Something Wicca This Way Comes

Something Wicca This Way Comes is the first aired episode and thereby series premiere of The WB's Charmed.

Summary
Reunited in the grand Victorian house of their childhood, a trio of sisters, Prue, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell discover they are gifted witches. Little do they know that their newfound powers mean that they are now prey to evil forces.

Characters
Characters in bold appear for the first time in the series.

Dominus Trinus
This spell invoked the powers of the Halliwell sisters and made them charmed. Phoebe read the spell after she found the Book of Shadows in a trunk, in the attic.


 * Hear now the words of the witches.
 * The secrets we hid in the night.
 * The oldest of Gods are invoked here.
 * The great work of magic is sought.
 * In this night and in this hour.
 * We call upon the Ancient Power.
 * Bring your powers to we sisters three!
 * We want the power.
 * Give us the power.

The Three Essentials of Magic
On the night the sisters discovered the Book of Shadows, Phoebe mentioned that she read in the book something about there being Three Essentials of Magic. They were: Timing, Feeling, and the Phases of the moon. That means that midnight on a full moon is the most powerful time for witches, especially to perform great works of magic (for example, invoking their powers). Witches who gather together with their powers united, are at their strongest.

Melinda Warren
The night that Phoebe returned from New York and invoked the powers of herself and her sisters, she spend the night reading the Book of Shadows. The following morning, she mentioned to Piper, that she had read about Melinda Warren and how she practiced three powers. She could move objects with her mind, freeze time, and see into the future. Phoebe also mentioned how Melinda swore that there would be a group of sister witches, descended from her line, called the Charmed Ones that would vanquish all sorts of evil.

To Lose a Love Forever
A ritual that was used by Piper Halliwell to destroy Jeremy. It failed, presumably because Jeremy was a Warlock. It did, however, hurt him by pushing thorns through his skin from the inside. This was due to Piper, who had strengthened the ritual by pushing the roses that Jeremy had given her, into the poppet. The spell goes as follows:


 * Your love will wither and depart 
 * from my life and my heart.
 * Let me be Jeremy, and go away forever.

Serena Fredrick's Protection Spell
A witch named Serena Fredrick cast a protection spell that called upon the Ancient One of the Earth, Moon and Sun to protect her and her altar; although it did not work. She was killed seconds after her spell by Jeremy Burns to obtain her power of Pyrokinesis. The spell goes as follows:


 * Auger de gomay
 * Ancient one of the earth so deep,
 * Master of moon and sun.
 * I shield you in my Wiccan way,
 * Here in my circle round,
 * Asking you protect this space,
 * And offer your sun force down.

The Power of Three Spell
The Charmed Ones used this spell to vanquish Jeremy Burns, Piper's ex-boyfriend. After they tried to kill him with a ritual, Phoebe had a vision in which she saw Jeremy still alive. Running to the front door for safety, Jeremy was able to trap them in the attic, in a circle of fire. Remembering their mother's message on the back of the Spirit Board, the sisters cast this spell to vanquish him.


 * The Power of Three will set us free!
 * The Power of Three will set us free!
 * The Power of Three will set us free!

Powers

 * Aerokinesis: Used by Jeremy to create a vortex around the sisters.
 * Molecular Immobilization: Piper's primary power. Used to freeze Chef Moore and Jeremy.
 * Premonition: Phoebe's primary power. Used when she was riding her bike and when she was touching the cauldron.
 * Psychokinesis: Used by Jeremy to move the furniture that blocked the door.
 * Pyrokinesis: Used by Serena Fredrick to light her candles, later by Jeremy to reveal to Piper he's a warlock and later to attack the sisters.
 * Telekinesis: Prue's primary power. Used to move the cream for her coffee, explode her boss' pen, almost strangle her boss, and throw all medicine from their cabinets in the pharmacy.
 * Telematerialization: Prue used this power to teleport cream into her coffee.
 * Voice Manipulation: Used by Jeremy when he attacks Piper and later again when he attacks all three sisters.

Terms



 * The Charmed Ones: A trio of sister witches, the most powerful good ones the world has ever known.
 * The Power of Three: The universal power of the Charmed Ones.
 * Witch: A practitioner of magic, or witchcraft. They can be either male or female, and good or evil.
 * Warlock: A witch who betrayed the Wiccan Rede and kills good witches to obtain their powers.
 * Demon: A magical being motivated by evil. They kill innocents, witches, and other magical beings, both good and evil.

Artifacts

 * The Spirit Board: also known as an Ouija Board is a device used to contact the spirit world. The board spelled out "Attic", which lead Phoebe Halliwell to find the Book of Shadows. The sisters' mother, Patty Halliwell, wrote an inscription on the back of the spirit board before she died to tell the sisters that the "Power of Three, will set them free."


