4Kids and Rai English Version Need some info?

Subject: 4Kids and Rai English Version Need some info? Sat Jan 11, 2014 7:57 pm

I have been a fan of the Winx Club since I saw the first dub of the first movie The Secret of the Lost Kingdom on Nick a few years ago. After that I watched the various seasons up until now. But my question is this what's the difference between the 4Kids and Rai English dubs? Why need a Rai English dub for season 1 and 2 when 4Kids had it first? What are the differences between the two? What happened to the Winx way back when it was aired on 4Kids then stopped? Can Nick go back and re-dub the whole seasons of 1 and 2 or no? I also noticed a lot of the fans disliking the current seasons of 5 and 6, saying it doesn't go back to how season 1 and 2 were, what do they mean? What made those seasons so grand? Why do they insist on having the current or future seasons like the previous ones?

Sophix Fairy Posts : 686

Rai English is the original English dub. It aired in the UK, Singapore and some other countries and it's based on the original Italian dub.
4kids is an American dub. They censored a lot of stuff and changed the songs and the openings to their liking. This version has only aired in the US, as far as I know. After the first movie, Rainbow cancelled the contract with 4kids and they stopped dubbing the series.

Oh I see so which version is the best one to see?

Sophix Fairy Posts : 686

In my opinion? Definitely Rai English. You get a better dub (opinions may differ, but I like the Rai dub better) and the full, original story.

Whats the original story? What did 4Kids cut or change?

Sophix Fairy Posts : 686

They cut out some stuff and changed a few names (like Domino, its name in the 4kids dub is Sparks). However, I'm not 100% sure of what they censored because I grew up with the Rai dub. Maybe someone who watched Winx Club on 4kids can help?

The episodes 13 and 14 I think in 4kids were shifted around a lot. In the Rai version (the proper version) Musa noticed Stormy's spybot in episode 13 before Bloom went to Eraklyon and then she had fought Stormy, for Musa's episode in 4Kids, it was very cluttered, moved around a lot in a manner that didn't quite make sense. You'd get a better sense for the show in terms of plot and storyline by watching the Rai Version, but the girls are more distinct voices in 4kids and sometimes the acting for certain characters was better. It comes down to personal choice, 4kids Americanised it a lot, lines were changed to sound different, there was a issue with licensing so that some jokes in regards to pop culture had to be removed from probably 4kids.

I grew up with the 4kids dub, but even I would say watch the Rai English dub. They do keep the original stories, songs and names, and it's less childish. But if you want good voice actors, go for 4kids (that's my personal opinion anyways Razz

). One scene I remember they censored was when Musa slapped Icy in Season 1, and they also made Lord Darkar from Season 2 a lot less "scarier" fir the kids watching. It all depends on your opinion, so it's up to you which dub you watch.

Nick probably wouldn't be able to go back and re-dub Seasons 1 and 2, because the TV specials that aired when Winx started on Nick summed those seasons up. You can watch those on YouTube. So basically, Nick has already told the stories from S1 and S2, but just in a shorter version.

As far as fans disliking S5 and S6, I think that's basically about how Nick have changed the show. The personalities of the characters have changed, the storylines are very different and Bloom seems to get more of the spotlight which means characters like Musa and Tecna are always in the background (literally). It just doesn't seem like the older, original seasons.

It really has lost the atmosphere of the original series too and they're unwilling to develop the other worlds. I mean when you think about it, since the Winx girls went back to Earth (a world that needed to have magic brought back to it) they've spent half their life there. And the girls graduated in the first movie, but now they're students again... they constantly break their own world building rules as well which is a serious writing no-no.

And Bloom has become a scary God Sue which makes her highly unlikeable, which is a shame because in the first to third season, she was a little bit nerdy, quite a bit unsure, really had a great relationship with her parents (which drastically changed when her real parents were discovered because suddenly it was Mike and Vanessa this and that).

She was a great artist, a little bit flighty and just likeable because she had flaws you could relate to. Now she's a blank slate that makes it hard to bond with. She's great at everything but passionate about very little and she never confronts her fears, they just work out for her because she's Bloom and she's perfect, even when she's the one in the wrong, the accusations fly towards someone else.

Rai definitely had a better storyline, 4kids the better voice acting. And back then, it was about a magical group of girls, not one and her superficial shadow clones. Even the Specialists had a much better relationship, they had their duties and classes and they actively helped the Winx out in their missions instead of being trophy boyfriends for the girls.

» Which is your favourite dub? Rai, Nick or 4kids?
» I really wish that 4kids didn't change any names at all
» Winx Club: 2x18 - Old vs. New Version Clip (English)
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» What 4kids change maybe would have been made if they did dub season 4