Josh News Update: President's Day 2016 Edition

     Just a short update for all my readers out there.  I've been lax on posting lately due to some serious health issues, and after finishing this post I'll be heading off to yet another clinic appointment to see if we can get this crap fixed.

     So the Lady put my picture into that which dog are you thing and got the image I used here.  [ Update: it's what-dog.net ]  She thought it was super hilarious, and it kind of is.  But why she used such an awful picture of me is anyone's guess?  Perhaps to get a funnier result?  I don't know.

     In better news, I've got a Deadpool review post in the work, some really awesome comic reviews, some video reviews in the works, and so on.  Plus a whole series of posts for the Heroes universe, including both games, the ebook tie-in series, and the Reborn miniseries.  It feels good to return to something that I spent so much time with in the early days of this blog.  Granted, most of those posts were poorly formatted, and very rambling, but it's been years of learning since then and I've gotten much better.

     Aside from this, I've got some real work in progress.  I can't talk much about it other than saying there should be a set of short works available by the end of the year.  Yay!

     Hopefully I can get these health problems dealt with so I can get back on track to actually producing plenty of entertainment for you readers.

Heroes Reborn: Enigma Update & Release Announced

     With the Heroes Reborn series having begun, the previously announced video games (Enigma and Gemini) from Imperative Entertainment are on their way to players hands.  Each game is a stand alone story in the world of Heroes with connections to each other and the larger story, but players can come in new without needing to worry about the television show's history.

Enigma:

     Heroes Reborn: Enigma allows players to become Dahlia, an EVO, using her powers of teleportation and time manipulation to escape a secret government facility called The Quarry.  The game is a first-person action-puzzler where you must use your abilities to traverse the complex environmental designs of The Quarry.  It sounds like we'll be playing someone very much like the fan-favorite, series regular Hiro Nakamura in a place that looks a bit like Portal's Aperture Science laboratories.

     The game is made with the Unreal Engine 4 so we can expect some decent visuals for a mobile title, and the story was written under the supervision of Heroes creator Tim Kring.  It will serve as an extension of the Reborn series and will be an experience all on its own.

     Heroes Reborn: Enigma will be available for Android & iOS on Oct. 8th for $5.99.

Gemini:

     Heroes Reborn: Gemini, Enigma's counterpoint, will focus on Dahlia's sister Cassandra.  It is "an entirely different" game that will be coming to PC and consoles at an unannounced later date.

Reborn:

     Heroes Reborn airs Thurs. 8pm on NBC.

Heroes Reborn: Premieres Tonight!!!

     Anyone that has followed this blog for a very, very long time would know that I began this blog with a large number of horribly formatted, and frankly, very poorly written Heroes posts back in 2008.  I thought the first season was absolutely amazing and I made sure to watch every episode all the way through the long downhill slide into its cancellation, commenting and posting most of the way.  It was like watching a friend slowly dissolve before my eyes.

     Many, including myself, are hopeful now because series creator Tim Kring is back on board, and also because the series is a limited one.  So there should be no strung out, never ending story lines and no filler episodes.  There should be no room for anything to really waste our time or dilute the show.  With a definitive beginning and end the show now must adhere to an economy of footage and to really make it count.

     Though, to be honest, my hopeful attitude is very hesitant.  If you've looked through my old posts about the Heroes universe they are rife with letdown.  I had hopes and ideas far too large for the show.  So, in the mean time, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that this series recaptures the magic of the first season.  The later seasons did have a few really good episodes like the "Shades of Gray" and "1961," but they were few and far between, and I hope they really hit those high notes again.

     I still have a "Five Years Gone" Hiro Nakamura action figure pinned to my wall, as well as a slew of trading cards, comics, and a stack of the official Heroes magazine.  It would be awesome for the show to be amazing once more.

     On a side note- I'll also try and get a review of the Heroes Reborn: Dark Matters the digital prequel to Reborn up sometime in the next couple days as well.  I got the Heroes app on my phone a long while back with the exclusive episodes, although I see they've been adding them to the Heroes Youtube channel recently for those without the app, so I suppose I should finish the review and post it soon.

     For related posts [ Heroes ]

Heroes Reborn: Original Character Confirmed Dead

     AN OBVIOUS SPOILER ALERT

     Apparently, the seemingly immortal Claire Bennet has been killed prior to the new Heroes Reborn series.  The Heroes original cast member's filming schedule didn't fit with the new series, nor was it supposedly in the works for her to return story wise.

     According to Heroes creator Tim Kring, the new series starts 5 years after the last finale of Heroes Volume 5 where it ended with Claire announcing announcing to the public world on television the presence of people with abilities.  One year before Reborn picks up Kring tells us that there was a terrorist attack in Odessa, Texas, of which Claire herself was a casualty.

