WinxTalk Podcast #9
Nov. 30th, 2006 11:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsThis week, reviews of "The Mermaid Queen" and "Royal Behavior". Just over 4 megs, coming in at 18 minutes.
(Get the RSS feed, while you're at it.)
Transcript
This week, we finally get to see Enchantix powers, and speaking of seeing, Layla finally gets to see again. And those events are related, too. All this and news from the Winx world on WinxTalk Podcast #9, with your host SpiderBraids.
So, first up, "The Mermaid Queen". Let's just skim through the main plot, shall we? The Winx are still on Tides as they run into Tressa, the daughter of Queen Ligea. Ligea needs to be rescued because she's been captured by a kraken, or in layman's terms, a giant squid beast.
The Winx fight the squid beast, and it transpires that Ligea's sceptre has magical healing powers. However, there are a few strings attached.
[Ligea on her sceptre: it uses the last ray of twilight to create a healing wave]
Ligea herself gets hit by the kraken as it's chasing them, however, so when they're on the surface, Layla decides, despite Ligea's promise, to use the sceptre, not on her own blindness, but on Ligea instead.
And remember what FG said about saving someone from your own realm, and making a great sacrifice in doing so? Queen Ligea, own realm, check. Healing Ligea instead of herself, check. Yep. So Layla earns her Enchantix and it's pretty and stuff, but she's all "Whatevia Santiago" about it.
["Everything's still dark"]
Over in the subplot, Stella finds out from fellow Solarian Nova that changes have been made to the royal registry, and now Chimera is the Princess of the Sun and the Moon, while Cassandra continues to spell Radius, this time making sure he's going to let Chimera replace Stella in her position.
[The conversation between Stella and Nova, and then the scene at the palace]
She decides to go over to Solaria to kick evil stereotype's butt, and changes Piff into herself while she looks for Amore, but that move ends up biting her in the butt when Piff!Stella crawls out of her room and the Griz winds up busting both Stellas. Ouch.
Two quick thoughts about this ep:
1. The main issue with Tressa in this episode is that she's never been brave. In his review, however, Frank Maggiore goes into length on how things turned out better because of that. I wonder what Tecna would think about this...
2. And speaking of Tecna, this definitely was not a week for the logical beings. First, get a load of this from Digit at Alfea:
[Digit!Tecna: "Shout quietly"]
And then Tecna has the Winx shooting at a cave ceiling.
[Tecna: "I didn't get that far in the plan"]
Well, at least she acknowledged that. She certainly isn't the Little Miss ["Not Me! I Don't!"] from last season. Of course, the new voice actress helps.
Reviews. First up is Lori.
(NOISE)
"Despite seeing our first Enchantix, I felt this was the worst episode of the season. The sequences at Alfea were mildly amusing at best. Cassandra’s acting more stereotypical than ever. Layla’s a whiny baby and her sacrifice was completely predictable. The best moments were Tecna’s and Tressa’s. I love how Tec grabbed the spear from the mermonster and came up with a flawed plan. And Tressa started out weak, but ended strong. Great scene with her chopping the kraken’s tentacles off.
But Layla. She sucks. If they don’t fix her soon, I swear she’s going to forever be my least favorite. Even below AniMusa. It was nice how she got her Enchantix, but she’s not using her head otherwise. If the queen’s scepter requires twilight to heal, simply wait until the next twilight and get healed. Now obviously it won’t happen that easily, but still, she’s being totally illogical by not thinking she can just wait another day. Also, if the mermaid queen has a healing object, how many other healing objects do you think there are in the magical realms, Layla? TONS. You will get healed somehow. Now shut up and play with your new pretty hair.
Seriously, writers, I expected to see a lot more strength and determination out of her. Instead, I just want to smack her around. I do have to give the writers credit for not taking the easy way out and having the Enchantix transformation heal her, but still. I want the old Layla back! We don't deserve to put up with this horrible self pitying crap."
(NOISE)
And now, Freedom Fighter. He gives it a 6.5 out of 10.
(NOISE)
"Stella's still playing the 'pixies as friends' deal, huh? Still hilarious... but the plan was doomed to failure when she decided to have baby Piff pose as her. Meanwhile, it seems King Radius is under the control of Cassandra, and Chimera's taken Stella's place as next in line to take the throne! That's sure to send Stella off the deep end...
