Heroes: Slow Burn

I'm going to finish off the content from Heroes if you'll indulge me with a final set of webisodes from the show. 'Slow Burn' follows the lives of the members of the Carnival a group of people all bearing abilities who mask their powers by performing tricks that seem like magic to viewers, but who also have an agenda of their own.

The webisodes centre around Lydia who follows Samuel the leader, but also knows the danger of his ambitions. She tries to keep her daughter from the group for this reason, but she is increasingly unable to control her dangerous power. So she joins the group and well...you'll see. This set provided interesting info that fed into the show as it went along.

There are ten episodes, which is a bit much for a post so I'll post five now and the rest soon.














OK, like I said I'll finish off the episodes soon and that'll likely be the end of Heroes content on the blog, but I'm sure there'll be more TV bonus content for me to post up before long.

SF at the Movies - February '11

OK, in an attempt to be in date I'm gonna do this in date - I think I'm gonna change how i do them too. Instead of me yammering on I'm gonne let the movies speak for themselves and embed a trailer here if I can - enjoy!

Paul
Released 14/2/11




I am Number Four
Released 23/2/11




That's your lot this month, but for good measure I'll throw in a trailer for the new Assassin's Creed Brotherhood DLC which features Leonardo Da Vinci captured by a mysterious cult and some new multiplayer content too.



Have a good month all!

SF at the Movies - December '10

Shockingly on time - let's have a look at what Sci-Fi goodness is available in the cinema this month shall we?

Megamind
Released 3/12/10











Megamind is a new CG comedy that looks...dare I say it...good? Starring Will Ferrel as an evil looking superhero sent from a dying planet to Earth along with another super-cool baby. The two rivals battle for the people of the city until a new villain comes along, leaving only the blue skinned genius to save the day.

Monsters
Released 3/12/10











A thrilling sci-fi story set in the near future. A NASA probe collects samples of alien life and brings them back to Earth. However it crashes in Mexico and soon mysterious alien creatures begin to appear, forcing the US to quarantine half of Mexico. The story is of a journalist who agrees to escort a stranded tourist through the infected zone to the safety of the border - but travelling though somewhere called the 'Infected Zone' can't be easy!

TRON: Legacy
Released 17/12/10











Sequel to the memorable original TRON with it's visionary idea of life withing a computer program. I still haven't seen the original and I'm eagerly ready to see it before I watch this sequel which seems to have had a graphics update since the original came out. Still, it'll be nice to have a bit of cyberpunk before the year is out.

And that's your lot, though a bit more on our plate than last month - happy watching!

Heroes: Hard Knox

Well Volume 5 'Redemption' has just finished here in the UK and what a rollercoaster ride it was. It dipped at certain points and I think there could've been more character development (and I don't quite buy Sylar's 'redemption' just yet) but it was a great watch, with a fantastic ending - with the heroes in the open Volume Six has the potential to be something 'special'.

Well it's some more Webisode action for you now. 'Hard Knox' is actually a series of deleted scenes detailing the origins of the character Knox and his fear-based power. It takes place before Volume 1 with Matt Parkman as an ordinary cop trying to reach out to gang member Knox.














And that's it! There's a bit more Heroes content out there so I'll pop up a few vids maybe to fill the void till next series.

Power Trip 8 - Persuasion

It's been a long time since I did one of these, but I think I'll finally get on with another post and see if 'Power Trip' still has any juice. For those of you who don't know or have forgotten (most of you I'd imagine!) Power Trip is my brief look at superpowers, which characters have them, where they come from and what they say about us. I start with character who appear in Heroes, look at their abilities and go from there.

It's quite interesting how the bank of superpowers have pretty much all been 'done' - I try on occasion to come up with my own super-team, and it's very difficult to create abilities that don't already belong to a decades-old Marvel character, I wonder what that tells us, do I have the answer - heck no!

Anyhow - this ability was shown in Eden McCain a character in Series 1 who had the ability to get people to do just about anything she wanted just by speaking to them. Her ability was used by the company to cover up their secrets and get people to do work for them. She used it effectively until Sylar went after her power and she killed herself to stop him getting it.

Few other characters have this power, only 'Kelly' - a character from the 'iStories' has a similar ability. I guess this is because it has been superseded by the advancement of Matt's telepathy, though Eden's power was different from this as (in a comic) she killed her mother simply by saying 'die' - which seems beyond a telepath, also she couldn't read minds as far as we can tell.









There has been a long-standing interest in mind-control and powers of persuasion among humankind. Hypnosis, drugs and myriad other techniques are employed or dreamed about as a way of persuading our fellow man to do what we want. The ability manifested in this character is merely a natural extension, someone who can just do it by speaking while the rest of us fiddle about with LSD and fobwatches.

