Supernatural - Weekly Question Part 2 - The Impala and Other Mysteries
10 Jan 2011
Polls SupernaturalThis week's question has created questions I did not anticipate so we need a follow-up. When I made Characters: Other a category, I was thinking about characters that were not human, demon, or angel. I did not anticipate inanimate objects. However, that has been a popular interpretation. So I am adding that as a new category to nominate.
However, that leaves the Impala in a sticky place. I would consider her a character, but technically she is an inanimate object. I'm stuck. Therefore, here is a 24 hour poll. You decide if the Impala should be in the Character: Other category or the Inanimate Object category.
Also, Chuck has been nominated in the human, angel, and other category. My plan is to put him in the Human division because that is canon right now. The idea that Chuck is God is fandom instead. Prophets are humans with special insight traditionally but they are still human. However, in all fairness, if you really believe that Chuck should be placed in a different category please sound off in the comments below. And if you nominated Chuck in a different category than he ends up, don't worry he will be a choice in one poll.
Haha thus far I'm the only one to vote it as an inanimate object. Don't get me wrong the Impala is awesome and is a vital part of the show, but I don't think it should be characterized as a character. Its like the Colt, big part of the show for a long time but its not a character.
ReplyDeleteI love the Impala.
ReplyDeleteBut it IS an inanimate object. You can't fight the law of the universe.
I love the Impala. Dean loves his baby girl, Impala, too. Dean also had to build his baby girl from scratch.
ReplyDeleteShe represents so much for the boys and the show that people are going to consider her a character but she's the same as John's truck in this way. She's a Chevy, with a pronoun used for females. The only time the Impala can as a character was when she was turned into Sampala, and even then, that was Sam as her (Which is awkward now that I'm thinking about it so I'm getting off that train of thought).
So yeah no. Impala, I love you girl, but you's a car, you never spoke to us. And don't say Dean played the songs that mimicked your emotions, that's not cutting it. And yet, I'm reasoning with the inanimate object. -sigh-
I worried about her when she got slammed by a truck. I get happy everytime I see her. I got all teary eyed because of the Impala monologue in 'Swan Song'. I was furious when she was put into a garage under a freaking tarp and I nearly combusted from happiness when she returned to 'Smoke on the water'. That scene was car porn pure. Supernatural's black car is not just a car, she is THE IMPALA.
ReplyDeleteI was really torn on this and could easily see it either way, but the car does not think for itself so I had to go with inanimate object. (lol, I feel awful saying that tho...)
ReplyDeleteQuestion. Can you imagine 'Supernatural' without the Colt, the amulet or any other inanimate object? Now, what about the Impala. ;D
ReplyDeleteI'd say character. Shut up Adam MIlligan, the Impala is their real other sibling.
ReplyDeleteI voted character, but now I kinda feel like I made a mistake, because shouldn't a 'character' be played by a real person? But then again, if you put the Impala in the inanimate object poll, it's going to win for sure.
ReplyDeleteThe Impala had a bigger part that Dean in defeating Lucifer...!! ; )
ReplyDeleteOkay,I'm kidding,but you get the point...So,character all the way!
I know that she is a car, but for me she is a character. She is a safe place for the boys to be...kind of like Bobby's house. I can't really explain the right way that would make the laws of the universe non-existent, but in my world she is a character. And I totally agree that she will win any catgory she is placed in and that would make it unfair for the other inanimate objects (i.e. the colt, John's journal, Dean's necklace, the rabbit foot, Dean's first sawed off shotgun.....) As far as Chuck goes.....honestly I have not really thought about him since the beginning of Season 6. Sorry, but I was just never bothered by the question if he was GOD or not. So I believe he should stay in the human section of the poll.
