Title of the work
Studio / Production Company
Country of the First Edition
Country/countries of popularity
Original Language
First Edition Date
First Edition Details
Charmed: Oh My Goddess. Part One and Part Two. Directed by Jonathan West (Part 1) and Joel J. Feigenbaum (Part 2). Written by Krista Vernoff and Curtis Kheel (Part 1) and Daniel Cerone (Part 2), May 11, 2003.
Running time
Date of the First DVD or VHS
Official Website
The official WB website is no longer active. The Charmed wiki maintained by fans includes useful information: charmed.wikia.com (accessed: August 17, 2018)
Available Onllne
Available on Amazon online (pay to view)
Genre
Fantasy fiction
Magic realist fiction
Mythological fiction
Television series
Target Audience
Young adults (Aimed at young female viewers; the DVD was given a 12 rating)
Cover
We are still trying to obtain permission for posting the original cover.
Author of the Entry:
Amanda Potter, Open University, amanda.potter@caramanda.co.uk
Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Susan Deacy, University of Roehampton, s.deacy@roehampton.ac.uk
Dorota Mackenzie, Warsaw University of Warsaw, dorota.mackenzie@gmail.com
Constance M. Burge
, b. 1957
(Producer, Scriptwriter)
Constance M. Burge is an American television writer and producer. She is the creator of Charmed and Savannah, and has written episodes for a number of US series including Ally McBeal, Judging Amy, Boston Public and Royal Pains. Burge left her position as executive producer on Charmed after season one, although she remained as executive consultant up to season four. It was only after Burge left Charmed that Greek mythology-based stories started to appear.
Bio prepared by Amanda Potter, Open University, amanda.potter@caramanda.co.uk
Daniel Cerone (Screenwriter)
Daniel Cerone is a television writer and producer from Canada. He has worked on a number of American drama and crime series, including Clubhouse, Dexter, The Mentalist, Motive and The Blacklist, and science fiction and fantasy series The Invasion and Constantine. He is credited as writer for fourteen episodes of Charmed and executive story editor for twenty-two episodes, although Oh My Goddess Part 2 is the only episode he was involved in that features a storyline based on Greek mythology.
Bio prepared by Amanda Potter, Open University, amanda.potter@caramanda.co.uk
Joel J. Feigenbaum (Director)
Joel J. Feigenbaum is an American television writer, producer and director. He directed sixteen episodes of Charmed, including Greek mythology-based episodes Muse to My Ears, Siren Song and Oh My Goddess Part 2. He has also directed fifty episodes for drama series 7th Heaven, credited as executive producer for six episodes. He started as a career writing for US soap operas Dallas, Dynasty and Falcon Crest, and has worked on a number of US drama series as writer, producer and/or director, including Guns of Paradise, Bodies of Evidence, University Hospital, Burkes Law, Beverley Hills 90210, Pacific Palisades and Malibu Shores.
Bio prepared by Amanda Potter, Open University, amanda.potter@caramanda.co.uk
Brad Kern (Producer, Scriptwriter)
Brad Kern is an American television writer and producer. He studied film and television at California State University, and began his television career as a writer on detective series Remington Steele. He has produced a number of series including Remington Steele, becoming supervising producer for the show. As well as working as executive producer for all eight seasons of Charmed, Kern previously worked on US fantasy series Beauty and the Beast and Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. He has since worked on NCIS: New Orleans.
Bio prepared by Amanda Potter, Open University, amanda.potter@caramanda.co.uk
Curtis Kheel (Screenwriter)
Curtis Kheel is a television producer and writer. He has worked on American science fiction and fantasy series Kyle XY, The Dresden Files and A Town Called Eureka, and drama series Hellcats, The Lying Game and Devious Maids and Still Star-Crossed. He is credited as writer for fourteen episodes of Charmed, although Oh My Goddess Part 1 is the only episode he was involved in that features a storyline based on Greek mythology.
