BuzzSugar

Zachary Quinto to Raise Eyebrows as Leading Man in Whirligig

BuzzSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:30:39 -0800

It seems I wasn't the only one to think that Zachary Quinto's Spock stole the hot man show in Star Trek last Summer. Quinto is attached to the upcoming indie film Whirligig, playing a guy who becomes friends with the adopted son of the woman he's pursuing.

Not only would this be Quinto's first major role post-Star Trek, but he'd be the leading man in a romantic comedy-drama. I make no attempt to hide how smitten I am with Quinto, and can definitely see the tall, sexy actor take on a role that's less of a sci-fi than Star Trek and Heroes. We only got a teeny smidgen of his romantic side when his Spock wooed Uhura - I'd love to see that extended to a couple hours.

Star Trek: Move Over Kirk, Spock Is Hot

BuzzSugar — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:30:01 -0700

To be honest, I'm not a huge Star Trek fan. Obviously as a member of the human race who was raised in the United States, I've been exposed to the original television show and many of its different iterations. I've even seen some of the movies including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (responsible for my lifelong fear of earwigs) and the movie I commonly refer to as "the one with the whales," aka Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

So, getting me to be excited for anything Star Trek related is a bit of an uphill battle. Given that, it's a pretty amazing thing director J.J. Abrams and his team have accomplished with this reboot. The movie successfully turns back the clock on a franchise four decades old and brings it back to life with an adrenaline shock to the system that will leave you breathless. And in pure Abrams fashion, the story and characterization do not suffer. The result is popcorn cinema at its best. Despite not being a Trekkie (or Trekker, or whatever you call megafans these days), I can't stop thinking about this movie. To see why, read more.

The question I had going into this movie was: How does one reimagine Star Trek for today's audience without completely alienating hardcore fans? The answer, it turns out, was to simply start over. In a clever twist, the opening sequence sets into motion events that alter the space/time continuum. Yes - and this will come as no surprise to Lost fans - Abrams uses time travel that bends around certain facts. Rather than disregard Trek lore, the filmmakers simply figured out an acceptable way to start fresh with the characters.

Because of these time-bending events, James T. Kirk, the future captain of the USS Enterprise, grows up fatherless in Iowa. He's brilliant but extremely self-destructive. Meanwhile, on Vulcan, a young Spock is teased and discriminated against for having a human mother (Winona Ryder). We know the two young men are destined to meet but when they finally do it's different than what you might imagine. When Kirk (played by Chris Pine with a wink and nod to the original performance) meets Spock (Zachary Quinto) at the Starfleet Academy they do not get along. Kirk is all swagger and machismo. Spock is, of course, logical but Quinto plays him with a smug know-it-all edge that hints at the human emotions beneath the surface.

However, when the movie's villain Nero (Eric Bana) declares war on Vulcan and then Earth, it's all-hands-on-deck time and the two must work together. A bunch of green, yet familiar, cadets - Dr. "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Sulu (John Cho), Chekov (Anton Yelchin), and eventually Scotty (Simon Pegg) - suddenly find themselves in charge of a brand-new ship. There are moments when seeing these good-looking youngsters in such a well-known uniform feels a little bit like the Trek version of Muppet Babies. But that feeling is fleeting and for the most part the performances are heartfelt and quite funny.

In the midst of chaos and war, Kirk and Spock become friends - but not before Spock violently pins Kirk's cocky butt to the floor. In Abrams's universe, Spock aims for logic but often succumbs to his emotions, messy though they may be. Pine charges through the film with all the charisma needed in a golden-haired leading man, but in a lot of ways this is Quinto's movie and he actually turns Spock into something of a sex symbol. Some fans might find these changes to the characters' personalities sacrilegious, but I just appreciate the fact that their friendship provides the movie with an emotional center.

In the end, the experience is completely satisfying. There are in-jokes galore that even a Trek philistine like myself found thrilling and there are action sequences that had me on the edge of my seat. It's thoughtful, it looks great, and it's completely absorbing. In terms of epic action-adventures, it doesn't get much better than this.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

BuzzSugar at WonderCon: Star Trek and Terminator Preach to the Choir

BuzzSugar — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:30:10 -0800

It was an insane - not to mention insanely fun - weekend at WonderCon here in San Francisco. I already reported back on the exciting Watchmen panel, and now I'm giving the lowdown on the panels I attended for Star Trek and Terminator Salvation. The directors of both movies showed up to explain to a crowd of devotees how they think they've done right by fans with these reboots. To read what J.J. Abrams and McG had to say about reviving beloved franchises with care, read more.