I guess it's just a basic desire for power here - there are various situations when our fellow man just gets in our way and we could do with control over them. Eden herself uses the ability to avoid the police and distract unwanted visitors.










Not many characters have this specific ability, with most going down the 'advanced telepath' route to achieve the same goal. One character who does is Silver Fox a member of the Weapon X team and lover of Wolverine (shown above in her movie appearance) she can make anyone do whatever she wants as long as she touches them, a restriction like this seems to be common, Eden has to speak specifically for control, maybe we still want limits to our powers.

I enjoyed that - I might do some more.

SF at the Movies - March '10

OK so there's basically nothing, really I mean no real 'pure' Sci-Fi movies this month...at all. We've got a stack of supernaturally scary stuff like Shutter Island and Legion. But no robots or aliens to be seen. Our one saving grace is coming in at the last possible second and looks like an excellent exploration of the superhero genre by one if it's most popular scribes.

Kick-Ass
Released 31/03/10












This film centres around a teenager who dons a superhero costume asking the question 'why has no one done this before?' Lacking any powers or gadgets he simply is willing to take the fight to the bad guys and soon finds other young vigilantes willing to follow the call. Making up for all the times when people wish they could stop something bad but couldn't they determine to do something and... well I guess we'll just have to watch the film to see what happens, I'm definitely there.

Dental Power!!

Oh yeah!

I've wanted to talk about Sci-Fi clichés for a bit, and in a brief, ill researched way, I'm going to talk about one that always tickles me as a way to add a tad more diversity to the ol' blog.

OK, what I want to talk about is the power of a main character in a film/tv show to overcome any odds by gritting their teeth - honestly it's like their Hollywood-whitened pearlies have some kind of superpowers.

Seriously, it doesn't matter whether the hero has had a building fall on them, been injected with elephant tranquilizer or had a hypnotic blast that is absolutely guaranteed to make them fall in love with the slug warriors of Varlgacb that cast it (that last one's mine, and it's copyright OK?) all they have to do is look at their comrades, maybe give their head a thought0clearing shake and then grimace for all their worth and they're bound to come through.

My favourite example of this is in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan where the eponymous warlord chucks some Ceti eels down the ears of a few cast members. One is an admiral, but not from the Enterprise - the other is Chekhov. The thing about Ceti eels is they get into your brain, cause you a lot of pain and kill you - guaranteed. The creepy thing bores into Admiral Redshirt's cerebelum and does it's thing, resulting in a dead admiral - one goes to work on Chekhov, but all the plucky lad has to do is grit those teeth and...







...pop goes the weevil! (eeewww grosss!)

Who knows, maybe as humanity slowly blazes it's trail across the stars what we really need to survive in the depths of space is a decent dental program - that or we only send recognizable Hollywood stars with the right training to fight the horde of terrifying beasts that await.

Heroes: Destiny

A while back I posted up the Heroes webseries (or 'webisodes') which told the story of new hero Echo de Mille and his clash with the company. Since then there have been a number of other webisodes introducing characters and giving backstory on others.

This series was based on a 'choose your hero' interactive game on the main website where users could design and create a new hero, giving them a name, look power etc. Then they could vote on which they thought was best and the winner, Santiago, is the hero of this online video series.

There are a number of fun things on the website that you can access, giving you an insight into the wider world of the heroes. You can look at secret files on the Primatech site, look at personal websites for Claire, Hiro, Nikki and Mohinder and catch up on an ARG lead by Hana Gittleman who had a cameo in the first series.

There's plenty ongoing at the site - regular free online comics which give a far greater story to what's going on, currently going into more of how REBEL was founded and the action Micah and his group took against Building 26. There are also iStories, featuring main and side characters and giving you the choice of where to take the action. And most recently Survival, a game where you keep your own hero alive, join a faction and if you're lucky you might even feature in the storyline!!

Anyway, back to the webisodes - i couldn't find a combined video so I'll give it to you in it's four parts.

1. Let Us Pray



2. Intervention



3.Capture

Heroes Destiny chapter 3 @ Yahoo! Video

4. Escape




I think I've said enough so I'll leave it at that, do check out the wider world of Heroes online.

Power Trip 7 - Flight

Well now that we've had a look at Mimic I feel satisfied in cranking out another Power Trip, looking at superpowers as they appear in Heroes and looking at where the ideas for these abilities come from, whether they are borrowed from other superheroes or an original creation of the show.

Well, no points for knowing that flight is a well established power within the superhero fratenity as it is a fascinating and clear way of showing that a person is 'something more'. When the show took us to a future where abilities where the norm, the quickest way of demoing this was by showing a bunch of people flying off.

