Why I'm Not Blogging About Heroes Anymore.

That's right, faithful reader. I've reached the end of my stick with writing about this show but before I go, a few parting shots:

• You know things have gone awry when I'm rooting for Sylar to kill the Typhoid Twins.
• What's the point of Sylar anyway? He has essentially been reset to season one Sylar, trying to get his powers back up.
• Speaking of reset, this show as too many characters and stories back at square one
• Peter is trying to figure out his powers
• There is a dystopian future he must prevent
• Issac's paintings are the key even though he's been dead for 5 plus months storywise and despite his spell of no input due to not being high, we're too believe he painted at least 7 more future laden clues before Sylar ate his brain
• Mohinder trusts the wrong guy
• Mohinder is the symbol for everything I hate about this show right now. His character is so dumb it is beyond comprehension. I remember how happy I was when I thought Sylar killed him last season.
• I don't care about Claire trying to fit into a new school or her new stalker boyfriend.
• What do you do with your best and most popular character (and Emmy-nominated actor)? You separate him from the rest of the cast and give him his own lame storyline.
• As much as I hated the "Save the Cheerleader, Save The World" campaign, at least it showed that the story was going somewhere. This year, I have no clue what the hell is going on.
  
• H.R.G. is the only interesting character on the show.
• Given how great and exciting "Five Years Later" was in season one, isn't it clear the producers should have let Peter blow up New York?
  

I'm going to keep watching but I just can't muster up the energy to write about this show.

Countdown to Lost begins now

Read More......

Heroes Season Two: "Fight or Flight"

I miss Mars Investigations.

I'm changing my style of writing about these episodes.

What I Liked:

• Kristen Bell is back on television.
• Matt Parkman expanding the use of his powers.
• No Claire/SuperStalker in this episode
• No Typhoid Twins in his episode
• Micah being Yoda to Monica's Luke Skywalker. It's good to see someone have fun with their powers for once (not counting Elle frying one of the Irishmen)

What I Didn't Like:

• Since they made such a big deal of Kristen Bell joining the cast, they kind of wasted her.
• I've been told by a couple of people that I'm being nitpicky but it really annoys me how quickly character's travel on this show. I'm going to need a timeline because without them saying so, I'm assuming that all these stories are going on at the same or around the same time.
• I can't stand how stupid these characters act. Why would Mohinder bring Molly back to the company when there the ones who had her locked up in the first place? Why would Matt, a POLICE DETECTIVE, enter a room with a suspect (father or not) that he hasn't inspected? Why would Niki go to The Company for her problems when Linderman, who ran the Company, shot her husband, D.L.? I can do this all day...
• Why isn't there more of a Butterfly Effect with Hiro tampering in the past? They showed in the beginning how is actions changed the past a little bit but they haven't remarked on it since.

Questions:

• Without access to Molly's ability tracking power and giving that Monica JUST learned she had powers, how did Mohinder show up on her doorstep?
• Who is Elle's father? (I think Papa Petrelli is still alive)
• How did whomever Elle was working for lose Peter in the first place?
• Is Papa Parkman really The Nightmare Man?
• Did Nathan has facial reconstructive surgery in the four months from saving New York and the premiere?
• Does Matt have the ability to save Molly himself with his expanding powers?
• Who else's powers have we not seen the full extent of?
• Was Peter lying when he said his new Irish girlfriend's artwork was good?

Read More......

Heroes Season Two: "The Kindness of Strangers"

After the preview for next week, I already don't care about this episode.

