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<title>Supernatural (season 1)</title>
<authors>Wikipedia</authors>
<publisher>wikipedia.org</publisher>
<publishedplace>network</publishedplace>
<publishedyear>2010</publishedyear>
<edition></edition>
<category>Television seasons</category>
<section id="47291" fatherid="0" title="" lv="" priority="-1" level="1">
Season one of Supernatural, an American television series created by Eric Kripke, premiered on September 13, 2005, and concluded on May 4, 2006 after 22 episodes. It focuses on the protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester as they track down their father, John, who is on the trail of the demon who killed their mother and Sam's girlfriend. During their travels they use their father's journal to help them carry on the family business-saving people and hunting supernatural creatures. Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles star as Sam and Dean, with Jeffrey Dean Morgan recurring as their father John and Nicki Aycox as the demonic Meg Masters. This is the only season to air on the WB television network, with all subsequent seasons airing on the CW television network, a joint venture of the WB and UPN.
The first sixteen episodes of the season aired on Tuesdays at 9:00 pm ET in the United States, after which the series was rescheduled to Thursdays. Overall, the season averaged about 3.81 million American viewers. The season gained many award nominations, among them two Primetime Emmy Awards for work done on the pilot episode. While some critics did not like the mostly anthology-like format, others praised the show for the emotional moments and noted the brotherly chemistry between the lead actors.
The season was internationally syndicated, airing in the United Kingdom on ITV, in Canada on Citytv, and in Australia on Network Ten. The first season was released on DVD as a six-disc box set on September 5, 2006, by Warner Home Video in Region 1. Although the season was split into two separate releases in Region 2, the complete set was released on October 2, 2006, and in Region 4 on October 2, 2007. The episodes are also available through digital retailers such as Apple's iTunes Store, Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace, and Amazon.com's on-demand TV service.

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<section id="47292" fatherid="0" title="Episodes" lv="" priority="-2" level="1">
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<section id="47293" fatherid="0" title="Production" lv="" priority="3" level="1">
<section id="47294" fatherid="47293" title="Writing" lv="" priority="1" level="2">
The first ten episodes featured independent stories, which attain closure at the end of each episode and add nothing to the overarching storylines. It is the eleventh episode "Scarecrow" that starts the series mythology by introducing the demon Meg Masters, which executive producer Kim Manners felt was "desperately needed".Knight, p.66 Though they were uncertain at exactly what direction to take the character, Meg was intended to be an antagonist for the Winchesters throughout her story arc.Knight, p.140 The creative team also added the Colt handgun—a mystical gun capable of killing demons—to the mythology. The writers of "Salvation" were pleased with the addition of the Colt, as they needed a way for the brothers to fight Meg, as well as provide a reason for her to attack the Winchesters' friends. In addition, the gun lent to the "modern American Western" theme the producers were going for. Writer Raelle Tucker suggested that the Colt "just seems so appropriate for the show" due to its "old west kind of feel".Knight, p.111 Overall, series creator Eric Kripke summarized the first season's mythology as merely "find Dad", which he found as "simple", "emotional", and "clean". However, he found the self-enclosed episodes to be "hit and miss". 

Although the weekly adversaries for the Winchesters were often based on urban legends, the writers tried to put their own spin on the stories for each of the episodes. Kripke wanted to use the well-known urban legend of the vanishing hitchhiker for the pilot, but combined it with the Mexican legend of La Llorona to give the spirit more motivation and characterization.Knight, p.26 To address why Bloody Mary does not kill everyone who summons her, the writers chose to explain that she only kills people who feel responsible for the death of someone else.Knight, p.44 As there are numerous variations of the Hook Man legend, the writers decided to take elements from three or four of them when crafting "Hook Man". In the traditional legend, the Hook Man is an escaped mental patient, but for the purposes of the show the writers decided to make him the ghost of a hook-handed killer. They also added in a poltergeist element by having him attached to the conflicting emotions of the guest star who wears a crucifix that was made from his melted hook.Knight, p.54 For their version of the legend of a scarecrow coming to life, the writers chose to use the Vanir of Norse mythology to explain the scarecrow's resurrection, in an effort to avoid using another ghost as an antagonist.Knight, p.69 For the episode "Faith", Reapers were not in the original script, but were added later to give the writers a chance to create "scary" sequences, as well as to give an origin to the faith healer's ability. The writers found the traditional look of the Reaper—hooded and carrying a sickle—to be cheesy, and eventually decided to make him appear more as "the most shriveled old man you could ever imagine".Knight, p.94 Kripke and co-executive producer John Shiban decided that the vampires for Supernatural would be based more on the original legends, than modern interpretations. For their introduction, the vampires were given retractable fangs, inspired by the rowed teeth of sharks, as well as no aversion to sunlight and the crucifix. Kripke personally added the fact that the vampires would become weak if given the blood of a dead man.Knight, p.109
