Charmed - Season 7 [DVD]

RRP: £59.99
Our Price: £13.50 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

The challenges come fast and furious for the Halliwell sisters in Charmed: The Complete Seventh Season. Some of them are pretty exotic, too: a visit from Lady Godiva, who inspires a certain, unexpected freedom in witchy sisters Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), Piper (Holly Marie Combs), and Paige (Rose McGowan) while dodging the evil designs of a nasty land baron. Shakti and Shiva, the ultimate lovers of Hinduism, manage to occupy the bodies of Piper and still-evolving Whitelighter Leo (Brian Krause) at a very bad time: The consummation of their love will destroy the universe. An ex-demon turned professor at the Magic School falls under a spell that causes him to believe he's Robin Hood and that Phoebe is Maid Marian. And it goes on like that: an invisible demon posing as an imaginary friend to a child; a time-travel trip to 1899 (and the site of a tragic fire) that strands Phoebe; the arrival of Pandora's Box in the hands of a shape-shifting visitor from the Underworld. Things never quiet down for the Halliwells, and their lives are even more complicated by Zankou (Oded Fehr), who shows up in a running storyline about his effort to release the Shadow, the ultimate power, and steal the Book of Shadows, which is crucial to the sisters' witchcraft. Meanwhile, Leo must make a crucial choice in order to release Piper and Phoebe from their deaths at the hands of yet another demon: Should he save them or engage in magic that will ultimately rob him of his free will? An exciting season full of new changes and characters, transitions, children, and much else, Charmed: The Complete Seventh Season carries on this long-running television show's breathless pace and intriguing mix of the arcane and ordinary. --Tom Keogh

Magical Ennui
Review date: 2010-05-09 Rating: 8 out of 10

Season seven of Charmed, fantasy drama series about three San Francisco dwelling sisters who are also witches and who struggle to balance that and their personal lives.

By this point the show has so much back story that new viewers shouldn't start here otherwise they might get confused very quickly. Start with Charmed - Series 1 [DVD] instead.

The DVD box set contains the twenty two episodes of the season, four each on the first five discs and the final two on the sixth disc.

It has language tracks in: English French German Italian and Spanish.

Subtitles are: English Danish Dutch Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Spanish and Swedish.

There are absolutely no extras.

If there's a central theme to the season it's about the sisters trying to rediscover their mojo. Six previous years of constant battling demons and the resulting personal strife has taken a toll and worn them down. Do they still care enough to carry on? Especially when a chance appears to end the fighting once and for all.

The season does get off to a rather unpromising start with four rather gimmicky episodes - characters turned into love gods, lady godiva appearing and pirate ghosts all seeming rather corny. Although the early episode with the sisters given the personalities of squabbling teenagers is rather fun. And the early episodes can look very cheap at times also. Added to which phoebe has a very predictable romantic subplot that seems to be going over old ground.

But then things pick up markedly with the fifth episode, a strong look at mortality, and things get steadily better as the issues of the chance they've been given to change the world are considered. An appealing performance from Charisma Carpenter as a seer enlivens the episodes she appears in.

Even though the main plot for the season is concluded only a little over halfway through it, the next three episodes are fun thanks to a wonderfully charismatic and entertaining performance from Billy Zane as Drake, former demon now teacher who lives life to the full. Then follow four stand alone stories that are marking time to the season finale, but they're all fine episodes.

The last two episodes basically form one long story that had to conclude the season and also act as a possible end for the show if it wasn't going to continue, and these do a good job of that, putting the sisters in a situation that really appears to be beyond their control and about to change their lives forever.

In fact the show was renewed and there's an eighth and final season after this one. But if it had ended here, it wouldn't have gone out too badly.

Reviews

I am charmed by 'Charmed'.
Review date: 2009-08-16 Rating: 10 out of 10

If you like 'Charmed' this is the best.I am watching all the series in order instead of the piecemeal 'catch it on the T.V.' system I used before.