• Why didn't anyone call Claire's parents after she ditched school with SuperStalker?
• If anyone is going to put a bullet in HRG's eye, it will be SuperStalker?
• Aww, my two dads. They are a little too close in their argument. I can't be the only one who expected a smooch.
• Damn, that is a nice beard.
• What happened to Nate's wife who helped ruin season six of 24?
• "I'm not allowed to be here. Bitch, I'm Nathan Petrelli. I will fly you to the sky and drop your ass."
• Typhoid Twins...perfect, I wanted to check on the Giants game.
• 7-3 Giants.
• Sylar got pretty far with a bloody stomach in the woods in the middle of nowhere.
• Is Uhura reading from a teleprompter?
• Apparently, you need to be kinda cute to have powers. (Doing an age check on IMDB for Dana Davis)
• So she confesses for a crime that they should have on videotape?
• "But I can fly." Nice pickup line.
• (Dana Davis is legal. Awesome)
• Nathan shaved. I hope he donated his beard hair to goodwill
• Matt is teaming up with another power. This should end well.
• Bye Mama Petrelli. I know she's not dead yet but the Heroes writing staff was never known for its subtlety.
• How are they twins but only one can understand English?
• Well, Typhoid Twins are going to be suckers too.
• (Please let this not play out with Sylar killing the brother which sets the sister loose killing everyone. That seems too stupid, right? RIGHT?!?!)
• How is that guy cast as the store manager on two shows on NBC that air back-to-back (Chuck)?
• Katrina victims are the new show stereotypes in 2007.
• Claire, your dad is the master. How do you think you can lie to him?
• HOW IS THIS DUDE FLYING IN DAYLIGHT??!?!
• Damn, Parkman. You got hit with the double whammy: wife cheated AND the baby's his!
• Matt's daddy is a power?
• We at Heroes understand the plight of the African-American Katrina Survivors.

• This relationship is moving a little too fast,no?
• Way to not use your powers, Micah?
• Way to nuzzle up to your cousin's breasts, kid. I wonder how many takes they filmed.
• So one of the people in that photo is the boogeyman. If this were "Lost", I would rewind to the scene where Matt and Nathan looked at the photo and see who was the most noteworthy actor who had not been introduced yet and deduce that he was The Nightmare Man. But this isn't lost and the Giants game is still on.
• What's with Nathan's mirror image?
• Did Sylar just say "golly"?
• Honestly, those police sketches aren't even so good that if you look at it, you immediately know it was them.
• How is Sylar healed from his sword wound?
• Nice defection Claire.
• So H,R.G. and The Haitian are on the road again?
• Does NBC know that the WWE owns all those moves? Did they have to pay Vince Mcmahon for use of Rey Mysterio's 619?
• Way to go, Matt. How did child services leave a child in your hands?

Next Week: VERONICA MA...UM...KRISTEN BELL!!!!!!! Now I give a shit about this show.

Read More......

Heroes Season Two: "Four Months Later..."

So after the non-finale season finale, what's next?

Here are just a collection of thought from the season premiere:

• Mohinder, a.k.a. Sayid's weaker twin brother, still can't act and shouldn't be narrating.
• Fine ass Dania Ramirez has joined us. Thank you, Mr. Kring. First The Sopranos, now this. She has a great agent.
• The fact that Nathan and Peter are still alive and Syler survived, the finale really was pointless.
• So Matt adopted Molly. Are we to assume she's been cured of whatever disease she had in the finale?
• Sulu has been marked for death by the new Syler...oh wait...the old Syler is still around. Iguess the old Heroes are getting wiped out.
• Isn't Nathan a senator? He won the election, right?
  
• I'm glad David Anders (Takezo Kensei and Alias' Sark) is working again but do we really need some The Last Samurai/Michael Dudikoff in feudal Japan.
• Mr. Bennett works at Kinko's!!! How can he tell Claire to not be a cheerleader when he's back at another paper company?
  
• Parkman and Mohinder are raising Molly = My Two Dads
  

Mr. Mohinder, we'll pay you in goooooooooold!

• Claire's still an idiot.
  
