Playing Catch-Up · 2:40pm Dec 31st, 2013
Hi all...
Sorry I've been delayed in my fanfic writing. Between the holidays and Real Novel deadlines, I haven't had spare time! I'm hoping to catch up in January.
I think I'm also just having trouble because, while I am mostly enjoying the new season, it hasn't been feeling like MLP to me. I really don't want to be a sour puss about it, but there was a reason I loved Flight to the Finish so much--and it had very little to do with Scootaloo and everything to do with a return to the slice of life, friendship storylines that most of these other episodes have kind of abandoned. Again, I'm not hating the new season by any means. It just has a different feel. A zanier feel. Like the writers have free reign to "go nuts" and "have fun" and they've been so psyched to do that, that they're losing the heart of the show. Twilight and Pinkie in particular have felt OOC to me ever since episode 3. (Well, Pinkie has ever since last season in many regards, as well).
I have my fingers quintupled-crossed that Rarity can bring back some of what I've been missing in this next episode. I am SO unbelievably happy she's getting an episode, I squeal just thinking about it.
BATS was a "meh" episode for me, despite how the general fandom seems to view it. I'd give it maybe a 7 at the most. I was onboard with it until Flutterbat happened and it switched over from a friendship episode to a horror parody. Flutterbat was adorable--and again--stressing that I do NOT hate any of this--but she's just another bit of evidence that the writers are less concerned with the "friendship", and more with the "fun" this season. It's...actually kind of hurting me a bit at this point. Gosh, I hope the Rarity episode gives me something to genuinely love. The list of things I've genuinely loved in Season 4 is getting uncomfortably thin for already being 7 episodes in. There's a lot I've liked. But just not enough that I've loved yet.
Alas.
Rarity, darling, I have every confidence that you will step up to the plate and deliver on Saturday. And for now, I will look forward to that.
Okay, enough with this semi-downer stuff. Happy New Year, everypony! I hope 2014 brings you all a bunch of happy things and a lot of smiles. And I hope you all realize that Pinkie demands you all party your socks off tonight. Seriously. Those socks better be gone by the morning, or she will blast them off with her party cannon.
I feel the same way about Bats!. Even if the message had been revised in favor of something less environmental, the episode was unremarkable. And personally, I don't see what the big deal is with Flutterbat. Spike in the role of a superhero is a concept that actually makes sense to get that excited about.
Happy New Year, paleo!
Yeah, I didn't get the deal with the Flutterbat episode. Most episodes thrive off the usual conflict and solving the conflict storyline. But when I am confused about the actual conflict, I find the episode rather unrememberable(if that's a word). The conflict is of course getting Fluttershy back to normal from being a bat..thingy. However, the thing that confuses me is what exactly is this "Bat-thing"?
Does she just like apples more than normal ponies do? Does she lose the ability to communicate? Does she still like other fruits?
This might seem as a kind of silly way to like the episode less than the others. But it's the only way I can tell why, right now.
[Edit: I mentioned I thought the episode was "unrememberable". The way I usually rate the episodes in 'my' mind, is that from how much excitement I remembered. And all I really can remember, except from those fun parts in the beginning(Fruit-bat roundup, fruit-bat roundup!), is twilight turning fluttershy into a bat-thingy, everybody walking trough a forest, finding her, and then turning her back to normal again.
The amount of exciting things happening really can't stand up to the amount I felt from the previous episodes. That's my meaning.]
Anyways, Happy new year to you too!
Do you sometimes feel like I do that Faust should really be back on the helm?
Don't worry, your not the only one feeling that way.
That's actually just how I felt about season two when it was airing. Lesson Zero seemed like it kicked off a trend of trying to put something big, exciting, and eventful in the majority of episodes, pumping as much crazy action in as they could, especially toward the second half of the season. I kept wondering when we'd get another episode like Look Before You Sleep, that was purely about the characters interacting together, with no external calamity or one of the characters careening over some personal speed-bump, like Twilight with her Tardy incident.
I remember describing it as those episodes were still entertaining to watch, but that the reason I became such a fan of the show was because it felt like more than simple amusement. Lots of shows can be funny and entertaining while you watch them, but few ever hit me in a way that leaves me thinking about them after I look away. Season one just set up something that felt like so much more, and only occasionally since then have we gotten episodes that felt the same. Not that the more action-oriented ones can't be good too, but the characters and the setting is where the magic is, so Sisterhooves Social was probably the best episode from season two.
With season three, I was really looking forward to Spike at Your Service, because it sounded like it would be one of those ones really about the characters' relationships with each other. Spike and AJ have had some amusing interactions in the past, like with the bit about Fluttershy exploding, but I wasn't expecting Spike to practically turn into someone else when it happened. Really seemed like a wasted opportunity.
With season four... I don't know, actually. I've been in ultra-distracted mode lately, and I probably ought to watch them all again. But yeah, it does seem like they often forget that Pinkie is more than just the crazy, silly character. Still, I have high hopes for the episode with Pinkie traveling with the Apple family.