Comments on: What did you think about the ending of Fringe? https://habitablezone.com/2013/01/29/what-did-you-think-about-the-ending-of-fringe/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Robert https://habitablezone.com/2013/01/29/what-did-you-think-about-the-ending-of-fringe/#comment-22810 Robert Thu, 31 Jan 2013 05:04:07 +0000 http://habitablezone.net/?p=30070#comment-22810 Just did. Thanks n/t Just did. Thanks n/t

]]> By: RobVG https://habitablezone.com/2013/01/29/what-did-you-think-about-the-ending-of-fringe/#comment-22808 RobVG Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:42:20 +0000 http://habitablezone.net/?p=30070#comment-22808 You should put "Loopers" on your 'to rent' list. n/t You should put “Loopers” on your ‘to rent’ list. n/t

]]> By: Robert https://habitablezone.com/2013/01/29/what-did-you-think-about-the-ending-of-fringe/#comment-22807 Robert Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:07:56 +0000 http://habitablezone.net/?p=30070#comment-22807 Though I'm not sure being unfazed by time paradoxes is necessarily a good thing. The thing about time paradoxes is, they're paradoxes, and naturally complicated. That's why SF stories that try to deal with the problem are so engaging. The first one I can think of was Ray Bradbury's 1952 "A Sound of Thunder", about the dinosaur hunters who change the past. The notion doesn't seem to have interested Hollywood much until recent years. Remember that 1960s TV show "Time Tunnel"? They never dealt with paradoxes or any consequences...their time tunnel was pretty much a magic carpet for setting up plots to be resolved in 45 minutes or less. (Of course it's available on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N5BT3O" rel="nofollow">Amazon</a>, all one season of it. Trivia: Dennis Hopper got his start on this show.) That was 1966, and just a couple of years later Star Trek dealt with time travel and paradoxes: “The City on the Edge of Forever” we so recently discussed. But for the most part, when time travel comes up at all in movies/TV, it's a simple device to travel from point A to point B. So bottom line I enjoy my time travel stories complicated and subtle, but that said, I sometimes think JJ Abrams carries it to extremes and complexifies just because he can. How do you think he'll weave time travel and alternate universes into Star Wars? Now <i>that</i> I can't wait to see! Though I’m not sure being unfazed by time paradoxes is necessarily a good thing. The thing about time paradoxes is, they’re paradoxes, and naturally complicated. That’s why SF stories that try to deal with the problem are so engaging.

The first one I can think of was Ray Bradbury’s 1952 “A Sound of Thunder”, about the dinosaur hunters who change the past.

The notion doesn’t seem to have interested Hollywood much until recent years. Remember that 1960s TV show “Time Tunnel”? They never dealt with paradoxes or any consequences…their time tunnel was pretty much a magic carpet for setting up plots to be resolved in 45 minutes or less. (Of course it’s available on Amazon, all one season of it. Trivia: Dennis Hopper got his start on this show.)

That was 1966, and just a couple of years later Star Trek dealt with time travel and paradoxes: “The City on the Edge of Forever” we so recently discussed. But for the most part, when time travel comes up at all in movies/TV, it’s a simple device to travel from point A to point B.

So bottom line I enjoy my time travel stories complicated and subtle, but that said, I sometimes think JJ Abrams carries it to extremes and complexifies just because he can.

How do you think he’ll weave time travel and alternate universes into Star Wars? Now that I can’t wait to see!

]]> By: TB https://habitablezone.com/2013/01/29/what-did-you-think-about-the-ending-of-fringe/#comment-22804 TB Wed, 30 Jan 2013 03:20:52 +0000 http://habitablezone.net/?p=30070#comment-22804 Other than the Doctor, the only people I've seen in SF who handled time paradoxes almost effortlessly are Bill and Ted. Other than the Doctor, the only people I’ve seen in SF who handled time paradoxes almost effortlessly are Bill and Ted.

]]> By: Robert https://habitablezone.com/2013/01/29/what-did-you-think-about-the-ending-of-fringe/#comment-22802 Robert Wed, 30 Jan 2013 01:28:24 +0000 http://habitablezone.net/?p=30070#comment-22802 Sometimes I think JJ relies too much on time travel and paradoxes and alternate universes to make the story come out any which way he wants. When does it become a deus ex machina? The Observers invaded in 2015, Peter and Olivia had Henrietta around 2012, so wouldn't you expect Peter to have all his memories of Walter intact up to that point? They only erased the invasion...and oh yeah, as you brought up in your other post, they didn't really erase it so much as branch off another universe in which it never happened...and let's see, in 2016 the gang froze themselves in amber until 2036, and in 2036 Walter goes through the portal to 2112. Right? Right? What? Damn the timelines are so confusing. I tried researching it on the net, and naturally some fan(atics) have tried to plot the timelines, but that didn't help me much--their pictures just seem to capture the confusion. I'm so confused. Sometimes I think JJ relies too much on time travel and paradoxes and alternate universes to make the story come out any which way he wants. When does it become a deus ex machina?

The Observers invaded in 2015, Peter and Olivia had Henrietta around 2012, so wouldn’t you expect Peter to have all his memories of Walter intact up to that point? They only erased the invasion…and oh yeah, as you brought up in your other post, they didn’t really erase it so much as branch off another universe in which it never happened…and let’s see, in 2016 the gang froze themselves in amber until 2036, and in 2036 Walter goes through the portal to 2112. Right? Right? What? Damn the timelines are so confusing. I tried researching it on the net, and naturally some fan(atics) have tried to plot the timelines, but that didn’t help me much–their pictures just seem to capture the confusion.

I’m so confused.

]]> By: FrankC https://habitablezone.com/2013/01/29/what-did-you-think-about-the-ending-of-fringe/#comment-22801 FrankC Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:58:59 +0000 http://habitablezone.net/?p=30070#comment-22801 Unless I misunderstood something. Peter was not time traveling. He was skipping around alternate universes. So, he was unknown in the universe where Walter never brought him back and Olivia didn't know him. It can get confusing as hell and it also takes a lot of the fun out of it when you consider that having established that alternate universes exist, in some universe, they failed to send the kid to the future, they all perished and the observers won. Unless I misunderstood something. Peter was not time traveling. He was skipping around alternate universes. So, he was unknown in the universe where Walter never brought him back and Olivia didn’t know him.

It can get confusing as hell and it also takes a lot of the fun out of it when you consider that having established that alternate universes exist, in some universe, they failed to send the kid to the future, they all perished and the observers won.

]]> By: FrankC https://habitablezone.com/2013/01/29/what-did-you-think-about-the-ending-of-fringe/#comment-22799 FrankC Tue, 29 Jan 2013 22:48:05 +0000 http://habitablezone.net/?p=30070#comment-22799 and in fact it never did. Walter is chillin in the future with all the 2112 scientist, I guess. What memories of Walter would Peter have? Was that somehow explained earlier and I just forgot? Great series and I am going to miss it. and in fact it never did.

Walter is chillin in the future with all the 2112 scientist, I guess.

What memories of Walter would Peter have? Was that somehow explained earlier and I just forgot?

Great series and I am going to miss it.

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