Rover_Wow
12-13-2005, 12:35 AM
1. This past Sunday, I saw the uncut version of the episode most of you will know as "Magical Reality Check", the one with Bloom's exam. I suspected that the train-wreck-ness of this particular ep (including, but not limited to, the ep's excuse for an ending) was a result of 4Kids' sloppy editing... and I was mostly right. Anyone here interested in reading about how it originally went? No? Well, here goes anyway.
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So, we have Bloom looking in a well, dropping a few coins, and thinking of Daphne (Daphne's even showing flying in the reflection in the water). The others have to call her a few times, before Bloom is out of her daze. Anyways, tomorrow they're due to take a visit to the "famed" Simulation Chamber at Alfea, and they're talking about whether it's safe or not.
Over at Cloud Tower, the Trix are having a meeting about Bloom, and summoning their CG-animated crystals. Icy points out that during the attack in the episode previous to this, the energy levels from Bloom were equal to that of the Dragon Fire, so they're going to test her, just to be sure that she's carrying the flame.
Next day. Palladium is showing off the simulation chamber. After blabbing about some applied phlebotinum about amber lights creating all kinds of environments (Stella, with tongue in cheek, asks whether it can simulate dates), he reveals that he's planning on simulating the final exams, and the Chamber tests are for midterms. He's offering a choice of two tests: reversing the effects of spells by witches, and restoring a damaged environment. The tests begin tomorrow.
That night. Bloom is with "Brandon" and his dog, talking about the whole deal with the midterms, and how nervous she is. "Brandon" wishes her luck. Up in a branch, Riven telepaths to Darcy, and we see Darcy hacking the chamber computer. More like casting a spell, but whatever.
Next day. Before the exams, Bloom is reading a few books, while Kiko (Bloom's bunny) sneaks into her bag. Chamber. While Faragonda is watching the tests through her magic mirror thing, Palladium asks for a volunteer. Although Stella has just mentioned that going early and getting it done with would reduce the pressure, no one dares to volunteer (Stella included). So he has to pick. He picks Bloom, asking her which test she's picked. She's picked the environment test. Palladium brings up a realm he identifies as Domino (we learn later in the series that this is where Bloom is from). Bloom asks if she can take her bag in, and she can. The others wish her luck, and here we go.
Inside the chamber. Bloom finds Kiko in her bag. After a bit of chiding, she plants some seeds and grows them using her magic. Enter the Trix. She thinks they're holograms, but even so, she knows she has to dispatch them, so cue transform. They fight. Faragonda is thinking that Palladium picked a really difficult test for Bloom, and if she passes, she'll get high marks. Um... DUH?
Cloud Tower. The Trix are playing with dolls. Stormy notes that she is consciously suppressing her powers, so they need to work her more.
Back in the chamber. Icy freezes Bloom's legs, but no problem with her fire powers. Icy points Kiko out to Bloom and, without even giving her a chance to save him, knocks him into a pool of lava. Icy tells Bloom "You're not going to let us get away with it, are you?" Bloom releases her full powers, and blows up the Trix.
Cloud Tower. That release of power melts their dolls, and registers on their crystals. That confirms it for them that Bloom has the flame. They cackle, and that's the last we see of the Trix.
Chamber. Bloom wakes up from a daze to see many bunnies. Her hand goes through one of them. She eventually finds the real Kiko (one of the background bunnies is flickering a bit). Outside, the others think that the computer is crashing, and Palladium runs, er, casts a restoration spell. The simulation shuts down, and the students enter. One of the first thing anyone says to her is "Did you know you just crashed the computer?" There are cracks in some of the amber lights. Because of this, the midterms will have to be postponed. Upon hearing this, everyone cheers for Bloom and throws her up and down in the air (Stella asks her if she can get the history exam postponed also ;)) as Faragonda looks on through her mirror. And that's it.
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Okay, summary over. When you think about it more, the more this ep (in its 4Kids version) falls apart. For example, the Trix make a point that to catch the flame, Bloom has to be using it. Yet when they do catch it several eps later, she's NOT using it.
