W.I.T.C.H. (TV series): Difference between revisions
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On the distant planet of Meridian, a tyrannical young man named Phobos has acquired the royal throne and begun his crusade to spread his reign over all other planets in the universe. In order to counter his ambitions, a magical wall, known as the Veil, was created in order to seal Meridian away from the rest of the universe. However, over time, the Veil has begun to deteriorate, creating tears in the fabric of space which turn into portals, allowing free passage between Meridian and Earth. On Earth, five young girls are recruited to become the Guardians of the Veil, a group of super-powered defenders who are tasked with keeping order in the universe and acting as the protectors for all planets in the various galaxies of space. To do this, they must maintain the Veil by closing the portals.
Soon into their Guardianship, they encounter Caleb, the young leader of a rebel army on Meridian. The rebel army opposes Phobos' rule, as Meridian is a matriarchal planet, and he tells the Guardians that the rightful heir to the throne, Phobos' sister, is hidden away somewhere on Earth, and now that the Veil is weak enough to pass through it, both the rebels and Phobos are racing to find the heir located somewhere on Earth. As they work together to search for the rightful heir to the throne, the Guardians slowly begin to learn that other forces are at work behind the scenes, manipulating and coercing various events involving the war on Meridian, and that everything and everyone they encounter is not what they appear to be.
The five girls ([[Fun with Acronyms|whose initials spell "Witch"]]) form a classic [[Five-Man Band]], plus a sort-of [[Sixth Ranger]] (one of the Meridian rebels, who's pretty much there from the beginning), a [[Mentors|Mentor]] (grandmother of one of the girls from a previous team, CHYKN), and a [[Non-Human Sidekick]] (a goblin-like smuggler from Meridian who is both cute and utterly gross) which sounds fairly standard, but the show distinguishes itself by clever plotting, writing, and bold attempt at creating a series with a centralized plotline that develops each episode with little-to-no filler episodes. Most of the episodes revolve around chess-like maneuvers between the villains and the girls, and the girls start out on the losing side of the war, and must slowly build up their victories. However, they tend to lose more often than they win due to the villain's cunning intelligence, but the plot still moves one step closer to its conclusion.
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This show is also notable for totally avoiding many tropes found in the action genre. One example is the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]; neither Phobos' minions or the girls get any more powerful, or visibly better at using their powers. Instead, the [[Character Development]] comes from how both sides treat their war. The girls initially treat their missions like a game or a nuisance, and get much more serious with time. Both the girls and Phobos get much smarter, too. Early episodes have the girls making Keystone Kops blunders in trying to hide their secret, while the bad guys make ham-fisted attacks. By the end, both the girls and Phobos are incredibly sneaky. The second-season avoids it as well, even though the girls get some upgrades and neat new powers, they still have trouble beating the season's [[Big Bad]] Nerissa, even though she's arguably weaker than Phobos. The trouble the girls have stems from Nerissa's [[The Chessmaster|uncanny scheming ability]]. The girls never match Nerissa in terms of strength, so they must rely on their wits to outsmart her. Unfortunately, Nerissa tends to be the one outsmarting them and leading them [[Xanatos Gambit|right where she wants them.]]
See also, the comic: ''[[W.I.T.C.H.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[The Ace]]: Caleb, though only when it comes to non-powered opponents
* [[Action Girl]]: Well, it's a show with heroines and an acronym for a title. To make this scream action girl any louder, you'd have to add the word "squad!"
* [[Adults Are Useless]]: Averted, the only times the kids beat the adults are when there's a large power gap, such as the Guardians fighting the non-magical [[Mooks]]. When they fight other magical-endowed adults, however, they tend to lose the battle due to their lack of experience and power.
* [[Age-Inappropriate Dress]]: The guardian costumes are rather...provocative for 13-14 year-old girls.
* [[All Your Powers Combined]]: This was a major theme for the villains in the second season, with each villain becoming more powerful than the last because they kept capturing each other.
* [[Alpha Bitch]]: Cornelia sometimes, mainly in the first season, the Grumper Twins ''definitely''.
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*** Doesn't being an airhead mean they're ''not'' perceptive? Check the trope page, Hay Lin doesn't fit either Type 1 or Type 2 of [[Asian Airhead]].
