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Heroes (American TV series)

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Heroes
File:Heroes title card.png
Heroes title card
Created byTim Kring
StarringMilo Ventimiglia
Masi Oka
Hayden Panettiere
Ali Larter
Greg Grunberg
Adrian Pasdar
Sendhil Ramamurthy
Santiago Cabrera
Leonard Roberts
Noah Gray-Cabey
Tawny Cypress
Jack Coleman
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes18 (to date) (list of episodes)
Production
Running time45 minutes approx.
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 25, 2006 –
present

Heroes is an American science fiction drama television series, created by Tim Kring, 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 woke with incredible abilities" such as telepathy, time travel and flight. These people soon realize they have a role in preventing a catastrophe and saving mankind.[1]

The series follows the writing style of American comics by doing short, multi-episode story arcs that build upon a larger, more encompassing arc. Even with small story arcs that move the story forward, Kring said "we have talked about where the show goes up to five seasons".[2]

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.[3]

On October 6, 2006, NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly announced Heroes had been picked up for a full season.[4] On January 17, 2007, Reilly announced Heroes had been picked up for a second season.[5]

At the end of episode 18, "Parasite", the series went on hiatus until April 23, 2007.

Characters

Main article: List of characters in Heroes
Template:Spoiler

The show features an ensemble cast of twelve main characters. Although NBC's cast page lists only ten characters, Leonard Roberts, who first appeared in the series' fifth episode, was an additional member of the original full-time cast. Later Jack Coleman was upgraded from a recurring role to become the twelfth full-time cast member as of the eleventh episode.[6]

The main cast, not all of whom have been shown to possess powers, currently consists of:

File:Heroes.png
Promotional photograph of the original main cast line-up.

Previous Characters

The show features many guest and recurring characters, such as friends and family of the main cast, criminals and villains, and other people with remarkable powers. The most notable is Sylar (Zachary Quinto), a serial killer who serves as the series' main antagonist.

Plot

See also: List of Heroes episodes and List of Heroes graphic novels

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 makeup a season, all seasons of Heroes will involve ordinary people who discover their abilities and their reactions to their self-discovery. [1]

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, where the former saw the act in the future and the latter painted it from his visions.

The first four episodes of the first season primarily revolved 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 an event occurs that kicked off a smaller arc revolving around a message received by Peter Petrelli, "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.

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.

The helix

File:HeroesSymbol.jpg
The helix

The helix is a symbol that appears quite frequently throughout the series. 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: 才 (Sai) meaning "Great Talent" and 与 (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 Micheal Green stated that the writers know it as "the helix"[9]. This symbol frequently appears as a pattern formed by mundane objects, but it also appears on certain plot-significant items and on several characters:

  • 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 hilt of a katana once owned by 16th-century samurai Takezo Kensei, possibly the earliest known manifestation of the symbol. This katana is held by Hiro Nakamura.
  • Printed on the front of Dr. Chandra Suresh's book, Activating Evolution.
  • On a warehouse door at Primatech Paper, in "Company Man".
  • On the Primatech Paper model in a flashback, also in "Company Man".
  • On the Haitian's necklace.
  • In Chandra Suresh's algorithm program, formed by the code on the computer screen.

The scar

A mark consisting of two black parallel lines has been shown around the neck areas 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.[10] All of the marked characters have had encounters with Mr. Bennet and/or the Haitian. Only noticing the marks after these encounters, the following have displayed it:

The 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:

Reception

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".[11] Three days later on December 13, the Writers Guild of America nominated the program for "best new series" of 2007.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14] 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,[15] but the show again lost to Grey's Anatomy.

The cast of Heroes was named in the 2006 Time Magazine's Person of the Year issue under "People Who Mattered".[16] 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".

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.[17] This allows the writing team to finish scripts faster so filming crew can shoot more scenes at a location.[18]

A special 72-minute version of the pilot was first screened to a large audience at the 2006 Comic Con in San Diego.[19]. Initially it was reported that this unaired pilot would not be released, however Tim Kring confirmed in a subsequent interview that it will be included on the first season DVD set.[20]

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' work in the 9th Wonders! comicbook on the show is also the work of Sale.[21] 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.[22]

The series is filmed in Los Angeles, California and Santa Clarita, California.