Warning!: The following might be considered spoilery.

Star Trek:

Well, Heroes may not be pleasing all the fans lately, but Zachary Quinto (who plays Spock in the movie) remains a hot commodity to this crowd - the lady screams were loud and long when he appeared onstage. Chris Pine (Kirk) and Zoe Saldana (Lt. Nyota Uhura) also showed up alongside J.J. Abrams for the panel.
Anton Yelchin has big parts in both Star Trek and Terminator but didn't take the stage for Star Trek.
Everyone talked with deep reverence for the Trek canon, though their levels of fandom vary (Abrams admitted he never really watched the show but was still excited about this movie).

It sounded like Quinto got a lot of time with Leonard Nimoy, and Pine said of following in William Shatner's footsteps, "Mr. Shatner's incredibly funny . . . it's that twinkle in his eye that's like, you know, anything can happen. Something I couldn't try to re-create for the life of me."
We saw a brand new world premiere trailer that is similar to the last one, but includes new goose-bump-inducing scenes like a young Kirk sitting down in the captain's seat on the Enterprise bridge for the first time.
J.J. Abrams threw the crowd some Cloverfield sequel news crumbs, too, saying, "We have an idea for something that's pretty cool . . . the idea is pretty sweet!"

Terminator Salvation

Director McG entered the stage and was pumped about his movie. He kicked things off with the premiere of a whole new trailer that fans will see before Watchmen and that is totally different than anything we've seen so far. This one focuses more on story and less on robots, as we learn that humans are being collected and harvested by Skynet.
One of the funniest moments of the panel was when McG responded to the moderator's request to address the now infamous Christian Bale on-set meltdown with, "What don't you f*cking understand?"
Talent included Yelchin (who plays Kyle Reese, Connor's dad), Bryce Dallas Howard (Kate Connor), Common and Moon Bloodgood. They all seemed genuinely impressed and speechless after seeing this new trailer along with the crowd for the first time.
Another cute moment came from Common who answered a question about how he got involved with this movie: "I wanted to do a movie with Christian Bale."
We saw a few more unfinished clips and it's a lot of action, a lot of robots, etc. Pretty heart-pounding, though not at all unexpected.
I thought it was funny how everyone on the panel constantly gushed about the first two Terminator films - the elephant in the room being the third movie, directed by Jonathan Mostow. Everyone sort of agreed to be polite about it but it was clear they consider it a blemish on the franchise.
Finally, McG danced around it a bit, but he made it seem like the odds were pretty decent that the T-800 will make an appearance, which is the model Arnold Schwarzenegger played in the series. Will the Governator make an appearance? I'm betting yes.

Check Out the Full-Length Star Trek Trailer

BuzzSugar — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:30:00 -0800

"The wait is over." I wonder if J.J. Abrams was feeling cheeky when he made those the final words in this first full-length trailer for Star Trek, which premiered over the weekend before screenings of Quantum of Solace. The last thing we saw was a teaser all the way back in January, and it's been radio silence since then.

So, here we are: our first look at a young James Tiberius Kirk and the others in this quick, action-packed promo. By action-packed, I mean that a lot of things blow up, and there's some punching and some sex (but not in the same scene). And Zachary Quinto looks just as awesome as Spock as I'd hoped he would. Other than that, I leave it to you: What do you think of this trailer? Does it boost your expectations for the movie, or does it fall short? To check it out, just read more.

Heroes Rundown Chapter Six: "Dying of the Light"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:30:13 -0700

This week's Heroes starts with Mohinder going on about how "in every journey, the traveler must ask, 'what's the right path taken?'" We get more of the same ol' themes of heroes vs. villains, choosing good over evil, etc. etc. My favorite part of this episode is when Parkman verbally high-fives his turtle.

If you know what I'm talking about and want to chat about it, read more.

