io9 
Enter your username and password.
San Francisco, 3:58 AM
Tue Nov 10
25 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors: tips@io9.com
Editor-in-Chief:
Annalee Newitz | Email
News Editor:
Charlie Jane Anders | Email
Associate Editor:
Meredith Woerner | Email
Assistant Editor:
Lauren Davis | Email
Weekend Editor:
Graeme McMillan | Email
Contributors:
Joshua Glenn
Stephen Goldmeier | Email
Ed Grabianowski | Email
Austin Grossman
Paul Hogan | Email
Lauren Davis | Email
Chris Hsiang | Email
Lynn Peril | Email
Ann VanderMeer
Alasdair Wilkins | Email
Graphic Designer:
Stephanie Fox | Email
Interns:
Tim Barribeau | Email
Julia Carusillo | Email
Alex Eichler | Email
Cyriaque Lamar | Email
Caitlin Petrakovitz | Email
Mary Ratliff | Email
Josh Snyder | Email
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/04/09
Original time-line: Sylar kills Charlie, a murder which is witnessed by at least one other waitress. Ando is aware of the murder. Sheriff is called. Yadda-yadda-yadda.
New time-line: Charlie lives. Apparently tells Boss she's taking off with Hiro for a lil' Austin lovin'. Does other Charlie-like things that aren't part of the original time-line. No murder for Ando to be aware of.
IT'S A WHOLE NEW FREAKIN' TIME-LINE!!!
What happens when "Present Hiro" returns from the past and tells Ando he couldn't save Charlie? Does Ando say. "Save? What save? She just took off with your future self."
11/04/09
11/04/09
11/04/09
Then Season 2, taking a cue from Season 1's closer, sucked. I just couldn't get past the shit plots. This post pretty much summarizes why I stopped watching Heroes.
Charlie, if being stucked in Nethertime (??!!) means more time for Glee, please stay there.
11/04/09
11/04/09
11/04/09
Comic books have been my particular brand of geek for close to thirty years now. I've been waiting patiently for a great comic-book TV show. This is not it. #heroes
11/04/09
this whole cat and mouse game they play with the characters just reeks of old dbz episodes. they work all this buildup and then when he season reaches climax, it goes from excitement.. t complete anti-climax, followed by more confusion. some day there will be a great comic-book tv show, i hope other producers are watching it, and using HEROES as a cautionary tale on how run a series to the ground. #heroes
11/04/09
Matt was supposed to be a recovering alcoholic, right?
1. He would not be capable of casual driking, so what the hell is he doing having a beer?
2. What the hell is he doing having a bottle of whisky at home? that's just stupid, no recovering alcoholic would have even a beer can at home #heroes
11/04/09
11/04/09
11/04/09
11/04/09
In response to your points in your first post, his wife knows that he's not an alcoholic, and is trying to stop using his powers, which is the reason that he's going to the meetings. There would be no reason to keep alcohol out of the house, other than to appear to visitors that he was an alcoholic. #heroes
11/04/09
11/04/09
He was never supposed to be bad-ass.
He is a comic book geek/lovable nerd, the last thing Heroes needs is a bad-ass future Hiro.
A dark/bad ass-Hiro would be like a bad-ass Hurly on Lost.
You -dont- want these characters bad-ass but you DO want them to stick up for themselfs in cool ways occasional, butjust rarely e nought to be both a surprise and entertaining.
"First of all, he can stop time. SO WHY NOT JUST FREAKIN RIP SYLAR'S HEAD OFF WHILE HE IS FROZEN?! "
As he explains, he dosnt want to mess up the timeline. The whole point was he could make a single change without messing up the rest.
Amazingly, the time travel in this episode actually made sense, he changed time, but also ensured things happened anyway due to very slightly different reasons.
Now, as long as Heroes keeps the "timelines stay correct as long as they are close enough to the original" view of time travel, they are ok. #heroes
11/04/09
Why does no one on this show ever realize what their powers can do! #heroes
11/04/09
11/04/09
Or, go back in time and kill Inkstain for being the douche that he is. As far as Hiro is concerned this is the present, he can mess him up a few minutes ago and not ruin any destinies.
I like the show, and I think it is a major improvement over last season, but the carnival story is pissing me off. #heroes
11/04/09
11/03/09
Trust me, if I didn't I wouldn't have this damned avatar. Every recap I find my finger on the button to change it in a fit of embarrassment that I used to rave about that show until I realize that I'm deleting the 9th fucking Doctor. You can't just delete the 9th fucking Doctor, right? He'll just turn into David Tennant, and everyone and their dog has a clever David Tennant avatar somewhere.
Plus, he pushed Peter off of a building, and for that alone I'll bear his banner with pride. #heroes
11/04/09
11/03/09
1) it's not morally acceptable for him, and it's not Hero-like (Superman never kills!) Hiro is not a killer!
