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spiderbraidsA pretty pivotal episode, and of course it's affected by a 4Kids change...
1x17: Secrets within Secrets / Royal Heartbreak
Unedited: Bloom phones Fake!Brandon to talk about the book at CT (see 1x14). Bloom tells Fake!Brandon that the book was a fake and that the witches did it just because they could. After Bloom gets that out of the way, Fake!Brandon soon ends the conversation... so he can talk to the others about Diaspro. Ooh!
Edited: Bloom phones Fake!Brandon to talk about the upcoming Day of the Royals. Fake!Brandon quickly ends the conversation so he can talk to the others about Diaspro.
It's hard to defend Bloom's attack on Diaspro, especially when it ended up leading to the Great Witch Invasion, but at least the unedited gives some insight on it... Bloom was probably thinking "I've never seen this lady before, and Brandon has never mentioned her either, yet she's claiming that Brandon is her boyfriend. I've just been tricked by the witches a few weeks ago, so maybe this is another one of their tricks." Still, that's no excuse for Bloom, no sirree.
(NB: Before this, TF said that Bloom's attack on Diaspro made no sense because how could Bloom possibly think that she was Icy? In an email chat I tried to use more or less the above reasoning to argue that in the original, Bloom had every reason to be suspicious of Diaspro and therefore attack her, and that Bloom at least did not simply assume she was Icy as she does in 4Kids [specifically asking "Who are you, Icy, Darcy or Stormy?"], but TF insisted that she had no reason to try to be the hero: "Bloom jumped to a conclusion and made an @ ss of herself because of it. She could have played that situation a lot better. She could have spied on Diaspro subtly or even asked people about her and gotten answers. Instead, she attacked her. That's got stupid written all over it and there's really no debating it." And so, I didn't try to debate it here :-\
But as bad as the attack was, I still think the 4Kids changes do most of the heavy lifting in making Bloom look bad here; Bloom assuming that Diaspro is one of the Trix out of paranoia seems less of a jump to me than assuming she's Icy for absolutely no reason; frank15 also wrote in his review "Apparently, someone else crushing on [Sky] is good enough a reason to assume the person is Icy ... Why did Bloom think Princess Diaspro was Icy, anyway, as opposed to Darcy? The only time Bloom has seen one of the witches disguised as someone else, after all, it was Darcy.")
Okay, now FG and Grif are sitting next to each other at RF.
Unedited: The witches have been expelled (see 1x16 end), and they talk about that.
Edited: Just read this dialog...
Griffin: I'm 26-G. Don't tell me you're 26-F.
Faragonda: You look radiant. What's your secret? Spell?
G: Hmph!
FG: You and I haven't sat together since the summer of '08.
G: We were both dating that Red Fountain boy.
FG: Prince Jones.
G: We turned him into a goat when we found out he was two-timing us.
(NB: They also discuss an upcoming school survey, and at no point do they even mention theTrix witches and their expulsion... I felt 4Kids was goofing off too much with the dialog here, and given the original conversation's plot relevance, I felt confident in the original enough to say...)
Unedited for the win!
Unedited: So the switch is out (B-O <-- smiley of Bloom's expression). We don't get an explanation, we don't find out if the group's punished, we just have to deal with it for now as we cut to Bloom at the balcony. End.
Edited: So the switch is out (B-O <-- Bloom's expression). After FG and Griz slap the whole group with a 50% dilution for humiliating Alfea at the festival, Musa discusses the reasons for the switch with Stella, while Bloom is out on the balcony. End.
(NB: With a quip about sticking to bunnies :-))
Responses:
iczer6, on the FG/Grif dialog: I don't know, I rather like the idea of Faragonda and Griffin being friends, or at least rivals with a healthy respect for each other.
It's nice to see the show acknowledging that not all witches are like the Trix and that a fairy/witch friendship is possible.
(NB: I thought iczer's response was going to be an anomaly, and I thought that surely TF would at least agree that the unedited dialog was better because of its relevance to the plot; after all, why should they/we care about what they did in their youth or school surveys, when the expulsion of the Trix is more important right now? Felt like random nonsense to me...)
TF, in response to my confident "Unedited for the win": Absolutely not! I love the Faragonda/Griffin friendship/rivalry/history. It gives them a lot more depth and as iczer6 mentioned, it shows that there can be successful witch/fairy relationships. So Mirta's not a fluke after all.
Edited for the win, as you say, in the case of the additional switch discussion and punishment.
Me, trying to defend the original convo's plot relevance without offending TF: It's true, it does show depth in the relationship... but the original is exposition about their worries that it's harder to keep track of the witches once they're expelled. Hmm...
TF: I still prefer the additional background character depth. It's so rare.
