Okaaaaaay ...
May. 1st, 2014 01:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dizzojayWell I settled down last night to watch the long-awaited 'backdoor pilot' and, well ...
The simple fact is that by the end of the Supernatural pilot, I would have sold my first-born son (assuming, of course, that I actually had one) to protect Sam and Dean.
Midway through ‘Bloodlines’ my thoughts were wandering so much that I became fixated about whether I’d left the empties out for the milkman to collect this morning – to the extent that I had to get up and go and check!
I’m a little bit at a loss to understand what demographic the producers were aiming for when they created this; surely they can’t think that this would appeal to the greater fandom?
I felt like I was watching some glitzy soap, with the shallow plastic characters you expect of such a format; Barbie and Ken meets Hammer House of Horror, and that is totally not what Supernatural is about.
Supernatural is gritty, it’s dark, it’s angsty, it’s dirty, it’s filled with sacrifice and despair and a love so profound it’s physically painful to experience and that’s what we adore. I accept that a spin-off, naturally, has to be different to the original, but this was different at such a fundamental level, I may as well have been watching Extreme Couponing for all the connection I felt it had with our show.
Supernatural has also been gifted with a succession of fabulously well-written characters. Characters with great backstory, with depth and substance, played by gifted actors who brought that substance very much to life, any one of which could have raised the bar immensely on such a bland showing.
But ultimately, I think any spin-off of Supernatural is facing an uphill struggle for one simple reason:
Jared and Jensen.
Jared and Jensen ARE Supernatural. Like apples to an apple pie; take out the apples and what you have left is a crust.
I was so determined to keep an open mind, but I have to concede that what I watched last night was a crust.
I wonder if the milkman’s taken the empties yet?
The simple fact is that by the end of the Supernatural pilot, I would have sold my first-born son (assuming, of course, that I actually had one) to protect Sam and Dean.
Midway through ‘Bloodlines’ my thoughts were wandering so much that I became fixated about whether I’d left the empties out for the milkman to collect this morning – to the extent that I had to get up and go and check!
I’m a little bit at a loss to understand what demographic the producers were aiming for when they created this; surely they can’t think that this would appeal to the greater fandom?
I felt like I was watching some glitzy soap, with the shallow plastic characters you expect of such a format; Barbie and Ken meets Hammer House of Horror, and that is totally not what Supernatural is about.
Supernatural is gritty, it’s dark, it’s angsty, it’s dirty, it’s filled with sacrifice and despair and a love so profound it’s physically painful to experience and that’s what we adore. I accept that a spin-off, naturally, has to be different to the original, but this was different at such a fundamental level, I may as well have been watching Extreme Couponing for all the connection I felt it had with our show.
Supernatural has also been gifted with a succession of fabulously well-written characters. Characters with great backstory, with depth and substance, played by gifted actors who brought that substance very much to life, any one of which could have raised the bar immensely on such a bland showing.
But ultimately, I think any spin-off of Supernatural is facing an uphill struggle for one simple reason:
Jared and Jensen.
Jared and Jensen ARE Supernatural. Like apples to an apple pie; take out the apples and what you have left is a crust.
I was so determined to keep an open mind, but I have to concede that what I watched last night was a crust.
I wonder if the milkman’s taken the empties yet?
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no subject
Date: 2014-05-01 09:19 pm (UTC)And like you, I found the characters shallow; I simply didn't care about them.
I just don't think I'm ever going to be able to reconcile anything with 'Supernatural' if it doesn't involve the J's. :(
no subject
Date: 2014-05-02 04:22 am (UTC)With only one episode new characters might be a little shallow, of course, in the pilot Dean and Sam were already very multi-layered characters and became even more layered in following episodes. I would hope that given time these characters would be able to develop into strong, multi-dimensional characters. I did like David. I found him charismatic and love his nonchalance and "in your face" kind of attitude in regards to being a shifter. Ennis, though, he would have to grow on me. I didn't care as much for him from the get go.
If the show did get picked up, I do think they need to drop Supernatural from the title and just label it Bloodlines, or something else altogether.