Hulu Heroes

A few months ago, the brilliance at NBC/Universal officially ended their contract with iTunes after Apple refused to raise the price of a download to $4.99 per episode (NBC still claims, by the way, that there is no profit to give to the writers). They vowed to create their own video service that would compete, and they did. It’s called Hulu, and is in private beta testing right now. As far as I know, if you go to hulu.com you might still be able to get an invitation code to use the service before it’s “officially released.”

I signed up early and have been playing around with it… I wouldn’t call it anything like iTunes, but I see how it might steal away some customers. A lot of entire shows are available for free, right on the site, and not just ones from NBC. Fox, and a few other cable networks, are on there as well. And you can’t download them or otherwise take them with you (yet), but the quality is 10x better than anything you’d find on YouTube and it even (surprisingly) lets you embed the video files into your own site, like I’m about to do.

What’s even cooler, is that it lets you embed specific clips of the episodes.

Like so (don’t watch if you haven’t yet seen the last episode of Heroes):

That’s the last part of the finale of Heroes, which I finally watched yesterday. I think, based on the un-Heroes-like editing and Lifetime style montage, that that’s the part of the episode that was re-edited to serve as the finale because of the WGA strike.

I have to say, as bored as I was with the first half of the season (like I said here), the second half picked up. (Technically, I guess I should be using the term “volume” instead of “season,” since season two might still continue after the strike is over.) All of the reasons I was losing interest were eventually addressed by the series creator so things are turning around, I think.

The one remaining gripe I have with the show is that there seems to be little lasting consequences. With the exception of a few very minor characters, there have been no real deaths on the show. Don’t get me wrong — death just for death’s sake isn’t required — but people get shot, fall from buildings, even explode in a nuclear blast, and are able to just walk away from it twenty minutes later after some dramatic music.

I had tears in my eyes (shut up) when Claire’s dad, Noah, died. There is some good development! I thought. Noah was a great character… we thought he may be evil during season one, and, I guess he kind of was. But all he ever really wanted to do was protect Claire and his family, and seeing Claire’s reaction to him being shot point blank in the face was a very powerful scene. Claire vowing to avenge his death and bring down the company — whatever it takes — was a pretty good direction for her character to go. I was excited to see where things were going to go next after the death of such a pivotal character, and then… the last ten seconds of the episode was him hooked up to an IV being fed his daughter’s indestructo-blood, miraculously healing, and then sitting upright whispering profanities.

Sylar is another one! He should have been killed off at the end of season one! Except the camera pans down after all the action to see a trail of blood leading into a sewer. His character hasn’t really made me hate him like a good villain should, but he might be off too a good start after killing Maya. No, wait, he didn’t kill her. She was miraculously healed, too. There I was, thinking they might actually kill off one of the least liked characters in order to help Sylar’s development along. Heh.

Actually, this “no death” thing isn’t entirely accurate. DL died in a flashback showing what happened between season one and two, which actually was pretty heroic and for once made the title “Heroes” seem to fit the show.

So, although Nathan is shot by an unknown assassin, the drama and suspense of that scene just wasn’t there since there’s a pretty good chance he’ll be healed soon anyway.

Although, I was pumped that he was going to say, “I have the ability to fly,” which would have (hopefully) added a whole new layer to the show: the public calling him a lunatic until he actually flew away, at which point this whole “mutant phenomenon” would be made public, X-Men style.

Oh! And my prediction about Adam was right on! The speculation out there was that he could either travel through time or has lived 400 years. It’s very cool that he actually lived 400 years. Imagine being born in the year 1600 and realizing you’d never die, meeting someone who claimed to be from the future, and then, 340 years later, you actually meet them at the point of time they came from originally. Trippy!

Speaking of trippy: Later, I’ll get into my theory about how Hiro must be a space/time anchor since he apparently can’t travel through time and come back to his point of origin seconds later… in other words, when he spends 6 months in the past, he’s gone for 6 months in real-time. ::thinks:: Hmmm, yeah. Later.

Here’s another clip from Hulu, having nothing to do with Heroes:

Keep in mind that as of right now, the studio is the only one making money off of this thing. They sell ad time to companies who slap their logo all over the video and play commercials in the middle of episodes and, well, that’s the whole reason the WGA is on strike — to get some of that action. Right now, writers, actors, directors, editors, staff, etc., are paid nothing when you watch their work on Hulu.com. Since it’s in Beta and I’m able to give feedback on how to improve the service my main complaint is going to be that the writers aren’t getting a cut of the profits and if they don’t I’m not going to use the service after it’s officially released. Take that, evil studio heads! That’ll learn you!

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I’ve given up on Heroes a few times this season. But, Katy still turns it on and I inevitably find myself on the couch at least half-paying attention. Last season was only eh, but it had some promise so I had high hopes for this season. But it failed miserably. I stuck with it because the promise was still there, I think.

