One of the few studios to back the HD-DVD format exclusively was Universal Studios. Because of this, the first season of Heroes came to the doomed format, which I was excited about, since that was player that I had purchased. Unfortunately, HD-DVD went the way of the dinosaur.

So, for those of you not as short-sighted as me who went with Blu-ray, your opportunity to pick up both seasons of Heroes is here.

Universal is kicking off its global entrance into the Blu-ray market with the simultaneous release of the first two seasons of Heroes on August 26, 2008. Obviously it’s a bit early to talk special features, but it’s safe to say that the sets will likely be pretty loaded, much like the HD-DVD version was, with features such as picture-in-picture commentary.

Hmmm…I have a birthday between now and August 26…a PS3 may make an appearance on my list.

I’ve already cleared my calendar.

Yesterday, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment Ben Silverman announced that Heroes will return to air on Monday, September 15 by taking over the entire night’s prime time programming. It begins at 8/7c with everyone’s favorite, the hour-long clip show recap. It’s then followed by “a massive two-hour Heroes film”. I like the idea of calling it a film, since I find Heroes far more engaging than many of the films that are being put out today…but that’s a different post.

Silverman also cleared up the fate of one of the things I was heavily anticipating: Heroes Origins. “We were taxing our creative team to do too much around that. We wanted 35 Heroes [episodes] and 12 Heroes: Origins, each of which was supposed to be a mini-movie and backdoor pilot. We reached far and challenged our people, and we decided it was better to focus on keeping the Heroes mothership as strong as possible.” I guess I can understand that, but man, I was looking forward to see what Kevin Smith and Eli Roth had in store for us.

When we left off, Nathan Petrelli had just been felled by an assassin’s bullet, Takezo Kensei had been buried alive, and Sylar had just regained his powers. Following Volume 1: Genesis and Volume 2: Generations, Volume 3 is titled “Villains”.

Some news comes across the wire today about casting for the third season of Heroes.

The newest actor to hop onto the NBC comic-book drama is Jamie Hector. He’s had bit roles in several programs, including the memorable role of “Pedestrian” in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. His largest role is that of Marlo ‘Black’ Stanfield in HBO’s The Wire.

Heroes is still at the mercy of the strike, however, so no telling on when this will actually be, or what kind of role he’ll be playing.

(Source: CBR News)

Mezco Toyz will soon be releasing a line of action figures based on NBC’s Heroes. The first series consists of Peter Petrelli, Hiro Nakamura, Claire Bennet, Mohinder Suresh, and Sylar. Also included in the wave, but not pictured, is Peter Petrelli in Flight Mode.

Frankly, I think they look pretty awful…Mohinder is the only one that has any resemblance to the actor at all. Click the below images for higher-res shots.

Mohinder Suresh - Activating Evolution Book, Messenger Bag, & Painting

Claire Bennet - Wounded Head, Wounded Arm & Painting

Hiro Nakamura - Sword, Messenger Bag & Painting

Peter Petrelli - Glowing Hands, Messenger Bag, & Painting

Sylar - Brain, Baseball Cap, Glass Shooting Hand, & Painting

(Source: ToyNewsI)

Not content to sit around, twiddling your thumbs while the WGA and the AMPTP duke it out? Well, don’t let that pesky writer’s strike bum you out.

In stores today is “Saving Charlie”, a new novel by Aury Wallington. You may remember in Heroes last season, Hiro fell for a girl named Charlie during his limited stay in Odessa. When she was struck down by Sylar, Hiro attempted to travel back to rescue her, but try as he would, he was unable to save her.

From the Amazon entry:

Hiro Nakamura possesses the remarkable power to control time. And like his uniquely blessed comrades, he’s on a mission for the good of humankind. But another challenge awaits him: saving the love of his life from an unspeakable death. Charlene “Charlie” Andrews is the big-hearted, small-town beauty whose sunny smile and sweet soul knocked the shy Hiro head over heels. But when Charlie’s young life is snuffed out by a grisly serial killer, their budding romance is brutally cut short.

Or is it? Thanks to his astounding newfound skill, Hiro has the means to do what no tragedy-stricken lover in history ever could–turn back time. And no matter how raw his abilities, or how many twists of circumstance conspire to foil him, he vows to deliver Charlie from the evil poised to claim her. He will be her hero.

But what possible consequences might changing the past visit upon the future? How could saving one cherished life affect millions of others? And what ultimate choice will Hiro make when the power of fate rests in his hands?

It’s quite the day for YouTubey goodness.

Ausiello at TVGuide posted a link to a presentation that Tim Kring gave at the Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival. Apparently, there was a bit filmed for episodes 12 and 13 of Heroes before the strike axe fell and ended production. Using that footage, they cobbled together a nifty little teaser, which can be seen below.

And, can I just say…Zachary Quinto is such da man.

Season 2, Chapter 11 - Powerless

So…there’s the end of Season Two. I would say that “Powerless” is better than the sum of the season…the highs were pretty high, but it didn’t drop to the lows that we’ve seen this year.

