4KidsTV Talkback: Winx Club "Point of No Return" SPOILERS

[Viper]

Normally, Freedom Fighter would start this thread. However, since I don't see one yet, I guess he must've forgot all about it.:( So, just this once, I'll be more than happy to start the talkbacks on this ep.

"Point of No Return":

1. I felt Baltor made a logical point when he forbad the Trix to join in the fight: since the Omega Gate will be the Winx and all of Tides into the "Point of No Return", why should the Trix be pulled in as well?

2. I felt that was a pretty good fight against those mermaid minions. I also liked how both Stella & Flora used their Enchantix powers.:) I'm also very glad Layla's "fairy dust" made the mermaids normal again.:D

3. A question to Tebok(sp?): if you thought the Omega Gate was gonna be too dangerous, why did you even bother building it to begin with?!:confused:

4. I really liked the words of determination from Bloom & Layla about taking a big risk to close the gate from inside it. After they lost the magic scroll, I mean.

5. WHOA! By willing to sacrifice herself to save Tides, Tecna earned her Enchantix!:eek: I thought both her transformation and new look were gorgeous!:D HOWEVER, I almost started crying myself with the other Winx girls when the gate sealed up...WITH TECNA STILL INSIDE!!!!!:crying: :crying: :crying: :crying: :crying:

In short, I thought this was a great, but heart-breaking ep! I give it 4 stars!

A brief moment of silence for the passing of Tecna. (Puts hand on heart, bows head for 5 minutes):crying:

Please, everyone. Freedom Fighter, Darcy, mg_Winxclub, and everyone else. I wanna hear all your comments about this ep. Just so I don't feel too lonely.:crying:

[sag_2002]

Don't worry, kids. We have not seen the last of Tecna.

She'll be gone for a couple episodes, but will return in a few weeks.

And, for those who will no doubt complain about the way Tec gets her Enchantix...

Wait until you see Bloom get hers.

[shaman_mya19]

Don't worry, kids. We have not seen the last of Tecna.

She'll be gone for a couple episodes, but will return in a few weeks.

And, for those who will no doubt complain about the way Tec gets her Enchantix...

Wait until you see Bloom get hers.

i had some feeling that techna would return later but i would like to here how she got out

[Darcy]

Any good parts in this episode were completely overruled by the questions it raised.

1) Tecna got her Enchantix in a false manner. To achieve Enchantix, you're supposed to save someone from your own realm. She didn't. So she shouldn't have gotten anything. And we should complain about stuff like this! It's HORRIBLE writing and we deserve better. Even little kids noticed that Tecna didn't get her Enchantix properly so it was really frellin' obvious.
And this never seems to be resolved in the Italian either. They just let it go as bad writing. Don't they have anyone to check their continuity?! I'll come and do it for them already! I know Bloom gets hers in an equally false manner, but at least hers doesn't work perfectly. Tecna's seems to, from what I've heard. UGH. I HATE bad writers!
And I'm mad because we didn't get to see Tec's realm or even meet someone from it. The writers must hate her to keep screwing her over when it comes to character development. :mad: They should just leave her for dead if they're not going to treat her right. Instead, they'll bring her back (no one ever dies in these shows) and keep writing her poorly. What a waste.

2) I was also waiting for an explanation that never came: why Tecna could close the gate and not Bloom or Layla. That would have been the perfect time to bring up the old "half-android" thing if it's true. *sigh* Once again, Tec is screwed on development.

In response to things mentioned above:
-Tibok made the gate because a) he was asked to and b) they needed somewhere to stick the criminals. I'm sure at the time, he felt it would be unbreakable. A lot of people pretend they had doubts when something turns out to fail, but most of the time, they never had any doubt.

Honestly, if Winx keeps on with this terrible horrible no good very bad writing, I'm going to be glad it's over. (If it indeed ends after the movie.) This whole season feels rushed! They need to sit back and take the time to produce something of quality. Not something with plotholes the size of Montana, costumes that frequently change color and wing bits that come and go. We started loving this show because it didn't suck. Now...it's starting to suck.

[The_Magick_Hat]

I would feel a bit less apathetic about how things turned out if not for a few things:

1. If the climax hadn't been spoiled by last week's preview.

2. If, as Darcy said, Tecna had received some proper development prior to her sacrifice.

3. If I didn't already know how things like this tend to turn out in this show.

At least there were a few good points. Layla's interaction with her father was good to see, and it even took up a great deal of the episode. If Layla had been the one to sacrifice herself at the end of this episode, it would have made a great deal more sense both emotionally and from a storytelling point as well.