• Mr. Bennett has still got it. I was getting worried for a second that going into hiding had made him soft
  
• "How did you honor your son?" You got served, Mrs Petrelli!
• Maya (Ramirez) apparently spreads a disease when separated. Next week, I'll have a good term for the Anti-Wonder Twins.
• So Mohinder and Bennett are working to bring the Company down? Good call, H.R.G. After spending half the season making a fool of Mohinder (the other half Mohinder made a fool of himself), he's who you trust to bring down your enemies? Good luck,
  
• What's with what Nathan saw in the mirror?
• Of course, Claire's stalker can fly. Has Nathan got another kid out there?
• I wonder what Mr. Sulu's power was?
  
• I don't know how well this show can work with Hiro separated from everyone.
• Those are some awful accents.
  
• Who locked up Peter Petrilli? More importantly, he finally cut off those awful bangs?

All and all, a good setup for the season but I definitely have my concerns. I hope we aren't going to have another Boogeyman villain and Hiro needs to rejoin the rest of the cast sooner than later.

Read More......

City of Heroes

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the first four episodes of Heroes

The writing is kinda bad (which anyone who has read a Jeph Loeb comic since Batman "Hush" knows that's not a surprise).

Some of the actors are annoying (Milo Ventimiglia and Ali Larter).

The theme of the season is kinda lame ("Save the Cheerleader. Save The World." Seriously? That must have been some writers' brainstorm).

The characters act questionably (Hiro jumps into the past to an exact time and place Peter is on the subway, but doesn't know the cheerleader's name or address? Mohinder gets called crazy by Nathan and all of the sudden, he's ready to pack his bags and quit?).

So why do I (Well, "we" considering the ratings) love NBC's Heroes so much?

I remember when I downloaded and watched the pilot episode with a friend and we both agreed that it was okay but I could easily see myself being disinterested after a while.

Then I saw the second episode and I was all-but-ready to tune out and watch Monday Night Football and then we realize that Hiro teleported weeks into to the future and the day of the explosion that Issac foretold in his painting from the first episode.

Holy shit.

Then the third episode was equally suspect but then the train froze and there was Hiro with a ponytail, a sword and speaking perfect English to Peter "My hair won't stay out of my eyes" Petrelli.

Holy SHIT!

Clearly, the writers went to the Whedon School of Cliffhangers.

And now here I am hooked on yet another TV show.

The fourth episode didn't live up to the cliffhanger of the previous episode but seeing Nathan take off like a rocket and make a sonic boom in the sky made up for it.

Even though executive producer and creator Tim Kring says he has no background in comics, he has made the ultimate fanboy show.

It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination (People who are comparing this favorably to the first season of Lost need to slow their roll and compare to the first season of The 4400*) but I'll be damned that every time someone uses their power, I don't smile like a little kid.

*Hopefully this won't turn into The 4400 where we're three seasons in and still don't know what the purpose of bringing them back.

Read More......

The Greatest Cartoon Ever: The Beginning Of My Comic Addiction

Now a lot of people will disagree with me very strongly. That's okay. I know the truth, and that is the only opinion on this subject that really matters to me. The Simpsons is the original favorite. Family Guy is funny as all hell. Batman The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited are going to be called the best superhero cartoons ever. My favorite may not be on many people's lists. Well, that should change. What is it you ask? Well this is the part I love: X-Men: The Animated Series.

I watched the first episode after having only heard of them through my neighbor. He was a casual reader, and his small collection had me interested enough to watch this TV show he told me about. The first show premiered and I was stunned. I can still remember watching Rogue fly for the first time, Wolverine popping his claws, Morph dead, Beast taken out of the equation entirely for a long while, and the Sentinels chasing Jubilee. It was some of the coolest shit I have ever seen on television. Every week I could not miss this show. Comic books became a regular of mine, but I was pretty young, so my money and collection were limited. I started with the first five issues of X-Men and a few issues of Uncanny from the local comic book store. I still have the original copies of them all, and have read each of the issues dozens of times. The stories were better than the show. I have heard people say the show ruined a lot of what the X-Men stood for and ruined a lot of old stories by trying to retell them. Sure the retold animated shows were corny and didn't quite fit the mold of the originals, mainly because the characters were different, but I saw it as retelling them for the new audience to get involved. My first time hearing about Phoenix, Shi'ar, the Morlocks, Sabretooth, X-Factor, Cable, etc were all from the show. This got me interested to go and pick up the comic books, something that has come and gone many times. But I got back into for good with Grant's New X-Men. And boy did it ever start something.

