P3Nathan's Season One Rewatch
Sept 18, 2015 10:00:47 GMT -5
Esmeralda, Astral Vision, and 4 more like this
Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2015 10:00:47 GMT -5
Something Nostalgic This Way Comes
I am genuinely excited for this. Already I have major nostalgia hype. We’re in San Francisco on a dark, stormy night.
We meet our first witch of the series; a blonde woman who was apparently referred to as Serena in scripts. Unfortunately there is someone out in the storm with his eye on poor Serena.
Hey it’s Kit the cat. Hi Kit the cat!
Serena sits at her altar and casts herself a ritual circle before someone comes up behind her. She jumps, but then relaxes a little as she seems to recognise who it is. Serena lets out a terrible shriek as she is stabbed to death.
We are introduced to Halliwell Manor for the very first time. Rushing into the shelter from the rain is Piper Halliwell. YIPEE!!!!! Oh God, I can’t tell you how nice it is to see Piper... by which I mean the original Piper and not that horrid woman who killed her and stole her name later on, but let’s not dwell on that.
Working on the chandelier is none other than Prue Halliwell. It’s Prue everybody! Say hi to Prue! Hi Prue!
Prue found the old spirit board and with it, the inscription on the back written by Patty. "To my three beautiful girls. May this give you the light to find the shadows. The power of three will set you free. Love, Mom." This, by the way, is the first time we see the triquetra.
I forgot how harsh Prue could be early on.
Opening credits. We don’t have clips of the Warren powers at this stage; I suppose they didn’t want to spoil anything. Also, I’d forgotten that Alyssa was originally credited after T.W King and Dorian Gregory rather than with Shannen and Holly like later on.
We’re introduced to Andy Trudeau and Darryl Morris who are currently at the scene of Serena’s murder. We quickly establish a sort of Scully and Mulder vibe, with Andy being quite open to the idea of someone killing witches, while Darryl is remaining firmly skeptical.
We also meet Piper’s boyfriend Jeremy, a reporter and... well we all know about him don’t we? Interestingly, Piper tells Phoebe that they met at the hospital cafeteria when Grams was admitted; so essentially he saw Grams was at death’s door and waited around all that time to kill her granddaughters. Yikes.
Piper works up the courage to tell Prue that Phoebe is moving back in with them; apparently she lost her job in New York and she’s in debt.
Enter Phoebe. Original Phoebe. Loveable, cute Phoebe. Who, by the way, has short hair this season that actually looks really nice. Prue and Phoebe are not on good terms, due mainly to an accusation of Phoebe hitting on Prue’s ex-fiancé, Roger. Piper tries to instigate a reunion dinner, but no group hug yet. The sisterly dynamic is very clearly set. Heh.
Piper and Phoebe discuss how Prue sacrificed her childhood to help raise them and how she was more of a mother figure... Phoebe however, says she needs a sister, not a mother.
We see Kit at the crime scene and he’s very friendly with Andy despite supposedly scratching everyone else that goes near him to shreds. I take it the familiar senses an ally. Also, Serena had a triquetra tattoo, while Kit has it on his collar.
The spirit board does a dance for Phoebe and spells out “attic”. All the lights go out. I’m really loving how atmospheric this episode is; they’re really building the tension and excitement.
Phoebe is curious, Prue is annoyed, Piper is a nervous wreck. Ha.
Phoebe finds the book and says the spell (we all know which one). The chandelier shines down rays of sparkling light and a photo of the sisters stood pretty far apart is magically changed so that they are stood much closer. Meanwhile, Jeremy stands outside in the storm, watching... forgot how sinister this guy actually was.
The morning after, Phoebe tells Piper (and us) about Melinda Warren, her powers and her prophecy of the Charmed Ones.
Phoebe: We’re the protectors of the innocent. We’re known as The Charmed Ones.
Eeeek. What a promising concept for a TV show.
Prue at the museum; I forgot this was before Bucklands. Roger takes an exhibition from her and Prue has zero, that’s ZERO, time for his bull sh**. I do enjoy her fire. One last snide remark from Roger and Prue’s anger causes his pen to leak in his pocket and spurt ink in his face. Ha, brilliant! Such a cool power.
