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spiderbraidsIt's the season finale, and a 4Kids change colors one aspect of the final battle :-)
1x26: The Witches' Downfall / Fire and Ice
Unedited: The Trix are making a rampage... and then they see a huge wall of fire appear. Bloom the fairy is back!
Edited: The Trix are making a rampage... and then they hear and see Bloom the fairy, who then creates a wall of fire.
(NB: No one posted any opinions on this one, but to me, I felt the reveal of Bloom's presence, then Bloom herself, was more dramatic in the original than showing Bloom before the wall of fire)
I'm sure tanz_fanatika will have something to say about this edit...
Unedited: Icy decides to let her sisters deal with the other fairies while she deals with Bloom.
Edited: Icy takes the DF away from her sisters as the battle separates.
(NB: More accurately, Icy says to her sisters: "STORMY! DARCY! GET OVER HERE! Give me your share of the Dragon Fire! I need it to take care of this uppity pixie! Don't worry. You won't need more than your regular powers to take on those four posers." This is literally the only indication of the two no longer fighting at their full strength, which one cannot otherwise intuit from the visuals :-\)
(NB2: This was in light of an opinion TF posted on the LJ community just before she shut it from public access, which I reposted to ToonZone in order to discuss it there:
"Icy's biggest downfall was her descent in stereotypical villainhood. She began to think herself invincible and became a bit nastier to her sisters, who had helped her the entire time. In the end, it was her arrogance and her impracticality that finished the Great Witch Invasion. She asked for Darcy and Stormy's share of the dragonfire, thus leaving them at normal power level. I still think the three of them combined at full power would have stood a better chance of defeating the good guys. But then, we can't have the villains winning, can we?"
One, no, but methinks you can [and should] have the hero[in]es winning by gritting it out rather than the villains doing a stupid, and two, I didn't really perceive any of the above in the original, but I digress... So given that TF thought it was a major own goal on Icy's part, I was sure that she'd be pleased to hear that Icy doesn't do this in the original... We'll see how that went in a few moments)
During the battle...
Unedited: The other fairies and Trix duke it out with each other. Darcy uses a hypnotic dragon, which Musa counters with a sonic blast. Cut to shots of various places that are devoid of people, over sorrowful music. CT. RF. Downtown. The lake. Cut back to the Bloom and Icy tilt.
Edited: The other fairies and Trix duke it out with each other. Darcy uses a hypnotic dragon, which Musa counters with a sonic blast. Cut straight to the Bloom and Icy tilt.
(NB: At this point, Icy has supposedly taken the Dragon Fire from Darcy in 4Kids, so she shouldn't still have her hypnotic dragon)
I can see why they cut this. Time constraints!
Icy is done, with a capital D. The teachers talk...
Unedited: FG and Grif talk about how stupid the Trix were to steal the DF, because only Bloom knows how to control it. Meanwhile, Coda receives news that downtown Magix is coming back to life. Show downtown Magix returning to normal.
(NB: Direct FG quote: "The power of the Dragon belongs to Bloom and she alone can control it. Trying to take it away from her was both crazy and dangerous." Griffin, talking about the Trix: "I can assure you they will be punished for their crimes. They will be sent to Lake Roccaluce for a retreat of purification." Also, turns out downtown Magix returning to normal appears immediately before FG/Grif's conversation in both versions)
Edited: FG has to convince Grif not to retire just because the Trix conned their way into CT. Meanwhile, Coda receives news that they've received some funding to fix RF. Show downtown Magix returning to normal.
(NB: "Listen, I may not agree with everything you teach at Cloud Tower, but I do know you're the best in your field. You can't quit Griffy." Griffin: "Well, the truth is I really love my job. I do. Maybe, I just have to get more campus security and re-evaluate the admission's process.")
And last but not least...
Unedited: Bloom enjoys the party, and sees the nymphs flying above her. Later at the fountain, Bloom says that there are lots of things she still doesn't get (like her origins), but Sky tells her that no matter what she does he'll always be at her side. END!
