Winx Club: Cut It Out!
A guide to edits made by 4Kids to Winx Club
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It Feels Like Magic
(European title: "An Unexpected Event")
So, we meet Bloom and Stella. Let's see what edits this ep has to offer:
Rearrangement: The first ep starts, and there's already an edit. 4Kids opens with the shot of Gardenia panning to the apartment, but then cuts to Bloom biking to the park and running into Stella and her battle with a troll, and they don't show Bloom waking up at her house, frantically getting dressed, talking to her parents, and meeting Mitzi (the snob) until segment two. In the original, it opens on Bloom waking up, frantically getting dressed etc., and it's not until several minutes into the show that she runs into Stella's battle. A side effect of the rearrangement is that in some scenes "after" the battle (a minion rips Bloom's pants leg during the battle), Bloom's pants are perfectly fine, until she and Stella are in the bedroom and Bloom points at the ripped pants.
Rearrangement: Even within Stella's battle itself, there is a slight rearrangement: 4Kids has Knut (the bumbling ogre) grab Bloom, and she suddenly glows causing Knut to be thrown. 4Kids then has Knut's minions run at her, and she extends a hand and creates a sudden force-field. Rainbow shows Bloom extending out her force-field first, and Knut sees this and grabs Bloom out of anger, resulting in her glowing.
Rewrite: As a side effect of rearranging, Bloom frantically putting on her clothes because she thought she had to go to school now becomes Bloom frantically putting on her clothes while telling mom about the girl downstairs.
Rearrangement / Visual edit / Removal: In the original, Bloom wakes up, puts on her clothes, realizes it's not a school day, goes back to sleep while mom talks about her fairy book. In the 4Kids version, Bloom's mom talks about the fairy book, and then the mention on Stella downstairs makes her wake up, and she puts on her clothes. Side effect: 4Kids has to slightly airbrush the scene where mom talks about her fairy book so that Bloom is still in her PJs and her eyes don't blink as in the original (fairy book). And a few more scenes are removed as well, like Mom putting down the fairy book on a table. (Also, for some reason, the shot of Bloom in bed used here is not only mirrored from the original, but also slightly altered. Look at it, and while you're at it, also note that 4Kids also airbrushes mom out of this shot.)
Visual edit: De-texted newspaper. (Newspaper)
Removal: Some less important scenes have been removed from the parts before (now after) Stella's battle:Rewrite: Three words: "You've got Winx!" Originally, no one actually says the term until the end of episode two, and that's Bloom coming up with a nickname for the group.
Rewrite: 4Kids has turned Stella into a valley girl. Compare the dialog (in response to Bloom saying "I don't know how I did it", in regards to the battle earlier):Generally, Stella sounds like she's yelling many of her lines in 4Kids' version.
Removal: This is probably general for the rest of the series, but... a scene where father Mike tells Stella to stop talking nonsense fades to black before fading in to Knut etc. appearing in a power station. 4Kids edits this to a simple cut.
Removal: 4Kids ends segment two on a close-up shot of Knut's hunting troll. Rainbow continues with the troll pulling back, and then Knut and co. walking out of the power station and seguing into the bedroom scene with Stella and Bloom (the first scene of segment three) with a close-up of a flying leaf (they do retain, however, the leaf that segues between the shot of the power station and the shot of Knut and co. arriving). Chop time: 8 seconds. ((At the power station)
Not an edit: Okay, it's related to edits. 4Kids freezes the close-up shot of the troll for a bit right before taking the break. They apparently do this trick a lot, since they also use it in the next ep.
Removal: After Knut's hunting troll has lost the scent trail (since Bloom has jumped into Stella's express portal, originally referred to as a "bottomless postcard"), Rainbow has a brief scene with Bloom's parents talking about Stella being a fairy.