Let’s start with the Niki/Micah storyline, because it’s been pretty much just filler. The only connection that it had to the meta-storyarc has been the Mohinder was looking for a cure for her, primarily. Beyond that, it’s existed primarily to remind us that, yes, the two of them are still alive, and there’s another hero, Monica, that we may be seeing more of soon. In this episode, the powerless Niki and the powerful Micah team up to track down the captured Monica…and they rescue her. The end.

Beyond that, everything else clicked pretty well.

Mohinder rushes home to find Sylar holding Molly hostage. It’s so nice to see Zachary Quinto back in evil mode, and he really let loose in this episode. Maya inadvertently let it slip that Sylar is powerless, which results in a showdown between him and the good doctor, and you know that Sylar will always win in a staring contest. They end up in the late Isaac’s loft, which now serves as Suresh’s lab.

Bob managed to prove that he is a Grade-A ass. “And to think of all the work I put into raising you.” Man, dude…what did you expect Elle to do after that? After going to Noah, he dashes her image of her dad even more, by telling her that he brutally tortured her to learn the extent of her powers when she was seven. Elle still wants to find a way to please Bob, however, and, discovering Sylar’s location, she hightails it to New York. Apparently she found a teleporter laying around or something, because she made that trans-American trip from California to New York in just a couple of hours. Impressive.

In Texas, Bob makes a deal with Noah. The Bennet family will be completely left alone (yeah, right) if Noah will come back to the company. HRG agrees, and that’s pretty much that. I’ve really liked the Bennet storyline this year, but the resolution was really lacking.

Elle drops in just as Sylar is preparing to be injected with the blood that will heal him and restore his powers. She starts to fire bursts of lightning at him as he runs, but apparently her short range aim isn’t as great as her long range aim (she knocked West out of the air at a couple hundred yards a couple of weeks ago). Anyway, she gets one good shot in before Sylar manages to escape.

The real meat was in the Odessa storyline this week. Leading up to it, Angela Petrelli tells Nathan and Matt that Peter and Adam must be stopped, and even goes so far as to give pointers on how to do the deed to her favorite son. At Primatech, the brief showdown between Hiro and Peter at the beginning was fantastic, but, like I said, brief. It managed to plant the seeds of doubt in Peter’s head that would grow later on. The fact that Nathan could fly created a much more believable excuse for a quick NY-to-Odessa flight, and the scene right after they land was priceless.

Peter uses his telekinetic powers to rip the vault door off the wall, giving him and Adam access to the virus. Hiro pops in again to try to stop them, but he’s no match for Adam and Peter’s combined abilities. As Adam quickly rushes in to “dispose” of the vial, Peter stands guard. Nathan and Matt arrive, and after a brief, but gratifying fight, they convince him that Adam is a nutcase bent on the destruction of the world. Hiro flashes in and manages to “flash” away with Adam, but not before the villain drops the vial. Peter catches it just in time, and uses his radioactive powers to destroy it.

Hiro manages to drop Adam in my personal worst nightmare…being buried alive. Hopefully, this isn’t the last we’ll see of Monroe…to see him in league with Sylar next season would be amazing.

Finally, Nathan is convinced that it is time to go public about the heroes and their abilities. Before he can make his revelation, he is shot down by a sniper. While I really felt like something like this would happen (surely the show won’t let the whole world know about this yet), I was pretty surprised that they capped Nathan. Now, the question remains, will he stay dead? The thing that I hate about the deal with Claire’s blood is that no one has to stay dead for long. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another resurrection next year.

And that’s the end of season two. All in all, it was…pretty middle of the road, I thought. Some of the episodes, like Episode 9, were phenomenal, and in the same league with the best of last season, and some have been filler. But it remains a fantastic drama, and one of my favorite shows on television.

Episode grade: A
Season Grade: B

Volume 3 - Villains

Sylar’s back, baby!

Season 4, Episode 10 - Truth and Consequences

Tonight was a pretty thick episode. There was a lot of stuff going crammed into this hour in the buildup for next weeks potential season finale. So let’s dive right in.

While it was attempted to make Claire’s response to Noah’s death a very emotional, moving storyline, it just seemed to hit every wrong note possible. While I actually like West last week, my typical passive dislike of him transformed into just loathing this week. He’s just back to being creepy. I know that Tim Kring admitted that the romance storyline was a bad idea, and hopefully we’ll see the last of West soon.

And at the memorial service when Claire spreads Noah’s ashes, why would his two actual blood relatives just stand at a distance and let her do all the eulogizing? I understand that Hayden is the “star”, but that really just pulled me out of the moment. However, when she went of on Elle, it made up for it.

Speaking of Elle, my like for her is beginning to slide. At first, she was calm, cool and collected. Tonight, though, she was a bumbling fool. I mean, the whole deal with her fumbling with the keys and then spilling the drink in her lap…here’s a tip, if you’re on a stakeout, keep the keys in the ignition. Just a thought.

