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In case you aren't in the habit of obsessively checking every few days, I suppose I should mention that I added four new stories to the upcoming Fandom Classics list over the weekend (you can get to the list from the "Fandom Classics by Star Rating" link at the top of the page). Once I knock another four or five stories off, I'll update it again! As always, you can e-mail me with any suggestions, and I'll continue to draw on previous recommendations as well.
For now though, click below the break for my review of Skywriter's Princess Celestia Hates Tea.
Impressions before reading: Okay, first thing's first: this story's been on my to-be-reviewed list for two months, but then those finks at the Royal Canterlot Library swooped in and beat me to the punch. Granted, they weren't specifically doing a review, but still; if I ever find out who those opportunistic story-grubbers are, I'll... oh, wait.
Joking around aside, I did (re)read this story when one of the other RCL-ers proposed it and, as the "unanimous approval" line in that feature suggests, I liked it a lot. Just for future reference, and on an unrelated note: there may be some overlap between my reviews and their/our recommendations going forward, but those reviews and recommendations are culled from different sources based different critera. Such overlap will be (like this) coincidental, not deliberate.
Zero-ish spoiler summary: Princess Celestia confesses in private that she hates tea. There are consequences.
Thoughts after reading: A lot of comedy is based around introducing a singular piece of absurdity into an otherwise serious situation, the humor deriving from characters trying to react rationally to an irrational event, or making assumptions which are totally logical save for one glaring leap of specious thinking. So when I say that this story is absolutely hilarious, what I mean is this:
The characterizations in this story are spot-on. The voicing is perfect. The plot is totally sensible and internally consistent, and the events which drive the story make perfect sense. All of this is true, as long as you accept that the lives of every pony in Equestria are fundamentally defined by the absolute knowledge that Princess Celestia likes tea.
That is your singular bit of illogic, from which ever more massive absurdity is sprung as the fic progresses. And really, that's what makes this story work so well: every crazy reaction, every crazier plan, everything derives from the idea that Celestia's beverage preference is the single most important thing in the history of things. The contrast between how silly an idea that is, and how deathly seriously everyone takes it, never fails to entertain.
And along the way, Skywriter manages to wring some genuine insights into his characters. Celestia isn't just a put-upon punching bag in this fic; she's a fully-realized character, and her fate is both comical and just a bit poignant as a result. And by emphasizing one tiny, seemingly inconsequential aspect of who Celestia is, the author is able to make several observations about the power of inertia and the nature of celebrity which are thoughtful without detracting from the story's entertainment value. Indeed, one of the best things I can think to say about a comedy is that it makes you stop and think even as you're laughing, and Princess Celestia Hates Tea manages to be at once unswervingly funny, and genuinely thoughtful.
Star rating: ★★★★★ (what does this mean?)
This story has everything I love to see in a comedy fic, and it executes it all brilliantly.
Recommendation: I recommend this story to anyone who likes well-written, intelligent comedy. And really, who doesn't like that?
Next time: Whom the Princesses Would Destroy, by GhostOfHeraclitus
I always thought that the story should have had a [Tragedy] tag associated with it, given how Celestia ends up.
ReplyDeleteIt really could, but I suspect it would confuse a lot of readers. You know, the ones who can't distinguish between "tragic" and "sad." Oh, well.
DeleteOr "tragic" and "tragedy", for that matter.
DeleteThat's one thing that always drives me crazy. I see a tragedy tag on something I'm reading and go "This isn't a tragedy. It's tragic yes but not a tragedy."
DeleteI agree:
ReplyDeleteWith everything you say here, but my favorite part is the way Skywriter takes it all one step further by adding what he calls "something of a coda" in the form of "A Short Story by Twilight Sparkle." All very fun.
Mike
The pairing of the two stories is absolutely brilliant. It absolutely requires one to go back and read the first one over again with a new perspective.
Delete-iisaw
Two five-star fics in a row, huh? Nice change of pace after vampire Vinyl.
ReplyDeleteDo you know something we don't?
Delete"Next time: Whom the Princesses Would Destroy, by GhostOfHeraclitus"
DeleteHmmm, went to check WtPWD on FimFic to find I'd read the first chapter only and downvoted it. For me, that's rare. Lord I must have hated it!
DeleteThis should be fun!
Okay...and how do you know this'll be a five-star review? Aren't you being a tad premature?
DeleteThe only thing I can add beyond what I said on the RCL wall is that, not only do I find it utterly bereft of mirth, it actually saddens me that people do find it funny.
ReplyDeleteCelestia reveals a millennia-old lie, is somehow surprised that people freak out, and ends up essentially being tortured because of it.
Sorry, I cant see the funny.
What is your gold standard for good comedy then? I'm rather curious now.
DeleteAssuming you mean in the fandom, I've still never laughed so hard as Chicken Vortex's Getting Lucky. That said, I haven't laughed much more at anything besides actual stand up comedians ever. Too much fandom comedy is meme abuse and gutter humour for my taste.
DeleteAs a wider reference to my preferred humour: Douglas Adams, Joss Whedon, Jimmy Carr/Dara O'Briain, Monty Python. Of those, Monty Python's Flying Circus tends to be the most contentious since so many people mistake it for zany/random instead of intelligent/insightful, while Whedon's Firefly is probably my perfect example of in-story humour. Special mention has to go to the film adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs The World, too.