Rearrangement / Addition / Rewrite: It's a mix of all three, actually, as after Bloom and Stella go through Stella's express portal. Stella describes all the schools in the Magix realm in detail, which she originally doesn't do until the next episode (she originally only gives a brief description of Alfea and make her offer), over visuals of scenes from all the schools from later eps. She then also mentions inviting the Red Fountain guys (incidentally, "Fonterossa" in the original Italian) over, originally mentioned during the later battle with Knut and the troll (and she originally mentions that she sent for them to help deal with the two).
Not an edit: Just before getting into the express portal, Bloom's pants are perfectly fine in both versions. (She has just earlier pointed to the ripped up pants.)
Visual edit / Removal: First, 4Kids mirrors the end of Stella's transformation, and then cuts the shot of the hunting troll that immediately follows originally. So, it cuts straight from Stella transforming to Stella kicking the troll.
Removal: Just before the end of segment three, Rainbow originally has a brief scene of Mitzi complaining about the racket around the house during the later battle (this is replaced with a shot of Bloom and Stella). Also cut is a brief scene of Kiko walking around under a pot, and a brief scene of Stella mentioning that she just called the Specialists. (Kiko in a pot, Mitzi)
More Than High School
(European title: "Welcome to Magix!")
We meet Stella and Bloom's roommates. Let's go over the edits (and non-edits):
Removal: A shot of a few students entering Alfea gets snipped. (Snip!)
Not an edit: No one points out that Bloom's pet rabbit Kiko passes through the magic barrier perfectly fine in either version, but originally at least, they show Kiko reacting to passing through just fine.
Addition / Visual: The shot of Stella talking to Bloom's parents actually goes on a few seconds longer in the 4Kids version. Yeah.By adding a small blob of magic above Stella's hand, 4Kids has her showing Bloom's parents "The official Alfea slide globe. It comes complete with the school song!" Similar to Stella's description of Magix's schools last ep, it features clips from later eps. (Check out the blob here and here.)
Removal: Every little snip matters. They snip out a few seconds of Bloom walking away from the barrier (see here and here), then Bloom nodding her head a few times to her parents (here), then Bloom patting her suitcase (here), and the end of the scene at the barrier (and what a cute smile she has), meaning they walk straight past the barrier into Alfea now.
Not an edit: Oh you're asking about the pictures? Thanks to GreatSaiyman777's project, and a little program called VLC Player, I can provide a few screencaps for you from these eps.
Rewrite: Originally, while looking for Eleanor's name, Griselda asks if she is nervous. 4Kids changes it to Grizelda having problems finding her name on the list and threatening to change her (she doesn't get as far as what she's going to change Eleanor into when she finds her name).
Rewrite: 4Kids has Stella elaborate on why she blew up the potions lab as her trying to create a new shade of pink (it is also mentioned later in the dorm). Stella's dad paid for the lab damages originally, but in 4Kids version, he donated to a new computer lab.
Removal / Rearrangement: Keep on snipping. A brief shot of the courtyard is snipped, and Griselda's tirade is rearranged. The bit where Griselda points towards the gate comes almost at the end in 4Kids version ("We believe that discipline is the only way to prepare you for the world out there"), and originally, it comes before the mention of the rules ("Disregard these rules, and I'll personally escort you to the front gate"). Details... originally: G walks around and points at the students. Close up of G. G points to front gate. G walks around some more. G explains rules. G shows broken potions lab. 4Kids: G walks around and points at the students. G explains rules. G shows broken potions lab. G points to front gate. Close up of G. Show Cloud Tower.
Removal / Addition: In the original, there is a scene where Faragonda walks out an introduces herself, and calls Alfea the only fairy school in the realm of Magix, before heading inside. This was cut out in favor of her doing her whole intro in the main building. This cut lasts 28 seconds. (I actually bothered to transcribe the whole scene for you. Read it here.) 4Kids instead has segment one end on Griselda explaining the school rules, including mentioning Cloud Tower being off limits, inserting a shot of Cloud Tower to illustrate.
Rewrite: Since Stella already described the schools as she originally does here, during her and Bloom's walk to the dorms, she explains what Winx is (basically, someone's magic identity). The visual of Stella raising up three fingers helps her explanation.
