Just how important IS power progression when....

[Deleted]

Aug 5, 2014 6:09:38 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

I completely agree that Melinda possessed all three powers at first. Her prophecy said that with each generation the powers will grow until three sisters would be born who would be the "Power of Three" then. Yet now knowing that there's a fourth sister in the game, how would this fit in then? That only gives me a headache.

According to why each sister had a different power, it might be because of their own personalities. Still the progression of those powers made no sense then, I think. lol I'm confused.

I could never understand why Paige's birth didn't negate the Power of Three for the sisters and just accepted that it was a necessary glitch that had to be overlooked because of Shannen's departure. But, now I think Paige basically power-replaced Prue in the Charmed Circle, and because her powers lay dormant before Prue's death, the three sisters were still able to access the Power of Three. Had Patty and Penny raised Paige with her sisters, the Power of Three would not manifest itself until a future generation.

What I didn't understand about 'Charmed, Again' was when Patty said she was scared of the girls being denied their powers if the Elders found out about Paige. This made no sense because surely the Elders have nothing to do with the Power of Three. Similarly, it was annoying when Piper and Leo discussed the Elders 'giving' her her exploding power. Should power advancements be a natural occurrence, rather than a promotion from the Elders?
 

[Esmeralda]

Only if it's a natural progression.

Since the other so-called progressions had nothing to do with moving things with her mind (she didn't just move her astral projection - like the sisters in "Something Wicca This Way Goes", her astral projection could be seen and could be heard, something normal astral projections can't do) freezing (it's suddenly reversed) or seeing the past (suddenly seeing the future, levitating and empathy, obviously they were not a natural occurence, but rather a promotion from the Elders.

[Esmeralda]

Along the same lines, Patty and Penny being afraid that the Halliwells would be denied their powers if they found out about Paige is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. It would've made more sense if the Elders had kept her under the same cloak that the sisters were under until their powers were unbound so that evil couldn't get her, the same reason for not having her live with her sisters, since then the demons would've gone after her as soon as the sisters received their powers. (Thinking that the Elders didn't know about Patty's pregnancy was all part of Kern making them a lot less powerful than they are in the earlier seasons by making them (like demons) much too human).

Her powers were obviously not bound, since she had nothing to do with Nicholas' attack, so she was obviously given her power to move things with her mind (I hate all of the fans' big words for powers) when they were under the chandelier since she was so shocked the first time she called for the candle and it moved - I can't believe she never pointed at something and said what it was. Had Piper died, she would've been given some version of freezing and had Phoebe died she would've been given some version of premonition. She was always just the spare.

[Deleted]

Aug 5, 2014 15:41:07 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Along the same lines, Patty and Penny being afraid that the Halliwells would be denied their powers if they found out about Paige is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. It would've made more sense if the Elders had kept her under the same cloak that the sisters were under until their powers were unbound so that evil couldn't get her, the same reason for not having her live with her sisters, since then the demons would've gone after her as soon as the sisters received their powers. (Thinking that the Elders didn't know about Patty's pregnancy was all part of Kern making them a lot less powerful than they are in the earlier seasons by making them (like demons) much too human).

Her powers were obviously not bound, since she had nothing to do with Nicholas' attack, so she was obviously given her power to move things with her mind (I hate all of the fans' big words for powers) when they were under the chandelier since she was so shocked the first time she called for the candle and it moved - I can't believe she never pointed at something and said what it was. Had Piper died, she would've been given some version of freezing and had Phoebe died she would've been given some version of premonition. She was always just the spare.

Agreed. The attempts to make the Elders somehow ominous was a bit ridiculous, then later making them out to be annoying, interfering line managers. I agree with you Es that they should've never been seen, it ruined their mystique. As for Paige, sure they'd be pissed about her conception but what would they have really done, taken her off Patty and Sam? I don't think so somehow. If anything, they may have taken Sam away from Patty, but you would think Sam would realise  that giving away his daughter was totally unnecessary. I mean, why didn't he just clip his wings to be with his family? Wouldn't that have made more sense?

I think the fact that Paige seemed never to have used her telekinetic abilities proves, or suggests, that she could never access her witch powers whilst Prue was alive. It's almost like the Power of Three is the natural phenomenon and Paige, the spare, is a natural anomaly. 

[Deleted]

Aug 5, 2014 15:04:45 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Only if it's a natural progression.

Since the other so-called progressions had nothing to do with moving things with her mind (she didn't just move her astral projection - like the sisters in "Something Wicca This Way Goes", her astral projection could be seen and could be heard, something normal astral projections can't do) freezing (it's suddenly reversed) or seeing the past (suddenly seeing the future, levitating and empathy, obviously they were not a natural occurence, but rather a promotion from the Elders.

