HEROES
Season 3 Episode 2
Volume Three: “Villains”
Chapter Two: “The Butterfly Effect”
Written by Tim Kring
Directed by Greg Beeman
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

“You have no idea of the fire that you’re playing with. You don’t screw with time.”
-- Mama P

Say what?! (In reaction to Mama P’s big cliffhanging reveal, and not the quote above.)
Urrrr… this better be some cockamamie scheme on Mama P’s part, ‘cause if not, why are we dipping into hackneyed soap opera territory? (Wasn’t Peter’s amnesia last season bad enough?)
And while I’m happy to see a bigger role for Mama P, given that she’s now in charge thanks to the Company’s chain of command, I am terribly disappointed that Bob has now suffered one of those thankless Heroes deaths: blink, and the character’s history. (And it happens off-screen to boot.)
And now poor Elle’s out of a job… but only after she inadvertently causes the escape of about a dozen powered lowlifes from Level 5 (when she lets out a massive electrical discharge as Sylar is cutting her head open, she causes the power grid to go down, and presto, escaped supervillains).


That escape gets Mr. B out as well, and he runs off into the night, but only after ensuring Sylar’s confinement (which Mama P looks about to rescind, thanks in part to the reveal that, gasp, he’s her son!).
Sigh.
As I said though, maybe this is Mama P trying to manipulate Sylar into doing her bidding, by giving him a mother figure by claiming to be his real mother.
Gods, I hope so.


So Mr. B heads back home, to have a brief reunion with Claire, and is set to go off again, to take down the Level 5 escapees.
But not before he brings back Claire’s pyrokinetic bio-mom Meredith, to keep his family safe.
Hurrah!
And I say that without sarcasm, as, honestly, this was one of the few high points of the episode. I just hope that Meredith is on the level here, ‘cause she did seem a tad mercenary the last time we saw her…

Oh, and one of the Level 5 escapees, Jesse Murphy (played in a little bit of stunt casting by Veronica Mars alum, Francis Capra), is where scarred Peter-from-the-future “put” the real Peter. (Does Future Boy feel like such a d!ck now, or what? Is a portion of Volume Three basically just cleaning up the idiot mess he caused by gunning down Nathan, while the other is cleaning up Hiro’s idiot mess?)
So now Capra gets to share screen time with Milo Ventimiglia in the role of supervillain on the lam (does Capra get half a paycheck then?)
Jesse’s power: sound manipulation.


And my mention of The Fly in response to Mo’s totally irresponsible “oh, I’ll inject myself with an untested compound because I am so conflicted and tortured right now” moment?
Well, what do we have here but a scene straight out of Cronenberg’s remake, where a shirtless Mo is hanging off the rafters, then does some wall-climbing? He then makes the moves on Maya, who succumbs to his shirtless charms, and ends up in bed with him.
Of course, he wakes up in the middle of the night, and, well, he seems to be… flaking. Or something.
You know, he’s looking in the mirror, very Fly-like, and there are some odd looking patches of skin on his back that are coming off.
Sigh.
So we’re raiding soap operas and sci fi remakes.


Meanwhile, Nathan’s Linderman appears to be a figment of his imagination.
Gods, Nathan is certifiable.
Either that or Linderman (who is supposed to be dead) is just invisible to everyone else, but that’s just plain silly, right?
Heh.
Nathan, by the way, takes the offer for the junior Senator seat, provided Tracy-who-looks-exactly-like-Nikki will be on his team.


Oh, and Tracy-who-looks-exactly-like-Nikki? Well, she apparently has the power to instantaneously deep freeze anyone she touches, and of course, when a human insta-popsicle falls to the ground, the body shatters, leaving itty bitty bits of bloody ice all over the place.
Ick.
(The poor sap who gets the messy death? The Greatest American Hero himself, William Katt! Stunt casting, hurrah!)

And Parkman?
‘Ported to Africa, where he meets Usutu (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine), who knows Parkman’s name, and claims that he shouldn’t be there, and that this is not the future he painted.
Another Isaac?
Oh, and Usutu is apparently the one who painted that cracking globe symbol which Parkman saw in the previous episode.
(And why hasn’t anyone wondered what happened to Parkman? Has no one noticed that’s he’s gone missing?)


Hiro (I’m the idiot who’s responsible for that dangerous half-formula being stolen by some super-speedster, and can’t I see that how I’m treating Ando could very well turn him against me?) Nakamura on the other hand, has a plan to track Daphne the super-speedster and catch her before she steals the other half of the formula.
Fine, let’s see how that pans out, though why do I get the feeling that won’t work out too well either?


Claire, meanwhile, realizes that she now can feel no pain, which troubles her deeply since, despite her extraordinary regeneration, what kept her grounded and human before was the fact that she could still feel pain.
Now, while I admit that’s an interesting turn of events, the “attempt #7” scene is curiously lacking in the emotional weight department. I’m not sure if the greenscreen is totally to blame (as such shots always seem to be bereft of any genuine tension due to their artificiality), but it certainly doesn’t help any.

Meanwhile, Mama P has a disturbing (and rather comic book-y) dream where some of the heroes are shown being defeated/killed by a bunch of baddies, which include Nikki (or whatever the hell her name is) and Parkman Sr.


Well, I can’t say that that was significantly better than the first hour, and I have to say that this troubles me a bit.
After the largely slapdash and compromised affair that was Volume Two, I had hoped that this third volume would waste no time and from the opening, immediately detonate at ground zero and recapture the glory of the golden age of Heroes (back in Season 1, when Bryan Fuller was still in the house).
Sadly, that didn’t happen.
There are still too many characters running about, and worse, some of them are acting rather idiotically, apparently just to kick-start some subplots.
And then there’s that whole Sylar-as-long-lost-Petrelli-son reveal.
Urg.


