I have just finished the fourth episode of Heroes and I am now hooked. Such is, such is.
Heroes is a show about people all around the world who find out they have extraordinary abilities. It's very X-Men esque but at the same time not. This is not Mutant X people.
It's actually good. Very good.
The pilot left me with a mixed reaction, the whole episode was spent setting the series up and introducing the characters from as far off as Japan to New York. It attempted to cram a lot into 45 minutes and for the first 30 minutes it was a tad difficult to keep track of all these characters and what was happening to them and how they would all interconnect. Likewise, some characters were more instantly identifiable and interesting to watch. At about the half-hour mark it all started to mesh and their destinies for lack of a better word started to cross paths. It was definitely an interesting pilot but it lacked an actual A-to-B story amongst the introductions. It was all set-up.
It was good enough for me to download the next episode though, and the one after that. Episode two continued to expand on the many characters but it was the third episode where it really started to pick-up and I was able to class it as the must-watch-television show of the season.
It did seem at first like it would be another frustrating mystery show where entire seasons where spent just making you more confused *cough* Lost *cough* but fortunately it hasn't gone that route and you actually feel like you have a grasp of what the hell is going on with just enough mystery to keep you waiting to see what happens next. As it happens though it actually does have a certain Lost feel to it. I'm sure that was no accident either. If it continues as it does this show could become an instant classic.
X-men comparisons are going to be obvious and numerous but it seems to be fresh enough and have a complete new spin on the general idea to not get too trapped by it.
The characters are all from wildly different lifestyles and places but they all share the fact that they have different super-human abilities. There is a man in New York who can fly, a heroin addict that can paint the future, a woman who has a psychotic reflection independent from herself, a Police officer who can read peoples minds, a Chinese guy who can manipulate the space time continuum, a Cheerleader who can regenerate any wound even after dying, and so on. They all seem to have discovered these abilities at a similar time as well and we join them as they do and their lives inter-collide. There are also some shadowy government types who are looking for these mutants and who have their own mutants to help them capture them. All the while it's done in a very straight edge serious way, there is no silly tech and lame kiddy effects. It's not one of those.
There are also numerous pop-culture references that I always produce a smirk. Such as Hiro and his friend always talking about Star Trek and Spiderman. You feel like you're in good hands with the writers on this one.
Some of the characters are more likable than others and they all have depth but I think that everyone watching the show will agree that Super Hiro is the best character and clear fan favourite. The small Chinese geek who can manipulate time and teleport anywhere is just great.
At the end of the fourth episode they drop quite a bombshell and I am itching to see it expanded upon in the latest episode which I am about to watch in just a moment. So, yes, it's good. Whether it stays good is another thing entirely but it looks like it might just. They're all going to form something akin to a Justice League in the near future if the end of Ep 4 is anything to go by.
A now English speaking hardcore tricked out version of Super Hiro travels back in time from the future to speak to Peter Petrelli for the fourth episode cliffhanger.
More good news is that Heroes has proved to be a complete runaway hit already averaging 13-14 million viewers. This one isn't going to be getting cancelled anytime soon.
Also: Hiro has a blog!
http://blog.nbc.com/hiro_blog/
Anyway, this is now the offical Heroes thread for the Minefield. I hope a number of you are watching it so I'm not talking to myself once again. Winter TV.. yay.
It's funny though, I remember Heroes being mentioned on Lonaf a few weeks back and I think it was Rich who pointed out how the cast portrait at the top of this thread was very similar to Lost's. I was expecting it to be similar to Lost and X-Men, but it's different in enough ways to make it really worth watching.