Winx Club

Winx Club
File:Winx Club Logo.png Winx Club logo for 2009–present.
Genre	Action, Fantasy, Adventure, Romance
Created by	Iginio Straffi
Directed by	Iginio Straffi
Composers	Michele Bettali Stefano Carrara Fabrizio Castania Maurizio D'Aniello
Country of origin	Italy
Original language	Italian
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	131 (156 confirmed) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Joanne Lee Alfred R. Kahn Norman J. Grossfield Tom Kenney
Running time	19-23 minutes
Original release
Network	Rai Due (2004–present) Fox Broadcasting Company (2004–2007) Nickelodeon (2011–present)
Release	January 28, 2004 – present
Related
PopPixie

Winx Club is an Italian animated television series directed, created, and produced by Iginio Straffi and his company Rainbow S.r.l.. It is part of the larger Winx Club franchise. The series is the first Italian cartoon to be sold in the U.S. According to Iginio Straffi's website, "Winx Club is an action and fantasy show combined with comedic elements. In the mystical dimension of Magix, three special schools educate modern fairies, ambitious witches and supernatural warriors, and wizards from all over the magical universe."

The show features Bloom and her five best friends (Stella, Flora, Tecna, Musa and Aisha) and is situated mainly in the Magical Dimension and on Earth. They call themselves "The Winx Club" and go on magical and mystical adventures together. Throughout the story, they discover new, evolved, much stronger fairy transformations and forms; unlock new secrets and even stronger magical abilities; battle against the darkness; and support Bloom as she tries to discover her true past, home world, and birth parents helped by her best and closest friends.

Characters

Main article: List of characters in Winx Club

Plot

There are two different Winx Club plots, listed as follows:

• The original story-line, which was produced by Rainbow S.R.L., was mainly focused on Bloom's story.
  • The series went through a reboot after Rainbow S.R.L. partnered with Nickelodeon, where the first and second season were made into four special 1 hour episodes (3 for season 1 & 1 for season 2) and the third and fourth seasons were dubbed again, following the original story-line, albeit with minor differences.
• The commonly called 4Kids version which, as part of 4Kids Entertainment's policy of adapting foreign animated shows to an American audience, was heavily edited and often diverged from the original story-line, including name changes (such as the original name of Bloom's planet of origin, Domino, which was replaced by Sparks in the 4Kids version), as changes in the role of characters (such as Daphne, which is Bloom's older sister, whose role was changed to that of being only a nymph protecting both the mighty Dragon Fire and Bloom's crown by 4Kids) and changes in the personality of characters; (Tecna was given a British accent and Musa was given a hip-hopper personality by 4Kids.)

Season One

Main article: Winx Club (season one)

Bloom, a supposedly ordinary girl from planet Earth, lives a perfectly normal life in the city of Gardenia with her mother, father and her pet rabbit, Kiko, until she stumbles upon Stella, a princess from the planet Solaria, who is in trouble. Coming to Stella's aid, Bloom discovers her dormant magical abilities when she dodges a group of monsters and attacks an ogre. Stella persuades Bloom to join Alfea, a college for fairies in the Magical Dimension. She agrees to go to Alfea and leaves Gardenia and her parents. At Alfea, Bloom forms the "Winx Club", whose members are her four friends and roommates: Stella, and the three friends she meets at Alfea: Musa, Tecna, and Flora. A mythical creature called Daphne keeps appearing in Bloom's dreams. Later in the series, they encounter and befriend the Specialists: Brandon, Riven, Timmy and Sky, who also become the group's love interests. They also make enemies, including a trio of witches calling themselves the Trix: Icy, Darcy, and Stormy. The Trix are witches from Cloud Tower, a college for witches and dark magic that is roughly equivalent to Alfea, and are in search of the vastly limitless energy and power of the Dragon flame, which is supposedly in Stella's magic scepter. However, they realize that the Dragon flame is the very source of Bloom's magical strength and powers, which they steal from her. They summon the Army of Decay, which they send to Red Fountain and Alfea. The witches from Cloud Tower and the Red Fountain Heroes join Alfea and together they defeat the Trix. During that time, Bloom figures out that the Dragon flame was in her the whole time. Bloom also begins to learn the secrets of her home world, Sparks; birth parents; magical abilities; and that Daphne is her biological older sister. Bloom is heartbroken by Brandon, who appears to be Prince Sky as he and the real Brandon switched identities, but she ends up forgiving Sky at the end of the season.

