Phila


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Phila

 

In the United States, someone started a rumor that Phila was going to be the "Fifth Wizbit" in a new season of The Wizbits Cartoon. In fact another, all-new series was being planned. After the furor over the Gangster Octopus (Card) began to cool, internal discussions at Underwhere Publishing were underway to relaunch The Wizbits brand with all-new episodes--episodes not made from cut-up remnants of the Japanese cartoon. This would have included giving Penny her original Japanese name: Phila.

 

Phila is the character in ElamenSTAR based on a young Myrtle Breakwind.

 

Background

From the Village of L'fh'ik, the tuba-playing Phila had little thoughts of adventuring. As a member of the ceremonial marching band, Phila's duties on the Day of Choice were inconsequential: provide music to accompany the anticipated anointing of the Rubian of Water out of the ribbons of kelp that rose from deep within a salt-water well to reach a hundred feet into the air over L'fh'ik's square. No one was more surprised than Penny when the sea-green pod fell from the heights of the kelp forest to lodge itself in her tuba's bell, cracking to reveal the swimming, azure depths of the rubian.

 

On the Show

Phila was clearly intended to be the comic relief of the show, though she gained some depth by the end of the series. Since she never thought she had the Knack, she lacks confidence in her abilities, sometimes severely botching her spells. She overcompensates for this with a bossy and boastful attitude, especially towards Wendel. Most fans agree that her one-sided arguments with Myrtle, her familiar, were often the funniest part of the show.

 

In later episodes, Phila becomes a more sympathetic character, as we learn how much she struggles to live up to the high expectations of her family and friends. This led to a sort of schism between fans who liked the new, more emotionally developed Phila, and fans that preferred the old "funny" Phila.

 

In Season 4 and 5, Phila has grown up considerably, and physically blossoms. Although she still have very poor self esteem and no accurate concept of her appearance, she is actually quite attractive. Her shapely form is always hidden beneath loose fitting clothes which Wendell has been known on occasion to refer to as "frumpy."

 

Whether a fan of "funny" Phila or "Angsty" Phila, most fans agree that they are fans of "Hot" Phila.

Hot Phila

 

Phila's Familiar: Myrtle, a spotted, Gnarled Land Squid.

 

Discussion

 

Something not mentioned here is the implication in one of the season 4 episodes that Phila may have been a descendant of Harbinger Portent. I know that because of this there were rumors among the fan community for The Wizbits (see also: the unwashed masses) about the "fifth wizbit" Phila being decended from Mr Portent. Anybody know the episode or anything else about this? -t

 

(added by SpaceDrake Nov.16 2005) While I won't be so rude as to delete a previous posting without permission, the above is likely all erroneous. Phila is simply the name of the character most Americans know as "Penny" from the butchered version of エラメン☆. Details can be found in the ElamenSTAR section of this Wiki. I would also like to point out that the very idea of "replacing" Wendel ("Skip" for you butcher fans) is ridiculous, as Wendel was present for all five seasons.

 

Actually I think the truth is probably somewhere in-between. I recall an interview with latecomer writer Gary Jaques that was floating around a while back where he discussed the plans that were being developed for the new Wizbits series before they got scrapped. They wanted to tie the series in with the canonical material more closely, but without alienating viewers who got into ELotH:TES through the original, badly edited Wizbits. Their solution according to Gary was going to be to write off "Skip" and "Penny" as seperate characters and replace them early on with the originals from the canonical series (who of course would be practically identical since they originally WERE THE SAME CHARACTERS but at least I assume they'd get rid of Penny's stupid "A penny saved!" catchphrase that the translators added for no good reason). It's kind of a shame this never happened, really, since what we wound up with instead of the new American series was Wizbits Extreme. -wizbits4ever

 

I've corrected the description, above. ~Kenneth Pike

 

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