Heroes - Series 1 - Complete (DVD)

Heroes was first broadcast by NBC in September 2006. It's first season consists of 23 one hour long episodes. The second season, however, was brought to an abrupt halt by the writer's strike, consisting of only 11 episodes. Heroes is due to return to American screens in September 2008 with a third season.

Warning: This review may contain spoilers - I have tried to keep to as basic an outline as possible to avoid spoiling the plot for ...
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Heroes follows the lives of many interconnected people, all with special abilities, who seem to be taking the next step in human evolution. They all have some part to play in an ultimate destiny in which they must save the world.

This is a difficult one to review, mainly because it has so many characters and quite a complicated plotline. I'll start by explaining the characters and their abilities.

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Heroes was first broadcast by NBC in September 2006. It's first season consists of 23 one hour long episodes. The second season, however, was brought to an abrupt halt by the writer's strike, consisting of only 11 episodes. Heroes is due to return to American screens in September 2008 with a third season.

Warning: This review may contain spoilers - I have tried to keep to as basic an outline as possible to avoid spoiling the plot for new watchers.

Heroes is a sci-fi/fantasy drama created by Tim Kring.

Heroes follows the lives of many interconnected people, all with special abilities, who seem to be taking the next step in human evolution. They all have some part to play in an ultimate destiny in which they must save the world.

This is a difficult one to review, mainly because it has so many characters and quite a complicated plotline. I'll start by explaining the characters and their abilities.

Main Characters and Plot

Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere - Ally McBeal, Malcolm in the Middle) is a high school cheerleader who lives with her adopted parents in Odessa, Texas. Claire becomes increasingly curious about her biological parents after discovering she has amazingly extensive powers of regeneration. She can jump from great heights and repair all injuries within seconds. Claire tries to hide these powers from her adopted family, however her adopted father knows more than she could imagine.

Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman - interestingly is descended from Benjamin Franklin!) is Claire's adopted father. He appears to be an average businessman, specialising in paper. However he hides a secret from his family that threatens them all. He has a mysterious aquaintance known only as "The Haitian" (Jimmy Jean-Louis).

Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is a brilliant genetic scientist grappling with the recent murder of his father, noted geneticist and author of "Activating Evolution" Chandra Suresh. Mohinder had a difficult relationship with his father with them disagreeing over his fathers theories. Chandra's theories however, were absolutely correct, there were indidviduals across the globe who had taken the next step in human evolution. Mohinder discovers his father's work was legitimate, and works to complete it.

Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) is a geeky, misguided, naive office worker who has the power to bend the space time continum. Hiro lives in a bit of a fantasy world. However he is very brave, and genuinely believes his power carries a great responsibility. Hiro is by far my favourite character. He has a lovable charm that is irrestible. I'm sure many women have a maternal instinct towards him! Almost as lovable as Hiro is his loyal best friend Ando (James Kyson Lee), who accompanies Hiro on his adventures, although he is intially dubious. This pair have great comedy value as a bit of an odd couple!

Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) is a nurse for the terminally ill. Peter life begins to change when he starts having dreams that he can fly. He begins to believe that his purpose in life is to do something great. He steps off a high building to test if he can fly (personally I'd start with a garden wall or something but that wouldn't be as dramatic I guess!) but he falls. Peter's congressman brother Nathan (Adrian Pascar) is in the alley below and it turns out Nathan can fly, so he saves his brother from certain death. Peter later discovers his gift is to absorb/copy the gifts of others, possibly making him the most powerful individual of all. Nathan is not as embracing as Peter of his gift, knowing that if it were public knowledge it would ruin him. Peter and Nathan are the sons of Angela Petrelli (Cristine Rose), who herself has a mysterious past. Their father is dead of an apparent suicide.

When Heroes begins, Peter is the nurse caring for the terminally ill Charles Deveaux, father of Simone Deveaux (Tawny Cypress). Peter and Simone are attracted to eaxh other. This is awkward because Simone is trying to extricate herself from a destructive relationship with artist Isaac Mendez (Santiago Cabrera) who has a serious drug addiction. Isaac can paint the future when he is under the influence of heroin.

Niki Sanders (Ali Larter - Final Destination) is a single mum struggling to pay the bills and look after her son Micah (Noah Grey-Cabey) while her husband D.L. (Leonard Roberts) is in jail. Niki is also suffering from a very unique case of split personality.

Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg - Alias) is an average cop with marital problems. He is trying to make detective but has been hindered in his exams because of his dyslexia. He begins to hear people's thoughts, which enables him to rescue a little girl, Molly Walker (Adair Tishler), whose parents have murdered.

The person responsible for killing Molly's parents is serial killer Sylar (Zachary Quinto). A talented watch repairman once known as Gabriel Gray, he is traced by Chandra Suresh who tells him he may have special powers. Sylar later discovers that if he can locate others with special abilities, and ingest their brains, he can gain the abilities for himself. This was the unfortunate fate of Molly's parents. Sylar is extremely dangerous, growing in power with every victim he murders.

The cast continues to grow, constantly adding new character with new abilities, such as Adam Monroe (David Anders - Alias). However I have only described characters from the first season.

As the plot unfolds, more and more links between the characters are uncovered. Between them, the Heroes begin to learn of their destiny, and what they must do to save the world.

Episode List

Season 1
1. Genesis
2. Don't Look Back
3. One Giant Leap
4. Collision
5. Hiros
6. Better Halves
7. Nothing to Hide
8. Seven Minutes to Midnight
9. Homecoming
10. Six Months Ago
11. Fallout
12. Godsend
13. The Fix
14. Distractions
15. Run!
16. Unexpected
17. Company Man
18. Parasite
19. .07%
20. Five Years Gone
21. The Hard Part
22. Landslide
23. How to Stop an Exploding Man

Season 2
1. Four Months Later
2. Lizards
3. Kindred
4. The Kindness of Strangers
5. Fight or Flight
6. The Line
7. Out of Time
8. Four Months Ago
9. Cautionary Tales
10. Truth and Consequences
11. Powerless

This series is definately worth a watch but don't bother unless you start at the beginning - it's so complicated you will be lost. The acting and scripts are of a very high standard, I would say the hype is justified. It's quite unlike most things on T.V. at the moment and it does prove quite addictive. Lets hope the writers can keep the high quality in the third series.

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