Over There comics stars Red Lantern and Red Arrow (not Green Lantern and Green Arrow) and Batman and Superman swap places in the “Death of Superman” and “The Dark Knight Returns.” (
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Over There, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Eldridge Cleaver (of the Black Panther Party) joined forces in the fight for civil rights. MLK’s profile is also featured on the $20 bill. (
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If the Hindenburg hadn’t caught on fire, zeppelin air travel could’ve been one way to get from point A to B. Using dirigibles Over There was “an easy way to articulate the difference between the two worlds,” Wyman says. Making the US Capitol dome gold was another. (
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There’s no correlation between “Fringe’s” amber alert and missing children. Instead, this one refers to the resin-like substance that contains tears in the fabric of the universe, sometimes trapping people inside forever, says Wyman. (
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Over There, the New York skyline looks like ours did before 2001. That’s because Over There, the Twin Towers were spared during 9/11 and the White House was destroyed instead. The conical building is the Grand Hotel, proposed by Gaudi in 1908, but never built. (
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Over There dwellers are asked to call the Fringe Division’s 7-1-1 hotline (not 911) if they see any suspicious activity. (
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Over There, Liberty Island’s most prominent feature is a shiny copper Statue of Liberty. “We imagined that Over There, they really liked copper and they cleaned it all the time,” Pinkner says. Wyman speculates that it could be an “electric pulse” that stops the statue from oxidizing and turning green the way it is Over Here. (
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The Aruba War is the alt-verse’s version of the Vietnam War. “On the other side, Aruba was a seat of power at one point,” Pinkner says, adding that, as in Vietnam’s case, few would’ve guessed that a seemingly insignificant country on the geopolitical landscape would turn out to be one of the “most powerful, emotional conflicts in our society.” (
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Now that Olivia (Anna Torv) and her red-haired doppleganger, Bolivia (also Torv), have swapped places, “Fringe” is getting a chance to delve deeply into what makes “Over Here” (our universe) and “Over There” (the alt-verse) so alike, yet different somehow.
Introduced in last season’s finale, Over There is a place where JFK is still alive, a heroic Nixon is on a coin and penny-farthing bikes are a sensible mode of transportation. Over Here, none of that is true.
Executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman say they are having a “fantastic” time delineating the two worlds, which air on alternate weeks. (But, they caution, this structure won’t last the whole season.)
A parallel universe works on “Fringe” because “one of the big themes of the show is how small choices that you make define you as a person and can change your life in large ways down the line,” Pinkner says.
Over There, adds Wyman, “is a reminder to our viewers that your life is what your choices are.”
Sometimes obscure and sometimes obvious, here’s how things Over There compare to stuff Over Here in the “Fringe”-verse.
* Fringe
Thurs., 9 p.m., FOX
“Dogs” on Broadway
The long-running show on Over There’s Broadway isn’t about singing “Cats.” Over There taxis feature ads for the hit musical “Dogs” (now in its 18th year). “We’re all dog people here,” Pinkner jokes. Really, the showrunners just thought swapping the furry animals was funny.
Comic book change
Over There comics stars Red Lantern and Red Arrow (not Green Lantern and Green Arrow) and Batman and Superman swap places in the “Death of Superman” and “The Dark Knight Returns.”
Memorial Park sign
Over There, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Eldridge Cleaver (of the Black Panther Party) joined forces in the fight for civil rights. MLK’s profile is also featured on the $20 bill.
Zeppelins over Capitol Hill
If the Hindenburg hadn’t caught on fire, zeppelin air travel could’ve been one way to get from point A to B. Using dirigibles Over There was “an easy way to articulate the difference between the two worlds,” Wyman says. Making the US Capitol dome gold was another.
Amber Alert
There’s no correlation between “Fringe’s” amber alert and missing children. Instead, this one refers to the resin-like substance that contains tears in the fabric of the universe, sometimes trapping people inside forever, says Wyman.
New York skyline
Over There, the New York skyline looks like ours did before 2001. That’s because Over There, the Twin Towers were spared during 9/11 and the White House was destroyed instead. The conical building is the Grand Hotel, proposed by Gaudi in 1908, but never built.
7-1-1 is the new emergency number
Over There dwellers are asked to call the Fringe Division’s 7-1-1 hotline (not 911) if they see any suspicious activity.
Statue of Liberty
Over There, Liberty Island’s most prominent feature is a shiny copper Statue of Liberty. “We imagined that Over There, they really liked copper and they cleaned it all the time,” Pinkner says. Wyman speculates that it could be an “electric pulse” that stops the statue from oxidizing and turning green the way it is Over Here. Liberty Island is also the home base of Over There’s Department of Defense, run by Secretary of Defense, Walternate (John Noble), the coherent version of Over Here’s kooky scientist Walter Bishop (also played by Noble.)
Aruba war veteran
The Aruba War is the alt-verse’s version of the Vietnam War. “On the other side, Aruba was a seat of power at one point,” Pinkner says, adding that, as in Vietnam’s case, few would’ve guessed that a seemingly insignificant country on the geopolitical landscape would turn out to be one of the “most powerful, emotional conflicts in our society.” Adds Wyman, “Things that seem insignificant, viewed through a different perspective, could be incredibly important.”