Just like the eclipse loomed over our favorite Heroes characters, the holiday season doesn't have to cast a dark shadow on gift givers...It's that time of year again, the holiday season 2008 is upon us already! With not many shopping days left until Christmas day, it may seem like a dark eclipse is hovering overhead as you feel powerless to find the best gifts to give. To help you out, consider the following options for gifts to give Heroes fans who are friends, family or coworkers! Included are DVD's, Toys, Comics and Tees!

2008 Heroes Holiday Gift ideas:

1) Amazon.com Exclusive: Heroes Franchise Collection (Season 1 | Season 2)

Give a fan the ultimate gift with a complete box set of Seasons 1 and 2. Let them relive the excitement of Season 1: Genesis where the mottos "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" and "Are you on the list?" were prevalent. In the premiere season, the Heroes were discovering their powers, themselves and that others like them existed. Includes some great episodes, including several showdowns between Peter & Sylar.

Season 2, entitled Generations, while shorter in episodes, featured the Heroes discovering their kin and relatives. Hiro Nakamura travels back in time to meet Takezo Kenzei, then must race back to present day to fight a new nemesis. Meanwhile, Matt Parkman, Mohinder Suresh and Molly Walker try to battle an unseen villian like no other. Meet new characters such as Bob, Elle, Maya and Alejandro, each with their own special abilities.

The DVD's also feature special extras include creator Tim Kring on the 73-minute uncut pilot of Season 1, deleted scenes, and coverage of special effects/stunt work from the show. A must have for any Heroes afficionado!

Get Heroes Franchise Collection here!

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2) 9th Wonder Comic Books & Covers - These wonderfully illustrated comic books are perfect for fans, complete with some great artwork and storylines. Some of the prop issues run on the expensive side (as much as $300 for early or rare issues), but your favorite Heroes fan is worth it right? The covers and props feature comics seen on the show, including Hiro standing in Times Square exclaiming "I did it!" and the issue we saw with Monica Dawson's heroine on the front.

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3) Limited Edition Kensei Mask & DVD Gift Set

Let your devoted NBC Heroes friend or family member live out their wildest sci-fi fantasies as Takezo Kenzei (just make sure they don't believe they're indestructible like Kenzei). Let them don the legendary mask and take an imaginary journey back in time just as Hiro did in Season 2. The Kensei mask/helmet is constructed of tin (helmet) and plastic (mask) and measures approximately 3 inches in height and 2 inches wide, perfect size for display on the office desk and sure to be a conversation piece. Also included is a special 4 disc set of DVDs containing all episodes from Heroes Season 2, plus additional bonus features. You have to see it to believe it! (Note: Takezo not included, picture shown is from the show, not the actual mask!)

Get the Limited Edition Kensei Mask & DVD Gift Set here!

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4) Various Heroes Tee Shirts - There's several great looking tees featuring the characters, symbols and associated places from the show. There's a tee shirt featuring the helix symbol we've all come to recognize, a Hiro Samurai shirt on black, and several nicely done shirts featuring all the characters from the show. There's even a shirt representing Primatech paper company logo for all those aspiring agents who want to be like HRG!

Get Heroes Tee Shirts here!

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5)Heroes action figures or Heroes trading cards - It seems more Heroes memorabilia becomes available by the season. These action figures will not only be great gifts to display for any Heroes fan, but hold the potential for future value in the toy market. The same goes for trading cards which in the past have been known to be worth a buck or two. Give your friend or family member their favorite Heroes action figure and stick a few packs of the Topps trading cards in their stocking to make it a happy holiday!

And of course, you could always play the role of Arthur Petrelli or Gabriel Gray and take these gifts for yourself, absorbing all their power! Happy holidays 2008 from Heroes TV Show Blog - Heroes Among Us!!

Today is the day to get yourself a copy of Heroes Season 2 DVD at Amazon.com! Last season was cut short due to a writer's strike, but still featured the great heroes and stories that NBC Heroes fans have come to love!

Season 2 featured familiar Heroes and fan favorites such as Peter Petrelli, Claire Bennet, Matt Parkman, Mohinder Suresh and ultimate villain, Sylar. Also Season 2 introduced us to new characters such as Maya & Alejandro, Elle, West and Monica.

Plot synopsis from Amazon.com:

Rejoin the epic and suspenseful phenomenon as Heroes: Season 2 arrives on DVD. Experience all the new and exciting twists of the astonishing series in this 4-disc set that includes every gripping Season 2 episode. Plus, see what could have been with exclusive bonus features that reveal the untold stories that never aired and an alternate ending to the season finale, where the fate of humanity takes an ominous turn when Peter fails to catch the vial containing the deadly virus.