Season Two

Main article: Winx Club (season two)

The Trix are sent to Light Haven, a place to turn evil minds pure and good. Bloom, Stella, Flora, Tecna and Musa discover a new fairy, Layla/Aisha, who's the fairy of water/waves and morphix fluids from planet Andros and she becomes the sixth member of the Winx Club. Lord Darkar releases the Trix from Light Haven and increases their powers. Layla/Aisha tells the others about how the pixies are being held as Lord Darkar's prisoners. Layla/Aisha, Bloom, Stella, Brandon and Sky go on a Mission to Lord Darkar's lair, Shadow Haunt, to rescue the pixies Lockette, Amore, Chata, Digit, and Tune. At an opening of the new Red Fountain, Flora meets her love interest, Helia. Along with Layla, Lord Darkar is after four pieces of a magical artifact called Codex, which allows one to enter the realm of Realix and gain the Ultimate Power. Bloom wants to know more about her birth parents, King Oritel and Queen Marion, and her lost kingdom, but Darkar gives her a shadow virus. The virus turns Bloom evil and she begins to taunt Timmy. After Lord Darkar realizes that he needs more magical strength and power to open the gateway to Realix, he instructs Avalon to turn Bloom evil once again. Darkar ditches the Trix and accepts Dark Bloom as his main witch. When they get to Realix, he tells Dark Bloom to give him the Ultimate power so he can rule. Dark Bloom has almost completed the spell when the Winx arrive, along with the Specialists, Faragonda, Griffin, and Corta Torta. Sky tells Dark Bloom his true feelings for her, which changes Bloom back into her normal self, and Bloom And The Winx Club Use Charmix Convergence To Beat Darkar Once And For All.

Season Three

Main article: Winx Club (season three)

Previously banished to the Omega Dimension, the Trix are able to escape with Valtor, an evil sorcerer partially responsible for the destruction of Bloom's home planet, Sparks. They choose to cooperate and plan to invade several areas in the realm of Magix and seek vengeance on those who imprisoned them by stealing their exceptionally strong, powerful, magical and mystical treasures and immeasurable power sources of each realm. With their newly strong and powerful Enchantix powers, Flora, Stella, Layla, Tecna, and Musa are able to use strong, incredible power and can miniaturize themselves. Bloom, however, cannot miniaturize herself due to the fact that her Enchantix is not complete. The Winx begin their third and final year at Alfea, learning about their unique Enchantix transformations, acquired by selflessly sacrificing themselves for someone from their home world (or even everyone from every world, in what ends up being Tecna's case) and showing great courage in doing so. With no one from her home planet to save, Bloom must acquire her Enchantix form and tremendous power on Pyros, the island of dragons. She also learns more about her home world of Domino, as well as the truth about where her birth parents, Oritel and Marion, are. She is the keeper of dragon flame. A new character Nabu (Ophir) is introduced in this season.

Winx Club 3D: Secret of the lost Kingdom

Winx Club's first movie Winx Club 3D: Secret of the lost kingdom was released on November 30, 2007 in Italy and released by Nickelodeon on March 11, 2012. Straffi also noted that it was difficult to animate the girls' hair correctly in 3D for the first movie when Winx was first introduced to CGI/3D.[3]

Season Four

Main article: Winx Club (season four)

