Supernatural - script sides for episode 4x04

[agt_spooky]

I got a chance to read the script sides for Episode 4 this morning.




Ok, the episode is called In the Beginning and it's the one with teenage John and Mary. Now when I first heard that we were going to have a "time travel" episode I thought for sure that they really meant "flashback".

Boy, was I ever wrong.

I truly cannot BELIEVE that we're doing an actual time traveling episode! This is NOT The X-Files! It's NOT Quantum Leap! This show is NOT science fiction! It's always been billed as a HORROR show! What the hell is Eric thinking??

This is UNBELIEVABLY stupid.

The only thing, and I mean the only thing that could salvage this is that the Trickster is somehow behind this and created this...universe that Sam and Dean find themselves in. That none of it is real and he's screwing with them yet again.

Because really, how are Sam and Dean going to time travel for real?? If someone's got a theory that doesn't involve aliens and/or a time machine, lay them on me, because I really am curious as to how you guys think this is going to happen. Because right now, this is serious Jump the Shark territory for me.

And what's with not calling Sam and Dean by their real names in the script pages any more? I mean, it's more than obvious who's who. This time it's "Rick" and "Jeff".

By the script pages, I'm not sure what the plot of this is going to be, besides John wanting to propose to Mary, but Mary's father being totally against it, and Sam trying to warn Mary to not get out of bed on November 2nd, 1983. I think we all know how that turned out.

Oh, we do find out where Sam got his name from - Samuel is the name of Mary's father. Who is being played by MITCH PILEGGI! Woot! That's about the only thing I'm excited about. :-) Been an XF fan since Day One (hence my agt_spooky nickname) so I can't wait to see Mitch on my favorite show. :-)

Ok, I'm done rambling. I'm interested to hear what you guys think of this!

Comments

[dairwendan.livejournal.com]

Freakily enough, I don't hate this. When I heard there was going to be an episode about Teen John and Mary, I thought, 'Oh great, 40 Sam and Deanless minutes with a special guest appearance by our lead actors. On top of the fact that Mary and John won't be played by JDM and Samantha Smith, so this has major yawn potential for me.'

But, Sam and Dean meeting Teen Mom and Dad is far more interesting to me. Also I can totally see why they wouldn't want to use their real names and possibly affect future naming decisions positively or negatively. Of they are still named Sam and Dean when they get back to the present is it only because Mom and Dad met a 'Sam' and 'Dean' when they were teens? So doesn't that make a time loop? Or, they could get back to the present and be named Corey and Cody. Or Bo and Luke. Or Marion and John, Jr. NIGHTMARE!

But, this way, Sammy gets to meet Mommy (he's only seen her briefly as an apologetic fire spirit) and they both get to see John as who he would have been had he never become a hunter. I realize Dean may have some memories of him from age four and maybe a little before, but he can't really even say if they have been warped through time by who John became after Mary died.

Plus - serious moral dilemma - maybe if John and Mary don't get together, Mary will live and John will have a nice happy life as a mechanic. Would Dean and Sam give their lives to save their parents? (Obviously they don't, but maybe they discuss it.) And if Sam was never born, then Jess would live. And if John isn't a hunter, then he'd never have the colt, which means there would be no reason for Caleb or Pastor Jim to die. Presumably all of Mary's friends and family would live.

But, just like in WIAWSNB, what about all of the people John, Sam and Dean have saved? Would they die? What if YED ended up with Ava as his chosen, would there be a world-wide Demon war, and would the demons win? Would Sam's frind Zach be in jail for murder? Would his sister Rebecca be dead? Who would save Bobby from the dream potion nut? Most important, who would own the Impala? What if it wasn't John? What if they didn't take care of it? What if they traded it in on a Volvo!

Okay, so time travel, supernatural or science fiction? It is science fiction-y, but many supernatural events have involved someone having contact with the living after they died, you can't say that this is not at all similar to people having contact with the living before they've been born. If the dead can cone back, couldn't the not-yet-born come forth?

