ext_31287 (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
saltandammo.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh_ooc2007-04-08 07:42 pm
saltandammo.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh_ooc2007-04-08 07:42 pm
Entry tags:
Spotlight on Fandoms: Supernatural -- Saving People, Hunting Things, The Family Business
Most of you are probably already familiar with what this show's about -- pretty boys, guns, and spooky things. Basically it's about two brothers who drive around the US in a really cool car hunting and killing ghosts and other things straight out of urban legends. It's also just as much about family and how "Jerk" and "Bitch" can actually mean "I love you." in the right circumstances.
The Winchesters:
Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki): Sam is the youngest member of the Winchester family, and the one most determined to not be part of the "family business." Growing up, Sam was always more comfortable doing geeky, scholastic things than participating in the hunter lifestyle. When he finished high school, he was offered a full scholarship to Stanford, and after a massive fight with his father (of the "if you leave, don't bother coming back" sort), he took the scholarship and headed to college, determined to make a normal life for himself away from his family. That plan worked well until Dean showed up a few years later to ask for his help to look for their dad when he went missing, and his girlfriend was killed in the same manner as his mother. Now, Sam is on the road with Dean, trying to find the demon that killed Mary and Jess, and discovering that out of everyone, he's probably the least normal of all.
Oh, and he's gigantically tall and very good at having sex when it actually happens. *nod nod*
Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles): Dean is the older of the Winchester boys. He carried Sammy out of the fire that killed their mother when he was four and ever since then he's felt responsible for keeping Sam safe. As much as Sam hated the hunting lifestyle, that was how much Dean embraced it and everything about it. He sees Hunting almost as a calling and the idea of living a normal life practically makes him break out in hives. Dean was always the referee, the peacemaker, the one who got caught in the middle of the fights between Sam and their father. The most important thing to Dean is his family and his fondest wish is to have his Dad, Sam and himself all hunting together again. He'd gladly sacrifice himself or do whatever he needs to, to save either one of them.
Dean is also the poster boy for man pretty and will flirt (and more) with any woman he meets. The closest thing he has to a true love however would be his car.
The Impala (AKA Metallicar): Dean drives a 1967 Chevrolet Impala, which originally belonged to John, but when Dean started hunting on his own, the Impala became his (John went on to own Truckzilla, which, while impressive, will never be as iconic as the Impala). It died a tragic death at the end of the first season, but was resurrected to even shinier glory due to how important the car has become as a symbol of Winchester badassery. Special features include a panel in the trunk that opens up to reveal their armory and hunting supplies, and a back seat that's likely seen all manner of diner and bar waitresses.
John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan): John is an ex-marine, and ex-mechanic who literally watched his life go up in smoke when he witnessed his wife burning to death on the ceiling of his youngest son's nursery. In response he began searching for the thing that had done it, becoming one of the best hunters there is in the process. John has two obsessions: keeping his boys safe and killing the demon that killed his wife. He sometimes loses sight of the best way to handle situations and people when he's focused on those things, which tends to lead to fallings out with allies, friends, sons. But he loves his sons and will quite literally sell his soul to keep them safe.
Mary Winchester (Samantha Smith): Mary was John's wife, and Dean and Sam's mother...and that's about all the information that's known about her, aside from the manner of her death. When Sam was six months old, Mary was murdered in his nursery by a demon. Mary's death was the catalyst for John becoming a hunter, and for hunting to become what the Winchesters were known for.
Secondary Characters:
Jessica Lee Moore (Adrianne Palicki): Jess was Sam's girlfriend at Stanford. One of many? We don't know. But she was the most important one - Sam had every intention of proposing to her, right down to going ring shopping. Unfortunately, Jess had the same penchant for white nightgowns that Mary did. In an effort to hurt/mess with Sam, Jess was killed by the same demon that killed Mary, in the same bloody manner, compelling Sam to go back to hunting with Dean in order to get revenge.
Missouri Mosely (Loretta Devine): Missouri is a psychic (we've seen her sense thoughts and presences of supernatural things, she may be able to do more as well) who John went to soon after Mary died. She confirmed for him that he wasn't crazy and that something dark and evil had killed his wife, and that the world is full of such things, which set John on the path to becoming a hunter. She's very no nonsense and plain speaking and doesn't suffer fools gladly. It appears that John and Missouri were friends over the years and she has no compunction about reading him the riot act when she thinks he's acting like an idiot (or to the boys when they meet her).
Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver): Bobby is a hunter who seems to specialise in demons. (Keeping track of the rise in demon possessions, has a Devil's Trap on the ceiling of his living room, provides anti-possession charms, etc.) He owns a scrap yard and his house (in the middle of said scrap yard) is full of books (floor to ceiling piles all over). He and John were friends but had a falling out at some point that ended with Bobby chasing him off his property with a shotgun. But when Sam and Dean come to him for help, he doesn't hesitate. He's a good and true family friend and has both helped them out and kept their secrets several times now. He's gruff and a little rough around the edges but smart and more than competent at what he does. He's almost come to fill the role of surrogate father for Sam and Dean at times. (He also, incidentally shares a name with one of the shows executive producers, Robert Singer.)
Jo Harvelle (Alona Tal): Daughter of Ellen Harvelle and William Anthony Harvelle (deceased. apparently at the hands of John Winchester, it's a long story and hopefully we will get flashbacks at some point), Jo was raised in the Roadhouse and thus spent the vast majority of her formative years surrounded by hunters. Unsurprisingly enough, this led to a desire to become a hunter herself, an idea rather vehemently opposed by Ellen, probably because of the whole risk of dying horribly thing. This situation is not helped by the arrival of Sam and Dean at the Roadhouse. At all. She's also taken part in the Winchester family bondage-during-a-hunt ritual.
Ellen Harvelle (Samantha Ferris): Ellen runs Harvelle's Roadhouse, a place where hunters can get a drink and talk shop. Ellen's husband died on a hunt with John Winchester and because of that she wants Jo to do anything but hunting, afraid of losing her daughter as well. She's no nonsense, practical, and, despite her past problems with John (that she's forgiven him for, though it still seems to weigh on her quite heavily), she likes both Dean and Sam when they're not involved in Jo's attempts to follow in her father's footsteps.
Ash (Chad Lindberg): Ash is an odd one. He lives at the Roadhouse, has been known to pass out on one of the pool tables, watch television naked, has a sign stating that he's "Dr. Badass" on his room door and has a mullet. He also went to MIT (until he was kicked out) and has a super computer laptop that looks like he built it out of spare parts. He is a computer genius when it comes to tracking down info, breaking into sealed records, laying fake credit card trails and searching for things on the internet. He also, apparently, "folds like a cheap suit" when interrogated by Ellen on something.
Bad Guys:
The Yellow Eyed Demon (various): The Yellow Eyed Demon (or YED for short) is Supernatural's Big Bad. He's the one that killed both Mary and Jess -- along with many others in similar circumstances. He's extremely powerful -- powerful enough to possess a Reaper even -- and as a consquence some of the usual methods of detecting/stopping a demon don't work on him -- he's immune to Holy Water for example. He has stated that he has plans for Sam and the "children like him" -- others who have developed powers like Sam did around the same time. Some of these other children's mother was killed in the same way Mary was, but not all of them. What those plans are, we still don't know exactly, but it seems to involve turning the chosen to evil in some way. He's appeared in the dreams of several of the children, urging them to kill and do other bad stuff.
The YED also has children of his own -- demons who possess humans and do his bidding in the world. (see Meg Masters). It is unclear how many he has or exactly how close he is to them, but he does seem ticked off when Dean kills one and exorcises another.
The YED's name may be Azazel, as John used the sigil of Azazel to summon him in the second season opener, and the mythology on that name fits what we know about the YED so far. This has yet to be confirmed or denied in actual onscreen canon though. He's also known in fandom as Celine Demon, a play on words on his penchant for burning young women to death on the ceiling.
Meg Masters (Nicki Aycox): Meg is one of the YED's children -- or to be more precise she is a human possessed by one of the YED's children, but for the sake of simplicity we'll refer to the actual demon as Meg. She's more powerful than your average demon, but not as powerful as the YED -- she can walk on hallowed ground for example, but holy water burns her. She moves about the world in her human host, doing her father's bidding, communicating with him through a chalice full of human blood. She kills several of the Winchesters' friends and allies (Paster Jim Murphy and Caleb) with surprisingly little trouble considering they were both seasoned hunters. When she came after Sam and Dean at Bobby's, they caught her using a Devil's Trap and exorcised her from her host, sending her back to hell, and letting the human Meg Masters die. Meg did not stay in hell however and after clawing her way out, decided to get her revenge on the Winchester boys in the most horrible way possible. It's uncertain whether she is still dancing to the YED's beat or has gone rogue, but either way, she's still out there and very very pissed off at Sam and Dean.
