It’s mostly Marvel’s New Universe done better, IMO. (I liked the New U, but there were some serious flaws - the lack of a Super Hiro type being the major one.)
Didn’t the Indian professor guy also talk about his father trying to find Patient Zero? That doesn’t fit in with the X-Men random mutations explanation. I wouldn’t be surprised if these people are all “carriers” somehow, and the reason they’re all manifesting powers at more or less the same time is because they’ve each come in contact recently with someone who has powers.
So maybe Peter’s dad is patient zero. He and his brother got “infected” by him, just before he died. Then Peter infects Devere (the black lady whose grandpa is dying), who infects her boyfriend, etc.
Oh my, if you thought the lack of a Hiro type was the New U’s major flaw…god, start at Merc, pass through Kickers Inc and end up with the Troubleshooters, just off the top of my head.
Point.
Hiro actually reminds me of the Japanese character (who might also have been named Hiro) from ESPers. ‘I have a special power. I will fight evil and dress like James Bond!’
I like Hiro. He enjoys the fun of the discovery - The brothers, the artist, and the cheerleader all seem burdened by it (altho the younger brother not as much) Mirror gal may not turn fully evil, but I doubt she’ll end up with a sense of moral duty.
Huh… interesting theory. Personally, I was a bit confused by Scientist Dad’s “map”- with stickpins showing the location of the predicted supers, and strings connecting them together. An “infection” origin would tend to support this theory.
I also noticed that Scientist Dad’s notes seemingly mentioned the exact powers Our Heroes seemed to be developing. Interesting. Maybe the eclipse was… just an eclipse.
And the question then becomes: how did he know? Almost every character has kept the powers absolutely secret or known only to one or two. And most of them have just found out themselves that day. So how could he possibly have any knowledge whatsoever of the powers, their time of arrival, or their spread?
One possible answer: he was a human Cerebro who sensed this, which might mean that his son will have similar powers to find Heroes. Just as he did with the guy in his cab.
Or the Patient Zero bit could mean it’s just be lousy writing, lack of thought, and clumsy coincidence. We’ll see.
Speaking of clumsy coincidence, I’m a bit put off by the taxicab threats delivered by Doctor Evil, who hopped into Young Cerebro’s cab just after the Flying Nurse hopped out, and this was after Flying Nurse got a phone call and had the cab stopped at a random location because he had to walk to a different nearby destination.
Is Doctor Evil’s power that of being in the right place a the right time? That could certainly come in handy.
That wasn’t Doctor Evil. Doctor Evil has blue skin, big eyes, and a visible brain and is the archenemy of Captain Action.
The government spook was trailing Mohinder (presumably using the standard government spook connections- listening in to the cab company’s radio frequency, etc. Are NYC cabs required to have GPS beacons?). Mohinder is in Queens because his dad’s research showed Patient Zero would be there. Mohinder may have had flying and/or empathy kid in his cab, but he didn’t know it. He also hasn’t located the visionary artist or flying candidate.
My problem with government spook is that he warned Mohinder instead of - killing him and making it look like a standard robbery, or just having a team surveil Mohinder heavily in order to benefit from his research. Warning him only lets Mohinder know that he’s right and his father was onto something big.
It lets the audience know, too, which kinda feels like spoonfeeding and gets on my nerves.
I have a new theory about the eclipse. It’s not so much to do with the heroes, but a harbinger of the calamity to come. Or perhaps it is a cause of the New York catastrophe the heroes must prevent.
Actually Doctor Evil is bald and likes to put his pinky up to his lips. The guy in the backseat may have wanted to kill Mohinder, but he stopped the cab suddenly and ran off before he could be killed. That may have saved his life.
Especially since we already know professor dad was onto something big because A) we’ve seen the people with superpowers and B) we saw government spook investigating professor dad’s apartment and stating that he wanted copies of everything.
Re Coincidence
I’d be a lot more comfortable if all this was coincidence. Then it could just be a case of things being predestined and certain forces moving toward an incredible event, like an eclipse.
I hate that idea. So Mohinder is alive because government spook is chatty and bad at his job? There were no backup spooks with guns? The spook couldn’t sense (through years of training and experience) what Mohinder was about to do and shoot him first?
I could buy that spook doesn’t like to use more force than he feels necessary and figured that killing Mohinder wasn’t necessary to keep him quiet. It could even develop that spook wanted Mohinder to think he got away so that he’ll take certain actions of his own.
Hmm, what if professor dad really was killed in a random robbery? We know spooks were watching him. But, it could be that they were only monitoring his research and working to keep him discredited and quiet. A common thug may have killed the professor before the thugs could act. Perhaps the spooks need Mohinder alive for some reason.
that sounds reasonable - and I’d be happier if that were the case - why do writers always make shifty G-Men evil? they could just be shifty, or with a purpose contrary to that of the protagonists, not necessarily evil. Shades of grey and all that
Anyrose
Check out Sole Survivor. The head spook isn’t evil. He’s just a government worker who got a promotion every few years and eventually wound up running the men in black. He doesn’t really want to kill anybody. He just wants to get his job done with as little fuss as possible.
The X Files episode with Lenny also deals with non-evil MIBs. They kill people, hide evidence, aren’t sure what it is they’re covering up, and go home to houses in the suburbs.
