I watch a lot of TV, too much if you ask my wife, who can never use the TiVo since it seems I’m always recording something. Ask me what my top three shows for the 2006-2007 season were, they would be: Veronica Mars, Battlestar Galactica, and Heroes.
Sadly Ms. Mars is no longer with us and the next season of Galactica will be its last. But at least I have one bright spot to look forward to, I think, for many seasons to come — Heroes has just come off its freshmen year and it was a hit.
I remember when I first heard about the show. It was something along the lines of a comic book on TV, in a serialized drama format. After the success of the X-Men and other comic book properties on the silver screen, I was hoping that there would be a TV show that would put its own twist on the superhero concept.
Heroes is about ordinary people with extraordinary powers. It’s not the powers, though, that make the people heroes; it’s how they use them. All the standard powers are here: flight, regeneration, telepathy, time manipulation, mimicry (the ability to duplicate another hero's powers), shape shifting, invisibility and many more were shown in season one, and I’m sure we’ll see more as the series progresses.
Heroes follows the season-long serialized arc format, which other shows (The Nine, Six Degrees, etc.) this past season tried and failed at. Their stories just weren’t strong enough to keep me coming back for more. Heroes, on the other hand, masterfully used its compelling characters, comic book storytelling and a very well-planned storyline which came to a satisfying conclusion, leaving the series open-ended enough for a new arc and the return of past characters. In short, the show is extremely well written.
Most fans have their favorite character or can relate to one character in particular, and yes, I can relate most to fanboy Hiro (Masi Oka). Just like him, I’d like to have superpowers as well. But truth be told, I’d rather have Peter Petrelli’s (Milo Ventimiglia) powers and after being in proximity to another person with powers, can use them myself and add them to my repertoire.
The Heroes – Season One DVD set is as impressive as this breakthrough series. The extras are simply great and include the unaired 73-minute pilot. This was originally shown at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con and garnered rave reviews, which was promising and where Heroes started picking up momentum.
Article comments
1 - Athena
I had heard somewhere that in the dvd edition, there would be a feature that allowed you to follow each character arc separately. For instance, just watch everything only about Hiro. I can't find that on my dvd. Do you know anything about that?