The rest of the gang is helping restore peace to the Mermaid Kingdom, where their own princess, Tressa, seems to have a lack of fighting courage. As in zip, zero, nada. Bloom and the girls (mostly Bloom) help her get over her fears as they help rescue the Queen. All while dealing with a nasty Krakken, who just won't go down. For having just saved the Queen, the girls do a horrible job protecting her, letting her bring up the rear... and she gets whacked in the process.
Good for Layla getting her Enchantix; but for her instantly panicking and not thinking the Queen's sceptor could heal her at the next twilight. Yeah..."
(NOISE)
After the news, reviews of "Royal Behavior".
(News sting)
And now, news from the Winx world. "Mission to Tides" scored Winx's highest ratings for the season yet, with a 0.9 and 5 share, while Rainbow's other series, Monster Allergy, scored a 1.3 and 6 share for the 2nd week running. Winx's previous best had been a 0.7 and 4 share for "Pretty Pretty Princess". The following week, "The Mermaid Queen" scored a 0.7 and 4 share, while Allergy moved to a new 11:30am timeslot and scored a 1.2 and 5 share.
At the end of "The Mermaid Queen", 4Kids.TV ran a promo saying that December will be a viewers' choice month. All the episodes, except for "Royal Behavior", are eligible. Viewers can vote at the 4Kids Winx website for their favorite episodes, and they'll be screened every weekend in December. And that's news from the Winx world.
(News sting)
Now, on to "Royal Behavior". While Baltor is busy stealing some scrolls and having a meeting Diaspro (OOH!!)... the Winx are being told to rearrange books over the weekend. Really. Especially since Sky has invited Bloom to a party on the weekend to boot!
The Winx do get some interesting stuff to work with this week, though: They deal with a book demon, and teach Bloom how to be a better princess.
[The tea drinking lesson]
As for Layla's blindness... Although many fans were glad that Layla's Enchantix transformation didn't heal her automatically, turns out we weren't that far off, and I know someone who's not too happy with that.
[Layla gets healed with the dust on her Enchantix's wings]
There's also a little interesting tidbit about Bloom's past in there as well...
[FG talks about the Company of Light... and how Baltor also has powers related to Bloom's]
Lori reviews.
(NOISE)
"The minor fairies were one of the highlights for me, as they usually are. They’re so fun to look at.
Layla’s healing herself is a deus ex machina, but I find it a well-done one. I like that she was still all upset after she got her Enchantix and it turned out that very Enchantix was the thing that could save her. So her sacrifice wasn’t for nothing and she can finally shut up about the blind thing. Thank the gods.
Griselda's punishment was actually quite light, in my opinion. The girls took on a serious enemy with no research and no help. That’s just plain stupid. And all they have to do is rearrange books? They got off light.
Stormy’s electric bang thing was another highlight. Man, that was awesome!
I love how Icy witched out Baltor and how he in turn told them not to underestimate Bloom, making sure to point out that they should know that by now. The Trix and Baltor are no easy alliance!
Stella’s attitude continues to be terrible. She deserved the punishment she got and has no right to be witchy about it. Then she sits on her butt and tries to find a quick fix. This is way too early first season Stella for me. She’s awful!
I’m so happy to see Diaspro involved and continuing her grudge against Bloom. I don’t blame her one bit for being angry at her maid, who really is stupid if she doesn’t realize how Diaspro feels. I love how Diaspro also never lets Baltor get to her. She doesn’t cave in and keeps glaring at him. I hope she shows up at the party in that gorgeous dress and works some magic on Sky or Bloom! They don’t deserve to go without a little revenge from Diaspro.
The “learn to be a princess” thing was okay. It was very light compared to the rest of the episode, but it provided good contrast. I found it boring, but it served its purpose.
Faragonda’s tale of Baltor was awesome! Did anyone think he came from the same power source as Bloom? I know I didn’t see it coming! Remember “Princess of Tides,” where WizGiz talks about opposites and at the end, Bloom says she can feel her opposite and it’s growing stronger? Yep, looks like we finally see who it is!
Overall, it was a nice transition ep, tying up loose ends from the earlier six and giving us some new things to think about."
(NOISE)
[Two excerpts from from WizGiz's class in "Princess of Tides", followed by Bloom's comment at the end of the same ep]
(NOISE)
When I pointed out that Bloom's comment at the end of "Princess of Tides" really should have pertained to season 2, she said:
(NOISE)
"Bloom's storyline has been a continuing thing from season 1 on. It's not going to come to a climax until the movie, as far as I know, so I definitely consider it not bound to seasons. Baltor has the same power source as Bloom except he's evil and she's good. Sounds like an opposite to me!"
