![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsWith apologies for the schedule slip, time for another problematic change :-)
1x14: Bloom's Dark Secret / Witch Trap
Unedited: We open at CT. Griffin has just asked Mirta a simple question. Mirta answers that the 1st night of a full moon is a bad time to cast a transformation spell because the light rays may cause interference that could cause undesired, possibly permanent effects. Mirta is correct, but Griffin thinks she's a bit hesitant and points out that a good witch should be more confident. She then notices a classmate laughing at Lucy for appearing at the Miss Magix pageant (in "Miss Magix"). Later, Lucy lashes out at Mirta at being humiliated at the pageant (Mirta insists that the Trix played a cruel trick on Lucy, which they did in the original), and goes on about how she'd rather hang out with the Trix than Mirta.
Edited: Griffin asks about the class' favorite spells. Mirta's favorite is a friendship spell (she details how it works), and Griffin doesn't like it. She then notices a classmate laughing at her and Lucy. Later, Lucy lashes out at Mirta for the friendship spell mention.
(NB: 4Kids also cuts off the Mirta and Lucy scene as soon as Lucy leaves; ironically, frank15 used a cap from the part 4Kids didn't show as his site's header)
This won't be the only time that 4K edits out a reference to an event from a previous episode.
Next, we deal with Bloom. Seriously big edit.
Unedited: After another person gets an A on an exam, Bloom is called up to participate. She evades various light beams, and snatches a ball with a rose. She then evades more obstacles, as she reaches a receptacle. FG creates a large blue blob so as to test her reflexes. Bloom sees the ball (8-O <-- smiley of Bloom's reaction as it hurtles down), and she destroys it with a fireball as she puts the rose ball in the receptacle. (And there's not a single line of dialog during the exam... just a few gasps from her friends.) The others celebrate, and FG tells Bloom to get back to her seat as she calls up the next participant, and Bloom de-transforms. Cue scene of Bloom and Fake!Brandon at the ice-cream parlor, with Bloom talking about how she wants to learn about where her powers come from.
Edited: We open at Alfea, where Bloom is the first to be called up to participate in FG's finals. (There's a good deal of dialog here, mostly devoted to Bloom ranting about going first, and an exposition on the test.) She evades various light beams, and snatches a ball with a rose. She then evades more obstacles, as she reaches a receptacle. FG creates a large blue blob (some indistinct chatter as it forms). Bloom sees the ball as it hurtles down (8-O <-- Bloom's reaction)... and then it flash-cuts to the scene of Bloom and Fake!Brandon at the ice-cream parlor, with Bloom referring to failing the exam, and then talking about how she wants to learn about where her powers come from.
(NB: I only alluded to this originally, but 4Kids also swaps the scenes around: Original starts with the CT class, then heads over to Alfea for Bloom's exam, while 4Kids opens at Alfea, and puts the CT class scene after the scene at the ice-cream parlor)
(NB2: Skipping Bloom passing the exam also skips a minor animation mistake: FG's sleeves are missing as she tells Bloom to return to her seat :-))
I will say this. One the best single shots of the season was the girls high-fiving for Bloom passing the test. In the actual episode, no Bloom passing the test, no high-five. In the music video Just Us Girls, the high-five is there. In the 2nd season titles, the high-five is backtimed to the brief beat midway through the theme song (incidentally, a shot later in the ep of Tecna, Stella and Musa turning their heads is also in the S2 titles, but absent from the actual ep itself: all we see in the ep is the three saying "COOL!"). So, why no high-five in the original context? (Besides, changing Bloom passing to Bloom failing? It's like changing Stella's F to an A...)
(NB: According to Fandom, the original US airing of this episode was actually accompanied by the Just Us Girls music video [!] Besides the high-five, said video also contains at least two more scenes 4Kids snipped: Musa, Tecna and Stella reacting to Flora's spell [also from 1x14; and also used in S2's opening as mentioned above] and Bloom winking [from the end of 1x06])
Next, we deal with a nasty (as in big, and naggy) continuity error...
Unedited: After reading the book at CT (no narration), Bloom asks Fake!Brandon to take her back to Alfea. She's never actually shown returning to Alfea, although the other girls make a reference to Fake!Brandon taking her back.
Edited: After hearing what the book says about her (with narration), Bloom asks Fake!Brandon to leave her at CT.