Rewrite: 4Kids adds an extra motive for Flora's pet project the talking plant: so as to save trees. Also, the "talking" plant originally doesn't have any dialog.
Visual: Originally the sign on the door to Flora and Bloom's room says "Varanda di Callisto". The "di" is changed to "of", and for some reason, they change Callisto to Vallisto. (Name change signboard)
Rewrite: As we meet the others, we note that Tecna now has a British accent, and Musa talks in questionable jargon (it's debatable whether she also has an Asian accent as well). No one has a distinct accent in Rainbow's version.
Rewrite: Okay, it doesn't change the meaning, but while Musa's original entrance dialog goes: "Next time you blow up something tell us so we can duck and cover", 4Kids changes the last bit to "bounce". Yep, it's the start of the hip-hop-ification of Musa.
Rewrite: Originally, "Varanda" suggests they go to downtown Magix for pizza, which she has to explain as "the national dish of Callisto" when they don't know what it is. 4Kids has Stella suggesting they go down for pizza, without as much as a question of what it is. (Later in the S3 premiere, Stella actually fights someone over pizza. Heh.)
Removal: 4Kids chops off 14 dialog-less seconds of Griselda looking at Bloom and her clique suspiciously. (A suspicious mind)
Removal: Two more chops before segment 2 ends: A brief shot of Magix, and 11 seconds of Knut on the phone, which follows the shot of Icy that the segment originally ends with. (Magix town, Knut on the phone)
Rewrite: Where Tecna originally apologised to Bloom for laughing at her phone, she now gives permission for Bloom to borrow her interrealm phone card (after offscreen Musa mentions a nearby interrealm phone).
Removal / Rearrangement: As is the case from this point onwards, multiple character transforms are pared down almost in half, and the montage is slightly rearranged as well. Then 4Kids chops off about 7 seconds after they're done transforming, where the witches notice the girl with the sceptre. (Now it's our turn, you animal... the last shot quickly pans over to show the fairies facing Knut)
Name change: Like other magical girl shows, the fairies call out their attacks. 4K has changed the attack names.Meanwhile, Tecna's Firewall attack remains the same. Later, you'll see some attacks getting names where there were none before.
Removal: 4Kids ends the ep on Faragonda and Grizelda discussing Bloom. Originally, it goes on with a brief scene in the dorm of Bloom deciding to call themselves the Winx. This scene is actually saved for a later ep. (Total time chopped: 55 seconds.)
Save the First Dance
(European title: "Alfea College for Fairies")
Red Fountain comes to Alfea for a dance. Notable edits:
Rewrite: 4Kids has Bloom explaining that she was the only one who failed WizGiz's class, which isn't exactly a good line to include since we only see one person change her hair color in that class.
Removal: 4Kids snips a brief shot of Stella looking at her mirror in the class. It cuts straight from random student turning blonde to Bloom looking at the mirror. Plus they then cut out Bloom smirking after listening to WizGiz's advice to try again. (In the classroom... if Stella's hair had changed color, I would have put it in the picture)
Removal: 4Kids ends the scene in the bedroom after Bloom's hair goes weird. In the original, after this happens, Flora says at least it's progress, Stella giggles, and Bloom brushes it down and asks everyone what they're here for. (Flora gets pillowed by Stella for just wanting to learn ;) ) The scene ends with Bloom looking out the dorm window, not sure what she's here for. It's a huge one minute chop and it doesn't end there. (Picture transcript of this scene)
Removal: 4Kids' chopping continues, as they also cut out Bloom and Stella sneaking into the cafeteria, so that now they're all together in the cafeteria to begin with. About 30 seconds are chopped off here. (Cafeteria sneak)
Removal: Around the juncture between the first two 4Kids segments, a brief scene of the Winx girls walking down a hall at Alfea (with Flora adding vines to a column and Musa saying she's taking care of the music) is snipped out. Another 20 seconds. (In the hall, transcript included)
Not an edit: 4Kids retained the funniest part of the episode, and didn't even have to change the dialog: "It was calling to me, 'Buy me, buy me please!'"
