Minority Report 1.1: Boding Well

Minority Report debuted on Fox tonight.   It's based on the 1956 short story by Philip K. Dick (a pure masterpiece) and 2002 movie by Steven Spielberg (quite good), but other than pointing that out, I'll try to say little as possible about these previous versions when I review this series, because comparisons to earlier incarnations aren't usually helpful.  The work under scrutiny must stand on its own two or more feet.

Yeah, I'm going to review the series because the debut tonight was also quite good.   The genius of Dick's idea is still there, and plays well in the pilot:  pre-cogs (three of them) can see the future, including crimes and murders.   Society once used them to arrest people seen in the future to be murderers, but stopped for a variety of reasons, including that the pre-cog visions weren't always right.  Indeed, the name of the narrative comes from a situation in which one of the pre-cogs sees something different from the other two - hence, a minority report of a future crime.

Though the pre-cogs as an official team have been disbanded, they're still very much alive.   The pilot centers on one of the pre-cogs, Dash, and the alliance he initiates with a detective, Lara, to stop a heinous mass murder.   Their success heralds a continuing relationship - but the going won't be easy, especially since the other pre-cogs see some dire dangers in what Dash is doing.

This is a nice set-up, and the environment of 2065 Washington DC where the action takes place is well sketched.   In fact, that part is so well rendered that our futuristic detective Lara, with all kinds of bio-enhancements at her disposal, would be interesting and fun to follow, even if there were no pre-cogs around.  But there are, and this adds to the foundation of a what looks like an appealing series.

Kevin Falls, who did such a good job with the late, lamented (by me and other discerning viewers) time-travel series Journeyman on NBC a few years ago, is Executive Producer for Minority Report, which also bodes well.

See that?  I can see something of the future, too, and I know for a fact that I'll be watching every episode of the new series - unless, wait, is there a minority report on that?



not pre-cog, but pretty strange