Nothing wrong with Season 7!
Review date: 2009-04-03 Rating: 8 out of 10

I don't understand why season 7 had such low viewing figures. I love it! In my opinion it's slightly better than season 8 (where Billie sometimes seems to upstage the Charmed Ones).
It's not my favourite season, and it does have it's low points. For example, the major threat of the Avatars never feels as serious as it is supposed to, and seems to drag on. The idea of a Utopian society is an interesting concept, but this is Charmed! Come on, you can't have a demon-free Charmed.
After the (minor) threat of the Avatars passes, Zankou takes over as the main threat, and in my opinion, is one of the best demons of all 8 series (after Cole- obviously).
Something I love about this season is the variety of new guest stars. We have Oded Fehr (Zankou) and Kerr Smith, who plays Kyle Brody, an FBI agent and new boyfriend for Paige, who is hell bent on destroying the Avatars. Also notable are Charisma Carpenter, who plays a seer trying to become mortal, and Billy Zane as Drake, an ex-demon turned literature teacher, who spends his last days teaching Phoebe to embrace love again.
Highlights of Season 7 include:
'Styx Feet Under'- Piper angers Death, who retaliates by recruiting her as a temporary Angel of Death. Her job is to help souls into the afterlife, but this becomes a lot more difficult when one of those souls turns out to be her sisters.
'Charmed Noir'- Very stylish episode, which sees Paige and Brody sucked into an unfinished crime novel, set in the 1930's. In order to keep them alive, Phoebe and Piper must write plot twists in order to lead the new characters to the only one with the power to finish the story...
'Witchness Protection'- The seer (Charisma Carpenter) is placed under the protection of the sisters when she decides to sell out her fellow demons in order to become human. With her visions of Utopia, she is just what the Avatars need to bring the Charmed Ones around to their cause (or so they think).
'Show Ghouls'- After a cabaret club caught fire, killing those trapped inside, a time loop prevented them from moving on, meaning they were forced to re-live the fire again and again. Phoebe and Drake must go back to the night of the fire, in 1899 in order to free all the lost souls.

Weaker episodes-

'A Call to Arms'
'There's something about Leo'
'Freaky Phoebe'

Charmed Revives Itself for Season 7!!
Review date: 2007-06-07 Rating: 8 out of 10

After 2 seasons of horrid storylines, poor story developments and awful episodes, Charmed returns to form with a refreshing 7th season!! Now while this season can't touch the brilliant writing and storytelling of Season 1-4, this season is the closest out of the lackluster second half of the series (Season 5-8)!! It seems the writers realized how poor the series had become and tried to make the best of a bad situation, luckily it works to their benefit as Season 7 is the most consistent season since Season 4!! What made the season good was the introduction of new characters, some bad (Singer Nick Lachey's Leslie who is another forgettable boyfriend for Phoebe!!) but most good (TV superstar Charisma Carpenter as fan favorite, Kira the Seer!), (Billy Zane as the infectious Drake) and (Season big bad, Zankou played wonderfully by Oded Fehr!) While the overall story arc with the Avatars is a boring one, the individual episodes are more thought out this time and the storylines are exciting and dark again! Leo, who after 6 years of being a side character, is at the core of the story arc which gives his character a darker edge! Here is Season 7:

A Call to Arms-Bad episode!! "A vengeful Leo tracks down Barbas, just as he and Piper are possessed by the essence of Hindu Gods, leaving Piper and Paige to save them from its power." Yet another weak premiere!! The whole Hindu possession with Piper's extra 4 arms was too gimmicky to be taken seriously! Although the special effects were superb, and Barbas finally makes his last appearance on the series! Leo kills an Elder by mistake...uhh ohh!

The Bare Witch Project-Bad Episode!! "A student from Magic School casts a spell that brings Lady Godiva and Lord Dyson, a demon who feeds on the aggression of innocents for power, to the present leaving The Charmed Ones to stop him from destroying Lady Godiva." Lord Dyson was such a cool villain and it sucks that he's wasted on the poor Lady Godiva plot!! The season continues to show some great special effects with Lord Dyson's vanquish looking amazing! But the Leslie and Phoebe/sexiest story just brought down the episode, with Phoebe being naked at the end for no apparent reason..EHW!!

Cheaper by the Coven-Weak episode!! "Grams returns for Chris' wiccan ceremony; she casts a spell on Wyatt and Chris that sends their sibling rivalry into the sisters which causes them to act immature, while Leo battles against Wyatt's mysterious attacker." It was nice to see Victor, Patty and Grams in an episode together again, even though the rivalry plot was poor but Charisma Carpenter makes her debut and shines in her scene with Leo!

