Does ‘Heroes’ Need Saving?

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13 Responses

  1. Vinnie Bartilucci says:

    Part of the problem with trying to keep with the idea of "ordinary people selected to do something extraordinary" is as soon as you find out you can fly or are impervious to damage, you immediately CEASE being ordinary. The only way to keep that vibe going is to keep introducing new character just getting the hang of their powers, and then that results in one of their other complaints about too many heroes. Or you get the revolving door syndrome where you're afraid to tack your emotions to any character for fear they'll be whacked next week. You have to keep Joe Bob Briggs' law of "Anybody can die at any moment" in mind, but not to the point of, say , modern DC Comics.The main thing that keeps them "Ordinary" is the fact that they pretty much still have no idea what they're doing. The bad guys, who have been at it for as much as a full generation and change, do, and that makes them much more dangerous.Yeah, three future scenarios in a row is a lot, but when you've got several characters with time-travel powers, what are you gonna do?Here's a few plot ideas that I think might make for some interesting watching.1) Turn Matt Parkman evil. They teased it last season with him learning how to "push" people. He was one I fully expected to play a bigger role this season, since it's all about people shifting their alliances. But instead he's off a on vision quest with the latest in a long line of cinematic Magic Negros (Now there's a Comic Mix Six idea for you) who bascially told him he's gotta go find a girl to get all googly-eyed over.2) Make Mohinder's Dad work for the Big Bad – come on – as soon as they started talking about his dad, we were all expecting him to show up alive. He should be Pinehearst's answer to Mohinder-their resident Ability doctor. He's the guy who saved Arthur, kept him alive, and will be the one working on the formula.3) No Future – Neither Peter nor Hiro can flash to the future. At all. As in, Hiro flashes back three days, and can't flash forward again. So he has to watch himself do all the same things for three days until he finally goes back and can step forward again. It's something the Big Bad has come up with to keep anyone from seeing where their plans are going.Just mail a check to my house.

    • Anonymous says:

      Vinnie- just one word- Negros? HOW derogatory is that? And just a thought- didn't Sylar kill Mohinder's dad in the first series, so how could he be in it??

      • Anonymous says:

        Just the fact that Vinnie would make this comment shows he knows nothing about African spirituality. Someone needs to take comparative religions or an anthropology course.

      • Anonymous says:

        Magic Negroes is a term to describe people of African American descent in cinema whose soul purpose is to lead the main character on the right path through means of magic, such as tarot, voodoo, or spirit walking.

  2. Eugene H. Krabs says:

    I don't think Heroes necessairly needs saving. I think we have had some of the best episodes ever the last several weeks and I am looking forward to seeing where it goes. Heroes is a thinking show…it has always been filled with twists and turns making the viewer wonder what is going to happen next. But unfortunately we live in a world where too many people want instant gratification…like watching the results show for Danding with the Stars the very next night. Nobody wants to think anymore and it is very sad. However on the same note I can think of one element that needs to go and now…cut the hype! A clip show to get people caught up before S3 started would have been fine…after all, it was off the air for nine months so it stands to reason a clip show after a long absense is a great idea. But attaching it to a red carpet premier was just embarassing. I am a hard core fan. I like the actors…I really do, but frankly I just didn't care about seeing them walking around in sequend gowns and tuxedos drinking champange; and from the ratings of the clip show I don't think anybody else does either. So keep up the excellent story lines…but cut the hype.

    • Josh Wigler says:

      Eugene, I respectfully disagree. Maybe once upon a time Heroes was a thinking show, but I don't see it that way anymore. Anyone could've figured out that the Peter-Arthur hug was going to result in Pete getting depowered; Claire taking the bullets, faking dead, then besting the puppeteer… it's gotten incredibly predictable. Maybe the overall story is less easy to call, but key "dramatic" moments throughout episodes can be predicted no problem minutes in advance. And then, the stuff that's not necessarily predictable but just flat-out lazy… like Hiro sneaking up behind the African painter, for instance. That's really how that story gets resolved? Very, very boring. My brother told me yesterday that my television tastes have gotten too high brow, which I don't agree with. I watch Prison Break and Terminator, neither of which I'd say are thinking shows or necessarily even very good shows, but I don't expect much from either save for entertainment value. But as you said, Eugene, Heroes is a thinking show… I think it used to be, but hasn't been that way in a long time. It's disappointing, because I want to like the show a lot more than I do.

