Watercooler:A Few Questions About Fringe's Flashback

Today's News: Our Take Watercooler: A Few Questions About Fringe's Flashback
Feb 28, 2011 12:31 PM ET
by Damian Holbrook

So Peter and Olivia met when they were kids. Bet that has some of you scratching your heads, huh?

Last Friday, Fox's sci-fi uber-coolness Fringe kicked back to 1985 — land of Walter's sideburns and cortexiphan treatments — to show us how young Olivia (called Olive by Dr. Bishop) star-crossed paths with new-to-this-'verse Peter just as she was tapping into her abilities to travel between worlds. Turns out both kids were in tough spots: He was all pissed that his "parents" were trying to sell him on the lie that he hadn't been snatched from another dimension, and she was desperate to avoid the abuse of her stepfather. Before you can say, "young love," the two youngin's are connecting on that kind of level that causes snow to start magically falling and, in Olivia's case, accidentally crossing over to the red universe and cluing Walternate into the possible location of his missing son.

It was awesome! And not just because a certain Watercooler writer also had that Battlestar Galactica boardgame young Petey was eyeing up in the toy store. The scene where Olive spilled the beans to the man she thought was her protector was a chilling mind-bender that only got cooler up multiple viewings. And once you'd figure out that she had indeed just met Walternate, the realization of what that meant (this was the germ of the idea that has inspired the man to devote his life to ending our universe) solved a huge piece of this puzzle.

However, there were a few questions that came out of the hour we'd like to pose to you...

- Was that betamax video of Olive mentally torching her classroom the same one we saw last season? Thought there was a bed in the background of the first one.

- If Walter's old lab assistant Carla died in a fire, who thinks it was one started by Olive?

- How come Peter didn't remember meeting Olivia? We know she blocked out the cortexiphan stuff from last season's "Jacksonville" episode.

- Do we think maybe Olivia has an untapped ability to turn things she imagines into a reality? That snow sort of just happened, you know?

- How come Walter never mentioned that these two met 26 years ago?

- How much do we love Orla Brady as Elizabeth Bishop?

Ok, Fringies, have at it. Who knows, maybe some of your theories will make it into our next chat with the producers.
Source:tvguide.com

(Note:Damian Holbrook is so 'Fringe' cool. It's no surprise he has that Battlestar Galactica game.)

Fringe 315 Reviews Roundup: "Subject 13"

Here are some reviews from around the web, in no particular order, for the Fringe episode "Subject 13":

• Entertainment Weekly: 'Fringe' recap: Olivia and Peter as children, Walter and Walternate as equals
• io9: Walter Bishop’s Day Care Center of Horrors
• LA Times: 'Fringe' recap: Inventing a Tulip
• AV Club: "Subject 13"
• Spoiler TV: Fringe 3x15: In Which Little Peter Wants to Go Home and Walternate Gets a Clue
• TV Squad: 'Fringe' Season 3, Episode 15 Recap
• TVOvermind: Fringe 3.15 "Subject 13" Recap
• TV Fanatic: Fringe Review: "Subject 13"
• BSC Review: Fringe: “Subject 13″ – review
• HitFlix: Recap: 'Fringe' - 'Subject 13'
• Cultural Learnings: Fringe – “Subject 13″
• The Faster Times: Fringe Recap (Season 3, Episode 15) “Subject 13”
• Polite Dissent: Fringe — Episode 15 (Season 3): “Subject 13
• Cordial Deconstruction: Deconstruction Review of Fringe, Episode 15 Season 3, Subject 13

Have any favorite reviews, or reviews we should add? Let us know in the comments. 

Akiva Goldsman Tells A 'Winter's Tale'

And speaking of the book 'Winter's Tale' in Dennis' post below, this may be why we saw it in 'Subject 13.'

I Googled 'Winter's Tale' and found this article.

Fringe's consulting producer(and writer) Akiva Goldsman will start directing the shooting of a movie form of 'Winter's Tale' in 2012.

Akiva Goldsman Tells A ‘Winter’s Tale'

To many, Akiva Goldsman is akin to a cinematic antichrist, for having written such screen duds as Lost in Space and Batman and Robin. To others however, he is an Oscar winning screenwriter (Best Adapted Screenplay for A Beautiful Mind) whose films, as a writer, have grossed an average of $122 million at the US box office. Factor in that he’s also a successful producer and you can see why Hollywood likes doing business with the man.

Goldsman is now set to expanding his resume even more by making his feature film directing debut with a big screen adaptation of Mark Helprin’s 1983 fantasy novel, Winter’s Tale.
Winter’s Tale (which Goldsman will also write) has a budget set at a substantial $75 million and it is due to start shooting in 2012, once the writer has finished working …

Source:geo436.com

Fringe Photo Gallery: "Subject 13" Screenshots

HD screenshots of Fringe episode Subject 13 are now available at FringeFiles.com.

