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Alien: Earth Metamorphosis and Observation Begin Return to Alien Canon Roots!
Welcome Back Alien fans!

Image courtesy FX Networks

What we have all waited five years for has finally come to pass! It is the year 2120, two years before the events in Alien (1979) and fifty-nine years before the events of Aliens (1986). Although drifting from canon, fans should consider that it is likely the events in Alien: Earth may have led to the findings of the Nostromo as delineated in the first and expanded in then second films of the franchise.

NOTE: What is rather odd about this brand new broadcast science fiction series is that after Alien fans have been waiting over five years for it, the three major Social Media associated accounts on X (Hulu, Disney Plus and FX Networks) have failed to regularly post or even interact with Alien: Earth fans. Nor do they post anything promoting the series each week. Critically, FX Networks has not even posted since the Shogun on November 02, 2023!

Image courtesy FX Networks

Everyone in the entertainment industry, including FX Networks owner Disney Studios knows that X is without doubt the most important social media entertainment platform in the world as indicated by their use of X to promote other movie and television franchise products. Fans we have questioned want to know why Alien: Earth is being virtually ignored on X?

Before you proceed with my analysis, we suggest reading Lori’s detailed analysis of the first two episodes that clearly highlights the good and non canon aspects concerning Alien: Earth. The good news is that FX Networks has elected to broadcast the full episodes that are over an hour in in length so that important elements are not left on the cutting room floor for commercials.

This time around we are once again on a ship owned by the corrupt Weyland-Yutani Corporation that has been seeking extra terrestrial life forms for several decades (at least). Named the USCSS Maginot, the ship was on a 65 year mission returning to Earth with several alien specimens that will manifest into disastrous results.

Image courtesy 20th Century Studios

What all this means is that the Xenomorph Egg proto specimens may have been on the Alien: Earth Maginot ship from as early as the year 2093.

This is well before the evil corporate android David (Michael Fassbender) created the Xenomorphs in the year 2104 during Alien: Covenant (2017).
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Image courtesy 20th Century Studios

All this happened after the events that occurred subsequent to the events in the year 2093 onboard the ship in the film Prometheus (2012) some twenty-two years before Alien: Romulus in the year 2142.

Viewers will recall that this was when a ship full of Xenomorph’s, with the help of a sickening synthetic humanoid android named Rook (Ian Holm), planned to take over and infect all the passengers on the ship portrayed in Romulus, then ultimately bring the Xenomorph’s to Earth for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation!
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Fortunately two survive Romulus in cryogenic stasis and escape on a cargo ship named Corbelan before the main ship named the Renaissance is destroyed by impact with the rings of planet LV-410 apparently killing the hideous Xenomorphs. All of this says nothing about the events of Alien Resurrection set some 261 years after Alien: Earth!

Confused yet Alien: Earth admirers? Most Alien franchise fans are justifiably perplexed. Especially since series creator Noah Hawley stated in an interview before the release of Alien: Earth that he was going to largely ignore references made in the outstanding Alien prequel movies Prometheus and Covenant. Many Alien franchise fans agree that not referencing the prequels makes no sense!

Image courtesy FX Networks

Too bad Mr. Hawley, TeamWHR has news for you! Alien franchise fans and WormholeRiders News Agency have done all the mathematics and figured out that what is about to happen is all tied together. Your job Mr. Hawley (Ethan Hunt – Mission Impossible pun intended) is to maintain the veracity and sanctity of the Alien canon, something that seems to have eluded yourself and franchise creator and Alien: Earth Executive Producer Ridley Scott to some extent so far.

This time around, we learn Weyland-Yutani Corporation has competition. In specific Prodigy Corporation is named that has created hybrid humans by implanting the consciousness of terminally ill young people into the synthetic human bodies. Utilizing the film classic Peter Pan, unfortunately pandering to Disney Studios in the process, by naming the main Alien: Earth characters Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and Peter Pan’s “Lost Boys”.

Image courtesy FX Networks

Nevertheless, although a bad move by the creators of Alien Earth in our humble opinion, the third episode titled Metamorphosis, returns to Alien canon for the most part to the sighs of relief from the viewers. This after a lackluster 590,000 viewers on FX Networks for the premiere episode and only 380,000 for the second episode. This is compared to 2.6 million viewers for the Nautilus science fiction series premiere that Disney cancelled prematurely. After producing and broadcasting the first season in the UK, fortunately for North American fans, this superb science fiction adventure series was sold to AMC-TV.

Although Alien: Earth now boasts 9.2 million premiere viewers on streaming service Hulu, this is a calculated estimate with no empirical evidence provided to substantiate their viewership. It is only calculated viewer time that has been provided to date, something easy to fabricate. Despite many reviews that (so far) discuss the potential of Alien Earth as a disappointment, we are keeping an open mind hoping the series continues to improve over time.

Image courtesy FX Networks

Additionally, as mentioned above, FX Networks, the creator of Alien: Earth, has not posted anything since November 2023 on X. Strangely, Hulu only recently began supporting the FX Networks flagship science fiction series on X with only three posts AND NONE on Disney Plus!

Many commenting on X hope that it turns out to be an accidental omission in this case up to now. However, even on Facebook, the official Alien: Earth posts are often liked by only a few hundred people, with only ~92,000 followers, not hundreds thousands of followers expected for a series with 9.2 million of viewers.
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Metamorphosis:

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This third episode invests in character development while returning to it’s Alien roots with a decisive battle between an escaped Xenomorphic alien creature and Wendy. Written by Noah Hawley and Directed by Dana Gonzales, it is confirmed that Weyland-Yutani‘s Morrow (Babou Ceesay) is the only survivor of the Maginot. Morrow unsuccessfully attempts to make a deal with Kirsh (Timothy Olyphont) regarding the cargo he has crash landed on an Earth island named Neverland. It is another Peter Pan Disney Studios pander that leaves many viewers scratching their heads in puzzlement.

Image courtesy FX Networks

Morrow escapes and reports to his boss Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) who is the daughter of the original Yutani who was in charge at Weyland-Yutani before he left on the Maginot sixty-five years earlier.

Morrow is ordered back to base, but convinces Yutani that he has a plan to salvage the extraterrestrial creature cargo he brought back to Earth. No doubt Morrow plans to steal it from Prodigy Corporation on Neverland research island complex. This element is left for future episodes to explore.
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Image courtesy FX Networks

Meanwhile, Wendy is searching frantically against the orders of Kirsh. When she finds her brother Joe Hermit (Alex Lawther), viewers witness that he has been trapped in Xenomorph goo, obviously being prepared for implantation by a Facehugger egg.

In the process Wendy is witnessed battling the escaped Xenomorph that grew to full size after everyone, except Morrow, on the Maginot was slaughtered.

Wendy does battle with the Xenomorph and thankfully succeeds in killing the creature in a classic fight to the death confrontation. During the confrontation Wendy is damaged.
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Image courtesy FX Networks

Fortunately, Wendy who was injured in the process, is saved by minions of Kirsh who take her back to Boy Kavalier’s (Samuel Blenkin) laboratory to have her injuries repaired. Here with Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis), Wendy’s human “mother” standing bedside, we learn that Wendy, unless completely destroyed by Xenomorph acid blood, can be restored to full functionality. Mighty handy for the future of the series that apparently all the hybrids can be repaired,

While this is happening, Nibs (Lily Newmark) and hybrid Curly (Erana James) who also looks a lot like Sigourney Weaver, wonder why they couldn’t keep their human names. They accuse Boy Kavalier of Wendy being his favorite. Kavalier admits Wendy is, but only because she was the first hybrid to be created, but that she (Curly) is in the hunt for favorite hybrid status as they work in the laboratory with other extra terrestrial creatures including the Eye-Ball monster among other horrors.

Image courtesy FX Networks

We also learn that Wendy, after she escapes the laboratory hospital, can hear the alien creatures being resurrected in the laboratory. We witnessed Wendy hearing alien chittering language during the premiere, but viewers thought it was due to the proximity of the Xenomorph.

From the story arc in the third episode, it appears apparent that Wendy is currently the only hybrid who can hear these foul creatures thinking. No doubt this will become a focal point in future episodes.

Image courtesy FX Networks

In Metamorphosis, during the ending sequences, we witness Kirsh extracting what appears to be a tadpole from a Facehugger specimen. This tadpole, a baby Xenomorph, is being inserted into a human lung. This delineation establishes that the Xenomorph’s do not gestate in the intestines of their victims before literally bursting upon the world killing their hosts per Alien canon.

An interesting development, to say the least, is proof that both Prodigy and Weyland-Yutani corporations have long planned to develop the Xenomorph as a weapon of mass destruction despite the obvious threat to humanity. The real question to consider is if Prodigy in the process of making a Xenomorph queen? Our opinion is yes and this factor will be to investigated further in future episodes.
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Observation:

Image courtesy FX Networks

The fourth episode is directed by Ugla Hauksdóttir and was written by Noah Hawley. “Observation” creates an Alien canon pivot point regarding what happened subsequent to Wendy and Joe Hermit (her brother) in their life and death struggle with a fully formed Xenomorph that escaped the Maginot.

Fortunately Wendy successfully killed the creature in the previous episode much to the disappointment of Prodigy Corporation. However, Boy Kavalier’s Prodigy Corporation has plans to rectify that situation!
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Image courtesy FX Networks

The episode opens with a scene of Wendy on a hospital like table being examined by Kirsh, Dame Sylvia, her scientist husband Arthur (David Rysdahl), and Boy Kavalier. Wendy relates she has experienced “hearing the Xenomorph’s thinking”.

This fits the episode description “An unexpected connection is formed while a covert plot puts everyone in danger”

When Wendy awakens, brother Joe Hermit arrives and is told that his damaged lung was replaced and that he will never guess what they did with his old lung.
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Viewers will recall that Wendy saw Joe’s lung being experimented on and that Kirsh implanted a Facehugger tadpole in it. Although Wendy did not know at the time it was her brothers lung because Kirsh took her hearing “offline” so that Wendy cannot hear he and Boy Kavalier talking.

This is a disturbing development because it means that Boy Kavalier’s Prodigy Corporation has complete control over the hybrid human beings. Wendy later surmises it was her brothers lung when she learns her brother received an artificial lung from Kirsh in the Prodigy Corporation research laboratory.

Image courtesy FX Networks

After her hearing is restored, Wendy shares with Boy Kavalier and Kirsh confirming to them both that she can hear the Xenomorphs thinking and that she suspects a baby Xenomorph is in process of being born elsewhere in the Prodigy research laboratory complex. Do they know about this?.

Kirsh expresses concern that it could affect their plan to manipulate the extraterrestrial life forms. Boy Kavalier blithely states that everything and everyone on the island is his property!

Image courtesy FX Networks

In a particularly vivid scene, viewers learn that this includes Kirsh using the Eye- Ball monster to take over a sheep, an innocent life form.

Despite objections expressed by Arthur as expressed to his wife Dame Sylvia, It is at this point viewers learn that Prodigy Corporation in general and Boy Kavalier in specific have no ethical objections to utilizing anyone or anything to achieve their nefarious goals.

Meanwhile Morrow recruits Aarush Singh renamed to hybrid human Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) to infiltrate Kirsh’s laboratory. Although reluctant, Slightly is convinced when Morrow blackmails him with implied threats to his family. Unknown to Morrow and Slightly, Kirsh is observed monitoring their entire conversation!

Image courtesy FX Networks

The episode continues with brother Joe Hermit also being blackmailed. Unless he cooperates with Prodigy Corporation and helps keep an eye on Wendy, he will be sent off the island, never see his sister again, and a hefty bill for his lung replacement will be forthcoming.

To make matter worse for the hapless hyvrids, Nibs confesses to Dame Sylvia that she believes she is pregnant. The result is Dame Sylvia Nibs is to be locked in her room. Will Nibs survive what Boy Kavalier and Prodigy Corporation have in store for her?

Image courtesy FX Networks

The episode comes to an ending with Wendy back in the research laboratory where the sounds she has heard are coming from. Kirsh observing Wendy without her knowledge. Wendy, while looking at lung that is the source of the Xenomorph thinking she hears witnesses a baby creature erupt from the lung taken from her brother.

Amazingly, Wendy, with a smug smile on her face, is not afraid and actually pets the hideous baby Xenomorph who does not attack Wendy! The only conclusion we can draw is that Wendy is in communication with the baby monster, Is this what Kirsh and Boy Kavalier planned or is it a surprise they didn’t know was coming? Tune in for future episodes to find out!

We will be back with more on Alien: Earth after we complete our reports about the Press Room interviews and Panels we covered during our time at San Diego Comic-Con this year. In the meantime, please feel free to share this article with your friends, co-workers and or your family!

We look forward to you visiting our dedicated review and analysis web site here in the future! Or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit WormholeRiders on X, or visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. I and TeamWHR look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side!

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Kenn of #TeamWHR
August 26, 2025
Alien: Earth FX Network and Hulu’s New Series: Neverland and Mr. October – Trick, Treat or Train Wreck?
Hello my fellow Alien fans!

Image courtesy FX Networks

I am here to share my thoughts on the new Hulu series, Alien: Earth, which premiered at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 in Hall H. At the end of the panel, we were shown the first episode.

As a Gen Xer, Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s Aliens (1986) are, by definition, masterpieces. Both serve as models for how to craft a horror science fiction film. They have stood the test of time, being over 40 years old and still making audiences scream in their seats, no matter how many times I watch the original and the sequel. I love them more with each viewing. I was not a fan of Alien: Romulus; I had many issues with that film.

So, when I heard about a potential series called Alien: Earth, I was intrigued but honestly a little skeptical. My skepticism stemmed from wondering how the writer or writers tackled the issue of Earth, since Earth was not in either of the two movies. And I asked how they would expand a simple Xenomorph hunt into a whole series. I know it took about five years or more to develop this series, due to the writer’s strike and the actor’s strike, which also played a role in the delay of the series. I was excited to get into Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con. Naturally, I was optimistic.
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Neverland:

Image courtesy FX Networks

As the first episode, titled “Neverland”, written and directed by Noah Hawley, began, I felt happy because it closely matched the style of the original films.

The way it was filmed, the scenery, and the tribute to the original movies conveyed a sense of camaraderie and unity when we saw the galley, a duplicate of the scene from Alien. That feeling of connection and shared spirit was obvious.

Image courtesy 20th Century Studios

Then the episode continued. I want to warn you now; I will be referencing the original two films many times throughout. And I have some thoughts on it. I was not too pleased with what came out, but then again, I am such a purist when it comes to the original two films. This post will contain the first two episodes, not a complete summary, but the highlights, including my pros and cons.

I will say that the aesthetics started beautifully in the very first episode. It mirrored the scope of *Alien* and *Aliens*, particularly in its depiction of Mother. However, one thing that bothers me is that the ship is still too bright; there was a kind of haze in the lighting of both films that I feel is missing here. Additionally, I find it troubling that Neverland is involved and that Peter Pan is somehow engaged in the story. I do not believe this aligns with the canon.
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Image courtesy FX Networks

The opening crawl of the series states, “In the future, the race for immortality will come in three guises—cybernetically enhanced humans, cyborgs, artificial, artificially intelligent beings, and synthetic beings downloaded with human consciousness hybrids.” This added information confused me a bit because, once again, in the original two movies, both Ash (Ian Holm) and Bishop (Lance Henriksen) were androids, not cyborgs or synthetics. The next part says, “which technology prevails will determine what corporations rule the universe.” That is a scary thought because corporations are what caused the mess in the first place.

Image courtesy FX Networks

The opening scene is pretty and effective. I like the initial scenery, where you see the ship, followed by flashes of the alien, and then you hear the music, which always plays a significant role in both movies. Butthis Alien: Earth has modern music, which I always dislike when it is used in a context that does not seem to fit.

