The new Netflix series “Fate: The Winx Saga” that premiered on January 22nd is based on the 2004 Italian cartoon show “Winx Club”. Both the Tv and the cartoon shows are about Bloom, a teenager who lived most of her life like a normal human being and suddenly finds out she has fairy magic. She moves to Alfea, a school in the Otherworld realm that trains fairies to control their magic. The show’s first season has 6 episodes of 50 minutes each.
Despite the similarities, there were many changes made in Netflix’s version Children were no longer the target audience, but the teenage generation that used to watch the Italian one. While the cartoon had more of a positive vibe, with Bloom discovering her magic trying to save another fairy, the show had a darker storyline. Bloom (Abigail Cowen) found out she had the ability to create fire with her bare hands in the moments she was angry at her parents. One day, she was so controlled by her anger that she set her house on fire and almost killed her family. That was when Farah Dowling, Alfea’s headmistress, discovered Bloom’s existence and invited her to study magic at the school.Â
The main plot of the show involves Bloom and her friends trying to discover her identity and where she is from since they found out she is a changeling (a fairy baby switched at birth with a human one). Meanwhile, the school’s teachers and headmistress are searching for a way to kill all the monsters that were once extinct and now are back trying to invade Alfea’s magical barrier that prevents any threat from entering the school’s surroundings.
Besides, many of the characters suffered changes. Tecna and Flora (technology and nature fairies, respectively) weren’t on the show and the second one was replaced by Terra. Musa, originally a music fairy, was changed to a mind fairy. And the Trix, 3 villains that I’m sure we all had a love and hate relationship with, also weren’t a part of the show but many say that Beatrix, a new character, represents the three of them since her name ends with “trix”. Besides all that, there were other alterations made on the couples that you can notice while watching because I don’t want to give any spoilers.
But the one that shocked me and the public was that the fairies on the show didn’t have wings when using their powers. And the big reason behind that was explained by Farah: having wings is part of ancient magic that fairies no longer have nowadays. However, in the very last episode, one of the characters unlocks that power and you will only know which one if you watch the series.
Another thing to talk about is the cast selected to portray the characters. Abigail Cowen, the actress who played Bloom, played her first main character role on Fate. Before that, she played Dorcas, one of the Weird Sisters in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and briefly appeared as Vicky on Stranger Things and as Eliza Foster on The Fosters. Other faces like Danny Griffin, Precious Mustapha, Elisha Applebaum, Sadie Soverall, Hannah van der Westhuysen, Eliot Salt, Eve Best, Lesley Sharp and Robert James-Collier (Downton Abbey) also appear on the show.
Overall, I highly recommend Fate, especially if you once were a child obsessed with The Winx Club and used to wake up early in the morning every weekend just to watch it like me. Despite all the differences, the new show can give you a sense of nostalgia with a spice of mystery that just makes everything better.
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The article above was edited by Giullia Cartaxo.
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