"The Transformation" is the thirteenth

episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption. The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek term ''epeisodion'' (), meaning t ...

of the first season of the American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

drama television series ''

Fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts * Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe" * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * The Fringe, the ...

''. Its storyline centers on the circumstances surrounding a deceased scientist (

Neal Huff Neal Huff is an American actor from New York City. In April 2018, he performed as Willie Oban in the Broadway revival of ''The Iceman Cometh''. In December 2018, Huff began performing in ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', adapted for stage by Aaron Sor ...

), who was doped with a "designer virus" and transformed into a dangerous monster, causing his plane to crash. Fringe agent

Olivia Dunham Olivia Dunham is a fictional character and the main protagonist from the science fiction television series ''Fringe'', which aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States from 2008 to 2013. The character was created by series' co-cre ...

(

Anna Torv Anna Torv (born 7 June 1979) is an Australian actress. She is best known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox science-fiction series ''Fringe'' (2008–2013), for which she was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for ...

) and FBI consultants

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

(

Joshua Jackson Joshua Carter Jackson (born June 11, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He is known for his starring role as Charlie Conway in '' Mighty Ducks'', as Pacey Witter in The WB teen drama series ''Dawson's Creek'' (1998–2003), Peter Bishop in the ...

) and Walter Bishop (

John Noble John Noble (born 20 August 1948) is an Australian actor. He is known for his roles as Denethor in the ''Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Dr. Walter Bishop on the science fiction series ''Fringe'', Henry Parrish on the action-horror series '' ...

) connect the event to an impending arms deal. Olivia must explore her mind for remaining memories of her former partner and lover, John Scott ( Mark Valley), in order to prevent the sale of the virus. The episode was co-written by

Zack Whedon Zachary Adam Whedon (born August 14, 1979) is an American screenwriter, film director, and comic book writer. Early life Whedon is from a family of writers: he is the son of screenwriter Tom Whedon, grandson of screenwriter John Whedon, and t ...

and supervising producer J. R. Orci, while producer Brad Anderson served as the director. The creation of the monster took the crew approximately eleven days—they took molds of guest actor Huff's head and back and created eight sets of dentures in order to create the special effect of transformation. To create the plane crash set, the crew spent over a week strategically placing around 15,000 pounds' worth of plane parts. It was first screened at

PaleyFest The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York City, New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, ...

in November 2008. On February 3, 2009, the episode was broadcast in the United States on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

to an estimated 12.78 million viewers. The episode earned a 5/6.5 ratings share among adults aged 18 to 49, finishing in eighth place for the week. It received generally positive reviews. Commentators have noted allusions to the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

and a fourth-season episode, in addition to the television series ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'' and

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The Island of Doctor Moreau ''The Island of Doctor Moreau'' is an 1896 science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells (1866–1946). The text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick who is a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat. He is left on the islan ...

''.

Plot

On an airplane in flight, scientist Marshall Bowman (

) gets a nosebleed, and he tries to warn the crew to give him sedatives or use force against him. He locks himself in the lavatory before he transforms into a beast and bursts out, causing havoc in the plane and leading to a crash in

Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...

. The Fringe team arrives on the scene and discover the beast's body.

Dr. Walter Bishop Walter Harold Bishop, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the Fox television series ''Fringe''. He is portrayed by John Noble. Noble also plays Walter's counterpart in the show's parallel universe, who is referred to in the show as Walternate. A ...

(

) concludes that it started out as a human. Agent

(

) recognizes Bowman's picture from John Scott's ( Mark Valley) memories, realizing that Bowman was flying to meet another man in the memories named Daniel Hicks (

Felix Solis Felix Angel Solis (born September 17, 1971) is an American actor, film director, and film producer. Born on the Upper West Side and raised in Chelsea/Greenwich Village area of New York City, to parents that were both born in Puerto Rico, Felix co ...

). Back at the lab at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, Walter finds a small crystalline disc implanted in the beast's hand similar to one seen inside the woman killed in "

The Ghost Network "The Ghost Network" is the third episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series ''Fringe''. The episode was written by co-executive producer David H. Goodman and supervising producer J. R. Orci, and was dire ...

", and thinks Marshall was dosed with a "designer virus". Hicks is brought in for questioning. After beginning to transform into a beast, he admits that "Conrad" dosed them before

Peter Bishop Peter Bishop is a fictional character of the Fox television series ''Fringe''. He is portrayed by Joshua Jackson Joshua Carter Jackson (born June 11, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He is known for his starring role as Charlie Conway in ...

(

) pauses the process by administering a sedative and placing him in an induced coma. Walter develops an antidote, while Olivia finds another small disc in Hicks' hand. Her demand to see Scott's body leads her and

Phillip Broyles This article lists the major and recurring fictional characters on the science fiction television series, ''Fringe'', created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci. In the overarching storyline for the five seasons of the show, sever ...

(

Lance Reddick Lance Reddick (born December 31, 1962) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for playing Cedric Daniels in ''The Wire'' (2002–2008), Phillip Broyles in ''Fringe'' (2008–2013), and Chief Irvin Irving in '' Bosch'' (2014–2020) ...

