Unaired Pilot

[Dark Witch.]

Well, here you go, Here is the pilot where Alyssa Milano was not Phoebe and TW King was not Andy Trudeau. Also, the house is TOTALLY different!Watch and discuss!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

[The Matriarch]

Lori Rom wasn't bad but I just didn't see the three of them as sisters. Plus Lori would never have stepped into the character like Alyssa did. Now remember, this is coming from someone who is not the biggest Phoebe or Alyssa fan.

Ted King was awesome as Andy so I'm glad the character was recast. Ted just had better chemistry with Shannen than any other male character for Prue. Also, you got some great interaction between him & Dorian (Darryl). They really seemed like friends where they were simply partners in the unaired pilot.

In all honesty, I prefer the redone pilot. This one was a little more dark & Prue wasn't that great. She was more feisty in SWTWC, especially towards Phoebe. Also the house that was used is the interior of the real manor. I think I saw pictures of the real manor inside & it looks kind of the same. Really love the sets they made after the pilot, the house looks much better!

Both of the episodes had their ups & downs but I'm fine with the one that aired.

[Nerf]

I have seen parts of this episode before... not sure if I have seen the whole thing, or even cared to see the whole thing. It's pretty blah. And Lori Rom as Phoebe? Thank god that changed. Alyssa, Shannen, and Holly looked like sisters. That girl... no. And she is taller than Shannen. It just wouldn't have worked. Plus Alyssa and the other two had such great chemistry together.

I'm one of the people who don't really like SWTWC that much and this pilot is even worse than that. Quite boring, in my opinion. And I agree with Rory, that I am glad they changed the set. The manor set we get in the show is much cooler. Also has much more space to fight demons.

Okay, I did just watch a bit of it and one scene I do like more in this is where "Phoebe" is telling Piper about how she stayed up all night reading the Book. I really like how we got to see more of the house exterior and that beautiful garden. Would have been nice to keep something like that. I also love the line that Lori says in reference to Piper saying Grams wasn't a witch. "I beg to differ about Grams." The way she said it was great. Wish they had kept that in with Alyssa. But anyway, yeah, Alyssa was just more into it and played it as being charged with child like glee. Lori plays it slightly... stale.

I guess I can appreciate the pilot for what it was, but I am so happy things were changed. We all know the show wouldn't have lasted very long with having Lori instead of Alyssa. Well, I can't be certain of that. But I probably never would have gotten into the show. Phoebe was always my favorite and drew me into the show when I first started watching in S3. I can't see Lori having the same pull with me.

[Deleted]

Lookwise, I thought that Lori looked a lot more like Shannen and Holly than Alyssa did. Shannen, Holly and Lori look much more like sisters. But acting-wise, I definitely liked the way that Alyssa played Phoebe better--more childlike and more like the baby of the family. Piper almost seemed more like the baby than Phoebe did. I'm also glad that it was Ted King who played Andy.

I'll always wonder what we would've thought had they been played as it was originally cast--Holly as Prue, Shannen as Piper and Lori as Phoebe, or even Holly as Prue, Shannen as Piper and Alyssa as Phoebe.

[Dark Witch.]

Hmmm, that would have been interesting, though age wise, the way the sisters were cast now is much more realistic for me. But maybe that is cause I have seen the show that way, and for anyone, it is hard to picture something that never was. I just thought some of the stuff they did in the Pilot was interesting, like the snake in the attic, though not the best graphics was definately a nice spook. Also, some of the other stuff was pretty good. I admit with others that I am not a huge fan of SWTWC, but they could have incorporated some stuff they had in this pilot, and continue, not just the premise of it, like a whole Andy plot could have brewed with that...anyways, I am on a love-hate relationship with this pilot lol.

[Terry]

I just can't picture Lori as Phoebe. No matter how many times I watch the unaired pilot. There's just something ... off. I'm with Ian, here.

Indeed, King/Andy and Darryl were great together, but I did find the other Andy cuter lol

And I agree with you there, Ro and Ian: the manor's much better in the actual show!

...

Now I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this thread popping up here -- right after I decided to write an alternate series of Charmed that would start right there at the beginning of the story! If I'm telling you this (and I'm sorry if this is off-topic, but I didn't know where else to post it -- my fanfic thread didn't seem the right place), it's because I'd like your advice on what should be redone with the pilots. And I say "pilots" with an s because I actually intend to mix parts of both this unaired pilot and SWTWC.

