Supernatural News Monday

First of all, before I forget, Amazon has got lots of TV on DVD sales right now. Last I checked, seasons I and 3 of SPN were at 19.99 in case you need to round out your collection--or want to get someone else hooked on the show! And secondly, big smooches to Nat for helping me compile this week's news (which, since Season 5 kicked off a few days ago, was considerable.)

Okay, those of you who are on Twitter (any of Misha's Minions in the house?) are probably already aware of the pre-premiere tweet brouhaha (tweet-ha-ha?) but you can read about the whole thing here.

And speaking of Misha! Interview love. (He totally cracks me up, btw). This one warning Will Rogers! has some actual spoilers...but also a lot more background stuff on Misha I didn't know and at least one typo that made me raise an eyebrow...
(Also, within the above interview is a link to a Kripke interview in the Chicago Tribune.)

This scoopage passed along from Natalie Damschroder: "Supernatural gets some mainstream love! The Charlotte Observer did an article about the show, and Mark Price took it seriously! My favorite part: "Last week Rolling Stone magazine cited it among the 50 reasons to watch TV this season, comparing lead characters Sam and Dean Winchester to the 'Bo and Luke Duke of demon hunting.'" (The article had been moved when I first looked for it, so if the link is broken, search "Mark Price" in quotes, and scroll down until you see "A Devilish Season".)

Nat also passed this along (I don't even dare click on this, since I try to stay pure of spoilers!)If you like spoilers, the end of this article at Supernatural Hunters Addict tells us a little of what's in store. I had to burn my eyes after I saw it. See what I'm willing to do for you people?!

(Ew, I totally flashed to Pamela Barnes, that psychic who lost her sight after trying to help Sam at the beginning of last season. Feel better soon, Natalie!)

SPOILER for anyone who hasn't seen last week's premiere... but for the other 99.9% of us, obviously Bobby has some interesting challenges ahead. Kripke and Jim Beaver are interviewed here, with some insight by Jim about how Bobby's going to handle his new physical state.

And finally, Warner Bros. is holding a Supernatural prop sweepstakes with some pretty cool prizes. Good luck!

Sympathy for the Devil

“Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game”

So goes the lyrics from Rolling Stone’s Sympathy for the Devil. In the Season 5 premiere of SPN we’re introduced to Satan (Mark Pellegrino) himself and the nature of his game is indeed a puzzle, but boy is it gonna be fun figuring it out.

Kripke penned this opener and it started exactly where we left off. Blinding light. Piercing noise. The boys can’t escape and drop to their knees in agony waiting for Lucifer’s arrival and then we see…

…Yosemite Sam. The boys are inexplicably on an airplane with the Looney Tune on TV and a cartoon beezlebub is asking him, “What the devil is your name?”

WTF?

The boys are just as confused as we are. On the ground the radio is delivering apocalyptic news on every channel and Sam keeps trying to apologize, but Dean cuts him off. In need of answers they head for Chuck’s. The prophet is shocked to see them alive seeing as his last vision showed Sammy going “full on Vader.” He tells them Castiel is dead. An arch-angel smoked the crap out of him and he “exploded like a water balloon of chunky soup.” Ew. Even more ew is the tooth the soothsayer finds in his hair.

“Cram it with walnuts, Ugly.” Dean

Then that abhorrent angel Zachariah shows up to get Dean. He tells them they’re all on the same side now and he wants Dean to kill the devil. Furthermore, they need to strike hard and fast before Lucifer finds a vessel. P.O.’d, Dean slaps Zach back on the Highway to Heaven.

Back at their hotel Dean asks Sam how he’s doing with his blood addiction. Surprisingly, whoever yanked their tushes outta trouble seems to have cleansed Sam too--supernatural sobriety. Once again, Sam tries to talk to Dean, but he’s not in the mood to listen. Instead he suggests they do what they always do and go hunting…for the devil.

Meanwhile, in Pike Creek, Delaware, we meet a despondent man named Nick who’s haunted by the loss of his wife, Sarah, and their baby boy. He thinks he’s having hallucinations, but Sarah tells him he’s special, chosen. You know, whenever, if ever, someone tells you that…run!