Bio prepared by Amanda Potter, Open University, amanda.potter@caramanda.co.uk
Retrieved from Wikipedia Commons, public domain (accessed: December 8, 2021).
Aaron Spelling
, 1923 - 2006
(Producer)
Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. After completing a degree in journalism at the Southern Methodist University he started his career as an actor and scriptwriter in the 1950s. In the 1960s he turned to producing and produced many popular television series including Charlie’s Angels, The Love Boat, Hart to Hart, Dynasty, Beverley Hills 90210 and Charmed. He won a number of television awards including Emmys and BAFTAs. Spelling is well-known for his prime-time drama series rather than fantasy shows, and Charmed was conceived as a show about women who happened to be witches (see DVD special features).
Bio prepared by Amanda Potter, Open University, amanda.potter@caramanda.co.uk
Krista Vernoff
, b. 1974
(Producer, Screenwriter)
Krista Vernoff (1974) is an American television writer and producer. She began working on Charmed as story editor, and became co-producer. As well as writing Hell Hath No Fury, Vernoff also wrote other Greek mythology-based episodes Muse to My Ears, Siren Song and Oh My Goddess Part One. She wrote for and produced a number of series including short-lived fantasy series Wonderfalls and drama series Grey’s Anatomy, Shameless and Private Practice.
Bio prepared by Amanda Potter, Open University, amanda.potter@caramanda.co.uk
E. Duke Vincent
, b. 1932
(Producer)
E. Duke Vincent is an American television producer, who worked on a number of series with Aaron Spelling, as an executive on a number of Spelling production companies. He was producer for a number of Spelling series including Charlie’s Angels, Dynasty, Charmed, Melrose Place, Beverley Hills 90210 and Savannah. He has also written novels set in the world of the entertainment industry.
Bio prepared by Amanda Potter, Open University, amanda.potter@caramanda.co.uk
Jonathan West (Director)
Jonathan West, born John Wastaferro, is a cinematographer and director. He worked as a director on American science fiction series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as well as six episodes of Charmed, although Oh My Goddess Part 1 is the only episode he was involved in that features a storyline based on Greek mythology.
Bio prepared by Amanda Potter, Open University, amanda.potter@caramanda.co.uk
Casting
Alyssa Milano – Phoebe Halliwell,
Rose McGowan – Paige Matthews,
Holly Marie Combs – Piper Halliwell,
Brian Krause – Leo Wyatt,
Drew Fuller – Chris Halliwell,
Brian Thompson – Cronus,
Will Kempe – Demetrius,
Lisa Thornhill – Meta.
Summary
Oh My Goddess is the fifth Charmed episode to feature characters drawn from Greek mythology, following Hell Hath No Fury, featuring the Furies (S04E03) and Muse to My Ears, featuring the Muses (S04E09), Siren Song (S05E04), featuring a Siren, and Nymphs Just Wanna Have Fun (S05E19) featuring a satyr and nymphs. The double episode, which ends season five, includes three Titans as characters, one of which is named Cronus, and also has the three Charmed Ones turned into goddesses of Love, War and Nature, loosely based on ancient Greek goddesses.
Part 1
A demon uses a spell to awaken two Titans, the male Demetrius and the female Meta, who have been entombed in ice. They wear short white robes, marking them out as ancient Greek. The demon wants to use their powers, but they kill him, and then find and awaken the third Titan, Cronus, whose power they need to obtain revenge against the Elders, who were their original captors. Meta goes after white lighters (guardian angels) in order to take their power to "orb" or transport, and she does this by turning them to stone when they look into her eyes (like the Gorgon Medusa).
