Heroes powers
Aug. 1st, 2007 11:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackThe powers are well thought out. Each is pretty awesome and adaptable (witness Clare being able to kill someone) but always work-roundable (witness Hiro having to concentrate).
Meta-powers are always cool. It's nice to see Peter and Silent Black Man.
The first time I saw him, I guessed he was just meditating, the second I read it as power-suppressing. (For the rest of this post, assume I don't want to hear if you've seen more.)
When I saw Peter, I assumed he and Nathan shared powers because they were genetic. I didn't realise what he did until he said it. That's unfortunate -- being genetic would support the evolutionary message. Though of course, would limit the array they could show, and run straight into the "what's an evolutionary path for any of these" question, so it wouldn't be possible to.
When you saw Clare jumping off the scaffolding in the first episode, I assumed she was going to fly. Unfortunate associations with Peter, perhaps.
I called Syler at the start of tonight though, though not last time. I was glad to see it, and he IS creepy. It's very like magneto, a good power for a villain, as very generally usable, so can do a lot by yourself.
I'm still not exactly sure about Niki. She has a reflection that kills people violently? She has my sympathy. I'm not sure if it's supernatural, or just psychological. (Again, please don't tell me.)
And I'm glad to see Mohinda in training for the Professor Xavier role. It's nice to see being a scientist stacks up against bending time and space with your mind for getting things together :)
Hiro's powers are incredibly broad. But correspondingly difficult to use; you're never sure it's going to work. I've seen many ways of psychic powers applying to winning at cards, from the mysterious luck to x-ray vision to telepathy to telekinesis. Directly teleporting another's player's cards into your hand is a new level of gumption!
I feel like I'm concentrating too hard. There's a plot arc -- that's wonderful, and easy to follow. But I'm going mad trying to remember whether 8^2 pairs of people know each other or not :) -- I need to think of it as a soap opera, and just follow what happens to them without charting it out :)
Meta-powers are always cool. It's nice to see Peter and Silent Black Man.
The first time I saw him, I guessed he was just meditating, the second I read it as power-suppressing. (For the rest of this post, assume I don't want to hear if you've seen more.)
When I saw Peter, I assumed he and Nathan shared powers because they were genetic. I didn't realise what he did until he said it. That's unfortunate -- being genetic would support the evolutionary message. Though of course, would limit the array they could show, and run straight into the "what's an evolutionary path for any of these" question, so it wouldn't be possible to.
When you saw Clare jumping off the scaffolding in the first episode, I assumed she was going to fly. Unfortunate associations with Peter, perhaps.
I called Syler at the start of tonight though, though not last time. I was glad to see it, and he IS creepy. It's very like magneto, a good power for a villain, as very generally usable, so can do a lot by yourself.
I'm still not exactly sure about Niki. She has a reflection that kills people violently? She has my sympathy. I'm not sure if it's supernatural, or just psychological. (Again, please don't tell me.)
And I'm glad to see Mohinda in training for the Professor Xavier role. It's nice to see being a scientist stacks up against bending time and space with your mind for getting things together :)
Hiro's powers are incredibly broad. But correspondingly difficult to use; you're never sure it's going to work. I've seen many ways of psychic powers applying to winning at cards, from the mysterious luck to x-ray vision to telepathy to telekinesis. Directly teleporting another's player's cards into your hand is a new level of gumption!
I feel like I'm concentrating too hard. There's a plot arc -- that's wonderful, and easy to follow. But I'm going mad trying to remember whether 8^2 pairs of people know each other or not :) -- I need to think of it as a soap opera, and just follow what happens to them without charting it out :)
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Date: 2007-08-01 10:42 pm (UTC)Well, it's made pretty clear that the reason people have powers is genetic. It's also fairly clear (although maybe not yet for you) that having powers of any type is genetically inherited.
I called Syler at the start of tonight though, though not last time. I was glad to see it, and he IS creepy.
What do you mean you called Syler?
I'm going mad trying to remember whether 8^2 pairs of people know each other or not
Yeah, they play with this a bit. Some of the characters are connected to one another in ways they don't realise.
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Date: 2007-08-01 10:55 pm (UTC)Sorry, yes, "having powers" apparently runs in families. But it seems like what they are doesn't. (I may be wrong, we don't have any examples yet, and I've been deliberately not reading ahead. But the Petrellis' powers don't seem related afaict.) It makes for a good story, and works in say X-men and Xanth and many other stories.
But I temporarily thought they were doing something cleverer. OK, a set of gene s for flying isn't especially plausible, and it's possible one set of genes may unlock a variety of behaviours (that sort of thing does happen, genetics is complicated) or a psychic power shaped by nurture. But with their invocations of science and evolution, it would have felt more scientific if the inheritance had been more clearly linked. (Like, two fish that have evolved eyes having children with eyes, rather than a fish with lungs and a fish with legs having children who suddenly have eyes.)
Does that make sense?
What do you mean you called Syler?
I mean, realised he had big telekinesis before it was shown. OK, maybe it was supposed to obvious, but I'm always pleased whenever I see something coming :)
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Date: 2007-08-01 11:02 pm (UTC)Nope. The show never attempts to be clever like that.
But with their invocations of science and evolution, it would have felt more scientific if the inheritance had been more clearly linked.
Science is the new magic for TV, that's all. It's interesting how things change. In TNG there was no magic it was all cold hard science (well except Q of course), then DS9 emphasised spirituality, now magic and science are synonyms (see Heroes and Doctor Who).
Does that make sense?
Yep.
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Date: 2007-08-02 12:50 pm (UTC)Hiro's my favourite character. Who's yours?
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Date: 2007-08-02 01:24 pm (UTC)Hiro's my favourite character. Who's yours?
It's hard to say, I like them *all* a lot. I probably like Hiro, Matt the Cop, and Mohinda Chandresh the most.
I somehow like watching Nathan -- his desire to concentrate on the election makes sense, but he does act like a jerk to Peter... but I wish he didn't.
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Date: 2007-08-02 02:14 pm (UTC)I like Mohinder, although occasionally some of the "science" makes me cringe. I'd prefer it if it was something obviously new and weird rather than "Oh yes, we were tracking this through the human genome project", which I believe is nothing like what they're implying.
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Date: 2007-08-02 03:21 pm (UTC)No, definitely not. (At least that I remember.) Otherwise it *definitely* *could* have been real teleportation.
Of course, the only difference would come if there was something he couldn't actually get to, so I suppose you can say that he teleported the cards.
That's what I was thinking.
I like Mohinder, although occasionally some of the "science" makes me cringe.
Yeah, I've almost given up hoping for decent science in things.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-02 08:37 pm (UTC)