And, in the funniest part of the episode, we meet Becky, Supernatural super fan and giggly, blushy WinCest writer. In a totally surreal moment she gets a video call from the Carver Edlund. He’s being watched by angels and he wants her to deliver a message to the real Sam and Dean. She shows up on their motel doorstep drooling and giddy where she wastes no time in fondling Sam’s pecs and telling Dean “You’re not what I pictured.” She also tells them Carver’s newest prophecy. Michael’s sword is on Earth. The angels lost it and it’s at a castle on a hill made of 42 dogs. Well, now, that’s clear as mud isn’t it? So who do the Winchesters call when they need some research help? Bobby.

Bobby shows up and explains that Michael booted Lucifer to Earth with that sword and if they can get it they can send him back to Hell. Then Sam does what he’s been trying to do with Dean for days…he confesses his sins. And Bobby, dear, Bobby completely pulverizes him. “You’re damn right you didn’t listen. You were reckless and selfish and arrogant. You’re sorry you started Armageddon. This kind of thing don’t get forgiven, boy. And if by some miracle we pull this off, I want you to lose my number, you understand me?”

Gulp. The devastation on Sam’s face is crushing. He leaves ostensibly to go look for something, but probably to secretly cry, and Dean and Bobby do more research. Bobby is saying he never would’ve guessed their daddy was right about Sam. Save him or kill him. Sadly, Dean never says anything in his brother’s defense, but he does have an epiphany and digs through his dad’s stuff. His storage locker is at Castle Storage on 42 Rover Hill. Bingo! And then bam! Bobby goes all demon on Dean and starts beating him. Meg arrives in a new meat suit. She says Dean is the only bump in the road for the new world order and every demon is out to get him. She tells Bobby to stab him to death. Bobby fights his inner demon and stabs himself instead and Meg smokes out. The boys get their surrogate father to the ER and then try to beat the demons to the storage locker. Zach is waiting for them. He tells them Dean is actually Michael’s sword aka his vessel. That’s right, Zacariah wants Dean to willingly give up his body and mind to Michael.

“Life as an angel condom.” Dean

Dean refuses and Zacariah starts to torture him into saying yes – he breaks Sam’s legs, gives Dean stage 4 stomach cancer, steals Sam’s lungs. Dean tells him to just kill them and Zacariah says he’s just started the torture. Thankfully, a very put together Castiel shows up and kicks some angel ass. He then implies that God put Sam and Dean on that plane and spared his life. To protect the brothers he carves something into their ribs that will hide them from every angel in creation, including Lucifer.

Back in Pike Creek, Nick allows his “wife” to talk him into becoming Lucifer’s vessel so he can get revenge on God for allowing a stranger to butcher his family. Possession takes place.

Oblivious, a feisty Bobby gives his doctor hell when the MD dares to tell him he may not be able to walk again. In the ER the guys discuss what they should do about their little Satanic sitch. Bobby suggests they save as many as they can for as long as they can. Dean suggests they take on both sides and win back their planet.

“What I do have is a GED and a give ‘em hell attitude.” Dean

As the boys head out of the hospital Bobby tells Sam it was the demon talking to him that way not him. “I ain’t cutting you out, boy. Not ever.” Sniff sniff. Now that’s more like the Bobby we know and love.

The jam-packed episode ends in a dark parking lot with Dean finally letting loose. He tells Sam he said all that stuff in there for Bobby’s benefit, but he can’t pretend anymore that everything is alright. He also tells his little brother he can’t believe Sam chose a demon over him. Sammy completely let him down and he’s having a hard time forgiving and forgetting. When Sam asks what he can do to make things better Dean says, “Honestly, nothing. We can never be what we were. I just don’t think I can trust you.”

Gut-wrenching pain. It’s a devastating, but true moment. They might be fighting on the same side to save the world, but chances are their separate hearts will make it that much more difficult and probably weaken their efforts. However, I have every faith the wayward son will make amends and earn his way back into good graces.

Overall, I thought Kripke did a killer job on starting off Season 5. I’ll admit I balked a little at Sammy’s instant sobriety, but I can see that it would be a distraction from the real issues at hand. I’m looking forward to seeing the Harvelles next week and watching more emotional fallout among the brothers. How about you?

