Charmed - Complete Seasons 1-8 [DVD]

My daughter (14) fell under the spell of the Charmed Ones three years ago and now has every season on DVD - it's probably all that girl power that attracts her and she was a dedicated old/new Worst Witch fan - although my son (10) happily watches Charmed with her (perhaps he secretly routes for the demons). Most of her Charmed seasons were recorded from Living TV re-runs on Sky but now we have this Ultimate 8 Season Set purchased from Amazon. Naturally the episodes are far nicer without 20 minutes of adverts. We missed the series first time around - so it's great to get all the episodes in one go. To find out more about The Charmed Ones than most people want to know, just search online - its handy as TV episodes never have the name of the episode in the credits, unlike these DVD set menus.This set is great value: 48 DVDs, run time a massive 123 hours [5.1 days]. Plus you get some good extras [the same ones included in the US set], mostly featurettes: The Demons Of Charmed, Charmed Effects, The Men Of Charmed, The Book Of Shadows, The Power Of Three, Directing Charmed, and The Making Of A Monster - but we avoided watching these, as the ones included with Buffy gave away key bits of the seasons plot. The interesting 'unshown pilot' is safe viewing though. The DVDs have English subtitles and sound/picture is fine on a standard TV [picture format 4:3, not widescreen]. Note you can also buy this 8 season set as the 'Magic Chest Box Set' with all the DVDs being within an expensive wood/leather/velvet-lined chest [and a price tag to match]. This simpler cardboard boxed set looks good as well, with one DVD case per season, and it doesn't take up that much room [although I far prefered Buffys complete 7 season slipcase style and graphics].1998's season one is naturally a great starting point and has the attraction of older sister Prue joining Piper and Phoebe, as they discover the Book of Shadows and become the 'power of three' (just in time as it happens). I have watched a lot of Charmed episodes with my daughter and I have to say that I really liked season 7 [and Paige] with the rise of The Avatars and their attempts to create heaven on Earth (e.g. `Extreme Makeover - World Edition' and `Charmageddon'). Plus demon Zankou makes a good baddie. The finale is pretty good as well (`Death becomes them'). This season really set the pace for the final [2006] season 8 when the `power of three' have to face their worst enemy and defeat the Ultimate Power. Ok the stories repeat themselves a bit (there must be around 160+ episodes) and some of the acting is on the `Victoria Principal' level with girly pouts and eye rolling, but it is all great fun. In many ways the series has a non-violent feel and little blood and gore despite the high body count (although there is the mystery of how does a flaming vaporising demon fail to leave a scorch mark on the sofa - the Power of Three even joke about it in later episodes). I'd ignore the 15 rating, they are more like a 12 max - our kid's PG rated 'Clubhouse detectives' film is far far scarier. Typical Charmed quotes: Piper,"Well, we changed the past to fix the future and save the present." Victor, "Wait, what was that?"If your daughter (10+) hasn't seen any of Charmed before, I'd recommend it. Just tell her it's like `Buffy the Vampire Slayer' but with no Buffy and no vampires. Highly recommended for female offspring (and young males in touch with their orbing side). Other 'similar' complete season boxed sets for teenagers are Buffy the Vampire Slayer [first 5 seasons easily as good as charmed], Buffy's positively apocalyptic spin-off 'Angel' [we rate this as even a tad better than Charmed], The Dresden Files [great], and Supernatural seasons 1-3 [few special effects but easily the scariest here, and deserving of it's age 15 rating]. Also try them with classic 60's sitcom 'Bewitched' (seasons 1-5 with Dick York only) which is quite sympathetic with Charmed and a hit in our household. For under 10's there is the classic 'Worst Witch' series on DVD. So a great all 8 season boxed set of Charmed, only downside: being glued to the TV to find out what happens next episode as you don't have to wait a week for the next epsiode .....

I have watched every single one on TV and every single one on DVD I can’t wait to watch them again and again

Charmed is a fantastic television show that I remember watching when I was younger when the episodes used to air on English channels. This box set is great because you have all of the episodes, back-to-back in the comforts of your own home. (If you watch them religiously, you could easily do all eight series within a week or maybe even less!)However, I'd say you can tell this box set has been cheaply made. The box is thin card and can easily tear or be bashed around, but at least the discs aren't falling out or being scratched so I'm not too fussed about this. I bought this item in May but had several problems with it which were later corrected by Amazon, but some of them cropped up on my replacement. One or two of the discs, a German or foreign language screen pops up that has no relation to Charmed whatsoever and stays there for thirty seconds or so before it corrects itself, taking you back to the home screen. Now, I'm not too bothered about this as it doesn't ruin the viewing quality...possibly a coincidence it's been on the two box sets I ordered? Another gripe is that there isn't a "play all" feature meaning after every episode, you have to click on the next one. This is a matter of convenience more than anything. It also lacks "special features" (apart from one or two things on the eighth season disc) but historically throughout the Charmed box set history, they've been known for leaving them out much to fans disappointment.Nevertheless, I still believe this box set is worth the money. All of the subtitles and audio descriptions are perfectly accurate and the viewing quality is great. Definitely a great gift for a die-hard Charmed fan or even if you're not. 5/5!!

This is the best value Charmed box set I have found on here. I have seen some for around £150 and I don't see any reason for buying one that expensive when you have all you need in this! (That is, unless you have the specific urge to present your dvds in a special magical chest).It impressed me as soon as it arrived as it has very nice packaging and so is something that can happily be displayed on your shelves. So far I have watched all of the first series. One episode buffered a few times but this was only for a few seconds each time and the rest of the said episode was fine. No problems with any of the other episodes that I've watched so far.My order also arrived in 2 days from what I remember so this is definitely a good purchase for you if you can't wait to begin watching as much as I did!Of course, it need not really be even mentioned, but the series are all great. Each has about 20 episodes, each with its own storyline that also links in with the overall storyline of the series. Some storylines are better than others but all are enjoyable. All the last episodes of each series are amazing! My personal favourite is series 3.Overall, a highly recommended box set, both for the quality of dvds and the quality of the programmes themselves. If in doubt - buy it! You won't regret it!

Wonderful series and it came wonderfully packed and fast