WinxTalk Podcast #21
Nov. 30th, 2007 09:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraids(Reads date of last podcast) Looks like I overshot my 3 week delay...
Anyways, reviews of the last three episodes of the season, running at just under 20 minutes at 4.7 MB.
Transcript
It's the end of the road for Winx, as we head into the final three episodes, including a Trix-less finale. All this, plus news from the Winx world, on WinxTalk Podcast #21 with your host SpiderBraids.
We begin with "The Witches Crypt", in which the Winx go over to Cloud Tower, because Bloom wants to check Baltor's claim from the previous eppy that he had absorbed her parents. Prob is, they can't even seem to _find_ Cloud Tower. Time for some serious magic use.
(Okay, this is a long one. Tecna believes that it's under an illusion spell. So, first they combine their Enchantix magic with the Water Stars to detect CT under the barrier. Flora uses fairy dust to create small holes in the barrier. The girls with complete Enchantix powers [i.e., not Bloom] miniaturize themselves and use their fairy dust to lift the barrier. Stella calls all this "easy as changing her sweater back" :-) )
So, once inside, Bloom heads to the titular crypt, and summons up the ancient witches to tell her the truth about Miriam and Oritel.
(Bloom summons up the ancient witches. Witches tell her that Bloom's parents are still alive and in a place that is "not somewhere she can go", and that is all they will say)
Also, the Trix get new outfits and powers. However, considering that it's now the exact reverse of last season's situation where the Trix got their new powers long before the Winx got theirs, it ends up being inconsequential, since the Winx get rid of their new powers with their fairy dust. Yeesh, that dust of theirs is just like Kim Possible: It can do anything.
And in fact, that's just one of Lori's complaints about the episode:
(BZZ)
The Trix are pathetically weaker now, I agree. The writers haven't made them proper adversaries since Season 1 and maybe early Season 2. They should have improved, not weakened. It's ridiculous. And they should also have natural evolution like the fairies. Gloomix was given by Darkar, Disenchantix by Baltor. Neither was permanent. How are they supposed to compete when witches don't evolve like fairies? How in the world is Ms. Griffin as strong as Faragonda without some sort of evolution? It's all confusing and very badly written. The writers don't balance out the schools (or even show Beta Academy!) or the basic concepts of the world they created. All they do is move the plot forward towards the movie. Pa-thetic.
And they need to stop using fairy dust to heal everything. That's why I chose Winx over the long forgotten Charmix and the new Enchantix. With their Winx, they had to work toward things. With Enchantix, all they do is sprinkle some dust around and their problems are magically and horrifically boringly solved. I wanted to see more new powers, not some deus ex machina DUST. That stuff has, like, no limits and it's just wrong.
(BZZ)
Moving on to "Spell of the Elements", where Baltor sends tornadoes to Red Fountain, a deluge to Cloud Tower, a fire to Alfea, and a ground-splitting earthquake to the forest. Like I said, spell of the elements. Baltor takes on a new form with the help of the ancient witches, and the Winx take him on in this new form. Naturally, the Water Stars come into play.
(Layla summons the Water Stars, but Baltor just takes them under his control)
Okay, so that doesn't work. So now Bloom's taking him on herself. Oh, and remember that box of his? Well, that comes into play too.
(Bloom takes on Baltor. Baltor gloats that he's not affected by her fairy dust, but after he takes her down, he discovers that it DOES affect his box. Trix comment on Baltor chasing the box as the Winx pass it to each other: "Looks like monkey in the middle, and Baltor's the monkey")
Well, that was effective. So now every spell that Baltor stole has now returned to where it belongs.
As for the Trix, not only do they NOT use their new powers and outfits, we also see them in their old battle outfits, thus confirming that their new powers were erased. Anyways, they end up running off from Baltor.
(The Trix break it off with Baltor and escape)
(Light Rock guys take the Trix)
So the Trix get captured by the nice people at Light Rock prison. I mean, seriously guys. That's a bit of a step down from the freakin' Omega Dimension. Lori also says:
(BZZ)
Light Rock did not work on the witches last time. It's stupid to think it would work now. Very disappointed at the total lack of creativity in punishment. Actually, I think they should have just gotten away and been left an open end. It's more interesting that way. Not to mention less repetitive writing. But why should I expect good writing now in a season full of BLEEP?
