Fringe follows the FBI's Fringe Science Division — FBI Agent Olivia Dunham, fringe scientist Walter Bishop, Walter's son Peter Bishop, and lab assistant Astrid — as they investigate bizarre occurrences related to the fringes of current scientific knowledge. Last season left us with a bioterrorist group, an alternate dimension, and supersoldier program to prepare us for the looming interdimensional war:

The Pattern

The FBI's Fringe Science Division was set up to investigate the Pattern, a series of bizarre occurrences happening all over the world. From a contagion that causes a plane full of people to literally melt to children disappearing and then reappearing years later, apparently unaged, the Pattern has been described as a series of experiments where the whole world is the laboratory.

It becomes increasingly clear that the Pattern is linked to Zerstörung durch Fortschritte der Technologie ("Destruction through Technological Progress") better known as ZFT. More on them below.

Walter Bishop

Agent Olivia Dunham quickly links one incidence of the Pattern with Walter Bishop. Once a respected Harvard biochemist, Walter worked for the US government on developing "fringe" sciences — teleportation, genetic engineering, and the like. But after a lab accident killed one of his research assistants, Walter's ethics were called into question, and he was accused (rightly so) of experimenting on human test subjects. As a result, he spent several years in a psychiatric facility until he was liberated by Olivia and his estranged son Peter to investigate cases with the Fringe Science Division.

Many of the cases related to the Pattern involve Walter's research, but Walter walks about in a personal fog that leaves him often unable (or perhaps unwilling) to recall his exact connections to the cases — to the extent that he can't remember whether he authored the ZFT Manifesto.

ZFT and the Alternate Dimension

Bioterrorist group ZFT is responsible for many of the experiments the Fringe team investigates. ZFT's extensive network of scientists perform bizarre and often deadly experiments on other human beings — like infecting a woman with a form of vampiric syphilis or growing fast-aging humans. In addition to their biohacks, ZFT possesses some technologies developed by Walter Bishop, including a teleportation device.

But there's also a method behind ZFT's biological madness. ZFT members operate according to a manifesto that states two key things: there is another dimension more scientifically advanced than our own, and in the coming interdimensional war, only one dimension can survive. ZFT is out to create an army of biologically enhanced supersoldiers who will fight for our dimension in that war. But there's also a chapter missing from ZFT's manifesto — one that outlines ethics.

The face of ZFT has been David Robert Jones, a genetic weapons trafficker with an obsession with Olivia. Jones was bisected in the season finale when the gateway between dimensions closed on him, but we also learned there is an even more powerful figure behind ZFT: William Bell.

William Bell and Massive Dynamic

William Bell was Walter Bishop's lab partner back in their Harvard research days, helping him develop the fringe sciences. After Walter is sent to the psychiatric facility, Bell starts on a far more lucrative career path, founding "We Make Everything" conglomerate Massive Dynamic. His company, and its COO Nina Sharp, seem to have ties to the pattern, but little is known about Bell himself until the season finale, when it's revealed that he not only is funding ZFT, he authored the ZFT Manifesto and has been chilling out in the alternate universe.

Olivia's Supersoldier Powers

Agent Olivia Dunham soon discovers that Walter isn't the only one on the Fringe Team with shades of ZFT in their past. Before he was incarcerated, Walter experimented with a drug called Cortexiphan, giving the drug to children — Olivia among them. Olivia doesn't remember the experiments (perhaps because she was instructed to forget), but after an encounter with Jones, she begins to manifest strange abilities, including the power to switch off lightbulbs with her mind and glimpse the alternate dimension.

Peter's Extradimensional Origins

Peter Bishop's strained relationship with his father improved over the first season, but Walter's sitting on a secret that could destroy not only their relationship, but Peter as well. Walter has mentioned that Peter was deathly ill as a child, something Peter has no memory of, and mentions that he once traveled to the other dimension to retrieve something he had lost. In the season finale, it's revealed that our dimension's Peter died of his illness, meaning Peter himself must be from the other universe. One imagines that somewhere there is an alternate Walter Bishop who's pretty pissed off.

