Once again "Heroes" writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite are back with answers (and more questions) regarding the hit TV series everyone is talking about. The CBR News team of Chris Ullrich, George Tramountanas, Justin Eger and Jonah Weiland worked up this week's batch of questions which deal with events that transpired prior to the Monday, November 6th episode of "Heroes." Plus, some readers dropped by with questions of their own. Let's get right to it.

"Heroes" can be seen Monday's at 9:00 PM on NBC.

Previous Q&As:

October 30th, 2006

October 23rd, 2006

Hey guys, some readers checked in this week with question and we figured we'd start out with those. Todd Morris wrote, "In episode 2 and episode 3, we get a good view of the back of Papa Suresh's published book. In either episode, the picture of the author on the back of the book (flipped over during the episodes) changes. The actor, Erick Avari, is seen as the author in episode 2, while another actor is seen on the back of the book in episode 3. Is this intentional or a fluke of editing/production?"

Fluke. (or technically, the unfortunate result of feeding the hungry monster that is weekly television) Sometimes a few crumbs hit the ground. Forgive us. Suresh's father will be played by Erick Avari, and we're lucky to have him - or have we given too much away already?

Another reader had a simpler question. Casey Amarka asked, "When will we get to see more of Matt Parkman's story? We need more Matt Parkman!"

In chapters 7 and 8, Matt is back in a big way with a huge emotional bomb as well as digging his claws into our meta story.

Allright, now onto the questions from us CBR folk. So, can Claire feel pain? It looked like she did when she got burned by the hot muffin tray (speaking of hot muffins - how about that Claire? Allright, we'll behave.). What about when she was in the train fire? It didn't seem like she did when she woke up in the morgue, so maybe it's just a heat thing?

Claire feels pain, but not the way most of us do.

Interesting. OK, so let's talk about her Dad. Does Claire's father have powers or is he "normal" and that's why he uses his henchman to "clean people out?"

He certainly hasn't exhibited anything to date, unless you count that cool steely gaze.

Will we see any more new "Hero" characters or is this pretty much the "Heroes" team?

Good timing. Last night, Matt and Audrey meet one. In Week 8, we get to meet two new people. We don't want to spoil their abilities, but let's just say one is dreamy and the other is unforgettable.

Future Hiro looked to be wearing some sort of costume or uniform when he delivered his message to Peter. Yet, if we recall correctly, Tim Kring said there'd never be spandex on the show. So, was it an actual costume, or just what he picked out from the closet that day?

Take another look. It was just clothes. Well, and a sword. But you're right he certainly seems to be a long way from his cubicle, fashion wise.

One thing we noticed about the symbol that keeps popping up is that it looks like part of an RNA molecule. Now, we know you can't reveal all about the symbol (we're trying to be patient!), but are we on the right track?

Kind of.

We also saw the symbol on Niki. First, should we be checking to see if the mark is on both regular Niki and super-powered Niki? Secondly, can you tell us if this is a tattoo, brand of some sort or a birthmark?

First: Yes. You should.

Secondly: No. We can't.

Right now, there are many different story threads going: Claire's dad and the Haitian, the murder of Mohinder's father, Sylar, the impending explosion in New York, save the cheerleader, Nathan Petrelli's election, Niki's alter ego and her $2 million problem. Will we see that all of these things are connected by the end of the season? And if so, will there be resolution on most or all of these items?

We'll see a resolution to a lot of these stories as the season progresses, but certainly not all of them. And the beauty of resolutions on this show, they often bring with them one or two more problems.

Gotta love weekly television, don't ya?!?!

Niki's husband and Micah were looking at a bunch of comic books in the episode "Better Halves" - "Tales from Space," "D.J. Doom," "Cosmic Man." Just out of curiosity, who made these up and did the art? We know that "9th Wonders" is done by Isaac (in the show), so it plays a part in our characters lives. Should fans be looking for any kind of meaning in the other books that we caught a glimpse of?

This might be a case of looking for meaning where there is none. We have an incredible and creative art department. They've done a great job in creating a look and design for the show. But, those books are just books - nothing more. The "9thwonders" cover however, does carry a deeper meaning. Did anyone catch the cover?

Out of curiosity, what was the name of the first comic? It was never fully seen on screen.

We'll have to check the replay for an official ruling.

And speaking of "9th Wonders" - there are 7 Wonders of the World. Some argue that the Taj Mahal (in India, where Mohinder is from) is the 8th. Are super-powered beings supposed to be the 9th Wonder? Are we supposed to be looking deeper into the meaning of the comic book's title? Or are we looking for theories where none are to be found?

The name certainly means something - but in general we were just looking for an anthology title as cool as "Tales to Astonish" or "Amazing Fantasy". But the number 9 is pretty important in the grand scheme of things.

Number 9 is important. Check. Remember that people!