‘Mulder, I contacted you because I wanna know if aliens are real.’
‘Don’t you know?’
‘How should I know? My job is just hiding our experimental aircraft. So tell me, was it really made with UFO parts?’
Astro, I should have said what I meant without the sarcasm. Sorry about that.
I hope the writing gets a little sharper. I like the characters, but they could be heading into some really stupid territory.
Watched it last night and really liked it.
Unlike Jericho, the other show this fall I was interested in and is based on a silly premise, the characters on this show immediately grabbed me. Some more than others, but I’m already interested in what happens to them.
If nothing else this show will be a great source for fanwankery. Hello, anyone ever watched Lost and read the thread the next day? “Ooh ooh, the black smoke is probably electromagnetically controlled nano-particles!”
So, we know good-looking Indian guy’s dad was aware for some time of some genetic changes going on among humans. Obviously, he wasn’t the only one. The Greedy Evil Government also knows. Duh, it always does. Cheerleader chick’s dad no doubt reports directly to Dick Cheney.
This is what is says right at the beginning of the show: "In recent days, a seemingly random group of individuals has emerged with what can only be described as “special” abilities.
Although unaware of it now, these individuals will not only save the world, but change it forever. This transformantion from ordinary to extraordinary will not occur overnight. Every story has a beginning.
Volume One of their epic tale beings here…"
So, Buffy the Cheerleader hasn’t been indesctructible for long. Mom wouldn’t know. Moms - especially Moms preoccupied with their precious’ dog showings definitely don’t know, or actually care - much of what’s going on with their daughters.
At the beginning of the show Cute Indian Guy says “they say that man uses only a tenth of his brain power.” Then he goes on about levitation, teleportation, tissue regeneration. Sounds sufficiently comic booky & paranormal to me. Why nit-pik the 10% of the brain thing? He said brain power, not just 10% of the brain. Where does Professor X get the “brain power” to do what he does?
My fanwank: the genetic mutation which grants these abilities to certain individuals doesn’t actually do anything but allow them to tap into a subconscious “psionic” control of a mysterious human potential. Maybe it’s the dark matter/energy which constitutes most of the universe. Works for me. On with the show.
Mild-mannered Indian dude says “I need to know his [dad’s] work wasn’t for nothing. I need to finish what he started.” So, seems to me dad & son know much more than just “humans have been experiencing increased genetic mutation.”
Stripper mom: Lady, if your kid can build a new logic board for his computer anytime he needs one, you don’t have to worry about financing his education. Take him to just about any school, have him show off his abilities and you’re gold. Instant scholarship all the way to Harvard. About that stripper website. Look, you’re getting $40/hour, just off one guy. Hiro’s buddy back in Japan was watching too, which means you’ve got a subscription website with 100’s, maybe 1000’s of guys across the internet paying $40/hour? Why is a measly $30K a problem for you? Are you an idiot? Or was Hiro’s buddy the only viewer? You need to talk to your kid. Have him set you up with a decent website. Body like that can make you some bucks. Look ho, why were you trying to seduce the school director? “I work nights. (suggestive look) We could both work harder.” Ew.
I’m guessing the image in the mirror is just her subconscious feral side looking back at her. She’s sort of like a Wolverine or something. I don’t think she’s going to be a super villain. I don’t think we’ve seen a super villain yet, if there’ll even be one.
Buffy the Cheerleader: I can understand why she may want to kill herself. Being popular is paramount, but being in any way different or unusual is worse than death. Obviously she’s about to do a lot of cliche-driven growing up.
“I have SATs in October, and my life as I know it is over! I’m a freak show!”
“Being a little over dramatic, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t think!”
Where’s Giles when you need him?
Hiro: My favorite! Yeah, maybe a little stereotyp-ey. But mostly just a geeky nerd. So what? He grew up watching too much science fiction and reading too much manga. He thinks he knows how his abilities work based on what he’s read in comics & seen on TV, but who hasn’t grown up on Sci-fi & comics who doesn’t secretly think if they concentrated hard enough & “figured it out” they couldn’t manipulate time & matter? I know I’m close, but still working on it. I kinda wish he’d teleported his buddy with him. The two of them together provide much comic fun. Someone upthread said his explanation of his power was wrong. I agree with that. He really has no idea how he does what he does. He looked at a picture of New York and got himself there. Much more to his power than just manipulating time & space. He can simply imagine where he wants to go and appear there.
Nurse guy: (everyone quit calling him doctor!) His older brother is gorgeous. The two of them having to work together to make their powers work is potentially pretty cool. Does only one have a power? Which one? Or it only works when they’re being all brotherly & cute?
Artist guy: A little boring right now. Who cares if you can paint what’s going to maybe happen weeks or days from now, somewhere in the world that may or may not have anything to do with me? He’d be really tedious to hang out with. Maybe they’ll keep him in the background. Or he’ll die, so Nurse guy can hook up with his girlfriend.
Anyway, I’m in!
I’m probably way off base here (as I am apt to be) but when I first saw what Stripper Girl was able to do with those two thugs, I didn’t think she had pyschic powers. What I thought it might be is that maybe her reflection kills their reflections, thus killing them. Because it seemed so convinient that there was a mirror there and that the woman in the mirror was covered in blood but she wasn’t. Does that make any sense to anyone or am I completely crazy? Lol