That '70s Episode is the 17th episode of the first season and the 17th overall episode of Charmed.
Summary
| For a complete plot of That '70s Episode, go here. |
The Halliwell sisters encounter a Warlock named Nicholas, who has been waiting for years to obtain the sisters’ powers. The warlock is immune to the powers of the Charmed Ones after making a deal with their mother to spare her life in the past. In order to save themselves, the girls cast a spell which returns them to March 24, 1975, when the deal was made, their grandmother was still alive, Prue and Piper are playful little witches and their mother is pregnant with an unborn Phoebe.
Cast
Main Cast
- Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell
- Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell
- Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell
- T.W. King as Andy Trudeau (credit only)
Guest Stars
Co-Stars
- Jake Sakson as Little Andy
- Megan Corletto as Little Piper
- Emmalee Thompson as Little Prue
- Sally Ann Brooks as Officer at Jail
- Rey Silva as Officer at Park
Magical Notes
Spells
To Unbind a Bond
- The bond which was not to be done,
- Give us the power to see it undone,
- And turn back time to whence it was begun.
To Return to Your Own Time
- A time for everything,
- and to everything its place
- Return what has been moved
- through time and space.
- Requirements: Power of Three
The Nicholas Must Die Spell
- Lavender,
- Mimosa,
- Holy Thistle
- Mimosa,
- Cleanse this evil from our midst
- Scatter its cells throughout time
- Let this Nick no more exist.
- Use the ingredients of the spell by
- pouring in your Sacred bowl.
Powers
- Blood Boiling- Used by Nicholas.
- Molecular Immobilization- Used by Piper.
- Telekinesis- Used by Prue and Grams.
- Premonition- Used by Patty off-screen, channeling unborn Phoebe's power.
- Power Tapping- Unintentionally used by Patty to channel baby Phoebe's premonition power. Later used by her to purposefully channel Phoebe's magic to cast a Power of Three spell to send the Charmed Ones home.
Artifacts
- The Book of Shadows: The Halliwell Family's magical tome, which contains different spells and potions.
- Ring of Immunity: Patty Halliwell was forced to bless this ring and give the warlock Nicholas immunity to her daughters powers. In 1999, her daughters, the Charmed Ones went back in time to unbind the bond Patty made and with the help of their Grams, unblessed the ring
Notes and Trivia
That '70s Episode trailer.
- Darryl does not appear in this episode.
- This is the second episode in which the sister lose their powers.
- Although T.W. King appears on the opening credits, Andy doesn't appear in the episode as an adult. He does turn up as a child at one point, in a cowboy outfit.
- Phoebe says that they'll return to the future in which their mother doesn't exist. Chris says the same thing in "Hyde School Reunion".
- When the girls tell Grams Phoebe's name she says "Another P, what a surprise!" A similar line would be said in "Charmed Again, Part 1" by Phoebe after Paige tells them her name. "Hmm. Another P. Imagine that"
- This is the first episode in which the Charmed Ones time travel.
- In this episode, it is revealed that Halliwell is actually Patty's last name and not Victor's (Anthony Denison was credited as Victor Halliwell in "Thank You For Not Morphing").
- This episode scored 6.5 million viewers.
- The diner in which the sisters find Patty working at, called Fred 62, is located on 1850 N. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles in Los Feliz area. The diner is open 24 hours a day and serves a variety of American dishes.
- The sound effects used when little Prue and Piper use their powers are more high pitched than the sound effects usually used for their present day forms.
- Despite being in a park, big Prue made little Prue and little Piper use their powers in public.
- Little Prue channeled her telekinesis through her hands as well as her eyes; she moved the ball by pointing at it.
- Little Piper displayed the ability to channel her powers through her eyes as well as her hands as she unfroze Andy with a blink of her eyes.
- Emmalee Thompson was chosen to play little Prue specifically, because she had a mole under her right eye, just like Shannen Doherty has.
- This is the actual first time that the Charmed Ones have used the Power of Three. It wouldn't be used again until 23 years later.
- This episode marks Finola Hughes' first appearance on the show as Patty Halliwell. Patty was earlier portrayed by Alyssa Milano in a home video and by an unknown actress in "From Fear to Eternity".
- This is the first time we learn that Grams was married numerous times. The number of which changes in future episodes.
- Prue calls Grams "Grandma" in this episode.
- Shannen Doherty and Jennifer Rhodes appeared together in the 80's cult classic Heathers.
- In this episode Patty states it's medically impossible for her to be pregnant but she is pregnant with Phoebe but will also be pregnant with Paige afterwards.
Cultural References
- Prue's line "Thank you, Mr. Spock" is a reference to the classic sci-fi show "Star Trek".
- The title "That '70s Episode" is a reference to the comedy "That '70s Show", which premiered and ended the same years as Charmed.
Glitches
- In the later episode, "P3 H2O", it is revealed that Patty was killed not by a warlock, but by a Water Demon.
- Prue, Piper and Phoebe went back at the time Patty was pregnant with unborn Phoebe, and telling Patty and Penny that they're the Charmed Ones, so their Mom and Grams knew that. But in "Forever Charmed", when Leo, Piper, Patty traveled to meet Grams when Patty had died, Grams had no idea that her granddaughters would be the Charmed Ones.
