Slice Of Life: MLPFIM 100

Slice Of Life

MLP Episode 100

I loved it.

Comments

[Ember Q Discordia]

I can't even.

[Verreaux]

I thought you would. I've been watching it repeatedly myself.

[Balthasar999]

Haha, that's good. I was wondering what you'd think of it since it seemed like such a pure gag episode.

I'm rather divided. I liked it, but not as much as I'd like to like it. The sincerity of the ending graciously offset a lot of the wink-wink-nudge-nudge stuff, which is lucky because MLP is pretty much the only show from which I tolerate that kind of guilelessness. But because it is MLP, namely its own specific show, it was sorta like, a little bit here and there is great, but leave the Doctor and Jeff Lebowski back in their own stories—It's not their place to do any heavy lifting here. It was sorta like the Tirek fight: This is awesome and fun and all, but does it belong here? It's always been a pretty self-aware and playful show, though, so I dunno.

But that bit with Gummy was great. And the writing and pacing were snappy, which is something I thought was lacking in season 5 up until the Discord episode, making everything seem kinda clunky before that.

All that aside, though, Tabitha killed it as Derpy Muffins.

I'll have to watch it again in a few days before my opinion on it will congeal. While I felt like I could hear DHX behind it going "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED??," well, I was, so...
I mean, on the one hand, wow! 22 minutes of fanservice!
But on the other hand, ugh, 22 minutes of fanservice...?

[FanOfMostEverything]

I am entirely okay with a Derpy who can not only atone for her mistakes, but does so in a creative fashion that accidentally makes the situation even better than she hoped for.

Also, Gummy sees all.

[staryoshi06]

I still can't believe the episode isn't fan-made.

[Wild Zontars]

Before the episode: "There's no way they're gonna pull this off."

After the episode: *Squeeee!*

[Metemponychosis]

Eeh.... The only legitimately, really funny part of this episode for me was Gummy. I liked Lyra and Bon Bon but it was nothing spectacular. The rest was just there and I really didn't really care about it. Probably because I never really cared about the ubiquitously loved "background characters". I think that jokes like the Big Lebowsky ponies really work better when they appear once, leave, and never comes back at the risk of losing it's magic.

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't have fun watching the episode, but it's just because it was so crazy. And every time I see Celestia in this cartoon lately I hate her a little more. The other reason I started liking the cartoon, the "Mane Six" are also "Just there".

I guess I'm getting tired of the cartoon and this episode really didn't help much.

[Noble Cause]

I recognize and understand that the writers were both poking fun AND giving us a lot of love with this episode. I also won't deny that I've been grinning like a Sisters-damned idiot since I watched it. Loved it, loved it, loved it!

[PeachClover]

3146413 M.A. Larson is a fan of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. He was probably the first fan.

[Fresnor]

3146448 Also at least they were poking fun in a way that didn't make them look like complete dicks *coughME3cough* Some of the little jokes they made were easy to miss such as when everything 'jumped the shark.'

[Balthasar999]

3146413
Haha yeah... They clearly worked hard and went out of their way to make something for the fans, so I hope they get a positive reaction, which so far it seems like they are. Hopefully people don't turn against it in a month, because it'd make me really sad to see that kind of playful effort backfire on them.

Wait. So this show is based on a toy line, right? What if all this reification of fanon is a mirroring-back of the way people play with the ponies?

[Noble Cause]

3146515

Precisely! It was good-natured poking fun.

[Verreaux]

A little more in depth - This episode acknowledged and embraced the richness of the world around the Mane Six and the lore created by the fans. It's like the staff giving the fans a collective hug and saying "You guys and gals are awesome."

Some of the parts they chose to include I liked less than others. I don't know the Big Lebowsky, and I never got into secret agent Sweetie Drops. But the Doctor and Derpy (and she did call him "Doc"), Lyra and Bon-Bon, Vinyl and Octavia... So much Win. I absolutely loved Celestia and Luna arguing like sisters. Derpy slamming the door on the Mane Six also cracked me up. This is our day.

There was more, too. Some parts where I felt like the writers were talking to the audience. The mayor at the end, yes. But also the conversation between Matilda and Steven Magnet. They were both right, in their way. The marriage is the important thing for the participants. But for the audience (and writers), the show is about the wedding. (Although Silver Quill gave the Cakes' marriage some love.)