It really was impossible to believe Hiro could have actually killed Ando, and here we find out what really happened: Hiro stops time, goes to a magic shop to grab a collapsing knife and fake blood, returns in time to explain the whole thing to Ando, and the two fake Ando's murder for Daphne and Knox. Hiro tells Daphne he's a villain like her. Daphne tells Hiro to find the "precog," Usutu.
Claire wants to find Meredith, and Sandra Bennet insists on coming with. "Your father always said, one of us, one of them. I'm the one of us." Eric Doyle's ability truly upsets me. The whole circus theme paired with the loss of free will . . . it makes me nauseous. Meredith says she'll never love him and he insists she will.
Adam Monroe is brought to Arthur Petrelli who clutches Adam, takes his power, and kills him. And now, Arthur is up and at 'em.
Parkman, carrying the caged turtle at the airport, asks the turtle to give him a sign. When he sees Daphne he says, "High-five, Turtle." Daphne tells Parkman a bit about Pinehearst, he in turn explains that they are soulmates.
Nathan and Tracy go to see Mohinder and Tracy shows him her icy power. Mohinder injects them both, talking about how he followed his father's research for years but never got anywhere until he thought for himself. Nathan and Tracy pass out. Later, strapped to a table, Tracy tries to earn Mohinder's trust: "I know what you're thinking. You didn't mean for this to happen. You try to fix it but everything you do just makes it worse." Mohinder responds to this and takes her hand, like a fool, and she freezes his arm. She frees herself and Nathan but then Mohinder throws a table at them.

Daphne goes to Sylar's cell and tells him that the man she works for likes Sylar the way he is. Aww. She gives him the Pinehearst card and hightails it. I can't decide whether of not to trust this new trying-to-be-different Sylar. His change of heart seems awfully abrupt this season. Clearly, Peter is having similar suspicions.
Ando and Hiro get to Africa and Hiro goes into Usutu's home, asking for "Mr. African Isaac." Usutu knocks Hiro on the head with a shovel. More than once. So, Hiro decides to do things "the old-fashioned way": hide and wait for him to come back. Usutu finally talks to Hiro and shows him a painting with "the villains you seek" and the Pinehearst helix symbol, and he tells Hiro he can take him to them. There is also a painting of Peter hugging his father.

Stupid Claire! Ugh. Even Sandra Bennet knows that they need a plan and can't go barging into Doyle's puppet lair. But Claire doesn't even listen, and then she and both her moms are under the control of the creepy puppet guy. I do, however, like that Doyle calls Claire "Barbie." He tries to make Claire kill Meredith but there's no bullet loaded in the gun. Ultimately, he gets the gun in Sandra's hand and she pulls the trigger on Claire, who obviously regenerates and knocks out puppet guy. HRG shows up and praises Claire's actions as "impressive." She just looks at him and walks away. HRG then turns to Meredith and says he could use her help.
Daphne goes to Mohinder, tells him that her company is already doing what he's trying to do: give people abilities. She says they need his help. "To do what?" She shrugs. "Save the world?" She comes upon Tracy, Nathan and all the nasty slime webs.
Sylar instructs Peter to look inside Angela's head to find out what's going on, and it kinda seems like Angela punches him with her eyeball, which I think is one of the more entertaining aspects of this episode. Peter draws the Pinehearst symbol. Then Peter beats the snot out of Sylar. "All this power? I'm the most special." He puts Sylar in a coma. He comes upon his father who coaxes Peter into an embrace - and then robs him of all his powers. Not so special now, eh Peter?
Aww, Daphne and Parkman want to save each other from Pinehearst. Parkman insists he can protect her, but Daphne says simply, "No. you can't."

Photos courtesy of NBC

Heroes Rundown Chapter Five: "Angels and Monsters"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:30:46 -0700

They love to keep it all in the family on Heroes these days, and this week's episode is no exception. This week we got some daddy-daughter issues, a little mother-son drama, and the appearance of yet another member of the Petrelli family (and a powerful one, at that). It's all about the fam, and in each family, there are "angels and monsters."

Also, I'm glad I wasn't taking a shot every time someone said "monster." Jeez, we get it. Anyway, wanna talk about Heroes? Well then, read more.