At least Tecna's Enchantix sequence looks good. Seemed a bit more drawn out than the others, but maybe that's just because it was her first time. Still, I have to wonder why the writers chose Tecna as the sacrifical lamb. I mean, it'd make more sense if it happened to a more loved character, because THAT'S the sort of character death that hits audiences at the heart. Are they doing anyone any favors by killing off a character who has had very little development? I don't think so. This just smacks of a randomized cutting off of a character for shock value, which is never good writing.
Especially if Tecna's coming back after a couple episodes.
Compared to the whole killing Sky/putting Sky to sleep deal from last season, how would you guys rate this character losing moment? Especially considering that Sky was only out of it for nearly 5 minutes?

A question I have: What the hell happened to Nabu? This would have been the perfect episode to officially introduce him after weeks of him stalking Layla. Especially with the way Layla and her father reconciled. Honestly, they're running out of time if they want to make Layla/Nabu a credible couple. How many Episodes are left in this season now? Looks like we'll be writing those angry letters after all, Darcy. :D

[Darcy]

Compared to the whole killing Sky/putting Sky to sleep deal from last season, how would you guys rate this character losing moment? Especially considering that Sky was only out of it for nearly 5 minutes?

It's harder for me to rate because I already knew what was going to happen. I'm not someone who avoids spoilers. But I have a like/despise relationship with Sky, while I almost always enjoy Tec, so hers would have hit me harder.

As for Naboo (I must spell it this way! It's funnier.), he was last tracking Layla at Alfea, wasn't he? So he probably didn't know she went to Tides, so he couldn't follow her there. We're only halfway through the season, so even if they have a couple episodes of meaningful conversation, they'll still end up farther along than Flora and Helia are.

Speaking of Naboo, I found it amusing that Layla's father let her decide if she was going to die for Tides or not, but she can't pick her own husband. Tides has messed up priorities.

[The_Magick_Hat]

As for Naboo (I must spell it this way! It's funnier.), he was last tracking Layla at Alfea, wasn't he? So he probably didn't know she went to Tides, so he couldn't follow her there. We're only halfway through the season, so even if they have a couple episodes of meaningful conversation, they'll still end up farther along than Flora and Helia are.

Speaking of Naboo, I found it amusing that Layla's father let her decide if she was going to die for Tides or not, but she can't pick her own husband. Tides has messed up priorities.
That's a good point. The girls did leave for Tides in the middle of the night. So unless Naboo (Arrgh! Now you've got me doing it!) was watching Layla through her bedroom window (at which point the show would regress into something very frightening), there's no way he would know. Shame, too. I'd like to see what a WC male character who ISN'T a Red Fountain student or Alfea instructor is capable of doing.

[GuardianKid13]

Ok episode, it felt rushed though. Also, the reason why I think Tecna got her Enchantix differently than how your suppose to is because instead of her saving only one person she saved hundreds (I don't think the only inhabitants of Tides are the royal family & the mermaids..) but I don't know how the whole "someone from your world" thing fits in, but I guess she broke the rules in some way...or maybe I'm just giving the writers to much credit for their inconsistency:shrug:

7.0/10

**The preview for next week is amazing, hopefully it's as good (or better) as 'Zombie Witches'!

**We are only 3 episodes away...:D

[tec_tim]

the episode was great and all but like others have said.totally predictable!but o well.......a little action with tecna my fave fairy...really this is the best they can do to show they still care about all the characters..........well next week should be better....

[mg_winxclub]

This was a nice filler episode, some what predicatable at times though, but did continue the storyline. I liked the family-oriented themes, Layla showing love for her parents and vice versa. Family is important and I'm glad Winx Club keeps that in mind. :)

Ms. Faragonda may not have explained all the possible reasons for someone to get their Enchantix. If you think about it, Tecna was making the "ultimate sacrifice" by giving her life to save an entire realm/planet of thousands/millions of people, that's got to be Enchantix-worthy. Maybe Ms F didn't want anyone to go to that much extremes to get their final fairy form? It's also possible there wasn't enough time to visit Tecna's realm considering how far we are in season 3, so they had to get her Enchantix worked in somewhere.

[GuardianKid13]

This was a nice filler episode, some what predicatable at times though, but did continue the storyline. I liked the family-oriented themes, Layla showing love for her parents and vice versa. Family is important and I'm glad Winx Club keeps that in mind. :)

Ms. Faragonda may not have explained all the possible reasons for someone to get their Enchantix. If you think about it, Tecna was making the "ultimate sacrifice" by giving her life to save an entire realm/planet of thousands/millions of people, that's got to be Enchantix-worthy. Maybe Ms F didn't want anyone to go to that much extremes to get their final fairy form? It's also possible there wasn't enough time to visit Tecna's realm considering how far we are in season 3, so they had to get her Enchantix worked in somewhere.
We still have 13 episodes left so we could of seen Tecna's world, but the writers are too busy writing billions of plotlines this season that they don't seem to notice Tecna...

