Ooh im all bronze! Could it be, ratings are showing up in the left hand column? it can't be working ...
Ooh im all bronze! Could it be, ratings are showing up in the left hand column? it can't be working - can it?!. All r/r/c's are much appreciated; I'm saving up for next year so can do w/ all the money I can get!! RIP Holly
Member since:27.07.2006
Reviews:237
Members who trust:88
I decided to buy this a month or so ago, to give myself something to watch over the summer when I'm off and there's nothing much to watch on TV. I'd heard about the TV show but I'd never managed to watch it, as it had been (and still is, I believe) shown on ITV2 on a Sunday night which clashed with my favourite show, 24. When I lost the channel that 24 is shown on, Sky One, because I'm a Virgin Media customer, somebody recommended that I try watching this show as an alternative (which I'm still not too sure on, read on) to 24, however I'd started watching a different show at the same time and anyway, basically I never got around to watching it, so I decided in June that I'd purchase this DVD box set so I could watch the whole of the first series and find out if I particularly enjoyed it and wanted to follow the show.
One of the reasons why I decided to buy the full series boxset, rather than say volume 1 of the first series, which contains the first 11 episodes rather than all 22 episodes, is because financially it didn't add up... at least back then in early June, series 1 volume 1 cost on average the same or very little under what I paid for the full series boxset, so I figured your getting a better deal buying the full collection. I'm someone who always wants the better deal and with series 1 volume 1 selling on Ebay for as much as £15, whereas Play.com offered the full collection with free delivery for £17.99, thats why I bought this set. Anyway, on to more details about the show itself...
Supernatural is a teen horror/drama and yep, you guessed it, supernatural/paranormal type show. Think Buffy but with two guys, or even a darker version of Charmed, at least thats what it reminded me of. Supernatural is all about two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who are searching for their missing father, that is announced as being missing in the first episode. Everywhere they go, they find evidence of supernatural or paranomal activity and have to save the day by tracking and killing it or otherwise stopping it from harming people. Usually they hear
in the papers on on the TV about some freak accident or otherwise somebody having died in suspicious circumstances, which leads them to investigate. They know about paranormal and supernatural activity after having been brought up by their dad, who taught them to hunt supernatural beings. Their dad had been hunting evil for 22 years before he disappeared and their mother was killed by supernatural forces as well, which is what led their dad to fight the forces of evil.
Each episode contains a self-containing storyline, for the most part, so you don't have to follow it all through in order necessarily. In this series, some of the stories or supernatural beings that the Winchester brothers come up against include Reapers, a Woman in White, Phantoms, Wendigos, Demonic Shape Shifters, Ghouls and even Malevolant Scarecrows, of all things! alot of the types of supernatural beings dealt with in the show are ones that we hear about in folklore and that come from urban legends.
This show works pretty well as a DVD set, in that you don't feel like you have to rush through the whole series too quickly to remember whats going on and keep up with the storylines throughout the series, as like I've said each episode does contain a self-containing story, with the back story of their missing father rumbling on throughout (but not so much mention of it on most episodes). You could dip in and out of different episodes to watch what interests you, without confusing yourself too much about whats going on, which is a good thing.
There are some creepy elements in each episode but I wouldn't say that, at least to me anyway its not really all that scary. For younger teenagers, some footage may be a bit creepy, I suppose I'd say its more of a creepy show than a scary show, it is rated 15 due to 'strong vioence and horror', according to the back of the DVD box. Yes there are violent parts within each episode and there are some parts of some episodes that were a bit unnerving but otherwise, it seemed a bit predictable and for the most part not exactly 'jump out of your seat' kind of material. I would say that if you were a Buffy fan and if you've seen that show through from start to end, like me, then this may seem similar and so predictable. I wouldn't worry about letting older teenagers watching this but I guess its right with the 15 rating, younger children could get pretty frightened by it. Its more spooky/creepy rather than genuinely scary, in my opinion.
