Heroes Series Premiere - A Review

I don’t know how anyone can review this new TV series without also referring to M. Night Shyamalan’s film Unbreakable, in which Bruce Willis’ character slowly discovers that he is, in fact, a superhero of comic book proportions. I loved the movie (especially Samuel L. Jackson), and I really liked tonight’s premiere of Heroes on NBC (Mondays at 9:00 pm Eastern). This first episode began to introduce us to some of the people who have or are in the process of discovering their latent abilities. It was a well-made episode and took us all over the world in order to show us the background of each series regular. In fact, I would say that this was the best made pilot of all the new series.

I particularly liked the character of Hiro Nakamura (played by Masi Oka), as he discovers he has the power to “break through the space-time continuum,” which leads to one of the funniest lines where a co-worker encourages him to use Spock’s Vulcan powers to get himself out of trouble with his supervisor. Michael Canfield of TV Squad says:

Right off, this beautifully made pilot, with its luscious photography and rich soundtrack grabbed me. The action spans the globe from India, to rural Texas, to Tokyo, and each location is richly realized. Just on a technical level this pilot was the most effective I’ve seen this season. Clearly NBC is behind the series. Despite all the globe-trotting, most of the action slowly begins to gather around New York City — just like in Marvel Comics. Another good sign about this series: it is not shy or embarrassed about acknowledging its root inspiration in comics. . . .Good start, and, as I can tell from cast photos, not even all the major characters have been introduced yet. I’m sticking with this one for awhile.

I agree 100% and cannot wait until next week’s episode (which I will probably have to tape since I have a dreaded church meeting!). Created by Tim Kring (Who also created Crossing Jordan and wrote for Providence), Heroes has also inked comic book writer Jeph Loeb (Superman/Batman) to be a writer/co-executive producer. Some of the more notable stars of the series include Hayden Panettiere (The Ice Princess and Racing Stripes), Milo Ventimiglia (formerly Jess on The Gilmore Girls), and Leonard Roberts (who starred as Forest Gates from The Initiative on Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

And for those of you who missed the premiere, Wikipedia reports that the Sci-Fi Channel will air encore episodes starting September 29, 2006, so check your TV listings to see if this is true.

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