![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blodeueddSince I read (or finished, to be more accurate) 43 books last year, which was ten more than in 2006, I thought it would be nice to aim for ten more again this year, to make a nice, round average of 1.019 books a week. Unfortunately, that won't mean a book review every week, because how neat and organised would THAT be?! Instead, here are some insightful, nit-picky thoughts on
Heroes
Because I'm too lazy to write a proper essay, and because it seems everyone's already seen this show, some disjointed thoughts.
Now, I've already remarked upon Ando's accent, and on my confusion about why everyone seems to automatically know that the Haitian is, indeed, Haitian. Last night, as I watched the last four episodes of season 1, an even more "What the #$@%#?!?!?"-inducing development occurred:
WHY WOULD HIRO SPEAK ENGLISH TO HIS FUTURE/PAST SELF?!?!?!?!? And why would Past-Hiro, Future-Hiro and Ando carry on a converstation in which they switch back and forth between broken English and Japanese*?!?!? *tears her hair out* Did the production run out of money for translation and/or subtitles? Did the actors' contracts only allow them a certain number of words in a language other than English? Did messing in such a way with the space/time continuum force Hiro and Ando to suddenly act irrationaly?
Sure, I speak (passable) Spanish, but if I met up with my future self and found out she'd become quite fluent, I certainly wouldn't speak Spanish with her! Similarly, I would find it very strange if, say, A-L turned to me and started speaking Spanish, especially if we were discussing a matter of life and death, and the fate of millions hung in the balance.
*calms down and regains control of herself*
Also, regarding the use of Japanese in the series, three more points:
1) Nakamura Senior's Japanese didn't sound quite natural to me at first, but then I decided that it was because he was articulating too clearly. If you've watched some anime, Japanese tv or movies, or have heard Japanese people speaking, you'll have noticed that older men, especially those with authority, generally don't bother to enunciate all that much.
2) Mr. Bennet and the other Americans shown speaking Japanese had horrible, horrible, cringe-inducing accents. You'd think people who'd studied Japanese enough to speak it fluently, as we're to believe they did, would have worked on their pronunciation a bit more!
3) At the very end of episode 23, when Hiro wakes up in feudal Japan and , he says "Dai pinchi!", which the subtitles translate as "@#%_!" If anyone knows any better, please correct me, but my impression is that "pinchi" is fairly mild (I'm guessing it comes from the English "to be in a pinch") and is more like "Drat!" or possible "Damn!" Then again, mild-mannered Hiro tends to speak polite Japanese (compared to Ando, at least, who speaks typical "guy") so coming from him, "I'm in a lot of trouble!" would be "@#$_!" to someone else.
I'll stop talking about those aspects of the show, save to say that Hiro and Ando makes such a good team! Very funny, very sweet, very touching. And how adorable is Hiro? I want a mini Hiro of my own, to go with my mini Baldrick and my mini Sam. :D
As for everything else, there were a few things that went unexplained. For instance, what exactly was the Haitian's power? It was described as being able to erase people's memories, but he was also able to "block" others' abilities. With Parkman, it could have been some sort of instantaneous memory block, so he immediately forgot what other people were thinking, but didn't he do the same to others? The other one that bothered me was Janice. At first, it seemed she could impersonate anyone, but then she explained her power as making people see what she wanted them to see; how far did that go, exactly? She was able to pass herself off as Simone and hide Simone's body at the same time, but either she just projects the general idea of "Simone" to everyone, and their mind fills in the blanks with what they know or expect, or she has to know exactly what to project, which would mean she's improbably well-informed about everyone's clothing choices.
Overall, I really liked the cast, which I've been thinking of as "The Cast of Many Gorgeous People of Many Colours". I mean, there are white people and black people, of course, but also East Asians and South Asians! Hello, Hot Hot Hot Mohinder! *drool* However, I was a bit disappointed that apart from Simone, all the women were white -- the two main "good" ones, Claire** and Nicky, being blonde on top of that. On the other hand, I really liked the fact that there were several interracial couples, which is something you don't see that much, unless American television has changed a lot in the past couple of years. I've never watched that much tv, but I remember starting to notice how rare differently-coloured couples were on television a few years back, when I found myself in such a relationship. And while Heroes did well on the colour front, I really wish they'd included at least one gay character. Or was that one "controversial" issue too many?