Edited: At the fountain, Sky tells Bloom to join the party. Bloom enjoys the party, and sees the nymphs flying above her. END!
Things that aren't different:
1. The student witches are never shown fighting, not in 1x24 or 1x26 (even Mirta isn't shown fighting). Like Musa intruding on Stella's personal moment, it kind of takes away the poignancy of the moment where Griffin tells everyone about the power of unity, and when she tells the witches to join in on FG's force field thingy. (NB: I remember having a chat in email, where TF thought it was lame that the student witches are never shown fighting with the others, and said the only reason they were MIA becacuse the animators were lazy... I added in the responses: "The teachers talked about everyone working together. Why not get the point across by showing everyone (fairies, witches, heroes) working together?")
2. If you were disappointed by Bloom getting her powers back through a pep talk, it's the same in the unedited version, with generally the same gist to boot.
3. Icy never uses her ice dragon against Bloom in either version. Hello, it destroyed a whole school... surely it would do a lot of damage on her! And besides, we'd get some good FX as it battled Bloom's dragon.
4. Icy's beatdown is conspicuously absent in both versions.
Responses:
tanz_fanatika: 1. As for the "does Icy take the dragonfire from her sisters or doesn't she" edit, I prefer the 4Kids. Yeah, it was a stupid move by her, but I'd rather see Darcy and Stormy fall because they have less power than for no real reason whatsoever. They just look bad in the original.
2. FG and Grif talk about how stupid the Trix were to steal the DF, because only Bloom knows how to control it. Oh, I don't know about that. They did a pretty wicked job at Cloud Tower and with destroying Red Fountain.
(NB: Yup, yet another one of those "At least TF will agree with me on this one" moments... TF thought Darcy and Stormy "just look bad in the original", but 2006 me was thinking "Surely you'd think the Winx gritting it out would be good enough of a reason / more satisfying?" and "Surely the original makes the Winx look better?" How I actually expressed it follows...)
Me: 1. Hmm... I thought that it would say something that despite the other sisters having the DF, the Winx still manage to outwit them.
2. But remember, they used a weapon that they didn't use at Alfea to destroy RF. Which is why I asked if anyone else predicted that the show would conveniently forget to use it. (Which I agree is weird, since surely they'd think the best weapon to fight a dragon is another dragon?)
(NB: Frank called it in his review when Red Fountain was destroyed: "How is Alfea going to be spared, exactly? I guess we'll find out. I just have a bad feeling it's going to be 'Icy conveniently forgets to just use her ice dragon,' though." And I think TF had similar sentiments; TF did write in her finale review that she was disappointed that the dragon fight didn't happen)
tanz_fanatika: 1. Yeah, it would turn the entire group into Mary Sues. The Trix beat Ms. Griffin and the teachers with their dragonfire powers. For five freshmen to beat the amped up witches would be absolutely ridiculous.
(NB: She would later say this was one of her favorite 4Kids changes from S1, no small feat given her criticism of 4Kids Icy)
(NB2: If her reasons for preferring Icy discarding Darcy and Stormy's useful advantage in 4Kids over letting them keep it in the original was so that the Winx wouldn't all be Mary Sues for beating them, imagine how much she'd roll her eyes at the latter post-4Kids seasons)
2. Eh, I wouldn't hold their not using the dragon against them. Blame the writers for not giving them a logical win. Apparently, it would have taken too much work for them to have the witches use the dragon, then figure out a way for the good guys to still win. I think the Trix handled their dragonfire well within the rather unrealistic circumstances the writers provided them.
Meanwhile, a later discussion about fairies and witches had a tangent that went like this... Talking about how the Trix have a close-knit bond, TF said "At the end of season 1, Darcy and Stormy willingly give their dragonfire to Icy." The "willingly" part didn't sit right with me, so I answered:
Me: To me, Icy made them do it. (Personally, I was surprised to read about this angle, because, of course, it doesn't happen where I live.)
TF: Icy made them do it? Did she fly over there and kick their butts and rip their hair out? No. So there was no force involved. She didn't "make" them do anything. They just gave it to her.
