After their father John (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) goes missing, Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) recruits his brother Sam’s (Jared Padalecki) to help him find out what happened, starting a road trip that will hopefully put the estranged pair face-to-face with the yellow-eyed demon that murdered their mother 22 years earlier.

CRITIQUE

I love that Warner Bros is reissuing season one of “Supernatural” on Blu-ray and can only imagine that they have similar plans for season two as well sometime in the near future. Creator Eric Kripke’s baby is easily one of the scariest, well thought out, character-driven and most creative shows on television. It’s also one of the most underrated, and to say I’ve enjoyed just about every darn second of it wouldn’t be a lie.

Even so I’m going to keep this review relatively short. At this point, most people are going to be familiar with the nuts and bolts of the show, its mythology, the characters involved and the brotherly relationship that holds it all together. The simple fact is here is whether or not this Blu-ray release is a significant enough of an upgrade to warrant the purchase, especially for those die hard fans who already own the first two chapters of the Winchester saga in standard definition.

Without question the answer here is yes. Warner has done an exemplary job with this release, the upgrades in both picture and sound so sensational I almost couldn’t believe it. I went so far as to watch the pilot twice, once in hi-def and again in standard just so I could make sure my eyes and ears weren’t being deceived. They weren’t and I wasn’t, and any “Supernatural” fan worth their salt is going to want to ditch their previous set and pick this one up with extreme haste.

As for the season itself, I was a little surprised to discover just how well it has held up (especially considering how sensational the past two seasons have been). But the seeds were all there right from the start, Kripke and company hitting their stride almost from the very beginning, the third episode Dead in the Water still one of the show’s absolute best. The ebb and flow of one episode to the next feels natural, and while bits and pieces of the mythology are hinted at throughout “Supernatural” has always been a program that manages to hold up on its own no matter if a viewer knows the entire backstory or not.

Granted, this season also offers up more than its fair share of bumpy episodes that don’t quite live up to their potential (most notably Bugs, one the more curiously silly entries, and The Benders, a backwoods hillbilly adventure that sadly goes nowhere of interest), and I wish after all the buildup the first appearance of the yellow-eyed demon would have been a tad more interesting then it ultimately is. I also don’t think they use guest actress Nicki Aycox near as much as they should, her five episode stint as the mysterious Meg Masters never quite given the opportunity to deliver like I kept hoping it would (although her final appearance in the season ender Devil’s Trap is admittedly pretty darn extraordinary).

But I feel like I’m splitting hairs here. The bottom line is that “Supernatural” was always a show that felt confident and self-assured right from the get-go, and for fans of intelligently scripted horror finding it so beautifully realized on television has always been something to cheer about. Warner’s new Blu-ray more than does this first season justice, and the fact I now own it makes me all warm and fuzzy just sitting here typing about it.

PICTURE

The 1080p Blu-ray edition of “Supernatural – Season One” is presented in 1.78:1 Widescreen. As I’ve already stated, Warner has done a sensational job here, this one of the best television Blu-rays I’ve ever had the pleasure of viewing.

AUDIO

“Supernatural – Season Four” is presented in English Dolby Digital English 5.1, French 2.0 and Spanish 2.0 with optional English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles. A very nice audio track, definitely up to par with the previous Blu-ray releases.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Can I just say how happy I am Warner Bros actually put new special features on this Blu-ray and didn’t just port over all the ones from the previous edition?

Brand new to this release is the interactive Devil’s Road Map featuring new interviews, featurettes, journal entries and other interesting tidbits from all 22 season one episodes. It’s an impressive feature coming with its very own hidden Easter Egg (that’s purposefully easy to find) and as just the featurettes on their own run between three and seven minutes getting through them all can actually take quite a bit of time.

Also new is the just over an hour Paley Festival Panel Discussion featuring members from the season one cast and crew (including Kripke, Padalecki and Ackles) discussing the ins and outs of the show, its creation and where they think it might be headed to a very enthusiastic Beverly Hills audience. While interesting and worth watching (if only to witness the two stars’ crackerjack comedic rapport) it does go on a little bit long, some of the questions coming from the fans just about as silly and as worthless as you’d expect them to be.

The rest of the features, including the Two Audio Commentaries (on Pilot and Traveler), the Gag Reel and the Two Featurettes (“Day in the Life of Jared and Jensen” and “Supernatural: Tales from the Edge of Darkness”) are all ported over from the previous standard definition release, none of them presented here in hi-def.

This Blu-ray set is also BD-Live Enabled.

FINAL THOUGHTS

“Supernatural” is a great show and I’m so happy Warner didn’t just go through the paces in bring season one to Blu-ray when they so easily could have. Thanks to its outstanding picture, a nice job on the sound and two wonderful new special features (especially that borderline awesome Devil’s Road Map) I think this set is worthy of buying, even if you already own the previous DVD release. It’s that good.