Observer Files
THE OBSERVER FILES
Who are the Observers?
The Observers have been recorded at numerous events and locations across both universes. Our histories are littered with their presence. Important moments observed: attacks, wars, massacres, presidential inaugurations, inter-reality invasions, Peter kidnappings. Perhaps even this very blog at this very moment.
The Observers are here, and whether we like it or not, they have influenced our past, and will have a say in our future -- if indeed they haven’t already.
Aliases
The Observers go by another name mentioned within the canon of the show -- The Watchers. Although this reference came in Walter’s fairytale drug fest of an episode that was “Brown Betty”.
Observer Sightings -- Complete Listing by episode and season
Season 1
Title sequence easteregg
Fringe opening sequence: The very first Observer ‘sighting’, coupled with the infamous blue lights.
1.01 Pilot
The Observer was first spotted walking past Massive Dynamic headquarters, possibly tracking Olivia’s meeting with Nina Sharp.
1.02 The Same Old Story
The Observer was seen at the hospital where man-baby died. He watches our Fringe Team as they arrive at the scene.
1.03 The Ghost Network
The Observer is already on the train as Olivia breezes past him in pursuit of her target.
*Olivia seems to ‘sense’ something odd as she passes the Observer.
1.04 The Arrival
The Observer’s first centric episode. He’s all over this one as he takes a moment for some hot-sauce before greeting the mysterious cylinder upon it’s scheduled arrival. He manages to protect the cylinder from being stolen by calling on a favor from Walter, who hides it in the grave of one Robert Bishop. Peter, under immense interrogation from the Observeresque John Mosley (AKA Rogue) gives up the cylinder’s location, before Olivia shoots down Mosley. The cylinder disappears back in to the ground -- on schedule. The Observer watches from a distance and confirms its depature. He then gets jumped by Peter, the pair square off, Peter asks him questions, the Observer asks him more questions before Peter can even ask them. Then he zaps the boy wonder with his old-school yet laser-beaming gun.
1.05 Power Hungry
He leaves the elevator as Joseph Meegar enters and overrides the system, causing it to plummet
1.06 The Cure
The Observer walks right past our intrepid agent as she plays mind games with Intrepus boss, David Esterbrook.
1.07 In Which We Meet Mr. Jones
The Observer departs the scene as Olivia arrives in Germany.
1.08 The Equation
The Observer stands in close proximity to Olivia as she realises where the kidnapped boy is being held -- The Red Castle. (an important color in Olivia’s mythology).
1.09 The Dreamscape
The Observer inside Massive Dynamic! He watches an MD employee as he rushes to his meeting. The employee is soon ‘attacked’ by imaginary butterflies, causing him to smash through a window and plummet to his death.
1.10 Safe
The Observer is caught on CCTV footage during Mitchell’s Loeb’s wall-phasing raid on a bank. Loeb managed to get into Walter’s safe, stealing a piece of the teleportation device he hid many years ago.
1.11 Bound
The team come within yards of the Observer as he walks past Harvard University. Olivia, Walter and Peter convene to understand the nature of ZFT’s ‘human cold’ virus that has just killed a professor.
1.12 The No Brainer
Olivia rushes home to prevent a computer programme from melting Ella’s brain. The Observer watches from the street corner, looking somewhat ‘photoshoppy’.
1.13 The Transformation
The Observer stands on the football field as as the plane overhead plummets to its doom. Many of the passengers were already dead by the time the plane crashed -- they were killed by a undercover government agent who had been dosed with a virus, transforming him into a rampaging beast.
1.14 Ability
The Observer looks bleak as a poor newsstand clerk begins to suffer the effects of David Jones’ orifice-sealing virus.
1.15 Inner Child
The Observer sees mini Observer (AKA The Child) as he is driven to his new guardian.They seem to communicate even though no words are uttered.
1.16 Unleashed
The fedora-less Observer is caught on camera as he walks past the WNKW news crew.
1.17 Bad Dreams
As the team rush to Nick Lane’s rooftop congregation, the Observer has already seen what he needs to see and strolls away purposefully.
1.18 Midnight
The prophetic Observer circles Valerie Boone’s target.
1.19 The Road Not Taken
The Observer visits Walter in his Lab and tells him that he must come with him. Walter grabs his coat and follows the Observer.
1.20 There’s More Than One of Everything
The Observer leads Walter to his old beach house so that he can find the plug to prevent David Jones from crossing over to the parallel reality. The Observer helps to jog Walt’s memory by giving him a coin resembling the one his original son used to collect -- “there’s more than one of everything”, he says, before remembering that he shouldn’t “get involved”.