Allright, during "Better Halves," while there was some focus on Niki and DL, there also seemed to be a lot of time for the other "couple" of the show, Hiro and Ando. While Ando has been really just causing some trouble for Hiro, there was also a pretty strong moment when he talked about the do-over and convinced Hiro that he could still be a hero, and in turn sort of became one himself. Was Ando always planned to be this way, or did it naturally develop as the episodes progressed?

The coolest thing about television is the collaboration. While Tim (Our Fearless Leader) created these amazing characters, over the course of time, the actors contribute by way of their performances, bringing their own nuances. Just as Masi has really helped define who Hiro is, James (the actor) has done the same for Ando. And also - I'm not sure if it's accident or destiny, but many of the Hiro/Ando scenes were written by Adam Armis and Kay Foster, a ridiculously talented writing team who knows a thing or two about partnership.

At the end of the day, we got an amusing but true-to-friendship team that was on line with Martin and Lewis or C3PO and R2D2.

Jumping back a little further, are there plans to actually introduce Mr. Linderman in the flesh, or will he always be the power broker no one sees?

You'll have to ask Mr. Linderman.

Sneaky! Even further back: a few weeks ago the issue of Homecoming came up, and with what we've seen so far from Issac's paintings and the progression of Claire's storyline, this could be the culmination of a lot of things. Is Homecoming planned for the season finale, or for when?

According to TV Guide, Homecoming falls on episode 9.

Speaking of TV Guide, they also mentioned that one of the November episodes (sweeps week!) will be a flashback episode to when members of the cast started getting their powers. How far back are we talking? 6 months? a Year?

The former. And it's going to knock your socks off.

Just a comment on last week's discussion. You're right, DL is a badass. Now that he's been fully introduced, will he be someone we see all the time, or will he fade away and become just a side character again?

He will be very present. We'll be exploring his father/son dynamic with Micah and then of course his relationship with Niki will come to a head very soon.

Do The Haitian's powers stem from the same place as the rest of our heroes, or is he a wild card?

It's kind of complicated. The Haitian explained it to us in detail, but for some reason we're drawing a blank…

Of course you are! You big teases!

Something struck us during what was revealed to be Niki's butchering of the poker players: Hiro tried to use his powers, but failed. Was that due to the shock, or do Hiro's powers not work on the other people with abilities? After all, he didn't freeze Peter during the train ride, and we all just wrote it off to Hiro getting much better with his powers in the future, but what if they just don't work on those with abilities?

The best explanations of that, without giving too much away is that abilities are tied to emotion on some degree. That being said - the permutations of one character when they are interacting with another give us some interesting results.

Do you have a name/term yet for people on the show who possess a superpower? I assume they're not all "heroes." Various comic books have coined these people Metahumans, Mutants, Specials, and Ultras. How do you refer to your super-powered characters?

We've tried to stay a way from terms like that, mostly because we want to ground this all in the real world. (plus all the good names were taken)

This week, the TiVo cut off the end of the episode - about the last 30 seconds of the episode and the scenes from next week. Will "Heroes" continue to float into the 10:00 hour, or was this a one time thing? I guess us TiVo folk need to begin adding a minute onto the end of their recordings.

We're hoping it was a one-time thing, but just to be sure, I'd program in that 3 minute margin. Or better yet, TiVo that Sorkin show. Guy can write.

No doubt. A number of us around here are big "The West Wing" fans and we're keeping an eye on that "Studio 60" show as well.

Let's get to a question about the business of television. NBC Universal television group CEO Jeff Zucker recently told the Wall Street Journal that NBC will focus on lower-cost programming (i.e. reality TV shows) at 8 p.m. because advertiser interest isn't high enough to justify spending on scripted shows. Even though your show is at 9 p.m., do comments like this make you nervous?

Everthing makes us nervous. We're writers. But if watching Tim Kring fearlessly push this pilot across the goal-line and having this amazing experience of the first season has taught us anything, it's just to focus on telling stories that you would like to watch if you had an hour free in your week. If it's good enough, there will always be a place for it in people's living rooms.

Finally, give us a teaser for next Monday's episode, "Seven Minutes Until Midnight.

The password is Kanyakumari.

Wow. Google, here we come! Thanks, guys. See you next week.

Have a question you'd like to ask? Simply e-mail Jonah Weiland by Wednesday at Noon Pacific and we'll try to include it with next week's Q&A.

And don't forget to visit HeroesAuction.com which launched yesterday. From the Web site: "To support Greg Grunberg's Pediatric Epilepsy Project, the entire cast of 'Heroes' has drawn interpretations of their characters to help raise funds for the organization. The Pediatric Epilepsy Project was formed with a single, all-important mission: to raise funds, provide financial support and increase community awareness to help sustain the Division of Pediatric Neurology at UCLA."

Want to talk "Heroes" with other fans? Join the discussion right here on the CBR Forums!