Heroes 1.01: Genesis

[Winters_Sorrow]

Ok, I know there's a discussion thread on Heroes already (in fact there's 2!) but these are both way ahead of UK audiences who have only seen up to episode 4 as of now, so I thought I'd create some episode based threads similar to the BSG & Stargate ones to allow us to discuss them as well and to help us avoid future spoilers in the existing discussion threads.

The first episode is, appropriately enough, called Genesis and is basically an introduction to most of the main characters as listed below.

Hiro Nakamura - A Japanese office worker who is convinced he can control time & space
Nathan Petrelli - A NY Mayor running for re-election who discovers he has superpowers and doesn't really want them!
Peter Petrelli - Nathan's brother and a male nurse who really wants to fly and discovers he can...
Isaac Mendez - a NY painter who can paint the future
Nikki Sanders - A single mother who lives in Texas and is in money trouble with the mob
Claire Bennett - A High School cheerleader who discovers that she can heal her injuries almost instanteously
Mohinder Suresh - the son of a professor who was convinced that humans would develop superpowers and was working on a way to 'map' them so he could identify where they were.

This episode deals with introducing the main characters (I love Claire's intro) and setting the scene as it were. The episode focuses on Mohinder as he comes to grips with his father's sudden death and vows to carry on his work.

So Hiro manages to teleport himself from Toyko to New York and we have the great cliffhanger with Peter & Nathan and also with Nikki discovering her hidden abilities.

Thoughts?

[I, Brian]

I really enjoyed this episode, but I think it takes episode 2 to really cement it - I could have been a lot more cynical about episode 1 if I hadn't seen the second, but it is a good start, and develops a decent platform to build on.

[rune]

Their abilities dont seem that WOW to me just yet, hoping the stories make up for it

[pie'oh'pah]

I have just seen the first 2 episodes of Heroes on BBC2 and thought it had great potential. I had been looking for something to fill in between Doctor Who finishing And the next series of Torchwood and this seems perfect. Can't wait to see how it pans out.

Just a thought though. When Hiro walks into Isaac's apartment he really disappointed me. He knows all about Star Trek so he's obviously a TV-literate guy. But he forgot Rule Number One.

DON'T ... PICK UP ... THE GUN!!!

[I, Brian]

Also seemed odd that Hiro couldn't understand English, and yet was reading an English language comic, in the second episode - but at the very end I think it's made clear why this happened. So possibly not a scripting error, but now can't wait to see what happens with the Hiro storyline.

[Interference]

I'm don't think Hiro's understanding or otherwise of English made a difference, since the pictures would have been quite enough to drop his jaw.

The "humans use only 10% of their brain power" myth, I thought, had been well and truly laid to rest, but apparently not in India.

Cheer leaders are inherently annoying. Eye candy is one thing, but eye candy with just one suit of clothes ... ? Obviously not a real girl, then.

I can accept that man can fly if I can be told he's enveloped in an anti-gravity field or something. Otherwise, it's a pretty dull super-power.

Evil Twin Girl deserves a series of her own. Or a feature film. She seems like the only really well thought out character of the whole lot. The others are pretty derivative, but I suppose that was inevitable. And the cop looks like he might have a lot to offer in future episodes, too.

I'd heard the series being compared with Moore's Watchmen. So far, I can't see why. This looks like a typical TV approach to reproducing a pop-version of another medium. I don't expect depth and I don't expect to be thrilled or chilled. But if it develops some charm it might just fill the void left by the demise of Lois and Clark.

Either way, I just know I'll keep watching because, either way, it can't possibly be worse than Torchwood.

[Leisha]

But if it develops some charm it might just fill the void left by the demise of Lois and Clark.

Either way, I just know I'll keep watching because, either way, it can't possibly be worse than Torchwood.

Anything's better than Torchwood! And, in my opinion, Heroes beats Lois and Clark hands down.

The characters and the plotlines get fleshed out as the series progresses. I rate this show as one of the best that I've seen in a long, long while.

[Azure]

Actually Hiro's English level makes sense. In Japan English is required at school, but it tends to be a rather dry academic study rather than practical. There's also a lot of short English phrases around so it's not unusual to be able to read short bits of English well but not be able to converse fluently.

It it's anything like my school German I'd be totally able to find the way to the post office.

[Winters_Sorrow]

Interference: It definitely gets more interesting, trust me

[Soggyfox]

Originally Posted by Winters_Sorrow

Interference: It definitely gets more interesting, trust me

oh yes indeed. stick with it and you'll be hooked very quickly i know i was.

[I, Brian]

Originally Posted by Interference

Evil Twin Girl deserves a series of her own. Or a feature film. She seems like the only really well thought out character of the whole lot. The others are pretty derivative, but I suppose that was inevitable. And the cop looks like he might have a lot to offer in future episodes, too.

I'd heard the series being compared with Moore's Watchmen. So far, I can't see why.

To be honest, evil twin girl is the least appealing to myself - how does this relate to genetics? I guess we'll see, but so far, looks like gratuitous supernatural element that doesn't yet fit in, but I'll be patient.

Superheroes as derivative? Well, the market's been running for what, 80 or so years? The derivative element is the fun part - the accessibility - the novelty is in how these powers will be treated differently. Hiro already stands out as an interesting interpretation of teleportation.

Can't say I'd compare to Watchmen either, excepting that both are super-hero themed stories pitched at a mature audience. The big difference with Watchmen is that excepting for Jon, and maybe Ozymandias, everyone else was someone ordinary dressed in a costume - not a superpower between them.

And thanks for the comments on reading Japanese - I had wondered that, but, you know, I had to say something.

[Leisha]

To be honest, evil twin girl is the least appealing to myself - how does this relate to genetics? I guess we'll see, but so far, looks like gratuitous supernatural element that doesn't yet fit in, but I'll be patient.

You'll see a lot more characters in the future episodes, and each with their own unique power, so I guess by the end of the series she won't stand out as the oddball.

[Famfrit]

What I like about the series so far, is that the characters aren't revealed in a typical comic book manner, where they just discover they have powers and then go get a flashy suit and start fighting randomly appearing villains.
It's slower paced, showing the characters develop as they become more conviced of the powers that they have, and learn to control them more.
I'm not entirely happy about evil-twin girl. I mean, from whats been shown so far, it's not a very good power if you can't control it. But we'll see where that characters plot line takes us shall we?

[davidson91]

Just started to watch Heroes this week, starting from the beginning was sceptical at first if it would be any good but after one episode I was hooked and now am watching episodes 5 & 6. The intro's to all character's provide good insight but not enough to be able to predict the future (or even paint it).

I wasn't really too sure how the "evil twin girl" really fits in as she isn't really "super" but maybe it'll take more too see that, but I would definitely recommend to anyone who is sceptical about viewing this show to watch it.

Also how funny is Hiro's freind .

[AE35Unit]

Finally got disk one from Tesco,and watched the first two last night. Very good,now have to wait for the next disk to be sent out.