(BZZ)
So now you're thinking, "The main conflict of the whole season has been resolved. What can they possibly do for a finale?" You'll find out after the news, but let's just say it's not too pretty.
(News sting)
And now, news from the Winx world. Early September saw the re-launch of 4Kids.TV as "The Game Station", along with closing off its video site from non-Americans.
The rest of Winx season 2 has been released on DVD in the US under the title "Battle for the Codex", retailing at $14.99. Michael Grant also reports that Singapore has also released the whole of the Rainbow dub of season 2, and the Netherlands and Belgium are starting to release season 3 on DVD.
After Winx aired its final episode, it was immediately replaced by the first ever live-action program on the block under the 4Kids.TV name, a Canadian game show called "The Adrenaline Project", which like Winx, comes with an E/I rating. Saturday mornings were Winxless for the first time since 2004, until the start of November, when 4K reinstated Winx to the schedule.
4Kids is also heading back to old pastures in a way: Warner Brothers' CW Network has agreed to let the company run its Saturday morning programming from next fall. Of course, 4K is no stranger to WB's Saturday mornings, as they helped create one of their first breakout hits, Pokemon.
Many petitions have popped up to petition Rainbow SPA to renew Winx for a 4th season, which they currently do not have plans for. This podcast does not directly endorse any of them, but it wouldn't hurt to try.
Michael Grant reports that Rainbow is making a 52 episode series of minisodes starring the Pixies, slated for 2009.
Michael also reports that there is now a definite date for the release of the Winx movie in Italy: November 30. There's both a new trailer, now featuring the boys and the pixies, and a new poster out. Check them out at Michael Grant's news page.
Ratings from Cynopsis. The Wizards' Challenge scored 0.6 and 4 share on September 1. The Witches' Crypt fared even worse with a 0.4 and 3 share. Spell of the Elements scored a 0.9 and 5 share, its highest ratings in a while, and the finale Fire and Flame scored 0.6 and 4 share. To compare, however, The Adrenaline Project performed even worse than Winx, never earning more than 0.4.
And that's news, from the Winx world.
(End sting)
Well, this is it. One more episode, "Fire and Flame". Unlike the last two seasons, the Trix are sitting this one out. We open with the Winx girls fixing the damage to the forest from the previous show.
(Layla and Flora converge their powers to fix the forest, with a nifty tie-in to Layla's water powers. Musa then summons her flute to lure the animals out of hiding.)
And now, they head to Tides. Again. Seriously. Haven't we already had enough of Tides of this season? I mean, we've already been robbed of a trip to Tecna's world over a Tides episode, haven't we? Anyways, we get to see the Winx girls fight their boyfriends. Well, sort of, as they turn out to be Baltor created clones.
Later on, the Winx, along with the Specialists, battle Baltor in his true form. The girls get to show off a various array of powers, but it's not really a Winx finale until Bloom gets a BIG hand in on the action, so Bloom casts a spell to put herself into Baltor the beast. Baltor the wizard wants to make a deal with her...
(Baltor wants Bloom to join him in defeating the ancient witches, but Bloom doesn't want anything of it, and blasts Baltor for good.)
And thus, Baltor has been vanquished once and for all.
This finale may not have the Trix, but it does have the pre-requisite end-of-season party...
(Last scene: Nabu sees Layla as the best thing that's ever happened to him, and FG says that Bloom, still without complete Enchantix powers, now has enough courage to enter the dark realm of the ancient witches, break their spell, and finally find her birth parents.)
Yep, that's right. The one event that most fans have been waiting for, is going to have to wait for the all-CG movie. Then again, considering what else this season seemed to promise but never delivered on, that's par for the course.
Lori says:
(BZZ)
This ep had some good moments, but overall, it's a lackluster ending to a lackluster season. It feels like Rainbow concentrated all their talents on the movie and gave us a bunch of badly-written, trite episodes that are frustrating because they could have been so much more.
I hope the movie is more enjoyable than Season 3 has been. I feel like it's got to be. All the writing talent we used to see had to go somewhere.
(BZZ)
Well, that's it from the WinxTalk podcast for now. You can leave comments at my blog, spiderbraids.livejournal.com or at the forever_winx Yahoo group , groups.yahoo.com/group/forever_winx . Thanks for listening.
