New TV series Minority Report picks up 11 years after the film and PreCrime ended. One of the Precogs Dash is struggling to lead a normal life whilst having visions of the future. Determined to use his gift for good he pairs up with a cop to stop crimes before they happen.

I actually saw the first 20 minutes of the pilot at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. I was impressed with what I saw and couldn’t wait to see the rest. It did not disappoint. Whilst the first half of the episode dealt with establishing the plot and background, the second half lent more time to the interaction between the two leads Meagan Good (Detective Lara Vega) and  Stark Sands (Dash).

Their relationship is one of the best things about Minority Report. Whilst Dash is very childlike and inexperienced Lara is strong and independent. She almost takes on a sisterly role. I’m hoping that they stick with that direction instead of forcing a romantic relationship between the two as so many TV series do these days. Good plays Lara well; you can really believe her as a badass cop. But it’s when she shows her softer side to Dash that she really shines. Sands is equally brilliant in his role, really capturing Dash’s innocence and vulnerability. The unlikely hero, he is such a likeable character and I can’t wait to see more of him and his development.

The secondary cast include Laura Regan as Precog Agatha, Wilmer Valderrama as Detective Will Blake, Li Jun Li as crime scene technician Akeela and Daniel London reprising his role of Wally The Caretaker from the film. They don’t get much screen time but that’s par for the course in a pilot. The charming Valderrama probably stands out amongst the group as the thorn in Lara’s side. There’s a lot of sexual tension between the two and it’s something that I’m sure they’ll explore in future episodes.

The story in the pilot was a standard murder investigation which tied into the PreCrime programme. It was interesting enough but I feel the episode was more focused on the characters of Lara and Dash than the case they were trying to crack, not that that is a bad thing. The energy will obviously shift in future episodes when they are trying to prevent killings as opposed to solve them.  A big part of solving and preventing crimes will be the technology. We already saw a lot of it in the pilot and at their SDCC panel the cast and executive producers confirmed that there would be even more in forthcoming episodes. I’m not a technology geek personally but even I was impressed with the futuristic gadgets and I’m pleased that they’re incorporating it into the investigations.

Other than the crime solving there is also the secondary storyline of Dash’s brother Arthur who seems to be in trouble. I actually thought this was the most interesting part of the pilot and I’d wished they’d spent a little more time on it. Nick Zano has already been cast as Arthur so we’ll obviously be seeing him at some point which is a good sign, and I look forward to watching that story unfold.

Minority Report is off to a strong start but it is a Sci-Fi drama on Fox and they don’t tend to do well. But with the element of crime solving people may be more inclined to tune in. The pilot was definitely entertaining, and with the cool tech and skilled cast it has real potential to be a great show.

Rating- 3.5/5