“ONE OF US, ONE OF THEM”
(WARNING: SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED WITHIN. SPOILERS MAY BE HAZERDOUS TO YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE)
Episode three of our third season, was, from my point of view, a hard birth. I’m happy with the final result, but the process getting there was tough.
The director of tonight’s episode was Sergio Mimica-Gezzan. Interestingly, he was Steven Spielberg’s Assistant Director for many years on some of Spielberg’s biggest movies. He made the transition to directing on “Taken” 6 years ago. If you want to check out his impressive resume try this link… Sergio Mimica-Gezzan.
He came recommended to us from execs at NBC – he had directed successful episodes of “Battlestar Galactica”, and I had also seen the pilot he directed for the TNT network show “Saving Grace” starring Holly Hunter. We hired him last year to direct our 13th episode of season 2. He was halfway in the middle of production on it, when the writer’s strike hit and we shut down. Much of what Sergio directed ended up on the cutting room floor, or as DVD extras for the Season 2 DVD package. My personal experience with Sergio is that he is an extremely focused and intense guy with a great eye.
The writer of tonight’s episode was Joe Pokaski. He is a producer on the show, who came up from being Tim Kring’s assistant on “Crossing Jordan.” Notably Joe is also the writer of the current Marvel comic book series “Secret Invasion: The Inhumans” and “Ultimate Fantastic Four.” He also wrote many of the HEROES online comics that have been assembled in the highly successful HEROES HARDBACK GRAPHIC NOVEL.
THE HEROES GRAPHIC NOVEL
The first draft of the script, from a production standpoint, was very big. It had the bank robbery more-or- less as it currently exists. It also had a Claire/Meredith scene, which currently occurs in a cargo container. This scene originally took place in a deserted warehouse where Claire was surrounded by fire. The Hiro/Ando/Daphne scene, which currently occurs in a German movie theatre, originally took place on a train traveling through India, complete with Hiro and Ando on the roof of the train and Ando nearly falling out the side of a baggage car.
Personally, I loved the first draft of this script. It was a great, incredibly exciting read. I loved the way the bank robbery was written, and the idea that Sylar was to become HRG’s new partner blew my mind. The entire component parts were great – but, collectively, it was also, obviously, too big to be affordable. Beyond that though, the choices we producer’s faced of how to get the budget down became very subjective. The bank robbery was the obvious thing that had to stay because it drove the central story and the key recurring stories for the series– For me, the scripted moment where time freezes and future Peter appears was a key event (it sent a chill down my spine when I first read it.) So the Claire story and the Hiro story were what had to be attacked.
The prep process was odd because, it felt like, at every turn, whenever we attempted to make something cheaper, it either seemed to stay financially neutral or, ironically, became more expensive.
For instance, when the decision was made to shift from a burning warehouse to a metal shipping container – it sure seemed that that would reduce the scope… But then conversations started up about how to create an effect for the walls to appear to be glowing molten hot. Those conversations evolved until, at one point, we were going to create an entirely 3-D greenscreen environment of glowing metal walls. That lasted a few days until reality set in and it became clear that that would cost more, and take longer to shoot than the original warehouse idea. We backed off the digital environment and the glowing walls and just decided that there would be a couple of key shots of Meredith’s fire going up the walls and digital heat waves would be generated throughout to sell the heat.
As far as the Hiro/Ando/Daphne scene – we explored two plans. We needed two railroad cars – a passenger car and a cargo car – as well as a roof. One plan was to find existing trains and re-dress them and shoot them on location with green screen out the windows. But the cost of going on location and re-dressing was prohibitive. So we explored building the two train cars on set surrounded by blue screen. This was also too expensive.
Many discussions were held and we came to realize that this story could take place anywhere. The writer’s wanted it to be in an exotic foreign country, and the story had to be containable enough that the Haitian’s power would shut down Hiro and Daphne’s powers. The location department was sent off to come back with exotic-looking locations, which Joe Pokaski could write to. They came back with several. My favorite was a mosque that looked like it could be in an Arabic country. There was also a beautiful library – which would have been set in London. But the German moviehaus was what the writers selected – and from that choice stemmed the fun choice to have the Buster Keaton movies playing in the background.
Interestingly – the mysterious woman who is exchanging the briefcase with the Haitian is Sendhil Ramamurthy (i.e. Suresh’s) real-life wife Olga Sosnovska. They met in London, where she was a star on the British television series MI-5.
There were changes made to reduce budget in the bank scenes as well. Most noteably – at first Jesse’s power was Earthquake-stomp (Like Gorgon of the Inhumans from the Fantastic Four comics) But this power implied cracking floors and walls and all manner of damage that would be expensive to produce. At the last minute we changed him to a Sonic scream (like DC’s Black Canary) – this was easier to accomplish but was a bummer too us because we already had Echo from the online webisodes with sonic power – Oh well…..
