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A very strong first season, August 29, 2007 By Cloud "..." (Canada) - See all my reviews It's odd in that Heroes was probably the one new show of 2006-2007 season that I watched from start to finish, having not missed a single episode. Whereas other great shows like Friday Night Lights are critic-adored-yet-audience-deprived or the Nine which was cancelled prematurely, Heroes became a huge hit and a critical favorite. While it initially has some issues, the further the show continues the more confident it gets and while it might not have everyone's ideal finale, it was surely the capper to what's a pretty stellar first season. What would you do if you found out if you had a superpower? That's the basic for the start of the first season where ordinary people suddenly find they can do amazing abilities; from a regenerating cheerleader to a time-travelling Japanese desk worker to a mind-reading cop. But that doesn't mean that they will all use their power for good as some don't know what to do with it, others want to get rid of it and some might use it for something destructive, such as destroy half of New York. All of these stories interwine as they try to stop a major disaster. Heroes, like many other shows, as an ongoing arc throughout the entire season, making it feel like one gigantic story split over 23 episodes rather than a series of mini-stories a la CSI or Law and Order. This can be a problem since it might not have a lot of replay value but it also means you just get hooked faster. But luckily the writers know how to make individual episodes stand out, thanks to great drama (the entirely Claire-centric "Company Man"), stellar cliffhangers and characters. But then this is still their first season so we have a case of them trying to do too much in one episode making it feel kind of scattered. One of the strongest aspects of the show, aside from the intrigue, are the characters who manage to be distinct without being one-note. Ali Larter is effective in switching personalities right in the same scene and Hayden Panettiere nails that "wishing to be normal" feeling when she knows she's not. However the obvious scene stealer is Masi Oka who initially starts out as overly enthusiastic and almost giddy but progresses as the show continues without it feeling forced or unexpectedly sudden. Then we also have Zachary Quinto who plays the season's main villain who has such creepiness and menace when he's around (although he was probably strangely more effective when he was obscured in shadow with a baseball cap on). In the day and age of TV shows on DVD, it's hard to get a stellar DVD package. Unlike Simpsons or 24 with multiple episode commentaries, most of them are kind of skimpy. Heroes thankfully has pretty solid bonuses with several commentaries, the original unaired pilot as well as some making-ofs as well as tons of deleted scenes. As for the commentaries, while it's kind of disappointing there isn't one for the suspenseful "Homecoming", they get more frequent as the season progresses and there is more variety rather than the same writer/director/actor combinations. With a great sense of pacing, well-written characters and cool superhero moments, it's sort of a show where you can find geekiness yet find something of substance at the same time. Might not be the absolute best show on TV, but it's probably one of the more consistently entertaining.Read full review
I didn't realize when I made the bid and won that the High Definition movie would only play in a high definition DVD player. Seems the HD movies require a special DVD player just for their own format. That format DVD player won't play anything but HD either... very limited use. They (HD DVD's) will NOT play in normal DVD player or the BlueRay DVD Players. So if you bid and win one, you will waste your bucks unless you are willing to buy a player to go with it... unless you happen to own a HD player already. I didn't, LOL Turnes out, the seller ran out just before I won the bid and refunded my total investment! Can you believe that? I got out of that bad move by the skin of my teeth. So, my advice, Do Not Buy HD movies unless you have a HD player or are about to buy one. They are not common and the movies for them are pretty scarce and even getting more scarce. I guess that's why many are so cheap VS. BlueRay movies. The market is going to BlueRay. A BlueRay player will play regular DVD's but a regular DVD player will not play a BlueRay. So if your in the market for a new DVD player, consider the BlueRay system. The prices are coming down. you can get one at the time I posteed this for about $250.oo to $325.00. In a year or two more, I expect the price to drop more as they did with the first DVD players. As for me, I am going to buy a new BlueRay player in the next 6 months to go with the High Definitition 52" Sony Bravia TV we just bought! Oh, I didn't get to see the movie of course. I have seen most of the Heroes seris on TV but missed some due to work. I will buy the normal version unless I get a great deal on a BlueRay version. My wife and I have really enjoyed the series. Thanks, I hope the information saved you from wasting a few dollars. Oh yea... vote for me!!!!! HeheheheeeRead full review
