In a nutshell, Massive Dynamics may or may not be the bad guys. Formerly Prometheus Corp. according to early script reviewers, Massive Dynamics is a multi-billion dollar high-tech company that exists in the Fringe universe. Massive Dynamics was founded by Dr. William Bell (former partner of Dr. Walter Bishop).Massive Dynamics' slogan is:
What do we do? . . . What don't we do.Reviewers of the leaked pilot (without getting too specific) paint Massive Dynamics as a manufacturer of modern miracles, a shadowy, mysterious, all-powerful corporation and secretive defense contractor with hidden agendas, connections to "the pattern", etc.
What makes Massive Dynamics of special interest to online fans of Fringe is Bad Robot's track record of using fictional business entities--The Hanso Foundation and Tagurato Corp. for example--as vehicles to blur the line between reality and the fictions of the Lost and Cloverfield universes. Although often referred to as Alternate Reality Games, or ARGs, what Bad Robot has done with the web doesn't quite meet the definition of ARG since they've yet to award anyone a prize. Instead, Bad Robot has treated the internet as a bridge between universes by casting the internet, our internet, to play itself in these fictional alternate realities.
Is there an ARExperience planned for Fringe? Will JJ Abrams & Co. (and FOX) surprise the fans a full fledged ARG? Has the Fringe universe already hatched a website or video or posting just waiting to be found? It's anyone's guess, but Abrams fans experienced in the art of finding online portals to Bad Robot's television and movie productions will tell you that Massive Dynamics is a good place to start looking.
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7 Comments:
ARGs usually don't award prizes.
Also, ARGs--many, anyway--aren't confined to the Internet.
massivedynamics.com exists but according to whois.net it was registered all the way back in 2006 and expires september 2008 ... its not like fox doesnt have the capital to buy a domain from somebd but I guess, we will have to see :)
Anon: You might be right about the "prizes" bit. Still, a "Game" to my mind has a well defined destination, or goal, whereas BR's AREs seem to be more geared toward adding depth for the sake of marketing than finding the golden goose.
No prizes in the Cloverfield ARE? I guess the Slusho! laptops and Rob's Going Away Party were part of the unreal?
Welllll, the laptops were prizes in a video contest for Slusho and rob's going away party was a sweepstakes for people in NYC, both of which were only peripherally related to the ARE that we players were immersed in for months. In other words, apples and oranges.
Update: Anon's disputing my "prize" included in ARG assertion inspired me to ask for clarification in Unfiction. I found many of the replies interesting and informative, so worth a look if you're at all curious about what to expect from a Bad Robot ARG or just new to the concept. But beware, this rabbit hole is deep.
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