I sort of look at Heroes that way I see The Matrix trilogy.  The first Matrix is a brilliant piece of science fiction film making, worthy of anyone’s Top 10 list.  The two sequels…er… not so much.  Sometimes a great idea only has so many miles it can run.  Friends had like 10, Doctor Who seems to be wearing some sort of alien super sneaker.  You get the point.  Heroes is no Doctor Who.  In its first season, sci-fi fans and newbies alike loved the intrigue and action surrounding the evolution of super powered mutants on Earth.  It had a great beginning, a great middle, and a great end.  It was the perfect book and if we’d never seen another frame of Peter Petrelli, we would’ve been fine.

First off, the originals are better.  I’m talking comic books.  While season one was mildly derivative, it was executed with style and flare, making it an enjoyable offshoot of the comic book universe.  But since we left Kirby Plaza with the world saved, I feel like I’ve been watching an unauthorized X-Men TV show.  The Shanti Virus?  Not only have I seen it, even non comic books heroes like say, Dustin Hoffman in Outbreak, have battled the spectre of a nefarious virus.  Season three was split into the “Villains” and “Fugitives” chapters which must have looked really good on a white board in the writer’s room, but was boring and required so many nonsensical plot devices, I often found time to watch paint dry during the show.  Not to mention, the whole “round up the mutants” thing is so close to the X-Men world, I’m surprised lawsuits weren’t filed.

Second, Zachary Quinto has something better to do.

 If we’ve learned one thing from Heroes it’s that Quinto is way better an actor than the crappy flip flop “is he or isn’t he” bad guy he’s given on the show.  Now that he is the iconic Mr. Spock, it just becomes too hard to see him as pure evil on a second rate TV show.  Let’s free this guy up to pursue more interesting roles and of course, more Trek.  Unfortunate side effect; it also frees up some other Heroes thespians to pursue new gigs.  I’m not saying some of them *cough* Hayden *cough* are bad *cough* she totally sucks *cough*, but maybe they just need the right role *cough* scooping french fries.

Third, time travel.  At this point, Hiro has moved around so much with so many cutesy little excuses about what effects do and do not occur because of his temporal meddling, the Heroes universe is out of credibility.  Time travel is very tricky, and you can get away with it once or twice, but the show uses it so often that all story lines lose their impact when we know it can be changed anyway.

Finally, Heroes just isn’t interesting.  The story needs to serve the characters, the characters do not need to serve the story and when you start using them as nothing more than fodder for half ass plot devices, you lose viewer interest real quick.  I’ve got nothing invested in the outcome and the episodes they’re giving me are leading to some distant resolution that never arrives.  I don’t want to yawn during a television show.

The problem with ushering in its demise is Heroes performs very well overseas.  So good as to possibly justify squeezing the franchise to death a little more to cash in on the strength of the Euro.  Not to mention, given the turmoil at NBC this season, if some of their emergency pilots fail to impress, they might need Heroes to stick around for filler.  Start up costs are long gone and even with critical damnation and dwindling ratings, the economics of keeping the show could balance out for say… Heroes: The Final Chapter!  Not quite Lost finale hype, but good enough for a half season of time slot baby sitting.

For me, the show’s been over for quite some time now.  And this is coming from a science fiction nerd so stubborn, he even sat through the horrific Rodney-centric episodes of Stargate Atlantis.  You know, that one with the whale?  Yuck.  But Heroes lost me so completely and so fast, that it is time to let it go.  I’m not alone either, rating have been in the dumps too, yet another reason to not further tarnish the success of season 1 and move on.  So long Heroes, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here!