{{Mergefrom|Primatech|Talk:Heroes (TV series)#Merger proposal|
'''Heroes''' is an
American Emmy Award-nominated science fiction drama television series, created by
Tim Kring,
[1] which premiered on
NBC on
September 25,
2006. The show tells the story of several people who "thought they were like everyone else... until they realized they have incredible abilities" such as
telepathy,
time travel,
flight and
instantaneous regeneration. These people soon realize they have a role in preventing a
catastrophe and saving mankind.
[2] The series emulates the writing style of
American comic books with short, multi-episode
story arcs that build upon a larger, more encompassing arc. Kring said "we have talked about where the show goes up to five seasons."
[3]
When the series premiered in the United States, it was the night's most-watched program among adults aged 18-49, attracting 14.3 million viewers overall and receiving the highest rating for any NBC
drama premiere in five years.
[4] On
October 6,
2006, NBC Entertainment President
Kevin Reilly announced ''Heroes'' had been picked up for a full season,
[5] and on
January 17,
2007, Reilly announced ''Heroes'' had been picked up for a second season.
[6] The second season of ''Heroes'' will consist of 24 episodes,
[5] and the first season of a new spinoff, '', will include six episodes.
[5] The second season is scheduled to premiere on
September 24 2007.
[9]
Characters
Main articles: List of characters in Heroes
Season one
The show features an
ensemble cast of twelve main characters. Although NBC's cast page
[10] lists only ten characters,
Leonard Roberts (
D.L. Hawkins), who first appeared in the series'
fifth episode, was an additional member of the original full-time cast. Later
Jack Coleman (
Noah Bennet) was upgraded from a
recurring role to become the twelfth full-time cast member as of
"Fallout".
[11]
The main cast, not all of whom have been shown to possess powers, consists of:
★
Noah Bennet (
Jack Coleman), more commonly referred to as "Mr. Bennet" or "the Man in Horn-Rimmed Glasses", who works for the
Primatech Paper Company, which is actually a cover operation for an organization that investigates people with
superhuman abilities.
★
Claire Bennet (
Hayden Panettiere), Mr. Bennet's
adopted daughter, a high school
cheerleader who lives in
Odessa, Texas, and has a
spontaneous regenerative ability.
★
Simone Deveaux (
Tawny Cypress), an
art dealer and
gallery owner whose skepticism and complicated romantic life are tested.
★
D.L. Hawkins (
Leonard Roberts), the husband of Niki and father of Micah, has the power to alter his physical tangibility and
phase through solid objects.
★
Isaac Mendez (
Santiago Cabrera), an
artist living in
New York who can paint future events during
precognitive trances. He also writes and draws a comic book called ''
9th Wonders!'' which has also been shown to depict the future. He has problems with drugs.
★
Hiro Nakamura (
Masi Oka), a programmer
[12] from
Tokyo with the ability to
manipulate the space-time continuum. He is convinced that he is a hero, and with other "special persons", he can change the future.
★
Matt Parkman (
Greg Grunberg), a
Los Angeles police officer with the ability to
hear other people's thoughts.
★
Nathan Petrelli (
Adrian Pasdar), a New York
Congressional candidate with the ability of self-propelled
flight.
★
Peter Petrelli (
Milo Ventimiglia), a former
hospice nurse and Nathan's younger brother. He is an
empath[5] with the ability to
absorb the powers of others he has been near and recall them.
★
Micah Sanders (
Noah Gray-Cabey), D.L. and Niki's son and a
child prodigy, Micah is a
technopath, allowing him to "talk" to electrical devices, which gives him control of machines and electronic devices.
[14]
★
Niki Sanders (
Ali Larter), the wife of D.L. and mother of Micah. A former
internet stripper from
Las Vegas who exhibits
superhuman strength and an
alternate personality who goes by the name of Jessica.
★
Mohinder Suresh (
Sendhil Ramamurthy), a
professor of
genetics from
India who travels to New York to investigate the death of his father,
Chandra. Through his investigations, he comes into contact with people his father listed as possessing superhuman abilities.
The main
antagonist in season one is
Sylar (
Zachary Quinto), a
serial killer who hunts super-powered individuals in order to take their abilities. Additionally, the first season slowly reveals who and what is responsible for a plot to destroy New York City. The series also features many guest and recurring characters, including friends and family of the main cast, criminals and villains, and other individuals with remarkable powers.
Season two
Zachary Quinto
and James Kyson Lee,
who were recurring cast members in the first season, join the main cast for the second season. They are joined by new cast members David Anders,
Dana Davis
and Dania Ramírez.
