the earlier seasons of SPN were so dark, gritty and had that noir vibe to it. The old town mysteries and dark hidden lore of it all added to the overall vibe! and also definitely the wonderful portrayal of the characters by the actors. Jensen and Jared are PHENOMENAL performers. I personally feel the writing and the plot got lost and became slightly purposeless after season 5/6.
I WILL FORVER MOURN the loss of Film cameras and loathe the hyper-digitisation where everything looks artificial nowadays. bring me back the pacific northwest aesthetic of a dark gloomy monsoon ridden place with the tinted blues and greens, with a dash of warm brown😩💜

I really wanted them to keep the urban legend aspect. Figuring out how to kill a ghost by its cause of death and not just a detective case where they try to find a body or an object. Plus, the show was reduced to Vampires, werewolves, ghosts and witches in the later seasons with the one-ep cases, and i really hated that. The urban legends really made it stand out. Also, I feel like the lighting in the earlier seasons made the monsters scarier, unlike the later seasons. Great video!

Eric Kripke's 5 year masterplan for Supernatural (seasons 1 - 5) was peak for US TV in the mid to late 2000s

That oldschool gritty horror vibe looks so good. I wish more tv shows would use it nowadays

had it ended on s5 it would've been a timeless classic

The later seasons definitely felt less horror centric and more fantastical.  Less focus on spooky monsters and more on expansive mythology and large scale threats.  Mood was lost, and it definitely feels like network and financial pressures, for sure.  The X-Files became such a more popular and financially viable show to continue its style from start to finish, but CW shows were never as big as shows on other networks.  This, they were more restrictive on cost.

Sam and Dean's existence felt so liminal in the beginning. Two guys with a shaky past who never stick around or have one routine job to do. They spend all their time traveling and seeing small towns that nobody knows about, and meet people who they connect with quickly and then leave. The environment and circumstances were very disconnected so it felt small, and yet like only one part of something huge. That made the reoccurring stuff so special and important. Bobby, the roadhouse, Jo and Ellen, Jodie... They pulled it off phenomenally.

Kim Manners, who worked on seasons 1 through 5 also worked on The X-Files and applied their expertise from that series to Supernatural making for a more premium tv experience. The visual language changed because Kim Manners died

This video is a love letter to this show

I’m happy the boys got their bag for 15 consecutive years - that’s impressive for a non sitcom/ “Young and Restless” type drama. However, the first 1-5 seasons were PEAK. The story was well done, and after that, the story struggles to find its purpose and never fully settled back into peak TV series in seasons 6+.

Before I watch the video, going solely off Thumbnail and Title: It went from gritty movie to daytime soap opera. Andl, personally, the last season looks like a youtube original series (derogatory)

I didn't understand why there wasn't a Supernatural movie when lesser series' got their own movies.

This is why the three first seasons will always be my favorites. Their atmosphere was simply perfect. When I discovered the show, I immediately fell in love with it because it felt like watching an horror movie, but with the advantages that imply a tv show; the possibility to truly dive into the universe and the ambience, creating its own entire mythology and lores, while at the same time growing attached to the main characters as we slowly explore their stories and personnalities until we feel like a part of the Winchester's family. As a big tv show and horror movies fan, that was a dream come true.

I genuilely don't understand when so called fans of the show say that when they rewatch it, they skip the three first seasons because they don't like the monster of the week episodes. I mean, why are you here then? It's what makes the show so special, it's the soul of the show. Plus, even when it changed, monster of the week episodes still represented at least half of each season so...

Even though I'm not a big fan of the last 4 seasons, and way before that it grew less good along the years, mainly due to budget problems and the fact that they kept changing the show runners, it'll always be my favorite show. Between Jensen and Jared 's chemistry, the amazing characters, the humor perfectly balanced with the darker aspect of the show, how the story uniquely and brillantly revolves around makeshift family basically consisted of freaks making it the perfect place for lost souls like me who never really had a family of their own and never felt like they belonged anywhere, their ability of self-deprication, how they oftenly break the fourth wall or include the fans as a part of the show, the dedication of the entire crew along the years and though even through all the times the channel put a stroke in their wheel etc... Yes it lost a part of its essence, because they got forced to make some very hard sacrifices, but they still managed to make it one of the most epic tv show of history and that is incredible.

Anyway thank you for all the work you put into this love letter to the show, it was amazing.

Digital has made them all lazy.
"Oh, we'll just fix it in post or whatever..."

It's why movie and tv show quality has drastically decreased. Instead of trying to get it right the first time, they just say they can fix it later. But you can't fix that atmosphere in the moment, and the actors can only do so much to pretend they're in a dark and gloomy place when it's actually lit the fuck up...

Seasons one to three are the best of Supernatural. So dark and gritty. Wonderful.

When I tell people how much better TV used to look compared to today my go-to examples are The X-Files (a true masterclass in television cinematography), Twin Peaks, and earlier Supernatural.

It's nice to see someone talk about the look of a television program, people talk about the looks of movies a lot but tend to focus more on writing when talking about television.

So adding fog to a scene is also a compositional element in setting up shots. If you pull all the color out of a shot its just grays values. Black and White. If you have a dark character standing on a dark street then throwing fog behind him gives you a lighter gray value to see the silhouette against otherwise its just black on black. The fog is a way to literally lighten and fade out all the elements in the back ground so you can actually see the characters in the shots.

The first 5 seasons were in another reality to the later 10 seasons

ugggg early supernatural you will always be loved