1.21 Unearthed
Season 2
2.01 A New Day In The Old Town
A man matching the description of the Observer was seen in the vicinity of Olivia’s near-miss car crash with a shapeshifting soldier from another universe.
2.02 Night of Desirable Objects
The Observer stands in the cornfield as the team investigate more strange goings-on.
2.03 Fracture
A courier drops off a case full of Walter photos. It has been speculated that some of the photos are of Alter-Walter.
2.04 Momentum Deferred
We’d notice that neck anywhere. This photo was taken as Olivia met a shapeshifter, posing as Charlie Francis, outside of the Massive Dynamic offices. This is his third reported sighting at Massive Dynamic.
2.05 Dream Logic
Olivia doesn’t see the Observer as he leaves Dr. Nayak’s sleep clinic via the stairs.
2.06 Earthling
The Obsever at the airport, walking through gate 43, observing Broyles.
2.07 Of Human Action
The Observer watches as the cops wing their way to a hostage scene.
2.08 “August”
There’s more than one Observer in August.
2.09 Snakehead
The Observer on a stroll through China Town.
2.10 Grey Matters
2.11 Johari Window
2.12 What Lies Below
2.13 The Bishop Revival
2.14 Jacksonville
2.15 “Peter”
2.16 Olivia. In The Lab. With The Revolver.
2.17 White Tulip
2.18 The Man From The Other Side
2.19 “Brown Betty”
2.20 “Northwest Passage”
2.21 “Over There -- Part 1″
2.22 “Over There -- Part 2″
Following The Observer (video)
THE OBSERVERS -- HISTORICAL SIGHTINGS
The Observers have been spotted throughout time, observing important events in our history.
Archives offer evidence that the Observers were around during the Boston Massacre in 1770.
Observers was also depicted during the time of Marie Antionnette.
..and in 1914 -- seen here moments before Franz Ferdinand and his wife Countess Sophie, were shot dead -- an important event which sparked Word War I.
Out of Show Observer Sightings (+ Viral)
The Observer at an NFL game.
Rare footage of the Observer at a Nascar race back in April 09′.
Video footage of the Observer at American Idol.
This photo was taken at the Yankeesv Indians Baseball game in April 2009.
Some candid shots of the Observer -- taken by his courier.
Video and photo evidence from the Observer appearance the the 2009 Television Critics Association party.
Observer appearance at MLB All-Star game on 7/14.
Multiple Observer sightings in November 2009 (tracker).
Culture/Technology/lifestyle
The Observers technology is low-tech in appearance but extremely futuristic in effect.
The Observers cannot taste much, hence September’s penchant for jalapenos and hot sauce.
Their writing is seemingly not of this world -- or perhaps it is very ancient, or very futuristic. Maybe it’s code, thus preventing others from infiltrating their communications?
Links/references:
- http://fringebloggers.com
- http://fringe-forum.com
- http://www.facebook.com/theobserver
- http://www.youtube.com/user/iFMagazine
- http://www.youtube.com/user/gtrsmith87
- http://www.youtube.com/user/jlrnk51
- http://www.youtube.com/user/heavyraines17
- http://www.youtube.com/user/FringeRus
If you’re looking for more Fringe, from time to time we also blog Fringe over at our serialized tv blog Seriable.com.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Updated with 2.08 Observer sighting.
saw an observer in the new episode # 21 of last season that aired tonight when Olivia was talking with the religious mother after mass. he walked right behind Olivia.
I saw the observer walk behind olivia while talking to the mother as well… in the latest episode aired last night..(the one dated back from season 1).
I have a CRAZY idea. September and the Inner Child are the same person.
Perhaps that’s why he’s so partial to the Fringies, why he seems more and more willing to share. Perhaps there’s some distant part of him that remembers the nice old man who did a little dance to calm him down, the cool guy who played with GI Joes, the nice lady who gave him M&Ms, the hip black lady that was constantly being knocked out.
The old pictures of The Observer are not real. Must’ve been photoshoped or something. I googled the pictures; no bald guy!
No duh. If they really did exist, then the world would be in commotion.