Piper’s restaurant audition. Some feux-French, pompous chef stops her before she has time to add the port. She accidentally freezes time and is clearly freaked, but doesn’t waste the opportunity. As soon as she’s added the port, time obediently continues to flow for her. So much cooler than blowing stuff up.
Prue quits her job.
Roger: Think about this, Prue.
Prue: Lousy job, lousy pay, lousy boss. What's to think about?
Haha. But also, eck, because wow Roger is slimy. Prue, what on earth were you thinking? Unable to resist giving Prue one final jab, Prue very nearly chokes him to death with his tie. However being outside the room, Prue still hasn’t noticed her power.
Phoebe has her first premonition. Two kids on skates getting hit by a car. She stops the accident, but winds up getting hurt herself as Kit watches on. By the way, in the first few episodes it seemed that Phoebe didn’t always have to touch things in order to get premonitions. If I remember correctly, there were occasions where being in the area of an event, or seeing something related to an event could trigger a premonition without the need for touch. We’ll see if I’m correct about that as we continue this season.
Prue and Andy reunite at the hospital.
Prue and Phoebe are sat at a bar talking about their destiny, something Prue still doesn’t believe. Clearly getting frustrated with Phoebe, Prue asks where the cream is, causing the jug to slide across the bar, stopping right in front of her. Ha. Also, the cream then disappears from the jug and mixes itself into Prue’s glass. I know some of this stuff doesn’t happen beyond this episode, but seriously, I forgot what an awesome power this was.
Phoebe explains the Wiccan Rede and what warlocks are. “They could be anyone, anywhere.”
We get our first mention of Victor. Prue considers him dead and when Phoebe pushes the issue, Prue pretty much clears half the shelves on the pharmacy aisle. I hope they intend to help clean that up.
Oh dear. Jeremy has lured Piper into the elevator; he pulls a knife. He goes all smush faced which is kinda funny. Oh I forgot to mention that Jeremy has acquired poor Serena’s power of flamy fingers. Safe to say, Piper is panicking quite a lot at this point and that allows her to freeze the elevator. It doesn’t last long, but she manages to escape by hitting him with a plank of wood.
Back at the Manor, there’s a brief moment where Prue and Phoebe seem to silently acknowledge that Roger won’t be coming between them anymore.
Eeeek! The first spell- well; first spell together anyway. The sisters are sat in a circle of candles, anointed with oils and spices. They have a cauldron, a poppet and one of the roses Jeremy sent to Piper at the ready. So an actual ritual. How I miss this later on...having them gathered with candles and stuff spell casting creates such an exciting atmosphere for me. So much better than when they can put two rhyming lines together with next to no thought and can do anything.
Jeremy has thorns cutting through his skin. Youch! I mean cool, but youch. Phoebe touches the pot and sees that Jeremy has only been slowed down by their efforts... so she can actually see things happening in the present too it seems.
Jeremy arrives, face bloodied from the thorns. Prue knocks him back a couple of times. She doesn’t squint her eyes, or wave her arms; she sort of nods her head in the direction she wants to throw him. Also we can see that Prue’s powers are just starting to toughen up, because although she is capable of pushing Jeremy back against the wall, she hardly sends him flying the way she does with her enemies in later episodes.
In the attic. It seems Jeremy has been collecting powers for a while, because he can do quite a lot. But then I do recall Jeremy mentioning that Senera was the third one killed just this week. Along with utilizing poor Serena’s power to trap the sisters in a ring of fire, he can also move things, shatter the door to smithereens and create a twister. But none of that is a match for the greatest of all powers- The Power of Three. The sisters stand united and Jeremy goes boom.
The sisters vow to be careful, be wise and to stick together *sigh*. Prue magically closes the Manor’s front door.
So many years later, I can totally see why Charmed got the following it did. I thoroughly enjoyed that. Watching 8x01 after this is going to be seriously bizarre. But before that... a bonus round.
BONUS ROUND- The Unaired Pilot
I had my bonus disc handy, so I figured I’d compare it. Obviously the majority of it is the same, but here are a few thoughts I had.
No Darryl in this one.
Apparently this was filmed in the actual Manor, rather than a set.