Jun 7, 2009 19:16:40 GMT Nerf said:

And slightly off topic, but "Something Wicca This Way Comes" as people's favorite? *cough* Not for me. That one is pretty low on my list. Sure, it started it all, but truthfully it wasn't very good. I didn't start with that episode, I started around late S2, early S3. If I had seen the first episode first... I don't know if I would have ever gotten into the show.

So I would actually like your entire view on the pilots, Ian, know what made it so low on your list Because I don't want to start the alternate show on fiasco

May 13, 2009 4:49:15 GMT Nerf said:

Okay, I did just watch a bit of it and one scene I do like more in this is where "Phoebe" is telling Piper about how she stayed up all night reading the Book. I really like how we got to see more of the house exterior and that beautiful garden. Would have been nice to keep something like that. I also love the line that Lori says in reference to Piper saying Grams wasn't a witch. "I beg to differ about Grams." The way she said it was great. Wish they had kept that in with Alyssa. But anyway, yeah, Alyssa was just more into it and played it as being charged with child like glee. Lori plays it slightly... stale.

I'm glad you liked that scene actually, because I intended it to be part of my alternate pilot

May 16, 2009 0:23:22 GMT Dark Witch. said:

I just thought some of the stuff they did in the Pilot was interesting, like the snake in the attic, though not the best graphics was definately a nice spook. Also, some of the other stuff was pretty good. I admit with others that I am not a huge fan of SWTWC, but they could have incorporated some stuff they had in this pilot, and continue, not just the premise of it, like a whole Andy plot could have brewed with that...anyways, I am on a love-hate relationship with this pilot lol.

Special effects notwithstanding, I did very much like the snake part, too Would you mind explaining more of what you liked in the unaired pilot (and your complete view on both pilots, please -- what you liked, what you didn't)? And, do expect an entire plot about Andy in my alternate show, because I just hated that they just put it aside and made him all "OMG, witches are real?!" when Prue finally tells him when he's the one announcing the murdered women are genuine witches in the pilot! Gah. Sorry, I just hate it

Truth be told, my alternate pilot, along the second episode, are already written, but I'd be glad to hear your voices on the topic -- we writers are always looking for perfection ;D

And of course, anyone wanting to give their views, I'll hear them out

[Nerf]

Okay, my first question is.... why? Why are you writing an alternate season/series from the start?

I don't want to put you off this idea, but I just want to know why. See, Reyn started with S2 to write an alternate season. The characters are already established as the ones we know and love, but she just takes the story in a different direction. If you start from the beginning and start changing things, what will make us want to read it? Will these still be the same characters? Will we want to read about them if they are not, in a sense, them? And just... why start from the beginning?

I don't want to come across as rude, and I hope you understand the point behind my questions. If you truly want to do this idea, of course go right ahead. But I would need these questions answered before I would read it. Well, I would read it to help out anyway, but I would be very skeptical (as I am) without those answers.

By the way, I suggest if you have a question about a story you want to write, make a thread in "The Underworld" section. Probably the best place as that's where we want to have writing discussion and where writing advice can be given. As we aren't strict, or I'm not, you can leave this here, but you might want to copy and paste over there, or write up something new there, possibly with answers to my questions and such.

[Quadquetra]

Well on the contrary i believe that if it was done correctly since we all pretty much know what season 1 Prue Piper and Phoebe are like we can just see the differences in them but i think an alternate season 1 could be great but id maybe start from an episode in season 1 after everyone's characters were established. Lol I hope that made sense.

[Terry]

Jun 9, 2009 20:19:32 GMT Quadquetra said:

Well on the contrary i believe that if it was done correctly since we all pretty much know what season 1 Prue Piper and Phoebe are like we can just see the differences in them but i think an alternate season 1 could be great but id maybe start from an episode in season 1 after everyone's characters were established. Lol I hope that made sense.

Thanks, Quadquetra I replied to you here.

[Glenn]

The Unaired Pilot had some things that should have been kept like "I beg to differ about Grams" and a few other lines that were kept out. I love the music they used for the Unaired Pilot, it sounds darker than the music from the aired pilot. Did anyone (who has the DVD BoS collection) notice that the music on the Unaired Pilot doesn't match. They replaced the music with the music used in 1x01 and it doesn't really match with the clips. For example: when the sisters come down the stairs after casting the spell on Jeremy you can hear the sound of Phoebe's premonition but she doesn't have one until a few seconds later.

On the acting part of the UP: Lori was good, and I would have liked to see more episodes with her and I'm glad they replaced Chris Boyd with T.W. King, he's a much better Andy.
Shannen and Holly were great as well but I think they did much better in 1x01.

I always look at the Unaired Pilot like a movie. I don't know why but to me it looks more like a movie then like a tv-show.