Canadian-born television and film veteran Joshua Jackson (Dawson’s Creek, The Skulls) has been entering homes weekly this past TV season as the star of the soon-to-return sci-fi hit Fringe.

In this chat, Jackson recalls the heatwave that hit his hometown of Vancouver during the Fringe filming season, jokes about having to attend DeVry University to make heads or tells of the fringe science unveiled on the show,  and explains why characters Peter Bishop and Olivia Dunham are nothing like Fox Mulder and Dana Scully on The X-Files — a classic series to which Fringe has been compared to. Plus: this week on home video, all after the jump.

Focusing on events that occur on the very fringe of science — teleportation, melting bodies, mind control, cooked brains, human mutation, lethal diseases, what have you — Fringe, the highly-rated, critically-acclaimed series from J.J. Abrams (Lost), Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the duo behind the film Star Trek and TV’s Alias) and executive producers Jeff Pinkner and Bryan Burk (Lost and Alias), and all of it Season One’s episodes (many penned by Abrams and Orci) are finally making their way onto Blu-ray and DVD, just in time for it’s hotly-anticipated second season.

Fringe follows a trio of diverse and unlikely investigators — ambitious FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), Dr. Walter Bishop, a brilliant, formally-institutionalized scientist (John Noble) and his sardonic, equally intelligent son, Peter (Jackson) — as they delve into who or what is behind a series of strange, unexplained deaths, massacres and disasters that seem to be the work of “The Pattern” — a group of possible scientific malcontents. As Agent Dunham, Peter and Walter uncover more and more clues, the trio begin to suspect that the shadowy mega-corporation, Massive Dynamic, is really behind “The Pattern” and is using the world as it’s laboratory.

With Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek) joining the Fringe cast during Season One’s finale episode — as William Bell, Walter’s former partner and the owner of Massive Dynamic — then introducing Olivia to an alternate reality (where the World Trade Towers are still standing tall), anything is bound to happen in the when the Season Two premieres later this month.

It must have been great to come back home to film Fringe. But, I understand that Vancouver was going through a big heatwave during most of the shooting schedule. Having grown up in Vancouver, did you ever imagine, in a million years, that it would be hotter and nastier in Vancouver shooting Fringe than it was in North Carolina while you were doing Dawson’s Creek?

“No, I certainly didn’t imagine that Vancouver would become Acapulco in the ten years that I’ve been gone. I never really expected to get the gift of going back home with work. It’s been a long — it’s been — I think 1997 was the last time I was able to work in Vancouver, which is odd given the fact that I’ve been kicking around for so long. So to be able to take a show back home is pretty fantastic.”

In terms of your character, do you find yourself becoming a little more of a wise-ass and more sarcastic since doing all of Peter’s witty lines of dialogue for Season One?

“Yeah. That’s the part that comes hardest for me. I’ll be honest. I struggle with that every day.” [Laughs]

In the beginning, J.J. Abrams (producer/co-creator) stressed he wanted each episode to stand on its own. However, as the season progressed, they become more and more tied together. Have they just given up on the stand-alone episode concept?

“One of the conceits of the show is that these are investigations into each one of these events, and just by the fact that they are investigations, they have a beginning, middle, and end. There’s some sort of closure at each one of them. So, even though we are still building towards the big answer, the big mystery, each step along that path is sort of a closed system other than — it’s actually more rare that we do a multi-episode mythology arc than we do stand-alone episodes that have a piece of mythology revealed in them. So I would actually say, no, I don’t — we haven’t thrown the baby up that far.”

Do you think that some of the events or things that are shown on Fringe can be to tough for some viewers to witness? Some of the things we saw in Season One were very shocking.

“But, sadly, that’s a good thing, too. I mean, the corollary of something that we can talk about is using the World Trade Center at the end of the first season. It should break your heart. That’s the point. It’s supposed to be as shocking and poignant as it can possibly be and, on the one side, to pull your heart strings and go, ‘God, what a much better world that would be,’ and on the other hand, make you a little uncomfortable with the world that we are living in. I think that’s a good thing, to be shocked into paying attention.”

