The Editor's Spotlight: Gangs of Gardenia

[spiderbraids]

Today, I was banned from winx_club for posting a podcast with rather disparaging remarks... most of which aren't even mine. (There's also the matter of me quoting people without permission, but that's for another post.)

Over at that community, I had a regular feature going called "The Editor's Spotlight", in which I point out the differences between the original version of a Winx episode, and the version aired in the states. I had gotten up to "Truth or Dare" before taking a short hiatus, and today was going to be the day I resumed. And so, I resume... but at my personal journal. (If you want to read the comparisons previous to this episode, apply to be a member at the community.)

We begin at the beginning.

Unedited: Layla is being given orders. And more orders. And more. And then, all the people giving her orders turn into a bunch of Darkars. Cut to the bit with Piff.

Edited: Layla is being yelled at for dancing with peasants. Then she's being given orders to go to the ballroom and stuff. They do show one person having glowing eyes, but then cut out the Darkars.

Yes, time constraints, but to me it still makes more sense to show the Darkars, since it's the most obvious thing that's making Layla having nightmares. Interestingly, the last thing in both versions we hear is the order, "You shall do nothing."

The girls are in the cafeteria.

Unedited: Stella and Layla are tired and want to cut class and things. Bloom and Flora are not interested. Musa comes in with mail. A Charmogram for Stella, a mystery letter for Flora and a letter from Bloom's earth parents. Meanwhile, she mentions that Tecna is having breakfast with Timmy right now. After reading her letter, Bloom says, "I think I just got a great idea." Bloom explains in the next scene, on the bus in Gardenia, that Vanessa is testifying in court against the evil businessmen who burned down her shop, and Bloom wants to give her support. Later still, Vanessa has doubts that she should have testified against them, but Bloom insists that they'd do it again otherwise.

Edited: Stella and Layla want to cut class and go to earth with Bloom. Bloom says she needed special permission to go out of the realm. Blah blah, Flora is not interested in cutting class. Musa comes in with mail. In this case, it's invitations to the RF concert. (More on those later.) After 4K cuts out the tail-end of the cafeteria scene, Bloom explains on the bus that she wants to talk to her mom about the search for her parents. Later still, Bloom makes suggestions on how Vanessa should get help on fixing up her new flower shop.

Wonder what continuity lover Lori might say about this. On the one hand, 4K edits and dubs out a throwback to last season. On the other, the whole RF invitations bit is the inverse of that scene from Date with Disaster where Fake!Sky references the troll disaster where he doesn't originally. This time, they're adding in a reference to a FUTURE event where there was none before. Hmm...

Buried somewhere in the episode is a scene that ended up in Homesick. It's Tecna's breakfast, as mentioned by Musa. Let's go inside Tecna's brain!

Unedited:
Timmy gives her the heatsink
Nice, but I'd rather have a gift of my own.
Tecna says to this effect. Timmy: "I've been thinking..."
That can only mean one thing. He's going to talk about our relationship, where it's headed and...
"The Tensor Incantation Software has new features."
Software? There are lots of problems in our relationship, and all he thinks I'm interested in talking about is the latest software? I'm dealing with enough software as it is already today, I don't need more!

Edited:
Timmy gives her the heatsink
Nice, but why won't he make his move already?
Tecna: "It's not compatible with my system." Timmy: "Speaking of compatibility..."
That can REALLY only mean one thing. He's going to talk about how compatible we are, where our relationship's headed and...
"Guess who downloaded music through his PHA?"
What's that have anything to do with compatibility?! I thought he was going to talk about our relationship! I thought he was going to make his move! I thought... ah, what the heck. Timmy stinks.

This next edit, I REALLY have no idea what's with this one.

Unedited: Tune whines about some boy's dirty hands. Then Musa and co run into some cops. Layla decides to talk with them. Layla explains that they're from an out of town school, and when the cop asks if they have permission to be here, she replies, "Certainly sir, if you like we can give you our parents' numbers and you can check." The cop decides to get off their case. Stella congratulates Layla on her act, but Musa tells Stella that that wasn't an act. Tune adds: "She's a master of etiquette!" This is when Stella and Musa find out Layla is a princess.