ReplyDeleteI say it's an inanimate object, which may be the less popular opinion, but it's how I see it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the show would be completely different if the show had a different type of car or no car at all *Imagines Sam and Dean taking a bus with a duffel bag of weaponry to get to a haunting* but while it is important to the show, it is something that is important as a symbol and not so much as a person. The Impala was given to Dean from John as another thing for Dean to take care of and I think when Sam went to college Dean obsessively took care of the car like he used to take care of Sam. It's where the boys grew up together since they never really had a home and so it was the roof over their shoulders that brought the family together and was probably the only times they really got to see much of John and be a family again. Now that John has passed it still symbolizes that family bond, but also it keeps the boys together and is used multiple times to bring them closer together and be filled with ever more memories. When RoboSam turned down the Impala because he had his own vehicle it was a huge blow that represented a lot more than just a car. It was something else that showed just how messed up RoboSam was.
So I think of the Impala as an inanimate object that while it is quaint to think of it as a loving motherly figure much like how people sometimes view the house they lived in for a long time as a maternal figure, I think it is more important as a symbol.
Anyone else wondering about the sanity of the SPN fandom? We are literally having a poll to determine where to include a car in another poll. I think Hiatus Fever is as catching as the Croatoan virus. I love our fandom! usually - but definitely today!
ReplyDelete^ That is one of the best comments I've ever read.
ReplyDeleteI know right!:) <3 <3 <3
ReplyDeleteI agree. My head knows that the Impala is an inanimate object. She never speaks. She doesn't show her emotions. She isn't really even a she. However, in my heart she is a character because I have made her one. I worry about her when she's hurt, whether it's that one pesky headlight that got ruined in the Pilot or actually fear for her demise when she got hit in Devil's Trap. Apparently others felt that pain too because I remember an interview or convention panel where Jensen Ackles teased that more people wrote in asking about whether the Impala would make it than Dean, Sam and John put together.
ReplyDeleteI shouted for joy at Sam's speech during In My Time of Dying when he claimed they would save her if she had even one working piece. I squeed like tween at a Justin Bieber concert when I saw Dean working on her in Everybody Loves a Clown and then had severe mood swings between sadness (for Dean's grief) and anger when Dean took the tire iron to her. One of my favorite scenes in season 2 is watching the Impala roll down the road to Back in Black in Bloodlust. From that moment on, Back in Black no longer meant AC/DC to me. It is the Impala's theme song, just like Carry on My Wayward Son is Dean and Sam's. Even Cas and Bobby don't have a theme song.
I notice when the Impala needs a bath. I'm concerned when she's ill and Dean has to fix her on the side of the road. I'm impressed by how she takes Sam's gargantuan body in stride when he sits on her hood. I love when she purrs and the squeak of her doors. But mostly, I love how she is the only family member who has always been there for the Winchesters. Their mom died, their dad was a jerk who left them, but the Impala stayed and for that she is family.
And yes, I know I have just obsessed about a car, one I will never actually see. Yes, she is an object. But I have the Impala on my key chain, a place where even Dean and Sam are not allowed, and I was more excited about getting my own mini-Impala than I was the season 5 DVD's. It might be sad, but the Impala stole my heart along with the brothers and I will always see her as the third Winchester, a silent but steady presence in their lives.
The Impala is a character, I can't even imagine Sam& Dean without her. The Impala is a she, right? :))
ReplyDeleteNo!!!! Anything goes in the world of fiction, it can be a character.
ReplyDeleteIf it looks like a car and sounds like a car, it's a car. :p
ReplyDeleteBaha. Car Porn.
ReplyDeleteYou said what I wanted to think.
ReplyDeleteThe Impala is very much like Serenity from Firefly. The ship symbolises everything the characters (mainly Mal) and show is. Damaged, forgotten, but still flying.
No less crazy than a man naming a woman's bewbs.
ReplyDeleteCHARACTER. Naturally.
ReplyDeleteKITT was both a character and a car.
ReplyDeletehuh? That must be a LOST thing?
ReplyDeleteIt's an object. A very special one, but still. Lets not get carried away, please. No matter how important it is to the plot, it's still a dead thing with no soul and no thinking mind (except of course Changing Channels :P).
ReplyDeleteActually I would rather have her (it) out of any polls, because she's obviously not a character and if she's in the object poll, she's a 100% winner .
I say we put her in the honorable place where all the most important people of this show are - out of the polls. Come on, if anything does justice to her, that's it.
