Fringe season 4 question
12-27-12, 09:59 PM
#1
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Thread Starter
Fringe season 4 question
Did episode 19 "Letters of Transit" air out of sequence? It makes much more sense if it is the last episode of the season.
12-27-12, 10:01 PM
#2
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Fringe season 4 question
No. That's the way it originally aired.
12-27-12, 10:42 PM
#3
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Thread Starter
Re: Fringe season 4 question
I know it aired that way. Was it a mistake? If not, what was the rational? It seems seriously screwy to refer to things you couldn't possibly know until the last episode aired.
12-27-12, 11:23 PM
#4
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Fringe season 4 question
The 19th episode of every season of fringe is traditionally an off the wall episode. Off the top of my head is the cartoon ep of season 3 and the musical ep. There was a stop motion animation one as well. So Letters of Transit fits right into that pattern.
12-28-12, 07:59 AM
#5
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Fringe season 4 question
plus at this point, the creators didn't know if they would get a 5th season. By airing this episode then it helped give Fox an idea of what they could do for a 5th season.
12-28-12, 02:10 PM
#6
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Fringe season 4 question
This is the answer. The 19th episode of each season was always an experimental episode. I'm not sure if they have ever explained the significance of that particular number to Fringe.
12-28-12, 11:42 PM
#8
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Fringe season 4 question
I can't find much about the show runners' thinking, but I think that the "out-there" episode for each season was number 19 partly out of tradition: the first "out-there" episode was the 19th one produced for season 2 (although it was the 20th to air due to an episode from season 1 airing during the 2nd season).
However, another reason to put it 19 is that it's so late in the season, it serves as a breather before the usually serialized final few episodes kick in.
As for why specifically "Letters of Transit" was placed there, while they wanted to produce an episode to show the network and fans what a 5th season would entail, the showrunners couldn't depend on there being a show past the season 4 finale. Placing it as the Episode 19 of the year allowed them to make a season finale that ended on a note of resolution, just in case they didn't get picked up. If that had happened, they could've passed off "Letters of Transit" as just another crazy episode, instead of a season-ending cliffhanger that was never resolved.
However, another reason to put it 19 is that it's so late in the season, it serves as a breather before the usually serialized final few episodes kick in.
As for why specifically "Letters of Transit" was placed there, while they wanted to produce an episode to show the network and fans what a 5th season would entail, the showrunners couldn't depend on there being a show past the season 4 finale. Placing it as the Episode 19 of the year allowed them to make a season finale that ended on a note of resolution, just in case they didn't get picked up. If that had happened, they could've passed off "Letters of Transit" as just another crazy episode, instead of a season-ending cliffhanger that was never resolved.