2) it would change the history of the last 3 years in a completely undermined way, possibly undoing a lot of things that have been fixed. His goal is only to make small change that have no concequence to the overall outcome of history. Sylar must still get back on the road to the cheerleader. #heroes
11/03/09
11/04/09
11/04/09
11/04/09
We have to pretend that absolutely everything is wrong with heroes even when they do something that is not only explained on the show, but makes sense too. #heroes
11/04/09
In this case I -think- the right way to do it would be to simple snatch the guy from just before his death and bring him into the present. (thus he has no effect on the timeline during the period he should be dead....which is pretty like being dead no?).
If you want to get really smart, you could spend a few months finding a roughly matching body to replace the guy with too.
Of course, by that time Hiro might be dead due to a tumour. But I like the principle of non-interferance time travel as long as you ensure the timeline more or less stays the same.
For all we know humans invent time travel in a thousand years and have already been plucking people from history, but they are just good at doing it just before their (unnatural) deaths and replacing them with lock-alike corpses :P #heroes
11/04/09
Everybody kills Hitler their first time #heroes
11/03/09
So... Do I watch season one, knowing the frustration that will follow, or do I save myself the pain, and skip it? #heroes
11/04/09
Season3/4 is no where near as bad as people say, allthough there is some truely bad eppisodes within them. #heroes
11/03/09
Why not when you freeze time, teleport Sylar to the middle of the ocean or the mojave or the sun?
If you are going to alter the past by saving someone's life then don't worry about screwing up the space/time. It has to be one or the other. Either changing the past is bad or changing the past is ok.
A serious question that arises from a dumb show but if you could back in time and stop someone from killing 10 or 100 or 1000 people don't you have a moral obligation to do it? Doesn't your inaction make you responsible for those deaths??
I can accept that a playboy millionaire dresses up like a bat to strike fear into the hearts of criminals, but Batman is responsible for all of the deaths because of the Joker.
11/04/09
Why ? Why one way or the other.
Whats wrong with changing the past, but only in ways that dont effect anything else?
Lots of sci-fis take the view that timelines self-correct to some extent, I dont see why it cant be a possibility.
Hiro seems worried about messing up the future, so he looks for a way to remove Charlie without effecting anything else. And, frankly, I cant see a problem with his method.
Remember Syler never got Charlies power in the original timeline so even Sylers position in the timeline isnt changed much. #heroes
11/03/09
Why would Syler NOT kill Hiro and take his powers?
Syler: Look dude, it's cool that you control fucking TIME and SPACE, but I seriously got to get to this high school and get some regeneration power. Which is way better than THE POWER TO DESTROY EVERYTHING.
Hiro: But you have to help me! She is the Marle to my Crono! Plus I'll totally tell you about your future, and what happens and stuff. It's totally way more awesome than what would happen if a person as insanely powerful as me wasn't written by lazy, incompetent hacks.
Syler: Okay, now you've really done it. You've made a reference to Chrono Trigger, and somehow you've made it lame. Somehow, it still made me groan. Now I've SUPER gotta kill you.
(Hiro freezes time, runs behind Syler, unfreezes time.)
Syler (turning around in bafflement): Ah! Fooled again! Cuuurrssses!
Hiro (smiling smugly): So we have a deal?
Syler(growling): Looks like I don't have a choice.
AND THEN, IN AN AWESOME TWIST:
Syler kills Hiro and takes his powers. Camera cuts to a line of graves with the names of ALL the other characters on them.
THE END
(of a show that needs to be put down like a blind, arthritic cat stuck in a mini-Iron Lung because its greedy asshole owner won't let it die.) #heroes
11/03/09
"Sylar kills Hiro and takes his powers. Camera cuts to a line of graves with the names of ALL the other characters on them."
I like it. It's a wrap. Great work everyone. #heroes
11/03/09
Case in point:
"Oh boo freakin hoo. You think Sylar cares if anybody sheds a tear for him?"
Seriously? If you don't know that Sylar's whole character revolves around his obsession of being "special" and being noticed... well you shouldn't be reviewing the show. Honestly, he has been a main character since season 1. How can you not know this? The writers even reminded us of this in every single season via subplots/flashbacks.
Also:
"SO WHY NOT JUST FREAKIN RIP SYLAR'S HEAD OFF WHILE HE IS FROZEN?!"
...because he did not want to completely screw up time and space? This was stated just a few measly minutes before he froze time and moved Sylar...
He even said it again WHILE he was putting Sylar in the bus... It's even in the friggin' clip you posted with the article! How did you miss it?
Here's another:
"And why does he need to imprison Charlie?"
Because, as anyone who knows the Hiro character at all has already figured out, it is the only way to get Hiro to listen. Do you honestly believe there is a better way to do it? Hiro is dying, so he wouldn't care about death threats. Just think about it before you rant.