The year is 2120. USCSS MAGINOT Mission length is 65 years. The next thing you see after that is the opening of the sleep chambers, just like in the original film. There are parts of Alien: Earth that I will give them credit for because they stay true to the aesthetic of the original two, which I find crucial. If you are going to create a series based on two iconic, historic, groundbreaking movies, you should at least maintain their look to avoid feeling too jarring or disconnected from the series. It states that the distance to Earth is 805,000,000 miles.

Image courtesy FX Networks

The other thing I was questioning, not necessarily disappointed about, was the main character, Wendy (Sydney Chandler). She is almost like a copy of Ripley. I understand because Sigourney Weaver is the model for how Ripley looks. They could have chosen someone else to avoid the same look. That is also what bothers me — they did not opt for blonde hair and blue eyes instead of dark hair and dark eyes. I have this weird aesthetic thing.

What I love is seeing them all wake up from the sleep chambers, reintegrate into their place in the galaxy, and go about their daily routines. All their talking and eating together—which is precisely what happens in Alien—is what I appreciate about both films. To me, that is an homage because that is what I expect to see in everything from now on. I am still so disheartened that it went down that Disney rabbit hole. They included Peter Pan, the Lost Boys, and Neverland, which has nothing to do with Alien, Aliens, the Xenomorph, or any of that. It is just another way, I guess, of bringing Disney into the fold when it doesn’t need to be there.

Image courtesy FX Networks

Morrow (Babou Ceesay) is the security officer and resident cyborg. Five companies control the entire universe. Prodigy is the newest, led by Boy Cavalier (Samuel Blenkin), who resembles an Elon Musk-like figure—a trillionaire boy genius with hints of Howard Hughes. The wonderful thing about the two movies is that we don’t know much about the characters; we only know their names. We know extraordinarily little, if anything, about their backgrounds. The only way to learn more would be if you watched the director’s cut of Aliens. For example, we know Sigourney Weaver’s character Ripley had a deceased daughter because Ripley had been floating in space for 57 years. That’s why it’s called Alien. It has nothing to do with the humans being just part of the story. And yes, they play a part, but the central focus is the aliens, which is the whole point. It’s the suspense, it’s the fear, and it’s the anticipation of what is to come.

Image courtesy FX Networks

Like any science fiction show, it features other creatures as well. What they are experimenting with or what they’ve discovered isn’t always clear. However, face huggers and xenomorphs are the main monsters. The specimens are the mission, as Morrow said.

I think one of the key differences for me is that now we’re dealing with Earth, which is much larger and more expansive. In both films, we dealt with a much smaller space. We were on a spaceship, so there was nowhere for them to go. I believe that made the suspense feel much more immediate: they were trapped. They couldn’t go anywhere. They could only launch out of the spaceship, but even then, Ripley was in space for 57 years. As they said, “You’re damn lucky we found you. You could have been wandering out there forever.”

That’s what I love about both films, the sense of isolation, of solitude. You’re in space, with nothing around you. On Earth, it’s a different story. So, again, I keep coming back to the two films because you can’t compare them, as they are the templates for every Alien franchise film, from the very first to this current version. There’s no way you can avoid comparing them.

Image courtesy FX Networks

And now we’re on Earth. Prodigy. Neverland. Research Island. I love that Timothy Olyphant (Kirsh), who plays a synthetic, is in this series. He’s such an outstanding actor and has appeared in several iconic series before. He’s just an exceptional actor overall. I hope that Kirsh will be a character to sink his teeth into.

Within the Neverland research island, experiments involve mind transference from a dying host to a new one, transferring a dying child’s mind to an adult body. I have no idea what this has to do with aliens in general. This part makes no sense to me and doesn’t fit with the rest of the story. It feels like a side story the writer added without considering the main plot. Also, the fact that the character’s name is Wendy, which relates to Peter Pan, and the mention of the Head of Prodigy—it’s like Peter Pan; he never wants to grow old because he’s the youngest trillionaire ever, walking around in linen suits and barefoot. It just makes no sense to me. The mind transference, or consciousness transference, is from a human to a synthetic, which again makes absolutely no sense.

Image courtesy FX Networks

Disney has its hands in this episode by showing not only parts of Peter Pan but also Ice Age. I am still baffled by how this relates to the main point of the series. My frustration lies in the fact that, again, they are not sticking with the canon that has long been established.

That’s also something I’m a little confused about: they gave the main character the name Wendy. Who’s now the synth? The consciousness of a girl who has a brother. So, Wendy, among all the alien stuff, is going to find her brother. Which I guess makes sense, but it doesn’t, because again, it has nothing to do with the aliens. And this is, I think, my biggest problem with this: when it’s called ‘Alien: Earth,’ show us aliens. I don’t care about the backstory of the synthetics or humans. Just show me the aliens because that is what it’s all about. They are characters, yes, and yes, I semi-care about them because they’re there to fight the aliens, but that’s the surface level; I don’t care about it. At least I don’t care about their backstory. All I want to see is them fighting the aliens. That’s it. There are many elements of playing God in this that they want to preserve the human mind, even if it is in a synthetic body. So, it’s a lot of playing God and preventing someone or something from dying. They keep it alive by transferring human consciousness into a synthetic body. The problem with that is, as Kirsh mentioned, there are no emotions. There’s no anger, no pain, no happiness, nothing. Because it’s all gone, since they are no longer human, yet they retain a human mind, which I think is a recipe for disaster. “If I’m not human, what am I? Whatever you want to be.”

Image courtesy FX Networks

When we finally get back to the spaceship, the lights and sound sirens are going off. That I love; I’m back to the place where we should be and never leave, however what bothers me about this is that it’s too bright. Meaning it’s not dark enough. It’s not mysterious enough. It’s not creepy enough; it needs to have that element of suspense, which it lacks. It almost looks like you are on a ride at Disneyland because of the lights and sounds. It doesn’t feel urgent enough. When Morrow is sitting at the Mother keyboard and is typing in commands or information, Mother is feeding it back to him. That part I love because that is very much part of what I know and love about the two films. And that feels authentic, that feels real. One of the other crew members is banging on the door to Mother’s room and asks Morrow to let her in. On the screen, it says crew status. And he gets up and looks at her and doesn’t let her in. And to me, the crew member her reaction doesn’t feel genuine because there’s a xenomorph after you, and you’re not panicking. I don’t know, that doesn’t seem very authentic to me.

Image courtesy FX Networks

Not even 30 minutes in, we see the Xenomorph pass by the glass of the door And I hate to say this, but it looks fake. And again, my problem is that you see the Xenomorph fully, and that’s what bothers me because, with the first two films, we don’t ever see the Xenomorph completely until the last 15 minutes or so of the film. We only see it in shadow, silhouette, or partially; we barely see it fully, which adds to the creepiness and terrifying nature of it, along with the terror and scariness of how it makes you feel. It just slowly walked by the window where Morrow was, and it almost looked fake. That whole sequence of it walking by just seemed ridiculous. Morrow writes on the board. “Crew status: crew dead. A collision course with Earth is unavoidable.” “Containment of specimens is priority one.”

Seeing the alien shouldn’t happen within the first 30 minutes. This is the first episode, and there are 35 minutes left. This is precisely what I’m talking about. You don’t see the alien until, or in full view, until 15 minutes before the end of the movie in both films, if I remember correctly. And that’s what makes it so suspenseful, so horrifying, so terrifying, and so fear-inducing — because you don’t know where it is, what it looks like, how big it is, or anything else. I guess we do have some idea of what it looks like, but the fact that it also moves very humanly, almost threw me off a little bit. It’s not as alien as I would expect it to be.

Mr. October:

Image courtesy FX Networks

We are in a place called New Siam, Prodigy City. Just another typical day, like nothing’s about to happen. And then, boom. Alien crash. An interesting point is that they show parts of New Siam, and if this is supposed to be the year 2120, why does it look like modern-day Siam? Or modern-day Vietnam or something similar. It doesn’t match the year it’s supposed to represent.

After the search and rescue team goes in to find survivors from the crash, they go underground to explore further. And that’s when things start getting, of course, more like Aliens.
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Image courtesy FX Networks

Of course, when the search and rescue team split up on the downed science vessel spaceship, it’s dark with red lights and sparks flying. I understand this because it echoes those two original films. When it reaches that part, I’m fine. I love those moments. It’s everything else that’s implausible that bothers me. I don’t care about Wendy finding her brother, Joe D. Hermit (Alex Lawther), who’s a tactical officer and medic, joining the search and rescue. None of that matters to me. I want to see the aliens. That’s what I signed up for.

So, when Wendy discovers that there is a tactical unit inside the downed spaceship, she wants to go in and help rescue people because her brother is there. And her brother thinks that she’s dead because he doesn’t know that her mind was transferred to a synthetic. So, Boy Cavalier sends the Lost Boys to help, and of course, he is going to monitor their heart rate, their brain waves, and other vital signs to see if they can stand the stress.

Image courtesy FX Networks

This is what’s very baffling to me. These synthetics have zero training in search and rescue. They are not Marines like they were in the second movie. So, I find it perplexing why you would send these children into that situation, because that is what their mental state is geared toward. It is a life-or-death situation—literal life and death—with no training and no experience. It is very strange to me that this even happened, which strains my suspension of disbelief. Does not make any sense. I understand that in the second movie in *Aliens*, Ripley herself says, “I’m not a soldier.” Still, she has been in enough scenarios where she’s at least a flight officer and knows her way around, and she learns a bit from Hicks (Michael Biehn) and the others are around Marines enough to pick things up. These are kids. They have no training, nothing, and it seems implausible. I don’t even think they would make any impact at all.

Two members of the rescue team enter a room and find the specimens, which are being transported behind a locked door. They’re happy to see that because they know those are dangerous. I’m sorry, I know that’s CGI, but the face huggers and the other creatures look fake. That’s another thing: as I’ve mentioned, the fact that they spent so much money on this and couldn’t use practical effects is inexcusable, as far as I’m concerned. They could have made that real, made it look genuine.

Image courtesy FX Networks

As the ragtag team of rescuers heads toward Earth, Kirsh gives a spiritual rant about how humans used to be food. The context is interesting since that’s what the Xenomorphs use humans for — a host to feed and grow. I have no idea why they’re playing rock music at the end credits, but that’s the end of episode 1. Again, I didn’t like it, and watching it a second time didn’t change my opinion.

Mr. October is the title of episode 2, written by Noah Hawley and directed by Dana Gonzales. In episode 2, we first see a couple of the rescue team members and Joe going through the wreckage. He thinks he sees something behind him, the viewer sees the end of the tail, and they’re starting to make the creepy vibe of the original.

As the team enters the med lab, Joe notices that the suffocation some of them suffered is unusual. He observes the blue lips and mentions that it was a toxin. Joe then notices a screen that shows a picture of the inside of one of the victims, looking like a foreign object inside him. He says it’s got a code 1562. When one of the other team members asks why 1562 is so bad, Joe says, “Alien.” The interesting thing to me, though, is that he says it nonchalantly, like there’s no emotion, there’s no urgency to it. How is that normal? Maybe seeing a foreign object, an alien inside a human body, is normal at that point, but there doesn’t seem to be any urgency on his part for it. So, it was very odd to see that. I believe the problem with this series is that it focuses too much on the backstory of the humans, cyborgs, synthetics. Again, this is just my opinion as a viewer—I don’t care about the backstory. That is not important to me. What matters are the aliens and how the humans/synths/cyborgs interact with them. That’s my primary concern. I couldn’t care less about Prodigy, Neverland, or any of this. As a fan of the two greatest science fiction horror films of all time, I care about what those movies are about. The other movies don’t focus on the back stories of the humans involved. Again, this is just my opinion. If you are going to make a movie about an alien Earth, then show aliens on Earth. Could you show me the aliens? That’s what I want to see.

Image courtesy FX Networks

Boy Kavalier raises a good point about AI. He says that with artificial intelligence, we build a machine, and then that machine creates an even better one, and so on, surpassing humans. His idea is about unlocking human potential. And we’ll see what they built before the machines destroy everything.

Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis) brought up a good point. She said, “We did something that no one else did—we ended death. But we must give them a quality of life.” Again, it all comes back to the hubris of man thinking they’re God, that they can stop the natural progression of life and death, which they can’t. There’s nothing on this planet that’s truly immortal. Maybe a jellyfish, but even then, it regenerates itself, so technically, it’s not. Anyway, one thing that always bothers me is when people try to go against nature. The human body is meant to grow old and then die. I mean, if we were to keep everybody alive and keep regenerating repeatedly.

Image courtesy FX Networks

And of course, they have a cat. Because God forbid, we leave out an homage to the baddest cat in any galaxy, Jonesy. There is an eyeball-like creature that comes out of the cat, or did an alien possess it?

The CGI on the cat does not look particularly good, and as a cat owner myself, I can tell you that they should have used a real animal and added prosthetics. It would have looked a lot better and more realistic.

Image courtesy FX Networks

From here, the story gets a bit odd with a costume party happening in the building, and the alien showing up. There are elements of the story that are nonsensical and don’t serve the story. I wanted a bit more alien action, giving me the harrowing terror of the original films. By showing us the alien fully, the mystery is taken away.

My issue also lies with the actors themselves. When the humans see the Xenomorph, there is no fear in their eyes. It is as if it’s normal to see something like that. The actors show no emotion in the scenes with the alien. The story itself is complicated and again doesn’t serve the purpose of the series. Especially when Joe finds out that Marcy, his little sister who died, has now taken over Wendy’s body, he does not react to that news. He may be in shock from hearing that, but when he mentions he went to her funeral, again, no emotion. Even if he were in shock, his body would show it. That’s the power of a camera; it captures every nuance, every subtle movement. And again, modern rock music is used in this series as episode two ends.

Image courtesy FX Networks

I think they could have used the money, the reported $250 million or however much they invested in this for a better series. The money could have gone toward practical effects. One of the many reasons the original two movies work so well is that the aliens are practical, not CGI. They look real and terrifying, especially the Queen alien in the sequel. Please understand that this is just my opinion about this series. I don’t want that to stop you from watching and enjoying it. It’s just not for me. I will always go back to the original two because I consider them masterpieces. They are the templates—things that should be studied, looked at, and emulated.

I’m overly critical of movies or franchises I love, those I know a lot about, and those I hold dear to my heart and in my movie-loving mind. This series isn’t very impressive at best. I may be a complete and utter snob about this kind of thing, but for me, as someone who loves film, original material, practical effects, acting, directing, and writing, this series is not.

I do hope that you do watch it and make your own decision about it. Please do not let my strong opinions keep you from enjoying this series.
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Thanks to Kenn for video and image embedding for my feature article and many thanks to you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency. Kenn will be back reporting on episodes three and four. I will return in the future with new information about my Team WHR adventures at San Diego Comic-Con 2025!

Please feel free to leave a comment here or If you prefer, you may also click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit me on Twitter by clicking the links or images avatars in this news story.

See You on The Other Side!

Until next time,

Regards,

Lori
August 18, 2025
Alien: Earth Heralds Return of Broadcast Science Fiction Scripted Series at San Diego Comic-Con 2025!
Welcome back WormholeRiders,

Image courtesy Comic-Con International

As we prepare for San Diego Comic-Con 2025, and although we have shifted to streaming service science fiction series, TeamWHR is pleased to announce that broadcast television is returning to original series. This subsequent to no new cable or network series on broadcast television for two years.

Of interest, such series dominated broadcast television for three decades, many of which we have reported on since 2008 when this website was created to analyze and review over thirty television programs here and on our archived websites listed on the right sidebar.

