No Heroics – Thoughts

I watched the 6 episode British TV sitcom No Heroics today. It aired in 2008, I only know about it because there was a pilot for an American remake in 2009, thankfully it was not picked up for a series because an American remake would totally mess it up.

I’m still interested in seeing the American pilot sometime, as Freddie Prinze Jr. was playing the jerk superhero character, and Paul Campbell (Billy from BSG) was the lead character.

I was also interested in watching the original show as the creator, Drew Pearce, was just hired by Marvel to write a script of The Runaways.

But back to the original British show, I want more!! I wish it lasted beyond it’s original 6 episode run. The premise is simple, “The world is the same, with one difference, there are superheroes.”

Most of the action takes place in a bar, The Fortress, with some rules, no powers, no costumes, no sidekicks. This keeps the main characters out of costume most of the time. But occasionally, as we see them out of the bar, or in flashback describing their day, they are in costume.

What I liked:

The four main characters are hilarious.
There’s a lot of foul language, even for a British TV series
The “main” character, The Hotness, is very sympathetic and funny
Electroclash is totally hot
The Sayid rip-off character, Timebomb, is one of the most interesting and scary characters ever on TV
Electroclash is totally hot
It’s great to see a “full figured” woman (She-Force) as one of the superheroes, and the most powerful
Did I mention that Electroclash is totally hot?

The supporting characters, are all equally funny, even the goofy villains
The special effects are surprisingly good, especially by 1970s Dr. Who standards

I hope it comes out on DVD in the US soon.