Superheroes and supervillains , quirky characters , movie - timbre effect and cliff-hanging plots with unexpected twists made"Heroes"the watercooler attain of the 2006 - 2007TVseason . It racked up eightEmmynominations , including Best Drama Series , and pull in a huge pursual to its take on good versus evil .

" Heroes " has spawned a comi­c book , video game , Web serial and a spring 2008 whirl - off call " Origins " while getting America – and fans in nearly 150 countries – hook on the escapade of an indestructible cheerleader , aJapanesetime - traveller and an exotic dancer with a very disconnected personality .

Now , as its 2nd - season premiere approaches ( Sept. 24 on NBC ) , " hero " carry the pressure to equate , if not outflank , its stellar freshman year . The premiere episode is entitle " Four Months after , " segueing from the time of year one last .

" I ’m never 100 pct slaked with anything , but I was pretty pleased that we were capable to envelop up that much news report and give ourselves enough of a blank slate to start the season with , " says series God Almighty Tim Kring .

But much was still in incertitude at the ending of the season one finale , including the fate of Peter Petrelli ( Milo Ventimiglia ) and D.L. Hawkins ( Leonard Roberts ) . Kring wo n’t comment on their status , but he does make it clear that there will be major shakeups in the lives of regress superheroes and a recollective list of newfangled characters join the " Heroes " universe .

In this clause , we ’ll find out what ’s in store for time of year two . Is Jessica gone for good ? Will Matt find his fraught wife ? Will Hiro make it back from the past ? But first , we ’ll learn about the instauration of the series ' amazing special effects .

‘Five Years Gone’

" hero " used more than a thousand special effect in its first time of year . One of the most complicated episodes was"Five Years Gone,“a jump into the postapocalyptic future .

The extra effects department needed to produce two very differentManhattanlandscapes and multiple world power effects for " Five old age Gone . " It also had to depict Nathan Petrelli ( Adrian Pasdar ) in front of the White House and at Ground Zero before having him flee across the New York apparent horizon .

Artists rendered postnuclear Manhattan in a matte painting of 3505 by 2785 pixels that included animation for moving vehicles , airplanes and mental synthesis Harold Hart Crane . To allow the character of Hiro Nakamura ( Masi Oka ) to interact with his succeeding ego , the four - and - a - one-half minute scene was filmed in four walk in 35 mm using a motion - control dolly and aHot - Head– a remote - control camera head .

For the view in which President Petrelli heads for his helicopter on the White House lawn , Pasdar walked in front of ablue projection screen , which was composited with a computer - generated model of the White House rendered at 2922 by 1644 result and enhanced with matte - painting additions of surrounding greenery .

Petrelli ’s show at a Ground Zero memorial armed service need unripened screen , matte picture and numerous CG component . His solo flight in the next scene involved more than 200 hours of work from 3 - D artists , matte painter and the compositor . The compositor create agreen - screenmodelof Pasdar and a CG model ( made with Maya Cloth simulator software package ) and put them together with crowd elements , a flatness picture of the memorial site and an animation of thejet ’s exhaust trail .

The episode ’s technical challenges also include Peter Petrelli ( Milo Ventimiglia ) practice the power of invisibility , which was reach throughsplit screen , rotoscopeandglass torture filter . A similar process ( but with a CGripple effectinstead of a distortion filter ) was used to show Sylar ( Zachary Quinto ) walking through walls . For the showdown between Peter and Sylar , special burden artists usedLightwavesoftware to create animated CGfireand ice elements .

Split screens and rotoscoping illustrate frozen­time , and when it was necessary to show player in off - balance stead , rig shore them up and were removed in postproduction . in conclusion , to create a wraparound view of present - day Manhattan , artists utilise a 270 - grade matte house painting , Boujoutracking software and gullible - silver screen and CG elements .

Hayden Panettiere , whose character , Claire Bennet , is constantly defying death , has drop considerable prison term with the limited effects department , mostly for makeup and prosthetics . One sequence , " The Homecoming , " was particularly rough – she pass six hours have burns simulated and getting a torso scan for CG . In another episode , Claire is­autopsied , which was achieved via a prosthetic placed on Panettiere ’s pectus . She think of walking around with blood dripping everywhere . " I ’m like a piece of steak , " she says . " I ’ve been broil and filet . "

On the next page , we ’ll find out what your pet character will be up to in season two – and get a sneak peep at some new faces .

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Season Two

If you ’re a " Heroes " fan , you ’re plausibly on the sharpness of your keister waiting for the lowdown on the novel time of year . Here are some choice morsel to tide you over until Sept. 24 .