2. Chalk this one up for the "I'm obsessed with Winx Club, and I'm not even in its target audience" group.
So one day I was sitting down and watching a rerun of WC (BTW: the ep where they sneak to Cloud Tower to steal Stella's ring, "Secret Guardian"). So during the parts which I felt were filler (for example, the bit with them stuck in a burning room for like half a minute... I guess 4Kids does have a reason to trim down the episodes a bit), I flip around other channels waiting for the filler to end. While I was waiting for some filler to end, my sister suddenly took the remote from me, and pushed a few random buttoms (the "filler" was almost over at that point).
It happens that the control buttons on the TV set don't work very well, meaning that while changing back to WC would only have taken a few seconds with the remote, and should only have taken a few seconds with the buttons on the set, it in fact took me what felt like half a minute (mostly because of one of her random presses changed the TV to the "AV" channel, and when I pressed the TV/AV button, it kept turning the channel display on/off instead... in hindsight, perhaps I should have just turned off the set, and then re-turned it on). I chided her for the rest of the day for that (the part I missed: Bloom's trance through the fire... I turned back just in time to see Bloom standing at a door and hear Daphne say that it'll guide them to safety), and she just chided me back for watching the 5th rerun of an ep I'd already seen (then again, I hadn't seen this bit in 6 months, i.e., 2 full bi-weekly cyclings of the first season) and call me obsessed. The only other cartoon I've been this obsessed about? "Hey Arnold!". (This is at the "I'm so obsessed with the show, even if it's a rerun I want to watch" level, BTW... I also have this same level of obsession for "The Amazing Race"... the fact I watch the family edition should say a lot too).
For the record, I am a 22 year old university master's student (male, BTW). So, not in the target audience. At least I can't imagine myself doing the situations mg_winx and others paint up here (http://michaelsfavorites2.com/winxclub3/ykywwtmwcw.html).
Then again (DIGRESSION!) while watching an ep of "The Apprentice 3" (yeah, my sister embraces most reality competition shows... TAR is an exception), there was one ep where the contestants made minigolf courses, and at one point, John Gafford accused Audrey Evans of making no decisions (http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/story.cgi?show=125&story=7624&page=6&sort=&limit=25), "so in case of any trouble, she could do this"... and then he crossed his arms and pointed out a finger on each. My first thought was "Pointing fingers". My second thought... "Turning into a fairy (http://bloomagnieszka1.za.pl/strony/uvs050306-151.html)" (yeah, they all point two fingers out like this, except Layla).
----
So, we have Bloom looking in a well, dropping a few coins, and thinking of Daphne (Daphne's even showing flying in the reflection in the water). The others have to call her a few times, before Bloom is out of her daze. Anyways, tomorrow they're due to take a visit to the "famed" Simulation Chamber at Alfea, and they're talking about whether it's safe or not.
Over at Cloud Tower, the Trix are having a meeting about Bloom, and summoning their CG-animated crystals. Icy points out that during the attack in the episode previous to this, the energy levels from Bloom were equal to that of the Dragon Fire, so they're going to test her, just to be sure that she's carrying the flame.
Next day. Palladium is showing off the simulation chamber. After blabbing about some applied phlebotinum about amber lights creating all kinds of environments (Stella, with tongue in cheek, asks whether it can simulate dates), he reveals that he's planning on simulating the final exams, and the Chamber tests are for midterms. He's offering a choice of two tests: reversing the effects of spells by witches, and restoring a damaged environment. The tests begin tomorrow.
That night. Bloom is with "Brandon" and his dog, talking about the whole deal with the midterms, and how nervous she is. "Brandon" wishes her luck. Up in a branch, Riven telepaths to Darcy, and we see Darcy hacking the chamber computer. More like casting a spell, but whatever.
Next day. Before the exams, Bloom is reading a few books, while Kiko (Bloom's bunny) sneaks into her bag. Chamber. While Faragonda is watching the tests through her magic mirror thing, Palladium asks for a volunteer. Although Stella has just mentioned that going early and getting it done with would reduce the pressure, no one dares to volunteer (Stella included). So he has to pick. He picks Bloom, asking her which test she's picked. She's picked the environment test. Palladium brings up a realm he identifies as Domino (we learn later in the series that this is where Bloom is from). Bloom asks if she can take her bag in, and she can. The others wish her luck, and here we go.