Charrrmed!-Good Episode!! "With Paige quickly aging after her encounter with Captain Black Jack Cutting and his undead pirates, Piper and Phoebe steal a golden cup to activate the Fountain of Youth, while Leo fights a mysterious flying head!" The pirates were surprisingly written well, the episode had some great effects with Piper's powers and Kerr Smith gives a good first performance as Agent Kyle Brody and he knocked out that annoying Inspector Sheridan...which is a plus!!

Styx Feet Under-Great episode!! "While trying to protect an innocent from a half-demon named Sirk, Paige's spell goes wrong on the innocent causing The Angel of Death to make Piper become another Angel of Death to fix the problem." This was a dark episode where the whole cast including Alyssa does very well! Sirk is a great villain and Zack Ward gives a good performance! The scene with Piper and Paige saying goodbye too each other was very touching and well acted!

Once In A Blue Moon-Great episode!! "When the Charmed Ones investigate a series of whitelighters being brutally attacked during the blue moon period, they find that they are turning into killer beasts while The Elders grow untrustworthy of Leo!" The revelation of the sisters as the attackers when they transformed into the beasts was a shocking and original twist, but its sucks that the reason behind their transformations is so vague and never truly explained! Leslie makes his finale appearance, not that Nick Lachey was that great anyway! The Avatars are revealed as the new big bad!!

Someone to Witch Over Me-Pretty good episode!! "Agent Brody and Paige's recent investigation leads them to a demon who's stealing the guardian angels of innocents so he can become all powerful, while Piper and Phoebe put Leo through a vision quest." Agent Brody and Paige had wonderful scenes together, and Drew Fuller returns for a lackluster performance in Leo's vision quest! Leo becomes an Avatar!

Charmed Noir-Great episode!! "After a gnome gets shot at Magic school, Agent Brody and Paige get sucked into a 1940's novel where they must help a young man finish the story, while Piper, Phoebe and Leo try to get Kyle and Paige out of it!" Very refreshing episode that uses the 1940's setting very well, and the whole cast was wonderful! Rose looked gorgeous and her performance was true to the decade!

There's Something About Leo-Good episode! "When Leo reveals himself to Piper that he's an Avatar, it triggers tragic events that lead Agent Brody on a psychotic rampage with Paige and Phoebe as his hostages!" It was shocking how crazy Brody got over the Avatars, I mean he even turned on Paige and almost killed Phoebe!

Witchness Protection-Marvelous episode! "The Avatars tell Leo to get the sisters to protect Kira the Seer who has valuable information that puts her against all demons, while Phoebe and Darryl track down Sheridan's mysterious disappearance!" Charisma Carpenter completely owns this episode and makes it a one of the best of the series; her acting is superb with all her scenes being hilarious and some touching scenes with Phoebe, with Alyssa showing some rare above par acting!! Sheridan returns and Oden Fehr makes his debut as the powerful Zankou!

Ordinary Witches-Good episode!! "When Phoebe switches her powers with Piper so she can see her vision of Utopia, Zankou's sudden attack causes their powers to possess innocent people, while Paige and Agent Brody go back to his past to see the truth about the death of his parents!" While the power switching story drags and bring inconsistency like GOOD WITCHES BEING FROZEN WHEN THEIR NOT SUPPOSE TO BE! Paige and Brody's sub-plot is entertaining and well acted by Rose and Kerr!

Extreme Makeover: World Edition-Pretty good episode!! "As the sisters prepare to bring Utopia with The Avatars, Zankou forces Kyle to make the sisters paranoid so they won't go through with it!" This episode had great special effects with the whole world being affected by Utopia, and Oden Fehr continues to impress as the mischievous Zankou. Kyle's death is sad and Rose gives a touching performance at the end.

Charmageddon-Pretty good episode!! "Now in Utopia, Leo realizes that the change has affected the sisters and the world in an unexpected way, leading him to join forces with Zankou and stop the Avatars for good!" The avatar arc concludes and it never really was interesting to begin with! It was nice to see the sisters teaming up with Zankou to stop the Avatars! Rose's crying scene in this episode made me cringe which is shocking since her crying scene last episode was good...is she not trying on purpose or something? It was a nice scene with Paige and Kyle, now as whitelighter, being very touching and Kyle makes his last appearance on the series!

Carpe Demon-Weak Episode!! "The new arriving professor at Magic school turns out to be a former demon named Drake who made a deal with a sorcerer to become human, while Leo deals with the Elders after being an Avatar!" While the Robin hood/sorcerer storyline was weak, Billy Drake makes a brilliant debut as Drake, breathing new life into the series!

