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A version of this article ran in Friday’s The Oklahoman: 

The second season of Tim Kring’s “Heroes” faces a bit of a sophomore slump.
Whereas the first season focused on ordinary people with extraordinary abilities, the second season takes advantage of the roots of these powers and delves into the sins of the main characters’ parents.

As the season begins, time-traveling Hiro (Masi Oka) has transported to feudal Japan, where he decides to stay to help his childhood hero Takezo Kensei become the
legendary samurai he’s supposed to become.

The Bennets have relocated to California, where Claire (Hayden Panettiere) is supposed to lay low. Her adoptive father, Noah (Jack Coleman) is working with Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) to take down the Company, the mysterious organization experimenting
on individuals with super-powers.
Peter, who was responsible for saving New York City from an atomic explosion at the end of the first season, awakens in Ireland with amnesia.
New characters Maya and her brother Alejandro unknowingly find themselves helping a “Heroes” foe back to prominence as they make a pilgrimage from South America to find
Mohinder to learn more about their powers.
While the disparate threads of the season eventually come together, it’s obvious that the show was hindered by the writers’ strike, causing the Shanti virus storyline to come to a
quick resolution. The season wrapped with only 11 episodes.
The core ideas, cast and writers behind “Heroes” are still sound, so a stronger Season 3 seems very likely.
To find out what might have been, check out the special features on
the DVD set.
The show’s writers elaborate on their plans for the second half of the season, most of which were never filmed.

– Matt Price

A version of this review ran in Friday’s The Oklahoman: 

The children of superheroes are the world’s last hope in “Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow,” the latest direct-to-DVD animated feature from Marvel.  ”Next Avengers” features a possible Marvel future in which the children of the Avengers must
defeat the foe their parents could not.
The Avengers — including Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and others — were defeated in their final battle with Ultron, the indestructible robot bent on world domination.
Tony Stark, Iron Man, escaped with four of the Avengers’ children, and raised them in hiding.
James, the son of Captain America and the Black Widow, is a slovenly teen that nevertheless keeps a cool head in a crisis.
Torunn, the daughter of Thor, has an enchanted sword and an Asgardian’s power.
Azari, the son of the Black Panther, has agility from his father and lightning-based powers from an unnamed-in-the-film mother who’s most likely the X-Men’s Storm.
Pym, the son of Giant Man and the Wasp, is a tech-savvy wisacre with both of his parents’ abilities.
A fifth young Avenger was raised outside the safety of Iron Man’s domed campus.
Hawkeye, named after his father, has also inherited has father’s archery skills.  He lives in the city, under the shadow of Ultron, and leads a squad of resistance fighters.
When Ultron discovers the young Avengers, he wants to eliminate the last threat to his world dominance; these five teens must work together to face down a threat even their parents couldn’t stop.
“Next Avengers” is the most young adult-focused of all of the Marvel animated films so far, but it still brings in lots of the Marvel legacy for longtime fans.

– Matt Price

From Friday’s The Oklahoman: 

The nine-episode strike-shortened first season of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” kicks in a year after the events of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” Sarah Connor (Lena Headley, “300”) and her son John (Thomas Dekker, “Heroes”) have been hiding out, but decide it’s time to move on. They are aided by a new Terminator, played by Summer Glau.

Glau first came to prominence in the television show “Firefly,” created by Joss Whedon, playing the unbalanced psychic River, who stowed away on the spaceship Serenity. She’s excellent in her role, except in the pilot, which has a few issues. The new Terminators are supposed to better be able to mimic human emotions — Cameron (Glau) does that at first, when John doesn’t realize she is a Terminator. After she’s revealed, however, she has a much more “robotic” performance.

Still, as the series goes on, Glau’s the highlight of the show, and should be a breakout star. Headley doesn’t have the toned, steely presence of Linda Hamilton, but she does have her moments. Brian Austin Green (“Beverly Hills, 90210”) shows up about halfway through the season as John Connor’s uncle, and immediately sparks up the series.

If the series fits in with “Terminator 3,” I’m not sure how, exactly. Still, time travel allows for some leeway in events, doesn’t it?

Extras include commentaries, cast auditions, storyboard animatics, featurettes, and a director’s cut of the episode “The Demon Hand.”

– Matthew Price

 Silent Monk (Jet Li), Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), Jason Tripitikas (Michael A. Angarano) and Golden Sparrow (Crystal Liu) in “The Forbidden Kingdom.”

From Friday’s The Oklahoman:

A dream team of martial arts stars are on display in “Forbidden Kingdom,” which mixes “The Never-Ending Story” with “The Karate Kid” in a fun film for all ages. The story begins with a scene of the Monkey King (Jet Li), fighting on a mountaintop in the clouds. As the viewers are thinking the scene doesn’t seem quite real, it’s revealed that it’s not — it’s a dream of Jason (Michael Angarano). Jason’s a teenage kung-fu cinephile from Boston. He buys his films from Hop (Jackie Chan), an old man who owns a Chinatown pawn shop. When some young toughs seek to rob Hop, Jason is knocked out — and transported to ancient China.

