Film
Fate: the winx saga
Proving yet again Netflix adaptations are disappointing, if not outright disrespectful.
Magical girl or mahō shōjo is a subgenre of Japanese fantasy media that features young girls endowed with magical powers, often used through an alter ego into which they can transform.
Sailor Moon
Princess Precure characters
Mahou Shoujou Ore characters
Madoka Kaname
Princess Tutu
Miraculous: The Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir characters
Main cast of Winx Club
“Winx Club” - the 2004 Italian cartoon is a leading example of a European magical girl show, along with the french LoliRock and Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir.
This precious show, amassing millions of fans around the world, was a very personal and intimate part of the childhoods of many viewers. Thus, many supporters of Winx were immediately slightly sceptical upon hearing the rumours of a live action adaptation, and at the time of the release of the trailer, plenty were already furious at Fate: The Winx Saga. The trailer portrayed a very different image from the original show. Long gone were the colours, fashionable clothes and likeable cast, what remained was an empty shell definitely not big enough to fill Winx’s shoes.
LoliRock characters
Bloom in her Enchantix form in Winx Club
While the show might’ve been fine had it been a Netflix original series, it wasn’t. Seemingly, that was Fate: The Winx Saga’s main flaw – its failure to cater to fans of the original show, who had been baited into watching it. Many critics of the Netflix show had chastised it for erasure of POC characters, who had been included in the original. Flora, the fan favourite plant fairy who was a Latina girl in Winx Club was replaced by a white girl named Terra, and the Asian coded Musa was now white-passing, which caused outrage among the fans. Tecna - the tomboyish technology fairy had been cut out of the adaptation completely.
Musa in Winx Club
Tweet by @OCWinxClub on Twitter
Musa in Fate: The Winx Saga
Tweet by @thepaperreels on Twitter
Flora in Winx Club
Tecna in Winx Club
Kiko in Winx Club
A multitude of lovable background characters had been cut out or changed beyond recognition, however the most condemned modification of personality occurred in the cherished Stella, a spoiled but ultimately kind and welcoming princess, often helping those in need. Her introductory hostility in the reworking of the story caused alarms to go off in many fans’ heads, including mine. While her nature may have come off as a typical “mean queen bee” upon a superficial glance at her, in Winx Club she was one of the most charming and amiable girls in the main cast. She deeply cared about her friends, and instead of her belligerent attitude towards the main character shown on Netflix, she was the one who became Bloom’s first friend in the initial show.
Headmistress Faragonda in Winx Club
Professor Wizgiz in Winx Club
Professor Griselda in Winx Club
Professor Palladium in Winx Club
Stella in Winx Club
Dane in Fate: The Winx Saga
Another despicable aspect of the live action was most certainly the plethora of unneeded and unfunny “jokes” added in. The remarks poking fun at Terra’s weight were especially jarring, as the lack of sarcasm in the statements caused them to look as though the characters saying them were in the right. While she does stand up for herself at one point, it is abundantly clear that the comments still hurt her and contributed to her withering self-esteem. The homophobic backtalk was an unexpected let down, as the series begun production in 2020. The writers should’ve known better than to make offensive and distasteful notes towards the only LGBT coded character in the show - Dane.
Terra in Fate: The Winx Saga
With Fate: The Winx Saga being only 6 episodes long, it’s very apparent the show was rushed and overdramaticised. The dialogue especially suffers, and is ultimately the adaptation’s fatal flaw. The millennial/gen-z buzzword lingo used was not only cringe-inducing, it also felt patronising. In one of the first scenes of the first episode, Bloom criticises Sky on his “mansplaining” as he’s offering to show her around the school she is obviously new at. The girls often reference mainstream works and act as though their taste was obscure and niche. A notably grating quip of dialogue happens in a conversation between the main character Bloom and Aisha.
The following pictures have been brightened.
“Are you the one person in the universe who’s never read Harry Potter?”
“Please, if you’d know how many hours I spent taking sorting hat quizzes”
“Ravenclaw?”
“Sometimes Slytherin, yeah.”
“That explains the lies then.”
“Hm, let me guess. Griffindor.
Explains the judgement.”
It almost seems as though no one informed the writers, that including references to an objectively better piece of art won’t make theirs better.
Main cast of Winx Club in their Enchantix forms
Plenty supporters of Winx were also disappointed by the show’s lackluster and uninspired fashion choices. The fans were let down, as instead of the colourful and stylish outfits often adorning the main cast they were used to in the magical girl genre, the Netflix show instead chose not to pay any mind to the wardrobe of the deuteragonists. This arrangement certainly wiped out the charm the previous fashion had and caused the show to become even more boring.
What's surprising, however, is that a fan of Winx Club actually created outfits inspired by the girls' original lovely fashion styles here. Sadly, they look better at their worst than the adaptaion does even at its best.
Main cast of Fate: The Winx Saga
Main cast of Winx Club
Male Fairy - Sam, Musa's love interest
As is the case for many other series, there are both assets and let downs in this show. While it certainly fails as a faithful adaptation to its remarkable predecessor Winx Club, it can be enjoyed as a standalone watch whenever you want to turn your brain off.
Yet if the original name “Winx Club” doesn’t ring a bell, you might actually be able to enjoy the miniseries. While the story is superficial and filled with cringe inducing dialogue, it is not all that bad. Be it flimsy writing, uninteresting plot and unnecessarily dark visuals, there are a few nice tweaks, making it passable if boring. The CGI in the show is overall pretty great, as is the magic system they establish early on. While the screenwriters’ decision to change Musa’s power from sound related to mind abilities of the empathetic variety is confusing, it’s not a massive detriment to the show. It incorporates music in a nice way - allowing the character to block out the thoughts of others. Many small details added to the live action were actually quite a nice touch, like allowing boys to be Fairies and girls to be Specialists, which was not the case in the original.
Female Specialist