     “It was almost an obligatory baton pass to where we needed to go from there,” Kring recalled of the series finale. “Because we didn’t get to have that fifth season, I did always have that in my mind that there was an unfinished nature to it… This world has become a very different place. There’s something really great about this: This is not the fifth season, this is actually the 10th season as if there were seasons in-between. I had always wanted to tell the story of when the world discovers these people.”

     What I am wondering is, could it be that the terrorist attack actually be a "hero" like Sylar or Samson Gray? (See pic above, which I made for another blog post long ago)  Or perhaps someone with an inherent ability gone awry, but looking to get assistance- like Peter Petrelli being the bomb in season one.  Personally, I am hoping it will be Samson Gray gunning for Claire's healing, and destroying any potential ties or evidence.  Though that is a very long shot, and quite unlikely.

     For related posts [ HEROES ]

     Source [ Entertainment Weekly ]

Heroes Reborn: First Full-Length Official Trailer

     As we inch closer to the release date, Heroes Reborn is regaining what the original series lost over time.  The magic might be back.  We get a couple new villains along with a few familiar old faces, and now we have a decent idea what the overall story for the 13 episode event series will be, and it might be...  extraordinary.

     Heroes Reborn premieres Thursday Sept. 24th on NBC at 8/7c.

     For more of my older posts [ Heroes ]

Heroes Reborn: The Extraordinary Among Us Trailer & Thoughts

     With this video NBC has also released a full synopsis of the 13 episode mini-series event:

     A year ago, a terrorist attack in Odessa, Texas left the city decimated. Blamed for the tragic event, those with extraordinary abilities are in hiding or on the run from those with nefarious motives. 

     Two such vigilantes include Luke (Zachary Levi, "Chuck") and Joanne (Judith Shekoni, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"), who are seeking to avenge a tragic loss. 

     Noah Bennet, aka HRG (Jack Coleman, "Heroes"), has gone off the grid, but conspiracy theorist Quentin Frady (Henry Zebrowski, "A to Z") finds him and opens his eyes to the truth behind the Odessa tragedy. 

     While in hiding, some are discovering their newfound skills. Awkward teen Tommy (Robbie Kay, "Once Upon a Time") just wants to be normal and win the girl of his dreams, Emily (Gatlin Green, "Criminal Minds"), but normalcy is virtually impossible after learning of a new ability that terrifies him. Coming from a very sheltered upbringing, a bold and ethereal teenager, Malina (Danika Yarosh, "Shameless"), has been told she is destined for greatness. In Tokyo, a quiet and unique young woman, Miko (Kiki Sukezane, "Death Yankee 3"), is trying to track down her missing father while hiding an extraordinary secret that will make her a force to be reckoned with. 

     Elsewhere, a different type of hero is emerging through former soldier Carlos (Ryan Guzman, "The Boy Next Door"). 

     Meanwhile, Erica (Rya Kihlstedt, "Masters of Sex"), the head of the highly successful tech conglomerate Renautas has an agenda of her own. 

     For better or for worse, some are fated to cross paths with assorted heroes of the past, including Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg), Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) and the Haitian (Jimmy Jean-Louis), among others. Yet, together, their ultimate destiny is nothing less than saving the world and mankind.

     With the newest full trailer for the upcoming Heroes Reborn series, my hopes have been renewed.  I now have a very tentative excitement for what is to come of this show that really caught my attention back in 2006.  Heroes had a rocky path after season one's tremendous impact and they kind lost their way.  Don't get me wrong, Heroes had a handful of great episodes after season two, but it never really recaptured that original magic, but this trailer makes me think they might have it once again.

     I really hope they can hit all the right notes this time around.  I spent a lot of time considering the show, and all the potentials it could have- but it never got to the place I believed it could.  Click the link below for a string of posts- beware, many are poorly formatted and rambling)  Maybe Kring's return can help the Heroes attain the greatness they initially had.  And maybe they can finally show us a Peter vs. Sylar type battle we deserved during the original show's run.  Maybe they can give us something worth talking about again.

     Heroes Reborn will premiere Thursday Sept. 24th on NBC at 8/7c.

     For older related posts [ Heroes ] 

Heroes Reborn: Masi Oka Returns as Hiro Nakamura

     Deadline reports that in addition to Noah "HRG" Bennet (Jack Coleman) returning for NBC's upcoming 13 episode mini-series event Heroes Reborn, another fan favorite has just been added to the cast- the time and space bender, Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka).

"Save the script, Save the Series." An important message from Future Hiro.

     Oka has said about his reprisal role, “I’m excited to return to my Heroes roots.  Hiro Nakamura was such an inspirational role to play, and I’m hoping the fans will enjoy seeing him back on TV.”

     Tim Kring, creator and executive producer for both Heroes and Heroes Reborn, has added, “The character of Hiro Nakamura was such a huge part of the first series’ success, and a gigantic fan favorite. We felt the fans would really love seeing him back in action again.”