Taking place after the events of "Secret of the Lost Kingdom", the Winx Club are back at Alfea as teachers. Faragonda also teaches them that there are endless infinite stages of fairy evolution and transformation, of which they learn about a new evolved fairy transformation and power called "Believix", which can only be accessed when people in a non-magical world start to truly believe in magic. To try to help the people on Earth believe in magic, the Winx open a magical pet store called "Love & Pets". During their time on Earth, they also bump into four wizards known as the Wizards of The Black Circle, a group who have trapped all of the fairies of Earth and are back to get one they unknowingly left behind. The Winx and Specialists have to track the wizards back to Gardenia and save the last terrestrial fairy, Roxy, while also trying to get people on Earth to believe in magic once again. Roxy is then captured, but soon thereafter believes in fairies and helps the Winx to earn their Believix powers. On a trip to discover Roxy's past, the Winx also discover Nebula's White Circle, something which helps to defeat the Black Circle but also controls Roxy. Soon after the Winx must earn the three gifts of destiny; two of which are Sophix and Lovix. The first is Sophix a gift given by the ethereal fairies used to revive nature from deforestation and calm Diana. The second gift is the give of heart Lovix made from pure ice and snow it will allow the Winx to fight Aurora. After successfully freeing the Earth fairies who turn out to want nothing but revenge, Morgana and her friends will stop at nothing to wage war against all of humans. Bloom also challenges Nebula to a fight, in which if Bloom wins the fairies will stop attacking and go home but if she loses all is lost. After the fight, the black gift is given and can be used to revive someone from death. Nebula and the wizards determination to fight left Nabu for dead, which causes Layla to seek revenge. In the final battle, it is revealed that Roxy's mother is Morgana. After the Winx freeze the wizards in ice, Nebula is crowned as their new queen. Layla mourns Nabu but later returns to the Winx Club who fly off into the sunset heading back to Alfea.

Winx Club 3D: Magical Adventure

Winx Club's second movie Winx Club 3D Magical Adventure was released on October 29, 2010 in Italy and was released by Nickelodeon on May 20, 2013.

Season Five

Main article: Winx Club (season five)

The Winx Club embark on a mission to achieve Sirenix, an ancient transformation, that can be used in the water, on land or in the air, unlike Believix which can only be used on land or in the air. It is strong enough to defeat the evil, power-mad merman Tritannus and the Trix. The Trix's main leader, Icy falls deeply in love with Tritannus and he with her, while the two other Trix members-Darcy and Stormy- are frustrated and angry with their strong romantic relationship. There are two new evolutionary fairy transformations in this season: Harmonix and Sirenix. The ancient Book of Sirenix gave them six Sirenix Boxes that holds guardians inside them to help them gain Sirenix and much, much stronger Harmonix abilities and spells. Before they achieve Sirenix, however, they must find the Gem of Self-Confidence, the Gem of Empathy, and the Gem of Courage; otherwise they would lose all of their magical powers forever.

There is a dark and evil curse upon Sirenix that had left Bloom's older sister, Daphne, a yellow-colored disembodied spirit/ghost without a physical body of solid flesh and blood. There is the ancient Book of Sirenix that helps them gain full access to Sirenix, but there is a problem when they open the book. For instance, Tecna opens it and it transforms her into a terrifying robotic version of her self, making a mess in the Magic Archive the library in Alfea when she uses its tremendous power to defend herself. Daphne is the last fairy to achieve Sirenix's ocean/sea-based transformation and enormous power until the Winx Club gain full access to Sirenix and cross the gate into the infinite ocean itself. Finally, the Winx gain Sirenix after activating the source of the power in Lake Roccaluce where Daphne lives due to her connection to Sirenix. Daphne gets locked up in a prison cell under the mighty Emperor's throne after Tritannus has taken away her Sirenix powers and given them to the Trix-Icy, Darcy and Stormy-as a witch-themed version. The Trix gain dark Sirenix with the help of Tritannus (because he had absorbed Daphne's Sirenix energy and abilities with his trident) and plan to defeat the Winx Club. Tritannus is also second son of king Neptune turned into evil from his merman form. His tail also has purple pollution track but doesn't stay. He refuels by taking in toxic pollution (oil, gas, trash, acid, and garbage) with his trident from the help of Icy and her two hesitant sisters.

Roxy was not a main character in this season, but did appear as a minor recurring character, as she just began her first year at Alfea; she will appear more often in future seasons and episodes. Upset that he cannot activate the tremendous, boundless and limitless power of the Emperor's Throne, Tritannus must take the mystical seals of the pillars of light, balance and control. Tritannus steals the seal of the Pillar of Light, and Stella restores the pillar by concentrating and thinking of the ones who makes her strong-her father and mother- and she unleashes her special Sirenix spell,Light of Sirenix. Tritannus then steals the seal of the Pillar of Balance. He almost fails when the Winx try to ambush both him and Icy, but thanks to Stormy and Darcy controlling the Singing Whales to attack the Winx, they are able to escape. However, they do not thank the other two Trix, much to Darcy and Stormy's dismay. Musa saves the whales by singing to them with her spell Voice of Sirenix. With two seals gone from two pillars, the next is the pillar of control to finally activate the emperor's throne. To prevent Tritannus from activating the throne, the Winx Club decide to destroy the seal of the pillar of control. After finding out that the seal is destroyed, Tritannus plans to steal Politea's (an old and best friend of Daphne's) enormous Sirenix energy and abilities to activate the throne.