The first character in the show to demonstrate this power is Nathan Petrelli, brother to Peter, discussed in the last power trip. Initially he vehemently denies his power, but is forced to expose it when his brother jumps of a rooftop convinced that he himself can fly. Nathan's power progresses over the series, showing that he can fly at near supersonic speeds, carry people over long distances and his landings improve also.

Flight powers tend to split into two categories: natural and self-propelled. Natural flight (my term) applies to flyers who have sprouted wings or other appendages, such as Angel from the X-Men. Another category I suppose is heroes who have built flying devices or suits, like Iron Man. Self-propelled is a more common category. The hero can, by an unseen force, simply lift themselves off the ground and fly away.









There is an iconic mythical reference to flight in the form of Icarus, who constructed wings for himself and could fly, his only flaw being in flying too high and melting his wings, ending his maiden voyage with a decisive crash back to Earth. Of course, at the time many of the Gods had domain over the air and had the power of flight as well as the superpowers of other legends.

The wish for flight is simple and powerful because it's one we've felt I think, who has looked at the birds and not once felt envy or never dreamed of soaring above the clouds. Men dreamed and put incredible energy into achieving the dream of flying machines that now take thousands of customers all across the world. It is a simple expression that really sums up all of the superpowers - the desire to be more than we are, to be able to do more than we can do. This is something of a selfish desire, ignoring the many great things humanity can already do and the accomplishments our race has made. Yet, perhaps it is right, to acknowledge that we could be much more - however I don't think the problem is a lack of wings...

As I said flight is common in the superhero world, with self-propelled flight becoming the norm and any number of heroes, old and new, possess the ability. I could mention some of the more famous names, but i think that would be insluting your intelligence so I'll just leave a picture if this guy, assume you were already thinking of him and leave it as 'nuff said.




















Heroes has continued to exploit the flight power as mentioned and a few other heroes have exhibited the power, most notably West Rosen, a rather wooden character in my opinion, whose main reason for existence seems to be to fill the gap needed in each series of 'guy for Claire to snog' - he did come in to his own by the end of series 2 and they are making good use of the character in the comics at the moment. Peter frequently borrows the ability from his brother and 'Angie' a REBEL member (in the comics) also could fly away when needed.
















It seems flight (self-propelled or not) will continue to be a common sight wherever superheroes are present. I think that's enough from me - a belated movie post coming soon, any high flyers we should know about Sam?

SF at the Movies, April 09 - and an apology.

Hello readers (wow, feels fun to say that an mean it...hopefully)

I must first of all apologise for the lack of content on this blog. My cohorts and I have all entered particularly busy and hectic stages of our work and academic years and so time for blogging is short, as it is for most other things. So the blog has been pretty quiet, and is set to remain so for the next few weeks at least. There have been a number of posts that I wanted to write but simply didn't have the time and again, this sorry state of affairs is going to carry on as far as I can tell for the near future and I apologise both now and in advance for the lack of content here.

In fact, our only solace is that now and again we manage to squeeze an hour or two to visit the cinema and bask in some Sci-Fi glory on a whopping screen. We're already in May, but most of April's movies will still be on release, so here's a look at what was out this month.

Monsters Vs Aliens

Released 02/04/09









One of the funniest films I have ever seen, I was crying laughing all the way through the trailer and I just had to see the film, which did not disappoint at all. For those who still may be confused, this film doesn not feature Xenomorphs at all, but rather a tentacled menace who challenges the best Earth has to offer - the best, that is, except a small team of monsters kept hidden away by the U.S. Government. The film makes a number of hilarious rip-offs of classic Sci-Fi films, but doesn't rely on them for it's comedy, being an original and hilarious piece - B.O.B. the indestructible, but also brianless, gelatic mass is particularly funny throughout. Well worth seeing.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Released 28/04/09










The next X-Men movie is easily one of the best as it looks into the beginnings of fan favourite character Wolverine and how he came to be the amnesiac metal clawed warrior we saw in the first X-Men flick. The film takes us on a whistle stop tour of Logan's life and the wars he fought in and the allies he made along the way. Then tragedy strikes as Logans love is killed by someone he trusted and all his allegiances and friendships come under question as he seeks revenge and answers, he finds both, but they drag him into a much bigger world than he would like. The film makes good use of small parts from other mutant comic heroes and even a few of
Wolverine's future associates make an appearance, but not wasted ones. Well that's probably already crossing the spoiler alert barrier so I'll stop there and just recommend that you give this movie a whirl.

Well this may be goodbye for a while - but keep an eye on the event horizon I'll be back soon I promise.

Oh, and so you know, this is the 150th post, at least we've hit a landmark eh?!

