Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Podcast
      • Slice of SciFi 1018: Chariot“Chariot” Writer-Director Adam Sigal
      • Slice of SciFi 1017: DualIndie Scifi: On “Dual”, disposable lives and cloned replacements
      • Slice of SciFi 1016: Astrid & Lilly Save the World“Astrid & Lilly Save the World” Season 1 Breakdown
      • Slice of SciFi 1015: 2022 International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival2022 International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival
    • View all
  • Movie Reviews
      • Review: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”: A Triumph in Many Ways
      • Review: Memory (2022)“Memory” is a compelling crime thriller
      • Review: The Northman (2022)“The Northman” brings a Viking legend to life
      • Review: Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)“Everything Everywhere All At Once” is delightfully subversive
    • View all
  • TV Reviews
      • "Project Blue Book"“Project Blue Book” explores the threads of UFO reports
      • Manifest Season 1: 5 Episodes In5 Episodes In: “Manifest”
      • 5 Episodes In: Reverie5 Episodes In: “Reverie”
      • 5 Episodes In: Marvel's Cloak and Dagger5 Episodes In: “Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger”
    • View all
  • DVD Reviews
      • Discussion: The Spine Of Night (2021)Indie Talk: Another Look at “The Spine of Night”
      • Review: Creepshow S2 Blu-rayBlu-ray Review: “Creepshow Season 2”
      • Batman: The Long Halloween (2021)“Batman: The Long Halloween”: an effective if over-long story
      • Blu-ray: Seance (2021)Blu-ray review: “Seance”
    • View all
  • Columns
  • News
      • TV News
      • Film News
      • DVD News
      • Interviews
      • Events
      • Geeky, Funny & Weird
      • Online Entertainment News
      • Music News
      • On Stage
      • Space News

Slice of SciFi

This is How We Geek Out: Interviews, Reviews & More

  • Writers, After Dark
  • Horror Happenings
  • The Babylon Podcast
  • SciFi Shop Talk
  • Slice of SciFi TV
  • Contact Us
“Heroes – Season 2 DVD Set”  — A Slice of SciFi Review

“Heroes – Season 2 DVD Set” — A Slice of SciFi Review

August 24, 2008 By S. K. Sloan 3 Comments

“The Season Two DVD pack is a reminder of just how outstanding this show has become and the limitless heights that creator Tim Kring will still be able to bring to it”


When NBC Universal asked if they could send me a copy of the 4-Disc Season Two DVD of “Heroes” to review, there was certainly no arm twisting on their part for me to say yes.

“Heroes” has proven over the last two years to never be short of unique plot twists, and the uncanny ability to somehow beautifully choreograph a large ensemble cast, with different stories and directions in their character’s lives, into a cohesive tale that never contradicts itself and keeps the audience excited and guessing all at the same time.

The Season Two DVD pack is a reminder of just how outstanding this show has become and the limitless heights that creator Tim Kring will still be able to bring to it.

All the episodes for the second season are a part of the DVD package and while it was fun watching them again and being reminded of some of the finer details of the episodes I had forgotten since the season finale ended, what really makes this DVD worth having in one’s collection is the extra bonus material.

Each disc contains three episodes, except for disc four which only has the final two of the season. However, each disc also contains deleted scenes from the various episodes on it, audio commentaries from the cast and crew and much, much more.

One of my favorite extras was a 5-part animated documentary titled “Takezo Kensei: Sword Saint,” which is narrated by the great actor John Rhys-Davies and gives the complete backstory of the legendary Japanese samurai that is Hiro’s idol in the series. There is also a background piece on who the series obliquely refers to as “the grandfather of the Internet” named Richard Drucker (“The Drucker Files”), and his place in the pantheon of Heroes. The discs also feature an NBC featurette called “Untold Stories,” which clues the viewer in on the lives of the some of the Heroes and tells aspects about them not seen in the weekly series, and a bonus feature titled “Heroes: Second 2-A New Beginning.”

But, one special feature that viewers of these DVDs will find especially helpful are the inclusion of all those deleted scenes. One of the only problems I had with Season Two when it aired on NBC was how it seemed to be a lot more choppy than it was in Season One. Scenes seemed to be cut short, or closed-out in such a way that seemed hurried. I understand why this had to be done, after all, the network has to pay the bills and with stories as intricately woven as “Heroes” is, sometime that chopped look is a sad by-product of advertisement placement. The deleted scenes included on the DVDs fill in those gaps excellently. We learn why Takezo Kensei, a.k.a. Adam Monroe, turned as viciously against Hiro, Yaeko and her swordsmith father as readily and brutally as he did. While the regular aired episode indicated that it was because he loved Yaeko and was upset when he saw Hiro and her kissing, the deleted scenes really show just how much Takezo did love her and relayed quite well the depth of betrayal he felt that Hiro had committed against their friendship. Those cut scenes, and others like it, really helps the viewer to better understand just how bruised and vindictive Adam had become over the last 400 years and why he was so intent on using the virus to destroy nearly all of humankind.

