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Heroes Season 3 [DVD] [2008]
![Heroes Season 3 [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51dPU5C5DEL._SL160_.jpg)
The early stages of Heroes’ third season suffer from many of the problems that plagued season two, as it tries to deal with the threads that were left behind. But the show finally finds its feet as it heads towards the back end of the series, with a genuine feeling returning that the show knows exactly which way it’s going again. Characters begin to find out more about one another, there’s a bit more of a grounding in some kind of reality, and finally a narrative thrust that scoops back up many who have been left baffled by the direction that Heroes has taken since its terrific maiden season. And it’s good to see the show back on form. Even in its weaker moments, Heroes’ production values were sky high, and there are many genuinely impressive sequences thrown in your direction over the course of season three. But most impressive of all is the feeling that the show has dug itself out of the hole that it managed to find itself in, and courtesy of an impressive rally at its back end, season three is certainly worth picking up. Even if you might need to grit your teeth a bit in the early stages… --Jon Foster
RRP: £49.99
Our Price: £20.97 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
There’s a lot that’s fitted in to Heroes’ third season, a run that tried valiantly to correct some of the problems that the show encountered with its less-than-successful second series. Season three features two volumes of the Heroes story, Villains and Fugitives, but once more it gets off to a bumpy start.
TV executives please take note!
Review date: 2010-08-21 Rating: 6 out of 10
There is a pattern to a number of TV dramas. They start off with some great ideas, and give us a super first season. Maybe they still have some good ideas, and the second season is as good, or better. Then the rot set in.
The basic problem is that they are making too much money to stop, but the ideas have stopped flowing. And that's when they start jerking our chains.
What are the symptoms of this? Well, the main one is that they make us question what we've been told. They make good guys into bad guys and vice versa, and keep swapping them around. They go back and rewrite what happened in the past. They over-complicate stories, thinking that they are delving deeper and deeper but in reality just going round and round in ever-decreasing circles. They probably think that they are being terribly clever but they aren't, because they don't actually know where they are going or how to get there.
This phenomenon has come to Heroes in its third season with a vengeance. Part of this season is subtitled "Villains", but the whole premise of this season is that - apart from a few people who you know are good (Clare, Matt, Hiro...), everyone's loyalties, causes and essential goodness is brought into question. Is Sylar still bad, or has he turned? Is Peter now the bad guy? How about Nathan? Who are Clare's real parents? We don't know, and the writers keep making us jump from one side to the other.
Another symptom of this malaise is invulnerability, and I complained of this in my review of another show which went through this process (Alias - and Lost is another classic example). Characters keep getting riddled with bullets (or otherwise injured beyond the point of survivability), and miraculously come back to life. OK, in Heroes they had a reason for one of the characters, who had this ability - that's fine. But then they do the same with lots of other characters, through various means. It's a fake way of creating tension without expending your assets - and, crucially, without having to think of a smarter way to develop the story. What the TV executives don't seem to understand is that after a while, this means that we can't trust anything they tell us ("trust" within the context of accepting the story that they are creating), and therefore we stop caring.
The acting, production, stunts etc are still excellent, which is why I've reluctantly still given this season three stars. But I still rather wish they'd stopped after the second season (or even the first), and started afresh. I doubt whether I'll be getting season 4.
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Reviews
Trails off at the end but is still good
Review date: 2010-08-10 Rating: 8 out of 10
This third season of the `Heroes' series is something of a show of two halves. The first half of the series, the `Villains' storyline, is about the attempt to create artificial powers is very interesting and in my view is as good as anything from the first two seasons. The second half of the season though, `Fugitives', sees the government getting involved in the hunt for people with abilities and while still good the main plot isn't really up to much and it is the various subplots that kept my interest with the series. It is, however, the final few episodes in this season that cause it to lose a star as they are quite poor and seem a bit unfocused and lacklustre.
This season sees some interesting new characters join the cast, such as Tracy Strauss and Daphne, but it is the established that are still the best part of the show, especially Sylar, Noah Bennet and Angela Petrelli who are all really good this season. The special effects for this season were generally quite good, although there were a few failures here and there. There are also a few retcons in this season but they are generally minor things and aren't all that annoying.
Overall this third season of Heroes was, despite a few missed steps, still very enjoyable and well forth a solid four stars.
Ridiculous Ending
Review date: 2010-07-20 Rating: 6 out of 10
The ending to heroes on volume four was totaly obsured, they seemed to forgot previous stories they have written. What i mean is that in previous series clares father was saved by her blood when he was shot in the eye. soooooooo the ridiculous thing is everyone seems to forget this and decides to keep nathan dead and turn sylar into him, and then incubate sylar that be the obvious answer but they dint, so now the best actor is gone, ratings decreased more and now they cut the bloody show which i love to watch no matter what! Not seen the next series but it better be worth paying for!
Disappoinment on the writers of this series!
Save the cheerleader save the world
Review date: 2010-07-03 Rating: 8 out of 10
The surspence keeps you going the whole way through you think you know whats going to happen then it changes. Every eposide is gripping and leaves you wanting more every time. for thoses of you who have not seen heroes it is about people all over the world with special abilities it could be flying or traveling in time and essentialy a battle between good and evil. if your coming in at series three you might be a bit lost as series one and two play a part but im sure it won't take long to catch on to whats happening. In series three the storylines deepen the heroes lives become more tangled and can the world be saved you will have to watch and find out.
Show in decline
Review date: 2010-06-16 Rating: 6 out of 10
heroes season 3 was the season to revive the shows fortunes - well at least that was the intention of it's creator tim kring. Instead what we got was even more of a downturn than season 2 offered. The first couple of ep's start out fairly well but by ep 3 it's clear that the writers have fallen back into cliche character trappings and convoluted plot arcs,new characters arent as interesting as older ones and the show feels starained beyond belief. The brilliant Oscar nominated Robert Forster (Jackie brown,the black hole) gives a good performance in a few episodes as the petrelli brothers long thought dead father Arthur and gives the show a bit of gravitas to carry it along enough to forget how bad the stories are. It's always nice to see Malcolm mcdowell too but his return here seems forced and shoehorned in.
I actually thought though the Villians arc (first half of the season) was actually stronger than the Fugitives one,though i know a lot think the reverse. By the end of the season and well into season 4 you can tell the show has had noticable budget cut,largely due to declining ratings, hence not as much advertising money for the network to make the show. By season 4 everything looks much cheaper but it just about works here.
Season 4 is worse than this and as such the show has just been cancelled. Hopefully we'll get the rumoured mini series etc to wrap up the story. Heroes looked after season 1 to be one of the all time great shows but never really capitalised on that great first season. Shame.
HEROES SEASON 1 10/10
HEROES SEASON 2 8/10
HEROES SEASON 3 7/10
HEROES SEASON 4 6/10
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Milo Ventimiglia
Hayden Panettiere
Masi Oka
Jack Coleman
Sendhil Ramamurthy
Creators:
Jack Coleman (Primary Contributor)
Hayden Panettiere (Primary Contributor)
Tim Kring (Writer)
Recording label: Universal Pictures UK
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
EAN: 5050582699425
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 6
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2009-10-12
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 1050 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2008
Language: English (Original Language)