I really wish the writers had had a set mythology on the powers. Phoebe's power expanded first in 'The Witch is Back' when she saw the past, which suggested their Warren power would expand in range but not stray too far from it's original manifestation. Which is basically why I like to think of Phoebe's power as 'Clairvoyance' and 'seeing the future', 'seeing the past', 'sensing time shifts', 'heightened intuition' where part of power expanding, they were new abilities, but not new 'powers' as such. Of course, levitation blew this out the water and with no explanation. Even if someone like Leo had just said - 'The Elders have granted you the power to augment your martial arts training' or 'Your martial arts skills have natural expanded to the point that you're gained a new power from it', it would've been fine, it's the complete lack of explanation. 

You're right about AP as well - Rex demonstrated proper AP in Season One, then Barbas later on in Season Five. How Prue could basically clone herself is beyond me. So what, can she basically move her consciousness out of her body, through the astral plane and back onto the physical plane again? Bit of a stretch. Again, if the Elders had just given it to her, I wouldn't have cared so much. 

[Esmeralda]

That's why I think calling it power progression makes no sense. Now had the sisters become better people, better witches, and that led to new powers, yeah, that could be a power progression.

But that's not what happened.

If anything, by the end of the series, all three should've been back to just their original powers - Piper only able to freeze time, not molecules (freezing molecules was a progression of sort), Phoebe could only see the past and only when it was to help innocents, not herself and Paige would only have her whitelighter powers - meaning there would no longer be a Power of Three.....at least until there was a new set of sisters who were each given the proper power.....especially if they were truly Penny, Patty and Prue reincarnated, with Patty still able to freeze, Prue still able to move things with her mind, and Penny now receiving premonitions, since she misused her power to move things with her mind so badly...or better. Maybe Piper's Prudence Melinda truly is the reincarnation of Melinda Warren - once more with all three powers...

Now those would be proper power progressions - not the way it was done on the show..

[Melinda Halliwell]

"You're right about AP as well - Rex demonstrated proper AP in Season One, then Barbas later on in Season Five. How Prue could basically clone herself is beyond me. So what, can she basically move her consciousness out of her body, through the astral plane and back onto the physical plane again? Bit of a stretch. Again, if the Elders had just given it to her, I wouldn't have cared so much."

In reality the power Prue had was something called 'Biolocation'. "An alleged psychic or miraculous ability wherein an individual or object can create a copy of themselves and move that using their mind and make it appear somewhere else corporally (or what appears to be located) in two distinct places at the same time" as quoted on Wikipedia. A form of cloaning basically although her real self was unconcious at the time which always got me why the writers didn't just use a term like that in the first place or that Leo told the sisters what Prue's second power really was when he saw them after she received that in season 2.

Now if she'd had Rex's suggestion power or done what Phoebe did when she possessed the demon Jennie although Prue wouldn't have be dead technically or manipulated the astral plane even moving things like poltergiests could then that would've made more sense to me.

[Deleted]

Aug 6, 2014 2:58:09 GMT -5 Melinda Halliwell said:

In reality the power Prue had was something called 'Biolocation'. "An alleged psychic or miraculous ability wherein an individual or object can create a copy of themselves and move that using their mind and make it appear somewhere else corporally (or what appears to be located) in two distinct places at the same time" as quoted on Wikipedia. A form of cloaning basically although her real self was unconcious at the time which always got me why the writers didn't just use a term like that in the first place or that Leo told the sisters what Prue's second power really was when he saw them after she received that in season 2.

Now if she'd had Rex's suggestion power or done what Phoebe did when she possessed the demon Jennie although Prue wouldn't have be dead technically or manipulated the astral plane even moving things like poltergiests could then that would've made more sense to me.

Yeah, I never really understood the difference between 'bilocation' and 'astral projection'. I assume bilocation is a cross between cloning and teleportation, basically what Prue had, as you say. I didn't understand the need to term Prue's new power as 'astral projection' either, because their was nothing remotely 'astral', other-wordly or psychic about it, even more reason why Phoebe should've gotten that power instead. You're right, if it had been proper AP, she could send her 'astral form' into battle and have it possess demons, or allow energy/fire balls to pass through her as, technically, the clone wouldn't be corporeal. 

[Esmeralda]

That's why giving powers names makes no sense. Who cares what it's called? As long as it's used consistently, that's all that counts.

[cyma]

Aug 10, 2014 13:36:17 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

That's why giving powers names makes no sense. Who cares what it's called? As long as it's used consistently, that's all that counts.

Who cares what  powers are called?  Probably everyone out there who writes, reads and watches sci-fi and supernatural things.

[Esmeralda]

Yeah, in books or comics it would make sense.

But not on TV.

Charmed hardly named any of the powers used and now we know why - they kept using them wrong. But the ones that they didn't use names for (that fans name), then it truly didn't matter.