The Fringe Series Finale is OVER. I'm sorry to bring you down like that. Hopefully, me rambling on about it here will lift you up a bit more by the end.

This past Fridays epic end to a 5 year, no 29 year fight (2036 - 2007 = 29) that crossed 2 universes, and multiple timelines, all to save our world from the advanced intellect breed of human like creatures came to its 2 hour finale & really didnt disappoint.

When a friend of mine & his daughter met John Noble on the final week of filming with me, they said to him they hoped for a happy ending, Mr. Noble smiled & told them "you'll get your ending". & he pretty much nailed it.

I watched the episode, knowing in my heart, it was probably going to end with a bittersweet happy situation. The sight of the Peter, Olivia & Etta in the park (a scene I saw being filmed back then...but not thinking it would end up being the 2nd to last scene of the series as well... video below), Peter getting the White Tulip from his father, who of course sacrificed himself for the cause in the end after Donald/September offered to take his place, but was unable to in the end surely cracked a smile on my generally gruff face. Losing Walter, but gaining Etta was as bittersweet as it gets.

A question I just thought of writing this... do Peter & Olivia even KNOW how important they were? Do they know that because of them the world is changed? Or did winning the battle purge that knowledge of future events they technically havent had from their minds? When Walter and Peter watch the tape of Walter telling Peter about his journey into the future, it makes you wonder if they even know they saved the world.

The finale was full of solid performances from top to bottom. Michael Kopsa as the relentless, yet at times short-sighted, Captain Windmark has amazing scenes thru most of the season, the finale was no different. Rowan Longworth as Michael, for a child actor that never spoke, his performance was strong, bordering on incredible. Hard to image a character that doesnt speak actually being notably good, but I felt he was. Lance Reddick as Philip Broyles was his typical brilliant self. Of course the main 3 were as terrific as they have been all series. It is a real crime that the Emmy Awards dont have a Cable & Network categories for actors like the Peoples Choice Awards do..... if they did, John Noble would have been nominated at least 3 times, and more than likely would have won once. I am sure someday they will come to the realization that its needed, but it will be too late to right the wrong of John, and maybe even Anna in her double role seasons, of having an Emmy nod.

My top 10 Finale moments

1 - Peter & Olivia are re-united with Etta.
Ever since they lost their daughter for a 2nd time to a gunshot while battling Captain Windmark in the year 2036, the battle weary couple have been looking to avenge their daughters death, never really considering the notion they would get to have her back a 3rd time till they were told the plan was to re-set time to 2015. They got their moment though, and in a cool Fringe planning moment, it was 1 of the 1st scenes they filmed for season 5.

2 - Olivia pancakes Captain Windmark with her Cortexiphan powers
Lots of people this season wanted to see the bad ass super-hero style Olivia back, and in the finale they got her big time. No more than when she took a vehicle & moved it with her mind, crushing the treacherous Captain Windmark like a bug.

3- Peter gets a White Tulip
Only Fringe fans get it. Anyone watching it because its a finale & they were curious sat there at the end going "huh?" & instantly went to twitter to ask about it, or google to find info on it. When I saw Peter going thru the mail at the end, I actually blurted out "no way" because I knew what was coming.

4- Apartment 513
As episode 512 ends, Donald goes to visit another fellow former Observer. December answers the door & Donald asks for his help. December lets Donald in & as the door closes behind them, we see the number 513... as fans waited impatiently for the 2nd half of the finale to start, episode 513. Little easter eggs like that are all oer the episode, such as the bloodied 6 finger handprint during the teams Fringe event attack on the Observers.

5 - Alt-Livia & Lincoln Lee still going strong
To get Michael from Windmark, Olivia needed to cross over to the Alt-Verse to get by their defenses. Once over there, we got to see how the Alt-verse was doing & got 1 last hello & good-bye to the alt-worlds best couple Blue verses Lincoln Lee & Red Verses Alt-Livia.

6- Michael VS Windmark in the interrogation
Like every interrogation Captain Windmark had this year, things seemingly were not going well for him as he grilled the Anomoly only to end up with a bloody nose and a bloodshot eye.

7- Olivia gets dosed with cortexiphan 1..err 4 last times
This was amazing for several reasons. Peter not wanting to lose her, Astrid actually refusing to help Walter thinking it was unsafe after the 3rd dose, Walter & Peter talking about sacrifice, and of course Olivia in the end insisting it has to be done & doing it. Then there was the Peter Q&A with Walter about the side effects & Walter basically answering with "thats a possibility I suppose" to all of them.

8- Ashkat
Of all the names Walter has ever come up with for Astrid, I didnt even see it coming. I should of expected Walter to have 1 more Astrid name, but I for some reason wasnt expecting it...which leads to #9

9- Gene
I am a tad sad that we didnt get to hear 1 last mooooo. But of course, the Fringe writers wouldnt let fans go without 1 last slip in of Gene, still ambered and Astrid & Walter having a moment over seeing their unofficial pet bovine.

10- Walter tells Astrid her name is beautiful
After Astrid takes Walter to see gene, the two have an emotion filled chat. It ends with Walter, knowing he is going to probably never see her again, finally tells Astrid her name is beautiful. "its a beatiful name" he says to Astrid, she replies "what is?" & Walter says "Astrid"... let he rknow, he actually does know her name as she smirks before leaving him with Gene.

There was a truckload of other moments that coulda probably made this list a top 20. The window to look between universes, Broyles vs Windmark, Polivia telling each other "I love you" before Olivia heads to Red Verse, Chelsea Clinton running for President on the screen behind Alt-Livia, Windmark confessing he has a feeling of "hate", several differnt Fringe events going on at once and many others.