These screen caps have all been randomly selected, so if there's something that might be missing, you can request a specific Fringe screenshot in the Fringe Easter Eggs section.

Promotional photos for Subject 13 are also available at FringeFiles.com.

Fringe Books: What Young Olivia Was Reading in "Subject 13"

The book that young Olivia is reading in "Subject 13" is called Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin.

Wikipedia has some interesting things to say about the book:

The title Winter's Tale is a reference to the similarly named Shakespeare play. In that play, as in this book, a major character disappears for years, only to return after a long and unexplained absence, unharmed, transformed, and redeemed.[Peter?]
...
Winter's Tale is a 1983 novel by Mark Helprin. It takes place in a mythic New York City, markedly different than our own.[Alternate Universe?]
...
New York City is subsumed in arctic winds, dark nights, and white lights, its life unfolds, for it is an extraordinary hive of the imagination, the greatest house ever built, and nothing exists that can check its vitality.[Is this why it snowed in the tulip field?]

The most interesting part of the book is name of the main character Peter Lake!

FYI, the paperback edition has a different cover, but if you want the exact same book Olivia is reading, hardcover versions with the same cover are available in the Amazon used books section.

Win Tickets to see John Noble in Paris

The French Fringe website SerieFringe.com is having a contest to give away two tickets to the Sci-Fi Convention in Paris on April 16 and 17th.

One of the tickets is a "Premium Ticket" (135€ value), which includes meeting John noble, plus you'll get an autograph and photo taken with him.

The other "Weekend Ticket" (50€ value) only gets you access to the convention, but you can buy tickets to get an autograph or a photo for 20€ each .


Of course transportation is not included, unless you live in Paris, or are willing to travel there on your own dime, there's not much point in entering. But we know we have some French Fringe fans out there, so to them we say "bonne chance"!

FYI, the contest site is only in French (you can read the site in English through Google Translator here), but the Sci-Fi Convention website is available in French or English.

Fringe Retro Title Sequence Returns

The Fringe episode "Subject 13" 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 same title sequence was also seen in the the Fringe episode "Peter".

The Tron-style graphics are complimented by retro "fringe science" subjects. While these subjects may have seemed "fringe" at the time of Back To The Future and Weird Science, every one (with maybe 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 single frame from the title sequence are available at FringeFiles.com.

Fringe 316 Preview: Os

Preview for the Fringe episode "Os" , which airs in two weeks on FRIDAY, March 11th at 9:00PM on FOX.

Head over to the FringeTelevision YouTube channel (and click the "pop out" button) to watch it in full-sized HD.

Screenshots of the video are available at FringeFiles.com

Fringe Easter Eggs: Observer in Subject 13

The Observer can be spotted walking in the Bishop Dynamics lobby, just as Walternate arrives.

You can see all of The Observer's other appearances here.

Fringe Easter Eggs: Glyphs in Subject 13

The Glyphs code in the Fringe episode Subject 13 spelled out SWITCH.

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

Fringe Episode 315: Subject 13

This follow-up to last season’s “Peter” flashback episode revisits a poignant period of time for both the Bishops and Olivia

Discuss the episode here in the comments.

Tonight On Fringe: Subject 13

Tonight's Fringe episode "Subject 13", is the fifteenth episode of season 3.

Reminder: If you didn't already have enough of a reason to watch Fringe LIVE, tonight is also the LIVE Tweet-Along event with Jasika Nicole (Astrid Farnsworth) and Fringe executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman.

Jeff Pinkner (@JPFringe) and J.H. Wyman (@JWFringe) will be tweeting from 9PM to 10PM EST, and Jasika Nicole (@FringeLabRat) will be tweeting from 9PM to 10PM PST (that's 12AM to 1AM EST).

You can submit your questions for everyone using the #FringeLiveTweet tag.

If you can handle doing three things at once, as always, we'll have a LIVE Fringe chat. If you want to talk with other Fringe fans, during or after the show, we usually play "spot the observer", and "What's the glyph code?", plus discuss the action on the show. To join the chat, visit the Fringe chat room, enter your name or a nickname, and join the fun! (please don't use the default mib_xxxxx nickname - be creative!). Advanced users can go directly to the IRC channel: #FringeTV on irc.mibbit.com.

After the show, get more information on Subject 13 at:

• Subject 13 episode page on Fringepedia 
• Subject 13 screenshot gallery at FringeFiles 
• Subject 13 promotional photos at FringeFiles 

Also, don't forget to check the Fringe Easter Eggs section for Observer sightings, Glyph codes, and other Fringe hidden clues.

To discuss Subject 13 or any other episode, head over the the Fringe episode section.

How do you rate the Fringe episode "Subject 13"?

There was a problem with last weeks poll, so I have added it here again and extended the poll deadline for one more week.

How do you rate the Fringe episode "6B"?