Heroes: Complete Collection Blu Ray Review (Universal)

Heroes is a 2006 superhero television series created, written, and produced by Tim Kring (Chicago Hope, Providence, Crossing Jordan, Touch, and Treadstone). It was directed by Allan Arkush (Rock N Roll High School, Hollywood Boulevard, Death Sport, Caddyshack II, Get Crazy, and Crossing Jordan), John Badham (WarGames, Short Circuit, Saturday Night Fever, Nick of Time, Dracula, Point of No Return, and Drop Zone), Greg Beeman (Stargirl, Batwoman, License to Drive, Problem Child 3, Nash Bridges, and Smallville), Jeannot Szwarc (Jaws 2, Bug, Smallville, Without a Trace, The Practice, and Bones), Greg Yaitanes (House of the Dragon, Castle Rock, Manhunt, House, and Children of Dune), Ernest R. Dickerson (Juice, Surviving the Game, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight, Bulletproof, The Wire, Dexter, and The Walking Dead), and 32 others. The original series lasted 4 seasons that ended in 2010. 5 years later, it came back with Heroes Reborn. It had a variety of webisode spin offs besides those episodes!!!! Volume One: Genesis starts with a ordinary looking group of people which includes Niki Sanders (played by: Ali Larter from Final Destination franchise, Varsity Blues, Resident Evil franchise, and House on Haunted Hill) who gradually become aware that they somehow have special abilities. Their different reactions to those powers, and how that discovery affects their personal and professional lives. Others are investigating the origins and extent of those abilities. Mohinder Suresh (played by: Sendhil Ramamurthy from Doom Patrol, The Flash, and The Office), a research geneticist, continues his father’s research into the source of the powers, while Noah Bennet (played by: Jack Coleman from Spawn, The Office, Castle, and Burn Notice) is a lead agent for “the Company” that wants to control, and possibly take out those who are gifted. After coming to terms with their new abilities, each of the heroes is drawn into the final epic showdown. They must work together to stop the destruction of the world that starts with an threatening explosion in New York. Volume Two: Generations goes down four months after the events at Kirby Plaza. The Company does research on the Shanti virus. The heroes must work as a team in an attempt to stop the release of a dangerous strain of the virus. They are trying avoid a devastating pandemic. Volume Three: Villains doesn’t waste time with an assassination attempt on Nathan Petrelli (played by: Adrian Pasdar from Near Dark, Top Gun, Carlito’s Way, Iron Man, Supergirl, and Agents of  Shield), a political figure who can fly. Several villains escape from the confines of Level 5. Noah Bennet attempts to recapture them. Arthur Petrelli (played by: Robert Forster from Jackie Brown, Breaking Bad, Vigilante, Alligator, Maniac Cop 3, Uncle Sam, Psycho, Mulholland Drive, Fallen franchise, and Twin Peaks) heals from systemic nerve damage and aims to create a formula to give ordinary people superhuman abilities while trying to steal someone’s powers. Volume Four: Fugitives” shows what happens after Nathan fails to produce the formula. After the destruction of Primatech and Pinehearst, the heroes attempt to lead normal lives until Nathan initiates his plan to round up all people with abilities. Some of the heroes are not interested and it’s lead by Peter (played by: Milo Ventimiglia from Rocky Balboa, Pathology, Gamer, Cursed, Gotham, and Wolverine). Matt Parkman (played by: Greg Grunberg from Star Wars franchise, Star Trek Beyond, Tales of Halloween, and Hollow Man) alters Sylar’s (played by: Zachary Quinto from the Star Trek franchise, American Horror Story, Hotel Artemis, DC Comics Universe, Snowden, and Hitman: Agent 47) mind to carry out a plan. Volume Five: Redemption takes place six weeks after Volume Four. The heroes try to return to their normal lives. Sylar’s body is still messed up with the Nathan and Matt situation. Hiro (played by: Masi Oka from The Meg, Get Smart, Bullet Train, and Hawaii Five-O) has to deal has health problems which is preventing him from controlling his powers. A carnival group is introduced whose leader Samuel (played by: Robert Knepper from Prison Break, Hitman, Transporter 3, Twin Peaks, iZombie, and Carnivale) tries to recruit more people with abilities into his carnival family. Samuel claims he is creating a community for special people where they are welcome to be open with their abilities and respected by outsiders but he’s not telling the truth