Heroes - Series 1 - Complete (DVD)

...begin with the word 'Lost'. Heroes was billed as the Lost-beater, that would finally kill the show off, and by attracting an average audiance of 14.3 million throughout the run of the entire first season, it accomplished the goal of reaching the heights that no sci-fi drama had since the opening of the show it was in direct competition with.

Dizzy heights such as these were only inspired by the use of special effects, mystery, and ...
...this all mean? What makes Heroes any different to all the other superheroes you see on the big screen, rather than weekly on television? There is a gulf of differences.

=== HOW TO STOP AN EXPLODING MAN ===

Originally the show opened on our shores on the Sci-Fi television channel, which lead to record breaking ratings for that channel, but with all the hype around it I could not bring myself to tune in. I began to hear ... more

SAVE THE CHEERLEADER, SAVE THE WORLD

Chances are that if you've heard anything about Heroes, you've heard the same things over and over again, and that is why I will try to get this introduction over and done with as fast as possible. Seemingly everytime I come to write a review about something I'm interested in lately, I have to begin with the word 'Lost'. Heroes was billed as the Lost-beater, that would finally kill the show off, and by attracting an average audiance of 14.3 million throughout the run of the entire first season, it accomplished the goal of reaching the heights that no sci-fi drama had since the opening of the show it was in direct competition with.

Dizzy heights such as these were only inspired by the use of special effects, mystery, and catchy taglines such as the one I have used to open this review to you. In fact, if you have been following the show since it launched to its American audiance in 2006, or even to its UK audiance in 2007, you are probably already pretty sick of the amount of people that have done play on words with the whole saving the cheerleader meaning you will save the world. But what does this all mean? What makes Heroes any different to all the other superheroes you see on the big screen, rather than weekly on television? There is a gulf of differences.

HOW TO STOP AN EXPLODING MAN

Originally the show opened on our shores on the Sci-Fi television channel, which lead to record breaking ratings for that channel, but with all the hype around it I could not bring myself to tune in. I began to hear that whilst it was good, it was not as good as it was being made out to be, and the whole discussion points of the show is what made me want to try and garner interest. Flicking in and out of the show as it was repeated over and over on opening week, there just seemed to be too much happening. First impressions are everything, and my first impressions were that I was never going to understand a thing.

Giving up on Heroes, what would be the one best thing that could happen? BBC picking up the show no doubt, and this gave a whole new audiance the chance to watch a hugely popular American television series for the first time since you-know-what on Channel4. Whilst I would have to argue with the fact that Heroes is more than qualified to carry BBC1, airing it on BBC2 was good enough to open the show up to other members of my family - and unusually, I actually had a drama to talk about with my father. Surely a change of network can't be enough to completely reverse my opinion on a show though, but what this did do was actually meant I would give the show a second chance and proved that perhaps I did judge the show too quickly. When I first watched 'Prison Break' I thought it was going to move too fast for me to ever be able to follow it, and with Heroes I always thought there was going to be too much going on, well it's really not hard to remember all the characters afterall.

• CLAIRE BENNET (HAYDEN PANETTIERE), the true star of the show and if you ever search on the internet you are bound to find her before anyone else. This is not just down to the young cast members standout looks, but for her having one of the most interesting super powers in that she can heal herself. Belonging to an adopted family made out of her mother, family, brother and dog, it is only now as a teenager that she has began to realise the truth of her abilities. Of course there is much, much more to this adopted family than meets the eye, especially when it comes to MR. BENNETT (JACK COLEMAN).
• MATT PARKMAN (GREG GRUNBERG), easily a fan favourite for his general likeability, this heroes superpower comes by being able to hear the thoughts of people around him. Struggling to come to terms with his power, he begins to hear things he doesn't want to, such as the discovery of his wifes affair with one of his colleagues on the police force. Hearing the thoughts of a little girl, he follows what he is hearing to discover her hidden at the scene of a murder, leading many to believe he could perhaps be responsible and is hoping for a promotion. This leads to Matt working high up in the force with the one person he can trust, and trying to bring down Claire Bennet's father.
• HIRO NAKAMURA (MASI OKA), it is hard to pick who exactly would be the lead male of the show, and whilst Hiro emerged early on as a firm pick his importance does slightly dwindle throughout the run of the season. With a clear link to the title of the show in his own name, this characters power enables him to stop time and mess with things around him, as well as being able to transport to any time and place. Accompanied by his sidekick ANDO (JAMES KYSON LEE), this comedic duo aka Batman and Robin, run into a lot of trouble after learning of their mission through a comic book from the future.
• ISAAC MENDES (SANTIAGO CABRERA), is the author and illustrated of that comic book as his superpower enables him to paint the future. Struggling with a strong heroin addiction, he believes he is only able to access his power when he is shooting up, but must try to learn that is just an excuse for his addiction throughout the season. After painting a huge picture of NYC city being blown up on the floor of his apartment, the visual to be remembered for the rest of the season and then some, this leads to him meeting another hero due to his on-off relationship with SIMONE (TAWNY CYPRESS).
• PETER PETRELLI (MILO VENTIMIGLIA), emerges as the male star of the show and when he first meets Claire it makes for the moment of the season. Not limited to just one superpower, he is able to take the powers of any of the other heroes around him, only he must learn how to be able to use these powers when others are not around.
• NATHAN PETRELLI (ADRIAN PASDAR), the older more successful brother of Peter is a canadiate running to be mayor of the city, only of course like the rest of the co-stars in the show is is harbouring many secrets. One of those secrets being his ability to fly, and if there is one superpower that you would assume would be included in a show such as this, I'm guessing that would be the one you would think of.
• NIKI / JESSICA SANDERS (ALI LARTER), provides one of the first links to other heroes that we see in the series as her split personality leads to her doing some dirty work for the mysterious key character MR. LINDERMAN (MALCOLM McDOWELL). Questionably, her superpower is that she has a split personality disorder where she often takes on the role of her murdered sister, and this leads to her having superstrength. MICAH (NOAH GRAY-CABEY) is her son, where we learn that the hero status is passed down in genes, as his father D.L. (LEONARD ROBERTS) has the power to walk through solid objects.
• SYLAR (ZACHARY QUINTO), the most evil character a television series has seen in recent memory, becomes less elusive as time progresses. Sylar's power is similar to that of Peter Petrelli's, only he holds on to the heroes powers by murdering them, but one of the most exciting ideas of the show is the idea of the fight these two will have when they eventually meet. And Sylar does begin to assume more and more powers as he uses MOHINDER SURESH's (SENDHIL RAMAMURTHY) research on this genetic evolution.

THE COMPANY

Everything in American televison seems to have a 'company' at the moment, and whilst 23 episodes of discovering how New York City is going to be blown to bits, and whether or not the heroes will be able to stop it, would be interesting - there is so much more. As the show progresses you begin to learn that there is a much bigger picture to everything going on, and without a doubt one of the most interesting things is the idea of these heroes meeting one another and actually having connections, ala some other well known shows.

If you think you're not going to like it because it sounds too much along the lines of something like 'X-Men', you couldn't be much further off. Everyone should be giving this a chance. The way Heroes is presented to you this could be real life and the special effects don't seem so crazy, but they can make your head turn on occassions. The first season was a rollercoaster, and getting to know the characters you could begin to add emotional to one of the many things Heroes is. Whilst I must be concerned that the second season is apparently disappointing in America, I will be tuning and hoping that the next big talking point of the show won't be, "Would it have been better as a stand alone series?" 

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