Fringe

William Bell’s first invention was a prototype nanoelectric circuit. This device allowed for “the translation of neural impulses into electronic data….” Walter Bishop was the true creator however. In the near future, an apocalyptic event occurs. In 1991, it leads to a series of causes and effects that lead two dimensions to end up struggling for survival in the universe and it appears that unless human capacities can be developed before this event arrives, we will lose. Olivia has begun to have flashes of reality in between the two different dimensions suggesting that the merging is intensifying.

Walter mentioned that he built the time machine to go into the past and find a cure for an illness plaguing Peter. Mind you, Walter’s last name is Bishop and Peter was the rock upon which Jesus built his church. He writes in ZFT, “Our children are our greatest resource, we must nurture them and protect them. We must prepare them so they can one day protect us.” This has both a personal and larger meaning. Olivia and Peter, as children, have both been subjected to experiments to improve their paranormal powers.

The time machine, Walter corrected Astrid by saying it does not kill you, but instead does something far worse. This worse is what has happened to Walter’s mind. So, Walter had to convert a portion of his mind and memories into electronic data using his nanoelectric circuit and transfer himself as William Bell into a supercomputer. Building his body from the ground up, he created robotic technology to house his mind. He then proceeded to begin the process of experimentation that would hopefully produce human beings capable of withstanding this dimensional rift and conquer it.

So what happened to Walter Bishop in his lab in 1991 that left him in an insane asylum for the next 17 years? Walter’s past experiments with space time were catching up with him and his personality was beginning to disintegrate. Going mad, but knowing that he had to do something, he preserved the mission to conquer ZFT and part of his mind in William Bell. Wiliam Bell serves as the farmer who is preparing and cultivating the fields and Walter is more of the Jesus figure who will harvest and save. William Bell only includes Walter’s most practical side, which is now missing from his perspective. Bell’s personality believes that the logical course of action is to wage a scientific war. Walter remaining personality on the other hand seems to be the more intuitive and child-like, and hoping for a more idealistic outcome.