There’s one last thing worth talking about: Originally episode 3.2 (the episode I directed) ended with the scene where Angela brought Bridgett to Sylar and “fed” her to him. Ironically, that scene is, literally, the only scene we kept from the two incomplete episodes shot last year. Double-ironically Sergio directed that scene in the never-completed episode 2.13. Triple Ironically – the only new material added to that pre-existing scene was two close-ups – one of Angela and one of Sylar – where Angela spelled out “I AM your mother.” And I directed this. So, in the end, Sergio’s material ended up in his episode and my material ended up in mine.
Episode 3.3 originally opened with Tracy exploring her freeze-o power on the rose, it then went to Nathan in his office asking after Tracy, then it went to Angela introducing HRG to his new partner Sylar. This section of the show ended with Peter and with villains arriving at the bank to rob it. For some reason, even though every scene was in-and-of-itself good, it felt like the show began in an un-focused way.
Katherine Pope, the president of Universal, was the one who came up with the idea of ending episode 3.2 with “I am your mother” and shifting the Bridgette part of the scene into this episode.
At first, from a selfish point-of-view, this bummed me out. When episode 3.2 ended with Bridgette screaming and Angela stalking down the Level 5 hallway – I used to imagine fans leaping out of their chairs screaming “OMG this show is SO F%#d up!!!”
But, on the other hand, when I saw episode 3.3 with the Bridgette scene shifted into it as the opening, the whole episode seemed re-focused and clarified. It’s always amazing to me what editing and juxtaposition of scenes can do… Without the new scene, this episode felt like an episode about Peter and the Villains at the bank robbery. With this new opening it became an episode about HRG/Sylar and Angela. It fact, the whole episode, became balanced (as if by design) with both the first and last scene of the show involving Sylar and Angela in Sylar’s cell.
Now a brief interview with writer Joe Pokaski:
GREG BEEMAN: So, Joe, where are you from?
JOE POKASKI: I grew up back east in a town near Boston, Massachusetts.
GB: And you went to Tufts University?
JP: Yes. With Sendhil Ramamurthy.
GB: Really?
JP: Yes. We were in the same fraternity together at Tufts.
GB: Did you have anything to do with Sendhil being on HEROES?
JP: I don’t think so. I recommended him for a part on “Crossing Jordan.” Which was the Indian friend of someone on the show, and I think he read for the casting people. But that script changed and that role went away. So either they knew him from their files or it was a coincidence.
GB: And you, famously, were Tim Kring’s assistant.
JP: Yes… famously.
GB: So how did you get from a small town near Boston to being a writer/producer on HEROES?
JP: Well, mostly I was just a TV fan. I loved television and shows like “Cheers” and “Mash” and “Quantum Leap” and I dreamed of being a television writer. But that didn’t feel like a job a real person could have. It felt more like “astronaut” -- just a fantasy job that regular people couldn’t do.
GB: Right. I remember you telling me that when you were a kid and you first saw “Alf,” that you though t television had peaked.
JP: That’s true. I was eight and I remember thinking that TV couldn’t get any better than that – a Muppet from outer space. I’m still waiting to be proven wrong.
GB: So what did you do then?
JP: At Tufts I studied to be a lawyer. But, I quickly knew that that was never going to happen. So when I graduated I went into advertising in Boston, because it felt like that, at least, had a little creativity.
GB: But you kept dreaming the impossible dream…
JP: Yes. I suppose the real game changer was meeting my future wife, Jessica. I met her and fell for her and told her my dream and she didn't laugh. Quite the opposite. So I went back to school. To get my Graduate degree in Television Production at Boston University.
GB: Then what?
JP: Then my girlfriend at the time, agreed to move out with me to Los Angeles to become a Television writer. She didn’t disagree loud enough, and so we moved.
GB: And how many high level contacts did you have upon arriving here?
JP: Exactly one. A guy named Mike Daley who worked on Crossing Jordan. He was a friend of a friend of Jessica's (who was my girlfriend at the time) co-worker. In fact, it was on the night that I was going to ask her to marry me, and we were already planning to move, and I had the ring in my pocket, and I was so nervous, and we were out at a restaurant and her friend was saying “When you get there you should call Mike.” I could barely hear her, I was so nervous…
GB: So you didn’t even really know Mike?
JP: No. Now he’s one of my best friends - but at the time I didn’t. He was very helpful though and he promised me that as soon as any job came open on “Crossing Jordan” he would let me know. And he did. A production assistant job came open and I got it.
GB: How old were you at this time?
JP: 28.
GB: And how was that experience?
JP: Being a P.A. at 28? It sucked. I felt miserable. I had cut my salary in half and I had to get coffee for people. But I was there in the middle of what I’d always dreamed of, and I met a lot of incredibly cool and talented people – like Tim Kring, Damon Lindelof, and Aron Coleite.
GB: And how did you go from P.A to Tim’s Assistant?
JP: Well, his old assistant left and Tim asked me to fill in at his desk until he could replace him. And after awhile it just became clear that he was never going to do that and that I had become his assistant. This took awhile.
GB: And when did you become a staff writer on “Crossing Jordan” ?
JP: I never did. Tim, graciously, asked me to write a freelance episode. And that was the first Television script that I had produced.
GB: So you never were on staff before HEROES?
JP: No.
GB: So, you’ve only recently begun to really live your dream?
JP: Uh, I guess. Thanks a lot.
