WARNING SOME SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED WITHIN
Episode 5!
Episode five was written by, the sisters, Joy and Melissa Blake – who are new to HEROES, and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter who is also new to the show. But even though she was new here, if you check out her resume, you can see what an experienced director she is: http://imdb.com/name/nm0322128/ She directed the pilot episode of THE GILMORE GIRLS, and numerous episodes of WEST WING, ER, and even TWIN PEAKS! She is a super great, super enthusiastic person and a strong performance director. She has a background as a choreographer so she has a natural affinity for choreographing camera and actor. But she had never done any of the kind of visual effects we do. She was hungry to learn and it was fun to teach her.
This episode develops some of our storylines and resolves some others. Our New Orleans story progresses, as Monica begins to learn what the scope of her power is, and you can see the beginnings of a new team-up in her and Micah’s relationship. Matt and Nathan continue working to track down and meet Matt’s father, “The Nightmare Man” who has been tormenting Molly. Suresh makes, what is perhaps, a fateful mistake when he brings Molly in to the company, and finds himself becoming entangled in their web. Peter resolves his story in Ireland, as a new “Company Woman” enters the picture, moving his story in another direction.
This episode is, perhaps, most notable for the introduction of Kristen Bell to the HEROES lineup. We have been introducing a lot of new characters in these early episodes. I know that, to some people, it feels like it’s been too much too fast, and some wonder where have last year’s heroes gone? But Tim Kring expressed from the beginning of the development of this year that it was important to him to keep evolving the big-picture story. He really wanted to create a global sense to the show this year. Having said all that, I truly think everyone will agree that Kristen is an awesome addition to our recipe.
If you don’t know her already, Kristen was the star of the well reviewed, but little-watched UPN and later CW show “VERONICA MARS.” Her performance as the eponymous character was routinely critically lauded. (Catch it on DVD if you’ve never seen it – it’s a real good TV show!!)
Anyway, the story behind how she ended up on HEROES is a pretty good one. Last summer, after the HEROES panel at Comic-Con, two of our writers, Joe Pokaski and Aron Eli Coleite were riding from San Diego to LA on the train. Sitting in the same car, they saw Zach Quinto and Kristen Bell – who, as it turns out, are old-time best friends. Everyone got to talking, and Joe and Aron said “Hey if you ever want to be on the show, we’ll write a part for you.” To which Kristen replied, “Really? Well, maybe I’d be interested.” More talk revealed that Kristen was a huge fan of the show (mostly through her palship with Zach.) The deal was sealed when, later, Kristen’s cell phone flew out of her hands and she told Joe and Aron how she had “energy hands.” Seems she waves her hands around a lot when she’s talking, which builds up a lot of energy. When she stops waving them and holds on to an electronic device, that device will frequently fly out of her hands and break.
Joe and Aron knew that, just that week, the writers were developing the character of Elle. Elle was a young woman who worked for the company, who could shoot lightening from her hands, and who was intended to be a dramatic doppelganger/compliment to the innocent/earnest Claire. In that instant on the Amtrak train fate connected the dots. The next morning Joe and Aron told Tim Kring, Dennis Hammer and anyone who would listen. That very morning phone calls started flying in the way that they only can in Hollywood. Agents, network executives and producers began scheming and hatching plans. Talented actress without a show. Hit show in need of talented actress. It seemed the perfect fit!
Two weeks later Kristen was standing in a Hollywood parking lot full of shipping containers, surrounded by green screen (which – with the help of CGI - was standing in for a shipping dock in Ireland.) She began that day to explore the character of Elle, the slightly demented, slightly power-mad “Company Gal.”
Having worked with her quite a bit since then, I, for one, hope she sticks around. She is a treat - a pro of an actress who knows her lines, hits her marks, and consistently delivers the goods in an unexpected way. She is also a lot of fun to be around. We have fun on HEROES and Kristen fits in well behind the scenes as well as on screen!
I also wonder - Who the heck is “Daddy???”
HI I’M KRISTEN AND I’M NEW HERE
KRISTEN BELL SEARCHES FOR HER NEW TV BOYFRIEND
HEY LIGHTENING POWER IS FUN!
Meanwhile in New Orleans, Micah gives a name to Monica’s power. He shows her a 9th Wonders comic, which is our comic-within–our-world. Tim Sale’s cover depicts “Saint Joan” (Pay attention to all this!) Micah tells Monica that she is a “muscle mimic,” a copycat! (Jeph Loeb calls it photo-reflex-muscle-memory.) What it means is – anything she sees she can copy. As I mentioned before Tim Kring’s goal was to create a new dynamic with this duo (heh heh.) Freed from always worrying about his father and mother, Micah can begin to have fun with his powers. In the last episode and in this one, a real chemistry breaks out between these two characters.
