Heroes – 3×03 – “One of Us, One of Them”
September 30th, 2008
The following review contains spoilers for Heroes through the current episode, “One of Us, One of Them,” originally broadcast September 29th, 2008.
Like many people, I fell in love with the character of Sylar during the first season of Heroes. Here was a villain both powerful and terrifying, with just the right amount of horror and suspense. As the season progressed, and more was revealed about this enigmatic serial killer, the character began to take on epic characteristics. Defeating Sylar would take all of the heroes — Peter, Claire, Matt, Hiro, Niki — and all of their powers combined. And they did it. After saving the cheerleader and stopping the exploding man, our heroes stopped Sylar.
The DVD Dungeon 9.29.08
September 29th, 2008
Of note this week on the TV front is the release of The Starlost: complete series. This 1973 Canadian series created by Harlan Ellison, ran for only 16 episodes and was hampered by low ratings and TV executives who didn’t “get” the show. Featuring actor Keir Dullea (Dave from 2001: A Space Odyssey), it featured a huge spaceship know as The Ark which contained numerous biospheres, each one preserving a lost Human culture. When an accident sent the ship off course, the various peoples must work together to save their collective hides. Also on DVD this week is the complete series of Beauty and the Beast, the CBS show that featured Ron Perlman as the beast-like Vincent and Linda Hamilton as his great love, Catherine.
How I Got These Scars No. 4
September 26th, 2008
Okay, I’m going back to Star Trek country this week, but it’s by way of one of my favorite new shows, Heroes. Wait, new? Well, to me, a bit. This week may have seen the third season premiere of the series, but I’ve only really begun watching this year, thanks to the DVDs. I’ll be spending a later column about my Heroes experience, but for now would like to concentrate on the epochal moment of the first season, “Company Man.” The seventeenth episode of the first season, it was in many ways the moment fans understood the depth of the show, when the infamous HRG (Horn Rim Glasses) has his story told, Noah Bennett exposed as (nearly) just another pawn in the wider Company conspiracy.
I’d been looking at the writing credits all along, because I knew Michael Green was working on the show, and I’d become a fan of his through a comic book (an excellent origin-of-Joker arc called “Lovers & Madmen” he wrote for Batman Confidential). I’d known of another comic book alum’s participation, Jeph Loeb, on the creative side (not to mention Isaac Mendez’s alter ego, Tim Sale), plus was aware that in the second season Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man) had joined ship. I just wasn’t prepared for a name I knew from somewhere else entirely to pop up. The name was Bryan Fuller.
Fringe – 1×03 – “The Ghost Network”
September 26th, 2008
The following review contains spoilers for Fringe through the current episode, “The Ghost Network,” originally broadcast September 23, 2008.
For two reviews now I’ve concentrated on one particular aspect of Fringe, being its creator. This week I’m not doing that anymore, because at this point, if the show can’t interest me beyond the cognitive association of J.J. Abrams, then I apparently have no real interest in the show itself. Thing is, I do.
I used to be the guy waiting every fall for the new batch of TV shows and returning favorites, just salivating at the possibilities, watching seemingly everything. It’s true I used to glut myself on Star Trek, but I always seemed to find time for something else as well. This began to change right around the time Star Trek: Enterprise was cancelled. By that time, I had already made a long-term commitment to a show called Lost. The next season Prison Break debuted, and somewhere along the way, I became addicted to Grey’s Anatomy. Combined with my long-term obsession with Survivor, as work started to squeeze away at my availability to watch whatever I wanted, I noticed that I began to lose interest in the fall season. That’s how I somehow missed the boat on Heroes. I just couldn’t drudge up the interest. Not until How I Met Your Mother became a new obsession did I begin to open up again, which led to a long-term interest in The Big Bang Theory. Heroes finally followed. Then this new fall season began, and I suddenly realized, even with this rehabilitation, I couldn’t find some new show to have real enthusiasm for. Even Fringe.
The DVD Dungeon 9.23.08
September 23rd, 2008
It’s another rather lackluster week on the DVD front, though there are a couple of choice items for fans. Television releases are very thin this time around, with the notable exception of the long anticipated first season of Friday the 13th: The Series, which ran for three years in syndication and which only had the most tangential connection to the films of the same name. For film fans there are lots of flicks representing Asian cinema though the real standouts are two Italian films. First we have The Last House on the Beach, a cheap rip-off of Wes Craven’s horror classic The Last House on the Left, and more notably, the debut of Dario Argento’s Mother of Tears, the long awaited final installment of his Three Mothers trilogy. The big news is the re-release of the three Godfather films, both individually and as a set. Deemed the Coppola Restoration versions, these will be a must have for fans of the series.
Note: this is not a comprehensive list of all DVD release for September 23rd, 2008. Rather, it reflects titles that may be more of interest to genre fans.
Heroes – 3×02 – “The Butterfly Effect”
September 23rd, 2008
The following review contains spoilers for Heroes through the current episode, “The Butterfly Effect,” originally broadcast September 22nd, 2008.
The second half of the two-hour third season premiere, “The Butterfly Effect” picked up right where “The Second Coming” left off. Claire will not talk to her mother about what happened with Sylar. Mrs. Bennett is worried that he may have forced himself on her. He didn’t. He did something worse: he took her ability to feel. Until now, although she could heal from any injury she still felt the pain associated with being hurt. Now she doesn’t feel a thing. Claire certainly finds this disturbing. In a return to the video diaries seen during the first half of the first season, she asks if she even has a soul.
Heroes – 3×01 – “The Second Coming”
September 23rd, 2008
The following review contains spoilers for Heroes through the current episode, “The Second Coming,” originally broadcast September 22nd, 2008.
Heroes was my without a doubt my favorite new show of the 2006-2007 television season. From the very start, I was hooked. It was a comic book in dramatic television form, with wonderfully complex stories, compelling characters and plenty of Star Trek references. As each new episode unfolded, my interest grew. The anticipation for the season finale (“How to Stop an Exploding Man,” originally broadcast May 21st, 2007) was incredible. Unfortunately, the finale was somewhat underwhelming and was a preview of the lackluster second season, which was cut short by the writers strike.
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