Product Description

Protecting the innocent, vanquishing evil and evil doers, and generally righting wrongs are not exactly on the agenda of every twenty-something on the fast track to discovering what life's all about. But for the Halliwell sisters, this has become their destiny. Prue, the oldest, is driven to succeed and dislikes the free-spirited antics of the youngest sister Phoebe. Piper, the earthy middle sister, mediates between her siblings. Phoebe discovers The Book of Shadows in the attic and their witchly powers are activated, igniting a bond that reaches beyond petty, sisterly grudges. Prue has the power to move objects, Piper to freeze time and Phoebe to see the future. The sisters must band together to protect themselves, and the world, from the dark, demonic forces that seek to destroy them. It's an existence fraught with excitement and danger, but these three unique sisters wouldn't trade their "charmed" lives for anything.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3150 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2005-11-15
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 6
• Dimensions: .94 pounds
• Running time: 952 minutes

Amazon.com
Charmed: The Complete Third Season is a little different from its previous seasons in that the long-running series, for the first time, is dominated by a single story arc that affects nearly every episode. Actor Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck, Fantastic Four) joins the Charmed cast as Assistant District Attorney Cole Turner, who enters the show when he unsuccessfully prosecutes a demon-possessed killer who attacks the Halliwell sisters' police ally, Inspector Morris (Dorian Gregory). In short order, Cole becomes romantically involved with Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), but it's soon revealed that he's actually a demon, part of an unholy plot to destroy the Charmed Ones, i.e. the Halliwell sisters.

Trouble is, Cole's human incarnation begins to battle with his demon self, and the rest of the season is really dedicated to the ramifications of his ambivalence. Even old issues on Charmed, such as the forbidden love of Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Leo (Brian Krause), an angelic Whitelighter, become secondary to the Cole-Phoebe story. (The latter becomes supernatural when Phoebe's misery over Cole turns her into a shrieking Banshee and the pair meet up in the hellish Dark Side.) Season highlights include "Primrose Empath," in which Shannen Doherty gives a superb performance when her character, Prue Halliwell, takes on the powers of an empath and is soon overwhelmed by the emotional pain carried by scores of others. "Sleuthing with the Enemy" finds Prue and Piper, in the first of several such stories, working at opposite purposes from Phoebe, who is intent on saving Cole from capture or destruction. The clever and comic "Look Who's Barking" concerns a spell that turns Prue into a Banshee-tracking dog who gets hit by a car and briefly becomes the pet of a handsome, single man. Season finale "All Hell Breaks Loose" may be the best Charmed episode in its first three years, a scary and apocalyptic tale in which the powers of the Halliwell sisters, long kept secret, are revealed to an insatiable news media, the police and military, and dangerous crazies. Not to be missed. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Shannen Doherty's Final Season
Coming from a long time fan, season three is one of the best seasons ever. So much happens in this season, both on and off camera. Fan favorite Julian McMahon joins the Charmed cast in this season, and becomes part of one of the most long-running storylines for the series: the love affair between Phoebe and Cole. Initially a demon sent to destroy the Charmed Ones, he eventually goes rogue after falling in love with Phoebe. Off camera, something similar happened. Actor Julian McMahon began dating actress Shannen Doherty.

Speaking of Shannen, this is her final season with the Charmed show. After some creative differences with producers and cast, Shannen left the series but not before going behind the camera to direct it's season finale episode. Also to leave the series in season three is the show's creator Constance M. Burge. Fellow executive producer Brad Kern wanted to bring in a season long relationship storyline for the Phoebe character after seeing fan's reaction to season two's Piper/Leo/Dan storyline. Burge was against it as she wanted the series to go back to it's original concept of sisterly ties and exploring the character's wiccan heritage. Eventually she lost out and left the series around the time season three began taping.

This season contains the following episodes:
1) The Honeymoon's Over, 2) Magic Hour, 3) Once Upon A Time, 4) All Halliwell's Eve, 5) Sight Unseen, 6) Primrose Empath, 7) Power Outage, 8) Sleuthing With The Enemy, 9) Coyote Piper, 10) We All Scream For Ice Cream, 11) Blinded By The Whitelighter, 12) Wrestling With Demons, 13) Bride and Gloom, 14) The Good, The Bad and The Cursed, 15) Just Harried, 16) Death Takes A Halliwell, 17) Pre-Witched, 18) Sin Francisco, 19) The Demon Who Came In From The Cold, 20) Exit Strategy, 21) Look Who's Barking, and 22) All Hell Breaks Loose.

My only complaint is that, as with the previous Charmed DVD releases, Paramount Studios remains to tread the "cheap" route by not offering any bonus material what-so-ever. The obvious choice would have been to release the unaired pilot on the first DVD set, which had a completely different actress play the role of Phoebe but alas none here either. If you can overlook this gross negligence, then I strongly encourage you to add this season to your collection.

