Heroes Marathon On Sci-Fi

Wednesday November 29th Sci-Fi Channel is running a mini-marathon of Heroes episodes. If you want to catch up, watch some again, or record them, the episodes run will be (all times Eastern):

• 06:00 PM PILOT
  
• 07:00 PM DON'T LOOK BACK
  
• 08:00 PM ONE GIANT LEAP
  
• 09:00 PM COLLISION
  
• 10:00 PM HIRO'S
  
• 11:00 PM BETTER HALVES
  

Epic Movie Trailer

Y'know, when I said I wanted to see more of Jayma Mays, I meant on Heroes.

Couple of Links

Comic Book Resources has the latest installment of Behind the Eclipse which includes some tantalizing clues, including what role Christopher Eccleston will play.
And Heroes is up for a People's Choice Award for best new show. As they say in Chicago vote early and vote often (well, once a day per the rules). And you can enter a contest to see the awards (and dare we hope meet someone from the show?)

Heroes "Six Months Ago" Preview

Access Hollywood has a six minute preview clip for tonight's episode "Six Months Ago". Only a few seconds in Kathy declared she's staying up until 10 to watch it tonight (for those who just came in, she has to get up at 3:30am to go to work)
Thanks to 10th Wonder for the heads up. (And yes, I'm going to fill out your survey now. Anybody else that listens to the podcast should do so)

Dave Cockrum RIP

I just read on Mark Evanier's blog that artist Dave Cockrum passed away this morning due to complications from diabetes. He was 63. As Mark noted, he made the transition from fan artist to pro, leaving his mark of Legion of Superheroes and helped shape the X-Men when the team was revamped in the mid-70's with Wolverine, Colossus, etc. He will be missed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float for you:

To answer your questions:
1)Yes, that is Robocop
2) Because his animated series was part of Marvel Action Universe, a 90 minute block of repackaged Marvel Superhero cartoons that was a big a travesty as this float (but it was the '80s, about the only thing for Marvel we had back then), and
3) I have no idea why he turned off the electric thingy that was zapping Dr. Doom.

Masi Oka On Conan And More!

Just caught the Masi Oka appearance on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien". Interesting facts. For instance, while he's attracting female attention because of the show, usually it's women wanting pictures because he's their boyfriend's favorite character. Also, Oka demonstrated his a capella percussion skills. Then, Conan showed how his staff was on the case by showing this cover from Time magazine back in 1987. Yes, the boy on the left in the top row is Masi Oka himself, all of 12 years old.
Update: Here'san article from USA Today courtesy of The Beat about Oka, including who will play his father in an upcoming episode. Oh my!

Homecoming Thoughts

Well, while "Homecoming" was an exciting episode; on one hand it didn't really deliver what the build-up promised, but then again, what does? Kathy watched it a second time while I was out seeing Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (worth seeing if you're a fan of the D or Jack Black). As far as any thoughts beyond that, well, "life is what happens while you make other plans". One of my favorite comics writers Peter David has a review up that I mostly concur with, with an exception (speculation about "Six Months Ago", next Monday's episode, behind the cut as well, but click on the link and read it before proceeding, please)...
While like most people watching I figured that Peter P. would survive his encounter with Sylar because of his close proximity to Claire, Peter didn't know that. I tried to think if he was told of Claire's healing power and he wasn't. And it turns out Sylar doesn't need a sword, does just fine on his own.
This episode jelled for me why I like Heroes so much: each episode is a few pieces of the puzzle, enough to form a picture, but there's something on the edges you want to try to figure out what they are and what it means. If you only knew how many times I slow-played the promos and some scenes like they were the Zapruder film (which is a bad metaphor to use, today of all days).
And I still feel the same about Charlie. As Robert Fuller put it in Peter David's comment thread, "Screw the cheerleader, save the waitress." But as he also put it: "When taken out of context, that does take on a whole new meaning. I'm not sure how having sex with Claire would save the waitress, but it is a bit more thought-provoking (and amusing) than 'save the cheerleader, save the world.' I think I'm onto something."
And what of the next episode "Six Months Ago (SMA)"? One of the pieces of the puzzle that filled in with "Homecoming" was that Charlie was still memorialized, as the shrine to her was up. But no one specifically said that she was dead in the episode. As a long-time comics fan, I can tell you that unless you see the body (and sometimes even then), there is room for interperation. I don't think she disappeared with Hiro (or even if Hiro left), as no one said anything, specifically when Ando asked the waitress about the picture of the two of them. And the promo for "SMA"? Did you see Niki and D.L. in front of the grave for Jessica Sanders 1976-1987? And Niki choking her father? My speculation from that information is that Jessica was Niki's older sister (as Niki doesn't look older than 30) who looked up to her, and Jessica's death at a young age was due to physical abuse by her father, which sadly usually continued to other family members, and Jessica manifested in Niki as a result as a possible MPD. And when the power manifested, it was when Jessica was in control.
Of course, speculation is pretty much win-win for me. At this point, if I'm right, I can take pride in my intelligence and deductive powers. And if I'm wrong, it makes for an enjoyable show still, for who wants to watch a show where you guess what happens beforehand?

