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Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

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Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Old 02-25-11, 02:00 PM
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Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

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By djariya at 2010-11-18

Synopsis:

Spoiler:
The team looks to the past to focus on Walter's experiments in the 1980s and Olivia's traumatic experiences.


Episode 15 of 22

Promo:

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yYB_zJzAZbU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Awesome promo
Old 02-25-11, 02:02 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

This show apparently gets a 53% boost in viewership (and in the key demo) thanks to DVR use.

Shame that does next to nothing for Fox.
Old 02-25-11, 03:13 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Looks like

Spoiler:
someone is coming back! (to a future episode, of course)

From Twitter:
TheRealNimoy Leonard Nimoy
Coming to Fringe. William's bell rings soon. LLAP
Old 02-25-11, 08:12 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Sweet. Another retro opening
Old 02-25-11, 09:01 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

cold!

mini olivia crossing over at the end and giving walternate all the answers, then bouncing back, ahaha

next weeks eps looks weak though
Old 02-25-11, 10:15 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Was this overly blurry in a bunch of scenes or was it my TV? Seemed they were trying to use some '80s effects but sometimes it just looked horrible.
Old 02-25-11, 10:47 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

So, was that the same spatial relations puzzle that they used to test children for spy/assassin aptitude on Alias? Looks very similar from what I remember.

...and yes, it was blurry on purpose to look like a old tv show much like the opening sequence.
Old 02-26-11, 12:05 AM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

The only scenes that I would say were blurry were when it was showing Olivia on camera, but that was like you were viewing through the cameras, and since it was 1980, the quality wasnt as good. But I would say if you are talking about more than that, it was your TV.

Decent episode. The ending when Olivia talked to Walternate was awesome. Didnt see that coming and when Walter came in behind her it was pretty shocking.
Old 02-26-11, 01:02 AM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

No, entire episode was softer. Maybe your tv's not sharp enough to tell the difference.
Old 02-26-11, 06:24 AM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

i thought it was extra blurry

there was a scene where peters not-mom was in one of the jacksonville rooms that was real blurred for no reason

they had already added enough of the 80's soap opera "mist, fog, vaseline" whatever you wanted to call it

---

storywise there is alot of room for more retro episodes

there gonna need an interstitial to to explain why Olivia don't remember "crossing over" when she was a kid or Peter not remembering he was aware of being taken by his not-mom and walter (i mean they weren't so young that it would be unmemorable, especially for those kind of events)
Old 02-26-11, 08:21 AM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

I have a hard time understanding why anyone would think intentionally making an entire HD broadcast look like it was up-converted from VHS was a good idea. OK, it's not VHS, but I have DVDs that look better than this episode. I can only hope that the S3 Blu-Ray doesn't look like this.
Old 02-26-11, 11:18 AM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

I imagine part of the reason for the softening filter was to help hide all the makeup that John Noble had to wear to look 25 years younger. I have the same problem with these flashback episodes as I do with movies like Star Wars that attempt to shoehorn in prequels after the fact -- everything is just too damn convenient and all the interaction between key characters, none of whom seem to remember each other later on, makes them look like idiots. I do like the 80s style opening sequence though.
Old 02-26-11, 11:23 AM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Originally Posted by Timber
Was this overly blurry in a bunch of scenes or was it my TV? Seemed they were trying to use some '80s effects but sometimes it just looked horrible.
Glad I wasn't the only one. Seemed like it was mostly in the scenes at the Bishop home.

Loved the retro opening, again. Loved the attention to detail with all the toys. I wasn't sure how this episode would turn out, but it was fantastic.
Old 02-26-11, 04:13 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Lots of potential plot holes opened up by this episode. Sort of fell flat for me.
Old 02-26-11, 04:34 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Originally Posted by mugwump
I imagine part of the reason for the softening filter was to help hide all the makeup that John Noble had to wear to look 25 years younger.
Possibly, though I think they did it to make it look a television series from the 1980s -- to go along with the retro title sequence.
Old 02-26-11, 04:49 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Originally Posted by Cardiff Giant11
Lots of potential plot holes opened up by this episode. Sort of fell flat for me.
Yeah, I was wondering about that, too. I can't recall, but I don't remember Olivia knowing Walter in the first episode; wasn't it supposed to be a shocking revelation that Walter (and William Bell) had experimented on Olivia as a child in one of the later first season episodes?

Ditto Peter. Olivia told Walter about her abusive step-father, so I doubt she would ever forget him. Likewise, I would expect Peter and Olivia to remember each other since their scenes together were significant moments in both of their lives.

