Observers Are Here Blog for fans of J.J. Abrams’ show Fringe

Here are all of the most recent updates on the upcoming Season 2 of Fringe.

Episode Titles and Synopsis:

Season 2, Episode 1 “ A New Day in the Old Town“

The first episode has to do with a shapeshifter who continually molds his face, somehow.

.

Season 2, Episode 2 “Night of Desirable Objects“

One source indicates this episode Involves a series of bizarre disappearances.  Another source claims it is about a mole-man living under a town, pulling people underground and eating them.

.

Season 2, Episode 3 “Fracture“

Unexplained bombs put innocent lives on the line and FBI agents in a race against time.

Season 2, Episode 4 “This is the Night Mail“

A psychic, a killer and a new villain.

.

Season 2, Episode 5 “   “

A brilliant scientist who has dedicated his life to his work is driven by his desire for his work to be his legacy.  He is tragically afflicted with a deep seeded addiction that he has successfully hidden from the world and even himself.  A modern day Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

.

Season 2, Episode 6 “Earthling“

A man is wanted in Russia for stealing his brother and fleeing to America with him.  Fearing the Russian Government was experimenting on his brother, he brought his brother to the U.S. five years ago.  They have been off the grid ever since.

We will meet Diane, who is Broyles’ ex-wife.

.

Season 2, Episode 7 “Of Human Action“

We will meet McKenna, who is the Director of the FBI and a former colleague of Broyles.

.

Season 2, Episode 8 “August“

Casting Call:  [STRANGER] Caucasian. 30’s-50’s, male, shaved head (or willing to shave). A bit generic looking man who pops up quite a bit- Guest Star.

Is this a casting call for a new Observer?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The latest from TV Guide:

How is Fringe going to explain the disappearance of Kirk Acevedo’s Charlie? — Anna
MICKEY: Reports of Acevedo’s exit from the show may have been premature. In fact, Agent Francis plays a pretty big role in the thrilling season premiere, in which one main character dies, two kiss and another faces medical uncertainty.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Alternate Reality Newspaper Update: View original Post here.

Fox gave journalists a taste of what Fringe’s parallel dimension is like at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in the form of a fictional newspaper called The New York News, similar to the New York Post glimpsed on the table in William Bell’s office in the season-one finale. Along with the articles outlined on the outside, there were apparently articles on the inside, as well. Here is a brief outline:

* President John F. Kennedy is still alive and active in politics.
* The powers that be can manipulate the weather.
* The stock markets have been closed for 21 days and counting.
* All four Beatles are all alive and heading out on a reunion tour.
* New Orleans is hoping to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, leading us to believe the Crescent City was …never hit by Hurricane Katrina.
* Genetically engineered glow-in-the-dark pets are available for purchase.
* Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy album was released in 2000!
* Dwayne Johnson plays the Terminator in a stage version of the movie.
* Former star Arnold Schwarzenegger is now a senator.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman Interview:

The writer/producer team of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman is currently riding a high level of success, with Star Trek and Transformers taking over the summer box office, and the Fox television series Fringe returning for its highly anticipated second season on September 17th.
During the Television Critics Association Press Tour, Bob and Alex spoke to IESB about alternate realms on Fringe, sequels for Star Trek and Transformers, and a movie about a View-Master.

Q: What is coming up on the show that you can talk about?

Orci: Peter (Joshua Jackson) is going to really take charge. Walter is going to explore freedom that he maybe shouldn’t have.

Kurtzman: Last year, it was very much about Peter finding himself blackmailed into the position he was in, of having to be his father’s caretaker. He was always faced with the possibility of running. What was interesting to us was that he was a character who could bail on everyone else, at any second. I think a lot of what happened, towards the end of last season, and what we see at the beginning of this season, is leading to his commitment to say, “I’m the guy. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it my way. I’m taking charge now. If you want me to help in the Fringe division, then you have to go through me to figure out how we’re going to get to cases.” That’s going to be a very different way of approach for the character.

Q: How involved will you guys be this season, and what will J.J. Abrams’ involvement be?

Orci: We’re divvying it up, so that we’ll oversee one, J.J. will oversee one and we’re all together, once or twice a month, planning what the next big steps are. Then, we have an amazing staff that divvies up the episodes. We get together on the phone and improve the stories, so we’re all in there. Jeff and Joel are the ones who are physically on site, handling all the horrible things that we’re protected from, in addition to doing what we’re doing. But, we’re all in there creatively.

Q: Are you masters of multi-tasking?

Orci: We are. Part of why we all like doing shows together is because we make it easier for each other to be involved than it would be if any one of us were involved alone. Sometimes J.J. can see them when we can’t, but then we can get together with J.J. The more people who are in the know, the more everyone can continue to be creative. That’s part of the flexibility of having safety in numbers.

Kurtzman: And, we’ve learned a lot from television. Television really teaches you the discipline. It teaches you about having to work on many things at once, because you’re breaking story, while writing a script, while shooting an episode while posting another one.