  3. Anonymous says:

    I do love the idea of HRG/Sylar as a sci-fi themed Law & Order. "One of Us/One of Them" would be a great spin-off for sure.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Well, even at its best "Heroes" was never the smartest show on television, but in the first season it was FUN. That's why I actually do not want the show to slowly coalesce around the Bennets and Petrellis – I find Peter's moping, Claire's whining, and HRG's utter hypocrisy are some of the most draggy and self-important aspects of the show. The creepfest of Matt confronting his evil dad, or Mohinder and Sylar as the most bizarre pair of frenemies, or Hiro and Ando's sense of adventure are what keep me tuning in.

  5. Anonymous says:

    I like Heroes better when it was longer and more drawn out. I understand that Tim Kring wants it to be more fast passed by making the seasons shorter but, personally, I thought it was fast passed enough in the first season with the 23 episode run and the exciting climax than it is now. In the new 13 episode season the stories are shabby and have no real depth with characters only staying in for a few episodes then disappearing or being killed off, I think the show would be much more enjoyable if it went back to the old 23 episode format which gave the writers longer to delve into the characters stories and back-stories and would eventually lead to a more satisfying ending.

    • Foxtail says:

      To be fair, Anonymous (the Oct 25 poster), the writer's strike caused the shortened season last year. I'm sure they intended to have a full season.

  6. Foxtail says:

    1) How many viewers actually know who "The Lizard" is? And who cares anyway? Have you ever compared the backgrounds of Spider-Man and Superman? There is nothing new under the sun.2) Abandon time travel? Er, Hiro's power involves both space AND time manipulation. The gimmicks don't matter, the stories do. And the future episode (in which Future Peter is killed, Sylar goes nuclear) was excellent, IMO.3) A *series* endgame? How do you suggest they establish that?4) Since when do ratings connote quality? The weekly Nielsen lists consists mostly of insipid reality shows.

  7. Fun Jason says:

    Dear Jeff "Doc" JensenIsn't Lost have that "Absurd Plot Twists". I mean come on. Lost is the Biggest plot twists. First the charaters is going one direction the a totally different all together? I like the show. And I see why it is popular because of the "Absurd Plot Twists" ie. having the island disappear, polar bears with not snow around for miles, having Jack's dad died in a coffin then become a live? These are some of the things that make Lost so great! But insulting a show so you can have other people watch yours and get higher ratings is unfair.

  8. Anonymous says:

    Kring's been reading too many X-Men back-issues. We're constantly reliving the Days of Future Past storyline. The Petrelli family are essentially the Summers family – ultimately everything's about them, and everyone super-powered is related to them one way or another. Far too many people can see the future, paint the future, or go to the future, which prevents plots taking place because of immediate necessity – everything comes about to avoid the future, rather than because something has taken place NOW because of a bad guy who needs to be stopped.Kring is aping Marvel's greatest years, without understanding the mechanics of why they were so great. Peter, Sylar and Hiro are TOO powerful, and characters like Parkman and DL are getting sidelined or killed when they should be the driving force of the show (DL? Killed? Come on, the guy could chose whether or not to interact with the physical world!)Then there's the fact that nobody on the writing team seems to have a list of the powers Peter and Sylar have accumulated. They're picking them up all over the place and the writers can't keep track of them all.It's a shambles, and it became a shambles the moment Kring started listening to the fans and trying to pander to what they wanted. The moment you give the viewer what they want your story is over. Heroes' story is over, and it'll need a serious reboot to stop it from dying on its feet.