Peter Weller Talks About Guest Starring on Fringe: Part I

First Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek and now Peter Weller of Robocop — Fringe's guest stars are becoming a who's who of Geek Nation and we love it.

Some geeks were really happy to have the opportunity to talk to Peter Weller today about Fringe's upcoming episode, "White Tulip." While Fringe was always tension-laden, last week's episode, this week's, and probably next week's are going to be laden with an extra layer of tension as fans anticipate when and how Peter will learn of his alternate-worldly origins.

A word to the wise: there are some spoilers ahead.

In a recent press release, FOX tells us that Peter Weller's character is "a very powerful man who has tremendous energy with severe consequences." The tagline itself is enough to make fans' eyes bug out: "Fringe Division has faced many dangers before. But never one who could strike anywhere in any time." According to the little information we got through the press release and in the promo, Peter Weller's character, Alistair Peck, can time travel and has something to do with sucking the electrical energy out of people.

But the episode isn't only about a monster-of-the-week, but rather is a story about love. The episode is about love, the desire of love, and the loss of people you love.

Rings a bell? Well, it should, as Alistair Peck's story parallels that of Walter Bishop. While the latter, having lost his own son, went through a portal into the alternate universe to save the life of the alternate version of his son, the former is going to go back in time to save his fiancée from dying. But while Walter had nothing to do with the cause of Peter's death (that we know of, of course), Peck's involvement in his fiancée's death is direct. Peter Weller explained that she died because of a mistake he made and, even more poignantly, after a misunderstanding that the two had. It's no wonder then that all Peck wants is to go back in time to the only person who ever meant anything to him.

The romantic and moving storyline were the major challenge for Weller. He pointed out that one of the reasons that Fringe is such an amazing show isn't only because of the quality of the sci-fi in it, but also because of the heavy focus on the human side of the story. Typically, sci-fi movies can have pages and pages of script focused on action, complete with chases and gun scenes. Weller found it challenging and incredibly interesting to have, as an integral part of the script for an episode of a sci-fi show, four pages of explanation and dialog that are not only extremely well written, but that are dramatic scenes that justify the love inspiring the protagonist's choices, as well as his need to pursue his path of action and his attachment to his family.

Article Author: Sahar

The author of The Spirit Within Club, Sahar was born the first of three siblings and the first of eight cousins. Thrust in the role of head of the brood at a very early age, she honed her imagination by creating stories and plotlines the eight of them could play to all summer long. …

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