     Heroes Reborn has already listed a slew of new names to the cast as well, such as Chuck's Zachary Levi, Danika Yarosh, Judith Shekoni, Robbie Kay, Ryan Guzman, Gatlin Green, Kiki Sukezane and Henry Zebrowski.

     Heroes Reborn is set to air some time this fall on NBC.

     For more of my posts related to [ Heroes ]

Heroes Reborn: Aurora: Thoughts and Ideas

     I see with this new teaser we get our good old friend Mr. Bennett seemingly needing to protect a young, possibly Inuit girl from a suspicious man.  A very brief glimpse into what may be to come.  There really isn't much to go on, but it looks interesting no less.  They've got my attention and curiosity, so I'll be on board.

     If anyone here has been a long time reader, you know I both liked and hated Heroes.  I spent a lot of time writing long winded poorly formatted blog posts full of questions and hopes that never happened in the show.  There was so much potential that took a hell of a downhill slide in later seasons.  The comic series was all right, but the creators hadn't really re-captured the magic of the first season.  Personally I believe that they tried making it too big, some global shift instead of focusing on smaller stories about everyday people with extraordinary abilities.
     With this new series, I wonder if they can pare down the crap and make it great again.  I even thought up a great way to bridge into a new season, with the return of a killer (this was before I knew Zachary Quinto officially declined to return).  It would be an amazing and dangerous threat as Samson Gray would return with a purpose.  [ Click here to read the whole post ]

     Initially, I had thought it up and wanted to pitch it to Dynamite Comics as a 6 issue run, with flashbacks to Samson's younger days set in a type of period piece to mimic his new path as an older serial killer.  Hell I may still pitch it.  Considering I have a few hundred pages of notes outlining a small story.

     To read a slew of my old [ Heroes posts ]

          I see the oldest is from 2008.  It's been a while.

Heroes Reborn: Show Set to Return in 2015 #HeroesReborn

"It's amazing how it comes right back..." -Samson Gray

     NBC has announced the return of our beloved show Heroes.  A 13 episode stand-alone story arc is set to be released in 2015 with no known details yet under the title Heroes Reborn.



     In addition to the TV mini series NBC has said it'll have a social marketing tie in:

     "With the return of “Heroes Reborn,” NBC will launch a digital series prior to the 2015 premiere that will introduce the characters and new storylines. This leveraging of social media is a way for fans to re-engage with what was one for the true pioneers in multiplatform storytelling."

     #HeroesReborn

     Personally I've been waiting for something like this for years.  In fact I've blogged extensively on how they could set up the show's beginning.  They really have so many options- Samson Gray seeing Claire's healing on TV could start a new serial killer, Hiro could time travel back and completely change history, or Sylar could stop flip-flopping and stay on "one side" to make things less confusing.
     After they announced the Heroes comics (Dynamite Comics) continuing the story where TV left off I'd hoped they'd do a show, and apparently enough of the fanbase spoke out as well, so we are getting it.  I would humbly like to ask that they don't mess this up, they have a chance to get back to the show's roots- return to what made the show wonderful in the beginning.  Don't focus on a huge world changing event, instead look at the small scale lives effected (that may cascade into bigger things itself)- but rather, be like season one.  We want to discover that awe inspiring mystery, power, and drama again.

     A side note: If you readers come across my really old Heroes posts, my apologies to the poor format and massive rants and rambles.  I hadn't acclimated myself to blogging at the time.
     So if you're still interested in my other posts click here [ Heroes ]


     Source [ NBC  Heroes ]

NBC's Heroes- How I think the return should begin... (Dynamite Comics)

     Ever since the Heroes Season 4 finale (Brave New World) this is how I thought they should bring it back.  I figure it's a good time to post this because Dynamite Entertainment has made a deal with NBC to continue the series in comic book form.  They need a hell of a start, and with the way it ended- it left this particular encounter as an inevitability.
     Really, could there be a more perfect beginning than this?

     Chapter 1:Opening Scene:

An old man's hands can be scene making some simple foods for a lunch.  Over the shoulder, just miscellaneous tasks with his hands.  This is an individual that knows you must find things to do with your hands. 

He's walking around his trailer house, in the background are many oxygen tanks.  There can be seen some animals stuffed by a taxidermist.  The man enters a small room, sits down, and switches on an old television set.

NEWS

(what is shown is fuzzy footage from the last episode)

(Claire Bennet climbing up and jumping off the ferris wheel)

 

My name is Claire Bennet and this is attempt number... well, I guess I've lost count.

 

 

The hand puts down the sandwich and turns the volume up.  The view swings around- Samson Gray.  With a smile on his face.

 

 

Samson

It's amazing how it just comes right back... 

that desire...

that hunger...

 

 

Scene cuts.

 

 

 

     I remember reading years ago that Sylar's father was supposed to be the ultimate evil in an interview with Heroes writer/producer Bryan Fuller. [ Digital Spy ]

"...Sylar's dad was going to be the ultimate evil, the devil essentially. I was like, 'didn't you guys just do that with Arthur Petrelli?'"