Christopher Eccleston Joins The Cast

Listening to The 9th, they announced the news that Christopher Eccleston is going to be on Heroes! Hoody Hoo!

Go Tony! It's Your Birthday!

I got a couple of good birthday presents today. First, I'm plugged on The 9th podcast. Thanks, Joe, Miranda and Laura! If you're popping by from their link, thanks for coming by. Hope there's a lot of good stuff for you to enjoy (which is something I look forward to when I check out a blog I just heard about). Here's where you find the "Nowhere to Hide" review Laura talked about, plus the links she said I mentioned are here. Or if you want to see everything click here
And tonight is "Homecoming"! Kathy's going to stay up to watch it with me tonight. I wish y'all could watch it with me. I got into, and enjoyed watching Hill Street Blues in college with my buddies.

Where I've Been

Well, I just got back from a fun weekend with friends. If you're interested in the gory details and/or what I look like, click here. As far as those details: I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, you can't prove anything.
Meanwhile, as I'm writing this, I'm listening online to the premiere of the new Beatles album "Love", that's hyped as a collaboration between the Beatles and Cirque Du Soleil. Care to join me?
This is a higher scale of premiering the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by blasting it from Mama Cass' apartment window. I sense that from wherever they are, the Fab Four approve.

Comics I Bought 11/15

Here's what I got at the comic shop today:

• 52 Week 27 (I forgot it last week, d'oh!)
  
• 52 Week 28
  
• Astonishing X-Men 18
  
• Astro City Dark Age Book 2 #1
  
• Back Issue 19
  
• Civil War 5
  
• Eternals 5
  
• PvP 29
  
• What If Spider-Man The Other 1
  

Is anyone out there interested in more details? I'd be glad to write about them.

New "Behind the Eclipse"

The latest installment of "Behind the Eclipse" is up on Comic Book Resources.

My Sylar Theory

Seems that all the theories out there about Sylar (the Telekinetic brain thief that we apparently have to save the cheerleader from) is that's he a future version of one of the characters, from Future Peter to Future Bennet Family Dog.
I say Uh Uh.
He ain't from the future.
How's come? Well, Hiro has the time travel thing down, and there hasn't been a duplication of powers amongst the ones we've seen so far, even across genetic lines.
"Okay, smart guy", you say "Who is he, then?"
Well...you know that fan speculation was somewhat confirmed in "Seven Minutes to Midnight" that HRG is finding potential heroes and doing something to them so their powers somehow develop? "What a twist!" as M. Night Shamalamadingdong would say in Robot Chicken. What if we continue twisting and say that the late Dr. Suresh was doing the same thing?
And what if one of the people he did it to became Sylar?
How about that? The people we thought were the hero and villain of the show are now reversed.
To continue, what if whatever happened to Sylar involved using something from peoples' brains? What if Sylar still needs it for some reason (hunger, to control himself, etc)? That's why he's doing what he's doing. That it isn't villainous intent but like a vampire or Frankenstein's monster it's because of what was done to him?
Well, that's my theory. What's yours?

