Please note: I watched the 4kids version

over 15 years ago a brand new franchise from Italy began that despite some highs and lows has become a very popular franchise with a lot of fans but now let’s go back to where it all began, does the episode still hold up over a decade and a half later let’s find out

The episode begins by showing the city of Gardenia where Bloom is riding her bike through the streets of Gardenia with her pet Kiko which after saying to mr genaro that she will the scene shifts to the gardenia park where Bloom tells Kiko to go find an acorn that she’ll toss around with him which after she sits down next to her bike taking a bite out of an apple when Kiko rushes back in a panic which Bloom asks if he saw a scary squirrel

In the clearing

Bloom and Kiko find Stella in a fire fight against some ghouls which Stella easily dispatches the ghouls but Knut manages to floor her and he tells the ghouls to bring the scepter that Stella has to him which after Knut has it tells Stella that she’s history when Bloom raises her voice which gets Knut’s attention who attacks her which awakens the dragonflame within her (yeah I know back in the show’s premiere we didn’t know it was the dragonflame but after 15 years winx fans know that it was the dragonflame)

the ghouls charge on Bloom but she destroys them when an orange energy sphere forms around her but one manages to get the drop on kiko however Bloom send it packing with a tree branch.

Stella tells Bloom that she has major winx but before she can explain further, she blasts knut back then wipes the floor with the ghouls however a ghoul manages to bite off a piece of Bloom’s trouser leg before Knut and the remaining ghouls retreat with knut telling Stella that they’ll meet again but she de-transforms moments later

At Bloom’s house

its the next day and Vanessa tries to wake Bloom up but it doesn’t work saying how Bloom pretended to be a fairy but when Vanessa mentions the girl sleeping in the guestroom, Bloom bolts awake getting washed and dressed while sprouting that Stella is Wanda’s cousin and that she’s visiting from far far away, when she gets to breakfast mike tells her that they are going to clean out the garage, she tries to explains to Mike about what Stella is but Vanessa says that Bloom wants to spend the day with her friend and tells Bloom that if she gets the groceries, she be free to spend the rest of the day with Stella

Bloom is walking with her bike when Mitzi suggests she send her bike to the scrapyard but Bloom tells her that her dad bought the bike for her Bloom cycles away telling kiko that if she has powers to remind her to turn Mitzi into a monkey

In a mystery place

Knut walks into somewhere with the Trix who want to know why he failed he explains that he almost had the spectre but thanks to Bloom’s unexpected attack when Icy asks about Bloom, Knut tells them how she beat them but Darcy wants to know what she looks like, Knut doesn’t since he did not have his glasses on which Icy and Darcy berates him for but he tells them that he has a plan on how to find them since one of the ghouls managed to get a piece of Bloom’s clothing so he’ll use a hunter troll to find Bloom and kill her and recover the solaria sceptre

back at Bloom’s house

Mike and Bloom are talking about Stella who has been asleep for 20 hours cause she is a fairy but Mike asks if that’s like a goth but Bloom corrects him by saying real magic and wings but he thinks Bloom is running a fever and wants to call Doctor Silverman but Stella wakes up not realising its night time until Vanessa corrects her

Bloom and Stella introduce themselves to each other but when Vanessa suggest they call Stella’s parents but unfortunately that is not possible due to the distance between earth and solaria but after Stella says she’s from a kingdom called Solaria, Mike wants to call Doctor Silverman thinking Stella and Bloom are seeing things but Stella decides to prove to them that she is telling the truth by turning the house phone into a carrot and lettuce leaving him stumped and Stella explains what happened in the park but when she suggest that she go to Alfea, Mike shuts down the conversation cause he is unsure if sending Bloom is a good idea

In Gardenia

Knut, the hunter troll and 4 ghouls arrive in Gardenia, the troll sniffs the piece of Bloom’s clothing picking up the scent

back at Bloom’s house

Stella and Bloom walk into Bloom’s bedroom who isn’t sure if she has powers but Stella reassures her that she does but her powers have been dormant for too long and reads a book on fairies but when Stella tries to teach her a magic spell it doesn’t work but Stella uses an express portal to show Bloom Alfea

outside 

Knut is following the troll hunter who picks up the scent of both Stella and Bloom but loses it due to them being through the express portal