As the ratings slip and the spin-off gets canceled, it was nice to read that the show’s creator, Tim Kring, knows that his show is broken. In an article in Entertainment Weekly titled “Tim Kring to Fans: I’m Super Sorry,” he listed a few ways he’s going to be fixing the show. Among his plans: pick up the pace. Nothing is happening. Hiro is in Japan this week. Oh, but, wasn’t he in Japan 4 weeks ago? And look, he’s still in Japan next week.

Luckily, that’s another aspect Tim Kring admits was a mistake: Hiro was in Japan way too long. Wrap that shit up. (However, the ending of the Nov. 5th episode, when his childhood hero Takezo Kensai ended up being ~SPOILER ALERT~ the elusive and mysterious head of “the Company,” Adam… now, that was good shit.)

Also, he says he wants more “world saving” (which I agree… I mean, the show is titled Heroes). He also wants to undo the “newbies,” such as Alejandro and Maya (where are they, anyway?) and stop relying on the “young love” of Claire/West and Hiro/Japanese Princess.

All good stuff, and things I’ve been thinking in the back of my mind all along. What’s more: I’d start to make the super-powers a public phenomenon, something that is recognized by the media. Season 2 should focus on where these powers are coming from and the potential threat to humanity. Also, more should be at risk. I can’t help but feel like I’m watching a soap opera half the time.

They could take an idea from Lost in regards to Alejandro and Maya, at least: when Niki and Paolo were the two new hated characters in Season 3 of Lost, the writers gave them their own kick ass episode where they were killed at the end, showing just what they were up to behind the scenes the entire run of the show up until that point. Unfortunately, Heroes doesn’t have that kind of ability because everything was done in secret (even the huge nuclear explosion over New York that nobody seemed to notice.)

*****

Interesting: the elusive/mystery character in Heroes is “Adam.” The elusive/mystery character in Lost is “Jacob.” My name is Adam Jacob Czarnecki. And when the Battlestar Galactica finally makes it to Earth in Season Four, they’ll meet another elusive character known only as The Czar. Little do you know I’m behind all of this.

And little do you know I’m lying about Battlestar Galactica, but since Jeff, Logan, and Tom are the only ones who watch it besides me, I’m not worried because I know they’ll go with it.

*****

I am thinking about launching a new web site called LOLslaughter. You know LOLcats? Well I thought I might be able to get some kind of social activism thing going with that concept. It’s not really meant to be funny, but, I’m not really sure what it’s meant to be. Opinions, please. In the mean time, if you have any pictures of animal slaughter, send them to me. (BTW, don’t click on that link if you’re upset by animals being killed so you can eat ‘em up!)

Bye for now, suckers! Watch out for the Batman. Just because Superman is dead doesn’t mean Metropolis is up for grabs! (click to enlarge)

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WHY BIONIC WOMAN OWNS IT’S EXISTANCE TO BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

David Eick is the Executive Producer of the new Bionic Woman remake on NBC. David Eick is also one of the Executive Producers of the Sci-Fi channel’s Battlestar Galactica. The new Battlestar Galactica and the new Bionic Woman are based on old shows from the 70s. The Sci-Fi channel is owned by NBC. After the success of Battlestar Galactica, it’s parent company NBC probably looked at the 70s and said, “what other show can we remake?” David Eick stepped up and took on the Bionic Woman remake, which is now on NBC like Battlestar Galactica should be (if BSG was on NBC it might have lasted more than 4 years.) Thanks, Battlestar Galactica, Ronald D. Moore, and David Eick. And good luck… I’ll be watching closely tonight, because that’s the kind of guy I am (creepy nerd?) (I judge myself.)

CHUCK

Holy crap, I actually enjoyed this. Usually I struggle to sit through first episodes, but this one kept it’s pace, and successfully managed to be the “comedy/action/sci-fi” show it said it was going to be. It’s about a guy who accidentally “downloads” all of the government’s secrets, turning his brain into a mini-computer. Certain things trigger these memories. And of course, the CIA realizes he’s an asset, and so they keep an eye on him, and it must be kept a secret! Kind of like The Bourne Identity meets Mighty Max, meets True Lies.

Pretty good. Pretayyy, pretayyy, pretay good. (Anyone watch Curb Your Enthusiasm?)

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM

Pretty good. Pretayyy, pretayyy, pretay good. First time watching it; I’m three episodes in. People say so far this is the best season so I have little interest (or time) in watching the previous five seasons.

LOST

Recently, the guy who played Richard (Nestor Carbonell) took a role on another network’s show, so for the time being he won’t be back on Lost. However, he let it slip that his character is 400 years old (which is why, in Ben’s childhood flashback, he didn’t appear any different). Once this other show is cancelled, though, I hope he’ll be back, and we’ll get some flashbacks to his childhood, circa 1604. It would kind of be like the origin of Wolverine, in that you see this character in a completely different era (it was indeterminate, but Wolverine appeared to be a child in the mid 1800s, and due to his ‘mutant healing factor’ his body ages incredibly slowly. Right now in the series “Wolverine: Origins,” it’s telling the story of how he and Captain America worked together in World War I.)