) to Massive Dynamic, where

Nina Sharp This article lists the major and recurring fictional characters on the science fiction television series, ''Fringe'', created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci. In the overarching storyline for the five seasons of the show, sever ...

(

Blair Brown Bonnie Blair Brown (born April 23, 1946) is an American theater, film and television actress. She has had a number of high-profile roles, including in the play '' Copenhagen'' on Broadway, the leading actress in the films ''Altered States'' ...

) tells her that the information gleaned from Scott's body implicates him in a bioterrorist cell with the other two. French intelligence states that weapons manufacturer Conrad is involved in a sale, leading to Olivia returning to the

sensory deprivation tank An isolation tank, sensory deprivation tank, float tank, float pod, float cabin, flotation tank, or sensory attenuation tank is a water filled, pitch-black, light-proof, soundproof environment heated to the same temperature as the skin, developed ...

in order to find out more from Scott's memories. In a motel room they used to share, Scott talks to Olivia, scaring her into shooting him. Olivia next appears in an alleyway, where she follows Scott into a memory of him almost killing Conrad. He reveals that he, Hicks, and Marshall are all undercover government agents for the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

, and tells Olivia to ask Hicks where the meeting is going to happen. They awake Hicks, who tells them more about the weapons sale. Being given details from a secret radio by Hicks, Olivia pretends to be the weapons buyer, and is accompanied by Peter. They successfully make contact, but the sellers become suspicious after Hicks' transformation restarts, depriving Olivia of the necessary information. Conrad makes his appearance and realizes Olivia and Peter are lying; just before he orders them killed, the FBI moves in and arrests the sellers. The episode ends with Walter telling Olivia her brain waves are going back to normal, and that Scott's memories are fading from her mind. Olivia requests to enter the tank regardless, and she makes a last encounter with Scott, where he tells her he loved her and was going to marry her. She bids farewell to his consciousness, which has finally left her own.

Production

"The Transformation" was co-written by

and supervising producer

J.R. Orci Jorge Richard Orci (born 1975) is a Mexican television writer and producer. Life and career Orci was born in Mexico City to a Mexican father and a Cuban mother. His mother fled Cuba after Fidel Castro came to power. He was raised in Mexico Ci ...

. Whedon had last co-written the season's ninth episode, "

The Dreamscape "The Dreamscape" is the ninth episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series ''Fringe''. It centers on a Fringe investigation of a Massive Dynamic employee who, after believing himself to be under attack by ...

", while Orci helped write "

The Equation "The Equation" is the eighth episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series ''Fringe''. The episode follows the Fringe team's investigation into the kidnapping of a young musical prodigy ( Charlie Tahan) who ...

", the season's eighth episode. Producer Brad Anderson served as director, his latest ''Fringe'' work since directing "

In Which We Meet Mr. Jones "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series ''Fringe''. The story begins when an FBI agent collapses from a parasite constricting his heart, and Olivia must meet ...

" six episodes earlier. The episode resolved the John Scott storyline and featured the last appearance of actor Mark Valley. Media outlets speculated that because Valley and Torv married over the holiday break, his departure "would eliminate any chances of the marriage conflicting with the show." Co-creator

Roberto Orci Roberto Gaston Orcí (born July 20, 1973) is a Mexican-American film and television screenwriter and producer. He began his longtime collaboration with Alex Kurtzman while at school in California. Together they have been employed on television ...

called Scott's final scene a "truly satisfactory conclusion to his story." The creation of the monster took the series special effects crew approximately eleven days to implement. They created molds of guest actor Neal Huff's head and back, giving him "creature eye" contact lenses and covering the back foam mold with "backbarbs". Eight different dentures were made of Huff's mouth to depict the character gradually losing his teeth, "anything from simple teeth that match his own..., to wiggling teeth that he can start to loosen up, to ones where he's already started to lose a tooth," explained Special Effects Makeup crewman Stephen Kelley. Each denture appliance took about a day to create. The final version of the creature, Kelley noted, was "very exaggerated... He's got the big giant quills coming off it like a porcupine. And it's also got six nipples on it, which is part of us trying to investigate what this creature actually it is." Andrew Orloff, the creative director and visual effects supervisor of

Zoic Studios Zoic Studios is an American visual effects company based in Culver City, California. They specialize in visual effects for feature films, episodic television, commercials, video games, advertising design, and interactive online media. History ...

, considered the creature one of the most challenging effects his company helped make for the season. He explained that this and other designed monsters are "really super fantastical, they're really out there, the anatomy and the biology of them is so wild and crazy, that it really takes a lot to make it look real in the scene and make it a part of the actors are reacting to these things—to get the audience to believe in it is kind of the biggest challenge we've faced on the show so far." During filming, the cast and crew referred to the monster as a "were-upine" or "porcuman". Lance Reddick commented on set, "When I first got here tonight, I was expecting zombies to come up out of the ground. And the actual creature looks so bizarre, I mean it really looks like something I wouldn't want to be caught in the woods with." The crew spent over a week collecting and placing the plane wreckage together. According to Set Dresser Russ Griffin, the set included approximately 15,000 pounds' worth of plane parts. Though the episode first aired in February 2009, "The Transformation" had an early screening at the November 2008

, where ''Fringe''s producers answered questions from the audience. When asked in an interview if the "giant germ" from "

Bound Bound or bounds may refer to: Mathematics * Bound variable * Upper and lower bounds, observed limits of mathematical functions Physics * Bound state, a particle that has a tendency to remain localized in one or more regions of space Geography *B ...

