After getting off to an outstanding start, Heroes wasn’t able to deliver much of anything in the latter half of the first season. The series peaked right around the time Peter saved the cheerleader, and everything afterwards seemed anti-climactic. It was obviously stalling for time after shooting its wad too early, sending its heroes on one side-quest after another while trying to justify the lull by arguing about semantics, i.e. “Maybe it was ‘Save the cheerleader,
then save then world’.” And even though the series was still good at creating cliffhangers, the payoffs were never as good as the setups, and each episode ultimately left me feeling disappointed. The writing seemed to suffer because of the assembly-line approach dictated by network television in America, and perhaps the biggest sign of the show’s decline was all the recycled story ideas.
The premise itself is a blatant rip-off of the X-Men combined with the realistic approach of M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable, but it worked in the beginning. Most of the powers displayed by the heroes are familiar comic book archetypes, but even that was forgivable because the actors were all fresh faces and the writing was so sharp. As the series progressed, it began to incorporate elements from other sources, so the following article lists some examples of other people's ideas that have already worked their way into the show, and other possible story lines Heroes might rip off/pay homage to in the future.
- The X-Files - One of the ultimate cult classics on TV, it started out as a compelling series where each individual episode stood on its own as a terrific little horror story. But then the series got bogged down in the alien invasion plot and the machinations of the mysterious group of rich white men who were manipulating events from the shadows. Heroes has its own group of rich white men with unlimited resources and an interest in the paranormal, represented by Mr. Bennet's former employer, the Company. And Bennet himself started out as a mysterious villain known only to the heroes as "The Man With The Horn-Rimmed Glasses" which seemed like an homage to William B. Davis' "Cigarette Smoking Man".
- The Watchmen - Considered one of the greatest stories in the history of comic books, Heroes has beaten Hollywood to the punch by stealing several ideas from this iconic Alan Moore story before Hack Snyder (300) could bring his version to the big screen. Both stories have two generations of heroes, a mysterious killer hunting the retired crime-fighters, and the villain's plot in the Watchmen was more or less the same as Linderman's nefarious idea to unite people through a shared tragedy. (Side question: instead of manipulating Peter's entire life to turn him into a human bomb that destroys New York, wouldn't it have been much easier to build an actual bomb?)
- The Lord Of The Rings - Sauron only had one evil eye to watch Frodo with, but apart from that this new unseen villain haunting Molly's dreams is a lazy knock-off of the Dark Lord of Mordor. I can't imagine anything much more obvious than that spooky voice telling Molly "I can see you". It's like the writers aren't even trying to hide their influences any more.
- Star Wars – What was the purpose of Nathan’s vision of his scarred visage in barroom mirror during the season two premiere? Anything would be better than that ridiculous beard, but I suspect this was more than just an expression of his inner desire to try a new look. I’ll bet that something in the future will leave Nathan hideously scarred – perhaps a tragic shaving accident – and this will lure Nathan over to the dark side where he becomes some sort of masked, heavy-breathing Darth Vaderesque villain, bitter from losing the election and hell-bent on seizing power any way possible.
- Star Trek – After the stunt casting of George Takei and Nichelle Nichols, it’s apparent that someone on the creative team is an original series era Trekkie. So how long will it be before some of Gene Roddenberry’s concepts start working their way into this increasingly derivative show? Probably not long. Maybe Matt Parkman’s abilities will evolve to the point where he can perform mind melds. Maybe once the heroes finally decide to don uniforms they’ll be brightly coloured and made of velour. Hayden Panettiere in an ultra-miniskirt would be a real ratings boost for sure. But my money is on a more obvious choice – the Eugenics Wars. For the uninitiated, that's shorthand for humans vs. the genetically enhanced in all all-out war for world supremacy. Substitute “mutants” for “genetically enhanced” and it’s a perfect fit. Plus it would double up as yet another idea inspired by the X-Men. Of course, the show won’t actually deliver a war. There’ll just be a lot of talk about it without either side ever taking any action. An all-out war is something the budget could never handle, so the writers will probably just give us the familiar tease without the climax.
- Spider-Man – He’s the biggest superhero of them all, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of the web-slinger working its way into the show somehow. Isaac Mendez selling paintings of the heroes was already sort of similar to Peter Parker's day job at a photographer. Also, take Peter Petrelli’s first name plus Matt Parkman's last name and what do you have? Grounds for a lawsuit, that's what. Plus, both characters have a lot in common with the Marvel Comics archetype of an everyman hero, but Peter/Parkman’s powers are already well-established, so there’s another way they’ll have to go to make this work. You’ve already got a scientist (Dr. Suresh) and an apartment filled with insects (cockroaches) so throw in some radiation and bingo – Cockroach Man! Sure, it sounds absurd, but people hate spiders almost as much as they hate cockroaches, so everyone thought Stan Lee was crazy too.