San Francisco is suffering from a heatwave, and witch and white lighter Paige is having unusual dreams about "ancient wars and weird magic." She predicts earthquakes, with a supernatural cause, and takes her sister Phoebe to the now empty ice tombs which are the source of the evil she can sense. The third sister, Piper, is at a children’s birthday party, when her husband, Leo, a white lighter, is called away to the temple of the Elders above the earth, because a white lighter has gone missing. He misses marriage guidance counselling with Piper, much to his wife’s annoyance, and is called back to the Elders again, where he suggests that the white lighters should stop orbing so that they cannot be easily found.
Paige finds reference to the Titans in the Book of Shadows, the Halliwell family book which includes information about the supernatural world. She reads that the Titans were "ancient gods who were entombed because it was the only way to stop them." She orbs to attract a Titan, so that she can destroy the Titan using a vanquishing potion, but when Meta appears the potion has no effect and Paige is turned to stone. Chris, a white lighter from the future, appears and saves Phoebe. He explains that many statues in museums and universities are actually people turned to stone. When Meta returns to Cronus and Demetrius she is killed by Cronus for her "incompetence" at bringing a third white lighter to them, and Cronus and Demetrius take the orbing powers from the two other white lighters Meta had turned to stone.
Supernatural creatures, including nymphs, elves, leprechauns and fairies, turn up at the Halliwell household looking for protection. Chris explains that the witches cannot destroy the Titans. He tells Piper that the Titans were vanquished before by mortals who were given "a hell of a lot of power" by the Elders, but this power "went to their heads" and "they declared themselves gods and forced the world to worship them". Piper realises that "The Greek gods, Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite" were actually mortals.
Piper sends Leo to warn the Elders that the Titans will be using the orbing powers to reach their temple and kill them, but when he gets there most of the Elders are dead, and some have fled. Chris encourages Leo to give the witches the powers of the gods. He opens an urn in the temple of the Elders and white light comes out. This surrounds the three sisters, and when it disappears they are each wearing a long white dress, Paige has a trident and Phoebe has long blonde hair. Chris tells them that they are gods.
Part 2
Piper is incredulous saying that they look as if they were going to a "costume party" but Chris assures them that their clothes represent their position and power. Paige is the goddess of war, Phoebe is the goddess of love, and Piper has "dominion over the earth and all its natural elements." She is needed to bring balance to the other two. Phoebe goes to the charity event she was organising, with a bachelor auction, and all the bachelors want to bid for her. Paige defeats demons who become her army. Piper finds Paige and sends the demons away with an earthquake, then finds Phoebe at home on the sofa surrounded by topless men, fanning her with ostrich feather fans, feeding her grapes and massaging her feet. Piper sends them away with a gust of wind. She calls for a "morality check", reminding them that the Greek mortals abused their powers. Chris says they became "petty, evil, vindictive."
The Titans have tracked down a remaining Elder, and he is saved by the witches but they cannot destroy the Titans. The Elders are together in a safe house, organised by Leo. At home, Phoebe tries to lure Demetrius to her, seducing him, but Cronus stops this and they disappear. Paige reads that Cronus ate his own children, although Chris says this is a fable the witches cannot come up with a workable plan to defeat him. Eventually Leo comes to help them. He tells Paige she needs to focus, and she comes up with the solution; they need to "declare themselves gods." Leo explains that he has chosen them as they will not abuse their powers.
The Titans come to the house looking for Leo, who has become an Elder, much to the distress of Piper, as he will be unable to stay with her, as Elders do not live on earth or have families. Piper is unharmed by the Titan’s lightning bolts, and she causes the room to shake, then a hole is created and the Titans fall through it, then the hole seals itself. Leo then asks the Charmed Ones to give back there powers as the Titans have been defeated, but Piper disappears. Paige and Phoebe give back their powers, returning them to the urn. Meanwhile, Piper is causing a massive storm from the top of a mountain, brought about by her emotional turmoil over the loss of Leo as her husband. Her sisters go to Piper, reminding her that she needs to take care of her son. She goes to the Elders’ temple and confronts Leo, eventually giving back her powers. Leo takes her pain away, and she returns home, appearing to have accepted that Leo is an Elder. Chris becomes the Charmed Ones’ new white lighter.
