There may be a good show buried deep within "Fringe" (8 p.m. Tuesday, WPGH), but the 90-minute premiere episode is a mess -- and an overstuffed, head-scratching bore, too.

Created and written by J.J. Abrams ("Alias," "Lost") with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci ("Alias," "Mission: Impossible III"), "Fringe" begins on a plane, like "Lost." This plane doesn't crash but the show makes preposterous leaps of logic that "Lost" didn't attempt until well after its pilot episode.

Everyone on the plane is inflicted with a toxin that causes their skin to melt. The co-pilot's jaw droops on its way to breaking off. But somehow the plane lands safely on auto-pilot in Boston, where FBI special agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) begins investigating what happened with her partner/lover John Scott (Mark Valley).

"Fringe" first jumps the rails as the lovebirds, in the midst of an investigation, start talking about their relationship.

"You said you loved me in the motel," Olivia says to John. "That was a big deal."

Their sweet nothings give way to horror after an explosion and exposure to the same toxin from the plane leaves John looking like one of those Visible Man models from middle school. Olivia tracks down a mad, locked-up scientist, Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), and gets to him through his cocky, estranged son, Peter (Joshua Jackson, "Dawson's Creek").

A combination of poor writing and poor performance dooms Jackson, who's forced to refer condescendingly to Olivia as "sweetheart" multiple times. That dialogue might make sense for a character on "Mad Men" but not for a 30-year-old guy in a modern thriller about fringe science.

And yes, ultimately, that's what "Fringe" is about but it sure does meander before it makes clear that the series will explore "pseudo science" such as mind control, teleportation, re-animation and psychic abilities.

"The human brain generates a quantifiable electric field," Dr. Bishop says. "I posited in 1976 that's it's possible to synchronize the fields of two distinct minds to allow the sharing of information across the unconscious state, like string between two tin cans."

From here Olivia enters "Altered States" territory as she is shot up with drugs, gets wired up, submerges her body in a tank of water and enters some sort of unconcious dream plane where her mind melds with John's brain long enough for them to have a brief conversation.

There's also a cow in the lab because it's an "ethical test subject," with DNA similar to a human's, according to Dr. Bishop. Producers assured TV critics in July that the cow will have a recurring role.

In an attempt to create puzzlement among viewers, before each commercial break, green glowing images are displayed briefly: a butterly, a leaf, a hand with six fingers. What do they mean? Who knows.

The cow, the dunk tank and the green glowing glyphs are tangents that only delay the introduction of the "Fringe" mythology that, if it isn't frustratingly drawn out for seasons on end, may be the show's salvation.

The toxin was apparently developed in the lab of Massive Dynamic, a huge conglomerate (pay close attention and you'll spot their logo on the engine of the plane early in the episode). Its founder once worked with Dr. Bishop before the doctor went to the loony bin. The company's executive director, Nina Sharp (Blair Brown, in a casting nod to "Altered States"), has a Massive Dynamic-created robotic arm. At the end of the "Fringe" premiere, viewers get intriguing information about Sharp and what goes on in the Massive Dynamic labs.

That closing scene gives me some hope that "Fringe" may be able to pull itself into something more coherent in future episodes.