Well, hope springs eternal, and there’s always next week for another shot at redemption…

Parting shot: In the lag between the time the premiere aired, I got to see it and wrote this review, and today, when I finally got to post the review, news broke regarding the “letting go” of Heroes co-executive producers Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander. (Details here and here.)
As much as this came as a shock, how this will affect the show is also at the forefront of my mind.
It has already been indicated that Kring will be “simplifying” the storytelling, and “refining the tone of the show.” There’s also a bit about—thank Heavens—“emphasiz[ing] character development more than plot twists.”
I imagine the exact repercussions of this sudden shake-up will become evident sometime in the second half of the current season, during Volume Four (reportedly titled “Fugitives”).
Though it does seem like Loeb and Alexander have been shafted—and who exactly did the shafting is up for debate—this does present yet another opportunity for the show to clean up its act (if Loeb and Alexander were indeed the problematic pieces in the Writers’ Room).
Like I said, hope springs eternal. Let’s see, shall we?

(Images courtesy of comicbookresources.com, gregbeeman.blogspot.com, and eonline.com.)

HEROES
Season 3 Episode 1
Volume Three: “Villains”
Chapter One: “The Second Coming”
Written by Tim Kring
Directed by Allan Arkush
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

So.
If it’s one of the things that would occasionally irk me about Heroes, it would be those scattershot episodes where so much was going on in the 40+ minute running time that the hour would end up featuring a host of headless chickens running about, and would ultimately feel unsatisfyingly choppy.
Well, despite creator Tim Kring being in the writer’s seat for this first half of the Season 3 2-hour opener, this is one of those squawking, stutter-skip chapters.


I’ll give Kring props for the reveal that the gunman who took down Nathan at Volume Two’s close is a scarred Peter from 4 years in the future, who’s about to actually be killed by that future’s Claire, before he ‘ports back and guns Nathan down.
And though that does open up a whole new can of worms, it’s still probably the best idea here…


I guess the hugest letdowns would have to be the Hiro-Mo double header of “how irritatingly stupid can you get?”
Hiro, despite being told by Papa Sulu (via pre-recorded DVD message) not to open a safe containing a secret that could destroy the world (why couldn’t it have been a nice secret?), does exactly that, because he’s bored, only to have that secret—one-half of a formula; could it be the very formula Mo uses to come up with his magic syringe? More on that later—stolen by some speedster (Brea Grant).
The annoyingly impulsive time-traveling idiot—did he not learn anything from Volume Two?—then travels to the future, to see how the formula destroys the world. And there, not only does he witness betrayal at the hands of a powered Ando, but also the apparent destruction of Tokyo.
So he returns to the present, now suspicious of Ando, and sets off on his newfound quest (a quest he’d never had to have gone on in the first place if he’d only listened to Papa Sulu) to retrieve the half-formula.
Idiot.


Mo, meanwhile, apparently having grown tired of the Two Men and a Molly sitcom, shunts Molly off to God knows where (this happens off-screen, and we’re never really told exactly where she was tossed; Maya just claims that the youngster’s unfindable and safe now).
He’s then about to go jetting back to India (gods, does this man have no conviction?) when Maya almost does him in with her bleeding eyes bit, though she calms down before anything permanent happens.
This serves up a “Eureka!” moment for Mo, and he realizes that the key to the powers are in the adrenal glands, and not the blood, as postulated by Papa Suresh.
So he tests his theories, and voila, cobbles up a serum in a syringe that he claims will give a normal human powers! (So much for trying to figure out how to take away Maya’s powers… Couldn’t he have just tweaked one of those Company serums which could take away powers, like the one they used on Nikki last season? Make one that didn’t have that nasty side-effect of a little case of death?)
And after rambling on about breakthroughs and quantum leaps in science and the advancement of the species and “if only I had powers I might have been able to save my father,” Maya realizes that Mo could be getting that Mad Doctor gleam in his eye, and tells him to destroy whatever’s in the syringe.
We see idiot Mo at the docks, torn, about to toss the syringe into the sea (where it could have ended up being washed ashore somewhere and shot up by some poor addled junkie). But of course, we all know he’ll inject himself with it, and he does.
And he’s about to get rolled by some punks, when he displays some superhuman strength (he crushes a punk’s gun), and does an athletic flip to his feet.
So now he’s got powers, despite the wholly irresponsible way in which he got them. (Did this man not see The Fly? Nothing good can come out of self-experimentation. And did he not hear a word of what Maya said?)
Idiot.


There are a number of other bits in here that are also rather annoying.
We learn that Sylar doesn’t eat his victims’ brains, but just seems to study them, looking for a particular part of the brain, and somehow absorbing his victims’ powers that way.
That in itself isn’t annoying.
Rather, it’s how exactly did Sylar find Claire in Costa Verde? Why did Claire think that doing the Halloween bit and hiding in a closet would keep Sylar out? And why the hell didn’t he just TK the damned closet doors open?
And of course, Sylar figures out his next step by rifling through some very important-looking files that Mr. Bennett left behind, which are now in a conveniently-labeled box on the kitchen counter.
Ay, madre de Dios!