Anyways, reviews of the last three episodes of the season, running at just under 20 minutes at 4.7 MB.
Transcript
It's the end of the road for Winx, as we head into the final three episodes, including a Trix-less finale. All this, plus news from the Winx world, on WinxTalk Podcast #21 with your host SpiderBraids.
We begin with "The Witches Crypt", in which the Winx go over to Cloud Tower, because Bloom wants to check Baltor's claim from the previous eppy that he had absorbed her parents. Prob is, they can't even seem to _find_ Cloud Tower. Time for some serious magic use.
(Okay, this is a long one. Tecna believes that it's under an illusion spell. So, first they combine their Enchantix magic with the Water Stars to detect CT under the barrier. Flora uses fairy dust to create small holes in the barrier. The girls with complete Enchantix powers [i.e., not Bloom] miniaturize themselves and use their fairy dust to lift the barrier. Stella calls all this "easy as changing her sweater back" :-) )
So, once inside, Bloom heads to the titular crypt, and summons up the ancient witches to tell her the truth about Miriam and Oritel.
(Bloom summons up the ancient witches. Witches tell her that Bloom's parents are still alive and in a place that is "not somewhere she can go", and that is all they will say)
Also, the Trix get new outfits and powers. However, considering that it's now the exact reverse of last season's situation where the Trix got their new powers long before the Winx got theirs, it ends up being inconsequential, since the Winx get rid of their new powers with their fairy dust. Yeesh, that dust of theirs is just like Kim Possible: It can do anything.
And in fact, that's just one of Lori's complaints about the episode:
(BZZ)
The Trix are pathetically weaker now, I agree. The writers haven't made them proper adversaries since Season 1 and maybe early Season 2. They should have improved, not weakened. It's ridiculous. And they should also have natural evolution like the fairies. Gloomix was given by Darkar, Disenchantix by Baltor. Neither was permanent. How are they supposed to compete when witches don't evolve like fairies? How in the world is Ms. Griffin as strong as Faragonda without some sort of evolution? It's all confusing and very badly written. The writers don't balance out the schools (or even show Beta Academy!) or the basic concepts of the world they created. All they do is move the plot forward towards the movie. Pa-thetic.
And they need to stop using fairy dust to heal everything. That's why I chose Winx over the long forgotten Charmix and the new Enchantix. With their Winx, they had to work toward things. With Enchantix, all they do is sprinkle some dust around and their problems are magically and horrifically boringly solved. I wanted to see more new powers, not some deus ex machina DUST. That stuff has, like, no limits and it's just wrong.
(BZZ)
Moving on to "Spell of the Elements", where Baltor sends tornadoes to Red Fountain, a deluge to Cloud Tower, a fire to Alfea, and a ground-splitting earthquake to the forest. Like I said, spell of the elements. Baltor takes on a new form with the help of the ancient witches, and the Winx take him on in this new form. Naturally, the Water Stars come into play.
(Layla summons the Water Stars, but Baltor just takes them under his control)
Okay, so that doesn't work. So now Bloom's taking him on herself. Oh, and remember that box of his? Well, that comes into play too.
(Bloom takes on Baltor. Baltor gloats that he's not affected by her fairy dust, but after he takes her down, he discovers that it DOES affect his box. Trix comment on Baltor chasing the box as the Winx pass it to each other: "Looks like monkey in the middle, and Baltor's the monkey")
Well, that was effective. So now every spell that Baltor stole has now returned to where it belongs.
As for the Trix, not only do they NOT use their new powers and outfits, we also see them in their old battle outfits, thus confirming that their new powers were erased. Anyways, they end up running off from Baltor.
(The Trix break it off with Baltor and escape)
(Light Rock guys take the Trix)
So the Trix get captured by the nice people at Light Rock prison. I mean, seriously guys. That's a bit of a step down from the freakin' Omega Dimension. Lori also says:
(BZZ)
Light Rock did not work on the witches last time. It's stupid to think it would work now. Very disappointed at the total lack of creativity in punishment. Actually, I think they should have just gotten away and been left an open end. It's more interesting that way. Not to mention less repetitive writing. But why should I expect good writing now in a season full of BLEEP?
