but never touch or directly get involved. He even tells Walter that he is unable to touch the metal pod, so why did The Observer interfere with events in the case of saving the Bishop’s lives of that fateful day? Is this the first time he has interfered with the variables? Perhaps in doing so, this forever made Walter and Peter connected to the pattern? Perhaps this happening, triggered Walter’s scientific endeavours into a whole new dimension? Maybe literally.

Another interesting aspect of this episode was Walter’s decision to drug Astrid in order to hide the cylinder - the greater good, or an unforgivable act?For me, it was unforgivable, there were alternative options, yet he chose to drug the poor “lamb”. A beautiful friendship broken in a heart-beat. One senses that a man of science such as Walter is used to the burden of such decisions, it’s clear that he has so much guilt over Peter’s upbringing and the connection of his work to ‘The Pattern’. In many ways it’s understandable that he wants to make up for his past actions, but some things you just can’t undo. However, If Walter was being played by an actor less accomplished than John Noble, it would be easier to despise him after what he did to Astrid, but Walter is just so endearing at times (Root-beer float, lol), and I think in time Astrid will learn to forgive him, but it’s going to be baby-steps before we get to that stage.

One thing which is unclear is the purpose of the cylinder - we know that The Observer was there to observe, but what was the cylinder sent for? I can only speculate that it was there to gather and record data during it’s small window of opportunity. But what data did it gather, other than the current vibrations of the earth, perhaps? Maybe that’s it - Walter specifically mentioned the vibrations of the cylinder, in the previous episode he stopped the vibrating phone from ‘moving’ - a very peculiar choice of words, perhaps explained by his time spent institutionalized, however, perhaps vibrations = a form of communication, and from that we can deduce the cylinder was not only there to gather, but to communicate. With whom? - with nature? Or perhaps it is literally a beacon - as The Observer called it. The traditional purpose of a beacon is to signal - but what, or who, has been signalled?

John Mosely’s connection to the pod is also a little cloudy - on the surface it’s easy to assume that he’s a ‘bad guy’, but in a world where science is running out of control and Walter Bishop is drugging young women, it’s kinda hard to say for certain who’s bad and who’s good. So perhaps Mosely has a cause which he believes is worth the collatoral damage of a few FBI agents. It’s also assumed that Mosely is from this time, perhaps he’s not, his ‘Zeno-pattern hat’ (see here) suggests that he’s from another time, and perhaps another place. If the pod is recording data, communicating with the earth or signalling, perhaps it holds the key to unlocking something all men would want to get their hands on? One thing is for sure, the arrival of the cylinder has raised the stakes - let’s hope we haven’t seen or heard the last of this object.

The stand-out scene for me, other than the first and the last, came in the murky forest - Olivia heads off into danger and praise the lord, we have danger! OK, Mosely was a bit lame with his laser beam, but he was carrying a gigantic egg, bless him. That aside, I appreciate the intent, and the visuals were simply amazing. Even better was Olivia’s reaction when the cylinder exploded back from whence it came, and Peter’s encounter with The Observer. That, I didn’t expect. I thought we’d see him observing before shuffling back off into the forest, but (the much improved) Peter wanted answers and he wanted them now! That whole scene was so good - as mentioned earlier, The Observer literally inside Peter’s head, which by my reckoning means that not only is Walter mentally connected to Peter, but so is The Observer who saved his life. Walter is constantly berating Peter for not having an open mind, now he’s had his mind opened for him.

Special mention for Broyles- Lance Reddick is awesome, we all know this, but I feel that he’s really growing into the role and his character is showing more light and shade. His relationship with Olivia is so cute, he’s really protective of her - he’s in the business of looking out for all of his agents, dontcha know - but I think he’s got a soft spot for Olivia. I can see now why they had him and Olivia start off on the wrong foot in the pilot episode. That’s not to say there wont be any conflict in the future.

Now here’s our very brief at the good and bad from episode 4:

The Good

1) Greater level of tension, suspense and danger

2)Episode felt very serialized, whilst being wrapped up with a pretty pink bow for those casual viewers.

3) Big pay-off with both mythology and character development - put it this way, it felt more like an episode of LOST than an episode of CSI. Although CSI has it’s merits, we’re from the school of LOST - know your people JJ.

4) Superb visuals, lighting, music.

5) Potential of recurring characters - if we don’t have The Observer back for future episodes, we’ll scream louder than the nurse from episode 2! Seriously, this guy has Benjamin Linus-like potential, in his own expressionless way, of course.

6) Olivia - she’s cute, endearing, tough, vulnerable and she’s far too humble for her own good. You’ve got skills girl, don’t sell yourself short. And yes, she’s got pretty good observational skills herself. Did I say she’s cute - I love the way she speaks - the eyes, the mouth. The eyes and the mouth, people!

7) Massive Dynamic - No William or Nina, but they’re omni-present, and we love it!

8 ) John Scott - reanimated, ghost, spirit, hallucination? Whatever he is, the possibilities are so win.

9)Comic relief - Walter wanting a Root-Beer float during the most serious of moments. The man kills and reanimates me all at the same time. 

The Bad

1) Could have pushed the envelope further - however I appreciate the need to hold back.

2) How is the government unable to track Walter’s movements when he steels the cylinder - Big Brother isn’t as all-seeing as I thought. All that technology in the show, but not enough CCTV cameras. Although conveniently there’s one which captures Mosely’s arrival at the lab?

3) The episodic appeasement of the show means that it often covers old ground at the beginning of each episode. Restating things which the hardcore element already know. Whilst it wasn’t as jarring in this episode, I still noticed it. Not much can be done about this I guess.

4) I feel that we need a major character turn - thought it would come when Walter stuck the needle in Astrid’s arm, but it didn’t. Other than John Scott and perhaps Walter, we are yet to see much moral ambiguity from our main characters. Even Peter with his shady past seems morally sound (although, perhaps that’s the point). If we’re going to deal with science that questions the morality of mankind, we need to start seeing just how far our Fringies can be pushed before they break, before the question the cause they’re currently fighting for. I’m not a sadist, I don’t want to see people doing bad things, but the show is crying out for it. Let’s see what science does to the best of us - perhaps I’ve watched too much “Dark Knight”, but hell, it has a good premise. In all seriousness, if this is to come then I can wait for it, I just hope that we see this angle explored with a bit more depth.

5) One of the best things about “LOST” is that they rarely waste a scene, every scene is like a set-play from which magic unfolds. This isn’t quite the case yet with Fringe - there were a few scenes which could have been replaced, shortened or lengthened.

Fringe improved on last weeks ratings as it received 10.4 million viewers and won all of the target viewer groups for it’s hour:

House dominated the evening in terms of the youth demos, and Fringe won the demos for its hour and was second in demo performance only to House, though the House lead-in is definitely helping as Fringe slipped by about 800K viewers and more than 10% in the demos from the first half hour to the second.

The Arrival was an exceptional episode, let’s hope that the show continues in this vein - if it does, ratings could rise even higher.

Source: TVByTheNumbers.com

Spoiler Alert!

There’s no episode of Fringe next week, due to the US Presidential debate. Anyway, here’s the trailer for the next episode of Fringe - “Power Hungry”, which will air on October 14:

Thanks: pir8queen