Carry On, Fandom’s Wayward Sons
September 13, 2005: Supernatural Premieres, Lightning Bottled, with Guest Heidi Tandy
This Week In Fandom History Episode #181
Photo Credit: The WB, Warner Bros.
Hunters, get your salt! This week, V and Emily are joined by friend-of-the-pod Heidi Tandy, who calls in from San Diego Comic-Con 2026 to discuss the fandom that spells SDCC for her, and thousands of others in the fannish community: Supernatural. The premiere of the show on the WB (progenitor of The CW) in 2005 changed fandom permanently, in more ways than could possibly be discussed in one hour. But SPN also changed fandom for Heidi, personally, in ways big and small, and we’re delighted to hear all about them from the room where it happened. We dish about LiveJournal’s early rush to create communities, the prevalence of Wincest fanfiction, and how Supernatural’s relationship to its fans evolved over its long run. Supernatural, like the other S-named fandoms before it (Star Trek, Star Wars, and Sherlock Holmes, natch) is a Fandom Of All Time. How many seasons have you watched?
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Farming One Fandom Crop
We were delighted to have Heidi Tandy back on the podcast (she previously appeared in 2025 for The Odds Are Not In V’s Favor)! This time, she joined us to discuss a fandom that spoke to her heart, rather than just her lawyerly sensibilities. Heidi was a part of the Supernatural fandom for almost as long as the show ran – her “how I started watching SPN” story is in the episode itself – and helped to run many fandom events, including Help Haiti. When I floated several upcoming episode topics to her, she jumped on Supernatural right away, and I’m so happy she did!
The thing about Supernatural is, as I said in the episode: it’s too scary for me, personally. Or at least it was when it started airing in 2005, and the stars haven’t yet aligned to try it again. I’m sure I will someday and I’ll fall headfirst into Destiel shipping in like 2035, just in time for the 30th anniversary special. But Supernatural is so obviously beloved and so important to fandom culture as a whole that I can’t help but feel extraordinarily *fond* about it. I’m protective of Supernatural in the same way that I’m protective of Twilight. “This isn’t my thing, but enough people I love had their lives changed for the better by it that I will never let anyone shit on it in front of me (unless they’re a fan shitting on it out of love).”
I vividly remember how Supernatural transformed LiveJournal basically overnight. If you don’t remember what Television That Wasn’t Streaming was like, then it would be almost impossible to describe the fever-pitch of pilot season in fannish spaces, or even mainstream spaces around other people who just really liked watching TV. The posters in the mall, or on subway walls or highway billboards, primed everyone to be really, really excited about some shows before a single minute ever aired, and Supernatural, with its teen heartthrob stars and spooky posters, was absolutely one of those shows. When we say in the episode that fandom was hungry for SPN, it’s really true, and I think Emily hit it on the head when she said that it isn’t a sensation that can ever really happen again.
I’ve been having a Baader–Meinhof phenomenon lately with the word “monoculture” – as in, I heard it in one conversation last week and suddenly every conversation I have or Instagram reel I see is about “we need a return to monoculture.”
Now, I think it’s arguable that there was ever really a monoculture in the way most of these thinkfluencers are reminiscing, or at least there wasn’t one by the time any of the people I’ve been talking to or seeing discuss it were alive to participate. The ‘90s and ‘00s weren’t exactly the era of three TV channels and 19 primetime shows a week. There were still plenty of choices, and people exercised those choices. Supernatural itself was on one of those ancillary, weird little channels! The WB, and later The CW, was not exactly one of the Big Three (and no, I don’t mean wizards, androids, and aliens). And outside of fannish spaces, I’m not sure that Supernatural would rank on most people’s lists of the biggest, most influential TV shows of all time, you know?
But boy. It sure was in those fannish spaces. And it really was nice, that feeling of monoculture. That feeling of, “even if I’m not watching it, this show is one of mine, because everyone I love loves it.” Just think about November 5! That insanity would never have happened if Supernatural weren’t the last great juggernaut of weekly television. The last show to be, truly, part of fannish monoculture.
I don’t know. I guess I’m saying that even though I wasn’t a SPN watcher, my world feels a little lonelier without it airing.
It really was lightning in a bottle. And I’m glad that bottle is still being passed around for everyone in fandom to take a sip. Eventually, I’ll be brave enough to gulp it down, too.
Photo Credit: The WB, Warner Bros.
Supernatural Fic Recs
PWP: Pie Without Plot by MajorEnglishEsquire & orange_crushed
he is in the kitchen with flour on his hands and an apron and there is flour on his forehead and cas leans across the counter and wipes it off with his thumb and dean says "thank you" and cas says "you’re welcome" very seriously and later dean makes apple turnovers and he only ruins them a little and sam realizes it’s not a real hunt like four days into it and he lets dean stay undercover for like a week and a half or longer maybe way longer because he is such a good everything
This is a fic without a plot. This is pie without plot.
On occasion, pie will be served with plot à la mode.
Recommended By: Skylark
Rec: I think this is hands down the best Supernatural fic of all time, easily one of the most well-characterised, and is just so funny and charming and delightful that I find myself returning to it over and over.
