Watching the 4kids dub of the Winx - Season 1 episode 1
Let’s be real – Winx cannot be contained within just one dub
I often come to The Fort to lay around and unwind while listening to podcasts. One of my favourites is the WinxForeverPodcast where host and lifelong Winx fan, Lola Valentine, has been rewatching Winx Club, dubbed by the Canadian company “Cinelume”. As an American watcher, starting in 2004, Lola has grown up with the dub of the show done by the company “4kids”. Since there are significant differences between the two dubs, in terms of dialogue, editing, and even story and character arcs, it is interesting to see how she and her guests view and compare them.
I’ve technically grown up with the Cinelume (or Rai) dub, though not in English, so I’ve been wanting to watch it and thought it would be fun to share my first impressions of it with you.
Come on in, sit down onto one of the pillows, and let’s watch the 4kids dub of the – objectively – most amazing fairy show to have ever been created.
Spoilers for the episode ahead
The differences in the dubs start with the episode’s name. While in the Cinelume dub, it is called “An Unexpected Event”, 4kids dubs it “It Feels Like Magic”. Maybe this is me reading into things too much, but both titles give off distinctly different feelings, which I’ll elaborate on a bit later into the episode.
The first obvious difference in the episode itself is the opening scene. This also marks the start of two different takes on the story of the episode. I can’t speak for the entire season, just yet. 4kids starts the story off at Gardenia Park, placing us moments away from action and introducing us to two of the main characters in a very similar way – through their strength, compassion, and wit. Right away we see Stella battling Knutt and his Ghouls, which proves she’s a fearless badass in both versions. Her battle banter is less serious in the 4kids version, which shows her as confident and powerful, as well as silly and easy-going. It also establishes her as an ordinary teenager. I am nostalgic for the Cinelume Stella, but I will say; her personality in this version makes more sense for her character overall. In Cinelume we get her being very serious, nearly all-knowing, at least in the first episode, then she settles into her personality in episode two. 4kids had her in character, seemingly from the first episode.
Another thing about this scene which I love is the fact that Bloom feels way more active. At first, she speaks to Kiko, saying “We can’t both be seeing things.”, and a few moments later she attacks a Ghoul herself. While this is true in both versions; 4kids adds makes her snap at the enemy attacking Kiko with more conviction and sass, which is present in the rest of the episode as well.
While I prefer Stella’s Cinelume voice, Bloom gets more power in 4kids with hers which, along with her lines, makes her more of an active protagonist. She feels like she takes the matter into her own hands, of her own volition, as opposed to just reacting to stuff happening around her like she does in the other dub. This is why I feel like the two titles fit their respective dubs so well; “An Unexpected Event” emphasises Bloom’s passiveness. It puts the fact that she doesn’t know about it at the forefront, while leaving her inner-self in the background. “It Feels Like Magic” places the feeling of magic in the centre. Whether it is the feeling of magic that’s already present inside Bloom or the feeling she gets after witnessing the magic from the outside, it places the focus on her emotional state, on her wish to be magical.
The following sequence ties into my point of Bloom being more of an active protagonist. She is woken up by her mum, who is asking her who the girl sleeping in the living room is. This insinuates that Bloom took the initiative to take Stella home and make up a story for her parents, either to protect Stella or to spare her parents the story they wouldn’t believe in – possibly both. This is the compassion I’ve mentioned. It also serves to prove how determined and headstrong she can be. One thing that makes no sense in the terms of this sequence is the way Bloom’s shelf seems to be on the right in the wide shot showing her bed and mum. However, in the closeup, the shelf is on the left – this happens twice. It is entirely possible that Bloom had learned to bend time and space in her sleep, though. As we will learn in the seasons to come; her power knows no bounds. Spoiler: she is the editor of her own show.
Jokes aside (for now); 4kids did a great job at making the episode their own and retelling it in a more campy way. From witty dialogue, to the world-building, the company gave their own spin on the Winx story and I like that very much. An example of this is Stella telling Bloom about the manifestation of her magic. She adequately explains to Bloom that “Sometimes you just need an ogre to attack you, to find out what you’re really made of.” – at least according to a saying of her fairy godmother. While this will be hanging on my wall in the future, it had me laughing. Much of this episode did, actually. 4kids definitely knew who they were targeting with the dub and they did it well.
Speaking of ogres; another character who benefitted from this dub is Knutt. The New Yorker accent they had picked for him fits him so well, somehow. It makes him even more lovable. When he comes back to the Trix and gets reprimanded for not wearing his glasses, he justifies it by saying “They’re just not me.”, I’m not saying everyone who’s ever said this is queer, but it does make me headcanon Knutt as such. He also doesn’t mock Stella for being blond, which is another improvement when compared to the Cinelume dub.
