Charmed: Season 1

Beschreibung

Product Description The complete first season of the TV show Charmed. desertcart.com Charmed: The Complete First Season recaptures a period when television's WB network was particularly keen on series about the supernatural and specially powered characters. The original home of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and future launch pad for Angel and Smallville, the WB debuted Charmed in 1998 with many of the same intriguing ironies that made those other shows click. Specifically, the greater a character's powers, the more vulnerable he or she becomes; the more superhuman, the more painfully obvious one's lonely, fragile humanity. The Halliwells, a trio of witch heroines and siblings at the center of Charmed, is a case in point. Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) returns to her San Francisco family home after losing her job, and moves in with her older sisters Prue (Shannen Doherty) and Piper (Holly Marie Combs). On her first night back, Phoebe finds the Book of Shadows in the attic and recites a spell giving all three women unique powers they were always meant to have: Prue suddenly has the gift of telekinesis, Piper can make time stand still, and Phoebe can see into the future. All well and good, but along with those extraordinary abilities is a new awareness of dark forces in the world from which mortals need protection. In some cases, those forces have been plotting a long time to steal the Halliwell's magical legacy once they awakened to it--and now they will never let up. Evil warlocks, demons, ancient curses, Grimlocks, and Wendigos (the last two are best left explained by their respective episodes), however, are only half the battle on this sexy dramedy, in which more ordinary matters of emotional and real-world survival also preoccupy the Halliwells. An important ally, Inspector Andy Trudeau (Ted King), is Prue's ex-lover, a delicate detail that mixes pain with duty as the couple rekindles their troubled relationship while solving otherworldly crimes. In "Dead Man Dating," Piper falls for the ghost of a murdered man who needs help, and later competes with Phoebe for the attention of a handyman, Leo (Brian Krause). Jobs and money are always an issue, too. At one time or another, Phoebe works as a psychic, Piper as a caterer, and Prue finds a job at an auction house. As with Buffy, the engine of Charmed is the seamless, sometimes-comic, sometimes-tender way in which all these dynamics in the magic and non-magic worlds blend together, presenting young adult challenges that are both unique and somehow terribly familiar. It is particularly fun to watch this series grow, deepen, and experiment during its first year. The season's true highlight is probably "That 70s Episode," in which the Halliwells go back in time to meet their younger selves. --Tom Keogh Review: Season 1-A Charmed Beginning!! - When Charmed premiered in October 1998, TV magic was literally born!!! We were introduced to three normal sisters:Prue, the oldest, had a lot of attitude and tried to keep everything in her life in check!!! Piper, the middle sister, who was sweet but very sarcastic!! Lastly, Phoebe, the free-spirited and wild but caring little sister!! When Phoebe moves back in with her sisters, they have no idea that they would become the most powerful witches in the world!! This season we meet Andy, Prue's ex-boyfriend from high school who's an inspector, and his partner Darryl!!! Here is Season 1: Something Wicca This Way Comes-Great episode!!! "When Phoebe Haliwell moves back in with her sisters Prue and Piper, they become the Charmed Ones, the most powerful witches in the world." We are introduced to the characters nicely and the cast is just fresh!! With a great blend of twists and turns, this was a perfect way to begin the season and series!!! I've Got You Under My Skin-Weak episode!!! "The sisters struggle to control their powers as they face a demon who steals youth from young women." Not a good follow up, the demon plot was lacking but Piper's fear of being a witch was a well written sub plot. Thank You For Not Morphing-Weak episode!!! "The sisters' father returns knowing that they're witches now, while shape-shifters try to steal the Book of Shadows." The actor who plays Victor is a bad actor, and the shapeshifters are worse! Dead Man Dating-Great episode!!! "Piper befriends a ghost who needs help of the sisters to justify his death." A touching and original episode with Mark and Piper making a good couple! Dream Sorcerer-Pretty good episode!!! "Prue is stalked in her dreams by a man who kills women in their dreams, while Piper and Phoebe cast a love spell." This episode, the first time I saw, just gave me chills!!! The dream sequences were creepy and scary, but the plot was kind of anti-climatic in the end. The Wedding From Hell-Bad episode!!! "Piper caters a wedding where the wife-to-be is a demon in disguise, can the Charmed Ones save the groom??" The demons looked pretty scary but God, all the guest stars were awful! The Fourth Sister-Pretty good episode!!! "A teenage girl with mysterious powers befriends Phoebe, and trys to join the Charmed Ones." Aviva was annoying character, but it was good to see another person with powers. The Truth Is Out There...And It Hurts-Great episode-"The Charmed Ones race to stop a warlock from the future, while Prue puts a truth spell on Andy." The special effects were good and the truth spell brought some hilarious moments. The Witch Is Back-Great Episode-"After a 300 year old warlock is released from a locket, The Charmed Ones summon the first witch of their line to vanquish him." We meet Melinda Warren, the sisters' a lot of greats, great grandmother!!! Wicca Envy-Great Episode!!! "Rex and Hannah, two of Prue's fellow workers, are actually warlocks who frame Prue, and force the sisters to give up their powers." I liked Rex and Hannah, too bad they didn't return later in the series since they were great villians!! Feats of Clay-Bad episode!!! "Phoebe's old boyfriend comes by for a visit, bringing with him an ancient egyptian spirit that is hunting him." Clay wasn't that interesting of a charater, and the plot dragged!! The Wendigo-Great episode!!! "After Piper gets attacked by some kind of werewolf, she begans to transform into it. Can Prue and Phoebe destroy the wendigo in time to save her??" The Wendigo was very scary looking, and Holly Marie Combs gives a great performance doing both comedy and drama flawlessy!! From Fear To Eternity-Great episode!!! "The Charmed Ones are hunted by Barbas, the Demon of Fear, who scares witches to death on Friday the 13th." Barbas makes his first appearance of the next 4. He was really a good demon at first, but he was just too overused later on. Secrets and Guys-Good episode!!! "Prue helps a young boy who is a witch when they are kidnapped, while Phoebe finds out Leo is a whitelighter." The Prue and Max scenes were touching and so was Leo and Piper saying goodbye. Is There A Woogy in the House?