Magic Bloom (partially found early Winx Club pilot; 1999): Difference between revisions

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{{InfoboxLost
{{InfoboxLost
|title=Winx Club Pilot
|title=<center>Winx Club (pilot)</center>
|image=JustFairies.jpg
|image=Winx-1.jpg
|imagecaption=Early promotional image.
|imagecaption=A screenshot from the pilot.
|status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>
}}
}}
''Winx Club'' became a hit after premiering in 2004. The show quickly attracted the interest of the American company Viacom, which now co-owns the ''Winx Club'' animation studio (Rainbow S.p.A.) alongside the cartoon's creator, Iginio Straffi. Viacom's Nickelodeon started co-producing the show in 2011 and it became even more popular, ranking as Nickelodeon UK's second-highest-rated series. Before ''Winx Club'' even aired, however, Mr. Straffi spent several years developing the show. These testing stages resulted in the production of a short pilot episode, of which only small pieces have seen the light of day.


''Winx Club'' is a phenomenon in Europe, and has even graced American airwaves twice: first, running from 2004-2009 (dubbed by 4Kids) and a second time, this time around, dubbed by Nickelodeon (2010-present.) While it still hasn't made quite the mark in America that it has in Europe, it's still a considerable success. However, before it became the smash-hit it is today, it went through several test stages, only small pieces of which have seen the light of day.
==Magic Bloom (1999-2001)==
The first incarnation of the series was titled '''''Magic Bloom''''' and was in development from 1999 to 2001. Here, the main characters were younger teenagers and the character designs resembled those of classic European fairies. 20 seconds of footage were released as part of a video interview with Iginio Straffi, in which he briefly discusses the circumstances surrounding the pilot's production.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuw9Jb7H1wc&t=920 2013 interview with Iginio Straffi.] Retrieved 12 Mar '19.</ref>


Sometime around early 2002, Rainbow held a test screening of the pilot in order to gauge audience reactions. According to a 2003 article, the test viewers "loved the series' concept, but found its look less than enchanting."<ref name="kidscreen">[http://kidscreen.com/2003/09/01/fashion-20030901/ Rainbow, Scholastic Ent. turn to style specialists for design innovations.] Retrieved 12 Mar '19.</ref> Iginio Straffi himself was unsatisfied with the pilot, recalling in 2016 that the end product "looked like just another Japanese-style cartoon ... nothing like [the modern] ''Winx''."<ref>[https://movieplayer.it/articoli/rainbow-lintervista-a-iginio-straffi-sullanimazione-in-italia_15112/ 2016 MoviePlayer interview with Iginio Straffi.] Retrieved 12 Mar '19.</ref> Despite already gaining the support of broadcasters and investing over €100,000 in the pilot, Straffi scrapped it and started retooling the series from the ground up. He hired an array of new designers to change the pilot's "dull" designs and color palette.<ref name="kidscreen"/>


== Magic Bloom (1999) ==
The original character design sheets from ''Magic Bloom'' (source unidentified) have been uploaded to the Internet.


{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Nr5MfW2Vs|640x480|center|Magic Bloom footage|frame}}
At the 2018 Lucca Comics & Games convention, the transformation scenes from the ''Magic Bloom'' pilot were shown as part of an exhibition commemorating the 15th anniversary of ''Winx Club''. At around 33 seconds, this is the most footage from the pilot that has been released so far. The exhibition also revealed that Stella's original name was Sasha (see [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtY5G8q8o8c here] for the video).


The first known incarnation of the series was titled ''Magic Bloom'' and was made circa 1999 as a proof of concept. In this stage, the main characters were aged 13-14 instead of 15-16, as they are in the series proper. There are rumors that the characters had different names, but there is no source for this information. Most notably, the series was, at this stage, made for a much younger audience in mind, and the character designs hadn't been finalized. The initial character designs and 20 seconds of footage have both been leaked onto the internet; the source of these are unknown. Some additional, shorter pieces of footage have been released to the public (seen in 4Kid's promotional DVD from 2003, as well as the 4Kids opening) that can't be identified from proper ''Winx'' episodes, leading many to believe that these scenes were from the ''Magic Bloom'' pilot and were re-used for promotional materials due to the final show not having enough completed footage to use.
[[File:JustFairies.jpg|right|thumb|200px]]
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==Winx: Just Fairies! (2003)==
Additionally, there are claims that 15 episodes were produced under this moniker and aired on Cartoon Network in 1999, and the episodes were later destroyed after it couldn't retain ratings, after which it was retooled into ''Winx Club'', as well as rumors that dolls were designed by Mattel. On top of both claims being completely unsourced, there are no records of ''Magic Bloom'' appearing on Cartoon Network at any point in time, no one has come forward with recordings of the series, and funding 15 episodes of an animated series is expensive (''Winx Club'' episodes proper cost $500,00 per episode), so it's very unlikely that a then-small company, such as Rainbow sp.A, would fund an entire series run and then completely destroy the masters because of bad ratings. As for the Mattel rumor, there are no records of Mattel registering any of the alleged original ''Winx Club'' names for future use.
A small poster with a logo reading '''''Winx: Just Fairies!''''' was on Rainbow SpA's website in early 2003, before the show's premiere. The image shows the finished designs of the three characters who appear on it (Bloom, Sky, and Icy). This image is the only known material that uses this title, but there is other scrapped animation that uses the final character designs. Fans have identified footage from early promotional material (early Italian DVDs and pre-release teasers) that show scenes that are absent in the finished show. It is possible they were created for a trailer from before the first season was finished.
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What footage that has been found is incredibly grainy and low-quality, meaning that it may be sourced from an early version of Rainbow spA's website. Additionally, all copies of the pilot footage that are currently circulating on the internet has replaced audio, either with the Polish-language version, the original Italian opening, or audio from the American 4Kids dub, indicating that the audio from what ''has'' been found may be damaged or nonexistent. Β 


