Fringe Retro Title Sequence

Most of the Fringe episode "Peter" is a flashback that takes place in 1985. To match the style of the era, location titles and the Fringe title sequence was given a new look. The Tron-style graphics are complimented by new "fringe science" subjects. While these subjects may have seemed "fringe" at the time of Back To The Future and Weird Science, every one (with the exception of cold fusion) is now considered mainstream science.

One thing that seems to be missing from this old school sequence is the "Observers Are Here" quote.




Screenshots of every frame from the title sequence are available at FringeFiles.com.

Fringe Easter Eggs: Glyphs in Peter

The Glyphs code in the Fringe episode Peter spelled out PETERS, like in the saying "There is more than one of everything"

For more information on the Fringe Glyphs, check out Fringepedia's Glyph / Symbols page, which has all the previous glyphs and codes.

Fringe: Walter's Phone Messages

This is a compilation of three "Walter's Phone" videos. The assorted messages are mostly humorous, but there are a few hidden Easter eggs. UPDATED: Now includes all four clips!

Read more »

Historical Photos from the Fringe episode August

Here are the three historical photos shown in the Fringe episode August (They were also in the Fox press kit for August).

The first image is a photo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, which was taken just minutes before they were assassinated, which eventually led to the start of World War I.



The second image is a painting of Marie Antoinette being taken to her execution during the French Revolution.


The third image is an engraving by Paul Revere titled "The Bloody Massacre", which depicts the events of the Boston Massacre of 1770.


If you looked closely at the photos, you should be able to see the Observer in each one, implying that their observations have been going on for a very long time.

As a bonus, I researched these three photos and found the originals:

Simpsons Scavenger Hunt on Fringe

Fox has been promoting the 20th Year of The Simpsons by putting hidden Simpsons references in all of their primetime shows.

There were two Simspons Easter eggs in tonight's episode of Fringe: The Homer Simpson Pez Dispenser used by Tyler Carson to take his mind-control drugs, and the house of Renee Davies, Tyler's mom, was located in the Simpsons' hometown of Springfield.

New Fringe Commercial With Trent Reznor

Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive first look at the new Fringe commercial featuring music from Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. The commercial will be shown tonight during American League Champion Series game. EW reports that Reznor was excited to collaborate with J.J. Abrams:

So, how did the freaky drama series secure the services of Reznor? After Fox’s marketing department showed the Fringe producers a version of the promo that used “Zero-Sum,” series exec producer Jeff Pinkner simply asked a nearby Reznor acquaintance—that’d be co-creator J.J. Abrams—if the NIN musician might be interested in a collaboration. One email later, Reznor was on the case. “We offered him compensation, and he said, ‘No, no, I just want to have fun and be part of something cool,’” says Pinkner, adding: “How often do you get the chance to work with somebody like that?”

Reznor revamped his Nine Inch Nails song “Zero-Sum” in his mobile studio while on tour, adding lines of dialogue from Fringe’s William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) over the music. He even came up with the idea of “embedding” one of the show’s glyphs in the music (see below).

Pinkner also suggested that Reznor may end up on the show at some point:

“If he wants to come act on the show, that’s not tit for tat—that’s an open invitation, and we made that known to him,” says Pinkner. Any ideas on what he may play? “Well, his head would probably end up exploding,” deadpans Pinkner. “There’d be some uncomfortable biology in there one way or another.”

Here is an exclusive look at the hidden Fringe butterfly glyph, which can be seen by analyzing the audio using a spectrogram:

Slusho Makes Another Appearance in Fringe

J.J. Abrams' favorite frozen beverage, Slusho! made another guest appearance in the Fringe episode "Momentum Deferred". We see Bad Charlie dump the delicious drink in order to use the cup to drink mercury, which gives him a temporary health boost.

Slusho was also seen in the Fringe episode The Road Not Taken, and in the Fringe Season 2 poster - not to mention Alias, Cloverfield, Heroes, and Star Trek...

William Bell's New York Post Newspaper

The Season 1 finale of Fringe "There Is More Than One Of Everything" featured a look into the alternate reality where William Bell is living (hiding?). Bell's office, located in NYC's World Trade Center, suggests that events in this Earth Prime have played out a little differently than in our reality. The most powerful example in Bell's world: instead of the Twin Towers being destroyed on 9/11, it was the White House.