Santiago Cabrera, Tawny Cypress, and Leonard Roberts are not listed as part of the main cast.
[15] Heroes Season 2 is scheduled to air on
September 24 2007, as per the information for IMDB.
★ Takezo Kensei (
David Anders),
[16] a legendary 1,000 year old warrior.
★
Ando Masahashi (
James Kyson Lee),
[17] Hiro Nakamura's friend, coworker, and travelling companion. He does not have any superhuman abilities.
★ Maya Herrera (
Dania Ramírez),
[18] a Dominican who is on the run from the police. She has superhuman abilities, although they have not yet been revealed.
[19]
★ Monica Dawson
[20] (
Dana Davis),
[21] described as a "young hero" who is willing to "give up everything to help the people around her." She is a relative of D.L. Hawkins.
[22]
★
Sylar (
Zachary Quinto),
[23] a former
watchmaker with an intuitive understanding of how things work. He is a serial killer who seeks out superhuman individuals, killing them in order to take their powers. Sylar has
multiple acquired abilities.
Plot
The plot of ''Heroes'' is designed to be similar to the stories of comic books. Like comic books, Heroes has large overall arcs and small arcs within the main arc. No matter what characters exist and what events make up a season, all seasons of Heroes will involve ordinary people who discover their abilities and their reactions to their self-discovery.
[2]
First season
Each episode reveals new answers and questions and progresses the story and/or the characters. There is an overall arc of the first season that revolves around stopping an explosion of immense proportions that happens in the future. That arc is initially carried by two characters,
Hiro Nakamura and
Isaac Mendez, the former having seen the event in the future and the latter having painted it from his visions.
The first four episodes of the first season revolved primarily around characters discovering their powers, dealing with the issues of normal life and coping with the consequences of their discovery.
At the end of the fourth episode, a smaller arc began with the message "Save the cheerleader, save the world", which is tied to the explosion already foreseen. By the end of that arc, the characters slowly discovered their abilities and the existence of others like them, and some of them even began to realize the need to come together to prevent a catastrophe.
As characters progress through the first season learning of others similar to them, the plot turns to the question of how the explosion seen in Hiro's trip to the future and
Isaac's paintings will occur and what role the various characters will play to stop it or cause it.
Heroes: Origins
Main articles: Heroes: Origins
On
May 14 2007 NBC announced that during the 2007-2008 season, the network will air a six-episode ''Heroes''
spinoff called ''
Heroes: Origins''. The show will introduce a new character each week, and viewers will select which one stays for the following season.
[25][26]
Recurring elements
Three elements appear repeatedly throughout the series: the helix, the scar and the eclipse. The scar appears to be man-made, but the circumstances surrounding the helix - its meaning and its manifestations - are a slowly-unraveling mystery.
Helix
The helix
The helix is a symbol that appears quite frequently throughout the series. The helix symbol consists of an "S" shape from which three lines extend, with two on the left and one on the right. The "S" shape resembles a strand of
RNA during transcription, which would make the lines extending outward the nucleotides during the transcription phase.
In episode 12 (
"Godsend") the symbol appears on the sword hilt and
Ando Masahashi remarks that it appears to be a combination of two
Kanji characters: (Sai) meaning "Great Talent" and (Yo) meaning "Godsend". During an interview at the
Wizard World in Los Angeles, writer and Co-Producer Aron Coleite stated that it literally means "God sending great ability." Writer and co-executive producer Michael Green stated that the writers know it as "the helix."
[27] This symbol frequently appears as a pattern formed by mundane objects, but it also recurs on certain plot-significant items and on several characters:
★ On Peter Petrelli's 'stick drawing' while in hospital.
★ Horizontally on the computer screen while Mohinder Suresh is running his father's program.
★ On various
paintings by Isaac Mendez.
★ On Jessica's back whenever she surfaces as Niki's alternate personality. When Jessica is repressed, the symbol does not appear on Niki's back. This also appeared on a painting of "Jessica" by Isaac. The symbol was hidden under an extra layer of paint. Later on, Jessica hides the symbol (an apparent
tattoo) under a layer of foundation makeup.
★ On the front of Dr.
Chandra Suresh's book, ''Activating Evolution''.
★ On the hilt of a
katana once owned by 17th century samurai Takezo Kensei. This katana is held by
Hiro Nakamura.
★ On the top left corner of the ''9th Wonders'' comic.
★ As a logo for Primatech Paper, in "
Company Man".
★ On jewelry, most notably the
Haitian's necklace and
Hana Gitelman's earrings and ring.