The episode starts out narrated by Nathan, which I think is an interesting choice: "I've been given a second chance. Touched by God, I gotta believe that he has a purpose for my life. . . So why am I filled with self-doubt, plagued by demons, real and imagined? . . . Am I an angel or a monster? A hero or a villain? And why can't I see the difference?" And there we have the theme for the night.
Linderman is super manipulative with all his talk about God, playing upon Nathan's recently renewed religious devotion: "God resides within, the answers will come." Sadly, it all kinda dissolves for Nathan when he finds out that God didn't exactly give him his powers - his mommy and her co-workers did.
Sometimes this show makes me laugh, like when Sylar readjusts his sickeningly broken neck. Peter, now all full of "the hunger" and rage, snaps Sylar's neck and then tries to open Angela's head before Sylar knocks him out.
Claire's birth mom, Meredith, sets off to find Claire who is on her mission. But at the end of the episode we see that Meredith is trapped in the puppet-filled house of one of the creepiest special people we've ever seen on the show: Eric Doyle, who controls her every movement. This power is so sinister and so upsetting to me.
Claire pays a visit to Stephen Canfield, a guy who creates vortexes that make people disappear. Claire is all sorts of accusatory at first, and Stephen is all suspicious, asking Claire if she's with a company called Pinehearst. Soon, Stephen explains to Claire that he didn't mean to kill a guy, and now his family won't see him, so, Claire tries to help him get in touch with his family. Just then, however, HRG and Sylar show up, Stephen freaks out and creates a vortex in the middle of the room before slipping out the door. After seeing a lot of pained expressions on Claire, HRG and Sylar's faces as they avoid getting sucked into the vortex, the vortex disappears.
At this other company (not to be confused with The Company), Pinehearst, Linderman instructs Daphne to recruit a few key special people, which Daphne does, but she ultimately tells Linderman she's not too keen on recruiting. He gives her one more to recruit: Matt Parkman. After this conversation, Daphne finds out that she can see Linderman but he's "not really there."
Hiro and Ando ask Adam Monroe for help. Adam calls Hiro a "Japanese Nazi." He brings the dynamic Japanese duo to a bar where he succeeds in getting Hiro knocked out and then makes a quick getaway - only to be kidnapped by Knox, the fear smeller. Hiro tells Knox and Daphne that he wants to join them, that he and Ando are "badasses." Knox doesn't think Ando's so necessary, however, and he hands Hiro a sword, saying, "You kill him? You are badass." Hiro says sadly that he "must make some sacrifices to save the world," and stabs Ando!
Mohinder's back makes me feel like vomiting, even while the rest of him is so wonderful to look at. When Maya discovers Mohinder's victims all covered up in slimy web-like crap and pinned to the wall (but not dead, apparently), she tries to help one of the people before Mohinder finds her and gives her a slime cocoon. It's so disgusting. How can someone so beautiful create something so gross? Anyway, at least now Maya's been silenced, so that should satisfy the Maya haters in the audience.

HRG assures Claire, "You can trust me, Claire, I wouldn't send anybody to Level Five that doesn't belong there." Sylar, however, cannot trust him as HRG tries to force Stephen to make Sylar disappear. Instead, Stephen screams, "I won't be a monster!" and makes himself disappear. After this, of course, Sylar is none too pleased with HRG, saying that "to you, I'm nothing but a monster. He doesn't see our humanity Claire, he never will." HRG comforts a confused Claire who murmurs, "He's a monster." Just in case we were ever unclear about this whole monster/angel, hero/villain theme.
Nathan and Tracy go to Level Five, where Peter has been put in a coma by Angela. Angela tells them about Dr. Zimmerman, who was "instrumental in the company's development of synthetic abilities. We used the technology on a number of infants. You were one of them Tracy, as were your sisters Niki and Barbara. And you, Nathan. We gave you your ability, too." She admits to Tracy that what the company did to her in the name of science is wrong and they need to stop the people trying to get the formula. Nathan and Tracy leave Angela and plan to find Mohinder, who is, at that moment, busy wrapping Maya in a cocoon of webby stuff in the corner.
Angela sees a man who frightens her, saying, "Hello, Angela. You can see the future. I can't have that. It's too dangerous." Angela insists that he won't succeed, she'll stop him. He replies, "Don't be ridiculous. You won't even be able to move." Last we see of her, Angela sits motionless at her desk.
Later at Pinehearst, Maury Parkman (Matt's dad), goes to see Arthur Petrelli who is laid up in bed, apparently unable to speak. Maury has a mental conversation with Arthur, and we hear Maury's side: "The team is coming together nicely. . . We're building an army, just like you. . . Right. Whatever you say goes, Mr. Petrelli."

Arthur freaking Petrelli?! They saved the best for last in this episode. What do you think of these new developments?

Photos courtesy of NBC

Heroes Rundown Chapter Four: "I Am Become Death"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:42:08 -0700

In this week's episode of Heroes, we alternate between the present day and four years in the future, discovering what will apparently happen unless certain heroes take some action in the present day, stat. This version of the future is bizarre (especially Sylar's story!) and scary (cold-hearted gangster Claire). It will be interesting to see when/if/how it can be avoided. To chat about the goings-on in this week's episode, read more.

