Post by Esmeralda on Nov 24, 2018 13:34:41 GMT -5
Saw this at another site and it immediately made me think of our own Granny Charmed who loves Penny Halliwell so much. I thought the rest of you might enjoy it, too.
I'm not sure where to put this, but this seemed like the most appropriate forum and thread. So, I've been watching a lot of original Charmed lately as I'm applying for graduate school, and for some reason, Charmed both motivates me to work and entertains me while I'm stressing out about the application process. Anyway, while watching, I was thinking about the various Charmed spinoffs and reboots that have been discussed by fans and executives. While watching, that 70's Episode from the 1st season of Charmed, I thought about how much I would have loved a Gram's centric prequel. Hear me out:
1. I would have love to have seen the extent of Grams' powers. In That 70s Episode, Grams is obviously a powerful witch. She shows a level of mastery over her telekinesis that we never see Prue or Paige display. Yes, the effects are horrendous, but it's 1998. We see Grams perfectly guide the Charmed Ones out of the house, open the door and slam it shut with ease. In Sympathy for the Demon, a demon attacks Grams and Piper, and she immediately creates a spell to defeat the demon that is both lyrically pleasant "Hell spawn demon, creature of death, fire shall take your very breath," and extremely effective. She also mentions in an episode that she wrote a lot of the spells in the Book of Shadows. Grams, a lone witch, is also able to live long enough to see her daughter and her grand-daughters to adulthood and only the effects of aging is the cause of her death. A show with a great actress that explored Grams in her 20s - before she has Patty - would have been great for the mythology of Charmed and explored a character that was damaged by the tonal shift of Charmed.
2. Grams is a better link to the Charmed One and Wicca than Patty. Granted this is because Patty died so early in the Charmed Ones life, but Patty is never fully explored as a character. While watching some episodes I realized that Prue is the most like Grams. I think Paige even has some slight similarities to Grams. Piper is obviously the sister who was the closest to Grams before her death. I thought about what sister was most like Patty. My natural inclination was Piper, but then I realized I don't actually know very much about Patty. She was the Charmed Ones mom, loved her Whitelighter and died young. Besides from that she seems nice and lovely but empty. This hit me hardest when rewatching A Witche's Tail. Leo tells Piper that Patty thought she was invincible and that's why Patty died so young, but this actually go against everything we've seen of Patty, thus far. However, I also have a hard time saying Leo is wrong because a lot of Patty's appearances to this point (all of her appearances to this point?) have been defined by how she missed out on her daughter's lives because she died young and not necessarily who she is as a person. We also don't know much about what type of witch she was. She has the power to freeze but beyond that, was she considered powerful, did she have a great mastery over her abilities, did she ever add to the book, was she apart of a coven? I can answer all of these questions with Grams, but Patty is a complete blank. Hell, it was Grams and not Patty who often helped the sisters with demons, warlocks and various supernatural disasters, and she - not Patty - was the sisters go to for supernatural and natural emergencies. I would love a series that explored Grams in her young witch days before Grams and even included her mom - Piper's past life - and her cousin - Prue's old life - magical child. It would also be interesting see how she incorporated potions, spells and other Wicca practices into her demon fighting to supplement her lack of Charmed abilities.
3. Grams great love. We know that the girls' grandfather - whose name I can't remember and a quick Wiki search brought nothing up - is the love of Gram's life. Since this would most likely be a CW show, a show that shows them first meeting and falling in love would hit the CW's core demographic. It would also be a love Charmed fans could immediately get behind and knowing the grandfather will tragically die could make it more impactful for Charmed fans and give the show something to work toward for its series finale. A characteristic of Grams became her many marriages and dislike of men. However, seeing her young, falling in love with the grandfather of the Charmed Ones and ultimately losing him could be compelling television. Hell, what if one of Grams' Warren cousins has the gift of premonition and foresees the husband's death. We could have a Xena like finale where Grams and the husband knows his death is imminent and do all within their power to stop it only to fail at the end because destiny must play out. I know we saw his death in original Charmed, but since Witchstock isn't a highly loved or regarded episode, I think it would be okay for the show to retcon his death into something more appropriate for the new show.
4. Grams is a character that was damaged by the tonal shift of seasons 1-4, 5, and 6-8. (I think season 5 has a tone completely isolated to that one season). Grams is more serious, level-headed, competent and has a level of gravitas to her in her first appearances seasons 1-3. Starting with season 5, the show takes a more comical approach to Grams giving her constant one liners and make her pretty ineffective as a witch. The show also unfairly - in my humble opinion - makes Victor's disappearance from the Charmed Ones lives Grams' fault instead of Victor. Again, in season 1 when Victor blames Grams for his abandonment of the girls, Piper furiously retorts with "how dare you? Grams loved us. She RAISED us!" Not an exact quote. Then in later seasons like the aforementioned Sympathy for the Demon, after the demon attacks, Victor furiously leaves the house because he can't protect his daughters. However, that is VICTOR'S decision, and we don't see Gram banish Victor from their lives. He chooses to leave. Also, judging by Piper's age, this is after Patty's died and Grams bound her powers. The demon easily could have been after Grams, who is a powerful witch in her own right. Victor can't dictate whether Grams - a grown and capable woman - can decided to leave wicca or not. Then in Cheaper by the Coven, again Grams is shown as wrong in her parenting style of the girls and how to best handle the situation and Patty and Victor who shown as correct. However, again, Grams and not Patty or Victor would be the one to know the girls - at least Piper and Phoebe - the best. The later seasons seem to want to focus on Grams the comic relief and Victor the loving, adoring father, that they retroactively hurt Grams as a character. I would love to see a young Grams in the tone of seasons 1-4 in the Charmed universe. I would love to go on the journey on how she herself went from a young inexperienced witch to the badass we met in season 1.
