'Heroes': Burning questions

I’m still enjoying “Heroes,” but it’s clearly not the show it was in its first season. I fear the series, now in its third year, is growing too convoluted for its own good.

Here are a couple of observations I made after watching this week’s episode (you might want skip the rest of this post if you haven’t watched it yet – or check out the embedded copy below).

• I don’t get how Peter’s power works – and I suspect the writers don’t either since his character is a frequent source of contradictions. If he absorbs the power of any super powered person he comes into contact with, then wouldn’t he already have Sylar’s power? In fact, wouldn’t he have had it for a while now?
  
  
• While speaking of Peter, if he has Claire’s healing power, then how was Future Peter killed by a gunshot? We’ve seen Claire recover from worse. Likewise, why does Future Peter have that nasty scar on his face? Wouldn’t that have healed?
  
  
• Sticking with the future storyline, Future Molly should have been about 13 or 14 years old. So how come she looked like she hadn't aged more? (I know the answer to this one. They weren’t jumping far enough into the future that they could get away with casting an older actress. But I think it was far enough that the little girl who plays Molly couldn’t pull off a believable teenager.)
  
  
• What happened to “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World?” In season one, it was imperative they rescued Claire from the evil Sylar. This year Sylar gets a hold of her in the season opener and – nothing happens. What’s up with that?
  
  
• I’m all for thinning out the cast, but wasn’t there a whole storyline with Nikki, Micah, his photographic memory cousin and Aunt Uhura that just got dropped?
  
  
• I hope season three doesn’t end with Nathan apparently getting killed again. Twice was more than enough.

There are other nitpicks, but this is what comes to mind right now.

Summer TV (that's not on TV)

It's easier to get through the summer TV void with a little helping of "The Office." Their Kevin-centric summer webisodes have begun...



Next week a web-exclusive "Heroes" spin-off begins. It's called "Heroes: Going Postal," because it's about a postal worker with crazy powers. Clever, huh? It looks like this mini-show will focus solely on this new character -- although the trailer does indicate that Angela Petrelli will turn up. Here's the trailer...

Sylar to live long and prosper?

J.J. Abrams has promised some big "Star Trek" news at Comic Con later this week. But a juicy tidbit may have slipped out today at the Television Critics Association gathering in Hollywood.

Zachary Quinto, who plays super bad guy Sylar on "Heroes," was asked about the persistent rumors he's in line to don Leonard Nimoy's pointy ears as young Spock in the new Trek movie. Here's his answer, according to TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello...

"I'm under strict orders not to say anything,"

Hmmm...what does that tell you? Would be under "strict orders" if he didn't have the part?

'End of Volume One'

I loved the season finale of "Heroes." It tied things up pretty well and left just enough loose ends to keep the show going.

But I'm left with one question (in inviso text in case you haven't watched the show yet)...

Couldn't Peter have just flown up in the air by himself? After all he absorbed Nathan's power way back at the beginning of the season. Why did he need Nathan to fly him up, up and away? Kris thinks maybe he can only use one power at a time and therefore couldn't fly while his radioactive juices were flowing. I don't know.

Anyway, this was still the best show of the 2006-2007 season. I can't wait to see what they come up with for "Volume Two."

Zeroes

It turns out this "Heroes" parody on YouTube, about ordinary people with pointless abilities, was actually created by NBC. But it's still kind of funny...

Hero notes

Here are some thoughts on last night's episode of "Heroes"...

Does anyone else find it odd that Sylar (played by actor Zachary Quinto) looks like an evil Clark Kent? Coincidence?

Meanwhile, I finally picked up on the significance of Eden's name. At first I thought her power was simply that she could do the Jedi mind trick ("These aren't the droids you're looking for"). But so far we've only seen her use her power on men. So she can get men to do whatever she tells them--just like Eve told Adam to take the apple in (all together now) the Garden of Eden.

If this was obvious to everyone else already, then please forgive me.

Oh my!

More great geek news...TrekToday reports George Takei (Mr. Sulu) will appear on "Heroes" as Hiro's father. He's set to make his first appearance in a cliffhanger episode on Jan. 29.

Meanwhile, the same article also reports Christopher Eccleston (aka the Ninth Doctor Who) will also be joining the cast. No word on who he will play or when he'll make his first appearance. Although I can't help bu wonder if he's goingto turn outto be the mysterious super serial killer Sylar.

NBC swag

This little NBC promotional item was passed on to me today. It’s my very own set of official “Save the Cheerleader…Save the World” pom-poms.

I brought them home and gave them to Thomas, who had fun shaking them and trying to place them on my head.

I’m looking forward to Monday night’s big episode of “Heroes,” in which we’ll supposedly find out why Claire the cheerleader needs saving and how that will save the world. The promo makes it look pretty cool—and we all know how well promos can be trusted.

Heroes or villains?

Is “Heroes” helping or hurting the comic book biz? That’s the question Entertainment Weekly poses in an excellent article that looks at the relationship between Hollywood and the comic book industry.

The Sky's the Limit

Hey, "Heroes" fans...I spotted this T-shirt for sale on Television Without Pity.

'Save the cheerleader...Save the world'

NBC's “Heroes” is easily my favorite show on TV right now. I so look forward to sitting down in front of the TV every Monday night and satisfying my inner comic book geek.

My favorite character on the show has to be Hiro—because he is a comic book geek who embraces his new abilities and adventures with such wide-eyed enthusiasm. It's what every kid with a comic book collection dreams of.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do in January when “24” returns on the same night and time.