SF at the Movies - February 09

A bit late again with this month's movie watch and we haven't had much in terms of content, which I again apologise for. I've been meaning to write some kind of follow up to the Halo 3 review like I did with Assassin's Creed but I haven't been sure of how to go about it so for now i'll fob you off with a quick look at what Sci-Fi goodness is out on big screen this month.

Push
Released 20/02/09








Again, only one main line Sci-Fi release this month in the form of Push a modern, gritty superpower flick. Now superpowers aren't exactly uncommon on screen's with comic book adaptations and shows like Heroes frequently high up in the viewings. But this movie manages to hold it's head up and manage, just about, to be original. It's had mixed reviews but I personally really enjoyed it. It's strenght is the film style, it's an action thriller about a Government plot, that features superpowered humans, and is much more akin to one of the Bourne films than Spiderman. They've also carved out a niche by having only mental powers such as telikenisis, mind-altering and future reading as part of their world and not throwing laser eyes or flameballs in just for better effects. It's a bit of a head-bender as the impropmtu team have to work against an organisation that can predict the future of any of their actions and the different characters and abilities come at you hard and fast, but it's definitely worth watching I'd say.

And that's it - there's also the new Street Fighter movie, which may qualify, but I'm not familiar enough with the games to comment, even with SF4 out this month also so I'll leave it out of the Sci-Fi content for now. Happy watching folks - keep your eyes peeled for March, it's gonne be good!!!

Power Trip 6 - Empathy/ Ability Acquisition

Woah, it's been a while since I did one of these...again! Well series 3 is trundling along nicely so I think I'll take another peak at some of the characters in the show and the powers they possess. The third series has really stepped up and made things very interesting for our heroes and none more so than Peter Petrelli, who'se ability has made him a closely watched subject by more than just the viewers.

Peter has an ability known simply as empathy, he is able to take on the abilities of others simply by spending time with them and then 'unlocking' that ability in himself. Initially he only had abilities in the presence of others or for a short duration after meeting them, but in the thrilling episodes of series 1 he discovered that he could call up any ability he'd encountered at will, though his control was a problem for much of the early series - especially when he got the power of nuclear explosion! Peter has since learned much greater control over the multitude of powers he has 'absorbed' but things don't get any easier for him!

I'm struggling to find any 'classical' references to empaths of the kind that Peter is, though my searches are admittedly a lot more cursory than the in depth academic exercizes I once envisioned. I guess it's because people with 'powers' weren't as prolific in classical writing as they are in contemporary fiction. People with abilities generally were Gods or blessed by the Gods for something, and someone who could nick their gifts wouldn't fit well into the story I guess. Empaths of another kind have been around for a while, these are generally seen as people who heal by empathising with, and even absorbing, another's pain or sickness. A contemporary example would be Sean Farrell of The 4400.

Now there aren't many empaths in the Bible, but I will slip in a few references if I may. The 'powers' that occur in the Bible, primarily in the Old Testament, such as superhuman strength and speed come through God the Holy Spirit and abilities always come at the direction of God when he appoints it. This might not be particularly relevant, but when we tie it into to Peter's intense sense of destiny it is quite intriguing. Peter feels he is meant for something greater and is satisfied when he gains his abilities, though a great destiny isn't all it's cracked up to be. The Bible teaches that God is in control of man's destiny and it is at His discretion when gifts are given. The gifts He gives and the purpose of our lives might not be as dramatic, but the Bible teaches that all people are of extreme value to God and to those He has saved He gives gifts and blessings that don't involve flight or telikenisis, but are enough for them to depend on and to fulfil His purpose for them. That might not be clear enough, if so let me know.















The most famous character with the same ability is Rogue of the X-Men. She also has the ability to take the powers of others, though it affects her in a different way to Peter. When Rogue touches someone she absorbs their knowledge, skills and, if they are a mutant, special abilities. However when Rogue does this it drains the person she touches to the point of unconsciousness or death, making physical contact or relationships impossible for her. I find Rogue to be one of the most real of the X-Men as her ability does grant her power, but it does have an enormous cost on her life rather than just having something that's handy in a fight.
















Well I said that Series 3 was making things interesting for Peter and when longtime villain Sylar has found out that he is in fact Peter's brother things get even more so. When they both confront Peter's father Peter himself loses all his abilities, but Sylar is trying to find redemption and has learned to take abilities through empathy and satisfy his 'hunger' without his usual method of removing the skull, making him much more like Peter, who now has to struggle to find out what his purpose is without any abilities - but then again with the Eclipse in this week's episode, he might not be the only one to ask that!

Any other empaths we should know about Sam?

