WinxTalk Podcast #7
Nov. 2nd, 2006 12:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsThis week, reviews of "Pretty Pretty Princess". It's just a shade under 9 minutes, and just over 2 MB.
(RSS feed)
Transcript:
This week, we've got a few reviews of the 3rd episode of the 3rd season of Winx, and some news from the Winx world. All this on WinxTalk Podcast #7, with your host SpiderBraids.
But first, a few corrections from my last podcast. Lori left a reply in my blog and it said this:
You make it sound as if 4Kids has definitely referred to Tides as Andros. They didn't. That could easily be the name of the sea.
Count Cassandra? Only if she's in drag. The term is "countess."
Funny how you don't mention that Stella hates Cassandra even before she's announced as her would-be step-mother. That hate isn't one-sided.
Stella's mom didn't plan the ball. Stella just assumed she did.
Okay, now that we've gotten our facts straight on the last episode, let's move on to this week's episode, "Pretty Pretty Princess."
This week, the Winx are undertaking a dangerous mission with the boys to restore Stella's looks. For some reason, Brandon has been spelled into seeing nothing wrong with Stella, which makes no sense, but we'll get to that in the reviews. Once again, the Winx have to deal with power drainage. Last year, it was the UnderRealm. This year, it's Baltor's rain. And there's something about a Mirror of Truth in there somewhere, plus a little bit of diving. We even get a flashback about Stella, and her little dog too.
Now, on to the reviews. Lori calls out some illogical writing...
"There was simply no way Brandon could have missed seeing the transformed Stella in episode 2. No way at all. But even if they did invent some way, there is still no explanation for his completely illogical behavior. Why doesn’t he wonder why Stella was attacked by her own guards? Why doesn’t he wonder why they’re undertaking a dangerous mission if he sees Stella as looking normal? Speaking of that, are Timmy and Sky spelled, too, or just in on the secret? Speaking of that, where are Riven and Helia? We’ve got a lot of questions left unanswered here. I’m not satisfied with this at all."
Also, she has problems with the dark rain: "Supposedly, the rain drains powers, so when they’re away from it, the girls should regain their winx, right? This seems supported by the fact that when they emerge from the fountain, the rain has stopped and they have power again. But the only one with power in the tunnel is Tecna and her power is minimal. Then by the pool, Bloom plans on using a bubble spell, as if they have enough magic, when seconds ago, they couldn’t fight off the spiders. Tecna’s also a mystery here. Why does she have a little power and the others have none? Also, why did she pass out? It almost looked like she hit her head, but she's wearing a freaking helmet."
Personally, I'm hoping that unlike the last plot point about power drainage, they actually remember this. I remember Lori complaining about the lack of power drainage in last season's finale.
Anyhoo, Lori also has problems with some offensive moments: "This episode had some of the most offensive moments I’ve ever seen in this show. Actually, no, this episode was definitely the worst in the bad message department. First up, Musa pretty much declares that all men, no matter how much they love a girl, will dump her if she gets fat. Someone will likely defend this by saying that Musa meant they’d dump a girl if she got turned into a monster, but the key here is appearance. I don’t care how many people defend this, I still think this is a slam against fat women. It’s also very offensive to men! What kind of message is 4Kids trying to send here? It’s just all sorts of wrong. Even more wrong than Flora/Helia and I didn't think that was possible. Then of course, there’s her related slam against plus-sized women. There really was no need for this line. It was totally uncalled for." Melashaan also agrees with this sentiment.
Now for the positive moments: "The characters, except for Musa, were all very likeable this week. Musa hit a new low and there wasn’t even any slang involved! Guess all that hair has taken away some of her brainpower. Bloom was good again with her perkiness and leadership. Not as fun as last week, but still good. Maybe a bit on the Sue side with the diving plan, but still. Stella was back to her old voice and her more enjoyable self. She had some good lines and cute moments. Tecna was incredible. I really enjoyed seeing her back in a role where she displays her ability to lead. Flora was also quite good. This is the most I’ve liked her in a very long time, maybe ever. She volunteered to melt the ice, stuck up for Brandon, joked around, helped Stella, etc. Very strong episode for her. It was great to see Piff again finally and Concorda is always a good addition. I like her a lot. The witches and Baltor continue to rock, of course. One of the highlights was definitely Knut and his crush on Stella. So funny and cute!