Gordon Walker (Sterling K. Brown): Gordon is a hunter that Dean and Sam met while tracking down a pack of vampires, and it was Ellen who probably described him the best: he's a good hunter like Hannibal Lecter is a good psychiatrist. In Gordon's mind, there's no gray area between good and evil - anyone who has even the slightest chance of being evil needs to be killed, regardless of whether or not they've actually done anything wrong. Unfortunately, Gordon knows about Sam's connection to the demon, which has put him in the "needs to be killed" category. After attempting to kill Sam (and Dean, in the process), Gordon was arrested, but since he's currently just in jail, trying not to drop the soap, the possibility of him coming back to finish things is high.
Why Should You Watch?
1. The guys are hot.
2. It's not all just killing spooky things. There's an important family dynamic that runs through the whole show.
3. Fun with urban legends.
4. The guys are hot.
5. The writers do their homework and throw in lots of fun little details.
6. Pop culture references. For example in the third episode of the show, Dean introduced himself and Sam as "Agents Ford and Hamill."
7. The guys are hot.
8. In addition to being hot, the guys (and girls) are wonderful actors, and are getting better with every episode.
9. The humour and the angst. This show can make you laugh and have you in tears on the turn of a dime.
10. You won't be left with dozens of permanently, unanswered, important questions. (*cough* Lost.)
11. The guys are hot.
12. The music. The show has IMO the best damn soundtrack of any show out there at the moment, composed mostly of classic rock or as Sam called it, "mullet rock." Not only that but there's canon vids for recaps on some episodes. If I hadn't already been head over heels for Supernatural, I would've fallen when they showed a season long recap to Carry On My Wayward Son at the beginning of the second last episode of season one (See that here! But, of course, beware the spoilers).
13. Have we mentioned the guys are hot?
14. The car's pretty hot too.
So where can I find Supernatural?
Supernatural airs on the CW Thursdays at 9 pm. (In Canada it airs on City TV Thursday nights and Space on Saturdays. For other countries, check your local listings.)
Season one is out on DVD (Amazon.com link)
You can stream some season two episodes at the CW site (but only if you're American). Generally they have the last four aired episodes available.
You can also if you're American buy season two episodes for download from Amazon.com or from Itunes.
(If you're outside the US, torrenting is your friend.)
Also, I've converted some episodes to an Ipod friendly format for my own use and I've uploaded the pilot to my site for people to dl from here if they want.
Supernatural 1x01 - Woman in White Right click and save. If you do dl, I'd appreciate if you could comment and let me know so I can keep track.
(this spotlight has been brought to you by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
saltandammo, psychic_wonder, wannabehunter and roadhousequeen)
The Winchesters:
Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki): Sam is the youngest member of the Winchester family, and the one most determined to not be part of the "family business." Growing up, Sam was always more comfortable doing geeky, scholastic things than participating in the hunter lifestyle. When he finished high school, he was offered a full scholarship to Stanford, and after a massive fight with his father (of the "if you leave, don't bother coming back" sort), he took the scholarship and headed to college, determined to make a normal life for himself away from his family. That plan worked well until Dean showed up a few years later to ask for his help to look for their dad when he went missing, and his girlfriend was killed in the same manner as his mother. Now, Sam is on the road with Dean, trying to find the demon that killed Mary and Jess, and discovering that out of everyone, he's probably the least normal of all.
Oh, and he's gigantically tall and very good at having sex when it actually happens. *nod nod*
Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles): Dean is the older of the Winchester boys. He carried Sammy out of the fire that killed their mother when he was four and ever since then he's felt responsible for keeping Sam safe. As much as Sam hated the hunting lifestyle, that was how much Dean embraced it and everything about it. He sees Hunting almost as a calling and the idea of living a normal life practically makes him break out in hives. Dean was always the referee, the peacemaker, the one who got caught in the middle of the fights between Sam and their father. The most important thing to Dean is his family and his fondest wish is to have his Dad, Sam and himself all hunting together again. He'd gladly sacrifice himself or do whatever he needs to, to save either one of them.
Dean is also the poster boy for man pretty and will flirt (and more) with any woman he meets. The closest thing he has to a true love however would be his car.
The Impala (AKA Metallicar): Dean drives a 1967 Chevrolet Impala, which originally belonged to John, but when Dean started hunting on his own, the Impala became his (John went on to own Truckzilla, which, while impressive, will never be as iconic as the Impala). It died a tragic death at the end of the first season, but was resurrected to even shinier glory due to how important the car has become as a symbol of Winchester badassery. Special features include a panel in the trunk that opens up to reveal their armory and hunting supplies, and a back seat that's likely seen all manner of diner and bar waitresses.