It's a big and naggy continuity error because Kiko wakes her up the next day (unedited: she's heading to Magix to leave, edited: she's heading back to Alfea), and to me, it makes more sense if she went back to Alfea first.
(NB: Five years after this post, Nick's recap special ends up also adding narration to the corresponding scene and also has Sky leave her at CT... but avoids the Kiko plot hole by not including him in Bloom's next scene)
Responses:
Michael "mg_winxclub" Grant, questioning my choice of words again: The use of the word "nasty" is in poor judgment IMO. If you disagree with something in the show, just say you disagree, or I think it could have worked better this way... not flat out say it's "nasty." Please stop dissing the 4KidsTV version. A lot of us have only seen the 4Kids version and enjoy it. Without 4Kids we may not even know about Winx Club. Again, the idea of listing the edits is good, but please work on your execution.
(NB: Hence, the hasty addition of "big and naggy"... But still, saying that there are people who enjoy the 4Kids version and that Winx likely would not be a thing in the US without 4Kids [and, by extension, their edits] shouldn't just give anyone carte blanche to basically shut down legitimate criticism when a 4Kids change causes a plot hole, which thankfully the next person understands :-))
tanz_fanatika, thankfully understanding that sometimes criticism is warranted, at least in this case: It is a nasty edit though. Even I admit that and you know I love 4Kids. Not everything is perfect and this is one of those examples where it could have been done a lot better.
The Mirta scene works with either version. I like both. A scene doesn't absolutely have to have references to the past, though I do enjoy them.
Either version of the test works for me, too. I see no huge aftereffects of Bloom failing or passing. Not a big deal.
(NB: I disagree with her thoughts on the exam: Having Bloom pass the exam shows how she's grown as a fairy... The change also causes another issue, more on which anon)
The unedited version makes way more sense of the scene with Bloom and Kiko. That's definitely one bad edit and I don't really get why they didn't have Bloom tell Sky to take her back to Alfea, then throw in a line about why she's waking up where she is. It would have worked better.
(NB: TF seemed to be okay with the majority of the changes, but go figure that she considered this relatively minor plot hole one of her least favorite changes in S1)
There's also a visual edit after Bloom asks Sky to leave her at CT: At the end of the brief scene with the Winx talking about how she didn't come back, there's a waist-up shot of Musa in which only her pink undies (looking more like boxers than briefs) are visible at the bottom of the frame, which presumably would have been hidden by CRT overscan, but Musa is correctly wearing her jeans in the 4Kids version :-)
On to the other issues with Bloom's exam... I get cuts are necessary, but using cuts to change the narrative itself feels like a slippery slope to me :-\ Also, it outright causes plot issues for Bloom to fail: As mentioned in the comparison, 4Kids specifically says it's the final exam, and frank15 found himself asking in his review: "Bloom took, and failed, a final exam at the start of the episode. So does she fail out of Alfea? That can't be right... there're still twelve more episodes to go! Couldn't have been a final final exam... right?" I mentioned Frank's issue in a reply (though linked to the review instead of actually posting the quote) but instead of acknowledging the issue, TF said "Frank's opinions are his own to discuss. Why do you feel you have to be a voice for him? I wouldn't like it if someone did that for me." :-\ (In any case, you'd think Frank would at least acknowledge that 4Kids changed the exam outcome, given that his website used a screencap from a part 4Kids snipped out from this exact episode as its header)
Meanwhile, fast forward to 2022, and Thomas "Unicorn of War" Vaccaro has recently posted a video about 4Kids edits, in which he appreciates the added exposition to the exam sequence, and more relevantly, having Bloom fail the exam instead: "That’s something I really appreciate. Protagonists shouldn’t always be winning their battles, especially towards the beginning of their journey. They’re still learning, still fumbling, and it’s just more relatable to the viewers who’ve likely felt that pain of being so close to achieving something, only to lose it because they just couldn’t cross the finish line."