     So, they created this amazing villain- Samson Gray- and then flubbed it.  Even with Arthur Petrelli it was done poorly.  Arthur wanted power to horde it.  Samson has the killer drive behind him.  This is a man that wants to live and do things simply because he can.  He wants to change the world now, a chance to do this over.  Samson Gray is a hunter, he lives for the challenge, and he has the will to follow the desire for more. 

 

     What Heroes has with Samson Gray is the ultimate serial killer with the potential to make the original villain, Sylar (Gabriel Gray), look like a child.  There is so much they could do with this.  Think what would happen if he got his hands on time travel?  He could dump bodies elsewhere in time! 

     The final showdown would necessitate many of the heroes fighting the singular villain in time, space, and in the telepathic realm.  That's 3 tiers of fighting.

     All the "behind closed doors" fights (I'm talking about the massive disappointments of the Peter vs. Sylar) need to be stopped.  There are appropriate times to show and tell, and not showing these is a slap in the viewer's face.

 

     If this is handled properly, the new series could easily make Heroes a huge hit again.  Sylar flip-flopping from good to bad, Nathan dying all the time, and Claire bemoaning her life got to be an annoyance.  Up the stakes, the actions need serious consequences, make us feel for the characters.  I'll give it a chance when it hits the comic stands because Cullen Bunn's other comics writing, while not amazing, are at least worth reading- and I look forward to seeing what's going to happen.  That old hunger burns again... I may even re-watch the series as a refresher...



NBC's Heroes to Return... to Comics.

     Dynamite Entertainment announced that the NBC television show Heroes that I watched obsessively from 2006-2010 will be brought back in the form of a comic book series.  While this sounds kind of great to begin with, I would be hesitant myself.  I read the previous Heroes comics and they were... less than spectacular.

 

     Cullen Bunn, who wrote Deadpool, Wolverine, Defenders, and Fearless for Marvel Comics, and The Sixth Gun, Helheim, and The Tooth for Oni Press, and is now working for Dynamite scripting this project.  While I'm not his biggest fan, I believe he could bring something to the series that it lost after season 1.

"Like so many others, I was a huge fan of Heroes during its original run," says writer Cullen Bunn. "I was drawn to a cast of characters with interesting back stories and development, a setting boiling over with potential, and -- of course -- the exploration of superpowers in a 'real' world scenario. With this book, I have the opportunity to contribute to the mythology of the series in a way that will surprise readers. When I was watching the show, I never could have imagined the direction I'd be taking the story. The narrative I'm developing will be multi-layered, complex, and character-focused, and it will shake up the Heroes storyline in a major way. I don't think anyone is expecting what we have in store for Claire, Hiro, Peter, Niki, Sylar, and the rest of the gang."

     Because that's where it all fell apart- once season 2 began.  Sure it had some shining moments, but nothing worthy of the magic it had captured during the first year.  Not to long ago I read about MSN and Xbox making a deal to potentially bring it back, but that never happened, and this might be the best we can hope for.  Some of the actors are busy with thriving projects and could be a problem to recruit again.

As to the specifics of the story that could be revealed now, Bunn said however Dynamite ends up labeling the final series, he is viewing the gig as essentially "Heroes Season 5." "To me, this is picking up the story and taking it from where it left off, but there is a big curveball right from issue #1 of the comic. That will set a lot of what we've seen in the series on its ear. It'll change a lot, but this is essentially the continuation of the TV series. I'm taking it into some bizarre, unique and unusual territory. The benefit of comics is that you can do some things there that you can't do anywhere else."

     I've posted plenty of things about the series- predictions, hopes, and critiques- but I can only hope they do this revival justice.  [ Here's the posts ]  They are very sporadic, and some are quite long, read at your own risk.


Sources [ Dynamite Newswire ] [ Comic Book Resources ]

Heroes: The Wall

     In this latest episode we get another black and white past flashback of Mr. Noah Bennett.  How come he is hogging all the flashbacks???  Now that I think about it shouldn't all the Hiro in old Japan scenes been in black and white?  They were technically part of Adam Munroe and Hiro's pasts???
     Anyhow, Samuel has his Mirror Memory Shower guy reveal Noah's memories to Claire.  They show he had a wife and potential child that were killed by a special with telekinesis.  He gets on the revenge job, and tracks one of the other specials down.  For some reason Noah assumes there is a secret club or something where all the special people know each other.  If Mr. Bennett is smart enough to track one of these people down, one could hypothesize he would guess they may not know each other.  Uhhh... I have blue eyes, but that doesn't mean I know every other person with them.  Duh.
     Some crap goes down, Bennett accidentally kills the guy and flees.  Later Mr. Thompson shows up to give him a job.  Then even later Thompson tells him to be more careful.  Explains that there are too many accidents and mishaps.  These are PEOPLE they are dealing with, not all monsters.  There is also the setup of Noah and Sandra(2nd wife) as Thompson tells him he needs to live as well as work.  A forced normalcy.
     Another flashback, this one more recent where Noah tells Gretchen she has to help him or she'll have to deal with the Haitian, and with the recent devastation there he is probably very pissed and will be extra cruel.
     Claire leaves and Samuel thinks he is all smartypants with her.  She tells Samuel that nothing has changed and she will still side with her father.  She goes to Noah in a trailer and Samuel buries them.  To help her learn stuff, like how to watch her father die by burying the trailer under tons of ground.  It's not like he hasn't been dead before.  Obviously Claire can fix it once they are out. 
     I have a feeling Molly may reappear or some of the other specials will help get her out.  Eli the Xeroxing man didn't seem to happy about the occurrence, perhaps he'll have a change of heart.  Then again, he didn't care so much when he was shooting his friends.  Or when is Tracy going to show up?  With some sweet backup- maybe Claude the invisible jerkface is still following him around secretly?   