(NB: Well, I felt that Icy asking for the flame was enough for me to argue that D&S didn't give it "willingly", but anyways, TF also added what she thinks they should have done, with an interesting take at the end:)
If I were the Trix, I would have set the dragon and the army against Alfea to occupy most of them and then concentrated on getting rid of Bloom once she popped back up. Perhaps the three of them together could have handled her better. But it's a kids' show and villains never get to win, even though they should some of the time.
(NB: Emphasis mine; between that and her comments above on not having the villains win, TF almost seemed to resent that the show's nature pretty much prescribed the heroines to win)
Other changes:
- 4Kids snips out a clip of Kiko and Pepe having a bit of a tussle after seeing Bloom come in with Icy, and then the first second or so of the next shot, so it starts at Riven and Musa instead of Brandon and Stella
- The original has FG announce that she has decided to redefine the concept of the modern fairy with one word: Winx, which is met with cheers from the student fairies; while in 4Kids, she announces there will be no final exams, and announces it's time to party :-D
- At the party, 4Kids has voiceover of Saladin saying "It's no secret that I love milkshakes, but I really shouldn't" to which FG responds: "Oh c'mon, forget about your prim and proper for one night. It's a night to party!" In the original, it's obvious what they're drinking to the point that even frank15 mentions it in his review: "Milkshakes my butt. That's beer. The beer steins, the beer foam--those ain't milkshakes, no matter what the dubbers claim it to be."
And here's TF encapsulating her anti-bashing attitude as a reply to my final spotlight for S1:
"If we want to see the show in this country, we must accept it being cut. This is just the way it is. I don't think it's very nice of people with the full length version to make fun of our version. It's what we get! And most of us here wouldn't know about Winx if not for 4Kids. Stop being such an elitist and just let us enjoy what we have!"
(NB: In my mind, it wasn't so much being an elitist and making fun of their version, as "But you're not getting the full/proper story, and since you already enjoy what you have, wouldn't you enjoy the full/proper story even more?" Doesn't seem like that panned out... I'll have more of TF's thoughts against bashing on Saturday :-))
1x26: The Witches' Downfall / Fire and Ice
Unedited: The Trix are making a rampage... and then they see a huge wall of fire appear. Bloom the fairy is back!
Edited: The Trix are making a rampage... and then they hear and see Bloom the fairy, who then creates a wall of fire.
(NB: No one posted any opinions on this one, but to me, I felt the reveal of Bloom's presence, then Bloom herself, was more dramatic in the original than showing Bloom before the wall of fire)
I'm sure tanz_fanatika will have something to say about this edit...
Unedited: Icy decides to let her sisters deal with the other fairies while she deals with Bloom.
Edited: Icy takes the DF away from her sisters as the battle separates.
(NB: More accurately, Icy says to her sisters: "STORMY! DARCY! GET OVER HERE! Give me your share of the Dragon Fire! I need it to take care of this uppity pixie! Don't worry. You won't need more than your regular powers to take on those four posers." This is literally the only indication of the two no longer fighting at their full strength, which one cannot otherwise intuit from the visuals :-\)
(NB2: This was in light of an opinion TF posted on the LJ community just before she shut it from public access, which I reposted to ToonZone in order to discuss it there:
"Icy's biggest downfall was her descent in stereotypical villainhood. She began to think herself invincible and became a bit nastier to her sisters, who had helped her the entire time. In the end, it was her arrogance and her impracticality that finished the Great Witch Invasion. She asked for Darcy and Stormy's share of the dragonfire, thus leaving them at normal power level. I still think the three of them combined at full power would have stood a better chance of defeating the good guys. But then, we can't have the villains winning, can we?"
One, no, but methinks you can [and should] have the hero[in]es winning by gritting it out rather than the villains doing a stupid, and two, I didn't really perceive any of the above in the original, but I digress... So given that TF thought it was a major own goal on Icy's part, I was sure that she'd be pleased to hear that Icy doesn't do this in the original... We'll see how that went in a few moments)
During the battle...