Power Trip 5 - Rapid Cellular Regeneration

One of the key Heroes in the show is Claire Bennet. From early on in season one her magnificent and gross stunts made her popular as well as the catchphrase "save the cheerleader, save the world" which became synonymous with the show. Even after she was saved she is still a key character and her relationship with her "normal" family and the friends around her have been of much interest. But Claire's ability, while a protection, also makes her a target for those who want to possess such a great gift.

Claire's ability is rapid cellular regeneration, that is the ability to rapidly regrow and repair any part of her body when injured. This extraordinary gift means she can survive even the most grievous injury. She has been seen surviving falls, burns, bone breakages and even a car crash. Claire has had some of the most gripping scenes in the show, such as when she wakes up with her chest cut open for surgery, recovers from a nuclear fire or in series 2 when she successfully cuts off and regrows her toe. She has pushed her ability to the limits, and yet she may be capable of much more...


















Part of the genius of series 2 was to introduce some character who had the same abilities as others as well as new powers. This gave the series a more grounded feel, like it wasn't just a crazy diversifying bunch of wild traits, but that there was some kind of regularity to the so called "evolution" of humanity. The introduction of Adam Monroe, alias Takezo Kensei, ads a new dimension to the ability. He is centuries old, meaning that 'powers' aren't necessarily a new phase in humanity and also that his ability (and quite possibly Claire's) means that he doesn't age and can live healthily for a long time. Another development showed that his and Claire's blood could be used to heal the injuries of others, which has much potential for the future. But then Adam carried out his cliched plan to end the world and got himself locked in a box forever (which totally doesn't work - he'd just suffocate, you can't "regenerate" air!!!) and Claire has recovered her father, but at a price.

Well let's have a look at where this power comes from. It almost undoubtedly has it's roots in nature where animals such as certain lizards, starfish and other creatures are able to regrow limbs when needed. However the creatures are usually limited to limb regrowth and don't have the complete death defying self-repair ability that most regenerators in comics do. While mythological character may have been able to access healing, it has always been through some form of magic, and often with a cost. Creatures such as the hydra has rapis regenearation, probably inspired by the aforementioned creatures.

I like to quickly make a bible reference here, but off the top of my head I can't think of anyone who healed themselves, there are certainly many healings, but they all come from God, demonstrating that we cannot fix our own sickness, the great sickness of sin, but we need to rely on God for he alone can heal us. The only character who definitely could have healed himself, Jesus, was the one person who actively chose to suffer as one of us, identifying with the human race in all it's aspects. And when the ultimate suffering came on the cross, even though he sweat blood with fear at the prospect, he still chose to face it to save undeserving sinners. There's been a lot of talk about the maturity and development of heroes recenlty - if you want to find the ultimate hero you need look no further than the heroic sacrifice on the cross. This is something I want to develop more, but I'll leave it for now and move on to popular fiction.
















The power of regeneration or self healing is by no means new, though it is explored well in the show. There are a number of character whop posess the same ability to come back healed from the most dangerous as it is quite a useful gift when fighting other superpowered enemies. The most popular and dynamic of these is undoubtedly Wolverine a popularity renforced by dramatic demonstrations of his abilities in the X-Men movie trilogy. Wolverine's longevity and origins are also a mystery and his metallic claws (only convievable with a healer) make him an iconic figure. Wolverine was part of a Weapon X program which features other healer such as Sabretooth, Deadpool and Lady Deathstrike. There are also characters who can heal in adition to other powers such as the Hulk. I trust Sam to bring more of these to light - I know he's a Deadpool fan so surely he can't resist!

So there's a rooted tradition behind Claire's ability, coming from nature, comic books and a desire to be invincible hidden within us all. We know how fragile the human body is how potentially weak it can be and how the slightest accident can cause injury or death to any one of us. Is it any wondee then that we create characters who can bounce back from all this and fight another day, is it any wonder we want to be like these heroes?

Power Trip 4 - Technopathy

Oops! Missed out a power then, easy to do as little Micah's abilities don't manifest until late in the series but nonetheless he is there in episode one with his mother and thus deserves a mention. A bit like Hiro, Micah is also keen on comic books and superheroes and while taking a different slant on it to Hiro he does see a purpose and a place for his gifts and the gifts of his family, wanting to become a hero like those he's read about, though he quickly discovers things aren't so simple.

Micah is a technopath, which means he can "talk" to all forms of technology and get them to do what he wants, from getting cable TV simply by touching the set, getting money from an ATM without hacking or entering a card and even rigging an election. He has a command ofver all sorts of electronic devices and can interact with even analog devices such as streetlamps as opposed to hacking through wireless and internet signals, which is another power altogether.