GB: No, I didn’t mean it like that. I think it’s good. Perfect, really. So tell me about your involvement with the pilot of HEROES?
JP: Well, Tim was thinking of the idea. And, as any good writer does, he was excited and he wanted feedback and input. He went to Aron first who was famous for being an avid comic book reader. Tim really didn’t know the conventions of comic books and he wanted, at first, Aron’s feedback and later mine.
GB: And…?
JP: We were blown away by the whole idea. We thought it was awesome. Then, when it began to be clear that it was going to become a pilot and more than that… We just volunteered to do anything Tim needed. Whenever he was too busy to do anything related to HEROES we stepped in and helped.
GB: What’s an example of this?
JP: Well, Tim’s mantra at the time was “What’s next?” Where would these characters go? What would the stories actually be beyond the pilot? So Aron and I worked together to think about ideas for the characters and stories – a lot of which became elements and aspects of episodes 2 though 5 of the first season.
GB: Now you are also writing comic books. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR and SECRET INVASION: THE INHUMANS? Did Jeph Loeb facilitate this?
JP: Absolutely. Jeph is a great and very big-hearted guy. And when the writer’s strike happened he came to me and to Aron and asked if we’d like to keep feeding our families by writing comics. I said “Sure. I love feeding my family.” And the people at Marvel somehow trusted him enough to just let it happen.
GB: So, which impresses you more? Writing for HEROES or writing FANTASTIC FOUR?
JP: Wow. Now you’re really putting me on the spot…
GB: Because I’ll tell you I’m pretty impressed with the latter. As you know, my main dream in life, up until about age 17 was to be a comic book artist. Unlike you, I failed in this dream - and I regret it to this day.
JP: Well, twelve-year-old me is pretty wowed that I’m writing FANTASTIC FOUR. But, truthfully, HEROES is so amazing and exciting and there are so many talented people on it that have become like a family to me – it’s pretty hard not to be impressed to be on HEROES.
So there you have it kids... The lesson here is one that I always believe in and frequently promote – YOU TOO CAN ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS – AS LONG AS YOU HOLD ON TO THEM AND WORK HARD TO ALLOW THEM TO HAPPEN!!!!
That’s enough. I have to direct episode 13 in the morning – so I’m knocking off for tonight. See ya next week… Until then…
THIS WEEK'S BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTOGRAPHY:
SERGIO DIRECTS THE CAST
WRITER JOE POKASKI – JUST THRILLED TO BE HERE
SERGIO STUDIES HIS NOTES
THE VISUAL EFFECTS MEETING – D.P. CHARLIE LIEBERMAN (BACK) AND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR ROBERT SCOTT (FOREGROUND)
THE VISUAL EFFECTS MEETING – JOE POKASKI UP FRONT AND LEAD VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR ERIC GRENAUDIER IN BACK
GREG GRUNBERG IN CHATSWORTH/AFRICA – “WHOA - IT’S WEIRD TO HAVE GIANT PAINTINGS OF ME ON THESE ROCKS”
GREG GRUNBERG AND NTARE MWINE AS USUTU IN CHATTSAFRICA
SERGIO AND JOE IN “AFRICA”
BLAKE SHIELDS AS “FLINT” ONE OF OUR “VILLIANS”
ADRIAN PASDAR ON SET
ALI LARTER ON SET
SERGIO AND ZACHARY QUINTO
CRISTINE ROSE AND JACK COLEMAN
SERGIO, JOE AND CHARLIE ON SET – LIVIN’ THE DREAM!
ME – LURKING ON “LEVEL 5”
IN A STAGED RE-ENACTMENT OF REAL EVENTS - JOE AND I GO OVER SOME NOTES
THIS ONE’S FROM LAST WEEK, BUT I LIKE IT – ALI LARTER AND “GREATEST AMERICAN HERO” WILLIAM KATT ON SET
(WARNING: SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED WITHIN. SPOILERS MAY BE HAZERDOUS TO YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE)
Episode three of our third season, was, from my point of view, a hard birth. I’m happy with the final result, but the process getting there was tough.
The director of tonight’s episode was Sergio Mimica-Gezzan. Interestingly, he was Steven Spielberg’s Assistant Director for many years on some of Spielberg’s biggest movies. He made the transition to directing on “Taken” 6 years ago. If you want to check out his impressive resume try this link… Sergio Mimica-Gezzan.
He came recommended to us from execs at NBC – he had directed successful episodes of “Battlestar Galactica”, and I had also seen the pilot he directed for the TNT network show “Saving Grace” starring Holly Hunter. We hired him last year to direct our 13th episode of season 2. He was halfway in the middle of production on it, when the writer’s strike hit and we shut down. Much of what Sergio directed ended up on the cutting room floor, or as DVD extras for the Season 2 DVD package. My personal experience with Sergio is that he is an extremely focused and intense guy with a great eye.
The writer of tonight’s episode was Joe Pokaski. He is a producer on the show, who came up from being Tim Kring’s assistant on “Crossing Jordan.” Notably Joe is also the writer of the current Marvel comic book series “Secret Invasion: The Inhumans” and “Ultimate Fantastic Four.” He also wrote many of the HEROES online comics that have been assembled in the highly successful HEROES HARDBACK GRAPHIC NOVEL.
