"Fringe" on Fox HD - Page 189

Peter ceased to exist after the 3rd season, and the show went to great lengths in the 4th to show how much that changed the world..Plus it has been said many times that the simplest action(ie killing a fly) can resonate in such a way to change the entire timeline, So the observers were afraid to do much more than, well, observe, before the invasion. Remember its the original timeline they wanted, where there was no interaction between universes.But then September interfered and changed everything. They wanted to get back to the timeline there was before September saved Peter but were hesitant to do too much out of fear of mucking things up even further. So Peter is still alive but by the end of S4 the portal has been closed and there is no threat of contact between the universes. From the Observers point of view its not perfect, but close enough tp the original timeline that they can go through with their original plan. But until they actually invade they didn't want6 to do anything like killing Peter out of fear that would change things even further. They have already seen what chaos can result when they interfere.

Works for me anyways. YMMV of course.

We don't really know the size of the Observer population. If its' enough to keep humans in check I have to believe the Observers will have exhausted the pepper supply.

I was thinking of that same thing, I'm thinking they aren't too many of them as it appears they're an endangered species.And lack of bold headed ladies

Djoel

Yeah--we haven't seen any females, though "Letters of Transit" begins with a scene in some kind of club where Observers were in the company of contemporary human females (one grabs a passing girl with bad intent, causing the club's proprietor to protest, slugging the observer in the gut and almost getting himself telepathically murdered by the one who interrogated Walter), so it would seem that they like women. Perhaps the women of their time wanted nothing to do with the invasion or perhaps it was a scheme hatched by males who were happy to leave those women behind.

There was a text scroll at the beginning of "Letters of Transit" giving a rundown of the situation:
(Rendition reproduced as closely as possible).

Hopefully we'll find out more about the Observers' origins as things progress (the fifth episode of the season is called "An Origin Story"--maybe then ).

The lack of female Observers was mentioned by the producers prior to the season premiere as something that will be explained.

"Criterion collection...Forgive me!" CLASSIC! Great episode with lots of emotional swings. Nice shock/horror in the med lab (poor Desmond.) The final season is picking up steam....

It wasn't "they" who allowed Peter back, it was September. He went against orders to earse Peter's "trace" exsistence and brought him back. The other Observers wanted him gone for good as he should have been. Some of this was handled in the commics that were "cannon".

Not to drag this out any further--because we could talk about this all day--I'll just conclude by saying that if the Observers really wanted Peter gone, they could have done it themselves and made sure it was permanent.

Yes, that raises more questions, but we'll just let it go for now. As long as they explain why they let events unfold the way they did, I won't dismiss it as convenient writing.

Side note: I loved Walter's horror at smashing the laser disc player.

While not explaining everything... I have thought on and off about "what if" and time travel.

It sounds nice to possibly go back and correct a mistake in my past or perhaps change my fortune so I am rich now... but I also have a young niece and nephew... and the logical AND emotional sides of me collaborate together on this... and I realize I would have to be very careful that any changes I make in my past do not interfere with their existence. IF I go back 10 years (before they were born) and change something to improve my fortunes... I could inadvertently cause one or both of them to cease to exist... and that wouldn't be acceptable... so to be safe... I could go back and "observe" older events, but would not want to interfere until after their births to be sure they at least exist.

I bring this up in relation to Fringe... the logic works... IF they change the past too much too soon, they might wipe themselves out from existence... so I tend to agree that they were going back and watching OR perhaps shaping things towards their desired timeline.

The big "hole" we have here is likely what would have been incorporated into the next season or two BEFORE the Observer invasion. We've also seen where their apparent omnipotence isn't truly... where they especially do not seem to be able to interact directly in their own pasts. They see "all possible futures" and so they seem to exist a bit outside of time... hopefully they will tie up some of these questions.

The only aspect I really don't like... is this "gotta find all the pieces to assemble" thing... Other shows have done this type of plot to death... there are pieces to get, then you get some easy others more difficult, and then find the last piece and it all just magically works somehow in the end. It always feels like a little letdown when these kinds of plots reach the fruition. I'm giving Fringe the benefit of the doubt... but frankly rather than the mystery memories and lost tapes... I would rather the plot have just been they slowly learn and piece together parts of a plan during the season... not that there already was a plan and they have to find the pieces to assemble again.

You could try it Millennium style. Not that it worked out in the long run for them, but you could look for coins or collectables going in the dump...

v/r,
C-F

They have mentioned it a few times in the past seasons that the Observers now reside "outside" of time. This was shown when Septemeber took Peter (I think) to the "portal" area last sseason...They were for sure shaping things to get to a certain point, but certain things had to happen in order for this to occur, which is why they observed to make sure it did. When Septemeber messed things up. they had to play cleanup until they erased Peter, when September again messed things up and brought him back.....Now I get that they could have assigned another Observer to make sure they got rid of Peter again, but maybe they couldnt without causing even more damage.....

Just wanted to give a big thanks to you for all your insights. Its been invaluable for someone who arrived late to the party.

Thanks this is one of the shows that I watch every week at least once....This is one place where people are into the show, but not TOO into the show like the dedicated forum I used to visit. I may not always be right, but heck with this show it can be taken in so many different ways so Ill gladly be corrected whenever possible ......

Hopefully these final episodes are as fun as the past few years have been with this show. Its really a shame that smart TV\Sci-Fi tv has become very very rare. .

