"Episode 1.03"

"It always goes back to the duck."
What Walter says about the duck/rabbit optical illusion drawing describes how the para-science elements of this show will consistently be reminiscent of topics in the X-Files, the vanguard of this genre of TV. As for the X-Files, its "duck" was "Night Stalker", so it's interesting to see how the SciFi genre is evolving here. This episode again springboards off of familiar science into the fetid pool of more creepy fringe science. At first I thought that the topic was going to be either about the spiritualist practice of "auto writing" (in this case auto drawing), or remote viewing. But it turned out to be an interesting concept of its own concerning iridium tainted blood and secret frequencies received in someone's brain. Note: Iridium is a "very hard, brittle...silvery-white metal of the platinum family...the second densest element and is the most corrosion-resistant metal."(Wiki) It also seems to have some radioactive properties, so whether or not Roy's body could actually withstand prolonged exposure (not to mention replication) of the iridium in his blood is a question.

Unfortunately, even though I've been a follower of the outre' science covered on the Art Bell Show for a long time, I am not familiar with the subject of "ghost frequencies". I haven't done a search on it either, or had time to read any of the other discussions on this ep as yet. Sounds plausible to me I suppose, in light of the story that Lucille Ball was receiving transmissions from the Japanese off-shore during WW2, via her dental work, heheh. I also have no idea if an instantaneously hardening aerosol-based gel that entrapped the bus riders is possible either, although something like that would be very helpful in my old lab for mounting cross-section samples!

Here are a few things that I was thinking about while viewing this ep:

* Peter gets some new layers concerning the guy who was following him. And I think that it's pretty clear that Walter knows that Pete wasn't telling the truth about that.

* I really don't get Nina yet. She's polite and helpful, most likely because she's a part of whatever Boyles' group is all about, but she's also playing it coy about most of the things she discusses with Boyles and Dunham. Not sure if she's on the side of right or wrong, but it's too soon to know that about MD as well.

* It was too unbelievable that they just walked into and out of the old Bishop house like they did, without even any snoopy neighbors noticing.

* If Dunham knows that Boyles and Nina are working together to solve The Pattern problem, why did he tell her that he was giving the disk to the NSA? Unless Nina/MD is a part of a branch of the NSA as well.

* Abrams gives us another person getting whacked by a bus again!

* I also find it hard to believe that you can drill into someones skull and brain like that as if you were just picking their teeth with a toothpick. But there is a bizarre practice called trepanation, where small holes are routinely drilled into the head for treating certain health problems. Believe it, or not.

This was another good episode, giving us more clues to inch toward getting the overall picture of what is going on with The Pattern, Walter's past (poor Roy), and Massive Dynamic. Including the final scene where we are again shown that MD is busy downloading and interpreting the data from Scott's dead head, which also begs the question of whether or not he was working for MD or someone else. Does anyone else have any ideas? :-)

"Episode 1.02"

"...Trying to maintain that distinction between God's domain and our own."
I'm really liking the crazy old coot. For one thing, up to this point he's got the most colorful personality of anyone on the show. Secondly, he's a crazy genius, a great comedic combo. His son is beginning to flesh out as a strong character for himself, as well. He's not just a rebel without a clue, he's smart, determined and logical, even if he does hold a grudge -- he's sort of snarky but with heart. We're still waiting for Agent Dunham to reveal some personality. I know, I'm mean.

This episode was good also, but had some mature content, so I won't be watching it with my 8 year old nephew because I want to leave that kind of question-answering for his parents (ahem). The easter-egg found by the guys at FringeTV (an image of a pen and a rose on a newspaper vending machine) turned out to be the name of a scientist in this episode, so good work on their part. They found other interesting items in this ep too, so be sure to go there and check out the easter-egg/screen cap section.

At first I found it difficult to believe that Agent Dunham could go to Massive Dynamics and just ask for a bizarre state of the art piece of equipment and get it without any questions asked, but then I remembered the opening scene where The Group (what I'm calling them for now) has chosen her and her two Bishop cohorts to work on their team. I didn't understand why they asked her to work for MD, if she's already considered a part of The Group, so maybe someone can explain that to me. The scene where old man Bishop remembers where he left his car reminded me of "Silence of the Lambs" where Starling breaks into the garage and, well, you know what she finds. It's similar here, probably an homage to that movie but I won't spoil it. The lighting in the scene near the end when Dunham finds the "old man" perp, was a Hitchcockian touch (a la "Psycho", in the scene where mother Bates' corpse is revealed and the hanging lamp is swinging dramatically back and forth).