Image courtesy San Diego Convention Center

Over and above the more than one hundred (103) entertainment conventions, and hundreds of interviews across over thirty websites, we also analyzed fictional dramas such as Mayans MC and Body of Proof because science fiction celebrities starred in them. We also analyzed many dozens of movies at our dedicated Movie Magic website until deciding to post films and TCM Film Festival movie analysis here to focus solely on conventions, scripted series and interviews for each of the same.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

The science fiction series we started with was Stargate at conventions subsequent to working with MGM Studios on their official website. In 2009 WormholeRiders News Agency we expanded our coverage analyzing episodes of Agents of Shield, Alcatraz, Alphas, Being Human, Caprica, Chuck, Continuum, Dark Matter, Day of the Dead, Debris, Defiance, Destination Truth, Dracula, Eureka, Falling Skies, Flashforward, Fringe, Haven, Helix, Hollywood Treasure, Killjoys, La Brea, Primeval New World, Revolution, Sanctuary, Stargate, Supernatural, Terra Nova, The Event, The Expanse, The Neighbors, Treadstone, Vampire Diaries, Van Helsing, V Series, and Warehouse 13.

The Back Story:

Image courtesy Shutterstock

When the latest consolidation of the entertainment industry began in 2017 with the Comcast NBC Universal merger, we ceased opening dedicated websites for each new series and began moving popular series posts from thousands published over the past seventeen years to our main blog here.

The entertainment industry consolidation has continued unabated sometimes with less than desired results. Facing significant financial losses, particularly in California and Canada where many programs are produced, the top thirty firms in the industry have lost 540 billion in value resulting in tens of thousands of job losses that continued with the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike where 17,000 losses were reported in California. Additionally recent direct losses of over six (6) billion dollars on projects since the strike have been reported. This was caused by several factors including a failure to produce series acceptable to audiences, the labor strike, and a shift in audience viewing habits towards streaming services. All of these factors led to reduced broadcast television science fiction production levels.

Image courtesy The Wrap. Click to learn more

The good news is that the trend for science fiction scripted series on broadcast television is beginning a modest comeback this year with the renewal of The Ark for a third season, set to return to SYFY in 2026. 2025 dovetailed this news with new series that debuted this year. As a result of studios and networks rehiring creative talent instead of misguided executive’s dictating what programs and series will be created, more good news is expected with streaming services producing the lions share of scripted science fiction programs.

Best of all, as delineated below, of the three new broadcast network science fiction scripted series, one is featured in a fabulous panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 that begins on July 25, 2025!

Alien: Earth:

Image courtesy FX Networks

Alien: Earth is a fantastic new scripted science fiction (prequel) series based on the original 1979 Alien movie. Created by Noah Hawley for FX Networks / Hulu, Alien: Earth stars Sydney Chandler as Wendy, Alex Lawther as CJ, Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh, Essie Davis as Dame Silvia, Samuel Blenkin as Boy Kavalier, Kit Young as Tootles, Adarsh Gourav as Slightly, Babou Ceesay as Morrow and a large supporting cast.

The prequel series takes place in the year 2120, two years before the events of the original film Alien film that took place in the year 2122. Alien: Earth is set some 22 years before Alien: Romulus (2024) which was set in 2142, 59 years before Aliens (1986) and 59 years before Alien 3 (1992) which took place in the year 2179.
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Image courtesy FX Networks

Perhaps a disappointment to franchise admirers, it has been confirmed by Hawley that the events which took place in the prequel movies Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017) will be ignored. This has raised questions about the Alien franchise canon when a spaceship crash lands on Earth in 2120 just prior to the events that transpired in the original Alien movie.

Nevertheless, we here at TeamWHR are excited about Alien: Earth as a series, and are eagerly looking forward to the panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, the special Alien Earth Wreckage exhibit at the convention, and the exiting series broadcast premiere August 12, 2025!
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Nautilus:

Image courtesy AMC

Nautilus creator James Dormer chose Village Roadshow Studios for filming the series in Oxenford, Queensland, Australia for AMC in the United States. The series is a prequel to the famous Walt Disney movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). The prequel is based on the 1869 novel by Jules Verne that explores the back story of the infamous Captain Nemo originally portrayed by acting legend James Mason.

Nautilus features a huge ensemble main cast starring Shazad Latif as the younger version of Captain Nemo, Georgia Flood as Humility Lucas, Céline Menville as Loti, Luke Arnold as Captain Billy Millais, Jacob Collins-Levy as Youngblood, Kayden Price as Blaster, Benedict Hardie as Edward Cuff, Arlo Green as Turan, Tyrone Ngatai as Kai, Ling Cooper Tang as Suyin, Pacharo Mzembe as Boniface Adamu, Ashan Kumar as Ranbir Lodhari, Damien Garvey as Director Crawley, Cameron Cuffe as Algernon Pitt, and Andrew Shaw as Jiacomo.

Image courtesy AMC

The episodes are well produced with practical as well as computer generated special effects making the story quite enjoyable. The remote areas of Australia also adds to the realism of this origin story about Captain Nemo and his legendary submarine, the Nautilus.

In the series we learn that Captain Nemo is an Indian prince robbed of his family birthright who was made a prisoner of the infamous East India Company that has stolen his ideas, property and forced to build the Nautilus or face death.
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Image courtesy AMC

Bent on revenge against the corrupt United Kingdom East India Company, young Captain Nemo escapes the prison, steals the Nautilus from the East India Company (EIC) and sets sail with a diverse crew on board.

The theft of the awesome first of it’s kind high technology submarine angers EIC Director Crawley and his aide who vow to hunt down Captain Nemo to take back the Nautilus.

Subsequent to escaping, Captain Nemo and his band of heroes adventures find our heroes battling the evil East India Company Dreadnought battleship while viewers revel in the discovery of fabulous underwater worlds!
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The Librarians: The Next Chapter:

Image courtesy TNT

The Librarians: The Next Chapter creators are John Rogers and show runner Dean Devlin featured on the TNT Network. Devlin is well known for Stargate (1994) as well as science fiction movies and television series including Independence Day (1996), The Triangle (2005) miniseries, The Librarians (original movies / series) and Leverage Redemption for a total of over 40 other beloved highly successful efforts including The Ark.

The Librarians: The Next Chapter represents the third true scripted science fiction series to be released on broadcast television in 2025. Currently running on TNT Networks, the series is produced by Electric Entertainment which offers the series on their streaming service, available commercial free for paid subscribers.

Image courtesy TNT

This superb series is nearing the end of it’s first season twelve episode run representing a move by Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) that echoes their recent announcement to return creative control to content producers subsequent to the merger of the conglomerate now producing outstanding desirable results.

We here at WormholeRiders News Agency applaud WBD for making this move that has resulted in rehiring content creators in a bottoms up instead of top down management style. The Librarians: The Next Chapter is a continuation of The Librarians movies and television series that were originally broadcast on the now defunct television broadcast network The CW. Once the home of many science fiction and teen drama shows, CW is now a streaming service under the Nexstar Media Group jointly owned by WBD and Paramount Global.

Image courtesy TNT

The Librarians: The Next Chapter opened with the return of beloved Christian Kane as the legendary Jacob Stone from the popular 2014 to 2018 Librarians series. Also starring is Jessica Green as Charlie Cornwall. Fans will recall Ms. Green from the four season successful series The Outpost (2018-2021) was executive produced by Mr. Devlin. Featuring a large ensemble cast that includes Callum McGowan as Vikram Chamberlain, Olivia Morris as Lysa Pascal, Bluey Robinson as Conner Green, Caroline Loncq as Elaine Astolat, Adnan Haskovic as General Bogdan Gregor, admirers of The Ark have been delighted to see Paul Leonard Murray as Dr. Frederic Stanaris, Pavle Jerinic as Petar Blagojevic, and Jadran Malkovich as Guy Leroy in guest starring roles.
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Image courtesy TNT

The series features Rachel Olschan and Noah Wyle as Executive Producers. Viewers will recall Wyle from the original 2004 movie that kicked off the franchise and Olschan from The Ark. Additionally viewers have enjoyed the writing of The Ark’s Rebecca Rosenberg and the directing of Sandra Mitrovic, Milan Todorovic, and Orsi Nagypal, all featured Directors from The Ark.

The continuation series features time travel from a past Librarian. Returning to what used to be his castle, Vikram Chamberlain discovers it is now a a museum, which in turn causes him to accidentally unleash magic across the world. The Librarians: The Next Chapter is a popular series that we enjoy each week and we are pleased with the fact that this superb science series has already been renewed for a second season!
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We had hoped all three series would be featured at SDCC, but due to studio tight budgets, that will not be the case. Nevertheless we look forward to Press Rooms and Panels that will be featured at San Diego Comic-Con in next week. In the meantime, please feel free to share this article with your friends, co-workers and or your family!

We look forward to you visiting our dedicated review and analysis web site here in the future! Or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit TeamWHR on X, or visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. I and TeamWHR look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side!“

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Kenn of #TeamWHR
July 16, 2025
As The Wormhole Turns – Amazon MGM Studios Streaming Science Fiction Series AND #WeWantStargate!
Welcome Back WormholeRiders and Science Fiction Series Lovers,

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Our previous article focused on the non renewed La Brea series that apparently indicates an end of an era in scripted science fiction series on United States Network television as it appears to be the case as TeamWHR reported. This article will focus on a special series of As The Wormhole Turns relating to streaming services that have taken the place of network television scripted science fiction series.

Only two pure science fiction genre series remain, The Ark on SYFY and The Lazarus Project on TNT. Both series are on cable channels, not major networks. As a result of this decline in scripted science fiction series, it is apparent that the big three United States television networks ABC, CBS and NBC appear to be bowing out of scripted science fiction series for the time being.

Why? The networks in the United States are faced with withering competition from streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Disney Plus, Hulu, MGM+, Netflix, Paramount Plus, Peacock, Sling, Crackle TV, and many other streaming services.

One of the Elephants:

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

This first analysis will focus on one of the “elephants in the room”, Amazon MGM Studios science fiction programs that have been featured in the United States on Prime Video and MGM+.

The Man in the High Castle (2015), starring Alexa Davalos, Rufus Sewell, Chelah Horsdal, Jason O’Mara and featuring a huge ensemble cast is an alternate reality timeline story about Germany and Japan winning the Second World War. In our opinion, this was the first major success for Amazon Prime streaming science fiction programs and should be watched by fans of scripted science fiction series.
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Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Since then there were two series that we followed. The first series we enjoyed was “Night Sky” (2022) starring J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek that featured an alien wormhole portal on Earth.

In the case of “Paper Girls” (2022) we interviewed the cast at the San Diego Comic-Con International convention, an exquisite time travel adventure. Unfortunately, neither of these well done streaming programs were renewed for a second season.
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Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Another huge Amazon Studios success was the purchase of “The Expanse” (2015) from SYFY who unexpectedly cancelled their most popular science fiction series. SYFY abruptly stunned admirers of the series. The last SYFY episode, season three episode thirteen “Abadons Gate” was broadcast on June 18, 2018.

Fortunately, we were at San Diego Comic-Con in July of 2019 as a studio panel guest and interviewing star Cas Anvar about the cancellation when Amazon announced live during the Eisner Awards dinner they were purchasing all rights to “The Expanse” and would return for a additional seasons to the delight of series admirers including our team. The revitalized series broadcast to rave reviews for season four, five and six. “The Expanse” concluded it’s six season successful run on January 14, 2022.
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Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Notable recent Amazon Prime successes are “The Wheel of Time” (2021) starring Rosamund Pike now headed for a third season.

Nest is the most expensive television program ever made, “The Rings of Power” (2022) which although not yet announced, is rumored to have a third season in the works.

Both of these science fiction fantasy series have done well on Prime Video.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

On that point, Amazon Studios and MGM Studios only recently, within the past two months, have been renamed Amazon MGM Studios ending their individual names on their social media and websites sites including the introduction of Amazon MGM Studios banners featured specifically on new streaming products.

The inclusion of the Amazon MGM Studios banners began with the hugely successful “Fallout” (on Prime) season one dystopian science fiction series that follows the and “Outer Range” season two discussed in more detail below.
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On the MGM+ streaming service our favorite science fiction series are “From” (2022) which just completed a second season and is entering a third, and “Beacon 23” (2023) which recently completed a second season that we hope will be renewed for a third season. The positive news about Beacon 23 is that Paramount Plus began broadcasting Beacon 23 in the United Kingdom this month (June 2024) hopefully strengthening the series position to qualify for a third season.
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The Amazon Prime and MGM Plus Back Story:

Image courtesy Amazon Prime

Now in 2024, virtually all of the other recent science fiction series are now exclusively only on streaming platforms. What we now know as Amazon Prime began on September 7, 2006 as “Amazon Unbox” in the United States. On September 4, 2008, the service was renamed “Amazon Video on Demand”. The Amazon streaming services expanded in 2011 when Amazon bought the United Kingdom based streaming and DVD by mail rental service named “Lovefilm”. Subsequent to this acquisition up to the present time, Amazon re-launched their effort in what we now known as Prime Video. In April 2024, Amazon Studios and MGM Studios merged their two accounts on X into what we now know as Amazon MGM Studios. Another change occurred when Amazon Prime modified their subscription to feature advertisements on all programs and movies not purchased by the viewer. For a modest $2.99 USD extra each month, subscribers can currently eliminate advertisements on all Prime Video content.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

What we now know as the MGM+ streaming service was originally launched in the United States as “Epix” in October 2009. Epix was the result of a joint venture between MGM Studios, Lionsgate, and Paramount Studios.

MGM Studios acquired 100% ownership of “Epix” in late 2017. In March 2022 Amazon purchased MGM Studios. Pending final approval by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), MGM Studios announced that Epix would be renamed as MGM+ on January 15, 2023. The famous MGM Lion logo and introduction was reborn digitally for new programs and movies after many decades of the filmed version of the famous lion which is still featured on old movies and famed programs such as Stargate.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Aiming to not shock the viewers, Amazon took a slow approach using a gradual transition that took hold in early 2024 when the SEC waiting periods had been completed. MGM Plus, now known as MGM+ assumed it’s place in the Amazon Studios family of Amazon MGM Studios as mentioned above. MGM+ re-positioned itself as a successful sister service on a separate subscription streaming service to the aforementioned Prime Video service. We include both here together because they are owned by the same Amazon parent company.

TeamWHR Favorite Amazon MGM Studios Science Fiction Streaming Series:

Fallout (2024):

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

One of our four favorite science fiction series by Amazon MGM Studios is Fallout on Prime. Based on the highly successful Fallout video game series, Fallout with a post apocalyptic story line has taken the world by storm!

Starring Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Leslie Uggams, Michael Emerson, and talented ensemble cast, Fallout accurately transforms the excitement of the game play into a science fiction series adventure of epic proportions in the “Years after a nuclear apocalypse devastates America, a violent raid by bandits on an underground fallout shelter forces one of its residents to set out into a barren wasteland filled with radiation, mutated monsters, and a lawless society of those who remained on the surface.”
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Outer Range (2022):

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

An “Outer Range” wormhole portal in the “west pasture” of a ranch in Wyoming spans 150 years or more in the range wars between American Indians and two ranch families, the Abbott’s and the Tillerson’s. The portal which contains a black crystalline mysterious mineral, opens and closes at various time periods often sending people from the past to the future and from the future to the past. The results confound the residents and authorities in the fictional town of Wabang, Wyoming

Starring Josh Brolin, Imogen Poots, Lili Taylor, Will Patton, Tom Pelphrey, and Tamara Podemski with a great ensemble cast, “Outer Range” is a slow burning intense series about human interactions, prejudice and human history that intrigues the viewer as the exact same characters from different realities sometimes exist at the same time. The season two finale concludes with an “It’s just beginning” that we hope leads to a third season renewal.
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From (2022):

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

“From” has been a runaway supernatural science fiction series hit that began on “Epix” about a group of people who become trapped in a small town with no apparent easy escape. Described on IMDB as “… the mystery of a nightmarish town in middle America that traps all those who enter. As the unwilling residents fight to keep a sense of normality and search for a way out, they must also survive the threats of the surrounding forest; including the terrifying creatures that come out when the sun goes down.”