(NOISE)
Now, that's something to think about... especially considering that we're about to get a full month's hiatus from new episodes.
Meanwhile, Freedom Fighter calls this "A very good episode to go out on for the holiday break." He gives it 7.5 out of 10. Thoughts:
(NOISE)
"Funny how Layla and the others could not make the connection between Enchantix and becoming more powerful. I guess Layla is somewhat exempt with being distraught in the heat of the moment, but one of the others could've at least suggested Layla try to heal herself.
Layla's back to seeing again, but that means we're pretty much done with her this season already. Good or bad for the remaining 19 episodes?
I also do think Griselda's punishment was a bit light. On the other hand, actually throwing them without consequence into the Restricted Area of the library? Ha... I remember the days when they were told to stay away at all costs. Boy, have the girls grown since then...
Interesting exchange between Baltor and the Trix... crushing on Bloom or keeping an eye on her? We can only wonder...
Speaking of wondering... another appearance by Princess Diaspro? That's one way to keep Bloom occupied.
Obviously, the most important part of the episode came at the end, when Miss Faragonda tells Bloom about the Company of Light, that she was there on Sparx when it fell, and that Baltor also has the ability to tap into the Dragonfire! Stunning revelations there!"
(NOISE)
As for me, I'm hoping that they don't leave Layla by the wayside just because she doesn't have any problems anymore. I mean, even with the eps on Tides, we still didn't get any "star time" for Layla. And I'd love to see other stuff that this new power boost entails.
And speaking of power boosts, I still want to see more Charmix action. What, have the writers just forgotten about it? When I go to school, I remember things from year to year, and Alfea should be no different. There have been quite a few big battles already, and not once did any of the Winx say, "Let's use the Charmix!" There are quite a few people complaining about it too. The fact that Icy was attacked with a convergence blast in "Mission to Tides", in my opinion, underscores its glaring absence. Hmm...
And that's it for this edition. You can drop feedback off at my blog at spiderbraids.livejournal.com , or at the Yahoo! Winx Group at tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/winx . We'll see you in two weeks. Thanks for listening.
(Get the RSS feed, while you're at it.)
Transcript
This week, we finally get to see Enchantix powers, and speaking of seeing, Layla finally gets to see again. And those events are related, too. All this and news from the Winx world on WinxTalk Podcast #9, with your host SpiderBraids.
So, first up, "The Mermaid Queen". Let's just skim through the main plot, shall we? The Winx are still on Tides as they run into Tressa, the daughter of Queen Ligea. Ligea needs to be rescued because she's been captured by a kraken, or in layman's terms, a giant squid beast.
The Winx fight the squid beast, and it transpires that Ligea's sceptre has magical healing powers. However, there are a few strings attached.
[Ligea on her sceptre: it uses the last ray of twilight to create a healing wave]
Ligea herself gets hit by the kraken as it's chasing them, however, so when they're on the surface, Layla decides, despite Ligea's promise, to use the sceptre, not on her own blindness, but on Ligea instead.
And remember what FG said about saving someone from your own realm, and making a great sacrifice in doing so? Queen Ligea, own realm, check. Healing Ligea instead of herself, check. Yep. So Layla earns her Enchantix and it's pretty and stuff, but she's all "Whatevia Santiago" about it.
["Everything's still dark"]
Over in the subplot, Stella finds out from fellow Solarian Nova that changes have been made to the royal registry, and now Chimera is the Princess of the Sun and the Moon, while Cassandra continues to spell Radius, this time making sure he's going to let Chimera replace Stella in her position.
[The conversation between Stella and Nova, and then the scene at the palace]
She decides to go over to Solaria to kick evil stereotype's butt, and changes Piff into herself while she looks for Amore, but that move ends up biting her in the butt when Piff!Stella crawls out of her room and the Griz winds up busting both Stellas. Ouch.
Two quick thoughts about this ep:
1. The main issue with Tressa in this episode is that she's never been brave. In his review, however, Frank Maggiore goes into length on how things turned out better because of that. I wonder what Tecna would think about this...
2. And speaking of Tecna, this definitely was not a week for the logical beings. First, get a load of this from Digit at Alfea:
[Digit!Tecna: "Shout quietly"]
And then Tecna has the Winx shooting at a cave ceiling.
