edit: Warning: comments on the LJ mirror of this post are getting spoilery.

It was Heroes 'catch-up night' on BBC Two last night, so I watched six episodes back-to-back, having never seen it before and studiously avoided spoilers.

I know I'm the last person in the world to get on this bandwagon, which is strange because I've been looking forward to the series; but I missed the first couple of episodes, not being a regular telly-watcher, so needed to wait for the rescreening. We have a bandwidth limit.

Firstly, the programme is alllll about the junior geneticist's accent. I want so terribly much to steal that man's voice.

Secondly, I've vaguely heard that Hiro (one of the characters from Japan) has attracted a large fan following, so I need to add my name to that roll. Great friendship-partnership between those two characters.

(I'm going to forget everyone's name, because I do that, and am still avoiding websites because of spoilers, so bear with.)

They were shown back-to-back with no ad breaks, and stood up well to that treatment. No gaping plot holes that I spotted. Though I would have edited out the "Previously..." segments, because there was no point.

I was surprised to hear, in the little preamble bit they showed before the first episode, that the Hiro character was an afterthought. Now, I think the ratio of angstbucket characters to characters with Hiro's attitude is still too high, so without anyone prepared to crack a grin and say "actually, this is pretty great", this programme would be positively dismal.

The artwork (the programme features an artist-cum-plot-point character) is completely fabulous. And the plot has me interested and engaged in most or all of its threads. Villainy, moderate mind-muckery, complete cluelessness, all the five food groups. Apart from the common angstbucketry I mentioned earlier, the characters do have a good range of reactions to their powers and are led into interesting situations, so it isn't samey and doesn't seem to drag.

I'm very dubious about all the pontificating about evolution. I'm oversensitive to gross misrepresentations of genetics, especially with all the creationist culties about these days, and I don't think I like where I suspect they're going to go with the 'science'.

I practicaly squealed at the telekinetic. (I assume it is a telekinetic, though this hasn't been stated.) So much delight!

I've also no idea what this recurring symbol is (it looks like an integration sign crossed in several places, or sorta like the stylised F logo of Macromedia Flash), and I'm not sure I like that either. The 'Bad Wolf' meme in Doctor Who was at least more subtle, and I successfully avoided the hype for that too, so perhaps I can happily ignore this; perhaps it's purely a stylistic thing and won't be made into an OMG plot point, and if so, good.

I'm also a little worried that there is Gary-Stuage in the offing with the child character. I don't like child prodigy characters... perhaps because I once was one (and am now Donnie Smith).

Three more episodes tonight, then I believe I'll be caught up with what's been shown on UK tv so far.