Heroes Season 3

Released by: Universal Studios
Released on: September 1, 2009
Director: Various
Cast: Various
Year: 2009
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The Series:

Proving that all good things must come to an end, sometimes sooner than we want them to, the third season of NBC's 'too quick to fizzle' Heroes arrives on Blu-ray and while the studio has done an absolutely kick ass job on the presentation and the extras, this third batch of episodes is a pretty big step down in quality from what came before.

What made the series so much fun initially was how it took various common people from all walks of life and thrust them into this world of superpowers, most without much of any actual superhero experience. They were kind of like the X-Men might have been, had Charles Xavier not formed his school for gifted youngsters to teach them how to become heroes. This made for a whole lot of interesting character development and fun drama. This gave the series an interesting angle, an area to grow into - what would happen each week? These characters could easily slip up and there existed the feasibility that they may not always be able to save the day.

Here, however, much of that has changed and not always for the better. This third season throws in so many ridiculous double crossings and convenient super power related quirks that it becomes ridiculous, even by the standards of superhero entertainment. Some of the characters are still fun, a few are even charming and the cast does a pretty fine job of staying true to what made their parts interesting in the first place. You can't fault the actors for what feels like lazy writing. It all feels like one big gimmick, however. The substance that made the first two seasons so popular with the series' considerable fan base has been sucked away like Hiro's time travelling high jinks.

That said, a lot happens throughout the twenty-five episodes that make up this third season and not all of it is terrible. There are still moments of fun to be had here, but you have to search a little harder and want to find them. As mentioned, the acting is good and the cast members, far more so than the writing team, really carry the series at this point in the game. Here's hoping that once the series runs its inevitably limited course we see some of these guys and girls move on to bigger (and hopefully better) things. Some of the action scenes are still far more impressive than a lot of the televised competition and the effects work, while never on the level of the latest Hollywood blockbuster, keeps things interesting when it's used. There is still some novelty to be gleaned from the sole fact that the series lets us watch good guys and bad guys duke it out in a way unlike anything else on television right now.

But there are a lot of plot threads just dangling here, too much unfinished business and too many easy fixes for some of the corners that the team has written themselves into. You can't help but feel you're being spoon fed here. The dialogue has gotten goofier, the plots more ridiculous, and the focus rather lost.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Heroes Season 3 is presented on a series of five BD-50 discs in a series of lovely looking 1.78.1 1080p VC-1 encoded anamorphic widescreen transfers. Shot in HD for broadcast, the transfers look quite good here and there's a lot of depth and detail present throughout the entire series if you want to look for it. Color reproduction looks nice and natural without ever feeling like it's 'too much' while black levels are rich and deep. Sometimes shadow detail isn't quite as strong as other HD transfers and some of the bright outdoor shots with a lot of white in them are a bit noisy looking, but aside from these two minor irritants, the series does look quite nice indeed in this collection. A bit of edge enhancement is noticeable, but it isn't overpowering and overall Universal has done a good job in the visuals department.

Audio options are provided in English language 48 kHz/16-bit 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio with optional subtitles available in English SDH, French and Spanish. While this may be a superhero show, it's a pretty talky one and most of the episodes are dialogue driven rather than action driven. The rears aren't used for much more than ambient noise and for the score save for those few action intensive scenes that do crop up here and there. That said, everything sounds quite nice here, even if it isn't a super bombastic mix. Dialogue is always nice and sharp and easy to follow and the score sounds beautiful when it really starts to pick up. Bass response is strong enough and the high end has a nice depth to it that ensures it never sounds too shrill. All in all, there's nothing to complain about here.

First up are optional commentary tracks (via the picture in U-control option - see below for more on that) for each of the twenty-five episodes that make up the season. What's interesting is that these tracks feature a wealth of different participants; everyone from writers to producers to actors gets a chance to chime in and give us their take on a specific episode. This results in a very well rounded series of discussions covering a wide array of topics from effects to critical response, from directing to acting to everything in between.

Going disc by disc, there are also a wealth of featurettes here starting with an eight minute bit called The Super Powers Of Heroes which is a very basic look at the stunt work seen on the show hosted by Tim Gilbert, the man who makes it happen. There's some interesting footage here but it really only scratches the surface.

Disc two features an effects related featurette called Completing The Scene that shows us how computer generated effects are used to flesh out what the cameras capture. More interesting is the forty-seven minute featurette, Alternate Stories, which was originally shown as a web based serial. The Recruit, Going Postal and Nowhere Man follow some interesting characters from the show on some alternate adventures. The fake Pinehurst Commercial is also on this disc.

Moving right along, look for a six minute segment called The Prop Box on disc there. Here we learn about the various props and items that the characters use on the show. It's not very interesting, really. The quick one minute gallery of Tim Sale's artwork is worth checking out, however, before moving on to disc four where we find a twenty-one minute documentary called Genetics Of A Scene which explores three of the more effects heavy moments from the season and shows us how they were all choreographed and coordinated and which gives us some insight into the show's creative and directorial process.

Disc five gives the writers a chance with the thirteen minute Writer's Forum. Here producer Tim Kring joins Adam Armus and Aron Eli Coleite to talk about what made season three interesting and what they were trying to do with various aspects of the storytelling. Also on this disc is the eleven minute Building Coyote Sands featurette that shows how the town we see in this season was built from the ground up.

Exclusive to this Blu-ray release, by way of the 'U-Control' functionality, are a few interesting interactive supplements starting with the The Heroes Connections, a feature that allows you to basically connect the dots between the various characters from the show and keep track of who is related to who and how. The Picture In Picture feature gives you access to a bunch of behind the scenes footage, cast and crew interviews and more. Also spread across each of the discs in the set is a collection of character biographies and a bunch of deleted scenes for each episode (just under forty minutes worth in total, though sadly presented in SD). This release is also Blu-ray Live enabled, so if going online and chatting about the show as you watch it in real time with other fans is your bag, you're all set (as long as your Blu-ray player has a broadband internet connection). All of the extras in this set are presented in high definition except where noted.

The Final Word:

Heroes Season Three looks decent and sounds pretty good and there are loads and loads of strong extra features included on this Blu-ray set, but the series itself seems to have lost it…