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Earthling (Fringe)
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Earthling (Fringe)
"Earthling" is the sixth episode of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe's second season. The episode followed the Fringe team's investigation into random people mysteriously disintegrating into ash, a case which Agent Broyles had become deeply obsessed with in the past.
It was co-written by J.H. Wyman and Jeff Vlaming, while Jon Cassar served as the director. The episode first aired on November 5, 2009 in the United States on the Fox network. An estimated 4.86 million viewers tuned in, contributing to a new ratings low for the series. The episode received generally mixed reviews, though multiple reviewers highlighted the episode's special effects. The VFX production team received a nomination at the 8th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards.
A Boston man (Joe Towne) is attacked by a shadowy, ghost-like figure; his wife (Michelle Harrison) returns home to find he disintegrates into ash upon being touched. After learning all of the victims had recently visited a hospital before dying, Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick) explains the case is similar to one he had trouble with in the past, in which his obsessive behavior effectively ended his marriage to his wife Diane. The suspect, an Eastern European man, had contacted him four years ago sounding distraught and asked him to figure out a special formula, which Broyles was unable to solve. Walter (John Noble) and Peter (Joshua Jackson) study the victim's remains at their lab and begin studying the formula given to Broyles.
Several more people are attacked and reduced to ash. A search of Eastern European employees leads them to Russian night nurse Tomas (Ravil Isyanov), but he is gone when they search his apartment. Despite being ordered to end the investigation and that the suspect is wanted by the Russian government and the CIA, Broyles tells Olivia (Anna Torv) to continue the case. Walter posits the entity needs radiation, and chooses its victims based on their exposure levels. They learn that Tomas stole his comatose brother, a former cosmonaut, and has been moving him around to both protect him and contain the entity. Fearing capture, Tomas removes his brother from the hospital; Walter speculates that the cosmonaut brought the entity back with him upon returning from space. Walter is finally able to solve the formula, and Broyles sadly tells Tomas over the phone that his brother and the entity cannot be separated. However, during their conversation, the entity escapes his brother's body and kills Tomas. The Fringe team is able to trace the call, and Broyles shoots the host (Tomas' brother) in the head to stop the entity from attacking another victim.
At the end of the episode, a mysterious CIA agent (J. R. Bourne) approaches Broyles and tells him to not report the case. He reveals the cosmonaut resurrected itself, and it is implied to have been sent into space, "wherever it came from".
"The bad guy has collected a whole bunch of car batteries in his hotel room and they buzz and zap and really get going when he throws the switch to zap the host and hold the smoke monster inside him. It ended up sounding a little like a 1920's [sic] electric chair but had lots of screams and growls as the smoke monster got to vocalize a little bit as he was zapped into submission. This episode had lots of little electrical things scattered around and I tried to make it sound a little like the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California, with all of its electricity-based exhibits."
The episode was co-written by executive producer J.H. Wyman and supervising producer Jeff Vlaming, while 24 veteran, Jon Cassar, directed the hour. On August 14, 2009, he posted "rough drawn" storyboards of the episode on Twitter. The episode is Cassar's only directional credit for the series.
The episode was filmed in mid-September 2009 in Vancouver. Due to the Russian lettering on many of the episode props, director Cassar joked during shooting, "Can we get a translator and find out what this writing means, specifically? Maybe it says 'Do not open until Christmas' or 'Watch The Simpsons on Sunday night,' knowing Fox." To create the episode's auditory effects, sound editor Bruce Tanis explained his production steps in an interview with Designing Sound, "'Earthling' was a really good episode for strange sounds. It starts out with the appearance of a smoke monster that kills its victims by enveloping them and leaving behind an exact life-like looking corpse only the body is made of ash which crumbles horribly when touched. The smoke creature moved rapidly as opposed to gently drifting so I had some movement to play off of in creating a sound for him. I came up with some stuttering, fluttery whooshes that kind of vibrated which made him more dangerous than if he sounded like a puff of steam moving along the hall. The smoke monster requires a host body to live in when he's not vibrating around killing people. The only way to recall the smoke monster to the host body, or to keep him there in the first place, is by severe electrical shock."