[Tecna: "I didn't get that far in the plan"]
Well, at least she acknowledged that. She certainly isn't the Little Miss ["Not Me! I Don't!"] from last season. Of course, the new voice actress helps.
Reviews. First up is Lori.
(NOISE)
"Despite seeing our first Enchantix, I felt this was the worst episode of the season. The sequences at Alfea were mildly amusing at best. Cassandra’s acting more stereotypical than ever. Layla’s a whiny baby and her sacrifice was completely predictable. The best moments were Tecna’s and Tressa’s. I love how Tec grabbed the spear from the mermonster and came up with a flawed plan. And Tressa started out weak, but ended strong. Great scene with her chopping the kraken’s tentacles off.
But Layla. She sucks. If they don’t fix her soon, I swear she’s going to forever be my least favorite. Even below AniMusa. It was nice how she got her Enchantix, but she’s not using her head otherwise. If the queen’s scepter requires twilight to heal, simply wait until the next twilight and get healed. Now obviously it won’t happen that easily, but still, she’s being totally illogical by not thinking she can just wait another day. Also, if the mermaid queen has a healing object, how many other healing objects do you think there are in the magical realms, Layla? TONS. You will get healed somehow. Now shut up and play with your new pretty hair.
Seriously, writers, I expected to see a lot more strength and determination out of her. Instead, I just want to smack her around. I do have to give the writers credit for not taking the easy way out and having the Enchantix transformation heal her, but still. I want the old Layla back! We don't deserve to put up with this horrible self pitying crap."
(NOISE)
And now, Freedom Fighter. He gives it a 6.5 out of 10.
(NOISE)
"Stella's still playing the 'pixies as friends' deal, huh? Still hilarious... but the plan was doomed to failure when she decided to have baby Piff pose as her. Meanwhile, it seems King Radius is under the control of Cassandra, and Chimera's taken Stella's place as next in line to take the throne! That's sure to send Stella off the deep end...
The rest of the gang is helping restore peace to the Mermaid Kingdom, where their own princess, Tressa, seems to have a lack of fighting courage. As in zip, zero, nada. Bloom and the girls (mostly Bloom) help her get over her fears as they help rescue the Queen. All while dealing with a nasty Krakken, who just won't go down. For having just saved the Queen, the girls do a horrible job protecting her, letting her bring up the rear... and she gets whacked in the process.
Good for Layla getting her Enchantix; but for her instantly panicking and not thinking the Queen's sceptor could heal her at the next twilight. Yeah..."
(NOISE)
After the news, reviews of "Royal Behavior".
(News sting)
And now, news from the Winx world. "Mission to Tides" scored Winx's highest ratings for the season yet, with a 0.9 and 5 share, while Rainbow's other series, Monster Allergy, scored a 1.3 and 6 share for the 2nd week running. Winx's previous best had been a 0.7 and 4 share for "Pretty Pretty Princess". The following week, "The Mermaid Queen" scored a 0.7 and 4 share, while Allergy moved to a new 11:30am timeslot and scored a 1.2 and 5 share.
At the end of "The Mermaid Queen", 4Kids.TV ran a promo saying that December will be a viewers' choice month. All the episodes, except for "Royal Behavior", are eligible. Viewers can vote at the 4Kids Winx website for their favorite episodes, and they'll be screened every weekend in December. And that's news from the Winx world.
(News sting)
Now, on to "Royal Behavior". While Baltor is busy stealing some scrolls and having a meeting Diaspro (OOH!!)... the Winx are being told to rearrange books over the weekend. Really. Especially since Sky has invited Bloom to a party on the weekend to boot!
The Winx do get some interesting stuff to work with this week, though: They deal with a book demon, and teach Bloom how to be a better princess.
[The tea drinking lesson]
As for Layla's blindness... Although many fans were glad that Layla's Enchantix transformation didn't heal her automatically, turns out we weren't that far off, and I know someone who's not too happy with that.
[Layla gets healed with the dust on her Enchantix's wings]
There's also a little interesting tidbit about Bloom's past in there as well...
[FG talks about the Company of Light... and how Baltor also has powers related to Bloom's]
Lori reviews.
(NOISE)
"The minor fairies were one of the highlights for me, as they usually are. They’re so fun to look at.