An ancient staff from the pawnshop seems to be the key to Jason’s situation — he’s thought to be the one prophesied to return the Monkey King’s staff, and end the Jade Warlord’s rule of the kingdom. He’s befriended by a drunken master (Jackie Chan), and later aided by a warrior monk (Jet Li). The master and the monk, of course, first have a misunderstanding, which leads to the Li vs. Chan fight everybody bought their tickets to see. While Chan, 54, doesn’t show the same eye-popping stunts of his younger days, the showdown is still worth the price of admission. A girl bent on revenge, Sparrow (Crystal Liu Yifei) completes the fellowship seeking to dethrone the warlord.

The film is directed by Rob Minkoff (“Stuart Little”), who you might not expect to direct a kung-fu actioner, but he brings in Yuen Woo-Ping (“Kill Bill”) as fight choreographer, which helps add credibility to the production.

Would “Forbidden Kingdom” have been better 10-15 years ago, with Chan and Li at the top of their games? Probably, but as it is, it’s still a fun Valentine to kung-fu cinema.

– Matthew Price

SAN DIEGO — Marvel and Lionsgate debuted the “Hulk vs. Wolverine” portion of the upcoming “Hulk Vs.” DVD, which will also feature a “Hulk vs. Thor” episode.  The DVD will go on sale in January.

On hand to discuss the DVD were supervising producer and co-writer Craig Kyle, producer and supervising director Frank Paur, co-writer Christopher Yost and voice actor Fred Tatasciore, who portrayed the Hulk.

“This is the fight we’ve loved since 181,” said Kyle, referring to the first appearance of Wolverine in “Incredible Hulk” 181, where the Canadian mutant and the green Goliath first threw down.

“We’ve brought it together in a way I think you guys are gonna love,” Kyle said. “These are the kinds of films I think we should be making for you guys.”

Kyle focused on the fans during the presentation, saying the Marvel direct-to-DVD features were aimed at pleasing the comic-book fans first.

Co-writer Chris Yost, who also writes the comic-book “X-Force” with Kyle, talked about bringing the comic-book feel to the project.

“Everything that the fans like, the action and the edge, I’ve tried to bring to it,” Yost said.

Paur said the DVD can be more violent and action-oriented than broadcast television; there’s also some things that are more cost-effective on DVD.

“There are some things … that I wouldn’t even think about approaching (for TV) that we did on these features,” Paur said.  “We did some things that would not be cost-conscious on a TV series.”

Kyle talked a bit about “Next Avengers,” a PG-rated animated DVD featuring the children of the original Avengers, and indicated it would be more kid-appropriate than the more violent “Hulk Vs.”  He also mentioned some other kid-friendly properties he’d like to see.

“I think there’s room for ‘Power Pack,’ ‘New Mutants,’ and then there’s stuff where we need five amputations to make it right.”

– Matt Price

Jessica Hynes and Simon Pegg in “Spaced.”

From Friday’s The Oklahoman:

By Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor

The cult-hit British sitcom “Spaced” arrived on DVD this week. The series, co-created by Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes, featured London twentysomethings posing as a couple to save on rent.

Pegg played aspiring comic-book artist Tim Bisley, and Hynes played aspiring writer Daisy Steiner.

Hynes has stayed busy post-“Spaced” — when she called to talk to The Oklahoman, she had just finished rehearsals for the evening at the Old Vic in London for “The Norman Conquests,” a trilogy of plays by Alan Ayckbourn. She’ll take a break from rehearsals to visit America this week. Today, she’s at Comic-Con International in San Diego, and she’ll spend Sunday in Austin, Texas, as part of the “Spaced Invasion.” On Sunday at 5 p.m., Hynes and the other “Spaced” creators will be at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, at 320 E 6^th St. in Austin for a marathon “Spaced” screening.

“I feel a bit guilty for having a week in America, but it’s a good reason. I couldn’t miss this,” she said.

“Spaced” has been long-requested on Region 1 DVD, leading some to take serious steps to see the program.

“This guy in Austin said that his local video stop started stocking multiregional DVDs in order to sell them to customers who wanted to watch ‘Spaced,’” Hynes said.

Like “The Office,” there had been plans for an Americanized version of “Spaced,” this one developed by director McG. Hynes wasn’t too upset about the failure of the American version to make it on a broadcast schedule, as neither she nor Pegg nor Wright were involved in the remake. Still, she would like to return to “Spaced” in some way.

“Basically, at this point, I have no idea how, when or if Spaced will continue,” she said. “I think Simon’s quite clear he doesn’t want to make a film of it. I think a film would work, but it’s a logistical thing as well. Simon’s signed up for the next few ‘Star Treks’, and Edgar’s making films, and there’s no way we could do it without the three of us, so who knows? I’d love to revive the characters and write the show again, it was great.”

One possibility might be to continue “Spaced” as a comic book. Hynes is a comic-book fan, naming Daniel Clowes’s “Eightball,” Terry Moore’s “Strangers in Paradise,” and Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s “Preacher” as favorites.

“I’ve got a friend, Glyn Dillon, who’s a great graphic novelist,” Hynes said. “He was involved with ‘Tank Girl,’ and we were talking about doing a graphic novel about something different, but I was thinking about talking to him about it, because he’s based in England and it could work. It would be a way of keeping the stories alive, and the characters alive.”

