Well the title is self-explanatory, and this is kind of a spin-off to a somewhat similar theme thread I started for 'Lost'.

It's T-minus 7 days until the new season blasts off for this fun show, so we might as well look briefly to the past, before we start discussing the present and future (string theory) of this series in the main Heroes thread.

Concept is simple, particularly as there's only been 1 season to date. Pick your favorite moment(s) of Season 1, as well as the single episode you enjoyed the most. If nothing else, this should whet our appetite for the new stuff. ;)

I'm going to have to think longer about favorite moment, but my favorite line was definitely by Jessica to Matt - "Didn't I throw you out of a window once?"

And favorite ep for me is a toss-up between 'Company Man' and 'String Theory', but not wanting to encourage multiple choices, I'll take 'String Theory' for $400, Alex. :D

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Palladin

Chance favors the prepared mind

Definitely "Company Man" - a heartwrenching ending to the episode with some good backstory fill-in.

The "Mustang Sally" scene in episode 1
:D

Definitely "Company Man" - a heartwrenching ending to the episode with some good backstory fill-in.
Agreed, I think it was the best written of all the eps. As I needed some DVR space, I deleted all of the Heroes episodes except for these two, until the disks came out. Bottom line is I've been a sucker for alternate space-time continuum stories since ST-TOS. :o;)

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Palladin

Chance favors the prepared mind

Favorite moment: Bad-mofo Petrelli vs Sylar in Five Years Gone. Best ep: Company Man.

With only 3 days left to go, I'm bumping this suckah back up to the first page, to check for any other opinions on favorite moments or best ep. :)

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Palladin

Chance favors the prepared mind

The episode where Hiro is stuck in the future is my favorite one.

Rewatched the first 5 episodes on HD-DVD the other day. The moment when Nathan "jets off" for the first time was really good. Although I do wonder how he flew w/the Haitian mere feet from him. His landing where only Hiro notices from the diner and the subsequent exchange were excellent too.

Favorite epside was likely "Company Man" - good story and it answered so many questions on HRG.

My favorite moment was when Claire emerged from Ted's "nuclear blast". Which, as I check the episode guides, seems to be in "Company Man".

Rewatched the first 5 episodes on HD-DVD the other day. The moment when Nathan "jets off" for the first time was really good.
Yeah, I thought the visual effects guys came up with a great new twist on the tired old 'flying man' routine, and it is probably one of my favorite effects on the show, particularly in contrast with the low-budget blue/green screen job they did when Peter was flying Claude around after throwing him off the roof.

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Palladin

Chance favors the prepared mind

The CG flying guys cost many times as much as the blue screen flying, obviously, and CG people don't hold up in close-ups. Even on a feature film budget like Superman Returns and Polar Express, CG people don't look real. If you want to get close enough to read an expression and get the actor's performance, as was the case when Peter was carrying Claude, you need to do it blue or green screen. That's just the state of the technology right now, and the realities of TV budgets.

Another vote for Company Man for best ep, and for best moment it goes to the end of Company Man.

"Go deep, leave nothing that will lead them to her".

The CG flying guys cost many times as much as the blue screen flying, obviously, and CG people don't hold up in close-ups. Even on a feature film budget like Superman Returns and Polar Express, CG people don't look real. If you want to get close enough to read an expression and get the actor's performance, as was the case when Peter was carrying Claude, you need to do it blue or green screen. That's just the state of the technology right now, and the realities of TV budgets.
Yes, I understand that it was important to show Peter's newly developed 'grim and determined' look as a method of confirming his change in character. I just would have preferred that goal had been accomplished by some other means (i.e. not necessarily flying) as I have always found blue/green screens distracting.

BTW, since you mentioned 'the realities of TV budgets' anyway, can we anticipate that Uni/NBC's largesse toward the effects budget has improved in light of Heroes established status as a 'Hit Show' ?

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Palladin

Chance favors the prepared mind

If you feel that Heroes is lacking in an effects budget, it means that the artists are doing a fantastic job. The truth is, Heroes does more effects per episode than any other show currently on the air, with the exception of BSG. But the effects are mostly of the "invisible" variety.