Unedited: The other fairies and Trix duke it out with each other. Darcy uses a hypnotic dragon, which Musa counters with a sonic blast. Cut to shots of various places that are devoid of people, over sorrowful music. CT. RF. Downtown. The lake. Cut back to the Bloom and Icy tilt.
Edited: The other fairies and Trix duke it out with each other. Darcy uses a hypnotic dragon, which Musa counters with a sonic blast. Cut straight to the Bloom and Icy tilt.
(NB: At this point, Icy has supposedly taken the Dragon Fire from Darcy in 4Kids, so she shouldn't still have her hypnotic dragon)
I can see why they cut this. Time constraints!
Icy is done, with a capital D. The teachers talk...
Unedited: FG and Grif talk about how stupid the Trix were to steal the DF, because only Bloom knows how to control it. Meanwhile, Coda receives news that downtown Magix is coming back to life. Show downtown Magix returning to normal.
(NB: Direct FG quote: "The power of the Dragon belongs to Bloom and she alone can control it. Trying to take it away from her was both crazy and dangerous." Griffin, talking about the Trix: "I can assure you they will be punished for their crimes. They will be sent to Lake Roccaluce for a retreat of purification." Also, turns out downtown Magix returning to normal appears immediately before FG/Grif's conversation in both versions)
Edited: FG has to convince Grif not to retire just because the Trix conned their way into CT. Meanwhile, Coda receives news that they've received some funding to fix RF. Show downtown Magix returning to normal.
(NB: "Listen, I may not agree with everything you teach at Cloud Tower, but I do know you're the best in your field. You can't quit Griffy." Griffin: "Well, the truth is I really love my job. I do. Maybe, I just have to get more campus security and re-evaluate the admission's process.")
And last but not least...
Unedited: Bloom enjoys the party, and sees the nymphs flying above her. Later at the fountain, Bloom says that there are lots of things she still doesn't get (like her origins), but Sky tells her that no matter what she does he'll always be at her side. END!
Edited: At the fountain, Sky tells Bloom to join the party. Bloom enjoys the party, and sees the nymphs flying above her. END!
Things that aren't different:
1. The student witches are never shown fighting, not in 1x24 or 1x26 (even Mirta isn't shown fighting). Like Musa intruding on Stella's personal moment, it kind of takes away the poignancy of the moment where Griffin tells everyone about the power of unity, and when she tells the witches to join in on FG's force field thingy. (NB: I remember having a chat in email, where TF thought it was lame that the student witches are never shown fighting with the others, and said the only reason they were MIA becacuse the animators were lazy... I added in the responses: "The teachers talked about everyone working together. Why not get the point across by showing everyone (fairies, witches, heroes) working together?")
2. If you were disappointed by Bloom getting her powers back through a pep talk, it's the same in the unedited version, with generally the same gist to boot.
3. Icy never uses her ice dragon against Bloom in either version. Hello, it destroyed a whole school... surely it would do a lot of damage on her! And besides, we'd get some good FX as it battled Bloom's dragon.
4. Icy's beatdown is conspicuously absent in both versions.
Responses:
tanz_fanatika: 1. As for the "does Icy take the dragonfire from her sisters or doesn't she" edit, I prefer the 4Kids. Yeah, it was a stupid move by her, but I'd rather see Darcy and Stormy fall because they have less power than for no real reason whatsoever. They just look bad in the original.
2. FG and Grif talk about how stupid the Trix were to steal the DF, because only Bloom knows how to control it. Oh, I don't know about that. They did a pretty wicked job at Cloud Tower and with destroying Red Fountain.
(NB: Yup, yet another one of those "At least TF will agree with me on this one" moments... TF thought Darcy and Stormy "just look bad in the original", but 2006 me was thinking "Surely you'd think the Winx gritting it out would be good enough of a reason / more satisfying?" and "Surely the original makes the Winx look better?" How I actually expressed it follows...)
Me: 1. Hmm... I thought that it would say something that despite the other sisters having the DF, the Winx still manage to outwit them.