Analysis
Charmed is a long-running fantasy television series featuring three young women who are also witches, known as the Charmed Ones, who fight demons from their home in San Francisco, while trying to maintain some semblance of normal lives, with careers and boyfriends/husbands. The series borrows from many genres and traditions, and includes characters and/or storylines from Greek mythology in a small number of episodes, primarily Hell Hath No Fury (S04E03), Muse to My Ears (S04E09), Siren Song (S05E04), Nymphs Just Wanna Have Fun (S05E19) and Little Box of Horrors (S07E18).
Oh My Goddess builds the history of the Titans and the Olympians into the world of the series, by explaining that the Olympian gods were mortals given powers to defeat the Titans. No specific ancient sources are evident as influences, although the Olympians defeat the Titans in the Titanomachy in Hesiod’s Theogony. Paige also reads that the Titan Cronus ate his children. Cronus is clearly the leader of the three Titans, and he wears a red cloak over his white tunic, symbolising his leadership. It is unclear why the other Titans are called Demetrius and Meta, although Meta could be a version of Medusa, as she has the power to turn people to stone.
When the Charmed Ones are turned into goddesses they are not likened specifically to any Greek goddesses, but are goddesses of war, love and the earth. However, Paige can be likened to Athena as she gains wisdom as well as prowess in battle. She has knowledge of the strategy of every battle fought throughout history, and from time to time provides quotes from Archimedes and Tacitus. As goddess of love with long blonde hair Phoebe’s changed appearance could be drawn from famous modern representations of Aphrodite/Venus, such as Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. Piper as the goddess of earth is more difficult to place; she could be likened to Gaia, but is also asked by Leo to hone her "home and hearth instincts" and so could be compared to Hestia, or in her power over the weather with Demeter.
As with other episodes the family life of the sisters is more important to the overall story than the villains of the episode, and so the climax of the episode is not the defeat of the Titans, who are eventually destroyed quite quickly and easily by Piper. The emotional climax is Piper’s turmoil, before finally coming to terms with the loss of her husband.
Further Reading
Beeler, Karin, "Old Myths, New Powers: Images of Second-Wave and Third-Wave Feminism in Charmed", in Karin Beeler and Stan Beeler, eds., Investigating Charmed: The Magic Power of TV, London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2007, 100–111.
Feasey, Rebecca, "Watching Charmed: Why Teen Television Appeals to Women", Journal of Popular Film and Television 34.1 (2006): 2–9.
Meyer, Michaela D. E., ‘“Something Wicca This Way Comes”: Audience Interpretation of a Marginalised Religious Philosophy on Charmed’, in Karin Beeler and Stan Beeler, eds., Investigating Charmed: The Magic Power of TV, London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2007, 9–18.
Potter, Amanda, "Unpacking Pandora’s Box: The Redemption of an Ancient Anti-heroine for a Twenty-First Century Audience in US TV Series Xena: Warrior Princess and Charmed", in Amina Ayal and Paul Hardwick, eds., Classical and Contemporary Mythic Identities: Construction of the Literary Imagination, Lampeter: Edwin Mellen, 2010, 97–122.
Addenda
Release Date:
Season 1, 22 episodes, first broadcast 7 October 1998 – 26 May 1999
Season 2, 22 episodes, first broadcast 30 September 1999 – 18 May 2000
Season 3, 22 episodes, first broadcast 5 October 2000 – 17 May 2001
Season 4, 22 episodes, first broadcast 4 October 2001 – 16 May 2002
Season 5, 22 episodes, first broadcast 22 September 2002 – 11 May 2003
Season 6, 22 episodes, first broadcast 28 September 2003 – 16 May 2004
Season 7, 22 episodes, first broadcast 12 September 2004 – 22 may 2005
Season 8, 22 episodes, first broadcast 25 September 2005 – 21 May 2006
