THE ADVENT OF MAGIC SCHOOL

[Scott]

In the Legend of Sleepy Halliwell (Season 6), we are first introduced to Magic School when Wyatt mysteriously orbs out of day care. The sisters find him in the manor at the foot of the staircase where suddenly there appears a door on the first landing. Soon a character appears and is promptly beheaded by the headless horsemen. Welcome to Magic School.

[Scott]

Magic School , under the leadership of Elder Gideon, is a place where magical children can receive instruction and guidance with respect to their special gifts. There are classes on orbing and advanced orbing, combat and advanced combat, as well as the usual - we suspect - classes on drama, math and science, etc. Endowed with a fabulous library containing many ancient and modern texts on magic, Magic School is a place of sanctuary, protected from the demonic underworld.

Yet, not all gifted children attend Magic School. The Charmed Ones never attended. Nor did Max or Tyler. Indeed, none of these even knew of Magic School. The Charmed Ones only learned of it after they had become witches and learned the craft through trial and error.

As a result, Magic School seems like a plot device added for reasons not immediately apparent. Whether it was a good or even useful invention is the question now facing us. To what extent did the introduction of Magic School add to or take away from Charmed? Was it an invention that had no great impact at all? Since Magic School will be revived and run by Leo, it is important to assess where Magic School stands in the realm of Charmedverse.

[Xenith]

I just watched an old DVR recording of Sleepy Halliwell that somehow missed being erased, man I forgot how bad Zachary was, his idea of emotional was my idea of bored.

Anyways Zachary somehow is able to use his telepathic abilities to tap into people's powers (and no that doesn't make any more sense than Phoebe's empathy being able to do that) He uses Piper's powers to FREEZE all of the students from magic school that were at the manor... So that brings up the question of WHAT are they? They aren't witches because "good witches don't freeze" from Piper's power. (And Piper's head remained unfrozen.) They aren't wizards since all the wizards were supposed to be dead until Mordunce showed up impossibly in Sword in The City... So what are they? Muggles (the Harry Potter term for normal humans) that were chosen and taken to magic school to learn powers? (After all the one teacher was said to have learned to Astral Project).? Seriously it just doesn't add up?

[vandergraafk]

Excellent points. This is further evidence that the concept of Magic School was awkwardly grafted onto the world of the Charmed Ones.

[elder]

The problem I have with magic school is why Gideon is able to recognize the sisters (especially Phoebe and Paige) if they were way too young to be in a school (and for Phoebe and Paige, barely alive at all!).

[vandergraafk]

That is absolutely a problem. Theoretically, one could imagine a situation where Grams had interacted with Gideon. Why is anyone's guess? However, the whole point of the Charmed Ones' childhoods, especially after the events of That 70s Show, strongly suggest that the girls were sheltered from magic. And, more importantly, a case could be made that it was not even a given that the sisters would assume the Charmed Ones mantle. After the Pre-Witched Grams is very pessimistic about their readiness to become the Charmed Ones and even concocts a potion that would permanently strip their powers. So why would Gideon assume that the sisters would be the Charmed Ones and feel compelled to pay them a childhood visit. (Let's assume that he was speaking only of Piper and Phoebe; otherwise, there are even more problems with his statement.)

No, there are too many instances in Season 6 when the writers reveal absolute unfamiliarity with the mythology created in earlier seasons. Grams is a youngish hippie in Witchstock. Besides being an unlikely scenario - elderly hippies were probably a rarity - a much too young Gram must have had Patty when she was 13 years old! If Magic School had been around forever - and Leo knew not only of its existence and its founder as well - then why not send the firestarter to Magic School. Instead, Piper and Leo have to gain access to a demonic training grounds to rescue a firestarter whom the Source covets.

Unfortunately, these continuity errors continued into Season 7, as Grams reveals to Piper in Cheaper by the Coven that they - Piper and Grams - had had the witch talk. What? That flatly contradicts everything we know about Grams and how she raised her grandchildren.