★ On the flag and
katana of a samurai in 1671, witnessed by
Hiro Nakamura in the episode "
How to Stop an Exploding Man" during the preview for ''Volume Two: Generations''.
★ On D.L.'s right forearm in form of scarification. This is only shown in a deleted scene from "Genesis" featured in the Season 1 DVD.
Scar
A mark consisting of two black parallel lines has been shown close to the neck of multiple super-powered characters. According to "
Wireless, Part 4" and "
How Do You Stop an Exploding Man, Part 1", the mark is the scar left by the two-pronged needle of a pneumatic injection device, which, as revealed in a biography of Hana Gitelman in the
Heroes 360 experience, injects a
radioisotope to allow tracking.
[28] All of the marked characters have had encounters with
Mr. Bennet and/or the
Haitian. The following have displayed it:
★
Matt Parkman
★
Ted Sprague
★
Hana Gitelman
★
Claude
★
Isaac Mendez
Eclipse
In addition to being the series logo, a
solar eclipse has been a recurring image in the series itself, though a terrestrial eclipse (an
eclipse in which the Earth covers the Sun, as viewed from some observation point away from the Earth) is used in the series' title sequence. So far, the solar eclipse has appeared as:
★ The background of the
title card of the series.
★ A painting by
Isaac Mendez.
★ A "global event" in "
Genesis".
★ A future event referenced in a
newspaper.
★ A picture in
Mohinder Suresh's apartment.
★ The reflection of a light in a hospital waiting room in "
Six Months Ago".
★ An event during
Hiro Nakamura's visit back to 17th century Japan in "
How to Stop an Exploding Man"
Reception
Critical acclaim
After completing half its first season, ''Heroes'' had already collected an assortment of honors and accolades. On
December 10,
2006 the
American Film Institute named ''Heroes'' one of the ten "best television programs of the year".
[29] Three days later on
December 13, the
Writers Guild of America nominated the program for "best new series" of 2007.
[30] The next day (
December 14), the
Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominated the program for a
Golden Globe Award for "best television drama", and nominated
Masi Oka (
Hiro Nakamura) for Best Supporting Actor on a TV Series.
[31] Neither the series nor the actor won; the show lost out to
ABC's popular
medical drama ''
Grey's Anatomy'' and Oka lost to
Jeremy Irons, who played
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester in
Channel 4's ''
Elizabeth I''. ''Heroes'' won the award for Favorite New TV Drama at the 2007
People's Choice Awards.
[32] The
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People nominated ''Heroes'' on
January 9 2007 for an Image Award in the "Outstanding Drama Series" category,
[33] but the show again lost to ''Grey's Anatomy''. On
February 21,
2007, it was announced that Heroes was nominated for five
Saturn Awards. The nominations included "Best Network Television Series", "Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series" for both
Greg Grunberg and
Masi Oka, and "Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series" for
Hayden Panettiere and
Ali Larter.
[34] The series won the award for "Best Network Television Series"; as well, Masi Oka and Hayden Panettiere won the awards they were nominated for.
On
July 19,
2007, the
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced their nominations for the 2007 Primetime
Emmy awards. ''Heroes'' was nominated in eight categories, including Outstanding Drama Series. The pilot episode, "
Genesis", earned six nominations: Outstanding Directing (
David Semel), Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series, Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series, and Outstanding Stunt Coordination. The episode "
Five Years Gone" also received a nomination for Outstanding Visual Effects for a Series. Finally,
Masi Oka was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
[35]
On
July 21,
2007, the
Television Critics Association awarded ''Heroes'' with the prestigious Outstanding Program of the Year title during their 23rd Annual
TCA Awards ceremony.
The cast of ''Heroes'' was named in the 2006 ''
Time'' Magazine's
Person of the Year issue under "People Who Mattered".
[36] In Australia, the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' lift-out section, "The Guide", listed ''Heroes'' as one of the best shows to come in 2007. It was described as a "Modern twist of ''
The Tomorrow People''".
Ratings
'USA TV Ratings'
''Heroes'' was
NBC's top-rated scripted
show for the 2006-2007 television season, and the most successful of the shows which debuted in that period. It ranked twenty-first in the ratings, with an average of 14.3 million viewers in the United States.
[37]
'UK TV Ratings'
The series aired first on
Sci Fi UK. The premiere attracted 579,000 viewers on its first showing; with three repeat showings averaging 150,000. The series averaged 450,000 viewers, almost four times more than any other viewership for a program on this channel.
[38] Terrestrial airing began on
BBC2 on Wednesday,
July 25,
2007 at 9:00 p.m., and for the first time in
HD in the UK on
BBC HD. It attracted an audience of 4.3 million viewers. This was the first time that
BBC2 had surpassed its sister channel
BBC1 in terms of ratings in prime time for over a decade.
