DVD
Review: Heroes Season 1
Review by Craig Byrne
NOTE:
This review is of the regular edition DVD set for Heroes
Season One, on sale August 28, 2007. (Click
here to order your own copy and support this site!)
There is a HD-DVD edition with even more special features
which you can order here.
With
all of the press and publicity that NBC has arranged for
the first season DVD collection of Heroes, you'd
think that a set like this would have trouble meeting
the hype. Fortunately, Heroes Season One on DVD
is a fantastic experience spread out over 7 discs.
Here, I'll take a look at the highs and lows of this terrific
set:
Packaging/Design:
The box art for Heroes Season One is simple but
very effective. The outer box is simply the Heroes logo
as seen on the left hand side of this very page; the inner
box has a full cast shot with a cityscape background.
It's kind of got a golden shine to it, and it looks really
good.
Individual
discs are equally simple but very classy. Universal has
wisely gone with single-sided discs here instead of those
double-sided things that I hate so much. The inner packaging
and DVD menus have a comic-style motif so you know exactly
what to find and on which disc. The montage of clips on
the DVD menus is a well-edited look at some of the best
moments of the season.
The
Content: Wow. A friend of mine said that the best
DVD sets need to have a "hook" for them, and
here it is the 72-minute original cut of the Heroes
pilot. Even though I'd seen it over a year ago at
Comic-Con, I'd clearly forgotten some of the best moments.
I watched with the Tim Kring commentary, where he talks
about some of the bits that he liked and why they were
ultimately changed. There's a whole different storyline
for Matt Parkman the first time around, tying into a terrorism
angle that was ultimately dropped. Watch closely for Mohinder's
quest that ultimately leads him to the home of "Paul
Sylar."
Also
on Disc One were some deleted scenes from that unaired
pilot, including an entire plotline for Leonard Roberts'
D.L. character. Before this I had no idea that Leonard
had filmed scenes for the first episode of Heroes,
so that was definitely neat to learn some trivia I never
knew.
What
amazed me was that a lot of these unused scenes were just
as beautiful and well-executed as the rest of the show.
I'm glad they were preserved for this release.
In
addition to the first season's 23 episodes (more on that
in a moment), there are commentaries on all of the episodes
of the season's second half. A lot of these were originally
seen as videos on NBC.com. Unfortunately, they're in audio-only
form here; although I am pretty sure the video variations
are seen on the HD-DVD.
I was a little disappointed to see that it was just audio
here, but that's just a minor nitpick.
There
are special featurettes on Disc 7 that I'm still going
through, including a fascinating look at artist Tim Sale,
the man who is essentially Isaac's painting hand. Features
on the sound of Heroes and the effects are also
within.
Almost
every episode also has deleted scenes that add to the
viewing experience. One thing that surprised me, though,
was that there were no deleted scenes for the first season
finale, "How To Stop An Exploding Man." An episode
as "big" as that one, I'd expect at least something
to be missing from the cutting room floor.
The
Episodes: Like I've said, all 23 episodes are on here,
and they look GREAT. However, for better for worse, it
does bring up an unavoidable problem I have with Heroes
and a lot of network TV in general, and that is that
the show is so much better without commercial interruption.
Heroes is the kind of show that keeps you glued
to the tube, and when you break for 3 minutes a few times
during the hour, it really damages the enjoyment.
|
From
a storytelling standpoint, I still feel that Heroes
is a show that gets better and better as it goes
along. If you're showing the series to a new viewer
and they don't "get" it right away, keep
them watching; by episode #5 or so, they will be
hooked.
My
personal favorite episode, by the way, is "Company
Man," in case anyone wants to pick one that
stands out to me. Jack Coleman, Greg Grunberg, Hayden
Panettiere, and the guests really knocked it out
of the park with that show.
|
|
I
sometimes wonder if the ratings drop at the end of this
past season came from people who figured they'd just wait
for the DVD set to come a few months later. Either way,
Heroes is the perfect show for DVD - a 23-chapter
"movie" perfectly set for a marathon watching
session.
Boo,
Hiss: At least one of the discs contains commercials.
Hopefully the commercials helped to fund all of the good
special features and keep the price down, but it's still
pretty annoying. On the bright side, though, one of the
commercials is for Bionic
Woman.
One
other thing that would have been great for this set but
is unfortunately missing: In the United Kingdom, they
are running a series called Heroes Unmasked much
like Doctor Who Confidential. These specials feature
exclusive interviews with show cast and crew, and would
have made a great addition to the DVD set.
The
Final Verdict: Despite those minor omissions, Heroes
Season One might just be the best big-studio DVD release
I've seen to date. Like I said, it's a great show to watch
in a marathon setting. The extra features are great; I
loved seeing the original pilot, and to watch these shows
with commentaries is fascinating. I HIGHLY recommend getting
this one when it hits stores on August 28, 2007, or, of
course, by pre-ordering
it online.
I
hope future Heroes DVD releases are just as good.
This one, however, I give a 5-star rating.
Pre-order
your Season 1 DVD set today!
Return
Home
Heroes
and its characters and related images are copyright ©2007
NBC Universal Television. This is a fan site and not authorized
by NBC. Page copyright ©2007 KryptonSite, unless
the material is noted as coming from someplace else or
being by an individual author.
Heroes
stars Hayden Panettiere, Jack Coleman, Santiago Cabrera, Masi Oka, Greg Grunberg, Adrian Pasdar, Milo Ventimiglia, Ali Larter, Noah Grey-Cabey, David Anders, Kristen Bell, Dana Davis, Dania Ramirez, Zachary Quinto, James Kyson Lee, and Sendhil Ramamurthy.
PLEASE
DO NOT TAKE GRAPHICS, NEWS, SPOILERS, ETC. FROM HEROSITE
WITHOUT FIRST ASKING
PERMISSION AND PLACING A LINK TO HEROSITE.NET. OR,
JUST SEND PEOPLE OVER TO THIS SITE! THANKS!
Pre-order
your Season 1 DVD set today!