[Darcy]

Ms. Faragonda may not have explained all the possible reasons for someone to get their Enchantix. If you think about it, Tecna was making the "ultimate sacrifice" by giving her life to save an entire realm/planet of thousands/millions of people, that's got to be Enchantix-worthy. Maybe Ms F didn't want anyone to go to that much extremes to get their final fairy form? It's also possible there wasn't enough time to visit Tecna's realm considering how far we are in season 3, so they had to get her Enchantix worked in somewhere.

I swear, you're one of the only people that can excuse a giant plothole. It's bad writing. There's no excuse for it.

FG didn't say making an ultimate sacrifice would get you your Enchantix. She specified saving someone from your realm. If there were other ways to achieve Enchantix, don't you think she would have told the girls? It would be stupid and unfair not to. She could cost some of them their Enchantix and that would be wrong. As for her not wanting them to take risks, well, she sure has no problem sending underclassmen off to their possible deaths. Look how many times she's done it already! That rationalization just doesn't cut it.

We got to see Flora's realm in a single episode. Don't tell me we couldn't have given Tecna one tiny little episode. We're only just halfway through! She certainly deserves some time to shine and plenty of us want to know more about her.

There's a time to be a hardcore fan and there's a time to be realistic. This is a time to be realistic and call the writers on their poor move.

[Dee]

Funny. You say you won't do it again, but you say it in giant purple letters. I think I'll ignore you now. :shrug: I tried. Now I'm done.

I'm kind of surprised you didn't see right through my April Fools joke. Anyhoo, I've cleaned up the mess

[Darcy]

I'm kind of surprised you didn't see right through my April Fools joke. Anyhoo, I've cleaned up the mess

Well, I try to be nice to everyone. At first. Besides, in my years of running the LJ Winx community, I've met multiple people like that. I was mildly skeptical considering the date, but I really have dealt with so many that I just went into automatic Dealing with a TeenyFan mode.

[mg_winxclub]

I swear, you're one of the only people that can excuse a giant plothole. It's bad writing. There's no excuse for it.

Ok, so I agree it wasn't handled in the best possible way, but don't you think sacrificing yourself for an enitre realm isn't worthy enough of earning Enchantix power? What bigger way is there? What if Ms Faragonda didn't know that was another way to earn it? Even she has to consult books now and again. It would have been nice to see Tecna's realm, but unless there's some catastrophe there, why would we see it? Also, Baltor has been getting his magic from ancient scrolls and magical relics. If Tecna's realm is mostly technology, which is something we haven't seen Baltor use, why would he even go there? From another point-of-view, just look at it from outside the box for a second. :anime:

[GuardianKid13]

It would have been nice to see Tecna's realm, but unless there's some catastrophe there, why would we see it?
There wasn't exactly a "catastrophe" in Flora's world, she just saved her sister.

[Darcy]

Ok, so I agree it wasn't handled in the best possible way, but don't you think sacrificing yourself for an enitre realm isn't worthy enough of earning Enchantix power? What bigger way is there? What if Ms Faragonda didn't know that was another way to earn it? Even she has to consult books now and again. It would have been nice to see Tecna's realm, but unless there's some catastrophe there, why would we see it? Also, Baltor has been getting his magic from ancient scrolls and magical relics. If Tecna's realm is mostly technology, which is something we haven't seen Baltor use, why would he even go there? From another point-of-view, just look at it from outside the box for a second. :anime:

Sure, sacrificing yourself is big, but if there were multiple ways to gain Enchantix then that should have been mentioned. But they make it clear how you're supposed to do it. And FG should darn well know them all! What kind of headmistress would give her students incomplete information about the biggest step of their lives? That would be so incredibly wrong. "Oh, I'm sorry, Mirta. You didn't get your Enchantix because I forgot to tell you all you have to say is 'bippity boppity boo' and now it's too late for you. Too bad, so sad." That just does not hold water.

We know nothing of Tecna's realm, so who are you to say there's no reason for them to go there? Maybe they house magical objects of great power or scrolls with tons of spells. A realm of technology could be capable of the most high tech security and would be a decent place for safe-keeping. So there is no telling me that a good writer couldn't have come up with a reason for Baltor to go there. I just did and it took me thirty seconds to think of it. As for the catastrophe thing, we didn't visit all the realms due to catastrophe. We went to Solaria for a party and Stella didn't even get her Enchantix there. We went to Linphea for information. We didn't go to Musa's realm at all. I would have been satisfied if Tecna saved a new student from her realm. Even if we didn't get to see her home, at least we'd meet someone else from it. But there are hundreds of ways they could have visited Tec's home, even if she didn't get her Enchantix there.