There is also a supernatural phenomenon where people in a place in the present, suddenly find themselves surrounded by the people and activities which tok place there in the past. One I remember really well is a building built on the site of a civil war battlefield hospital (it amy have been a hospital as well, I'm not sure). But two ladie who worked there for some reason took the elevator to the basement one night and when the doors opened, there was the civil war operating room. Soldiers crying and screaming, arms being sawed off, blood everywhere, people running around, and they said that one of the people (a doctor I think) looked up and seemed to actually see them and he gestured for them to come over and help. Of course they freaked and probably pushed a hole through the close door button and got the hell out of there! The similarity is that rather than one ghost being in the present, it was as if they were suddenly in the past. They did not travelk through space only through time. There is an idea that past event can have such a spiritual resonance that it continues to occupy a space regardless of time passing.

I haven't read the sides, but maybe something in John's storage locker, especially if it was owned by John, could pull them into John's past. Or owned by Mary and into Mary's past, in which case it may have something to do with how she knew YED.

Maybe since Sam and Dean have both been ressurrected they can tap into the abilities of spirits to transcend time?

Anyway, even if the concept of time travel itself cannot shake it's science fictionyness, I still think it could be an enjoyable episode.



Um, science fictionyness is so totally a term, by the way.

[agt-spooky.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry for the incredibly late reply, my friend!

Freakily enough, I don't hate this.

LOL! That's okay. Just 'cause we're "badfans" doesn't mean we have to dislike everything. :-)

When I heard there was going to be an episode about Teen John and Mary, I thought, 'Oh great, 40 Sam and Deanless minutes

Yeah, I couldn't figure out how they were going to do this. I thought perhaps someone was going to be telling Sam and Dean a story about their parents.

Also I can totally see why they wouldn't want to use their real names and possibly affect future naming decisions positively or negatively.

Oh, no, that's not what I meant about their different names. In the script you know how the dialogue is written:

SAM
Love you, big brother!

DEAN
Love you, too, man!

But in the pages for this it's written:

RICK
Love you, big brother!

JEFF
Love you, too, man!

It's like that throughout the sides and it's totally obvious it's Sam and Dean, so why the aliases when no one's actually speaking to them, calling them Rick and Jeff?

But, this way, Sammy gets to meet Mommy (he's only seen her briefly as an apologetic fire spirit)

That's really going to be pretty emotional for him.

Plus - serious moral dilemma - maybe if John and Mary don't get together, Mary will live and John will have a nice happy life as a mechanic. Would Dean and Sam give their lives to save their parents?

I can totally see them having that conversation.

And if Sam was never born, then Jess would live. And if John isn't a hunter, then he'd never have the colt, which means there would be no reason for Caleb or Pastor Jim to die. Presumably all of Mary's friends and family would live.

Wow, heavy duty stuff when you lay it all out like that! But like you said, it'll be just like WIAWSNB, and I think Dean would make the same choice, to save all those people instead of just one, his mother, as painful as it would be.

Most important, who would own the Impala? What if it wasn't John? What if they didn't take care of it? What if they traded it in on a Volvo!

LOL! Oh, the horror of a Volvo! Anything but that!

Okay, so time travel, supernatural or science fiction? If the dead can cone back, couldn't the not-yet-born come forth?

Oooh, interesting way of putting that! But I still come down on the science fiction side for time travel. But perhaps Kripke will change my mind with this episode, depending on how he does it.

There is also a supernatural phenomenon where people in a place in the present, suddenly find themselves surrounded by the people and activities which tok place there in the past. One I remember really well is a building built on the site of a civil war battlefield hospital

Man, that sounds exactly like the plot of a Torchwood episode last season! Exactly!

I haven't read the sides, but maybe something in John's storage locker, especially if it was owned by John, could pull them into John's past. Or owned by Mary and into Mary's past, in which case it may have something to do with how she knew YED.

