When Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) were little boys, they had a very traumatic incident happen. One night, as baby Sam was put to bed, something came into their house and killed their mom. This wasn't any ordinary murder, though. Whatever did it wasn't human ... which was obvious since she was pinned to the ceiling of Sam's room for Sam, Dean and their dad John (Jeffrey Dean Morgan recently featured in The Losers and Watchmen) to see. Before the night was out, not only was their mother dead, but their house was on fire, and John had resolved himself to hunting down whatever killed his wife.
Fast-forward to the present and Sam seems to be a well-adjusted college student getting ready to interview for various law schools. What none of his friends know is that he spent most of his life running around the country with his brother and father hunting various supernatural creatures, that is, until Sam decided he wanted to try and live a normal life. Well, everything was going fine until Dean walks into his house one day and explains that their father has gone missing. The two set off to find their dad and end up on a series of hunts that take them from one side of the U.S. to the other, all while driving Dean's sleek black 1967 Impala and listening to the best of Mullet Rock (which also serves as the series' background music).
While the main driving force of this season is the boys' hunt for their father, they end up picking up quite a few supernatural incidents on their own (with the help of their father's journal) and accumulate quite a few "monster of the week" episodes between the episodes that push the overall plot. These adventures include being hunted by a wendigo, the Hook Man and Bloody Mary. As you can tell, this series takes to urban legends and American folklore like The X-Files did aliens and science fiction. While these one-off episodes are good, and its nice to see a whole story from beginning to end in less than an hour (as opposed to shows like Lost that have a strong, series-long arc), the best parts of the season are undoubtedly the ones that delve into Dean and Sam as characters and advance the story just a bit further.
These major episodes include "Nightmare" where Sam's visions become much stronger and he starts seeing people being killed in his sleep. "Nightmare" is really interesting, because we also learn that the Winchesters aren't the only ones to run into the creature that killed their mother (a revelation that becomes important in "Salvation" towards the end of the season). The episode "Home" brings Sam and Dean back to their childhood home when they get tipped off that something strange is happening in that house again. This episode guest stars Loretta Devine (whom I remember best from Boston Public and Eli Stone).
A particularly amusing episode is "Hell House" where Sam and Dean travel to Richardson, Texas to investigate a haunted house, but when all their readings turn up empty, they soon suspect it's all a hoax. That is, until they run into two guys that run a website devoted to ghost hunting, and suddenly the previously peaceful old house becomes an active site. What's great about this episode is the two characters, Ed Zeddmore (A.J. Buckley) and Harry Spangler (Travis Wester), show back up in Season Three. As a side note, any Ghostbuster fans out there should find their names a nice nod to the classic sci-fi/comedy movie.
As for the Blu-ray release's special features, this boxed set has everything the DVD version contained like commentaries and two featurettes, but it also includes an interactive map of the U.S. where you can get behind-the-scenes info about each episode, as well as a video of a panel the cast and creators of Supernatural were on before the first season finished airing. This hour-plus long video should be enjoyable to anyone interested in the show. The group talks about how each one came onto the show, as well as how creator Eric Kripke pitched the idea. This particular special feature wraps up in a Q&A session with the audience. One of the two featurettes from the DVD talks about the creation of the show and how the idea of "Han Solo and Luke Skywalker driving around America and investigating Urban Legends" came about. The other follows the two stars through a typical day of shooting.
Usually, the transfer to Blu-ray and the increase in resolution does a lot to improve the visual quality of a series or movie. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case with Supernatural: The Complete First Season. While a good bit of the show looks good, there are several times when the heavy use of green screen or CG becomes readily apparent. There were several times when the brothers were driving in the Impala and you could see the heavy outlines around their heads where the green-screened backdrop outside of the windows used to be. Another noticeable issue that doesn't translate well to Blu-ray was during the episode "Dead Man's Blood" where the boys have to face a nest of vampires. At one point, one of the vamps extends his teeth and the effect is just overly cheesy - something that isn't quite as bad on the DVD version of the episode.
I'm a little on the fence on this one. I really enjoy the series and it has a strong following, but I just don't see enough benefit in the Blu-ray version to warrant a re-purchase for anyone who already has the original DVD release. Now, if you haven't picked up the DVD one yet, then yes, if it's in the budget, the BD version is the one to buy because you get all of the benefits of the DVD version, plus a few extra special features.