Overall, the characters made the episode good, but they weren’t quite strong enough for me to overlook the offensive moments and the bizarre writing. I hope the writers improve for the next episode...whenever we get to see it. There was no preview for next week, so I'm not sure if we're getting a new ep or not."
According to all the scheduling services, there will be a new episode next week.
(news sting)
And now, news from the Winx world.
In ratings news, Winx Club scored 0.5 and 3 share for not only the premiere of "Beauty is a Beast", but also the rebroadcasts of the first two episodes. How low is a 0.5? Well, try these on for size: NBC's new educational Qubo block had a better average on October 14th and 21st, with a 0.7 each. And CBS' new KOL block had a better average on October 7th, with 0.6. We're talking a block that has old reruns of Madeline, Sabrina, and Strawberry Shortcake.
Meanwhile, its only animated competition in their time slot, Kids WB's Monster Allergy, continues putting up respectable numbers, with 1.3 and 7 share on October 7th and 14th, and 1.4 and 8 share on October 21st. At least one Rainbow property is doing decent business in the states...
And that's news from the Winx world.
(end sting)
Freedom Fighter gives this episode a 7 from 10. However, FF does have a few criticisms:
"The whole part about Stella not wanting to have Brandon see her like that makes no sense since he actually DID in the last episode! Unless she didn't want him to see her look in desperation and in tattered clothes. And even then, that's a really flimsy reason and a long stretch in terms of believability.
Add to that, on the trip back to Alfea, the boys act as if they don't notice. Then, later on, when they leave on the search for the Mirror of Truth, the girls put a spell on Stella so that the boys can't see what she looks like. You'd think they'd question it, especially since the reason they're going on this trip is to restore her looks."
While Lori loved Bloom's moment in the spotlight, FF thinks that her moment was questionable: "Not that Bloom can't come up with a good idea every once in awhile... but for her to not only come up with the idea of doing a hard dive to warm up the ship's freezing hull, but to describe the process in a technical enough way that would be more befitting of Tecna or Timmy... yeah. And it's a stretch to think Bloom would know just by feeling the exact moment for them to pull out of the dive."
Now, on to the positives: "As glaring as the writing inconsistences were, some scenes did help improve the opinions of some of the girls. Regardless of how Tecna was somehow excluded from being captured by the spiders (I believe she was knocked out of the alley and they somehow forgot about her), seeing her save the others is a welcome sight. Points for Stella too for breaking them out of that enclosed lake after the gang was attacked by leeches.
We haven't seen Knut in awhile, so we get his funniest bit since leaving the Trix at the end of Season 1... flirting with the ogre-ish Stella! Now that was hilarious!
Baltor even gets a moment with the Trix, as they decide to... gasp, go and try to off Bloom! Not original, but hey, the best battles of the show have to revolve around the series' lead."
One final note: "What happened to Layla and her trip to her home realm? I wonder if they're pulling the whole Stella-Downland deal from last season. So maybe that means we'll get an update on it next week? Hopefully?"
And that's it for another edition. All comments and suggestions are welcome. Just drop them off at my blog at spiderbraids.livejournal.com , and I'll see you in two weeks. Thanks for listening.
Behind the scenes
1. Out of 7 podcasts, I've had to re-upload 6 of them. For some reason, the original MP3 of #7 only had a brief bit of audio at the corrections part.
2. At first, I considered having a piece on the two versions of the Codex Cipher scene, but Lori decided it wasn't a good idea. Then I considered plugging my YouTube vids, then dropped that idea, because the video comparing the Codex Cipher scene called Stella solving the puzzle in the US version an "asspull", and I thought "That can't be good..." So I just moved FF's review after the news, and recorded some linkage. So, the podcast's a bit light. I miss the days when I could just post a topic at![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
winx_club and harvest the replies from there... My podcasts are getting even MORE boring without them.
3. Speaking of other people's reviews, I decided to punctuate between myself, and me reading the reviews, with some white noise. If I've learnt anything from Podcast #4, it's "Don't confuse people into thinking that other peoples' comments are your own." (And "Always ask for permission to use their comments first.") So you'll hear something like this:
(Me introducing the review)
(1/2 second white noise, like changing the channel)
(Me reading the review)
(Another 1/2 second white noise)
(Me making a comment)
(etc.)