“From” stars actors we have admired from many years in other series including Harold Perrineau, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Eion Bailey, David Alpay, Ricky He, Hannah Cheramy, Avery Konrad and features a fine ensemble cast that make the nightmare seem all too real.
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Beacon 23 (2023):

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

“Beacon 23” is wild science fiction series set far in the future. The “beacons” are supposed to be off limits to political intrigue as safe places where one person is stationed to aid passing space vehicles. “Beacon 23” is described by the studio as “A man living in the 23rd Century works at a remote lighthouse in space that serves as a beacon to help passing ships.” In reality it is a way point for intergalactic conspiracies featuring human beings and fully evolved Artificial Inteligence (AI) beings blended into conflicts between competing civilian, governmental, and military agencies.

This series stars Stephan James, Natasha Mumba, Lena Headey, Eric Lange, Ellen Wong, Stephen Root and Hannah Melissa Scott as a teenage version of the Aster character portrayed by Lena Headey with a stellar (pun intended) supporting cast. The second season and it’s cryptic finale answers many questions that had been posed during season one. We are hopeful “Beacon 23” is renewed for a third season.
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Stargate:

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Any analysis of the Amazon MGM Studios science fiction series must include the Stargate franchise. Dormant since “Stargate Origins: Catherine” (2018) but with new movie and or series rumors since then. This includes Stargate trending several times on X over the past two years is the “WeWantStargate” hashtag.

Therefore, many Stargate admirers have wondered why, in the approximate two years since Amazon Studios purchased MGM Studios, the new Amazon MGM Studios have not yet officially announced a new Stargate franchise product?

Why the delay? The precise reasons are known to only to Amazon MGM Studios but are likely related to the following reasons.
1. All Stargate sets, costumes and props were sold off at the Vancouver Auction in June 2011.
2. Therefore any new Stargate, even streaming, will be very expensive to produce from scratch.
3. Many various sites, including TeamWHR indicate the Actors, Writers Strike stopped progress.
4. Amazon MGM Studios priorities may be focused on other franchises (discussed herein).
5. Or is there a fear of killing off the franchise if a new Stargate series is not done correctly?
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Will they do so at San Diego Comic-Con 2024? We hope so and include one of our favorite scenes from “Stargate Ark of Truth” above to encourage TPTB at Amazon MGM Studios to proceed ASAP because WeWantStargate and so do ten’s of millions worldwide!

We conclude our analysis of Amazon MGM Studios streaming services with only a suggested enhancement for Prime Video; Don’t drop all episodes of a streaming science fiction series at the same time. Admirers of science fiction enjoy meeting on social media on a weekly basis to chat about the latest episode their favorite science fiction series. Dropping all episodes at one time damages the enthusiasm which may contribute to less than successful series.

Next Up The Ends of Beginnings:

The Ark at WonderCon Image by David Yeh courtesy SYFY

In this edition of As The Wormhole Turns, TeamWHR will continue to cover The Ark science fiction series until it concludes it’s run on SYFY.

However, with the lack of new network scripted series we will begin migrate our science fiction series analysis to spotlight the major science fiction programs that will be featured on various streaming platforms.

Next up will be the second of our feature articles about streaming focus on Netflix and a rumored bundle deal that will also include Apple TV and Peacock TV and a different approach is being taken by a streaming service named Tubi. Free to all viewers, Tubi has taken this approach financing their streaming service with paid advertisements.

We will be back in the near future with more on streaming services as we head to San Diego Comic-Con as well as our favorite television series and movie analysis. In the meantime, please feel free to share this article with your friends, co-workers and or family and leave your comments! We look forward to you visiting our dedicated review and analysis web site here in the future! Or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit TeamWHR on Twitter, or visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. I and TeamWHR look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side!“

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Kenn of #TeamWHR
June 20, 2024
As The Wormhole Turns – La Brea The Road Home Part Two Ends An Era?
Welcome Back La Brea and Wormhole Science Fiction Lovers!

Image courtesy NBC

As our article title and the third season La Brea poster header indicated all season long, is this an end of an era in scripted science fiction series on major network television channels like NBC?

Do such science fiction series, subsequent to lower ratings as compared to police, fire, and hospital scripted programs (which are flourishing), spell the end of the science fiction genre on major network channels in the United States?

Unfortunately, this would appear to be the case for new science fiction series that could be broadcast on the United States television networks ABC, CBS or NBC.

There is good news however. Beloved science fiction television genre series is well underway via movement to streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Crackle TV, Disney Plus, Hulu, MGM Plus, Netflix, Paramount Plus, and Peacock TV.

Image courtesy NBC

What this means is that although science fiction on major United States based network channels may be at the End Of Life (EOL) for now, the science fiction television genre will live on to be loved by tens of millions of viewers as evidenced by recent science fiction series successes such as Fallout, Foundation, For All Mankind, Outer Range, Halo, The Mandalorian and other new content being created for and by streaming television services!

The Forty Year Back Story:

Image courtesy ABC

ABC Network (now part of Disney) was a player in the modern science fiction broadcast world subsequent to their highly successful Lost series from 2004 to 2010 with 121 episodes. After a notable original V mini-series success on NBC in 1983, V The Final Battle in 1984 and a shortened nineteen episode weekly series on NBC that left science fiction fans with huge cliffhanger, ABC picked up the franchise. ABC subsequently left the science fiction genre after a two season run of a reboot of V Series from 2009 to 2011 that also disappointed fans who had hoped the story arc would be completed in a third season.

City On The Edge Of Forever. Image courtesy Paramount Plus

CBS Network had never been a significant science fiction content producer until it picked up the Star Trek franchise now broadcast on the Paramount Plus streaming service.

Likewise, the CW Network (originally UPN – The United Paramount Network until 2006), like SYFY, is actually a cable channel that produced significant science fiction related content including The Secret Circle (2011), The Vampire Diaries (2009), Arrow (2012), iZombie (2015), Legends of Tomorrow (2016), Riverdale (2017) and the popular Superman & Lois (2021) entering its fourth and final season soon.

Image courtesy SYFY

With very few exceptions, notably the SYFY Channel in the United States (a cable channel that is owned by NBC), there are few relatively new science fiction scripted series on network television remaining.

These include as The Ark headed for a second season and comedic science fiction series Resident Alien (hopefully pending renewal for a fourth season).

Now in 2024, virtually all of the other recent science fiction series are now exclusively only on streaming platforms.

Streaming Roots and How We Arrived Here:

Image courtesy SYFY

The roots of successful streaming programs can be said to have arguably begun in earnest in May 2007 with the Sanctuary web series first broadcast on the Internet. The Sanctuary web based series was so successful it actually crashed the Internet servers on launch day. I was peripherally involved in a support role for fans to interact with the series star Amanda Tapping while running a popular website dedicated to supporting the Stargate franchise prior to the launch of WormholeRiders News Agency in 2008. Sanctuary, produced in conjunction with Space Channel of Canada (now known as CTV SciFi), was such a success that the web series was picked up by SYFY (then the SciFi channel) that ran four seasons from 2009 to 2001.

The Invaders Image courtesy ABC

SciFi began broadcasting in September 1992 with the hit movie Star Wars Episode IV (The New Hope) as its first broadcast.

SciFi had much early success over their early years which can be attributed to broadcasting re-runs of iconic science fiction programs such as the early episodes of Dr. Who, The Prisoner, The Invaders, Star Trek the Original Series (TOS) and many various fan favorite science fiction movies.

Image courtesy SYFY

SYFY’s first original hit series was the short lived one season dystopian space opera Mission Genesis in 1997. Then came First Wave co-produced with the Space Channel broadcast from 1998 to 2001.

This was followed by the now classic Farscape series that was broadcast from 1999 to 2003. Farscape was co-produced with Nine Network.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

SciFi then invested heavily in additional science fiction scripted series beginning when it acquired the rights in 2001 to broadcast Stargate SG-1 owned by MGM Studios (Now known as Amazon MGM Studios).

Stargate SG-1 was originally on Showtime from 1997 to 2001, then continued to be broadcast on SYFY until 2007 for a combined total of ten episode years totaling 214 episodes. SYFY then added the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica in 2004, and Stargate Atlantis in 2005. MGM released two follow on direct to DVD Stargate SG-1 movies in 2008 that SYFY also broadcast. Stargate Universe began in 2009 and in 2010 SYFY created Caprica, a popular Battlestar prequel series that sadly only lasted one season.

Image courtesy SYFY Sharknado

SYFY also became well known for their weekly wild and often wacky science fiction movies for which it became famous in their own right.

The wildly successful weekly movie series generated huge followings of millions of viewers every week that culminated in the success of the Sharknado movies (1 to 6) series that concluded in 2018.

Image courtesy TNT

Close competitors in the with superb science fiction content in the twenty-first century were the Turner Network Television (TNT) Network and its fabulous Falling Skies series with five seasons broadcast from 2011 to 2015.

TNT’s also broadcast their subsequently successful program called The Last Ship, a dystopian action science fiction drama series that ran for five seasons from 2014 to 2018.

Image courtesy Warner Brothers TV

The Fox Network was a strong contributor with their original The X-Files series from 1993 to 2002, Sliders in 1998, Firefly in 2002, and the iconic fabled Fringe series produced at Warner Brothers Television that ran for five years and 100 episodes from 2008 to 2013. Fox and the fascinating time travel mystery series Alcatraz was not renewed after one season in 2011 despite strong ratings when the network decided to renew Fringe for a fifth season instead. Fox left the genre after NexT rogue AI series in 2020 which ran for only one season. Fox Network television was subsequently acquired by Disney which has its hands full with Marvel and Star Wars streaming series.

The Beginning of The End:

Image courtesy NBC

The decline of science fiction series like La Brea on network television channels can be traced back to its roots on December 03, 2009 when telecommunications giant Comcast announced its intent to acquire mass media company NBC Universal from General Electric corporation amid concerns at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of potential negative effects within the vertical entertainment industry since Comcast was also heavily involved in cable television and internet services in many United States media markets.

Image by Mark Taylor courtesy NBC

On March 19, 2013 General Electric divested itself from NBC giving Comcast sole ownership and a free hand to reduce employees located within duplicate internal divisions. Through this acquisition, Comcast gained ownership of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the film studio Universal Pictures, cable channels such as SYFY, Universal Parks & Resorts. Among other assets owned by NBC Universal was the USA Network and the E! Channel who often ran large entertainment convention events at San Diego Comic-Con, WonderCon in San Francisco and Anaheim as well as at New York ComicCon at the Javits Center.

Image by Greg Gayne courtesy NBC

SYFY reigned supreme for many years via their continued strong interest in scripted science fiction series (many were acquired and developed with Canadian UK network partners) subsequent to beginnings of the merger mania in 2009.

These fabulous programs included Sanctuary, Warehouse 13, Eureka, Helix, Haven, Alphas, Lost Girl, Merlin, Defiance, Continuum, 12 Monkeys, Dark Matter, Killjoys and The Expanse. Their last major five year successes concluded with the supernatural science fiction thrillers Van Helsing, Wynonna Earp, and The Magicians.

The cracks in the formula became apparent when SYFY, out of nowhere, stunned viewers when it dumped The Expanse despite rave reviews and being the highest rated science fiction program in 2018.

Fortunately The Expanse was picked up by Amazon Studios, running on Amazon Prime for three more seasons on the streaming service with success and high praise.

Image by Mark Taylor courtesy NBC

In 2018, the pressure on broadcast networks became evident when a fabulous science fiction series on the NBC’s USA Network named Colony became a casualty. The NBC and Comcast merger “Reductions In Force” (RIF) became known as “the night of the long knives” which impacted the majority of staffers, employees and publicists whose careers ended abruptly with what many believe were unanticipated layoffs. Another great NBC series, Manifest, was not renewed but was saved by streaming service Netflix.

Image by Greg Gayne courtesy NBC

Great SYFY series such as Primeval New World, Ghost Wars, Incorporated, and Day of The Dead were subsequently not renewed after single seasons, likely a result of terminating publicist marketing employee teams in “the night of the long knives” that were needed for continued series success. Krypton, based on the DC Comics Superman franchise, made it to two years to 2019 but effectively ended cable channel SYFY’s dominance as undisputed king of science fiction series as an NBC network affiliate. SYFY original programming suffered as a result. Alien Nation and horror based Chucky remain as the only multi-season survivors.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

However, all these events actually jump started the streaming services movement which can be traced in large part to huge success in 2015 with a The Man In the High Castle broadcast on Amazon Prime Video for four seasons concluding in 2019.

This factor was repeated with the Warner Brothers Discovery merger last year that cancelled a completed season four production of Snowpiercer ready to be broadcast on TNT (the fourth season now will broadcast by AMC in 2025), and Westworld which had been renewed for a fifth season on HBO but will not be produced after the merger that produced the Warner Discovery conglomerate. With talk of further consolidation in the entertainment industry looming in the future, all this could mean the end of ABC, CBS, or NBC network channel science fiction series in the United States.

Image courtesy NBC

Since that time a few months ago, new science fiction series broadcast on major network television channels ABC, CBS and NBC are few and far between. After NBC chose not to renew a superb series named Debris with good ratings created by J.H. Wyman of Fringe after broadcasting only thirteen episodes in season one ending in late May 2021, the beloved La Brea time travel science fiction series on NBC may be the last major network television effort in that regard, at least for the time being.

The Future of Science Fiction Television is Streaming:

The Mandalorian Image courtesy Disney Plus

Streaming services accelerated during the transition subsequent to the entire Star Wars and Star Trek franchises moving to streaming platforms when Disney purchased Lucas Film.

CBS, broadcast owner of Star Trek franchise launched Paramount Plus, the renamed CBS All Access streaming service.

Star Wars series such as The Mandalorian, Obi Wan Kenobi, The Book of Bobba Fett, and Andor have been a success on Disney Plus. Star Trek series including Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds have been huge successes on the Paramount Plus streaming service.

All of this begs the question:

Will ever be another science fiction series to be launched on a major network channel in the United States?

Or is the science fiction genre to only find life only on streaming services in the future? We shall see.

In the meantime, enjoy the wildest moments of La Brea courtesy of NBC included below.
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The Road Home Part 2:

Image by Mark Taylor courtesy NBC

We here at Team WHR believed that there is much more to this superb La Brea story remaining to be told. Unfortunately, “The Road Home, Part 2” is the finale for this terrific time travel science fiction adventure series. Although we had been hoping for at least five full seasons of the La Brea series, as the old adage often applied to television programming saying goes; “Don’t Cry and Be Sorry it’s Over, Be Happy Because It Happened”, and we are because the series ended without cliffhangers!

On that note, we waited to post this analysis hoping that series creator David Appelbaum would be able to place La Brea with one of the major streaming services. As of this post, that does not seem to be happening at this time, but will remain hopeful that may occur in the future after we publish this feature article.

“The Road Home, Part 2” finale aired subsequent “The Road Home, Part 1” after a remaining character named Helena (Emily Wiseman) surfaced in the episode “Fire Storm” where we learned that Helena is Gavin Harris’s (Eoin Macken) half sister. We also learned that Time Travel was invented by their father who finished setting up the technology in 1965 using modern 2020’s computer technology to create jet aircraft that in the end help save our heroes.

Image by Greg Gayne courtesy NBC

The good news of La Brea is that the series producers and creator ensured the series would conclude on a happy note creating an enjoyable ending for their fans. Eve (Natalie Zea) and her family of Gavin, Josh (Jack Martin), and Izzy (Zyra Gorecki), in fact all the main characters including Sam Velez (Jon Seda) and his daughter Riley (Veronica St. Clair), Scott Israni (Rohan Mirchananey), Veronica Castillo (Lily Santiago), Lucas Hayes (Josh McKenzie), Judah (Damien Fotiou), and even Petra (Asmara Feik) daughter of deceased villain Maya Schmidt (Claudia Ware), all safely make it back safely to 2021 either using the prototype Time Travel jet aircraft or utilized a wormhole portal to return home to their own time, most likely closing once and for all after everyone returned to 2021.

