Posted by Dr. Bombay on December 30, 2011, 12:01 am Resident Bewitched Historian
...last night, BW returned on ABC with an all new episode #242: "Adam, Warlock or Washout," the last episode of 1971.
"I never did dig what Sammy dug about that dodo." ~ Serena
Re: 40 Years Ago...
Posted by maurine on December 30, 2011, 12:20 pm, in reply to "40 Years Ago..."
This is singularly the most confusing episode for BW watchers (as is evidenced by the confusion of the entire premise of the series "Tabitha," in which Adam is a hum-drum mortal, while Tabitha is the spittin' image of Mummy). It doesn't help that about 99% of "Washout" promulgates this depiction of poor little, maligned Adam, while the very end attests that he is, indeed, a real bona fide warlock.
Much has been said about the blatant imitation of the similar episode surrounding Tabitha's powers (or was it "Tabatha" still at that point?). Aunt Clara is sorely missed, and--hey, who the heck is GRIMALDA??? Why couldn't they just have called this actress Hagatha? There never seemed to be any problem in the past with switching out Hagathas willy-nilly.
The best thing about this episode, I think, is the delight with which David/Greg Lawrence gets to fly through the air and wave to Mommy. Lu-u-v it!"Witches are good! Witches are dear!"
Re: 40 Years Ago...
Posted by Twitchell on December 30, 2011, 1:53 pm, in reply to "Re: 40 Years Ago..."
This was always one of my favorite episodes as a kid, mainly because I was so happy that Adam finally was able to show his powers. I was never confused by this episode at all. IMO Adam was a reluctant warlock, not wanting to disappoint his father by using his powers. Once his father said that it was ok to use his powers in the final scene, Adam then was able to perform his magic guilt free and thus we all got to see that he was a warlock after all.
I really hated in the series "Tabitha" they decided to make Adam a "hum-drum mortal" and also made him older than Tabitha. Didn't they realize that millions of viewers saw Adam become a warlock in this episode and also the 4 seasons of BW with baby Tabitha before Adam was even born? Add to that the fact that the characters in "Tabitha" would only have been ages 8 and 11 during the run of that series. The whole "Tabitha" series IMO was a confusing mess and not be compared to the plot of the original BW at all.
I liked the first "Tabatha" pilot much better, where Adam was a skirt chasing warlock like his grandfather Maurice, while trying to get his sister to accept herself as a witch like his grandmother Endora had done with Samantha.