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Kiliano Ratha
Many people got rid of their DVD collections long ago, though honestly, I could never. Still, there's not much reason for most of us to dig them out these days. However, "Supernatural" season 1 is one experience better had with the now antiquated media format, rather than a steaming platform. Why, you ask? Well, it's about that kickass soundtrack.
When it comes to the first season of "Supernatural" you'd be much better off shelling out a few bucks for DVDs than you would hitting "play" on Netflix, or any other streaming service for that matter. It turns out DVDs are the only way to watch season 1 as it was intended to be seen: with the original music. Pretty much all the music on Netflix has been replaced, certainly all of the tracks you know and love. Whether it's your first or 50th time watching the series, believe me, this is not the way to go.
"Supernatural" stars Rob Benedict (Chuck/God) and Richard Speight Jr. (Trickster/Gabriel) have a pretty great podcast called "Supernatural Then and Now," in which director and executive producer Phil Sgriccia explained what happened with the music rights for season 1. He said that though none of them realized it at the time, in year one of the show they only had the music rights for DVDs and television broadcasting. In subsequent years, the deal would be redone to include streaming, but in 2005, no one was really considering such things. It's unclear how much this had to do with the first year of "Supernatural" airing on The WB, which became The CW before season 2, but it would certainly make sense if that was a factor. Sgriccia said that even the digital versions of the episodes, such as the ones on iTunes, don't feature the original music either.
Music has been part of the DNA of "Supernatural" from its inception, with creator Eric Kripke having spoken about its relevance on many occasions. During the commentary on the "Supernatural" pilot Kripke discussed how vital his music choices were to the story he was trying to tell. It was incredibly important to him that the music he listened to be featured on the series, rather than the music that was typical of the network at that time. Apparently, his friends call him "Old Man Kripke" because he only listens to classic rock.
It's probably also worth noting that classic rock meant something different in 2005 than it does in 2022. Sure, I bristle at the idea that Nirvana is considered classic rock these days, but here we are. Kripke's favorite band is Led Zeppelin, who he made Dean's favorite band as well. The group have been referenced many times throughout the series, though because the show could never afford to license any of their tunes for "Supernatural," those references are all we ever got. Honestly though, it could have been awesome. Just imagine how epic it would've been if "What Is And What Should Never Be" or "When The Levee Breaks" got to be more than merely episode titles.
The real moment of truth came during episode 6, "Skin." From the tense opening moments that definitely did not unfold to Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" to the shapeshifter shedding his skin while soundtracked by something other than Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot," the episode did not hit the same way. When I finally busted out those old DVDs, I was struck all over again by some of the utterly perfect song placements, whether it's Blue yster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" in "Faith" or CCR's "Bad Moon Rising" in "Devil's Tap." Trust me on this one, you want to watch season 1 on DVD.
Don't worry, after season 1, you're good to stream and hear and all that classic rock goodness. You've got The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Bob Dylan, Supertramp, and so many more, not to mention other acts as varied as Robert Johnson, The Kinks, David Bowie, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Don't worry, there's some pure cheese in there too, for all you REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, and Styx fans out there!
Now that The Witcher season two has finally dropped on Netflix, we've been having a field day picking out all the exciting easter eggs left us by the writers and creators. There are even a few juicy morsels the white wolf himself dropped in there for gamers and fantasy readers alike.
From over-friendly monsters and trademark witcher gear to obscure references and not-so-indistinct unicorns, here are the easter eggs we found during our first watch-through of The Witcher season two.
Updated January 1, 2022 by Kim Dailey: We got a little egg-sited about sharing our favorite bits from The Witcher season 2 premiere and let a couple of big shoutouts to The Witcher 3 slip through the cracks. So we're back to round out the list with a couple more easter eggs that will put a grin on the players' faces when they spot them.
Anyone who has played The Witcher 3 knows how excitable Rock Trolls can get, especially when you take the time to converse with them at any length. Granted, some are friendlier than others, and some are so gregarious they can work their way right past a witcher's stony exterior or into their nightmares. The latter is the case for Henry Cavill's Geralt as he tells Ciri in an attempt to comfort her own nightmares in the second season's premiere episode.
