Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-06-12 (Thursday)

On 6/13/2025 7:10 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

Fringe Season 4 disc extras.  The typical BTS stuff.  One particular point about The Observers.  There was no initial Grand Plan for them when September was introduced.  Michael Cerveris portrayal of September was what inspired the producers to expand upon the Observers. Basically, as is typical of Abrams, they made it up as they went along. With Fringe he just had the perfect excuse for resetting everything when ever he felt like because it was just another universe, different timeline!  *handwave*  "These are not the characters you are looking for."
 

Sounds like they are admitting they did a retcon to me.  ;-)

Fringe S5E01 'Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11'
IMDb sez: "In 2036 the Observers have begun terraforming the earth.

Is it the main Earth or one of the alternate Earth's?  How does the cast make the time jump?

Walter has a plan to defeat them but his capture by the Observers may be problematic. Peter searches for Olivia who is encased in amber to reunite his family"
 The glyphs for this episode spell out: DOUBT
During the opening credits, there are always words that describe goals of fringe science, and what the season is going to cover. They might be far-fetched in our world and difficult to achieve. In seasons 1-4, these were words like quantum entanglement, philosopher's stone, time paradox, worm holes, teleportation, suspended animation, artificial intelligence, transcendence, cytogenetics, and hive mind. In series 5, the words represent the new improbable: Community, individuality, joy, education, imagination, private thought, due process, free will, ownership, and freedom. Words in the opening sequence that formerly represented dreams of a mad scientist or avid sci-fi fans now represent humanity's lost ideals.
In this episode, Walter calls his lab assistant Astrid by the wrong name ("Afro"). This is a part of a running joke on the show where Walter repeatedly calls Astrid by the wrong name.
Henrietta is the daughter of Olivia and Peter. Perhaps, like the son of Alternate Olivia and Peter, Henry, she is named after Henry Arliss Higgins, who helped both Olivias. She also goes by "Etta" and her cousin, the daughter of Olivia's sister Rachel, is named Ella. Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald are both American jazz singers.
At around 15 minutes into the episode, an Observer says the phrase, "Resistance is futile". This is a nod to Star Trek: The Next Generation. TNG introduced the villains The Borg and that is their catchphrase.
  What Did You Watch?
 

I watched:
Law & Order: Organized Crime - "He Was a Stabler" - (Peacock) - Season 5 finale.  The rest of the cast mysteriously return for the final episode of the season which has Stabler hunting down the season's Big Bad.
Murderbot (AppleTV+) - "Command Feed" - Mensah has to repair a damaged Murderbot, while in turn Murderbot helps Mensah cope with PTSD by showing her episodes of his favorite Soap.  Meanwhile back at base Leebeebee (yes, that's the character's actual name) is up to no good. Will Murderbot get back in time to save the day?
Shazam! (4K disc) 2019 movie set in the DCEU.  Asher Angel stars as Billy Batson, a young orphan who, after being shown to be a liar and a thief, is gifted by a wizard (Djimon Hounsou) magical powers that transform him into the superhero Shazam (Zachary Levi).  In spite of being the same person, the two actors seemingly make no effort to even try to play the same character.  Anyway, when he's not goofing around making YouTube videos and otherwise exploiting his powers, Shazam must stop Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong AKA Sinestro) from unleashing the Seven Deadly Sins upon the world.  This one is generally pretty good.