Zombie Handbook Promos
During 4.05 Monster Movie, three Supernatural promos aired, the first during the first commercial break, the second during the second commercial break, and the third during the fourth and final commercial break. The promos were included as a feature on the Season 4 DVDs.
Promo 1: Dean is sitting in the front seat of the Mulvaneys' truck, rifling through the glove compartment. Items he pulls out include a large knife, a flask, and a ping-pong paddle. Then he pulls out a book and there’s a shot of the cover: Max Brooks’ The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead.
Charlie appears at the open truck window. “Dude, what is this?” Dean asks, holding up the book with a grin.
“What do you mean, what is it?” Charlie replies, completely serious. “What kind of a hunter are you?”
Dean looks down at the book, then back at Charlie. “I’m pretty sure this is a joke kind of book,” Dean says.
“There’s nothing funny about the zombie apocalypse, Dean,” Charlie says, and walks away. Dean looks down at the book in bafflement.
Promo 2: Frannie is standing at a table cleaning a shotgun. Sam walks in with a book - The Zombie Survival Guide, a shot shows us - and holds it up. “Really?” Sam asks.
“Don’t mock that book, Sam,” Frannie says ominously.
“Really?” Sam says again.
“You know what?” Frannie demands, snapping the shotgun shut. “Don’t come crying to me when it’s all going down and you’re totally unprepared. You know what’s good for you, you’ll get yourself a copy of that book and commit it to memory.”
“You can’t be serious,” Sam says.
Frannie puts down the gun and moves around the table to stand nose-to-nose with Sam. Her head is tipped completely back and Sam’s is turned completely down. She points a finger at Sam.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Frannie says, and snatches the book out of Sam’s hand before storming off.
Promo 3: Chandler is seated at a table in front of a laptop, surrounded by books, intent on his research. Sam and Dean walk in and stand side-by-side in front of him. Chandler looks up and says, “Yeah?”
Dean holds up The Zombie Survival Guide. “Are you aware that your siblings believe this is a real book?” Sam asks.
“Uh-huh,” Chandler says.
“Like, it’s an actual survival guide to be used in case zombies start cropping up everywhere?” Sam demands.
“Uh-huh,” Chandler says.
“Dude, they seriously think this is a serious book,” Dean says with impatience.
Chandler stands up. He takes the book from Dean and looks at it, then looks back at the Winchesters. He holds the book back out to them.
“I thought you were better hunters than this,” Chandler says seriously. “That book could save your life someday.” He presses it into Dean’s hand. “Keep it. Read it. Know it.” Then he turns and leaves the room.
Sam and Dean stand there looking down at the book. Finally Dean says, “You think -?”
Sam walks away.
The Explanation
The explanation for the promos, as first given by Jason London at the 2008 Chicago Creations Con, and since repeated by Jason and other cast and crew (including Eric Kripke at ComicCon 2009):
Jason London had recently read The Zombie Survival Guide, and brought it with him to set while shooting D’Yer Maker. He showed it to numerous cast and crew, telling them that Charlie would think this book was completely serious. Someone told Eric Kripke about it, and the next day, the “scripts” for the promos had been faxed to set. Philip Sgriccia, who directed D’Yer Maker, asked the cast and some crew if they wanted to actually film the promos scripts during lunch break and send them to Kripke with the dailies. Everyone signed on and Kripke received the promos in dailies, to his great delight. He proceeded to show them to everyone who came into his office. When he showed them to Robert Singer, Singer said that the show should actually use them as promos the week before D’Yer Maker, or at least online. Kripke said the network and Max Brooks would never agree to it, but when Singer checked, both The CW and Max Brooks were all for it, and the promos were played during Monster Movie and available at The CW’s official Supernatural site.
Since the promos were filmed without intending to be aired, there are a number of candid moments in them, most notably Jared starting to laugh in Promo 2 after Frannie walks away.
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