Product Description

The Charmed Ones, modern-day urban witches, Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Paige (Rose McGowan), move into Season four with deeper, darker and more deftly crafted stories. As Piper and Phoebe struggle with the loss of their older sister, they discover the existence of half-sister Paige Matthews. Possessing the power to orb as a half-Whitelighter, Paige joins the Halliwell sisters to recreate the magical triad that protects the innocent and vanquishes evil. But all may be lost as Cole’s (Julian McMahon) demonic side takes over, and Leo (Brian Krause) must face his past if he is to help the sisters in a battle that could destroy them all. With intriguing characters, amazing special effects and the perfect brew of suspense, drama and humor, each exciting episode in this fascinating supernatural series casts a gripping spell.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2569 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2006-02-28
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 958 minutes

Amazon.com
Charmed: The Complete Fourth Season is a captivating story of big changes in the world of the Halliwell sisters. San Francisco witches Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) and Piper (Holly Marie Combs) grieve the loss of Prue (Shannen Doherty) at the same time they discover the existence of a fourth Halliwell sibling: Paige (Rose McGowan), offspring of the girls' late mother and a Whitelighter (thus making Paige part witch and part angel). Paige was raised as an adopted child, but has been aware of her sisters for awhile. Still, she's ambivalent about joining forces with them (despite having two powers instead of the usual one), and Piper--now the oldest of the surviving sisters, reluctantly taking over Prue's position as leader--is in no hurry to welcome Paige into the fold.

Blood and loyalty prevail, however, and soon Paige takes over Phoebe's old role as screw-up rookie, mangling potions and causing havoc (such as switching bodies with Phoebe at an inopportune time). But her strong survival sense, compassion, and ability to read people (she's studying to become a social worker) add a powerful new weapon to the Halliwell arsenal. Meanwhile, several key storylines from the third season carry over to this new year, notably the running drama concerning demon-with-a-soul Cole (Julian McMahon) and his ongoing battle to stay free of hell's wrath while maintaining dark powers. His romance with Phoebe leads them to become ruler and queen of the Underworld, where Phoebe's loyalty is tested and a demonic baby enters the picture. Piper and her husband, Whitelighter Leo (Brian Krause), deal with sorrow over Prue and frustration over not being able to have a child, and the sisters' police ally, Inspector Morris (Dorian Gregory), has to contend with an out-of-control boss bent on charging the Halliwells with a crime. All that and a witch-hunter and appearance by the angel of destiny, who offers to relieve the witches of their magical burden. The most impressive aspect of the fourth season is the way Doherty's loss isn't treated as a mere vacuum to be filled with a new body, but is taken as an opportunity to reinvent the show in several crucial ways. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

One Of The Best Seasons
In Charmed Season 4 we mourn the departure of eldest sister, Prue Halliwell who, unbeknownst to us, until the beginning of this season is killed by a demon named Shaques (sp?). In light of this, the power of three is reinstated by their learning of a half sister on their mothers side named Paige Matthews.
This is by far one of the most suspensful and entertaining seasons as we watch Phoebe turn into the queen of the underworld, the charmed ones vanquish the Source and Pipers' first pregnancy. The show leaves off pretty much right where season three left off in terms of Coles dark past. The suspensful story line that follows traditional Chinese and Norse mythology in which a god killed the 'source' of all evil only to become it was one we had seen happening for more than a season. Now thats good story writing!
Favorite quote: Paige to Cole: "You were a demon AND a lawyer?? Insert joke here!"
Favorite Episode: "We're Off to see the Wizard"

1. Charmed Again-
Mourning the death of Prue, Piper and Phoebe must now come to grips with the loss of their oldest sister, and the loss of the Power of Three. However, The Source discovers an unknown sister - the daughter of Patty and her whitelighter Sam, who had been kept hidden, Paige, the now-youngest Halliwell can restore the Power of Three and reunite the sisters' strength as witches.

2. Hell Hath No Fury
Paige takes the Book of Shadows into her work to cast spells which help her co-workers. Meanwhile, Piper, who is filled with anger over the death of Prue and the recent actions of Paige, is possessed by a member of a supernatural band of vigilantes known as the Furies.

3. Enter The Demon
While making a potion, Paige accidentally switches bodies with Phoebe. Meanwhile, when an apprentice ninja kills his master, the sisters must find a way to vanquish him, while learning to control their switched powers.

4. Size Matters
Piper, Phoebe and Paige are shrunk to a height of five inches when they walk into a trap set by a demon named Gamil.

5. A Knight To Remember
Paige accidentally summons a medieval knight, who believes Paige is the love of his life. However, the knight is under the influence of an evil sorceress.

6. Brain Drain
The Source sends Piper into a deep coma, where she perceives an alternate reality. Phoebe and Paige must find a way to return her to reality and save her from giving up her powers while she is delusional.

7. Black As Cole
Cole must face his true demonic nature when he is faced with another demon who is mistaken as the murderer of local witches who belong to the same coven. Meanwhile, Cole proposes to Phoebe, and Piper and Leo consider their future involving children.

8, Muse To My Ears
The Halliwell sisters must find a way to release Muses which have been abducted by a warlock who is attempting to build an evil faction in the absence of the Source.

9. A Paige From The Past
With Leo as her guide, Paige goes back in time to her teen years, in an attempt to resolve her feelings about the accident that killed her parents. Meanwhile, Piper must prevent ghosts, who have inhabited Phoebe's and Cole's bodies, from fulfilling their mission.

10. Trial By Magic
While Phoebe performs jury duty in a murder case, she is hit with a premonition about the real killer, and must convince the rest of the jury that the defendant is not guilty without exposing magic. Meanwhile, Piper, Paige and Leo try help Phoebe find the real murderer, but they stumble upon a gang of demons involved and they must solve the crime and keep Paige's friend out of danger before Phoebe gets thrown off the jury.