Oh, and about Chuck. Yes, it was not confirmed he was anything else than a human, BUT do prophets just happen to fade away like he did? unless, of course, it wasn't really him in Swan Song.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, I'm cool with him in any category ;)
Don't forget to nominate your favorite inanimate object since that will be a category too this week.
ReplyDeleteFor me - Impala (if that's how this vote goes)
If the Impala is voted a character, then Dean's amulet (oh how I miss it) and John's journal (I might hate the man and he might write like freaking Yoda - not you Pigeon, I'm sure you write quite nicely :-P, but that journal has been really handy over the years)
According to Kripke, yes, they sometimes do.
ReplyDeleteI call her "she" and I still consider her an object.
ReplyDeleteIt was still a car.
ReplyDeleteYou got it. I'll add that as a choice in the polls.
ReplyDeleteDoes Sam's Hair count?
ReplyDeletereally? why did I miss that part?
ReplyDeletethat's actually a reasonable explanation... why have I never thought of it this way? silly me :P
ReplyDeleteBWAH!!!! Absolutely, but then you have to choose which season's hair. Personally I think the wings that sprouted out of Sam's head in season 2 was brilliant foreshadowing by Kripke of the impending angel twist.
ReplyDeleteIt depends if you see her as an inanimate object or as a character. For me, she's a character. Maybe it's just me but I got the same emotional attachment to the Impala than I have with the other main charachters.
ReplyDeleteE.g. Yes, Soulless!Sam turning down the Impala was a sign of him being messed up but for me, it was also showing disrespect to the Impala.
PS: Didn't Kripke say that the Metallicar was the third character of the show as well? ;D
That's great, now I feel important :)
ReplyDeleteHowever, about 160 people have already voted, so I don't know if it makes any sense at this point, unless you start the poll all over again. I couldn't vote it, because my vote was already counted. (sorry if I'm bitching too much)
Character!
ReplyDeleteIf Dean loves her, strokes her, calls her baby, fears for her, fights and threatens for her, then who am I to disagree?
'a dead thing with no soul...' *sob* *sob* Why do you say such cruel things?
ReplyDeleteHe's clearly just an Objectum Sexual.
ReplyDeleteI can't start the poll over again because of the 160 people who voted. However, I will make a note that you choose the last one. I assumed you voted object so I will take one vote away from it. If anyone else who has already voted wants to change to shouldn't be in the poll, reply to this comment like this:
ReplyDeleteMia - change vote from object to not in poll
I will then adjust the tally at the end. Hopefully this will seem fair to everyone.
Of course, everybody who gets a monologue is a character, right? *hug*
ReplyDeleteSee, Sam's Hair is actually an evolving Mop.
ReplyDeleteEach season marks a new evolutionary stage.
If you prefer another term, how about 'fangasm'? ;D
ReplyDeleteHe´s Dean...a coffee mug could be a sexual object if he wanted it to be ;)
ReplyDeleteBut he takes more care of her/it (impala) then of any other girl he was with (not counting Lisa). Like a first love or something...don´t know, have to ask Dean about this...
Blasphemy!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat's worrying is, he's not alone.
ReplyDeleteI watched a documentary last night about it. VROOM!
That's cool. I'm apparently the only one who sees it this way anyway :P The Impala will be voted a character without a doubt ;)
ReplyDeletebut thanks for considering my opinion and changing my vote.
Yeah, I bet other fandoms don't discuss this. Lol But this insanity is very entertaining.
ReplyDeletePeople can abuse that.
ReplyDeleteSomeone who voted "object" can just put here that they voted "character" and want to change... so then you'll be taking votes away when you shouldn't have.
It's a Conspiracy!!!1
I came to the conclusion that Spn fandom is crazy many years ago.
ReplyDeleteWell, even Sam did not have a soul for a while, so...
ReplyDeleteNo, seriously. I love the Impala. But I love her as a symbol, as one of all the special objects and details that make the Supernatural world so unique. Really, not everything that matters has to be considered a character.