Oooh, now if it had something to do with Mary and the YED that would be great.

Anyway, even if the concept of time travel itself cannot shake it's science fictionyness, I still think it could be an enjoyable episode.
Um, science fictionyness is so totally a term, by the way.

Hee! I'll put that in my dictionary. :-) I really do want this episode to come off better than it has on paper, because I'm very interested in John and Mary's story, and don't want it overshadowed by some time traveling machine.

Fingers crossed it doesn't jump the shark!

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sorry for the incredibly late reply, my friend!

Oh, please, no problem at all! We all have lives!

Oh, no, that's not what I meant about their different names. In the script you know how the dialogue is written:

SAM
Love you, big brother!

DEAN
Love you, too, man!

But in the pages for this it's written:

RICK
Love you, big brother!

JEFF
Love you, too, man!

It's like that throughout the sides and it's totally obvious it's Sam and Dean, so why the aliases when no one's actually speaking to them, calling them Rick and Jeff?

OH! I totally misunderstood that! Not that it makes a difference but I think I do know the reason for that. I have seen some scripts and the actual writing is pretty poor, I mean as far as grammar, spacing, spelling, etc. And I would bet that what they did was, wrote the whole scrpit using the names Sam and Dean so as not to confuse themselves, then when it was done just did an overall find and replace Sam and Dean for Rick and Jeff.

Also, I don't know why they used Rick and Jeff, but I would have loved it if instead it was either Josh and Jeff for J2's real brothers, or Jim and Jeff for Jim Beaver and JDM.

LOL! Oh, the horror of a Volvo! Anything but that!

I know!

Oooh, now if it had something to do with Mary and the YED that would be great.

Now that Kripke confirmed at Comic Con that they WILL be getting into that, it had BETTER have something to do with the YED!

Hee! I'll put that in my dictionary. :-)

Put it in the Supernatural dictionary somewhere between Sammo (Sammy + emo) and Single Tear Kill (the feeling of *is dead* you get when Dean sheds a single tear).

I really do want this episode to come off better than it has on paper, because I'm very interested in John and Mary's story, and don't want it overshadowed by some time traveling machine.

If Kripke really includes a Time Traveling Machine, the ass-kicking will be eternal.

Hey, I've only read this in one place, which was most likely wrong, but they worded it like 'Mitch Pileggi joins the cast of Supernatural' (total paraphrase, but something like that). And I started thinking. What would you think of Mitch Pileggi somehow surviving the Mary's Family and Friends massacre (and having been in hiding or something to avoid it, until now when the boys track him down while searching Mary's side of the family) and becoming a recurring Grandpa?

WTF???

[dairwendan.livejournal.com]

I was TOTALLY logged in when I started writing that reply!

Sometimes I swear LJ is trying to gaslight me!

[agt-spooky.livejournal.com]

Hey you! Sorry I couldn't reply back to this before I left for California. But better late than never, eh? :-)

Also, I don't know why they used Rick and Jeff, but I would have loved it if instead it was either Josh and Jeff for J2's real brothers, or Jim and Jeff for Jim Beaver and JDM.

Oh, I would've loved either of those choices!

Now that Kripke confirmed at Comic Con that they WILL be getting into that, it had BETTER have something to do with the YED!

Damn straight! Otherwise, what's the point of the episode, you know?

Put it in the Supernatural dictionary somewhere between Sammo (Sammy + emo) and Single Tear Kill (the feeling of *is dead* you get when Dean sheds a single tear).

ROTFL! You kill me!

What would you think of Mitch Pileggi somehow surviving the Mary's Family and Friends massacre (and having been in hiding or something to avoid it, until now when the boys track him down while searching Mary's side of the family) and becoming a recurring Grandpa?

I think it would be freaking AWESOME. The boys have no one. In essence, they're orphans now that they've lost both their parents and that's so damn sad. I'd love it if they found a family member. Especially when it could be played by Mitch! :-)