# Heroes Reborn: Event Series - Blu-ray Review



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=68754[/img] 
*Title: Heroes Reborn: Event Series* 

*Movie:* :2.5stars:
*Video:* :4stars:
*Audio:* :3.5stars: 
*Extras:* :2stars: 

*HTS Overall Score:*67







[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=68762[/img]*Summary*
Usually you can tell how good or bad a show is going to be within the first couple of episodes, but I have been thoroughly wrong about shows before, so I always give them a full 2/3rds of a seasons before passing final judgement. However I was struck with this heavy feeling of dread after watching the 1.5 hour premiere of “Heroes Reborn” and that sense of dread only got worse and worse as the show went on. Sadly it looks like Tim Kring hasn’t learned from history as the original “Heroes” started out with an incredible 1st season, a solid 2nd season (hampered mostly by the writer’s strike in 2007) and then just fell off the cliff with each of the 2 subsequent seasons. “Heroes Reborn” starts off with that same weak and flaccid feel that the old series ended with and just sat in that same sort of squalid storytelling that pretty much killed off the original series. I won’t say I didn’t have some fun with the show, as superhero shows are a personal favorite of mine (I still love to re watch “Mutant X” every couple of years), but sadly the appeal for the series has gone downhill about as much as the writing talent.

Set years after the evens of “Heroes”, “Reborn” starts right back up in the little town of Odessa Texas, where the Evos (evolved humans, e.g. the people with powers) and the humans are getting together under an umbrella of peace to reach out and form some kind of alliance. Sadly things go south REAL quick as someone drops a bomb (literally) on the conference and completely destroying the small bit of hope between the two factions of humanity. Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman) loses his invincible daughter Claire, and the rest of humanity is seeking vengeance on the evolved humans. So once again we’re back to hiding underground for all the mutants….errrrr, evols and the humans are back to hunting them down one by one. Our good friend Mohinder Suresh is back and this time he’s taking credit for the attack, but someone that seems a bit suspect as we also see him take credit for a church burning down, but the viewer gets to see that it is actually a couple of human vigilantes (one of whom is played by Zachary Levi who is doing so because his beliefs are so shattered after watching his son die in the Odessa bombing).

However, things take a turn for both the better and the worse. We have a whole new team of superheroes this time around. Tommy (Robbie A. Kay), a young boy who is trying to control his newfound powers of teleporting people to some dimension (where he doesn’t know), Miko (Kiki Sukezane), a girl who has the power to transport herself into a videogame (her power makes the least sense of the series the more it unravels), Carlos, a man who’s Evol brother dies and who is left holding the bag on his evol nephew. Together they come together with a few other Evols and fight against what can only be told as “is coming”. An inevitable force that some have seen coming for quite some time and will do anything to either fight on its side, or destroy it.

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=68770[/img]
The biggest sin of “Heroes Reborn” is that it leaves out the best part of “Heroes”, namely the Petrelli’s, and keeps with the same sort of sallow formula that ran the original series into the ground. Too much feels TOO familiar. We get a bunch of heroes together who don’t like each other and then we have the big bad government trying to get mutant registration…..errrr… evol registration and driving everyone underground. Noah Bennett is no longer the tag and bag character he was in the series, but now he has to find out WHO is doing the same thing in his absences from Primatech. 

The show itself has the ability to be much more enjoyable, as it decides to not actually be a fifth season to the original 4 season show. The plot arcs for that ship has already sailed so creator Tim Kring has decided to create the same WORLD, but move on to something completely different. A new plot, new heroes (with some old faces popping up here and there), and a new mission. Sadly nothing really comes of this as the 13 episode “Event Series” manages to be a bit too busy for its own good. Too many confusing subplots and premanufactured crises just push the story along at an unnaturally brisk pace, leaving the viewer unsatisfied as not enough important actually happens to justify it. The use of powers is clichéd but rather fun, and some of the new powers are pretty cool. Unfortunately there’s very little WEIGHT behind them as I couldn’t feel a sense of urgency in the show. No buildup like there was with the awesome fight between Sylar and Peter Petrelli in the first two seasons that NEVER happened (sorry, fans of the first two seasons of “Heroes” are never going to let that one go). 




*Rating:* 

Not Rated by the MPAA



*Video* :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=68778[/img]“Heroes Reborn” is given a rather pleasant 1.78:1 AVC encoded image on the Blu-ray, but one that doesn’t come without a few faults. Overall detail and clarity are quite good from the digitally produced source, but I did notice some aliasing and digital noise here and there. The video game back drop for Miko showed some actual macroblocking and banding as well, but that seems to be relegated ONLY to the video game bits. The shows weak CGI budget doesn’t help either, as the CGI fire, blood and other special effects look no better (and sometimes worse) than the 2006 series. However, colors do pop off the screen and the color grading is surprisingly natural (although sometimes a heavy blue palette is used). Black levels remain strong (albeit there is some noise in them), and it’s a solid looking encode and I don’t notice many flaws, but the ones that do exists are pretty noticeable. 









*Audio* :3.5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=68786[/img]“Heroes” has never had a great soundtrack. In fact I always thought the original show’s sound design was WAAAAAAAAAAAY overbearing with the LFE. Gunshots sounded like howitzer cannons on a battleship, footsteps carried the weight of full elephants and super powered battles roared in all directions. It was cool at first but soon got very wearing. This time around the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is actually a little bit of an underachiever. There’s some good vocal separation and the front heavy mix tends to be pleasant enough, but there just isn’t a whole lot there stretching the experience. Low end is very subdued this time around as is surround activity. There’s some whooshes, and blasts that happen during a few combat scenes and Tommy’s teleporter power comes with a nice low end pulse, but other than that the series is VERY front heavy. Surprisingly so at times. 










*Extras* :2stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=68794[/img]
• Deleted Scenes
• Heroes Reborn: Reliving the Legacy 
• Heroes Reborn: Dark Matters 











*Overall:* :3.5stars:

I was actually really happy to see “Heroes” return to TV. After X-files go its own Event Series I was really hoping that Tim Kring had learned from the mistakes of the past and done something to revitalize the show back to its former glory. Sadly it feels like a cheap copy of X-men (watch it, you’d be really surprised at the blatant copying) just without the fun. Instead of copying the first couple of seasons of “Heroes”, it really felt like Kring was still stuck with the 3rd and 4th season’s mediocre performance, and this time without some of the REALLY cool super powered beings to back it up. It’s worth a decent rental if you liked the original show, but new fans might be better off skipping it.


*Additional Information:*

Starring: Zachary Levi, Robbie Kay, Jack Coleman
Created by: Tim Kring
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Studio: Universal
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 556 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: April 12th, 2016




*Buy Heroes Reborn: Event Series Blu-ray on Amazon*




*Recommendation: Rental​*







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## PC509 (Nov 15, 2012)

Thanks for the review. It was just a mediocre show for me. I watched it because it was Heroes and I wanted to finish the story. Not because I was really into it. I'm definitely going to buy this (gotta have the whole set!), but I'm going to wait until I can get it on sale. I might watch it again sometime in the future, just not that often.


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