Orci: There’s plenty to do.

Kurtzman: The key is that you have to keep your quality level high. That’s why you have other people around you to make sure that you are keeping your quality level high.

Q: What is different in your alternate realm?

Orci: The White House was hit instead of the World Trade Center.

Kurtzman: Kennedy’s still alive.

Q: Where’s Walter (John Noble) in the alternate world? How does he feel about our Walter taking his son?

Orci: I’d be pissed. That feels like a juicy train to collide into. That’s looming somewhere.

Q: How much of Walter is improvised and how much is written? Do you put it in the script, when Walter goes off?

Orci: Absolutely. You say, “In the background, Walter is inspecting whatever thing is catching his eye. You’re not even sure what he’s doing yet until you get over there.” It’s still very written, but John’s improvs are underlines and exclamation points on the scene. One line can change a scene. It can do so much to everything that came before. Obviously, you can’t make some of that stuff up. It takes a team of people. But, he really knows his character and he can get in an out of character almost without the script.

Q: Does the cow exist in the alternate world?

Orci: Uh, yes.

Q: Is there still Massive Dynamic?

Orci: Yes. The trick is not to confuse people. You only want to change something, if there’s a really good thematic reason to have it be different. It can’t be red is blue, just for fun. We want to let it really resonate because it’s something major.

Q: How many conversations have you had about Mrs. Bishop?

Orci: We’ve had a few, but that definitely seems like a big target that you want to make sure you build up to correctly.

Q: Is Olivia (Anna Torv) the only one going over to the alternate realm?

Orci: So far, she’s the only one. We’ve gotta play that carefully.

Q: What are your thoughts on parallel universes?

Kurtzman: I think they exist.

Orci: It’s the latest thinking on it, you know. Anything that can happen, does happen. That’s what Mr. Data said in Star Trek: The Next Generation. It seems to resolve a lot of the paradoxes that exist, but who knows. It’s an old idea now. It’s not a new idea.

Q: Do you have to wait for word from Leonard Nimoy that he’s available or willing, before you do a William Bell script?

Orci: We do two scripts in advance, at a time. We’ll go, “Hey, you up for two more?” It’s a buy one, get one free kind of thing.

Q: Who’s on point with Fringe?

Orci: With that, it’s both of us. When we’re writing it, we write it together.

Q: Has an element of Fringe surprised you that wasn’t obvious when you started?

Orci: Actually, the idea of the parallel universe thing was something that Jeff Pinkner and the staff came up with together, once we had the pilot already shot. So, while we had an inkling of wanting some singular answer that explained what was causing the Fringe, it was actually Jeff Pinkner and the staff that came up with that and pitched it to us. So, here we are talking about what the second season’s going to be, and it was the team that we assembled that came up with it.

Q: Where would you be if you’d waited until season three to reveal the alternate universe?

Orci: We would have continued a longer list of unexplained things and a more centralized version of asking the questions, “What is causing this? How can this stuff be explained? What single answer could explain this?” Also, there would maybe be more questioning of our own world.

Q: Is fringe science over there the same as it is here?

Orci: That’s a good question. Nothing we’ve done yet makes that distinction. Until we determine otherwise, let’s try to start with the same laws of physics. But, that’s an area to play with, that’s very interesting.

Q: Are you trying to avoid the alternate universe of Watchmen with Nixon still president?

Orci: I loved that in Watchmen. They had to change the constitution, too. But, no, we’re trying to have the big events in history altered. So, Kennedy’s alive and the World Trade Center is standing. Those things are actually hopeful, in a way. They move into the new White House because the White House was hit, not the World Trade Center.

Q: Are you working on Matt Helm?

Orci: Yes, we’re producing that with Jerry Weintraub, who’s amazing, and Paul Attanasio is writing it. We’ll see if that’s one of the ones we can get up and running soon.

Q: What’s the vision for it?

Orci: It was an old series of great books about an American James Bond. Dean Martin played him, very much in a tongue-and-cheek, Austin Powers kind of way. It was campy. The idea of updating it is to make it a cool, sophisticated American answer to James Bond. That’s the way we’re thinking of it. There hasn’t really been an American James Bond that has that slight swingin’ sensibility, without it crossing over into parody.

Q: Is Steven Spielberg still involved?

Orci: He has still been very involved. He helped us develop it. It’s something we all are still working on together, and he is no less excited about it.

Q: Is it out to any directors yet?

Orci: Not yet. Any second.

Q: At this point, are there things you see or read that still inspire you?

Orci: Absolutely, but mainly non-fiction. There’s always stuff coming out that re-interprets what we already think we know, and that’s part of what Fringe is about. You think you learned that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, but maybe he didn’t. Columbus discovered America? Not exactly. Growing up is a process of seeing that the lessons you learned, that you thought you already knew, are not exactly what you think. So, I love reading biographies, new history, seeing documents that are declassified now, and science.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Here is the latest commercial:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Sources: Fringe Television,  The ODI, Spoiler TV