Imagine you could stop time, walk through walls, fly, control a computer with your mind or hear peoples thoughts! Would you be a villain? Or a Hero?
I mentioned Heroes in my Top 5 - Sci Fi earlier this week and thought I’d give you all some more information in the hope you’ll go and check it out, it’s a great show! I’ll give an overview of the characters whilst trying not to give any major spoilers.
The show’s basic theme is people are being born with superhuman abilities through a quirk of the genetic code (evolution or engineering?) and a nuclear explosion in the heart of New York. In the course of trying to prevent this catastrophe the Heroes paths cross, questions get answered, new questions are raised, alliances formed (and broken). This is one compelling drama! The “To be continued” text at the end of each episode always seems to come too early, the next episode too far in the future! Oh for the ability to control the flow of time - just to see next weeks episode sooner.
- Hiro Nakamura - A Japanese office worker who can bend space and time, allowing him to transport himself to different places, freeze time, and travel to the future or past. We see two different Hiros (so far) - the nerdy one of the present, just came into his powers, and the mysterious, sword wielding, older Hiro from several years in the future. Hiro’s adventures are in part led by a prophetic comic book called 9th Wonders, drawn by
- Isaac Mendez - Isaac is an artist and an heroin addict based in New York. When he is high, he has access to his amazing power, drawing the future. His works include 9th Wonders, portraying Hiro and his friend Ando, the apparent death of a cheerleader, the destruction of New York in a massive explosion and a young man who can fly.
- Peter Petrelli - Thinks he can fly! Also based in New York, Peter is a nurse looking after terminally ill patient. After trying to convice his brother Nathan that he can fly, and a stay in hospital, Nathan tells him they both can. Peter is met by (future) Hiro, told to “Save the cheerleader, save the world”, and that he must talk to Isaac. Whilst with Isaac, Peter appears to be able to draw the future, suggesting he can copy others powers.
- Claire Bennett - The indestructible cheerleader lives in Odessa, Texas and seems to be able to heal herself of any injury. She has her friend Zach film her injuries and regenerations, Zach thinks it’s cool, Claire thinks she’s a freak. The video tape is found by
- Mr Bennett - the cheerleader’s father, who seems an ordinary businessman but in reality is involved with an organization intent on controlling the Heroes. He doesn’t have any powers of his own, but uses mysterious coloured gentleman to (at the very least) block others powers, such as those of
- Matt Parkman - a bumbling LA cop, with a history of failing the exam required to become a detective. Matt discovers he can read other’s thoughts, which gets him seconded to the FBI to try to help catch a serial killer called
- Sylar - he appears to have telekinetic ability and a penchant for removing peoples brains. I’m sure he will play a major part of the unfolding saga.
There are many characters, including important ones, that I haven’t mentioned in order not to spoil anything, and the relationships between all the characters is much more complex than i could convey in such a cursory overview. If you’ve access to any of the channels showing Heroes, I suggest you check it out. You can see it from the beginning on SciFi - 19th May for example. Or wait till it’s released on DVD, which I hope will be soon.
I won’t recommend watching this from anywhere apart from episode one! The story builds on every previous episode and a lot would be lost starting somewhere in the middle.
Here’s a couple of nice pages on the subject - Wikipedia (extreme spoiler warning), TV.com (extreme spoiler warning), 9th Wonders (guess what, extreme spoiler warning)
Anyone got any superpowers or know how I can get some?
According to Fox News, George Lucas is making 2 new, hour long, live-action films based in the Star Wars universe. They apparantely won’t include any Skywalkers but as long as there are no Binks, who cares, right? Lucas is also working on Indiana Jones 4. Busy guy huh.
As part of ProBlogger’s Top 5 - Group Writing Project, here’s my Top 5 of Serial Science Fiction TV programmes.
5 - Star Trek - The Next Generation (1987-1994)
The best of the Star Trek canon, 7 years worth of classic Sci-Fi. Patrick Stewart’s portrayal of Jean-Luc Picard easily outstrips Kirk, Archer, Sisko and even Janeway.
4 - Battlestar Galactica (2003-still going)
The 21st century remake of BSG continues to surprise. Well rounded characters and a plot far enough from the original to remain interesting - and even some sexy Cylons!
3 - Stargate SG1 (1997-2007)
Even after the show’s original star Richard Dean Anderson was replaced by Farscape’s Ben Browder & Claudia Black, SG1 remains a favourite. The defeat of the Goa’uld could probably have been the end, but the introduction of the Ori as the new villains of the piece gave it a new lease of life.
2 - Farscape (1999-2004)
Once you get past the Muppet element of the show, this is a corker! With an opening episode not dissimilar to Buck Rogers, every episode just gets better and better. Ben Browder and Claudia Black show amazing chemistry from day 1, and even the Muppet, Dominar Rygel XVI, becomes endearing once you get used to him. In addition to Ben & Claudia, Wayne Pygram plays an excellent bad guy, Scorpius. Virginia Hey gives a spellbinding performance as Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan and Gigi Edgley plays the strangely sexy Chiana.
With living ships, crazed bad guys and some truly original plots, Farscape is one of those serie that can be rewatched with glee! The acting of some of the lesser characters can sometimes detract from the show, but if you concentrate on the story and the otherwise excellent acting of the main characters the rewards are great. There are some very emotional episodes here and I can’t recommend it enough. It was cancelled after the 4th season, ending on a MAJOR cliffhanger, however, a mini-series came to our salvation with the excellent conclusion, “The Peacekeeper Wars” in 2004.
1 - Babylon 5 (1994-1998)
The absolute pinnacle of TV Sci-Fi! J. Michael Straczynski created a masterpiece with B5. Engaging and varied characters, realistic dialogue, believable science, an excellently thought out plot spanning the entire 5 year story, It has yet to be beaten.
The show’s most endearing characters, Londo Molari and G’Kar, played by Peter Jurasic and Andreas Katsulas give an astounding performance for the full 5 years. Commander Jefferey Sinclair and later Captain John Sheridan, artfully portrayed by Michael O’Hare and Bruce Boxleitner, both command the Station but with very different styles. Second in command is Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova, again wonderfully played, by Claudia Christian. Security Chief Michael Garibaldi played by Jerry Doyle is also excellent, even if he does remind you of Bruce Willis.
The main thing that sets B5 above the rest of the crowd is the story spans the entire series, seemingly innocuous plot points rear their heads months, even years later, turning out to be very important! You can watch this show again and again, and still notice comments being made which you now know have an impact on future events. Yeah, other shows do this, but none with the same panache as B5!
More than just Good vs Evil, Babylon 5 doesn’t make anything so clear cut. As the Minbari say “I am Grey. I stand between the candle and the star. We are Grey. We stand between the darkness and the light.”
Go and buy it! Watch it in sessions of no less than 10 hours, and be amazed! (In fact, I think it’s time I watched all again. Got the taste for it now.
A couple that just missed out were Star Trek - Voyager, just overtaken by TNG, and Heroes which is shaping up to be a fine series, just a bit too early to tell. So, have I missed your favourite? Do you disagree? Feel free to let everyone know by leaving a comment.
