Heroes Plot Not Planned
Heroes is one of the biggest hits of the season, and while that might not be surprising for some of you, it seems the writers are a little shocked as they had no idea how it was all going to progress.
The lead writer, Tim Kring, is quoted from an article as saying that he “…has a general idea of where he’s going…but he and his writing staff relish the seat-of-the-pants ride.” He also has said that, ”the idea is to have so many twists and turns and cliff-hangers that it generates more story.”
Kring was also asked if any of the characters were in line to be killed off. He admitted “…that the show’s sudden success makes it hard for him to figure out whom to put on his hit list…’My plan was simply to kill the ones that weren’t working. And now I don’t know which ones to kill off! That’s how well things are working right now.”
Odd that unlike many other popular shows, that the whole idea and main story arcs were not planned out in advanced, but I so far it seems to be working for them as they continue to be this years new hit series.
Some are worried though that the lack of pre-planning will lead to a reduction in quality, but I think it will allow the writers to evolve the storyline more freely. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens, but the fact that it has not been planned out doesn’t change how great it has been so far.
ltclarke said,
Wrote on November 18, 2006 @ 10:07 pm
I’m a little surprised. Given that even in comic books they often have a year setup before they are written/drawn.
I’m only worried that the hints of things to come will be too vague, and so you don’t get that nice feeling of figuring out a puzzle before the end.
Prime said,
Wrote on November 20, 2006 @ 11:25 am
I agree that Heroes has been great so far, but the failure to plan ahead could turn out to be a critical flaw. Let’s look at what is happening to Lost right now. It starts out as a fantastic series with a great deal of mystery, but now in its third season, we’re starting to lose faith that the writers are going anywhere. The only thing that makes a mystery good is the idea that the author has some clever solution in mind! Otherwise they’re just screwing with the audience. I can give you baffling puzzles and clever clues all day long, but if they’re not *self-consistent* then it’s not a mystery, it’s just chain-yanking.
The need for forethought and self-consistency becomes paramount when you have a time-travelling character. It’s all too easy to write yourself into a logical corner and then say, “It’s ok, we’ll just have Hiro mix it up a bit.” That’s a total cheat that robs the show of suspense. We might as well have the little kid wake up with his bi-polar mother stroking his hair saying, “It’s alright; it was all a dream.” Then he can go hug his dog toto and we can watch normal people do completely boring things for the rest of the series.
I hope the writers have enjoyed their success and started planning carefully for the journey ahead. In good TV, like in life, there’s no turning back.