As a natural power it is, in one sense, useless. Had it manifested a century or two ago it would have had no effect whatsoever and the "hero" would have been as common as you or I. I don't mind it being in the show, but such abilities manifesting through "evolution" make little sense, it pretty much needs design to give a power that specific. Another example would be Peter Pettreli's power, which seems to anticipate the arrival of other superheroes, but I'll get onto that later. I guess this is filling in for my usual God slot as there are no technopaths in the Bible, but powers such as these seem to require a designing hand which Heroes has tried to fill in with it's somewhat confused concept of destiny.
















Micah is not the first technopath in popular fiction however and there are others who get the power from other, perhaps more believable sources. My personal favourite is The Great Machine, from the comic series Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughan. In that series contact with an alien artifact has left Mitchell Hundred deformed and with the ability to speak to any piece of technology, from aeroplanes to air-conditioners. However in the comic book he has left that life behind and has revealed his identity to the world and cunningly bagged himself the job of Mayor of New York, where he feels he could do far more good than he did as a hero. but being mayor isn't easy, especially when you have a past that worries people and is also keen on coming back to haunt you. I'd definitely recommend this series to older teens and above - it has a share of gore and language so I wouldn't pass it on to younger folks. And with that nice little plug over, back to the post!

And that's pretty much it actually, technopathy is a fairly new, but not entirely original power, but I think the Heroes team have executed it well and chosen wisely in giving it to the kid as opposed to a combat power.

Sam if you know of other Heroes do share - I hope this colour scheme suits ya

Power Trip 3 - Space/time manipulation

Most viewer's favourite character Hiro Nakamura has a greta ability - the ability to manipulate the spac-time continuum to do many incredible feats - including freezing time and traveeling through it and teleporting to different locations. Part of the genius of the show is to hand to such a powerful ability to one of the most harmless characters. Hiro is loveable, shy, a little bumbling and veyr honourable and kindhearted and while awed at his part in the order of superheroes he is also reverent and respectful of the duty given by said power and never uses it for slefish or unjust causes. But Hiro is more than just the "good guy" he is the fun guy who is still trying to figure out his gift.

Hiro's ability to change the continuum means he can move about and change things in both time and space. Most superheroes are restricted to one or the other, able to time travel or teleport, but Hiro can change location and time as shown at the end of series 1 when he teleports form modern New York to ancient Japan. He also has the ability to freeze time, this is used well when the creators show him having to use his normal strength to move objects around while time is frozen. These, so far, have been the key manifestations of Hiro's power I'll examine them individually.

Time manipulation most commonly appears as time "freezing" ansd that's how it's most commonly used in the show. There have been other examples - Hiro "slows" time at one point and at the beginning of the show he sents time back by one second so he could presumable reverse the flow of time if he wanted though this has not happened so far that I've seen. Characters who can freeze time are common, such as classic Kids TV show "Bernard's Watch" where a stopwatch given to a boy had the ability to freeze time. Some characters do seem to possess it inherently, such as Professor X in X-Men 2, but the ability is most commonly granted by a gizmo or by magic.


















The same is true of time travel. From it's earliest conception in H.G.Wells' The Time Machine - there are earlier stories where some one goes back in time, but Wells' book is the first to employ a gizmo and develop time travel proper. Since then a number of heroes have used various devices, both magical and technological to travel through time. One of the most popular is the Doctor, who can use his TARDIS to travel about in time, and also space, making him one step closer to Hiro. The Doctor also has teleportation technology so aside from freezing time, and let's face it he'll probably find a way, he does (through technology) possess much of the same maniulation capabilities and laos the benevolent nature Hiro. Time travel is almost always created by a device of some kind, but there are a few characters, such as Waverider, that posess the ability inherently or through mutation.














Teleports are common devices in science fiction tales and a popular subject such as in The Fly the popular tale of a man who teleports and gets crossed genetically with a fly stuck in the teleport device. It is also a common trait amongst superheroes, such as Nightcrawler from X-Men who possesses the ability to jump anywhere he can see. The novel and film "Jumper" are based around individuals who can jump to anywhere in the world. So in this ability Hiro has a long superhero heritage.

Individuals who possess more than one of these abilities are few and far between, which makes the innocent Hiro all the better for possessing them. Characters who do ahve such abilities are most often "Gods" or godlike characters such as Dr Manhattan of Watchmen who could interact with people in past and future at the same time and teleport himself to Mars at will.

I usually try to chuck in a Bible reference so I will do that here only to say that the desire for this ability is partly a reflection of God's complete perception over all time and control over destiny. We like the idea that we might be able to change time, see what will happen next and maybe change it. After his resurrection Jesus appears to his disciples despite the doors being locked - possible teleportation powers? Mere speculation on my part though!!!

Till sometime soon.