Peter’s relationship with his dad, Walter (John Noble) has certainly changed from the time you got him out of the mental institution. Father and son have definitely gotten closer.

“Yeah. We discussed amongst ourselves last year, and it’s the same for this year — so far as we were concerned — if you took the Bishops out of Fringe, we wanted to make that relationship still make sense. That these two men, if you stripped away everything else in the show, that father-son dynamic, which is true for any parent and child, would be honest and would be real, and we spent a hell of a lot of time working on that. And it’s also the source of some of the greatest joys for me on set, is dialing that stuff in and just playing. And John (Noble) is an endlessly inventive actor, and it makes my life so much more enjoyable and easier to work with somebody, A) who’s very challenging and won’t ever take second best, but, B)who thinks about this and brings a sense of joy I think you can all see. I certainly am so guilty of sometimes just watching. It’s true. That’s where the fun of the job is.”

What is your perception of the science on the show, and how much of it do you have to understand to balance it out with your character?

“I’m finishing off my advanced chemistry degree from DeVry right now. It’s mainly Walter’s job to do this. And I think the acid test for me is always is there something within what is the contemporary theory that will sustain this science we’re doing. And if there’s not, then I would go to my friends, the showrunners and say, ‘Oh, I can’t do this.’ We do go to the edge, but there’s a lot of stuff that’s already written about. What is potential? You know, we talk about the rips in the fabric of the universe. It’s written about. It’s there. Quantum mechanics has opened up this whole new world for us. So the science is possible. We can’t do it yet.”

Do you think that viewers ever have trouble comprehending things like alternate realities?

“No. It goes back to — like, the alternate realty thing, my acid test — because I don’t have to say half the gobbledygook that John has to say, and if I do, can I say that with a straight face? That’s the B.S. test. And I don’t think it defies the popular imagination anymore to talk about alternate realities. I think this is something that’s accepted enough as an idea, whether it’s inside your own mind, whether it is just the doors of perception, whether it is watching a television show. Is that an alternate reality? Whether it’s going to a movie, I think that the audience, the people who watch this show, are so savvy and so willing to accept the ideas if we’ll only give it to them in a believable way, if the actors will bother to believe, if the scenarios are well written. I think people are willing to follow you on just about any journey. I mean, I will never forget on my birthday, when I was 13 years old, going and seeing a Tyrannosaurus Rex on screen, which I knew 20 minutes ago wasn’t possible. But all of a sudden, here I am in Jurassic Park, and I’m going, this is the coolest — this is literally my childhood dream put onto a screen. I will follow this director anywhere now. And if we can do that, we can tell any story that’s possible.”

So, as an actor, is it important that you believe what you are saying?

“Yeah. If you caught us lying, if it looked like we didn’t believe what we were saying, you wouldn’t follow us to the end of the stage here. But if we can — if our group of can believe, so wholeheartedly, and can pitch it to you in a way that we passionately believe, then I, as an audience member, will watch that show. I loved The X-Files, and I would watch that show six feet under water with my dying breath expiring in my lungs. I would do anything to watch that show because they believed, and I wanted to believe with them.”

You mentioned The X-Files…

“Oops.” [Laughs]

Let’s talk about a comparison to The X-Files. Do you see any similarities between your characters and Mulder and Scully’s relationship?

“Sorry. No. No. That was a relationship for a time on the show, actually on the same network (Fox). Go buy the DVDs. Right? Is that what I’m supposed to say? [Laughs] And that was a cherished thing of that time. The dynamic was entirely different. On our show, there’s the three characters — you can’t do three like you do the two on The X-Files. Well, you can, but that’s up to you.”

