With a weekend relatively free, perhaps I can wrap up commenting on the Heroes comment tracks. We shall see. In any case, I'm back at it. In an earlier post today, I've identified the speakers on the two episodes, but I must say that, even with the information, it's not always a slam dunk to identify who's saying what.

I think most of the remarks on the 17th installment ("Company Man") come from the director. At least, there's an extensive discussion of influences in how the script was shot: a discussion that could have been led by the episode writer but that tends to focus perhaps more visually. Really, folks, such occasional remarks as, "As the director, I found it helpful to recall The Desperate Hours," or, "As the writer, I took Cape Fear as a guide," would have been a big help. Other influences in the filming: Out of the Past and Dog Day Afternoon.

One scene that was dropped from the final filming was a sequence in which HRG rescued baby Claire from the burning building in which her mom had been assumed to have died. The information that he was the one who had saved Claire would have been a nice addition to the story.

Comments included that by this point special effects were being put together at a nightmare pace and that the burning house sequences had been carefully set up, repeatedly rehearsed for blocking, and painstakingly (literally) produced. (Matthew Armstrong as Ted Sprague did his own stunt work in the scene, and Jack Coleman remarks, "I'm here to tell you it was warm in there.")

With the 18th episode ("Parasite"), an amusing aspect of these commentaries is that the commentators play coy for a time about the identity of the performer playing Linderman -- whereas, as a viewer when the show aired, I'd figured it out as soon as the opening credits were shown. And people shouldn't be watching the commentary until they've seen the episode without it, anyway. Hee.

Commentary on "Parasite" ended up a bit more focused on the technical details of writing, casting, directing, and special effects -- including the comment that "Company Man" had wrapped up only shortly before it was broadcast. Appreciative remarks include that Jessica has much better posture than Niki and that, even if the camera isn't on her, Hayden Panettiere will cry, if the scene calls for her to be weeping. Influences on the final edit of the episode: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Constant Gardener.

An estimate of the number of people who work on each episode of the show: 250.