Written by The Wandering Fox and Erin-the-Gamer
(The Wandering Fox walks out by a door with a big yellow on it. He smiled as he took a seat on a wooden chair and then whipped out an Owl House cover.)
Wander: “Blimey. Five years, eh? Wow. Five years since I was browsing on The Dragon Prince Reddit and saw a meme comparison of Callum, Ibis, Luz and Eda respectively. Gotta tell ya, Eda and Luz’s designs caught me straight away and then before I knew it, I was sucked in on a brand-new adventure. And adventure I’m happy to have gone on.”
Hello everybody, I’m the Wandering Fox and I’m here thanks to a dear friend of mine suggesting this to me. It’s been five years since The Owl House debuted and we followed Luz on her fun and intense adventures in the Boiling Isles. It is done now and I’m happy to have seen it. Of course, I can’t be the only guy who is talking about it, for I have fellow Owl House fan Erin the Gamer with me! C’mon in Erin!
Erin: Hey Wander, glad to be part of this again after a while. Long time no see viewers, as we're here on the New Year and today we'll talk once again of The Owl House, as you may recall we did a review series of the show with it's three seasons as we talk about the great parts, the meh parts and also how the show gotten shorten due to behind the scenes conflict with Disney and Dana Terrance. With the last part that is the tip of the iceberg.
Funny we mention it as while the show is great, it was cut short due to it not fitting the "Disney brand" as it is B.S. as we seen other shows not fit well and even those that has story driven shows like the Disney Marvel ones and the other fan-favorite ones like Gravity Falls, DuckTales 2017 & Amphibia, the last two that has three full length seasons. Tangled & Big Hero 6 we can see as they were big movies first and later gotten to cartoons in 2D, as even they have story moments in their runs.
Sorry about that, as we can be quite salty when great shows get mistreated and not given fair chances to reach their full potential. It's also why for this, we're discussing some interesting info of the cut content and development the show itself has, and maybe find out why and how it was the way it is. Something unique for the show's 5th Anniversary.
Wander: While Dana herself has said the whole thing with not fitting the Disney brand was down to just one executive, it does make you think of what exactly was the issue and why Disney cut it down. It’s probably one of those mysteries we will never ever know, but since we are here for the show’s 5th anniversary, we figured it’d be interesting to discuss the show of its concepts that didn’t make it to the screen as well as what we think could’ve happened in our own ideas. From the show’s early basis to the cut content we figured this would be the place to bring it up at. So Erin, would you like me to go first or you?
Erin: I'll start and then you with others. Now let's see what started with the setting.
THE AFTERLIFE BEGINS BEFORE THE BOILING ISLES
From what I heard from Fox, it seems from the beginning of The Owl House, like in the canon, the setting of the show would've taking place in another world, as one either being the afterlife or the underworld, I assume the latter with the witchcraft and monsters around, as The Owl House is like a fantasy setting, plus with anime shows, we've seen female leads deal with monsters a lot, even in fantasy ones. As it would've been like a big horror comedy like with Courage, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy or Gravity Falls.
Those concepts were planned, but honestly do feel the other world with the Boiling Isles fit better with the final cut, as having tone down the other concepts I assume would get folks upset, as I feel it was better we have Season 1 started more light-hearted before the dramatic turn.
Wander: Yeah, I agree with Erin on this. While I understand Dana Terrace had wanted The Owl House to be set in the afterlife, I think that would have made it much too dark for a Disney show. However, with Dana moving into other projects she could maybe revisit this idea of an afterlife setting. If so, I’d be curious to check it out.
But since we’re talking about what could've been at the early days of The Owl House, we can now move onto:
THE PILOT!
For example, look no further than this pilot the animators had done. Back in 2017:
As you can see it still retained its much darker elements such as Luz resurrecting the dead, a gory Puppet Luz as well as others. Eda and Luz look mostly the same with Luz retaining a bit of her Beta design, though King looks much more different and is a lot angrier than his canon counterpart. Willow here as well has a different name and like her canon counterpart hasn’t mastered her magic yet. Emperor Belos looks a lot different here:
He looks much more golem and wolf like with a hood of sorts on him.
