13th of September, 2005.
Maybe not the most auspicious of dates to the majority of people, but to the ‘SPN Family’ (what the fandom refers to itself as as) this was the day that it all started. The roller coaster that has been going strong for the last thirteen years and is about to go into its fourteenth season. This was the day Supernatural premiered. When Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles (Sam and Dean Winchester respectively) first started filming the show, up in Vancouver, Canada, they were both single twenty somethings but now, all these years later, they’re both married (Fun Fact #1: Jared to Genevieve Cortese who played Ruby the demon in the fourth season) with children and Supernatural is still going strong.
So if you’re wanting to get into the mood and celebrate Supernatural’s thirteenth birthday, here are some things you could do…
Eat and Drink Appropriately
No Supernatural party should be held without the right food and drink and there’s no shortage of stand out items that you could serve. A main meal option could depend on whether your a Dean fan up is a choice depending on whether your a Dean or Sam fan predominantly. For the meat eaters there’s the Dean route, time and again it’s been established that his favourite choice at a diner is a Bacon Cheeseburger, extra onions and often with Chilli Fries on the side. Just maybe don’t eat your very messy fries on the bed of your younger sibling or significant other as it could lead to a full on prank war between the two of you. Don’t believe me? Check out the episode ‘Tall Tales’, the fifteenth episode of season two, in which Dean did just that! Hunting must use up a lot of calories though because no matter how much Dean eats he’s still kicking ass just as much as he did back in the early days.
If burgers aren’t your thing though there’s always Sam’s choices of a more healthier diet. Sam seems to love salad just as much as Dean loves burgers, and even though his brother despairs of this fact it’s actually helped Sam out on occasion. In ‘How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters’, the ninth episode of the seventh season, where the big bad guys are the Leviathans – ancient creatures that were created by God many eons ago, Sam chooses a salad over Dean’s choice of a Turducken Sandwich, a burger combined from turkey, duck and chicken. Turns out the Leviathans have been messing with the food, intending to enslave all humanity and Dean ends stoned and then witnesses his burger go all… goopy. Yuck!
No matter what your choice of a main course, I think it’s clear what dessert should be. Pie! It’s an absolutely given that Dean Winchester loves pie, although often ends but we’re willing to bet it’s not steak and kidney. It’s never been established what flavour is Dean’s favourite but you can’t go wrong with cherry or pecan in my opinion.
Of course… there is one other dessert option, as demonstrated by Dean in ‘Sam, Interrupted’, the eleventh episode of season five…
Drink… responsibly?
Actually… I can’t in good conscience advise you to drink like a Winchester, or any of their companions, as I’m sure you’d all like to keep your livers as healthy as possible. But for those who like a tipple, Beer is the main drink of choice, however whiskey makes a repeated appearance especially when one of the brothers is mourning the other, which happens more than you’d expect from any other show. Such as in the season finale of season nine, ‘Do You Believe in Miracles’, when Sam is forlornly drinking after Dean’s apparent fate.
Crowley, the King of Hell played by the amazing Mark Sheppard who has so many fan favourite credits to his name, also favours whiskey, with his favourite brand being “Craig. Aged 30 years at least.” However a bottle of Glencraig of that age could set you back anything from £200 and up! Maybe just stick with the six packs for now.
Rock out!
You can’t celebrate Supernatural without some serious classic rock tunes belting out – preferably from the cassette player in your ‘67 Chevy Impala although owning such a gas guzzler here in the UK might not be so practical with all our twisty turvy smaller roads. If you’re in the driver’s seat you get to choose what to listen to while the “shotgun shuts their cakehole”.
There are a number of Supernatural inspired playlists on sites such as Spotify that other users have made but there are some songs that you just can’t miss out on. In ‘The Monster at the End of This Book’, the eighteenth episode of season four, Dean says that Led Zeppelin are his number one band and his favourite track is a tie between Ramble On and Traveling Riverside Blues, so they have to make the list. (Fun Fact#2: Led Zepplin have never made it into the soundtrack of an episode as yet though, as securing the rights has been too expensive for the show’s budget. Maybe it’ll finally happen for the 300th episode?) This episode was the first appearance of Chuck Shurley (Rob Benedict) who we find out in season eleven is actually… *spoilers* God, himself! Rob Benedict fronts the band Louden Swain, whose music has featured in an episode and the band plays at every Supernatural Convention that’s run by Creation Entertainment over in the US and Canada. Louden Swain are well worth a check out!
AC/DC, Bob Seger, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Metallica have all featured in the show. And the 200th episode, ‘Fan Fiction’, was a musical episode… of a sort. No playlist would be complete without the Kansas classic, Carry On My Wayward Son. It’s been featured in every season, specifically every finale from the second season onwards, and is very much the unofficial Winchester anthem.
And lastly, using Dean’s words, even “Bon Jovi rocks, on occasion”.
Hunt some ghosts!
Salting and burning, a tried and true method for dealing with ghosts and vengeful spirits, is a staple part of a Hunter’s life but you probably shouldn’t go around throwing salt everywhere and burning bones and the like unless you want to get in trouble with the police. Instead, why not go on a ghost walk or take part in a paranormal investigation? Chad Lindberg, who plays the mullet wearing roadhouse member Ash in five episodes, is a real life paranormal investigator and you can watch some of his adventures on You Tube.
Of course if you are going out to investigate haunted locations you’d better hope you’re not a part of the Ghostfacers. This rather ill prepared team got stuck in a haunted house in the episode ‘Ghostfacers’, the thirteenth in season three, and one of their team died a horrible death. Thankfully the Winchester Brothers were also trapped in the house and were able to save the day, much to the chagrin of the Ghostfacers who wanted to do it themselves. The bumbling team would reappear several times in the show and also had their own web series which ran for ten episodes.
Binge watching
Of course if you don’t want to go out and chase down any ghosts or other monsters there’s always the option of having a Supernatural marathon in your own home. As of the end of Season Thirteen you’re looking at 287 episodes which works out as a running time of roughly eleven days and twenty-three hours. That’s a whole lot of wholesome Winchester entertainment to indulge in! And if that’s just too much there’s always picking your favourites to watch! Keep an eye here for future articles in which we pick top fives from the various seasons, and check out the one already written for season one!
I hope this has helped you plan out an amazing Supernatural Day!
Maybe let us know what you got up to in the comments!
God i love you!!! I sure drunk like Dean last night!!! I just need to find me some pie right now….
Glad you liked it Ronnie!! Go find pie!