The Magical Community

[Reality Bites]

What did you guys think when the magical community was explored more in Season 5? In previous seasons we saw only glimpses into the other magical races from fairies to muses to wizards to cupids. Then in Season 5 we learned about a long list of magical races including dwarves, elves, leprechauns, unicorns, shamans, witch doctors, gypsies, nymphs, ogres, gods and goddesses. Were you happy with the introduction of the horde of magical creatures? Did they make the show more or less "charming" for you?

[Esmeralda]

I always laugh whenever I see this. I first discovered messageboards, specifically the old ezBoard version of this one, during the off-season between Season 4 and Season 5, the thing that just about everyone was discussing was that we should get a chance to see more of the magical community.

I guess that proves to watch out what you wish for - you just might get it!

I enjoyed that SO much more than that horrendous darkness of Season Four, but compared to S1-3 and how *those* seasons handled the magical community (especially Once Upon a Time)... *shudder*

[forbuss]

The entire magical community was very hit or miss for me! I think that says it all, and that most people would agree with me! Unfortunately, I think it was mostly miss.

[Chrisaholic]

Yeah, well, some little creatures, I don't say who, looked they had come out straight out of a fairy tale. No offence, to base the magical community on this!!

[forbuss]

I think that's the problem most fans had, Chrisaholic. With the introduction of the magical community, it added a whole other realm of the show. From season 1-4 (for the majority of the time), the sisters (and other witches), were part of the "Magical Community", while all of the other creatures were part of the "Fairytale community".

In my mind, within the Charmed world (pre season 5), The Magical Community was made up of Witches, Whitelighters, Demons, Darklighters, etc. The "Fairytale Community" was the goblins, gnomes, fairies, trolls, muses, cenataurs, etc.

There were fairies and goblins in season 3, but it was just done in SUCH a different way in my mind.

Once again, not sure if that makes any sense to anyone else other than me haha.

[SEERofCHAOS]

I'm not entirely sure when people say "Once Upon a Time" was done differently than the rest of the episodes involving the "fairy tale" creatures. I don't see much of a difference in tone from the other episodes involving them, especially the mermaid one.

It's also funny how no one mentions the episode from season two involving the genie.

[Chrisaholic]

The genies count for me as well in the fairytales since they come from the Arabic world. It was the same known background like in the fairy tales.

[forbuss]

A lot of the fairytale creatures should have been done in a modern sense, like the season 2 genie, or the witch doctor.

[SEERofCHAOS]

Sept 30, 2012 9:27:01 GMT -5 forbuss said:

A lot of the fairytale creatures should have been done in a modern sense, like the season 2 genie, or the witch doctor.

What do you mean by this?

[Deleted]

Sept 30, 2012 11:14:31 GMT -5 SEERofCHAOS said:

Sept 30, 2012 9:27:01 GMT -5 forbuss said:

A lot of the fairytale creatures should have been done in a modern sense, like the season 2 genie, or the witch doctor.

What do you mean by this?

This is true. The Genie in 2x22 Be Careful what you witch for wasn't the complete lookalike of 'I Dream of Jeenie' from the 70's or Disney's Aladdin version either. Sure, there were some things, like 3 wishes, freedom, rubbing the vase that were a rip-off from the fairytale but French Stewart gave it more of a 90's feel at the time and the originality developed from 3 wishes from 3 sisters - the power of three!

Compare this to 'I Dream of Phoebe' and you'll see the difference - no originality at all - I think there was even a flying carpet in this episode and a temple the same as the one in Aladdin.

It was a shame that the only creatures of the Good Magical Community that did not look like their stereotypes were...the Charmed Ones. No pointy hats and long noses... not even a black cat. Ok maybe 1...but it was evil!

The fairies and trolls were always supposed to be invisible and only kids could see them. This changed for some reason. This was done rather well and I'm glad it was a 1 episode a season thing back in the old days.

Why couldn't leprechauns be short cute looking normal guys who live in Ireland and bless luck on the world. Why did they have to travel by rainbows? Why couldn't they have the same mortality as good witches and blend in with normal society like Gypsies? Nymphs were done more like this but they couldve been taken more seriously. Season 4 Muses was done well as well as the Season 7 Guardians. I also liked Season 5's Witch Doctors.