** Not that she hides it as "X is for Xanadu" had her entering an art show and garnering praise from a famous artist.
* [[A Simple Plan]]
* [[The Atoner]]: Tynar, as seen in "B is for Betrayal"
* [[Averted Trope]]: Most ones found relating to the execution and plot of action series are broken, particularly in the second season.
* [[The Bad Guy Wins]]: In both seasons, the Guardians are completely helpless to stop the villains from carrying out their scheme, until they finally get to win in the season finale.
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* [[Badass Normal]]: Caleb - by the end of the second season, he's pretty much the only character who ''can't'' shoot some form of laser beams.
* [[Bare Your Midriff]]: Pretty much every one of the main protagonists does this.
* [[Barrier Maiden]]: Practically the entire point of the first season.
* [[Bastard Understudy]]: Cedric, Miranda.
* [[Beach Episode]]: I is for Illusion.
* [[Big Bad]]: Phobos in season 1, Nerissa in season 2.
* [[Bigger Is Better]]: [[Subversion|Subverted]]. Irma tries on two occasions to use breast expansion to her advantage, but in both occasions ends up being embarrassed. Played straight with Will, who prefers her Guardian form because of the larger chest.
* [[Big Breasts, Big Deal]]:
* [[The Blank]]: In one of the early issues of the comic, Will dreams that she's woken and looked in the mirror to find that she has no face! Then she tries to draw one on with a black marker before being woken up.
* [[Book Dumb]]: A rare female example: Will
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* [[Breast Expansion]]: like... a lot. Like all of the main girls ''at least'' once.
** Try at least once every episode. Hell, in the ''first episode'', it's referenced on!
*** So obvious that it actually made ''front page news in Britain''.
* [[Brick Joke]]: In "I is for Illusion" the Guardians go to Kandrakar for information on Nerissa, not knowing her name they refer to her as "Ugly old hag" with a "No offense!" thrown in from Irma to The Mage, in a OOC moment The Mage (normally [[The Stoic]]) puts her hands on her hips and glares out a "None taken" back {{spoiler|This becomes a billion times funnier when it's revealed that The Mage is Nerissa in disguise and has been all along.}} Really there’s a lot of them in regards to {{spoiler|Nerissa's identity as both The Mage and Trill}}
* [[Buxom Is Better]]: It's an official plot point, in the comics, novelizations and TV series...subverted by Irma, however, whose oversized bust is the butt of jokes.
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* [[Creepy Child]]: Miranda.
* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: Nerissa.
* [[Deadly Upgrade]]
* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Cornelia.
* [[Deus Exit Machina]]: Elyon is imprisoned for much of season two, keeping her out of fights she should've been easily able to win for the Guardians otherwise.
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* [[Downer Ending]]: Just about every episode in the second season until the ending.
* [[The Dragon]]: Cedric.
** In the second season it gets a bit more complicated, with Raythar first being [[The Dragon]] to Nerissa, then Shagon. When {{spoiler|Phobos regains power, Cedric becomes [[The Dragon]] again- and when ''he'' takes over, Miranda becomes his Dragon for all of one episode}}.
* [[Elaborate Underground Base]]: The Infinite City.
* [[Elemental Baggage]]: Averted.
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** [[Playing with Fire]]: Taranee
* [[Everything's Better with Princesses]]: Really. Even if Phobos weren't evil, he's disqualified from taking the throne of Meridian by being male.
* [[Evil Minions]]
* [[The Evil Prince]]: Phobos.
* [[Evil Sorcerer]]: Phobus, Nerissa.
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* [[Fantasy World Map]]
* [[Fatal Flaw]]: How Nerissa {{spoiler|gains control of the former guardians}} "It is the chink in the armour of your soul... [[More Than Mind Control|And all I need to make you mine!]]"
* [[Fighting Your Friend]]: Caleb and Aldarn in one episode, due to Elyon's inadvertent mind control.
* [[First Kiss]]: All the W.I.T.C.H. girls and their respective crushes.
* [[Fisher King]]: Meridian is [[Mordor|a dreary wasteland]] under Phobos and a fairytale-style kingdom under Elyon. Justified because of the magical powers of both rulers, as well as Phobos damaging Meridian during his rule by leaching life-energy out of it, which Elyon didn't do.
