A new cadre of villains and fugitives, alongside a rejuvenated Sylar, appear to threaten the future of the Heroes, new and old alike. They are all battling for control of the "Catalyst" a newly discovered formula that gives normal people similarly nature-defying powers. Months after explosions brought down Pinehurst and Primatech, our Heroes try to put the past behind them and begin new lives. Now powerless, Hiro tries to train a reluctant Ando to be a true superhero; Sylar begins the search for his real parents; Mohinder returns to life as a taxi driver; Peter is back saving lives; and Daphne and Matt are trying to become a normal couple...

Season Three of Heroes throws some pretty incredible story lines into the overall story arc. We are introduced to a number of new characters - the most notable being the Speedster, Daphne, who is able to move at an incredible speed - making her practically invisible. We also meet a new visionary painter who is capable of telling the future through his art; the puppet master who can control people as though they were puppets; Knox, who feeds off people's fear; and Ali Larter has a new character, Tracy, who has the ability to freeze things instantly.

Last year (2008) in an incredible bit of shortsightedness the PR company responsible for promoting the second season of Heroes rather cockily, and rudely, snubbed our request for review copies basically telling us that it was too popular a series for them to warrant sending over review discs to websites (despite the fact they'd sent out the press release asking websites to promote the release and we'd already reviewed the first season). This, I'm sure to other sites too, was a bit of a kick in the teeth when they'd helped to promote the first season to their readership. With the currently airing fourth season struggling for survival in the TV ratings in the US, someone somewhere has obviously had a change of heart and decided that websites are, after all, worth sending review discs out to - especially now that the mainstream media seems to have lost interest in Heroes.

Unfortunately, as Heroes has a soap opera style storyline where each week merely continues the huge story arch, missing out season two could have been problematic for any reviewer... thankfully, as a fan of the show, I'd already bought and watched the second season.

Notable plot threads in this season include several characters losing their abilities and/or discovering new ones. Angela Petrelli revealing information about her past when she was part of an experiment in the '60s to examine and monitor children with super powers; Sylar trying to discover himself and changing from bad to good and back again; Ando gaining a power at last; and Hiro taking Claire back to the past in order to get his powers back - this also sees a number of mini story lines that anyone who remembers series one will appreciate.

Julian Glover (Smallville) makes an interesting cameo, as does Michael Dorn (Star Trek: The Next Generation / Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Extras are pretty impressive. There are audio commentaries for every episode with various cast and crew members.

Disc one includes Playback (UK) trailer (1 min, 11 sec which is basically an advertisement for other Universal Playback releases); Deleted Scenes (11 min, 49 sec worth of deleted scenes from the episodes on this disc); and The Superpowers of Heroes (8 min, 02 sec look at stunt coordinator's work).

Disc two includes Deleted Scenes (13 min, 05 sec worth of deleted scenes from the episodes on this disc. This is the best collection of deleted scenes as it includes a look at how Knox discovered he had powers and that he also used to give Matt Parkman the odd tip-off when Parkman was a cop); and Completing the Scene (7 min, 53 sec look at the show's visual effects).

Disc three includes Deleted Scenes (4 min, 48 sec worth of deleted scenes from the episodes on this disc); Tim Sale Gallery of Screen Art (1 min, 15 sec pic gallery set to music); Pinehurst Commercial (39 sec); and The Prop Box (5 min, 36 sec look at the prop masters job).

Disc four includes Deleted Scenes (1 min, 20 sec worth of deleted scenes from the episodes on this disc); and Alternate Stories (Going Postal (10 min, 12 sec) and Nowhere Man (17 min, 04 sec) which appear to be webisodes as the acting, camera work and general production values are pretty low. However, David H. Lawrence XVII is great as the puppet master in Nowhere Man, Basically, this follows up on whether the puppet master returned to a life of crime or tried to live a normal life).

Disc five includes Deleted Scenes (23 sec deleted scene from the episodes on this disc); The Writers Forum (13 min, 24 sec look at ideas that the writers were trying to achieve with the characters in this season); and Genetics of a Scene (Light's, Camera, Beeman (4 min, 52 behind the scenes footage with director Greg Beeman); Throwing Thoughts (3 min, 51 sec); Exploring Claire's Mind (5 min, 31 sec look at Claire's prosthetic brain as well as effects used for the patient Mohinder is experimenting on); and Speedster Steals the Formula (6 min, 11 sec).

Disc 6 includes Deleted Scenes (6 min, 08 sec worth of deleted scenes from the episodes on this disc.

If you've been following this show from the start, then Season Three is well worth picking up - there are plenty of plot twists and surprises in store for you.

9

Darren Rea