Comments on: Fringe Observations: 2.08 August

By: Roco

Roco — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:33:14 +0000

nieniqe – thanks for sharing all of that. I think you’re on to something, after all it’s unlikely that the creators would name them after months for no good reason. Now we have a nicely laid out reference from which to speculate. Cheers!

By: nieniqe

nieniqe — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:26:29 +0000

Maybe I’m completely off track with this, but I found it worth mentioning anyway. The Observers are all named after months. The names of these months have their origin in ancient Rome (the mentioning of Rome as a travel destination got me thinking that it might have a further meaning).

The Calendar that we use today, is deriving from the Ancient Roman Calender.
The list follows the ancient Roman Calendar, a few changes were made over the course of time, the most notable one in 135 BC, when “ianuarius” was established as the beginning of the year.

Martius: was originally the first month, equivalent to March, named after Mars, the Roman God of War
Aprilis: equivalent to April, named after the latin word “aperire” – to open, this was meant with regard to vegetation (spring)
Maius: equivalent to May, named after Jupiter Maius (usually the King of Gods), in this aspect the God of Spring and Growth
Iunius: equivalent to June, named after Juno, the wife of Jupiter and Goddess of Birth and Marriage, and the Patron Goddess of Rome,
Iulius: equivalent to July, named after Gaius Iulius Caesar (before it was renamed after Caesar, it used to be called Quintilis, after the latin word for the number five)
Sextilis: equivalent to August, originally named after the latin word for the number six, was renamed in 8 BC after the first Roman emperor Augustus, since it was the month he got elected consul for the first time. Augustus was an honorific name awarded by the Roman senate, it means “the revered one”. One notable achievement of Augustus would be the initiation of the Pax Romana (the Roman Peace), a time of relative peace in the Roman Empire.
September: named after “septem” the latin word for the number seven
October: named after “octo” the latin word for the number eight
November: named after “novem” the latin word for the number nine
December: named after “decem” the latin word for the number ten
Ianuarius: originally the 11th month, equivalent to January, named after Janus, God of Gates, Doors, Doorways, Beginnings and Endings
Februarius: originally the 12th month, equivalent to February, named after the latin word “februum” – purification, also the month of the underworld.

By: Sandi

Sandi — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:57:32 +0000

I just rewatched that part, and it’s just like Tom said: originally, we only see a slight twitch. When Astrid plays the footage, Peter notices it and says “Wait, what just happened there?” Astrid plays it frame-by-frame and they see that he caught the bullet. It should be noted that a motion that fast wouldn’t have been caught over as many frames as they show (the usual rate is 12 frames per second), at least not on a plain old security camera.

By: Sandi

Sandi — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:49:55 +0000

It’s been awhile since I watched this episode but I was under the impression that when they watched the camera footage, they slowed it down. Maybe my brain just made that up, though, to explain the difference.

By: Sonofsuns34

Sonofsuns34 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:53:35 +0000

I think that Walter made up the Lake story to placate Peter’s persistance for answers. I think that the observers came to Walter becuase he created an anomaly by bringing other-Peter into this world where he should be dead, and for some reason they let Walter keep other-Peter… And when I saw Peter use the other-gun I knew they were going to use it to show us that he is Peter from over there, nice touch though.

By: Roco

Roco — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:38:11 +0000

I didn’t notice that connection. Nice catch! Thanks for the share.

By: Roco

Roco — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:36:12 +0000

Hey Tom, I’ll have to go back and watch that scene, although I’m not sure we actually see him catching the bullet – he may have jolted but in the video he fully stops. (It’s probably just an editing disparity).

I could be wrong though, I’ll let you know if I come to a different conclusion.

By: Roco

Roco — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:28:49 +0000

I’ve updated the article (“other clues” section, above) with Paul Revere’s “Midnight Ride”, which Walter referenced in the episode. Somehow I forgot to include it last week.

By: Kawaiiaicat

Kawaiiaicat — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:13:48 +0000

I can’t believe you missed what the episode was a huge nod to PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Come on the use of red. The fact that the girls name was Christine. Also the monkey with the symbols.

By: Tom C

Tom C — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:46:04 +0000

Firstly this was a great episode. For me definately up there in the ‘best of’ list.

One thing i noticed, your comment……
“August catches the security guards bullet, but we only see him do this on the security footage. In ‘real time’ he just ignores the bullets and gets into the car.”
It may just be me reading what you put in wrong, but i noticed when the scene of him being shot at was happening (not the camera footage), when the bullet catching happens he seemed to jolt then continued getting in the car. I noticed the jolt and wondered what it was and then it showed him catching the bullet.
I thought that this was great episode for the observers, showing that the observers do have ‘powers’ but at the same time can still be killed.