In this future, everyone has an ability, but that also means people are using their abilities for evil. Future Peter says he knows that "all these people with abilities are going to destroy the world" because he painted that future. He needs present-day Peter to stop Mohinder from giving people abilities, and he needs to get Sylar's abilities. Future Peter can't do it because he "made terrible choices. Stepped on too many butterflies."
Tracy learns that she was one of three identical triplets: Tracy, Niki and Barbara. The three were separated and Tracy was given a formula, Dr. Zimmerman says, "that would make you incredible." At Tracy's probing for more answers, Dr. Z says "they" would not like him talking so much. Later, Tracy resigns from her job and attempts to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, only to have Nathan swoop in and save her. She's glad to meet a fellow special person and they make out.
Future Claire tries to gun down both Peters, only managing to fell Future Peter who she brings back to a lab place where we see the blond girl from Parkman's future paintings, the speedster, Daphne.
Present day Hiro and Ando are trapped on Level Two. I love this: There aren't a lot of quarrels on TV shows that include the lines, "You know what I think? I think you're still upset that future me murders future you."
Nathan says that Linderman is the problem. Linderman: "You don't trust me? I'm hurt!" Linderman wants to help Nathan become president, saying that "this is the path to salvation."
I think Maya is in a scene but I'm not sure because all I can see are boobs. That dress, seriously? Anyway, Mohinder's rash is spreading, and he's becoming more aggressive. "The formula is transforming me, and I fear what I'm becoming." He later says that he "cannot reverse the process." Four years into the future, Mohinder has become a cloaked, shadowy creature, warning Peter not to make his same mistakes.

Also in this future? Daddy Sylar! Or, I guess, he's back to going by Gabriel. He has a little boy named Noah who clearly knows the future Peter and calls him "uncle." This is when present-day Peter discovers that he and Sylar are brothers. Sylar is reluctant to give Peter his ability, saying it's not just an ability, it's a hunger that he fights every day. . . "for him." Ultimately, though, Sylar says that if Peter can understand the "symphonies" of a watch, he can understand everything, and Peter acquires Sylar's ability.
In the future, Parkman and Daphne have a baby together and are raising Molly. Daphne wants to find Peter. Parkman tells his speedster wife to "slow down," but in the end Daphne joins slick, leather-wearing future Claire and the fear-reading guy to hunt down Peter.
Claire and her gang show up in Costa Verde, at the Bennets' old house where Sylar is living, and in the process of trying to kill, Peter they kill little Noah. Sylar flips out and causes a nuclear explosion. This apparently is tied into the title of this episode, which was taken from a quote by J. Robert Oppenheimer, "the father of the bomb:" "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
Later in this future, we see Nathan and Tracy - now the President and First Lady - as Nathan gives a speech about the tragic loss of Costa Verde.
Then Nathan seeks out Peter, who is being tortured by his niece, Claire. Heroes is just one big messed up family. Claire hunts down her uncle (twice), then plans on torturing him. Peter and Sylar are bros which means Sylar and Nathan are bros and Sylar is Claire's uncle because Nathan is Claire's father. Sheesh. Nathan tells Peter that one man cannot save the world, it's everybody's responsibility. The two brothers argue some more before Peter's newly acquired hunger makes him try to slice open Nathan's head.
In the future, Parkman's wife Daphne apparently dies from the Costa Verde explosion and Parkman wants to stop this from happening. Usutu tells Parkman to find his "totem," a spirit guide to lead him on his journey. (Ha: "Carl Jung. Analytical psychology. You don't read much, do you?") Parkman decides on the turtle and starts to (slowly) follow it.
By now, Hiro and Ando have made up and the Haitian has brought them before Mama Petrelli. Angela says she needs to find the formula, which can turn normal people into "people like us." She says that "they" have both parts of the formula now. She says someone has been manipulating them. She tells Hiro, "You have the key to unlocking this entire mystery." Hiro: "I do?"
So, they dig up Adam Monroe. Who is, understandably, a little mad.

Who do you think is making a shocking appearance in next week's episode?

Photos courtesy of NBC

Heroes Rundown Chapter Three: "One of Us, One of Them"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:36:14 -0700

"What kind of person are we? Does the hero, or the villain inside us, win the day?"