-Great episode!!! "When Phoebe is possessed by the shadow in the basement that turns her evil, Prue and Piper must help Phoebe before the shadow consumes more." We see Grams for the first time, We learn about the spiritual nexus, and learn one of Charmed's famous spells: The Woogyman spell!! Which Prue is it, Anyway?-Good episode!!! "When the sisters must stop a powerful ancient warlock named The Lord of War, Prue uses a spell to strengthen her powers, leading to two more Prues." The Prues were funny in this episode, Shannon has great comedic timing!!! That '70s Episode-Amazing Episode!!! "After being attacked by a warlock named Nicholas, the sisters travel back to the 70s to stop their mom from making a packed with him." A very emotional episode with the sisters meeting their mother and Phoebe for the first time. Loved little Prue and Piper! When Bad Warlocks Go Good-Pretty good episode!!! "Prue must help Brendon, a warlock who wants to become a priest and stop his evil warlock brothers." I liked Brendon, he should have returned as well!!! He and Prue could have made a good couple, but his a priest!!! Blind Sided-Great episode!!! "The Charmed Ones must find a boy who was kidnapped by the Grimlocks who steal the sight of little boys." The Grimlocks were inventive demons! The chemistry between Phoebe and Brent was touching! Also, Prue's power advances, now she can us her hands to move things!! The Power of Two-Great episode!!! "While Piper is off on a business trip, Prue and Phoebe must stop a ghost who is killing innocent people." Andy finally knows about the sisters, and Prue and Phoebe actually become closer finally! Love Hurts-Great episode!!! "Leo returns, informing the Charmed Ones that they need to help a young woman who is being stalked by a darklighter." Piper and Leo's powers get switched, as well as Prue and Phoebe's! Piper and Leo have one of their first romantic moments in the series!! Deja Vu All Over Again-Amazing Episode!!! "Phoebe gets a premonition of Andy's death. Trying to save him, the sisters die over and over again as the day repeats itself over and over again. Can they save themselves and Andy???" This was a brilliant finale, everytime one of the sisters died, it was so sad. This is also Andy's last episode, I miss him!!! Tempus and Inspector Rodriguez were great villains!! Season 1 was a great set up for the series done very well. Almost every episode was great, the acting was superb, and the stories were well-written!!! The show had a dramatic and suspenseful atmosphere this season, which I love about the first season!!! Go and by the set to re-live the Golden days of Charmed!!! Review: A good show that mostly holds up well years later - Charmed was a series set in San Fransisco about three witches named Prue (played by Shannen Doherty), Phoebe (played by Alyssa Milano), and Piper (played by Holly Marie Combs), who learn they have powers after the death of their grandmother. The first season pretty much follows a monster-of-the-week format in which the sisters had to go up against some kind of demon and ultimately vanquish it. This, of course, put the sisters on the radar of the local police (and Prue's ex-boyfriend, played by TW King, a local detective), as they were always getting involved in strange cases. The series was on the air at the same time as Buffy the Vampire slayer and has a very similar vibe to that as it set everyday problems (like dating, the sister's relationship with each other, etc.,) into the world of magic and demons. It also has some of the same character actors appear as guest stars that Buffy had, usually as a guest bad guy. It also guest-starred a very young and then-unknown Michael Weatherly, who would go on to be a series lead on Dark Angel, then make it big on NCIS and Bull, and David Carradine, who of course was well-known from the original Kung-Fu series and later the Kill Bill movies. For those who get the Blu-Ray set, it is pretty much an MOD set. It does have captions, but there are no extras at all. The HD transfer was okay, but not that great, and at time really showed off the limitations of the CGI of the time. Of course, this is pre-Matrix changing everything about CGI, and it was done on a TV budget. Even so, the special effects could be laughably bad and nothing compared to what today's tv series put out. And, since it was shot on film and not digital, it definitely has the look (especially in the stock shots) of a 1990s TV series (and sometimes even looks like the series that were shot in the 1980s). Overall, the show is very good. The writing can be a bit cheesy at times, but the acting was very good. All of the lead actresses had good chemistry with each other and played off each other well. As most fans of the show know, Milano and Doherty eventually came to hate each other and Doherty ended up leaving the show, but if they did not like each other from the start they were able to hide it pretty well. Of course, with Doherty playing the oldest sister and Milano playing the youngest one, some of that animosity could have helped their performances because they did convincingly bicker with each other. Even though the look of the show, at least in the first season) is a bit dated, the stories do hold up pretty well even 20-plus years later. Of course, having a ridiculously good-looking cast in their mid-twenties to early thirties does not hurt either. It is available to stream, but if you prefer physical discs to streaming it is worth the blu-ray pickup (unless you only get the physical discs when there are a lot of extras available).