However, he is not the only one who is looking for her: Darcy and Stormy are done with Tritannus and want her tremendously powerful Sirenix energy and abilities for themselves, but Bloom is also looking for her to find a way to break the Sirenix curse on both her and Daphne. Darcy and Stormy succeed and leave Icy. Tritannus plans a big attack on the Winx at the Pillar of light. Luckily the Winx are not alone; they are helped by Tressa, Nereus and the selkies. Tritannus kills Nereus with his trident but is resurrected thanks to Aisha's wish. While distracted, Tritannus kidnaps Aisha and brings her to the throne but is followed by Bloom. Tritannus promises Icy that she will soon be empress, and he than steals Aisha's Sirenix abilities to activate the throne. He becomes completely corrupted and overwhelmed by the limitless power of the Emperor's throne and attacks Icy, but she is protected by her sisters and breaks up with Tritannus. Bloom finds out that the key to defeating Tritannus is destroying his trident; she does this by using her special Fire of Sirenix ability. Defeated, Tritannus is banished from the entire magical universe and sent to the Gate of Oblivion as punishment for his actions. Bloom then used her Sirenix wish for the Sirenix curse to broken for all eternity; thus restoring Daphne to her living, physical body of solid flesh and blood at long last. The season ends with a concert from the Winx Club on Andros and with Bloom happily dancing with Daphne. Their parents join in their celebrations in a loving hug at the end.

Season Six

Premiered on September 29th, 2013 with "Inspiration of Sirenix". The Trailer for this season has been released. A new freshman witch named Selina joins Cloud Tower. She owns an evil Book called Legendarium and through it she is able to make all known myths and legends come true. Selina will be the new main villain and enemy in this season. The Trix are also returning as the main villains, where they will be plotting revenge on Cloud Tower, Alfea and Red Fountain. The Winx Club, the Specialists, and the Trix will all debut brand new outfits and The Pixies, who were absent from the previous two seasons will be returning in this season. This season will both be in hand-drawn 2D animation and 3D/CGI, like the previous season. The Winx Club will acquire another evolved fairy transformation and great magical power, much more powerful than Sirenix to stop Selina from using the Legendarium Book for evil purposes and the name of this new form is yet to be revealed. Daphne will also be returning this season as a History teacher at Alfea, her Sirenix transformation was shown in the Season premier.

Transformations

Winx/Fairy (regular)

In the first season, everyone is endowed their regular Winx/fairy form. This basic form usually consists of a sparkly cropped top and miniskirt or, in Stella's case, short-shorts. However, some Winx/fairy forms consist of a sparkly dress or jumpsuit, which are clear examples of Flora and Tecna's Winx/fairy forms. Also, they usually, but not always, bear some sort of accessory on their arms such as wristbands, arm warmers, or gloves. They also sometimes wear a matching hair ornament such as a tiara, and their hair is occasionally tied while in this form. They also don boots or, most often, heeled shoes and sprout a pair of small, membranous, fluttering wings. Winx fairies cannot cover long distances, and they are incapable of agile flight (see picture of the characters with their pixies). It is not the strongest and most powerful form, as it only allows a fairy to use basic spells and attacks; but in a special case like Bloom, she can unleash her Dragon Flame, which happens to be intense, as seen in the final battle between Bloom and Icy in the first season.

Charmix

In the second season, they get their second evolutionary fairy transformation and magical power, Charmix. They earn their Charmix by getting in touch with their inner selves. However, they still wear their regular Winx/fairy outfits, but now they have a pin on their chest with a small gem and a small purse or waist bag that sits on the hips. However, in Flora's case, she has a shoulder bag and not a waist-bag like the others do. Charmix grants the girls neither new nor stronger abilities and spells; it only greatly strengthens and magnifies the ones they already have.