Ah, yes. The hero/villain question at the heart of Volume Three of Heroes. In this week's episode we get more of the scoop on who Tracey is (or rather, who she's not), Angela Petrelli insists that Sylar has simply been "misunderstood," and the pairing up of HRG and his new partner turns out to be surprisingly awesome. And then there are the Claire, Parkman, Hiro and Peter storylines, so to chat about it read more.

Angela Petrelli gets all maternal on Sylar, telling him she never should have given him up for adoption, and now she's going to take good care of him. She pairs Sylar up with HRG, saying that Sylar has has just been misunderstood and needs structure. HRG: "So your solution is to send the psychopath after the psychopaths."
The escaped Level Five guys go into a bank and raise hell. One of them formulates a plan to lure HRG to the bank and take his revenge on him.
Uh-oh - Mom showdown. (Also, I love it when hero and non-hero life life collide: "Um, we don't smoke in the house"). Claire says she was hoping her mother would teach her how to fight so she won't be the victim all the time. Her mother tells her, "There are some things you can't fight, Claire." She then tortures her daughter into telling her the truth about why she wants to get bad guys. Claire screams, "To hurt him, okay? To hurt him like he hurt me!"
I like how the African guy, Usutu, makes Parkman's name sound a little like "Pac-Man." "It's your spirit walk, Pac-Man, not mine." Usutu paints images of Parkman (Parkman and Molly, Parkman getting thrown out the window by Jessica, etc.), just like Isaac Mendez used to paint scenes of the future. But then there is a painting of Parkman with a woman and a baby, which Usutu says isn't the future anymore. "The future changed."
Sylar wants to know if Angela is really his mother; it seems like Angela's really getting to him. I like it when Sylar feels stuff. He says he thinks HRG is right, he's just a killer. Angela: "No, it's not your fault, it's your ability, there's a hunger that you cannot control, it's made you that way. But we're going to fix that." Later, HRG says to Sylar, "You do realize she's playing us, right? This is all one big game to her."

Hiro, Ando and Daphne all end up at the movie theater where the Haitian is getting back the half of the formula for Angela Petrelli ("Given recent events, Mrs. Petrelli thinks it wise to keep her half closer to home"). Daphne tries to drive a little wedge between Hiro and Ando, which Hiro immediately recognizes: "Don't listen to her, Ando. She's trying to divide us. It's villainy 101."
Ha! I really enjoyed watching Sylar cop an accent and take charge of the hostage situation with the cops. I don't just love to hate him in this episode, I really like him.
In New Orleans, Tracey sees Niki (who looks just like her) lying in a coffin. She meets Micah (poor Micah!) who looks up Tracey's old records, which have some key similarities to Niki's. They get a name: Dr. Zimmerman. When Tracey visits Dr. Zimmerman she asks, "Do you know me?" Dr. Zimmerman: "Know you? I created you."
The campy piano music of the Chaplin movie is perfect for Hiro and Ando's bumbling mission to get the briefcase from the Haitian, which Daphne promptly swipes.
Peter gets out of Jesse's body and disappears into the future. Meanwhile, the real Jesse is back in his own body and he advances on HRG, only to be stopped by Sylar. HRG yells at Sylar, saying that he told Sylar to stay put. Sylar: "You told me that to make sure I wouldn't, didn't you?" Sylar then traps Jesse in the bank and slices open his forehead, telling HRG he can't fight it. "It's the hunger."
Claire's mom: "You gotta learn to save yourself before you can save the world." But Claire is still intent on getting the bad guys, and drives off with a Primatech box.
Parkman sees a painting of him carrying the woman who was holding the baby in the earlier painting, and he asks if he can stop this future scene. Usutu brings Parkman to his house (where a turtle climbs over the 9th Wonders comic book, ha). Parkman eats some stuff, then puts on Usutu's headphones and gets the milky white future-seeing eyes, like Isaac Mendez and like Usutu.
Nathan is sworn into office, which Tracey misses altogether. Later Nathan is seen reading the Bible (Genesis).
Hiro and Ando are now at Level 5! There, the Haitian asks HRG if he's being replaced (by Sylar). HRG: "Only for a while. Just until I find his weakness. And then I'm gonna kill him."

In the preview for next week's episode, Sylar is wearing an apron and kissing Mr. Muggles! This episode was fine and all, but I look forward to seeing that.