Fringe was first introduced to me by a friend who thought I would like it. She was right. After I was done the 1st season I was overjoyed when I found out that season 2 was being moved....HERE, to Vancouver, where the series filmed the final 4 seasons.

I was fortunate enough to meet every major cast member & most secondary cast members many times during their time filming here. With the exception of 1 cast member who became unpleasant in the final season (Jasika, she was so amzing the 1st 2 & 3/4 yrs, I just dont know what happened to her.), they were terrific during their time here. They really couldnt have done much more to win fans over. The Crew, who many days had to do their jobs with 100s of onlookers crowding up their work area were courteous & respectful most of the time. A+ crew, A+ cast for an A+ show.

Thank you J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Robert Orci, Jeff Pinkner, Joel Wymans, the many writers & directors the show has had. John Noble, Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, Lance Reddick, Seth Gabel, Blair Brown, Kirk Acevedo & Michael Cerveris for always being exceptionally classy. Thank you Jasika Nicole Pruitt for 2 & 13/4 years of wonderful encounters. Thank you Leonard Nimoy, Michael Kopsa, Mark Valley, Georgina Haig & all the other cast members I met thru the years who were all so great. Thanks to the cast as a whole for a generally solid effort from start to finish.

I will sincerely, miss this show. As a viewer, as an autograph collector and as a set watcher. It is 1 of my top 3 shows of all time, and my top show that went more than 3 seasons. It will be pretty hard to fill this void. Thanks to all that made it from the PA's who I probably from time to time irked, right up to Warner Bros & FOX for continually allowing it onto our TVs. Now, the collective IQ of television drops by a couple points because there will not be another new episode of Fringe.... but we at least got 100 great ones to look back on.

In case you havent seen my previous blog posts... Here is Peter, Olivia & Etta filming on the 1st day of season 5 filming, little did I know

THIS BLOG CONTAINS PHOTOS OF THE FRINGE SERIES FINALE BEING FILMED & CONTAINS A SMALL SPOILER!!! Do not continue

Here is my last batch of photos from the Fringe Finale being filmed...this is a continuation of the 1st set.... except with the obvious spoiler of..... (if you saw the previews for this ep, you already know this I suppose) they use the screen to see into the other universe.....

I would write more, but I am using an internet cafe to post this final batch of photos for you before the finale starts because my home comp just isnt co-operating.
 
Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble & Jasika Nicole Pruitt were on set this time. Enjoy.

I will post a couple more Fringe blogs in the next week or so with my thoughts on the series and some never before posted pics (mostly from sets I already posted...just different angles etc).

PLEASE NOTE - This blog post potentially has mild spoilers of the FRINGE series finale that airs tomorrow night. DO NOT contineur eading or viewing the photos if you dont want to know anything at all in advance.
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Last Warning.
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With only a few hours till the epic 2 hour finale of the FOX hit sci-fi show "Fringe"... here is my 2nd slight look at the filming of the finale in early December.

In this batch, we find members of the Fringe team driving around the streets of Vancouver.... seemingly with Astrid (Jasika Nicole Pruitt) doing it with her eyes closed. Olivia (Anna Torv) was also in the vehicle with Michael (Rowan Longworth), who they seemingly must have gotten back at some point from Captain Windmark.

Another batch sees Philip Broyles (Lance Reddick) getting read to leave in a car. I'm guessing since he essentially was being taken the same way as the van, its filmed to suggest these 2 vehicles were driving together.

I also snapped a few photos og series creator, and the director of the finale, Joel Wyman at work on the set with his fauxhawk hair cut.

A few photos as well of the VERY LAST TIME I saw Fringe unit anywhere, as they were parked in a lot near the water while the filming happened on the private property of the Rogers Sugar Refinery in the Port Of Vancouver. That night I saw Joshua Jackson, John Noble and a stunt double for Anna Torv. A couple of fans from out of town also reported to me seeing Lance Reddick before I got there. I took lots of pics there, but with the lack of light, distance away & the fact I was genuinely cold & probably not as still as needed... most of them were terrible. So really, all i got was a few pics of the trailer doors... the last time I would see the trailers of Peter Bishop & Dr. Walter Bishop. You can also see trailer doors marked for "Anna Stunt Double" & "head Observer/Loyalist Stunt double" as well as of course, the film sign that Fringe used for the past couple years to let cast/crew know where to go, the cleverly done "Belly".

Between these 2 sets, this is the last time I ever saw Anna Torv, John Noble, Joshua Jackson, Lance Reddick, Jasika Nicole Pruitt & Rowan Longworth on a Fringe set.

I will have ON MORE SET, with a slightly larger spoiler (still not a spoiler to anyone who watched the promos for the finale) later on today. Nothing massively revealing.. so dont worry.

The 2 hour series of FRINGE will start at 8 PM eastern/Pacific, 7 PM Central tomorrow Friday January 18, 2013 on FOX.

Also, look in my "contest" section for a chance to win FRINGE autographs by watching the finale.

By now, you have seen the promo for the epic 2 hour series finale of Fringe that is going to take place this Friday on FOX starting at 8PM eastern/Pacific, 7PM Central.

You probably have even seen the amazing film trailer the Fringe creative team put together for the finale (if you havent...here it is)

So if you have simply run out of fresh Fringe stuff before the finale... I might be able to help you fill the void till Friday. I have 3 sets of Finale behind the scenes photos of them shooting the 2 hour mega-event.

I will start off with a set of Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop), Anna Torv (Olivia Dunham), John Noble (Dr. Walter Bishop) & Jasika Nicole on set one day.... there is NO NOTABLE SPOILERS in this set.... however, I have another set coming up later this week from the same scene(s) being shot with a more notable spoiler.