Winx Club: Cut It Out!
A guide to edits made by 4Kids to Winx Club
In the states, the Italian-produced animated series Winx Club is handled by 4Kids, whose record with their previous animated imports from Japan has been dismal for anime fans, whether it be new title sequences, new music, pointless name changes, plot changes, scene edits, visual edits (some of them ridiculous!), you name it, they've done it. (Yes, they've dropped whole episodes and even story arcs. For example, the 11th ep of One Piece was reduced to various edits tacked on to the end of episode 10, and they entirely removed a storyline involving a whale. Thankfully, 4Kids doesn't treat Winx this heinously.)
Also, with Winx Club, there was already a perfectly usable English dub (apparently handled by the production company Rainbow SRL themselves), and this version is broadcast in quite a few parts of the world, including where I live (Thailand, where two different broadcasters, one local and the other regional, have both aired that version; with the alternate English dub airing on the 2nd audio). Somewhat ironically, this alternate English dub is referred to as the UK dub, but the UK themselves is known to air the 4Kids version (!)
When 4Kids got their hands on it, they proceeded to "Americanize" it, give it a lighter version of the way they treat their anime, as well as pare down the show from 22 minutes to about 17-18. I have no idea why 4Kids has almost as much advertising as programming, or why they split the program into 4 segments instead of the "standard" three-segment structure used in TV cartoons since the late 80's and early 90's (although they're not alone in that trend... recently, Asia's Cartoon Network changed their onscreen ID to the "two squares" version used in the states, and now split their shows into 4 segments instead of three). But I digress...
This page is here to explain what 4Kids cuts out from the show. I won't bother with plot summaries either (except for an under-10-words description), since you probably know the plots well enough if you're coming here. Edits come in 6 varieties:
- Removal: 4Kids does not show this scene in their version of the ep.
- Addition: 4Kids adds a scene from another ep here.
- Rearrangement: 4Kids shows these scenes in a different order from the original, sometimes changing the meaning of the scenes.
- Visual: 4Kids has edited the picture.
- Name change: 4Kids has given a character (or in a few cases on Winx, a location) a different name from the original.
- Rewrite: 4Kids has re-scripted the scene. Minor changes that do not change the meaning of the scene are exempt. (There are even examples which completely throw away the scene's plot signifigance.)
Also indicated are a few parts which weren't actually edited, but may seem that way to some viewers. (Either that, or I have a note that I just wanted to get out.)
Let's get things started. Click on a link, and it'll take you to a list of edits made to a particular batch of episodes. (Note that I will be going with the US titles, since I have not seen a truly reliable source for the "original" European English titles. However, the original titles will be indicated where I can remember them.)
Season 1
Episodes 1 to 6
Episodes 7 to 13
Episodes 14 to 19
Episodes 20 to 26
Season 2
Episodes 1 to 6
Episodes 7 to 13
Episodes 14 to 19
Episodes 20 to 26
I may be missing some comparison points. Email me to fill me in.
Other things wanted: Screencaps to help illustrate the visual edits, and possibly a few video files to show some edited-out or rewritten scenes.
Personal disclaimer: Although this page is designed to point out the differences between the original version and 4Kids' version, it is not designed to bash 4Kids. While I may make the occasional negative comment on the company's treatment of the dub, it is not the main purpose.
Links
eilonwe's LiveJournal community - members only since December 2005
Frank Maggiore's Unofficial Winx Site
This space to briefly mourn 4K forcing Oneide to take off his Winx vids... You can still watch the 4K version online at the lounge section of 4K's official Winx site.
Normally, I wouldn't link to fansubs - But I'm willing to make an exception. This isn't a fansub link per se. However, this Torrent of the first two eps of the original version was released by a group who plans to do fansubs for the show. (I question their logic since an uncut English version of the original exists, and is in fact included in this release, but I'll let it pass.)
Winx Club Fansubs - Here's the fansubbing group for Winx Club.