The final part of this DVD release was the real shocker. It appears that the aired final episode cliff-hanger wasn’t the originally planned one, but what we all saw was an alternate ending that became necessary due to the writer’s strike that hit the show while in production and was the cause for there only being 11 episodes for the entire second season. We all remember the aired season finale had Peter catching that glass vial of virus before it shattered to the floor and then using his ability to create intense heat to destroy it. The originally planned ending was to be much darker. I won’t spoil it for you in this review because I want everyone who gets this DVD to be as shocked as I was. But let me say, you will likely do as I did and just go, WOW!

“Heroes Season 2” will be available for purchase beginning Tuesday, August 26, 2008. Should you buy it? I can tell you in one word — ABSOLUTELY!

Overall SoSF 0 to 5 rating =

~ Samuel K. Sloan

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on Email

Filed Under: DVD Reviews Tagged With: Heroes

About S. K. Sloan

Samuel K. Sloan's love of Star Trek brought him to Slice of SciFi, where he was Managing Editor from 2005-2011, and returned from 2013-2014 before retiring once again from scifi news gathering.

Related Posts

“Heroes” Ending Early On Two
“Heroes” Revived by Dynamite
NBC Orders “Heroes Reborn”

Comments

  1. Alice says

    August 24, 2008 at 4:53 pm

    When you say “It appears that the aired final episode cliff-hanger wasn’t the originally planned one”, do you mean “As we all already knew”?

    But thanks for the review, will definately get this and I’m really looking foreward to it now.

    Reply
  2. Michael Hickerson says

    August 26, 2008 at 6:15 pm

    I’m curious to know if not having a week between episodes helps or hinders season two.

    I didn’t care much for season two, feeling it was too much of reset to season one instead of building and moving forward.

    I think the strike came along at the right time to help the series step back and hopefully re-energize itself…

    Reply
  3. Neil says

    November 29, 2008 at 6:50 am

    Season 2 of Heroes clearly doesn’t match up to Season One, that’s the truth. But I think for the time they had to do it, it’s a good try. I didn’t watch Season 2 on tv (I’m from the UK, so its on BBC2) because of my oh-so-busy life but this was good for the soul. And now season 3 is on, and I’ve just finished watchin S2 and it’s halfway through S3. Can’t wait till S3 P1 if they’re releasing it.

    —–neil.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Filter by Categories
Audio Productions
Awards News
Book News
Book Reviews
Columns
Comics News
DVD News
DVD Reviews
Entertainment Business News
Events
Fan Films
Fan Productions
Film News
Film Reviews
Gaming News
Geeky, Funny & Weird
Human Interest
Interviews
Music News
On Stage
Online Entertainment News
Science News
Slice of SciFi
Slice Video News
Space News
Specials
Technology News
TV News
TV Reviews

Subscribe to Podcast

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsiHeartRadioStitcherPodchaserTuneInRSS

Listen to Slice of SciFi

iTunes
iHeart Radio
Player.FM
RSS
 

Keep Up With Slice of SciFi

  • Movie & TV Reviews

Recent Comments

  • Chris Howley on “The Northman” brings a Viking legend to life: “Your review makes me want to see this movie, which I had previously decided to skip over. Of course, I’ll…”
  • Armando Ruiz on Aquaman vs Namor: “Namor can destroy DC’s fish man”
  • Louis C Howley on “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is delightfully subversive: “Thank you for that compliment. I agree that it is a very difficult film to summarize. I very much appreciate…”
  • Summer Brooks on “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is delightfully subversive: “oh my, I didn’t do this review, it was Louis! Thanks for letting me know I needed to fix the…”
  • Alan Irwin on “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is delightfully subversive: “Thank you Summer. I had no way of describing this film when I came out of it. I absolutely loved…”
Tweets by Slice of SciFi
death to humans 160x600
Save 10-50% on in-stock toys at TFAW.com.

Slice of SciFi
1121 Annapolis Rd PMB 238
Odenton MD 21113
602-635-6976

Artwork:
Slice of SciFi spiral logo designed by Tim Callender

Theme Music:
Slice of SciFi music and themes
courtesy of Sci-Fried

Sister Sites:
Writers, After Dark
Horror Happenings
SciFi Shop Talk
Slice of SciFi TV

Copyright © 2005–2022 · Magazine Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in