Talk:Ability

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Talk	Ability	Theories

Jones' Device

Is the device utilized by Jones to distort the cameras and microphones possible to be made with the materials he had?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Peter Bishop (talk • contribs) .

• Probably not; there are too many different frequencies in use in all those communications systems.--Jim 04:02, 11 February 2009 (UTC)
• But then again - maybe so. This is about FRINGE Science - and he did teleport across the globe. Sci-Fi --- it is all possible in fiction. –DocH– my edits
• A device like that could conceivably be created to block out the microphones, but I doubt one could be created that simply to block out both. But I'd have to agree with DocH, it IS all possible in fiction, especially on a show like Fringe, where the impossible seams to be possible each week. --Evil Joe 14:44, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Prologue

The scenes of Kohl from earlier episodes probably qualifies as "previously on Fringe", and not as true "prologue". Everything after that is 114-canon. Funny how they manipulated all of the normal standards for this ep. –DocH– my edits

Walter

Did anyone notice that when Walter was examining the first body and Olivia asked him what the second thing that occured to him was, he seemed to be hiding something he knew rather than simply making one of his usual random statements? --Evil Joe 15:18, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

• Yeah, we're getting too close to home from Walter's perspective. Not that I would expect it, but there was no indication that he planned to show his portable typewriter to Olivia.--Jim

Peter and the lights

Looking at the scene where Olivia turns off the lights (attached to explosive device) it is quite possible that Peter is the one doing it. Olivia concentrates on the lights and nothing happens when Peter is gone to the elevator. Then he comes back behind Olivia. We can assume that he is also looking at the lights (they don't show his face). And the lights start to turn off. The fact that he is responsible for turning off the lights the first time when Olivia performs in front of Jones may in fact be a clue to this: Olivia walks next to him and says "Nicely done".--LabGo 04:58, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

- Very good point. He was also there when she took Test #1 in front of Jones. He SAID he rigged the test... he may not have - he just took the test for her. We saw one image of the test box with A2 and C2 missing. If you look at the image of the test bomb, the same two lights are missing - only the grid has been rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Slim stats suggest two missing lights having the same relative relationship like that (0.17%). –DocH– my edits 02:24, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

Anna Torv

Anna Torv was particularly impressive in this episode. I was looking again at the three times she stood in front of test 1 and how her expression changed from one time to the other: first not taking the test too seriously but making an effort to concentrate anyway; then in front of Jones, serious, seemingly pushing herself to the limit to accomplish the difficult task; and finally in front of the explosive device, now very concerned, concentrated and, as indicated by Peter, "in the zone out there". Very good acting.--LabGo 03:14, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

Mystery

About 6 minutes into the episode, the newspaper man falls down as Jones' sealant suffocates him. As the camera pans across his body the sidewalk next to him is revealed to contain writing...letters that have been scratched in the dust. They are, JHU DELL. --Auto-confirmed User

In a similar vein, almost 20 minutes into the episode, as an unfortunate FBI agent begins to examine a desk, we see the number 14627, apparently written by finger in the dust on the desk. Dddrapeau 08:19, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Cortexiphan Website

Also, the website cortexifan.com has recently been brought to my attention by the lovely Fringe Podcast. It seems to list a number of trial participants for the drug and uses a rather cryptic form of notation. (Test Subject-#-Two Capitalized Letters-another number between 80 and 83-the letter 'P' or 'N)' It has been suggested that this notation may translate into initials, year of trial participation, and then a Positive or Negative response. (credit to Clint at the Fringe Podcast) If this is true, the first test subject "Test Subject 1 PB 80 P" may well be Peter Bishop, the first to be subjected to the drug and the first to exhibit a positive response. Also, "Test Subject 42 OD 83 P*" may be Olivia Dunham. Again, all credit for this information goes to the Fringe Podcast and its listeners. Praise where praise is due. :) --Auto-confirmed User