Heroes 360 experience

Main article: 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.

International broadcasters

Heroes is broadcast on the following stations around the world.

Country Network(s) Series premiere Weekly schedule Local title
Asia
Star World January 31, 2007 Wednesdays 9:00 p.m.
Central/South America
Universal Channel March 2, 2007 Fridays, 9:00 p.m.
Australia Australia Seven Network January 31, 2007 Wednesdays 8:30 p.m.
Belgium Belgium VT4 (Dutch) March 5, 2007 Mondays 8:30 p.m.
RTL-TVi (French) April 22, 2007 Sundays 6:00 p.m.
Brazil Brazil‡ Rede Record TBA Unknown
Canada Canada Global Television Network September 25, 2006 Sundays 9:00 p.m.
Mondays 9:00 p.m.
NBC Mondays 9:00 p.m.
Denmark Denmark Canal+ February 7, 2007 Wednesdays 10:00 p.m.
Finland Finland Canal+ February 7, 2007 Wednesdays 11:00 p.m.
France France TF1 September 2007 Saturdays 8:50 p.m.
 Germany RTL Television 2007 Unknown
Hungary Hungary TV2 March 4, 2007 Wednesdays 10:00 p.m. Hősök
Hong Kong Hong Kong TVB Pearl June, 2007 (TBA) [23] TBA
Iceland Iceland Skjár 1 January 2007 Mondays 9:00 p.m.
India India Star World January 24, 2007 Wednesdays 9:00 p.m.
Indonesia Indonesia Star World on Astro Nusantara January 31, 2007 Wednesdays 8:00 p.m.
Republic of Ireland Ireland Channel 6 March 1, 2007 Thursdays 9:30 p.m.
Israel Israel yes stars 2 March 6 ,2007 Tuesdays 9:30 p.m.
Italy Italy Italia 1 September, 2007 Unknown
Norway Norway Canal+ Film1 February 7, 2007 Wednesdays 10:00 p.m.

Saturdays 10:30 p.m. (R)

 New Zealand TV3 January 15, 2007 Mondays 9:30 p.m.
Philippines Philippines RPN 9 March 11, 2007 Sundays, 8:00 p.m.
 Poland TVP1 May 3, 2007 Thursdays 8:20 p.m.
 Portugal TVI April 14 2007 Saturdays 2:00 p.m.
 Singapore† Channel 5 2007 Unknown
South Africa South Africa SABC3 May 23, 2007 Wednesdays 8:30 p.m.
 Spain Sci Fi February 1, 2007 Thursdays 10:00 p.m.
TV Canaria February 28, 2007 Wednesdays 9:00 p.m.
AragonTV March, 2007 Sundays 09:45 p.m.
Telemadrid February 15, 2007 Thursdays 10:00 p.m.
7RM March 15, 2007 Thursdays 10:00 p.m.
TV3 TBA TBA
Canal 9 March 21, 2007 Wednesdays 10:00 p.m.
Sweden Sweden Canal+ February 7, 2007 Wednesdays 10:00 p.m.
TV4 Autumn 2007 TBA
 Turkey CNBC-e March 4, 2007 Sundays 9:00 p.m.
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates Showseries 1 April 4, 2007 Wednesdays 11:00 p.m.
Jordan Jordan Showseries 1 April 4, 2007 Wednesdays 10:00 p.m
Lebanon Lebanon Showseries 1 April 4, 2007 Wenesdays 10:00 p.m
United Kingdom United Kingdom Sci Fi Channel February 19, 2007 Mondays 10:00 p.m.
BBC Two June, 2007 TBA
United States United States NBC September 25, 2006 Mondays 9:00 p.m.
Sci-Fi Channel Fridays 7:00 p.m.
United States United States Military overseas AFN-Prime January 2, 2007 Tuesdays 7:00 p.m.