P.S. Sam if you want to do another follow on thingy you are more than welcome, the last one was pretty cool and I like finding out about more superheroes.

Power Trip 2 - Split personas/Superhuman Strength

Ok, so I'm finally getting back into this, let's see if it lasts longer than just one article per series this time!!If you're interested what I'm doing is looking at the different superpowers affecting the characters in the show, how it works in the TV series and where the powers they posess come from in comic book and older sources. By the way, most of my references will come from series 1 unless something especially relevant comes up as I watch series 2.


Niki/Jessica is in terms of superpower, my favourite character in the show. While Hiro is the funny one and other characters have more powerful abilities hers is quite intriguing and done in an original way. Niki is initially plagued by a reflection in the mirror that acts independently and whispers to her. She later discovers that it is another personality "Jessica" who at times posesses her body and has the ability to do amazing things. After being threatened she wakes up to find her attackers brutally murdered. Throughout the series she battles with and strugles to accept Jessica who semingly has the personality of her long dead twin sister. Jessica is protective of her 'sister' but lashes out in brutal attacks and acts wild ways, even dominating Niki's personality for a while. But at the end of the series the two reconcile and it is revealed that Niki also posesses great strength adding another twist to this duo.

Tales of great strength are as old as time itself. I will cite two examples, the first being the Biblical story of Sampson whom God gave great strength to defeat their enemies while he kept to his vow not to drink or cut his hair. The temptress Delilah eventually got him to reveal his secret, but eventualy he sought God's forgiveness and regained his strength to deal one final blow to God's enemies. Another ancient example would by the mythical tale of the half-god Hercules who was equipped with great strength which he used to complete the tasks set for him.

Superheroes with above average strength are as common as can be, with two obvious names being Superman and Captain America, but I'll focus now on ones with a dual personality also. I will simply cite the two most famous examples, though there are a few more than you might think. The idea would seem to have it's origin in the famous tale of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The scientist consumes a concoction that unleashes a creature of rage and desire and has to battle the monster within. The Hulk brought the concept up to the modern day when a scientist is affected and turned into a giant green monster of rage. The comic book changed things and made Hulk a hero character, though certainly one with a dark side and the battle to maintain sanity and order made it even better. Other examples would include Dr Connors in Spiderman who transforms into villain The Lizard who is out of his control.

So the whole thing isn't exactly new, but Heroes has made it fresh and I certainly find the character fascinating. First of all the lack of physical transformation makes it visually more intriguing and more challenging for the actress to play. Secondly the reveal at the end that Niki also has powers makes the dual personailty more interesting. Jessica certainly seems to be more than a side effect of a mental disorder, but is she part of her 'power' or just something that's happening along side her unatural strength - I guess we'll have to keep watching won't we?

Power Trip Conflict : Round One

This is my attempt to add a bit of original prose to this blog to motivate myself to write and to hopefully make my blog a more interesting read. This is a tie in to my Heroes based Power Trip articles and features a conflict between two Heroes who remain the same each time, but the power of the good guy changes dependant on the power most recently discussed, as for the power of the bad guy well...you'll see! It's not Shakespeare, but I hope you enjoy.

He looks different in real life. The skin’s a little lighter and he’s not as big, but I the future’s not interested in details, just facts. For example he is standing on the edge of the roof with feet wide apart; he is wearing a bizarre red coat and the sword he appears to be holding is in fact floating just behind his hand – that’s the stuff that matters. An artist knows what symbols his work conveys and so I know what he is trying to tell me. The feet wide apart, edge of the rooftop stance shows his belief that he is a fearsome warrior. The coat is a taunt, you could follow it anywhere, but he does not fear the Police or the army or any of their metallic weapons so he is content for them to know where he is and tremble. The sword is to give a fool’s hope, that maybe he is just a man with a blade, and you don’t see the power holding his weapon until it’s too late.

Like I say, it’s all in the details. You’ve got to really study a picture to know what it’s about. You see the glint of the sun off a billboard, the angle of a crane, the position of birds in the sky. You have to take it all in to understand what the painting tells you. I see it all now, in more beautiful colour than I could ever paint, in motion that my easel could never capture. I see it all, and know to duck just in time.

My study rewards me, the blade flies over my head but, as I knew it would, flies round and returns to its owner. Twice more the blade flies out, but I’ve already seen how and where it’s going to come. It’s very tempting to just watch, to see my work flow out in real motion, but if I stood and got my head cut off then it wouldn’t be what I’d painted would it?

The painting said I’m unarmed and so I am, standing here trying to face down a monster with nothing but my fists. Thing is, I figured out quite quickly that he has control over metal, can make it do what he wants. Just as I think it he rips up a metal railing with a gesture as if to prove me right. This time I run, alarmed at the speed with which he can move such a heavy object. It crashes down just behind me, but I’ve gotten close enough to land the punch I knew I would. It’s even more satisfying than I thought it would be, knocking him to the floor with blood spattering from his mouth.

