Milo Ventimiglia plays Peter Petrelli in Heros and gave Clawsome the good lubrication

Heroes could so easily have been an embarrassment: a show about a bunch of people who realise they have powers, a conspiracy involving an evil corporation, time travel (usually the death knell for sci-fi narratives) and the mantra: “Save the cheerleader/save the world” – perhaps oft repeated enough now to topple the mighty, “Who killed Laura Palmer?” from Twin Peaks as ‘most overused pop culture reference ever’

And yet… it’s good.

And not ‘good for a superhero show’ but quality television good. This is due in no small part to the eclectic and talented cast and specifically Milo Ventimiglia (who plays the arguably most powerful hero, Peter Petrelli – a good guy who absorbs the powers of others).

Milo will be familiar to fans of the Gilmore Girls and as Rocky’s son in Rocky Balboa. However it’s Heroes that he seems genuinely excited about.

“It’s not about capes and costumes,” he told us. “It’s really about people who become extraordinary and have to deal with that in a real life context. The second we go away from that struggle I think we’ve lost the core of what the show is really about.”

“It is cool to play with super abilities.” Milo admits, smiling. “It’s cool to play with flight, rapid cell regeneration, bending space and time – all that – but if you can’t identify with the characters how fun is it? I mean, I’m a fan of the show and the second I see something I can’t connect with – I’m bothered, you know?”

We asked Milo about the script (which was sent to him on the set of Rocky Balboa) and the high potentiality for it to be, well, shit. The special effects could suck, it could be unintentionally funny, a goofy and embarrassing failure basically - was he worried?

“Sure, but I knew some of the people and the script was just amazingly good. I know everyone says that, but it really was.”

Superheroes need super villains - and Heroes has a belter of one in Sylar -  a serial killer who also takes the powers from other heroes – but at the expense of their bloody, violent deaths.

Played by Zachary Quinto (who played the younger Spock in the J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek redux), the character is genuinely chilling, although apparently not in real life.

“Nicest guy in the world,” Milo laughed. “In fact when I first saw him, and first met him I was ‘this is the face of evil?’ He’s sweet! He looks like he should be in Charlie Brown’s Christmas Special - but then the cameras start filming and he’s dark and evil. He’s really worked hard and  owned the role and become Sylar.”

Sylar is unusual in that we see his lengthy, and bloody, transformation into a powerful evil being… and beyond. Usually – in comic book realms – we have a bad guy falling into a vat of something and becoming a cartoony super villain but not here. Milo assures us this level of quality character crafting will continue.

“A lot of hands made this what it is. There’s no one person that you can single out and say, ‘that guy made this’. It’s collaborative from the directors on down. And people really care about making this good. It’s a great environment to be in.”

Having said all that, Milo is more than aware that an iconic character role can become an albatross around your neck. Clawsome wanted to know if he was attacked by rabid, angry Gilmore Girls fans who wanted none of this Heroes business.

“No, thankfully I think I’ve played enough varied roles that I won’t get pigeon holed. I’ve done movies, I’ve done TV – I’ve deliberately tried to go for as many varied roles as I can to avoid precisely that. My mom always told me I was a character actor and I took that very seriously. When I was younger I did tonnes of theatre but I was never the lead guy, or main ‘badass’. I was always the sidekick or the half-wit and I think that worked for me.”

The interview took a geeky turn as powers were talked about. We mentioned that really Peter Petrelli – who thought his brother Nathan was the big power in season 1 – really has the best powers. Although as Milo noted, “Peter would be nothing in a world where nobody has abilities. He kind of depends on that so… yeah. It’s a good power to have but only in the world of Heroes.”

So what can Peter do?

“Flight, can bend space and time, predict the future, shoot electricity from his hands, he has nuclear power, super strength, he can move through objects… a lot, really.”

But can Peter die?

“Sure, I think so. I mean it’s like a vampire if you chopped his head off I think that would do it. I’m pretty sure he can’t regenerate from the neck up…”

This discussion went on for some time as Milo remembered more powers like reading thoughts and telekinesis – and then the nice lady told us it was last question time.

So what’s in store for the next season? Some fans felt a little let down by some aspects of season 2 – so how are they getting back on track?

“Lots more cool powers and twists and an emphasis on getting some other really amazing villains in there. It’s going to be really amazing. I can’t wait.”

Heroes currently has four seasons, with a fifth likely to be coming along later in the year. We hope.