Winx Club season 1
| Winx Club | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
  Artwork for Season 1 (left) and the 2011 specials (right) | |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Rai Due Nickelodeon (2011 specials) |
| Original release | 28 January – 26 March 2004 |
| Season chronology | |
The first season of the animated television series Winx Club aired from 28 January to 26 March 2004, consisting of 26 episodes. The series was created by Iginio Straffi, who also acted as executive producer and director of the season.
The season revolves around Bloom, a 16-year-old girl from Earth who discovers she has magical abilities, as she enrolls in the Alfea College for Fairies. Along with her newfound friend Stella, a 17-year-old fairy, Bloom meets her apartment roommates Flora, Musa and Tecna. Together, they form the Winx Club. During their adventures, they become good friends and get to know some of the boys from another school called Red Fountain, but also encounter some adversaries, including a trio of witches called the Trix.
In February 2011, Nickelodeon's parent company Viacom became a co-owner of the Rainbow studio. Rainbow and Nickelodeon Animation Studio produced a Winx Club revival series, which began with four television specials that retell the first two seasons of the original show.[1] The first three specials summarized the plot of the first season with new animation.
Production
Comic artist Iginio Straffi conceived the idea for Winx Club in the mid-1990s, when he noticed that animated action shows were overwhelmingly focused on male characters.[2] By 2000, he and his animation studio Rainbow S.r.l. had developed a pilot episode for the series, then titled Magic Bloom. This animation included many concepts that would eventually appear in the series, such as the five original Winx members and the Trix, but the characters were younger and their outfits were not modelled after fashion trends. The pilot garnered the support of Italy's public broadcasting company, RAI, but Straffi was unsatisfied with the final product. He made the decision to scrap the animation and heavily rework the concept, despite a financial investment of over €100,000 in the completed pilot.[3]
Production on the retooled series was underway by 2002, and Rainbow estimated that the episodes would be delivered to distributors by autumn 2003.[4] At the October 2003 MIPCOM event, Rainbow screened the show's first episode to international companies.[5] Later in the month, the American network Fox announced that it had picked up the show's first season of twenty-six episodes.[6] The first season eventually made its world premiere on Rai Due on 28 January 2004.[7]
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Italian title / Cinélume English title 4Kids English title | Italian air date | American air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Una fata a Gardenia" / "An Unexpected Event" "It Feels Like Magic" | 28 January 2004 | 19 June 2004 |
| 2 | 2 | "Benvenuti a Magix!" / "Welcome to Magix!" "More Than High School" | 30 January 2004 | 26 June 2004 |
| 3 | 3 | "L'anello di Stella" / "Alfea College for Fairies" "Save the First Dance" | 2 February 2004 | 3 July 2004 |
| 4 | 4 | "La palude di Melmamora" / "The Black-Mud Swamp" "The Voice of Nature" | 4 February 2004 | 10 July 2004 |
| 5 | 5 | "Appuntamento al buio" / "Date with Disaster" "Date with Disaster" | 6 February 2004 | 17 July 2004 |
| 6 | 6 | "Missione a Torrenuvola" / "Mission at Cloudtower" "Secret Guardian" | 9 February 2004 | 24 July 2004 |
| 7 | 7 | "A che servono gli amici?" / "Friends in Need" "Grounded" | 11 February 2004 | 31 July 2004 |
| 8 | 8 | "La festa della rosa" / "A Friendship Sundered" "The Day of the Rose" | 13 February 2004 | 7 August 2004 |