The newspaper shown on William Bell's desk hints at some other "roads not taken". Included in the Fringe Season 2 press kit was a 4-page replica of the newspaper from another world. Below are scans/photos of the entire paper. The "New York News" contains the following alternate realities. There are too many items to cover individually, but some of the more intersting ones are:

• Former Pres. Kenedy to Address UN - John F. Kennedy is still alive, set to talk to UN about "ex-deceased citizens"
  
• NTSB Withholds transcript from Flight 718 Black Box - Flight 718 was the plane that crashed in the Fringe episode The Transformation.
• Kelvin Genetics Moves HQ to Manhattan - Kelvin Genetics is the company that Dr. Walter Bishop worked for with William Bell.
• Weather Report - "No corrective action by NWS expected" - Weather can now be controlled by the government
• Cartoon - Solar, Wind, and Oil made obsolete by Zero-Point Energy - an alternate energy source developed by Massive Dynamic.
• Genetically Engineered pets
• FDA approves facial landscaping - a facial reconstruction technique developed by Intrepus. David Esterbrook, the R&D officer at Intrepus is also mentioned. Intrepus and Esterbrook can be seen in the Fringe episode The Cure.
• Star Trek is still the top movie at the box office :)
• Daily Horoscopes - all seem to apply to Olivia Dunham...
• Massive Dynamic Ad - There's no mention of the R.E.M. pod on the Massive Dynamic website...
  
• Crossword Puzzle - If anyone wants to solve this and send in the answers, maybe there are some clues hidden in it?
• Bar code - The bar code on the back page is 09172009 002 - as in 9/17/2009, Season 2
  

Star Trek: JJ Abrams on Colbert Report

JJ Abrams appeared on the Colbert Report last night to talk about Star Trek. Fringe was only mentioned in passing, but JJ reinforced the fact that the show is made so you can start watching at any time (like tonight!) and you won't be totally Lost, like on LOST. There's also a funny bit about hidden clues in the show.

* Thanks to FringeTelevision Twitter follower hl2run for finding this!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
J.J. Abrams
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor First 100 Days

JJ Abrams Mystery Box Edition of WIRED

The May issue of WIRED magazine recruited JJ Abrams as the guest editor. A year in the making, the "Mystery Issue" features a one-issue redesign directed by JJ, with mind-boggling puzzles on almost every page and hidden clues "that are not apparent at first or second glance."

This means that while many of the articles and puzzles are available online, you will need to get the magazine to get the full Easter egg experience.

Either way, be sure to check out the JJ Abrams article on mysteries and spoilers (spoiler alert: spoilers are bad, mkay?), and the "between-the-pages" interview below.

Plus there's some exclusive Star Trek content, including a comic strip featuring a lost chapter of the Star Trek saga, and Star Trek concept designer Neville Page gives readers a first look at a new monster, Big Red, a lobster-hued snow-planet scourge that attacks Capt. James T. Kirk.

By the way, the "Mystery Box" on the cover refers to a very funny speech that Abrams gave at the TED conference in March 2007.

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The Observer on American Idol

The Observer made an appearance on American Idol tonight. No, not singing - he was in the audience.

BTW, something you may not know about Micheal Cerveris, he is an accomplished singer and Tony award winning Broadway actor. Here he is in Sweeney Todd.

Fringe's Glyph / Symbols Code Cracked!

Ars Technica editor Julian Sanchez (my new hero!) has finally cracked the code of the mysterious Fringe glyphs that appear during the commercial breaks, piggybacking on the work done in a recent Ars Technica article. Each glyph and position of the yellow dot indicate a different letter, so Julian used a simple one-to-one, monoalphabetic substitution cypher, like the Caeser Shift Astrid used in In Which We Meet Mr. Jones to link Mitchell Loeb's parasite to ZFT.

UPDATE: Fringepedia has a more complete list of Glyph Codes here.

