The Vampire Diaries

Pilot

Season 1, Episode 1, Aired 9/10/09

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Episode Summary

Elena Gilbert and her brother Jeremy come to terms with the death of their parents. Elena is popular amongst her peers and the perfect straight A student, but has difficulties hiding her grief from the world. Meanwhile, Jeremy treads on a dangerous path of using drugs to ease his pain. The arrival of new student Stefan Salvatore, however, makes Elena think about romantic possibilities.moreless

7.9

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Cast & Crew

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Nina Dobrev

Elena Gilbert
Steven R. McQueen

Jeremy Gilbert
Sara Canning

Jenna Sommers

Fan Episode Reviews (25)

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An uninteresting start

3.0

"Bad"

By Tiingeling, Jan 02, 2011 Report Abuse

Elena and Stefan is not engaging characters. Elena is a typical teen heroin: popular, A-student, sumissive, sad and no one understands her and obviously she is more special than everyone else. It makes her predictable. Stefan is hot, angsty and nobel. Like every teen girl fantasy vampire. There is nothing special about them and their romance is as flat as they are.
Stefan's brother isn't that scary or threatening either, but comes of more as whiney.
The one charcter I like is the brother. He is angsty without being whiney, he stands up both for himself and others, he has drug problems and deals them too and is in a very intersting romantic relationship. His character and story is interesting. Everything else isn't.
There is no interesting storyline in the episode. The characters are boring. It's not romantic or scary, but you can predict many episodes of almost kissing and one or two scary scenes were complete strangers dies.
It's all very teenage girl fantasy with no substance.moreless

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2 8
Fans of the Fiction will be pretty disappointed in the changes made.

1.5

"Abysmal"

By Reiddy81, Dec 20, 2010 Report Abuse

So the main concepts are pretty much there, They have made a lot of character changes. Firstly is Elena was blonde in the books not brunette, next is that her Aunt was not a college student, and she had a much younger sister not a brother. They have removed a key character (Meredith) and introduced the town to the concept of Vampires way too early. In the books Vikki was attacked in the cometary and appears to go insane uttering nonsense, she doesn't go telling people she was attacked by a Vampire. And Damon doesn't appear to Stefan until much later and after he has made appearances to other people. In this episode he pretty much admits he attacked Vikki, which was not mentioned in the books until much later on, when he announces that he has never seen Vikki before. I know if they stuck to the story line that people would just call it a Twilight wannabe(even though it WAS written years before twilight) but changing this much of the storyline and character bio's is just stupid. I was bored and wont be watching another episode even if i am a fan of Kayla Ewell and Nina Dobrevmoreless

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5 14
Pilot Episode

7.9

"Good"

By TvFreak7, Dec 11, 2010 Report Abuse

In fall 2009, CW premiered, "The Vampire Diaries", it had rave reviews, great actors(Ian Somerhalder from LOSTT!!!!!), attractive cast, vampires, and an interesting story. Most people automatically assumed, "it's just Twilight: The Series". Well I caught the first couple of episodes when the first aired, but got behind and never really caught up. Well I am finally going to catch up now.

First, this is a great pilot, it really introduces the characters and begins the story with a bang and really intrigues us to continue on with this show. This pilot episode got me hooked. It is safe to say that this is probably one of CW's best shows ever!

Overall - 7.9/10moreless

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Wow. This was an amazing pilot!

10

"Perfect"

By loverslost, Nov 05, 2010 Report Abuse

The chemistry between Stefan and Elena is sizzling from their first meeting. Katerina Graham (as Bonnie) adds good humor to the show. The entire cast was great in this episode. The storylines are also intriguing and makes you want to tune into the next episode, such as what Damon is going to do with Stefan and Elena, and how his meeting with Caroline fits into all this, and if Vicki will reveal the truth about Damon being a vampire, or why he let her live. Some of the scenes like when Vicki gets attacked by Damon, or when Damon confronts Stefan, had me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happened next.

I couldn't find anything wrong with the pilot episode at all, and I can't wait to tune in to the next one.moreless

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2 1
Vampires.

9.5

"Superb"