2. But remember, they used a weapon that they didn't use at Alfea to destroy RF. Which is why I asked if anyone else predicted that the show would conveniently forget to use it. (Which I agree is weird, since surely they'd think the best weapon to fight a dragon is another dragon?)
(NB: Frank called it in his review when Red Fountain was destroyed: "How is Alfea going to be spared, exactly? I guess we'll find out. I just have a bad feeling it's going to be 'Icy conveniently forgets to just use her ice dragon,' though." And I think TF had similar sentiments; TF did write in her finale review that she was disappointed that the dragon fight didn't happen)
tanz_fanatika: 1. Yeah, it would turn the entire group into Mary Sues. The Trix beat Ms. Griffin and the teachers with their dragonfire powers. For five freshmen to beat the amped up witches would be absolutely ridiculous.
(NB: She would later say this was one of her favorite 4Kids changes from S1, no small feat given her criticism of 4Kids Icy)
(NB2: If her reasons for preferring Icy discarding Darcy and Stormy's useful advantage in 4Kids over letting them keep it in the original was so that the Winx wouldn't all be Mary Sues for beating them, imagine how much she'd roll her eyes at the latter post-4Kids seasons)
2. Eh, I wouldn't hold their not using the dragon against them. Blame the writers for not giving them a logical win. Apparently, it would have taken too much work for them to have the witches use the dragon, then figure out a way for the good guys to still win. I think the Trix handled their dragonfire well within the rather unrealistic circumstances the writers provided them.
Meanwhile, a later discussion about fairies and witches had a tangent that went like this... Talking about how the Trix have a close-knit bond, TF said "At the end of season 1, Darcy and Stormy willingly give their dragonfire to Icy." The "willingly" part didn't sit right with me, so I answered:
Me: To me, Icy made them do it. (Personally, I was surprised to read about this angle, because, of course, it doesn't happen where I live.)
TF: Icy made them do it? Did she fly over there and kick their butts and rip their hair out? No. So there was no force involved. She didn't "make" them do anything. They just gave it to her.
(NB: Well, I felt that Icy asking for the flame was enough for me to argue that D&S didn't give it "willingly", but anyways, TF also added what she thinks they should have done, with an interesting take at the end:)
If I were the Trix, I would have set the dragon and the army against Alfea to occupy most of them and then concentrated on getting rid of Bloom once she popped back up. Perhaps the three of them together could have handled her better. But it's a kids' show and villains never get to win, even though they should some of the time.
(NB: Emphasis mine; between that and her comments above on not having the villains win, TF almost seemed to resent that the show's nature pretty much prescribed the heroines to win)
Other changes:
- 4Kids snips out a clip of Kiko and Pepe having a bit of a tussle after seeing Bloom come in with Icy, and then the first second or so of the next shot, so it starts at Riven and Musa instead of Brandon and Stella
- The original has FG announce that she has decided to redefine the concept of the modern fairy with one word: Winx, which is met with cheers from the student fairies; while in 4Kids, she announces there will be no final exams, and announces it's time to party :-D
- At the party, 4Kids has voiceover of Saladin saying "It's no secret that I love milkshakes, but I really shouldn't" to which FG responds: "Oh c'mon, forget about your prim and proper for one night. It's a night to party!" In the original, it's obvious what they're drinking to the point that even frank15 mentions it in his review: "Milkshakes my butt. That's beer. The beer steins, the beer foam--those ain't milkshakes, no matter what the dubbers claim it to be."
And here's TF encapsulating her anti-bashing attitude as a reply to my final spotlight for S1:
"If we want to see the show in this country, we must accept it being cut. This is just the way it is. I don't think it's very nice of people with the full length version to make fun of our version. It's what we get! And most of us here wouldn't know about Winx if not for 4Kids. Stop being such an elitist and just let us enjoy what we have!"
(NB: In my mind, it wasn't so much being an elitist and making fun of their version, as "But you're not getting the full/proper story, and since you already enjoy what you have, wouldn't you enjoy the full/proper story even more?" Doesn't seem like that panned out... I'll have more of TF's thoughts against bashing on Saturday :-))