At any rate, we find out that Claire is different and special, and that she may very well be immortal, as Sylar apparently now is, as well (having successfully absorbed her powers).
We also find out that Linderman is alive, and is responsible for healing Nathan (yes, Nathan doesn’t die here, just as he didn’t die as a result of Volume One’s cliffhanger).
We also find out that someone who looks exactly like Nikki/Jessica (yes, Ali Larter is still in the building), yet named Tracy, is showing interest in the revived Nathan (who’s now spouting some blather about divine intervention and being God’s angel). Naturally, we first see this Tracy person wearing some sexy bedroom thingie.
Sigh.


And we have the scarred Peter-from-the-future somehow shunting the real Peter’s consciousness into some powered goon who’s incarcerated in Primatech’s Level 5.
At least, I think that’s what happened.
But if so, where’s the real Peter’s body?
And why is Mr. B in a cell? I was led to believe that at the end of Volume Two, he returned to the Company’s fold, in his previous capacity of operative.
What gives?


I was happy to see Cristine Rose though, and Mama P reveals that her power was indeed the dream bits, which Peter inherited.
Confronting the scarred Peter-from-the-future (who gunned down Nathan because supposedly, that moment when the world was told about the existence of powered individuals, was the moment his future went to sh!t), Mama P claims that now, this is a different timeline, all thanks to scarred Peter-from-the-future’s shooting of Nathan.
Hrrmmm.

I was also happy to see Ashley Crow, though that was for the briefest of moments, as she enters with Lyle to find a bloodied Claire…
Hopefully we see more of her in the second hour.

Oh, and Parkman gets ‘ported off (by scarred Peter-from-the-future) to some out-of-the-way wilderness with an apparently new Heroes–related symbol, which appears to be a globe that’s cracking, or breaking, with stuff gushing out of it.
We also see that symbol as graffiti in the Mo-gets-powers scene.


I dunno. There’s a lot in this hour that doesn’t feel right somehow.
Part of it is the sheer number of characters battling it out for screen time, yes, but I think part of it is the writing too.
I can’t recall a single moment here that can come close to many of the truly excellent and moving bits in the Heroes pilot. The Tim Kring that wrote that chapter doesn’t seem to be the same Tim Kring who wrote this one.
And, overused as it is, I love Yeats’ “The Second Coming,” but here, it just seems like the easy, lazy way out.
Why couldn’t we have just had one of Mo’s poignant voice-overs instead? (I am aware there are some critics of those bits, though I’m generally not one of them.)

At any rate, I’m looking forward to the second half of the season opener, if only because I’m hoping things pick up considerably, and the show gets back on track…

(Images courtesy of comicbookresources.com, ew.com, latimes.com, and gregbeeman.blogspot.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (100)
EMMY 2008

So this year’s nominations are out, and here are the nods I took note of:

80th Annual Academy Awards
Outstanding Art Direction For A Variety, Music or Nonfiction Programming (Roy Christopher, Production Designer; Joe Celli, Art Director)
Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music or Nonfiction Programming (Louis J. Horvitz)
Outstanding Lighting Direction (electronic, Multi-camera) For Vmc Programming (Robert A. Dickinson, Lighting Designer; Robert Barnhart, Andy O’Reilly, Lighting Directors)
Outstanding Music Direction (Bill Conti, Music Director)
Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety or Music Program (Jon Stewart, Host)
Outstanding Picture Editing Of Clip Packages For Talk, Performance, Award Or Reality Competition Programs [Oscar Show Tribute Sequence] (Chuck Workman)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Or Music Series Or Special
Outstanding Special Class – Awards Programs (Gilbert Cates, Producer)
Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special

Battlestar Galactica
Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series [Razor] (Stephen McNutt, Director of Photography)
Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series [“He That Believeth In Me”] (Julius Ramsay)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (one-hour) [Razor] (Rick Bal, Production Mixer; Michael Olman, Kenneth Kobett, Supervising Re-Recording Mixers)
Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Live-action Entertainment Programs [Razor Featurette #4] (Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, Executive Producers; Harvey Frand, Supervising Producer)
Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series [“He That Believeth In Me”]
Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series [“Six Of One”] (Michael Angeli)


Chuck
Outstanding Main Title Design (Karin Fong, Jonathan Gershon, Dana Yee, Title Designers)
Outstanding Stunt Coordination [“Chuck Versus The Undercover Lover”] (Merritt Yohnka, Stunt Coordinator)


Dexter
Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-camera Series [“That Night, A Forest Grew”] (Tony Cowley, Production Designer; Linda Spheeris, Set Decorator)
Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series [“The British Invasion”] (Romeo Tirone, Director of Photography)
Outstanding Drama Series
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series (Michael C. Hall)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (one-hour) [“It’s Alive!”] (Patrick Hanson, Production Mixer; Elmo Ponsdomenech, Joe Earle, Re-Recording Mixers)


Entourage
Outstanding Comedy Series
Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series [“No Cannes Do”] (Dan Attias)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (half-hour) And Animation [“Adios Amigo”] (Steve Morantz, Production Mixer; Dennis Kirk, Bill Jackson, Re-Recording Mixers)
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series (Jeremy Piven)
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series (Kevin Dillon)


Heroes
Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-camera Series [“Out of Time”] (Ruth Ammon, Production Designer; Matthew Jacobs, Art Director; Ron Franco, Set Decorator)
Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series [“Powerless”] (Scott Boyd)
Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series [“Four Months Ago”]


Justice League: The New Frontier
Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More)