I can kinda see why they recast Andy. He looks more like an Abercrombie and Fitch model than that guy you grew up with.
Prue calls Piper “Switzerland”. Heh, I quite like that.
Lori Rom. It’s hard to compare her I suppose. Even if I’m just comparing the two pilots, I’m still going to have all those Alyssa moments in the back of my mind, so I can’t really be unbiased. But one of the main issues I had with her is that I have trouble buying her as the youngest. I dunno what it is... her version of Phoebe seems more forceful and less “young at heart” to me. I think she’s a decent enough actress, but I do think Alyssa fit into the trio more (but again, I’m aware of my bias); I could see Lori more like a cousin. Or if she’d been willing to play Paige when season 4 came around, I could perhaps see that.
They tweaked the spell a little bit for the aired version and made the BOS page a bit fancier.
We see quite a bit more around the outside of the Manor. Nice garden around the side.
Piper gets home after the Jeremy attack. They’ve gone kind of overboard dirtying her up... it looks like she slid home on her face and did some dumpster diving on the way.
There doesn’t seem to be anything hinting that Phoebe’s visions need to be triggered by touch or a location in this version. She does just seem to get them when needed.
Jeremy: You were always the tough one weren’t you Prue. Didn’t even cry at your mommy’s funeral”
Prue: “And I won’t be crying at yours!”
I said on another thread that I wish they’d kept that line. Love it.
The CGI snake is pretty hilariously terrible; but it is very early so I’ll let them off. Also, Jeremy does that, the fire and the wind all from downstairs. I’m glad they changed this a little, because Jeremy was pretty powerful in the actual pilot without that. Similar to how they took some aspects of the sisters’ powers down a notch later on to allow for more develop, I think they probably needed to make Jeremy seem a little less super-warlock.
In this version, it’s Phoebe that convinces Prue to trust her and say the spell with them. Personally I think that works better.
Andy: Is that your cat?
Phoebe: It is now.
Andy: Looks familiar.
Wink, wink.
We end with Prue closing the door with a point; the clip we’ll see used on the opening credits for the next three seasons.
I am genuinely excited for this. Already I have major nostalgia hype. We’re in San Francisco on a dark, stormy night.
We meet our first witch of the series; a blonde woman who was apparently referred to as Serena in scripts. Unfortunately there is someone out in the storm with his eye on poor Serena.
Hey it’s Kit the cat. Hi Kit the cat!
Serena sits at her altar and casts herself a ritual circle before someone comes up behind her. She jumps, but then relaxes a little as she seems to recognise who it is. Serena lets out a terrible shriek as she is stabbed to death.
We are introduced to Halliwell Manor for the very first time. Rushing into the shelter from the rain is Piper Halliwell. YIPEE!!!!! Oh God, I can’t tell you how nice it is to see Piper... by which I mean the original Piper and not that horrid woman who killed her and stole her name later on, but let’s not dwell on that.
Working on the chandelier is none other than Prue Halliwell. It’s Prue everybody! Say hi to Prue! Hi Prue!
Prue found the old spirit board and with it, the inscription on the back written by Patty. "To my three beautiful girls. May this give you the light to find the shadows. The power of three will set you free. Love, Mom." This, by the way, is the first time we see the triquetra.
I forgot how harsh Prue could be early on.
Opening credits. We don’t have clips of the Warren powers at this stage; I suppose they didn’t want to spoil anything. Also, I’d forgotten that Alyssa was originally credited after T.W King and Dorian Gregory rather than with Shannen and Holly like later on.
We’re introduced to Andy Trudeau and Darryl Morris who are currently at the scene of Serena’s murder. We quickly establish a sort of Scully and Mulder vibe, with Andy being quite open to the idea of someone killing witches, while Darryl is remaining firmly skeptical.
We also meet Piper’s boyfriend Jeremy, a reporter and... well we all know about him don’t we? Interestingly, Piper tells Phoebe that they met at the hospital cafeteria when Grams was admitted; so essentially he saw Grams was at death’s door and waited around all that time to kill her granddaughters. Yikes.
Piper works up the courage to tell Prue that Phoebe is moving back in with them; apparently she lost her job in New York and she’s in debt.