So you're telling me to think outside the box. How about you think outside the box and realize that this show and everyone who works on it isn't perfect? They deserve constructive criticism when they feed us poorly-written moments that are an insult to our intelligence. If little kids are wondering why Tecna got her Enchantix, then it's safe to say that incident was a prime example of bad writing.

[GuardianKid13]

I wonder why 4Kids keeps editing down the Enchantix transformations, about 1/3 is cut out.:sad:

[Darcy]

I wonder why 4Kids keeps editing down the Enchantix transformations, about 1/3 is cut out.:sad:

I think they have to. The uncut episodes are longer than what we can air in the US, so 4Kids has to make cuts. The "healing" sequences are cut entirely. I'd rather lose transformation than plot, so it doesn't bother me much.

[Freedom Fighter]

http://library.toonzone.net/talkbacks/4kids.JPGhttp://fridays.toonzone.net/talkbacks/winxclub.gif
Come join the club...Winx Club Season 3 resumes, with the Trix teaming up with a new villain in Baltor, and our heroines trying to obtain their Enchantix powers! Four down, two to go. Who's next, and are we saving the best for last?


This Week's Premiere: #165 "Point of No Return"
Airs: Saturday, Mar. 31, 2007 at 8 am on 4KidsTV (Check your local listings!)
Summary: You saw the episode already... you still need one?Eh, I figure I put in just to be consistent. And sorry about missing the talkback. I went out of town for the weekend, but was still expecting to put one up late Friday night... but the computer of the friend I was visiting was out of commission and I didn't find that out 'til I got there. Should've planned ahead, I guess.


Anyway, funny how this is supposed to be a story about saving two realms from merging and going kablooie in the process (ha, shades of my childhood - 'The Little Koala') and it turned out anything but epic. It was sloppily handled all around, like the writers forget about the state of Tides since Baltor's break out and suddenly realized... hey, it's time to finish that storyline/arc. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was rushed, but I will say it lacked chaos among the constant sanity (i.e., you'd think there would be a whole lot more panic than what we saw).


I too have to say that Tecna going against the grain and saving a whole realm versus saving one person from her own realm sounds better, big picture wise. But when we have the undeniable proof that Faragonda said that the only way to get the Enchantix is to save someone close to them, from their own realm... then that shows that the writers continue to have these lapses of continuity that are unacceptable in any show.


The only plus I actually saw of Tecna being the 'sacrifical lamb' is the fact that Bloom tried to 'muscle her way in' by offering to go in with Layla after she realized first that, this being her realm, she had to be the one. That alone deserves some sympathy for this episode, because Bloom has way too often stuck her foot in where it doesn't belong. To see her be rejected, even if Layla was too... that put a smile on my face.


(Obviously, you can see how far I've come since the end of Season 1, where I absolutely adored Bloom. She's my least favorite this season here at the halfway point.)


The tearful ending sequence? Awful. Just 4Kids awful.


At least the most emotion of Tecna's sacrifice came from Musa, given she's got the strongest connection. Doesn't nearly make up for all of the above, but it's something they got right.


"Point of No Return": 2.5/5.

[Darcy]

The tearful ending sequence? Awful. Just 4Kids awful.

Did the Italian episode end in a different way, without the crying? Otherwise, I don't see why this is 4Kids fault. I doubt they'd animate an entire crying sequence, so that had to be somewhere in the Italian. I agree it was pretty crappy sappy, but I don't see how the fault belongs only to 4Kids.

[GuardianKid13]

I think Freedom Fighter meant how the emotion was portrayed in the dub (maybe in the raw version, the VAs actually sounded like they were sad and didn't sound fake).

[Darcy]

Eh, most crying on that scale sounds fake to me.

[Hordesman]

Ok, so I agree it wasn't handled in the best possible way, but don't you think sacrificing yourself for an enitre realm isn't worthy enough of earning Enchantix power? What bigger way is there? What if Ms Faragonda didn't know that was another way to earn it?

Perhaps there was someone from Tecna's home planet on Tides at that point and since she saved the whole kingdom... :p

[Freedom Fighter]

Darcy, I was referring to the 4Kids' VAs crying, not the scene itself. That was what made it so awful. That was the most unbelievable acting crying ever.

[Darcy]

Darcy, I was referring to the 4Kids' VAs crying, not the scene itself. That was what made it so awful. That was the most unbelievable acting crying ever.

Oh, I've heard much worse. You must not watch enough bad horror movies. :p