First off, my usual cartoon postings.

No Hunting – 1955

This is one of the exceptions to the idea that post-42 Disney cartoons aren’t worth watching a second time. Featuring Donald being possessed by his old ansector for hunting season (Jack Hannah, the director, said this was done so Donald wouldn’t be out of character), it’s an amusing cartoon and features a good deal of fun. I don’t know but the idea of hunting season being the equivalent of a full-scale war is rather funny to me. It just highlights how ridiculous both of them are.

Three Little Bops – 1957

“Remember the story of the three little pigs; one played a pipe, and the others danced jigs. The three little pigs are still around, but they’re playing music with a modern sound.” Catchy is it not. And that’s what this is, a catchy, updated (for the fifties) retelling of “The Three Little Pigs” that features all the characters as musicians. Thus, it makes the wolf more empathetic (and the pigs a bit more like jerks) but still despite some limits in the animation, and a lack of belly laughs, this musical cartoon is still a delight.

Adventures in Music: Melody - 1953

This one isn’t going to be for a lot of people. It’s longer than most cartoons, is meant to teach about music (I believe that this was played at schools), and to be honest there’s a bit of a 50’s handling of the genders (nothing as bad as the handling of African-Americans or Indians in Coal Black or “Californy er’ bust” but still worth mentioning). Having said that, I do enjoy this cartoon. I find the style of the drawings to be actually amusing and give the gags sort of a visual deadpan punch to them. And hey, there is the music.

Northwest Hounded Police – 1946

One of Avery’s best, this remake of his earlier Dumb Hounded features Droopy as Sergeant McPoodle of the Mounted to catch the Wolf. Like all of Avery’s best, the idea is simple; take a crazy idea (here, the concept that Droopy is everywhere), expand on it, and then drive it beyond its stretching point. There’s little in terms of character but there’s plenty in terms of gags and laughs, that's enough to justify this animated short.

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Now, my review on Chris's Letters from a Senior Changeling to a Junior Changeling

Impressions before Reading:

I’m mostly familiar with Chris’s read his blog of six star reviews and for the most part, he knows what he’s saying, despite a few missteps. And while I haven’t read much by him (storywise), but I did read and enjoy his “The Princess and the Rose”, one of the few ponyfics that I actually felt was truly tragic at heart, despite my problems in a few areas (I’ve read “The Purloined Pony” as well but truth be told, choose-your-own adventure stories are not my thing). So, I’m not too worried about Chris not being one of those “doesn’t practice what he preaches” type reviewers for that reason.

There are three things that do worry me. One is that the story is going to be about the changelings. Let me put this nicely, queen moron was so awful a character (for reasons I’ve given in my wedding review (“Worst episode ever”)) that she actually makes villains from Scooby-doo look a quarter respectable (I loathe anything to do with that dumb dog just put things in greater perspective). Thus, I have almost no interest in the species and actively avoid stories where they play a huge role (I’m making an exception here). Two, this going to be done through a series of notes; there are definitely good reasons to use this style but I’m worried that it might distant me from the characters (especially dangerous for an unfamiliar race like the changelings). And then there’s this line in the summary “glimpse into the minds of a race whose views on friendship and love are at once totally alien and disturbingly easy to recognize in ourselves and those around us.” This sounds way too pretentious for my taste (might as well just have said, “here’s something thought provoking to chew on”) and I usually have a violent allergic reaction to anything that contains a whiff of ostentatiousness.

So, whether or not Chris is going to make me care for a truly alien species I have no reason to like or make a call to the exterminator should be interesting.

Zero-ish Spoiler Summary:

The changeling Earwig is assigned to a stallion with the goal getting him to depend on her; her success and failures in this endeavor are documented through letters by her aunt Maxilla.

Thoughts after Reading:

One thing that was never clear to me (and knowing the writing staff, it could very well be a something that they really didn’t think about) was how exactly the changelings obtained their food. The queen seems to gain it when love is directed at her, but when her minions attack Canterlot (instead of some place without a force field… okay I’ll try not talk about the problems with the wedding), they seem to strike as if they were wild animals (suggesting that they only need to be in close proximity to get their meal). It’s this question that Chris quickly answers (he hints at it being the former except in the opening paragraph, where it comes off a bit as the latter) and that makes the whole story easier to read. Actually, for a story told in a very limited style, it’s not hard to figure out what’s going on. There is the right amount of clarity in the story (it extends to the writing as well, even words that don’t appear often in everyday writing are presented so that anyone could probably figure out their meaning) and I didn’t truly question (for the most part) what was actually said in them. And for what little plot there was, there was certainly a natural progression from one to the next in what was going. It may not have been that interesting, but it was there, so I can’t complain about story structure.