I actually wasn't a huge fan of Scott Pilgrim. It was alright, but didn't quite live up to all the hype
DeleteIt bugs me to no end how people think Monty Python's funny because "it doesn't make sense", or they won't think it's funny for the same reason (as my family reacted when I showed them the Four Yorkshiremen sketch). South Park's faced similar problems. People focused far too much on the potty humor and cursing of the early episodes without realizing what exactly they were doing with it. Now they practically beat you over the head with their messages, so you get people thinking the show's matured, when the earlier episodes were actually far more clever
I don't get the appeal here, either. Okay, granted, I haven't read this story, but there are premises that I can tell won't appeal to me in any way, shape or form, so why would I waste precious time confirming my bias? This just might show that comedy, more than any other genre, is a subjective thing. Even if a thousand people tell me "Some Like It Hot" is the best Billy Wilder movie ever made, that won't change the fact that I think "One, Two, Three" is miles ahead of it, simply by virtue of making me laugh more.
DeleteI'm gonna have to check out this One, Two, Three now. Some Like It Hot was hilarious, so I can't very well pass up something potentially funnier
DeleteI'm surprised by the comparisons you drew, Scott. It's not that I don't think you should be allowed to not like this story or anything--hopefully you know me better than that--it's just that, if you'd asked me to name a published story with a similar sensibility to this one, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is one of the first names I'd have come up with. If you don't mind my asking, what are you seeing as the love-it-to-hate-it difference between that story's brand of humor, or it's semi-downer ending, and this one's?
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DeleteI'm afraid the breadth of my literary pool doesn't run that wide, Chris. I read The Hitchhiker's Guide up to (but not including) Mostly Harmless (the bar skit right at the beginning is still one of my favourite exchanges in the book), and two other short stories that I won't even pretend to remember. I just remember the style of humour that stuck with me throughout childhood. I've heard of Dirk Gently in passing, but I've never read it.
DeleteWhat I can tell you is what I find wrong with this story's brand of humour--or lack thereof. There's no surprise. Exactly as I said above: Celestia has done something I find to be pretty deplorable, and when discovered, people freak out. Where is the funny?
Now, sure, I didn't expect the changeling angle, but even so, the story hadn't lead me into any expectation except my automatic one, which was that it would not go at all well. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Adams employs significantly more misdirection in Dirk Gently--even if it's only by way of standard assumption--because he almost always does. That's why I like his work in the first place.
I will, however, track down a copy of Dirk Gently so that I might one day answer your question properly.
The G'Gugvuntt and Vl'hurg attack fleets from Hitchhikers springs immediately to mind as a comparison. After some build up by using carefully chosen language to really instil the idea of a credible threat we get 'Due to a terrible miscalculation of scale the entire battle fleet was swallowed by a small dog.' It's completely out of left-field and counter to expectations.
To me, that's funny.
Each successive antagonist in PCHT, however, was not running against expectations--they were just the next in a line of silly things that made the next silly thing even less unusual than the previous. Silly =/= funny. And yet, they were also never quite procedural, because inevitability can be funny, too.
Essentially, I suppose, the story failed to sell me on any alternative to what actually happens. Of course Twi freaked. Of course Shiny sided with Twi. Of course Mrs Cozy was angry about being lied to. The only bit I didn't see coming is Celestia essentially getting tortured at the end of it. How the hell can expect me to laugh at that? This is what genuinely scares me. From where I'm sitting you have to be fairly unbalanced to find that funny.
I wish I could understand it, but I don't. And of course I'm not saying that it is explicitly not funny, only that for me it didn't raise even a solitary giggle while giving me an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
I didn't like it for the simpler reason that I didn't believe a word of it. Little in the story convinced me that something this persistently stupid or painfully over the top could happen in the ponyverse, which is why it baffles me that Chris says the "characterizations in this story are spot-on". I don't think I've read a less convincing Twilight.
DeleteProfessorOats: Be careful with that recommendation (if you read it as one). I'm German, so "One, Two, Three" has a very particular resonance for me that an American probably won't share.
Delete...Why is this site suddenly redirecting to blogspot.co.nz?
ReplyDeleteHuh. I was going to tell you that only happened to you, but now that I've commented above, I'm on blogspot.de. Some kind of nation recognition thing going on at blogspot?
DeleteWell, I'm sure heck not from New Zealand. :| Chris isn't either. And now it's not happening. WTF, Blogspot.
DeleteI have no idea what's going on with Blogger and its nation-identification software, but it doesn't seem to be affecting post content.
DeleteIf you start getting redirected to "1 wierd trick!" posts, though... that's probably not me.
Glad to see all five stars come out for this one. Nice final paragraph. Skywriter has a knack for making comedies that are more than just funny--see "Beloved" and "Shipping Sickness", two other comedies that are also not just comedies.
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ReplyDeleteWhile I can't stand Skywriter's characterizations and writing style, I did appreciate this fic as a random comedy. Also amuses me that the entire thing is a story that Twilight wrote.
ReplyDelete