Heroes as a series, is just fantastic. A little corny at times (which is nice) but overall a great achievement in directing, acting, casting, music and art direction. Especially for the network it's on. The series is a little slow at first till about episode 5 to do character introductions. I break the season into 3 parts. 1 being introductions, 2 being more action with saving the cheerleader and 3 becoming darker when Sylar (Quinto= best villian on TV in a long time) gets into full effect and they have to try & stop a nuclear explosion. I'm not going to get into other characters because they all have great stories to tell (nicki & parkman's are a little boring though until the end). I'm a huge Lost & BSG fan and Heroes was fresh when the other 2 shows faltered just a little in the middle of their 3rd seasons. As a HD DVD set- this is the kind of set that makes me feel bad for people with bluray only players just as I can't get certain movies on HD that are on bluray. It only makes me hate the format war even more. Everyone should be able to enjoy the extras on this set. The amount of extras and the way they are delivered are unbelievable. I absolutely love the picture in picture feature for commentaries and the graffic art stuff. Most of the picture quality is always super (8.5 of 10) while certain parts are reference quality (10 of 10). And that's on a bigger screen so folks with 42" or smaller HD sets will be watching an almost flawless picture. I've read reviews that complained a little about the lack of surround effects in the series but it is not a major deal as I didn't find a problem with it. When you listen to the DD+ through a really nice setup, you'll hear all the subtle effects. Overall- another benchmark for extras on a TV set and amazing picture quality in HD. Just a plain GREAT show.Read full review
Heroes takes the soap opera approach to entertainment where they promise excitement, but you could miss 3 or 4 of them and not miss anything. For proof, I deliberately avoided 4 TV shows and only had two questions on what I missed. Even then, I could have followed without the answers. The nice thing about DVD is that the dull middle goes a lot faster and is easier to take when played back to back without commercials. I would still recommend skipping the episode of the future and the one where Sylar meets his mom. The first does nothing for the plot and the second ruined the only character who, up till then, had his act together. I did enjoy the first and last 2 episodes, but there were only 2 significant events in the middle 19 that were worth seeing: when Claire is attacked by Sylar and when Claire's family is attacked by Matt and the fugitive. If the series only consisted of these four episodes, plus a single episode in the middle to tie them together, I would have given this an Excellent rating. The first few shows had interesting people and marvelous talents. This is no surprise, since Mr. Marvel himself (Stan Lee) was involved in this project. But the super powers quickly become secondary to the soap opera. Only token demonstrations of their powers are shown just to remind watchers what they could do. The rest of the time, it is just another story of basically good but dysfunctional people on their road to eternal punishment here on earth. The formula for the middle is: introduce a new super, Keresh thinks he has a break-through, somebody dies, something off the wall happens to Hiro, Keresh finds out he is wrong and all the others go deeper into their maelstrom of depression. Every second episode Sylar takes a new power and every third show a regular is the one who dies. The last episodes I enjoyed because the story went back to what super heroes are about: ACTION. The supers come to terms with their powers (more or less) and there is a fight worth seeing at the end. Sylar held my respect the longest, but even that died. The other's all had potential, but they failed for one reason for another. Four in particular were disappointing: Claire's dad but he can't decide if he is good or bad, Peter became useless after saving Claire, Linderman is so whimpy I don't see how he came to power, and Hiro had enough bad luck to make Peter Parker (Spider-Man) scratch his head in disbelief. Perhaps they will redeem themselves in season 2. Despite the advertisement, this was not a story of ordinary people. Only 3 of several score struggle financially. All were Cover Girl or GQ potential except for Hiro (perhaps he is so well liked because he was truly is an ordinary person). In the course of 23 episodes, there should have been more super power bad guys and more fights with the powers. The "old guard" should have helped the current generation of heroes instead of letting them flounder helplessly. Peter, who fought Sylar twice before, is amazingly incompetent in the final fight. Claire's dad, despite his great tactical mind, is unable to coordinate the attacks of the rest of the heroes. Despite my attacks on this show, I still think it has potential and can be salvaged. I will at least watch the beginning of the 2nd season. I like what the show has to offer, I just don't like the way it is presented. My vote is to make it more like a comic book. John Holland-author of The Necklace of TerrersylvanousRead full review
At first glance you may think the HD set isn't much different from the regular DVD set. But beyond the superior high definition picture, there are several extras that make it worthwhile to buy the HD set. Both sets have "commentaries" on the episodes, but only on the HD set does it split the "episode" and the "commentary" into a split screen format (two screens) where you can watch the actors while they deliver their commentary. Plus, there are settings in the "u-control" that when turned on when point out "symbol" sightings and also allow you take a more in-depth look at Isaac's paintings. And the high definition quality is outstanding. It would be hard for me to revert to regular DVD's since I watch the series on a hi-def channel when they are originally broadcast. So, in short, I love mine.Read full review
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