Show Ghouls-Great episode!! "While Piper, Leo and the boys are off on a worldwide trip, Darryl gets Paige and Phoebe to investigate the possession of his mentor officer, which leads Drake and Phoebe to a night club in 1899 to find out what happened during a tragic fire that night!" An original episode with a dark atmosphere, I loved the 1890's setting and David Anders was a great villain as Count Roget! Phoebe and Drake to begin have feelings for each other!

The Seven Year Witch-The 150th episode!! "The Elders put Leo under a test that strips him of his powers and memory then sends him to Texas, Piper after a demon attack ends up in a coma where her spirit finds Cole, while Paige, Drake and Phoebe struggle to find Leo!" For such a milestone episode, this was too typical with the Leo storyline dragging and Julian's return to Charmed feeling very anti-climatic, I mean not even a scene with him and Phoebe!! Leo becomes human and finally can be with Piper!

Scry Hard-Pretty good episode!! "After seeing Leo get hurt by a demon, Wyatt shrinks his parents and traps them in the dollhouse, while Zankou and his followers take over the manor so he can steal the Nexus just as Paige and Phoebe figure out a way to stop him!" It was a great scene with Leo taking in the Nexus and killing all the demons!

Little Box of Horrors-Great episode!! "The Charmed Ones must help Hope, who is the next guardian of Pandora's Box when a demon villainess named Katya wants to release the box's sorrows, while Paige goes off on a whitelighter mission by the Elders!" I just love how this episode is reminiscent of the early years, with the sisters so focused on protecting the innocent! Michelle Hard is great as Katya as well as guest stars Brooke Devin and Shani Pride also doing well!! I love the shape-shifting twists, which made the episode more exciting!

Freaky Phoebe-Pretty good episode!! "Wanting to impress Zankou, the sorceress Imara casts a spell that switches bodies with her and Phoebe, while Paige deals with her new charge who doesn't want to be a witch!" The possessed Phoebe scenes for once were pretty funny, but I loved the sub-plot with Paige and her charge Mitchell better! I wish that character returned to the series, he was a good ally!

Imaginary Fiends-Weak episode!! "Trying to understand Wyatt's behavior, Piper casts a spell that brings future Wyatt to the present just as the demon Vicus manipulates baby Wyatt into becoming evil!" This episode had too many cheesy and corny moments to be taken seriously! Especially Wesley Ramsey who gives an awkwardly bad performance as evil Wyatt, which is weird since he was great in "Chris-Crossed" last season!

Death Becomes Them-Great episode! "After Phoebe loses an innocent to a demon attack, she begins feeling very guilty just as Zankou forges a plan by using the sisters' dead innocents to make them vulnerable so he can steal the Book of Shadows!" The zombie innocents were creepy giving the episode a dark and thrilling edge. Even Inspector Davidson returns! I felt bad when the sisters kept losing their innocents, and Zankou getting the book at the end was shocking!

Something Wicca This Way Goes..?-Good episode! "Now with the book and after the Nexus, Zankou begins stealing the sisters' powers one by one, leaving the sisters to devise a plan they might no survive!" Despite the inconsistency errors (The vampires, Prue's astral projection, etc.), this was the best finale since "All Hell Breaks Loose" with suspenseful and action-packed scenes. This would have been a perfect series finale, but that was ruined by the next season! Zankou makes his final appearance and goes out with a bang! The sisters' big revelation at the end leaves a lot of storylines for next season!

Season 7 was an entertaining season and made the series fun to watch again with the writers seeming more focused this time around. Unfortunately, this was the best the later seasons gave us as the 8th and final season of Charmed is an underwhelming and the worst of the worst! So if you're going to by any later season of Charmed, buy this season and enjoy it!!