Noah Gray-Cabey, who plays Micah, is such a great kid. He’s, like, a genius. He’s only 11, but he’s already in 9th grade. He’s a real sweetie on set, and I love seeing his big smile break out in this episode. In real life, he is a virtuoso piano player. I believe the OPRAH WINFREY SHOW originally discovered him (he played piano there) which led to a Hollywood talent agent approaching him about acting. Tim had been wanting to create a scene for him to play piano in the show. And, so, the scene where Monica enters the house, sees him playing, and mimics it, was developed.
This is an interesting scene to study. As Monica plays the piano, there are a number of specific edits that develop the story. The scene begins with side angles of her hands playing, intercut with side angles of her face and Micah’s face. Then the angles onto the hands become straight down. And the angle of her face becomes super low – straight up. The tempo of the music and of the editing builds faster and faster until it hits a crescendo as Monica leaps up in fear. This, very specific shot and cutting pattern, is designed to accentuate her rising fear as she realizes something she can’t control and doesn’t understand is happening to her.
Some of our heroes have easy powers to accomplish on screen and some have hard ones. Greg Grunberg’s is easy, he just tilts his head, we do some editing tricks and voil’a, mind reading. Kristen Bell has an easy one, she just puts out her hand, the visual effects team rotoscopes in lightening and voil’a – Lighting Power! But there’s no voil’a with Dana Davis’ power. In this episode she has to double dutch, do kung fu backflips, juggle and play the piano (although I think we edited out the juggling – hmmm???) That meant we had to get a double dutch photo double, a kung fu photo double, a piano-playing photo double, and a juggling photo double – and we had to teach her to do all of these things. Luckily Dana is very game to try stuff, and she ended up doing most of the moves herself.
The double dutch scene is a good example of how complex it is to direct one of our episodes. In just this one scene, there is a lot to pay attention to because there are so many levels, both technical and emotional, which one has to bring out for the audience. In this one scene, where the characters walk into a busy playground, looking to try out her powers, the director must remember to develop Micah and Monica’s new relationship for the audience. Then the director must get the shots to tell the story of a busy playground – skateboarding, basketball, double dutch, Then the director must stage and shoot that Monica has a challenge from the neighborhood girls, and that she stands up to them in a tough but nice way – which is another important aspect of her character to show to the audience. Then she begins to double dutch. This involves shooting wide shots over Micah to the jump roping double (you must connect the two characters visually on screen!) Then closer angles of Monica jumping rope. Now, Dana had learned the choreographed move, but wasn’t really able to jump rope. So she was photographed against a blue screen. The background girls were photographed as what is called a back plate behind her. And they were twirling wooden handles only. The spinning ropes were digitally added in post. Of course once Monica’s jumping – the director can’t forget to get close up angles of Monica looking to Micah and smiling, and of Micah looking back and smiling. (The cool power is nice, but the emotion is what really matters!) And all that for a 35 second scene that had to be completely shot in 4 hours before lunch! Ouch!
DANA DAVIS STUDIES HER DOUBLE DUTCH MOVES ON DVD IMMEDIATELY BEFORE SHOOT
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ALLAN ARKUSH OVERSEES A REHEARSAL OF THE PIANO SCENE
Another complex sequence in our little weekly TV show is the entire nightmare man sequence where Maury, Matt Parkman’s father. This character throws both Nathan and Matt into their respective worst nightmares. We had to show 3 things at once: First, Matt Parkman’s nightmare of being locked up for abandoning his family. Second, Nathan’s nightmare that New York had blown up and that he had to do battle with his own inner demon. And third, that in reality, both men were fighting each other under the control of Maury.
This was a difficult sequence to both comprehend and visualize. It had many technical complexities – for instance, Adrian Pasdar had to have 3 hours of makeup to play the scar-faced version of himself. This meant we had to split up the scene where he fights himself over two days. The first day he wore the makeup and on the second one he didn’t. There would be a stunt/photo double for him to fight himself. But we also wanted to put Adrian in the same frame with himself 2 or three times, which meant moving split-screen shots. We decided to blow ash on the set, coming from the burning NYC buildings. Etc. Etc.
We had numerous meetings about how this scene would be shot and edited, to both maximize coolness and clarity. We drew storyboards and then had a few more meetings. I think the sequence is pretty satisfying, and the visual effects guys at Stargate Effects outdid themselves with burning New York. I particularly like the building crumbling in the foreground!
We spent a LONG TIME in the cutting room working on this one. How to intercut the fight to get it just right. But still, I wish we’d had more time to both think about it and design it. I always felt like the process on this complex scene was a little pell-mell, and, even though it’s good – that we didn’t have time to get it perfect!
Okay that’s it for now. Next week: Hiro and gang take on White Beard in feudal Japan, Peter and Caitlain visit a new city (and a new version of and old city!?!), Claire makes the cheerleading squad in her own special way, and HRG visits and old friend in Odessa (Russia that is!)