She/it/impala - this is getting even more tiresome than typing RoboSam ;)
ReplyDeleteWell, she even does sound sexy!!! In a baritone kind of way .... :D
the impala was pretty animate when she was sam
ReplyDeleteeven though that was actually sam but still
the impala is a character, without her there would be no show
also, i believe chuck should be in the human catagory
do we nominate that here or on the other page?
ReplyDeleteEven Kripke said that Chuck as God would left up to interpretation. The Imapala is not an inanimate object. Swan Song made it so much more.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Chuck, I believe that he is God. I have one reason: It would be so like Supernatural to have God as a drunk person that calls up hookers.
ReplyDeleteOK. I give up. Out of ideas here.
ReplyDeleteEither one works. I will look at both pages before starting the polls.
ReplyDeleteso i'll go with
ReplyDeletethe impala (if it is voted object)
and the amulet and the rabbits foot
Quick conspiracy. :p
ReplyDeleteI completely agree about it not being a character. It is integral to the show but the notion that it's a "character" is just complete silliness. It never does anything, other people just do stuff with it (albeit it very important stuff). Looked at it that way, if you force me to consider it a character... I'm sorry, it's an extremely crappy one!
ReplyDeleteI go away for ONE freakin' day and this is what happens.......TUH!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOk .....the Impala is, and I quote: 'the most important object in the universe.'
Applying my newly acquired Yoda-like wisdom therefore leads me to conclude that:
a) the Impala is in fact an object, not a character, and
b) being the 'most important object in the universe' means she requires a category (and quite possibly a pedestal and plaque) all on her own.
Even putting her in a category with anyone/thing else is just sacrelige I tell you.............
I love SPN fans...don't take offence anyone, but we're all batshit crazy.....
The category will be called "What is the best transportation device in a supernatural-themed TV Show."
ReplyDeleteIt's either the Impala or the Mystery Machine.
I like this, but she is also a home, not solely a transportation device, so: category of her own....
ReplyDeleteOh, and my two cents worth?
ReplyDeleteChuck is not God.
He was a prophet who disappeared into heaven when his mission was completed
(and where he should stay, IMO)
Ok I read this after posting my comment that the Impala should be in a category of her own, because she is an object, albeit the most important object in the universe.....
ReplyDeletenow I scroll down here and read this.....
I should be boiled in holy oil and stabbed repeatedly with Ruby's knife for calling her an object.....
because I feel exactly the same way Dahne.....
and now the freakin' 'like' button isn't working again.......
My like button isn't working anymore either - urgh! I hope DisQus fixes it soon because if I can't hit like then I have to leave a comment and everyone knows I comment far too much anyway. :-P
ReplyDeleteMaybe we just need a poll for favorite symbolic object?
ReplyDeleteAmulet
John's journal
The colt etc.....
The Impala is obviously as much part of the story and as much loved as Sam, Dean, Bobby and Cas.......so maybe excluding her along with them is the only way to go?
Or a man naming his own 'bits' :P
ReplyDeleteOh, and if SPN fans ever all agree on something?
ReplyDeleteTHAT will be the breaking of the final seal that starts the apocalypse.............
The Impala is a special case, to me, she makes up a huge part of the show, so she is the only "object" that I would consider a character... after all, she is the most important object in pretty much the whole universe, doesn't that rank character status?
ReplyDeleteGreat! I knew that TV Guide cover was going to come back to bite us. That must have been the final seal. CAPTCHA's are definitely a sign of evil.
ReplyDeleteAlways a catch, there is........
ReplyDeleteWhatever revs your engine. ;)
ReplyDeleteYes.
ReplyDeleteBringing him back would negate his entire storyline.
The Sun is the most important thing in the entire solar system but that doesn't mean it's a character.
ReplyDeleteShe's been around since the beginning -- before the beginning -- and she was able to (along with Dean) give Sam the strength to beat the devil. How many inanimate objects can do that? When an object is at the heart of the characters, she's a character herself. She may be a car, but she'll always be a Winchester to me.
ReplyDeleteThat's Clemence to you.
ReplyDeleteWell, with that logic, the Scythe from Buffy The Vampire Slayer should be a character too.