Seven Minutes to Midnight Speculation

I thought I was venturing into territories that the podcasts put at the end so people that don't want spoiled can stop listening, I'm going to put it in this post. It has to do a lot with Hiro and the Entertainment Weekly cover story last week, so proceed at your own discretion...
As I said, I liked Hiro's new girlfriend (well, if she ain't, she should be) Hiro needs to save her, dammit, but I wonder if the fact he wasn't back at the count of 5 as he promised Ando is because he is spending as much time with her as he can before ultimately failing. The November 27th episode is called "Six Months Ago" and the EW article mentioned he becomes a busboy at the diner, and there's a gesture that involves "a book, some flowers and a gesture so elaborate that it requires him to muster his signature expression".... Perhaps this incident is another crucible to forge the hero he ultimately becomes.

Seven Minutes to Midnight Thoughts

Well, I finally watched last night's episode "Seven Minutes to Midnight". Another great episode. Thoughts after the cut (and I haven't read anything online, so they're purely my own. Anything new I'll put a bold Update flag for you)...
I wondered when Eden said she would clean and teach Issac if she might have powers, too. This seemed to be confirmed when she told HRG that not only was his addiction cured, he physcially didn't need it anymore. Issac can paint without the H, but the clock's ticking for the cheerleader... Later, when HRG plans to inject Issac to paint what happens when he can't use his power after being cured, Eden refuses, saying "You said when we started that I would never have to do it again. You promised me." HRG reminds her of where he found her (perhaps harkening back to when she told Issac she went through the same thing as well), and... Did what she did before have to do with Sylar?
Could Mohinder's dreams showed him his father's fate be a power of his own manifesting?
I liked Hiro's new girlfriend (well, if she ain't, she should be) and I cursed worse than a Tourette's patient stepping on a rake when Sylar killed her (parallelling her opening the can before) I had some speculation here, but as I thought I was venturing into territories that the podcasts put at the end so people that don't want spoiled can stop listening, I'm going to put it in a separate post.
And what about Ted? He escapes. To New York? Is Kurt Russell available for comment ^_^?
Well, that's what I thought when I saw the episode. How about you?

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Venom Picture and Footage!

Wow, last night's Heroes, I couldn't believe it...
Okay, I haven't got to it yet. We usually TiVo it and watch it Tuesdays, and Kathy offered to stay up and watch it (she gets up at 3:30am to get ready for work, so staying up until 10pm, that's something) but she's been feeling poorly. We hope to watch it later and put up our observations after that.
Meantime, IMDB pointed out a website that had a Venom picture and video footage. Unfortunately, the footage is no longer there, but click on the link to see what Venom possibly looks like.
Update: Found it. The uncut trailer from iFilm (with unfinished CGI, in case you're wondering what they do with computer effects)
2nd Update: Well, the clip's gone now.

Couple of Links

Newsarama has an interview with Santiago Cabera (Issac Mendez) up on their site.
Heads up courtesy of 9th Wonders.
And another Entertainment Weekly article, this time it's a roundtable on how Heroes is affecting the comic industry.
And I've added another podcast The 10th Wonder to the roll on the right. Speaking of podcasts, congrats to Rick of Sidekicks fame for selling his house. Unfortunately, we're denied a podcast this week, but we're promised a double-sized one next time.

Spider-Man 3 Trailer

I wanted to share a couple of thoughts on the new Spider-Man 3 trailer (go watch it here if you haven't seen it yet) and...
-So Flint "Sandman" Marko is the actual killer of Uncle Ben now, huh? Jack "Joker" Napier unavailable for comment...
-BTW, wasn't it Scream 3 that introduced the "third movie is where previously unrevealed information about a character is revealed" rule?
-No shot of Venom. Denied!
-Harry Osborn is going more realistic and less Power Rangers in his Goblin costume.
-Is it just me, or did some of the effects look almost but not quite finished (like the Hulk in the infamous Super Bowl ad)?