Click here to read the solution

Each set of glyphs translate into a word, which relates to the theme of the episode:

101: OBSERVER
102: CHILD
103: AEGER [? -- AETHER would make more sense for the episode]
104: ROGUE
105: SURGG [should be SURGE?]
106: CELLS
107: CODES
108: TAKEN
109: VOICE
110: TRADE
111: SAVED
112: BISHOP
113: AVIAN
114: OLIVIA

The Observer spotted at NASCAR race

The Observer was spotted at last Sunday's NASCAR race - the Samsung 500. He must be a big sports fan, because he was also seen at an NFL game. Where will he appear next - MLB?

* Thanks to Julia R. for sending this in!

Ars Technica: Mad Science and Secret Codes in Fringe

Ars Technica has an in-depth article explaining the various clues, puzzles, and Fringe Easter Eggs that are hidden throughout Fringe. Of course, FringeTelevision.com is mentioned as the comprehensive place to follow all the clues in the show.

Erica Sadun's article mentions The Observer appearances, Next Episode clues, and also takes a crack at decyphering the mysterious Fringe symbols or "glyphs", but it looks like this Fringe puzzle may be the Kryptos of Fringe clues.

If you'd like to take a whack at it yourself, Fringepedia has a compilation of all the glyphs shown during the commercial breaks.

Fringe: The No-Brainer - HD Screencaps

High-Definition screen captures of Fringe Episode 112 "The No-Brainer", are now available in our Galley section.

Some of the most interesting screenshots are already up in our Screencaps / Easter Egg section, but if there's something you can't find there or in our Gallery, you can request a screenshot here.

Fringe: Next Episode Clue #8

In addition to an appearance by The Observer, each episode of Fringe contains a hidden clue (Easter egg), that foreshadows something that will happen in the next episode. Over the next few hours leading up to the spring premiere, I will be posting videos of the clues from each Fringe episode.

Here is the "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 108: The Equation

Previous Clues:

• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 107: In Which We Meet Mr. Jones
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 106: The Cure
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 105: Power Hungry
  
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 104: The Arrival
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 103: The Ghost Network
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 102: The Same Old Story
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 101: Pilot

For more hidden clues, check out the Fringe Easter Eggs section.

Fringe: Next Episode Clue #7

In addition to an appearance by The Observer, each episode of Fringe contains a hidden clue (Easter egg), that foreshadows something that will happen in the next episode. Over the next two days leading up to the spring premiere, I will be posting videos of the clues from each Fringe episode.

Here is the "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 107: In Which We Meet Mr. Jones

Previous Clues:

• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 106: The Cure
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 105: Power Hungry
  
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 104: The Arrival
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 103: The Ghost Network
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 102: The Same Old Story
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 101: Pilot

For more hidden clues, check out the Fringe Easter Eggs section.

Fringe: Next Episode Clue #6

In addition to an appearance by The Observer, each episode of Fringe contains a hidden clue (Easter egg), that foreshadows something that will happen in the next episode. Over the next five days leading up to the spring premiere, I will be posting videos of the clues from each Fringe episode.

Here is the "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 106: The Cure

Previous Clues:

• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 105: Power Hungry
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 104: The Arrival
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 103: The Ghost Network
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 102: The Same Old Story
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 101: Pilot

For more hidden clues, check out the Fringe Easter Eggs section.

Fringe: Next Episode Clue #5

In addition to an appearance by The Observer, each episode of Fringe contains a hidden clue (Easter egg), that foreshadows something that will happen in the next episode. Over the next five days leading up to the spring premiere, I will be posting videos of the clues from each Fringe episode.

Here is the "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 105: Power Hungry

Previous Clues:

• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 104: The Arrival
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 103: The Ghost Network
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 102: The Same Old Story
• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 101: Pilot

For more hidden clues, check out the Fringe Easter Eggs section.

Fringe: Next Episode Clue #2

In addition to an appearance by The Observer, each episode of Fringe contains a hidden clue (Easter egg), that foreshadows something that will happen in the next episode. Over the next eight days leading up to the spring premiere, I will be posting videos of the clues from each Fringe episode.

Here is the "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 102: The Same Old Story.

Previous Clues:

• "Next Episode Clue" from Fringe episode 101: Pilot.

For more hidden clues, check out the Fringe Easter Eggs section.