heroes

Heroes is an American Emmy Award-nominated science fiction drama television series, created by Tim Kring, which premiered on NBC on September 25, 2006. The show tells the story of several people who "thought they were like everyone else... until they realized they have incredible abilities" such as telepathy, time travel, flight and instantaneous regeneration. These people soon realize they have a role in preventing a catastrophe and saving mankind. The series emulates the writing style of American comic books with short, multi-episode story arcs that build upon a larger, more encompassing arc. Kring said "we have talked about where the show goes up to five seasons."

When the series premiered in the United States, it was the night's most-watched program among adults aged 18-49, attracting 14.3 million viewers overall and receiving the highest rating for any NBC drama premiere in five years. On October 6, 2006, NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly announced Heroes had been picked up for a full season, and on January 17, 2007, Reilly announced Heroes had been picked up for a second season. The second season of Heroes will consist of 24 episodes, and the first season of a new spinoff, Heroes: Origins, will include six episodes. The second season is scheduled to premiere on September 24, 2007.


PLOT

The plot of Heroes is designed to be similar to the stories of comic books. Like comic books, Heroes has large overall arcs and small arcs within the main arc. No matter what characters exist and what events make up a season, all seasons of Heroes will involve ordinary people who discover their abilities and their reactions to their self-discovery.


SEASON 1

Each episode reveals new answers and questions and progresses the story and/or the characters. There is an overall arc of the first season that revolves around stopping an explosion of immense proportions that happens in the future. That arc is initially carried by two characters, Hiro Nakamura and Isaac Mendez, the former having seen the event in the future and the latter having painted it from his visions.

The first four episodes of the first season revolved primarily around characters discovering their powers, dealing with the issues of normal life and coping with the consequences of their discovery.

At the end of the fourth episode, a smaller arc began with the message "Save the cheerleader, save the world", which is tied to the explosion already foreseen. By the end of that arc, the characters slowly discovered their abilities and the existence of others like them, and some of them even began to realize the need to come together to prevent a catastrophe.

As characters progress through the first season learning of others similar to them, the plot turns to the question of how the explosion seen in Hiro's trip to the future and Isaac's paintings will occur and what role the various characters will play to stop it or cause it.


RECURRING ELEMENTS

The Helix

The helix is a symbol that appears quite frequently throughout the series. The helix symbol consists of an "S" shape from which three lines extend, with two on the left and one on the right. The "S" shape resembles a strand of RNA during transcription, which would make the lines extending outward the nucleotides during the transcription phase.

In episode 12 ("Godsend") the symbol appears on the sword hilt and Ando Masahashi remarks that it appears to be a combination of two Kanji characters:
(Sai) meaning "Great Talent" and
(Yo) meaning "Godsend". During an interview at the Wizard World in Los Angeles, writer and Co-Producer Aron Coleite stated that it literally means "God sending great ability." Writer and co-executive producer Michael Green stated that the writers know it as "the helix." This symbol frequently appears as a pattern formed by mundane objects, but it also recurs on certain plot-significant items and on several characters:

On Peter Petrelli's 'stick drawing' while in hospital.

Horizontally on the computer screen while Mohinder Suresh is running his fathers program.

On various paintings by Isaac Mendez.

On Jessica's back whenever she surfaces as Niki's alternate personality. When Jessica is repressed, the symbol does not appear on Niki's back. This also appeared on a painting of "Jessica" by Isaac. The symbol was hidden under an extra layer of paint. Later on, Jessica hides the symbol (an apparent tattoo) under a layer of foundation makeup.

On the pool at the Walker residence, made by the water filter snake.

On the front of Dr. Chandra Suresh's book, Activating Evolution.

On the hilt of a katana once owned by 17th century samurai Takezo Kensei. This katana is held by Hiro Nakamura.

On the top left corner of the 9th Wonders comic.
As a logo for Primatech Paper, in "Company Man".

On jewelry, most notably the Haitian's necklace and Hana Gitelman's earrings and ring.

On the flag and katana of a samurai in 1671, witnessed by Hiro Nakamura in the episode "How to Stop an Exploding Man" during the preview for Volume Two: Generations.

On D.L.'s right forearm in form of scarification. This is only shown in a deleted scene from "Genesis" featured in the Season 1 DVD.

Scar

A mark consisting of two black parallel lines has been shown close to the neck of multiple super-powered characters. According to "Wireless, Part 4" and "How Do You Stop an Exploding Man, Part 1", the mark is the scar left by the two-pronged needle of a pneumatic injection device, which, as revealed in a biography of Hana Gitelman in the Heroes 360 experience, injects a radioisotope to allow tracking. All of the marked characters have had encounters with Mr. Bennet and/or the Haitian. The following have displayed it:

Matt Parkman

Ted Sprague

Hana Gitelman

Claude

Isaac Mendez


Eclipse



In addition to being the series logo, a solar eclipse has been a recurring image in the series itself, though a terrestrial eclipse (an eclipse in which the Earth covers the Sun, as viewed from some observation point away from the Earth) is used in the series' title sequence. So far, the solar eclipse has appeared as:

The background of the title card of the series.

A painting by Isaac Mendez.

A "global event" in "Genesis".

A future event referenced in a newspaper.

A picture in Mohinder Suresh's apartment.

The reflection of a light in a hospital waiting room in "Six Months Ago".
An event during Hiro Nakamura's visit back to 17th century Japan in "How to Stop an Exploding Man"

**wikipedia.org