View Full Version : The Pen is Mightier
RETLAW
10-01-2010, 05:55 PM
The pen references are adding up (especially of late). Let's examine.
"The Box"
"The pen is mightier" graffiti (alleyway, outside deaf robbers apt.) Followed immediately by alt-Olivia speaking: "It's Dunham. Got a pen?"
"The pen is mightier than the sword" is a now famous adage that means it is more effective to change the hearts and minds of people than to try to win a war by force. This line originally appeared in the play Richelieu by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839.
"Olivia"
Peter being debriefed by Senator Van Horn. The senators pen runs out.
Peter offers help: "I know a trick to fix a dying pen." The senator awkwardly declines the offer.
"Northwest Passage"
Sheriff Ann Mathis (who wants to believe strange phenomena in the world) has a pen given to her by her partner that has the saying "Find the crack" printed on it (a reference to her wanting to believe). She says the saying on the pen reminds her that "in the darkness, there's always a crack, it's how the light gets in". Peter brings up the gift of the pen later in testing Mathis to check that she's not a shapeshifter.
At the end of the episode Mathis tells Peter she found her place after much hardship (her family was murdered) and he too will find his place. She gives him her favorite pen as a gift.
"The Same Old Story."
Dr. Claus Penrose conducts experiments, which consisted of stealing the pituitary gland from the brain of living women, were to keep his "son", Christopher alive. (Dr. Penrose is also alluded to in the "Pilot" episode.)
On a flyer, opposite the Massive Dynamic Building, a rebus of a pen and a rose, alludes to Dr. Claus Penrose.
..........................................
Thoughts, theories, additions??
jophan
10-01-2010, 06:52 PM
Dr. Penrose was also referenced in "Of Human Action", with Nina's reference to the Penrose-Carson experiments.
RETLAW
10-01-2010, 08:18 PM
Put the "the pen is mightier" through an anagram server and all I got that seemed remotely usable was "meeting their ship" so I don't think that easteregg was an anagram.
Though I think reinforced with Alt-Olivia's "got a pen?" standing next to it, was a clue (especially on the heels of last episode's "I know a trick to fix a dying pen.")
Tritium
10-02-2010, 02:49 PM
I immediately thought of Sean Connery on SNL Celebrity Jeopardy.
"...the question is, does it really work?"
:P
Kind_of_Addicted
10-02-2010, 11:33 PM
The pen references are adding up (especially of late). Let's examine.
"The Box"
"The pen is mightier" graffiti (...). "The pen is mightier than the sword" is a now famous adage that means it is more effective to change the hearts and minds of people than to try to win a war by force.
"Olivia"
Peter: I know a trick to fix a dying pen. (...)
"Northwest Passage"
Sheriff Ann Mathis (who wants to believe strange phenomena in the world) has a pen given to her by her partner that has the saying "Find the crack" printed on it (..). She says the saying on the pen reminds her that "in the darkness, there's always a crack, it's how the light gets in". (...) At the end of the episode Mathis tells Peter she found her place after much hardship (her family was murdered) and he too will find his place. She gives him her favorite pen as a gift.
"The Same Old Story."
Dr. Claus Penrose conducts experiments, which consisted of stealing the pituitary gland from the brain of living women, were to keep his "son", Christopher alive.
Well, beyond the obvious possibility that we may soon have a huge-amount-of-pens related case (it's Fringe :haha:), what you said about the meaning of "The pen is mightier" strikes me as the most reasonable explanation for the "mistery" - what I mean is that maybe someone :ninja: is telling us that...
... hearts (or emotions) are mightier than anything else, even force - can it be alluding to the glue that keeps a team together, or directly to Walter, Peter and Olivia?... How many cases do we have where people chose to do someting based on their heart? For instance, wasn't Penrose "stealing" pituitary glands from living women in order to save his son - can't that be perceived as heart over science?? Wasn't that also why Walter "kidnapped" Peter? For instance, in "No Brainer" - I remember that right at the end, when Peter says to Olivia he doesn't understand why the kid protected his father, she simply states "Because it's his father". Heart :o. Sheriff Mathis... she wanted to believe, in her heart, that there were strange phenomena happening. Not only was her connection to her partner a :love0050: connection (heart again), I also think that she wanted Peter to believe that someday he would also find his place, possibly after being forced to question his own belief (which was what she ended up doing).
