Heroes: Season 1

From AwardAnnals

Reviews

Amazon.com

Arguably the most talked-about television show of the 2006-2007 season, the Emmy-nominated fantasy Heroes gives viewers blends comic book-style adventure with plotting and characters as rich and layered as any graphic novel or drama series. Creator Tim Kring’s premise is deceptively simple—ordinary individuals in locations around the globe discover that they have, for lack of a better term, super powers, and wrestle with this reality while facing challenges both global (the destruction of New York City, for one) and personal (indestructible cheerleader Hayden Panetierre has family issues—serious ones, as the true identity of her adoptive father reveals; Milo Ventimiglia’s Peter Petrelli, who absorbs other powers, must overcome his own insecurities). Add to this mix a terrific villain—Zachary Quinto’s Sylar, who hunts and kills people with extraordinary powers like our heroes—and viewers have a riveting series that exhibits an almost-perfect balance of cliffhanger thrills (the action and special effects are truly impressive for a network program) and genuine drama that sets the show apart from most speculative fiction (save, perhaps, the revived Battlestar Galactica, which it compares too favorably). The seven-disc set of Heroes: Season One offers a wealth of extras for fans, who may be familiar with some of them through the NBC.com website, especially the cast commentaries, which are featured on half of the episodes. Kring is featured on the 73-minute uncut pilot episode, which for some viewers, may be even better than the network version; the main difference is the degree of character development, including an entire storyline for D.L. Hawkins that isn’t featured in the broadcast version. Also on deck are some 50 deleted scenes from the episodes, several by-the-books making-of featurettes, including coverage of the special effects and stunt work, and a profile of artist Tim Sale, whose illustrations are used for Isaac Mendez’s prophetic artwork. Prospective buyers should note that while all of these supplemental features are included on the HD-DVD version of this set, the special Web-connectivity elements are not available here. —Paul Gaita

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It’s hard to remember a science fiction series that has hit so big so quickly. Yet by the end of the first series of Heroes, it feels—for all the right reasons—that the show’s been around for longer than it has, such is the huge amount of success it’s enjoyed.

The setup is simple, yet undeniably intriguing. It essentially tells the stories of a series of people who discover they have legitimate, differing superhero powers. On top of that, these people then gradually appreciate that these powers are needed for reasons that soon become apparent, and the story of Heroes builds up from there.

Heavily influenced by comics both in its structure and story, Heroes sustains interest through a number of story arcs of different magnitudes, skilfully weaving them throughout the 23 episodes that make up the season. It’s contained enough to keep you interested, yet offers enough threads to make several more seasons a very appealing prospect.

Heroes, though, really gels because the basics are right. It’s plotted intelligently, written and directed with real nerve and talent, and has a cast who you can’t help but get emotionally involved with. It’s also, for the overwhelming majority of its episodes, utterly compelling television. Ironically, its few miss-steps of any note come right at the back end, by which time you really would forgive it pretty much anything.

Heroes is rightly being heralded as a sci-fi classic in the making. Yet even if subsequent seasons don’t fully do justice to those words—and at the time of writing, season two is still some way from debuting—this boxset will serve as a glowing testament to just how good television can be when it’s just done right. Quite brilliant.—Jon Foster

Barnes and Noble

It all starts with a murder. Mohinder Suresh’s (Sendhil Ramamurthy) father, a geneticist in New York who is doing research into people with extraordinary abilities, is slain by a serial killer named Sylar (Zachary Quinto). Mohinder travels to Manhattan and discovers his father has identified hundreds of people with superhuman powers across the globe—many of whom are suddenly turning up dead. Thus begins the labyrinthine tale of Heroes, a part comic book, part X-Men, part sci-fi mystery series that began in September 2006 on NBC. What at first appears to be a run-of-the-mill superhero series becomes a nuanced drama when Mohinder’s research starts bringing seemingly unconnected people together. These gifted individuals include Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar), a politician with the ability to fly, and his brother Peter (Milo Ventimiglia), whose true power isn’t immediately evident. They, in turn connect other characters together, such as Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere), the Texas cheerleader who can’t die, and her father (Jack Coleman), a paper factory manager who’s not what he seems; Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), the Japanese office worker who can warp time; Isaac Mendez (Santiago Cabrera), who can paint the future; Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg), a cop who can hear people’s thoughts; Niki Sanders (Ali Larter), a woman with an identity problem, and her gifted son Micah (Noah Gray-Cabey). Heroes unfolds like a comic book tale, and viewers may be amazed at the complexity that slowly develops over the season’s 23 episodes. It’s surprising at moments, too; don’t expect favorite characters to survive the fantastic first season. This seven-disc set also has tons of bonus features, such as the original 73-minute pilot episode that never aired on TV, deleted scenes, featurettes, and more. Christina Urban