Charmed Opening Credits

"I am the son, I am the heir. I am human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does! See I've already waited too long, and all my hope is gone."

—The lyrics adapted from "How Soon Is Now?" by The Smiths.

Description

The opening credits consists of various scenes from episodes, including some deleted scenes. The first three seasons used lots of gold, blue and black colors on the clips and many flashes, the five last seasons used more red, blue, green, yellow and black colors and almost no gold and less flashes. The first three episodes also had credits which had different text-effects.

The opening starts with a Golden Gate Bridge shot, with the triquetra and then it shows Piper pressing a rose thorn in a puppet, as the To Lose a Love Forever spell requires, and then, we see a shot of a full moon. Both scenes from the episode "Something Wicca This Way Comes".

Title Clip

Season 1-3

The title clip exists out of a zooming in clip of the Book of Shadows (deleted scene from "Something Wicca This Way Comes"), with "CHARMED" scrambling over three blue leaves and a circle that come together which form a triquetra. There is a little flash and we suddenly see overhead shot of the sisters at a round table ("Something Wicca This Way Comes") the blue triquetra and "CHARMED" then fades out.

Season 4-8

After Shannen Doherty left the title clip had to be remade.

After the Title Clip

Season 1-3

The sisters reciting the To Lose a Love Forever spell, in the attic.
The sisters coming downstairs.
The "starring" shot is the sisters reciting The Power of Three Spell. All scenes from the episode "Something Wicca This Way Comes".

Season 4-8

The first part until the flash in the intertitle, in the episode Something Wicca This Way Comes.
The Book of Shadows zooming in further and fading to a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge that was once used in the episode That Old Black Magic.
A gargoyle, of the episode Charmed Again, Part 1.
An amulet, of the episode All Halliwell's Eve.
The stairs clip from Something Wicca This Way Comes.
The "starring" shot is Prue's hand flipping the Book of Shadows pages, scene of the episode The Honeymoon's Over.
Piper casting the To Call a Lost Witch spell.
The Scrying Crystal stepping on the map, of the episode Astral Monkey.
A triqueta tattoed on Serena's neck, and when she uses Pyrokinesis to light a candle, both scenes from the episode Something Wicca This Way Comes. (see below)

Last Part of the Clips

Season 1-3

(except early Season 1 opening credit)

Season 4-8

For The Entire Seasons

(except the Kit, the cat was not included in the early Season 1 opening credit)

End Part of the Clips

Season 1-3

(from last part of the episode "Something Wicca This Way Comes")

(for early Season 1 only)

(Season 1 to 3 from the last part of the Unaired Pilot)

Season 4-8

Theme Song

During all broadcast seasons of Charmed, the opening theme music was the song How Soon Is Now? by the band Love Spit Love. The song was also used in the movie "The Craft", and was originally composed and performed by the influential British band The Smiths. During the mid-80's the song was very popular and has been referred to as the "Stairway to Heaven" of the '80's.

The fourth and fifth seasons' premiere episodes had special opening credits of 5 seconds which had textless music.

The song was replaced on the season 8 DVD's of Charmed because the license for the song expired before the production of the season 8 DVD's. Brad Kern tried to get it back for the Region 1 release but couldn't.
The song has also been replaced in the opening credits for all 8 seasons streaming on Netflix.

Lyrics

I am the son,

I am the heir.

I am Human and I need to be loved,

Just like everybody else does!

See I've already waited too long,

And all my hope is gone!

Billing Order

Alyssa Milano was credited with And during the first three seasons, after Shannen Doherty left, she was put first and Holly Marie Combs was credited as And Holly Marie Combs as "Piper" after her agent renogotiated her contract when Shannen Left, it also happened as she was now a producer of the show. Brian Krause almost got credited with "With". In the eighth season, Kaley Cuoco was put before Brian Krause since he would be leaving after the tenth episode Vaya Con Leos.

Season 1

	For the first five episodes: Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell T.W. King as Andy Trudeau Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris And Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell For the rest of the Season: Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell And Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell T.W. King as Andy Trudeau Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris

Season 2

	Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell And Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell Greg Vaughan as Dan Gordon Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris Karis Paige Bryant as Jenny Gordon (Until That Old Black Magic) Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt (Since Pardon My Past)

Season 3

	Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell And Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris Julian McMahon as Cole Turner

Season 4

	Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews and Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt Julian McMahon as Cole Turner Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris

Season 5

	Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews and Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt Julian McMahon as Cole Turner (Until Centennial Charmed) Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris

Season 6

	Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews and Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt Drew Fuller as Chris Perry Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris

Season 7

	Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews and Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris

Season 8

	Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews and Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell Kaley Cuoco as Billie Jenkins Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt (Except episodes from 11 to 20)

Trivia

File:How Soon is Now? - The Smiths

The Smiths original version

File:Love Spit Love- How Soon is Now

The Love Spit Love version (used on the show)

