History Trivia / WITCH

* TechnologyMarchesOn / UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The flip phones, fashion, and {{animesque}} appearance obviously place the comics and show in the 2000s.

** The comic series was evisioned as significantly more serious and with many horror vibes. Once Disney stepped in and then quickly removed the original creators, most of that went to the bin, the entire franchise was retooled and whatever arc plots were started got squashed. For starters, Elyon was being set up as a future BigBad with WeUsedToBeFriends angle to her. While many secondary bits and pieces of the original ideas still remained (and the comics are definitely ''not'' glitter and ditzy teen girls), it's a far cry of where the original direction was heading.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Until its cancellation, plans for a third season were fully mapped out and three scripts were produced shortly before production stopped. It would have loosely adapted the Crisis on Both Worlds arc with several major changes. The new season was planned to be more [[DarkerandEdgier darker, intense and serious than the previous two]]. A total of 30 episodes were set to be produced instead of 26. Phobos, Nerissa, Miranda and Cedric were to return but take on more morally ambiguous anti-heroic roles. Alchemy, Raphael Sylla, Riddle, Tony Vandom and Uriah Dunn were to be added to the main cast along with the five leads. Peter, Nigel, Eric, and Martin were also to be given larger roles. A major storyline would've been Dean and Susan officially being engaged and the girls' friends and families discovering they were Guardians and a major change from the comics was the main villain of the season was going to be a disillusioned priest who begins to develop abilities of his own.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Peter, Nigel, Eric, Martin and Alchemy were intended to play a larger role in the cartoon's cancelled third season.

** The creators of the original comic [[https://sealedinabook.tumblr.com/post/182084822152/i-cannot-for-the-life-of-me-reblog were removed]] from the series early on. Disney Italia dismissed them as soon as a project [[AndYouThoughtItWouldFail they thought was dead-on-arrival]] became a major success, and shifted the series into a softer direction than what was intended. The change is evident as early as Issue 7, with multiple sudden plot shifts such as Elyon pulling a HeelFaceTurn and is revealed as "The Light of Meridian", the introduction of Caleb is introduced out of nowhere as Cornelia's literal dream man, the general focus change to the Crown of Light, etc.

** The creators of the original comic [[https://sealedinabook.tumblr.com/post/182084822152/i-cannot-for-the-life-of-me-reblog were removed]] from the series early on. Disney Italia dismissed them, leading to the remainder of rest of the story went in a different direction than what was intended. The shift is evident in Issue 7, with multiple sudden plot shifts such as Elyon pulling a HeelFaceTurn and is revealed as "The Light of Meridian", the introduction of Caleb is introduced out of nowhere as Cornelia's literal dream man, the general focus change to the Crown of Light, etc.

** The cartoon is the subject of an infamous book chapter by first season co-showrunner Andrew Nicholls, which details the sheer amount of executive meddling that went on during production. This chapter has been widely misinterpreted by fans and haters alike, as the writer makes clear that this has happened on every single show he's worked on and is basically the standard in the industry, and more importantly something like ''half'' of the examples listed '''actually made it into the show''', making them instances of executive meddling ''failure'' instead. (A detailed analysis can be found [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13239784260A48118600&page=4#comment-89 here]].) Also, probably the biggest change demanded by the network was a shift in focus from more [[GirlShowGhetto girl-oriented]] comedy to more boy-oriented action, but this happened ''in pre-production'' with the existing episode scripts being rewritten, so the actual series maintained a relatively consistent tone.

* InternationalCoproduction: It's a show produced by [[Creator/SIPAnimation an independent French studio]] working together with [[Creator/{{Disney}} an American media giant]] ([[MegaCorp which owned 49% of it]]), based on a series of Italian comics [[MegaCorp also owned by said US conglomerate]]. All of the writing and original voice acting was done in English by Americans based in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles (who were officially employed by said French company [[LoopholeAbuse to save money]]), while all the other aspects of production like storyboards and music were handled in UsefulNotes/{{Paris}}. Oh, and Creator/{{Fox Kids}} UK ([[RuleOfThree soon purchased by]] [[MegaCorp Disney]] and turned into Jetix UK) wanted in on the action too, so the writers had to deal with input from ''[[UpToEleven four different countries]]''.