While I am trying to like the Charmed reboot and wish it success, I hope that Netflix, CBS All Access, or some other streaming service could give Grams a show to explore her witchcraft.
1. I would have love to have seen the extent of Grams' powers. In That 70s Episode, Grams is obviously a powerful witch. She shows a level of mastery over her telekinesis that we never see Prue or Paige display. Yes, the effects are horrendous, but it's 1998. We see Grams perfectly guide the Charmed Ones out of the house, open the door and slam it shut with ease. In Sympathy for the Demon, a demon attacks Grams and Piper, and she immediately creates a spell to defeat the demon that is both lyrically pleasant "Hell spawn demon, creature of death, fire shall take your very breath," and extremely effective. She also mentions in an episode that she wrote a lot of the spells in the Book of Shadows. Grams, a lone witch, is also able to live long enough to see her daughter and her grand-daughters to adulthood and only the effects of aging is the cause of her death. A show with a great actress that explored Grams in her 20s - before she has Patty - would have been great for the mythology of Charmed and explored a character that was damaged by the tonal shift of Charmed.
2. Grams is a better link to the Charmed One and Wicca than Patty. Granted this is because Patty died so early in the Charmed Ones life, but Patty is never fully explored as a character. While watching some episodes I realized that Prue is the most like Grams. I think Paige even has some slight similarities to Grams. Piper is obviously the sister who was the closest to Grams before her death. I thought about what sister was most like Patty. My natural inclination was Piper, but then I realized I don't actually know very much about Patty. She was the Charmed Ones mom, loved her Whitelighter and died young. Besides from that she seems nice and lovely but empty. This hit me hardest when rewatching A Witche's Tail. Leo tells Piper that Patty thought she was invincible and that's why Patty died so young, but this actually go against everything we've seen of Patty, thus far. However, I also have a hard time saying Leo is wrong because a lot of Patty's appearances to this point (all of her appearances to this point?) have been defined by how she missed out on her daughter's lives because she died young and not necessarily who she is as a person. We also don't know much about what type of witch she was. She has the power to freeze but beyond that, was she considered powerful, did she have a great mastery over her abilities, did she ever add to the book, was she apart of a coven? I can answer all of these questions with Grams, but Patty is a complete blank. Hell, it was Grams and not Patty who often helped the sisters with demons, warlocks and various supernatural disasters, and she - not Patty - was the sisters go to for supernatural and natural emergencies. I would love a series that explored Grams in her young witch days before Grams and even included her mom - Piper's past life - and her cousin - Prue's old life - magical child. It would also be interesting see how she incorporated potions, spells and other Wicca practices into her demon fighting to supplement her lack of Charmed abilities.
3. Grams great love. We know that the girls' grandfather - whose name I can't remember and a quick Wiki search brought nothing up - is the love of Gram's life. Since this would most likely be a CW show, a show that shows them first meeting and falling in love would hit the CW's core demographic. It would also be a love Charmed fans could immediately get behind and knowing the grandfather will tragically die could make it more impactful for Charmed fans and give the show something to work toward for its series finale. A characteristic of Grams became her many marriages and dislike of men. However, seeing her young, falling in love with the grandfather of the Charmed Ones and ultimately losing him could be compelling television. Hell, what if one of Grams' Warren cousins has the gift of premonition and foresees the husband's death. We could have a Xena like finale where Grams and the husband knows his death is imminent and do all within their power to stop it only to fail at the end because destiny must play out. I know we saw his death in original Charmed, but since Witchstock isn't a highly loved or regarded episode, I think it would be okay for the show to retcon his death into something more appropriate for the new show.
4. Grams is a character that was damaged by the tonal shift of seasons 1-4, 5, and 6-8. (I think season 5 has a tone completely isolated to that one season). Grams is more serious, level-headed, competent and has a level of gravitas to her in her first appearances seasons 1-3. Starting with season 5, the show takes a more comical approach to Grams giving her constant one liners and make her pretty ineffective as a witch. The show also unfairly - in my humble opinion - makes Victor's disappearance from the Charmed Ones lives Grams' fault instead of Victor. Again, in season 1 when Victor blames Grams for his abandonment of the girls, Piper furiously retorts with "how dare you? Grams loved us. She RAISED us!" Not an exact quote. Then in later seasons like the aforementioned Sympathy for the Demon, after the demon attacks, Victor furiously leaves the house because he can't protect his daughters. However, that is VICTOR'S decision, and we don't see Gram banish Victor from their lives. He chooses to leave. Also, judging by Piper's age, this is after Patty's died and Grams bound her powers. The demon easily could have been after Grams, who is a powerful witch in her own right. Victor can't dictate whether Grams - a grown and capable woman - can decided to leave wicca or not. Then in Cheaper by the Coven, again Grams is shown as wrong in her parenting style of the girls and how to best handle the situation and Patty and Victor who shown as correct. However, again, Grams and not Patty or Victor would be the one to know the girls - at least Piper and Phoebe - the best. The later seasons seem to want to focus on Grams the comic relief and Victor the loving, adoring father, that they retroactively hurt Grams as a character. I would love to see a young Grams in the tone of seasons 1-4 in the Charmed universe. I would love to go on the journey on how she herself went from a young inexperienced witch to the badass we met in season 1.
While I am trying to like the Charmed reboot and wish it success, I hope that Netflix, CBS All Access, or some other streaming service could give Grams a show to explore her witchcraft.