Enter Phoebe. Original Phoebe. Loveable, cute Phoebe. Who, by the way, has short hair this season that actually looks really nice. Prue and Phoebe are not on good terms, due mainly to an accusation of Phoebe hitting on Prue’s ex-fiancé, Roger. Piper tries to instigate a reunion dinner, but no group hug yet. The sisterly dynamic is very clearly set. Heh.
Piper and Phoebe discuss how Prue sacrificed her childhood to help raise them and how she was more of a mother figure... Phoebe however, says she needs a sister, not a mother.
We see Kit at the crime scene and he’s very friendly with Andy despite supposedly scratching everyone else that goes near him to shreds. I take it the familiar senses an ally. Also, Serena had a triquetra tattoo, while Kit has it on his collar.
The spirit board does a dance for Phoebe and spells out “attic”. All the lights go out. I’m really loving how atmospheric this episode is; they’re really building the tension and excitement.
Phoebe is curious, Prue is annoyed, Piper is a nervous wreck. Ha.
Phoebe finds the book and says the spell (we all know which one). The chandelier shines down rays of sparkling light and a photo of the sisters stood pretty far apart is magically changed so that they are stood much closer. Meanwhile, Jeremy stands outside in the storm, watching... forgot how sinister this guy actually was.
The morning after, Phoebe tells Piper (and us) about Melinda Warren, her powers and her prophecy of the Charmed Ones.
Phoebe: We’re the protectors of the innocent. We’re known as The Charmed Ones.
Eeeek. What a promising concept for a TV show.
Prue at the museum; I forgot this was before Bucklands. Roger takes an exhibition from her and Prue has zero, that’s ZERO, time for his bull sh**. I do enjoy her fire. One last snide remark from Roger and Prue’s anger causes his pen to leak in his pocket and spurt ink in his face. Ha, brilliant! Such a cool power.
Piper’s restaurant audition. Some feux-French, pompous chef stops her before she has time to add the port. She accidentally freezes time and is clearly freaked, but doesn’t waste the opportunity. As soon as she’s added the port, time obediently continues to flow for her. So much cooler than blowing stuff up.
Prue quits her job.
Roger: Think about this, Prue.
Prue: Lousy job, lousy pay, lousy boss. What's to think about?
Haha. But also, eck, because wow Roger is slimy. Prue, what on earth were you thinking? Unable to resist giving Prue one final jab, Prue very nearly chokes him to death with his tie. However being outside the room, Prue still hasn’t noticed her power.
Phoebe has her first premonition. Two kids on skates getting hit by a car. She stops the accident, but winds up getting hurt herself as Kit watches on. By the way, in the first few episodes it seemed that Phoebe didn’t always have to touch things in order to get premonitions. If I remember correctly, there were occasions where being in the area of an event, or seeing something related to an event could trigger a premonition without the need for touch. We’ll see if I’m correct about that as we continue this season.
Prue and Andy reunite at the hospital.
Prue and Phoebe are sat at a bar talking about their destiny, something Prue still doesn’t believe. Clearly getting frustrated with Phoebe, Prue asks where the cream is, causing the jug to slide across the bar, stopping right in front of her. Ha. Also, the cream then disappears from the jug and mixes itself into Prue’s glass. I know some of this stuff doesn’t happen beyond this episode, but seriously, I forgot what an awesome power this was.
Phoebe explains the Wiccan Rede and what warlocks are. “They could be anyone, anywhere.”
We get our first mention of Victor. Prue considers him dead and when Phoebe pushes the issue, Prue pretty much clears half the shelves on the pharmacy aisle. I hope they intend to help clean that up.
Oh dear. Jeremy has lured Piper into the elevator; he pulls a knife. He goes all smush faced which is kinda funny. Oh I forgot to mention that Jeremy has acquired poor Serena’s power of flamy fingers. Safe to say, Piper is panicking quite a lot at this point and that allows her to freeze the elevator. It doesn’t last long, but she manages to escape by hitting him with a plank of wood.
Back at the Manor, there’s a brief moment where Prue and Phoebe seem to silently acknowledge that Roger won’t be coming between them anymore.
