I did manage to make time to watch the new MLP episode, though! Click down below the break for some thoughts on it, post-48-hour cooldown.
-I've seen a lot of mixed reviews of this one. Some people love it... and at the other end of the spectrum, I've seen more than a few people compare it to Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, which is most assuredly not complementary. At least as far as Dash's characterization goes, I think some of those MMDW comparisons are pretty on-the-mark: both episodes reinterpret Dash's ego and obliviousness as an actual inability to place the needs of others ahead of her own. I get that the writers wanted to do an episode about losing a pet, but the fact that 1) Tank isn't actually dying, and 2) Tank wants to hibernate, really mess of Dash's characterization. Because if she was trying to help/protect/save Tank, that'd be one thing. But instead, she spends the entire episode trying to thwart her pet by ruining the weather for everypony else. She's literally (trying to) inconvenience or harm everyone, for her own completely selfish purposes. Dash may be arrogant and self-centered, but putting herself ahead of everyone else collectively and individually stretched those traits well past the breaking point, for me.
-Part of what bugs me about that, incidentally, is how easy it would've been to fix: they could have had Tank want to spend the winter with Dash, but have to go to sleep. Then, boom: now Dash is trying to help her pet, instead of abusing her
-On the plus side, lots of good one-liners and sight gags. "Applejack cries on the inside" is the obvious highlight, and is one of my favorite single moments in the show to date, but there was plenty more. Dash and Tanks' themed slippers, Dash telling Pinkie that she should hibernate (remember, they were using "hibernate" as a one-to-one stand-in for "die"...), the Who's On First homage, Dash being casually racist against scaly things (I just wish she'd actually said the words "you guys all look alike")... there were a lot of great throwaways and incidental bits in this episode.
-The "winter is coming" line wasn't one of them, though. I mean, I don't mind a GoT reference, but why'd it have to be such a lazy one?
-Another thing I wasn't a fan of: the faces. Yes, I know I've whined about the hyper-exaggerated faces for years, now, but I still don't like 'em. The doofy, over-the-top expressions pretty much ruined the crying scene, which by rights ought to have felt important but ended up looking like a poorly-thought-out joke (not to mention a ridiculously overextended one; there were a few pacing issues in this episode, but nowhere did they stick out more than there), but they were by no means isolated to that scene.
-Another thing I was a fan of: Fluttershy. I love, love, love what the writers have done with her this season, and I just pray we don't backslide into "old" Fluttershy later on. Her reserved but unwavering self-assurance is a logical outgrowth of the past few seasons, and it makes her infinitely more interesting than the vapid retread she had (mostly) been since season two. New Fluttershy might by my favorite main character.
-In all, I thought this was a pretty bad episode with some pretty great moments. That still places it miles ahead of really poor episodes from the past, like MMDW or Bats!, though, so I won't complain too much. Goodness knows, this isn't the first time one of the show writers has turned Dash (or any of the girls, for that matter) into a self-serving villain for an episode, and it hasn't ruined the show yet. And besides, I'll forgive a lot for a Who's On First homage.
I didn't think the episode was so bad. If it were in a world where there were more serious consequences for things, Rainbow Dash causing a nuclear winter might have been a tad bit upsetting, but as it is I found it more fun just to see how a weather factory worked.
ReplyDeleteAlso it taught about hibernation! Which is always good. Personally I didn't know turtles hibernated until just recently when I watched an unexpectedly cute video of someone unboxing theirs after keeping it in the fridge for 4 months, so hopefully actual children watching the show will be able to learn something as well.
And I'll agree that it was the one-liners and other small details that made this episode. The part about Applejack crying on the inside was one of my favorites as well, plus other little things you didn't mention like that random really weird picture inside the locker Rainbow Dash hid in when breaking into the weather factory, and that little laugh Fluttershy did at the beginning before showing Rainbow Dash the "Everybody Hibernates," book. I don't know why I found that so entertaining. I guess just because she found it so funny that Rainbow Dash didn't know turtles hibernate. Kind of like when Stallone didn't know how to use the three shells in Demolition Man.
Also Lucky! This time sporting a snazzy fur trapper hat. Practically every time he appears on the show he's wearing something new or performing a different job. Will his multifacetedness never cease?
> Some people love it... and at the other end of the spectrum, I've seen more than a few people compare it to Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, which is most assuredly not complementary.
ReplyDeleteI think it is complementary (to loving), but not complimentary.
I feel like by the time this blog is done, Chris will have almost absorbed more knowledge about English spelling/grammar than he has about My Little Pony.
DeleteOh, he knows. Chris can English pretty good, he just insists on making that same damn mistake every time
DeleteI deliberately insert a spelling or grammar error into every rug--er, blogpost--because only God can ever create a work of true perfection.
DeleteI'm sure Fluttershy will unlearn all of her lessons when it's convenient for the plot. :B
ReplyDeleteI WILL FIGHT YOU
DeleteI loved Fluttershy giving Dash some tough love, exactly the lesson she learned for her key last season. I also liked AJ's dichotomy: "crying on the inside" implies she doesn't want to display her emotions, but she also readily admits to it.