Rewrite: Stella offers to pay for Bloom's dress. 4Kids has Flora remind Stella that she maxed out her card buying her outfit, while originally Flora just recommends her not to pay for Bloom's dress ("You might offend her"). I... guess it's just bad manners to pay for someone else's dress in Italy?
Removal: 4Kids shortens the scene where Bloom runs back to Alfea, enters her room with her dress, and frantically looks for scissors. Bloom, looking over her shoulder notices Kiko (her bunny) trying to bite the dress and chides him for it, and then she tries using her magic powers as a beam to cut her dress, which sets it on fire instead when she runs off to the balcony to check the RF students coming in. 4Kids cuts out Bloom putting out the fire, and then going out into the hall to find scissors, as well as the outside shot of Alfea with Bloom running in. What's left: Bloom enters room with dress. Bloom looks for scissors while Kiko bites the dress. Bloom looks over her shoulder (originally to notice Kiko chewing her dress) and runs out to the balcony to see the RF boys. Fade out to witches in the tunnels.
Removal: 4Kids snips a brief shot of Bloom magically turning on the lights in her dorm after performing a counterspell.
Rewrite / Removal: Later on, Flora notices Bloom being cornered outside by the Trix and tells the others about it, and then they're interurpted by FG asking the other girls to receive the guests and for Musa to "play (the guests at the dance) something". 4K cuts out Flora noticing Bloom outside (and Flora now says, "This prince asked me to dance" as she approaches the other Winx girls), refers to Musa as "Princess Musa" (which will later be a problem in season 2 with "Magic in My Heart", plus season 3 with Princess Galatea), and has FG suggesting her to perform a hip-hop number. Yep, more hip-hop-ification. (They also intercut between the scenes with a fade-out, and although Rainbow likes to separate scenes with fade-outs, these scenes were done as simple cuts.) (See the edit here)
Removal: Bloom's first transformation runs a few seconds shorter in the 4Kids' version. The original version shows a small growing fireball flying up from her chest up to her hands as they're being raised, before she claps her hands to "catch" the fireball (a snippet of season 1's opening titles does use this shot), and then she cups her hands into some sort of receptacle for a few moments. 4Kids snips this out so we see from the fireball in her cupped hands onwards. (To see this same transform in action in the original version, check this clip.)
Rearrangement: 4Kids puts Icy finding the duck in Stella's ring case after the scene where the girls are outside Alfea. Originally, it came after a scene inside Alfea where Flora explained her spell.
Removal: And then 4Kids snips out about 5 seconds of Icy's outrage at finding a duck in Stella's ring case.
Rewrite: And lastly, instead of explaining the spell, Flora gives the scoop on what was going on while Bloom was outside. Fade to black, then show "Brandon" dancing with Bloom.
The Voice of Nature
(European title: "The Black-Mud Swamp")
Red Fountain drops in on Palladium's survival class.
Rewrite: The gas in the swamp: Very flammable in the original, turns people (in this case a tree) into stone in 4Kids' version.
Addition / Rearrangement / Removal: With this ep originally ending with Bloom checking on Stella in her room, 4Kids ends this ep with the scene of Bloom calling the gang the Winx Club (originally belonging to the 2nd ep), and removes the "Stella in her room" scene.
Rewrite: Stella makes a W.i.t.c.h. reference in the 4Kids version while trying to give the group a name. "B.S.M.T.F.?" "Check it: beauty, style, magic, taste, and flair. And those are also the first letters in each of our names!"
Date With Disaster
(European title: "Date With Disaster"... there are only two episodes which "match up" like this)
Stella's off on a date, or so she thinks. Edits:
Rewrite: Bloom and co. are peeling potatoes and roasting flipweed to make a good judgement potion recipe Bloom has found in a magazine, while they're also making omelettes because they're hungry. In the original, they're peeling potatoes, making a roast, and cooking omelettes for dinner. Where Bloom talks about the spell, she's originally wondering why they can't just use magic to make dinner. (And as you'd expect from an "American" cartoon, the chef gets a really cheesy European accent.) It should be noted that in the US version, Griselda punishes them by making them do dinner for the school anyway.