Veteran's Day

I'd like to take a moment on this day to salute the real heroes, the ordinary people over the years that when the call came, they answered it. Some suffered and some paid the ultimate price. Some are still paying.
All so that we can enjoy talking about Heroes, politics, what have you. And to enjoy life and freedom.
Some may not believe in the military's current activities, but the men and women in that military know honor and duty, and fufill it. There is some question that when Nathan Hale was hung, he said "I regret I have but one life to give for my country." Robert MacKensie, a British officer, wrote this diary entry for the day:
"He behaved with great composure and resolution, saying he thought it the duty of every good Officer, to obey any orders given him by his Commander-in-Chief; and desired the Spectators to be at all times prepared to meet death in whatever shape it might appear."
[soapbox]And while there is the quagmire of arguing about supporting the troops, it is my fervent hope that after the current elections that our elected officials can truly do that: that families don't have to raise money for body armor and other essentials, and corporations (*cough*Halliburton*cough*) aren't getting fat off of "no bid contracts" while our sons and daughters are dying.[/soapbox]

Heroes Links

This is another post imported from my other blog. I've added some links to the right, but there's a lot in this post that are also interesting...
Inspired by Highlander's post on the show, I decided to give y'all a road map to finding some cool Heroes stuff online.
I wanna start with a great mind thinking alike, the Heroes Among Us blog. And from the official site, there's Hiro's blog.
The 9th Wonders fansite offers fascinating discussions about the show on their boards, but mainly for their gallery of Value Stamps that recall a similar Marvellous attempt back in the '70s (just 'cause we love ya, H). And for his other half the You Tube junkie, here's a fan video that's the best of what I've seen:

And there's the official web site, but I particularly want to draw your attention to the online comic that promises a new "issue" each week, even when the show's in reruns (in December, at least). While we're getting a new episode each week, it supplies a little extra to the story (sometimes gives you a guide to where it's going). Thing is with dial-up it takes forever to download an issue, and there's a little wait on DSL. Also, with the interactive version there's an Easter egg you can click on. Last week's and this week's are Issac via Tim Sale paintings of possible spoilers for the November 20th "Homecoming" episode (Warning: even the links could potentially describe spoilers).
And to support Greg Grunberg's Pediatric Epilepsy Project, the entire cast of Heroes has drawn interpretations of their characters to help raise funds for the organization.
Another good fan site is Heroes TV.com, also a good source for fan discussion and whatnot.
Comic Book Resources has started a weekly column called Behind The Eclipse where they talk to writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite and they provide some answers (and some more questions). This week's installment ends with a teaser for Monday's episode "Seven Minutes Until Midnight": "The password is Kanyakumari." Previous installments can be found (in reverse order) here and here.
And there's the Heroes Envy fanlisting. Go and add your name to the roll.
And between the parents getting DSL, and setting up my PSP's downloading capabilities, I am discovering the wonderful world of Podcasting. One that's 4 episodes so far is The Ninth, an hour and a half but the time goes by so fast. A new one that started last Sunday is Sidekicks that's about 20 minutes long and a one-man show so far.
And the press seems to be taking notice, too. Here's Entertainment Weekly's cover story from this week. The poll on favorite character is still active as of this writing (with results similar to CBR's poll they've got going, too). Newsweek did a story, too; but not as positive. TV Guide did a cover story for their October 23-29th issue. I can't find a specific link, but here's their page about the show. And E! Online has an spoiler filled article by Kristin Veitch that ends with what actor will play the part of Sylar.

