What if you discovered that you had a superpower -- great strength, flight, teleportation, or amazing healing? And what if you could use it to save the world?

Superheroes are everywhere in entertainment, from comic books to movies. But few manage to be as intelligent, geeky and well-written as "Heroes," a solid comic-book style TV series that explores the repercussions of several "ordinary" people who discover that they have strange -- and sometimes dangerous -- powers.

It opens with Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) reflecting on the human quest for knowledge -- even knowledge that we shouldn't have -- right before learning that his father has been killed, possibly murdered. Suresh's dad believed that "special" people were cropping up, much like in X-Men.

And we are introduced to the "heroes": stripper Niki (Ali Larter) harbors a secret dark side, cheerleader Claire (Hayden Panettiere) heals from any injury, Japanese Dilbert Hiro (Masi Oka) can bend time and space, Senatorial candidate Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) is able to fly, his brother Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) can copy others' powers, a cop Matt (Greg Grunberg) can read minds, and junkie artist Isaac (Santiago Cabrera) sees the future. There are plenty of others that show up, but these start the ball rolling.

While Claire and Hiro explore the potential of their new powers, Niki and her son try to elude some hired thugs --and end up overwhelmed by her dark side, and framed. And Suresh searches for the answer to his father's death, only to find that his genetics research is involved with the "special people," and that a superpowered serial killer is targeting them.

Even worse, Hiro takes a trip to New York (five weeks in the future), and sees the city destroyed by a massive blast -- as does Isaac, through his paintings. How to stop it? As a future Hiro tells them, "save the cheerleader, save the world." The Heroes begin slowly coming into contact, in a haze of dreams, visions, murder, swords and death -- and to stop the serial killer and save New York, more sacrifices may be made...

Unlike most shows about people with superpowers, "Heroes" isn't really about the action or flashy battles. It's half epic save-the-world-as-a-team story, and half exploration of how real, ordinary people would react if they suddenly found out that they had superpowers, and how this would change -- or NOT change -- their lives.

The storylines are incredibly intricate and complex, since there are a dozen subplots and a lot of time travel, and plenty of hints at future events. The careful painting of all these storylines even further in two episodes, one of which shows the pre-Heroic lies of the characters (and how Syler became a murderous terror), and another that shows what the future will be like if they don't change it. It's not a pretty picture.

These complex storylines are enhanced by lots of suspense and tightly directed action, and the makers always know how to throw in a shocking twist, such as a sword-carrying future Hiro showing up.. But there is also some poignancy, and very dark humor from time to time (Claire waking up in mid-autopsy, or twisting her broken neck around). Not to mention some great, sometimes geeky dialogue ("Where did you learn all this?" "X-men No. 143 when Kitty Pryde time travels!").

The actors are pretty much all good -- Larter gives a great double performance, Zachary Quinto is a wonderfully twisted villain, and Panettiere gives a good performance as a teen whose adolescence has a lot more than hormones in store. Masi Oka is the standout, though -- his Hiro is sweet, endearing, geeky, heroic, sad, kindly, funny and thoroughly lovable. The scene where he arrives in New York is adorable.

The "Heroes" are only starting their journey, and the first season of this geeky hit is a must-see for fans of intelligent sci-fi drama. And I doubt their journey is over...

I cannot emphasize enough that this is a stellar example of the power of character driven TV that follows a continuous plotline. If you're looking for something that you can tune into and out of then this isn't the show for you. If, however, you're looking for TV that is engaging, intriguing, and innovative then this is the show for you.

My preferred activity is normally reading and I don't watch much TV because, frankly, I find most TV subpar. Imagine my delight when I tuned into this show mostly out of curiosity and ended the season a diehard fan. I never missed an episode and looked forward to each new one with great anticipation. I give most of the credit for this to where I feel the credit is due: the writing. The writers for this show did a masterful job of creating an involving story arc and in giving the viewer just enough information to keep him or her coming back for more. Answers to various questions were carefully dolled out over the course of the season so that the viewer never feels frustrated by too little story dragged out over too much time. The pacing of this season was, in a word, perfect.

The other reason to devour this show is the characters and, in particular, the endearing and wonderful Hiro. My favorite of the characters, Hiro exemplifies that childlike joy that some people possess when they discover they are particularly talented at something. He provides comic relief without being too silly and his earnestness make him very lovable. His faithful friend and sidekick Ando is certainly not to be overlooked either and these two make for a truly dynamic duo. As far as complexity goes, my vote goes to Claire who starts out struggling with typical teenager desires and grows and develops over the course of the season until she is easily the most sympathetic character.

Excellent writing and excellent characters would mean little without the acting to back them up, though, and this show has that in abundance. All of the actors imbue their characters with life and believability so that even though the bulk of them are possessed of superhuman powers they still seem like the kind of people who could be your nextdoor neighbors.

I simply can't say enough good things about this show. I encourage everyone who enjoys really engaging, story and character driven, and thought-provoking television to watch this show.

Looks like somebody took the whole superhero craze we have been getting over the past few years and came up with a truly innovative and compelling television series. Heroes isn't your standard comic book fan's television show. This is some serious writing with drama, depth and yeah... some fun and action as well.

What makes this show so great is the large cast of characters who all seem to have significance in the story. Even better is that all of these characters come from different backgrounds and approach life in different ways, but at the same time there is something special about them. Everybody has that fantasy of being special and this show has at least one character in it you can identify with.

The writing is almost pitch perfect with every episode giving you something to get excited about. The show is done in serial format so what happens in one episode resonates throughout the series, and Heroes takes it to a grand level. Sometimes you get a great cliffhanger styled ending and sometimes you just a cool revelation. Either way each ep is sure to please. That's especially for the last episode of the season, which answers a lot of questions, keeps the lesser questions still hanging, asks even more questions, and ties up the major loose ends nicely. So nicely that even if the show never made to the second season you would have a well-rounded story from beginning to end.

Now for the DVD. If you are going to do it this is the way to go! This DVD is packed. Here's what you get:

- An extended version of the pilot episode. 73 minutes long according to my sources. That's an extra 30 minutes AND includes footage of a never before seen character! Well... people saw it at the San Diego ComicCon last year, but that's besides the point.

- 50 (that's right... 50!!!) deleted and extended scenes.

- Making of Heroes featurette as well as specials on the stunts, special effects, and music score.

- Special profile of Tim Sale: the artist who does Isacc Mendez' paintings.

- A mind reading mini-game (don't ask me... that's what I heard).

This is going to be a killer DVD set. I also heard Heroes season 1 will come out on HD DVD. The buzz is they will include special features exclusive to the HD version in addition to all of the features already on the DVD. So if you have an HD-DVD player you will probably want to forego the regular release and get the HD version.

Anyway if you like the show you will love the DVD (or HD DVD if that's your thing). Doesn't matter if you're a comic book fan, sci-fi/fantasy fan, or whatever. If you like good stories in the serial format this show is it.