Eeeek! The first spell- well; first spell together anyway. The sisters are sat in a circle of candles, anointed with oils and spices. They have a cauldron, a poppet and one of the roses Jeremy sent to Piper at the ready. So an actual ritual. How I miss this later on...having them gathered with candles and stuff spell casting creates such an exciting atmosphere for me. So much better than when they can put two rhyming lines together with next to no thought and can do anything.
Jeremy has thorns cutting through his skin. Youch! I mean cool, but youch. Phoebe touches the pot and sees that Jeremy has only been slowed down by their efforts... so she can actually see things happening in the present too it seems.
Jeremy arrives, face bloodied from the thorns. Prue knocks him back a couple of times. She doesn’t squint her eyes, or wave her arms; she sort of nods her head in the direction she wants to throw him. Also we can see that Prue’s powers are just starting to toughen up, because although she is capable of pushing Jeremy back against the wall, she hardly sends him flying the way she does with her enemies in later episodes.
In the attic. It seems Jeremy has been collecting powers for a while, because he can do quite a lot. But then I do recall Jeremy mentioning that Senera was the third one killed just this week. Along with utilizing poor Serena’s power to trap the sisters in a ring of fire, he can also move things, shatter the door to smithereens and create a twister. But none of that is a match for the greatest of all powers- The Power of Three. The sisters stand united and Jeremy goes boom.
The sisters vow to be careful, be wise and to stick together *sigh*. Prue magically closes the Manor’s front door.
So many years later, I can totally see why Charmed got the following it did. I thoroughly enjoyed that. Watching 8x01 after this is going to be seriously bizarre. But before that... a bonus round.
BONUS ROUND- The Unaired Pilot
I had my bonus disc handy, so I figured I’d compare it. Obviously the majority of it is the same, but here are a few thoughts I had.
No Darryl in this one.
Apparently this was filmed in the actual Manor, rather than a set.
I can kinda see why they recast Andy. He looks more like an Abercrombie and Fitch model than that guy you grew up with.
Prue calls Piper “Switzerland”. Heh, I quite like that.
Lori Rom. It’s hard to compare her I suppose. Even if I’m just comparing the two pilots, I’m still going to have all those Alyssa moments in the back of my mind, so I can’t really be unbiased. But one of the main issues I had with her is that I have trouble buying her as the youngest. I dunno what it is... her version of Phoebe seems more forceful and less “young at heart” to me. I think she’s a decent enough actress, but I do think Alyssa fit into the trio more (but again, I’m aware of my bias); I could see Lori more like a cousin. Or if she’d been willing to play Paige when season 4 came around, I could perhaps see that.
They tweaked the spell a little bit for the aired version and made the BOS page a bit fancier.
We see quite a bit more around the outside of the Manor. Nice garden around the side.
Piper gets home after the Jeremy attack. They’ve gone kind of overboard dirtying her up... it looks like she slid home on her face and did some dumpster diving on the way.
There doesn’t seem to be anything hinting that Phoebe’s visions need to be triggered by touch or a location in this version. She does just seem to get them when needed.
Jeremy: You were always the tough one weren’t you Prue. Didn’t even cry at your mommy’s funeral”
Prue: “And I won’t be crying at yours!”
I said on another thread that I wish they’d kept that line. Love it.
The CGI snake is pretty hilariously terrible; but it is very early so I’ll let them off. Also, Jeremy does that, the fire and the wind all from downstairs. I’m glad they changed this a little, because Jeremy was pretty powerful in the actual pilot without that. Similar to how they took some aspects of the sisters’ powers down a notch later on to allow for more develop, I think they probably needed to make Jeremy seem a little less super-warlock.
In this version, it’s Phoebe that convinces Prue to trust her and say the spell with them. Personally I think that works better.
Andy: Is that your cat?
Phoebe: It is now.
Andy: Looks familiar.
Wink, wink.
We end with Prue closing the door with a point; the clip we’ll see used on the opening credits for the next three seasons.
Always interesting to see how much the series has changed over the years. All premisses and thoughts were later then gone, it seems. The first episode is always cool. 
This definitely takes priority over some TV show. Definitely try to make the most of every last day you spend with him.