Other aspects grew out of basic concepts or ideas. For the episode "Skin", which involved a shapeshifting villain, writer Shiban felt that the creature had to change into one of the lead characters. The character chosen was Dean, and the writers decided not to try to find a way to clear his name of attempted murder at the end of the episode. Though they at first feared that having one of the main characters be a wanted man would later ruin the show, the writers eventually felt it was "a great layer to add to the characters", opening up new potential storylines and characters. Dean's reputation is addressed again in "The Benders", and catches up to him in the second and third seasons.Knight, p.43 Another element that would influence future episodes came about in "Hook Man" when writers Milbauer and Burton realized that shotguns shoot salt, a weakness for spirits. Kripke felt that to be the "perfect combination of occult element", as it brought together a "folkloric repellent of evil" with the "blue-collar aspect of shotguns".Knight, p.47 The episode "Ayslum" later established iron as another weapon against ghosts.Knight, p.63 "Faith", which features a faith healer who heals good people of their illnesses at the cost of the lives of others, was meant to make people question whether or not it was the wrong thing to do, and the terminally ill character Layla was used to exemplify this. Kripke felt, "She's really a great girl and she deserves to live, and some stranger you don't even know will die... and maybe that's worth it."Knight, p.71 Although the villain of the episode "Hell House" has supernatural origins, the basis of the story came from a situation writer Trey Callaway had as a child, he and his friends having created a fake murder scene in an abandoned barn and then claimed to their friends that killings occurred there. They believed the story, and would often go there to scare each other, with one girl running away and breaking her leg after believing that she saw an attacking ghost.Knight, p.95 Kripke found it rather easy to write the season finale "Devil's Trap", as he knew beforehand that the key elements of the episode would be the exorcism of the demon possessing Meg, the death of the real Meg, and the apparent rescue of John Winchester. Kripke felt that the revelation of John being possessed by Azazel had to be, as it completed the two main storylines of the season—finding their father and tracking down the demon—at the same time, but had them find the characters in the same body.Knight, p.119

Sometimes elements of the episodes originated from something the writers want to convey or include. When writing "The Benders", Shiban chose to have the villains of the episode be human in order to surprise the audience, as viewers would expect something supernatural to be involved. It also allowed him to have the Winchesters face something they had never encountered before.Knight, p.82 For "Nightmare", Tucker tried to write the character Max as sympathetic, and thus had difficulties in deciding how to end the episode. However, the writers eventually decided to have him kill himself, as he would continue harming others if he were allowed to live.Knight, p.81 Starting off on the series, Kripke did not want to feature vampires due to their affiliation to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as he wanted Supernatural to have its own identity. However, as time went on, he became more comfortable with it, and they were included in "Dead Man's Blood". The episode was originally intended to be a self-enclosed episode, but became connected to the series mythology when Kripke included the introduction of the Colt.Knight, pp.104–105 The writers had always wanted to have a story about the brothers reencountering a creature from a childhood hunt, and were able to add this element as a subplot to the episode "Something Wicked".Knight, p.99 When Gamble and Tucker wanted to do a storyline that featured friends of the Winchesters that had been mentioned in previous episodes, they decided to have Meg hunt them down, as they felt that having the characters die would be the only way for Kripke to allow their inclusion. However, the writers had trouble coming up with something for the Winchesters to be doing during this, so it was decided to have two separate stories occurring in the episode, with the brothers trying to protect another family from Azazel. Tucker felt that this opened "all this emotional stuff with the guys", as well as "brought back all the themes of the show and tied the season up into a nice big bow".Knight, p.110

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<section id="47295" fatherid="47293" title="Influences by popular culture" lv="" priority="2" level="2">
While many episodes were inspired by supernatural and urban legends, some aspects were influenced by popular culture. The inspiration for the wendigo's appearance in "Wendigo" came from the creature featured in the music video for the Aphex Twin song "Come to Daddy", though human features were added to the design due the wendigo's human origins, with the show giving the creature the ability to mimic human voices to create a "creepy effect".Knight, p.27 However, Kripke was not pleased with the final appearance of the wendigo, deeming him as "Gollum's tall, gangly cousin". Because of this, the creature is not seen throughout most of the episode.Knight, pp.23–24 For shapeshifting scenes in the episode "Skin", Kripke chose to base the transformation on that of An American Werewolf in London, using prosthetics and makeup rather than using computer-generated imagery.Knight, p.45 The titular villain in "Bloody Mary" was influenced by Samara of The Ring. However, with her grisly appearance and the use of speed ramping to create a time-manipulation effect, Kripke felt that she ended up looking too similar to the character, though visual effects supervisor Ivan Hayden believes it was more of an homage.