DIRECTOR LESLI GLATTER
PRODUCTION MEETING ABOUT THE NIGHTMARE SEQUENCE
LESLI AND GREG GRUNBERG GO OVER THE “STORYBOARDS”
GREG GRUNBERG AND WRITERS JOY AND MELISSA BLAKE
LESLI AND MILO VENTIMIGLIA –THEY BOTH USED TO WORK ON “THE GILMORE GIRLS”
ADRIAN PASDAR AND I ON SET – HEY KIDS, ALWAYS REMEMBER TO USE SUNBLOCK!
VOTE PETRELLI, HE’S THE SCABBIEST
Episode 5!
Episode five was written by, the sisters, Joy and Melissa Blake – who are new to HEROES, and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter who is also new to the show. But even though she was new here, if you check out her resume, you can see what an experienced director she is: http://imdb.com/name/nm0322128/ She directed the pilot episode of THE GILMORE GIRLS, and numerous episodes of WEST WING, ER, and even TWIN PEAKS! She is a super great, super enthusiastic person and a strong performance director. She has a background as a choreographer so she has a natural affinity for choreographing camera and actor. But she had never done any of the kind of visual effects we do. She was hungry to learn and it was fun to teach her.
This episode develops some of our storylines and resolves some others. Our New Orleans story progresses, as Monica begins to learn what the scope of her power is, and you can see the beginnings of a new team-up in her and Micah’s relationship. Matt and Nathan continue working to track down and meet Matt’s father, “The Nightmare Man” who has been tormenting Molly. Suresh makes, what is perhaps, a fateful mistake when he brings Molly in to the company, and finds himself becoming entangled in their web. Peter resolves his story in Ireland, as a new “Company Woman” enters the picture, moving his story in another direction.
This episode is, perhaps, most notable for the introduction of Kristen Bell to the HEROES lineup. We have been introducing a lot of new characters in these early episodes. I know that, to some people, it feels like it’s been too much too fast, and some wonder where have last year’s heroes gone? But Tim Kring expressed from the beginning of the development of this year that it was important to him to keep evolving the big-picture story. He really wanted to create a global sense to the show this year. Having said all that, I truly think everyone will agree that Kristen is an awesome addition to our recipe.
If you don’t know her already, Kristen was the star of the well reviewed, but little-watched UPN and later CW show “VERONICA MARS.” Her performance as the eponymous character was routinely critically lauded. (Catch it on DVD if you’ve never seen it – it’s a real good TV show!!)
Anyway, the story behind how she ended up on HEROES is a pretty good one. Last summer, after the HEROES panel at Comic-Con, two of our writers, Joe Pokaski and Aron Eli Coleite were riding from San Diego to LA on the train. Sitting in the same car, they saw Zach Quinto and Kristen Bell – who, as it turns out, are old-time best friends. Everyone got to talking, and Joe and Aron said “Hey if you ever want to be on the show, we’ll write a part for you.” To which Kristen replied, “Really? Well, maybe I’d be interested.” More talk revealed that Kristen was a huge fan of the show (mostly through her palship with Zach.) The deal was sealed when, later, Kristen’s cell phone flew out of her hands and she told Joe and Aron how she had “energy hands.” Seems she waves her hands around a lot when she’s talking, which builds up a lot of energy. When she stops waving them and holds on to an electronic device, that device will frequently fly out of her hands and break.
Joe and Aron knew that, just that week, the writers were developing the character of Elle. Elle was a young woman who worked for the company, who could shoot lightening from her hands, and who was intended to be a dramatic doppelganger/compliment to the innocent/earnest Claire. In that instant on the Amtrak train fate connected the dots. The next morning Joe and Aron told Tim Kring, Dennis Hammer and anyone who would listen. That very morning phone calls started flying in the way that they only can in Hollywood. Agents, network executives and producers began scheming and hatching plans. Talented actress without a show. Hit show in need of talented actress. It seemed the perfect fit!
Two weeks later Kristen was standing in a Hollywood parking lot full of shipping containers, surrounded by green screen (which – with the help of CGI - was standing in for a shipping dock in Ireland.) She began that day to explore the character of Elle, the slightly demented, slightly power-mad “Company Gal.”
Having worked with her quite a bit since then, I, for one, hope she sticks around. She is a treat - a pro of an actress who knows her lines, hits her marks, and consistently delivers the goods in an unexpected way. She is also a lot of fun to be around. We have fun on HEROES and Kristen fits in well behind the scenes as well as on screen!
I also wonder - Who the heck is “Daddy???”
HI I’M KRISTEN AND I’M NEW HERE
KRISTEN BELL SEARCHES FOR HER NEW TV BOYFRIEND
HEY LIGHTENING POWER IS FUN!