 * The Book of Shadows: is the Halliwell Family's magical tome. In addition to spells and potion recipes, the Book of Shadows contains information on warlocks, demons, and other supernatural beings. It was created by their ancestor, Melinda Warren and was passed down every generation. Phoebe found the book in a trunk in the attic.


 * Athame: is a double edged ceremonial knife. Witches often use athames in their daily practice and rituals in order to direct energies. Warlocks generally use athames to kill witches in order to obtain their powers.

Music
How Soon Is Now? by Love Spit Love

Notes and Trivia

 * While filming the first few episodes, Shannen Doherty was very sick. This explains why in the first few episodes, Prue looked quite pale and tired. It is especially very visible in this episode as well as the episodes Dream Sorcerer and Thank You For Not Morphing, which were the first 3 episodes filmed (the first 6 episodes of the series did not air in production order).
 * In 'The Women Of Charmed' interview, E. Duke Vincent states that Charmed had the biggest premiere ever in the history of the WB television network.
 * When Piper tells Prue she is too hard on Phoebe, Prue says Phoebe has no vision, no sense of the future; this is foreshadowing and ironic, due to Phoebe receiving the gift of Premonition.
 * When the sisters come home during the power outage, Prue says that they're perfectly safe and Piper admonishes her saying "in horror movies, the first one to say that is the first one to die." Ironically, Prue would be the first sister to die.
 * In the unaired pilot, after Piper says "Grams wasn't a witch, and as far as we know neither was mom", Phoebe says "I beg to differ about Grams". This is a reference to how strict and forthright their Grams is. However, this line is omitted from the actual premiere episode.
 * When Prue first used her telekinetic power, she did not squint her eye or wave her hand, she simply asked 'where is the cream?', which made the cream container move to her by itself, and 'transported' the cream into her coffee.
 * Even though it was thought that Prue couldn't channel her Telekinesis power through her hands until the Season 1, episode Out of Sight. It's shown in this episode that she channels it through her hands when Roger's tie tightens around his throat. However, this is still in the early tempramental stages of her powers.
 * Eric Scott Woods was uncomfortable with saying "bitch" on the show. So, the sound crew dubbed the word in with a different actors voice. Jeremy says the word three times throughout the episode, if you notice, every time it sounds exactly the same.
 * The sequence featuring the girls using a poppet to curse Jeremy and the latter running back to the manor to avenge himself is reminiscent of the sequence used in the movie The Witches of Eastwick. In that movie, the girls cursed the character of Jack Nicholson, who came running back (in his car), injured by the witches' spell using a magical poppet. He then chases them around their mansion and traps them in their kitchen where they made their potions and spells. He uses telekinesis and strong winds (like Jeremy) to corner the witches, and then circles the girls with fire (like in the pilot episode). After that, Nicholson's character changes into a powerful demon who explodes at the end when the witches burn the poppet while slumped together.
 * Piper has a blue Jeep with the license plate 3B583Y8.
 * The car that hits the skaters in Phoebe's premonition has the license plate: 2551723.
 * Phoebe saves the first two innocents (skaters) in the series from being hit by car.
 * This is the highest rated episode of Charmed in the entire series.
 * Originally, Shannen Doherty was to play Piper, while Holly Marie Combs was to portray Prue.
 * In this episode, it is stated that Melinda Warren was burned at the stake during the Salem witch trials. This is actually a historical error, as people believed to be witches in 1693 were hanged or drowned. The period in history where people persecuted as witches were burned are referred to as the Burning Times.
 * The Three Essentials of Magic; timing, feeling, and the phases of the moon, were mentioned for the first time and were subsequently never mentioned again.
 * Serena Fredrick's apartment at The Talmadge would later appear in again in Thank You For Not Morphing as Victor's suite at the Beaumark Hotel.
 * Piper was the first to be shown on camera in this first episode and the last one to be shown in the last episode Forever Charmed.
 * Prue is the first sister to use her magic on the show, she makes Roger's pen explode in his pocket.
 * Phoebe is the first of the Charmed Ones to cast a spell, and that is the spell of Invocation, which gives them their powers completely.
 * This is the only episode where the sisters say a spell to vanquish a warlock with him not actually being right there with them.
 * The first line ever spoken on the series was by a witch to her cat saying "here baby, come on baby."
 * This is the first spell the sisters use together to get rid of a warlock - "Your love will wither and depart, from my life and my heart, let me be, Jeremy, and go away forever".
 * The first spell on the series is performed by Serena Fredrick - "Ancient one of the earth so deep, master of moon and sun. I shield you in my wiccan way, here in my circle round, asking you to protect this space, and offer your sun force down".
 * In the original (unaired) pilot, Phoebe was played by Lori Rom. For personal reasons she left the show and was replaced with Alyssa Milano.
 * When Piper asks the Spirit Board if Prue will have sex with someone other than herself this year the board starts to spell out "Attic" but it pauses after "At" this could be the board answering Piper's question too because of the fact that Prue will eventually sleep with Andy Trudeau during season 1, whose initials are AT

References to other movies, books, mythology, etc.