There are lots of clues in the episode for mysteries to come, including the possibility of a not-so-normal childhood of Peter Bishop, so we get to think about how that will all unfold. Hmmm. For additional info and behind the scenes work, including SFX, visit the official FOX site for the show.

"Episode 1.01"

"I just want to go back to before."
I enjoyed the first episode of Fringe, although it didn't blow me away enough to need to talk about it immediately (or maybe it's just my general malaise this week). But, I had to warm up to the X-Files too, so I'm going to keep watching it even though it conflicts with my favorite Scifi show, Eureka, which I'll watch at midnight.

The opening theme music and score is good, by Giacchino from LOST. So lots of scary shaky violins too. The special effects in the show were great, and just right...not too few and not too over the top ridiculous. It wasn't as creepy as I expected it to be, but that might ramp up later. There is a lot more dialogue than in LOST, so that's a relief. As some reviewers have mentioned, all the difficult tasks that they had to set up for their investigation were completed much to easily. But, that's TV.

The characters came out of the gate well enough. Agent Dunham is no Dana Scully, but those are impossible shoes to fill IMO, so that's not quite fair. Everyone else seems plausible and I'm looking forward to seeing what TPTB will do with the characters, and how many more they'll bring in (and kill off). I really like Walter, the old crazy guy.

A few things reminded me of other shows; the cow reminded me of Dark Skies, when the main couple found the cow in the farm lab with the human baby in it; the see-through man reminded of The X-Files:Fight The Future, where the bodies incubating aliens went transparent and gooey; and of course the isolation tank is reminiscent of Altered States.

Overall, it was fun and interesting. I hope that the list of the "Pattern" incidents mentioned are an indication of the kinds of events that the show will follow. The end twist was a good one, and we are also left with the idea that, as in the X-Files, the agents aren't as powerful in their crime-fighting as they had hoped, and that there are people on the inside of the government that are undermining the safety and sanctity of our everyday lives. I'm looking forward to the next episode, and of course, seeing if they show the dead agent being "questioned" before the 6-hour window is up for probing his consciousness. Till then, I leave deeper scrutiny of this ep to the guys at FringeTV. :-)

"Premiering This Week"

"Healing By Radionics"

The practitioners' definition: "Radionics is a technique of healing using extrasensory perception and an instrument. It is not directed at the physical body so much as at the subtle energy fields. The patient can be with the practitioner or many miles away - distance is irrelevant. [It] is a method of sending precisely defined healing energy to people, animals or plants, no matter where they are in the world. The name reflects the view of early practitioners that they were ‘broadcasting’ healing, but we now believe that radionic treatment occurs at a level of reality where there is no distance between us."

http://www.radionic.co.uk/

The Wiki Definition: "Radionics is the use of blood, hair, a signature, or other substances unique to the person as a focus in order to supposedly heal a patient from afar. The concept behind radionics originated in the early 1900s with Albert Abrams (1864-1924), who became a millionaire by leasing radionic machines which he designed himself. However, Abrams was never able to demonstrate that his devices were effective; no radionic device has been found effective in the diagnosis or treatment of any disease. Radionics is not based on any scientific evidence, and contradicts the principles of physics and biology. As a result, radionics is classed as a pseudoscience."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radionics

Legit technology or quackology? Having been through the horrors of conventional cancer treatment myself, I am very open to most natural means of healing and am practicing many. This seems a little too fringe for me though, for now. But since radionics doesn't involve contact with invasive metal probes of any kind, I might change my mind if my troubles recur and it's not cost prohibitive. :-)

"Life As We Know It May Be Killing Us"

http://www.thebodytoxic.com/

A ubiquitous material that permeates the lives of everyone born since the early 20th Century, may be deforming, sickening, and killing us. That material would be: plastics...the wonder substance that changed the world (and finance, according to the movie "The Graduate"). The material that touches us from the day we are born to the day we die, every day of our lives, might be our biggest health threat.

More specifically, compounds such as "Bisphenol A" (BPA). Wiki: "Bisphenol A was first reported by A.P. Dianin in 1891. It is prepared by the condensation of acetone (hence the suffix A in the name) with two equivalents of phenol. The reaction is catalyzed by an acid, such as hydrochloric acid (HCl) or a sulfonated polystyrene resin."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

Ian Punnett, host of the "Coast To Coast AM" late night radio show, interviewed the author of the new book "The Body Toxic", detailing data on what is one of the most important but possibly most detrimental materials in our modern world. The C2C website posted in the synopsis that, "...world experts have written a consensus statement regarding the adverse affects of Bisphenol A, a compound found in baby and sports bottles. According to [Nena Baker's] research, exposure to Bisphenol A and similar chemicals may have led to an increase in breast and prostate cancers, urogenital abnormalities in male babies, a decline of semen quality in men, and early puberty in young girls." She reports that until plastics saturated our lives, previous generations did not come into contact with the types of health threats that we do today as their environment consisted of non-synthetic materials closer to their natural forms.