Meanwhile in New Orleans, Micah gives a name to Monica’s power. He shows her a 9th Wonders comic, which is our comic-within–our-world. Tim Sale’s cover depicts “Saint Joan” (Pay attention to all this!) Micah tells Monica that she is a “muscle mimic,” a copycat! (Jeph Loeb calls it photo-reflex-muscle-memory.) What it means is – anything she sees she can copy. As I mentioned before Tim Kring’s goal was to create a new dynamic with this duo (heh heh.) Freed from always worrying about his father and mother, Micah can begin to have fun with his powers. In the last episode and in this one, a real chemistry breaks out between these two characters.
Noah Gray-Cabey, who plays Micah, is such a great kid. He’s, like, a genius. He’s only 11, but he’s already in 9th grade. He’s a real sweetie on set, and I love seeing his big smile break out in this episode. In real life, he is a virtuoso piano player. I believe the OPRAH WINFREY SHOW originally discovered him (he played piano there) which led to a Hollywood talent agent approaching him about acting. Tim had been wanting to create a scene for him to play piano in the show. And, so, the scene where Monica enters the house, sees him playing, and mimics it, was developed.
This is an interesting scene to study. As Monica plays the piano, there are a number of specific edits that develop the story. The scene begins with side angles of her hands playing, intercut with side angles of her face and Micah’s face. Then the angles onto the hands become straight down. And the angle of her face becomes super low – straight up. The tempo of the music and of the editing builds faster and faster until it hits a crescendo as Monica leaps up in fear. This, very specific shot and cutting pattern, is designed to accentuate her rising fear as she realizes something she can’t control and doesn’t understand is happening to her.
Some of our heroes have easy powers to accomplish on screen and some have hard ones. Greg Grunberg’s is easy, he just tilts his head, we do some editing tricks and voil’a, mind reading. Kristen Bell has an easy one, she just puts out her hand, the visual effects team rotoscopes in lightening and voil’a – Lighting Power! But there’s no voil’a with Dana Davis’ power. In this episode she has to double dutch, do kung fu backflips, juggle and play the piano (although I think we edited out the juggling – hmmm???) That meant we had to get a double dutch photo double, a kung fu photo double, a piano-playing photo double, and a juggling photo double – and we had to teach her to do all of these things. Luckily Dana is very game to try stuff, and she ended up doing most of the moves herself.
The double dutch scene is a good example of how complex it is to direct one of our episodes. In just this one scene, there is a lot to pay attention to because there are so many levels, both technical and emotional, which one has to bring out for the audience. In this one scene, where the characters walk into a busy playground, looking to try out her powers, the director must remember to develop Micah and Monica’s new relationship for the audience. Then the director must get the shots to tell the story of a busy playground – skateboarding, basketball, double dutch, Then the director must stage and shoot that Monica has a challenge from the neighborhood girls, and that she stands up to them in a tough but nice way – which is another important aspect of her character to show to the audience. Then she begins to double dutch. This involves shooting wide shots over Micah to the jump roping double (you must connect the two characters visually on screen!) Then closer angles of Monica jumping rope. Now, Dana had learned the choreographed move, but wasn’t really able to jump rope. So she was photographed against a blue screen. The background girls were photographed as what is called a back plate behind her. And they were twirling wooden handles only. The spinning ropes were digitally added in post. Of course once Monica’s jumping – the director can’t forget to get close up angles of Monica looking to Micah and smiling, and of Micah looking back and smiling. (The cool power is nice, but the emotion is what really matters!) And all that for a 35 second scene that had to be completely shot in 4 hours before lunch! Ouch!
DANA DAVIS STUDIES HER DOUBLE DUTCH MOVES ON DVD IMMEDIATELY BEFORE SHOOT
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ALLAN ARKUSH OVERSEES A REHEARSAL OF THE PIANO SCENE
Another complex sequence in our little weekly TV show is the entire nightmare man sequence where Maury, Matt Parkman’s father. This character throws both Nathan and Matt into their respective worst nightmares. We had to show 3 things at once: First, Matt Parkman’s nightmare of being locked up for abandoning his family. Second, Nathan’s nightmare that New York had blown up and that he had to do battle with his own inner demon. And third, that in reality, both men were fighting each other under the control of Maury.
This was a difficult sequence to both comprehend and visualize. It had many technical complexities – for instance, Adrian Pasdar had to have 3 hours of makeup to play the scar-faced version of himself. This meant we had to split up the scene where he fights himself over two days. The first day he wore the makeup and on the second one he didn’t. There would be a stunt/photo double for him to fight himself. But we also wanted to put Adrian in the same frame with himself 2 or three times, which meant moving split-screen shots. We decided to blow ash on the set, coming from the burning NYC buildings. Etc. Etc.
We had numerous meetings about how this scene would be shot and edited, to both maximize coolness and clarity. We drew storyboards and then had a few more meetings. I think the sequence is pretty satisfying, and the visual effects guys at Stargate Effects outdid themselves with burning New York. I particularly like the building crumbling in the foreground!