Mohinder is really beginning to frustrate me. I just can’t get a feel for him. Is he really as stupid as he is coming across? Or is he really just playing both ends against the middle? Now that he knows that Claire’s blood can heal others, he plans to use it to save Nikki. Then he goes and confronts Bob, telling him that he wants the Shanti virus destroyed, and appears to actually believe Bob when he says that they will work together to do so. Come on, dude. Bob hasn’t told a single truth to you yet, why are you still believing him?

Sylar is finally freaking back. And not wimpy Sylar that we’ve had all season, the real, mean Sylar. He plays evil Yoda to Maya’s Luke, and teaches her to control her powers, so that her brother is completely expendable. (They’ve both been expendable all along, in my opinion.) When she comes to Alejandro to give him the good news, he shows her what he found out about Sylar…that he murdered his mother. This was one of my favorite scenes this season…Sylar actually uses this to grow closer to Maya, and to show her that they are really not so different at all. They send Alejandro packing, but he has no intentions of leaving his sister alone with Gabriel. He returns to confront the villain, but Sylar quickly and easily dispatches him, leaving his run at Maya unobstructed.

Though there wasn’t much of him, Hiro had some of the coolest scenes in the show. It was great to see the flashback to November 2, 1977, where Hiro sees Kensei/Monroe being captured right after the attempted outbreak. I think it’s solidified now that Monroe’s gone just plain loopy. He’s spouting the typical bad guy dialogue about how the world has become such a terrible place, so everyone has to be wiped out. I guess living for 400+ years would drive anyone nuts.

Peter and Adam head out on a search to find strain 138 of the Shanti virus. Their mission is the same, but their motives are just a bit different. Peter wants to save the world, but Adam wants to completely destroy it, and apparently live all by himself…well, him and Claire I guess, since they can both heal.

So they track down Victoria Pratt, who was responsible for the mutated strain of the Shanti virus that is apparently going to destroy the world. After a bit of exposition, Peter pulls her thoughts out of her mind and finds that strain 138 is being held in Odessa, so they head back there.

Hiro is still my favorite character on the show, and he proves it in the last scene. He is ready to strike down Monroe, but Peter stands in his way. Hiro charges, and Peter charges (electrically), and…to be continued. Sweet.

Not as high-quality as last week, but a worthy addition to the lineup. Here’s hoping next week is a quality finale.

A-

Season 2, Episode 9 - Cautionary Tales

…and thus, the roller caster ride that is the second season of Heroes continues.

Hands down, the best episode last season was “Company Man”, a chapter that focused almost exclusively on the Bennet family, and ended with Noah facing death at the end of a Company pistol to save his daughter. So it should come as no surprise that “Cautionary Tales”, an episode which is primarily Bennet-centric, and which ends with Noah facing death at the end of a Company pistol to save his daughter, is the best so far of Season Two.

First, let’s get the secondary story out of the way. Hiro goes back to try to prevent his father from dying. Along the way, he meets a younger version of himself, and is taught a lesson about letting go. I hate to blow over this, because it really was quite moving, but there wasn’t much more to it, besides what is probably the least surprising twist ever…Takezo Kensei was Kaito’s killer. I think we’ve all seen it coming for a while, but it was a pretty big moment for Hiro, which is sure to have some bigger repurcussuions down the road.

Now, the meat. The Bennets are hurriedly trying to leave, and Claire and Noah butt heads. Claire tells him she hates him, before storming out.

There were a ton of twists here that I can’t even begin to describe compellingly…suffice it to say that Noah and Bob end up with each others’ respective daughters (oh, yeah…I called the Bob/Elle thing, too). I really liked the bond that developed between Noah and West. Tonight was the first time that West hasn’t annoyed the mess out of me.

So we come to the big, beautiful showdown on the beach at sunset. Mohinder was the one to put a bullet in Noah’s eye like most people thought, though of wasn’t immediately after the prophetic painting of him with the gun. I was actually really surprised by this. Mohinder shooting Noah virtually solidifies him as an antagonist, and that wasn’t somewhere I was expecting his character to go.

So when Noah died, I was devastated. Jack Coleman brings one of the consistently best performances on Heroes, and I was horrified at the thought that he might be gone. Some may have seen the deal with Claire’s blood coming from a mile away, but I was too engrossed to think about foreshadowing at that point. So when he woke up on that table, I hit an emotional high that the show has not managed to pull off yet this season. And the fact that it was identical to Claire’s reanimation from Season One was icing on the cake.

I hate to say “Heroes is back”, because I’ve already said that a few times this season and gotten burned. I’ll just say this…it’s chapters like this that make me love this show. I pray that they can keep it up for two more episodes so this season can go out with a bang.

Episode grade: A

…in oh, so many ways.

A few weeks ago, Heroes’ Hayden Pannettiere was a part of a sting operation with a group of surfers to free a group of dolphins from a pretty gruesome fate in Japan. (You can check out the full video after the jump.)

The local government apparently supports the fishermen, and so an arrest warrant has been issued for Hayden, along with the group of friends she was with in the video. So I guess we shouldn’t expect any location shooting in Tokyo for Hayden in the near future.

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