Fringe: The Complete First Season — (On DVD & Blu-ray) Four featurettes, “A Massive Undertaking: The Making of Fringe” documentary, (on select episodes), Dissected Files: Unaired Scenes, Unusual Side Effects: Gag Reel, Deciphering the Scene, Roberto Orci Production Diary, Gene the Cow montage, three full-Length commentaries from writers/producers, including J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtman, J.R. Orci, David Goodman, Bryan Burk, Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner (BD Only) “Fringe Pattern Analysis” and BD-LIVE!

Crank 2: High Voltage
Move over Bruce, Segal, Sly and Arnold, you’re time is over. There’s only one action star that can keep getting it up movie after movie, and it’s that butt-kicking Brit Jason Statham. In this over-the-top sequel, Chev’s (Statham) real heart has been surgically replaced by a battery-powered blood pump, and the only way he can keep it ticking is by receiving flesh-burning jolts of electricity. Hell-bent on getting his organ back and delivering his own brand of revenge to the person who took it out, Chev fights Mexican gangs and Chinese triads while keeping the juice flowing. Electrifying, to say the least. Bonus Features: (Special Edition DVD & BD) Audio commentary with writers/directors Neveldine/Taylor, Making Of documentary, featurette, theatrical trailer and a Digital Copy of the film. (Also on BD) Crank’d Out commentary with cast and crew, gag reel, wrap party, Lionsgate Live! and MoLog.

The Office: Season Five
Just when you thought things were starting to grow a bit stale at the paper company on the pseudo-documentary The Office, paper-pushers Michael Scott (Steve Carell), Dwight (Rainn Wilson), Jim (John Krasinski), Pam (Jena Fischer) and Ryan (B.J. Novak) liven up the proceedings in Season Five by putting pen to their own paper and delivering the funniest lines and reactions since its show’s debut. Framing co-workers, starting office romances and stealing clients, it’s all here in 26 episodes (including the two one-hour specials). Bonus Features: (DVD & BD) Deleted Scenes, episode commentaries, gag reel, three featurettes and webisodes. (BD Only) One-liner soundboard and BD-LIVE!

Important Things with Demetri Martin
Before landing the lead role (his film acting debut) in director Ang Lee’s latest cinematic epic Taking Woodstock, Demetri Martin began his career as a comedian who showed off his wares on the internet (where he was spotted by the daughter of Taking Woodstock producer/writer John Shamus). In this hilarious Comedy Central compilation, Martin, through a number of sketches, takes out his easel and shows us the hysterical facts of a dork’s life. Bonus Features: Deleted sketches, commentaries and a free tiny poster.

Criminal Minds: Season Four
Without a doubt, Criminal Minds remains on of the more disturbing crime procedural dramas on the air. In Season Four, as the elite team of profilers from the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit — including the talents of Paget Brewster, A.J. Cook, Thomas Gibson, Matthew Gubler, Joe Mantegna and Shemar Moore — shake off the physical and mental effects of a devastating car bombing, they also find themselves tracking down a cop killer, an arsonist, a possible deranged “fan,” while JJ (Cook) welcomes a newborn son to the tight-knit FBI family. Bonus Features: The “Working The Scene” featurette, profiles, gag reel and deleted scenes.

No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
A seven episode series about the members of an all-female detective agency in the heart of  Botswana, who help their fellow townspeople solve a range of mysteries and crimes, whether they involve misisng children, philandering husbands or con-artists. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is a passionate, humorous and engaging slice of brilliant filmmaking for the small screen. Based on the best-selling novels by Alexander McCall Smith, this heartfelt project of late directors Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollock, No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (starring Jill Scott and Anika Noni Rose) offers a refreshing change fromboth hard-boiled US sleuths, and their grim Brit counterparts. Bonus Features: Five featurettes — on filming in Botswana, Anthony Minghella, African music and the author’s diary.