ReplyDeleteIt was around before Buffy and gave her the power to beat the First Evil.
Not being able to imagine a show without it doesn't make it a character. It just means it's integral to the series, much like the Intersect is integral in Chuck.
ReplyDeleteThe Impala isn't some mystical, magical weapon. It's power lies only in what it means to Sam and Dean (and us). So no, not the same thing. It's an emotional attachment, and like Dahne said, I was upset when she was totaled (hurt), I cheered when she was rebuilt (saved), and I miss her when she's not around. I can't see the heroes of the story without her, so yeah, to me she's a character.
ReplyDeleteBut still... an emotional attachment, whether it be from the characters themselves or viewers, still doesn't make it a character.
ReplyDeleteIt would be like a woman being in love with a carrot. I see that and think the carrot is a character. Everyone would look all o.O at us. The carrot isn't a character just because I say it is. It's still just a carrot.
Though, granted, a very loved carrot.
Who's you reckong would win in a fit between the Impala and KITT?
ReplyDeleteI smell a random poll coming on...
I just realised the imagery of that.
ReplyDeleteDidn't mean to go there.
I didn't say that it was the reason I saw the Impala as a character. You said she's the same as the Colt or the other inanimate objects. Well, you might not see the Impala as a character but she's definitely above the Colt and the other stuf. Sorry, I don't watch 'Chuck'. So I don't know what the intersect is or what kind of role it plays in the show.
ReplyDeleteI think the Impala has the advantage of younger fans. Knight Rider was an 80s show afterall. Lol
ReplyDeleteI didn't say that. :p
ReplyDeleteThere was a remake lately... it was so terrible.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, I wonder how many of the fans who thought SPN should end at S5 voted for the TV Guide cover?
ReplyDeletemost fans obviously worship and adore the impala so much, it should be included in the "hall of fame" together with the brothers, bobby and cas.
ReplyDeletei kinda agree
ReplyDeleteeven though i want to see the impala ina poll, she will dominate any category she is in!!
we left out the main characters and the impala has been in more episodes than bobby and cas put together, so, if she is voted into the character category, maybe we should leave the impala out of the poll
i was half half on that one.
ReplyDeletei thought that if swan song had been the last and they cut out the part with sam in the last 5 seconds, it would have been an amazing way to finish the series.
i was worried that by giving it a season 6, supernatural would roll downhill.
even though i have loved this season, i still don't think it is anything compared to what it was back in seasons one and two.
i guess i thought it should have ended but didn't want it to and am very glad it didn't
on another note, i voted for the tv guide cover poll and am extatic that we won it!!
not that i can buy a copy, i don't think they sell them in aus
Its always been a character! She's helped the winchester since the it started!
ReplyDeletelol love this post and totally agree :)
ReplyDeleteThe Impala is like Sam, Dean, Bobby, Castiel. Any poll that it is would win, so it makes the poll kind of boring.
ReplyDeleteWell, once a prophet's work is done, they go to Heaven.
ReplyDeleteSo... possibly.
I guess I was really referring to the ones who were almost vicious in their assertions that SPN should have ended with S5....and there were a few of those....
ReplyDeleteMaybe if it was a cartoon carrot... I'll just make this simple: to me, a character doesn't need to be a walking, talking, breathing human. It simply has to be something tangible in the over-all story that has meaning, that I can root for and that touches and gives the heroes a hand once in a while. Yes, the Impala is a car, so was KITT. Yes KITT could talk, but it wasn't human or real. The Impala speaks to Dean and Sam in her own way (Dean even talks back to it!) so I'm considering her a character. It's your prerogative to consider it whatever you want. Furthermore, if you want to love a carrot, have at it. I'll send you a heart shaped frame to keep its picture in. :)
ReplyDeleteI know it's the very nature of a poll to give opinions but that's just what all this is. "IMO," "to me," "that's what I feel," etc. When, in actuality, if we used logic and reason, there's no way we'd consider the Impala a character.
ReplyDeleteBut alas, me and my carrot will go de-characterise something else!