John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan): John is an ex-marine, and ex-mechanic who literally watched his life go up in smoke when he witnessed his wife burning to death on the ceiling of his youngest son's nursery. In response he began searching for the thing that had done it, becoming one of the best hunters there is in the process. John has two obsessions: keeping his boys safe and killing the demon that killed his wife. He sometimes loses sight of the best way to handle situations and people when he's focused on those things, which tends to lead to fallings out with allies, friends, sons. But he loves his sons and will quite literally sell his soul to keep them safe.
Mary Winchester (Samantha Smith): Mary was John's wife, and Dean and Sam's mother...and that's about all the information that's known about her, aside from the manner of her death. When Sam was six months old, Mary was murdered in his nursery by a demon. Mary's death was the catalyst for John becoming a hunter, and for hunting to become what the Winchesters were known for.
Secondary Characters:
Jessica Lee Moore (Adrianne Palicki): Jess was Sam's girlfriend at Stanford. One of many? We don't know. But she was the most important one - Sam had every intention of proposing to her, right down to going ring shopping. Unfortunately, Jess had the same penchant for white nightgowns that Mary did. In an effort to hurt/mess with Sam, Jess was killed by the same demon that killed Mary, in the same bloody manner, compelling Sam to go back to hunting with Dean in order to get revenge.
Missouri Mosely (Loretta Devine): Missouri is a psychic (we've seen her sense thoughts and presences of supernatural things, she may be able to do more as well) who John went to soon after Mary died. She confirmed for him that he wasn't crazy and that something dark and evil had killed his wife, and that the world is full of such things, which set John on the path to becoming a hunter. She's very no nonsense and plain speaking and doesn't suffer fools gladly. It appears that John and Missouri were friends over the years and she has no compunction about reading him the riot act when she thinks he's acting like an idiot (or to the boys when they meet her).
Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver): Bobby is a hunter who seems to specialise in demons. (Keeping track of the rise in demon possessions, has a Devil's Trap on the ceiling of his living room, provides anti-possession charms, etc.) He owns a scrap yard and his house (in the middle of said scrap yard) is full of books (floor to ceiling piles all over). He and John were friends but had a falling out at some point that ended with Bobby chasing him off his property with a shotgun. But when Sam and Dean come to him for help, he doesn't hesitate. He's a good and true family friend and has both helped them out and kept their secrets several times now. He's gruff and a little rough around the edges but smart and more than competent at what he does. He's almost come to fill the role of surrogate father for Sam and Dean at times. (He also, incidentally shares a name with one of the shows executive producers, Robert Singer.)
Jo Harvelle (Alona Tal): Daughter of Ellen Harvelle and William Anthony Harvelle (deceased. apparently at the hands of John Winchester, it's a long story and hopefully we will get flashbacks at some point), Jo was raised in the Roadhouse and thus spent the vast majority of her formative years surrounded by hunters. Unsurprisingly enough, this led to a desire to become a hunter herself, an idea rather vehemently opposed by Ellen, probably because of the whole risk of dying horribly thing. This situation is not helped by the arrival of Sam and Dean at the Roadhouse. At all. She's also taken part in the Winchester family bondage-during-a-hunt ritual.
Ellen Harvelle (Samantha Ferris): Ellen runs Harvelle's Roadhouse, a place where hunters can get a drink and talk shop. Ellen's husband died on a hunt with John Winchester and because of that she wants Jo to do anything but hunting, afraid of losing her daughter as well. She's no nonsense, practical, and, despite her past problems with John (that she's forgiven him for, though it still seems to weigh on her quite heavily), she likes both Dean and Sam when they're not involved in Jo's attempts to follow in her father's footsteps.
Ash (Chad Lindberg): Ash is an odd one. He lives at the Roadhouse, has been known to pass out on one of the pool tables, watch television naked, has a sign stating that he's "Dr. Badass" on his room door and has a mullet. He also went to MIT (until he was kicked out) and has a super computer laptop that looks like he built it out of spare parts. He is a computer genius when it comes to tracking down info, breaking into sealed records, laying fake credit card trails and searching for things on the internet. He also, apparently, "folds like a cheap suit" when interrogated by Ellen on something.
Bad Guys:
The Yellow Eyed Demon (various): The Yellow Eyed Demon (or YED for short) is Supernatural's Big Bad. He's the one that killed both Mary and Jess -- along with many others in similar circumstances. He's extremely powerful -- powerful enough to possess a Reaper even -- and as a consquence some of the usual methods of detecting/stopping a demon don't work on him -- he's immune to Holy Water for example. He has stated that he has plans for Sam and the "children like him" -- others who have developed powers like Sam did around the same time. Some of these other children's mother was killed in the same way Mary was, but not all of them. What those plans are, we still don't know exactly, but it seems to involve turning the chosen to evil in some way. He's appeared in the dreams of several of the children, urging them to kill and do other bad stuff.
