In this scientific day and age, impossibility is a quality eaten away by time. The notion that something cannot be done is giving way to the moral debate over whether or not it should be done, and beneath that debate is the cold pulse of scientific advancement willing to do anything to sure up man's mastery of the physical domain. It is in this emerging netherworld of ethics and technology beyond imagination that Fringe resides, applying classical horror and fantasy story telling techniques to the realms of science, removing the impossibility from the occasion and going straight for our modern day sensibilities of techno-paranoia and fear where the question isn't "is it possible?" as much as "is anything impossible?" Keep your eye right here for an examination of some of the technology and theories at the heart of JJ Abrams' new show Fringe.
Fringe Glossary
An examination of some of the technology and theories at the heart of JJ Abrams' new show Fringe.
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October 14, 2008
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Transmorgrification
"The process or result of changing from one appearance, state, or phase to another." Transmogrification is at the center of perhaps the most famous branch of Fringe science: Alchemy. Considered to be the precursor to modern age chemistry, Alchemy was an occult discipline with a couple of aims: one - the discovery and formulation of substances possessing unusual or even supernatural properties; two - the ability to transform one substance into an other. More than a couple of rich and greedy rulers employed Alchemists with the aim of attaining immortality, or that old favorite of turning lead to gold.
In Fringe, Transmogrification and Alchemy are the first elements of true Fringe science to appear. The elements produced by Morgan Steig have the nasty side effect of turning flesh into a goopy translucent substance. As the result of being exposed to some of Steig's Alchemy like experiments, John Scott experienced a bit of Transmogrification himself.
Arguably, Transmogrification would have played a role in Christopher Penrose's rapidly growing offspring in "The Same Old Story." The quickly growing baby violated the principle known as "Conservation of Mass' apparently converting thin air into protein for tissue growth.
