The many shared meta-multiverses of television. Example 1.
- Todd Christensen
- Jun 20, 2024
- 2 min read
It is postulated that the television series Twin Peaks and the the later Fox TV series Fringe share the same universe. I agree.
If you were a fan of universe hopping characters on Fringe — Walter/Walternate (played magnificently by John Nobel) and Olivia/Fauxlivia (breakout roles by Anna Torv) — you will have geeked out over the episode "The FireFly."
Reason one: The episode title itself existing as a reference to the much revered Josh Whedon science fiction masterpiece which was killed in its crib by the same corporate bean counters who were threatening Fringe.
Reason two: Nay, you may have geeked out not only because that episode co-starred Christopher Lloyd as burned out rock star of a fictional band named "Violet Sedan Chair." But also that Lloyd throughout makes thinly veiled allusions to "Back to the Future."
Reason three: The mad scientist of Walter Bishop, needing to enhance his perceptions, not only gleefully drops LSD (on several occasions) but dons some familiar glasses with two differently colored lenses. These, Walter says, sent to him by his friend, "Doctor Jacoby from Washington State."
Fringe and Twin Peaks share many of the same over-all story devices of alternate realities and traveling though time. But more deeply they share many of the same themes of identity (are we Bob or are we Walternate?) and are we the sum of experiences or do we transcend them? Every choice has a consequence. And every consequence has a resulting web of more consequences. Every life touches other lives. There is both beauty and horror in this realization.
In an age where media literacy seems to be on the wane, I thinks it's not only entertaining but enlightening to examine the cross pollination and homages present in our more creative media efforts. An exercise that is itself a glimpse into a metaverse of creativity.
*It must also be noted that Walter and Dr. Jacoby are both loosely based on the same real life "fringe" scientist the ethnobotanist Dr. Terence McKenna. Who, like both fictional characters, enthusiastically embraced psychedelic drugs. McKenna wrote extensively that such chemical compounds might aid one in enhanced perception and that he was open to the idea of psychedelics as being "trans-dimensional travel". He proposed that DMT sent one to a "parallel dimension." Though later he tempered these views as more metaphorical.