(BZZ)
So now you're thinking, "The main conflict of the whole season has been resolved. What can they possibly do for a finale?" You'll find out after the news, but let's just say it's not too pretty.
(News sting)
And now, news from the Winx world. Early September saw the re-launch of 4Kids.TV as "The Game Station", along with closing off its video site from non-Americans.
The rest of Winx season 2 has been released on DVD in the US under the title "Battle for the Codex", retailing at $14.99. Michael Grant also reports that Singapore has also released the whole of the Rainbow dub of season 2, and the Netherlands and Belgium are starting to release season 3 on DVD.
After Winx aired its final episode, it was immediately replaced by the first ever live-action program on the block under the 4Kids.TV name, a Canadian game show called "The Adrenaline Project", which like Winx, comes with an E/I rating. Saturday mornings were Winxless for the first time since 2004, until the start of November, when 4K reinstated Winx to the schedule.
4Kids is also heading back to old pastures in a way: Warner Brothers' CW Network has agreed to let the company run its Saturday morning programming from next fall. Of course, 4K is no stranger to WB's Saturday mornings, as they helped create one of their first breakout hits, Pokemon.
Many petitions have popped up to petition Rainbow SPA to renew Winx for a 4th season, which they currently do not have plans for. This podcast does not directly endorse any of them, but it wouldn't hurt to try.
Michael Grant reports that Rainbow is making a 52 episode series of minisodes starring the Pixies, slated for 2009.
Michael also reports that there is now a definite date for the release of the Winx movie in Italy: November 30. There's both a new trailer, now featuring the boys and the pixies, and a new poster out. Check them out at Michael Grant's news page.
Ratings from Cynopsis. The Wizards' Challenge scored 0.6 and 4 share on September 1. The Witches' Crypt fared even worse with a 0.4 and 3 share. Spell of the Elements scored a 0.9 and 5 share, its highest ratings in a while, and the finale Fire and Flame scored 0.6 and 4 share. To compare, however, The Adrenaline Project performed even worse than Winx, never earning more than 0.4.
And that's news, from the Winx world.
(End sting)
Well, this is it. One more episode, "Fire and Flame". Unlike the last two seasons, the Trix are sitting this one out. We open with the Winx girls fixing the damage to the forest from the previous show.
(Layla and Flora converge their powers to fix the forest, with a nifty tie-in to Layla's water powers. Musa then summons her flute to lure the animals out of hiding.)
And now, they head to Tides. Again. Seriously. Haven't we already had enough of Tides of this season? I mean, we've already been robbed of a trip to Tecna's world over a Tides episode, haven't we? Anyways, we get to see the Winx girls fight their boyfriends. Well, sort of, as they turn out to be Baltor created clones.
Later on, the Winx, along with the Specialists, battle Baltor in his true form. The girls get to show off a various array of powers, but it's not really a Winx finale until Bloom gets a BIG hand in on the action, so Bloom casts a spell to put herself into Baltor the beast. Baltor the wizard wants to make a deal with her...
(Baltor wants Bloom to join him in defeating the ancient witches, but Bloom doesn't want anything of it, and blasts Baltor for good.)
And thus, Baltor has been vanquished once and for all.
This finale may not have the Trix, but it does have the pre-requisite end-of-season party...
(Last scene: Nabu sees Layla as the best thing that's ever happened to him, and FG says that Bloom, still without complete Enchantix powers, now has enough courage to enter the dark realm of the ancient witches, break their spell, and finally find her birth parents.)
Yep, that's right. The one event that most fans have been waiting for, is going to have to wait for the all-CG movie. Then again, considering what else this season seemed to promise but never delivered on, that's par for the course.
Lori says:
(BZZ)
This ep had some good moments, but overall, it's a lackluster ending to a lackluster season. It feels like Rainbow concentrated all their talents on the movie and gave us a bunch of badly-written, trite episodes that are frustrating because they could have been so much more.
I hope the movie is more enjoyable than Season 3 has been. I feel like it's got to be. All the writing talent we used to see had to go somewhere.
(BZZ)
Well, that's it from the WinxTalk podcast for now. You can leave comments at my blog, spiderbraids.livejournal.com or at the forever_winx Yahoo group , groups.yahoo.com/group/forever_winx . Thanks for listening.