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<section id="47296" fatherid="47293" title="Filming" lv="" priority="3" level="2">
Though the pilot was filmed in Los Angeles, principal filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia.Knight, p.14 "Dead in the Water" was filmed at Buntzen Lake,Knight, p.28 and Riverview Hospital functioned as an asylum in "Asylum".Knight, p.60 In "The Benders", filming took place in a Western town previously built for another television show,Knight, p.85 with the warehouse loft set in "Shadow" being previously used for the series Tru Calling.Knight, p.86 The auction house in "Provenance" was a local two-story furniture store,Knight, p.102 and part of the filming for the episode "Wendigo" took place in a mine in Britannia Beach.Knight, p.25 In addition, the production team did create standing sets that could be used over and over again, such as the motel rooms frequented by the Winchesters. In order to disguise the fact that the same room is used repeatedly, the motel room in each episode usually has a different theme, with different colors, bedspreads, and curtains being used. The motel set for the episode "Provenance" was disco-themed.Knight, p.103 As well, the fight scene between the Winchesters and Azazel in the season finale "Devil's Trap" was filmed in a forest-enclosed cabin built on a sound stage. The crash scene at the end of the episode was filmed on an old airport space with flat roads.Knight, p.120
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<section id="47297" fatherid="47293" title="Music" lv="" priority="4" level="2">
The mostly synthesized orchestral score of the season was composed by Christopher Lennertz and Jay Gruska. The pair try to base the music on the visuals of each episode,Knight, p.147 with about a third of each episode's score being newly written for the supernatural legend. For example, off-angle shots in "Dead in the Water" are accompanied by repetitive and discordant notes. As well, spoken words such as "water" and "die" are followed by a lower pitch, as Lennertz felt it created a "gurgly" water sound. For "Bloody Mary", Lennertz made the music for scenes hinting at the presence of the titular villain very simple, with single-string lines weaving in and out.Knight, p.39 Likewise, in "Hook Man", "big, big music" was played during chase scenes involving the villain. However, the music would go silent when the Hook Man would disappear, followed by the screeching sound of his hook scraping along the wall as he reemerges, with music then resuming.Knight, p.49 The episode "Home" featured an electric cello and woodwinds that were used to create a big emotional tone, with Lennertz feeling that the final cue "became a very cinematic musical moment".Knight, p.59 In order to fit in with the episode's ambiance in "Asylum", Gruska made the music very subtle, Lennertz feeling that it was "creepy-crawly" like "a snake sneaking along the ground".Knight, p.61 To match up with the theme of traveling evangelists in "Faith", Lennertz used a small 76-key piano that was damaged and slightly out of tune. Small items such as coins and paper clips were attached to the keys in order to create a rattling noise, making the piano seem "old and crappy". Lennertz then played "bluesy gospel music" during the sermon scenes involving the Reapers. Because he felt that there was also a "snake-oil salesman vibe" to the episode, he also included an Armenian duduk due to its association with snake charming.Knight, p.73 Due to the humor used in the episode "Hell House", the score had a much lighter tone, which Lennertz described as a "plucky sound". For example, music for the scenes involving the "professional" ghost hunters used percussion instruments to slightly mimic the Mission: Impossible theme. For the episode "Provenance", which featured a possible love interest for Sam, traditional woodwinds were used for emotion and romance.