Additional sources of harmful polymer-type chemicals are found to be Teflon, microwavable plastic containers, plastic wrap, and the inner coating of microwave-popcorn bags. These types of toxins are released via heat that causes outgassing of the materials into the foods we cook in them, and are also scraped off during food preparation. Word is slowly getting out about the risks here, and manufacturers are beginning to look for alternatives. Will changes come soon enough to save lives? Baker suggests that one of the first adjustments we can perform to avoid these toxins, is to use as much glass and ceramic as possible, instead of plastics, when cooking and storing foods.

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2008/08/23.html

"Eureka!"

Well, it's probably not polite to talk about another SciFi TV series, on another network, here on my Fox TV show blog, but after seeing the first episode of the third season of "Eureka" last night, I've decided that I really want to live in a town like that. I need to live in a town like that! Seriously, what could be more fun than to live in a community where everyone has a purpose? A scientific purpose. Where the entire town supports a top secret vanguard technical industry where geniuses live and work -- a town where logic rules, and nutty, fringe-y, science-y things happen all...the...time! Sigh. Ayn Rand described it best in her essay "Apollo 11" in 1969, after attending the launch as a guest of NASA:

"Our room was the home of an engineer employed at the Space Center...one might have said a typical small-town family, except for one thing: a quality of cheerful openness, directness, almost innocence -- the benevolent, unselfconsciously self-confident quality of those who live in the clean, strict, reality-oriented atmosphere of science."

It doesn't get any better than that. So if you think that you would like to live in that kind of town (with a kooky twist), check out "Eureka" on the SciFi Channel on Tuesday nights if you haven't already discovered it.

http://www.scifi.com/eureka/
http://www.spacecast.com/eureka/

"Bad Vibrations"

"For two years now, the Ehrfurths have been enduring an annoying, persistent noise in their home — a low, motor-like rumble accompanied by a vibration. They can't figure out what's causing it, and it's been a challenge getting others to believe them because the problem starts and stops. "Imagine putting your pillow on the hood of a running car — you can't sleep through that,' Leona Ehrfurth said. 'You get this pressure in your ear. Sometimes I have to get out of the house, because I can't take it anymore.'"

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080723/GPG0101/807230687/1207/GPG01

This is similar to the X-Files episode (S6-E2) where the government was performing an ELF communications system application near a housing area in Nevada. The low-level noise was causing the inner ears of humans and animals to explode. Annoying ELF noise has been reported for decades in various areas of the United States, including Taos, NM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_low_frequency

"Outre' Science"

Be sure to keep an eye on the updates at: http://fringetv.blogspot.com/.

Wiki: Fringe science is scientific inquiry in an established field of study, which departs significantly from mainstream or orthodox theories but which can be classified in the "fringes" of a credible mainstream academic discipline...many fringe science ideas are advanced by individuals either from outside the field of science, or by scientists outside the mainstream of their own disciplines. Another use of the term is in describing fields of knowledge which are not, for lack of evidence or confirmability, recognized as bona fide sciences.

"Ptolemy created a universe that lasted a thousand years. Copernicus created a universe that lasted four hundred years. Einstein has created a universe, and I can't tell you how long it will last." -- George Bernard Shaw

"System Of A Failure"

http://drmarysmonkey.com/

A cancerous monkey virus in a new polio vaccine ... a particle accelerator for purification ... a scientist turns up dead and burned to a crisp with a missing arm.

"...the public health authorities were so fixed on the theory that the disease must be caused by a virus, that they ignored medical reports of severe cases of the disease being cured by the use of antitoxins..."

"Polio Vaccine Contaminated"

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1554139,00.html

http://www.vaccines.plus.com/

"Hospitals Spreading Superbug If Not Careful"

Disinfectant wipes routinely used in hospitals may actually spread drug-resistant bacteria rather than kill the dangerous infections, British researchers said on Tuesday. The researchers found that many health care workers cleaned multiple surfaces near patients, such as bed rails, monitors and tables with a single wipe and risked sweeping the infections around rather than cleaning them up. "We found that the most effective way to prevent the risk of MRSA spread in hospital wards is to ensure the wipe is used only once on one surface," Williams said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSL0383329520080603?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&rpc=22&sp=true