Shannon Doherty's Last Season, but Julian McMahon's First
Inspired by the actual Earth-centered religion of Wicca, many television viewers in 1998 became enchanted with the fictional story of three extraordinary sisters who, after their grandmother's death, discover that they are witches and that each has a unique magical power. The oldest, Prudence "Prue" Halliwell (Shannen Doherty), discovers that she has a magical "punch" with which she can physically force anyone (or anything) to be thrown away from her. The middle sister, Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs), discovers that she can magically freeze anyone or anything. The youngest sister, Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano), discovers that she has a magical gift of foresight that allows her to see potentially disastrous future events for individuals if she touches an object that has been handled by them. As it turns out, the sisters' mother, Patty Halliwell (regular guest Finola Hughes), and their grandmother, Penny 'Grams' Halliwell (regular guest Jennifer Rhodes), were also witches. Hidden within their San Francisco house attic is their famed Book of Shadows (book of spells and information about various paranormal beings, such as demons and white lighters). The sisters also discover that they are unique among witches in that they possess the very powerful ability to invoke the "power of three", which is a very powerful incantation that can be used to destroy demons and other evil beings. In fact, that is their mission: to protect the world from the evil attacks of various demons, warlocks and other evil beings. Of course, these newly discovered abilities and frequent attacks from demons wreak havoc for the sisters' lives, especially their careers and attempts at dating. However, the sisters also discover that they are not alone in their efforts as they are frequently visited by the ghosts of their mother and grandmother, and that the equivalent of a guardian angel known as a "white lighter", Leo Watts (Brian Krause), not only provides them with important information and assistance, he can also heal them of their wounds. The sisters are also visited occasionally by their estranged father, Victor Bennett (regular guest James Read); and because the sisters are so frequently involved with seemingly criminal activities, they become friends with local police officer Darryl Morris (Dorian Gregory).

The third season marked two major changes in the series. First, a new main character enters the lives of the sisters: the Assistant District Attorney Cole Turner (Julian McMahon). Being very handsome and sophisticated, it isn't long before one of the sisters, Phoebe, becomes quite attracted to him. However, Cole is not exactly what he seems: he's actually a powerful demon named Belthazor who was sent by the Source (the leader of the demons) to destroy the Halliwell sisters; but his human side unexpectedly begins to fall for Phoebe. What will the sisters do when they discover Cole's true identity? Will Cole destroy the sisters, including the one whom he's falling in love? Also, how can the sisters find a way for Piper and Leo to get married, which is strictly forbidden because he's a whitelighter?

The answers are contained within the third season's 22 episodes that aired between 2000 and 2001. They include "The Honeymoon's Over", "Magic Hour", "Once Upon a Time", "All Halliwell's Eve", "Sight Unseen", "Primrose Empath", "Power Outage", "Sleuthing With the Enemy", "Coyote Piper", "We All Scream for Ice Cream", "Blinded by the Whitelighter", "Wrestling with Demons", "Bride and Gloom", "The Good, the Bad and the Cursed", "Just Harried", "Death Takes a Halliwell", "Pre-Witched", "Sin Francisco", "The Demon Who Came In from the Cold", "Exit Strategy", "Look Who's Barking" and "All Hell Breaks Loose".

With engaging characters, wonderful scripts, exciting plots and great special effects, I rate the very exciting third season of "Charmed" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it. Though Shannen Doherty left "Charmed" after this third season in the season finale "All Hell Breaks Loose", all is not lost as is revealed in the fourth season with the discovery of a previously unknown sister named Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan).

Season Three - Charmed At It's Top
The third season of Charmed began in 2000, with the disappearance of Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Leo (Brian Krause), whom have orbed away 'up there' three months ago in the season two finale. Prue (Shannen Doherty) and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) are left to fight the demons that attack, and eventually Piper and Leo return.

The third season is a struggle for most of our characters: Piper and Leo try to find a way to still be together, to convince the Elders they can be together and not be distracted when it comes to their duties. Phoebe meets and falls in love with a half-demon, Belthazor, aka Cole Turner (Julian McMahon). At first Cole/Belthazor is to kill the Charmed Ones, but his human half takes over as he and Phoebe fall in love. And lastly, Prue struggles with inner turmoil over various situations, such as finding a perfect relationship, dealing with death, dealing with her responsibilities as an adult and a witch, and of course, with the demonic issues.

The third season is very different from the first two seasons of Charmed, by having more of a seasonal arch, as opposed to monster-of-the-week episodes, which is very common in supernatural shows' earlier days. This season, the sisters are faced with the problems from the Triad (a group of evil beings), Belthazor (Cole Turner, the man/demon Phoebe falls in love with), the Brotherhood (the demonic 'cult' Belthazor was a part of), and lastly, the Source of All Evil.

By the time we get to the finale, Piper and Leo have married, Phoebe is trying to rescue Cole from becoming fully evil, and the Triad is vanquished, along with the Brotherhood. The season finale is definitely the best episode of the season, if not the entire series, and will leave you at the edge of your seat. Now, most people know that Shannen Doherty exited at the end of the season, with Rose McGowan (Paige Matthews) replacing her as a sister in the later part of the series.

The episodes from season three include:
- The Honeymoon's Over
- Magic Hour
- Once Upon a Time
- All Halliwell's Eve
- Sight Unseen
- Primrose Empath
- Power Outage
- Sleuthing With the Enemy
- Coyote Piper
- We All Scream For Ice Cream
- Blinded By the Whitelighter
- Wrestling With Demons
- Bride and Gloom
- The Good, The Bad, and The Cursed
- Just Harried
- Death Takes a Halliwell
- Pre-Witched
- Sin Francisco
- The Demon Who Came In From the Cold
- Exit Strategy
- Look Who's Barking
- All Hell Breaks Loose

Overall, season three is a definite have for any Charmed fan, there is much to enjoy about this season, and you won't be disappointed.