However, recurring characters often have certain musical themes attached to them. For the pilot episode, Lennertz used a piano solo with discordant notes and reverberations to create a "really nasty" sounding echo effect for the scenes involving Mary and Jess' deaths at the hands of the demon Azazel.Knight, p.21 Lennertz was able to return to this in "Nightmare", including it when Sam realizes the connection he shares with the demon and Max.Knight, p.78 The episode "Dead in the Water" was the first to use what Kripke feels is the "Winchester emotion", which involves sorrowful and reverberating piano notes on top of strings. It is used when the brothers make connections with other characters. As well, there are variants of a guitar line that are used as the "humorous brothers' theme" in many episodes, including "Pilot" and "Hell House", when the brothers are having fun.Knight, pp.91–92 With Gruska writing Meg Master's theme for "Scarecrow", Lennertz reused the music in "Shadow" but "took the scary up a notch" in order to imply to the viewers that she is both "more important and more devilish" than the other creatures in the episode.Knight, p.89 For the penultimate episode "Salvation", Lennertz brought in musical elements used throughout the season.Knight, p.113
In addition to the score, the series makes use of rock songs, with most being selected from Kripke's private collection. Among the many bands featured in the first season are AC/DC, Blue Öyster Cult, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynrd Skynyrd, and Bad Company. Rock songs are also usually featured in "The Road So Far" montages at the beginning of select episodes that recap previous events. This was first done with the episode "Salvation", in which the entire season was recapped to Kansas' "Carry On Wayward Son", with the subsequent episode—the season finale—using Triumph's "Fight the Good Fight".

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<section id="47298" fatherid="47293" title="Effects" lv="" priority="5" level="2">
In order to depict the supernatural aspects of the show, the series makes use of visual, special, and make-up effects, as well as stuntwork. While various companies were contracted for the Los Angeles-based production of the pilot episode, subsequent episodes being filmed in Vancouver required a new crew to be hired. The company Entity FX performed the visual effects for the pilot episode, with Ivan Hayden taking over as visual effects supervisor for the rest of the season.Knight, p.144 The crew was required to design all of the external airplane shots in "Phantom Traveler" from scratch using computer-generated imagery (CGI).Knight, p.34 As well, they created a time-manipulation effect for the titular villain in "Bloody Mary" by altering the capture frame rate of the camera.Knight, p.37 Randy Shymkiw acted as special effects supervisor, and the department found the episode "Asylum" to be quite a challenge, as one scene has the vengeful spirit collapse into dust. They made casts of the character's torso and hands, and had to find the perfect mixture in order to have the casts remain solid but disintegrate when needed.Knight, pp.60–61
The visual and special effects departments often overlap, such as in Mary Winchester's death scene in the pilot episode. Because the character is pinned to the ceiling and burned to death, actress Samantha Smith was required to lie down on a floor with two propane pipes spouting fire approximately five feet away from her on either side. For the actual burning of the character, a fake body was ignited on a fake ceiling.Knight, p.20 When the burning of the titular creature in the episode "Wendigo" was not sufficient using special effects, a wire-frame mannequin wrapped in steel wool was then burned, with the scene being composited into the original footage to draw out the wendigo's death. To make it appear that the Hook Man is invisible as he scrapes his hook along the wall for one of the scenes in "Hook Man", a wire was placed inside plaster walls and then pulled out, the wire later being removed in post-production.Knight, p.48 In the episode "Bugs", the cast had to be sealed in a small area with hundreds of bees, and were stung despite wearing special costumes with cuffs sewn into their sleeves and pants.Knight, pp.50–51 However, the bees did not show up well on camera, so most of them that appear in the final version were added with CGI.Knight, pp.52–53
In addition to the digital effects, the series also features stuntwork. Lou Bollo took over as stunt coordinator after the pilot episode,Knight, p.41 and big scenes often involved the actors, though stunt doubles were used for certain moments. For the final lake scene in "Dead in the Water", in which Dean must save a boy after he is pulled underwater by a vengeful spirit, Jensen Ackles had to hold onto the young actor as they were pulled down ten feet into the water by divers.Knight, p.29 The actor portraying the vengeful spirit had to wear a wetsuit under his costume due to the extended period of time he was required to spend in the lake.Knight, p.30 Ackles and Jared Padalecki performed most of the fight scene featured in "Skin", and only took four hours to learn the fight choreography. However, stunt doubles were brought in for the scenes in which they are thrown into bookshelves and through a coffee table.Knight, pp.42–43 For the episode "Shadow", rather than filming at the exterior location for the scene of Meg Masters being thrown out of a window to the street below, it was decided to not depict the impact, instead having the Winchesters look down at her body after the landing. Thus, filming of it was allowed to take place in the studio using a body double.Knight, pp.88–89