It leaves me distracted long enough for the next picture to be fulfilled. Paintings only convey things through sight, they don’t prepare you (to take an example) for the pain of a sword penetrating your body. I knew I couldn’t escape it, but I’d hoped it wouldn’t hurt this much. Well I guess this is what they call facing your destiny. I fall back, making those horrible gurgling sounds you hear in films. But I know this happened for a reason, people will know of my gift and it will save them.

A red coat is easy to follow, especially when you can see the future. I’ve painted it, the whole chase, where he tries to hide, the way he tries to fight back, and the plastic cased chemical weapons they use to bring him down. I donated my paintings to the police yesterday so they will know what to do. I can’t hold my head up any longer, but I can see the helicopter catching the sunlight, just like the picture.

Minor Note: The Voyage of the Damned aliens will be discussed when series four starts as there weren't many species in the special, however the articles will resume when Torchwood starts in January

Power Trip 1 - precognition

Well I've finally managed to get round to it so let's hope this thing works eh? Inspired by the show Heroes I will look at the various powers given to different characters and look at how they impact the show and where they originated from. This is by no means definitive and will no doubt have missed important figures in comic book history. These articles are designed more for me to give my opinion on things, which I have not been doing enough of.

The first "Hero" to be featured on the show, Isaac Mendez has a truly unusual gift that impacts all the other characters, though they seldom feel his influence. Isaac paints pictures, and what he paints comes true. At first he believes this to be influenced by drugs and so becomes dependent on them, driving away those close to him in his search for answers. This gift doesn't give him combat powers and so immediately struck as unusual for a superhero show and made Heroes interesting viewing.

The power of precognition brings an added element, that of destiny. The heroes aren't just going to get powered up, mask their identities and save the world just like that. There is a path to be taken, and glimpses of that path are shown in Mendez's paintings. However there is a certain paradoxical element in this as the Heroes accept their destiny, and yet their mission is to thwart what was laid out as a vision for the future. I think this is quite representitive of a modern mindset, we like the idea that we have a destiny and a purpose in life, but we also want the freedom to be able to change it as we see fit. People often speak about having a destiny but being able to change it, yet if you can change it then it wasn't destiny at all. This was displayed in Mendez's demise where he accept's his death at Sylar's hands, but at the same time is confident because he has revealed how to stop the bomb.

I stated in my nnouncement that I would refer to the Bible and I will do so here. I also have no intention of being politically correct and so will adress the word of God with the authority and superiority I believe it deserves. Precognition has it's roots in God, who is all seeing and all knowing and, since he created it, can see all of time and knows how and when everything will happen. God chose to reveal the future to his prophets, often in dreams or "visions", who then would pass it on to the people. People have a massive interest in the future so it's no wonder a superhero was given this gift.

Precognition often featured in mythology, the Oracle at Delphi being one posessor that springs to mind. In olf mythology the future was often set in stone, and though the hero might try and thwart what was written or spoken, his fate would always come about as said. Occasionally the hero's fate would be delivered through his efforts to avoid it, giving that extra bit of irony. Bringing it forward a bit various philosopher and thinkers have claimed to have knowledge of events to come, the most famous of who is Nostradamous who'se predictions are still being debated today. With Horoscopes and fortune telling a very popular industry even in a skeptical age it looks like seeing the future is a power many desire to posess.

Moving on to comic books and popular fiction now where precognition has not played such a dramatic role, but is still a presence. With comics being an ongoing and widly divurging medium having the future all mapped out probably isn't such a good idea, yet some characters like Madame Web of Spider-Man, Destiny from X-Men and the film incarnation of Elektra have had some for of precognition. Moving from comics to film and the most famous prognosticators are the Jedi and Sith from Star Wars. These enhanced beings can gain glimpses of events to come, but hold to a changeable destiny since "always in motion is the future." The most prolific use of precognitives I've seen in modern writing has been in the work of Philip K. Dick, the best known example being Minority Report where 'precogs' are used to prevent murder. Precogs feature in many of his writings using their powers for anything from stoping aliens to predicting market changes for businesses.

I started this idea with an eye to shooting down the Heroe's crew claims to be unlike anything else, but I have to commend the show on presenting the superpowers theme in a new way, something that seemed almost impossible. While seeing the future is a popular theme it is used well in the show, and since I don't personally know of any other character that uses painting to see what happens next I will have to hand that to them as an original creation.

Well that's it, I have a tie-in project in mind to do with this so hopefully you'll read more soon but for now, goodbye.