In typical U.S.-centric fashion, the show begins by telling us that a global event is taking place, with people around the world developing strange, new powers. Where are these people? All over the place! In New York! In Texas! In Las Vegas! Oh yeah, and this one guy in Japan. *headdesk* Couldn't they at least have tried? Some quick images of people in Bolivia, Russia, Cameroon, etc. would have sufficed, even if we'd never seen them again.
Obviously, comic book science is different from the science we're used to, but could anyone explain what the Human Genome Project in Heroes is? The way the HGP is refered to in the show, it seems to be a map of humanity across the globe, based on their genes, and not what it actually is in our world (a map of human DNA itself). How else would Dr. Suresh have been able to predict where the mutations would occur? That bothered me every single time "The List" was brought up, because even with comic book logic, I don't see how anyone could compile such a list unless he had DNA samples from EVERYONE ON EARTH, or had some power that allowed him to be able to do something similar, or the major factor was environmental and not genetic.
While we're on the subject of genetics, why is it that children with two super-powered parents, such as Micah and Claire, have abilities that are in no way similar to either parent's? Take Claire, for example: her father can fly and her mother can create fire, so how does it make sense for her to be indestructible? Unless recessive genes are a factor, are we to assume that there is simply a "Super Power" gene whose actual effect is totally random?
Sylar's parents never thought he was good enough? Laaaaaame!
Mr. Bennet's character improved throughout the season, I thought. His scenes during the first part were much too heavy-handed, all smirky and loaded with portentious music, but I must say the actor did quite a good job of convincing me, once the directors stopped trying to make us think he was evil.
How the hell did Claire manage to get through security with a boarding pass for Paris, and end up in New York?
Peter and Nathan's mother's accent in French was pretty bad, but at least the Haitian was actually played by a Haitian actor, so he sounded like he should.
I would have liked to see more of Agent Hanson. I take back what I said about Clea Duvall (about her role in Carnivale) -- she's good.
Even if he was way, way up in the air when he detonated, wouldn't Peter still create fallout?
* I'll admit to at first being similarly annoyed with the scene in The Fellowship of the Ring in which Aragorn and Arwen switch between Elvish and Middle-Earthian/English and back again, but at least in that case, we can assume that they're each giving the other's native tongue fair play.
** Did she not make a lovely brunette, though?
Now, I've heard that there are many problems with the second season, but what do you think? Should I watch it?
Heroes
Because I'm too lazy to write a proper essay, and because it seems everyone's already seen this show, some disjointed thoughts.
Now, I've already remarked upon Ando's accent, and on my confusion about why everyone seems to automatically know that the Haitian is, indeed, Haitian. Last night, as I watched the last four episodes of season 1, an even more "What the #$@%#?!?!?"-inducing development occurred:
WHY WOULD HIRO SPEAK ENGLISH TO HIS FUTURE/PAST SELF?!?!?!?!? And why would Past-Hiro, Future-Hiro and Ando carry on a converstation in which they switch back and forth between broken English and Japanese*?!?!? *tears her hair out* Did the production run out of money for translation and/or subtitles? Did the actors' contracts only allow them a certain number of words in a language other than English? Did messing in such a way with the space/time continuum force Hiro and Ando to suddenly act irrationaly?
Sure, I speak (passable) Spanish, but if I met up with my future self and found out she'd become quite fluent, I certainly wouldn't speak Spanish with her! Similarly, I would find it very strange if, say, A-L turned to me and started speaking Spanish, especially if we were discussing a matter of life and death, and the fate of millions hung in the balance.
*calms down and regains control of herself*
Also, regarding the use of Japanese in the series, three more points:
1) Nakamura Senior's Japanese didn't sound quite natural to me at first, but then I decided that it was because he was articulating too clearly. If you've watched some anime, Japanese tv or movies, or have heard Japanese people speaking, you'll have noticed that older men, especially those with authority, generally don't bother to enunciate all that much.
2) Mr. Bennet and the other Americans shown speaking Japanese had horrible, horrible, cringe-inducing accents. You'd think people who'd studied Japanese enough to speak it fluently, as we're to believe they did, would have worked on their pronunciation a bit more!
3) At the very end of episode 23, when Hiro wakes up in feudal Japan and , he says "Dai pinchi!", which the subtitles translate as "@#%_!" If anyone knows any better, please correct me, but my impression is that "pinchi" is fairly mild (I'm guessing it comes from the English "to be in a pinch") and is more like "Drat!" or possible "Damn!" Then again, mild-mannered Hiro tends to speak polite Japanese (compared to Ando, at least, who speaks typical "guy") so coming from him, "I'm in a lot of trouble!" would be "@#$_!" to someone else.