Photos courtesy of NBC

Heroes Rundown Chapter One: "The Second Coming"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:30:26 -0700

Am I alone in thinking this premiere was kickass? I feel like they upped the comedy factor and threw us some crazy new developments. It was thrilling and gruesome and surprising and funny. . . My faith in Heroes is fully restored. I'm not sure I needed both this episode and the one that came after it; I forgot how much they pack into each episode. After two of them my brain was starting to overload. So, here we can discuss the first of the two episodes, "The Second Coming," in which I think the best part was at the end (see: the end of this post after the jump). A post about "The Butterfly Effect" will follow this one.

After the jump you'll find spoilers, so now that you're warned, read more.

Because the two-hour premiere was so full of craziness, I'm trying to keep it all straight. Here is my attempt to identify some of the key points from this episode. . .

So, a future Peter shot his brother, Nathan. The Peter of today is inhabiting the body of another man, trapped on Level Five (where HRG is still being kept!).
Peter transports Matt Parkman to the desert, where he wakes up with a scorpion on his face.
Nathan dies from the bullet wounds - but is then revived (and totally made me jump when he suddenly sat up in bed) by Linderman, who is. . . also not dead.
Joining the list of not-dead people is Niki - er, now called Tracy - who did not, in fact, die in a blazing building.
Hiro discovers (from a DVD he was not supposed to watch) that his deceased father (hooray, Kaito Nakamura!) designated Hiro to be the "sentinel of a dangerous secret." Hiro then finds the secret (in a safe he was not supposed to open), and it's half of a formula, on which, apparently, the fate of the world depends. Kaito explains that if this secret gets out, there's only one hope, "a chosen one among you who carries the purity of blood, the 'light' to safeguard against the darkness."
Hiro promptly loses this half-formula to a brand-new hero: a "speedster" who grabs the formula from Hiro and then punches him in the face. Dismayed, Hiro teleports to the future, where the city is in alarm mode as what appears to be the apocalypse descends. Future Hiro and future Ando are arguing about the formula when Ando electrifies Hiro! You guys, Ando gets a power (in a theoretical future unless Hiro stops him)!

The scenes with Claire and Sylar are, in my opinion, just the right combination of campy horror/thriller and comedy (not unlike a real horror movie). Claire walking backwards into the kitchen holding a knife? Come on! Anyway, Sylar finds a file folder of special people, "a whole shopping list of abilities," before he manages to carve off the top part of Claire's skull (OMG ew) to access her. . . special abilities lobe? I dunno.
Best line of the night goes to Sylar, in response to Claire's question about eating brains: "Eat your brain? Claire, that's disgusting." Sylar then imparts some intriguing information, "You're different, you're special, and I could never kill you, even if I wanted to. You can never die. . . And now, I guess, neither can I." Yipes!
Nathan has had a kind of spiritual awakening, now spouting things about God's message ("we are all connected"), and other platitudes like, "Only together can we be the stewards of our own destiny," and "We could be angels, all here to do God's bidding." Finally, we have a new little mantra, evolving away from cheerleaders: "Save ourselves, save the world."
Linderman is only too eager to agree with Nathan, gently telling him, "It seems you and I are meant for great things, Nathan. Great things, indeed."
Mohinder determines from Maya that the abilities "are produced by adrenaline." He then manages to isolate whatever this is into a serum that can actually give someone powers (this seemed remarkably easy, but I'm cool with that). Thus, Mohinder injects himself! Mohinder has powers! I love this new development. The person studying superheroes. . . becomes one of them. He's like the good alternative to Sylar, in some ways.

And then there's the ending when they set the words to William Butler Yeats's poem, "The Second Coming," to a montage of images wrapping up the episode: "Turning and turning in the widening gyre/ The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/ Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;/ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. . .Surely some revelation is at hand;/ Surely the Second Coming is at hand./ The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out/ When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi/ Troubles my sight. . ."

I thought that was pretty freakin' cool.

Photos courtesy of NBC

Tim Kring, Zachary Quinto Talk Heroes Vol. 3

BuzzSugar — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:30:31 -0700

OK, Heroes fans, we're officially in countdown mode for the premiere of the third "volume," "Villains." I took part in a conference call recently with Heroes creator Tim Kring (who is so lovely and smart in interviews, as I've now gotten to experience twice) and the guy who brings creepy Sylar into our living rooms every week, Zachary Quinto.