| 9 | 9 | "Il tradimento di Riven" / "Betrayed!" "Spelled" | 16 February 2004 | 14 August 2004 |
| 10 | 10 | "La Fiamma del Drago" / "Bloom Tested" "Magical Reality Check" | 18 February 2004 | 21 August 2004 |
| 11 | 11 | "Il regno delle ninfee" / "The Monster and The Willow" "Junior League" | 20 February 2004 | 28 August 2004 |
| 12 | 12 | "Miss Magix" | 23 February 2004 | 4 September 2004 |
| 13 | 13 | "La figlia del fuoco" / "A Great Secret Revealed" "Meant to Be" | 25 February 2004 | 11 September 2004 |
| 14 | 14 | "Il segreto di Bloom" / "Bloom's Dark Secret" "Witch Trap" | 27 February 2004 | 18 September 2004 |
| 15 | 15 | "Voci dal passato" / "Honor Above All" "Pushing the Envelope" | 1 March 2004 | 25 September 2004 |
| 16 | 16 | "Il nemico nell'ombra" / "Cold Spell" "The Nightmare Monster" | 3 March 2004 | 2 October 2004 |
| 17 | 17 | "Il segreto di Brandon" / "Secrets Within Secrets" "Royal Heartbreak" | 5 March 2004 | 9 October 2004 |
| 18 | 18 | "Addio Magix" / "The Font of Dragon Fire" "Senior Witches Go to Earth" | 8 March 2004 | 16 October 2004 |
| 19 | 19 | "Attacco ad Alfea" / "The Fall of Magix" "The Army of Decay" | 10 March 2004 | 23 October 2004 |
| 20 | 20 | "La scomparsa di Bloom" / "Mission to Domino" "Sparks of Hope" | 12 March 2004 | 30 October 2004 |
| 21 | 21 | "Trappola di ghiaccio" / "The Crown of Dreams" "The Frozen Palace" | 15 March 2004 | 6 November 2004 |
| 22 | 22 | "Il ritorno di Riven" / "Storming Cloudtower" "Mission to Cloud Tower" | 17 March 2004 | 13 November 2004 |
| 23 | 23 | "Fuga da Torrenuvola" / "Power Play" "The Search for the Flame" | 19 March 2004 | 20 November 2004 |
| 24 | 24 | "Il mistero del lago" / "The Witches' Siege" "Battle for Alfea" | 22 March 2004 | 27 November 2004 |
| 25 | 25 | "Il sonno di Magix" / "The Ultimate Challenge" "The Great Witch Invasion" | 24 March 2004 | 4 December 2004 |
| 26 | 26 | "Battaglia finale" / "The Witches' Downfall" "Fire and Ice" | 26 March 2004 | 11 December 2004 |
| RC1 | RC1 | "Attack of the Senior Witches" | N/A | 22 May 2004 |
Home media
| Release name | No. of episodes | Company | Release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vol. 1 Welcome To Magix! | 5 | Funimation | 12 July 2005 | 4Kids dub of season 1 episodes 1–5 |
| Vol. 2 The Power Of Dragon Fire | 6 | Funimation | 15 November 2005 | 4Kids dub of season 1 episodes 6–11 |
| Vol. 3 Bloom's Secret Past | 5 | Funimation | 17 January 2006 | 4Kids dub of season 1 episodes 12–16 |
| Vol. 4 Stolen Dragon Fire | 5 | Funimation | 23 May 2006 | 4Kids dub of season 1 episodes 17–21 |
| Vol. 5 Battle For Alfea | 5 | Funimation | 29 August 2006 | 4Kids dub of season 1 episodes 22–26 |
| The Original Complete Season 1 | 26 | Cinedigm | 25 March 2014 | Cinélume dub of season 1 episodes 1–26 |
| Realm of Magix: The Original Season 1, Vol. 1 | 13 | Cinedigm | 25 March 2014 | Cinélume dub of season 1 episodes 1–13 |
| Defeating the Trix: The Original Season 1, Vol. 2 | 13 | Cinedigm | 25 March 2014 | Cinélume dub of season 1 episodes 14–26 |
References
- ^ "Global Hit Animated Series 'Winx Club' Comes To Nickelodeon, Starting June 27". Screener. 9 June 2011.
- ^ Minardi, Sabina (24 February 2011). "Winx, le fatine fanno il botto". L'espresso (in Italian).
- ^ Straffi, Iginio (2013). "Interview with Iginio Straffi" (Interview) (in Italian).
- ^ "In Production: The Winx". Rainbow S.r.l. (in Italian). 27 July 2002. Archived from the original on 27 July 2002.
- ^ Meza, Ed (9 October 2003). "Mipcom Jr. big draw". Variety.
- ^ McClintock, Amela; Oei, Lily (30 October 2003). "No walk in park for 'George'". Variety.
- ^ Fascia, Claudia (27 January 2014). "Winx, 10 anni fa le fatine in tv". Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (in Italian).