Image courtesy NBC

In the end, Ty Coleman (Chiké Okonkwo) decided to stay in 10,000 BC with his wife Paara (Tonantzin Carmelo) to live out their lives. Levi Delgado (Nicholas Gonzales) sadly passed away sacrificing himself to save the others.

We never learned the fate of Silas (Mark Lee) and other characters in 10,000 BC. Likewise, Leyla (Edyll Ismail) daughter of Ruth (Chantelle Jamieson) never consummated her relationship with Izzy due to the shortened third season.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Lastly, the La Brea series finale reminded me of the famous two part Stargate SG-1 episode “Moebius part 2” where the main characters went back in time to fix the future. The end result was that Stargate SG-1 main characters lived as themselves in ancient Egypt as a method to ensure that the future characters never had to go back in time in the first place so they could fish at Jack’s pond that had no fish before Moebius but did have fish when the future characters ended the eighth season knowing they had changed the future.

Image courtesy NBC

Therefore, speaking of endings, there are a La Brea few items that were not addressed in the finale: Did Gavin destroy the trouble making Time Travel computer chip in the jet aircraft?
Did everyone get back to the correct time at the end (pun intended)? Did the original wormhole ever occur in the pilot episode if Gavin destroyed the time chip technology after returning to 2021? Did the finale cleanly avoid all time paradoxes of having two of several main characters that existed at the same time (again pun intended)?

Image courtesy NBC

In closing our analysis of La Brea, one of our favorite science fiction series by the way, we wonder If Gavin did not destroy the time chip after they all returned after the wormhole occurred in 2021, since the items above were never really addressed, what could happen in the future?

Although unlikely, It remains a long shot possibility that a La Brea series could return in the future, perhaps on a streaming service, so everyone can learn more about Gavin’s father in 1965, and the fate of humankind in the future.

We certainly hope that to be the case!

We will be back in the near future with more of your favorite television series and movie analysis. In the meantime, please feel free to share this article with your friends, co-workers and or family and leave your comments!

We look forward to you visiting our dedicated review and analysis web site here in the future! Or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit TeamWHR on Twitter, or visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. I and TeamWHR look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side!“

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Kenn of #TeamWHR
April 25, 2024
Mayans M.C.- A Whole New World on Two Wheels!

Hello my fellow Mayans M.C. fans!

Image courtesy FX Networks Mayans M.C.

Season 1 may be over, but the anticipation is still very much alive for Season 2!

I first heard about Mayans M.C. last year when rumors were circulating that there was a spin-off of the iconic and sacred (to most) Sons of Anarchy. I was a fan of SOA in as much as I caught a few seasons here and there, but I wasn’t a regular viewer of the show. Not that I didn’t like it, just time and work prevented me from getting caught up enough.

Usually spin-offs of highly popular shows don’t do well with fans or ratings. Mayans, however proved that point wrong. It was every bit as good as SOA, although definitely different as well.

That is why I love it, is because although there are a few of the characters that show up from SOA, the main focus is the Mayans. There is definitely another cultural difference as well, which is great to see on a network like FX.

SDCC 2018 Mayans M.C. Panel

Flashback to San Diego Comic-Con 2018 when Mayans M.C. was featured in its very first panel before the season aired in September. It was in the megalithic Hall H which has a reputation for having the likes of The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things just to name a few whom have graced its hallowed halls.

To present brand new show that has not even aired yet, of a spin off to a HUGELY popular show was risky, but Kurt Sutter is one to take risks and as luck would have it, it paid off. See for yourself in an FX Networks video clip from SDCC 2018 clip we include below.

Image joint copyright Lori Glumac and WormholeRiders

The really great thing about Mayans is the all Latino (except for one cast member) cast. As much as television claims to be “diverse” it really isn’t. To see a few named actors be a part of this show, too, was a real treat. One of those actors (who happens to be a favorite of mine) is Edward James Olmos.

Growing up I remember watching him on Miami Vice (1984) as Martin Castillo (for which he won an Emmy). Danny Pino, who has worked with Kurt Sutter before on (in my opinion) one of the greatest cop shows of all time, The Shield, but we also know him from Law & Order: SVU and Tony Plana, veteran actor of both stage and screen. The only non-Latino cast member is Sarah Bolger, from Once Upon A Time, who holds her own very well against these great men and is the only other female regular cast member on the show.

Image joint copyright Lori Glumac and WormholeRiders

The great thing as well about new shows is introducing fans to new actors. One such is JD Pardo who plays EZ Reyes on Mayans. Now, this was the first time I had ever heard of JD, and once I saw him (he’s very easy on the eyes) in the show I became an instant, life-long fan.

When I see an actor that really piques my interest, I find everything they are in and watch it all. With JD, I was pleasantly surprised to see his work has been acclaimed for a while. I was happy to discover a series he was in on Hulu called East Los High (for which he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy). He was really great in that show and I do recommend it.

JD was also in two sci-fi shows, Revolution and The Messengers (both short seasons, but worth watching). He brings so much depth and range to his character on Mayans and I am so looking forward to the new season.

Image copyright link back courtesy Shutter Shock

Another actor that literally floored me is Richard Cabral. I first saw him in the first season of the series Lethal Weapon. He made such an impact that when I heard he was in Mayans, I was ecstatic. He is astonishing in Mayans (and pretty much anything else he is in), as his character Johnny ‘Coco’ Cruz with his signature catch phrase of “My Bad”. His character and the arc he goes through is what makes Mayans such an interesting show. The depth he shows is tremendous, in all the scenes he’s in. You cannot take your eyes off him, and it isn’t because of all the tattoos he has or his unique face, but by the sheer brilliance of his craft. He is what we directors call an absolute dream actor, such range and power that all you have to do is give him words to say and watch it all just happen. And I guarantee you will be floored by the end.

Image copyright link back courtesy Shutter Shock

Being the veteran of the cast, Olmos brings his intensity to his character with the ease he has always made it look. His character of Felipe Reyes is nuanced and subtle but powerful. The way Olmos plays him is quiet, but you can feel that intensity radiate off the screen. His character is multi layered and has many secrets and we get to see how that slowly reveals itself throughout the series. Olmos doesn’t overact those parts, he flows through them with perfect emotion and leaves you breathless in the intense scenes.

My favorite scenes are between Olmos and Pardo as they play out their father/son dynamic. Not only is it two great actors acting in those scenes together, but a father and son finding their relationship again after unfortunate circumstances kept them apart. They both bring their A game to every scene they are in and it shows 100% in all their shared scenes.

Image copyright link back courtesy Shutter Shock

Sarah Bolger is really great in the series too!

Sarah brings a whole different dynamic to the scintillating series. Her character is another one to watch as her character arc changes over the course of the hit Mayans M.C. series.

How she plays Emily Thomas is really wonderful. While Sarah displays her vulnerability, with a bit of naïveté, there is also also a fiery, smart, skillful piece of a complicated puzzle revealed in Sarah’s portrayal of the Emily character.

Sarah Bolger – Image courtesy Kurt Sutter

The scenes between Sarah and JD are filled with sublime morsels for us to sink our teeth into.

The journey they both take individually and separately is one I am looking forward to in Season 2 of Mayans M.C..

SDCC 2018 Kurt Sutter – Image courtesy Kurt Sutter

Kurt Sutter, the genius behind SOA, is once again at the helm of this ship. His skill as a storyteller is as present as ever in this series. His signature is all over this and I for one am very happy to see that. His characters are fully realized, they are as flawed as we all are, and the way he writes his female characters is truly a revelation.

Kurt doesn’t shy away from showing the darker parts of people “When you live on the fringe you are subject to all the things on the fringe” is what he said about Mayans. The female characters in this series are strong, passionate, smart, feminine, deeply scarred and fearless. He has such a respect for the voices women have that he said more than half the writers on Mayans are women. Plus being married to Katey Sagal helps, too, because we all know what kind of woman Gemma Teller Morrow was.

Well, I hope that you have enjoyed my summary of my impressions of the fabulous new FX Networks superb series, Mayans M.C.?

I know I didn’t go into much detail about the series, but my advice is to watch it for yourself and discover that world that toes the line at the U.S./Mexico border. My fondest dream is that I will be granted access to the FX Networks Press Room during San Diego Comic Con in 2019.

Until next season!

Thank you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency. And thanks to Kenn for video embedding and additional images for my report. I will be back in the near future with more about Mayans M.C. and my ongoing awesome adventures at San Diego Comic Con 2018!

Please feel free to leave a comment here or If you prefer, you may also click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit the WHR on Facebook or me on Twitter by clicking the links or images avatars in this news story.

See You on The Other Side!

Until next time,

Regards,

Lori

January 19, 2019
Fringe: “Alone In The World” or “No One Is An Island”

Hi Fringe fans!

This just keeps getting better and better, right?

We recount Fringe with Walters Bishop (John Noble) in a dilemma at often seeing Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) in any reflective surface such as a television.

Walter he thinks he is due for the mental home again. He also seems to call out Peter’s name at odd moments. It is as if Peter is in an alternate dimension with a very thin veil between that universe and this reality.

Walter is not sure what the heck is going on, so, he is going about his lab covering all reflective surfaces, such as mirrors and TV screens and monitors. Walter keeps hearing Peter calling out to him. Since the end of season three, no one appears to remembers Peter. Walter is fearful of his own sanity while the two universe teams and both Olivia Dunham’s (Anna Torv) are working together to save the worlds.

“Alone In The World” (Or, No One Is An Island):

We open this episode with Walter talking to his psychiatrist. He is being questioned about keeping up with the medications and I felt a small sense of foreboding when Walter says that he has, “… For the most part…with a few modifications of course..” Hmmm. something about a doctor treating himself having a fool for a patient comes to mind. It seems the Psychiatrist has been receiving reports from his agents who have been following Walter and knows about the reflections, and of Walter seeing a strange man, and hearing him, when no one else can.

The next scene is of a young boy, being chased by some local bullies. They are angry at the younger boy for telling the teacher about a stash in one of the older boy’s locker. The younger boy runs into a tunnel and the boys come in and find him. “You picked a bad place to hide, dumb ass!” one of the bullies says to the younger boy. As the boys are about to lay into him, They become bothered by something crawling on their skin and the two bullies are overcome by the growing affliction as the younger boy runs off, unharmed!

Olivia seeks information at her computer, apparently trying to use the facial recognition software as we see various faces scrolling along at a rapid rate. Olivia tells the new agent, Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel) that she understands as he is looking over the reports and things about past cases. Olivia shares that she understands this is all fairly new to him, and how he may be questioning the world he thought he knew. Olivia is being supportive and wants to tell the agent he is welcome to talk with her if he needs to talk things over. She is interrupted by a phone call.

The next scene is at Hyde Park where the bodies of two twelve year old boys have been found. Their advanced state of decomposition leads FBI agents asking how many months they have been missing, and it has not been months, but only hours. Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick) says. The bodies look as if it has been months however! The boys were only reported missing when they did not come home the night before. They retrieve the bodies. Naturally one of the the victims is taken to Walters lab, the other to the morgue.

Investigators in the tunnel spot a third set of sneaker tracks going in and out from the tunnel. Walter is observed unzipping the body bag with Agent Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) speculating about the pungent stench! Agent Broyles asks Walter if he is alright as the psychiatrist submitted reports about Walter to him earlier, so of course he wanted to come see Walter for himself.

Olivia phones Broyles from the local school and tells him they have a lead. Apparently a student told her the two boys who were found had been planning to beat a kid up. We now see the aforementioned boy sitting in the cafeteria drawing a fairly intricate scene in his notebook.

Back at Harvard University, the boy has been brought in from his school. We learn that his name is Aaron Sneddon (Evan Bird) and he is ten years old. He has been sitting in the lab, drawing intently in his notebook. He has told Olivia it was pretty dark and he did not see much after being chased into the tunnel. Olivia finds out he is pretty much “Alone In The World”.

The father is apparently not in the picture, while Aaron’s mother is out of the country a lot for her career work. Normally, Aaron stays at a neighbors home during this time. The school principal said the boy is “not known to have many friends”.

Olivia tells Aaron that Dr. Bishop (Walter) would like to check him over. Aaron tells her quietly that he does not like doctors. “They scare me” he explains. “You will like Walter, there’s nothing scary about him.” She smiles as Walter comes over to the boy. Walter was wearing the gloves and big apron, looking more like a figure from a horror film than a kindly doctor. I would have been leaving skid marks as I ran from the lab if I were in Aaron’s shoes!

In the next scene, we thankfully see that Walter is in a normal white lab coat, no gloves or apron, and is far less threatening looking as he explains to Aaron he is going to take a blood sample, not inject, as he holds a needle (a typical blood test). Walter gently promises the boy it is this one time only. The blood was withdrawn gently and the boy visibly relaxes.

Aaron sees a small action figure on Walters’ desk and goes to touch it and takes it down. Walter sees the boy holding the toy and hurries to take it from him. :”Please, don’t touch that!” he snaps, startling Aaron. Walter quickly apologized, explaining this used to belong to his son. “You have a son?” asked Aaron. “I did… he died.” Walter explained.

Astrid comes in and asks Walter to come with her. “You need to come take a look at this.” Astrid was moving a candle near the corpse of one of the boys, and the flame of the candle blew out. A draft from the corpse…! The LAMBDA Scale shows the corpse is blowing high levels of oxygen out into the air, and Walter notices more mold on the ribcage. He sees what is happening and orders the incubation casing to be brought there… quickly!

As Astrid and Walter throw the corpse into the hermetic casing, it is sealed in time just as the corpse exploded. The corpse has released what could be termed as spores. Walter now sees this as an aggressive fungi that killed the boys. it is seemingly trying to spread now. Astrid says that Olivia and Lincoln went to the morgue to get the other body!

Next scene is at the morgue and our Fringe duo is only getting to the elevator when Astrid called them. “Evacuate the morgue and lock it down. That body is going to explode and release spores!” As Olivia and Lincoln rush to do that, Astrid tried to call the actual room where the body is. One of the staff is eating his lunch, …While the body sits there in front of him… and he will not answer the phone!

As Olivia and Lincoln push their way through the halls, past bemused lab workers and others, the female morgue worker goes to answer the phone. NOW the lunch-eating worker sees something odd about the body and goes to investigate it. As he sees the body expanding, he calls to his colleague: “Hey, Beth.. come take a look at this.”

As Beth is picking up the phone, Olivia and Lincoln reach the doors to the morgue and we see the explosion from within. The morgue staff are coughing and passing out inside As Olivia stops Lincoln from opening the door, she says they need to lock this down and get a team in here. Lincoln says “We can not just leave them in there to die!” Olivia tells him “They are already dead!”

The HAZMAT suited team comes into the morgue and we see the dead lab workers and the mold growing everywhere on the walls. Broyles called Walter to see what they know. Walter says it is a genetic mutation, with accelerated growth and nutrition absorption.which explains the rapid decomposition of the bodies. Walter” Olivia says “What’s cortisubsfungi?”

Walter explains it is a species capable of releasing neurotoxin cells to paralyze the host. “Usually it is in insects, so the fungi can feed and lay it’s spores. Still a lower life form, it would not know or care that you’re there so long as you have not touched them” Walter explains the fungi relies on tactile stimuli of some sort.

The team notices the mold has gone to the morgue sink as well, and this fascinates Walter. It shows him that this is trying to obtain more water and expand their reach as far as possible. Broyles asked how to kill these things. Walter points out as with many species of mold and fungi, strong UV light and heat should eradicate them. Broyles orders more UV lamps and such to be brought in… “As many as you can find.”

Walter is now telling Aaron that his blood work is fine and he is now free to return home, Aaron looks depressed, and Walter says “Unless it is not good news…?”

“Nobody’s there.” Aaron says. The neighbor never talks to him. Walter says he understands what it is like to have nowhere to go. “This is the only home I know” He says as he looks about the lab.