You'll get the idea once you've listened to it.
(RSS feed)
Transcript:
This week, we've got a few reviews of the 3rd episode of the 3rd season of Winx, and some news from the Winx world. All this on WinxTalk Podcast #7, with your host SpiderBraids.
But first, a few corrections from my last podcast. Lori left a reply in my blog and it said this:
You make it sound as if 4Kids has definitely referred to Tides as Andros. They didn't. That could easily be the name of the sea.
Count Cassandra? Only if she's in drag. The term is "countess."
Funny how you don't mention that Stella hates Cassandra even before she's announced as her would-be step-mother. That hate isn't one-sided.
Stella's mom didn't plan the ball. Stella just assumed she did.
Okay, now that we've gotten our facts straight on the last episode, let's move on to this week's episode, "Pretty Pretty Princess."
This week, the Winx are undertaking a dangerous mission with the boys to restore Stella's looks. For some reason, Brandon has been spelled into seeing nothing wrong with Stella, which makes no sense, but we'll get to that in the reviews. Once again, the Winx have to deal with power drainage. Last year, it was the UnderRealm. This year, it's Baltor's rain. And there's something about a Mirror of Truth in there somewhere, plus a little bit of diving. We even get a flashback about Stella, and her little dog too.
Now, on to the reviews. Lori calls out some illogical writing...
"There was simply no way Brandon could have missed seeing the transformed Stella in episode 2. No way at all. But even if they did invent some way, there is still no explanation for his completely illogical behavior. Why doesn’t he wonder why Stella was attacked by her own guards? Why doesn’t he wonder why they’re undertaking a dangerous mission if he sees Stella as looking normal? Speaking of that, are Timmy and Sky spelled, too, or just in on the secret? Speaking of that, where are Riven and Helia? We’ve got a lot of questions left unanswered here. I’m not satisfied with this at all."
Also, she has problems with the dark rain: "Supposedly, the rain drains powers, so when they’re away from it, the girls should regain their winx, right? This seems supported by the fact that when they emerge from the fountain, the rain has stopped and they have power again. But the only one with power in the tunnel is Tecna and her power is minimal. Then by the pool, Bloom plans on using a bubble spell, as if they have enough magic, when seconds ago, they couldn’t fight off the spiders. Tecna’s also a mystery here. Why does she have a little power and the others have none? Also, why did she pass out? It almost looked like she hit her head, but she's wearing a freaking helmet."
Personally, I'm hoping that unlike the last plot point about power drainage, they actually remember this. I remember Lori complaining about the lack of power drainage in last season's finale.
Anyhoo, Lori also has problems with some offensive moments: "This episode had some of the most offensive moments I’ve ever seen in this show. Actually, no, this episode was definitely the worst in the bad message department. First up, Musa pretty much declares that all men, no matter how much they love a girl, will dump her if she gets fat. Someone will likely defend this by saying that Musa meant they’d dump a girl if she got turned into a monster, but the key here is appearance. I don’t care how many people defend this, I still think this is a slam against fat women. It’s also very offensive to men! What kind of message is 4Kids trying to send here? It’s just all sorts of wrong. Even more wrong than Flora/Helia and I didn't think that was possible. Then of course, there’s her related slam against plus-sized women. There really was no need for this line. It was totally uncalled for." Melashaan also agrees with this sentiment.
Now for the positive moments: "The characters, except for Musa, were all very likeable this week. Musa hit a new low and there wasn’t even any slang involved! Guess all that hair has taken away some of her brainpower. Bloom was good again with her perkiness and leadership. Not as fun as last week, but still good. Maybe a bit on the Sue side with the diving plan, but still. Stella was back to her old voice and her more enjoyable self. She had some good lines and cute moments. Tecna was incredible. I really enjoyed seeing her back in a role where she displays her ability to lead. Flora was also quite good. This is the most I’ve liked her in a very long time, maybe ever. She volunteered to melt the ice, stuck up for Brandon, joked around, helped Stella, etc. Very strong episode for her. It was great to see Piff again finally and Concorda is always a good addition. I like her a lot. The witches and Baltor continue to rock, of course. One of the highlights was definitely Knut and his crush on Stella. So funny and cute!