The four disc DVD set features all of the episodes from Season 2 with a total run time of 484 minutes. Presented in both English and Japanese, it also features AC-3, Dolby Digital, Widescreen format and Subtitles.

And if you're a Heroes fanatic, you'll want this set just for the extras, including commentary tracks, featurettes and a preview of what's to come in Season 3 (starting 9.22.08) of the NBC Heroes series!

Pick up your copy of the Heroes Season 2 Standard DVD or Heroes: Season 2 [Blu-ray] today!

While we anxiously await the next installment of Heroes (Season 3 - Villains), we can still celebrate the show we love. And if you have any family or friends on your holiday shopping list who enjoy the Heroes TV show, here's 5 gifts you may want to give them this holiday season:

5) 2008 Heroes Calendar - A great way for a fan to countdown the days until Season 3. This full year 2008 wall calendar features a monthly shot from the Heroes show and is 12x12 in size.

4) Heroes Poster - This poster is great for a bedroom or dorm room and features the characters from Heroes across the bottom (Nathan, Matt, Hiro, Claire, Peter, Niki & Suresh). It's a reproduction 11 x 17 from Season 1 (2006) with black background, the eclipse and a bit of the city.

3) Saving the World Guide to Heroes - Written by authors Lynnette Porter, David Lavery, and Hillary Robson this book analyzes the Heroes show, its origins, its fans and how it connects with many other popular TV series. A 250 page insightful look into Season 1 of Heroes and how its become such a popular comic-book like series for many fans.

2) Heroes Graphic Novel - 240 page hardcover which presents the graphic Heroes comics from the NBC Heroes site. It features all 34 chapters from Season 1 online. Also features original artwork from the show by Tim Sales, a cover by comic legend Alex Ross and an introduction by Masi Oka (Hiro).

1) Heroes Season 1 DVD - A great way to relive the best Heroes season so far which featured 22 great episodes. Let the Heroes fan on your list experience the action, drama and surprise-filled season. The DVD also features great extras such as: web extras, a background story on DL Hawkins, about 50 deleted scenes, making-of featurettes and a look at the special effects of the show. The DVD comes in the standard format, or the 2 high-end versions below.

Heroes Season 1 HD DVD - Opt for this if you go the Hi-Def way. It's got the same features as the regular DVD, minus the "web connectivity" extras.

Heroes Special Edition DVD w/4 paintings - If you want to go the extra mile and spend almost 90 bucks, this is the DVD to get. It's got exclusive packaging, an extra 45 minutes of conversation with the cast at Museum of Television and Radio, and 4 miniature paintings (featured on the Heroes show). It's rare and hard to find, and the ultimate gift for any Heroes fan.

For more Heroes memorabilia and gift ideas, Click Here for NBC Universal Store.

Special thanks to Nick, a social media friend of mine at Gather.com who recently decided to get the brand new Heroes - Season One DVD. Nick didn't watch the show on NBC last season, but was introduced to it from the Netflix DVD rental service. I think it's great to hear about new fans of the show and their reactions/thoughts about it. Without further ado, I will hand this post off to Nick for his discussion of the Heroes DVD...

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Heroes Season 1 DVD

So, my wife and I started Netflix about a week and a half ago, and one of the things we wanted to see was Heroes once it was released on DVD. It was one of those shows that didn't do much to spark our interest with its advertisements when it was on, and really - I don't go out of my way to watch many shows. House is really about it.

But, we had been reading good things about Heroes for awhile, liked a couple of the people in it and well - I am and have long been a 'superhero' or comic book kind of guy. So, we decided to load up on Heroes, and in the span of the week got through all 7 discs, having finished the last 9 episodes tonight (it was a REALLY busy Saturday around here, as you can tell).

I really enjoyed the first season and am now looking forward to season 2 starting on Monday. The basic premise of people coming 'into their own' with super powers is hardly new stuff, but it was pretty entertaining in how it was handled I thought. Most of the characters were pretty interesitng, and a lot of them did not end up at all how they were expected to based on their early season endeavors.

It felt like a bit of a tease with the showdown with Pete and Sylar there at the end, because of their prior near-square offs as well, but something to look forward to next season I suppose. The DVD's also had quite a bit of commentary, some features and some deleted scenes - a far cry from a lot of 'season' DVD's with little to no content.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable DVD set, and I'm now stuck looking forward to weekly installments (that part's going to get annoying after being used to commercial free 8 episode spats). Any other big Heroes fans out there? :)

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About the Heroes DVD Special Features

I haven't done all of the special features yet but most - but, mostly we were just watching the main episodes and the deleted scenes, but here are the features and a quick rundown of them. I do recall that on disc 1 there was the 'unedited, unaired pilot' that was roughly 70 minutes.