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, which depicts Claire Bennet reaching into an active garbage disposal unit—labeled "In-Sink-Erator"—to retrieve a ring, and severely injuring her hand in the process. Emerson claims the scene "casts the disposer in an unsavory light, irreparably tarnishing the product" by suggesting serious injuries will 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 has 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.[24]

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. [25]

The episode in question was briefly unavailable in the iTunes Store, but an edited version was shortly made available for download.

References

  1. ^ a b "Heroes first look". NBC.com. Retrieved 2006-09-29.
  2. ^ Kring, Tim (2006-09-25). "How many seasons/scripts are plotted out?". NBC Universal Heroes Live Blog. NBC.com. Retrieved 2006-10-31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  3. ^ "'Heroes' debut paces NBC's second Monday win of the new season" (Press release). NBC Universal Media Village. 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2006-09-29. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "NBC Rewards Hit Fall Drama 'Heroes' With Full-Season Order For 2006-07" (Press release). NBC Universal Media Village. 2006-10-05. Retrieved 2006-10-13. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "NBC renews hit series 'The Office', 'My Name Is Earl', 'Heroes' and 'Law & Order: SVU' for full-season of episodes in 2007-2008" (Press release). NBC Universal Media Village. 2007-01-17. Retrieved 2007-01-26. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Schneider, Michael (2006-10-23). "'Heroes' zeros in on its bad guy". Variety.com. Retrieved 2006-10-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Coleite, Aron (w), Gunnell, Micah, David Moran (p), Roslan, Mark (i). "The Crane" Heroes, vol. 1, no. 2 (2006-10-02). Aspen Comics, Inc..
  8. ^ Interview with Bryan Fuller, Co-Executive Producer/Writer. Retrieved 1 January 2007.
  9. ^ http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=10021
  10. ^ "Heroes 360 Experience Hana Gitelman Biography" (HTML). NBC. 2006-01-22. Retrieved 2007-01-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "AFI Awards 2006 Official Selections Announced" (PDF) (Press release). American Film Institute. 2006-12-10. Retrieved 2006-12-11. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "2007 Writers Guild Awards Television & Radio Nominees Announced" (Press release). Writers Guild of America. 2006-12-14. Retrieved 2006-12-14. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "Hollywood Foreign Press Association Announced the Nominations for the 64th Golden Globe Awards" (Press release). Hollywood Foreign Press Association. 2006-12-14. Retrieved 2006-12-14. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Associated Press (2007-01-09). "Aniston, Depp are People's Choice winners". MSNBC. Retrieved 2007-01-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ "The 38th NAACP Image Awards Nomination Results" (PDF) (Press release). NAACP. 2007-01-09. Retrieved 2007-03-03. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Poniewozik, James (2006-12-17). "People Who Mattered: The Cast of Heroes". Time. Retrieved 2006-12-31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Taylor, Robert (2006-10-26). "Reflections: Talking with Bryan Fuller". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2006-11-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Standler (2007-02-07). "Heroes Execs discuss show's future, LOST, more". OgMog. Retrieved 2007-03-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ Goldman, Eric (2006-06-22). "Comic-Con 2006: Heroes Pilot Premiere". IGN. Retrieved 2006-11-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ Elliott, Sean (2007-01-19). "Exclusive Interview: Heroes Creator Tim Kring on Swords, Death, Dinosaurs, & Yes, Even Toys". iFMagazine.com. Retrieved 2007-02-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ Smith, Zack., TALKING HEROES AND COMICS WITH TIM SALE, Newsarama.com, 2006-11-14, Retrieved on 2007-03-21.
  22. ^ George, Richard., Loeb Talks Heroes, IGN.com, 2006-10-26, Retrieved on 2007-03-21.
  23. ^ Heroes shown on TVB Pearl Apple Daily (2007-3-17)Template:Zh icon
  24. ^ "Garbage Disposal Maker Sues NBC Over 'Heroes' Scene". Zap2It.com. 2006-10-03. Retrieved 2006-10-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ Goetzl, David (2007-02-23). "Emerson Drops Product Placement Case Against NBC". MediaDailyNews. Retrieved 2007-02-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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