To Make A Prairie by anushkabx
It's been two years since Cas went home for the weekend, and returned to university grieving his father's death. Two years of survival. Two years of devastation. Two years of family pressures, letdowns, and bruises that sit in the same spot but ache in all kinds of different ways. As classes end, he wants a job. Just a job. Something to pass the time, pay the bills. White-collar. White noise. Mechanical as clockwork, droning out his old dreams of poetry and publishing.
Cas finds the job. But he was not counting on Dean.
Dean, who has poured his soul into his family-run ad agency, Devil Knows. Dean, who refuses to do anything by halves. Dean, who, for once in Cas' life, asks nothing of him—but gives him everything in turn. Five years of late nights, shared briefs, and creating their own language. Five years of steadiness, of devotion, of always, always, always being there. Five years of friends, just friends, and nothing more. In five years, Dean gives Cas everything and asks for nothing in turn—not even for him to stay. God. Cas did not count on Dean. He couldn't have. And it's going to ruin him.
Recommended By: Anushka (self-rec)
Rec: i was really into the idea of exploring two things: one, cas & dean as (ad) strategists - since in canon they are both shown as such genius masterminds. second, this is a limited third-person pov centred on cas: excited to explore his family dynamics (as focus is usually on dean).
also v excited to explore the ideas of creativity in different industries, especially writing in a post-ai world.
So Says the Sword by komodobits
The briefing was simple: ‘Stand guard over the Michael Sword until the battle is ready to commence. Await further instructions.’
Castiel doesn’t mind working security duty; he was briefed shortly after the initial salvation of the Sword from the pit, and again before taking up his position. He knows what to do. However, it’s easy to forget that the green room isn’t real. Time moves differently there, the space ever-changing to make a prison of mountains, cathedrals, salt flats, orchards, and whatever Castiel was led to believe about Heaven’s greatest weapon—Dean Winchester is something entirely unexpected.
Recommended By: deludedfantasy
Rec: Komodobits is an amazing writer and there's so much beautiful symbolism in this story. The way they develop Dean and Cas's relationship in this AU is spot on and full of yearning. And the way it ties everything together and links it back to canon is amazing! 10/10, an absolute masterpiece
it’s called freefall by holyfreaks
It's May 1999, and 16-year-old Sam is running away from hunting and his overbearing father once and for all. This time, he asks Dean to come with him. Where Sam goes, Dean follows, so he agrees. Their roadtrip spans across three states and five days in a stolen Honda Civic. Only one thing is known in a trip full of uncertainty: Sam is never going back.
Recommended By: nep (self-rec!)
Rec: This is a shameless self-rec! I loved writing this fic because of the amount of heart (and research!) that went into it. It's based around my favorite song and my two favorite boys. I've been in the Supernatural fandom a long time, well over a decade at this point, and I love that I finally let go of fears of how people would take my writing/stories and now I just write whatever moves me to write. Thanks yall!
The Last Outpost of All That Is by gekizetsu
[No summary is given by the author]
Recommended By: kingstoken
Rec: Sam and Dean wake up one morning and are the last two people left on earth. This is a haunting fic where Sam and Dean try to understand what has happened and come to accept that they are completely on their own. The way the author describes the empty landscapes, that should have people in them, is eerie and heartbreaking at times. This fic does have Wincest, although it does take some time to build up to that and it makes sense when it does occur, because they only have each other to care for one another. This fic was written post-season 2, so no Castiel, Crowley, etc. How this apocalyptic event occurred is never explained, it is more a character study of the boys, examining their angst, heartbreak, and eventual hope.
Twist & Shout by Gabriel & standbyme
What begins as a transforming love between Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak in the summer of 1965 quickly derails into something far more tumultuous when Dean is drafted in the Vietnam War. Though the two both voice their relationship is one where saying goodbye is never a real truth, their story becomes fraught with the tragedy of circumstance. In an era where homosexuality was especially vulnerable, Twist and Shout is the story of the love transcending time, returning over and over in its many forms, as faithful as the sea.
Recommended By: Ellie
Rec: This fic is the most kudos’ed Destiel fanfic on AO3 and has inspired countless other works. It is emotionally devastating. It reworked my brain chemistry when I was about 17, sobbing in my bedroom alone at 2am. It’s a beautiful and tragic story.
Ninety One Whisky by komodobits
In the spring of 1944, the 104th Medical Battalion of the United States Army is disbanded, and its men reassigned to various infantry companies in preparation for their invasion of occupied France. For First Lieutenant Novak, this is less than helpful, as he has so far met his platoon’s designated medic a grand total of twice, and has both times found Sergeant Winchester to be the optimum combination of reckless, arrogant, and downright insufferable so as to make cohesive platoon function near impossible. When the time comes to move out, however, Castiel has to reconcile himself to the fact that men are going to go down and trust that Dean Winchester may well be the only person who can put them back together again. WW2 ETO infantry AU.
Recommended By: Ellie
Rec: This is a classic and much-loved historical au for Destiel. I’m not sure what else to say other than it is a fantastic work, and absolutely deserves its reputation as a fandom classic.
And a vid rec made by our episode guest, Heidi!
For the next month of newsletters and episodes, please send us your fic recs for…
Dan & Phil
Mean Girls
Any PBS Kids show — fanart is also okay for this one, since there isn’t much fic!
Blake’s 7
Send us your recs (and self-recs count!) at our website and check future newsletter editions to see recommended fics!
Other events that happened This Week In Fandom History…
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