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Earthling (Fringe)
"Earthling" is the sixth episode of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe's second season. The episode followed the Fringe team's investigation into random people mysteriously disintegrating into ash, a case which Agent Broyles had become deeply obsessed with in the past.
It was co-written by J.H. Wyman and Jeff Vlaming, while Jon Cassar served as the director. The episode first aired on November 5, 2009 in the United States on the Fox network. An estimated 4.86 million viewers tuned in, contributing to a new ratings low for the series. The episode received generally mixed reviews, though multiple reviewers highlighted the episode's special effects. The VFX production team received a nomination at the 8th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards.
A Boston man (Joe Towne) is attacked by a shadowy, ghost-like figure; his wife (Michelle Harrison) returns home to find he disintegrates into ash upon being touched. After learning all of the victims had recently visited a hospital before dying, Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick) explains the case is similar to one he had trouble with in the past, in which his obsessive behavior effectively ended his marriage to his wife Diane. The suspect, an Eastern European man, had contacted him four years ago sounding distraught and asked him to figure out a special formula, which Broyles was unable to solve. Walter (John Noble) and Peter (Joshua Jackson) study the victim's remains at their lab and begin studying the formula given to Broyles.
Several more people are attacked and reduced to ash. A search of Eastern European employees leads them to Russian night nurse Tomas (Ravil Isyanov), but he is gone when they search his apartment. Despite being ordered to end the investigation and that the suspect is wanted by the Russian government and the CIA, Broyles tells Olivia (Anna Torv) to continue the case. Walter posits the entity needs radiation, and chooses its victims based on their exposure levels. They learn that Tomas stole his comatose brother, a former cosmonaut, and has been moving him around to both protect him and contain the entity. Fearing capture, Tomas removes his brother from the hospital; Walter speculates that the cosmonaut brought the entity back with him upon returning from space. Walter is finally able to solve the formula, and Broyles sadly tells Tomas over the phone that his brother and the entity cannot be separated. However, during their conversation, the entity escapes his brother's body and kills Tomas. The Fringe team is able to trace the call, and Broyles shoots the host (Tomas' brother) in the head to stop the entity from attacking another victim.
At the end of the episode, a mysterious CIA agent (J. R. Bourne) approaches Broyles and tells him to not report the case. He reveals the cosmonaut resurrected itself, and it is implied to have been sent into space, "wherever it came from".
"The bad guy has collected a whole bunch of car batteries in his hotel room and they buzz and zap and really get going when he throws the switch to zap the host and hold the smoke monster inside him. It ended up sounding a little like a 1920's [sic] electric chair but had lots of screams and growls as the smoke monster got to vocalize a little bit as he was zapped into submission. This episode had lots of little electrical things scattered around and I tried to make it sound a little like the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California, with all of its electricity-based exhibits."
The episode was co-written by executive producer J.H. Wyman and supervising producer Jeff Vlaming, while 24 veteran, Jon Cassar, directed the hour. On August 14, 2009, he posted "rough drawn" storyboards of the episode on Twitter. The episode is Cassar's only directional credit for the series.
The episode was filmed in mid-September 2009 in Vancouver. Due to the Russian lettering on many of the episode props, director Cassar joked during shooting, "Can we get a translator and find out what this writing means, specifically? Maybe it says 'Do not open until Christmas' or 'Watch The Simpsons on Sunday night,' knowing Fox." To create the episode's auditory effects, sound editor Bruce Tanis explained his production steps in an interview with Designing Sound, "'Earthling' was a really good episode for strange sounds. It starts out with the appearance of a smoke monster that kills its victims by enveloping them and leaving behind an exact life-like looking corpse only the body is made of ash which crumbles horribly when touched. The smoke creature moved rapidly as opposed to gently drifting so I had some movement to play off of in creating a sound for him. I came up with some stuttering, fluttery whooshes that kind of vibrated which made him more dangerous than if he sounded like a puff of steam moving along the hall. The smoke monster requires a host body to live in when he's not vibrating around killing people. The only way to recall the smoke monster to the host body, or to keep him there in the first place, is by severe electrical shock."