Rock trolls are mentioned a couple of times throughout the show, but the overly friendly bit sticks out here. Having played The Witcher 3 multiple times himself, we'd venture to guess Cavill was picturing his experiences exploring optional dialogue with Bart or the rock troll guarding boats in service of the Redanian army while delivering this bit of dialogue.
The Witcher showrunner, Lauren Hissrich, promised gamers easter eggs directly from the games this time around and held to that vow. While the show has generally taken a subtle approach when adapting bits from CD Projekt Red's content, arriving in the witcher's keep of Kaer Morhen prompted a bit more literal inspiration while bringing the witchers' winter home to life.
We get the first look at the Kaer Morhen armory as Ciri explores the keep during her first night there, and during the scene, we get a close-up of a few key weapons. One is a dagger that plays an important role later in the season, but just before that, the shot pans over two long swords hanging on display. In the full shot, we can see the runes inscribed on the blades and both hilts closely resembling the designs for the Wolven Superior Swords, which gamers should recognize as a part of the wolf school witcher gear set in The Witcher 3.
Later in the same episode, we see Vesemir and the other witchers commemorate a certain fallen brother, and in this scene, we get a close-up of the petrified Medallion Tree that stands in the large mess hall of Kaer Morhen. The tree holds countless medallions that once belonged to witchers who trained at the keep, and it even pays homage to CD Projekt Red's stylization, with a replica of the wolf head medallion in the Witcher 3.
You can spot this iconic piece of memorabilia hanging on the tree alongside show original medallions from witchers throughout the ages. If you haven't caught this one yet, check out the bottom right of the screen as Vesemir is hanging the latest memorial.
Players of The Witcher 3 will especially enjoy watching the Netflix series with subtitles. Though Henry Cavill has said he made the conscious decision not to cop any of Doug Cockle's lines from the games, that didn't stop the writers from throwing a few nods into the closed captions.
If you've got the subtitles on for the beginning of season 2 episode 3, the very first subtitle before the opening scene comes into focus reads [wind howling] as it whistles across the snowy landscape zeroing in on Ciri. Those who've played the game will immediately pick this out as a common bit of offhand dialogue Geralt uses to comment on the weather while traversing The Continent in The Witcher 3.
The fact that Ciri pokes back at him with the same comment later in the season is a cute way to depict the big-brother-little-sister relationship while giving the readers an extra little something to chortle at.
Unfortunately for Geralt, the use of portals becomes much more commonplace in season two. However, thanks to Doug Cockle, who voices Geralt in CDPR's games, and Henry Cavill's effusiveness for canon material and consistency, Geralt has been seamlessly adapted across page and screen.
The witcher's reluctance to travel by portal is just one of the many attributes that tie each portrayal together, but Cavill's exaggerated performance the first time we see Geralt use a portal in the show will leave the fandom in stitches.
For anyone following the production of The Witcher, we knew Zeus, the beautiful chestnut steed that carried Henry Cavill's Geralt through the first season, would be bidding the show farewell in season two. However, we didn't know just how big a death scene he would get. Luckily, the show has paid homage to Geralt's bond with each of his horses and paid particular attention to giving the first Roach an honorable send-off.
Henry Cavill personally added to the moment by improvising with an adaptation of a passage from Sapkowski's "Something More." This moment wasn't in the script, but Cavill found a fitting passage in the books, too poetic to leave out. And instead of having what we imagine would've been another of many lengthy discussions with the writers about adding more book material, he simply went for it while the cameras were still rolling; and we're glad it made the cut.
While Sapkowski's passage was a beautiful moment in which Geralt speaks to death after believing Yenn to be dead at the Battle of Sodden, the adaptation Cavill wrote to honor Roach perfectly accents the scene while bringing even more of Sapkowski's voice to the screen.
Though a few of our predictions didn't pan out, we called this Witcher 3 connection back in 2020 while analyzing different set leaks and other surfacing info from the production of season two. At the time, the reports stated there would be a demon figure included in a few episodes of the season with a personality description eerily similar to Gaunter O'Dimm's role in The Witcher 3's Hearts of Stone expansion. This sub-plot panned out in a big way throughout season two, but it wasn't only the characters' intentions that were familiar. There were a couple more finite details the creators slipped in to strengthen the reference.
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