THE HEROES GRAPHIC NOVEL
The first draft of the script, from a production standpoint, was very big. It had the bank robbery more-or- less as it currently exists. It also had a Claire/Meredith scene, which currently occurs in a cargo container. This scene originally took place in a deserted warehouse where Claire was surrounded by fire. The Hiro/Ando/Daphne scene, which currently occurs in a German movie theatre, originally took place on a train traveling through India, complete with Hiro and Ando on the roof of the train and Ando nearly falling out the side of a baggage car.
Personally, I loved the first draft of this script. It was a great, incredibly exciting read. I loved the way the bank robbery was written, and the idea that Sylar was to become HRG’s new partner blew my mind. The entire component parts were great – but, collectively, it was also, obviously, too big to be affordable. Beyond that though, the choices we producer’s faced of how to get the budget down became very subjective. The bank robbery was the obvious thing that had to stay because it drove the central story and the key recurring stories for the series– For me, the scripted moment where time freezes and future Peter appears was a key event (it sent a chill down my spine when I first read it.) So the Claire story and the Hiro story were what had to be attacked.
The prep process was odd because, it felt like, at every turn, whenever we attempted to make something cheaper, it either seemed to stay financially neutral or, ironically, became more expensive.
For instance, when the decision was made to shift from a burning warehouse to a metal shipping container – it sure seemed that that would reduce the scope… But then conversations started up about how to create an effect for the walls to appear to be glowing molten hot. Those conversations evolved until, at one point, we were going to create an entirely 3-D greenscreen environment of glowing metal walls. That lasted a few days until reality set in and it became clear that that would cost more, and take longer to shoot than the original warehouse idea. We backed off the digital environment and the glowing walls and just decided that there would be a couple of key shots of Meredith’s fire going up the walls and digital heat waves would be generated throughout to sell the heat.
As far as the Hiro/Ando/Daphne scene – we explored two plans. We needed two railroad cars – a passenger car and a cargo car – as well as a roof. One plan was to find existing trains and re-dress them and shoot them on location with green screen out the windows. But the cost of going on location and re-dressing was prohibitive. So we explored building the two train cars on set surrounded by blue screen. This was also too expensive.
Many discussions were held and we came to realize that this story could take place anywhere. The writer’s wanted it to be in an exotic foreign country, and the story had to be containable enough that the Haitian’s power would shut down Hiro and Daphne’s powers. The location department was sent off to come back with exotic-looking locations, which Joe Pokaski could write to. They came back with several. My favorite was a mosque that looked like it could be in an Arabic country. There was also a beautiful library – which would have been set in London. But the German moviehaus was what the writers selected – and from that choice stemmed the fun choice to have the Buster Keaton movies playing in the background.
Interestingly – the mysterious woman who is exchanging the briefcase with the Haitian is Sendhil Ramamurthy (i.e. Suresh’s) real-life wife Olga Sosnovska. They met in London, where she was a star on the British television series MI-5.
There were changes made to reduce budget in the bank scenes as well. Most noteably – at first Jesse’s power was Earthquake-stomp (Like Gorgon of the Inhumans from the Fantastic Four comics) But this power implied cracking floors and walls and all manner of damage that would be expensive to produce. At the last minute we changed him to a Sonic scream (like DC’s Black Canary) – this was easier to accomplish but was a bummer too us because we already had Echo from the online webisodes with sonic power – Oh well…..
There’s one last thing worth talking about: Originally episode 3.2 (the episode I directed) ended with the scene where Angela brought Bridgett to Sylar and “fed” her to him. Ironically, that scene is, literally, the only scene we kept from the two incomplete episodes shot last year. Double-ironically Sergio directed that scene in the never-completed episode 2.13. Triple Ironically – the only new material added to that pre-existing scene was two close-ups – one of Angela and one of Sylar – where Angela spelled out “I AM your mother.” And I directed this. So, in the end, Sergio’s material ended up in his episode and my material ended up in mine.
Episode 3.3 originally opened with Tracy exploring her freeze-o power on the rose, it then went to Nathan in his office asking after Tracy, then it went to Angela introducing HRG to his new partner Sylar. This section of the show ended with Peter and with villains arriving at the bank to rob it. For some reason, even though every scene was in-and-of-itself good, it felt like the show began in an un-focused way.
Katherine Pope, the president of Universal, was the one who came up with the idea of ending episode 3.2 with “I am your mother” and shifting the Bridgette part of the scene into this episode.
At first, from a selfish point-of-view, this bummed me out. When episode 3.2 ended with Bridgette screaming and Angela stalking down the Level 5 hallway – I used to imagine fans leaping out of their chairs screaming “OMG this show is SO F%#d up!!!”
But, on the other hand, when I saw episode 3.3 with the Bridgette scene shifted into it as the opening, the whole episode seemed re-focused and clarified. It’s always amazing to me what editing and juxtaposition of scenes can do… Without the new scene, this episode felt like an episode about Peter and the Villains at the bank robbery. With this new opening it became an episode about HRG/Sylar and Angela. It fact, the whole episode, became balanced (as if by design) with both the first and last scene of the show involving Sylar and Angela in Sylar’s cell.
