TV Review: 'Fringe'

BEFORE WE LET ourselves get too excited about "Fringe" let's remember the cardinal rule for a first episode: It is no predictor of how good or bad the series may be.

That said, "Fringe" looks like a pretty good bet to give us the willies, creep us out — and pull us into each episode as if by mind control.

The premise packs a punch:

In today's world, areas of "fringe science" (like mind control, teleportation, astral projection and genetic engineering) aren't just wild ideas, but may actually be happening, practiced by a sinister, billion-dollar corporation called Massive Dynamic (slogan: "What do we do? What DON'T we do!").

Befitting a series that counts J.J. Abrams ("Lost") among the creators, "Fringe" begins with a commercial airliner in distress.

But these passengers should be so lucky as to crash on a whacked-out tropical island.

Instead, Flight 627 from Hamburg makes a perfect landing at Boston's Logan Airport. By then, questions are flying.

FBI special agent Olivia Dunham is among those summoned to investigate the plane parked on the tarmac, along with her partner (and lover), special agent John Scott.

Then Scott is injured terribly. He seems near death.

The rest of the episode occupies itself with Olivia's intrepid efforts to save John's life, which involve a trip to Baghdad, a dangerous intake of drugs and the acquisition of a cow. (What does she do? What DOESN'T she do!)

Along the way, she enlists two helpmates:

Dr. Walter Bishop, a scientist of Einsteinian proportions who was deemed insane 17 years ago and, since then, has been institutionalized. And Bishop's estranged son, Peter, a sarcastic gadabout who reluctantly agrees to provide the supervision his father requires.

Peter is startled to learn from Olivia that his father's research specialty years ago wasn't toothpaste, as he had always been told, but far-flung frontiers of fringe science, even including reanimation.

"So you're telling me my father was Dr. Frankenstein," Peter marvels.

In a tidy coincidence, Bishop's lab partner in those days was William Bell, who later became the ethically dubious founder of Massive Dynamic. Are Bell and his company the driving force behind The Pattern — a string of catastrophic events that threaten national security and, beyond that, the human race?

By the episode's end, haunting questions have been posed, pieces of the narrative are put in place, and the cast has proved itself.

As Olivia, newcomer Anna Torv is suitably authoritative or vulnerable, as the situation requires. Joshua Jackson ("Dawson's Creek") establishes Peter as cocky but caring. And John Noble ("The Lord of the Rings") is perfect as Dr. Bishop, the not-so-mad but scattered genius.

Meanwhile, viewers are treated to a couple of sly twists that should bring them back for the second episode.

Based on its opener, "Fringe" does action, intrigue, mind-blowing science and horror-film ick. It even does humor and romance. What DOESN'T it do?

» "Fringe" premieres Tue., Sept. 9, at 8 p.m. on Fox

Written by Frasier Moore/AP
Photos by Ben Mark Holzberg/FOX

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