     Sylar and Peter in Sylar's mind meet up and attempt to escape the nightmare.  Peter slowly convinces Sylar he is actually in a nightmare, not in real life.  Time is all messed up here, they are living out years in the span of hours.  Sylar starts to realize he is responsible for his own humanity and choices, and gets Peter a 9th Wonders comic.  What I don't get is why the hell did they not read it?  Surely Peter should know it was/is made by a precognitive and usually has useful information. 
     Well with each progression in Sylar's thoughts they get closer to escape.  First he decides he wants to help Peter, then they find the wall.  Then he wants to get out and the wall starts to break.  They break out and are back in the now.  On the way out of the house, a bunch of the duplicating guys show up.  Seriously?  Like he stands a chance against Sylar and Peter who is sporting telepathy.  I would like to see what the nightmare of Eli would be.  Maybe a world of him being overrun by his own duplicates ruling himself? 
     If Peter gets Eli's ability, does all Peter's duplicates have Peter's power also?  Or even better-Sylar gettnig the duplication power?  How many Sylars could there be???   Interesting...   ...and why hasn't Sylar and Peter traded powers yet?  Come on Heroes writers, at some point this has to happen.  Perhaps Sylar already got Peter's empathy, Peter just needs to reset his old abillity by taking Sylar's, or having Sylar fix it.
    
     So the cracked Earth is definitely a possibility with all these specials around Samuel.  Could he possibly rip Central Park out and create a Heroes universe version of Asteroid M from X-men?  I mean if the good guys have the Haitian, Parkman, Ando and Peter/Sylar combo, how is Samuel supposed to keep going?  Ando cranks up the good guys and they obliterate the bad guys.  No problem.  But as it goes in the Heroes world, fights are too lame, and not enough awesome.
     I have a small hope that Samson Gray kills Samuel, and becomes the major baddie for next year.  That would eventually lead to an end battle fought on both the physical and mental planes.  Highly doubtful, but would rock my socks anyway. 
     I would so would as a thinktank guy for the show for free.  I wonder if I'd get highered???

    -Hey, where is Hiro right now???  Why doesn't he just teleport in and take Samuel away?  If he has control over the flow of time, theoretically he could slow it for Samuel and torture/gather info to go rescue the lost Charlie.  Or as I previously suggested, go to the time when she was sent away and find out where whe went.
     I'm still pissed that he is such a Deus Ex Machina, showing up and fixing things just in time.  Will this time be like season 1, shows up and stabs someone???

Blah.  I quit for now.  Hopefully the finale is good.

Heroes: The Art of Deception

Another super, almost late, post.

Mr. Bennett and his ladyfriend are out and about in an attempt to take Samuel down, through violence if necessary.  Claire is not pleased and gets involved.  Samuel tricks everyone and has the Duplicator guy out shooting his own people making them believe it was Mr. Bennett.  Not very nice, but that is how manipulators like Samuel operate.  Sacrifice anyone that may be a threat. 
I was hoping that Doyle, the puppeteer, would've listened to Claire saying that her father didn't do it.  Like HEL-LO!  Would they think a person of Bennett's caliber would be such a crappy shot with a gun???
Lydia ends up dying even though Claire could've donated some blood.  Stupid people, uglk.
Then Noah's ladypal Lauren calls in Tracy Strauss.  Perhaps they will recruit more lost Heroes?

Matt finally pulls a Nightmare Man move and pushes Sylar into his own nightmare.  An entire world to himself.  Why would Parkman resort to this, he could've just helped him.  Or Sylar could've done it to himself as he is in proximity to Parkman and could take the ability. 
Parkman was then stopped midway through walling Sylar up like an old Poe story.
Peter shows up and gets Parkman's ability then goes into Sylar's mind to find him.  Parkman may need to jump in to help them both out of it. 
I would expect the Nightmare segments to be done more horrifically.  Where's the sweet creepiness?  I want more from these "fights". 
Besides if Sylar does come back to the good side, papa Gray can come back and have a sweet battle.  Samson Gray should already have the healing power in stasis because of proximity to Sylar, if their powers are in fact the same.