Harper’s Island: The DVD Edition
Weddings have never been as bloody, gruesome and deadly as the one on Harper’s Island. On each of the 13 episodes on this network mini-series, someone on Harper’s Island, a secluded island off the coast of Seattle, is killed — often savagely. Whether it’s recalling past killings or recent murders, in this chilling mini-whodunit, the killer still remains free. And, on Harper’s Island — starring Jim Beaver, Adam Campbell, Elaine Cassidy, Katie Cassidy, Christopher Gorham and Harry Hamlin — the population is quickly thinning out and the suspect, who could be from the wedding party or even one of the island locals, is finally revealed in the shocking conclusion. Bonus Features: Deleted scenes; gag reel, commentary on select episodes, On-Air Promos and webisodes.

Rise Of The Gargoyles
Another installment from the SyFy Channel’s grisly, often funny “Maneater Series,” this creature feature is set in Europe’s city of lights. Paris quickly becomes the city from Hell when the romantic capitol turns blood red when legendary, centuries-old monsters go on a feeding frenzy. Infamous winged creatures whose existence is based on ancient lore, gargoyles become very real when they escape from the cavernous catacombs underneath the Parisian streets and start taking a bite out of local cuisine — Paris natives. Directed by Bill Corcoran (Vipers) and featuring an ensemble cast including Eric Balfour (24), Tanya Clarke and Nick Mancuso, science runs head-on into supposed myths and legends in this finely-filmed thriller.

Worst Week: Complete Series
A slapstick comedy filled with witty dialogue, Worst Week chronicles  Sam’s (Kyle Bornheimer) attempts to win over the parents of his pregnant fiancée (Ernn Hayes) — in other words, his future in-laws who don’t know that he knocked up their baby girl. Every time he tries to charm her less-than-friendly dad (That ‘70s Show dad Kurtwood Smith) and her overprotective mom (Nancy Lenehan) something bad always seems to happen. For Sam, it’s one disaster after another and the harder he tries, the crazier get the mishaps.  Bonus Feature: Commentary with Executive Producer Matt Tarses and star Kyle Bornheimer.

Battle Of The Warriors
Starring two-time Hong Kong Film Award-winner Andy Lau (House of Flying Daggers) and Fan Bingbing (Flash Point), Battle Of The Warriors — featuring stunning action choreography from Stephen Tung — is a historically-based, martial-arts epic about a desperate group of villagers who turn to a mysterious visitor to help save them from impending doom. As a massive enemy army is trying to beat down the gates to the kingdom of Liang, its townspeople are ready to surrender their land and lives to their nemesis. When an unknown, seemingly fearless martial-arts master appears and promises that he can rescue them from siege and conquest, they put their lives in his hands. A skillfully directed motion picture, this sweeping tale of swords, strategy and heroism is filled with bloody battles and awe-inspiring photography. Bonus Features: Audio commentary by Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan.

Nitro Circus: Season One
For those of you who never got enough of Jackass (shame on you), Jeff Tremaine, Johnny Knoxville and Trip Taylor joined up with Travis Pastrana, Gregg Godfrey and Jeremy Rawle for Nitro Circus, another series featuring more stunt-fueled craziness and poor judgment calls. A legendary freestyle motocross pro and nine-time X Games gold medalist, Pastrana is well-known for doing the impossible and (always) unadvisable — from jumping out of an airplane without a parachute or being the first rider to ever double back-flip a motorbike. And, that’s only two stunts from this 13-episode collection.  Bonus Features: Never-before-been bonus stunts, the “Hits & Misses” and “Cutting Room Floor” specials, interviews, outtakes, bonus footage from jackassworld.com, Knoxville promo bloopers and more.

Parks and Recreation: Season One
The talented and always hilarious Amy Poehler (the former Saturday Night Live star) finally gets her time to shine in this smart and funny comedy from the folks behind the American edition of The Office. Poehler portrays Leslie Knope, a determined and starry-eyed small-town government employee who begins to realize her big political dreams working as a higher-up at the Parks and Recreation department. A satire that pokes good-natured fun at bureaucracy and American political ambitions, Parks and Recreation is a clever primetime vehicle for the ultra-talented Poehler. Bonus Features: Episode commentaries with cast and crew, the producer’s extended cut of the finale and deleted scenes.