By Sarah_LOST, Oct 12, 2010 Report Abuse

Elena Gilbert and her brother Jeremy come to terms with the deaths of their parents four months ago. In school, Elena and her best friend Bonnie, who is said to be a witch, spot a new student talking to the Dean. Elena sees Jeremy run off to the toilet and follows him. Caroline sees Bonnie and they see the face of the new student and both are left speechless. Elena confronts Jeremy to talk to him about his problem but it is useless and she leaves the bathroom. Leaving the boys' bathroom, Elena walks into the new student at school. Elena likes to visit the cemetery where her parents are buried to write in her diary. While there, she runs into the new guy at school. The guy introduces himself as Stefan Salvatore but Elena already knows his name because they're in three subject classes together. Jeremy treads on a dangerous path of using drugs to ease his pain. The school is having a back to school party that everyone is attending. While walking in the woods, Vicki is attacked by something and her body is found by Jeremy and Elena. Stefan soon realizes that this was done by someone he knows, "his older brother" Damon. When he returns to the boarding house, he and Damon see each other for the first time in 15 years. Damon provokes Stefan and Stefan attacks Damon. Damon lets Stefan know he's the stronger. Stefan goes to Elena and she invites him into her house. So I thought I would give this show a go due to the fact that I love vampires and supernatural stuff. I really like the girl, Elena, who is writing the diary at the start, the one whose parents are dead, she seems cool. I love the school scenes at the start where everyone is feeling sorry for Elena. I love the scene with Elena and her sister, he is hot. I love the way Elena bumps into the new mysterious student, wow he is hot. I really like Elena's friend the one who thinks she is physic. I love the scene in the graveyard with Elena and her dairy again, and then the good looking boy Stefan is there. I love the scene where Stefan is writing a diary. I love the scene where Stefan is at Elena's house, and then the scene at the cafe. I love the party scenes, especially the talk with Elena and Stefan. I'm actually really enjoying this show. I love Damon, he is awesome (Due to the fact that he was on Lost) . I love the scene with Damon and Stefan. I love the scene with Elena and her brother at the party. I love the ending, it was awesome.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- The front door of Elena's house has a window in it only in this episode because filming of the series moved out of Vancouver after the pilot. Edit
- -The pilot was shot in Vancouver as New Moon, the second film in the Twilight Saga, was also being filmed in the city. -Paul Wesley (Stefan Salvatore) revealed in interviews that his naturally pointy cuspids went unnoticed until he arrived on set for the pilot shoot in Vancouver. -According to Paul, he was cast less than two weeks before shooting began in Vancouver. Upon winning the role, he went immediately to a book store and bought and read the series. -Nina Dobrev (Elena Gilbert) said the showrunners gave the entire cast journals to chronicle their experience during the Vancouver shoot. -Director Marcos Siega asked his Twitter followers for music suggestions during editing. -In screener copies of the pilot, "Panic Switch" by Silversun Pickups is used in the opening scene, but the show was unable to get clearance for air. "Sort Of" by Silversun Pickups was used instead. -935 is the house number of Elena, Jeremy and Aunt Jenna's home. Edit
Notes
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- Original International Air Dates: Australia: Monday, September 28, 2009 on GO! Latin America: Thursday, October 22, 2009 on Warner Channel Norway: Wednesday, January 6, 2010, on TVNORGE Germany: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 on ProSieben Netherlands: Sunday, January 31, 2010 on NET 5 United Kingdom: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 on ITV2 Sweden: Thursday, February 11, 2010 on TV6 India: Thursday, November 4, 2010 on Zee Cafe Slovakia: Sunday, November 7, 2010 on Markiza Poland: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 on TVN Turkey: Saturday, April 2, 2011 on CNBC-e Edit
- Featured Music: "Sort Of" by Silversun Pickups "Here We Go" by Mat Kearney "Consoler of the Lonely" by The Raconteurs "Say (All I Need)" by OneRepublic "Thinking Of You" by Katy Perry "Kids" by MGMT "Running Up That Hill" by Placebo "Death" by White Lies "Back To Me" by The All-American Rejects "Siren Song" by Bat For Lashes "Never Say Never" by The Fray "Take Me To The Riot" by Stars Edit
Quotes
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- Stefan: I wanted to apologize for my disappearing act earlier. I know it was strange. Elena: No worries. I get it. Blood makes you squeamish. Stefan: Uh, something like that. Edit
- Elena: (referring to Matt) He hates me. Bonnie: That's not hate, that's "you dumped me but I'm too cool to show it but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits." Edit
- Stefan: I shouldn't have come home, I know the risk. But I have to know her. Edit
Allusions
ADD ALLUSIONS
- Darren: He sounded like James Blunt. Brooke: Well what's wrong with that? Darren: We already have a James Blunt. One's all we need. James Blunt is an English-born singer and songwriter who became famous in 2005 with the song You're Beautiful from his album Back to Bedlam. The album topped the charts in England and reached #2 in the U.S. Edit
- Tyler: Hey, Pete Wentz called, he wants his nail polish back. Jeremy: Pete Wentz, huh? How old school TRL of you. Carson Daly fan? Total Request Live (TRL) was an MTV series that ran from 1998 to 2008, featuring music videos and guests. Carson Daly hosted the show from 1998 to 2002. Pete Wentz is most famous as a member of the band Fall Out Boy. Edit
- Elena: (to Stefan) And then, back there, there was this...this, this bird, and it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the bird movie, right? Hitchcock? This is a reference to the movie The Birds, a 1963 suspense film by director Alfred Hitchcock. The movie tells the story of a small town near San Francisco that was victimized by several major bird attacks over the span of a few days. Edit