ReplyDeleteWhat really sold me on this was that the problem didn't go away at the end, as it always has before (maybe there are exceptions, but I can't think of any). No instant gratification, no immediately acceptable answer for everyone. Dash's issue is still there, and she has to come to terms with it.
I was blissfully unaware of the GoT thing, because I'm blissfully unaware of it in general.
I had the exact opposite reaction to the "Who's on First?" dealie. I found it obvious and grating, and that Fluffy Cloud character is just plain creepy. What I did like is that it illustrates the confusion that must come up from time to time in a world where characters have names that are regular words, sometimes in regular patterns. A number of those characters must wonder why their names are always being called.
I think I really loved the Who's on First scene simply for the meta jokes. That it wasn't the only meta joke in this episode was even better.
DeleteWe did get one or two indications that Tank would have liked to stay up and spend the winter with Rainbow Dash. He was just too tired for it.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. It seemed like he wanted both options, really
DeleteMaybe. To me, his attitude seemed to be less, "Boy, going skiing with you sounds great, I just... yawn... I just don't think I have it in me," and more, "Skiing? Yeah, no, that's not gonna happen. Have fun, though, I'll be sleeping!"
DeleteTo be honest, I loved this one. I've heard people calling Dash OOC in it, but for my money, this is the most on-character she's been in a while. Yeah, she was selfish, hugely so, but she's always been selfish. Granted, this is the first time she's ever gone this far, but we saw how broken up she was about losing Tank, even if only temporarily. MMDW established this about Dash - she hates being alone. It's easy to extrapolate from that that she doesn't deal with loss well, and this episode reinforced that. For her character and these circumstances, I think it fit perfectly. It's not flattering to her, but there was nothing wrong with it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also really don't agree with your complaint about the GoT reference. Lazy how? The set-up for it was ideal, and it made complete sense in context, to the point that plenty of people didn't even realise it was a reference at all. There's no better way to do a reference than like that.
So far, this is my favourite episode, followed closely by the premier.
The GoT reference made sense in context; I'll definitely give it that, and I'm infinitely grateful that it did (that being the number one requirement for any reference, as far as I'm concerned).
DeleteYou know, I think maybe I was soured on it by Larson's tweet more than anything (where he apologized in advance for it). By saying that it was a forced gag (otherwise, why apologize?), he created that expectation, at least for me, and it made it hard to see "Winter is coming" as anything other than something that did need to be apologized for.
In fanfiction, we generally try to warn beginning authors away from this kind of negative expectation-setting; maybe someone needs to give the show staff the same lesson!
See, I don't think it WAS forced, though. I think Larson wrote the episode this way, had the winter literally rushing towards the ponies, saw a golden opportunity, and that he took it. Maybe setting that expectation did sour your experience, but I really doubt that it was meant as a genuine apology. It's just Larson's self-depreciating humour.
DeleteMixed feelings on this one, though roughly similar to yours. As a Fluttershy fan of long standing, I was delighted by how she was written here; her best episode since... well, the Breezies one, I suppose, but probably longer still. I disliked S3 not for the same reasons many people did, but because 'Shy was (mostly) so disappointingly written. It's a big part of why I don't like "Magic Duel" very much, for example.
ReplyDeleteAs for Rainbow: I think I could have accepted her characterisation if she hadn't gone quite so far. The point where she truly lost me was the line "I know it's wrong, but what does it matter?" in the song. Then she becomes extremely disloyal to her workmates, her home city and by extension Equestria as a whole when she sabotages the factory's water supply. (Remember where Cloudsdale gets its water in the first place!) Rainbow felt here more like early-season (or EqG) Dash, which I found disappointing.
I care not a jot for Game of Thrones, so the "Winter is coming!" line was met with a shrug, but if they had to have it then this was a reasonable place. I quite liked the "Who's on First?" routine, but I'll go off it fast if it's used again any time soon. The slippers were great, as was Pinkie's "Knock knock!" as she walked through the wall, and of course Pinkie's line about Applejack's emotions. (Still doesn't explain Twilight not crying, though!)
All in all, probably my least favourite episode of S5 so far, but that's only because we haven't had a poor one yet. The only slight thing that bothers me is that each ep has been slightly worse than the one before it!
It's my belief that Twilight didn't cry because she's actually a soulless robot, unable to feel things like pain, sadness, or love, whose meager programming only allows her to artificially react to such emotions to a certain—often unconvincing—degree. It may sound crazy, but if you go back through the episodes with that in mind, it all starts making perfect sense. Trust me.
DeleteI might even try that if it weren't for the fact that I'd undoubtedly be thinking about Sweetie Bot the entire time...
DeleteWait, Sweetie Bell is a robot?! Everything I've known is a lie! Dogs are cats! Boats are trains! Friendship is witchcraft!
Delete*runs of screaming into the distance*