Now a brief interview with writer Joe Pokaski:
GREG BEEMAN: So, Joe, where are you from?
JOE POKASKI: I grew up back east in a town near Boston, Massachusetts.
GB: And you went to Tufts University?
JP: Yes. With Sendhil Ramamurthy.
GB: Really?
JP: Yes. We were in the same fraternity together at Tufts.
GB: Did you have anything to do with Sendhil being on HEROES?
JP: I don’t think so. I recommended him for a part on “Crossing Jordan.” Which was the Indian friend of someone on the show, and I think he read for the casting people. But that script changed and that role went away. So either they knew him from their files or it was a coincidence.
GB: And you, famously, were Tim Kring’s assistant.
JP: Yes… famously.
GB: So how did you get from a small town near Boston to being a writer/producer on HEROES?
JP: Well, mostly I was just a TV fan. I loved television and shows like “Cheers” and “Mash” and “Quantum Leap” and I dreamed of being a television writer. But that didn’t feel like a job a real person could have. It felt more like “astronaut” -- just a fantasy job that regular people couldn’t do.
GB: Right. I remember you telling me that when you were a kid and you first saw “Alf,” that you though t television had peaked.
JP: That’s true. I was eight and I remember thinking that TV couldn’t get any better than that – a Muppet from outer space. I’m still waiting to be proven wrong.
GB: So what did you do then?
JP: At Tufts I studied to be a lawyer. But, I quickly knew that that was never going to happen. So when I graduated I went into advertising in Boston, because it felt like that, at least, had a little creativity.
GB: But you kept dreaming the impossible dream…
JP: Yes. I suppose the real game changer was meeting my future wife, Jessica. I met her and fell for her and told her my dream and she didn't laugh. Quite the opposite. So I went back to school. To get my Graduate degree in Television Production at Boston University.
GB: Then what?
JP: Then my girlfriend at the time, agreed to move out with me to Los Angeles to become a Television writer. She didn’t disagree loud enough, and so we moved.
GB: And how many high level contacts did you have upon arriving here?
JP: Exactly one. A guy named Mike Daley who worked on Crossing Jordan. He was a friend of a friend of Jessica's (who was my girlfriend at the time) co-worker. In fact, it was on the night that I was going to ask her to marry me, and we were already planning to move, and I had the ring in my pocket, and I was so nervous, and we were out at a restaurant and her friend was saying “When you get there you should call Mike.” I could barely hear her, I was so nervous…
GB: So you didn’t even really know Mike?
JP: No. Now he’s one of my best friends - but at the time I didn’t. He was very helpful though and he promised me that as soon as any job came open on “Crossing Jordan” he would let me know. And he did. A production assistant job came open and I got it.
GB: How old were you at this time?
JP: 28.
GB: And how was that experience?
JP: Being a P.A. at 28? It sucked. I felt miserable. I had cut my salary in half and I had to get coffee for people. But I was there in the middle of what I’d always dreamed of, and I met a lot of incredibly cool and talented people – like Tim Kring, Damon Lindelof, and Aron Coleite.
GB: And how did you go from P.A to Tim’s Assistant?
JP: Well, his old assistant left and Tim asked me to fill in at his desk until he could replace him. And after awhile it just became clear that he was never going to do that and that I had become his assistant. This took awhile.
GB: And when did you become a staff writer on “Crossing Jordan” ?
JP: I never did. Tim, graciously, asked me to write a freelance episode. And that was the first Television script that I had produced.
GB: So you never were on staff before HEROES?
JP: No.
GB: So, you’ve only recently begun to really live your dream?
JP: Uh, I guess. Thanks a lot.
GB: No, I didn’t mean it like that. I think it’s good. Perfect, really. So tell me about your involvement with the pilot of HEROES?
JP: Well, Tim was thinking of the idea. And, as any good writer does, he was excited and he wanted feedback and input. He went to Aron first who was famous for being an avid comic book reader. Tim really didn’t know the conventions of comic books and he wanted, at first, Aron’s feedback and later mine.
GB: And…?
JP: We were blown away by the whole idea. We thought it was awesome. Then, when it began to be clear that it was going to become a pilot and more than that… We just volunteered to do anything Tim needed. Whenever he was too busy to do anything related to HEROES we stepped in and helped.
GB: What’s an example of this?
JP: Well, Tim’s mantra at the time was “What’s next?” Where would these characters go? What would the stories actually be beyond the pilot? So Aron and I worked together to think about ideas for the characters and stories – a lot of which became elements and aspects of episodes 2 though 5 of the first season.
GB: Now you are also writing comic books. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR and SECRET INVASION: THE INHUMANS? Did Jeph Loeb facilitate this?
JP: Absolutely. Jeph is a great and very big-hearted guy. And when the writer’s strike happened he came to me and to Aron and asked if we’d like to keep feeding our families by writing comics. I said “Sure. I love feeding my family.” And the people at Marvel somehow trusted him enough to just let it happen.