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[Chatoyance]

3146316

I was wondering what you'd think of it since it seemed like such a pure gag episode.

'Tis not gags in and of themselves that I have trouble with. Not at all. Rather, what I cannot abide is arbitrary gags that utterly ignore - or destroy - the milieu, or even the cosmology of a story. I don't like it when an otherwise self-consistent story is jacked by a complete disregard for the tone and nature of the narrative thus far - and the consistency - merely to throw out cheap gags.

But, if a comedy bit - even an over-the-top piece - can be constructed such that fits the characters, does not corrupt the world, and does not deny the environment or the nature of the work as a whole... well that is alright with me.

Many shows I have enjoyed and even loved have had comedy episodes, some with exceptionally broad gags, yet in no way did the episode damage the show as a whole. Indeed, in some cases, 'the comedy episode' became one of the most memorable moments of all. I think the 'Trouble With Tribbles' episode of the original Star Trek is a good example - bar fights, unspilled drinks, the humiliation of primary characters, blatant ridiculousness - all worked very well. Because at no point did the gags deny the integrity of the world in order to be told. The gags proceeded from the world, and - even if highly unlikely - were still within the total probability set.

I won't say every part of 'Slice Of Life' meets my judgement completely favorably - I could have done without 'Secret Agent Bon Bon', I could have had much less (or no) 'Big Lebowski', I could have been happier with a little more comedic restraint in some parts - but, that said?

I am pretty darn happy with 'Slice Of Life'. It's the 'Trouble With Tribbles' episode of Friendship Is Magic, as far as I am concerned. Or at least as close as one can reasonably expect.

Could it have been better? Yeah.

Did it hit an awful lot of notes perfectly? Yes, amazingly so. Impressively so. It was a love letter to the fandom, one in which a lot of us here can feel partially represented by through our contributions to that fandom.

It mostly colored within the lines, and that's all I ask.

Unlike the pure gag episodes I have decried ad nauseam.

I liked it!

[Balthasar999]

3146957
Yeah, I'll have to watch it again with fresh eyes in a couple days. I really want to love it unreservedly but the whole time I couldn't help thinking "Is this scene here good, clean, secret-handshake fun, or is this tasteless devolution into self-parody?" I want to come down on the side of the former, but I can't fool my inner critic. Would it actually have been "artistically" better to use this to burn down all fanon and return us as much as possible to the clean slate of Season 1, thereby refreshing and renewing it, or would that just be a dick move for the sake of a dick move? Something in between, maybe? I don't know. I'll have to watch it again.

EDIT: The more reactions I read the more everyone's enthusiasm for it is becoming infectious.

[Reese]

Splendid! I too quite enjoyed it. :)

[ReleeSquirrel]

I laughed so much at this episode! It was easily the funniest episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. And did you notice they gave Button Mash a cameo appearance?

[Dafaddah]

It was a blast! There was a lot of fan-love in there, which I think was a very brony thing for them to do. My personal favorites were Gummy's internal monologue, the royal sisters arguing, and the way the citizens of Ponyville just expected the mane 6 to take care of whatever challenge the week delivered in twenty minutes!

[Alfalfa Door]

I can't remember the exact wording, but I especially liked the sentiment that "everyone's the main character of their own stories." Acknowledging that things are going on even where the camera's not pointed, that everybody has their own life apart from the main stories.

[Alfalfa Door]

3147168 By the way, Button Mash has always been a canon background pony, not just someone's OC. It's the NAME that's the fan content. He was playing at an arcade cabinet for a few frames when the CMC were singing "The Perfect Stallion", and someone ran away with the concept.

[ReleeSquirrel]

3149852

Really? I never knew. Now I'm embarassed! ^.^;;

[Alfalfa Door]

3150768
Aww, you don't need to be embarrassed. Anyone can make a mistake! *hugs*

[Guiding_Passion]

Glad to hear you liked it Chatty. Anyway I would talk about what I liked in it but I've already talked about to death with my friends and I don't really feel like talking about it some more. Maybe in the future I'll tell you what I thought of the episode if you like that is.

Anyway glad to hear you enjoyed it.

[Rainbow Sparkle]

Oddly enough, those three words somehow convey more then one would think.

And helped to cheer me up after your more recent blog post