Great Expectations

I’m scared about tomorrow night.

No, I’m not scared of Lucifer. I’m not scared of the apocalypse.

I’m scared of my own expectations.

Season 4 was awesome. Best season ever, consistently good. And I’m scared they’re going to drop the ball. I remember being so excited about the premiere of season 3, after the death of Azazel, the opening of the devil’s gate, Dean’s deal.

And we got “The Magnificent Seven.” I still don’t like that episode and I couldn’t say why. I think maybe they were trying to do too much, introducing new characters, and the rhythm was off. So I’m scared that this will happen again. I mean, they do have a lot of ground to cover, with the boys learning to trust each other again, and, well, Lucifer rising. I’m hoping they pace themselves.

I hope it’s as good as “In My Time of Dying,” or “Lazarus Rising.” I hope we get the balance of brotherly angst and humor and the scary. I hope my expectations aren’t too high.

Am I the only one worried? Or do you trust in Kripke?

News Monday

Welcome to our first official News Monday. Beginning today, we're starting a new rotation of topics in celebration of Premiere Week. Each Monday, we'll be bringing you the latest news about Supernatural, Jared, Jensen, other actors and crew associated with the show -- pretty much anything related to our favorite show. And we encourage you to share what you've heard, too. Just, please, label anything as a spoiler if it's a scoop about an future episode.

On Wednesdays, our topics will vary as they have since we launched the blog. And on Fridays, we'll be going back to weekly recaps of each week's new episode. Only 3 more days, peeps!

So, here's today's news recap:

Three new clips of the season premiere have appeared online. Click here to see the Chicago Tribune article that includes the clips.

The Scream Award nominees have been announced. Even though Supernatural and its actors were not nominated, Jared's Friday the 13th and Jensen's My Bloody Valentine were both nominated for Best Horror Movie. See the info about the nominees and how to vote here.

Tanya and I just spent three days at Dragon*Con in Atlanta. The panel offerings related to Supernatural jumped from one last year to three this year. We're going to lobby to see if they can get some of the stars to attend next year. For those of you who don't know, Dragon*Con is a huge (as in 40,000+ attendees) sci-fi/fantasy/pop culture/you name it conference held each Labor Day in Atlanta. Lots and lots of Hollywood stars attend. We haven't met any Supernatural folks yet, but we're hopeful for next year.

So, what have you all heard lately related to the show or anyone affiliated with it?

Season 4 DVD Analysis

I have a confession to make. I haven't watched all the extras on seasons 1-3.

*cringes*

I know. What kind of fan am I?! I watched everything on season 1, but when I pull out the DVDs, I just watch the show. I think I have some commentaries and featurettes to watch. Eventually.

I ran out on Tuesday because I couldn't stand not to have season 4 in my hands. Even though I didn't do anything but watch episodes until last night (I was being responsible!), and I had those DVR'd, anyway. I really wanted the Target edition, which contained a bonus disc with the Comic-Con panel on it.

So, let's dig in. And when I say "dig in," I mean "exhaustively discuss everything including the packaging."

The Packaging
Srsly, y'all, this is nice packaging. It's a full plastic case, with a pull-out listing of all the episodes, which gives room for extra pictures (yum!) and has a description of each episode and what extras are exactly where. The DVDs themselves are on flip-holders which are much easier to handle than the giant flip-out style on previous basic sets.

Extended/Unaired Scenes (no spoilers)
Most of these served to show how expert the editing and directing of each episode really is. Some, I didn't understand why they bothered to put them on the DVD, they offered so little. Some, I didn't understand why they didn't put them on the air--heLLO, Dean in his underwear?!

My favorite was "Lazarus Rising," an extended scene with a few new lines, but OMG, maybe the funniest line of the entire season. Probably cut because it exceeded their TV-14 rating.

One unaired scene from "Heaven and Hell" featured an interesting exchange between Uriel and Castiel, but probably was cut because it too clearly foreshadowed where things were going with the angels.