Aaron is so depressed, Walter invites him to stay with him a little while longer. The next scene is Fringe favorite, that of milkshakes being made, tinfoil hats being worn, resulting in a much happier Aaron.

Aaron asks Walter about his son. Walter was forthright in the alternate universes and how he had taken Peter from there to this one, and how Peter had drowned. Aaron listened patiently, and quietly asked Water: “And you don’t think you belong in a mental institution?” Walter only sips at his milkshake quietly.

Next, back in the tunnel, the team finds the ‘Perpetrator’… A large cluster of the mold. The agents are waiting for the lamps and so on to be brought in. As we see the tunnel, there is a heavy ‘vein’ of the mold crawling along the drawings on the wall…. Drawings which look like the ones in Aaron’s notebook!

As the lamps are turned on, directed at the mold, Aaron, back in Walters’ lab, starts to feel uncomfortable. “It’s…. BRIGHT!…Ugh… Too bright!!” In the tunnel, the agents are finding a lot more of this organism throughout the wall. We see some is growing up the leg of one of the flood lamps. It is also going down into some grating.

Between scenes of bright lights in the tunnel, and agents asking “what’s past this grating? Anybody know?” we see Aaron in discomfort, asking “What is that?” As a flood lamp explodes Aaron falls to the floor in Walters’ lab and Olivia is saying “Burn it. Burn it all…!”

Aaron has a high-grade fever now, and Walter, with Astrid are tying to figure out what is wrong with him. Just as a large flame thrower is ignited, the agents in the tunnel get a phone call from Walter. “Stop what you’re doing!” Olivia say “What?” Walter again commands “I said Stop it… You’re killing the boy!!”

Aaron is now in an ice-bath in the lab. This technique is commonly used to stop high fevers from …in effect… ‘cooking’; the body. Once a temperature goes beyond approximately 105 F, the proteins which make up our biology will ‘denature’. Think of it like an egg: When in it’s natural state, it is gelatinous and when cooked it is hardened. All growth and processes are stopped. In humans, death would result. That is why the main goal of treatments in fever is to bring the body temperature down so the denaturing does not occur.

Now, the connection between the boy and the main part of the mold is being realized. Olivia may have an idea about why the mold at the morgue did not affect the kid, but this one is. She is looking at the cave-like entrance to the tunnel, and the graffiti surrounding it.

Walter is now asking Aaron why he lied about having been in the tunnel before the other boys were killed. “I’d say you’ve gone there a lot.” Walter says as he showed Aaron a page og the drawings. “Olivia found drawings like this …”

Aaron admitted he would go to the tunnel to get away from things. After awhile, he would start to feel better. Like he wasn’t alone. “That there was something there that was sad whenever I was sad…I know it sounds stupid”

“It’s not.” Walter indicates. “You say there was something there that felt as you felt.”

“I thought I was just imagining it” Aaron said. “Maybe I was was crazy. but it’s like it understood me…Like it wanted to …”

“Protect you” Walter said, completing the boy’s sentence.

Walter then asked Aaron if he intentionally led those boys who were chasing him to the tunnel. “It told you to bring them back to the tunnel.”
Aaron told Walter he did not know what was going to happen to them. He didn’t know what it was! Aaron was crying with remorse, and Walter, gentle Walter, told the boy he believed he did nothing wrong and comforted Aaron.

So, now we are beginning to understand this life form may be sentient and may actually have more to it than thought. Walter sees it now as a single organism with advanced communication skills, forming a psychic bond with Aaron. Walter now believes the spores and fungi are actually like neurons of our brain. The tendrils coming out of them are like Dendrites and synapses. That the ‘Fungi” is in fact a vast neural network.

Lincoln is amazed. “You’re saying this is like a giant brain….?” Walter has named it “GUS”. … For the sake of clarity. (I love Walter! He is amazing!) The stuff at the morgue had not been able to join the network and that is why Aaron was unaffected as it was destroyed. Also, the stuff going down the sink was not looking for water, it was trying to join GUS… at the mainframe level!

But this explains now why any attempt to hurt “GUS” will hurt Aaron. so now, the mission is to dissociate the boy’s psyche from GUS.

Broyles calls with news of a homeless man inflicted with the organism and the location (Roxbury Crossing) is six miles away from the origin of GUS. The grating near the homeless man is part of the Boston sewer line, and Broyles now say “We have a major infestation. We have to eradicate it now!” Walter is very upset and yells at Broyles through the speakerphone “He’ll DIE!! You understand? You’re going to KILL PETER!”

“Aaron.” Olivia says softly. Walter, you mean Aaron.” Broyles indicated he has two hours.

Olivia calls Walter and he tells her they have managed to isolate the brain waves of GUS and Aaron. The link appears to be in Aaron’s prefrontal lobe. Walter is getting set to actually remove the lobe in Aaron. Broyles said there is another attack in midtown. Two hours are now no more.

The agents found an injection point to administer a toxin to GUS. this is a HUGE network under the tunnel As this is done, Aaron tries to sit bolt-upright yelling “NO!!” and GUS has come to life below ground grabbing the toxin administrator, Agent Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel).

Aaron’s blood pressure is falling and Walter suddenly thinks “Limbic System“! Of course! Emotions=Limbic! So now he must appeal to Aaron’s emotions to release this hold to GUS. Walter is talking to Aaron trying to get him to release the hold GUS has on him. Walter is trying to tell Aaron that he is not alone and is begging him not to leave him Walter is saying “I don’t want to lose you! Not again!”

Walter is pleading with Aaron to trust. The boy starts to believe Walter. It is working and Aaron’s vitals are stabilizing. Olivia calls from their location at the tunnel saying that something is happening. Astrid tells Walter the brain waves are now separating …

“It’s gone…” Astrid says as she looks at the monitors… “GUS is gone…”

Olivia is back in the tunnel. She indicates that the organism is dying. The toxin administrator (Lincoln) is safe. Aaron is taken off to the hospital and Walter gives him the little action figure. “We’ll meet again, very soon!” Walter promises. Walter looks away from Aaron and sees Peter in the glass housing the fire extinguisher.

Walter goes to his books and takes down a volume and the page is open to an ominous topic. Lobotomies.

Walter is set to perform a lobotomy on himself!! Olivia comes in to see this man, with tools at the ready.

Olivia does stop this activity and we see that she is visibly upset. Walter is crying that he is going insane and “doesn’t want to be re-committed”. He explains he has been seeing this stranger in reflective surfaces and is in fear that he is losing his mind again. Olivia shows Walter a drawing of who we know to be Peter. She has been seeing him too, but of course, she does not remember who he is and neither does Walter.

My Take For What It Is Worth:

How many times do we hear or read of solitary youths growing into serial killers if not just the forgotten ones of society? We usually see the neighbors saying “Oh, he was always quiet and polite. We never had a clue what was going on” to the news team on television. Or perhaps the youths who bring guns to school to teach the ‘jocks’ a lesson?

They are usually, though not always, the outcasts, alone at school and at home. Cries go out of “We had no idea it was like this…” and that is when I ask “Why not? Because you do not care enough to talk to your neighbors? Or perhaps to invite the lonely kid to come sit with you in the lunchroom?” I have to ask: Whose fault is it really when we as a people fail to reach out to each other?

It is almost like one who is searching for employment. “Oh, you need experience to work here” They are told, but are not hired.

So, GIVE THEM THE EXPERIENCE! They will never be experienced until they are given the CHANCE to work there! Just as the socially inept will never learn if they are constantly excluded from social interaction.

Now, granted, not every recluse is a violent or even cruel person. There are many ‘outcasts’ who search internally for knowledge and friendship from ‘Imaginary’ playmates as kids, or even mentors from books and TV. One will usually go to the safest option first. I grew up as a legally-blind kid and no one had much to do with me. MY ‘friends were ‘Casper, the friendly ghost’ -because I felt like he did.

I would come up to a group of ids wanting to play, but they would run away, or push me away. I loved “Astro-Boy”, “Marine Boy” anyone ‘different’ and empathized with them. Later as my reading grew stronger I relied on heroes of history and current times for their knowledge and advise. I did not wind up in a foster care system, or prison, or like Walter, a mental home.

I am one of the lucky ones. But I felt so deeply for Aaron (Evan Bird). That poor kid may have not been a homeless kid, starving and shoeless, but his poverty was greater. He lacked simple human contact and did not feel he was really loved, so he formed a psychic link to what could have been a dangerous ally. Even today at my age, I empathize with Science Fiction ‘Aliens’ having been ‘alienated’ throughout my own life.

It is… at least in my opinion, better to follow the advanced minds and abilities of the Others and Eartheaon people of wisdom and heart than what *could* have happened, really. Aaron will be okay. He is in this case a very lucky boy. I would have loved to have a “Walter” in my life, but I did have good parents and Dad was an Endineer and Machinist. He was ‘my’ “Walter”.

So please… do not be a island. We as a species are social and companionship is an essential in our needs. Reach out and at least say “Hello” to someone. It costs absolutely nothing to do so.

Thanks to Kenn for completing the staging of the the images and the links, and thanks to you for reading my review and for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency.

Please feel free to leave a comment here or If you prefer, you may also click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit the WHR on Facebook or me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story and or we will See You on The Other Side“!

Until next time,

Regards,

Celtica

October 11, 2011
Fringe: “One Night In October” and “The Bridge” When an Obsession Can Ruin Everything!

Welcome back Fringe fans! for us.

This week’s episode “One Night in October” was a peek into what season four of Fringe has in store

The writers are going to not only bring the two universes together to save them both, but they are going to bring the two together to help solve cases.

Before we begin our review, below is a Fringe special released by FOX Broadcasting called “The Bridge”. Thanks FOX!

One Night in October:

The episode is based on a fundamental debate of nature vs. nurture. John McClennan, portrayed by John Pyper-Ferguson, was at the center of this debate. In one universe he was a forensic psychology professor who studied serial killers and in the other universe he was a serial killer. Pyper-Ferguson did an excellent job at portraying McClennan and making the two very similar in personality and different in their actions.

We began this episode with a man hooked up to a machine that appeared to be pumping some sort of blue liquid into his brain. He was being asked to recall a happy memory he had of his mother. As he told his captor that his memory had made him happy, his face froze over and he had one tear rolling down his face. This scene was psychologically unnerving and filled with conflicting emotion. It was not apparent this early in the episode why the victim was being asked to recall happy memories.

Walter Bishop (John Noble) was in the lab with Lincoln Lee, portrayed by Seth Gabel, covering every reflective surface in the lab. In episode one “Neither Here Nor There” Walter began to see a man in his television. We found out this man was Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson). There is a vulnerability to Walter now that Peter is gone. Walter has always been a nervous individual, but without Peter in his life he seems to be less stable. Peter was obviously the glue that held Walter together.

Walter described the shape-shifters to Lincoln as “vile, part organic tissue and part machine. It is like everything from over there. They are loathsome, hateful, and contemptible.” Walter expressed a great dislike for the “other side”. How will Peter’s absence affect Walternate? Much of what made Walternate mean and ruthless was the fact that Walter stole Peter from him.

Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) talked to Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) in the lab and suggested that she go out with Lincoln. Olivia was quick to make excuses on why she would never go out with Lincoln. Olivia is a character that has grown over the past three seasons. We have seen her go from reserved and a little uptight to having a carefree loving relationship with Peter. Without Peter in her life Olivia never made the transition to carefree.

Anna Torv has done an excellent job with her two characters in this show. She has had to portray the same person in both universes, but because of different choices their lives have become different. Therefore, making their personalities somewhat different. This ties into the theme of this episode of nature vs. nurture. Our environment is a product of choices and those choices shape who we are. Fauxlivia and Olivia have the same instincts that they were born with, but their environment has shaped their personalities.

The victims in this episode are being killed by cerebral hypothermia. He does this by drilling a hole in the back of their heads and injecting them with a chemical that freezes their brains. This gives a whole new meaning to the term “brain freeze”. I could not resist that bit of humor. Agent Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick) informed Olivia of the recent murders and the fact that these murders have occurred on the other side. They requested their assistance in catching this killer.

Olivia and Agent Broyles met with Fauxlivia where she briefed them on the situation. This killer, John McClennan, had eluded them for five years. They had just recently learned who he was, but when they went to apprehend him he was gone. Fauxlivia asked Olivia and Agent Broyles if they would bring the other John Louis McClennan to the other side so that he may go through his belongings and get a “feel” for what their McClennan was like. I like the subtle change in the serial killer’s name. Have you ever noticed how serial killers or assassins have three names. Lee Harvey Oswald, John Wilkes Booth, and John Wayne Gacy just to name a few. I had never noticed this until Mel Gibson pointed it out in “Conspiracy Theory”. Interesting little fact.

Olivia was quick to point out she did not know how this would help them find the killer’s whereabouts. Fauxlivia replied with “I lived in your apartment and I picked up on a lot of things about you”. This struck a nerve in Olivia. She will have to come to terms with her abduction this season. There is no way around this if they are to work together.

There are also noticeable differences in Fauxlivia without Peter. He softened her up towards the end of season 3. There is also no baby! I kept waiting to see the baby but it never showed him. Without Peter Fauxlivia never got pregnant. We saw a hint of the old Fauxlivia when she hit a nerve with Olivia.

Olivia met with Professor McClennan in his office at West Connecticut College where he teaches. She explained to him that the FBI needed his help in profiling on a case. She told him that he would need to be sedated because it was a long ride and it would be better. The reason he was sedated was because they did not want him knowing that he had crossed into a parallel universe. This will be an interesting problem to overcome this season, and I want to see how many solutions the writers can come up with.

Agent Lee and Fauxlivia have a certain chemistry on screen. This was very noticeable in the next scene when they laugh at her wig. She was changing her hair to be like Olivia’s. Since she has red hair she has to put on a blonde wig. Professor McClennan cannot know that she was not the Olivia he met back in his office. Olivia met Fauxlivia and agent Lee outside of McClennan’s house. There was definate tension between the two.

I cannot express enough how well Anna Torv does in making Fauxlivia a different character. Olivia told Fauxlivia that her jacket was buttoned. This goes to show the differences in the two. Fauxlivia is always smiling and Olivia seems reserved and she hardly ever smiles.

This next scene showed how unraveled Walter had become without Peter. Walter was listening to a record and had the volume turned up. It was so high that Astrid had to yell at him so he could hear her. She expressed concern for Walter, and told him that she had checked his levels on his meds and they were not right. He confessed that he had been experimenting.

This scene was very revealing. Astrid has had to assume the role of caregiver for Walter because Peter never did. In the previous seasons Astrid was a sort of babysitter for Walter, but this season she has become his primary caregiver. Walter also lives in his lab which is different from the previous seasons where he lived with Peter.

Fauxlivia and Professor McClennan took a tour of his counterpart’s house. He profiled him by certain things he observed while walking through. He began to see things that reminded him of himself such as egg hatching lights that his father used back on his farm and a chair that he had when he was young.    He told Fauxlivia that the killer hated that his victims had happy lives and he did not. He took them when they are happy. It was not until he saw a picture of his father hanging on the wall that he realized there was more to this case than he had originally been told. He got upset and Olivia had to intervene and expose that there were two of them.

Olivia and Professor McClennan are in the house and she had explained to him the two universes and how he came to be there. She had told him that they are looking for his counterpart. She asked him if he could tell them anything about him that might help. He replied “I don’t just understand him. I am him. What is in him is in me.” This was where he confesses his feelings to Olivia. He has homicidal thoughts just as his counterpart does.

Fauxlivia walked in just as Olivia told McClennan that she too came from an abusive home and she could empathize with him. Fauxlivia looked at Olivia as if she was understanding why she was the way she was.

McClennan confessed to Olivia and Fauxlivia that he had the same homicidal thoughts and past that his counterpart had. He also told them about Marjorie. She was the person that helped him learn how to cope with the urges to kill that he was having. He said that his life would have been more like his counterparts without having had Marjorie in his life. He expressed that he wished he could talk to him and tell him he did not have to suffer. Olivia told him that he could not know that he existed. Professor McClennon climbed out of the bathroom window and went to find his counterpart.

