Winx Club: Cut It Out!
A guide to edits made by 4Kids to Winx Club
The Dark Tower
The Winx fight a huge obelisk.
Removal: 4Kids chops out an entire scene involving a paper cutout puppet show by Livy and Kiko (this is why he is holding a paper doll later). The episode now opens with the fairies returning from their mission. (In fact, the whole episode has been framed this way in the original, and the dub has completely removed it.)
Visual edit: In shadow, Flora is showering. 4Kids flattens her chest. See for yourself: Original TX, US TX
Party Monster
Red Fountain has a new campus, and a new student.
Rewrite: The witches were invited to the RF party. The original doesn't give any particular reason, but the dub mentions their help in the last season's invasion.
Removal: In the original, Tecna kind of resents that Digit beat her at programming using brute force, and then plays back a program they had made, and it ends with Timmy and Tecna kissing while falling upside-down. Seriously. (Screencap of kiss.) Digit then tells Tecna to re-join the others. In the edit, Digit asks Tecna about why Tecna's uncomfortable around Timmy. Tecna talks about her dream, while playing it back. The clip ends right before where the kiss had originally been, and the dialog even reflects this: "Just as he was about to kiss me, I woke up." (This is the 2nd time a scene that was cut from the original is explicitly made to not happen to fit the dialog: Bloom fails her test and stews about it in "Witch Trap" when she had originally passed.) Digit then tells Tecna to stop being illogical and start looking for him.
Rewrite: 4K pads Darcy's dialog so that she blows her cover snarking on Layla's dancing. In the original, she is smart enough to not speak.
Rewrite: Darkar calls Icy back from the RF guard room, and as she's sucking up to him back at his pad, she wonders why he did so. LD says that it wouldn't be fun to attack when they were totally expecting it. In the original, Icy sees there are too many guards (IMO, nonsense since she could still wait for her sisters and make guardsicles), and she retreats, before apologizing to LD back at his pad, and getting called a bunch of slow-witted fools.
Video: View comparisons from this episode.
The Angel of Doom
Tecna is suspicious of Avalon, Alfea's new teacher.
Rewrite: In the original, Avalon's class is about learning the truth, which is not necessarily what is well-known to be the truth (such as the first ever fairy). The dub has Avalon telling the class to give him their complete trust to find their hidden selves.
Removal: Originally, the scene where Digit comes out of the computer continues with Chatta giving Lockette a new dress. Instead, 4Kids just ends the scene and heads to a commercial when Digit comes out.
Rearrangement: The episode originally opens with the village pillage. That scene is now part of the computer scene mentioned above. (Video of computer scene.)
Rewrite: 4Kids explains Palladium's new look differently. Originally, it is part of elves' natural evolution (Palladium is an elf). 4Kids explains it with a trip to hot springs and a potion from WizGiz.
Rewrite: Tecna learns a spell. In the original, it is a Plasma Sphere. In the dub, it's a Truth Orb. Its very nature, that it reveals its target's true nature, conflicts with the plot twist in "Darkness and Light", although I've heard at least one person has explained this away as Tecna performing the spell wrong. (Video.)
Rewrite / Removal: The whole explanation for Tecna being wrong is different. The biggest difference is the prophecy she read being written by a comedian, with a tie-in to Avalon's class. 4K cuts out the part where Tecna and FG talk about the prophecy and have FG merely say Tecna's logic was flawed. Clip, also including the scene in Avalon's class.
Reaching for the Sky
The Trix attack the new Red Fountain campus.
Rewrite: Bloom gushes about Avalon on the phone to Sky, but Sky doesn't really like her hanging out with him, and she's teed because she doesn't think there's anything for him to be jealous about. In the dub, she's talking about a new idea for a date, but Sky wants Bloom to come over to his dorm for a serious talk, and she's not pleased because she thinks it's about Diaspro.
Rewrite: Stella and co. attend a magical defense class and are surprised to see that Griselda is teaching. In the 4K version, Stella and co. head over to a cooking class, and are surprised to see Griselda teaching them magical defense instead. The class itself has also been re-written, and I suggest you check the video.
Rewrite: At night in the dorm, Bloom says she doesn't want to see Sky anymore. In the dub, Bloom is expecting Sky to break up with her. This change is mirrored at RF: the original has Sky think that Bloom is selfish, while in the dub, Sky is practicing how to officially make Bloom his girlfriend.
Removal: After the Trix enter RF, 4K cuts out a few seconds of Bloom thinking, "Everyone is in danger; this is no time for me to be angry with Sky."
Rewrite: While the Trix are at the scale room, in the dub Icy decides to have Darcy put a non-aggression spell on them. In the original, Icy is merely going over the weights placed in front of her.
Rewrite: Rainbow originally has Icy kill Sky with one of her newly-enhanced spells, and then have Bloom revive him. 4Kids expectedly tones this down to a 100-year sleep. The main buzz about this edit was not just that fans already knew about Sky's "death" beforehand, but also that it ends up making an improvement on the original by not having Bloom be as much of a Mary-Sue.
Visual edit: The original version never shows the glass around the Codex piece shattering, while the 4K version does. Pic.