Rearangement: The girls flip their omelettes one by one in the original, but 4Kids shows them flipping their eggs simultaneously. To wit: 4Kids: Flora flips, Tec flips, Musa flips, Flora catches, Tec catches, Musa catches, Bloom throws (followed by some "spinning like a DJ" quip from, who else?, Musa). Original: Flora flips, Flora catches, Tec flips, Tec catches, Musa flips, Musa catches, Bloom throws.
Addition: There's a fire in the kitchen. There are two extra shots in the sequence of the girls running back to the kitchen that I don't recall seeing anywhere. Here they are. Any Europeans recognize them?
Addition: 4Kids shows the Trix explaining that they tricked Stella, using a scene from "Miss Magix" which actually takes place in the convention hall for the pageant. In the original, this reveal was meant as a surprise in the scene in the cottage later on.
Removal: After the first break, 4Kids snips a few seconds of Flora and Bloom returning to their shared room, so that when we first see Bloom after the break, she is leaving their shared room to talk with Musa and Tecna. (Back to the room)
Rewrite: So Bloom has taken the potion she just made. That night, Musa and Tecna talk about Riven. Originally, they're talking about dating in general (with Tec replying "I've not been programmed for dating", and later, after Bloom suggests she go out with Timmy, Tec leaves for bed saying, "I'll go switch myself off now"). The giggling afterwards was originally about her "switch-off" comment, where Tec now says (in regards to what Musa should do with Riven) "Ask Bloom in the morning when the potion takes effect."
Removal: Removed: a few seconds of yawning from Musa and Bloom. (Yaaaawn...)
Rewrite: Originally, WizGiz refers to his rat as Phil. 4Kids changes it so that somehow, that rat is his Grandpa. Really. ("We'll find that antidote someday, grandpa!!")
Rewrite: Originally, Tec suggests that Stella's date "sent her into dizzy mode", and Bloom has to translate that as "in over her head". In 4Kids' version, Tec speaks uncharacteristically normal: "There is a technical term for the way she's acting... 'crazy'." It's small, but still...
Rewrite: Originally, there is no mention of the issue with the troll from the last episode, and the boys aren't being locked down as punishment. "Sky" exercised the night of Stella's date and was exhausted. (Yeah, it's a good 4K edit. So there! :P)
Addition: Originally, Bloom doesn't remind "Stella" about giving Bloom her ring (meanwhile, she later discusses it with the other fairies). This is why "Stella" goes all destructive on the dorm instead of just asking for it.
Rearrangement: Magix. They're looking for The Black Lagoon Café. In the US, Tec says she already searched in her search engine, so Bloom suggests they ask people. In the original, we actually see her use her search engine (basically, a map appearing above her hand) before the sequence where they're asking people. 4Kids shows the bits with Tec's search engine as parts of the "asking people" sequence.
Rewrite: A few lines of dialog are dubbed in to the "asking people" sequence ("I've heard of a black-eyed pea, but that's a legume, not a lagoon"), where there was none originally (there was a vocal song playing).
Addition: Scenes from other episodes are added in during the sequence, like Musa looking inside the Hex Cafe ("Spelled") and a wide shot of the city square ("Witch Trap").
Visual edit / Removal: Black Lagoon Café. 4Kids segues into Tec's transformation with a glare flash. Originally, the picture just faded to black except for Tec and the table she's standing behind. And then they chop a few seconds from the sequence itself (cutting out the part where Tec crosses her hands). And then when the other girls transform, the clips sequence is done differently. Original: Musa dances on dancefloor --> Bloom crosses her hands --> Flora's flower under her neck forms --> Bloom's wings pop out --> Flora's sleeve appears --> Flora flies into the air --> Musa's boots appear --> Musa's dress appears --> End of Flora's transform --> End of Musa's transform --> End of Bloom's transform --> Cut to Winx posing. 4Kids: Musa crosses her hands --> Musa's dress appears --> End of Musa's transform --> Flora crosses her hands --> Flora's sleeve appears --> Flora flies into the air --> Start of Bloom's transform --> Bloom's top appears --> Bloom's crown appears -> Cut to Winx posing.