Inside the chamber. Bloom finds Kiko in her bag. After a bit of chiding, she plants some seeds and grows them using her magic. Enter the Trix. She thinks they're holograms, but even so, she knows she has to dispatch them, so cue transform. They fight. Faragonda is thinking that Palladium picked a really difficult test for Bloom, and if she passes, she'll get high marks. Um... DUH?
Cloud Tower. The Trix are playing with dolls. Stormy notes that she is consciously suppressing her powers, so they need to work her more.
Back in the chamber. Icy freezes Bloom's legs, but no problem with her fire powers. Icy points Kiko out to Bloom and, without even giving her a chance to save him, knocks him into a pool of lava. Icy tells Bloom "You're not going to let us get away with it, are you?" Bloom releases her full powers, and blows up the Trix.
Cloud Tower. That release of power melts their dolls, and registers on their crystals. That confirms it for them that Bloom has the flame. They cackle, and that's the last we see of the Trix.
Chamber. Bloom wakes up from a daze to see many bunnies. Her hand goes through one of them. She eventually finds the real Kiko (one of the background bunnies is flickering a bit). Outside, the others think that the computer is crashing, and Palladium runs, er, casts a restoration spell. The simulation shuts down, and the students enter. One of the first thing anyone says to her is "Did you know you just crashed the computer?" There are cracks in some of the amber lights. Because of this, the midterms will have to be postponed. Upon hearing this, everyone cheers for Bloom and throws her up and down in the air (Stella asks her if she can get the history exam postponed also ;)) as Faragonda looks on through her mirror. And that's it.
----
Okay, summary over. When you think about it more, the more this ep (in its 4Kids version) falls apart. For example, the Trix make a point that to catch the flame, Bloom has to be using it. Yet when they do catch it several eps later, she's NOT using it.
2. Chalk this one up for the "I'm obsessed with Winx Club, and I'm not even in its target audience" group.
So one day I was sitting down and watching a rerun of WC (BTW: the ep where they sneak to Cloud Tower to steal Stella's ring, "Secret Guardian"). So during the parts which I felt were filler (for example, the bit with them stuck in a burning room for like half a minute... I guess 4Kids does have a reason to trim down the episodes a bit), I flip around other channels waiting for the filler to end. While I was waiting for some filler to end, my sister suddenly took the remote from me, and pushed a few random buttoms (the "filler" was almost over at that point).
It happens that the control buttons on the TV set don't work very well, meaning that while changing back to WC would only have taken a few seconds with the remote, and should only have taken a few seconds with the buttons on the set, it in fact took me what felt like half a minute (mostly because of one of her random presses changed the TV to the "AV" channel, and when I pressed the TV/AV button, it kept turning the channel display on/off instead... in hindsight, perhaps I should have just turned off the set, and then re-turned it on). I chided her for the rest of the day for that (the part I missed: Bloom's trance through the fire... I turned back just in time to see Bloom standing at a door and hear Daphne say that it'll guide them to safety), and she just chided me back for watching the 5th rerun of an ep I'd already seen (then again, I hadn't seen this bit in 6 months, i.e., 2 full bi-weekly cyclings of the first season) and call me obsessed. The only other cartoon I've been this obsessed about? "Hey Arnold!". (This is at the "I'm so obsessed with the show, even if it's a rerun I want to watch" level, BTW... I also have this same level of obsession for "The Amazing Race"... the fact I watch the family edition should say a lot too).
For the record, I am a 22 year old university master's student (male, BTW). So, not in the target audience. At least I can't imagine myself doing the situations mg_winx and others paint up here (http://michaelsfavorites2.com/winxclub3/ykywwtmwcw.html).
Then again (DIGRESSION!) while watching an ep of "The Apprentice 3" (yeah, my sister embraces most reality competition shows... TAR is an exception), there was one ep where the contestants made minigolf courses, and at one point, John Gafford accused Audrey Evans of making no decisions (http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/story.cgi?show=125&story=7624&page=6&sort=&limit=25), "so in case of any trouble, she could do this"... and then he crossed his arms and pointed out a finger on each. My first thought was "Pointing fingers". My second thought... "Turning into a fairy (http://bloomagnieszka1.za.pl/strony/uvs050306-151.html)" (yeah, they all point two fingers out like this, except Layla).