TV Series About People with Extraordinary Abilities is Back as Heroes Reborn!

I seldom get to watch TV shows religiously nowadays. Work has taken precedence over much of my leisure time. A few years ago, however, I got hooked on Heroes, a series about ordinary people with special abilities. 

original Heroes cast

I guess the popularity of these kinds of shows is an indication of our continuous fascination with superhero themes and characters. And why not? It makes for great entertainment to see "what would happen next?" in every episode shown.

Heroes was somewhat a melting pot where you can "meet" a lot of individuals with various extraordinary capabilities. They range from the very young to senior citizens and go beyond race, color, and social status. I think, what made this show attractive to viewers is that, at one point or another, we can identify with one or more of the characters or are reminded of someone we know.

Heroes 2006 - 2010

Thus, it was quite disappointing when the series abruptly ended after four seasons, just when the stories have become more and more interesting. By then, I've known the characters for a long time and knew I would miss seeing them -- Peter, Claire, Hiro, Ando, even Sylar -- on TV from then on.

So, I was really glad to find out some weeks back that creator and producer Tim Kring is bringing the series back with new characters and story lines. Yesterday, I joined other Heroes fans at the Solar Screening Room to watch the first two pilot episodes of Heroes Reborn on Jack TV.

Heroes creator and producer Tim Kring

The story picked up five years after cheerleader Claire Bennett (Hayden Panattiere) revealed to the world what kind of ability she has. I was quite glad to see the familiar face of Noah Bennett (Jack Coleman) at the start of the story. Unfortunately, he and the Haitian (Jimmy Jean-Louis) seems to be the only ones left among the original characters although there are signs that Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) might be making an appearance any time soon.

Oh, but there's a grown up Molly Walker, too, played by a different actress. Which was probably why I didn't recognize her. In the TV commercial previews, I've seen Micah's character being played by the same actor who looks more grownup now. I guess we'd have to wait for a few more episodes though before he makes an appearance.

new cast for Heroes Reborn

With new characters who have their own interesting story lines, the newly-revived series looks promising. The story angle of how Miko the Katana Girl and Ren started being friends is fascinating while Tommy's power is quite cool but scary. I'm looking forward to learning more about Malina, the girl who can turn dark stormy clouds into Aurora Borealis. 

The central theme of the main story though is the fear and hatred of some people who don't understand the evos (short for evolved humans) and would do everything in their power to either kill them or use their abilities for selfish purposes. 

my son and I after the press preview

But, let's not get ahead of things. There are a lot of episodes yet to be shown and I think I've become hooked enough already to finally spend at least one full hour a week watching a TV show regularly again. 

If this post doesn't quite make any sense yet, make sure to catch Heroes Reborn on Jack TV every Friday at 11AM (via satellite), 2:30PM (afternoon telecast), or 8PM (primetime telecast) so you'll learn more about what I'm talking about. Maybe then, you'll find yourself getting hooked, too! :)