Apropos of nothing, lemme just put this here... (kinda been getting interested in our national women's cricket team lately, and the circumstances under which this post happened are... unique, to put it mildly, but enough with the digression) Anyways, I'd argue that the point of this scene in the original is that she's already gotten past her early jitters, and is gradually growing as a fairy; and one could argue that the original saves the pain for the Diaspro incident and the next couple episodes afterwards... (But at least we agree that Stella passing her exam in 1x12 makes no sense :-))
1x14: Bloom's Dark Secret / Witch Trap
Unedited: We open at CT. Griffin has just asked Mirta a simple question. Mirta answers that the 1st night of a full moon is a bad time to cast a transformation spell because the light rays may cause interference that could cause undesired, possibly permanent effects. Mirta is correct, but Griffin thinks she's a bit hesitant and points out that a good witch should be more confident. She then notices a classmate laughing at Lucy for appearing at the Miss Magix pageant (in "Miss Magix"). Later, Lucy lashes out at Mirta at being humiliated at the pageant (Mirta insists that the Trix played a cruel trick on Lucy, which they did in the original), and goes on about how she'd rather hang out with the Trix than Mirta.
Edited: Griffin asks about the class' favorite spells. Mirta's favorite is a friendship spell (she details how it works), and Griffin doesn't like it. She then notices a classmate laughing at her and Lucy. Later, Lucy lashes out at Mirta for the friendship spell mention.
(NB: 4Kids also cuts off the Mirta and Lucy scene as soon as Lucy leaves; ironically, frank15 used a cap from the part 4Kids didn't show as his site's header)
This won't be the only time that 4K edits out a reference to an event from a previous episode.
Next, we deal with Bloom. Seriously big edit.
Unedited: After another person gets an A on an exam, Bloom is called up to participate. She evades various light beams, and snatches a ball with a rose. She then evades more obstacles, as she reaches a receptacle. FG creates a large blue blob so as to test her reflexes. Bloom sees the ball (8-O <-- smiley of Bloom's reaction as it hurtles down), and she destroys it with a fireball as she puts the rose ball in the receptacle. (And there's not a single line of dialog during the exam... just a few gasps from her friends.) The others celebrate, and FG tells Bloom to get back to her seat as she calls up the next participant, and Bloom de-transforms. Cue scene of Bloom and Fake!Brandon at the ice-cream parlor, with Bloom talking about how she wants to learn about where her powers come from.
Edited: We open at Alfea, where Bloom is the first to be called up to participate in FG's finals. (There's a good deal of dialog here, mostly devoted to Bloom ranting about going first, and an exposition on the test.) She evades various light beams, and snatches a ball with a rose. She then evades more obstacles, as she reaches a receptacle. FG creates a large blue blob (some indistinct chatter as it forms). Bloom sees the ball as it hurtles down (8-O <-- Bloom's reaction)... and then it flash-cuts to the scene of Bloom and Fake!Brandon at the ice-cream parlor, with Bloom referring to failing the exam, and then talking about how she wants to learn about where her powers come from.
(NB: I only alluded to this originally, but 4Kids also swaps the scenes around: Original starts with the CT class, then heads over to Alfea for Bloom's exam, while 4Kids opens at Alfea, and puts the CT class scene after the scene at the ice-cream parlor)
(NB2: Skipping Bloom passing the exam also skips a minor animation mistake: FG's sleeves are missing as she tells Bloom to return to her seat :-))
I will say this. One the best single shots of the season was the girls high-fiving for Bloom passing the test. In the actual episode, no Bloom passing the test, no high-five. In the music video Just Us Girls, the high-five is there. In the 2nd season titles, the high-five is backtimed to the brief beat midway through the theme song (incidentally, a shot later in the ep of Tecna, Stella and Musa turning their heads is also in the S2 titles, but absent from the actual ep itself: all we see in the ep is the three saying "COOL!"). So, why no high-five in the original context? (Besides, changing Bloom passing to Bloom failing? It's like changing Stella's F to an A...)
(NB: According to Fandom, the original US airing of this episode was actually accompanied by the Just Us Girls music video [!] Besides the high-five, said video also contains at least two more scenes 4Kids snipped: Musa, Tecna and Stella reacting to Flora's spell [also from 1x14; and also used in S2's opening as mentioned above] and Bloom winking [from the end of 1x06])
Next, we deal with a nasty (as in big, and naggy) continuity error...
Unedited: After reading the book at CT (no narration), Bloom asks Fake!Brandon to take her back to Alfea. She's never actually shown returning to Alfea, although the other girls make a reference to Fake!Brandon taking her back.
Edited: After hearing what the book says about her (with narration), Bloom asks Fake!Brandon to leave her at CT.