From Friday’s The Oklahoman: 

By Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor

WORD BALLOONS

The tale of the Witchblade, an ancient weapon first seen in comics, blazed the path for original cable TV programming, says the publisher of the “Witchblade” comic books. “Witchblade,” the television series, will be released on DVD on Tuesday.

“When “Witchblade” debuted on TNT back in 2000 there weren’t that many comic adaptations particularly on television,” said Top Cow publisher Filip Sablik. “In fact in the era of ‘The Shield,’ ‘Monk’ and ‘Rescue Me’ it’s funny to remember that there wasn’t much original cable television programming.”

“Witchblade” is about a New York City police detective, Sara Pezzini, who encounters the Witchblade, an ancient and powerful artifact. The Witchblade is a gauntlet that’s been passed down from woman to woman throughout time and serves as a balance between the forces of dark and light. Yancy Butler starred as Pezzini in the 23 episodes which aired over two seasons.

Sablik said the “Witchblade” series stayed mostly faithful to the comic book.

“They were limited by budget as far as what they could do, but the key characters … were all there,” he said. “The Witchblade is still an ancient powerful weapon, but instead of a organic like metal it took the form of a more traditional gauntlet with a sword that came out.”

“Witchblade” remains Top Cow’s most popular comic book. Sablik described “Witch Hunt,” the first story arc by writer Ron Marz, as a good jumping on point for “Witchblade.” Comic-book stores have a special edition of the story for $4.99, collecting six issues.

“It’s the entry arc for the modern era of ‘Witchblade,’” Sablik said.

“Witchblade” is currently in development for a 2009 feature film.

From Friday’s The Oklahoman: 

Following in the footsteps of “Smallville,” Batman-related characters got a youth-oriented WB television series in “Birds of Prey.” Following the Tim Burton Batman films, to a degree, the film is set in “New Gotham,” in the future. Batman and Catwoman have had a daughter — The Huntress (Ashley Scott, “Jericho”). Batman himself has disappeared after a final showdown with the Joker — and the Joker, after escaping, shot and paralyzed Batgirl (Dina Meyer, “Starship Troopers”). Her paralysis didn’t stop her crusade — only how she accomplishes it. She now fights crime as Oracle, a cyber-sleuth who trains superheroes for the future, including Huntress.

Joining Huntress and Oracle is Dinah (Rachel Skarsten). Her telepathic powers keyed in on Huntress when Catwoman was killed, and on Oracle when she was shot. Thus, she believes these women are the key to her destiny.

“Birds of Prey” debuted strongly, but ratings slipped. Comic fans thought the series deviated too much from the comic book on which it was based. The show did alter the origins, but it didn’t ignore the comics; it just melded several different versions into one show. In retrospect, the show was better than it gets credit for, but not as good as it could have been. Meyer is consistently good, and it’s too bad fans didn’t get to see more of her as Batgirl or Oracle.

The original pilot, with Sherilyn Fenn (“Twin Peaks”) as Joker sidekick Harley Quinn is included. Fenn was replaced with Mia Sara (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”).

Also included are three seasons of the flash-animated “Gotham Girls,” which come to about an hour of programming.

– Matthew Price

 Katherine Heigl and James Marsden in “27 Dresses.”

From Friday’s The Oklahoman: 

Katherine Heigl stars in “27 Dresses” as Jane, who lives the cliché “always a bridesmaid, never a bride.” The film’s opening is one of its more fun scenes, as Jane must juggle being the maid of honor at two weddings on the same night. This draws the attention of wedding reporter Kevin (Oklahoma’s James Marsden).

Kevin proposes a story on Jane to his editor (Melora Hardin, “The Office”) on Jane as a perpetual bridesmaid, with 27 dresses representing 27 weddings. Kevin, meanwhile, is hiding his own difficult romantic past behind a cynical exterior.

Meanwhile, Jane’s sister Tess (Malin Akerman) falls for Jane’s boss, George (Edward Burns). Which would be OK, except Jane’s been in love with George for years, but afraid to make a move. When George and Tess fall for one another, Jane is especially conflicted — because she knows her sister hasn’t been completely forthcoming about her past.

Marsden has a lot of charm, even if his character isn’t completely defensible. He flirts with Jane to get a better angle on his story, but ends up falling for her, as well. Marsden has often been used as the third piece of a love triangle (“Superman Returns,” “Enchanted”) but here he proves he’s perfectly capable of the lead in a romantic comedy.

Heigl is in places too unlikable — and unlike in “Knocked Up,” she doesn’t have a pregnancy to excuse her attitude — but the fun scenes outweigh the dour ones. Jane and Kevin getting inebriated after their car breaks down, and singing “Benny and the Jets” atop a bar counter, is a scene that draws plenty of laughs.

Overall, “27 Dresses” is a fairly formulaic romantic comedy, but worth seeing for Marsden’s rumpled charm.

— Matthew Price

Hulk takes on Thor and Wolverine in this January 2009 DVD release.

– Matt Price