[39]
'Australian TV Ratings'
The first season on the
Seven Network, beginning Wednesday nights at 8:30 p.m. The series debuted strongly, attracting more than 2 million viewers in the five capital cities; however it quickly changed to a number closer to 1 million due to competition against higher rating shows on other channels (
House & ) that were placed in the same timeslot. Due to the success of ABC Australia's hit comedy
The Chaser's War on Everything, nearing the end of the first season, the show was moved to the 8:30 p.m. Thursday timeslot in the cities of
Sydney and
Brisbane which saw a significant increase in its numbers in those markets, especially in
Brisbane.
'French TV Ratings'
The series currently airs on
TF1, beginning Saturday nights at 8:50 p.m. The series debuted strongly, with the premiere attracting just over 6 million viewers in
France.
[40]
'Dutch TV Ratings'
The series currently airs on
RTL5 on Thursday nights at 9:30 pm. The series premiere was not watched well (405,000 viewers), but a replay drew 572,000 viewers
[41]. Currently the series draws some 350,000 viewers each episode (± 8%).
'Hong Kong TV Ratings'
The series currently airs on
TVB Pearl every Tuesday night at 10:35 p.m. The series premiere draws an average of 340,000 viewers.
'Italian TV Ratings'
The series currently airs on
Italia 1, the series premiered on September 2, 2007 drawing an average of 2.4 million viewers with 15 percent of share in the 18-49 years old target. The first four episodes of the series have attracted an average audience of 2.4 million viewers. The show airs every Sunday at 8:40 PM.
Production notes
When the writing team works on an episode, each writer takes a character and writes the individual scenes surrounding that character. These stories are then combined and given to the episode writer, allowing every writer to contribute to every episode.
[42] This allows the writing team to finish scripts faster so the filming crew can shoot more scenes at a location.
[43]
A special 73-minute version of the pilot was first screened to a large audience at the 2006
Comic Con in
San Diego.
[44] Initially it was reported that this unaired pilot would not be released, however it was included on the first season DVD set.
[45]
In keeping with the comic book thematic elements used in the show, professional
comic book artist Tim Sale was brought in to provide the artwork used as the
work of
Isaac Mendez. Mendez's work in the ''
9th Wonders!'' comicbook on the show is also the work of Sale.
[46] Additionally, the
font used throughout the show in the various captions and credits is reminiscent of
traditional hand-rendered comic book lettering. The font was created by Sale and is based on his handwriting style.
[47]
The series is filmed in
Los Angeles, California and
Santa Clarita, California.
Each week NBC releases a ''
Heroes Webcomic''. The comics give additional character background and plot information not shown in the television episodes. These graphic novels will continue on what is believed to be a weekly basis during the show's summer hiatus.
Music
The series is composed by
Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, with vocals provided by
Shenkar.
In
France, the
theme music of ''Heroes'' is composed by
Victoria Petrosillo. Her song ''Le Héros d'un autre'' is used by television network
TF1 to replace the show's original incidental music. Moreover, the network had to create an opening credit sequence in order to play Petrosillo's theme song.
Heroes 360 experience
Main articles: Heroes 360 experience
Heroes 360 experience is a digital extension of the series released on
January 19,
2007 and which explores the Heroes universe. Viewers can investigate clues from the show on the official website.
Emerson lawsuit
On
October 2,
2006,
Emerson Electric Company, an appliance market competitor of NBC's owner
General Electric, filed suit in federal court against NBC. The suit was in regards to a scene that appeared in "
Genesis", the pilot episode, where
Claire Bennet reached into an active
garbage disposal unit - labeled "
In-Sink-Erator" - to retrieve a ring and severely mangled her hand. Emerson claimed the scene "casts the disposer in an unsavory light, irreparably tarnishing the product" by suggesting serious injuries would result "in the event consumers were to accidentally insert their hand into one."
Emerson had asked for a ruling barring future broadcasts of the pilot, which was previously available on NBC's Web site and had already aired on NBC Universal-owned cable networks
USA Network and
The Sci Fi Channel. It also sought to block NBC from using any Emerson trademarks in the future.
[48]
On
February 23,
2007, the case against NBC was dropped. NBC Universal and Emerson Electric reached an agreement to settle the lawsuit outside of court.
[49]
The episode in question was briefly unavailable in the
iTunes Store, but an edited version was soon made available for download. A non-edited version of the episode was shown in the
BBC Two premiere on
July 25 2007. The DVD release contains an edited version where the "In-Sink-Erator" label has been removed from the scene.