" was the grossest thing of the season, executive producer

Jeff Pinkner Jeff Pinkner (born November 16, 1964) is an American television and movie writer and producer. Life and career Born to a Jewish family,rom "The Transformation"was more shocking. It was so unexpected." At the time "The Transformation" aired, Joshua Jackson considered it the series' best episode. John Noble called it "grotesque" and "possibly one of the more gruesome ones we've done."

Analysis and legacy

In her 2011 book ''Into the Looking Glass: Exploring the Worlds of Fringe'', author Sarah Clarke Stuart observed that two unrelated ''Fringe'' characters, Conrad Moreau of "The Transformation" and Moreau (

Brad Dourif Bradford Claude Dourif (; born March 18, 1950) is an American actor. He was nominated for an Oscar, and won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for his film debut role as Billy Bibbit in '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1975). He is also kn ...

) of "

The Day We Died "The Day We Died" is the third season finale of the Fox science fiction drama television series ''Fringe''. It is the season's 22nd episode and the series' 65th episode overall. The finale follows the aftermath of Peter Bishop entering and act ...

", are allusions to

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

''. Both are "scientifically inspired men with questionable integrity," while Wells' Doctor Moreau is an "unethical researcher" who fell "under the overmastering spell of research," in a vein similar to Walter. Like the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

, "The Transformation" begins on the passenger section of an airplane in flight. Actor Mark Valley was asked how the episode differed from the pilot, leading him to joke that "it's a completely different airline this time." His character, John Scott, was first seen in an episode about a plane disaster; accordingly,

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

expressed, it made sense thematically to have his last appearance be in an episode about a similar type of disaster. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' viewed the flight number of 718 and its subsequent crash as a nod to co-creator

J. J. Abrams Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' F ...

' other series, ''

''. The episode also had an influence on the series' fourth season, which featured parallel stories to those that occurred in earlier episodes. The season's sixteenth episode, " Nothing As It Seems", centers around the "designer virus" that had caused Marshall Bowman to transform, but this time he does so in the airport after his plane has safely landed. Peter recognizes the case from his own timeline, as seen in the events of "The Transformation", and helps the Fringe team locate Daniel Hicks.

Reception

Ratings

"The Transformation" first aired on February 3, 2009 in the United States, and was watched by an estimated 12.78 million viewers. The episode earned a 5/6.5 ratings share among viewers aged 18–49, meaning that it was seen by 5.0 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 6.5 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of broadcast. This rating meant it ranked eighth for the week among all the major networks. Sarah Stegall of

SFScope SFScope is an online trade journal devoted to entertainment news concerning speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It was founded by Ian Randal Strock in early 2007. Ian Randal Strock began his career as the editorial assist ...

attributed this ratings success to its lead-in show, the highly rated ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'', and observed that "with episodes like this one, mixing action, horror, and a few tender moments, it looks like ''Fringe'' is hitting its stride with viewers."

Reviews

"The Transformation" received generally positive reviews. Andrew Hanson from the ''Los Angeles Times'' gave the episode a positive review, opining that it "hit the perfect tone for ''Fringe'' nd hadthe right mixture of science fiction, dark comedy, crime story and melodrama". Hanson was, however, disappointed with the closure of the Olivia–John Scott storyline, as he hoped that "she doesn't carry this torch too long" because he preferred the "flirty" Olivia. Ramsey Isler of

gave the episode 9.0/10, an indication of an "amazing" installment. He was pleased with the absence of Sanford Harris and enjoyed the "brilliantly written and directed" undercover sting operation, particularly because Peter was properly utilized as Olivia's "wingman." Isler also criticized the monster's special effects and believed there were still unanswered questions concerning Scott's storyline. Writing for ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'', Noel Murray thought it was the best "freak-meet" of the series thus far, as well as one of its best episodes, which he would "eagerly show to ''Fringe''-doubters as evidence that the series has found its legs." He consequently graded the episode an A−, further attributing the success of the episode to "top-tier" writers Orci and Whedon and "skilled" director Brad Anderson. Murray wrote, "I wouldn't say that 'The Transformation' broke any new ground. If anything, it recapitulated pretty much every previous ''Fringe'' element—bio-weapons sales, telepathic communication, Massive Dynamics, airplane crashes, etc.—but did so in a way that was energetic, tense, and even a little emotional." SFScope columnist Sarah Stegall had difficulty "suspend ng herdisbelief" with the science behind Bowman's rapid transformation. Though she thought it was "sweet" that Scott's proposal "echo dthe real-life recent marriage between Anna Torv and Mark Valley," Stegall was pleased that the series could now move onto another storyline.

References

;Works cited *

External links

"The Transformation"
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Transformation, The 2009 American television episodes Fringe (season 1) episodes