Re: Fringe - By J.J. Abrams
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Originally Posted by Ray H
I was a bit confused (well, not really) about the ending of the last episode. Walter says that he invented a time machine, but they use it to break a guy out of prison?
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Walter was
trying to build a time machine. Something that could reach out and snatch a person or object from anywhere in
space and time. It wasn't the kind of device that you used to send
yourself somewhere. You set it up and it pulled your target object to you. (You have the machine, but go nowhere. The person/object goes somewhere, but has no machine.) But we don't know if he actually pulled it off, because he never tested it.
Obviously a machine that could grab a renowned doctor from somewhere in Europe in 1936 and transport him to North America circa 1970 could have also grab somebody in Europe in 1970 and transport him across the ocean. This kind of time machine is also necessarily a teleporter.
These guys needed Walter's machine for that other ability - because it basically let them teleport a target out of an otherwise impregnable prison. They weren't interested in it as a time machine, anymore than a bank robber who steals a taxi to use as a getaway car is interested in earning extra money by hauling fares. (And for all we know, it also acted as a time machine. Maybe they snatched the target out of prison from a few hours or days ago.)
Regards,
Joe