++WARNING, there will be some spoilers from throughout the series in my review.++
Heroes was a show that aired on NBC from 2007 to 2010 (during its original airing) and had a true ensemble cast. The cast was made up of relatively unknown actors (at least when the series started) and the series served as the launching pad for the careers of cast members like Milo Ventimiglia, Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka, and Zachary Quinto. It did have some recognizable, but not superstar actors and actresses such as Greg Grunberg and Ali Larter. There was no superstar actor that everyone would recognize in the cast so the writers had to balance the storylines to involve all of the main cast members. As a result, there were always multiple storylines going on, and it was truly a show that you had to watch from the beginning to really understand what was happening.
The first and second seasons were very very good. The first season was excellent, and like nothing that had been on TV. You knew from the first episode what the characters were going to try to prevent, but there was no way of knowing how it was going to get there. Because of the time travel aspect, the story came in bits and pieces and sometimes out of order. They did not reveal too much about each character too soon. We never got to see Sylar (the main antagonist) until midway through the season, and HRG's (or as we would come to know him Noah Bennet) past and motivations were kept hidden until almost the end of the first season.
I think the series had a clear goal of where it was going in the first and second seasons. You could tell that it was meticulously planned out. However the writer's strike ended the second season midway through, and it had to be cut short. After that, there were some stories from that season that were just abandoned entirely, and I thought those should have been wrapped up before proceeding how they did. It felt like after the strike the writers never had a clear plan for the show. I did not like how the third season made Nathan into a villain. He had always had a grey moral compass, but it seemed that had gone away at the end of the first season and with the second. But then he did a complete 180 (almost anyway) then they decided to try to make him likable again by giving the impression that he was just in over his head.
I think the 4th season actually wrapped the series up very well. While it was not intended to be the end of the show (it was not canceled until after the season had ended), it tied up everyone's stories and left a lot to your own imagination. The reason I think the show declined, is that while the main "big" storylines changed every season, the individual stories within that got very repetitive. They kept too many characters around for too long and kept the characters going through the same conflicts and experiences over and over. While this did change somewhat by the 4th season, I think too many people had abandoned the show by then.
I definitely think it is better to see the series all at once. The stories do tend to flow a little better than when there were months between seasons. Plus it is just easier to follow with all the time jumps, flash-backs, and character arcs. If you were a fan of the show, it is definitely worth adding to your collection. The series looks great on blu ray, and there are a lot of entertaining extras.
Heroes was a show that aired on NBC from 2007 to 2010 (during its original airing) and had a true ensemble cast. The cast was made up of relatively unknown actors (at least when the series started) and the series served as the launching pad for the careers of cast members like Milo Ventimiglia, Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka, and Zachary Quinto. It did have some recognizable, but not superstar actors and actresses such as Greg Grunberg and Ali Larter. There was no superstar actor that everyone would recognize in the cast so the writers had to balance the storylines to involve all of the main cast members. As a result, there were always multiple storylines going on, and it was truly a show that you had to watch from the beginning to really understand what was happening.
The first and second seasons were very very good. The first season was excellent, and like nothing that had been on TV. You knew from the first episode what the characters were going to try to prevent, but there was no way of knowing how it was going to get there. Because of the time travel aspect, the story came in bits and pieces and sometimes out of order. They did not reveal too much about each character too soon. We never got to see Sylar (the main antagonist) until midway through the season, and HRG's (or as we would come to know him Noah Bennet) past and motivations were kept hidden until almost the end of the first season.
I think the series had a clear goal of where it was going in the first and second seasons. You could tell that it was meticulously planned out. However the writer's strike ended the second season midway through, and it had to be cut short. After that, there were some stories from that season that were just abandoned entirely, and I thought those should have been wrapped up before proceeding how they did. It felt like after the strike the writers never had a clear plan for the show. I did not like how the third season made Nathan into a villain. He had always had a grey moral compass, but it seemed that had gone away at the end of the first season and with the second. But then he did a complete 180 (almost anyway) then they decided to try to make him likable again by giving the impression that he was just in over his head.
I think the 4th season actually wrapped the series up very well. While it was not intended to be the end of the show (it was not canceled until after the season had ended), it tied up everyone's stories and left a lot to your own imagination. The reason I think the show declined, is that while the main "big" storylines changed every season, the individual stories within that got very repetitive. They kept too many characters around for too long and kept the characters going through the same conflicts and experiences over and over. While this did change somewhat by the 4th season, I think too many people had abandoned the show by then.
I definitely think it is better to see the series all at once. The stories do tend to flow a little better than when there were months between seasons. Plus it is just easier to follow with all the time jumps, flash-backs, and character arcs. If you were a fan of the show, it is definitely worth adding to your collection. The series looks great on blu ray, and there are a lot of entertaining extras.
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