==Gallery==
===Video===
{{Video|perrowΒ  =2
Β  |service1Β  Β  =youtube
Β  |id1Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  =61Nr5MfW2Vs
Β  |description1 =Magic Bloom footage
Β  |service2Β  Β  =youtube
Β  |id2Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  =llEufiOwnho
Β  |description2 =Magic Bloom transformation sequences
}}
===Concept Sheets===
<gallery mode=packed heights=300px>
<gallery mode=packed heights=300px>
File:Winx-Bloom.jpg|
File:Winx-Bloom.jpg|
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File:Winx-Tecna.jpg|
File:Winx-Tecna.jpg|
</gallery>
</gallery>
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===Footage===
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px>
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px>
File:Winx-1.jpg| screenshot from found footage
File:Winx-1.jpg| screenshot from found footage
File:Winx-2.jpg| screenshot from found footage
File:Winx-2.jpg| screenshot from found footage
File:Winx-3.jpg
File:Winx-3.jpg
File:Winx-4.jpg| Early design of the fairy college
File:Winx-4.jpg| Early design of Alfea College
File:Winx-5.PNG| A screenshot from Rainbow spA's website, circa 2003, featuring an early design of the fairy college from the show.
File:Winx-5.PNG| A screenshot from Rainbow spA's website, circa 2003, featuring an early design of the fairy college from the show.
</gallery>
</gallery>


== Winx: Just Fairies! (2001) ==
==External Link==
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winx_Club#Development Wikipedia article for ''Winx Club''.]


Even less is known about this stage of the series' development. One image exists with the ''Winx: Just Fairies!'' logo, which interestingly also has the finished designs of the three characters who appear in it. This image was on Rainbow spA's website in early 2003. This was presumably the last stage that the show went through before becoming ''Winx Club''.
==References==
{{reflist}}


[[Category:Lost animation]]
[[Category:Lost animation]]
[[Category:Lost TV]]
[[Category:Lost TV]]
[[Category:Partially found media]]

Latest revision as of 14:46, 1 March 2021

Winx-1.jpg

A screenshot from the pilot.

Status: Partially Found

Winx Club became a hit after premiering in 2004. The show quickly attracted the interest of the American company Viacom, which now co-owns the Winx Club animation studio (Rainbow S.p.A.) alongside the cartoon's creator, Iginio Straffi. Viacom's Nickelodeon started co-producing the show in 2011 and it became even more popular, ranking as Nickelodeon UK's second-highest-rated series. Before Winx Club even aired, however, Mr. Straffi spent several years developing the show. These testing stages resulted in the production of a short pilot episode, of which only small pieces have seen the light of day.

Magic Bloom (1999-2001)

The first incarnation of the series was titled Magic Bloom and was in development from 1999 to 2001. Here, the main characters were younger teenagers and the character designs resembled those of classic European fairies. 20 seconds of footage were released as part of a video interview with Iginio Straffi, in which he briefly discusses the circumstances surrounding the pilot's production.[1]

Sometime around early 2002, Rainbow held a test screening of the pilot in order to gauge audience reactions. According to a 2003 article, the test viewers "loved the series' concept, but found its look less than enchanting."[2] Iginio Straffi himself was unsatisfied with the pilot, recalling in 2016 that the end product "looked like just another Japanese-style cartoon ... nothing like [the modern] Winx."[3] Despite already gaining the support of broadcasters and investing over €100,000 in the pilot, Straffi scrapped it and started retooling the series from the ground up. He hired an array of new designers to change the pilot's "dull" designs and color palette.[2]

The original character design sheets from Magic Bloom (source unidentified) have been uploaded to the Internet.

At the 2018 Lucca Comics & Games convention, the transformation scenes from the Magic Bloom pilot were shown as part of an exhibition commemorating the 15th anniversary of Winx Club. At around 33 seconds, this is the most footage from the pilot that has been released so far. The exhibition also revealed that Stella's original name was Sasha (see here for the video).

JustFairies.jpg

Winx: Just Fairies! (2003)

A small poster with a logo reading Winx: Just Fairies! was on Rainbow SpA's website in early 2003, before the show's premiere. The image shows the finished designs of the three characters who appear on it (Bloom, Sky, and Icy). This image is the only known material that uses this title, but there is other scrapped animation that uses the final character designs. Fans have identified footage from early promotional material (early Italian DVDs and pre-release teasers) that show scenes that are absent in the finished show. It is possible they were created for a trailer from before the first season was finished.

Gallery

Video

Magic Bloom footage

Magic Bloom transformation sequences

Concept Sheets

Footage

External Link

References