* WriterConflictsWithCanon: Weisman believes that Irma is lesbian, however there isn't anything in the series that implies such and quite a bit that contradicts this. She could be closeted, though, or maybe she hasn't realized her sexuality yet. Or she could actually be [[BiTheWay bisexual]] rather than a lesbian, and Weisman used the wrong terminology.

** The cartoon is the subject of an infamous book chapter by first season co-showrunner Andrew Nicholls, which details the sheer amount of executive meddling that went on during production. This chapter has been widely misinterpreted by fans and haters alike, as the writer makes clear that this has happened on every single show he's worked on and is basically the standard in the industry, and more importantly something like ''half'' of the examples listed '''actually made it into the show''', making them instances of executive meddling ''failure'' instead. Also, probably the biggest change demanded by the network was a shift in focus from more [[GirlShowGhetto girl-oriented]] comedy to more boy-oriented action, but this happened ''in pre-production'' with the existing episode scripts being rewritten, so the actual series maintained a consistent tone. A detailed analysis can be found [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13239784260A48118600&page=4#comment-89 here]].

** The cartoon is the subject of an infamous book chapter by first season co-showrunner Andrew Nicholls, which details the sheer amount of executive meddling that went on during production. This chapter has been widely misinterpreted by fans and haters alike, as the writer makes clear that this has happened on every single show he's worked on and is basically the standard in the industry, and more importantly something like ''half'' of the examples listed '''actually made it into the show''', making them instances of executive meddling ''failure'' instead. A detailed analysis can be found [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13239784260A48118600&page=4#comment-89 here]].

* ExecutiveMeddling: The creators of the original comic [[https://sealedinabook.tumblr.com/post/182084822152/i-cannot-for-the-life-of-me-reblog were removed]] from the series early on. Disney Italia dismissed them, leading to the remainder of rest of the story went in a different direction than what was intended. The shift is evident in Issue 7, with multiple sudden plot shifts such as Elyon pulling a HeelFaceTurn and is revealed as "The Light of Meridian", the introduction of Caleb is introduced out of nowhere as Cornelia's literal dream man, the general focus change to the Crown of Light, etc.
-->'''Alessandro Barbucci & Barbara Canepa:''' "We conceived of "W.I.T.C.H." together with Elisabetta Gnone, the then-director of girls publications for Disney. We worked for three years in secret on it and she then presented the project to the big bosses at Disney. They thought that this project was crazy, a sure-fire bomb, complete waste of time, and that mangas wouldn't have a chance in Europe anyway (!!!). However, we didn't let ourselves be led astray and worked for another year on it anyway, with a tiny budget and without publicity. And then the series became a worldwide hit. The official version from Disney is, of course, that "W.I.T.C.H." is a product of their brilliant, visionary marketing strategy... the end of the series was then taken out of our hands, we actually had something a lot more intelligent planned for it. Now, as you can see, Elisabetta Gnone and the two of us no longer work for Disney... a really sad story."

* ImageSource: MagicMap (animated show)
** Cornelia serves as the picture for GreenThumb

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The flip phones, fashion, {{Animeseque}} appearance obviously place the comics and show in the 2000s.

* ImageSource:
** MagicMap (animated show)

** The cartoon has fallen to this as well, to a lesser degree. There's no shortage of places to watch it, but most of them use the same low-quality television recordings, as in most places the show never got a full DVD release. It's relatively difficult to get hold of anything in a higher resolution. In addition, most recordings use the American opening titles, and whilst there's nothing wrong with that, some fans who prefer the international theme song are going to have to look harder for versions of the show with it. (Ironically, only the international openings are ''actually available'' in high quality, since the show hasn't been released on DVD in America.)

* PlayingAgainstType:
** Creator/SteveBlum as Blunk.
** Creator/DeeBradleyBaker as Cedric.

