Winx Club (season 1)

The first season of the Italian animated television series *Winx Club* aired from 28 January to 26 March 2004, consisting of 26 episodes. The series was created by Iginio Straffi, who also acted as executive producer and director of the season.

The season revolves around Bloom, a 16-year-old girl from Earth who discovers she has magical abilities, as she enrolls in the Alfea College for Fairies. Along with her newfound friend Stella, a 17-year-old fairy princess, Bloom meets her apartment roommates Flora, Musa, and Tecna. Together, they form the Winx Club. During their adventures, they become good friends and get to know some of the boys from another school called Red Fountain, but also encounter some adversaries, including a trio of witches called the Trix.

Two English dubs of the season were produced. One was provided by Cinélume and another was produced by 4Kids TV, which also edited and censored numerous scenes. The 4Kids version aired on Fox as part of its FoxBox programming block. Additionally, in 2011,Nickelodeon produced four one-hour television specials to summarize the first two seasons. They included remastered segments from the first season and premiered on 27 June 2011.

## Production

Iginio Straffi conceived the idea for *Winx Club* in the mid-1990s while studying the animation industry. By 2000, he and his animation studio Rainbow S.r.l. had developed a pilot episode for the series, then titled *Magic Bloom*. This animation included many concepts that would eventually appear in the series, such as the five original Winx members and the Trix, but the characters were younger and their outfits were not modelled after fashion trends. The pilot garnered the support of Italy's public broadcasting company, RAI, but Straffi was unsatisfied with the final product. He made the decision to scrap the animation and heavily rework the concept, despite a financial investment of over €100,000 in the completed pilot.

Production on the retooled series was underway by 2002, and Rainbow estimated that the episodes would be delivered to distributors by autumn 2003. At the October 2003 MIPCOM event, Rainbow screened the show's first episode to international companies. Later in the month, the American network Fox announced that it had picked up the show's first season of twenty-six episodes. The first season eventually made its world premiere on Rai Due on 28 January 2004.

## Episodes

Episode 1 - An Unexpected Event

Episode 2 - Welcome to Magix!

Episode 3 - Alfea College for Fairies

Episode 4 - The Black-Mud Swamp

Episode 5 - Date with Disaster

Episode 6 - Mission at Cloudtower

Episode 7 - Friends in Need

Episode 8 - A Friendship Sundered

Episode 9 - Betrayed!

Episode 10 - Bloom Tested

Episode 11 - The Monster and The Willow

Episode 12 - Miss Magix

Episode 13 - A Great Secret Revealed

Episode 14 - Bloom's Dark Secret

Episode 15 - Honor Above All

Episode 16 - Cold Spell

Episode 17 - Secrets Within Secrets

Episode 18 - The Font of Dragon Fire

Episode 19 - The Fall of Magix

Episode 20 - Mission to Domino

Episode 21 - The Crown of Dreams

Episode 22 - Storming Cloudtower

Episode 23 - Power Play

Episode 24 - The Witches' Siege

Episode 25 - The Ultimate Challenge

Episode 26 - The Witches' Downfall