Lost
Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series [“The Constant”] (John Bartley, Director of Photography)
Outstanding Drama Series
Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (original Dramatic Score) [“The Constant”] (Michael Giacchino)
Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series [“There’s No Place Like Home” (Parts 2 & 3)] (Henk Van Eeghen, Robert Florio, Mark J. Goldman, Stephen Semel)
Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series [“The Shape Of Things To Come”]
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (one-hour) [“Meet Kevin Johnson”] (Robert Anderson, Production Mixer; Frank Morrone, Scott Weber, Re-Recording Mixers)
Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Live-action Entertainment Programs [Lost: Missing Pieces] (Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Barry Jossen, Executive Producers)
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series (Michael Emerson)


Pushing Daisies
Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-camera Series [“Pie-Lette”] (Michael Wylie, Production Designer; Halina Siwolop, Set Decorator)
Outstanding Casting For A Comedy Series (Camille Patton, Meg Liberman, Jennifer Lare)
Outstanding Costumes For A Series [“Pie-Lette”] (Mary Vogt, Costume Designer; Stephanie Fox-Kramer, Costume Supervisor)
Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series [“Pie-Lette”] (Barry Sonnenfeld)
Outstanding Hairstyling For A Single-camera Series [“Smell Of Success”] (Daniel Curet, Department Head Hairstylist; Yuko Tokunaga-Koach, Key Hairstylist)
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series (Lee Pace)
Outstanding Makeup For A Single-camera Series (non-prosthetic) [“Dummy”] (Todd A. McIntosh, Department Head Makeup Artist; David De Leon, Key Makeup Artist; Bradley M. Look, Additional Makeup Artist)
Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special [“Smell Of Success”] (Todd A. McIntosh, Department Head Makeup Artist; David De Leon, Key Makeup Artist; Sara De Pue, Additional Makeup Artist)
Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (original Dramatic Score) [“Pigeon”] (Jim Dooley)
Outstanding Picture Editing For A Comedy Series (single or Multi-camera) [“Pie-Lette”] (Stuart Bass)
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series (Kristin Chenoweth)
Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series [“Pie-Lette”] (Bryan Fuller)

In addition, Lost Find 815 and The Heroes Digital Experience also found themselves among the finalists in the Interactive Media Programming (Fiction) Juried Area, where “one, more than one or no award can be given.” (Other Fiction finalists included HBO Voyeur, Kyle XY: The Collective Experience, and The L Word Interactive.)

Now, while I’m happy for the whopping dozen nominations Pushing Daisies racked up (for a truncated season that lasted all of nine episodes, mind), I am still distressed at the distinct lack of love Emmy has perennially shown for Battlestar Galactica.
Not only were all the performers roundly ignored, but the tremendous work Bear McCreary has been doing in scoring the show also went unacknowledged.
Sigh.

At any rate, congratulations to all the nominees, a complete list of which you may find here.
The 2008 Primetime Emmys will be handed out on September 21 at the NOKIA Theatre in Los Angeles, while the Primetime Creative Arts Awards will be presented on September 13, also at the NOKIA.

Parting shot: Episodic reactions/recaps of Battlestar Galactica, Chuck, Dexter, Entourage, Heroes, Lost, and Pushing Daisies—as well as a review of the Battlestar Galactica straight-to-DVD film Razor—can be found in the Archive.

(Images courtesy of SCIFI Channel and wired.com [Battlestar Galactica]; aintitcool.com [Chuck Season One and Pushing Daisies Season One DVD cover art and Justice League: The New Frontier image]; rickbrotherton.com [Dexter]; hbo.com [Entourage]; NBC and yahoo.com [Heroes]; ABC and eonline.com [Lost].)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (91)
OUR IMMORTAL BELOVED

ew.com has put forward a list of favourite immortal characters in popular culture, and among them are…


Adam Monroe/Takezo Kensei (David Anders), in Heroes


Dream/Morpheus/Sandman, in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman


Legolas (Orlando Bloom), in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy


Pinhead (Doug Bradley), in the Hellraiser films, based on Clive Barker’s The Hellbound Heart


Tomas/Tommy/Tom Creo (Hugh Jackman), in Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain

Also on the list, Tilda Swinton’s Orlando, Laurence Olivier’s Zeus, Alanis Morissette’s God (though I would have much preferred Emma Thompson in the role), South Park’s Satan, and The Matrix’s Oracle.
You can check out the entire list by clicking on any of the immortals above…

(The Absolute Sandman Volume Three wallpaper courtesy of dccomics.com; all other images courtesy of ew.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (60)
EMPIRE’S 50 GREATEST TV SHOWS EVER MADE!

And on Empire’s list…

45. Farscape 1999-2003
An Australian sci-fi series featuring muppet aliens from The Jim Henson Company – it's not exactly a pitch that says 'edgy' or even very good. Against the odds, though, Farscape emerged as an innovative, amusing and endlessly watchable romp as Astronaut John Crichton fumbled his way through life on the other side of the galaxy while dropping endless pop culture references that were clearly lost on his alien companions. In Claudia Black's Aeryn Sun was found one of sci-fi's favourite pin-up girls and the chemistry between Black and co-star Ben Browder was so apparent they were reunited after Farscape's cancellation for the final series of Stargate SG-1.

30. Dexter 2006-present
The last thing the world needed was another series about a forensic scientist but it certainly adds something to the mix when said CSI is also a recreational serial killer. Mischievously sadistic, Dexter is a darkly amusing tale of a psychopathic monster living in the heart of sunny Miami and trying to reconcile his stabbier urges with being an otherwise decent guy. Michael C Hall is flawless as the carver in question and the show sports one of the cleverest title sequences around.