The Observer

Sitting in the background of every episode is the Observer, a bald fellow who watches the Fringe Team and their investigations. Very little is known about the Observer — he has little sense of taste, the ability to communicate telepathically, and a notebook where he records his observations. He's not alone in his mission, having contacted someone upon viewing a mysterious beacon, and he's apparently been watching Walter and Peter a long time. He saved the pair from falling through the ice when Peter was a boy.

The Cow

Gene the Cow is a permanent fixture of the Fringe lab. Walter has explained that cows are genetically similar to humans and frequently uses her as his bovine guinea pig. She hasn't shown any mysterious qualities yet, but this being Fringe, I wouldn't rule it out.

Executive producer Damian Kindler (left) wrote the concept for Sanctuary as a spec after his agent told him his West Wing pilot wasn't in his own voice. For those who haven't sampled the web version, Sanctuary is about Dr. Helen Magnus and the monsters she keeps in her stately mansion overlooking the fictional 'Old City.' Her team features the quirky tech guy (Battlestar Galactica's Ryan Robbins), her murderous daughter Ashley (Emilie Ullerup), and nemesis Jack the Ripper (Christopher Heyerdahl).

The show's 11 webisodes marked a first for a series with a budget and cast of that stature, but the experience didn't necessarily hearten the show's producers. What distinguished Sanctuary on the web was its high production values, and the upgrade for television is startling. This is one of the best looking and most ambitious series ever done, and at a price "equal to catering budget for Battlestar Galactica," Kindler joked.

Look at how much greenscreen the final product uses! Fellow executive producer and star Amanda Tapping describes the process as "a lot a like doing theatre." She's worked with considerable greenscreen before on Stargate, but really, no one has to this extent:

The castle-like facility that is home to the team of monster-hunters doesn't exist, except digitally:

This process requires a different skillset from every member of the production team. The number of special effects shots is a new one in the television format, and the amount of SFX is staggering: "When you watch, you'll think, they would have built that," Sanctuary director Martin Wood said of the elaborate digital sets.

Filling in the green is special effects supervisor Lee Wilson, who said that the opening shot in the premiere took three months for his Vancouver-based company to put together.

"On Stargate we'd do 12 [special effects shots]," Wood said. "Here, we did 486 shots." The show's broad array of monsters bears that out. What Wood calls "a computer with a lens" creates stunningly detailed mermaids, lizards, Neanderthals and all manner of misunderstood creatures. While the writing in the premiere is slow at times, Sanctuary is almost never not fun to look at.

The revolutionary special effects will attract fans of science fiction, Kindler believes, but the show won't stop there.

"I was trying to find an interesting common ground - this will satisfy really hardcore passionate sci fi fans, but not be such an amazing suspension of disbelief that you there would be tuning out it's about people flying around in giant spaceships that make noise," he said. That's fair enough, but with a 157-year cryptozoologist and her hot mercenary daughter as the protagonists, there's some question of where "the suspension of disbelief" barometer sits at the moment.

Sanctuary's two hour premiere happens tonight in the Battlestar Galactica timeslot, and from what we've seen in the premiere, the show is sufficiently different from its competition that it warrants a look. Sanctuary plans to add to the graphic novel feel by debuting Sherlock Holmes in subsequent episodes, and Kindler promised a serial staple in the form of a cliffhanger in the season finale.

We won't render judgment until the series starts going, but there's reason to be excited. You can watch Samantha Tapping on The Today Show here:

(1) Nathan Petrelli: Seemingly Dead. Then Alive. Now Seemingly Dead Again.
At the end of season one, the burgeoning politico saved the world by using his powers of flight to zoom his his radioactive little brother, Peter, into the air — so he detonate in space. Nathan was severely burned . . . until a self-healer/immortal named Adam Monroe befriended Peter and convinced the sibling to let him heal Nathan. The latter made a full recovery. However, at the end of season 2, the older Petrelli faced mortality once again when a mysterious person in a black coat shot him just as he was about to out himself while giving a public speech about superhumans. See video for even more on this plot below.