The sleeping prince here ends up fitting Hunter’s role later, though he might’ve been a prominent character earlier on.
It’s interesting how these were so well developed. I am curious as to what inspired the changes to these designs and what exactly Hunter was doing earlier. Thoughts, Erin?
Erin: Yeah as that was an interesting pilot and it seems that it was quite different than the final version. The Pilot Belos was quite a surprise as did thought it was the Warden Guard holding Eda, and I assume they don't want to reveal Belos yet until the finale of Season 1, as if Belos interacted more with Luz & Eda, he would've been the usual Saturday Morning cartoonish villain, and oh boy, we know the Emperor isn't that in the final cut.
The prince character is also interesting as while minor, do feel it was set up to have the creation of Hunter and also have him serving Belos for a while, until the reveal in "Hollow Mind". Does got me curious with the prince, was there going to be a royal line on the Boiling Isles? We know the Blights are rich folk serving and working with the Emperor and with the Coven Heads added too, was the head witches part of royalty or something, as the Coven System is also a corrupt government.
Wander: Here’s concept art of Belos so I think it could be him.
As for the prince character, he’s called Sir William. We can see he’s a human thanks to his ears, so I doubt he was anything to do with Belos in terms of him ruling the Boiling Isles, unless he was Caleb’s son in this version and after Belos killed Caleb this forced William’s mother to hide him from Belos? And he was basically gonna take the throne from Emperor Belos and free everybody from him?
Though still, the pilot does offer us an intriguing insight in what The Owl House could’ve been.
Which brings us to our next place in the cut content of this being:
THE CUT STORIES
This obviously is about stories from the series that was then not picked back up on, from the Bat Queen’s mystery owner to what exactly happened to the Archivists, as well what exactly happened to Evelyn after Caleb’s death. Now of course, some of this can be answered easily like how we know Evelyn is Eda and Lilith’s ancestor which in turn makes Hunter their “ancestor”, but others are still left unanswered to this day as Dana revealed we could’ve learnt more of the Bat Queen in the third season if the story wasn’t cut down.
For other stories that were cut, while the “beach episode” was a joke the writing team came up with, I think that could’ve been a fun episode as we could’ve explored how the beaches on the Boiling Isles works. Then there’s how I feel we could’ve done a few more episodes of Hunter’s friendship with Gus and feelings for Willow. Then there’s how we never got to see Emperor Belos actually react to the modern world. Could he have hated it?
Though what do you think?
Erin: I think those ideas could've work if fit in the show and with the Bat Queen, I do wonder if she was connected to Papa Titan as after the Palisman episode, she just taken a backseat to the plot, as while she is a minor character, we could've known more about her, as we haven't seen her until the final episode.
The beach episode would've been fun and I know we enjoy a nice relaxing time with the characters, although with the Boiling waters around the Isles, you think it would've work and plus it would've been seen as a filler episode, but could argue it would make a nice calm before the storm. Maybe it could've work with the Human world as Luz and her friends would have fun there as they were stuck there for months.
Plus with Hunter's friendship with Gus & Willow, I would love to see more of it as while we have good screen time of them, we should've gotten more, and would help with Hunter & Willow's growing relationship.
And with Belos we mentioned, it is weird we never gotten his reaction to the modern age as he lived for hundreds of years with magic as I assume he would've gotten a breakdown and also we should've gotten a flashback episode of him & Caleb of their time as witch hunters and also Phillip's desent into the evil Belos he is now. I do have a feeling with the meddling, they didn't want it fully and of course, can't relate to a villain also, as why they had to stuck with Luz and her main cast.
Speaking of Luz, we should've gotten more of her & Vee together as we did thought Vee was Creepy Luz and their first meeting was them conflicted with each other, as Vee thought Luz was selfish for leaving her human home, but if she find out what Luz been through, it would've help Vee's character more.
And also heard we could've gotten a big musical episode as that would've been very fun.
Wander: I do agree we should’ve gotten a full backstory for Caleb, just so we got the entire story of exactly how and why he left with Evelyn, but hey, we have enough to know that Belos and Caleb are opposite of Luz and Camila, how Caleb was the lone parental figure who tried his hardest to look after Belos but was breaking down inside like Camila was after she was bullied in controlling Luz’s behaviour, we know as well Caleb didn’t believe in the Witch Hunters.