... and/or...
... it's actually a matter of perception being more powerfull that anything else, if we imagine the pen as the mind. We are all pretty much aware of how important perception is to Fringe. Probably due to the number of times words/expressions such as sleep, wake up, dreams, imagine and think are referenced, some of us Fringies still think that THIS, all of it, it's happening in someone else's mind and that maybe not everything is as real as it seems... :confused0006:(as long as it's not Gene's, I'm fine with it!!).
Things only exist because we percieve them as real - our mind constantly sees and analyzes our world (or what we believe to be our world), then recreating it into knowledge, but that knowledge is only useful to us if we accept and believe that the things we constantly see and analyze are real.
So, maybe someone :observer: :confused: is telling us that the one who masters that alliance (perception and belief) will have some sort of edge during the impending war... On a way lighter and easier note, a pen is used to write, because it usually contains ink, which allows, for instance, something to be transposed from an idea into a fact, a reality. And maybe the mightiest will be able to write something new...
queenbeesteph
10-03-2010, 12:35 AM
The thing that interested me the most about Peter's "pen fixing" is the word fix. Now I might just be suffering from some Lost-withdrawl (Jack was always "fixing" things), but it seems I hear "fix" a lot lately.It was the "Olivia" quote by Lincoln Lee that started it for me.
LINCOLN LEE: Liv, I'm going through it myself. Believe me, I know that the treatment can feel worse than the disease (from Lost on the Blast Door)... But they're just trying to fix you. We all just want to help you get bet-- (Olivia points a gun) Liv? Peter can "fix" the pen. Peter tells Broyles if they can "fix" the broken shape-shifter device Fringe could be saved. The Observer tells Walter he must "fix" Peter (after the rescue). Walter wants to build a device to go back in time to get Alfred Gross to "fix" sick Peter. And there are many, many more references to fixing things and people. So when Peter said that about the pen I wondered if Peter is a "fix" for something. That is somehow is power. That's what makes him "important" to the Observers.
jade86
10-03-2010, 01:38 AM
Am i the only one who thinks that all the coffee peter drinks is somehow related to "sleep", "wake up", "dreams"? In general, coffee helps to remain awake. I begin to think that maybe there something behind the motive for which peter drinks all that coffee!
Oh, and i agree with you queenbeesteph about peter being THE FIX ;)
Mutsie
10-03-2010, 02:02 AM
Expression: "The Fix is in" = the contest is rigged...i.e. the outcome is known since either some or all of the contestants and/or officials have been bribed for a certain outcome......
:confused0006:
:observer::tiphat:
empty_encounters
10-03-2010, 02:02 AM
Maybe Altlivia will kill the next person by stabbing them through the neck with a pen. That would be kind of cool.
Mutsie
10-03-2010, 02:04 AM
Maybe Altlivia will kill the next person by stabbing them through the neck with a pen. That would be kind of cool.
..than the pen is indeed mightier :haha:!
:observer::tiphat:
RETLAW
10-03-2010, 02:26 AM
Maybe Altlivia will kill the next person by stabbing them through the neck with a pen. That would be kind of cool.
:haha:
The Joker stabbing man with pen: "The pen, is truly mightier than the sword."
(- Tim Burton's "Batman")
I'm almost expecting "The Plateau" to have awkward phrase with the word "pen" in it.
Walternate: "Take her to the penitentiary, as she's found out our penultimate plan. No pen pals for you Dunham!" (while tossing handfuls of BICs at her).
chamelean75
10-03-2010, 02:37 AM
My interpretation of "the pen is mightier"
This has no relation to Fringe per se but when I hear, "the pen is mightier", I think of 2 things.
1) Compared to things written on a computer, things written in pen are "mightier" because they can't be altered, at least not altered easily. Also, when something is written in pen, there is only one original copy and that makes hand written things special.
2) In general, I associate pens with words and words with ideas. You can infect people with ideas and change things.
