Alden Bates' Weblog

As I was watching Heroes tonight (specifically the episode "Out of Time", which just screened here in New Zealand) I had a sudden sense of deja vu... Because this post refers to a series which is still being shown, I'm going to put the rest of this post behind a link to try to avoid spoiling anyone.

At the start of Season 2 of Heroes, time-travelling Hiro finds himself in 17th century Japan. Here he encounters his childhood hero, Samurai Takezo Kensei, who turns out to have the power to heal his wounds. At the end of the episode "Out of Time", it's revealed that Takezo is still alive in the present time, presumably having lived through the intervening centuries.

In Doctor Who Magazine, issue 278 (published back in 1999), the comic strip "The Road to Hell" features the Doctor and his companion going back in time to 10th century Japan and encountering the Samurai Katsura Sato. During the course of the story, Katsura is does with nano-drones which automatically repair any damage to his body.

Ten issues later, the Doctor and his companions are in the far future, and who should pop up but our immortal Samurai friend, Katsura Sato, having lived through the intervening centuries:

So, now I'm wondering if the writer, ex-Kiwi Scott Gray, is watching Heroes and having a similar bout of deja vu... :)