Layla’s healing herself is a deus ex machina, but I find it a well-done one. I like that she was still all upset after she got her Enchantix and it turned out that very Enchantix was the thing that could save her. So her sacrifice wasn’t for nothing and she can finally shut up about the blind thing. Thank the gods.
Griselda's punishment was actually quite light, in my opinion. The girls took on a serious enemy with no research and no help. That’s just plain stupid. And all they have to do is rearrange books? They got off light.
Stormy’s electric bang thing was another highlight. Man, that was awesome!
I love how Icy witched out Baltor and how he in turn told them not to underestimate Bloom, making sure to point out that they should know that by now. The Trix and Baltor are no easy alliance!
Stella’s attitude continues to be terrible. She deserved the punishment she got and has no right to be witchy about it. Then she sits on her butt and tries to find a quick fix. This is way too early first season Stella for me. She’s awful!
I’m so happy to see Diaspro involved and continuing her grudge against Bloom. I don’t blame her one bit for being angry at her maid, who really is stupid if she doesn’t realize how Diaspro feels. I love how Diaspro also never lets Baltor get to her. She doesn’t cave in and keeps glaring at him. I hope she shows up at the party in that gorgeous dress and works some magic on Sky or Bloom! They don’t deserve to go without a little revenge from Diaspro.
The “learn to be a princess” thing was okay. It was very light compared to the rest of the episode, but it provided good contrast. I found it boring, but it served its purpose.
Faragonda’s tale of Baltor was awesome! Did anyone think he came from the same power source as Bloom? I know I didn’t see it coming! Remember “Princess of Tides,” where WizGiz talks about opposites and at the end, Bloom says she can feel her opposite and it’s growing stronger? Yep, looks like we finally see who it is!
Overall, it was a nice transition ep, tying up loose ends from the earlier six and giving us some new things to think about."
(NOISE)
[Two excerpts from from WizGiz's class in "Princess of Tides", followed by Bloom's comment at the end of the same ep]
(NOISE)
When I pointed out that Bloom's comment at the end of "Princess of Tides" really should have pertained to season 2, she said:
(NOISE)
"Bloom's storyline has been a continuing thing from season 1 on. It's not going to come to a climax until the movie, as far as I know, so I definitely consider it not bound to seasons. Baltor has the same power source as Bloom except he's evil and she's good. Sounds like an opposite to me!"
(NOISE)
Now, that's something to think about... especially considering that we're about to get a full month's hiatus from new episodes.
Meanwhile, Freedom Fighter calls this "A very good episode to go out on for the holiday break." He gives it 7.5 out of 10. Thoughts:
(NOISE)
"Funny how Layla and the others could not make the connection between Enchantix and becoming more powerful. I guess Layla is somewhat exempt with being distraught in the heat of the moment, but one of the others could've at least suggested Layla try to heal herself.
Layla's back to seeing again, but that means we're pretty much done with her this season already. Good or bad for the remaining 19 episodes?
I also do think Griselda's punishment was a bit light. On the other hand, actually throwing them without consequence into the Restricted Area of the library? Ha... I remember the days when they were told to stay away at all costs. Boy, have the girls grown since then...
Interesting exchange between Baltor and the Trix... crushing on Bloom or keeping an eye on her? We can only wonder...
Speaking of wondering... another appearance by Princess Diaspro? That's one way to keep Bloom occupied.
Obviously, the most important part of the episode came at the end, when Miss Faragonda tells Bloom about the Company of Light, that she was there on Sparx when it fell, and that Baltor also has the ability to tap into the Dragonfire! Stunning revelations there!"
(NOISE)
As for me, I'm hoping that they don't leave Layla by the wayside just because she doesn't have any problems anymore. I mean, even with the eps on Tides, we still didn't get any "star time" for Layla. And I'd love to see other stuff that this new power boost entails.
And speaking of power boosts, I still want to see more Charmix action. What, have the writers just forgotten about it? When I go to school, I remember things from year to year, and Alfea should be no different. There have been quite a few big battles already, and not once did any of the Winx say, "Let's use the Charmix!" There are quite a few people complaining about it too. The fact that Icy was attacked with a convergence blast in "Mission to Tides", in my opinion, underscores its glaring absence. Hmm...
And that's it for this edition. You can drop feedback off at my blog at spiderbraids.livejournal.com , or at the Yahoo! Winx Group at tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/winx . We'll see you in two weeks. Thanks for listening.
