A Fanboy Rants: In Defense Of Heroes

Welcome to a new column where we let our many entertainment aficionado readers sound off on matters of immense import. This week’s rant comes from Brendon in Seattle, WA. With the news this morning that a previously popular television show will be losing some of its top production talent due to poor ratings, I believe you will find this opinion piece to be both timely and impassioned.  Without further adieu, I give you “In Defense of Heroes.”

Heroes is Super Again
Yeah, that’s right, I said it. I don’t care about the grumblings and the mumblings.  You’ve all heard it, right? Hands are flying up all over the country in frustration at the winding plot road that Heroes seems to be on this season. Too much pointless weird crap is happening, apparently. Why is Mohinder acting like Jeff Goldblum from The Fly? What in the world is with that oopy-goopy stuff he throws all over the walls?  Sylar and Peter are brothers, what the hell? No way! Hiro killed Ando? Oh okay, he didn’t, but still! And mother of all mothers, Mr. Petrelli, the dude we all saw die in the first season, has returned to life.

Second Season? What Second Season?
We all remember the second season, despite how much we wish we didn’t.  We were introduced to two incredibly lame new heroes, the terrified twins Alejandro and Maya who mostly just cowered while somebody else saved their asses.  Some superheroes, right?  Starting from that perspective, Heroes has made quite a comeback, I think we can agree. How can you not have a comeback when, in the season premiere, Mohinder and Maya do the dirty right in his apartment? However, the many people who cry out that Heroes is becoming too convoluted to be worth following anymore must be addressed: People, you are wrong.

Comic Books Are Your Friends
I think part of the problem lies in how radically different seasons one and three are – the first season had a clear buildup, it always knew exactly where it was going, and there was only one villain. By now we can’t even count how many villains there are,  not to mention the fact that apparently Sylar is Peter’s brother. The people who loved the first season were people who didn’t usually become involved in the graphic novel/comic book world – Heroes, back then, was sketched more as a drama about these people dealing with these ridiculously amazing powers.  There were some pretty fantastic special effects, but the true creative unleashing was yet to be seen.  So, people took it for what it was. Now that the entire show’s balance has shifted from a singular path and goal into ever-shifting paths and goals, those who liked it for its simplicity and straight forwardness are getting putt off. To which I say: hey, complexity can be just as cool as simplicity.

All Bets Are Off
So series creator Tim Kring chose to throw Heroes off the deep end of the TV show pool, into deep complex waters where he finally fully embraces the undeniable comic book/graphic novel world that Heroes came from. The transition to this more overtly comic book style has been slow, but we’ve seen it on the internet and in all the ad campaigns, the Heroes graphic novels seated next to the Manga in Barnes&Noble.  Anything can happen now in Heroes now, and the scope of the show has become that much more massive because of it. Forget the Heroes you saw in the first and second seasons – this Heroes plays a whole new superhero ball game, and it’s about time.

Are you a fanboy with a rant? Send your submissions to feedback@screenjunkies.com and we just might publish them.