• Only 4 positive responses and only 'OD' with a * symbol following the result. Most subjects tested in 81. Is this an official site? Looks like it was created on Feb 11, one day following the broadcast of Ability. I would have expected creation before the episode broadcast.--LabGo 23:25, 16 March 2009 (UTC)
• First of all, it's Cortexiphan (with a PH). Besides that spelling problem, it looks very fake. -- Dennis  Talk  Contribs  14:08, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

On the other hand, the Cortexiphan.com domain is also taken, but it was registered January 15, 2009, so it looks like this might be real, and something to watch... -- Dennis  Talk  Contribs  14:08, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

- I originally thought that Cortexiphan was spelled with a 'ph' and was later told that it was with an 'f'. Are we positive of the spelling? I agree, it is quite possible that the website is fake, though it seems like a lot of wasted effort... --Auto-confirmed User

- According to the network recap for Ability, it's spelled with a PH. From the looks of it, that fake website (AKA gamejack) didn't waste very much effort. Plus, as Labgo mentioned, the domain was registered after the episode came out, which is an immediate disqualifier. -- Dennis  Talk  Contribs  22:06, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

- I'm leaning toward this being someone's attempt to capitalize to the use of the drug's name on The Dreamscape. We did not see "Cortexiphan/Cortexifan" in writing; it was in dialog only. If this were a simple data dump the graphics at the top of the page would have been unnecessary. If it were an authorized report, it would contained some sterilzed description of the test and a bio of the doctor conducting the test.--Jim 22:20, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

- You guys win and I bow to your superior technological know-how and Fringe knowledge. :) I suppose it was too good to be true. --Supercalifragilistic58 23:28, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

- To close the loop, I went back to cortexifan.com and looked for Nick Lane. There was no NL as a subject.--Jim 02:31, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Dr. Bishop's Lab Notes

The phrase "I just had to laugh, I saw the photograph." appears in the portion written on the typewriter with the risen y. This of course is a line from The Beatles "A Day In The Life", which (to the best of my knowledge) is the second Beatles reference in Dr. Bishop's lab notes. This raises a few questions: -Did William Bell type the portion with the risen y? -Why is there a mess of letters in the top portion at the end? -If William Bell did write the bottom part, is it a missing page form the Manifesto? -What is the significances of The Beatles? -What is the photograph at the bottom of the paper? -Could this be the photograph he is laughing about?

Corrections I'd like to see on the page

I'd like to suggest the following additions / corrections to the page because they contain significant additional material, clarify the description, and/or correct text.

ACT I

1. Replace 'making a mold of Gene's udders' with "greasing up Gene's udder"
2. After '"DizRay"', add "(disintegration / reintegration)"
3. Replace 'Jones is visibly shaking' with "Jones' hand is visibly shaking"

ACT II

1. Replace 'skinned-over newsman' with "skinned-over newspaper vendor"
2. After 'Peter believes he does.', add a new paragraph containing "A young agent stops Charlie and tells him that a friend at the SEC has provided him with a list of the businesses incorporated by Jones' lawyer Kohl in the last three years. He has reduced the list to the US addresses only."

ACT III

1. Replace 'task force headquarters' with "FBI headquarters"
2. Replace 'He removes the items' with "With shaking hands, he removes the items"
3. Replace 'deconstructed and reassembled' with "dematerialized and reassembled"

ACT IV

1. Before 'Olivia talks with Jones', add "Harris tries to stop Olivia from talking to Jones alone, but she talks him into letting her go."

ACT V

1. Replace 'in Ohio in 1981' with "at Ohio State University, Wooster campus, in 1981"
2. Replace 'gives her an address of a building and says' with "tells her to go to 923 Church street,"
3. Replace 'When the sees the bomb' with "When she sees the bomb"

ACT VI

1. Replace 'Charlie goes to alert the weather service and FEMA.' with "Charlie goes to contact the weather service and alert FEMA."
2. After 'all the lights go out', add "Astrid receives a call with the news and passes the information on to Jones as he is being wheeled out on a guerney."
3. Replace 'scrawled on the wall' with "scrawled on a door"
4. After 'in Jacksonville, Florida', add "at a military base"

Unanswered Questions

Add the following:
- Why is the pattern of bulbs different between the light-box and the explosive device?