Heroes: Pass/Fail

Why am I still posting these???  Ugh, the show is getting worse... 

Hiro is in the hospital getting seen for his tumor while unconscious.  In this state he is undergoing what I can only describe as the typical hero's battle with the underworld/afterlife.  In this "struggle" he is on trial for putting himself before the time and space continuum. 
The defense is Kensei/Adam Munroe and the trial is judged by Hiro's father.  While doing good for many, and somehow helping tons of people, it is apparently considered "selfish" to save one person while letting Sylar live.  How does that make sense, because of all the other times he didn't kill Sylar.  Even after stabbing him with a sword in season 1.  He pleads not guilty, and eventually changes his plea, and gets magically healed by his mother's ghost.  Ludicrous.  Sylar killed without Hiro, so Hiro not doing anything then PRESERVED Sylar's timeline with the exception of getting Charlie's ability. 
Then the healing?  Come on, while he can be a good character, some of these people gotta go.

Samuel is trying to get his old lady friend to like him again.  She doesn't go for it, so he sends her on his way, and very maturely destroys a town.  How grown up of you Samuel.

Over in college land Claire is pushing Gretchen away from herself personally.  Sylar shows up and tricks Claire into thinking he has abducted Gretchen.  Then attempts to get some information from Claire through his new touchy feely power.  She stabs him in the eye, and runs away.  Then goes back to her apartment to untie Gretchen(who is a very cliched Sylar in disguise).  They hide in a closet and have a heart to heart.  Claire realizes she's a friggin idiot for letting a single aspect of herself rule her life and decides she wants some Gretchen love.  Sylar gets the idea he may need to lose his power to become more normal. 
He then lets Claire know that he didn't abduct Gretchen and is on his merry way after watching Claire come out of a closet to go come out of a closet in the cafeteria with Gretchen.  Nice.
What happened to the vengeance quest???

He then is out to find Parkman and have baby touch and go possibly stop his abilities.  Lame- In posts a long time ago I suggested that Parkman team up with baby Parkman to wipe Sylar's powers.
http://joshuabarsody.blogspot.com/2009/04/quick-pre-heroes-post.html  and
http://joshuabarsody.blogspot.com/2009/04/heroes-i-am-sylar.html

Oh, and where did Tracy go?  Or Molly?  She's been left without any familial support for a long time, both surrogate fathers have forgotten about her.  Or any of the other people that just fall off the Heroes world, they all just disappear.  Underwater breather, Claude, Luke, or Samson- where are they???  Why isn't Samson looking for a way out of his cancer?  He would be a hell of a villain for the many good guys to fight.  Epic is what is the potential.  Maybe he already has the healing, Sylar can get them without killing, so perhaps he already has it and it's just not activated???

I would also like to see Peter and Sylar work as a team.  Or Sylar absorbing Peter's ability and becoming an empath- feeling so much would make him an overly emo leader, but with the capacity to do something about it.  I mentioned this a long time ago as well.  There is also stupid Peter not taking Sylar's ability, and all subabilities problem still.  WTF Heroes writers???

I can't believe I'm still doing these...

Heroes: Close to You

More late Heroes postings.  Yay...  not really.

In this latest episode Hiro and Ando go and save Mohinder from a Mental Institution of some sort.  They kind of wind up in the Institute then all escaping.  In the end they teleport away... and show up in Noah's apartment.  Wow, big surprise.

Samuel and the Xerox man go off to find the girl Samuel likes.  They get her away from Noah and Matt who are attempting to get info.  They track her to an empty field, the carnival teleported away or something.
Noah is also sort of told to rebuild his relationship with Claire by Lauren.

Lydia is not happy with Samuel, and tries to do a call to Peter.  I think it would be sweet giving control of the Carnival to Peter, it would be in the best interests of all involved.  He's an empath and wants to help people, and they are a bunch that need to be helped.

Peter and Angela have dreams involving a terrible future of Emma's.  Peter goes to her place and smashes her cello.  She gets pissed and sends him away.

Blah blah blah.  Oh, yeah, Parkman is having bad feelings about not going after Sylar when he had the chance.  Lame-o.  He is always running.  Oh, can't use my power, can't help my friends, shut up Parkman.  Does he even remember his adoptive daughter Molly?  Loser.  Grow a sack and start DOING something.  He has a power to seriously mess with Sylar.  Think about it, he could get in Sylar's head, root around to find where he keeps the "sweet spot" that regenerates his body, then use Sylar's own telekinesis on Sylar to have him cut it out.  Easy peasy.  But nooooooo, he'll probably keep being a whiney baby.

Ugh.  I'm sick of these posts, too much potential that isn't being followed through.
I'm quitting for now.  Maybe the next post will be more enthusiastic. 
Maybe.