The character who seemed to have lost some of her personality is Vanessa, Bloom’s mother. The way she speaks seems detached from every other character, even when she is speaking to them, and is very bland, in my opinion. While I can’t notice much of a difference in Mike’s way of speaking or personality, I appreciate his sentence: “My daughter’s not going to another realm!”, for putting his care for Bloom first, as opposed to Cinelume where he asks them to stop talking because he cannot comprehend what is happening.
When it comes to dialogue, one thing that stands out as amazing with 4kids is the lines they’ve added or changed in order to make the episode more cohesive and logical, while also adding to its light-hearted feel. Once Stella and Bloom use the bottomless postcard to travel to Alfea, Stella explains exactly where the schools are located. This bit of information makes the schools and Magix feel more real and thought out.
It is also at this point when we see additional shots of the Specialists. While they don’t add anything to the story, it is quite cool to see animation not included in the other dub. This is also when Stella says she has called some of them to help Bloom decide if she wants to go to Alfea. In my opinion, this makes more sense than if she were to call them mid-battle, like in the Cinelume dub. It serves to add an element of surprise and suspense once they show up.
Where the small additions to the world-building and characters improve the episode very well, I feel like certain changes make it lose the uniqueness of the show. A small piece of dialogue which stands out to me is Stella’s threat to Knutt, when she threatens to put her “stinkus removeus” spell on him, which would make him smell like he just took a bath. This makes him back off and run away, insinuating he likes smelling bad. While this is a funny bit, it illustrates how tropey this episode felt at times. There is a lot of examples of inverted values of monsters as opposed to humans in children’s media, so it seems repetitive and akin to so many other media popular at the time. Another case of blending the episode with others is Stella speaking of her fairy godmother, as I’ve mentioned before.
Another change of tone which seems off to me is that the characters seem to fit certain archetypes more than in the Rai dub, which erases parts of their personalities. While I do love the fact that Stella seems to be defined from the start, I also feel like the 4kids dub makes her more of a stereotypical valley girl than she should be. Bloom seems to fit the “seemingly human who finds out they’re magical” archetype, while Knutt reads more as a comic relief character than in the Cinelume dub. This goes hand-in-hand with the dialogue style. The characters’ way of speaking is filled with stereotypical teenage expressions and intonation. This took me out of the episode a few times, due to it sounding very dated. While I know this dub came out before the following shows, I can’t help but associate this style of dialogue with “Bratz” and “Monster High”, which makes it feel even more campy.
The editing of the episode for the 4kids dub is really good. A lot of credit has to be given to them for restructuring its narrative and making the reconstruction make sense. I can’t tell if this is entirely an editing problem, but a few times, characters would speak over each other or faster than usual. This is never addressed within the episode itself, which is why such dialogue sticks out as squeezed in when there is no space for it.
Let’s talk about music. I love both versions of the theme song. They are both incredible at introducing the show in two very different ways. While the Cinelume song promises a mystical adventure full of friendship and exploration, I feel like the 4kids one takes the time to introduce the girls and draw the viewers in by uplifting them, gearing them up for an action-packed story, full of friendship, magic, and fashion.
The video clips above are property of Rainbow S. P. A. and belong to their copyright holders
As for other songs, I have to admit I didn’t like the instrumental that goes along with Stella’s transformation sequence. It lowkey gave me Nintendo Wii vibes. The vibes which do not continue onto the rest of the songs. The song which plays as Bloom, Stella, Vanessa, and Mike arrive near Alfea is beautiful. I really hope we get a soundtrack release for both dubs of season one. We need more fairy music!
I definitely recommend this dub to any Winx fan who is looking for a new perspective on a show they love. Once again, I can’t speak for any other episode other than the first one, but I plan on watching everything this version of Winx Club has to offer. While I still prefer the Cinelume dub, it is really fun to get a glimpse at how so many other fans had watched the show when it first came out, all the while appreciating it in a brand new light.
Thank you for listening to me ramble about the Winx, once again. It’s one of my favourite shows so I really enjoy talking about it. If you have ever watched this dub, I would love to hear your thoughts about it. Feel free to leave them in the comments.
Dorian
The blog’s header and the drawing featured atop this post were made by @ambybun on Instagram
The DVD cover featured on the drawing was made by me
Thank you to Lola of WinxForeverPodcast for the inspiration and her amazing work for the fandom