Okay the two brothers Dean (played by Jensen Ackles) and Sam (played by Jared Padalecki) are, lets say, nice to the eye for us ladies to look at and some of the stories in this series are interesting but I can't really seem to shake off the feeling that the whole thing is a bit too predictable.
I would say that if there's nothing else on TV and you have it or if its on TV, then check it out but otherwise I wouldn't really bother. I know the show has plenty of fans and I'm not saying that its no good, its just that I guess I've seen plenty of this sort of thing and it did feel quite alot like a teen oriented show, whereas I guess I'd prefer more of an adult show. You can tell its teen oriented with the two brothers being adored by many teenagers im sure and also the rock music played at certain times usually at the end of episodes, trying to give it an 'edge' I suppose. The special effects are about average I'd say, I've seen similar things in the other teen oriented shows I've mentioned.
Also I wouldn't really agree with the guy who said it makes for a good alternative to 24 but there again, I guess it depends on your tastes and if you've seen any of the similar teen shows (Buffy, Angel, Charmed etc.) all of which I've seen alot of, in the past. So take these opinions/advice from someone who has seen almost all of Charmed and all of the Buffy and Angel series when I was younger... I suppose there is an element of well what did I expect? but I still feel like they could have maybe made it a bit more unpredictable...
Back to the DVD side of things and one real downside in my opinion, is the lack of bonus/special features. Basically in the boxset you get all 22 episodes that made up the first series/season and subtitles in English and Dutch but thats about all. There are no commentaries, deleted scenes or featurettes, none of that. I've heard you get alot more bonus features on the region 1, American version, so for some reason they've omitted that material from this version, which is a shame.
The DVDs are seperated into two different sets, Volume 1 (containing 3 boxes with obviously 3 DVDs, equating to the first 11 episodes) and Volume 2 (again containing 3 boxes, equating to the last 11 episodes) kept together in one cardboard case with the front cover and info. on the back. Each episode lasts about 43 minutes, with the show lasting an hour on TV (the extra time being taken up by ad breaks). Also something that somewhat annoyed me with the DVDs (though this might have been shown at the start of every episode on TV, I never watched it before I got the DVDs so I don't really know) is that every episode started with the same 'Previously on Supernatural...' line and it did a recap on what basically happened on the first episode, which gets annoying when your shown it again by episode 10! thats when I use the DVD remotes fast forward button...
So really its up to you, if this sort of show really appeals to you, then it maybe is worth a watch. ITV2 is now playing episodes from the second series I believe on Sunday nights and its probably repeated at other times but if you watch it and really enjoy it, considering you can buy this whole series set on DVD for under £20, it might well be worth buying it just to catch up on the show. Otherwise, save yourself the money... I'd say there is a warning that it might seem a bit predictable but I can't speak for everyone, some people will love it, others won't be so keen. If you already follow and enjoy the show then you can get this at a good price and ok there aren't any extras included but its probably fair enough given the pretty good price it retails for (shop around for a good price).
I've said that I didn't recommend it but I found it difficult to decicde whether to recommend it or not, really its up to you, depending on whether the description I've provided of the show sounds like its something you'd enjoy, if your into that kind of thing and your not looking for a show that has necessarily greatly complicated stories (which I don't believe this show has), then this could well be the show for you. I just felt like for myself personally, perhaps I was expecting too much but I've not enjoyed it as much as I hoped I would and overall I have found the show to be a bit too predictable and similar to other teen shows in this genre. For current fans of the show, I would recommend the DVD set if you can buy it for about the price I did (£17.99 with free delivery from Play.com) as I think thats a good price for what you get, its not bad getting a whole series for under £20 but the show itself? I wouldn't outrightly recommend it, if your like me you'll probably find it pretty predictable and not all that great, unless of course you just want to stare at the two main actors, who play the brothers, since they are somewhat easy on the eye!
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Production Year: 1979 - Horror - Director: John Carpenter - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: John Houseman, Janet Leigh, Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, James Canning
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Jul 25th, 2007
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