HEROES

The title of this show could be “X-Men,” and I’d enjoy watching it a bit more. I’m still not watching out of enjoyment or a wonder of what’s going to happen next, I’m watching just because it’s a show I kind of feel like I should be watching. I mean, come on, “Adam doesn’t watch Heroes?!” Fuhgetaboutit. The only character I still enjoy is Noah Bennet (HRG), and it still feels forced to me. After the letdown that was last season’s “shocking finale,” I’m hoping season two finds it pacing and differentiates itself from all the other superhero stories out there. Two goods things: the opening music alone is still enough to keep me entertained (for an hour, even), and finding out the mysterious “symbol” is part of the creepy guy’s face that the Little Girl described last season as the “mean guy who looks back.”

The Internet
Soon (Oct. 4) I’ll be connecting via AT&T, because they’re $15 cheaper for faster service and I won’t be giving my money to THE MAN that is Comcast.

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Well, the ’spoilers’ for American Idol last week ended up being true, so what does that mean for tonight?  It means, if they stick to it, Blake will be the runner-up and Jordin Sparks will be the winner.  I don’t really have an opinion because I stopped watching about half way through so I’m not sure what to think, but I’m more and more confident that your votes stopped mattering a month or two ago.

Why I am confident?  Well, I know it sounds like an National Enquiror article, but this report claims that the show won’t release it’s voting records from the six seasons.  This would not be hard to do and I can’t see any reason why they wouldn’t unless they didn’t want to show something.  It even claims that the public only actually chose the winner twice out of the six seasons.  Makes sense.  What if America got it wrong?  Nigel Lythgoe steps in and tells us who our Idol should be.

In other Wednesday Blog news, the season finale of LOST airs tonight.  I’ve already read the recap, because I’m fucking stupid, and it was confirmed today (and last week when the description ended up being DEAD ON) by someone else that the spoilers I read were entirely accurate.  Which means there will be no surprises for me tonight.  I will not be reading spoilers for that show again.  (I hope.)

But, of course, what makes the show great is not just the stories but the writing, acting, look and feel, music… the whole shebang-a-bang.  I’m still looking forward to seeing it!  After some thought, it’s going to be great.

I’ll give a teaser (*not* a spoiler, but if you want to you can skip this paragraph):  Mittelos Bioscience, the company that recruited the Other we know as Juliet, is an anagram for LOST TIME.  We’ll get a feel for what LOST TIME exactly means tonight, and it will no doubt set the course for the rest of the whole series.  And it has an ending you might see in an M Night Shyamalan movie (twisty ending where you have to rethink everything you just saw.)

I had a dream yesterday about Lost (yeah, I’m crazy, but I think it’s because I was watching the recap episode before I went to bed.)  What happened was, the Others were forcing Kate to put together an anti-aircraft weapon on the ground.  She was supposed to shoot something down.  She was crying because she didn’t want to do it, but they made her, and the missle ended up knicking the wing of a silverish blue U shaped aircraft.  It floated around a bit and then zoomed away like a UFO as it turned invisible (like it had a cloaking device.)  Next thing I knew I was seeing through Jack’s eyes, and Juliet asked if he thought they were being watched.  They were about to engage in intercourse (of the SEXUAL variety) in the jungle.  He said “no, of course not.”  She said, in her creepy calm way, “I do,” and was looking over Jack’s shoulder. He turns around and there is a FUCKING ALIEN in the trees.  It gets scared and turns invisible, and then they look up and there are little nobules floating in mid-air about 10 feet above them.  Turns out the nobules were holo-projectors and the entire island was a hallucination on some alien world.

Ooooo-weeee-oooooo….

In the shower after I got up I was scared to open my eyes and see an alien peering in at me from behind the shower curtain.

Then I got to thinking… remember how Cindy the Flight Attendant said “We’re here to watch.”  It would have been my new theory had I not spoiled it for myself already.

When Lost is at it’s best it scares the shit out of me.

Like this clip from last season’s finale:

When I first saw it, the reaction was:  “WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN?”  Also, it was the culmination of everything I hoped Lost was going to be.  In that scene, it became the sci-fi show I was hoping for.

Speaking of other sci-fi shows, does anybody else feel that the end of Heroes was a little anti-climatic?  I’m not sure what I was hoping for, but it was more than that.  I mean it was a good show and it had it’s good parts but at the end you just kind of went “huh, so…. that’s that.”  What has me intrigued now is what the “Tracking” girl said about one of the ‘evolved humans’ that she can see.  They asked her if there was anybody worse than Sylar, or something, and she said yes, but she doesn’t like to look for him, because when she looks out to him, he looks back.  I want to find out who this person is.

It’s BENJAMIN LINUS.

No, it can’t be.

At the end of Heroes, when Hiro transported himself back to ancient Japan (and ends up meeting the warrior who carried his sword), a total eclipse happens and everyone looks up to see it.  At that moment, before they showed the eclipse, I thought it was a UFO casting a shadow, and that the explanation to the question “why do these people have superpowers?” would be my friggin idea from last summer.  The second to last line (the one in ALL CAPS) seems to fit.

Even if is ends up being all about alien influence, I suppose there’s nothing I can do now!  Too late!

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