BTW I know we have done it in the past but would people want the Glyph translations posted again?

I have thought about that... going back for things that are known to be missing/lost in the present. Actually, one of the items on my time-travel list... go back and find things like the lost Doctor Who episode films after they were tossed, but before they were burned in the fire... that way the past happens as it has thus far, and then I pop back to the present time and can produce them as a "find"

Kage Baker's "The Company" novels and stories concern a corporation headquartered in the future called "Dr. Zeus Inc." which discovers time travel and a means to make a tiny subset of people immortal by a process which must begin when they're small children. They create a force of these immortals ("recruiting" children throughout history) and send some of them into various points in the past to retrieve items which history records as having been lost and place them in secure locations where they can be retrieved in the future. The fiction is more about the immortals and their exploits than the company itself. I've read all of that stuff and loved it (Baker's dead, so sadly there won't be more).

yes This guy would anyways.

Based on Comcast guide info, looks like at least a 1 week hiatus for FRINGE after tonight's installment. Next Friday (10/19) lists a 2 hr X Factor on FOX.

hmm, so are we looking at a Saturday ignore-slot in the future? As long as they show the episodes I don't care if they do.

TV.com lists the fourth episode ("The Bullet that Saved the World") as scheduled to air on the 26th, so no episode on the 19th. They're covering the MLB National League Championship Series, so game 5, if necessary, will air in that slot. I imagine that there'll be other Fridays with no Fringe during the MLB World Series.
Edited by michaeltscott - 10/12/12 at 4:38pm

THE X FACTOR
IF NO BASEBALL
TV-14; D,L - Auditions begin in Austin, San Francisco and Providence, RI as Britney Spears and Demi Lovato join the judges' panel

http://www.fox.com/schedule/

Walter! FIRE UP A JOINT! Twist one up!

Not an outstanding episode this week but an interesting piece of the treasure hunt.

I did like the Stargate Atlantis background reference with Paul McGillion on the show. One of the rebels was using a tri-barrelled Genii rifle when they captured the Fringers. I spotted that before he appeared on camera so I thought they were just borrowing the prop for convenience.

This episode did reinforce my opinion that the transparent future displays that people think are cool, really suck for legibility! I was trying to read some of the screens and it was very difficult. I don't see the attraction of having displays you can see the background through for everyday use. My eyes don't need any further strain.

I enjoyed this episode also. I found it interesting that in a few short years we will have really cool tech but will still depend on the old tried and true.

I liked this episode, wasnt "outstanding" but enjoyable. It moved the story along and started to bring more of the outside world into view. The people we saw today remind me of a character(s) we saw in a previous season.

As for the shoutout to SA, this show has always done this for classic Sci-FI movies\shows as well as past JJ shows......I think it was the 1st season where the license plate was R2D2........They had an episode from X-Files on the TV on an episode which was basically a dedication to it......Lets not forget the reference to Lost last episode with the hatch as well .....

Looks like you have a case of the old grumpy magoos its different seeing the displays in person than it is via being filmed. Not to mention that the writing was not done too legibly, so that would ahve added to the difficulty seeing what was written. You are not alway supposed to see whats there and in this case I believe you feel pray to looking for detail when there was none to see. The screens will probably be easier to read when the Blu-ray comes out hehehehe.....

After hearing an interview with Joshua Jackson before the premiere of Season 5...I put it into spoilers just in case Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Edited by Ph8te - 10/13/12 at 10:21am

Here are the Glyph translations as always put into spoilers

Episode 1:
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

They never did explain what was in the mine causing the calcification did they? I can't believe they would leave the origin unexplained so I'm expecting/hoping the mine is mentioned again. There has to be a reason The Invaders don't want people in there besides just picking up rocks that have just appeared by geological happenstance.

Some kind of nearby underground Invader base generating energy that makes weird crystals and turns people into ashmen? Energy tunnels created by the egg devices? UFO? Sharks with lasers?

Maybe in the future they all live underground and some of the Observers are trapped/living down there for some reason.

I found the scene where to boy showed the team his three graphic novels very emotional. I think I might have even teared up a bit.

I believe the "rocks"\gems just happen to be found there... I believe that the calcification was the human bodies reaction to trying to block the highly concentrated C02 (at least thats what Walter said). It was this on top of whatever emminated from the mineshaft that casued thier condition. We probably wont see the origin as there is not enough time to delve into it (unless they mention it as a side note)....The setting\condition was jsut a side piece to the story....The closer you got to the source of the gems\rocks the closer you were to the source of the calcification, which againwas the bodies accelerated reaction to whatever was causing condition we saw on the "top side".

.At least IMO this doesnt ahve to do anything with the Observers. If it did they would ahve know exactly where to send the loyalists. The Observeers didnt know they were there, becasue it was remote AND they didnt make "noise". It wasnt until the Fringe team was spoted fixing the tire that the Observers knew the general area that they were in.They want total population control so the more people\areas they know about the more they can erradicate or turn inot loyalists and move to the cities. They have alrge force, but I doubt large enough to cover every single place on earth.

A little odd, but interesting that they didn't try to cure the problem-of-the-week... In the past, even with a "gotta collect the pieces" subplot, they would still take time to cure the sick people. The fact that they went in for what they wanted, and didn't try to help the sick is a definite change in tone for this season.

I think youll see this more often with the streamlining of the season. It will be more focused on the task at hand, ie no meaningless side missions or MOTW episodes.....