This is a great article! The only issue I take is with the arbitrary and subjective “Pattern-relation:” number. Can you tell us in this article how this number is calculated or on what it is based? It seems evident to me that the numbers were inaccurate and frequently too high particularly for about a half dozen of the episodes in season 1. The astounding thing about the observers in season 1, outside of episode 4, and the newsstand moment in 14 (I think) is that they typically aren’t watching pattern events unfold. Rather they are watching a particular group of individuals and observing their behaviors and actions and that group of individuals happens to frequently correlation or surround in a tertiary fashion the actual pattern events themselves. To me this is a critical distinction. The idea that the observers are somehow related to pattern events is misguided disinformation from within the realm of the show itself. That ideas is nearly as preposterous as the disinformation we get at the end of 2.08 from the military guy that forebodes something to the effect of “whatever they’re doing here, we’re gonna be ready for em when they invade and we’re gonna strike em where it hurts.” OH BROTHER! Rewatch the footage of each observer sighting. It is the rare exception and not the rule that the observers actually witness a pattern event itself. The more important questions raised by season 2 episode 8 are “Why have they chosen to observe the objects (frequently people) of their observation?” “This recurring theme of ‘disallowed intervention’ by both Walter’s observer (repeatedly I might add) and the girl’s observer in season 2 episode 8 – what does it portend?” “Why could Peter operate their weapons when no one else on this side of the multiverse except the observers themselves has?”
I advocate that until we have a rock solid correlation and a meaningful statistic or calculation about the strength of each correlation, that the pattern-relation number be dropped so it doesn’t mislead.
Hi jkyarr,
Good question. The “Pattern-relation” indicator is based on relevance to the Pattern and/or the Observers overarching objective. I agree that it would be good to find a less subjective method, though I fear any method would require some subjectivity. We’re working on a more ‘scientific’ system though.
I would have to disagree that the Observers are not related to the Pattern. I think there’s enough evidence to suggest that the Observers are very much interested in the Pattern and the events/people surrounding it. The season 1 finale was perhaps one of the best examples of this. Although, granted, the writers could very well scrap their previous trajectory, considering the “Pattern” has been kept in the background for most of the second season.
Do you mean 2.03, when colonel Gordon offers his warning to Broyles? To be honest, I’m not so sure he is necessarily referring exclusively to the Observers. Sure, we see the cut scene with the courier bringing the suitcase to September, but I think it’s possible that Gordon was referring to the alternate reality (the shapeshifters and their masters) in general. That photo of Walter may even have been alter-Walter? I get the impression that the Observers are more like referees that the ‘opposition’.
That said, I could be wrong, and things may change as we find out more.
DER….
The sentence should read “Rather they are watching a particular group of individuals and observing their behaviors and actions and that group of individuals happens to frequently correlate to (or, at least, surround in a tertiary fashion) the actual pattern events themselves.”
This blog = win
from episode Olivia in the lab. with the revolver
http://www.hulu.com/watch/139645/fringe-olivia-in-the-lab-with-the-revolver#s-p1-so-i0
THE PHOTO A AND B OF THE WRITE FROM THE DIARY OF THE OBSERVER ARE DIFFERENT :O
I believe the observer for 2.18 is standing in the bank line just before the shapeshifters are talking to one another around 22/23 minutes
For 2.20: I thought the observer was around 6 minutes in the unfocused background, but I can’t match every detail in the background shots of the junkyard? I know the observer is not in the supermarket with Walter, but I have not looked at the last series of shots in the open at the end of the episode. However, I wonder if the observers are even in this episode given that at the end of 2.18, not even they, knew where Peter was, except that he had not returned to Walter.
LOL, just did an anagram on ‘Observer’. Came out as ‘ever bros.’
Observer can be spotted in the famous photograph of the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald after his arrest as a suspect in President Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963. http://i38.tinypic.com/dlrmkk.jpg
Compare with original : http://tinyurl.com/26jlbkb
Have anyone noticed that the scheme of lights/colours used by the rogue woman in episode 01.08 (“The equation”) to mesmerize people was already present in episode 01.04 (“The arrival”)? The hitman with the strange gun (so similar to the ones used by the Observers themselves, by the way…) wore a hat with four coloured dots on it: green – green – green – red… Maybe this detail was intended to suggest a kind of connection between the Observers and the people (whoever they are: shapeshifters, ZFT terrorists, the military…) who hired the rogue… In fact, the connection between the Observers and the people using this sequence of colours appears more clear in Season Two, as the same succession of green – green – green – red lights appears in episode 02.08 (“August”) on the device by which the Observers take contact with their hitman, in order to have the young girl “rectified”…
English is not my native language, so I apologize for any error.