As a kid, I always dreamed that “Winx Club” would become live-action. Earlier this month, that dream finally came true.

“Fate: The Winx Saga” is a Netflix drama about a group of five teenage fairies that debuted on Friday, Jan. 22.

The show is a live-action spin-off of the 2004 “Winx Club” cartoon, created in Italy by Iginio Straffi. American viewers caught the show on Nickelodeon and 4Kids TV during its runtime. The cartoon currently has eight seasons with a ninth season in progress.

The original “Winx Club” follows 16 year-old Bloom, a girl who lives on Earth. After helping Stella, a fairy who was attacked in battle, Bloom discovers that she has powers and is a fairy herself.

Stella introduces Bloom to the Alfea College for Fairies in the Magical Dimension. There, Bloom meets four other teenage fairies named Flora, Musa, Tecna and Aisha. Together they form the Winx Club and fight villains such as Trix, a group of three witches.

The “Winx Club” works together with a group of teenage boys known as the Specialists. These boys go on to become the future love interests of the “Winx Club.”

The cartoon follows Bloom as she searches for the truth about her mysterious past.

“Fate: The Winx Saga” mirrors some details from the animated series. The Netflix edition returns characters such as Bloom, Stella and Musa, along with two of the Specialists, Sky and Riven. Side characters such as Bloom’s parents, the Headmistress of Alfea and Stella’s mother are also present in the live-action series.

Stella is still the princess of Solaria and even has the Ring of Solaria; a special item she possessed in the original series. Bloom and Sky’s romance is also something “Fate: The Winx Saga” focuses on occasionally.

There are more similarities in the live-action show, but they’re considered major spoilers. 

Some characters are missing from the live-action series, such as Flora, Tecna and two of the Specialists, Brandon and Timmy. In contrast, Aisha, who isn’t introduced into the original “Winx Club” until season two is included in season one of the spin-off.

In terms of new characters, the live-action show introduces Terra, who is Flora’s cousin. The Trix have been replaced with a new villain named Beatrix, who is meant to represent all of the witches combined.

In “Fate: The Winx Saga,” Stella and Sky have romantic history, which is something that didn’t happen in the original cartoon. Musa is also in a relationship with a new character named Sam, as opposed to having feelings for Riven.

Unlike the original “Winx Club,” there are moments of bloody violence and vulgar language, making “Fate: The Winx Saga” rated TV-MA.

The live-action series is very different, but not all of the differences are bad. After binge-watching the series in one day, I can confidently say I enjoyed the show from start to finish. There are many aspects of it that I really liked, but there are also a couple of things I did not.

“Fate: The Winx Saga” only has six episodes, and has a strange pacing at times. Some parts feel slow while other parts feel more rushed.

Additionally, the romances are not that good. The only relationship I genuinely cared about is the one between Bloom and Sky. The rest of them are either bland or too problematic.

Bloom and Stella were best friends in the original, but in “Fate: The Winx Series,” Stella is portrayed as mean. Thankfully this is mostly a problem in the first half of the series, but they made her far too rude at times for me.

I also didn’t like how Aisha seems to only be relevant when she’s involved in Bloom’s story. She deserves to have something going on for herself.

My last problem with the show is that it has way too many new characters and some of them are unnecessary. I hope all of these problems are solved and that Flora and Tecna are added to the next season.

I enjoy all of the scenes where the characters fight or use their powers. The special effects for this show are absolutely gorgeous and there are a lot of scenes where the fairies show off their cool magical abilities.

I love how Bloom’s story is similar to the cartoon, but with some interesting changes. The friendship between the five main fairies feels realistic. It takes time for them to get close with each other and I appreciated that element.

The show also has a good balance between the dark themes and the funny, feel-good moments. I was worried that the show was going to be too dark and edgy, but the mature themes were not overwhelming.

As a huge “Winx Club” fan, I was very excited to watch “Fate: The Winx Saga.” I grew up with this franchise and it meant a lot to me that the creator of “Winx Club” made a show for the fans of the cartoon who are now adults. While I was watching the last episode, I felt emotional and teared up because of a particular scene I will not spoil here.

Overall, “Fate: The Winx Saga” is definitely worth the watch, especially for fans of the original. This means something coming from a huge “Winx Club” fan such as myself.