GB: So, which impresses you more? Writing for HEROES or writing FANTASTIC FOUR?
JP: Wow. Now you’re really putting me on the spot…
GB: Because I’ll tell you I’m pretty impressed with the latter. As you know, my main dream in life, up until about age 17 was to be a comic book artist. Unlike you, I failed in this dream - and I regret it to this day.
JP: Well, twelve-year-old me is pretty wowed that I’m writing FANTASTIC FOUR. But, truthfully, HEROES is so amazing and exciting and there are so many talented people on it that have become like a family to me – it’s pretty hard not to be impressed to be on HEROES.
So there you have it kids... The lesson here is one that I always believe in and frequently promote – YOU TOO CAN ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS – AS LONG AS YOU HOLD ON TO THEM AND WORK HARD TO ALLOW THEM TO HAPPEN!!!!
That’s enough. I have to direct episode 13 in the morning – so I’m knocking off for tonight. See ya next week… Until then…
THIS WEEK'S BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTOGRAPHY:
SERGIO DIRECTS THE CAST
WRITER JOE POKASKI – JUST THRILLED TO BE HERE
SERGIO STUDIES HIS NOTES
THE VISUAL EFFECTS MEETING – D.P. CHARLIE LIEBERMAN (BACK) AND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR ROBERT SCOTT (FOREGROUND)
THE VISUAL EFFECTS MEETING – JOE POKASKI UP FRONT AND LEAD VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR ERIC GRENAUDIER IN BACK
GREG GRUNBERG IN CHATSWORTH/AFRICA – “WHOA - IT’S WEIRD TO HAVE GIANT PAINTINGS OF ME ON THESE ROCKS”
GREG GRUNBERG AND NTARE MWINE AS USUTU IN CHATTSAFRICA
SERGIO AND JOE IN “AFRICA”
BLAKE SHIELDS AS “FLINT” ONE OF OUR “VILLIANS”
ADRIAN PASDAR ON SET
ALI LARTER ON SET
SERGIO AND ZACHARY QUINTO
CRISTINE ROSE AND JACK COLEMAN
SERGIO, JOE AND CHARLIE ON SET – LIVIN’ THE DREAM!
ME – LURKING ON “LEVEL 5”
IN A STAGED RE-ENACTMENT OF REAL EVENTS - JOE AND I GO OVER SOME NOTES
THIS ONE’S FROM LAST WEEK, BUT I LIKE IT – ALI LARTER AND “GREATEST AMERICAN HERO” WILLIAM KATT ON SET
Comments
Sylar as a company man? Now that's f***ed up. In the most awesome way ever!!!
I think my life would lose all meaning.
Things I loved:
* The explanation of Peter's motives for staying with the villians, and having him actually succeed at heading off some of their violence.
* Ali Larter's new character taking her life in her own hands and going to figure out what was going on.
* Claire similarly taking control of her own life--for better or worse.
* Angela. Just... Angela.
* Future!Peter meeting Past!Peter and whisking him off to hell. Oh, that's going to be something to see.
* Hiro and Ando being slap-sticky and adorable.
* Matt, because he is totally strong enough to carry an isolated storyline.
Okay, I lied, there is one thing that bothered me: I can't stand that both Matt and Mohinder seem to have completely forgotten about Molly. She was their daughter. What she needs is her family that loves her, not some non-disclosed location. What? Have they abandoned her? NOT cool, Heroes. Not cool at all.
P.S. Greg: You may want to watch where you stick those "/" marks... they have a different meaning to some of us...
Peter getting to be heroic, even without powers. Thank you so much for writing him *right*.
Ali knocking her role out of the park.
Hiro and Ando's antics set to Buster Keaton.
Every single scene at the bank was just awesome and filled with tension and drama. I loved it!!!
Other than that -- hell of an episode, as always.
First and foremost, the direction the writing crew is starting to take Sylar/Gabriel. I couldn't help but laugh hysterically the moment he unleashed his high-and-mighty cop ditty on that unsuspecting officer.
Secondly, taking Claire's transition from a (sort of) helpless teenager who doesn't know what to do with her skills into a more mature and aware individual. Fits perfectly that in Heroes 17 going on 18.
Lastly, the revelation that Nikki look-a-likes are Frankenstein creatures running around God knows where.
I'm a fan of your blog, but never really left a comment till today! Keep up the great work!
I have watched every episode of this show, and had a easy time following what was going on, plus I read this blog for all the back stories.
But this season has left me completely blank so far. I must be in a alternate universe or something, because to me it seems that everything got reset to '0'. Or to zero and three quarters.
For the life of me, I wish you people would decide who you want Ali Larter to actually play. It's really too bad 'Micah' doesn't do more on the show because he is far more interestring than Nikki/Jessica/Tracy...etc. DL was more interesting as well..
I also wish you people would bring back Christopher Eccleston as Claude if he wants to come back. It looks like Peter needs some more mentoring.
