The non-science of Fringe: Worlds Apart

Fringe | Season 4 | Episode 20 | “Worlds Apart”

The Fringe-2 team’s final exit. We’ll probably see them again.

A race against time to stop Jones and the Cortexiphan Globetrotters, with pretty much no science to comment on. I suspect the two finales will be the same, but don’t let that stop you from watching them.

This episode is debunked at Polite Dissent and Cordial Deconstruction, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

The non-science of Fringe: 6:02 AM EST

Fringe : Season 3 : Episode 20 : “6:02 AM EST”

Walternate updates his master plan.

Tensions start to build up for the finale of season three with Walternate activating his Machine and the Fringe team on Earth-1 scrambling to counter-activate theirs. Seeing as Fringe has been renewed for a fourth season, I somehow doubt that Earth-1 will be destroyed.

This episode is debunked at Polite Dissent and Cordial Deconstruction, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Random thoughts

Faraday cages have been mentioned before, in season two’s White Tulip, as has quantum entanglement (6B, Entrada).

J. Robert Oppenheimer‘s famous quotation, “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” is from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita.

When examining the granite, Walter uses a piece of equipment that looks like an analogue multimeter, but that emits clicks like a Geiger counter. Presumably he is measuring the potential difference between the terminals (as seen by the needle moving), but then what are the clicks for?

The non-science of Fringe: Brown Betty

Fringe : Season 2 : Episode 20 : “Brown Betty”

Peter and the Glass Heart.

The much-hyped musical/storytelling episode turns out to be pretty watchable, if a little science-light. Olivia tries to solve the Mystery of the Glass Heart, and (surprise!) finds more than she bargained for.

This episode is debunked at Polite Dissent, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Random thoughts

Walter spells MnSO₄ as “manganese sulphate”, ignoring IUPAC guidelines with British flair, but later spells H₂SO₄ “sulfuric acid”. This inconsistency is probably due to the Brown Betty.

The non-science of Fringe: There is More Than One of Everything

Fringe: Season 1: Episode 20: “There is More Than One of Everything”

Peter on a trip to the past.

Season one finishes off with a trans-dimensional bang, and quite the cliffhanger. This episode was refreshingly easy to watch.

This episode is debunked at Popular Mechanics and Polite Dissent, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Random thoughts

Mr. Jones shot Nina at point-blank range – surely he could have killed her if he’d really wanted to. Perhaps he just reckoned without the Kevlar-coated ribs (which would probably not have worked exactly Wolverine-style as several layers are needed for decent bullet resistance).

Wait, Nina’s “priority one grid search” on Walter couldn’t have been used to spot a highly-conspicuous guy in sunglasses and bandages?

There are shades upon shades of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy here, with references to alternate worlds, weak points between them, children as a resource and the opening and closing of crossings.

So the fundamental constants aren’t as fundamental as we think? A gradual decay would have appalling repercussions, and this is a particularly unsatisfying explanation for the “weak” points between realities.

And, of course, there are no known parallel dimensions – though it’s nice to see this sci-fi staple getting another airing.