We spent a LONG TIME in the cutting room working on this one. How to intercut the fight to get it just right. But still, I wish we’d had more time to both think about it and design it. I always felt like the process on this complex scene was a little pell-mell, and, even though it’s good – that we didn’t have time to get it perfect!
Okay that’s it for now. Next week: Hiro and gang take on White Beard in feudal Japan, Peter and Caitlain visit a new city (and a new version of and old city!?!), Claire makes the cheerleading squad in her own special way, and HRG visits and old friend in Odessa (Russia that is!)
DIRECTOR LESLI GLATTER
PRODUCTION MEETING ABOUT THE NIGHTMARE SEQUENCE
LESLI AND GREG GRUNBERG GO OVER THE “STORYBOARDS”
GREG GRUNBERG AND WRITERS JOY AND MELISSA BLAKE
LESLI AND MILO VENTIMIGLIA –THEY BOTH USED TO WORK ON “THE GILMORE GIRLS”
ADRIAN PASDAR AND I ON SET – HEY KIDS, ALWAYS REMEMBER TO USE SUNBLOCK!
VOTE PETRELLI, HE’S THE SCABBIEST
Comments
We didn't have to wait very long to see Maury's & Elle's use their powers, and it was a very nice change. I think I am in love with Kristen Bell now.
The moment when Nathan thought he'd seen Peter was just heartbreaking. I need the Petrelli reunion soon.
Also, whoever coreograph that fight between Matt and Nathan deserves a prop. That fight scene and the special FX for the nightmare scene is unusually good.
Thanks for posting on your blog for fans, for all your hard work, and to everyone else who is working on the show :)
The nightmare scene was brilliantly shot and edited (not to mention acted, but dealing with those two, that's to be expected!). It's obvious that a lot of time went in to that... You say that you guys did a good job, but didn't reach perfection? If that scene is just good, I can't imagine what you'd consider perfect. By far, one of the most dramatic intense moments I've seen on television. Bravo to all involved!
Kudos to everybody involved in the nightmare scenes. Those were my ultimate favorites in this ep (aside from Nathan with the shotgun and the cargo jet comment. Which, I hope you've seen the MadTV skit from last year which really had Nathan in such a capacity). I love that each of the characters have to face their worst fears this season (Molly being taken, Sylar without his powers, Nathan of the monster within, Matt of the family leaving him, Peter of the person he was, etc.)
Thanks again for another great blog, with awesome pics (Mr. Pasdar's makeup really is something...eep!) I love that, outside the show itself, there are so many great things to be read, seen, and discovered that make the show, as well as the fandom, much more enjoyable. Your blog and buckshotwon's YouTube page are two of my fav links.
Speaking of which... when does New England get a hero?
Love the show, love the blog (I watch the show on monday, read the blog on tuesday and re-watch the show later while checking for stuff I learned about in the blog - it's great!)
Heroes just hits the spot on so many levels. And a nice idea to have some spin-off material on those comics on the NBC website. Whose idea was that?
Besides the info on the nightmare scene (which rocked btw, I don't know what you mean by 'perfection' because it was awesome) and the really cool pics (hmmm, how long till we figure out why Nathan sees himself like that?) There was this fun line:
KRISTEN BELL SEARCHES FOR HER NEW TV BOYFRIEND
What the deuce?
Boyfriend? Really? See... when I heard Kristen Bell was coming to Heroes (and possibly Peter/Milo's story line) I was thinking - Hmmmm, she might make a possibly good match up with Peter (as I'm not a huge fan of Caitlyn.) I mean, I enjoyed the kissing and what not - but how could I not, this is Milo we're talking about :) But Caitlyn just doesn't feel "right" for Peter.
However... Elle? Hmmm... I just don't know. She seems awfully bada** for Peter right now. I mean she just murdered the brother of the woman he's dating!!! But who knows how her character is going to develop and progress.
And perhaps you were just teasing about the whole boyfriend thing anyway ;)
New city? Montreal? Old city remade new? New Orleans perhaps? Interesting.
Greg and Adrian's scenes together - besides just the awesome nightmare scene - were top notch. Good job guys. I thought it would be hard to beat Adrian and Milo's character chemistry, but their scenes were very enjoyable.
You sure have put an interesting twist on the company... but then again, I have to keep reminding myself that Linderman isn't behind it now... Bob is. That could make a difference, right? ;)
And... hmmm... is Bob, daddy?
Hmmm, so many questions, so few answers (Peter, does Elle need to hit you with an electric spark for you to get that memory of yours back? - LOL) And I am going to be on pins and needles from here on out for the rest of the season. I can just tell.
Wonderful episode, Mr. Beeman. My favorite of the season so far. (I know, I said that last week - but they just keep getting better and better). Brava!
I'm back. Sorry. Just one more thing (if I can manage to get it posted correctly.) I should have posted this on last week's blog, but I forgot...