Overall, the characters made the episode good, but they weren’t quite strong enough for me to overlook the offensive moments and the bizarre writing. I hope the writers improve for the next episode...whenever we get to see it. There was no preview for next week, so I'm not sure if we're getting a new ep or not."
According to all the scheduling services, there will be a new episode next week.
(news sting)
And now, news from the Winx world.
In ratings news, Winx Club scored 0.5 and 3 share for not only the premiere of "Beauty is a Beast", but also the rebroadcasts of the first two episodes. How low is a 0.5? Well, try these on for size: NBC's new educational Qubo block had a better average on October 14th and 21st, with a 0.7 each. And CBS' new KOL block had a better average on October 7th, with 0.6. We're talking a block that has old reruns of Madeline, Sabrina, and Strawberry Shortcake.
Meanwhile, its only animated competition in their time slot, Kids WB's Monster Allergy, continues putting up respectable numbers, with 1.3 and 7 share on October 7th and 14th, and 1.4 and 8 share on October 21st. At least one Rainbow property is doing decent business in the states...
And that's news from the Winx world.
(end sting)
Freedom Fighter gives this episode a 7 from 10. However, FF does have a few criticisms:
"The whole part about Stella not wanting to have Brandon see her like that makes no sense since he actually DID in the last episode! Unless she didn't want him to see her look in desperation and in tattered clothes. And even then, that's a really flimsy reason and a long stretch in terms of believability.
Add to that, on the trip back to Alfea, the boys act as if they don't notice. Then, later on, when they leave on the search for the Mirror of Truth, the girls put a spell on Stella so that the boys can't see what she looks like. You'd think they'd question it, especially since the reason they're going on this trip is to restore her looks."
While Lori loved Bloom's moment in the spotlight, FF thinks that her moment was questionable: "Not that Bloom can't come up with a good idea every once in awhile... but for her to not only come up with the idea of doing a hard dive to warm up the ship's freezing hull, but to describe the process in a technical enough way that would be more befitting of Tecna or Timmy... yeah. And it's a stretch to think Bloom would know just by feeling the exact moment for them to pull out of the dive."
Now, on to the positives: "As glaring as the writing inconsistences were, some scenes did help improve the opinions of some of the girls. Regardless of how Tecna was somehow excluded from being captured by the spiders (I believe she was knocked out of the alley and they somehow forgot about her), seeing her save the others is a welcome sight. Points for Stella too for breaking them out of that enclosed lake after the gang was attacked by leeches.
We haven't seen Knut in awhile, so we get his funniest bit since leaving the Trix at the end of Season 1... flirting with the ogre-ish Stella! Now that was hilarious!
Baltor even gets a moment with the Trix, as they decide to... gasp, go and try to off Bloom! Not original, but hey, the best battles of the show have to revolve around the series' lead."
One final note: "What happened to Layla and her trip to her home realm? I wonder if they're pulling the whole Stella-Downland deal from last season. So maybe that means we'll get an update on it next week? Hopefully?"
And that's it for another edition. All comments and suggestions are welcome. Just drop them off at my blog at spiderbraids.livejournal.com , and I'll see you in two weeks. Thanks for listening.
Behind the scenes
1. Out of 7 podcasts, I've had to re-upload 6 of them. For some reason, the original MP3 of #7 only had a brief bit of audio at the corrections part.
2. At first, I considered having a piece on the two versions of the Codex Cipher scene, but Lori decided it wasn't a good idea. Then I considered plugging my YouTube vids, then dropped that idea, because the video comparing the Codex Cipher scene called Stella solving the puzzle in the US version an "asspull", and I thought "That can't be good..." So I just moved FF's review after the news, and recorded some linkage. So, the podcast's a bit light. I miss the days when I could just post a topic at
winx_club and harvest the replies from there... My podcasts are getting even MORE boring without them.3. Speaking of other people's reviews, I decided to punctuate between myself, and me reading the reviews, with some white noise. If I've learnt anything from Podcast #4, it's "Don't confuse people into thinking that other peoples' comments are your own." (And "Always ask for permission to use their comments first.") So you'll hear something like this:
(Me introducing the review)
(1/2 second white noise, like changing the channel)
(Me reading the review)
(Another 1/2 second white noise)
(Me making a comment)
(etc.)
You'll get the idea once you've listened to it.