Rewrite / Removal: Original has Timmy deciding on his own against shooting the Trix, then Tecna yelling at Timmy, "You're a coward!" before running off. Dub has Timmy not shooting supposedly being the effect of a non-aggression spell, with Tecna saying, "I'll get help" before running off. Also, 4K has snipped about a second of Timmy looking at Bloom and Sky's situation.
Video: View the comparisons here.
Homesick
The fairies' pixies have been hit by a homesickness spell.
Rearrangement: The part where Tecna and Timmy speak at breakfast is actually from the 13th episode ("Gangs of Gardenia"). Also, while it is buried midway through the ep in the original (after the girls notice their pixies are missing), the 4K version opens with the scene of Timmy wondering why his IMs are being blocked by Tecna. (In the original, he's being blocked from her computer, and this is a circumstance of Timmy not shooting the Trix in the previous ep.) Clip.
Truth or Dare
The Winx learn about power convergence, plus: Jared.
Removal: During FG's class at the start, a short shot of Flora and Tecna smiling and Layla looking gloomy (while FG gives them pair assignments) has been cut out.
Rewrite: In the original, the Musa photos are apparently in Jared's room. 4K adds Jared asking for Riven, thus making it sound like the photos are in Riven's room.
Rewrite: Musa and Layla talk about their convergence homework. Originally Layla hopes Musa doesn't mind FG teaming them together. In the dub, Layla asks Musa to find a different partner.
Removal: 4K snips out a bit where Bloom calls out to Musa as she's returning to Alfea, so it now looks like Musa's approaching Bloom and Stella about the date.
Rewrite: Stella asks a lot about the guy she just saw Musa with (Jared), and Musa's annoyed that she's nosy. In the dub, she's bragging about how she set him up for her, and Musa's annoyed that she's... well, nosy, but for different reasons.
Rewrite: Bloom and Stella have no idea how to do their convergence homework, and have no idea why they can't figure it out since their powers are so similar. In the 4K version, Bloom and Stella say they got into a fight on trying to pick a way of converging their powers.
Removal: After class, 4K removes a few short shots of Stella yawning and Piff sleeping. No harm done, really.
Rewrite: Musa is mad at Stella hurting Layla's feelings. Originally, it's because Stella said "the five of us" in referring to themselves. In the 4K version, it's because she proposed a slumber party, which originally wasn't mentioned until the next scene, and the dub has Layla explain that she can't come because she's never had any friends in a long time (which in this webmaster's opinion, is exactly why she should have been enthusiastic about it).
Rewrite: Originally, the other girl in Stella's flashback has broken her leg without any magical influence. In the dub, it's the result of a zit spell gone bad.
Removal: After Jared deals with Alfea's simulator, there's an extra scene at the slumber party, with Stella and Musa talking about Riven and Layla dressing up as a warrior. 4K cuts out the Layla as warrior part, and mirrors Stella's reaction to Layla to use it as part of her convo with Musa.
Visual edit: There is one scene in which Faragonda drags in Jared with a purple hoop around him. Originally, Jared was tied up with rope. In fact, in the original telecast, 4Kids still showed the rope while Faragonda is talking with the pixies, until they later fixed that shot. (All roped up)
Video: View some comparisons from this episode.
Gangs of Gardenia
The Winx spend a day on Earth.
Removal: In the opening dream sequence, the original has Layla suddenly being surrounded by a bunch of LD's, while the dub doesn't.
Rewrite: Musa's handing out letters. In the original, they're general letters (one's from Vanessa, for example). In the dub, they're invites to RF's concert. (from Megan)
Removal: After Musa gives Bloom her letter, the original has an iris shot of Bloom saying "I think I just a good idea" at the end of the scene. This is elaborated in the next edit. The 4K scene abruptly goes to the next scene after Stella has explained to Musa about cutting school.
Rewrite: The entire point of Bloom's visit to Earth originally concerned the trial of the Bonners from season 1's "Meant To Be", discussed during a brief scene with Vanessa (this is the longest you'll get to see her this season in either version). Instead, Bloom now got permission to visit Earth. (Originally, they all cut class against the rules, and that's why they're all punished later.) The dub version of the Vanessa scene talks about re-opening the flower shop.
Rewrite / Removal: A scene between a cop and three of the girls gets re-written. Originally, Layla talks politely to the cop, but the dub changes it so that Layla doesn't even speak English, and then removes the end bit with Tune saying (of Layla) "She's a master of etiquette!" (Video.)
Removal: 4Kids cuts out a decent continuity nod: Bloom noticing the gang guys' auras.
Visual edit: Gang threatens the Winx with a chain, a twig, and a broken bottle. 4Kids removes the bottle and the twig and changes the chain into a ribbon. (Even in the 4Kids preview for the episode, they still showed the bottle, twig and chain.)
Removal: There were originally a few Harry Potter references: One of the guys tells the leader he should stop reading the Harriet Porter books and the leader says: "I can't read stupid!" Then another scene has a guy suggesting they send Layla and Musa back to Hagwars. (from Megan)
Addition/Removal: Epilogue. Flora talks to Layla about Helia, and says that in her realm, girls don't make the first move. Originally, this scene had Layla talking about how she never had any friends after her friend Anne moved out, with the part with the letter only coming at the end. There are also flashbacks to Layla running out of the club while Layla's having her talk.
Video: View comparisons from this episode.