Now, I'll agree that "kiddie Hiro" is getting really really played out. He needs to act more grown up. I'll also agree that Charlie's whineing about being saved seemed forced. However, the show is, in all honesty, much better than it has been the past two seasons. So my advice would be to go back and actually watch the show before writing your reviews. It honestly seems as if you just scrub through each episode to get the "basic gist" of what is going on so you can just barely get away with calling your articles "reviews".
11/03/09
Which means that she tells more or less what happens in the show. Like, briefly.
Analee then makes opinions based on what happened. And they're funny.
And a lot of us enjoy it.
Personally I find it hilarious (I used to watch the show) and can 100% relate to how she feels.
Again, relaaax. smiley face. #heroes
11/03/09
Honestly, all the stuff you mentioned would make more sense if the show actually stuck to its own cannon. Hiro (and Peter) have proven time and time again that changing the past is perfectly ok if they're the ones doing it. So why do the writers feel that now is the time that Hiro shows some responsibility in his power? Every episode contains a plot contradiction!
While I think most people would agree the show is better than it has been in past seasons, the show's timeline and story is so fucked up beyond belief its impossible to make this a genuinely good show. #heroes
11/04/09
Also, how many big things have they changed in the past that did not result in something bad? Certain things they "changed" were always meant to be. The best example of this is Hiro's adventures in feudal Japan. If he never went back and did what he did, he would have never idolized Kensei as a child and, morally, he'd be a much different person.
The only really stupid thing the writers have done thus far with the power is to have Peter bring Caitlin to the future and then suddenly forget about her and leave her there. Other than that, it's all been fine... but admittedly overdone.
I wholeheartedly agree that there are many plot holes in Heroes. I'll also agree that nearly every episode forms some sort of contradiction. I'll even agree that Heroes will most likely never return to it's former glory. However, the fact that Heroes is still amongst the top downloaded and watched shows currently airing on television only proves that Heroes must be doing something right and is, when talking numbers, a good show. #heroes
11/04/09
[answers.polldaddy.com]
You can't argue with democracy, my friend. #heroes
11/04/09
Now I know! :D #heroes
11/04/09
No they dont, they have clearly shown Hiro messing up timelines before didnt work because he did it willy-nilly.
Hiro has been "being responsible" with his power for a long time now.
If anything, last eppisode seemed to cerment how heroes time travel works;
Timelines self-correct to some extent, but any major changes stick.
I just dont think people can bare to admit that what Hiro did this eppisode mostly made sense.
He removed someone that would be dead from a timeline while ensuring his past self thinks she is going to die anyway.
The difference between being dead/missing of a rather minor character like Charlie really isnt going to effect the timeline much.
But killing slyer? I cant think of a more major change possible.
(you can still, of course, fairly make the morel argument that any timeline without him would be better, so its worth the risk, but that isnt counter to the shows logic, more counter to Hiros ethics). #heroes
11/04/09
In some ways its like ZeroPuncuation. Frequently funny, but not to be trusted for accuracy. #heroes
11/04/09
Yeah, that's really telling about how you feel about the show. Which in turn will color your reviews whether you think they do or not.
If you hate the show that much, forget the polls. Just don't watch it. It has practically become a form of weekly penance for you to watch it anyway. Doesn't seem worth the heartache. #heroes
11/04/09
And the whole Glenn Beck = Annalee thing? Really? You're going to compare a guy who is actively trying to disrupt rational American politics with a person who doesn't much like a failing TV show, which, btw, most other people think sucks?
I guess the hyperbole is your BFF. #heroes
11/04/09
Right now, they not only have Hiro going back on his promise not to change history (again!) but the tumor supposedly keeping him from shifting isn't really doing its job either. Just a couple of episodes ago we had Hiro barely able to stop time without nose bleeds, fainting or not being able to restart time easily. One could argue that this time he was using his power responsibility and wasn't just doing things willy nilly. But the only reason he really succeeded was because Circus Guy told him he was leaving loose ends.
Heroes' time travel is inconsistent at best. Sometimes "things are meant to happen" and other things are left up to Hiro and Peter. There have been so many different futures (half of them offering little to no explanation at all as to how they came to be) and all of them seem to have major events, yet with the flick of a wrist, we have Peter and Hiro making small changes to drastically influence the future.
And Sylar? Oh Sylar. Somehow he managed to break out of Hiro's time freeze but at the diner he was all compliant and ready to bargain with Hiro? You could argue that Sylar learned Hiro's power by the time they met later in S1 (because of their meeting a few months earlier), but that seems unlikely considering that Sylar has never been able to mimic Hiro's powers. #heroes
11/04/09
As for the Glenn Beck comparison, he openly admitted to being an "entertainer" and has stated that he only does those things for ratings and for the viewers. Annalee has just said she only does the "recaps" to entertain the readers who like them and voted for it in a poll. That seems like a pretty good comparison to me. :)
Also, "most people" on io9 is not the same as "most people" in the world. So, what was that you were saying about being "BFFs" with the hyperbole? :)