Unfortunately, most of what else remains isn’t quite as good or even good at all. The issue again is the style of writing, we are given only the letters of Maxilla to Earwing, and thus the whole thing is a one-side conversation. This diminishes any sort of conflict because we only have one real character. Maxilla might as well have been sending letters to a lamppost; the results would have been the same. That’s because, just as I feared, that the writing kept the characters at a distance from me as a reader. I felt nothing for them and I struggled to identify them beyond the basics. For Earwig, the words were naïve, rash, and a poor student, not exactly the most alluring of characters or memorable. The same could be said of the stallion she’s assigned and the mare he falls in with (they are not named, wisely in keeping with what should be expected from creatures like the changelings), the idea of “perfect of sorts” came to mind with them (being told a character’s personality is no more a substitute than back-story for actually characterization). In short, they really aren’t characters at all. As I said in my Chuck Jones piece, the writer who treats his or her characters like a plot device instead of real things is doomed to be forgotten and create nothing but junk unless they make it up with something else that is truly inventive. In fact the only real character is the ‘aunt’ Maxilla, given the fact she’s the only one with a voice. But here’s the problem, the aunt is not really part of the main action; she is but a commentator who take a few steps on the way to make things go as ‘she’ plans. Worst she becomes a mouthpiece, not for Chris (who obviously doesn’t approve her thoughts, even though he can certainly recognize them) but ideas; reading her lines was not only a case of the obvious (of course kindness not recognized and nourished by encouragement turns into bitterness), but also a constant feeling that I was being lectured the same rubber mallet that I always decry. It’s annoyingly moralistic (you see the changelings here, don’t be like them) and incredibly unsubtle as well that I can only describe as an iderner Krug von Durchfall.

As a culture, the changelings are presented what I would call a race of honey ants with the ideals of gold diggers. They are a nasty bunch, which contain the mindsets of liars, lawyers, politicians, criminals, business, and all the other parasites of society. True, it is not hard to see oneself in them (we are after all still animals), but to me they aren’t interesting enough. And I have to criticize the fact that the changelings are presented as little more than monsters that are always chaotic evil. It would be one thing if these were individuals, but the suggestion expands to the species. No human culture, not even the most easily demonized like the Mongols, who used human shields and other looked down upon tactics were all bad, they were remarkably progressive when it came to the rights of diplomats (doesn't remove their crimes, though). Human beings are not objects of just love and hate, but a mixture of both. The same hands that hug and hold are the same ones that strangle and punch. I never really felt the show did a good job with presenting non-pony cultures (the dragons are nasty male stereotypes, the diamond dogs are greedy neanderthals, the griffins are French) and it really isn’t better here. In fact, it’s troubling.

And then the ending comes with Earwigs failure. If nothing else, the changelings in this fict are about as dumb the ones in the show. I’m not talking Earwigs’ last action; I’m talking about the hive’s mindset. They just devour their failures and this strikes me as a waste. In fact, I see one too many missed opportunities. Here’s a thought, Earwig has successfully brought two ponies together, why not have her (with the help of the spies), corner the mare in a dark alley or the like, kidnap her (and put her inside a cocoon) and have Earwig replace her (certainly she has studied her rival enough to mimic her) or if she hasn’t the skill to parrot her, the disappearance (read: abandonment) of the stallion’s love will probably help drive him into her clutches. If that doesn’t work, well then do whatever. But no, the whole dog-eat-dog mentality seems to be the way to go and the ending loses power as a result, even the suggestion that Maxilla planned for her ‘niece’ to fail (the fact that the cretin spouts such acid on friendship and its relatives should describe herself as “affectionate” is but one give away) is weakened. If Chris is trying to frighten me in this regard, I have to admit he’s incredibly unsuccessful (never try to scare a cynical and pragmatic rationalist, we always find ways to sink to lower and colder depths than you think is possible). Self-preservation is probably the most basic of all instincts, and it has long since lost its shock value; it’s how I’ve view mankind for ages.

It’s definitely an imperfect fict and I’m disappointed overall, but I didn’t hate it if that’s not clear.

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What is clear though is something more important. I’ve debated about this for a long time and given something that just happened Friday, I’ve made it official: I’m going to be going on an indefinite hiatus as far as MLP:FIM is concerned, so today Saturday is going to be my last day till success returns to me. Being a graduate student isn’t easy as I thought it was going to be and if I want to succeed at it and get my future set, I’m going to need to push everything else aside. That means that I will not being reading any more fanficts (pity because some that interest me are coming up) and I’m won’t even be watching any episodes (new or old). To be honest, I’ve been losing interest in both for quite some time and it’s become harder for me to even write about them as well. I'm also going to stop my cartoon posts here as well.

I might come back if I can get grad work situation working for the better, but odds are low (even if I do, my mega-posts are going to have to go). So, given that this is probably the end, I want to say this: to PP, Bob, IM, Oates, Nosh, Sess, Myst, Ezn, Thanqol, Phantom Fox, Drak, Mike, Chris, and everyone else including the writers whose works I bashed and trashed without apology and despite all the times you disagreed with me (and therefore, were wrong to infinity power), I want to say this: Thank you for a good time, this was easily the best fandom I’ve been a part of; one that didn’t reject me for my highly critical and curmudgeonly mood.

Bugs out.