(2) The Company and Safe Virus
Formed in 1977, the Company set out to monitor, and sometimes perform tests on, mutant superpowered individuals throughout the world. After discovering the fatal Shanti virus—which shuts down the enhanced abilities of evolved humans—the Company developed a safe strain of said virus that would inhibit powers without inadvertently whacking the superhuman. This strain was used to control the erratic, schizo She-Hulk, Niki/Jessica Sanders, and stifle the abilities of the power-sucking villain/psycopath Sylar. Sanders willfully subjected herself to this research; Sylar, however, has been on a warpath to obtain an antidote so he go get back to his badass self. The only cure comes from mixing the blood of self-healing cheerleader Claire Bennet and geneticist Mohinder Suresh. At the end of the season, Sylar obtains the serum from Mohinder through felonious means, then appears to “heal” himself. Muhahahaha.

(3) The Company and the Fatal Virus
As mentioned in No. 1, Peter Petrelli exploded in the sky and was presumed dead. So why is he alive (and frequently shirtless)? He actually healed himself after the fireworks, then had a run-in with the Company; they ran tests on him and Adam Monroe, the guy in the next cell over. After the duo made a break, Adam duped Peter into chasing after a vial of the original Shanti virus stored in a vault. You see, Adam is an immortal dude who was kicked out of the Company back in the day for his dubious morality, and in season two his mission was twofold: to (a) kill off his old Company compadres, among them Hiro’s dad; and (b) use powerful Peter to obtain the Shanti virus (under the guise of disposing of it) to obliterate humanity. After Peter realized what’s what, a scuffle ensued with himself, Adam, and Hiro Nakamura—the time-traveller who knew Adam's past as baddie from the feudal era. Peter grabbed the vial and destroyed it, while Hiro teleported Adam into a grave where he’s buried alive. Meanwhile, both Peter and Hiro have traveled into an alternate future where the virus has ravaged the planet.

(4) Niki/Jessica: Possibly a Goner
The newly widowed, schizo-unstable mom moved her technopathic son Micah to New Orleans, where he could live with relatives while she went to the Company for help in stripping her of her out-of-control alternate personality Jessica (who has super-strength). Meanwhile, Micah discovered new powers — in his cousin Monica Dawson, who can imitate anything she sees on TV, including ninja skills, though that proved moot when she was kidnapped by thugs. The newly powerless Niki—conveniently back in town—came in for the save and freed Monica from the burning building where she was held captive. Mama, however, did not emerge from the embers.

(5) The Horn-Rimmed-Glasses Man: Still a Tried and True Company Man
Claire’s adoptive father, once a stoic, fearsome agent, quit the Company after they attempted to capture Claire. Last season, he teamed with Mohinder to take down the organization, with the latter as an inside man. But the scientist switched sides, and helped the Company nab Claire because he wanted to use her blood’s regenerative abilities to save other people. In retaliation, Bennet kidnapped the feisty, lightning-hurling Elle (daughter of another Company operative), bullying the Company into swapping the two abductees. Once free, Mohinder shot Bennet, who was taken to a Company hospital where they used Claire’s blood to heal him. To protect his family, Bennet agreed to work with the Company.

Need more information?

Everything io9 has ever written about Heroes (without spoilers)
News, trivia, goodness.

Official NBC Heroes Website
Includes webisodes, trivia, and character backstories.

Heroes on Wikipedia
Lots of information on the show production, as well as a handy guide to the main characters.

Insanely-detailed plot recaps of every Heroes episode from Television Without Pity
Yes, they are insanely detailed.