Good in parts, awful in others.
Review date: 2007-01-25 Rating: 6 out of 10

I have mixed feelings about this season. It is obvious the producers only had the Utopia/avatars storyline & 150th episode `Seven Year Witch' planned, so about half the season is kind of lacking direction. Take for example `Freaky Phoebe' and `Little Box of Horrors', these are predictable, uninvolving episodes that would be expected maybe back in the show's first season, when the show hadn't really taken off yet.
Other sub-standard episodes were: Bare Witch Project, Charrmed! and Scry Hard. These were sometimes okay in parts, but not really worth watching twice. One episode (I can't remember which one) I was more interested in admiring Paige's gorgeous silk top than the storyline. Another episode which could have had great potential was `Death Becomes Them', where victims from their past come back to haunt them. The episode is alright but the victims' deaths weren't really caused by the sisters, for example the policeman from `Death takes a Halliwell' back in season 3. His death was nothing to do with Phoebe (who he comes after); she was banging on the door to get in and save him! Plus if the sisters were to be haunted by anyone wouldn't it be Prue and Chris (for not being able to save them in time)? Obviously the producers could not get Shannon Doherty involved, but the Drew Fuller surely would have been able to.
Another complaint I have about this season is although I found Paige & Phoebe to be likable, I found Piper quite dull. I never thought I would say this as I think Piper is brilliant and so witty but this season she just snaps at her sisters or moans about Leo. The one thing that made Piper so great was her independence, now everything is Leo, Leo, Leo. Piper is back on form by season 8 by the way, so it is just this season I found her dull, every other season she is probably my favourite character.
Another bad thing about this season is the AWFUL packaging. When I was in the US recently I saw their season 7 boxset which had a gorgeous, mutlicoloured cover, and in the UK we get an ugly yellow colour instead.
This season, did have its good points though. There is some stand out episodes:
* Styx Feet Under-was really enjoyable and unusual episode. Piper actually becomes the angel of death, and then has to face a decision when one of her sisters dies.
* Once in a Blue Moon-silly but funny, plus there is just a moment were the viewers all go huh??? The sister's track down werewolves, caused by blue moon.
* Charmed Noir-a good episode for Rose McGowan, it gives her a chance to shine as Paige finds herself in an unfinished book.
* Witchness Protection-gripping storyline where the Charmed ones are protecting a demon (the Seer) who wants to be made human.
* Charmaggedon-quite good, this was essentially the climax of the Utopia/avatars storyline and it was wrapped up well.
* The Seven Year Witch (150th episode)-I preferred the 100th episode to this but this one does have its attractions. It is essentially about Leo and Piper's love story, at last giving them a happy ending. Piper is joined by Julian McMahon as Cole and the two exchange one-liners, which is always fun to watch.
* Imaginary Fiends-the return of grown-up Wyatt. It is going back to the interesting storyline of which side Wyatt will be pick when he's older-good or evil.
* Something Wicca This way Goes-great title, perfect since this may have been the last ever episode. Fortunately it wasn't but this episode is still gripping enough with a satisfying ending, if it had been the last one ever.

Other good points about season seven-there are great guest stars-Kerr Smith as Kyle, Billy Zane as Drake, Charisma Carpenter as the Seer, Nick Lachey as Lesley and Julian McMahon as Cole.
Charisma really shines in her role, making me realise how much I've missed her since she got killed off in Angel. It's a shame they couldn't have found a way to keep her character around for longer as she was brilliant, with one liners like 'your wife is the surly one?' (talking about Piper)
Nick Lachley & Billy Zane are both in roles as Phoebe's boyfriend. Lesley is at start of series, and Drake towards the end. Their acting is good.
Kerr Smith has a lot of chemistry with his co-star Rose McGowan and this makes the relationship between Kyle & Paige compulsive viewing.

Another thing I liked about this series was the fact that Paige was more in the spotlight and got her first proper on-screen relationship (Richard last year does not count, as he was a bit of an idiot and their relationship did not ring true). Phoebe is back to her old self (last year I found her annoying at times, this year I liked her again), plus her hair is much nicer than last year.
The soundtrack was excellent; most of the songs in this season are on the `Book of Shadows' soundtrack.

So I have gave this season three stars because whilst it did run out of steam and produce some awful episodes, it also improved a lot from last year and has some great episodes, talented guest stars and originally what was meant to be the last ever episode.

Product Details/Specifications

Actor(s):
Holly Marie Combs
Alyssa Milano
Rose McGowan

Creators:
Holly Marie Combs (Primary Contributor)
Alyssa Milano (Primary Contributor)

Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment (UK)
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment (UK)
EAN: 5014437896933
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 6
Format: Closed-captioned, Colour, Dubbed, Full Screen, PAL, Subtitled, Widescreen,
Release date: 2006-06-05
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 893 minutes
Language: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: Italian (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: French (Dubbed)
Language: German (Dubbed)
Language: Italian (Dubbed)
Language: Spanish (Dubbed)