27. Six Feet Under 2001-2005
Dark, comical and really rather wonderful, it's little wonder that Six Feet Under flowed from the same pen that gave us the equally incredible American Beauty. Alan Ball's HBO series about a dysfunctional Pasadena family who run an independent funeral home was a wonderful meditation on life, love and grief. Headed up by Peter Krause as the prodigal elder son Nate Fisher and featuring Michael C Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose and Rachel Griffiths, the cast, like every facet of this compelling production, oozed class.

25. Futurama 1999-present
It's unfair to compare Matt Groening's other show to The Simpsons. Because what is as good as The Simpsons? Judged on its own merits, this futuristic comedy about the bumbling employees of an intergalactic delivery company is witty, silly and completely non-sensical in just the right measure. It's got some characters who don't work (Hermes Conrad, we're looking at you), but Bender the antagonistic robot makes up for any faults. It was revived for a reason, you know?

24. Twin Peaks 1990-1991
Who killed Laura Palmer? That was the question on everyone's lips during 1990 as David Lynch's bizarre small town mystery unfolded on our screens. A demon called Bob, a little man who talked backward and minor pie fetish were just some of the features on display here. But despite a healthy dose of surrealism everything fell into place. Until the rather less appealing second season, that is, where the question on people's minds was more akin to 'Who is Windom Earle and what in God's name is going on?' but that's beside the point.

17. South Park 1997-present
The Guinness World Record holder for "Most swearing in an animated series," Trey Parker and Matt Stone's crudely animated monster is going strong more than ten years later after we were first introduced to Cartman and the boys. Still offending just about everybody on the planet, it has avoided jumping the shark by continuously changing its targets and, most importantly, remaining incredibly funny. While it's undeniably puerile, the secret of South Park's success lies in the fact that its intentions are essentially good. Those who challenge common sense and general decency are the ones in the firing line – anybody else who gets hit are, well, collateral damage.

15. Heroes 2006-present
We'd heard shows before boast about 'cinematic' production values, but Tim Kring's Heroes actually meant it. Every super-charged hour boasts lavish amounts of special effects – Hiro's time-freezing abilities are particularly cool – and a classy, noirish aesthetic partly inspired by M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable. But eye-candy alone wouldn't have won Heroes its place on this list. Kring's genius was in bolting the flashy action onto a slow-burning storyline full of shadows and mystery. And having a really cute, invincible cheerleader in the cast doesn't hurt none either.

13. Battlestar Galactica 2003-present
Dark, unflinching and often brutal, BSG is a very long way from the camp seventies show of the same name. In fact, given that this is one of the most pioneering sci-fi shows in decades, its name is probably its biggest liability. This is a show more concerned with internal rifts, politics and strife than spatial anomalies or aliens with forehead prosthetics, making it a far more introverted character-driven drama than anything in the Star Trek canon. Edward James Olmos' gravel-tongued Admiral leads a great cast of characters (Gaius Baltar, we salute you) and the epic space conflicts, portrayed with a shaky, hand-held style for realism, are blissfully rendered mayhem.

9. The X-Files 1993-2002
Created by surfing enthusiast Chris Carter, The X-Files proved to be the show that could do anything. It could modulate its tone from Twin Peaks creepy to Texas Chain Saw Massacre terrifying to Three Stooges silly. It had a pair of good-looking, charismatic heroes with deliciously simmering sexual chemistry – plus a rogue's gallery of memorable villains, including the putrid Flukeman, stretchy Eugene Tooms and butt-loving Cigarette Smoking Man. Of course, the long-running 'Myth-Arc' conspiracy plotline would have baffled Einstein and was never properly wrapped up in any case, but with at least one more big-screen outing lined up for Mulder and Scully there's still time to redeem the show that launched a thousand Dark Skies.

5. Lost 2004-present
Only time will tell whether it's as clever as it seems, but few TV shows have gripped viewers' imaginations like this hybrid of Swiss Family Robinson and Twin Peaks. An innovative structure in which each episode hones in on a different character, with flashbacks and flashforwards expanding their backstory, ensures the entire cast is fleshed out beyond the constraints of the primary narrative. But aside from the host of unique and colourful characters – from earnest Jack to cocky Sawyer, noble Jin to bug-eyed Ben – it's the epic mysteries at the core of the story that keeps us coming back. What powers does the island have? What's that polar bear doing in the tropics? And how come Hurley never loses weight despite being marooned on an island?

Note that all comments are from the article, a few of which I may not completely agree with.
As much fun as I manage to find in all the Island weirdness, I actually have been riveted to Lost more for the characters than anything else. I really do want to find out what happens to them…
And speaking of weirdness, I think Twin Peaks got short shrift here, considering any bizarre bits we may happen to find in television today, I feel can be traced all the way back to TP’s influence. (Even Empire makes mention of TP twice, in shows that ranked higher than it.)
Not only was its shadow only too evident on shows like Northern Exposure and Picket Fences, the massive cultural impact it had clearly made strangeness welcome on the small screen, paving the way for all the off-kilter programming that came in its wake, and continues to this day.
It’s also important to note that when TP was strange, it was truly strange. Network television had never been to such surreal spots before, and truth to tell, hasn’t really been there since.
(I also happen to rather like Season 2…)

At any rate, I’m still glad TP made the list, which you can find here. Check it out for more bits on these shows, and to see if your favourite series made Empire’s cut.

Parting shot: Episodic recaps/reactions of Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, Heroes, and Lost can be found in the Archive, along with a review of the Futurama straight-to-DVD feature, Bender’s Big Score.