Kudos to whoever was involved with the final scene Zachary Quinto was in last week. When Sylar started up the car and looked up into the camera with that half-crazed look in his eyes, I was reminded of the final scene of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' when Anthony Perkins said he wouldn't even hurt a fly and gave the camera a similar look.
Very bone chilling and wonderfully done.
Thanks again for such a wonderful series - it's all the little things that make this show so great.
It's all in the details.
Oh, and P.S. - Milo did awesome in his Isaac scene (all of them, of course) but especially that one. And I know they say the contacts help... but those scenes are just awesome.
Seriously, though...this week's entry had a few issues, but mostly: Lightning. There's no "e." Really.
The dialogue also works a lot better this episode. "I'm not a cargo plane, Parkman" made me LOL so hard. Adrian's expression made it even better. Also, kudos on improving the special effects. Unlike the flying scene a few episodes ago, the nightmare scene was fantastically shot and directed. Ditto with the fight scene I described above.
Great episode all around... can't wait to see Hiro and Takezo fight White Beard's camp!
Kristin Bell: Great addition. I never watched Veronica Mars, but I might check it out now (plus I'm a Kevin Smith fan too). I can't wait to see her again later this season. You said it, "who's daddy?"
Any chance the other cast/crew members have blogs like yours?
I was concerned about Heroes getting it's groove back, but wow, you outshone yourselves last night. Fabulous episode!
Thanks so much for maintaing this blog, it is the highlight of my week. Well. except for Heroes, of course!!!!!
So how am I supposed to wait until next monday!!
OK. Please, please, please, save some budget NOW for a mega special effects showdown at the end of the season to make up for last year's "non-event".
You guys just aren't moving the story forward enough for my taste. Some of the individual scenes are great, some of the individual lines are great and some of the characters are great. However, as a whole the series is a shell of last year.
What's the point of having Elle go all the way to Ireland to "find" Peter only to get called back when she knows she's 2 steps away? Why to teasingly introduce another character and then have them do nothing.
Why not show the Elle frying Mr bad Irish accent scene? It's cheaper not to.
What's the point of Ando reading Hiro's story instead of showing it? Because it's cheaper.
I found the copycat action scenes to be horribly edited. It was a horrible green screen sequence. You would have been better off to have hired stunt double to show her dunking and cut out all the cheazy shots of Micah. I do have hope for them as a duo, as long as you get moving and have them start doing something.
I really think you guys are spending money in the wrong places and cutting corners in the wrong places. Using the green screen for the double dutch scene was the wrong place for that money. Going cheap with the Hiro story line (90 angry ronin), is the wrong place to cut corners.
However, the biggest problem you have is letting Tim Kring expand his universe in season 2 when he couldn't even tie up his smaller world at the end of season 1. You needed to put some of the domestic stories to rest (Seiler, the company) if you were going to expand worldwide ones (the virus, the originals).
(I don't say Suresh, so you can go ahead and kill him) - but bring them back! They are part of Heroes!
I shall be boycotting the DVD's if we don't get a lot more.
Also, the double dutch scene... yeah, I can't thank enough that we could read how you guys did the scene.
Criticizing the creators is like going to get your hair cut and then instructing and criticizing the hairdresser every step of the way.
Unless you have the experience, education, or training take a step back, becasue your comments aren't coming from anything other than a over-analytical couch potato.
Thanks as always for taking the time to post this. As ever, your insights into the making of the episodes are fascinating.
Another great episode and the introduction of two instantly intriguing characters in Elle and Parkman Snr. I really hope we see plenty more of the latter! He very effectively conveyed that he was a very weak personality but at the same time also conveyed a lot of menace and malevolence in a VERY short amount of screen time and that so impressed me. "Pleasant dreams" indeed. *Shiver*
Interesting to see that Elle is sort of the AntiClaire! Be fun to see how THAT plays out.
Finally, Adrian Pasdar was fantastic this week. Really pleased to see that he's getting to work with Greg Grunberg and watch that dynamic developing - it's a lot of fun seeing the more lighthearted moments between these two as well as the dramatic moments he has always done so well.
Although having said that, I'm sure I speak for the audience when I say I can't wait for Nathan to be reunited with Peter - the scene this week in the nightmare where he believed he'd found his brother was heartbreaking because he looked so overjoyed.
Very much looking forward to next week already!
Your blog is very interesting, and makes for a nice addition to the show itself. Sadly, I have to agree with some of the detractors who are posting here -- the show, while wonderful, is starting to lose a lot of its appeal. I can't even begin to understand the technical difficulties faced by you and your staff, but I do agree that the character development this season has been disappointing -- and this in a show where the main draw were the interesting, nuanced, conflicted characters. Ms. Bell's character promises to be interesting, but the promised resolution to the questions of how Peter ended up in Ireland, what happened to Nathan, the virus, etc., has been a long time in coming, and frankly, I'm losing faith in the show and its ability to provide satisfying answers.