Throughout filming, various scenes make use of all three effects departments. For scenes involving the floating, fiery spirit of Mary Winchester in "Home", a small and slim stuntman wearing a fire suit was lit on fire and raised into the air on wires. For the spirit's transition into Mary's normal form, Smith stood in front of a black background with wind blowing onto her, and the two scenes were later combined in post-production.Knight, pp.56–57 Many aspects went into filming the crash scene in the season finale "Devil's Trap". For the interior scenes used in the first moments of the Impala being hit, Jeffrey Dean Morgan was required to sit in the car, which was in front of a blue screen. A sheet of Lexan was placed very close to the passenger-side window for protection, and the window was then shattered. At the same time, cannons beneath the frame blew out pieces of rubber glass to give the appearance that the window exploded onto him.Knight, p.121 For scenes of the actual crash, the car and truck were cabled together by a winch, and driven toward one another. The intention was for a cannon to launch the Impala into the air at the collision point, and then barrel roll as the truck drives away. However, the car got stuck in the truck's bumper, causing the cannon to fail and the truck to go out of control. The truck began to jackknife, but the stuntman driving it saved it from flipping. The mistake ended up being beneficial for the scene, as Kripke and director Manners found it to look "pretty real".Knight, pp.121–122

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<section id="47299" fatherid="0" title="Reception" lv="" priority="-4" level="1">
After the first four episodes of Supernatural aired in 2005, the WB decided to pick up the series for a full season of 22 episodes. During those first episodes, the series was ranked third in males aged 18–34 and 12–34. It also posted an increase of 73% in males aged 18–49 from the year before, although it only gained 4% in total viewers, and retained 91% of viewers from its lead-in, Gilmore Girls. Supernatural's first season averaged about 3.81 million American viewers. According to Special Forces Soldier Master Sergeant Kevin Wise at a 2007 Supernatural convention, the DVDs most requested by armed forces personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan were the first two seasons of the series.
The first season of the series received mixed reviews from critics. Tanner Stransky of Entertainment Weekly gave the first season a B, saying the show "comes off as weekly installments of a horror movie series", but that "Adding to the show's cred are the '67 Chevy Impala the boys rumble around in and their kick-ass soundtrack". Tom Gliatto of People Weekly ranked the show at number five on his list of the Best TV Shows of 2005. Peter Schorn of IGN gave the season a score of 7 out of 10. While he found the self-enclosed episodes to be "passably entertaining", he enjoyed the story arcs introduced later in the season. Schorn also deemed the "stormy relationship between Sam and his father" to be "compelling", and noted that the lead stars have "good chemistry together". Rick Porter of Zap2it felt that while the season had its "share of emotional moments", it also "scared the pants off" of viewers "surprisingly well". He also believed that it did a good job at balancing mythology episodes with self-enclosed ones, comparing it to the early seasons of The X-Files. However, Eric Neigher of Slant Magazine highly criticized the self-enclosed episodes for being "almost totally linear, without any B- or C-stories", and felt that the episodes were mainly "watered-down rehashes of classic weird fiction or popular urban legends".
Work on the pilot episode garnered two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations in 2006, composer Christopher Lennertz being nominated in the category of "Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Dramatic Underscore)" and the sound editors receiving a nomination for "Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series". The pilot episode also brought in a nomination for a Golden Reel Award in the category of "Best Sound Editing in Television: Short Form – Sound Effects and Foley", with work on the episode "Salvation" gaining the same nomination in 2007. Additionally, the season was nominated for a Saturn Award in the category of "Best Network Television Series". For the Teen Choice Awards, the series was nominated for "TV – Choice Breakout Show" and Jensen Ackles for "TV – Choice Breakout Star".

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<section id="47300" fatherid="0" title="DVD release" lv="" priority="5" level="1">
The first season of Supernatural was released as a six-disc Region 1 DVD box set on September 5, 2006, three weeks before the premiere of the second season. The cover art incorporated a stylized shot of the Winchester brothers in front of their car. Including all 22 episodes of the first season, the set also featured DVD extras such as episode commentaries, deleted scenes, bloopers, featurettes, and a DVD-ROM sneak-peek at the second season. The season was ranked No. 14 in DVD sales for its week of release, and slipped to No. 28 the following week, with cumulative sales during those two weeks coming to 150,376 sets for $5,264,942. The set was later packaged with the first season of Smallville as a "Season One Starter Pack", which was released on September 18, 2007. For Region 2, the season was split into two parts, being released on May 22, 2006, and August 21, 2006; the complete set was released on October 2, 2006. The season was also released in Region 4 on September 6, 2006, though the special features were removed. A "Special Collector's Edition" was later released on October 2, 2007, with the extras restored.
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<section id="47301" fatherid="0" title="References" lv="" priority="-6" level="1">
<section id="47302" fatherid="47301" title="Bibliography" lv="" priority="-1" level="2">
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<section id="47303" fatherid="47301" title="Footnotes" lv="" priority="-2" level="2">
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<section id="47304" fatherid="0" title="External links" lv="" priority="-7" level="1">
Category:Television seasons
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