Enchantix

In the third season, they obtain their Enchantix, which is their full-fledged fairy form. In their Enchantix form, the girls are extremely strong and have much larger, more sparkly and elegant fairy wings, which enable them to fly higher and longer distances, cleave through strong storms, and out-fly predators and opponents. They also are able to miniaturize approximately to a size of a Pixie and have a fairy dust vial around their neck, usually suspended by a choker; the vial contains and keeps sealed their fairy dust of tremendously powerful healing and spell-breaking properties. However, in Bloom's case she uses her fairy dust vial to keep the tremendously powerful, magical essence of Pyros stored inside of it, as shown in The Omega Mission when the Winx and the Specialist's are boarding the ship for flight back to Alfea. An Enchantix typically consists of above-the-elbow translucent gloves and barefoot sandals. They wear a very short dress or a small top with a miniskirt or, for Tecna, mini shorts. Their hair grows longer and is elaborately arranged in loose tresses and high bunches; Tecna has a razored bob and Musa wears extremely long pigtails. A fairy earns her Enchantix by saving someone from her home world, with a great self-sacrifice on her part (excluding Bloom and Tecna- Bloom had willed herself into her Enchantix {though it is incomplete and she is unable to use some abilities, like miniaturization}, and Tecna sacrificed her life to seal the Omega dimension portal thus saving Andros and the entire magical universe {that does include her home world of Zenith, so she saved more than one person from her planet}). One does not actually have to be on one's home world when doing this. Enchantix is said to be 'the maximum or final fairy form that leads a fairy to her infinite energy' in the third season, making a complete, full-fledged fairy out of her, and also allowing her to achieve higher powers such as Believix, which gives her additional abilities, and Sirenix, which is even more powerful than Enchantix. Headmistress Faragonda is said to have already reached her Enchantix level. They also have a movie using Enchantix, Secret Of The Lost Kingdom, where Bloom goes on a mission to save the people of Domino, including her birth parents, and finally earn her complete Enchantix powers. It is also believed that Daphne, Bloom's elder sister, went straight from Enchantix to Harmonix and then Sirenix, which cost her her physical body entirely. Enchantix is also the most elegant and "fairy like" of all the forms. Also, the Enchantix transformations are the longest and most reflective of the girls' powers (Bloom being surrounded by the Dragon Fire, Tecna's outfit "digitally" appearing, etc.)

Believix

In the fourth season, all of the Winx Club fairies move on from their Enchantix forms to their Believix, entering a stronger and much more advanced fairy stage with larger wings and additional special abilities, including the ability to make people believe in magic. The focus of this form is that the more people on Earth believe in magic, the stronger the Winx's Believix power gets to help them defeat the enemy.

Harmonix

Harmonix is a temporary transformation after Believix and before Sirenix and it is in the fifth season. Harmonix is the third transformation to be received from a magical source, the first and second being Sophix and Lovix. The Winx use this temporary fairy form to complete their quest for gaining Sirenix.The girls' hair is much longer and tied, except for Tecna's hair which is shorter. The Harmonix outfits' consist of a dress with strap that goes on only one shoulder, a belt, a mini-skirt and a kind of cape attached to the skirts which look similar to mermaids' tails. The girls wear a tiara or a small piece of seashells and jewelries on their hair or bare head, and heels made of two ribbons attached around the feet and legs, with two long floating ribbon strips attached to the heels at knee level. Harmonix gives the Winx large multi-layered and transparent colorful wings and some effects. It is a temporary transformation until they reached Sirenix to defeat their enemy Tritannus and his allies, the Trix.

Sirenix

In the fifth season, the Winx Club evolve into Sirenix fairies; an ancient ocean/sea-themed power that enables a fairy to accelerate and use her increasingly strong magic and spells properly underwater. Apart from the other seasons which featured one new transformation, the Winx get their Harmonix transformation and abilities from their six Sirenix guardians, which is temporary and will be used only for the quest to gain access to Sirenix. The wings are much larger as Harmonix fairies smaller compared to Believix & Enchantix, but allows the fairies to accelerate faster underwater. Harmonix is still more powerful than previous transformations, though it does not compare to Sirenix. As Sirenix, the Winx Club fairy outfits all look the same, only with minor changes and shades of colors. Their hair is tied with several hair bands and accessories with the exception of Tecna. All girls have ballet tutu -like skirts with mermaid skin .They wear leggings with their signature color , and two ribbons attached around the feet and legs act as straps. Their hair also changes color in the water different colors, Bloom is dark red with light blue streaks. Stella is a yellowish green with light purple streaks. Aisha is blonde with light brown streaks, Musa is purple and pink. Flora is pink hair and light brown streaks. Tecna 's blue and light yellow streaks.