11. Lost And Bound
Wanting to protect a ten-year-old orphaned boy who is a firestarter, Piper and Leo try to hunt down the demon before he can deliver the kid to the Source. Meanwhile, Phoebe is given Grams' wedding ring by Cole, but to their surprise the ring has been cursed to transform the wearer into a traditional 1950's suburban housewife.

12. Charmed And Dangerous
The Source breaks an age-old agreement between good and evil by stealing The Hollow, an ancient vapor which he uses to absorb Piper & Paige's powers. Meanwhile, Phoebe must allow Cole to help them, despite her having a premonition involving Cole sacrificing his life to save her from evil, but there may be more to the premonition that Phoebe just can't see.

13. The Three Faces Of Phoebe
Phoebe develops a case of cold feet over marrying Cole and casts a spell which brings a young innocent Phoebe and an old cynical Phoebe to the Manor to help her make a decision. Meanwhile, while Cole is horrified to find that the Source is now taking over his entire being, the Source's chief rival, who believes the Source is dead, is convinced by the Seer to kill the Charmed Ones in order to earn the allegiance of the entire underworld.

14. Marry Go Round
As Phoebe prepares for her wedding day, she is completely unaware that the Source has taken over Cole's body, a plot that will likely ruin the big event. Meanwhile, when the Seer tells the Source that if he can marry Phoebe in the "dark way", it will insure that their future son will be the most powerful, evil being ever.

15. The Fifth Haliwell
Amongst newlyweds, Phoebe & Cole and already-married, Leo & Piper, Paige begins like a fifth-wheel but she continues her suspicions about Cole. Meanwhile, the Source plots to impregnate Phoebe with his evil spawn.

16. Saving Private Leo
When two ghosts from Leo's past return to seek revenge, Leo faces his demons by submitting, causing Piper's life to be threatened,leaving Paige to deal with the situation. Meanwhile, Cole tries to convince Phoebe they need a home of their own.

17. Bite Me
A vampire queen tries to dethrone Cole as ruler of the Underworld and attempts to turn Paige against her sisters. Meanwhile, Phoebe begins to feel under the weather.

18. We're Off To See THe Wizard
Phoebe tells Piper and Paige that she is pregnant, and that Cole is the father. Meanwhile, Piper and Paige team up with a wizard to stop the coronation of the new Source, unaware that it is Cole and Phoebe is soon to be his Queen of the Underworld.

19. Long Live The Queen
Phoebe accepts her new role in Cole's life, but she still sets out to save an innocent after she has a premonition and even seeks her sisters' help in protecting the man. Meanwhile, Piper's heart doesn't seem to be in it as she prepares to defend her family against any new threats from the underworld.

20. Womb Raider
The Seer plans to steal Phoebe's unborn baby so she can raise the child to become the next Source and prevent the throne from passing on to another demon. Meanwhile, the baby begins to take over control of Phoebe's body, which proves dangerous to Paige.

21. Witch Way Now?
When the Angel of Destiny offers the sisters a chance to relinquish their powers and lead normal lives as a reward for vanquishing the Source of All Evil, their decision is put on the back burner. The sisters try to avoid an FBI agent who has them under surveillance, while also dealing with Cole's calls for help, who is trapped in another realm, holding onto his love for Phoebe. Plus, Piper remarkably finds out that she is pregnant.

The last great season of Charmed before it became a shadow of itself
in my opinion, season four is a fitting coda to the Charmed that we knew and loved way back when. While Shannen Doherty is certainly missed, Rose McGowan does a great job stepping in her shoes. Season four is the shows most controversial season it seems, hated by Prue fans because it's a Paige season, and hated by Paige fans because the show is darker and not overtly campy and childish as in latter seasons... I personally loved this season.

Season four picks up not long after the death of Prue in the season 3 finale "All Hell Breaks Loose", Piper and Phoebe find out there is another half-sister out there named Paige, who is coming into her witch powers as well. The two main arcs during this season are Paige accepting her destiny as a Charmed one, moving in with the Halliwell sisters and the doomed relationship between Cole and Phoebe. I've noticed a lot of Buffy fans who are critical of the relationship between these two because it somewhat mirrors that of Buffy and Angel, but I don't understand it. I love both shows but Cole was darker than Angel because he chose many times to turn to the dark side, while Angel's soul was sucked out of him because of a moment of happiness.

Starting with the fifth season of Charmed, the show lightens up quite a bit and becomes more fantasy driven, it's fun for a few episodes but those of us who saw how GOOD the early episodes of Charmed was lost interest once this change of events takes place. In this sense, season four is the last season of Charmed I plan to own on DVD because for me, everything ties up perfectly and I am not so wild about the show it became the next season.

Something missing
I never watched "Charmed" until it was in it's rerun stage. I loved the first 3 seasons very much, but once Alyssa Milano, and the rest of the producers hurded Shannen Doherty from the show, there was too much of the flavor of the original theme lost. Never was there a complete explaination as to why the sisters could not play with time and return Pru, as with everyone else who had died. You know bring her back from the dead, or prevent said death in the first place. Big mistake.

Next when they welcomed Piper's children into the fold and they called upon past generations in the welcoming ceremony, but there was no Pru. Snub? Oh yes a new sister joined the fold, but it just never had the same draw. Suddenly it became the "Phoebe Show," and the rest of the sisters became nothing more than background. That balance was lost.

Shannen was very easy to blame, because of her track record but I have always felt there was more to the story, and the series suffered because of that change, a change for the worse I might add.