Of course, we have lots here that was cut, but I think the most criminal of all that was cut was the entire third season.
THE THIRD SEASON
Erin: Oh yes, it's when fans get very upset and of course the wasted potential this season has and could've gotten, as Season 2 has been a great follow-up from Season 1, which was more episodic before the big event. Although, you could argue with the second half of S2, is when they need to cram things up into the season as the show was nearly ending, and while it makes sense to end with Season 3, the big climax, it was disappointing that the final season was just 3 Hour long specials, or more so, 6 episodes in a way. If we count the specials as two-parters. While me & Wander likes Season 3 fine, we know it should've been very long and the best one to wrap everything up.
You could argue it has to be this way, as Gravity Falls ended with Season 2 with Alex saying he wants to end the show on his terms, plus the Earth episodes on Amphibia being divided, and also wanted to wrap up everything but even so, Season 3 should've been handled with care or planned out better.
Like in my review, the season is divided into three parts with Luz and Hexside Kids on Earth with Camila and Vee, then goes to the Boiling Isles to save Hexide from Bosha and Kikimora and then the final battle with the Collector and Belos. Each with their highs and lows.
Wander: While the thing is I would have liked if season three had gotten more episodes with the Boiling Isles lot getting use to life on Earth. Yeah, how exactly could the guys adapt to it? I’d love to have seen it, but honestly, I’m fine with what we got. The Owl House was a fine series, it has been here and it’s gone. What we can do though is just treasure what we got, y’know?
Erin: You did make a good point with Season 3 as I like it the way it is. As could've been better with some extra episodes and the parts I discuss with the cut content, but for what it is, the was good enough with a strong great ending when Luz and others finished Belos once and for all, the shot of Luz and Stringbean as the young girl is happy once one and the final shot of everyone in the cast saying "Byeeee....." not just to the Collector but to us, the viewers who followed the show and support it.
It really feels like an end of an era, the story-driven cartoons, Disney at it's 100th Year and also when cartoons peaked while others can be seen as letdowns or just not good anymore. I guess with The Owl House, it ended at the right time.
And also inspire us to write our own stories and have characters like Luz, Eda & King, a great supporting cast, a lovely and well-developed romance like Luz x Amity and a great evil and charismatic villain like Emperor Belos, as we may never get another show like the Owl House and that is okay.
Wander: Yeah. We can’t get it as good as the way Dana and her team did it. I agree as well I think the era of good stories by cartoons has ended. The Owl House was pretty much a good final show. And yes, it has helped inspire me in my writing, and I thank Dana and her team for all their hard work. And hey, The Owl House has turned 5 years old. Let’s try and keep its legacy alive by following in its footsteps, shall we?
I’d say that wraps everything up. Yeah, I’d have loved to have seen some of the cut stories and see what Dana was going to do with the show originally, but I’m happy we even had it.
Erin: I agree, same as even great shows I love and have as favorites have even shorter runs (like Green Eggs and Ham & Kid Cosmic) than The Owl House, like 23 & 24 episodes total. So, we take what we can get.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We have to say, we never expect the Owl House to be a great masterpiece even with it cutting corners, and having it as another "cartoon epic" that Gravity Falls and Steven Universe started that trend back in the 2010s, as Owl has become one of our favorite animated series of all time and we just loved talking about it.
It very much helped me through a depressing time I had and did doubt it would've been the usual cartoon stuff, but it was more than that, a passionate work of media by a great creator who worked hard to see her own creation become a reality and it paid off well.
Wander: The Owl House to me is an example of you being able to tell tight and strong storytelling with likeable characters with lovely animation. It was great as well to have another series me and my friends could enjoy together, which only had us gossip of what could come next, whose favourite magic was who. It was a beautiful show to have had.
(The Wandering Fox then stands up and nods to Erin.)
Well Erin, it’s been nice revisiting The Owl House for this essay,
Erin: It sure has and thanks for assisting me on this topic. As it may not be the last thing we talk about The Owl House, but it was great to talk about it for its 5th Anniversary. You have a great day.
Wander: You as well.
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