Switch that body: The Heroes Edition

[selenak]

This is actually something cadesama, wee_warrior and self discussed a few months back, without getting to a definite conclusion, but it seemed a fit subject for April 1st, so I put the question to your attention, oh flist.

It's an unwritten law that every fantasy or sci fi show sooner or later does a body switch episode. These can be hilariously funny (Farscape), used for character exploration (Buffy) and/or give your star a time out for a while as well as providing much angst (Xena). Therefore, clearly Heroes will at some point do a body switch episode. Now, who should switch with whom? Given that we have an ensemble to deal with, I propose the Farscape model would be most useful (meaning: there is no direct switch involved - character A ends up in the body of character B, but character B meanwhile is in C's body, while C is in A's, and so forth). Though even if we're dealing with just a single one-to-one switch (i.e. A in B's, B in A's), the question remains: who should end up in whose body?

Also: as cadesama wisely said at the time, the bodies should keep their powers, i.e. if A has the power of weather manipulation, A will not have this power while in the body of B or C, but will have B or C's powers, if any. Agreed? Then, fellow watchers, let's vote!


[Poll #1164194]

Comments

Re: How did I miss this?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

We already know Peter is a girl anyway.*g* And I figured you'd go for the subtext.

Sylar/Peter: not me. Not just because of general Sylar Die Die Die feeling, but because I don't see much narrative point - Sylar already knows what it is to have many superpowers, and aquiring them without killing people would not make him less of a killer. And Peter also already knows what it means to have multiple powers, and I doubt Sylar's physique offers much news or interest. (As opposed to fanfic, I have yet to see Peter express anything but loathing for Sylar on the show, and even his loathing is on the general principle of the crazy murderer thing, not containing a personal element, always excepting 5YG where it's All About Nathan and hence very personal indeed.) So - Sylar switching only if he ends up in someone without powers, let alone that many powers including invulnerability.

Re: How did I miss this?

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

The more subtext, the better, IMO. *G* But I dare not hope for too much on the show.

I actually hadn't thought that much about the powers aspect of body-switching, which, in retrospect was kind of missing the obvious! :D I know that Sylar is not exactly one of your favorite characters (neither is he mine) but he does interest me. One reason why I did want to see the body switch between him and Peter is that I'd be kind of interested to see how Sylar would react to being so surrounded by loving, supporting friends and family--and to being treated as Peter is generally treated. And I have a secret wish to see Milo play evil, and this would be a way to do it without Peter going dark (which is kind of one of my biggest fears for the show). But of course, YMMV and all that.

Re: How did I miss this?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Milo playing evil can be achieved far more interestingly by letting Peter switch with Adam.

how Sylar would react to being so surrounded by loving, supporting friends and family--and to being treated as Peter is generally treated.

Err, the quondam Gabriel Gray is not Faith. He had a mother who was, if anything, too adoring and supporting, between her tuna sandwiches and belief he'd make President. We have no reason to believe his father was harsh to him. When playing Zane, he certainly was treated like a friend by Mohinder. And Maya treated him like a friend from day 1 and fangirled him very soon. Plus lets not even mention that when he took Nathan's place in the 5YGverse, there were Heidi and the kids. So I don't see how a loving family is going to make one bit of difference to Sylar.

Re: How did I miss this?

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

Milo playing evil can be achieved far more interestingly by letting Peter switch with Adam.

I think my head just spun around and exploded. This is why you write fic and I don't. XD The problem now is that if they don't do this on the show I will be bitter and complain. A lot.

The Peter-Adam connection reminds me that one conversation they *must* have on the show is Peter telling Claire that they are now (most likely) immortal. I am not letting this one go--it's kind of become my "must have" for Volume 3.

Oh yes, one more thing...

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

One more thing I forgot to add:

I'm actually really glad that you pointed all this out about Sylar, because a while ago I had an online discussion with someone who said that, in their opinion, the only real difference between Peter and Sylar was that Peter had met the right people and Sylar hadn't, and had the positions been reversed Sylar would have been the hopeful emo-kid and Peter would have been the serial killer. Now, I disagreed with this vehemently, but didn't feel confident enough to say so in case my ingrained character-bias was clouding my judgement. Now I feel vindicated in retrospect. :D

Re: Oh yes, one more thing...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Glad to help.*g*

And you know, while I could believe scenarios where Peter ends up as a killer due to being raised differently - say, for example, the AU Sparky77 wrote where he grew up as Linderman's son and became an assassin for Dad - the circumstances in which Gabriel Gray lived definitely wouldn't have been one. If Peter had been raised as Virginia Gray's adored only son instead of Angela Petrelli's beloved but not taken seriously second son, he probably would have made an okay watchmaker (not his natural talent, watchmaking, but he'd have tried to make Mom and Dad happy), and upon meeting Chandra would have been delighted to hear about the superpowers thing, absolutely. He also would have been furious once Chandra said "well, maybe not". But no way would he have then started a career in serial killing.

And if Gabriel Gray had been swapped at bith and grown up as the second Petrelli brother? He would have been so madly jealous of Nathan that he would have arranged for Nathan to meet an untimely demise. Angela would have figured this out either in time to save Nathan's life or after, and would have made locked her kid up in a comfortable but absolutely safe padded cell. SHe might have had him lobotimized, too.

Re: Oh yes, one more thing...

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

he probably would have made an okay watchmaker (not his natural talent, watchmaking, but he'd have tried to make Mom and Dad happy)

That just made me aww. And yeah, "not his natural talent" is putting it mildly...*g*

And word on the way Sylar would have reacted to being Nathan's little brother. :D