Edited: Tune fears some boy. "Someone control that child!" Then Musa and co run into some cops. Layla speaks troll language at them. The cop realizes she's an out of towner, and gets off her case. Stella thinks it's awesome. End scene.

There's a bit of illogicity in the original (I mean, why doesn't the cop take Layla's numbers?), but I'd still prefer it to the edited one. I don't like gobbledygook. Also, it makes more sense to reveal Layla's frustrated royal life by way of etiquette.

Unedited: Bloom and Stella are outside of the club. Bloom sees the auras above the guys' heads, and immediately knows that Layla and Musa are in trouble.

Edited: Bloom and Stella are outside of the club. Bloom thinks that Layla and Musa are in trouble.

Continuity is nice, so why cut this out throwback to 1x13? It's not that long...

Flora. Helia. Stone garden. Letter.

Unedited: Chatta is surprised that Flora missed a perfect opportunity, but that's it. The interaction amounts to "Is this yours?" "Yes it is."

Edited: Helia tells Flora that whoever receives the letter is lucky. Flora says it's for her parents. Chatta is surprised that Helia's comment didn't make Flora go "SQUEE! Then you know what that means? You're the luckiest man alive!" (Okay, I'm exaggerating, but you get the point.)

Epilogue. The Winx (except for Flora and Tecna) are being punished to clean up the whole school. Stella says, "Oh no, not again!" (Last year, she missed a concert because of punishment like this. But at least this year she had it coming. Oh yeah, Griz is telling them not to put on music during the cleaning [like they did last year].)

Unedited: The punishment makes more sense since all of them cut class without permission. Flora and Layla then talk about Helia. Somewhere, Layla mentions that Anne moved out.

Edited: Because of the punishment, they'll be missing a potions fair. Flora talks to Layla about Helia, adding "I wanted to give him the letter, but in my realm, girls don't really make the first move. It's kind of a rule."

I will say this: If 4K (not that I'm being ugly at them!) wanted to be consistent, they should have brought up the rule again in, at the very least, episode 23. In fact, Chatta's response of "Boys don't know how to do these things" could easily still apply to this. As it stands, all the rule does is make the ending consistently themed to "rules".

Comments

[tanz-fanatika.livejournal.com]

Funny how you leave out the REST of the reasons you were banned. Considering there's a laundry list.

Somehow I don't think Darkar is the only thing giving Layla nightmares. She's bonded with Piff, whose powers allow Layla to sleep peacefully. So she had to be having nightmares well before the Darkar incident.

Stella and Layla want to cut class because they're tired? Yeah, that's a good example for children. CUT IT! At least in our version, they have a reason to want to cut. Still not something I think is a good example, but it works better than the whiny "we're tired." That's just pathetic.

I still think the court thing is unbelievably boring. If they're going for continuity, there are a lot better ways to do so. The future reference is nice, since how often do people discuss things they're going to do? A lot.

The Tune bit is weird, I'll admit it. I don't know what's up with that.

I love Layla speaking the troll language. It IS awesome. It shows she thinks well on her feet. What if the cop HAD asked for the numbers? Would she have just lied and made them up? The language is way better. And how is the troll language whatever silly word you called it? It's supposed to be a foreign language, so it can't sound like English! Sheesh. A little logic here? It's more likely that Layla would know a language like troll than French or German. She's not from Earth! And of course, troll isn't going to be intelligible. I find your issue here to be quite ridiculous.

I'm glad they cut the stupid aura thing, too. Why does Bloom only have that power on Earth? Because if she has it all the time, you'd think she'd see the huge freakin' bad aura Avalon must put out.

[spiderbraids.livejournal.com]

Funny how you leave out the REST of the reasons you were banned. Considering there's a laundry list.

I swear I edited this post last night to mention the "quoting without permission" thing.

I'm glad they cut the stupid aura thing, too. Why does Bloom only have that power on Earth? Because if she has it all the time, you'd think she'd see the huge freakin' bad aura Avalon must put out.

1x13 did address the "I seem to only have this aura power on Earth" bit, but didn't explain anything.