(NB: Well, I've seen other shows have "additional background character depth" without sacrificing important plot relevance, while here the 4Kids dialog just feels like goofing off... Even in this show we'll later find out that FG and Grif fought the ancestral witches together, which, like them sharing their concern about the Trix, sounds so much better than finding out they dated the same RF guy in college, plus another instance I'll mention in a few episodes)
Additional changes:
- The first we see of Bloom, she is painting Stella's hair green with a conditioner Flora has concocted, but in the original, Stella's hair is only green in the first shot of her hair being painted, and is its normal blonde in the rest of the scene, while in 4Kids, her hair is green for the whole scene; also, in the original Bloom has "so many thoughts going around in my head, I feel it's going to explode", like her past and Lake Rocalucce, and while Stella isn't sure she can do anything about Bloom's past, she certainly can help with her present, and has Bloom call "Brandon" to clear the air, whereas in 4Kids, Bloom talks about not being getting any calls from "Brandon" or being invited to the Day of the Royals, and Stella has Bloom call him to try to coax an invite out of him
- Besides all the other issues, Bloom's "realization" about Diaspro gets trimmed quite a bit: As Diaspro leaves, Bloom says "Her boyfriend??" and we linger with Bloom for a bit as she's sure that it's another trick from those horrible witches (actual Bloom quote), before fading to Stella and friends in the halls of RF... In 4Kids, it just immediately wipes to Diaspro in her seat after Bloom says "That's Icy" (instead of "Her boyfriend??") I get the need for cuts (of which they would have needed more than the usual to accomodate the Winx getting punished), but looks like this one made her jumping to conclusions look even worse :-\
- Bloom tricks Diaspro into coming over into the halls by handing her a note: In the original, Sky is supposedly waiting for her in the halls, whereas in 4Kids, she is supposedly getting a magazine interview
- Scene rearrangement: Original: FG/Grif convo -> In their dorm, the Winx decide to sneak into RF -> The Winx sneak into RF -> Bike riding exhibition -> Bloom comes across actual!Sky's parents... and Diaspro -> Stella and friends in the hall, talking about going to meet "Sky" -> Diaspro in her seat -> Bloom and Diaspro start fighting -> More bike riding and set up for the dragon show -> Other Winx peer out from behind a door behind the main area
4Kids: In their dorm, the Winx decide to sneak into RF -> The Winx sneak into RF -> FG/Grif convo -> Stella and friends in the hall, talking about her concern for meeting "Sky's" parents -> Bloom comes across Actual!Sky's parents (with introductory voiceover: "He is a graduate of RF and an award-winning author. She is a former model and philanthropist dedicated educational charities")... and Diaspro (who's complaining about not getting an intro when she runs into Bloom) -> Diaspro in her seat -> Bloom and Diaspro start fighting -> Other Winx peer out from behind the door (with Stella even saying "Here's the race you guys, it looks like it just started") -> Bike riding exhibition, seamlessly cutting to the later part after Riven tries to take out Fake!Brandon with his sword
1x17: Secrets within Secrets / Royal Heartbreak
Unedited: Bloom phones Fake!Brandon to talk about the book at CT (see 1x14). Bloom tells Fake!Brandon that the book was a fake and that the witches did it just because they could. After Bloom gets that out of the way, Fake!Brandon soon ends the conversation... so he can talk to the others about Diaspro. Ooh!
Edited: Bloom phones Fake!Brandon to talk about the upcoming Day of the Royals. Fake!Brandon quickly ends the conversation so he can talk to the others about Diaspro.
It's hard to defend Bloom's attack on Diaspro, especially when it ended up leading to the Great Witch Invasion, but at least the unedited gives some insight on it... Bloom was probably thinking "I've never seen this lady before, and Brandon has never mentioned her either, yet she's claiming that Brandon is her boyfriend. I've just been tricked by the witches a few weeks ago, so maybe this is another one of their tricks." Still, that's no excuse for Bloom, no sirree.
(NB: Before this, TF said that Bloom's attack on Diaspro made no sense because how could Bloom possibly think that she was Icy? In an email chat I tried to use more or less the above reasoning to argue that in the original, Bloom had every reason to be suspicious of Diaspro and therefore attack her, and that Bloom at least did not simply assume she was Icy as she does in 4Kids [specifically asking "Who are you, Icy, Darcy or Stormy?"], but TF insisted that she had no reason to try to be the hero: "Bloom jumped to a conclusion and made an @ ss of herself because of it. She could have played that situation a lot better. She could have spied on Diaspro subtly or even asked people about her and gotten answers. Instead, she attacked her. That's got stupid written all over it and there's really no debating it." And so, I didn't try to debate it here :-\
But as bad as the attack was, I still think the 4Kids changes do most of the heavy lifting in making Bloom look bad here; Bloom assuming that Diaspro is one of the Trix out of paranoia seems less of a jump to me than assuming she's Icy for absolutely no reason; frank15 also wrote in his review "Apparently, someone else crushing on [Sky] is good enough a reason to assume the person is Icy ... Why did Bloom think Princess Diaspro was Icy, anyway, as opposed to Darcy? The only time Bloom has seen one of the witches disguised as someone else, after all, it was Darcy.")
Okay, now FG and Grif are sitting next to each other at RF.
Unedited: The witches have been expelled (see 1x16 end), and they talk about that.
Edited: Just read this dialog...