Other episodes with extra scenology:

In the Beginning
Heaven and Hell
On the Head of a Pin
The Monster at the End of This Book
The Rapture
Lucifer Rising

Commentaries
I haven't had time to watch/listen to these, but we have a wealth of them on this go-around:

In the Beginning: Eric Kripke and Writer Jeremy Carver
When the Levee Breaks: Writer Sera Gamble and Director Robert Singer
Lucifer Rising: Eric Kripke

Featurette
Again, I didn't have time to explore this yet. It's broken into three parts: Paradiso, Purgatorio, Inferno, the first and last each with three parts, the middle with one. They're documentary style and feature "experts" from outside the show who have apparently explored the mythologies of angels and demons. It looks like it could be either fascinating or horribly dull.

Easter Eggs
I'm pretty terrible at finding these, so I Googled 'em. :) Thanks to here for a list! These are all Ghostfacer vids that have been seen before--nothing new, but very funny if you haven't seen them.

Bonus Disc
Comic-Con 2008, probably the best panel video you'll find anywhere (for clarity, closeness, audio, etc.) with some behind-the-scenes stuff, too. Worth going to Target for, if you don't have your set yet!



Gag Reel
Everyone's favorite part, right? I haven't seen a gag reel for TV or movie that beat the ones for Supernatural. Season 3 didn't quite live up to the previous two, but it was still funny and satisfying.

Season 4's gag reel has been available online, but I wanted to wait for the real, high-quality thing and watch it on my big TV. It suffers from high expectations, but if I could objectively compare all four, this one would win in a landslide.

It's the longest, for one thing. There are some familiar themes--mugging, flatulence (though this time Jensen gives as good [or bad!] as Jared). There's also more from the recurring actors/actresses and the guest stars. Todd Stashwick lands a good one on Jensen and turns all fatherly. The part that most gratified me, I think, was toward the end, they featured crew members, with both video and stills. SPN fans (probably all obsessive fans) tend to recognize and be grateful for the huge contribution from those hard-working people, but it's nice that they're being pulled out for public recognition, too.

So that's it, the kit and kaboodle. I apologize for not having commentary review, but that might be a future post, so stay tuned. In the meantime...

T-minus less than a week and counting!!!!!!!!!!

To tide you over, you can find clips from 5.01 at Fangirl Says. I'mnotlooking I'mnotlooking I'mnotlooking I'mnotlooking

Five Clear Signs that Withdrawal Has Set In

Okay, it’s one thing to miss the Winchester boys (or at least new episodes starring said boys) while they’ve been on hiatus. We all miss them. It’s perfectly natural to be watching the repeats, to put your iPod on continuous Kansas (like I even have to say which song), or thumb through an essay in In The Hunt. However, for some of us, the lack of new Sam and Dean footage can lead to more serious symptoms, some of which, are, tragically, a bit crazypants. How can you be sure whether you or someone you know is suffering normal, albeit painful, pangs of longing and isn't on the verge of going DarkSide? I offer you the five tips below.

If you or someone you know is experiencing any of the following, please consider close supervision until Thursday, September 10, 9 pm (EST):

1. You told your significant other that it would be romantic to give each other cute nicknames...and promptly started calling him Dean.

2. You insist that all the kids on your carpool route refer to your mini-van as "the Impala."

3. You've moved beyond just looking at pictures of Jared and Jensen online (totally normal) and have begun printing them out to wallpaper your room (slightly less so.)

4. You studied Latin this summer. And have been driving around looking for a situation in which to practice your newfound exorcism skills.

5. You've started keeping track of key moments in your life based on the airdate timeline--for instance, filling out your daughter's pre-school paperwork by stating that her birthday was Season 2, episode 16. (Warning!)

But I have good news, my friends! In little more than a week, the Winchesters will return and withdrawal should subside entirely. Until...the dreaded mid-season hiatus (dunh, duh, DUH).

Be strong.

Booty Man

If you've ever watched the outtakes on SPN you know that Jared loves to shake his boo-tay! Now some brilliant fans have put together a website at:

http://www.jaredpadaleckisass.com/.

The video is hysterical, but the best part is that you get to SMACK THAT! Check out one of his best, er, assets and email the owners your "words of praise."