In all honesty, I really hope the characters continue to be developed as the season moves along. This show is fantastic enough that your audience is willing to accept the four month jump in time, with its accompanying shift in so many characters' situations and attitudes, but not without some kind of explanation or rationale. As it stands now, it is begining to feel more and more like a deus ex machina, and I refuse to believe that such talented writers could have run out of ideas.
Best wishes, and thank you for this blog. Seeing the devotion and the love that goes into this show is keeping it on my to-watch list, sometimes in spite of the show itself.
And my love for the "St Joan" touch knows no bounds. It's things like that which take this show from being great to being awesome.
I was wondering if you didn't have any money for effects - but the double dutch scene looked fine.
I must also say I *love* the villain y'all have created in Maury Parkman. During his initial confrontation with Matt and Nathan I almost felt sorry for him! I almost believed him! It wasn't until he walked away with that pure evil look on his face that I got really angry - at the character, and also at myself for being such a sucker!
Which is the brilliant part - that's what real-life jerks do. They worm their way into your respect, only to make you realize they never deserved it.
I have one problem with this episode... Suresh's decision to take Molly to the Company just made me go WHAA? It was a total about-face for the character that, I'm sorry to say, really should have been set up more clearly.
But, you know... it's easy to Monday-morning quarterback, isn't it? Really I love this show, I love all the hard work you guys put into this every week, and I love that you are cool enough to blog about it. I hope whatever negative remarks have been made doesn't prevent you from doing that in the future, I think most of the criticism is meant constructively...
Well...regarding what this anonymous commenter said above...I'm actually really enjoying this season so far. But I do think he or she is right about not placing too much weight on what is said here, either positive or negative. The truth is that the section of the viewing audience that goes hunting for info like this, reading and commenting on blogs and message boards, etc. is VERY different from the mainstream viewing audience. It's easy to forget that the views expressed here, whether praise or criticism, are probably not representative of everyone watching the show.
Having said that, like I already said--I'm loving the season so far. Though I wish Claire, Hiro, and Peter were more involved in the main action.
"Saint-Jaque" is actually spelled "Saint-Jacques". I don't know if the real scene has already been shot, but if it hasn't, make sure you get this right :)
From someone living in Montreal...
lyverbe-at-hotmail.com
Apart from that, it was a very good episode. :)
I really liked seeing Micah play the piano and smiling with Monica, great team here.
I love that!
And THANK you for sparing us the teen love scenes and the:'but i want to be normal' with teary eyes from the cheerleader.
This épisode was a treat! Thanks to all of you!
And THANK you for sparing us the teen love scenes and the:'but i want to be normal' with teary eyes from the cheerleader.
This épisode was a treat! Thanks to all of you!
Oh!!: On Peter's passport, where one can see rapidly his face, under the sex genre, it's written a 'F' !!
A new incredible info: Peter is a FEMALE!!! lol!
From what I gather what we see now is just a preseason. Kinda like a warm-up. Plant the seeds of the "originals", and the killings, and kensei, causing confusion and suspense as to "What the heck is going on ?!?!?". Once we get to "4 Months Ago" as stated by many sources about the show, it will tie up the loose ends that we all really want to know right now. Why things are the way they are this season. And after that we'll feel content, but they will still be able to build the show because they will be able to explode the "weak" storylines they're introducing now.
Whew, that said the Matt and Nathan fight scene was awesome. Did anyone else notice that to break out of the dream Matt didn't read Peter's thoughts, but SENT his thoughts to Peter? I think that it's awesome that Matt's power is growing... just hope he doesn't turn like his old man.
And the Russia shot sucked... felt Jipped by that.
As far as the show goes, you gotta see the big picture, and don't forget about "4 Months Ago"!
This blog is wonderfull,to have the "point de vue" of a person fully working in that show.
About that episode, I am wondering about the daddy and the origin of the "god send" sign. Daddy/compagny boss can be Takezo Kensei. The reason why everyone is connected,could this be because Kensei is the ancestor of all of them?Geez,I'm waiting for all the others episodes
I like Hathan`s monster!
I miss Claude...:`(
1. The Peter lost in Ireland seems like he's been trying so hard to stay emotionally contained, betray as little as possible of the awkwardness and fear he must be feeling in his situation. All resolute and coiled like a spring when he goes to open that box, Peter lets off that brief, intense huff of anger when it doesn't immediately tell him anything he really wants to know. That one moment felt like a significant disclosure, and I liked it.
2. Ando tries (awkwardly) to throw the ancient-scroll-repair specialist off the scent! (Very common name, I'm sure, Ando). I thought the two had an enjoyable rapport.