- Batman– Number two on the Hollywood Superhero power list, and an obvious source for inspiration, if you can call stealing inspiration. I laughed out loud when Claire’s new season two love interest introduced himself as West, as in Adam, so I wondered if he’d turn out to be the son of wealthy parents who were killed before his eyes, but instead it turns out dude can fly, so who knows where they’re going with that. In any case, West is the stupidest first name for a television character since Fox, as in Mulder. Maybe Mr. Bennett will get tired of being some powerless sissy, don a utility belt, and start fighting crime under the shadow of darkness.
- The Seven Samurai – With Hiro in 17th century Japan, this one is practically inevitable. The main questions are how blatant will the rip-off be, will any of the fanboys even recognize such an old school reference, and will this rip-off include a subsidiary rip-off of…
- The Princess Bride – As soon as Hiro’s childhood idol turned out to be a phony, I expected to see some Dread Pirate Roberts action. It’s already going in that direction, with the Englishman using locals to do his bidding while pretending to be Tazeko Kensei, so I suspect Hiro will assume the identity of the famous samurai, save the village, win the girl, solve the mystery of the fire swamp, then, once the name of Takezo Kensei has been redeemed, he’ll pass on the mantle to some young Japanese warrior, telling him that the name is what strikes fear into the hearts of villains, not the man, yada, yada, yada, it’s all been done before, and then Hiro will teleport off to somewhere else cool. Maybe some place with pirates.
- Pirates Of The Caribbean - Pirates are hot right now, and much cheaper to shoot than giant transforming robots, and since the producers of this show seem shameless enough to give the fanboys what’s worked before, this wouldn’t be too much of a stretch.
- Office Space – Mr. Bennet’s story arc in the season two premiere seemed to be a one-off copy of the hero’s crappy day job and annoying boss in The Incredibles, but maybe they’ll stick with this for a while and show Bennet going ape on a fax machine. Unlikely though, since the HRG as Assistant Manager subplot was already wrapped up in a neat little clichéd bow.
- Night Gallery – You could make a case that Isaac’s paintings were a rip-off of Night Gallery from the very beginning, but they were an important part of the show’s visual appeal – and much cheaper than actual FX – so I was quite surprised when Hiro wasn’t able to somehow save Isaac. True, Santiago Cabrera was the worst actor on the show, but that doesn’t mean the paintings have to cease. Peter absorbed Isaac’s powers, so hopefully he found the time to produce some artwork during the hiatus. And since Mohinder’s voice-overs are already a familiar part of the opening of each episode, you could always have him walk through a darkened room full of Isaac’s paintings while delivering that painful exposition and smoking a cigarette.
- Desperate Housewives – I was surprised when Mrs. Bennett turned out to still be a part of the series when she showed up at the dinner table. I had assumed that she’d been written off the show, just like Matt’s wife, Nathan's wife, Claire’s friend Zach, and all the other characters who had simply disappeared when the producers no longer felt like paying their salaries. If Mrs. Bennet is still around, there must be a reason for it beyond the constant obsessive dog-owner jokes that were explored so completely in Best In Show. She’s no Eva Longoria, but she’s not much older or uglier than Felicity Huffman, so expect to see a shirtless swarthy poolboy or a handsome man trapped in a sexless marriage to appear in the neighbourhood before sweeps week. As for Claire's brother who did nothing but nod and mumble one line in the season two premiere – he’s dead meat. Unless he’s some network executive’s nephew, I expect his character to be killed off ASAP. Either that or he’s got nothing better to do and he’ll keep showing up at short notice each week to be little more than a glorified extra. Good career path.
- Three Men And A Little Lady – You’ve already got Matt Parkman and Dr. Suresh taking care of Molly. And now that George Takei’s character is out of the picture, Ando suddenly finds himself jobless and storyless. What good is a sidekick without a hero to suck up to? I can see Ando moving in with Matt and Suresh while the three of them bicker and make one hilarious blunder after another while trying to raise poor Molly, who turns out to be more of an adult than any of the grown-ups, ‘natch. Throw in a wacky neighbour and you’ve got a sitcom classic in the making. And speaking of neighbours, I know Eden is dead, but that doesn’t have to mean she’s dead dead. She’s too cute to stay killed, and since credibility is no longer an issue on this show, I say bring her back. It could be Three Men, A Ghost, And A Little Lady. I smell an Emmy. Well, maybe a Golden Globe.
I didn't go back and rewatch the entire first season before writing this post, so feel free to let me know about any recycled ideas I may have missed. And despite all my whining, I still think that season one of Heroes is very much worth having on DVD, even if you wind up throwing away the final disc. I wouldn't have bothered writing a post like this if I hadn't enjoyed the beginning of the series so thoroughly, which lead to my disappointment when the show fell so far so fast. And I wouldn't have bothered watching the season two premiere if I hadn't been hoping for the best while expecting the worst. "I broke history" was a great line, and one which actually seemed original to me, so that offered a tiny glimmer of hope in an otherwise ho-hum episode. I'll probably keep watching now that I've got the griping out of my system. The show is the only thing on TV I watch these days, and it's become somewhat of a habit. Hopefully it'll return to its former glory.
