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Superheros done the British way.

It was only a matter of time before someone come up with a solid idea on spoofing the superhero genre.  Of course, only the cocky swagger and self effacing humor of the British could make it not only funny but highly enjoyable.  Fans of the Mystery Men will no doubt be familiar with the concept of less than A list superheroes hanging out together and being constantly taunted by the better heroes. No Heroics is a simple concept that doesn’t require much in the way special effects and allows the series to get by on comic timing and line delivery.

No Heroics is the rule of the superhero pub The Fortress.  All the heroes hang out, drink and rub each other’s noses in who gets television coverage.  The heroes are made up of Excelsor (Patrick Baladi), the suave hero that all the women want and men want to be; The Hotness (Nicholas Burns), a somewhat ineffective hero that usually ends up doing more damage than good; Electroclash (Claire Keelan), her voice can control any machine; Timebomb (James Lance), he can see 60 seconds into the future; and She-Force (Rebeka Staton), a super-powerful heavy set woman. 

The plot itself is typical self-effacing British fare where the characters are losers that constantly screw themselves over.  In the pilot episode, The Hotness has a date with a superhero groupie who has a tattoo on her leg of Excelsor.  Timebomb has gone into early retirement and spends his days drinking and masturbating.  Electroclash spends her time trying to scam smokes and intervenes in a quick mart robbery.  She-Force is just looking for someone to date, and Excelsor hangs out at the bar with his mates and taunts everyone he feels superior to.

While, it’s not great, there are enough humor bits strung together to make it an enjoyable half hour comedy.  Since costumes and super powers are not allowed in the bar, you don’t have worry about cheap special effects.  Outside of The Hotness lighting a cigarette and a vocoder on Electroclash, there are no big special effects shots.  This is probably for the better as from the looks of the budget, this is being doing on the cheap. 

Story wise, this is a basic sit-com with super heroes as a gimmick to get the nerds to watch.  This could be any bunch of losers at a bar hanging out drinking.  You could easily see a bunch of cops or writers hanging out and the successful ones taunt the wannabes.  There is no real over all story but several short plot lines that are set up at the beginning of the episode and reconnect at the end with all the characters back at the bar.  I imaging most episodes will begin and end this way.  As long as the writing stays solid, it shouldn’t be a problem but could become a bit tedious over time.

It should be interesting to see how things play out of the next few weeks.  No Heroics has potential to be a very successful series.  The casting is solid and the actors fit the television clichés they are meant to personify.  Overall, it’s an entertaining start that isn’t incredibly memorable but should have high replay value. 

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