- When Phoebe takes a photo of Patty with little Prue and Piper, they are in another position than when the photo is shown at the end of the episode. Patty's holding her daughters hands another way and Piper was looking in front of her instead of looking to the floor.
- Finola Hughes' slight English accent can be heard when she says "vanquish" near the end of the episode.
- When Grams flings them out of the Manor, Alyssa Milano can be seen smiling and talking to Holly Marie Combs.
- The opening montage shows Jaws playing in the cinema, however the date on the paper is March 24 1975. The film did not premier until June 20 (although there was an early test screening in Dallas on March 25th).
- The Charmed Ones travel back to March 24, 1975. On that day in 1975 Prue should have been almost 4 years old and Piper should have been almost 2 years old. The girls portraying young Prue and Piper where much older than that. This is confirmed in "Forever Charmed" when they travel back to Phoebe's conception and Patty states that Piper is 2 years old. It would be unlikely if not impossible for the girl who portrayed little Piper to be portraying a 2 year old in this episode.
- Prue says that they got rid of stuff in the attic years ago, meaning it was before 1998. This seems impossible since it is stated in "Something Wicca This Way Comes" that the attic was closed since the sisters were kids. It is also stated in the flashback in Pre-Witched, that the attic was closed when they were kids.
- When The Charmed Ones return to their time, the stand with the Book of Shadows is by a table near a window. When they cast the spell to return to the past, the stand with the Book is near the attic entrance.
Music
- Never Can Say Goodbye by Gloria Gaynor.
- Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves by Cher.
- (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave by Martha Reeves.
- S.O.S. by ABBA.
Gallery
Screencaps
Episode Stills
Quotes
- Nicholas: Five chimes.
- Piper: Excuse me?
- Nicholas: I only heard five chimes. It's noon. That means you froze me. Which means you have your powers at last.
- Piper: Uh, I don't know what you're talking about Mister but thanks for the flowers, okay, bye.
- Nicholas: Call me Nicholas. Your mother did.
- Piper: And you saw us? As kids?
- Prue: Yeah.
- Piper: This can't be happening. I'm getting a migraine.
- Phoebe: Better not, I don't think Advil's been invented yet. And apparently, neither has the spell. It's not in here anywhere.
- Piper: But we just cast it, that's how we got back ... here.
- Phoebe: Yeah, well, wherever here is, it's before the spell was written.
- Prue: So, there's nothing in here about how to get back to our own time?
- Phoebe: Nothing. Uh, let me be the first to say we're screwed.
- Phoebe: Coast is clear.
- Piper: What if Grams catches us?
- Prue: She'll kill us before Nicholas has a chance.
- Phoebe: She won't catch us. Observe. (She opens the heating duct and they can hear Grams and Patty talking.)
- Patty: You said yourself the girls are safe with you. Besides, I want to go.
- Grams: You are making a big mistake Patty, Victor is not coming back.
- Prue: How did you ...?
- Phoebe: Heating duct to upstairs. I used to listen to you guys for hours. Especially when you used to sneak Andy up to your bedroom in high school.
- Prue: Oohh...
- Grams: Where was I born?
- Patty: Mom...
- Grams: I'm still not convinced that they're not warlocks.
- Patty: We have a pact to undo. We should be looking for a spell...
- Prue: Boston. In a hotel room. Breach.
- Grams: What was my husband's name?
- Prue: Which husband?
- (The girls giggle)
- Grams: Who's Melinda Warren?
- Phoebe: The beginning of our family line. She gave us our powers. Our destiny.
- Grams: What's the secret ingredient in my blueberry cobbler?
- Piper: Honey, and a splash of rum.
- Grams: What's IBM selling at in your time?
- Patty: Mom!
- Grams: What?
- Patty: This is not the time for personal gain.
- Grams: You're right. If they could just nod their heads...
- Patty: (quietly) Stop it.
- Grams: (quietly) Okay, forget it. (then...) Look at you. The three of you. Oh, Patty, I always knew that I would deliver the Charmed Ones.
- (Patty makes a face)
- Grams: Uh... once removed, of course. Prue. Piper. And...
- Phoebe: Phoebe!
- Grams: Oh, another "p", what a surprise.
- Piper: What? I'm supposed to throw out perfectly good flowers because they came from a creep? If that was the rule, we'd never have flowers in this house.
International Titles
- French: Le pacte (The Pact)
- Czech: Návrat (The Return)
- Slovak: Tie roky 70-te (That '70s' Years)
- Serbian: Pakt (The Pact)
- Italian: Viaggio nel tempo (Travel in Time)
- Polish: Epizod w latach 70 (The Episode in the '70s)
- Russian: Забытая сделка [Zabytaja sdelka] (Forgotten Pact)
- Spanish (Spain): Aquel episodio de los 70 (That '70s Episode )
- Spanish (Latin America): Volvemos a ver a mamá (We Return to See Mom)
- Hungarian: Vissza a múltba (Back to the Past)
- Portuguese (Portugal): O episódio dos 70s (The Episode of the '70s)
- Portuguese (Brazil): O Episódio dos Anos 70 (The Episode of the '70s' Years')
- Finnish: Takaisin lapsuuteen (Back to Childhood)
- German: Zurück in die Vergangenheit (Back to the Past)
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Next Episode: When Bad Warlocks Go Good |
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