I am not afraid to say that as a twenty-three year old woman, I still love fantasy shows and movies. And when I was younger, I loved them even more. When I had logged into Netflix to see that Fate: The Winx Saga was new to the streaming platform I basically jumped for joy and pressed play as fast as I could.
Winx Club was an animated italian kids show from the early 2000’s that focused on a group of teen girls who had magical fairy powers, and went to school in a magical place called the Otherworld. Now, for a young girl, this show was all I wanted and more. I remember staying up nights into mornings rewatching the multiple seasons over and over again because I was that in love with the show’s entirety. As a twelve year old girl, magic fairies, dark kingdoms, and scary villains were exactly what made the show so sensational.
Most of the girls who were voice actors for the show are now incredible actors that most of us grew up watching on Nickelodeon such as, Elizabeth Gillies, Keke Palmer, and Ariana Grande. So, you can imagine as I found that out pretty recently I was shocked considering I had no idea they had any part in the show.
Having the previous knowledge of the first animated version of the show on Nickelodeon, I was perplexed as to how Netflix was going to create Fate in a light that was made for an older audience without making it seem cheesy or overly predictable. I can easily say that the creators of the Fate show did an amazing job with screenplay and effects. Keep in mind this new show is not animated like the previous Winx was. I was going into the show with a open mind, waiting for it to turn me off with bad acting or cheap effects but I’m delighted to say that I spent a full five hours watching the show entirely because I loved it that much. The acting, the scenery, the effects, and the adult content was just enough to keep me clicking ‘next episode’.
Even though the show has many pros compared to the cons, the cons are just as important to talk about. I did a bit of digging for reviews and thoughts on the show and I came to find that not only is the cast almost entirely white, but they almost totally white washed the show from its original animated cast. I would have loved to see the diversity that the animation had with such ethnicities like Asian, Greek, and Latina, but unfortunately we didn’t get that. Don’t get me wrong, the actors were amazing but Flora’s character was taken out, as she was the Latina representation, and added a new character by the name of Terra, who is Flora’s cousin and white. From my perspective, they could have just as easily used a Latina character for Flora, since she assumingly exists within the same universe as her cousin. I’d love to see her character possibly incorporated in newer seasons of the show, that is if they choose to renew it for a second season.
All in all, the show was amazing to watch but there are a few tweaks here and there that can easily be fixed through casting new characters as well as more ethnic representation within the show itself. I give the show a solid 7/10.