The two shed some light on what was lost - and what was gained - from the hiatus caused by the writers strike, and what their take is on the Heroes fandom out there, which we all three witnessed at the show's panel at Comic-Con. Quinto also talked about what it's like to play Sylar while Kring touched on his thoughts about the show's parallels to The X-Men. It's all below, so check it out.

The writers strike clearly created an interruption in the show, but were there any advantages to taking that break?
Tim Kring: Yes, obviously the break was very difficult for so many people. . . but the silver lining was it allowed us a little bit of a break from the creative day-to-day of the show that had been pretty relentless for two years. And so, you know, with any creative endeavor you absolutely need some time away to reassess and to think about what to do next and to sort of assess what you’ve done well, and what you want to improve on.

There's more after the break, though tread carefully if you're not up to speed on the series. Otherwise, read more.

What was lost due to the writers strike? Will the virus storyline will come back, and will we find out what happened to Caitlin, for example?
Tim: The virus story was really the casualty of the strike. We re-jiggered literally the last couple minutes of that volume when we knew the strike was imminent and changed the ending so that that virus never broke out. The second volume of Season Two was going to be an outbreak story that would last eight episodes and it was all avoided by Peter Petrelli catching this vile of a virus and so it did not break, and therefore, did not get out into the community. And so, three episodes into that volume we would have found out what happened to Caitlin, and as a result of the writers strike that has been sort of a lost part of the mythology of the show that may never return.

Tim, during the second volume you introduced the group of 12, and then Hiro's dad said there were eight of them left, and then Matt said that they were all dead. Are we going to see any more of the group of 12, or are they all dead?
Tim: You actually will see more, you will see a few of them. The second volume of the show was called "Generations" and explored the idea that there was a whole series of people who came before our characters. . . it’s basically the idea of the sins of the parents had been visited upon their children. And we will see that some of those people survive in very interesting and curious ways in Volume Three.

Zachary, you come at this character very quietly with a lot of menace. Has your theater training helped you with this role?
Zachary Quinto: I feel like my training allows me to have a little bit more of an oversight and understand where a character lives in my body and understand where a character lives in my voice. So, for me that training gave me a really great basis from which to work and I continue to learn about the technique and the tools that are necessary to work in television and film.

The audience is clearly meant to identify with Sylar even though he's a villain. Are you going to continue to make him even more sympathetic? Is he going to get friends or maybe even go so far as a love interest?
Tim: To be really honest, that is sort of a quest with this character, to continue to play off of the duality of good and evil which I think has been at the core of a lot of characters in the show and will certainly become more and more thematic in the show, in this volume, "Villains." So yeah, we are going places this particular volume with Sylar that will, I think, cause the audience to be really torn as to how they feel about this guy. They know he is capable of tremendous evil and yet he has a kind of depth of pathos that makes you question your own sense of what's right and wrong.

So he will expand his relationships then?
Tim: Oh absolutely. Yes, absolutely. He'll have a series of very human relationships in this volume alone.

Watching Heroes fans watch the premiere at Comic-Con this year was almost like watching a spectator sport. How much attention do you pay to what fans are saying and does it affect what you do on the show?
Tim: I would love to be able to say yes, it does affect us. But the truth is. . . that when we premiere on September 22, we will be I think just starting to shoot Episode 13, which is the finale of the volume. We're so far ahead that there really is nothing that we can do about it. . . We have to use our own sort of internal critics to let us know where we’re going. And we very often have made course changes midway through when we've looked at episodes internally and tried to feel what the audience would feel.

A lot of your fans at Comic-Con had concerns that in the latest volume there were a lot of parallels to X-Men. Could you talk about that?
Tim: I kind of can't because I don't really know anything about X-Men and I have no real knowledge of it, I don't read X-Men comics. So I'm not really familiar with it. And, you know, from my standpoint there’s clearly a kind of reinvention of the wheel that happens in this kind of storytelling when you’re dealing with really archetypical storytelling of good and evil, and characters that have powers. I don't know that there's any way to avoid things that have been done before. So to the extent there are similarities, it's not by design. It's just by telling an archetypical story that has characters facing big epic battles between good and evil, and trying to live normal lives at the same time.

So you never saw any of the X-Men films?
Tim: I saw the third one. . . Or was it the second one? I saw it on DVD about a year ago. . . It's certainly the same general arena of superpowers. But I didn’t think that it felt much like Heroes.

Kring photo source
Heroes photo courtesy of NBC