Why is Maya still here, but there is no Molly?
things i liked....
allowing zach to stretch his acting wings...the guy is very talented, good to see you guys are letting him loose
tim sale getting more work through the new pre-cog painter.
marlo getting to be bad ass...boy, woulda been great if he had those powers on the streets of baltimore
bank robbery being a ruse to bring the company in...although kinda dumb, cuz dont these guys remember that they were caught the first time by someone with powers?
ando exclaiming that he has the power of awesome
things i dont like
milo cannot act...seriously, its painful to watch him deliver a line
the time travel...is peter stupid in every parallel universe?
hiro's arc....ok, so he doesnt have to become dark and future hiro, but why does he have to remain childlike and stupid hiro...and didnt he say he wanted his sis to run the company?
nicky being a clone (however, does it make sense for the mad scientist to come right out and tell her that she is not born of woman?)
anyway...first 3 epis, while flawed are alot better than the entire 2nd season...so heres hoping for more progression
and please, for the love of god...kill mohinder and the power of boredom
I never realized just how intelligently the scenes were put together.
I noted that Mohinder and Maya were not in this episode when they were purposed to be. I hope this is an indication that you've taken note of people's concerns written here. I hope the treatment of Maya will be more respectful and I’m really looking forward to next week! He looked like Gabriel again. Love.
I'm really enjoying the exploration of Claire's role in the world and the HRG story. Noah and Claire's relationship is my favorite in the show (having a daughter myself), and I love both actors to pieces.
For the record, though... you said the feeding scene is the only one you guys kept and used from the episodes cut last season. That is incorrect... you also used Angela's precognitive dream and the scene where she wakes up in the limo.
And Hiro this season has just become a complete buffoon.
You know, after season one, I would think everyone would have exchanged phone numbers.
And if Peter has Claire's healing ability -- how the heck did he get that scar? (hypothesis - he gets in a fight with the Haitian? But wouldn't it heal afterward?)
More and more characters acting out of character. Sylar becoming warm 'n fuzzy? I think you need to seriously cull this sprawling cast of characters. Who DOESN'T have powers of some sort??
I still think Mama Petrelli has the power of suggestion. There's always a subtle sound effect when she touches another person and says something. So there's more than meets the eye there. I don't think any of her kids are really her's.
Sylar? While I'm a sucker for a good "misunderstood/redemption" thing, I'm with Noah on this; Sylar has done just too much crap before this to make me enjoy him having the freedom of a further storyline. I wish it could've happened earlier. Or he'd just been dead in Season One.
Hiro similarly just making me roll my eyes. But maybe it's my sad love for Ando also speaking there.
On the other hand, I liked Peter. ("Nobody's that heroic", heh) I'm so glad he's out of Jesse so that he can, hopefully, start affecting the world again. Don't keep him hidden all season like last time!
Last note; Nooooo, the German, noooo! Come on! Really?!
On a whole, though... liked it as a fun, twisting, escapade. Keep up those power uses!
I keep waiting for Hiro to become the badass superhero from the future we saw in season one. Seriously, he and Ando are like Laurel & Hardy right now which is sad because they are adult men!
Bringing Meredith back...bor-ring. However, I'm glad the powers that be have remembered the Bennett's have son but I still don't know his name. Oh but I do know their dogs name. Mr. Muggles usually gets some screen time...is he MIA too?
So Claire & Co. are still in 'Costa Verde'? Sweet. I thought they were leaving as of the end of last season in order to remain unnoticed and safe. What happened to the fly boy from Claire's school?
One more thing, was Peter just supposed to leave that Irish chick with the bad accent (last season) in the future? Stranded?
Is this season a Bobby Ewing dream, or did everyone just have a lobotomy?
And if Claire will say once more "being normal" or "I can´t feel any pain", I am going to do something ugly.
I really loved 2nd comming and Bfly effect, it was fracking AWESOME last week to come back with such 2 episodes! THANK all of U 4 making HEROES!!. I'm just a little bit dissapointed with 1-of-us/1-of-them because I didn't expect that sylar would feel like a hero just hearing that Angela is his mother... What kind of "villain" that was running away n' killing special people would suddenly be a nice guy playing cops knowing that info... Any person would get mad (specially him) knowing that the bio mother left him in adoption... Really don't get it. Anyway, I really liked the Claire plot and the Tracy plot. THANKS again for making HEROES!
PS: I miss The German & Jessee already
I just loved Sylar in it!I really think that he followed 'Mum's instructions' just for the challenge.It's one of his things: putting himself in jeopardy/dangerous situations, confronting things and people.He's very powerful, but his best quality is his cleverness and über fast adaptation to any new situation.And he is bold, as a real psychopath must be. Surely he doesn't really care for his own life: Remember the numerous times he provoked Maya, putting his own life at stakes? He was having fun...Maybe his weakness (as HRG was looking for it) is his hunger for Adrenaline ( whether for new abilities or challenge of some sort).An adrenaline addict of a new kind :).I'm absolutely sure he never really meant to be nice and polite when following HRG at the Bank...Maybe even Angela was hoping for his new boy to feed a bit.
I just LOVE all that! Just the writers must not forget to put some humor in his lines. As i said before, he's the only one really funny for me on the show.(given the weird situations he goes through!)
For me, Meredith is a character with potential. More because of her personality than because of her ability.
