Altered States/WMG

The movie Altered States is the backstory of Fringe, with the names and dates changed to protect the innocent.

• Walter Bishop --> Eddie Jessop
• Nina Sharp --> Emily Bishop
• William Bell --> Arthur Rosenberg

However, through the Literary Agent Hypothesis, the characters of Nina Sharp and Elizabeth, Walter's wife, were merged into a composite character, transfering her affections from William Bell/Arthur Rosenberg to Walter Bishop/Eddie Jessop. Bishop/Jessop harvested cortexiphan from his own spinal fluid after his encounter with the primordial consciousness in the movie. Arthur/Bell went on to found Massive Dynamic with Emily/Nina, but Bishop/Jessop was made permanently insane by the experiment and was confined to St. Claire's.