Review of Heroes: Season 1

Introduction

The brainchild of Tim Kring, `Heroes` is a science fiction drama about ordinary people who discover that they possess extraordinary, superhuman abilities, like flight, telepathy and invulnerability. How they cope with these powers and the repercussions for them, their families and the world is followed in comic-book form, through the 23 episodes of season one.

First broadcast on NBC in the US and Global in Canada, before crossing the Atlantic to be shown on the Sci-Fi Channel and then on BBC2, `Heroes` immediately became a smash hit and created vast amounts of internet chatter making stars of the cast, most notably Hayden Panettiere and Masi Oka.

Chapter One begins with a written introduction scrolling up the screen:

"In recent days, a seemingly random group of individuals has emerged with what can only be described as "special" abilities.

Although unaware of it now, these individuals will not only save the world, but change it forever. This transformation from ordinary to extraordinary will not occur overnight.
Every story has a beginning.

Volume One of their epic tale begins here..."

In Madras, Dr. Mohinder Suresh lectures on his belief that human evolution has not yet finished, and that the Human Genome Project has indentified that "tiny variations in the genetic code are taking place at increasingly rapid rates" and this may open the door to such abilities as levitation, teleportation and tissue regeneration. In Manhattan, nurse Peter Petrelli dreams of flying and painter Isaac Mendez creates paintings depicting future events. In Las Vegas, stripper Niki Sanders owes money to someone called Lindeman, who sends heavies round to collect and when they attack her, she passes out, waking up into a scene of death and destruction. In Odessa, Texas, high school cheerleader Claire Bennet jumps from a 70ft bridge to test her regenerative ability and survives, completely intact. In Tokyo, bored office worker Hiro Nakamura discovers that, if he concentrates hard enough, he can control the space-time continuum.

In the 23 chapters of season one, these `heroes` are explored, and others introduced, including Sylar, the villain - every comic book needs a villain for the hero to face - which builds to a climactic season finale and the beginning of Volume Two.

Video

As it was broadcast in high definition, the visuals are as good as they`re going to get on a `normal` DVD. Perhaps the most impressive visual aspect of `Heroes` are the special effects, almost feature-film standard CGI and stunt work. Outstanding.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is crystal clear, the dialogue is sharp, the score excellent and the surrounds are put to good use in the action sequences.

There is also a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo option, which is perfectly fine, but obviously inferior to the 5.1 option.

The only subtitles available are English HoH, which are very well written and easy to read. Much thought has clearly gone into the burned-in subtitles for the dialogue between Hiro and Ando as they are clear, change size and position as if they were caption in a comic book.

Features

Disc 1 contains the `Unaired Pilot: The Tim Kring Cut`, which is about 30 minutes longer than the broadcast version and contains a whole storyline about a terrorist plot involving a man who can emit radiation and introduces Matt Parkman a chapter early. There is a commentary by Kring in which he explains what was taken out and why and filming locations.

There are commentaries by members of the cast and crew on the last 12 episodes. These vary in degrees of interest, depending on who is contributing, with the cast members being more jovial than the drier crew-dominated commentaries, which are more revealing and useful. No two are the same, so they never become repetitive and are all worth a listen.

Across the seven discs are a total of 50 deleted scenes, divided according to chapter, but there is a `play all` function available. They are mostly short, probably removed for timing reasons as there are no obvious mistakes or quality issues.

Featurettes covering the `making of`, special effects, stunts and the score and artist Tim Sale are spread across the set, lasting about 10 minutes each. These are short, but informative and cover just about every aspect of the show.

The menus are very well designed, set in Isaac Mendez`s loft, with the background moving from painting to painting, covering each character and the entire series.

Conclusion

Prior to `Heroes`, the last TV show that I can remember that became such an instant phenomenon was `Lost` in 2004, and that was preceded by a huge marketing campaign, including trailers in cinemas. `Heroes` had no such fanfare and gained its popularity through word of mouth, with the internet playing a huge part.

Watching this series, it`s easy to see why the show has such a following: the characters are well developed, with their own arc that fits into the overall narrative; they are easy to empathise with, as their struggles with the implications of their abilities must take second place to the more pressing scenario of the destruction of New York.

Tim Kring was clearly influenced by comic books when he created `Heroes`: the characters all have super-powers, the episodes are described as chapters, with many scenes looking like frames from a comic book, Mika, Hiro and Ando are big comic book and sci-fi fans and all the heroes have the task of saving the world, whilst the villainous Sylar (superbly played by a menacing Zachary Quinto) is busy killing them to steal their powers.

Like `Lost`, there are many directors and writers, obviously necessary for a TV show with at least a dozen main characters, locations throughout the world and multiple intertwined plot threads in the past, present and future, without losing focus and keeping the story moving at a pace and in one direction. The writing really stands out, with tremendous dialogue, featuring some great lines and it says a lot that so many characters are so well written in the fantasy world that has been created here.

This is an excellent box set of a quite brilliant series, so whether you watched it on the Sci-Fi Channel, on BBC2, watched it by `other means` or have yet to see it, the `Heroes: Season 1` complete box set comes highly recommended.