Heroes

[aargmematey]

I can't believe we have to wait like, a month and a half before the rest! I always watch Heroes with my roommate and suitemate, and by then it'll be time to go back home.

FIE ON THEE GODS OF NBC! FIE!

[Lordmoon]

I was thinking the same thing about Prof. Jr. He was almost cool there and then he blows it.

Too bad Hiro already got his sword. I was really hoping for him to have traveled back in time and to have received the sword personally from the hero himself (can't remember the name).

[Hilasophy]

We have to wait how long?!?

**spoiler** are we still doing spoilers for this thread or is it a given?


This show keeps getting better and better. All I asked from the beginning was that Simone die and Peter get a hair cut...After this episode all my wishes have come true. Thank you Heroes.

[TheLuckyOne]

I'm reposting this from the MRFH blog, just so any Heroes fans who don't check it regularly can chime in...

***********

So, like everyone, I've been hearing a lot about this new show "Heroes." Looks like it'd be right up my alley, but it's too late in the season for me to start; I figure I'll pick up the first season on DVD and start watching next season. Meanwhile, though, a lot of the things I've heard about it sound an awful lot like a comic that was published a few years back called "Rising Stars." So let me give a brief rundown of Rising Stars, and then any Heroes watchers can tell me if they're actually similar or not.

Rising Stars, which took place in its own world (no other superpowered people running around), chronicled what happened when a strange mass of energy fell from the sky, striking down in Pederson, Illinois. All of the children who were in utero when the energy hit were affected, granting them all some level of superhuman abilities- some vast (Superman-level powers), some extremely minor (low-level telekinesis), some arcane (constantly appearing as the most beautiful person in the world to whoever sees her). After a brief prologue showing the children growing up together in a government facility, the series started with the 113 individuals ("Specials") in their late 20s or early 30s, when someone began murdering them. One of the Specials, Poet, investigated and eventually learned the truth: the energy that gave them their powers was finite, so whenever one Special died, their power was evenly distributed among the rest. Thus, the killer was murdering their old friends/classmates to increase their own power level. At one point, after enough of the Specials had died, the survivors went through a massive energy surge, all of them gaining high-level powers.

But that wasn't the end of it- further investigation revealed that while the killer was Jason Miller/Patriot (a corporate superhero), he was being controlled by another Special. Stephanie Maas was an incredibly shy, introverted girl who had been badly abused as a girl, and because of it now suffered multiple personality disorder. While Stephanie herself was low-powered, it turned out her "other" personality, which called itself Critical Maas, was not. Critical had taken over Jason's mind and made him kill their childhood friends, gaining immense power herself in the process; it took a covert team of other Specials to invade Chicago and eventually stop her.

There was more to the series, but I never got around to reading it. (It was told in 24 issues, I think I read the first 16 or so.) Nonetheless, there do seem to be some similarities between Rising Stars and what I've heard about Heroes. Am I misinformed, or is that the case?

-D

[StarOpal]

I haven't read Rising Stars, so I only have what you said to refer to.

theluckyone said:

Rising Stars, which took place in its own world (no other super powered people running around), chronicled what happened when a strange mass of energy fell from the sky, striking down in Pederson, Illinois.

In Heroes the super powered people are the next step in evolution and are born with abilities that manifest themselves when they're older (some teenagers, others in their twenties or thirties, and at least one by the time he was ten-ish). It isn't from just one point in time (At least one of them was in his late twenties when one was about seven and the other just born). It isn't isolated to any one area, so far people have popped up all over America, India, Japan, Haiti, and Canada. So this would be closer to X-Men.

After a brief prologue showing the children growing up together in a government facility, the series started with the 113 individuals ("Specials") in their late 20s or early 30s, when someone began murdering them. One of the Specials, Poet, investigated and eventually learned the truth: the energy that gave them their powers was finite, so whenever one Special died, their power was evenly distributed among the rest. Thus, the killer was murdering their old friends/classmates to increase their own power level. At one point, after enough of the Specials had died, the survivors went through a massive energy surge, all of them gaining high-level powers.

When anyone is brought into the Heroes' Organization it's only after their powers manifest, usually with an ultimatum of "join us or else", though the organization keeps an eye on some of them if they're born with the genetic possibility.

There is no One type finite power. One of the the 'mutants' has the ability to take another mutant's powers by stealing their brain (ultimately killing them). No other mutants are affected by this.

But that wasn't the end of it- further investigation revealed that while the killer was Jason Miller/Patriot (a corporate superhero), he was being controlled by another Special. Stephanie Maas was an incredibly shy, introverted girl who had been badly abused as a girl, and because of it now suffered multiple personality disorder. While Stephanie herself was low-powered, it turned out her "other" personality, which called itself Critical Maas, was not. Critical had taken over Jason's mind and made him kill their childhood friends, gaining immense power herself in the process; it took a covert team of other Specials to invade Chicago and eventually stop her.