(Lost OS courtesy of impawards.com; The X-Files 2 OS courtesy of aintitcool.com; Battlestar Galactica image courtesy of SCIFI Channel; Twin Peaks image courtesy of tarnishedlady.typepad.com; Dexter image courtesy of fanpop.com.)

HEROES
Season 2
Volume Two: Generations
Chapter Eleven: “Powerless”
Written by Jeph Loeb
Directed by Allan Arkush
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

So this is a far more effective volume ender than last season’s Kirby Plaza showdown, but that’s getting ahead of myself…

Let’s kick off with Peter and Hiro’s face off, as they argue back and forth about whether Kensei/Adam is a goodie or a baddie, till Peter zaps Hiro unconscious.
K/A then takes his sword back…

But first…
Micah finally gets home to Niki but needs to rush back out again to save Monica. Of course, Niki being virused and all, doesn’t have her super strength at the moment, so Micah ropes her in to drive. (Though can’t he just “tell” a car to drive him wherever he wants to go?)
Using his cell phone to locate Monica’s cell, Micah and Niki track Monica down to the shop that the hoods who’ve taken her have been hired to torch. (Thus, St. Joan is about to be burned at the stake in New Orleans…)
They get there just in time for Niki to pistol whip the fleeing hood, and rush into the burning store to save Monica.
But Niki’s powerless at the moment, and though Monica gets out, the shop explodes, apparently taking Niki with it…

Back at the Company, Bob is ticked off with Elle and blames her for Claire’s decision to go whistle blower on their a$$. Bob suspends her from any more field duty, so Little Miss Sociopath turns to Mr. B in his cell.
I was never really a Veronica Mars fan, but the scene between Kristen Bell and Jack Coleman, particularly the beginning of it, with Bell’s fidgety eyes following the ball, is great.
Elle asks Mr. B to tell her what Bob did to her when she was just a little girl, and he begins to, but Bob arrives and tells Mr. B that the Company will have to do something to stop Claire from going public…

… which she’s busy preparing for, putting together all the files Mr. B amassed regarding the dastardly deeds of Bob et al.
Mrs. B tries to convince her otherwise, but Claire has her mind set. Even West tries to tell her he prefers his secrets rather than this going public deal. So Claire gives Flyboy his file, and the break up is official.
It looks like Claire’s got something new to cry about, when who should walk through the door but… Mr. B!
With the Bennets alternately relieved and confused, Mr. B drops the bomb. Claire’s plan to expose the Company’s misdeeds is “unacceptable.”
Instead, he’s made a deal: his family gets to live a quiet, normal life (the only thing he’s ever really wanted for them), and he comes back into the Company’s arms.
Mr. B doesn’t stick around for any discussion. He steps out the door, and tells Bob, “It’s done.”

And even as Mr. B leaves home, the man who shot him dead, Mo, arrives home, to find Maya cooking breakfast and Sylar powerless.
(So I’m wearing the dunce cap this time out, as I really thought Sylar was temporarily powerless due to the trauma his body underwent from the Kirby Plaza wounds. I should have suspected that the Company had actually injected him with the virus. With that turn of events though, why didn’t they just kill him when they had the chance, given how dangerous he’s proven to be… I mean, if he’s gonna die from the virus anyway, right? And actually, while on that train of thought, they should have just killed Kensei/Adam too. Just taken his blood and killed him a long time ago…)
Okay, sorry for the cold blooded digression. I should just take Bob’s job and be done with it.

Back in Mo’s apartment, it becomes all too clear to Maya that Sylar is not the Gabriel she fell for. And, having seen Mo’s data on his laptop, Sylar sees that the cure for the Shanti virus lies in Claire’s blood, and that in theory, this should give him back his powers.
So it’s off to the lab!
At the lab (which of course used to be Isaac’s loft, where Sylar ate poor Isaac’s brain), Mo discovers that Sylar’s been injected with the strain that’s killing poor Niki, and Molly helps Maya “find” Alejandro, only to realize that he’s no longer anywhere to be found, and that Sylar killed poor Alejandro.
So Maya’s about to get all black teary-eyed when Sylar shoots her. Then, before he gets injected himself, Sylar wants to see the vaccine in action, so he has Mo inject Maya first, and Claire’s blood heals her and brings her back to life, just as it did Mr. B.
Sylar takes that as his cue to scamper off with the other vial, even as Elle arrives and starts zapping.
(Elle, by the way, was snooping around Bob’s office, to find the files on her… gone. She then checks the surveillance monitors, to see Sylar terrorizing Mo. So off she goes to make Daddy proud.)
Sadly—and how many times must this happen?—Sylar escapes. With the vial meant for Niki.
Sigh.

Meanwhile, Parkman reports to Granny P and Nathan that Victoria Pratt is dead. (So that’s where Parkman was, while Molly was left alone to be used as a bargaining chip by Sylar… Bad Parkman!)
Nathan tells Granny P that Peter’s still alive, and that he’s apparently in cahoots with Kensei/Adam, as their fingerprints were all over the crime scene. Granny P tells them that they’re after the virus and that it’s in Odessa.
She also says that she actually helped K/A once (did she sleep with him too?), but stopped before it was too late, when she realized that K/A was mad, mad, mad. (And she wasn’t for wanting to blow New York up. Hmmm…)
Before they go, Granny P shoots off a thought in Parkman’s direction: if you can’t stop Peter, you may have to kill him. Bullet in the head. Only way to be sure. (Go, Granny P!!!)

