Heroes: Season 1 – Blu-ray Disc Review

August 20, 2008 – 7:21 PM - Posted by: Justin Sluss

Tags: Ali Larter, BD-Live, David Anders, Hayden Panettiere, Jack Coleman, Kristin Bell, Masi Oka, Milo Ventimiglia, NBC, Santiago Cabrera, Tawny Cypress, Tim Kring, U-Control, Universal

has an average rating of 8.8 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on FIVE BD-50 discs
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
include U-Control & are BD-Live ready
– – 2006
– 1009 minutes
– Universal
–

Overall Verdict – Solid Recommendation

Buy it for $69.95 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss & Brendan Surpless —

Trailer for “Heroes” on Blu-ray:

The Show Itself is the newest fantasy series of the 2005-2006 TV season. The basic premise of the show surrounds a group of random people who start to realize that they have super abilities. Each try to figure out what exactly their new found powers may hold in store for them all while balancing their daily lives. We’re soon introduced to a firm simply known as “The Company”, which basically will do whatever they can to control each and every person that may have uniqueness.

The full 23 (total) episodes for The Complete First Season are included:

• Episode 1 : “(Volume One: Genesis) In His Own Image“
Original Air Date: 09/25/06— 9.2 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 2 : “Don’t Look Back“
Original Air Date: 10/02/06 — 9.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 3 : “One Giant Leap“
Original Air Date: 10/09/06 — 9.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 4 : “Collision“
Original Air Date: 10/16/06 — 9.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 5 : “Hiros“
Original Air Date: 10/23/06 — 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 6 : “Better Halves“
Original Air Date: 10/30/06 — 9.1 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 7 : “Nothing to Hide“
Original Air Date: 11/06/06— 9.2 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 8 : “Seven Minutes to Midnight“
Original Air Date: 11/13/06 — 9.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 9 : “Homecoming“
Original Air Date: 11/20/06 — 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 10 : “Six Months Ago“
Original Air Date: 11/27/06 — 9.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 11 : “Fallout“
Original Air Date: 12/06/06— 9.6 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 12 : “Godsend“
Original Air Date: 01/22/07 — 9.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 13 : “The Fix“
Original Air Date: 01/29/07— 9.1 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 14 : “Distraction“
Original Air Date: 02/05/07 — 9.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 15 : “Run!“
Original Air Date: 02/12/07 — 9.0 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 16 : “Unexpected“
Original Air Date: 02/19/07 — 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 17 : “Company Man“
Original Air Date: 02/26/07 — 9.6 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 18 : “Parasite“
Original Air Date: 03/05/07— 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 19 : “.07%“
Original Air Date: 04/23/07 — 9.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 20 : “Five Years Gone“
Original Air Date: 04/30/07 — 9.6 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 21 : “The Hard Part“
Original Air Date: 05/07/07 — 9.1 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 22 : “Landslide“
Original Air Date: 05/14/07 — 9.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 23 : “How to Stop an Exploding Man“
Original Air Date: 05/21/07 — 8.5 rating over at TV.com

Upon viewing all 20+ eps in short order, I am able to say that it transcends television like few shows are able to. Many times it felt like I was watching a long movie rather than a TV series. The plot concerns the mysterious appearance of amazing powers in groups of seemingly ordinary and unrelated people. These powers range from flight to invulnerability and the truly unique, such as a man who gives off radiation. As can be seen, not all the powers are welcome, let alone advantageous.

They are many main characters, but if I had to pick a few that the story seems to most follow, it would be the cheerleader, the villain, the Japanese duo, and the nurse. The story burgeons to include others of note, both related and mysterious to the above. All of these characters from across the world eventually come together in efforts to save the world from the villain. The villain will not be named due to the initially ominous role in the series, their presence is not truly made known until several episodes in, but a feeling of the villain is always present due to the unique, “roguish” way in which their ability works. As the series continues, a sense of urgency really develops due to a hero’s ability to see the future through paintings. Along with the time-traveling Hiro, the future is looking none too bright.

You know some say television is in a state of trouble as shows are getting worse and worse. Well either I have terrible taste in the programs I watch or people are watching the completely wrong channels. With shows like “Heroes“, TV is at one of it’s highest points in quite some time. If you’re a fan of shows like “Smallville” “Heroes” is right down you’re alley.

- Synopsis written by: Brendan Surpless -

Video Quality on this release is 1080p in VC-1 on FIVE BD-50′s (50 gigabyte Blu-ray Discs). “Heroes” is a further example of the potential of TV shows in High Definition. Given the impressive special effects, especially on a TV budget, it lends itself rather well to high definition. Images are clear and defined, with each heroes’ special power usually given an additional flourish to wow you, such as the case of a sonic boom preceding moments of flight. These above instances are a clear definition of what is great about this presentation. However not everything is perfect though. Think of a painting with one side beautiful and the other side disappointing. That is how this transfer was and still is. The single biggest issue was the abundance of video noise. In fact this becomes quite annoying making me wonder if different encodes were used.