* AcclaimedFlop: The show was generally well received (more in later episodes, but still apparent early on), but low ratings meant no season 3.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The original Hyperion English releases of the comic are this. Creator/YenPress, under their JY label, license rescued the series, but the old releases have some [[{{Bowdlerise}} Bowdlerisations]] and a few other differences between translations, while Yen Press opted for a new translation that did away with the censorship.
** The cartoon has fallen to this as well, to a lesser degree. There's no shortage of places to watch it, but most of them use the same low-quality television recordings, as in most places the show never got a full DVD release. It's relatively difficult to get hold of anything in a higher resolution. In addition, most recordings use the American opening titles, and whilst there's nothing wrong with that, some fans who prefer the international theme song are going to have to look harder for versions of the show with it. (Ironically, only the international openings are actually available in high quality, since the show hasn't been released on DVD in America.)

** The cartoon only saw full series DVD releases (including season 2) in Czechia, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, and Russia - the latter of which doesn't have the original English audio.

* OutOfOrder: Season 2's Halloween episode, 'W is for Witch', which in order to air in time for the holiday, had to be shown before 'T is for Trauma'.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Low ratings foiled Greg Weisman's plans for a third season of the cartoon — as per usual for him.

** The cartoon has fallen to this as well, to a lesser degree. There's no shortage of places to watch it, but most of them use the same low-quality television recordings, as in most places the show never got a full DVD release. It's relatively difficult to get hold of anything in a higher resolution. In addition, most recordings use the American opening titles, and whilst there's nothing wrong with that, some fans who prefer the international theme song are going to have to look harder for versions of the show with it.

** LoveBeforeFirstSight (comics)

* VegetarianCarnivore: While Caleb talks about his love for Roast, his voice actor is a vegetarian

* ExecutiveMeddling: The creators of the original comic was removed from the series after the sixth issue. Disney Italia dismissed them, leading to the remainder of rest of the story went in a different direction than what was intended. The shift is evident in Issue 7, with multiple sudden plot shifts such as Elyon pulling a HeelFaceTurn and is revealed as "The Light of Meridian", the introduction of Caleb is introduced out of nowhere as Cornelia's literal dream man, the general focus change to the Crown of Light, etc.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork:
** The ''creators'' of the series got screwed out of it halfway through the first arc! Disney Italia dismissed them, and thus the rest of the story went in a different direction than what was intended. If one reads Issue 7, this change becomes obvious (Elyon suddenly pulls a HeelFaceTurn and is revealed as "The Light of Meridian", she and Cornelia are suddenly said to be best friends, Caleb is introduced out of nowhere as Cornelia's literal dream man, Phobos comes out of the shadows sooner than one would expect, the general story changes its focus to the Crown of Light, etc, etc.)
-->'''Alessandro Barbucci & Barbara Canepa:''' "We conceived of "W.I.T.C.H." together with Elisabetta Gnone, the then director of girls publications for Disney. We worked for three years in secret on it and she then presented the project to the big bosses at Disney. They thought that this project was crazy, a sure-fire bomb, complete waste of time, and that mangas wouldn't have a chance in Europe anyway (!!!). However, we didn't let ourselves be led astray and worked for another year on it anyway, with a tiny budget and without publicity. And then the series became a worldwide hit. The official version from Disney is, of course, that "W.I.T.C.H." is a product of their brilliant, visionary marketing strategy...the end of the series was then taken out of our hands, we actually had something a lot more intelligent planned for it. Now, as you can see, Elisabetta Gnone and the two of us no longer work for Disney...a really sad story."
** Meanwhile, low ratings foiled Greg Weisman's plans for a third season of the cartoon- as per usual for him.

* WordOfGay: Creator/GregWeisman (Supervising Producer and Story Editor of the second season) [[http://s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=8857 believes Cassidy is a lesbian]], and that Nerissa is bisexual... once being lovers with Cassidy: "You have no idea what she meant to me."

* WordOfGay: Creator/GregWeisman (Supervising Producer and Story Editor of the second season) [[http://s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=8857 believes Irma is a lesbian]], and that Nerissa is bisexual... once being lovers with Cassidy: "You have no idea what she meant to me."