Sylar (the guy who takes the brains) works independently. Since no one else has seen Sylar and lived, he often pretends to be someone else in order to get the information he needs to continue tracking down other mutants and getting more abilities. But he's not being controlled by, or working for anyone else.

Nikki has a split personality named Jessica. Whether it's a basic split personality, or her dead sister really did transfer her own personality into her I'm not sure. At least when she's Jessica she has super strength. Jessica seems to be a classic protective personality. She appears when Nikki or her son are in a pinch. Currently in the storyline Jessica is more dominate, but then things have gotten pretty tough with Nikki.

I'd say if anything, it resembles X-Men. There's a professor, organization types are bad guys, evolution, and powers realized down the road as opposed with being born with them.

[TheLuckyOne]

Interesting... thanks for the response, StarOpal. Here's a link to the wikipedia entry on Rising Stars, which also makes passing reference to Heroes:

Rising Stars

I suppose I should also clarify that I don't think Heroes ripped off Rising Stars or anything; I'd imagine it's more a case of an interesting concept manifesting more than once in the cultural consciousness. (See: Man-Thing and Swamp Thing debuting with Marvel and DC within one month of each other, by two writers who were roommates at the time, yet had apparently never discussed the creation of the characters with each other.)

-D

[DarthShady]

Just thought I'd add a little more:

Sylar, while being an amazingly awesome villain (no sappy backstory, no quest for revenge, no good guy hiding on the inside - this dude is pure, unadulterated crazy-evil, and I love it!,) isn't the main threat to the "heroes." While he is a serial murderer on a quest for more powers, the central evil forces (or so they would seem, as far as we know,) are the Primatech company (secret government branch? a squadron of ex-CIA agents? there to protect or imprison the "heroes?") and a man by the name of Linderman, who is somehow connected to almost all of the major characters in some way. But the viewers know very little about the intentions of either the comapny or Linderman, so one or possibly both could turn out more good than evil. Sylar is more overtly sinister, but he doesn't have the connections or power they have.

Also, it seems from interviews with Tim Kring (the creator) that he originally wanted Sylar as one of a series of villians in classic comic b--uh, graphic novel fashion, but apparantly he was so well received and Zachary Quinto is a great enough guy to work with that now Kring wants to keep him around longer.

Also, it's hard to tell whether Jessica is really a villain right now. A lot of the bad things she does is motivated by noble notions. Trying to protect her son and sister, making money to support her family, stuff like that. And the "real" Jessica (Nikki's dead sister) was killed by her own abusive father while saving Nikki from his wrath, so we know she at least is a protective entity. But then she does truly heinous stuff like framing her husband for her handiwork, hunting him down, turning to a profession as a hitwoman. So I still think it's hard to say whether she's a hero or a villain.

PS -- On an interesting note, creator Tim Kring has admitted that he never really read superhero comics, but was more into Archie comics.

[StarOpal]

I always like to think of Linderman as somebody with a lot of money working on his own for his own reasons, without any kind of government connection. Perhaps a mutant himself working towards mutant supremacy. Not that I'm right, but I think it makes him more interesting.

And yet neither Primatech/Linderman or Sylar are the main threat in Heroes. That goes to stopping the explosion in order to "save the world".

Oh and I forgot to say it: Sylar is totally eating the brains.

Personally I don't think of Jessica as villain. Even if she kills people she hasn't killed anyone you'd call an innocent. Not that that makes her a good guy either....

[DarthShady]

staropal said:

Personally I don't think of Jessica as villain. Even if she kills people she hasn't killed anyone you'd call an innocent. Not that that makes her a good guy either....

True. She had the perfect oppurtunity to tear the psychiatrist to shreds when in prison, but only attacked her enough to try and get away.

staropal said:

Oh and I forgot to say it: Sylar is totally eating the brains.

I concur! It makes him totally creepier!

[DocD83]

Rising Stars, which took place in its own world (no other superpowered people running around), chronicled what happened when a strange mass of energy fell from the sky, striking down in Pederson, Illinois. All of the children who were in utero when the energy hit were affected, granting them all some level of superhuman abilities- some vast (Superman-level powers), some extremely minor (low-level telekinesis), some arcane (constantly appearing as the most beautiful person in the world to whoever sees her). After a brief prologue showing the children growing up together in a government facility

Reading that, I thought it had a distinct 4400 vibe.

[DarthShady]

Ugh, we still have almost a month to wait! I can't stand it any longer!

[StarOpal]

Hang in there, DarthShady! I find yelling "Yatta!" helps with the wait... and tends to thin out long waiting lines.

[DarthShady]

Haha, how about "My name is Sylar!"

[StarOpal]

Or for Sylar you could just make clockwork noises!

If you were going to be Prof. Jr. you'd say "Flash... drive?" (Okay that was, what, episode 1 or 2? I guess I should probably let it go. Probably)

[DarthShady]

One week! One week! The wait's almost over!

I saw the trailer online and it looks more awesome than ever! I'll try to find it again and post the link