I'm obsessed with the television show heroes. It keeps my attention in many ways. I stopped in Waterloo on my drive back from Dubuque on Tuesday to purchase season one on DVD. I have never bought a television show before on DVD and I can only imagine myself doing it for this one. I really like this show.
But, they made a different pilot episode in three parts that was altered and made into the first two and a half shows, basically, that had some great things part of it. What really upset me was that a part involving an Arab stealing plutonium to make a bomb was replaced by a white guy. I'm pretty sure it was NBC's idea not creator Tim Kring's idea but it was still upsetting that this change was made and it meant that another part where Claire runs through a burning train didn't have it's original context. I'm afraid it all took place because of fear of offending Arabs.
Another disappointment was that the villain was supposed to be Christian, like crazy Christian (please refrain from any cheap comparison's to the author), which would have made so much more sense when there was this whole scene where he had painted "forgive me" on the walls of a hidden room.
On a positive note, the changes to the character of Matt were good. His wife is better in the re-shoot than in the early version. But, Matt seemed more of an opportunist. Maybe I'm reading it with hindsight being 20/20 but who knows?
Nonetheless, I can't wait to hear endless hours of commentary and re-viewing first season before the new ones come out and I have to start VHS taping them. I'm not upset at all, maybe a little disappointed but still coming back for more.
2 comments:
I agree that a little more context of that train scene would have helped a lot. I wish they would have aired the full premiere on TV. I suppose I'll just have to borrow your disk once you get distracted by the new ones ;) I do have a theory on why the Arab stealing the plutonium was excluded/changed in the initial airing.
The first season of Heroes, looking at the core storyline of the villains, had some strong undertones of aligning with the Sept 11th conspiracy theories. In short, causing a national disaster and putting a certain person into power to "lead the people to a better world." It took until closer to the middle/end of the season, hearing Linderman explain his plans, for this parallel to the 9/11 conspiracy to really solidify and take hold in the show. Granted, the signs were there a lot earlier on, but this was the first time it was really confirmed by the show. I think the writers felt the Arab in the beginning would bring viewers to the conspiracy theories too early and cause them to lose interest in the show after "figuring it out." Not to mention the media catching wind of the parallels and exploiting it (for good or bad).
Maybe it was NBC, maybe the writers, just a theory. I think it was victim of trying to keep interest longer. I love the show and hope in the coming season they really take some risks in the direction they take the show.
I couldn't agree more. THANKS FOR THE SEPTEMBER 11 INSIGHT! I'd not made that connection at all and I thought I was a pretty good viewer.
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