I'll stop talking about those aspects of the show, save to say that Hiro and Ando makes such a good team! Very funny, very sweet, very touching. And how adorable is Hiro? I want a mini Hiro of my own, to go with my mini Baldrick and my mini Sam. :D
As for everything else, there were a few things that went unexplained. For instance, what exactly was the Haitian's power? It was described as being able to erase people's memories, but he was also able to "block" others' abilities. With Parkman, it could have been some sort of instantaneous memory block, so he immediately forgot what other people were thinking, but didn't he do the same to others? The other one that bothered me was Janice. At first, it seemed she could impersonate anyone, but then she explained her power as making people see what she wanted them to see; how far did that go, exactly? She was able to pass herself off as Simone and hide Simone's body at the same time, but either she just projects the general idea of "Simone" to everyone, and their mind fills in the blanks with what they know or expect, or she has to know exactly what to project, which would mean she's improbably well-informed about everyone's clothing choices.
Overall, I really liked the cast, which I've been thinking of as "The Cast of Many Gorgeous People of Many Colours". I mean, there are white people and black people, of course, but also East Asians and South Asians! Hello, Hot Hot Hot Mohinder! *drool* However, I was a bit disappointed that apart from Simone, all the women were white -- the two main "good" ones, Claire** and Nicky, being blonde on top of that. On the other hand, I really liked the fact that there were several interracial couples, which is something you don't see that much, unless American television has changed a lot in the past couple of years. I've never watched that much tv, but I remember starting to notice how rare differently-coloured couples were on television a few years back, when I found myself in such a relationship. And while Heroes did well on the colour front, I really wish they'd included at least one gay character. Or was that one "controversial" issue too many?
In typical U.S.-centric fashion, the show begins by telling us that a global event is taking place, with people around the world developing strange, new powers. Where are these people? All over the place! In New York! In Texas! In Las Vegas! Oh yeah, and this one guy in Japan. *headdesk* Couldn't they at least have tried? Some quick images of people in Bolivia, Russia, Cameroon, etc. would have sufficed, even if we'd never seen them again.
Obviously, comic book science is different from the science we're used to, but could anyone explain what the Human Genome Project in Heroes is? The way the HGP is refered to in the show, it seems to be a map of humanity across the globe, based on their genes, and not what it actually is in our world (a map of human DNA itself). How else would Dr. Suresh have been able to predict where the mutations would occur? That bothered me every single time "The List" was brought up, because even with comic book logic, I don't see how anyone could compile such a list unless he had DNA samples from EVERYONE ON EARTH, or had some power that allowed him to be able to do something similar, or the major factor was environmental and not genetic.
While we're on the subject of genetics, why is it that children with two super-powered parents, such as Micah and Claire, have abilities that are in no way similar to either parent's? Take Claire, for example: her father can fly and her mother can create fire, so how does it make sense for her to be indestructible? Unless recessive genes are a factor, are we to assume that there is simply a "Super Power" gene whose actual effect is totally random?
Sylar's parents never thought he was good enough? Laaaaaame!
Mr. Bennet's character improved throughout the season, I thought. His scenes during the first part were much too heavy-handed, all smirky and loaded with portentious music, but I must say the actor did quite a good job of convincing me, once the directors stopped trying to make us think he was evil.
How the hell did Claire manage to get through security with a boarding pass for Paris, and end up in New York?
Peter and Nathan's mother's accent in French was pretty bad, but at least the Haitian was actually played by a Haitian actor, so he sounded like he should.
I would have liked to see more of Agent Hanson. I take back what I said about Clea Duvall (about her role in Carnivale) -- she's good.
Even if he was way, way up in the air when he detonated, wouldn't Peter still create fallout?
* I'll admit to at first being similarly annoyed with the scene in The Fellowship of the Ring in which Aragorn and Arwen switch between Elvish and Middle-Earthian/English and back again, but at least in that case, we can assume that they're each giving the other's native tongue fair play.
** Did she not make a lovely brunette, though?
Now, I've heard that there are many problems with the second season, but what do you think? Should I watch it?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-01-12 07:33 pm (UTC)It ends pretty well, though, so I say it's worth a viewing. Unfortunately, it looks like the 10 episodes we got are going to be the only ones this season so it does end pretty cliffhanger-y. :o(
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 02:02 am (UTC)Heroes
Date: 2008-01-23 06:09 pm (UTC)