--wwahl11 2010.Jan.20 24h00 (EDT)

AI.1 - Walter says he was making a mold of the udders in his - LAB NOTES!. (hint-hint: read everything)
AI.2 - DizRay is already wiki-linked internally to an explanation of what you suggest. No need to ClUtTeR the page with more explanation.
AII.1 - he sells more than just newspapers
AII.2 - That is Agent Kent, and the Add Para is too high. It goes below "...in an IV bag."
AIII.1 - Wrong. FBI HQ is in the US Capitol District. Fringe Division is a Joint Federal Task Force located in the Federal Building in Boston, MA. That "situation room" that Broyles office looks out over is the center of the "task force headquarters" - check ep101 and ep106 transcripts- Broyles calls it a task force (FBI, HLS, CIA, etc...) put "task force" (with quote marks) in the search window and hit search. You should get more than forty hits.
AIV.1 reworded
AV.1 - trials could be any combo of 81-82-83. –DocH– my edits 20:40, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Very nicely done! You have captured the essence of the changes that I was proposing. Small point but as I grew up on a farm, when we talk about an 'udder' it is the sack along with all four teets. --Wwahl11 05:31, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

- Concur. Udder has always been just the sack/bladder to me. His notes say udders (plural) tho. !!! –DocH– my edits

Parallel Universe

Is this the first episode to mention the idea that there is more than one universe (during Walter reading an excerpt from the ZFT)? --Aswvwl21 20:07, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

- I believe that is the earliest reference to multiple universes (that I can find). –DocH– my edits

- Worth putting on the main page? Under Recurring Themes: Parallel Universe? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Aswvwl21 (talk • contribs) .

- It wasn't really "Thematic". It was never "experienced", "central" to the plot, or "pivotal" in character revelation. Besides - "recurring" means a secondary/terciary/etc... event. If this were the "initial" introduction of the theme - it could hardly be 'recurring'... doh! –DocH– my edits

Cultural References

Isn´t "The Land Of Laughs" a cultural reference, because it´s about a fantasy world and in the broadest sense it´s about different realitys. And Thomas Avery says that Joanne should see the film "Charade". In this film there´s a character called Peter Joshua...Peter Bishop is played by Joshua Jackson and in the film there are lots of turns in the story just like in FRINGE TheObserver99 03 October 19:10 (UTC+1)

- No. You are grasping at straws (google searches & connect the dots). The fact that they mention a book, or a movie, isn't a cultural ref. You have to take the ref. in context. If they had been talking about Land of Laughs in a context that was intended for us to draw an extrapolation between the show and the book, then yes. But all they did (in context) was have Peter tell a stranger that the book store guy was ripping him off. (ie NOT in context) So not a ref. Same with Avery and Joanne. He was trying to expand her viewing choices... not trying to (wink-wink-nudge-nudge) play a name game with the actor/character. - –DocH– my edits 16:01, 3 October 2010 (MST)

ZFT

The spelling "Zerstorung durch Fortschritte der Technologie" is not quite correct. In German we've got the vovels a, e, i, o, u AND the 'umlauts' ä (like a in english AXE), ö and ü (which are sometimes written ae, oe and ue). The word 'Zerstorung' actually is 'Zerstörung' (destruction, devastation, demolition). An english translation of "ZFT" can be 'destruction by progresses/advancements in technology'. I hope my english wasn't such bad. Greetings from Germany, Der Deutsche 10:04, 24 November 2010 (MST)

- Check out our ZFT page. We have it correct there. Zerstörung durch Fortschritte der Technologie. On the episode page we report what they show on das episode. You can't expect a bunch of community college drop-outs from SoCal that write the show to know the intricacies of the Deustsche dialect. -- –DocH– my edits 21:03, 24 November 2010 (MST)