Amusingly, we see the tail end of Nathan and Parkman’s flight to Odessa, as they land, and vow never to talk about what went on, ever again. Parkman also tells Nathan what Granny P “thought” him earlier, about just maybe needing to off Peter if he should prove a stubborn handful. Nathan says, “… nothing good ever came from listening to my mother,” and “… leave my brother to me.”
Conveniently, they touch down at Primatech just in time to be met at the door by Hiro. The three then rush in to find Peter having already TK’d the vault door open. Hiro tries to stop K/A, but Peter TK’s him, slams him to the wall, and looks about to telekinetically throttle him, when Parkman arrives and does the Jedi mind trick: K/A is using you, go deal with him.
But Peter fights back with his mind, and is quite literally sweeping the floor with Parkman’s a$$ when Nathan arrives and the brothers stand face to face. Nathan (bless his soul) talks reason to Peter, asking him, “Can you really trust K/A?”

While all that psychodrama’s going on, Hiro steals into the vault and has his own face to face with K/A. Heartfelt and bitter words are exchanged, and Hiro ‘ports them both away.* But even as he does so, K/A drops the vial containing the virus (which he was holding behind his back).
Luckily, Peter arrives in time to telekinetically catch it before it hits the floor. He then incinerates it between his palms, using Ted’s nuclear power.
Standing in a vault containing a whole lot of other mysterious items, the current generation realizes they’ve had enough of cleaning up their parents’ messes. Nathan decisively announces that he’s going public, about everything (ironically, what he once argued with Simone would be the wrong thing to do). He even tells Parkman to make sure people listen to what he has to say.
Of course, a hidden surveillance camera catches this pivotal announcement…

… and at the press conference, I get the sense of what’s about to happen as Nathan gets into a weepy speech, accompanied by shots of episodes past.
Just as he’s about to say, “I can fly,” he’s shot.
In the panic, we see someone walk away, though said someone is too far away to identify. (Parkman though should have been able to catch the killer’s thoughts, right?)

Granny P then gets a call on her cell, and she replies, “It was inevitable.”
She then says, “You do realize you’ve opened Pandora’s box, don’t you?”
End of Volume Two.

We then get a tease for Volume Three, entitled “Villains.”
Sylar injects himself in some back alley, like a heroin junkie.
First, his wounds heal, then, he uses his TK to pull an empty tin of spinach across the alley into his hand.
The big, bad brain eater’s back…

* We see later on that Hiro actually ‘ported Kensei/Adam into a coffin, buried in the same cemetery Papa Sulu’s grave is found. Once again, these people leave a dangerous fellow alive…
Will they ever learn?

Parting shot: So that’s it for this volume, and as fallout courtesy of the WGA strike, that’s it for the season too; Volume Three will be with us in the fall.
I’ll be back soon with the first installment of something I’ve decided to call In-Between Seasons, where I’ll give my assessment of a TV show’s recently completed season (including my thoughts on the finale), and give my two cents on where we should go from here…

(Behind the scenes images courtesy of gregbeeman.blogspot.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (52)
HITCHHIKING TO SATURN 2008
This year’s Saturn Award nominations have just been announced, and those that made me go “Woot!” are:

30 Days of Night:
Best Horror Film
Best Make-Up (Davina Lamont)

300:
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
Best Actor, Film (Gerard Butler)
Best Supporting Actor, Film (David Wenham)
Best Supporting Actress, Film (Lena Headey)
Best Direction (Zack Snyder)
Best Writing (Michael Gordon, Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad)
Best Music (Tyler Bates)
Best Costume (Michael Wilkinson)
Best Make-Up (Shaun Smith, Mark Rappaport)
Best Special Effects (Chris Watts, Grant Freckelton, Derek Wentworth, Daniel Leduc)

Battlestar Galactica:
Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series
Best Presentation on Television [Razor]
Best Actor on Television (Edward James Olmos)

Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon:
Best DVD Release

Beowulf:
Best Writing (Roger Avary, Neil Gaiman)
Best Animated Film

Blade Runner:
Best Special Edition DVD Release (5 Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition)

Bug:
Best Actress, Film (Ashley Judd)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind:
Best Special Edition DVD Release (30th Anniversay – Blu Ray)

Cloverfield:
Best Science Fiction Film
Best Supporting Actress, Film (Lizzy Caplan)

The Dark Crystal:
Best Classic Film DVD Release

Death Proof:
Best Special Edition DVD Release (Grindhouse Presentation: Extended & Unrated)

Dexter:
Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series
Best Actor on Television (Michael C. Hall)
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Erik King)
Best Supporting Actress on Television (Jennifer Carpenter)
Best Supporting Actress on Television (Jaime Murray)

Eastern Promises:
Best Actor, Film (Viggo Mortensen)
Best Actress, Film (Naomi Watts)
Best International Film

The Golden Compass:
Best Fantasy Film
Best Performance by a Younger Actor (Dakota Blue Richards)
Best Costume (Ruth Myers)
Best Special Effects (Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, Trevor Wood)

Grindhouse:
Best Horror Film

Heroes:
Best Network Television Series
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Greg Grunberg)
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Masi Oka)
Best Supporting Actress on Television (Hayden Panettiere)
Best Television Series on DVD (Season 1)

El Laberinto Del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth):
Best Special Edition DVD Release (Platinum Series)

Lost:
Best Network Television Series
Best Actor on Television (Matthew Fox)
Best Actress on Television (Evangeline Lilly)
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Michael Emerson)
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Josh Holloway)
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Terry O’Quinn)
Best Supporting Actress on Television (Elizabeth Mitchell)
Best Television Series on DVD (The Complete Third Season)