I don't think my interpretations of "the pen is mightier" will have any bearings on Fringe but that is what I think about instantly when I hear that quote.
SlipKid
10-03-2010, 02:06 PM
I immediately thought of Sean Connery on SNL Celebrity Jeopardy.
"...the question is, does it really work?"
:P
:haha: I'm glad I'm not the only one, I quoted that skit to the peson I was watching with as soon as I saw the graffiti.
This definitely can't be an coincidence. Maybe it's referring to what the Observers write in their notebooks. They write (using pens) in seemingly different codes that certain people can decode (Walter could decode a letter in August). I think that everything the Observers are writing down is going to have an outcome on the war.
jade86
10-04-2010, 05:11 PM
"what was written will come to pass" :D
jophan
10-04-2010, 05:13 PM
It could mean that our side should hack the AU's communications and start a propaganda campaign to promote cooperation instead of covert war. Peter's sort of a celebrity; he could make a speech.
They'll never bring this up, but if Walter's window worked by capturing errant photons, our side ought to be able to use the same tech to tap a fiber-optic line.
Still sticking to my "Peter's strange PEN collecting fetish" idea... :shhh:
:haha::haha::haha:
LordManhammer
10-04-2010, 06:07 PM
"what was written will come to pass" :D
That's exactly what came to my mind also!
Okay, in all seriousness, I believe that Peter will fix the dying pen that is Olivia's mind. I was thinking about all his touch power hints and came to this conclusion.
If Olivia is the PEN then perhaps Peter's future is like the PAPER that the story is written on. Because what use is a pen without the paper it is written on. Or perhaps Peter is the one doing the writing and the universe is the paper. In any case, if Olivia is the PEN then whoever holds her has the power.
:confused0006:
RETLAW
10-04-2010, 11:58 PM
"The Box" really has a pen trioka. Interesting reinforcement of that image. 3 separate pen references going essentially simultaneously in the same short scene.
After Alt-Olivia leaves deaf robber #3's apartment, she goes into the alley and makes a phone call to Newton standing next to a door.
That has graffiti scrawled on it that reads: "The pen is mightier"
Olivia speaks: "It's Dunham. Got a pen?"
Newton: "I do now."
Deaf robber in foreground of the scene - with a pen - as they are speaking:
http://www.longislanddigital.com/penFring302b.jpg
http://www.longislanddigital.com/penFring302.jpg
"The Box" really has a pen trioka. Interesting reinforcement of that image. 3 separate pen references going essentially simultaneously in the same short scene.
After Alt-Olivia leaves deaf robber #3's apartment, she goes into the alley and makes a phone call to Newton standing next to a door.
That has graffiti scrawled on it that reads: "The pen is mightier"
Olivia speaks: "It's Dunham. Got a pen?"
Newton: "I do now."
Deaf robber in foreground of the scene - with a pen - as they are speaking:
http://www.longislanddigital.com/penFring302b.jpg
http://www.longislanddigital.com/penFring302.jpg
Okay Retlaw, you have done it! (I think...)
He was reading her lips and wrote down her name, he used it to find her to give her the box, but maybe this little piece of evidence will be damaging. Someone will find that piece of paper and make some sort of connection. That is quiet a mighty pen.
Joe Curwen
10-05-2010, 02:33 PM
By itself, "the pen" is an interesting allusion, but I think that we are meant to examine it together with the episode's other allusion, "the line".
The last half of season 2 showed the terrible consequences when Walter crossed the line to kidnap Peter. In this episode we see Walter come full circle: in the episode "Peter" he arrogantly dismisses Dr. Warren when she quotes Oppenheimer's warning about crossing the line, and now it is he himself who is invoking Oppenheimer.
"The pen is mightier than the sword" is a metaphor for the power of the press to limit - to circumscribe - the actions of government. The wielder of the pen creates the lines which government cannot cross.
At its base, Fringe is a story about science gone out of control, where all the lines put in place to safeguard us against its consequences have been rubbed out. Peter's power to "fix the dying pen" is the power to reestablish these lines, to put science back under control. This time, its the power of the pen as applied to science instead of government.