It's a big and naggy continuity error because Kiko wakes her up the next day (unedited: she's heading to Magix to leave, edited: she's heading back to Alfea), and to me, it makes more sense if she went back to Alfea first.
(NB: Five years after this post, Nick's recap special ends up also adding narration to the corresponding scene and also has Sky leave her at CT... but avoids the Kiko plot hole by not including him in Bloom's next scene)
Responses:
Michael "mg_winxclub" Grant, questioning my choice of words again: The use of the word "nasty" is in poor judgment IMO. If you disagree with something in the show, just say you disagree, or I think it could have worked better this way... not flat out say it's "nasty." Please stop dissing the 4KidsTV version. A lot of us have only seen the 4Kids version and enjoy it. Without 4Kids we may not even know about Winx Club. Again, the idea of listing the edits is good, but please work on your execution.
(NB: Hence, the hasty addition of "big and naggy"... But still, saying that there are people who enjoy the 4Kids version and that Winx likely would not be a thing in the US without 4Kids [and, by extension, their edits] shouldn't just give anyone carte blanche to basically shut down legitimate criticism when a 4Kids change causes a plot hole, which thankfully the next person understands :-))
tanz_fanatika, thankfully understanding that sometimes criticism is warranted, at least in this case: It is a nasty edit though. Even I admit that and you know I love 4Kids. Not everything is perfect and this is one of those examples where it could have been done a lot better.
The Mirta scene works with either version. I like both. A scene doesn't absolutely have to have references to the past, though I do enjoy them.
Either version of the test works for me, too. I see no huge aftereffects of Bloom failing or passing. Not a big deal.
(NB: I disagree with her thoughts on the exam: Having Bloom pass the exam shows how she's grown as a fairy... The change also causes another issue, more on which anon)
The unedited version makes way more sense of the scene with Bloom and Kiko. That's definitely one bad edit and I don't really get why they didn't have Bloom tell Sky to take her back to Alfea, then throw in a line about why she's waking up where she is. It would have worked better.
(NB: TF seemed to be okay with the majority of the changes, but go figure that she considered this relatively minor plot hole one of her least favorite changes in S1)
There's also a visual edit after Bloom asks Sky to leave her at CT: At the end of the brief scene with the Winx talking about how she didn't come back, there's a waist-up shot of Musa in which only her pink undies (looking more like boxers than briefs) are visible at the bottom of the frame, which presumably would have been hidden by CRT overscan, but Musa is correctly wearing her jeans in the 4Kids version :-)
On to the other issues with Bloom's exam... I get cuts are necessary, but using cuts to change the narrative itself feels like a slippery slope to me :-\ Also, it outright causes plot issues for Bloom to fail: As mentioned in the comparison, 4Kids specifically says it's the final exam, and frank15 found himself asking in his review: "Bloom took, and failed, a final exam at the start of the episode. So does she fail out of Alfea? That can't be right... there're still twelve more episodes to go! Couldn't have been a final final exam... right?" I mentioned Frank's issue in a reply (though linked to the review instead of actually posting the quote) but instead of acknowledging the issue, TF said "Frank's opinions are his own to discuss. Why do you feel you have to be a voice for him? I wouldn't like it if someone did that for me." :-\ (In any case, you'd think Frank would at least acknowledge that 4Kids changed the exam outcome, given that his website used a screencap from a part 4Kids snipped out from this exact episode as its header)
Meanwhile, fast forward to 2022, and Thomas "Unicorn of War" Vaccaro has recently posted a video about 4Kids edits, in which he appreciates the added exposition to the exam sequence, and more relevantly, having Bloom fail the exam instead: "That’s something I really appreciate. Protagonists shouldn’t always be winning their battles, especially towards the beginning of their journey. They’re still learning, still fumbling, and it’s just more relatable to the viewers who’ve likely felt that pain of being so close to achieving something, only to lose it because they just couldn’t cross the finish line."
Apropos of nothing, lemme just put this here... (kinda been getting interested in our national women's cricket team lately, and the circumstances under which this post happened are... unique, to put it mildly, but enough with the digression) Anyways, I'd argue that the point of this scene in the original is that she's already gotten past her early jitters, and is gradually growing as a fairy; and one could argue that the original saves the pain for the Diaspro incident and the next couple episodes afterwards... (But at least we agree that Stella passing her exam in 1x12 makes no sense :-))