here. The heroes have to come together to battle the corrupt Samuel and his plan to expose “specials” to the world by killing thousands of people. Volume Six: Brave New World”, Claire (played by: Hayden Panettiere from Scream franchise, Remember the Titans, Joe Somebody, and Nashville) decides to reveal the existence of people with special abilities to a group of reporters and photographers. It takes a very similar turn like the original, what will happen next????Heroes is one of the most realistic views into the superhero world especially when it comes to television. It has it’s silly moments from time to time but overall it’s mainly serious with it’s approach. It’s well written, high quality fx, great visual style, slick production design, killer music, and some impressive performances. The original run lasted for 4 seasons and 5 years later they came back with Reborn. Heroes has an interesting mix of superheros and villains during the show’s 87 episode run with these 5 seasons. Each character showcased here has their own unique abilities and powers. It has an amazing cast when it comes to television. The main actors on Heroes were Ali Larter, Masi Oka, Zachary Quinto, Greg Grunberg, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Milo Ventimiglia, Adrian Pasdar, Hayden Panettiere, Jack Coleman, James Kyson (Shutter), and Cristine Rose (How I Met Your Mother). They had great chemistry in Heroes and everyone brought something different to the table when it came to their roles. The supporting cast was top notch here which includes Robert Knepper, Robert Forster, Brea Grant (Dexter), Jimmy Jean-Louis (Tears of the Sun), Ashley Crow (Minority Report), Zachary Levi (Shazam franchise), Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Zeljko Ivanek (OZ), Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), Clea DuVall (The Faculty), Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), Richard Roundtree (Shaft franchise), Christopher Eccleston (28 Days Later), Holt McCallany (The Iron Claw), Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters franchise), and so many other talented actors. Heroes is loaded with so many familiar faces. Such an awesome mix of action, drama, and suspense with this TV show. Each episode had you wanting more when it was finished. The original series is available on Peacock right now if you want to revisit it after reading this. Reborn I think is only available on Amazon at the moment. It’s been a long time since I watched the first 4 seasons so it was nice to go back to that wild universe. This was the first time that I’ve actually watched Heroes Reborn and it was definitely worth the wait. This one still holds up and it has excellent replay value. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from Universal Pictures! These 1080p (1.78:1) transfers on all 87 episodes are all very impressive on blu ray. This 21 disc set is the exact same home video releases from 2008 to 2018. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track for every season here. All of the dialogue is crisp, the action is boosted, and the music is elevated. It has English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles. The first 4 seasons are loaded with “Audio Commentaries” on each disc. As an added bonus, they are picture in picture ones which is really awesome. It has plenty of “Deleted Scenes” from the episodes on each disc. It has a 73 minute version of the “Pilot” on disc 1 from Season 1. It has so many documentaries that takes you behind the scenes for the production with some interviews with the cast and crew. It has a large amount of separate mini featurettes. It has some of the webisodes that are connected to Heroes. This box set has so much special features that I just honestly can’t list them all which is a first here on Today’s Haul. It has hours and hours of bonus material from this superhero television series. A little bit of everything are covered on these extras. If you ever wanted to know something about Heroes, it’s most likely answered somewhere on this set. It has 3 different blu ray sets which includes Seasons 1/2, 3/4, and 5 aKa Heroes Reborn on its own protected in this slipbox. If you already own the older releases, then there’s no reason to check this out because it’s exactly what you already own because there’s nothing new included on this complete collection set. If you don’t have any of them, this is perfect for you and it needs to be in your collection. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!