In the next scene Colonel Broyles met with the Fringe team to discuss McClennan’s whereabouts. I mention this scene not because I felt it was important, but to point out that Colonel Broyles is not dead. He died last season helping Olivia escape back to the other side. I am sure this will be explained later in the season. What other things have changed with Peter gone? I also wanted to capture this to show what a nice physique Lance Reddick has.

Professor McClennan found his serial killer counterpart. He was about to drill into the skull of his next victim when the professor interrupted him. The look of surprise on his face was one that I believe many of us would have if we had been faced with the same.

The professor told evil McClennan that he remembered the night his father found the “dead things”. Evil McClennan said his father had caught him and took him home. He said he beat him 3 days straight. Professor McClennan told a different story. He ran as fast as he could until he fell down in a field. He was found by a woman named Marjorie. He said “Because of her I don’t have to do what you do to stop the pain.” He offered to help evil McClennan deal with his urges to kill people. Evil McClennan turned on him and knocked him out.

Fauxlivia had asked Olivia to ride with her to McClennan’s farm. She asked Olivia if she had told him about her childhood abuse to get him to open up. Olivia said that she had, but it was also true that her stepfather had abused her.   Fauxlivia asked what happened to her stepfather and Olivia replied “I killed him.” Wait! Before Peter disappeared Olivia’s father was alive and sending her postcards. What has changed with Peter being gone that would have caused her stepfather to be dead?

Evil McClennan had restrained Professor McClennan and he had drilled a hole in his skull. He had the same hose with blue liquid in it that the victim at the start of the show had. Evil McClennan hooked something with wires attached to the back of his skull. He asked the professor to tell him about Marjorie.

Professor McClennan told Evil McClennan “I never understood how someone so beautiful could love something so dark.” This reference was important in understanding how both McClennans felt about themselves. The professor referred to Marjorie as “someone” but referred to himself as “something”. Evil McClennan was able to feel what the professor felt.

Olivia and Lincoln find the professor but his evil counterpart was not in the room. Olivia found him in the next room visibly upset. He said “I took her from him”. He also said she “made him feel for them.”    It was at that moment that evil McClennan realized what he had done. He took his own life.

The next scene was Olivia and agent Broyles in the hospital looking at Professor McClennan. Broyles explained to Olivia that McClennan suffered memory loss of about 2 weeks and he had no memory of Marjorie. This was important because Marjorie was the one thing that shaped him into the adult he was. He said something to Olivia that let her know he may have forgotten Marjorie, but the lessons that she taught him were still in him. He said “You know what they say? That even when it’s the darkest you can step into the light.”

Olivia walked out with agent Broyles and asked how could he remember what Marjorie had taught him and not remember her. Agent Broyles replied “At the risk of sounding sentimental, I have always felt there were people that left an indelible mark on your soul. An imprint that can never be erased.”

How fitting that they would break away from that scene to Walter preparing for bed. Walter had become nervous with turning off his lights. When he turned out his lights he heard Peter’s voice. Walter does not realize the voice he was hearing was his son’s voice. Peter died in both universes when he was young. This was why Walter’s medication levels are high in his blood. He must be taking extra doses of his medication because he fears he is hallucinating. Each time Walter had heard from Peter he has said “I’m here Walter. I’m right here.”.

I am excited about the direction the writers are going with this story. Season three was all about choices. They focused on choices that each of the characters had made that led them to where they are today. They concluded with the ultimate choice of Peter stepping into the machine and bringing the two parallel worlds together. This season will be about the results of those choices.

Fringe returns this Friday 9 PM E/P 8 PM central with “Alone In The World”! Make sure to tune in live to show your support! Thank you.

I trust you have enjoyed this review of Falling Skies co-written by the managing editor WR_Systems (Kenn) due an unfortunate illness with my child as I tweeted last evening. Thanks Kenn! And as always we here at the WHR Fallings Skies team thank you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency.

Please feel free to share this news article by clicking one of the social media icons below. You may also leave a comment here, and you may desire to visit me on Twitter by clicking my avatar

Thank you,

Redone68 (Sandra – WHR Falling Skies Team Leader)

October 3, 2011
Fringe: “Neither Here Nor There” Making Milkshakes with Gene the Cow!

Welcome back Fringe fans,

FRINGETASTIC! Last Friday, September 23, 2011 was the day we have waited for to tune into Fox Television and kick off the fourth season of the “Mythology of the Fringe Universes”.

According to TV By The Numbers (TVBTN), the new season of Fringe started with an approximate 3.8 million viewers and an average 1.5 rating for the series. For the series premiere TVBTN broke the series into 15 minute segments as follows – 9:00-9:15- 3.846 million viewers- 2.3/4 HH- 1.7/5 A18-49. 9:15-9:30- 3.209 million viewers- 1.9/3 HH- 1.4/4 A18-49. 9:30-9:45- 3.373 million viewers- 2.0/3 HH- 1.4/4 A18-49 and 9:45-10:00- 3.502 million viewers- 2.1/3 HH- 1.4/4 A18-49.

The way I see it, the Fringies are just warming up. Fox Television placed the #Fringe hashtag on the screen on the right hand corner on the broadcast again.

That was good to see, as it encourages us, to get Fringe trending on twitter! #WhereisPeterBishop hashtag was a prominent sight in my timeline last Friday night. I was impressed with the tweets flowing for the excitement for Fringe!!

The Fringe Network is helping everyone to keep our eyes open for the vanishing Peter! Just where in the heck is the elusive Peter Bishop portrayed by Joshua Jackson?!

The bridge Peter created in “The Day We Died” was with hope that they can work together to fix the damages to both Universes. This will lead to an interesting exchange. The beginning of season four is a great start with our universes colliding with the two Olivia’s (Anna Torv) together and sparks flying between them!

Olivia and AltLiv are sniping at each other about trust and the lack of the fundamental properties of a productive truce. The fireworks that Olivia and AltLiv create together astound me as to how brilliant Anna Torv is. She can just slightly change her voice for each character she plays. For example when she was acting as if William Bell {Leonard Nimoy} was inside her consciousness in ” Stow Away” that is a perfect example. She uses her own voice for Olivia but modifies her voice for a slightly gravely voice for AltLiv. Playing a role opposite from your self must be challenging and Anna does it with panache!

This is going to be a great season! I was of course curious how they would work that Peter is considered someone who ‘never existed’ into the mix of things. I can’t wait to see how they are going to make this dynamic of characters proceed with one of the anchor characters missing. The reason’s as to how they joined up Universes in this reality are a little hazy for me. Especially if Peter didn’t exist to be come a man to join them together. I’m sure all will be revealed to us as to the nature of the accord, or perhaps, it is up to us to decide how this came about.

Olivia seems harder and lonely or is that what they wish to draw attention to? Is Olivia ultimately not whole without Peter in her life? Is he really gone? This raises questions as to ‘what’ is Peter existing as, as we catch a glimpse of his ghostly presence between the two Olivia’s.. So really Where is Peter Bishop? Is he between the Universes? Is he an apparition?

The Observer’s are having a meeting of the minds to discuss the situation with Peter. Apparently they are having trouble with the fact that Peter is bleeding through the Time-line and showing up in flashes and this is a huge problem for the rest of the Observer’s.

I always get a kick out of September {Michael Cerveris} He tried so hard to ensure that things were fixed but he sure takes exception to having it pointed out to him that it was not, if his look is any indication. I believe, September has a soft spot for Walter Bishop {John Noble} and his son Peter. I’m curious as to how September is going to ‘fix’ the fact that Peter just won’t stay gone from existence. Perhaps September feels that Peter’s existence is fundamentally important to the relationships Peter is part of, and created out of love.

Agent Lincoln Lee {Seth Gabel} makes an appearance to pick up Agent Robert Danzig {Joe Flanigan} for work at his house. I get a nice picture of a very sexy man in his boxers. Now that is some nice eye candy! I personally was psyched and couldn’t sleep knowing Joe Flanigan, the star from the MGM Stargate Frachise, Stargate Atlantis was going to be making a guest appearance. I am a huge fan of Joe Flanigan’s, so I was delighted to see him on my favourite show of Fringe. Lincoln is a favourite character of mine and with this cast of favourite actors I was very happy to settle down and watch how they interacted with one another.

The interplay between the two Agents shows me that they are close and are not only partners, but friends. The family of Agent Danzing obviously adore Lincoln, much like I do. I enjoyed the exchange of wit between the two men. The closeness that these partners share reminds me of the closeness that Altliv and AltLincoln share in the other Universe.

Also Agent Scott and Olivia were very close. Lincoln and Robert get right to work and that is where we first see them in action. The sad thing is that Agent Danzing is attacked and is killed.

He is changed by some unknown process from a human being into something that we are not sure of what he is becoming. The attacker’s skin is translucent and he is just a freak of the strange and unexplained.Olivia shows up at the crime scene and the Observers are remarking on how Agent Lee and Olivia had once known each other before the altered time-line. I think there will be several changes as to how things progress and explanations will be needed as to how things happened with out Peter’s existence in this time-line.

Agent Astrid Farnworth {Jasika Nicole} is Olivia’s partner on the scene and she is walking Walter Bishop {John Nobel} through the crime scene. I noticed she called Walter Mr. Bishop rather than Walter. Why isn’t Walter at the crime scene with them? Is their relationship less than what we we are used to? As Astrid examines Agent Danzing’s body Olivia procededs to talk to Agent Lee. Lincoln and Olivia are not hitting it off very well because frankly she just seems more of a clinical being in this time-line that I might have trouble getting used to. Lincoln is distraught over the loss of his partner and Olivia seems less than concerned about Lincoln’s feelings than getting the job done. I suppose a person for her to love is the key to her compassionate side.

I was disappointed that Agent Danzing was not long for this episode. I was really hoping for more Joe Flanigan, as were a lot of “Flan Fans” that follow him on twitter and in the Stargate Fandom. But is he really dead? With Fringe I am always curious when someone dies, if they stay dead. Like Peter for example, is he really erased from the timeline? He is bleeding through after all. Perhaps we will see Agent Danzig again?.

Walter back in his laboratory with Astrid and it is a wonderful sense of being back home for a Fringie fan. Walter is hard at work complaining about things that is not to his liking which is always funny! Astrid seems to have less patience with Walter but is still his assistant. I am glad that did not change with this new timeline.

Olivia is in another room looking over Agent Danzing’s file and she seems to have an expression on her face that maybe Lincoln’s comments struck a nerve as to whether or not she is capable of understanding the relationship of a partnership.

Walter is uncomfortable with working with the other side and I had to laugh when he talked about Walternate as being not a man that can be trusted. They are alike, but hopefully not too much. I find Walter to be not as sweet… Is it the lack of sugar or that he doesn’t have that person to keep him lovable and likable? Astrid is trying to talk some sense into Walter that they need to work together to ‘find another way’ to fix the two Universes instead of destroying one or the other. That is the most important thing right to all of them now, and not who trusts who. As they are discussing the situation, Lincoln wanders into the into Walter’s laboratory.

Walter enlists Lincoln’s assistance while Astrid is out of the room. I always like to see the look on a person’s face when Walter gets a unsuspecting bystander to participate in his strange experiments. Lincoln looks a little unnerved, but I’m not sure if it’s from Walter himself or the fact he is holding a dead pigeon. Walter and his pigeons *chuckling*. The pigeon is dead and Walter injects the pigeon with a serum that animates the bird to fly out of Lincoln’s hands and flies around the room for a moment until it unceremoniously drops ‘dead’ on the floor. Walter’s smile is almost insane! He is so funny! Lincoln is wondering who these people are and Olivia is wondering what he is doing there. Lincoln had used his resources to track them down.

Olivia is angry that he is meddling in an area that is none of his business. They face off, upset with one another because one wants answers and one is angry because she doesn’t wish to give them. Olivia is going to call the Bureau and have him removed and Lincoln is about to call the New York Times. Walter tells Lincoln if he really wants a story, he should look under the dome as he is growing an ear. I think she secretly admired his courage to seek out the answers he wanted. Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick} called to let them know about another victim. Olivia is ready to let Lincoln come along for the ride and maybe he could be useful or perhaps she is just curious about him as he is about their division. Will Lincoln and Olivia become partners in this timeline? I’m very curious.

Olivia, Astrid and Lincoln go to the new crime scene leaving Walter at the lab and a communication device to walk through the crime scene with Astrid. Astrid has her ear piece in place and Walter is busy making popcorn & rockin’ it out. “Walterisms” are always funny as he tells Astrid not to let that ‘ham fist touch the body’ who was the lady who was standing ready to examine the body.

Checking the victims anus was probably not the first thing the ‘ham fist’ was going to check! *laughing* The victim was a commuter and she crashed. Olivia and Lincoln are assessing the situation and Lincoln noticed that one of these things are not like the other. I, of course had that children’s song from Sesame Street stuck in my head after that.

The witness (Natalie Grace) that was away from the others had seen more than the rest and Lincoln was the one to catch the fact that she was more subdued and had probably seen more than what the others had seen. The girl’s name was also Olivia and Olivia was able to question her and get a picture of the suspect. Lincoln’s perception of the situation encouraged Olivia to keep Lincoln and take him further into the investigation. There were more bodies then he was aware of.

Agent Broyles met them at a secret facility were Agent Lee was explained what the legal responsibilities of viewing what Olivia and Broyles were about to show him. There were a lot of bodies and they all died with in 3 days. It was quite the image. As Lincoln stood over the body of his friend Robert, he told Olivia that Agent Danzing was not just his partner for five years but he was like family. He was grieving for his friend and he wanted answers for the loss of his friend. Robert believed that every thing happened for a reason but Lincoln was having trouble finding a reason for this horrendous slaughter of people. Why are these people being skilled and what is happening to their skin?

September is busy acquiring the items he needs to erase Peter permanently from the time-line. I didn’t realize one would go to a store to do that, but the Observer’s are very intelligent and so I guess you can, if you are that smart. The dry tone that September uses to tell the clerk what he was doing, makes me laugh. I always question what the Observer’s are up to. September, Walter and Peter have had so much history together. Even though the typical Observer seems to not show that they care, we caught a glimpse of the compassion and even love that an Observer is capable of. In Season two in the episode ‘August” and the experiment September orchestrated to prepare Walter for the loss of Peter in “firefly’, we saw those feelings. The Observer’s are more complicated than we can even comprehend. Will September really erase Peter from the time line?

Olivia, Astrid and Lincoln are back in the lab and Walter is no where to be found. Walter has seen a glimpse of a man in a mirror and is terrified. This is where Lincoln got a taste of Walter’s strangeness. Olivia is the one that comforts Walter in the event of this upsetting incident, not Astrid like I was expecting. Olivia seems to have taken over Peter’s role as Walter’s guardian. Astrid and Olivia are Walter’s family and his link to him being a functional human being. Lincoln is not sure if Walter is ’all right’ in the head but Walter is brilliant and when he functions he functions very well. I can see Lincoln’s concern.

Walter seeing men in mirrors and not wearing any pants but working on a body makes anyone wonder about a person’s sanity. However Walter has a heart of gold and he is struck by the sadness of the engagement ring of the victim’s loss of a chance at love. There is nothing sadder than when two people are in love and something intervenes. Olivia and Peter have had things intervening since they first met. So there is a lot of irony in Walter’s statement.

While Walter was doing the autopsy on the victim the test results came back. Though Lincoln’s idea was wrong, it was clever and lead Walter to suppose that the victim’s may have had something in common which would explain why the victim’s are chosen for the reason that they are. Unfortunately Lincoln gets another revelation that he is quite upset about. The victim’s are not returned to their loved ones. He loved his partner and the thought of never having that closure for the families & friends, is unthinkable to him. Walter is cynical in that he says “every one dies, even twice” he is of course referring to Peter who died twice as a child. I would have thought Walter would have had more compassion with Lincoln’s assessment of the heartlessness of protecting Fringe division over the peace of mind of the victim’s families.