Now my collection is probably not as impressive as you may think, but in some form or another, I own or have read all of the big stories, and am still learning things that I didn't really know much about, if only small plotlines. I am not completely on the jocks of these superheroes, as I recognize the low points very much so (Maggott? Jubilee? X-Babies? Bringing back dead characters... All for example...). Stan Lee is a genius for what he has done with Marvel. He created them. Chris owned them. Grant, Joss, and company are perfecting them. And the art has had some of the most impressive in the business: Alan Davis, Adam Kubert, Joe Madureira, Chris Bachelo, John Cassaday, Jim Lee, Frank Quitley, Salvodor Larocca, and many, many others have come along the long ride to lend their talents and visions of these mutants. And the X-Men was just a stepping stone to all else in the comic world to me: Batman (which was the first exposure I got thanks to the movies), Justice League, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Superman, Avengers, the Ulimate Marvel line, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Watchmen, Hulk, among others. What an inventive culture we have here.

In, conclusion, I hope that you have a story like this to tell or something like this in the back of your mind to look back and remember how great it was to discover and read your favorite comics. And I will forever stand by X-Men: The Animated Series as the greatest cartoon to ever grace a television, for it started a love for the greatest superheroes the world has ever seen.

Read More......

Dear TV Bigwigs...........

You are fucking up. Avi Arad, this goes for you, too. As a matter of fact, I'll go ahead and say that Marvel in general is screwing the pooch.

Let's take a moment, fellas, and examine DC and Warner Brothers. Are they not notorious for fucking up? Yeah, well, we can sit around and talk about all the botched ideas and missed oppurtunities that DC and Warner Brothers (and The WB in particular) have on their records.....but when it comes to it, they both have done something that nobody else has done.

They created legitimately good, commercially successful and critically acclaimed television series based on their properties.

Between Smallville, (yeah, but it didn't USED TO suck) Batman:The Animated Series, and Justice League Unlimited DC has stomped the batshit out of Marvel in this arena. Marvel has had the X-men cartoon (which was mostly cool), they Spider-Man CGI series on MTV, and.....uh......that crappy Fantastic Four cartoon. Yeah. Exactly.

I'm not saying that you need to be as prolific as DC on TV, Mr. Arad. All it takes is a spark to start a fire. You need to grab that TV money, homey. Not every Marvel movie is gonna do Spider-man numbers, and Jessica Alba will only save you one or two crappy movies, TOPS. No, you need something MORE. You just aren't SEEEEEEING it.

YOU NEED A FUCKING DAREDEVIL TV SERIES.

The thing about comics on TV is that the money to be lost (as well as the reputation) can be very intimidating. Animation can cost, and live action superheroes on TV? SHEEIT. You'll end up with another Birds of Prey or The Flash trying to stay in budget. You gotta take a page from Smallville and somehow build a great superhero story around a tight budget.

Daredevil is the perfect vehicle for this, and hopefully you didn't already shoot yourself in the foot with the movie. The best part about making Daredevil a TV series is that the fights aren't on a Superman or Batman or Spider-man level of destruction, and nor all the heroes and villains very costly from a production standpoint.

Wait....

No, the BEST part about making a Daredevil TV series would be that IT'S ALREADY FREAKIN WRITTEN FOR YOU. Bendis's run is paced, written, FRIGGIN EVERYTHING-ED like a television series already! The breaks between most issues are very close to how shows like 24 and Alias are done...with a continuing story broken up by smaller arcs. Everyone vouches for the quality of the book and Bendis's run already. What's the holdup?

Anyone reading this inaugural Prep Time Posse please respond with comments. Tell me I'm not crazy.

Read More......