The fleshtones seem to be fairly accurate, color palette is obviously at times vibrant and the black level somewhat solid. It’s just the fact of so much video (or film) noise that leaves the visual presentation a tad bit slacking on the first season of this hit TV show. It’s very “watchable” , don’t get me wrong in the slightest bit but it’s just not totally perfect. This earns a decent “3 1/2 Star Rating” for overall video quality. No real change in the quality since the change from HD-DVD to Blu-ray Disc.

Audio Quality on this release is in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Dialogue is very key in such of a show with a mix of mostly drama and sometimes action like this one. I’m happy to report that dialogue is delivered very clearly and crisp via this DTS-HD 5.1 MA track. The music (essentially “Score”) done by Wendy Melvoin & Lisa Coleman with the voice of Shenkar sounds terrific throughout every episode. The background music is very much a part of the show in the sense that it gets you into the mood of each particular scene or situation quite extraordinarily well.

This doesn’t hold the world’s most amount of rear channel or bass presence in the 5.1 soundscape but it does hold enough to get the job done for the subject matter at hand. “Heroes” production value in the sound department obviously seemed to get better episode by episode I could honestly tell but that’s Television for you. The DTS-HD 5.1 MA is an improvement over the original Dolby Digital found on the DVD and Dolby Digital Plus found on the HD-DVD release. This earns a solid “4 Star Rating” for overall audio quality and is sure to leave fans of the show pleased.

Bonus Materials are all presented in Standard Definition (480i/p) video and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound — unless otherwise noted in the rare case of the “Pilot” episode of the show.

• U-Control: Akin to other U-Control features on Universal’s releases, this U-Control is perhaps the best yet. The “Characters Connection” charts the various characters and their meetings through each episode. We also get a chance to take a closer look at Issac’s various paintings, which is important as they play a pivotal role in the series. Additionally there is a “Helix” symbol that occasionally pops up pointing out the hidden “symbol” in each episode. This feature is available on every episode but episodes on Discs 3, 4 and 5 feature Picture-In-Picture mode via Bonus View (which requires a Profile v1.1 or higher Blu-ray Player).

Disc 1:



• BD-Live “ready” on Disc 1. This means that when Universal launches their BD-Live service later this year you will be able to access the content from online such as downloadable content, additional deleted scenes, commentary, or etc. This would also mean that this will be the last time you have to purchase this title. So no “double dipping” from Universal on this title on Blu-ray through the beauty of BD-Live‘s technology.
• Episode 1 : “(Volume One: Genesis) In His Own Image” (73 minutes – HD) is included which never aired on NBC originally during the show’s first season run. This being included in the same tech specs (VC-1 1080p HD video / DTS-HD 5.1 MA sound) is technically a bonus and one well appreciated. This isn’t a new addition to the Blu-ray Disc however as it was included on both the DVD and HD-DVD releases. Included is also an episode audio commentary by show creator Tim Kring.
• Deleted Scenes are included for the following episodes on this disc:
“Genesis” (7 minutes)
“Don’t Look Back” (4 minutes)
“One Giant Leap” (4 minutes)
• The Making of Heroes (10 minutes) briefly goes through the motions of creating the series.
• Special Effects (9 minutes) gives a look into the series’ special effects. When you think that a majority of the effects are created weekly for an hour show, that’s pretty impressive.
• Stunts (11 minutes) takes an obvious look at the stunts featured in the show. Stunt work is what stunt work always is. No Yu Ping innovations here.
• The Score (9 minutes) gives us an interview with Wendy Melvoin & Lisa Coleman who do the music that serves as a “Score” to the series. Interesting enough but why are music insights always so short?
• Profile of Artist Tim Sale (12 minutes) is very interesting due to his work being used for the “painting the future” power. It is difficult to see that all the varied pieces are from him, due to each painting seeming to be from a different style of art.

Disc 2:

• Deleted Scenes are included for the following episodes on this disc:
“Collision” (1 minute)
“Don’t Look Back” (4 minutes)
“Nothing to Hide” (10 minutes)
“Seven Minutes to Midnight” (3 minutes)

Disc 3:

• Deleted Scenes are included for the following episodes on this disc:
“Homecoming” (1 minute)
“Six Months Ago” (3 minutes)
“Fallout” (2 minutes)
“Godsend” (2 minutes)
“The Fix” (1 minute)
• Picture-In-Picture is available via Bonus View in the “U-Control” mode for the following episodes on this disc:
“Godsend”
“The Fix”

Disc 4:

• Deleted Scenes are included for the following episodes on this disc:
“Distractions” (2 minutes)
“Run!” (4 minutes)
“Company Man” (2 minutes)
“Parasite” (1 minute)
• Picture-In-Picture is available via Bonus View in the “U-Control” mode for the following episodes on this disc:
“Distractions”
“Run!”
“Unexpected”
“Company Man”
“Parasite”

Disc 5:

• Deleted Scenes are included for the following episodes on this disc:
“0.7%” (30 seconds)
“Five Years Gone” (1 minute)
“Landslide” (1 minute)
• Picture-In-Picture is available via Bonus View in the “U-Control” mode for the following episodes on this disc:
“0.7%”
“Five Years Gone”
“The Hard Part”
“Landslide”
“How to Stop An Exploding Man”

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•