The Mist:
Best Horror Film
Best Supporting Actress, Film (Marcia Gay Harden)
Best Direction (Frank Darabont)

The Nin9s:
Best DVD Release

No Country For Old Men:
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
Best Supporting Actor, Film (Javier Bardem)
Best Writing (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)

El Orfanato (The Orphanage):
Best Actress, Film (Belen Rueda)
Best International Film

Planet Terror:
Best Supporting Actress, Film (Rose McGowan)
Best Make-Up (Howard Berger, Greg Nicotero, Jake Garber)

Pushing Daisies:
Best Network Television Series
Best Actor on Television (Lee Pace)
Best Actress on Television (Anna Friel)

Stardust:
Best Fantasy Film
Best Supporting Actress, Film (Michelle Pfeiffer)
Best Costume (Sammy Sheldon)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
Best Horror Film
Best Actor, Film (Johnny Depp)
Best Actress, Film (Helena Bonham Carter)
Best Supporting Actor, Film (Alan Rickman)
Best Direction (Tim Burton)
Best Writing (John Logan)
Best Costume (Colleen Atwood)
Best Make-Up (Peter Owen, Ivana Primorac)

Twin Peaks:
Best Retro Television Series on DVD (The Definitive Gold Box Edition)

Zodiac:
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film

The other films reviewed here at the Iguana that also received nominations (some, head-scratchingly so) were:

1408 (Best Horror Film; Best Actor, Film [John Cusack])
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Best Science Fiction Film)
Ghost Rider (Best Horror Film)
I Am Legend (Best Science Fiction Film; Best Actor, Film [Will Smith])
Spider-Man 3 (Best Fantasy Film; Best Supporting Actor, Film [James Franco]; Best Direction [Sam Raimi]; Best Special Effects)
Sunshine (Best Science Fiction Film)
Transformers (Best Science Fiction Film; Best Special Effects)

Guillermo del Toro is also being honoured this year with the George Pal Memorial Award.
For a complete (and downloadable) list of this year’s nominees, go here.
The winners will be announced on June 24, 2008 at the 34th Annual Saturn Awards, in Universal City, California.

Parting shot: Reviews of 30 Days of Night, 300, 1408, Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, Beowulf, Bug, Death Proof, Eastern Promises, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider, The Golden Compass, I Am Legend, El Laberinto Del Fauno, The Nin9s, No Country For Old Men, Planet Terror, Spider-Man 3, Stardust, Sunshine, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Transformers, and Zodiac can be found in the Archive, along with episodic recaps/reviews of Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, Heroes, Lost, and Pushing Daisies.

(OS's and Lost Season 4 ad courtesy of impawards.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (51)

51.1 THUS ENDETH THE STRIKE
So the count last Tuesday night: 3,492 to 283, in favour of ending the strike during the ratification process.
It’s officially over and the writers can get back to work Wednesday. Some, in fact (like the writers for the upcoming Oscar night) were already in the thick of things late Tuesday night.
Now, as the two week ratification of the proposed three-year deal takes place (votes for that to be tallied on February 26), Hollywood gets back into the swing of things, which leads us rather neatly to…

51.2 REVVING THE POST-STRIKE ENGINE (1)
LOST
Showrunner Carlton Cuse has already made the announcement that they’re aiming to come up with 5 post-strike episodes, so this season will end with 13 episodes.
Intending to wrap the season up at the same narrative point it was originally supposed to end at, there will be some storyline compression required. Hopefully, that won’t have an adverse effect on the story’s rhythm. And hopefully, writers, cast, and crew won’t run themselves ragged to get those episodes ready to keep the consecutive airing of Lost an on-going concern.
Cuse also indicated that the 3 AWOL episodes (since season 4 was meant to be comprised of 16 installments) will pop up somewhere down the road, so we’re still going to get the same number of Lost episodes we were meant to get, before the strike stepped on the brakes.
In an ABC press release, the network has also announced it’s picking up Lost for a fifth season, though I’m uncertain if that season kicks off this Fall, or will have a delayed start date, as per the current season.

PUSHING DAISIES
In the same ABC press release, Pushing Daisies was also announced as having been picked up for a second season.
Thus, there will be no more episodes beyond the 9 pre-strike installments for the current season.

CHUCK
NBC’s Chuck is also expected to return in the Fall, so the first season topped off at 13 pre-strike episodes.

HEROES
Meanwhile, Volume Two’s 11 episodes are pretty much Season 2.
Volume Three: “Villains” will presumably kick off Season 3 when Heroes returns in the Fall.
In preparation, Tim Kring is reportedly getting busy on a series Bible, an always indispensable tool for shows like Heroes.

So with the picket signs being put aside, I’ll be having irregular updates for any strike-affected projects that are on my radar (like the Justice League film) as reports and announcements are made.

Let’s all breathe a huge sigh of relief that it’s over, and that apparently, the writers got a deal they can call a triumph.
Admittedly, not the total victory they were first targetting (reality and animation writers—who have been likened to the sweatshop equivalents of the Hollywood writers world—are still not covered by the guild, one of the aims the WGA had hoped to achieve), but the strides forward in new media seem to be cause to cheer.

Now let’s all hope the upcoming SAG negotiations don’t run into any speed bumps…

(Images courtesy of variety.com [WGA strike is over]; impawards.com [Lost]; avclub.com [Pushing Daisies]; aintitcool.com [Chuck]; and yahoo.com [Heroes].)