The DVD video transfer was pretty good. I imagine the HD one will come across better, but I've seen a lot of TV shows brought over to DVD and the color and contrast was pretty good while not showing much artifacting or grain when in dark scenes.

The audio was pretty good, including a few instances of good surround sound flourish. There was closed captioning for the hearing impaired (we use it a lot ourselves because our kids can get so freaking noisey).

There were quite a few deleted scenes (I think I might have read somewhere that there were 50 of them), and while they weren't needed to advance the story, they were interesting. The first disc had some scenes that seemed to contradict the story they 'went with' very slightly in reference to DL.

- "The Making of Heroes" is just a 10 minute feature. Pretty typical fare and it was not my favorite aspect of the bonus features.

- "The Special Effects" and "The Stunts" are exactly what they imply - just a look at some of the effects and stunts found in the show.

- "The Profile of Artist Tim Sale" This is an interesting bit about the colorblind artist who painted all of Isaac's paintings of the future.

- "The Score" is just a quick featurette about the program's musical score.

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Thanks again to Nick for providing these reviews! It's good to see new fans jumping on board because this is by far the best show on network TV since who knows what! (Lost or 24?) The Heroes - Season One DVD and Heroes - Season 1 [HD DVD] are available at Amazon among other retailers.

Also, feel free to join Gather, where Nick shares his thoughts on TV, football, and video games amongst many other topics. You can sign up for a free Gather account, and receive rewards such as Borders gift cards or money!

Season 2 is right around the corner, on Monday, September 24th at 9PM EST!

Heroes - Season One officially hits DVD today. Relive the magic, the drama, suspense and adventure of the hit NBC series which stars Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka, Ali Larter, Adrian Pasdar, and Milo Ventimiglia.

Additional Specs:

Format: Anamorphic, Box set, Color, Digital Sound, NTSC
Language: English, Spanish
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 7
Rating UNRATED
Studio: Universal
DVD Release Date: August 28, 2007
Run Time: 1035 minutes

The box set also includes deleted scenes, behind the scenes goodies and the original uncut premiere episode.

There is also the Heroes - Season 1 [HD DVD] if you prefer the high-end format.

The 7 disc set is available in stores or you can buy Heroes - Season One at Amazon.

Most of the cast of Heroes will be touring in various cities around the world (Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris) to promote Season 1 of Heroes and the DVD release. The 1st season has yet to premiere on network TV in several cities around the world (despite the fact people in these cities were able to watch pirated episodes online). The tour will be sponsored by Nissan. Amongst those touring: Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman), Santiago Cabrera (Isaac), Jack Coleman (Horn-Rimmed Glasses/Noah), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah, what a lucky kid!), Ali Larter (Niki/Jessica), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Masi Oka (Hiro), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), and Milo Ventimiglia (Peter). Not every member will go to every tour city either. The DVD box set for Heroes Season 1 is set to be released on August 28th and includes 50 deleted scenes as well as the original uncut 73 minute first episode of Heroes.

(**NOTE: Spoilers here, don't read further if you don't want them :)

Some tidbits about season 2 dropped by TVSquad.com:

- According to Greg Grunberg, he begins filming today. After realizing that he'd sort of let the cat out of the bag, he said "Well, I could be on a hospital bed ... or in a coffin." Hayden joked that the entire cast would be standing around, lowering him into the ground. So, it's a pretty safe bet that he'll survive those four bullets to the chest.

- Sylar is back as well, although c'mon ... did you doubt he would be?

- The end of season one, with Hiro in Japan wasn't really the ending ... it was a teaser of the first scene from the first episode of season two. Hiro will be in feudal Japan for "a handful of episodes," according to Kring

- Tim Kring envisions season two as consisting of three big story arcs.
Heroes: Origins is an "anthology show," which we knew. But it's not a midseason show; it will air after the season two finale, and not during sweeps. They have not yet begun writing or filming it.

- Adrian Pasdar was sporting a full beard, and Milo Ventimiglia had an extremely short haircut. When asked if they'd be in next season, Adrian said "I played ... er ... play Nathan Petrelli." So, hrm ... very clever. Still leaves us wondering

Pre-Order Heroes on DVD!

Heroes - Season 1 DVD is currently available for order from Amazon.com. Use the link above to pre-order your copy now! A smash hit show full of great drama, action, sci-fi horror and mystery. If you're a fan of the show "Heroes", this DVD is a must have! The DVD will be released on August 28, 2007. Pick up your copy here: Heroes - Season 1

Actors: Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka, Ali Larter, Adrian Pasdar, Milo Ventimiglia
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 7
Rating UNRATED
Studio: Universal
DVD Release Date: August 28, 2007