Heroes: Let it Bleed

Gabriel Gray goes back to the circus and realizes his Sylar is limp.  By not killing Samuel and becoming even more powerful, but he lets him live.  Then finds out through Miss Touchy McToucherpants that he is afraid of being alone.
Why doesn't Sylar use the truth hearing to get information from Samuel? Or just take the power of Samuel without killing him?  So many things could be done...
Also, I'm pissed about the Puppet Man getting whupped again.  That could be such an amazing fight.
He gets a tattoo of what he wants, and it turns out to be Claire.  Creepy.  So he heads off to stare in her window.

Claire is a whiny idiot again. "Oh, how could you lie to me dad? Did you forget what Sylar did to me?  He 'Bad-touched' me in the brain meat!"  He let you live stupid.  So she makes Noah leave the funeral for Nathan.  (Good call on that, eliminating Sylar's use of Nathan's face to gain political power)
She has some talks with Peter.  Peter goes off looking to be a hero and gets himself shot.  Then Claire reprimands him for not letting things go.  Dumbass, she's doing the same thing.
Peter get's Claire's exboyfriend's (West) flight ability and flies off at the end of the episode. 

Noah catches and interrogates the speedster for information.  He kind of befriends him and they make a hesitant deal to eliminate Samuel.  Edgar decides Noah is to violent, and doesn't want his family hurt or separated, so he abandones the plan.

That's about it for now.
Lame.

Heroes: The Fifth Stage

A quick post of the last episode before tonights new one.

Claire and Gretchen steal the magic compass from Noah and go to the circus.  Samuel uses deception to make Claire want to join.  In the end Samuel gets a man to fight him, but doesn't fight back, Claire steps in, and the man leaves.  Samuel has him killed later and the body dumped in a truck.

Noah has a odd encounter with a past almost-fling, but she had her memory wiped so she is hesitant to believe him.

The main portion is Peter going after Sylar to retreive Nathan.  He finally gets the Haitian's power to negate Sylar's abilities and put them on a level playing field.  He uses a nail gun and punches and harsh language to beat Sylar up, then tries to erase the "Sylar" parts out of Sylar.  Obviously Peter should know that healers cannot be mind wiped- a fact proven time and again, they always get better.
Anyway, Nathan comes out, and they try and bond on the rooftop where Peter walked on air.  Well Nathan in an act of retardedness tries to commit personality suicide by diving off the edge, but wouldn't his flight be a natural response to save him?  Well he smashes into a car below, after Peter and Nathan say their goodbyes, and heals and shifts back into Sylar, who waves to Peter and walks away.
HELLOOOOOOO people- Nathan's body is still in a containment unit and can easily be revived with a healthy dose of Claire blood, so we'll probably be seeing more Nathan.  There's also the potential for Sylar to take on Nathan's persona for his own personal gain.  More power for himself to do as he pleases.

Where did Parkman go to?  He looked to be on a determined mission, but as to what it was...  ???
I look forward to Parkman becoming a serious force to be reckoned with.  Another nightmare man, but perhaps for good. 

Whatever- I have to wait and see how things go.

Heroes: Thanksgiving

Noah Bennett stalks his old coworker, Lauren, at a grocery store and asks her to to join Thanksgiving dinner with himself, Claire, and his ex-wife and new boyfriend "Doug".  While through the episode he keeps up the idea that it's not a date, but it pretty much is. 
Noah even gets to meet Mr. Muggles new puppy friend, Miss. Lovegood. 
Well, he kind of gets Claire back together with Gretchen and makes some good with the ex-wife & her man.  Claire is back to being miss stupid, "oh, my life is SOOOOO difficult, blah, blah, blah!"  What the hell Heroes writers? Claire needs to learn that she looks normal, and can heal from damn near anything.  She's got it easy.  I hope they fuck her up bigtime, some serious pain (maybe psychological) to teach her that she is very much a normal person. 
At the end of the episode, she steals one of the compasses from her father and convinces Gretchen to go on a road trip to the carnival of stupidity.

Peter and Angela have an awkward family dinner with Nathan/Sylar.  Nathan/Sylar is fighting with itself for control of the body.  To make matters even stranger, the Petrelli holiday is a forced dinner with the Sylar part, and as soon as he finishes his food, he decides to cut open Angela's head.  Nathan ends up fighting bcak and flying away.  And of course the writers need to be slapped in the face- Peter would have taken the Sylar base ability, he's had it before and knows how it works, why wouldn't he get it to start stock-piling tons of powers.  He has access to the closest power to his own original ability and didn't take it.  He's a fool.  The only other way he could get to Sylar now is by getting the Haitian's power and killing him while dampening the healing.
Oh, another side note, wouldn't Claire's blood bring Nathan's frozen body back to life???