Rewrite: Bloom realizes that "Stella" is an impostor because she called them pixies, while originally, she doesn't have powers without her ring. (This is in fact the case in the US, but that's for another episode.)
Rewrite: Tec chooses to fight because they're 4 on 3. In the original, and in the last scene, Tec points out they were 4 on 4.
Rewrite: Before the "the witches haven't won the game" part of the final scene (thankfully, this is kept, although only Tecna questions the expression instead of all of the others originally, and the line is spoken at a later point than in the original), originally the fairies discuss why they didn't just fight the Trix (Tec points out they were evenly-numbered as mentioned above, but Bloom tells them that fighting would have just made things worse). Instead, Musa calls giving the Trix the ring a good decision, before Tecna yells at Bloom for mixing in the wrong ingredients.
Rewrite: Continuation of the above entry...
Not an edit: But worth noting anyhow. Note how the judgement potion is treated as a key plot point, and yet it is never actually shown. Considering other similar instances in eps 9 and 10, I've come up with this rule of thumb: if what should be a key plot development isn't actually shown on screen, it's likely that 4Kids just added it in there.
Video highlights:Click here.
Secret Guardian
(European title: "Mission at Cloudtower"... note that the school name is written as one word here)
The Winx head to Cloud Tower for Stella's ring.
Rearrangment / Removal: Originally, Bloom researches in the library (alone) about Stella's ring (she finds the entry it under a picture of a dreamcatcher), before later showing the Trix meditating. (Somehow, Bloom doesn't know who the Trix are, even though she appeared to know perfectly well at the end of ep 2...) The Trix now meditate at the start of the ep instead, and Bloom's library research is condensed a bit (the first thing you see is a pic of the ring in a book without showing the dreamcatcher pic, and you hear Musa, as if she's in the library with her). 4Kids also cuts straight from Bloom reading the book in library to a close up of Bloom's left eye (at this point, she is in the dorm in the original). Also, Bloom briefly imitates one of the teachers in the original. Over in the states, she plays it straight.
Rewrite: In the meditation scene, the Trix get real mad that they can't unlock the Dragon's power in the ring, which they're convinced it has. Originally, they realize that the ring can't contain the Dragon Fire (which, coincidences being what they are, Bloom has been querying about with FG over at Alfea).
Removal: A walk-and-talk sequence with the girls after Bloom first mentions the Great Dragon has been cut completely: It cuts straight from Bloom mentioning the dragon to Bloom walking down the hall alone.
Visual edit: When FG mentions the destruction of Sparx, the color of the planet has been changed from blue to orange.
Rewrite / Rearrangement: Rainbow's original dialog at the"Tonight, when everyone's asleep, the Winx Club will go into action" is spiced up into: "Hey, you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. That's the power of the Winx Club." Plus, they don't use the same shot to end the scene with their respective lines. 4Kids uses Rainbow's last shot (a close up of Bloom) for Bloom announcing her plan. Rainbow uses 4Kids' last shot (Bloom punching her fist in the other hand) for Bloom announcing her plan too.
Rewrite: In 4Kids' version, Tecna knows the room is on the second floor, so Bloom points up the stairs. In Rainbow's version, Bloom hears Darcy yelling at Knut, so Bloom points up the stairs.
Rewrite / Removal: 4Kids has Bloom complaining that the Trix will be looking for the ring when they realize it's gone (and the Trix haven't discovered that the Dragon Fire isn't with the ring; they just realize this out of the blue in the next ep... yeah, bad writing), as well as Musa saying she was working on a spell to hit the perfect high note, etc. Nothing about this in the original. They also remove a short shot of Bloom winking.