But I also understand Walter feelings and that he went through a lot to try to save his son and he failed. I would probably be cynical to some degree too. Lincoln is not impressed by the Fringe’s policies but he still is willing to help and he realizes that the victim’s had another correlation to each other. The victim’s all took commuter trains and that is how this murderer seems to be selecting his victim’s. A pattern is always a bonus to an FBI agent to find the killer. As they are coordinating a trap at commuter train stations to catch the translucent man, he is conducting experiments on himself. This is one ugly guy and I bet he doesn’t get many dates especially when he pulls out his own fingernails… Ewwwwwww that was just disgusting!!! *GAG* I noticed he wrote things down in a strange language. Who is this translucent man who needs metals from his victims. What is his purpose?

Olivia and Lincoln are sitting in the vehicle waiting to catch the freak and Olivia tells Lincoln about when she lost her partner agent Scott. We also got a glimpse into the back ground of this time-line and how Walter came into her life with out the presence of Peter. The conversation is cut short as the translucent man is sighted and the chase is on. Two other Agents are on the seen first and one is injured. Lincoln stays to help the other agent from bleeding out and Olivia chases after the murderer alone. She is able to shoot the freak and Lincoln runs to see what the shots are about. He is relieved to see Olivia alive and well in the window of the warehouse.

Lincoln goes back the the downed FBI agent and as the man begins to awaken he reveals to Lincoln that there is more than one of the translucent men. This is not over and Lincoln catches a motion out of the corner of his eye he races after the second culprit on his own. Lincoln is also able to triumph over the translucent being and shoots him dead. As they are loading the corpses of the translucent men up to take back to Walter’s laboratory, questions remain as to not who they are but ‘what’ they are.

It seems there is more of them as we see “Nadine Park” {Michelle Krusiec} one of the victims on the stairs seeming to shift her appearance. Is the other victims also going to appear alive and as these human things? Is this just the beginning of these curious beings? Will Agent Robert Danzing come back as a monster, only become the hunted by his own partner? I would certainly hope to see Joe Flanigan in more Fringe episodes.

Why is it there are always more questions than answers? Lol 😛

At this time, the case seems to be finished and Agent Lee is back at his place of operations in Hartford FBI headquarters. He receives an envelope that states that Agent Robert’s body is being released to the family. Does Olivia realize that something is missing from her own life? Is that why she did it? Is that why she released the body? Does Olivia feel that someone is missing from her life and that ‘feeling’ of Peter once being in her life, is bleeding through as well? I think she feels something is not right, like that one thing that is niggling at the back of your mind but you can’t quite put into words. Perhaps the question she needs to ask is what all the Fringe fans are asking, Where is Peter Bishop…?

Lincoln cannot seem to stay away and he wanted to thank Olivia for releasing the body to him. Olivia teases him about being there and is glad to see him. She sincerely hopes he can find closure in the loss of his friend. She knows Lincoln has not found the answers that he is looking for and takes him to the alternative universe crossing laboratory.

Walter may have found something within the dead body of the translucent man.Walter found some strange and unexplained technology within his body and he is quick to grasp at the thought that Walternate is up to no good. Astrid and Olivia are both curious as to what this means for them that these are a new kind of hybrid shape shifter that are human and not machines. Lincoln is obviously confused and does not have a clue as to where these beings came from. Maybe China? Now that was hilarious!

Olivia is about to enlighten him as to where they came from and she takes him on a trip to a secret military installation. Lincoln is ID’ed to get in the front door and it is quite funny as he thinks they are getting very personal. He will soon find out how strange things are about to get. Olivia admits to Lincoln that she does feel a hole in her life. And that she would find her answers by being with Fringe.

However, some answers lead to more questions. I think Lincoln seeing another Olivia come out of the door made him speechless and unable to ask anymore questions. This place that he was in was something out of this world and it is out of his Universe and into another for sure. Altlivia presents herself with a cocky swagger of confidence she seems to posses and she expels a derisive snort when she sees Lincoln.

I think she is thinking this Lincoln with his scholarly glasses and suit, that he is a watered down version of her AltLinc. Lincoln is just amazed by her presence but stands in quiet amazement with seeing the other Olivia. Olivia refrains from any explanations or introductions and gets right to the point. Olivia is direct when she hands the shape shifter’s power device to Altlivia and tells her that she doesn’t trust her. Altlivia almost seems surprised at the mention of the shape shifter’s as Walternate’s evil conspirators, but is willing to look into the situation. I’m sure Lincoln has even more questions now. What does this mean for both Universes if neither can trust one another? How can this accord hope to succeed if is there no trust?

September is outside Walter’s laboratory with the device he created from old television parts and what have you.. and prepares himself to remove all traces of Peter from existence. Mean while, Walter is concocting a bedtime drink and prepares himself for bed. Walter shuffles to his bedroom just off his lab and says good night to his guardian Donny, Opps! Timmy! Well, We don’t expect Walter to get his name right do we? LOL!

As Walter settles down to watch some television, September is activating the device. September is an Observer so their expressions on their faces are little to non existent but the look on September’s face is one of hesitation and he not only hesitates but deactivates the device and leaves. What does this mean for September?

The last Observer that failed to comply with the wishes of the other, had an assassin sent after him and August died. What will the consequences be for September? What will be done now, that September did not fulfill his responsibilities? With September not erasing Peter, Peter is still bleeding through the time line and shows up in the darkened screen of the television in Walter’s room. Walter starts screaming in terror with the man appearing on his screen. Timmy rushes in and Walter tells him that he saw the same man he saw in the mirror. Is Peter going to drive Walter insane or drive him to find out who this man really is? If anyone can uncover where Peter is, it is Walter. Will Walter be destined to save his son over and over again?

What place do these shape shifters have in the new season and in this altered time-line? How is Olivia going to find her answers she has been seeking? This new season of Fringe is going to take us on one FRINGETASTIC ride like a roller coaster through a theme park of the Universes of the strange and paranormal! I am looking forward to this wicked ride!

Fringe returns this Friday 9 PM E/P 8 PM central with “One Night in October”! Make sure to tune in live to show your support! Thank you.

Thanks to Kenn for staging the images in my review and as always I appreciate your reading my reviews and visiting me WormholeRiders News Agency. Please feel free to leave a spam free comment or a question here. I will respond to your comment or question as soon as is possible.

If you prefer, click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story and or we will See You on The Other Side“!

Thank you,

SheppardsHoney (Melinda)

September 28, 2011
Fringe: “The Day We Died” – A Complete Look Back and Forward to Season Four!

Welcome back Fringe fans!

Fringe season four is right around the corner so I am going to review season three finale . Before beginning remember to include the #WhereIsPeterBishop hash tags to help make Fringe trend on Twitter!

We also will include a series of special videos previews from Fox Broadcasting sprinkled throughout this Fringe review and analysis for your enjoyment.

In a nut shell, wow! Fringe is known for its mind bending episodes and in “The Day We Died” it left me begging for more.

The show went from having one reality to the alternate reality. In the season finale Fringe brought viewers into a third version of reality: a possible future where things have become much worse for our heroes. This reality had Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) and Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) a happily married couple.

The year is 2026! When Peter stepped into the machine and tried to turn it off, it threw him 15 years into the future. Peter woke up and went from 32 to 47 years old! His whole life changed as a result of the events of this. “The Day We Died” was an important factor in season 3’s overall direction. The season finale was the point where the old show ended and the new show began.

In “The Day We Died” Peter has come to grips with his destiny that he was the only one that could activate the machine, and that he alone could use it destroy the alternate universe to save the one he had come to call home. I am more than sure Peter did not know it would put him into an all new universe where things were completely different.

Ella Dunham (Emily Meade) was a Fringe agent and all grown up. Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) was a full fledged Fringe agent. Olivia had Agent Phillip Broyles’s (Lance Reddick) job and agent Broyles seemed to be in charge of everyone. When Peter was thrown into this alternate universe he seemed surprised at first but after waking up at the hospital he remembered what he made Olivia for Breakfast. How can that be?

We quickly figured out through news reports that the reality that Peter had landed himself in was actually being torn apart by worm holes and vortexes opening up in London and Manhattan. This reality added a new terrorists to the show Moreau (Brad Dourif). Moreau was a leader for the “End of Dayers” group. Moreau and Walternate (John Noble) were plotting revenge on Peter and Walter Bishop (John Noble). Moreau and his group put some kind of futuristic bomb inside an opera house killing everyone. It was madness considering their world was falling apart already.

Speaking of Walter! This new reality that we were introduced to in the season finale had Walter in prison for causing the havoc that was going on in that alternate universe. The Walter Bishop we know and love was hated by many in that reality for causing all this chaos. Peter went to the holding facility where Walter was incarcerated and asked for a temporary release for Walter so he could help Peter,

When Peter stepped into the doomsday machine with the intent of destroying the twisted, yet familiar, Alternate reality first introduced in season two, he was taken aback when his consciousness was flung forward to the year 2026. In this potential future, Peter learned that the small fringe division that he was familiar with has morphed into a large, full fledged government agency, akin to what existed in the alternate universe. But as Peter lives the life of his 47 year old counterpart, he came to realize that this future had come to resemble the alternate universe in more ways then one. The entire universe is coming apart at the seams!

As the episode moved forward, we learned that in this potential future, Peter used the doomsday machine to destroy the alternate universe, in the hopes of saving the version of existence that he had come to call home. But because the two universes were linked together in a fundamental way, destroying one led to irreparable damage in the other. As a result, without both universes to balance each other out, the fabric that holds all of existence together had began to unravel. And while Peter was the man who turned on the machine, he was not the one who was been blamed for the imminent destruction of the universe. The man tried and imprisoned for that crime was none other than Peter’s father, Walter Bishop.

Because it was Walter who set the war of the universes in motion in the first place, by venturing into the other universe to retrieve Peter, causing massive instabilities in that world in the process, it was he who had been held responsible for the coming destruction. However; when a group of terrorists called “The End of Dayers” set off a bomb that rips a hole in the fabric of the universe, thus accelerating the imminent destruction of existence.

Peter realized that his imprisoned father was the only man capable of decoding the terrorists complex technology to stop them from acting again. When Walter stated that the only way he could attempt to figure out the inner-workings of the device was to get ahold of his old tools, in his old lab, Peter visited his old boss, the now Senator Philip Broyels, for help.

It was during Peter’s conversation with Senator Broyles that we are reminded of the true extent of the damage that has been done to this universe as a result of the destruction of the other one. Vortexes have been opened all over the world, leaving chaos and destruction in their wake. As Peter discussed these events with Broyles, he reminded the man that the only way future breaches could be prevented was if they understand the technology of the end-of-dayers that was causing these new breaches in the first place. He begged Broyles to grant Walter a furlough from his prison sentence so that he could return to his lab and work on this device. Although the Senator was reluctant, he granted Peter’s request, accepting that Walter was probably the only man who could deconstruct the device.

As Peter escorted Walter back into his lab, we learned a little bit more about the younger Bishop’s life in this new and not-so-improved future, as the two men discussed Peter’s marriage to Olivia, and Astrid’s ascent into a full fledged field agent. What more, when Olivia herself arrived at the lab to greet Walter, we learned that she had learned to harness her latent telekinetic abilities, as she uses them to lift a box off of the ground that Walter had knocked over.

As Walter worked away at his lab, we learned that not only would the End of Dayers attack again, but the man who was funding their operation and building their breach-making bombs was none other than Walternate,” the ruthless Walter Bishop of the other universe, who fled his home existence shortly before its destruction

The episode moves forward, and Walter learned that there was a specific radioactive isotope being used in this device that left a specific signature, and was thus easy to track. Peter enlisted the help of the Fringe Division, which tracks the isotope’s signature all the way to an abandoned camp ground, with no discernable building where this bomb could have been made. But all was not lost, as a lone fringe agent found a small black box in the middle of the grounds. When Peter got a hold of this box, and saw that there was a key inside of it, he realized that the key led to the house where he was raised, which just so happened to be the place that Walternate was last known to be living.

Peter entered the house and confronted Walternate, who told Peter that he blamed him for his universe’s destruction. He formed the End of Dayers group as an attempt to unravel this world exactly in the way that his own world was unraveled. Peter tried apologizing to Walternate, but told him “two wrongs don’t make a right, and destroying the universe that is left will not bring your home universe back.” However; when Peter attempted to arrest Walternate right then and there, the older man revealed that he was, in fact, projecting himself into the cabin from another location, via a holographic projection. He had no intent of turning himself in to the authorities. Before the hologram of Walternate disappeared, he left Peter with a final chilling message. He intended to teach him a lesson by killing someone he loved.

Meanwhile, in Central Park, Olvia and Ella Dunham had witnessed another End of Dayers attack, and had been knocked unconscious as a result of a breach-causing bomb. But when Olivia awoke to find a giant vortex in the Park’s center, she was greeted by Walternate himself, who had been in the park the entire time. He had been using the holographic projector to make himself appear to Peter back at the Cabin. Fulfilling his promise to kill a loved one of Peter’s. Walternate shot Olivia! He left her to bleed to death in the park.

After Olivia’s funeral, a distraught Peter learned that his father had discovered the truth behind the doomsday device, and the “First People” who built the device in the first place. The device was built by Walter himself, in a different timeline, and then planted billions of years in the past by himself. Also alternate timelined versions of Peter, Ella, himself, and others. This revelation led the two men to realize that the only way that there was any hope of saving the past was by bringing Peter’s consciousness into the future. To see what destroying the other Universe would do, thus allowing past-Peter to change his mind. Walter warned Peter that doing this could cause dire consequences, but relents that it could not be any worse than the entire universe ceasing to be.

This, the watchful viewer realized, was exactly what we had been viewing all along. Peter Bishops view into the potential future of him using the Machine for destruction.

The episode then cut back to the present day at Liberty Island, inside the statue of Liberty, where Peter awoke in the machine after his viewing of the potential future. We learned that in real-time, he had only been in the machine for a full minute. Peter realized that he could never save the universe by using the machine for destruction. Peter used it instead to create a bridge between the two universes. Peter said “the two warring versions of existence can settle their differences and figure out a way to solve the instabilities on the other side before they destroy them both.” Peter saw that in his vision of the future.

As Peter explained his actions to members of both universes now gathered at Liberty Island, he suddenly began to fade, and vanished from the scene all together. But as Walter and Walternate exchanged not-so-pleasant words, we realized that neither of them seem to notice that Peter had vanished. The scene then shifted to the outer rim of Liberty Island, where a group of observers stood, staring at the statue of Liberty. One observer noted that no one inside the statue seemed to remember Peter at all. Another observer responded by saying “of course no one remembers him”. Peter had served his purpose, and had ceased to exist.

This was where the finale ended. Fringe left viewers to wonder just what, exactly, that last line meant. Many questions about the show were answered during this finale. We learned who the first people where, how the machine got into the past, and the ultimate consequences of using the machine to destroy the other universe. But for as many answers as “The Day We Died” gave, it provided a whole slew of questions, in true Fringe fashion. Where is Peter Bishop? What did the observers mean when they said he no longer existed? Does he no longer exist in the way that we knew him, or does he not exist at all? If he really does not exist at all, then how will this change the dynamic of the show?

Fringe returns Friday September 23, 2011 with the season four opener “Neither Here Nor There”. In the meantime we include the full episode season three finale episode “The Day We Died” courtesy of FOX via Hulu and a sneak peak of what is coming in season 4! !Enjoy.

As always we appreciate your visiting our news sites at WormholeRiders News Agency. Thank you.

If you prefer, click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit the WHR on Facebook or me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. In any event I will look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side” to tweet about The Vampire Diaries!

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Dragonbayne (Angela)

September 23, 2011

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