I'm not going to give away specifically how they are used in Heroes, because that would spoil the fun and violate professional ethics. But if you happen to have purchased the season 1 DVD set for Ugly Betty, watch the 'Green is the New Black' featurette. The same VFX artists do that show as well, and you'll get the idea. While you say you find blue & green screen shots distracting, I'm willing to bet you have no idea how many you are watching each week on all the shows you watch.

Five years gone for me. My wife didn't watch it with me during the season last year, but I rented them and told her she HAD to watch them with me. She was hooked after the first disk. There are a few reason's for Five Years Gone being my favorite. When Hiro says that he doesn't want to talk to himself because he's scare of himself. I liked the whole "dark" take to it. I showed the dispair everyone had went through and showed what would happen if "the bomb" wasn't stopped. My wife was shocked when Nathan turned out to be Sylar. The best of all though was the thought of the battle between Sylar and Peter with full control.

One thing I caught when watching again though is the new "bad man" that the little girl was talking about being able to see her when she looked for him. When looking at the info for the new episode on D*'s program guide I saw that there is a new villian after the Hero's. Anyone have any info or thought to what that is all about? Either way I can't wait until monday!!!!:D

If you feel that Heroes is lacking in an effects budget, it means that the artists are doing a fantastic job. The truth is, Heroes does more effects per episode than any other show currently on the air, with the exception of BSG. But the effects are mostly of the "invisible" variety.
No, you've got it twisted. I'd like to see the efx group get a larger budget so that they can come up with even more imaginative and elaborate stuff. I kind of remember reading an article at the end of last season in which Kring complained that there were certain things he would have like to have done, except for the budgetary constraints.

I assume you're part of the Stargate crew, but feel free to correct me if I'm off-base or if you can't say. I presume the 'invisible' stuff you're referring to are the vfx scenic location backdrops, many of which are very good, no question about it. OTOH, they are not entirely consistent. For example, in I think it was Five Years Gone, (I just re-watched the series a couple of weeks back, so I'm not going to try searching through it again), the vista of destruction that greets Hiro and Ando looked teriffic...BUT, the memorial site was a Huge disappointment, as it looked rushed and quite frankly a bit sloppy, particularly between the background and the crowd superimposed there. That kind of contrasting result suggests to me that some kind of constraint is at work, whether it be sufficient manpower, reasonably priced cutting-edge technology, or something of a similar nature. Yes, India, Vegas, etc. sure felt like 'you were there', but in contrast, NYC in the season finale did not.

Now the issue here may be the 'State of the Art', or the prohibitive cost of creating Industrial Light and Magic film-type effects on a television series budget, I don't know. But if you're saying that a bigger efx budget would NOT help to further improve the results, then a little more clarification would certainly be appreciated.

While you say you find blue & green screen shots distracting, I'm willing to bet you have no idea how many you are watching each week on all the shows you watch.
ALL of them? Probably not. But many....yes. The only ones that matter to me are the shows in which the efx work is critical towards establishing the willful suspension of disbelief, such as Heroes, BSG and Lost.

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Palladin

Chance favors the prepared mind

Now the issue here may be the 'State of the Art', or the prohibitive cost of creating Industrial Light and Magic film-type effects on a television series budget, I don't know. But if you're saying that a bigger efx budget would NOT help to further improve the results, then a little more clarification would certainly be appreciated.

The big ssue with television effects is seldom budget or technology. It's time. While a feature film has months (and in some cases years) to achieve their effects, a network TV show schedule allows about 8-10 days for the artists to work, if you are lucky. Cable shows are a different story. Rome, I believe, had a six month post schedule. But on the big four networks, that's about the most you can hope for. This is the single most limiting factor for most shows. So although the artists for Heroes are no slouches (they received 3 Emmy nominations for 3 different shows this year, and received the Emmy in the mini series category), you are not going to create Transformers in 10 days.