And, considering Peter's personality, I don't think he would forget that he thought he was in the wrong "world" when he grew up. Maybe if he had thought something was amiss while he was sick or recovering from his illness, but it seemed like this had been going on for some time. We've also never seen any indication that he was this aware that something was wrong.

I found myself thinking they used their amnesia drug on her, but then I remembered that was from "Torchwood."
Old 02-26-11, 05:20 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Peter getting sick again will explain away a majority of the plot holes. I think he said in one of the earlier episodes that he didn't remember much about his childhood, he remembered being sick, his mother, and the fact that Walter was rarely around.

Olivia being abused by her step father, Walter, and her crossing over could explain why she blocked the majority of her childhood memories.

If they would have kept the "80s effect" consistent I wouldn't have had a problem with it but like I said some scenes were just too blurry.
Old 02-26-11, 06:10 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

It seemed like some scenes were blurrier than others, but it never bothered me. I assumed it was a look they were going for the episode.

I thought the episode was OK, but on the boring side. I wonder if it will be explained why Peter and Olivia don't remember each other.
Old 02-26-11, 09:56 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Damn Olivia for telling Walternate.

Well we know from past that Olivia shoots her step father, I would assume that could trigger some kind of mental break down that causes her to repress a lot of what she learned. Walter could also give her some kind of medicine that makes her forget.

Considering everytime they need a piece of technology, Walter either invents it, or Massive Dynamic has one. So it seems plausible for the show they have a MIB neurolizer.

BTW the company on the other side was Bishop Dynamic or something right?
Old 02-26-11, 10:29 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Originally Posted by shadowhawk2020
Damn Olivia for telling Walternate.



BTW the company on the other side was Bishop Dynamic or something right?
Wow you know I realized that was Walternate she was talking to but I didn't think about how it would impact the future and Waltenrate knowing how important Olivia is.

Yes it was Bishop Dynamic.

One of the things I find so funny is that the alternate universe while different is still very similar. I know that science says that there could be a universe for basically every possibility but it just seems like Fringe's alternate universe is just too much like our own aside from a few minor things. For example, Obama is still elected president along with Reagan, but the Dodgers are still in Brooklyn and the Strategic Defense Initiative is actually completed. I'd tend to think an alternate universe would be wicked different and for the most part no events from our world would occur.
Old 02-26-11, 11:40 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

I just thought it was neat that the space program is now in my hometown in the alternate universe.
Old 02-26-11, 11:57 PM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Science does not tell us about alternate universes. That's science fiction. As in fiction that uses elements of science for a construct, which is then extrapolated into completely fantasy. Like Warp drive, time travel, and all the rest. Our science says there's one reality and this is it.

That 70's Walter hairstyle was painful.

I've forgotten Olivia's "power". We know she can shift between universes, but this episode shows her perhaps having something to do with the tulips, and having to "cool down" before Peter could touch her. I also remember an episode (I think towards the end of S1) where there was some kind of box that depended on her abilities to be able to open or disable it ... to stop an explosion? (very faint memory here). What exactly are her abilities (as explained by the show so far)?
Old 02-27-11, 12:06 AM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Originally Posted by Cardiff Giant11
I'd tend to think an alternate universe would be wicked different and for the most part no events from our world would occur.
Depends on your theory of alternate universes. I read a short story (whose name I have forgotten) where "nearby" alternates are nearly identical to your "home" universe. As you get farther away the alternates get progressively more divergent, to the point that you can't visit them in person because their underlying physics do not support your form of life.

I am more puzzled by the fact that we've only seen one alternate universe. The existence of the Observers suggest to me that there may be many alternates, since they are obviously not from either of the two we've seen so far. I don't think they're time travelers either, their powers seem more like an innate ability to see threads of fate than actual foreknowledge of (to them) historical events.
Old 02-27-11, 12:17 AM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Originally Posted by Deftones
Loved the attention to detail with all the toys.
What year did this take place in? The Ghostbusters toys wouldn't have been out before 1986, when the show started, which seems the right time period for the show, but I would think the BSG stuff would have been much older.
Old 02-27-11, 12:59 AM
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Re: Fringe -- "Subject 13" -- 2/25/11

Originally Posted by Josh-da-man
Possibly, though I think they did it to make it look a television series from the 1980s -- to go along with the retro title sequence.
I hope that wasn't the intention. I didn't recall television in the '80s looking nearly this bad so I dug up some Miami Vice to compare against. The result was that a 26 year old show looked better than both the SD and HD versions of this episode.

Which wasn't hard. When I said the episode wasn't as bad as VHS, I was referring to the HD version. I have VHS home movies that look better than the SD version.

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