DVD release
The regular DVD set is presented in 1.78:1
anamorphic widescreen, along with English Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks (SRP $59.98 USD). Extras will include:
[45]
★ The original 73 minute pilot episode, with a new character
★ Details on the show's creation, beginning with concept
★ The development of special effects
★ A back stage view of the stunts
★ A profile of Tim Sale
★ A behind-the-scenes feature on the score of ''Heroes''
★ 50 deleted and extended scenes
★ Episode audio commentaries
★ Mind Reader interactive game
An
HD DVD set will also be available (SRP $79.99 CAD). It will include all of the above and more, including many interactive "U-Control" features, and this set includes over 12 hours of special features. The standard definition DVD only comes with 3 hours of special features. There are also several releases unique to specific retailers that include exclusive extras. One such package includes "mini paintings" and a question-and-answer session with the cast.
[45] Another has a comic book containing an interview with series creator Tim Kring, as well as three short stories which give insight into Hiro's grandfather and the origin of his name, the adoption of Claire, and the young Haitian man and his father.
[52]
Like ''Lost'', ''CSI'' and ''Prison Break'', UK Region 2 will be split in two halves, released at different times. Part one being released on
October 1 and part two on
December 10. However, at the release of the second part, the full season will be released as well.
Video game
Ubisoft has announced that they have licensed the rights to produce an as yet untitled ''Heroes'' video game. The game is expected to be offered for PCs and console gaming platforms.
[53]
References
1. The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards and Creative Arts Emmy Awards Nominees
2. Heroes first look
3. How many seasons/scripts are plotted out?
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. NBC SHOWCASES FALL PRIMETIME ENTERTAINMENT SERIES BEGINNING WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 24
10. ''Heroes'' cast page
11. 'Heroes' zeros in on its bad guy
12.
13.
14. Interview with Bryan Fuller, Co-Executive Producer/Writer. Retrieved 1 January 2007.
15. NBC press release
16. Exclusive: Heroes Promotes David Anders, Hires Deadwood Star
17. "Heroes" updates, from the set and the 'Net.
18. Bold arcs and a few angry thespians: Heroes Promises A Globe-Trotting Second Season
19. Spoiler Chat: Heroes Changes, Dexter and Desperate Dish, Bionic Babble...
20. Heroes Program Information
21. Davis powers way into "Heroes"
22. Heroes Spoilers Page
23. 'Heroes': Sylar Here To Stay!
24. Heroes first look
25. NBC cans 'Studio 60,' 'Jordan'
26. NBC announces schedule, shows
27. WWLA: Loeb & co. talk "Heroes"
28. Heroes 360 Experience Hana Gitelman Biography
29.
30.
31.
32. Aniston, Depp are People's Choice winners
33.
34. 2007 Saturn Awards nominations
35. "> 'Heroes' Grabs Eight Emmy Nominations
36. People Who Mattered: The Cast of Heroes
37. Hollywood Reporter: 2006-07 primetime wrap
38. Weekly Viewing Summary, BARB.
39. US TV's Heroes is hit for BBC Two, BBC website
40. http://www.imedias.biz/television/actualite-heroes-seduit-6-millions-de-telespectateurs-11977.php
41. http://www.mediacourant.nl/?p=3393
42. Reflections: Talking with Bryan Fuller
43. Heroes Execs discuss show's future, LOST, more Standler
44. Comic-Con 2006: Heroes Pilot Premiere
45. The HD DVD of "Heroes" Comes Packed With Interactive Extras
46. Smith, Zack., TALKING HEROES AND COMICS WITH TIM SALE, ''Newsarama.com'', 2006-11-14, Retrieved on 2007-03-21.
47. George, Richard., Loeb Talks Heroes, ''IGN.com'', 2006-10-26, Retrieved on 2007-03-21.
48. Garbage Disposal Maker Sues NBC Over 'Heroes' Scene
49. Emerson Drops Product Placement Case Against NBC
50. The HD DVD of "Heroes" Comes Packed With Interactive Extras
51. The HD DVD of "Heroes" Comes Packed With Interactive Extras
52. Best Buy Canada Website. "Heroes - Season 1 (Best Buy Exclusive Comic Book)"
53. Ubisoft finds Heroes
External links
★
Heroes on NBC - ''Heroes'' Official site
★
9th Wonders - Semi-official site from ''Heroes'' creator Tim Kring
★
''Heroes'' Wiki - Official Heroes Wiki at NBC
★
Heroes on BBC - Official BBC site for ''Heroes''
★
Sci-Fi UK Official site
★
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