Peter is getting pathetic: Not good for this character. Well, i never had a thing for good boys, ok ;)
HRG is sooooo interesting! I like him a lot!
And Angela is turning into an Arch-devil! wow: 'i'm so deceived with my other sons' or something like that she said:)
And something absolutely NOT related: I am going to 'ECLIPSE2': a Heroes non official convention in the UK: Release Zach Quinto for 3 days (november, 14/15/16) pleaaaase and let him come here? That would be so nice of you, please? :-)
I think with all the time travel, new characters, etc you guys have lost the story completely.
YOur continuity of the show has been thrown out the window completely.
Molly - ? Where did she go
Mohinder - I dont think he's as stupid as your making him all of a sudden to inject himslef with a drug he has no idea what will do.
Maya - Are you KIDDING ME? Why does she still have a par ton this show, she's terrible, her character is terrible, and she shoud have been killed before Alejandro or whatever the hell his name was.
I know alot of things need to be answered still, but the story, not the writing, is all out of whack.
Twoo many characters, too many alterior motives, too many plots that die out with no conclusion.
And hiro, you guys are killing his character. All that he went through, now he's all giggly and stupid again.
Wake up guys, your goign to lose your fan base if you keep writing like this
Gripe 1. Hiro and Ando are really being played for fools. Hiro was trained to kill by his dad, but gets put on his butt by one girly punch? And the two best friends turn on each other b/c "nemesis" goads them? Come on!
G 2. Last season the Hiro in Japan storyline seemed to linger on forever. This year the villian breakout storyline mostly wraps up one, maybe two, episodes too soon. Rhythm boys, rhythm.
And of course the unexplained questions. Is Sylar cooperating because Momma Petrelli used her powers of persuasion on him? Is he really a Petrelli?
Did present day Peter absorb future Peter's powers by being in close proximinity?
And finally what is so special about the Level 5 jail cells that Hiro cant warp out with Ando once the Haitan is gone? BIG PLOT HOLE!
Hiro and Ando's storyline is laughable when set next to Buster Keaton, though I worry about how their friendship is fraying. Bonus points for the Pikachu line!
Joe Pokaski is quite talented. I was even more excited for the episode when I saw his name in the beginning, since "Five Years Gone" has been my favorite. I'm really looking forward to the next episode and your next blog!
BUT - you can't make viewers care about a character and then just ignore that they ever existed! We need to know what happened to Caitlin. Hope that will be resolved soon.
Even more obvious is the sudden disappearance of Monica. If you want to write her out that's fine (though she has the coolest power), but at least conclude her story!!! It could just be a few scenes where she decides she has to avenge Niki by pursuing her hero career as Joan of Arc and runs into the night or something...
I'm an avid, long time Heroes fan, I loved season 1, liked season 2 (mostly when I saw the direction you were taking it in), and love season 3. I love comic books and film so I'm really reveling in the beauty of this show. I myself am a film and television geek and this show is just so well done on every facet from writing, directing, and acting and effects.
I was sad to see Jesse go, and I must say that I hate to see Micah being written off too. I'm hope he comes back soon! Especially as a villian! But I do love the Hiro/Daphne/ Ando scenes (Brea Grant is a real find! I sense a new favorite) And I'm glad that Claire is getting a little more assertive, I love Hayden and glad she gets to show off her acting chops in new ways so I don't lose faith in the possibility of talented young actresses in Hollywood. By the way, making Cristine Rose a regular- that was like the best decision you ever made! More!
While I find the Sylar, Company Man, storyline a bit far fetched, I love the chemistry Zach and Jack have-their names even rhyme!
Little note though-more Olga please! It was a wonderful surprise to have her in the show because I loved her in Spooks, which is so funny because I freaked when I found out she was married to Sendhil (who I absolutely love in Heroes). That is one good looking and crazy talented couple and if they are ever looking to adopt a twenety year old, let me know!
i love heroes!! im looking season three of : http://www.megavideo.com/?v=AZCLS7KX no me gusto que haya mueerto isaac, ted, dl Niki charlie and eden mccain! claaro la estupida de claire siempre vivaaaa no vale eso!! amo la serie ojala algin día vengan aqui de gira a la argentinaa!!ojala vuelvan niki y dl ellos son mis heroes (L)♥
suertee !! mer.la22@hotmail.com
i love adrian pasdaaar!! (L) ♥
http://www.fotolog.com/all_heroes
good bye!! :)
Why is every other location in this show exactly specified - Tokyo, Japan. Berlin, Germany. Texas, USA.
But when it goes to Africa, it's just "Africa".
Not Nairobi, Kenya. Not Central African Republic, or Congo, Chad, Niger or Senegal.
Just "Africa", you know, because it's so difficult to distinguish between that big black mass, it's all so confusing to Americans, that Africa is not just one big amorphous blob.
It's disgusting how Africa is treated.
Still enjoying series 3, although this whole clone storyline (or whatever it is) is really undermining the character of Niki, who, let's face it, was never exactly standing on solid ground to begin with.
Also, thanks for the break from Mohinder! I'd much rather spend time with The Haitian than with the inept professor.
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