Ron Halder

Cathy Weseluck

Janyse Jaud

Time and Again

Journey to the past

&apos;Ultimate Book of Spells&apos; &quot;Time and Again&quot; (2001)

Opening thoughts: Despite being one of the episodes to have the most amount of Harry Potter influence (Sternwand being a loose variation of Professor Binns, Lucretia and Borgia and their father influenced by Draco Malfoy), &quot;Time and Again&quot; is still one of my favourite episodes of &apos;Ultimate Book of Spells&apos;. Character and story development-wise, it is one of the most important &apos;UItimate Book of Spells&apos; episodes. Due to learning more about UBOS, Cassy&apos;s great-grandfather and the big battle of Getz and Zarlak that led to Zarlak&apos;s banishment. For what it may lack in originality, &quot;Time and Again&quot; still delivers on good storytelling and characterisation.

Bad things: Is it a great episode? No, Lucretia and Borgia (want to have a guess at which historical figure influenced those names) are annoying and their dialogue is very lame, with spouting some of the most cliched lines ever uttered by most school bullies with privilege type characters.

With going back in time being a familiar concept, there is no surprise as to how the episode ends.

Good things: However, a lot works. The animation is crisp and colourful and the music fits well and doesn&apos;t sound out of date. Catchy theme tune. The voice actors do a great job, especially Ron Halder. Who brings so much authority, firmness and wisdom as well as good comic timing as UBOS, likewise with Getz. Zarlak seldom sounded as evil as here and it was unsettling in the climax. The writing is not juvenile or complicated and was really struck as a young adult how self-aware and on the nose it is, failing only with Lucretia and Borgia and at its strongest with Getz and Zarlak.

The story may not be perfect, but it is eventful and entertaining with genuine thrills and tension in one of the show&apos;s best climaxes. It also does really well at immersing one into the settings, Vonderland in the future is pretty creepy. The characters on the whole are spot on, did appreciate that Gus learns from his mistakes and regrets what he did quickly and Getz is a great character. The conflict between him and Zarlak is where the episode is at its best and the great war is the very meaning of battle of the titans. Zarlak was rarely this sinister.

It was good too that &quot;Time and Again&quot; pretty much confirmed UBOS&apos; origins without telling the characters themselves directly, had always strongly suspected the truth about him in the previous episodes and it was good to establish it early on and reference it again more overtly in a couple of other episodes. Much better than everything with Verne and Merlin in a later episode, which was such a good story idea left incomplete when the show was cancelled.

Closing thoughts: Overall, very well done and even though derivative it is one of the show&apos;s better episodes.

8/10.

'Ultimate Book of Spells' "Time and Again" (2001)

Opening thoughts: Despite being one of the episodes to have the most amount of Harry Potter influence (Sternwand being a loose variation of Professor Binns, Lucretia and Borgia and their father influenced by Draco Malfoy), "Time and Again" is still one of my favourite episodes of 'Ultimate Book of Spells'. Character and story development-wise, it is one of the most important 'UItimate Book of Spells' episodes. Due to learning more about UBOS, Cassy's great-grandfather and the big battle of Getz and Zarlak that led to Zarlak's banishment. For what it may lack in originality, "Time and Again" still delivers on good storytelling and characterisation.

Bad things: Is it a great episode? No, Lucretia and Borgia (want to have a guess at which historical figure influenced those names) are annoying and their dialogue is very lame, with spouting some of the most cliched lines ever uttered by most school bullies with privilege type characters.

With going back in time being a familiar concept, there is no surprise as to how the episode ends.

Good things: However, a lot works. The animation is crisp and colourful and the music fits well and doesn't sound out of date. Catchy theme tune. The voice actors do a great job, especially Ron Halder. Who brings so much authority, firmness and wisdom as well as good comic timing as UBOS, likewise with Getz. Zarlak seldom sounded as evil as here and it was unsettling in the climax. The writing is not juvenile or complicated and was really struck as a young adult how self-aware and on the nose it is, failing only with Lucretia and Borgia and at its strongest with Getz and Zarlak.

The story may not be perfect, but it is eventful and entertaining with genuine thrills and tension in one of the show's best climaxes. It also does really well at immersing one into the settings, Vonderland in the future is pretty creepy. The characters on the whole are spot on, did appreciate that Gus learns from his mistakes and regrets what he did quickly and Getz is a great character. The conflict between him and Zarlak is where the episode is at its best and the great war is the very meaning of battle of the titans. Zarlak was rarely this sinister.

It was good too that "Time and Again" pretty much confirmed UBOS' origins without telling the characters themselves directly, had always strongly suspected the truth about him in the previous episodes and it was good to establish it early on and reference it again more overtly in a couple of other episodes. Much better than everything with Verne and Merlin in a later episode, which was such a good story idea left incomplete when the show was cancelled.

Closing thoughts: Overall, very well done and even though derivative it is one of the show's better episodes.

8/10.

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