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* [[For Halloween I Am Going as Myself]]: Practically everybody that can transform in "W is Witch".
** In comic issue #100, the girls go to a party and find out it's a costume party. Guess what happens next.
* [[Gambit Pileup]] - Most of the second season
* [[Garden of Evil]]: Phobos is rather proud of it.
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* [[The One Guy]]: Caleb and Blunk, later Matt.
* [[Orcus on His Throne]]: Phobos is this during Season 1; up until the season finale Will's the only gaurdian who's actually met him.
* [[Our Goblins Are
* [[Our Orcs Are Different]]: Many of Meridian's natives are orc-like to a greater or lesser extent, but the lurdens fit best both in terms of appearance and [[Mooks|role in the story.]]
* [[Out of Order]]: Season 2 Halloween episode.
* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Mostly averted, though we are never given a clear picture of what ''actually'' happened to Phobos and Elyon's birth parents. Given the [[Complete Monster|nature]] of the eldest child, however, [[Self-Made Orphan|we can make an educated guess.]]
* [[Pettanko]]: Will...and in the comics, she's rather sore about it too.
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* [[The Remnant]]: The Knights of Vengeance.
* [[Rich Bitch]]: Cornelia, full stop.
* [[Spared by the Adaptation]]: Kinda. {{spoiler|In the comics, Yan Lin dies of old age shortly after having presented the girls with their powers. However, she turns out to live on in Kandrakaar, as part of the Council. In the series, she lives on in Heatherfield.}} Also, {{spoiler|Mr. Huggles dies after being hit by a car in the comic, though it is in a later storyline that was never adaptated for TV.}}
* [[Skeleton Government]]: The entire planet of Meridian seem to be run by a single monarch, assisted by a couple of advisors. In a particularly egregious scene in the second series, Elyon was asked to negotiate a boundary dispute between two groups of farmers. You'd think there'd be some sort of regional governor to see to such matters.
** Xambala's the same.
** May be justified in both cases as Meridian was recently under a dictatorship and probably lacks any infrastructure while Zambala's population is basically a bunch of living trees.
* [[School Play]]
* [[Shout-Out]]: Several to the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' Films. In the second season, when Greg Weisman takes over, he can't help but put a few shout outs to ''[[Gargoyles]]'', as well.
** In two episodes of the second season [[Sailor Moon|Usagi]] makes a brief background cameo.
*** [[Pokémon]] cameo in the European intro sequence. Really.
* [[Sickeningly Sweethearts]]: Eric and Hay Lin's relationship toward the end of season two.
* [[Six-Student Clique]]:
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** The Smart One: Taranee
* [[Slumber Party]]: Teenage girls, obviously, but in the second season they hold one specifically to [[Battle in the Center of the Mind|fight the evil invading their dreams.]]
* [[The Sixth Ranger]]: Many thought Elyon would be it. And while the show does indicate that Caleb fills this category, the comic offers somebody different entirely.
* [[Smug Snake]]: Phobos and -literally- Cedric.
* [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]: Averted: when Nerissa first appears, she is ''much'' weaker and less influential than Phobos ever was, though that does change overtime.
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* [[Visit by Divorced Dad]]: {{spoiler|Will's father}}
* [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]]: The Heart of Kandrakar grants 4 of the girls elemental powers, and to Will, the power to give them those powers! Maybe not totally lame, but at the least, unfair. [[Retcon|Retconned]] in Season 2 of the TV show when it's explained she had no powers as most of hers were used to keep the Veil up. When the Veil is lowered, she gains a lot of new abilities.
* [[World Building]]
* [[Xanatos Gambit]]: Phobos pulls off a good one in Season 1, and ''everyone'' gets in on the act in season 2. {{spoiler|Then there's the fact that Phobos' initial [[Xanatos Gambit]] was in fact part of an even bigger one pulled by Nerissa.}}
** Which is the only way that Phobos' take-over makes much sense in the first place. Think about it. {{spoiler|His little sister is in her early teens. He is in his twenties. Phobos would have been somewhere around twelve when Elyon was taken to another dimension because he was such a threat to her life.}} Enfant Terrible or not, you'd think someone was around with the power to send him to his room.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Wang Film Productions]]
[[Category:Fantasy Western Animation]]
[[Category:Western Animation]]
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