There are a total of 33 different opening credits in total. The biggest difference would be removing a cast member if they are not appearing in the episode.
- Season 1 has 6 versions (changes in clips, effects, order of cast members)
- Season 2 has 6 versions
- Season 3 has 4 versions
- Season 4 has 3 versions
- Season 5 has 4 versions
- Season 6 has 3 versions
- Season 7 has 2 versions
- Season 8 has 4 versions (two versions with both the old and new theme song).
- The short intro which was used for the two-hour long season premieres of seasons 4 and 5.
The only opening to feature only the three main characters (the sisters) is shown once in season 2, "Morality Bites".
When one of the supporting character's does not appear in a particular episode, his/her name also does not appear in the opening credits. Although, there's been two incidents where this hasn't happen. T.W. King was credited in That '70s Episode but he wasn't shown in that episode (Although his younger self was) and Brian Krause was credited in Hyde School Reunion but he wasn't shown in that episode.
The capital letter flashes that are seen throughout the whole series are only the letters that spell out Charmed.
The starring shot from the season 4—8 opening credits is slightly changed in some episodes of season 4.
Karis Paige Bryant was credited in the opening, though she only appeared in 4 episodes. This is due the sudden decision of writing Jenny Gordon out of the series.
The text effect has been changed three times during the first four episodes of the series. Since "Dead Man Dating", the text effect has remained the same; a scroll of initials spelling "charmed" before the actor's name.
From season 4, Most of the scenes in between the Sisters clips, were from season 3, Although one was from season 2 (Morality Bites: When Prue used her Telekinesis, and ended up destroying the attic) and the remaining ones were from season 1.

From season 1 to season 2 there was a pattern in the opening credits. For example: After Prue's title clip, there's a scene of Prue and Piper, which means Piper is next in the opening credits, after Piper's title clip, there's a scene of Piper and Phoebe, which means Phoebe will be next and after Andy's title clip, there's a scene with Andy and Darryl, then Darryl's opening clips will appear. During season 3 this pattern was broken as between Piper and Phoebe's clip was a clip of Prue and Phoebe. (see the photos)
The theme song is featured in the 1996 movie The Craft, a movie about witches, and was presumably chosen for this reason.
When Shannen Doherty left at the end of Season 3, the Season 4 credits had to be redone. Although one particular clip was left in. When Charmed comes onto the screen, you can see candles surrounding it in the background. That scene is from "Something Wicca This Way Comes" and was used as one of the two "starring clips" in the original credits. Although the scene quickly cuts to a clip of the Golden Gate Bridge for anyone to notice. The clip was still used in combination with another clip, at the end of the credits when Constance M. Burge is credited. The clip that was put over noticeably covers Shannen, and is due to that, not centered. Also Shannen's hands can still be seen during the starring shot, as she is the one who flips through the Book's pages, and also after Rose's clips when she puts the Book of Shadows on its stand.
Since "The Wedding from Hell", Alyssa Milano is no longer billed as the last cast member, however she is billed after Holly Marie Combs. Despite this, she is still billed with the top billing status, 'And Alyssa Milano', despite being the third cast member to be billed in the opening credits. She remains the 'And' title until the fourth season where she will be billed first.
The font used in the credits is called the "Charmed Font" and is fan made, the real font is not known. Since the fourth season the font has changed to "Mason" ("Bell Gothic" is used to replace the "t" from Mason font.) for Starring, And...as "Piper" and Created By. The font has further been used by Lady Gaga for the cover of her single, "Poker Face" (see image) and the DVD cover of Little Witches.
On October 7th 2010, Holly tweeted "I will never forget the thrill I got watching the credits for the first time with Shannen. It was a feeling I had never felt before or since".
In the Season 4 premier episodes ""Charmed Again, Part 1 and "Charmed Again, Part 2", a shortened version of the credits was used.
Alyssa Milano had the most number of her styles incl. early Season 1 (8) in Opening Credits (incl. looks, hair, costume, make-up (for women only), etc.). Holly Marie Combs, Brian Krause and Rose McGowan (5 each), Dorian Gregory (4), Shannen Doherty (incl. early Season 1 also) and Julian McMahon (3 each) and others had 1 each (T.W. King, Greg Vaughan, Karis Paige Bryant, Drew Fuller & Kaley Cuoco).
The first and last cast members to be given a credit in the opening sequence (Shannen Doherty and Kaley Cuoco respectively) both portrayed witches with the power of telekinesis.
The Unaired Pilot (including Lori Rom and Chris Boyd) had no opening credits sequence. However, the credits ran over shots of San Francisco (Similarly to "Charmed Again" and "A Witch's Tail".
In the first three seasons, each of the Charmed Ones's powers are shown in two clips before their actresses are credited (except for Phoebe who is shown having only one premonition in the third season). In season two, Leo is also shown orbing before Brain Krause is credited. In the fourth season, this trend was abandoned, but in some episodes, each sisters is shown using their powers in succession after each actress is credited, while Leo still orbs. In the fifth season, this way of presenting the sisters' powers is continued in some episodes (except for Phoebe who is just featured as a mermaid). In the sixth season, Chris is shown using telekinesis just before Drew Fuller is credited.