“Save the cheerleader, save the world.” With that simple theme, NBC’s superhero TV series captured the nation’s attention years before the Marvel universe rose to dominance. While the original four-season run has been collected in a prior Blu-ray box set, this new collection shoehorns in the follow-up limited series, Heroes Reborn, finally compiling the entire Heroes universe in one package.
Buy Heroes: The Complete Collection Blu-rayIt’s hard to believe that the series debuted back in 2006, a time when network TV shows including this one could still regularly score an audience in double-digit millions. The series followed a group of unrelated individuals who mysteriously developed superhero powers, with the characters gradually crossing paths with each other as they worked to thwart the evil plans of their big bad, Sylar (Zachary Quinto). From space/time-traveling Hiro’s (Masi Oka) joyful exclamations of “Yatta!” to Greg Grunberg’s tortured attempts to portray himself thinking hard as the mind-reading Matt, the show developed a host of memorable characters as they worked to rescue the seemingly invulnerable cheerleader played by Hayden Panettiere.
While the writing fell off as the seasons dragged on, the characters were so likable that the series stuck around for four seasons. Even after the show fizzled out, it had enough name-brand recognizability thanks to those millions of viewers that it was resurrected for the 2015 limited event series, Heroes Reborn. However, creator Tim Kring apparently failed to realize that we were in it for the original characters, not his inept writers’ room. If you watched, you’ll recall that only the cheerleader’s dad, the non-superpowered Noah Bennet, returned as a regular, with the rest of the principal cast filled out with newbies nobody cared about. Sure, we got cameos and temporary guest appearances by original stars, and Zachary Levi as a superhero years before Shazam!, but the new heroes and storylines never gelled as the show ran out of gas long before its limited run concluded.
The new box set only improves the packaging, not the content. Rather than the original cardboard-heavy fold-out digibook packaging of over a decade ago, the discs are now wisely housed in sturdy plastic Blu-ray cases: two extra-wide nine-disc cases for the four original seasons, along with one standard-size three-disc case for the limited series. Other than that, the discs and their content appear to be unchanged. All legacy bonus features are included, and nothing new has been added. Features include the series premiere that never aired, an alternate Season Two finale, and a plethora of behind-the-scenes interviews and footage.
The episodes haven’t been remastered, so if you have prior Blu-ray releases there’s really nothing new here aside from the improved and complete packaging. Video quality remains mostly ok, but occasionally lacking. Audio is more reliable, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. In lieu of a proper remaster in the future, this is the best we’re going to get.