Griffin: I'm 26-G. Don't tell me you're 26-F.
Faragonda: You look radiant. What's your secret? Spell?
G: Hmph!
FG: You and I haven't sat together since the summer of '08.
G: We were both dating that Red Fountain boy.
FG: Prince Jones.
G: We turned him into a goat when we found out he was two-timing us.
(NB: They also discuss an upcoming school survey, and at no point do they even mention the
Unedited for the win!
Unedited: So the switch is out (B-O <-- smiley of Bloom's expression). We don't get an explanation, we don't find out if the group's punished, we just have to deal with it for now as we cut to Bloom at the balcony. End.
Edited: So the switch is out (B-O <-- Bloom's expression). After FG and Griz slap the whole group with a 50% dilution for humiliating Alfea at the festival, Musa discusses the reasons for the switch with Stella, while Bloom is out on the balcony. End.
(NB: With a quip about sticking to bunnies :-))
Responses:
iczer6, on the FG/Grif dialog: I don't know, I rather like the idea of Faragonda and Griffin being friends, or at least rivals with a healthy respect for each other.
It's nice to see the show acknowledging that not all witches are like the Trix and that a fairy/witch friendship is possible.
(NB: I thought iczer's response was going to be an anomaly, and I thought that surely TF would at least agree that the unedited dialog was better because of its relevance to the plot; after all, why should they/we care about what they did in their youth or school surveys, when the expulsion of the Trix is more important right now? Felt like random nonsense to me...)
TF, in response to my confident "Unedited for the win": Absolutely not! I love the Faragonda/Griffin friendship/rivalry/history. It gives them a lot more depth and as iczer6 mentioned, it shows that there can be successful witch/fairy relationships. So Mirta's not a fluke after all.
Edited for the win, as you say, in the case of the additional switch discussion and punishment.
Me, trying to defend the original convo's plot relevance without offending TF: It's true, it does show depth in the relationship... but the original is exposition about their worries that it's harder to keep track of the witches once they're expelled. Hmm...
TF: I still prefer the additional background character depth. It's so rare.
(NB: Well, I've seen other shows have "additional background character depth" without sacrificing important plot relevance, while here the 4Kids dialog just feels like goofing off... Even in this show we'll later find out that FG and Grif fought the ancestral witches together, which, like them sharing their concern about the Trix, sounds so much better than finding out they dated the same RF guy in college, plus another instance I'll mention in a few episodes)
Additional changes:
- The first we see of Bloom, she is painting Stella's hair green with a conditioner Flora has concocted, but in the original, Stella's hair is only green in the first shot of her hair being painted, and is its normal blonde in the rest of the scene, while in 4Kids, her hair is green for the whole scene; also, in the original Bloom has "so many thoughts going around in my head, I feel it's going to explode", like her past and Lake Rocalucce, and while Stella isn't sure she can do anything about Bloom's past, she certainly can help with her present, and has Bloom call "Brandon" to clear the air, whereas in 4Kids, Bloom talks about not being getting any calls from "Brandon" or being invited to the Day of the Royals, and Stella has Bloom call him to try to coax an invite out of him
- Besides all the other issues, Bloom's "realization" about Diaspro gets trimmed quite a bit: As Diaspro leaves, Bloom says "Her boyfriend??" and we linger with Bloom for a bit as she's sure that it's another trick from those horrible witches (actual Bloom quote), before fading to Stella and friends in the halls of RF... In 4Kids, it just immediately wipes to Diaspro in her seat after Bloom says "That's Icy" (instead of "Her boyfriend??") I get the need for cuts (of which they would have needed more than the usual to accomodate the Winx getting punished), but looks like this one made her jumping to conclusions look even worse :-\
- Bloom tricks Diaspro into coming over into the halls by handing her a note: In the original, Sky is supposedly waiting for her in the halls, whereas in 4Kids, she is supposedly getting a magazine interview
- Scene rearrangement: Original: FG/Grif convo -> In their dorm, the Winx decide to sneak into RF -> The Winx sneak into RF -> Bike riding exhibition -> Bloom comes across actual!Sky's parents... and Diaspro -> Stella and friends in the hall, talking about going to meet "Sky" -> Diaspro in her seat -> Bloom and Diaspro start fighting -> More bike riding and set up for the dragon show -> Other Winx peer out from behind a door behind the main area
4Kids: In their dorm, the Winx decide to sneak into RF -> The Winx sneak into RF -> FG/Grif convo -> Stella and friends in the hall, talking about her concern for meeting "Sky's" parents -> Bloom comes across Actual!Sky's parents (with introductory voiceover: "He is a graduate of RF and an award-winning author. She is a former model and philanthropist dedicated educational charities")... and Diaspro (who's complaining about not getting an intro when she runs into Bloom) -> Diaspro in her seat -> Bloom and Diaspro start fighting -> Other Winx peer out from behind the door (with Stella even saying "Here's the race you guys, it looks like it just started") -> Bike riding exhibition, seamlessly cutting to the later part after Riven tries to take out Fake!Brandon with his sword