Mermaids, the dwarfs, leprechauns, ability to see fairies and trolls, ogars, fairytales, just lived up to their stereotypes. It's a real shame that the writers just couldn't use their imaginations....even though they did so much in Season 5.

[forbuss]

Thank you so much for that excellent post, that is exactly what I meant!

There was just a different vibe from those creatures in the earlier season, which I wish they had of carried over until season 5 and onwards. That being said, I don't think the dark vibe from the trolls in the earlier seasons would have worked in season 5 - it was much more light, modern, and the show definitely was going for a different vibe in that season.

[SEERofCHAOS]

I would have liked the trolls better if they were portrayed in the manner which their mythologies describe. In fact, there was a troll of giant size mentioned in a season 7 episode, which makes the tiny ones all the more perplexing.

[ljones]

I believe that the magical community - especially the fairy tale community - was known on the TWOP forum as "Stoopid Magickal Creatures". I share this view.

[SEERofCHAOS]

I'm probably the only one in this entire fandom who cares for them. Well, at least the concept of them.

[Esmeralda]

*nods* I liked the concept of them, especially with the way they were portrayed in "Once Upon a Time" where only children or the young of heart could see them. But like so many other concepts during the last four seasons, it was a fantastic idea horribly done.

[pixiesunbelle]

I enjoyed seeing all of the magical community and one of my favorite episode two-parters is A Witch's Tail! However, I can definitely understand the inconsistency because of the way some magical creatures were previously known. I chalked up the fairies and trolls being able to be seen by TCO because they have already gone through that process before and needed not to anymore. That was just my rationalization for why we could see them again. However, there was no mention of those other creatures so I figured they did not have the same restrictions on how they could be seen. I do think they could have been more creative with showing us those creatures- particularly the dwarves and leprechauns. The fairies and trolls just should have never come back, imo.

[Deleted]

I think the problem I have with the magical community was the way they were depicted. "Once Upon A Time" had trolls in that episode yes, but were they the stereotypical Rainbow haired, jeweled bellied, friendly creatures? No. They were portrayed as very demonic who attack children. That entire episode itself was extremely dark in nature especially with the add on sub plot of Balthazar trying to steal the BOS. Compare this to "Lucky Charmed". That episode was extremely embarrassing. If they wanted to portray leprechauns, I felt that would've been the perfect opportunity to get inspiration from the horror movie Leprechaun. Instead of using the annoying stereotype, have them also be dark, and have them feed on the luck of innocents which ends up bringing pain and sorrow to those people. I'm not saying that every magical creature needed to be dark, but there was so much more they could've done then have every creature helpless and annoying. I also feel the Wood Nymphs shouldn't had been given the appearance of normal looking people. We know that *Faeries are hugely associated with magick. They could've had the form of the mythical faeries which aren't human appearance but tiny round bright spectrums of light with fairy wings. It would've been a diverse way of showing a real magical community than having everyone look like people. I personally didn't mind the mermaid or the genies on the show.

[kriswyatthalliwell]

I personally did not like the Magical Community, especially during the events of season 8... I wished Piper would have destroyed those little jerks but you know that's just me. The way "Once Upon a Time" handled the Magical Community was kinda hit and miss for me but I do love the Genies, Gypsies, Oracles, and Seers they are awesome! One thing that never really made sense for me was why the Sisters never wished for Prue's resurrection during "I Dream of Phoebe" I mean I know why they never did in reality but story-wise it never made sense to me personally, but I still love charmed with all my heart.

[iamthesun]

I didn't mind them, but at the same time, for me, they made it less believable.. Verging on childish..But I don't have anything against them, I liked how their stories were incorporated - like the one with the fairies and Kate, I think she was called. I didn't particularly like the giant though.

[forbuss]

It seems like they were committed to killing off (or only showing once) all the members of the community that I actually liked (like the gypsys, for example). Yet they kept showing the annoying trolls and leprechauns.