When they cross the Infinite Ocean as Sirenix fairies, they got stronger wings, whole new outfits, upgraded powers, and colored hair in the water, also have highlights out of water too. Sirenix outfits all look similar, with only minor details and major color differences to tell them apart.

Bloomix

After the Winx lose all their powers, they must go and earn their new Bloomix powers in Season 6 to stop Selina from using the Legendarium book for evil purposes and to save the schools of Magix, The name of the form was confirmed on Itunes by Nickelodeon, the name of the Second fairy form is yet to be revealed.

Broadcast history

In Italy, where the series was created, it has been broadcast on Rai Due since January 28, 2004. In the United States, it was licensed and dubbed into English by 4Kids Entertainment and was broadcast on Fox's programming block 4Kids TV beginning on June 19, 2004, with a preview episode airing on May 22, 2004. 4Kids TV continued its initial run until September 22, 2007, airing all three seasons. Winx Club was added back to the 4Kids TV schedule on April 12, 2008 and was aired up until December 27, 2008. On July 18, 2009, reruns of Winx Club then aired on the CW's programming block CW4Kids until July 17, 2010. Cartoon Network aired Winx Club in 2005 on their afternoon block Miguzi. Another English dub produced by Cinelume in association with Rai Due has been broadcast in Singapore, season 4 in Australia, and is featured as an alternate English language track on several European DVD releases.

Nickelodeon acquired the rights to the franchise in 2010 and is currently producing a new English dub in Los Angeles. Nickelodeon started airing the series with four-one hour specials summarizing seasons one and two. The first special aired on June 27, 2011, the second one "Revenge of the Trix" was aired on August 2, 2011, the third one "The Battle for Magix" aired on September 18, 2011 and the fourth one "The Shadow Phoenix" aired on October 16, 2011. The third season, "Winx Club: Enchantix", was aired on Nickelodeon from November 14, 2011 to December 26, 2011. The fourth season, "Winx Club: The Power of Believix", aired on Nickelodeon from May 6, 2012 to July 29, 2012. The fifth season, "Winx Club: Beyond Believix", premiered on Nickelodeon on August 26, 2012 and season took short hiatus during winter 2012 and returned in january 2013. Season finale should air in late spring 2013.

Change in licensing

In the United States, the license for 4KidsTV expired after 2007, and Rai Due sought out a new partner. On 2 September 2010, Nickelodeon announced through a press release that they will be co-producing seasons 5 and 6 of the series.

In early January 2011, it was announced that Keke Palmer will be playing the voice of Aisha, who is also known as Layla. In late March 2011, Molly Quinn announced she will be voicing Bloom. Josh Keaton announced that he will voice Valtor. Ariana Grande announced on 22 May via Twitter that she will be voicing minor villain Princess Diaspro in the new dub. Romi Dames has also announced that she will voice Musa and Helia will be played by David Faustino. Elizabeth Gillies is playing Daphne and Matt Shively is playing Sky. The first special's broadcast revealed that Amy Gross is voicing Stella, Alejandra Reynoso is voicing Flora, and Morgan Decker is voicing Tecna.

Controversy

Due to the fact that the highly edited 4Kids version of Winx Club was the one that was aired in the United States, some American fans who had previously watched only this version have lately criticised the Nickelodeon dub of Winx Club, which follows the original storyline of Winx Club produced by Rainbow S.r.l., for not following the 4Kids dub, which they misinterpreted as being the original version. Fans of the original version have also complained that the version by 4KidsTV does not follow the original storyline at all.

External links

Official sites

• Official website Available in multiple languages including English edition currently for the United Kingdom
• Official website for the theatrical films Template:Bg icon, Template:En icon, Template:Fr icon, Template:It icon, Template:Nl icon, Template:Pt icon, Template:Ru icon, Template:Tr icon
• PopPixie Operated by Rainbow S.p.A.
• Winx Club at Nick.com

Databases

• Winx Club at IMDb