Samuel learns about his power's potential from Mohinder's film reel.  Why didn't Hiro just bring Mohinder into the now?  That would solve the hiding him part. 
Anyway, Samuel still won't give Charlie back to Hiro, and flaunts it as the reason Hiro can't kill him.  But of course there is a way around this, as mentioned in my Heroes post like 2 weeks ago(maybe last week's episode).  Things get tense and Hiro and Lydia go back to the night Samuel's brother was killed by a "government man".  As it turns out, Samuel killed his own brother, and upon Hiro and Lydia's return to the now- Samuel blames it on Edgar.  Hiro saves Edgar to help at a later time.  By the looks of things Hiro is inadvertantly building an army to eliminate the growing Samuel problem. 
Hiro could even go back to right before Charlie was taken save her and kill Samuel, thus solving everyone's problems.

Whatever, I must be a lover of painful writing because I continue to watch this crap.  If I, of all people, can think of simple solutions to all these in show problems, I am sure MANY others have found alternative solutions, which means there needs to be better writers on the show. 
What happened to all the awesome of the first season? 
I quit for tonight.
More complaints after tonight's episode.

Heroes: Brother's Keeper

A mobile last minute post before tonight's new episode.
Tracy is losing control of her abilities and goes to find Noah Bennett She instead finds Claire and they have a low grade lesbian moment. Claire gets frozen and her foot breaks off. She thaws and apparently grew a whole new foot. She needs to look into organ donation.
Hiro jumps back in time and gets ahold of a film telling of Samuel's full potential. Why doesn't someone jut kill him? With all the powers around him it shouldn't be that difficult. Even Hiro could just teleport Samuel's head a fraction of a moment through time and space- a hell of a spectacular decapitation. Maybe even teleport it into Samuel's own hands a few minutes prior to doing it. So Samuel would be all WTF?! My own head! Then kerplowey, his own dissappears.
Over in Petrelli land- Peter gets info from the Haitian pointing to Nathan being Sylar's body. Nathan and Peter go find Nathan's body which as not disposed of as it should have been, then go to find Parkman...
...and Parkman is conveniently healed by Peter. Parkman tells them that Nathan only needs to touch him to be reunited with Sylar's mind- so much for mental powers. Well, big suprise, Nathan touches him "accidentally" and now Sylar is somewhere in his own body while it still believe's itself to be Nathan. I would also lke to note that Peter specifially takes the flight power- so instead of getting a random one he knows which to take. That also leads me to wonder why he still hasn't taken Sylar's main power and subsequently all the sub-abilities??? Peter's an idiot. If he got them all he could use Sylar's own ability to cut out the healing power(the magic spot) from Sylar's body, and finally kill the guy.
Well, they take off and Parkman is full on powered up- using it to escape from the hospital/police custody.
I think that is a good enough on the spot episode recap.
Later peoples.

Heroes: Shadowboxing

Trying for a super quick post.

Sylar's body wakes up at the carnival as Nathan, gets up and flies away.  Then at the end shows up at Peter's apartment saying he may be in trouble.  Sylar's body contains his original ability, so if he accesses it can he fix Peter's neutered ability?  Reverting Peter back to the Badass-ness he held in the first season would be awesome.

While Rebecca is telling Mr. Bennett about who her target really is(himself- a vengeance quest for killing her father, very cliche) Samuel is trying to build a divide between Claire and her father.  It doesn't work to well, and Samuel eventually tasers Rebecca to help his own case, and make Noah look worse.  Noah also figures out that the sinkhole killing many was done by Samuel and also finds out that the compass could be used for bad things in the wrong hands.
Also, Gretchen decides that her life is more important than Claire's friendship and leaves.  So no more lesbianic scenes.

Peter is learning that the new power is draining himself while he heals many patients from a train wreck.  He also sees Emma do some medical work and points it out to her, she tries to say she learned it from TV or something, but then admits it's from medical school.  She also tells him about the nephew of hers that died because she couldn't hear him while he was drowning.  Peter tells her she saved the little girl earlier, and passes her the girl's tiara.  They had a moment.  Oh wow, how unexpected.

Then Parkman and Sylar are pushing each other around, trying to gain the upper hand in the body's pilot seat.  Parkman has the advantage of the telepathy, but Sylar doesn't care about killing people, so it becomes a difficult inner battle.  Sylar tells Parkman that he can't win because Sylar will kill everyone involved with his body-theft.  In the end Parkman tells Sylar he will kill someone to stop Sylar, himself.  He left a note with the waitress at a diner saying he had a gun and will kill everyone, the police arrive and Parkman makes Sylar mimic pulling a gun out, and then gets shot.  Very cool.  I figured he would have suicided, but this works as well.
What I don't get is how Parkman can't just take Sylar's mind and stuff it in a comatose person's body.  Or just set up a mental vault and keep him in it for good.  He would then be stuck with absolutely no way to do anything.  He can control minds, which means Sylar should have ZERO influence over him.  This bothers me a lot.

Screw this, I'm done for now.