3. Ricky's scene with Elle. For one thing, suddenly I'm hungry for stew... and mussels... and stew. But Ricky is funny here and personable - and for the first time, I can really buy him as someone: a) dangerous, and used to using little more than mild-yet-intimidating demeanor to get pretty much whatever he wants, but also b)a man with whom Peter would agree to (even provisionally) ally himself. I know how badly Peter needs ties, needs to belong to a family, I can understand his attraction to a lovely girl, and I can also see how, subconsciously, he might be drawn to a family that parallels his own in some ways. But it was hard for me to understand why he would "join up" with a group of people who find random amnesiac guys, beat them to a bloody pulp, then extort unwilling cooperation from them - even if he has no hard feelings against them from having been said random guy. Ricky's scene with Elle showed us another side of the guy - a (manipulative, but appealing) charm that I can see people being drawn to. He played off her rather nicely, really just needled her, provoked her... (Though hardly a "shipper," I do wonder whether, under less unfortunate circumstances, the two might have bonded over their shared affinity for violence and stripey shirts). Ricky turned out to be kinda cool - just in time to die. Which, I guess, is exactly as much time as any of us ever have.
4. Caitlyn is a little pissed off when Peter turns out to have super-art-powers, too! Man, did that ring true for me! Here Peter has been so complimentary of her paintings, suggested she's gifted and special, then this scary, miraculous trance-thing comes over him out of nowhere, and it turns out that not only is he a super-powered amnesiac boy, he's also Tim Sale! Which is to say, he can draw better than her. Which sucks! (For the girl, that is. It was wonderful to see Tim Sale's work brought to the fore once more, and the visions and dream-sequences are often my favorite scenes on Heroes). All I mean to say is: if I had a super-powered boyfriend, and that happened to him? Despite whatever horror and wonder and curiosity his trance-painting might occasion in me, I'd absolutely let myself have five minutes or so to be cheesed off and a little jealous at first, too.
5. Niki (or Jessica, maybe?) exploding onto the scene of Mohinder's conversation with Bob. I'm not sure what exactly was going on there, but it was a truly surprising moment, well-choreagraphed and charged with irony and energy. I love Heroes when it's eloquent and talky, but this was a nice case of "a little less conversation and a little more action."
6. Hiro admits his journey has been "like a storybook - only more tiring." That sounded like true Hiro-speak to me. I loved the idea of Hiro communicating with Ando through letters, but felt that the earlier letters themselves were lacking that certain special smack of 'Hiroism,' if you will. Hiro's manner of speaking is usually so distinct, one of his most endearing qualities. But his earlier correspondence seemed a trifle dull, for all that it described some more or less momentous developments in his ongoing story. I still wish we could see more memorable interactions between the characters of the feudal japan plot, instead of simply hearing about them in summary, but the summary method worked better this time. It matters a lot that it feels like Hiro telling the story in his own, very particular Hiro way. (Plus, Kensei and Yaeko had what looked like a genuinely sincere moment there, which is a nice departure from the more predictable, er, 'Hirono de Bergerac' plot where the girl should, if she's thinking straight, obviously prefer the secret suitor to the one out in the open. I like the idea that in discovering how good it feels to be revered as a hero, Kensei begins to transform himself into someone who deserves to feel that way, someone the girl might genuinely love. At the expense of Hiro's hopes.
The suspense is killing me. And don't get me started on "hooded figure" theories.
My only complaint...the teen angst Claire/West thing I could do without. But I have a distinct feeling that their relationship is gonna change. Okay, this is SO not a spoiler; he couldn't be a more blatant bad guy if he was cutting off heads.
I just noticed the fantard rant this comment has become. I haven't been this enthused for a series since BtVS. Now I'll take my leave before I become too much of a geek for the general public...
Kudos to you and your colleagues, the cast, and crew for such a phenomenal show. It's quickly gaining popularity here in the Philippines. Episode 1 of Season 2 just aired last night and I'm looking forward to the coming episodes.
Looking forward to your next entry!
Don't get me wrong, just like others, I love Nathan and Peter interaction and am looking forward to their reunion. However, despite the two's connection last season, Nathan's main role was as "Peter's jerk brother". I really, really do not want Nathan to regress back to that role once he's reunited back with Peter.
I hope the writers realise that they've done a lot of good character development with Nathan that it'd be a step back to turn him back into a jerk again. Please move the character forward not backwards or back and forth like photocopy machine.
This was the first commentary that I've watched. I'll definitely be going back to watch others.
Thanks so much for this blog and also for the commentary. I'm really looking forward to tonight! Keep up the good work.
~Nicky
Kring went out of his way to prove that he has never read a comic in his life, and it definitely shows in the episodes and the overall plot. Everything that made this show cool last season is gone. I'm curious: who told Kring to make the show "socially relevant"?
Claire's story... girl trying to fit in in highschool zzz.
i would really like to see some action in all of the episodes like there was in episode 5!
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Can't wait for you guys to be officially back! We definitely need more pictures and commentary. I got to meet you at Heroes Fan Day, so now I have my official 'Beaming Beeman' picture as well :) Btw, if you can work on TK about getting us a gag or blooper reel for S2.5 or S3, that would be fantastic! :)
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