Nowhere To Hide Review

This post reviews last week's (first broadcast November 13th) episode of Heroes #7 "Nothing To Hide". Spoilers after the cut...
The title is ironic as Jeff from the spoiler section end of episode 4 of The 9th podcast noted, as it seems in each scene there is someone who has a secret from someone else. I knew at the beginning of the episode that Peter was dreaming (but I didn't know that Charles Deveaux was played by Richard "Shaft" Roundtree) so his revealing his power to him wasn't real. We finally see his brother Nathan's wife (played by the lovely Rena Sofer) who reveals to us the audience that she is paralyzed and that it comes out in the dialogue that Nathan is somehow to blame. My wife Kathy and I disagreed on Nathan telling his wife that Peter's lie to cover up his dalliance with Niki/Jessica was the truth. She felt that she should've told her, and while I would usually agree, Her saying that she believed she would walk again but needed a reason or hope from him, what was he gonna say? I still think the fling was contrived and stereotypical (an unfaithful politician? What are the odds?)
Niki reveals her powers to her friend, giving her alter ego the name "Jessica" (sadly ending the "ikiN" name given in some fan circles) that seems to come out when she or her child Micah is threatened (which, although the layman practice of psychology coined the phrase "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing", I'm going to speculate that Jessica is a physical manifestation of multiple personality disorder, given that MPDs usually manifests when one can't cope with a situation and a particular personality comes out, such as endangerment in Jessica's case)
After what seems too long we see Matt the cop again (and did you notice at the end of the episode the two lines by his neck, maybe starting the RNA tattoo/brand that Jessica had?), apparently reading a secret his wife's keeping, which is she is having an affair with his partner Matt, who is played by Rick Peters. Kathy recognized him from the PAX series Sue Thomas F.B.Eye, but missing his Australian accent he used in that show. Matt's called back in by the FBI agent about a case that I recognized was another with powers from the burn marks around where one would use a keyboard or open a door. Ted's radiation and scorching from touching has apparently put his wife in a coma and in the hospital, where they track him down. Matt ends a standoff by relaying Ted's wife's thoughts to him. When he mentioned listening to the "American Beauty" album that I thought was the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, but I found it was pointed out in one of the Heroes forums that's it's the title of a Grateful Dead album. Given Ted's physical appearance it sounds more likely.
Claire's secret keeping shows up story-wise in the form of a tape that has resurfaced (that her adopted dad HRG watched previously) that her brother finds and watches, and didn't buy her explanation after her reaction of it being special effects, staples her hand, see it heal, freaks out and locks himself in the minivan. Claire ends up playing the "I'm adopted, poor li'l me, boo hoo" card, and gets it back.
And my favorite Hiro the Japanese geek meets DL the phasing fugitive and his son Micah as they encounter a car crash. DL tries to get the trapped girl out, Hiro freezes it when the cliched gas and fire go to the car and explodes happens, and addresses a problem with having a power: you can freeze time, but what if you don't have super strength? As I was preparing this review, I wondered about the 9th Wonders comic Hiro had with his story in it: it's issue 14, but if the powers didn't manifest itself until 6 months ago (which is an upcoming episode title) and comics are usually at best monthly, is there a time discrepancy? But the creators of the show have said 9th Wonders is an anthology comic a la Tales to Astonish or Amazing Fantasy, and perhaps Issac the painter had a vision of Hiro's time/space trip to NYC, maybe thought the publishers of the comic were looking for artists/writers, and did his vision as a comic book story.
And the question of if powers can "run in the family" like with Peter and Nathan was possibly further confirmed at the end when Micah got a broken pay phone to work to call his mother. Did anyone else notice that he seemed to recognize Jessica while talking to her?
The puzzle pieces are starting to come together as the characters and stories are starting to intersect.

My First Post

Hi everybody! I decided to create a spinoff blog from the main one that I've been posting on for about 3 years now. The thing is, while some of my fellow bloggers have spun off their blogs into political ones (athough they sometimes talk about the important stuff), while I have the chops and material capabilities, I decide to do one about Heroes. Go figure.
In addition to talking about the show Heroes, I plan to cover some related items like comic books and other media based on them. Hope you enjoy the ride!