The interesting thing is that the power of the pen can be misused. As Bell said, only those who are willing to cross the line can know how far you can go. If Peter has been given "the power of the pen" then he too will be tempted to cross the line just to see where the line should have been made. Its a catch-22 and a fantastic direction to the story. Hats off to the writers!
--
Joe
jade86
10-05-2010, 03:31 PM
Here is the pen!
http://fringe-forum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=236099#post236099
Made this in honor the mighty pens, and Peter's gallant effort to save them all... I have this up in my art thread too, but Made it after lurking in the last two threads both here and from 301 Olivia! :P
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy346/amclaussen/boxopens.jpg
AWESOME Promo! It's a Pentastic! :haha:
renni
10-05-2010, 04:54 PM
What may look like an ordinary pen can be a tool for espionage. There are miniature cameras and recording devices that look like pens. Lethal poisons have been delivered in pen form and transmitters to detonate bombs have been hidden in pens. If an explosive were powerful in tiny amounts, you could also put a bomb in a pen.
RETLAW
10-05-2010, 09:24 PM
Here is the pen!
http://fringe-forum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=236099#post236099
Awesome! I knew we were going to get more!
BTW it's a ^SPOLIER^ so don't click if you don't want to see scenes from "The Plateau"?
RETLAW
10-05-2010, 09:27 PM
OK so there's major clue and explanation regarding the "pen" issue in the spoilers section, for those interested.
eveybane
10-06-2010, 04:25 AM
I'm not sure if I'm remembering this right (or if it's even significant), but wasn't Peter writing with a pen before he and Olivia went out for drinks in "Jacksonville"?
Again, it's probably not significant, lol. :P
jade86
10-06-2010, 04:30 AM
Mmmm....
....Is it a coincidence that in the third episode there are references to the pen and then Peter appears in olivia's vision? A possible connection peter/pen? :confused0006:
BigRube0925
10-06-2010, 02:00 PM
I've been "observing" this page for the last couple of weeks. So forgive me if I am not up to the standards of many of you!
I keep thinking about the pen reference, and I haven't really heard anyone reference the typewriter the Alt Olivia is sending/receiving messages on. What if the "pen" is a metaphor for the lesser technology in our universe vs the more advanced technology (typewriter) in the alternate universe. I would love to read some of your opinions on this.
No fancy signature sorry :P
jophan
10-06-2010, 04:18 PM
I don't think I'd call a typewriter more advanced. They're antiques on our side, too.
BigRube0925
10-06-2010, 04:24 PM
I don't think I'd call a typewriter more advanced. They're antiques on our side, too.
Certainly more advanced than a pen though lol.
RETLAW
10-06-2010, 05:01 PM
I've been "observing" this page for the last couple of weeks. So forgive me if I am not up to the standards of many of you!
I keep thinking about the pen reference, and I haven't really heard anyone reference the typewriter the Alt Olivia is sending/receiving messages on. What if the "pen" is a metaphor for the lesser technology in our universe vs the more advanced technology (typewriter) in the alternate universe. I would love to read some of your opinions on this.
No fancy signature sorry :P
I actually find the typewriter to be anachronistic technology. There seems to be a lot of that going on, and it fits a sort of art deco flair, if you will. Zeppelins and other retro culture mix in with supercomputers and advanced weaponry.
They seem to primarily use advance touch-screen computers yet the typewriter is used by the agents. I think it is an exception and maybe a little tounge-in-cheek, as if our latest CIA agents would be using a WWII short wave radio to report.
Obviously, it's not a "normal" typewriter, so its more of a case, much like the 1930s-style digital phone that I have from Pottery Barn.
I think the pen references are in their own context. There are simply too many of them and linked to key characters. Having seen the spoilers for 3.03, the next episode will add much discussion to the "pen" issue :happy15:
RETLAW
10-07-2010, 04:55 PM
All of you watching "The Plateau" tonight keep an eye out for pen-centricity!
smebro
10-09-2010, 01:49 AM
There was nothing but pen-centricity in 'The Plateau'
You, sir, are a genius.
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