Outside Alfea

Stella and Bloom look on the alfea college for fairies, Bloom then asks what happens at alfea and tells Bloom about red fountain and who the specialists are and about Cloudtower who then tells Bloom that she invites the specialists over

Back in Gardenia

upon their return, to earth the troll picks up the scent and they go in through the back but Kiko seeing them tries to warn Mike and Vanessa but Mike doesn’t listen so Kiko barricades the door with whatever he can much to Mike’s annoyance but the barricade is not enough to stop the troll who smashes the door down which gets everyone’s attention even Bloom and Stella upstairs who come down after Knut demands to know where Bloom and Stella are, Stella transforms and Bloom leads the ghouls away while Mike and Vanessa slip out the front window but Bloom having lured the ghouls outside but while trying to think of a way deal with them when Knut is blasted out of the house by Stella who herself is knocked through the window by the troll but the specialists show up but Riven’s attempt to restrain the troll don’t work as he ends up getting tossed about landing in between Bloom and Stella as it attacks Sky who blocks with his shield while Brandon creates a chasm in Mike and Vanessa’s front yard and Timmy shoots the troll’s balance who falls into the chasm while riven destroys the ghouls and Bloom and Stella blast Knut from behind who threatens to use a cleaning spell on him that makes him retreat with 2 ghouls while Stella introduces Bloom to the specialists who take the troll into custody and depart after telling Bloom about what is going to happen to the troll

The Next Morning

Mike is cleaning up but Stella offers to clean the whole house with her magic but Mike tells her no but Bloom come down with a suitcase, Mike however wants to know more about Alfea but when she asks her how they will get there so she uses her Solaria ring to teleport them to the hill overlooking Alfea and the episode ends with Bloom, Stella, Vanessa, Mike and Kiko heading towards Alfea

Things i observed

• the intro and song are unique and do the job of giving you an idea of what the show is 😊
• hmm so Stella coined the term Winx hmm interesting 🤔
• “We’d better take her home, she needs major help” I would say take her to the hospital but does gardenia have one? And all the questions she would have answer would be tricky 🤔
• so Bloom liked stories about fairies interesting🤔
• if only Vanessa knew how right she was to be about calling her a princess (yeah I know back in the show’s premiere we didn’t know Bloom was the princess of domino but after 15 years winx fans know that by now)
• who’s Wanda? 🤔
• “A two wheeled relic to the junk pile” seriously Mitzi bikes are still practical even today 😒
• Mitzi is so unlikable that all her misfortune later in the series is entertaining 😒
• “Kiko if I have powers remind me to turn her into a monkey” why hasn’t she done that already 🤔🤣
• so Knut has vision problems and needs glasses to see
• Mike’s skepticism is understandable given that to him fairies are a myth but I’ll talk more on that later
• so is earth is 6 realms away form solaria 🤔
• an express portal could be useful in tight spots 🤔
• I find it an odd coincidence the specialists we see in the explanation about red fountain are the Sky, Brandon, Riven and Timmy and cloudtower focuses on the Trix
• did Stella think to inform Mike and Vanessa about that 😒
• Riven’s bad attitude is easy to see 😒
• Seriously Sky openly flirting with a girl you do not know 😒
• is causing property damage part of training at red fountain? 🤔
• so the episode ends with the title in the song and a close up shot of Alfea 😊

Overall thoughts

so what did I think of the episode well I thought it was good with great characterisation for Bloom, Stella, Mike and Vanessa, I liked how they used Mike’s skepticism of what was happening, I liked how the story was well paced and the plot was a great way to introduce us to our lead character, it didn’t feel rushed and the voice acting was very good, why I liked Mike’s skepticism was because I could totally see him being skeptical of magic since to him it was all childhood fairy tales and myths but has this episode aged well after 15 years? Well yes and no the story has aged well since I feel the story has aged well since its easy to follow even after 15 years but what hasn’t aged well is the animation it looked primitive and especially with the specialists who looked awful in this style and we have the specialists in the season 8’s animation style which is worse than this but do I recommend this episode yes because the episode is enjoyable and is a good way to get into the older series or can be a fun way to pass over 20 minutes

so I’ll see you all in my next review 😉😉😉