We can be

HEROES

NBC hit returns with questions and answers

By Ryan Alan

Philly EDGE Correspondent

At one time, presumably, one of Ali Larter’s biggest challenges was winding her way through traffic from Cherry Hill, NJ through the ’burbs of Philadelphia for work and play.

Now the former model’s responsibilities have been SUPER-sized, literally so, in comparison.

Larter, in the character of single mom, and former Las Vegas stripper Niki Sanders, on Heroes, the buzz show of television’s 2006 season, tries to come to terms with discovering she suddenly possesses extraordinary abilities.

The show, created by Tim Kring, returns from its holiday break Monday, Jan. 22 at 9 p.m. on NBC (Ch. 10) to follow the lives of ordinary people like Sanders who are forced to deal with similar discoveries.

It’s already created promotional teaser tag lines – specifically “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World,” and the new “Are you on the list?” – that are spurring deep, non-scholarly study and debate in on-line discussion forums across America.

Larter takes it all in with a feeling of gratitude in being part of it all.

“One thing that unites all these characters is this question within themselves of whether they can be more,” she tells the show Web site at NBC.com. It’s such a universal question – including, “Are we special?” and “What makes us special?” -- that taps into the lives of every human being, she suggests. 

She relates to Kring’s belief that in a world becoming increasingly complicated, people are looking for hope. Heroes reflects that sensibility and, along the way, provides some optimism, Larter believes.

“We all are kind of comic book archetypes, in a way, too, and it’s representing hope and myths and even the hero journey.”

Larter says she is drawn to strong female characters, such as Niki Sanders, who struggles to support her exceptionally gifted young son’s private school education, and who finds her mirror image has a secret.

“One of the things that’s so interesting to me is how complicated she is, and not understanding what’s happening to her.  I love the fact she is trying to figure it out,” she tells NBC.com.

For Sanders, Larter says, it presents the question: “If we look into ourselves, are we scared of our own light?”   She believes that is a query to which we all can relate. “What’s happening with her and the powers, and what they’ve hinted at so far, I think, is leading us into the question of the duality that can live in everybody,” she explains.

“I’m just so excited to go along on this journey,” she tells NBC.com “I’m excited to get the scripts every week and read them and to really be able to grow with the character. It’s a totally new experience for me.”

So too is 17-year old actor-singer Hayden Panettiere, who plays Claire Bennet, a high school cheerleader in Odessa, Texas, who learns through trial-and-error that her flesh is indestructible.

Panettiere tells SuperHeroHype.com that while Heroes can be considered science fiction, “it’s also a human story. She’s a normal teenage girl who is trying to fit into a high school life, and all of a sudden she has to deal with this major conflict,” she adds.

At a young age, Panettiere is a veteran in entertainment, including a variety of television, including soap operas, films (Ice Princess, Remember the Titans, Message in a Bottle among others) and recordings (Hollywood Records is about to release her CD).

Kring, the creator and executive producer, is hopeful that people will follow the series for many years to come.

“The central premise of Heroes is characters dealing with extraordinary things happening to them,” he tells NBC.com. “So my sense is that if one can assume that dealing with their extraordinary abilities is something that these characters will always face, then their stories can bend and morph and evolve forever.”

Though the show deals in the arena of the super hero and comic book world, he says at its core it is a character-based saga.

Kring says he is very concerned that Heroes not be seen only as a “cult” show. 

“The Texas cheerleader, the LAPD Cop, the single mom trying to raise her son: these characters and stories are so diverse; my hope is that everyone can find something that they like.”

When Jeph Loeb, now a creative staff member of Heroes, first saw the pilot, he found it very powerful.

“It just grabbed me and wouldn’t let go,” he tells NBC.com.  “It’s very inspiring. One of the things Kring spends a great deal of time thinking about is the state of the world.”

Loeb, former supervising producer of Lost, a writer for Smallville and Wizard Top Ten comic book writer, says Kring is very active politically and very connected to the human condition.

“He would talk about how for so many people right now is a very scary time. He wanted to create something that gave people hope. That maybe, just maybe, mankind was going to save itself from itself.”

Though Loeb says that while this may be the most recent modern-day take on comic book mythology, he believes it is important to spread the word that it is not necessary to know about comics to enjoy the show.

“Quite the contrary,” he says. “Heroes works on both levels and that’s very much on purpose.”

Summing up, Masi Oka, who portrays Hiro Nakamura, a Tokyo nonconformist computer-anime enthusiast who develops a way to pierce the space-time continuum and move back in time through will power, references a song from Prince of Egypt to offer some perspective on Heroes. --

“There can be miracles when you believe…”.

“If you don’t believe in something,” Oka adds, “you’ll never take action. Whether if it’s in yourself or a higher entity, it’s that belief that propels us to move forward and live our lives. There’s so much negativity in our world, and nay-sayers, that I just think it’s really important to believe.”