 * When Phoebe and her sisters walk down the stairs after she reawakened their powers, she says "Well my head spun around and I vomited split pea soup". This is a reference to the '70s Horror movie "The Exorcist", where the little girl, who is possessed by demons, vomits split pea soup.
 * The title of this episode references to a couplet in the William Shakespeare play "Macbeth": "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes". The season 7 finale Something Wicca This Way Goes...? is also a reference from the above. It may also reference to the Ray Bradbury novel "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and the 1983 movie "Something Wicked This Way Comes" starring Jonathan Pryce.
 * Phoebe references to the children's story, called "Chicken Little", when Piper tells her she should have been the one to tell Prue was she was moving back into the Manor.
 * Prue called Piper Switzerland when Piper tells her Phoebe is coming home. Switzerland is an important mediator, just like Piper is.
 * Piper references to the childrens series "Nancy Drew", she says "Take that Nancy Drew", when Phoebe is explaining to her about being the Charmed ones.

Glitches

 * As Piper walks up to the front door in the rain, her umbrella is black with a single ring around it. But when she enters the house, it is covered in flowers. This is due the re-shooting of the scenes from the Unaired Pilot, which took place a few months later.
 * When Piper comes running into the manor after Jeremy attacks her, she locks the front door. But after the sisters used the poppet and said the spell, Prue came running down the stairs and opens the front door without unlocking it.
 * The newspaper Prue holds at the end of the episode is the same one from the movie Mrs Doubtfire.
 * Jeremy is seen standing in front of the manor after Phoebe invoked the sisters' powers. Lights can be seen in the window. They are the flashlights of the sisters. The scene cuts to the sisters who are now coming downstairs. This is because the scene of Jeremy in front of the manor was cut differently in the Unaired Pilot, in which we first see the sisters coming down and looking through the living room with their flashlights. Then we see Jeremy standing in front of the manor.
 * Darryl mentions how Kit has been clawing people all night. In a murder scene/investigation, Kit would have been contained and possibly examined for evidence and not left free to roam the crime scene.

Quotes

 * Prue: Piper, the girl has no vision, no sense of the future.
 * Piper: I really think Phoebe's coming around.
 * Prue: Well, as long as she doesn't come around here I guess that's good news.


 * Andy: Let me ask you something, Morris. Do you believe in UFOs?
 * Darryl: Hell no.
 * Andy: Neither do I. But do you believe that there are people out there who do believe in UFOs?
 * Darryl: Yes, but I think they're crazy.


 * (Piper and Phoebe play with their old Spirit Board)
 * Phoebe: I forgot your question.
 * Piper: I asked if Prue was going to have sex with someone other than herself this year.
 * Phoebe: That's disgusting. (under her breath) Please say "yes."


 * (There's a loud clap of thunder and the power goes out.)
 * (Cut to the foyer. Piper is walking towards the door. Prue is following her.)
 * Prue: Don't you think you're overreacting? We're perfectly safe here.
 * Piper: Don't say that. In horror movies, the person who says that is always the next to die.


 * Phoebe: According to the Book of Shadows, one of our ancestors was a witch, named Melinda Warren.
 * Piper: And we have a cousin who's a drunk, an aunt who's manic, and a father who's invisible.


 * Prue: I'm calling the cops.
 * Piper: And tell them what? That we're witches? That some freak with powers beyond comprehension is trying to kill us? Even if the cops did come, they'd be no match for Jeremy, and we'd be next.


 * (at the pharmacy, Phoebe is trying to prove that Prue's power is tied to her emotions)
 * (Prue just telekinetically moved a bottle of aspirins in her hands.)
 * Phoebe: You move things when you're upset.
 * Prue: This is ridiculous! I thought you landed on your arm, not your head!
 * Phoebe: You don't believe me?
 * Prue: Of course I don't believe you!
 * Phoebe: (teasing) Roger.
 * (The rest of the bottles of aspirin fall off the shelves.)
 * Phoebe: Now let's talk about dad and see what happens.
 * Prue: He's dead, Phoebe.
 * Phoebe: No, he's moved from New York but he's very much alive.
 * Prue: He isn't to me. He died the day he left mom.
 * Phoebe: What are you talking about? He's always been a major button-pusher for you. You're mad he's alive, you're mad I tried to find him, and you're mad I came back.
 * (Prue gets very annoyed.)
 * Phoebe: (continuing) Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad!
 * (all the products along the aisle fly off the shelves)




 * Prue: I do not have special powers. Now where is the cream? (cream moves down counter)
 * Phoebe: Really? That looks pretty special to me.