Fringe (series)

Although it does not become apparent until season 3, time travel is an essential element in the series. In fact I would argue that fringe shows one of the most consistent depictions of time travel.

For once, it does not mix it up with parallel universes, although they both come up as central to the plot. In addition, it does not shy away from the paradox and builds it into the story.

There is a first time-travel loop, in which Peter and Walter send back to the past the pieces of the machine, for subsequent iterations of themselves to find them, build the time machine again, and try to use it to get to a different outcome than the mutual destruction of the parallel universes. It is not known how many times this loop takes place, but eventually they manage to aver destruction, but as they have broken the self-contained time loop (which essentially is very much like the one in Terminator), history "mysteriously" rewrites itself with Peter disappear from the altered timeline (only to be brought back by Olivia's and Walter's love for him).

In the second time trip Walter jumps to the future with the Observer child to prevent the Observer invasion in October 2015. Again, a change in the past makes history rewrite itself and Walter disappears retroactively in the altered timeline from 2015. (In anticipation, he prepares for Peter to receive a White Tulip and a video tape (which we don't know whether it made it to the altered timeline, as we only see it when Peter discovers it in the unaltered timeline).

So let's score Fringe as a whole. It is indeed about genuine time travel, so the first digit can be a 3. There is some sciency element behind it, as wormholes are placed at the basis of the possibility to travel in time, so this can be a 2. Finally, the paradox is acknowledged and there is an attempt of addressing it, albeit by giving the universe the mysterious power of rewriting its timelines as a consequence of changes in the future. This gives the third digit a 2. There is no visual representation of the actual trip trhough time but some mention of the path and a glimpse of the open gate, so the fourth digit after the point can be a 1.

322.1 in total...

Do you agree?