Quite a few new character reference will be joining the " Heroes " ranks this season . Here ’s a look at a few of them :

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Globetrotting

As the season unfolds , the " Heroes " persona will be disperse around the globe – inJapan , Mexico , Egypt , Haiti , Central Americaand theUkraine .

As the time of year one finale lay out up , Hiro Nakamura ( Masi Oka ) has teleported to feudalistic Japan . " We ’re going to be there for a while , " says Oka , anEmmynominee for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series .

" The whole idea of Season Two is that we ’re go to set forth with two separate time line , " he sound out . " One time personal line of credit is going to start four months after the event [ in the last ] happened , and the other storyline pop out with Hiro 400 age in the past tense . "

Oka also reveals that he has been working with some young cast members , include Eriko Tamura , a Japanese actress and pop superstar who play a Nipponese princess . David Anders ( formerly of " Alias " ) playssamuraiwarrior Takezo Kensei , Hiro ’s childhood hoagy and the original owner of his precioussword . George Takei will also return as Hiro ’s Padre .

Origins

" Origins , " the newfangled twirl - off series created by Kring , will start airing after time of year two of " Heroes " stop in April 2008 . A new character will be introduced in each of the six place upright - alone instalment , and TV audience will determine which of them will remain for time of year three of " Heroes . " Kevin Smith ( of " Clerks " and " Mallrats " fame ) is on control panel to direct the first instalment .

Kring sees " Origins " as a sort of farm system for novel eccentric . " Rather than it being like a tank car of gas where you use up story , these twists and turns and reveals and cliffhanger actually generate more story , " he says . " So it ’s an locomotive that feed on itself . "

" [ They ’re ] unplug from the main storylines of Heroes but in the same Earth , " says Masi Oka . " You might see a letter carrier cede a piece of mail to Mr. Bennet ’s house , which we lie with has cut down . "

Great Expectations

Tim Kring , antecedently better have sex for creating the serial " Crossing Jordan , " say he had want to write a show like " Heroes " for age , but serialized dramas with large ensemble cast did n’t usually rerun or syndicate well . " But with the Parousia of shows that did well andDVDsales , it became more attractive to the networks , " he says .

The " Heroes " premiere in September 2006 describe 14.3 million viewers and was the highest - value NBC drama debut in five years . After the blockbuster first season and all the hype andEmmynominations , it would certainly be understandable if the " Heroes " cast were spooky about the new time of year . They ’ve for sure take heed of the soph drop-off , right ? But agree to the histrion , there ’s not a worry in sight on the Hollywood set .

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What’s Up Next

Many of the " Heroes " cast members are now hot good in Hollywood . Here ’s what else they have on pat .

Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman)

Grunberg play an agent trying to block drug trader in " libertine Glass , " due out next class . In his spare time , he play drum in Band From TV , alongside role player James Denton ( " Desperate housewife " ) , Hugh Laurie ( " House " ) , Bonnie Somerville ( " Cashmere Mafia " ) and Bob Guiney ( " The unmarried man " ) .

Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura)

First up is a cameo in the tumble indie " Quebec , " a comedy about two real estate agent ( Jenna Fischer and Seann William Scott ) competing for a problem . Oka is also in the roll of themovieversion of theTVseries " Get Smart , " star Steve Carell , Anne Hathaway and the Rock , due out June 20 , 2008 .

Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet)

Next year , Panettiere stars in the family unit drama " Fireflies in the Garden " with Julia Roberts , Willem Dafoe , Ryan Reynolds and Emily Watson , and she has been recording an record album for Hollywood Records .

Adrian Pasdar (Nathan Petrelli)

Pasdar star in the indie thriller " Home Movie " as a Lutheran minister who thinks his children may be possessed .

Zachary Quinto (Sylar)

He ’ll put on pointy ear to play the young Spock in the J.J. Abrams - directed eleventh episode in the " Star Trek " dealership , slated for a Dec. 25 , 2008 , release . Leonard Nimoy is expected to appear as the elder rendering of the Vulcan .

Dania Ramirez (Maya)

In " Ball Do n’t Lie , " Ramirez play thefoster parentof a teenagebasketballplayer . And she ’s on the running game – this time insubwaytunnels – in the thriller " Brooklyn toManhattan , " about a drug pot go spoiled .

Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli)­

After directing and producing " It ’s a Mall World , " a serial of 12 original curt film for American Eagle and MTV , Ventimiglia returned to performing , diddle a forensic pathologist in the thriller " Pathology , " which hit theaters Nov. 30 .

For more information about " Heroes , " check out the link on the next page .

Lots More Information

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