The YED also has children of his own -- demons who possess humans and do his bidding in the world. (see Meg Masters). It is unclear how many he has or exactly how close he is to them, but he does seem ticked off when Dean kills one and exorcises another.
The YED's name may be Azazel, as John used the sigil of Azazel to summon him in the second season opener, and the mythology on that name fits what we know about the YED so far. This has yet to be confirmed or denied in actual onscreen canon though. He's also known in fandom as Celine Demon, a play on words on his penchant for burning young women to death on the ceiling.
Meg Masters (Nicki Aycox): Meg is one of the YED's children -- or to be more precise she is a human possessed by one of the YED's children, but for the sake of simplicity we'll refer to the actual demon as Meg. She's more powerful than your average demon, but not as powerful as the YED -- she can walk on hallowed ground for example, but holy water burns her. She moves about the world in her human host, doing her father's bidding, communicating with him through a chalice full of human blood. She kills several of the Winchesters' friends and allies (Paster Jim Murphy and Caleb) with surprisingly little trouble considering they were both seasoned hunters. When she came after Sam and Dean at Bobby's, they caught her using a Devil's Trap and exorcised her from her host, sending her back to hell, and letting the human Meg Masters die. Meg did not stay in hell however and after clawing her way out, decided to get her revenge on the Winchester boys in the most horrible way possible. It's uncertain whether she is still dancing to the YED's beat or has gone rogue, but either way, she's still out there and very very pissed off at Sam and Dean.
Gordon Walker (Sterling K. Brown): Gordon is a hunter that Dean and Sam met while tracking down a pack of vampires, and it was Ellen who probably described him the best: he's a good hunter like Hannibal Lecter is a good psychiatrist. In Gordon's mind, there's no gray area between good and evil - anyone who has even the slightest chance of being evil needs to be killed, regardless of whether or not they've actually done anything wrong. Unfortunately, Gordon knows about Sam's connection to the demon, which has put him in the "needs to be killed" category. After attempting to kill Sam (and Dean, in the process), Gordon was arrested, but since he's currently just in jail, trying not to drop the soap, the possibility of him coming back to finish things is high.
Why Should You Watch?
1. The guys are hot.
2. It's not all just killing spooky things. There's an important family dynamic that runs through the whole show.
3. Fun with urban legends.
4. The guys are hot.
5. The writers do their homework and throw in lots of fun little details.
6. Pop culture references. For example in the third episode of the show, Dean introduced himself and Sam as "Agents Ford and Hamill."
7. The guys are hot.
8. In addition to being hot, the guys (and girls) are wonderful actors, and are getting better with every episode.
9. The humour and the angst. This show can make you laugh and have you in tears on the turn of a dime.
10. You won't be left with dozens of permanently, unanswered, important questions. (*cough* Lost.)
11. The guys are hot.
12. The music. The show has IMO the best damn soundtrack of any show out there at the moment, composed mostly of classic rock or as Sam called it, "mullet rock." Not only that but there's canon vids for recaps on some episodes. If I hadn't already been head over heels for Supernatural, I would've fallen when they showed a season long recap to Carry On My Wayward Son at the beginning of the second last episode of season one (See that here! But, of course, beware the spoilers).
13. Have we mentioned the guys are hot?
14. The car's pretty hot too.
So where can I find Supernatural?
Supernatural airs on the CW Thursdays at 9 pm. (In Canada it airs on City TV Thursday nights and Space on Saturdays. For other countries, check your local listings.)
Season one is out on DVD (Amazon.com link)
You can stream some season two episodes at the CW site (but only if you're American). Generally they have the last four aired episodes available.
You can also if you're American buy season two episodes for download from Amazon.com or from Itunes.
(If you're outside the US, torrenting is your friend.)
Also, I've converted some episodes to an Ipod friendly format for my own use and I've uploaded the pilot to my site for people to dl from here if they want.
Supernatural 1x01 - Woman in White Right click and save. If you do dl, I'd appreciate if you could comment and let me know so I can keep track.
(this spotlight has been brought to you by
saltandammo, psychic_wonder, wannabehunter and roadhousequeen)
no subject
I missed a few season 1 eps, but thanks to the wonderful thing that is YouTube, I am all caught up and ready for so more Supernatural love!!
Seriously, though. This show has it all, what more could a fan want? <3!
no subject
no subject
no subject
Yes. OMG so many kinds of yes.
Also? You forgot to mention Dean singing "Can't Fight This Feeling" because that moment was MADE OF WIN :)
no subject
no subject
no subject
Thanks for the clip. :D
no subject