It's time to get spooky (Chapter 119 of Long Haul is out!) · 12:06am Oct 2nd, 2021
Howdy all everyone! It's been two months since I've had a new chapter to post, and today, the first Friday of October is the day you've all been waiting for! Again, I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to get this out, and I hope you all enjoy it now that it's here. I should be back on track for a release per month, so look forward to a new chapter next month as well! Anyway, if all you came for was an update on Night Flight's adventures, have at the new chapter and tell me what you think! If you want to stay for my extra-long blog below that contains some of my thoughts about the new movie, go ahead, but it's going to be a long one!
Okay, so on to something that'll be a bit more... controversial for some of you. After a year of waiting, the new pony movie has finally released on Netflix. Now, I'm going to start by saying I enjoyed the new movie, that much you can take for sure. However, there were some observations I had, and some issues I took with it. Now, keep in mind these are only my opinions, and they can greatly change with the rest of Gen 5 as it's released in the future!
The characters were flat. I get that this was only an hour and a half long movie, so there's not a lot of time to get in depth with certain characters, but outside of Sunny, Hitch, and Sprout, everypony else was just sort of bland in their motivations. Izzy is a fun character almost comparable to Pinkie, but she has no motivations for acting the way she does. Pinkie acts silly and all over the place, but under all of it is a deep fear of rejection, loneliness, and a deviousness that implies a lot of though on her part. Izzy from what we've been show is just, for a lack of better way to say it, dumb.
Zipp and Pipp were even worse to a degree. While I get that Zipp is the more adventurous and curious of the two sisters, she hardly has a ten minute conversation with Sunny and Izzy before agreeing to basically steal the most important artifact the pegasi have. I'm not saying that she should have let the two rot in prison, I get the whole rebellious teenager idea, but every pony in this world outside of Sunny has been indoctrinated from a young age to believe the other races are literally the most dangerous things around. Even if Zipp joins the two out of pure curiosity to see if Sunny has the right idea, Pipp has zero reason to follow along. She abandons her entire way of life at the drop of a hat once they leave the pegasi city, and doesn't add much to the party from there on other than to pad the cast to five.
Now, on to what I'm curious about, but hesitant to demand answers for. What happened to Equestria? Sure, we know the three races split up, and that it's now been so long since Gen 4 that their story is written off as nothing but a fairy tale, but there are questions because of this. It took a thousand years for Nightmare moon to become nothing but a story to normal ponies, so has it been that long since Twilight and friends ended their journey, or has it been even longer? Are Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Twilight, and Flurry Heart not immortal anymore? Where did they go? Why abandon the nation they built to let it fall back into divisive bickering? On that, last time we saw this much distrust between the three races, the Windegos nearly froze the world. What happened to all that?
Getting past what happened to what we see in the story, the 'collapse' that did happen, had to happen fast for places like the Pegasi transit station to be left pretty much abandoned and untouched outside of the rigors of time. The transit station itself had a board up for arrivals and departures. On it, places like Manehatten are listed, but not Ponyville or Canterlot. What are those places like if the three races became isolationist for as long as they were? Do they still exist, or are they crumbling ruins? As I said, if this abandoning of old society happened fast, and it was at least a thousand years ago, then is it at all possible that maybe some unfortunate cataclysmic even might have occurred and already been resolved by an unlikely hero? Between industrious earth ponies, unicorn censorship, and ultramodern isolationist pegasi, there sure are a lot of parallels that can be drawn is all I'm saying.
Now, the problem with explaining anything connecting to Gen 4, is that it would simply be there to appease those of us coming from Gen 4. They'd be putting in a lot of work to explain something that really doesn't help expand Gen 5, just for most Gen 4 people to probably think it's a stupid or dumb explanation that doesn't fit their own headcanon anyway. So honestly, I'm not expecting any explanations when the rest of Gen 5 get's going. I fully expect (and hope!) them to focus on fleshing out the very stiff and bland characters we've got now, and make them into as lively and likeable ponies that can help us get lost in the fun of this new generation. I want to see new ideas brought into the show, new places and new takes on some of the other races inhabiting the world!
So, to wrap all this up, as much as I thought the movie could have been better, I think it's a great foundation to be built upon. Yes, it's sad to actually be moving on from Gen 4, but after seeing the movie, I'm willing to see where Gen 5 goes. Of course, that won't be until summer of 2022, but here's hoping it's good!
Anyway, that's all for this incredibly long blog post! Of course as I said all the way up above, I will be back next month with a new chapter as well for you all, and I really do hope that you like this new chapter! But for now, I wish you all the best as we move into fall. Stay safe, stay healthy, and most of all, stay spooky my friends, and I'll see you all right back here next time!
I noticed some of that too when I watched the new movie. It makes me wonder what happened to the Alicorns and the Crystal Empire as well. I'm also curious as to what happened to the non-pony races in G5.
Thank you Gamma Deekay for the new chapter. I am always impressed at the imagination of writers. It is like you are able to remember your dreams when you wake up and write down all the crazy details without it fading into a vague memory a few minutes later. I was impressed at the collection of notebooks that FuzzyVeeVee showed images of for the creation of Murky Number Seven and I am sure you have a similar collection to keep track of all the characters, arcs and plots in Long Haul.
I have written a few items in my past for school magazines and the occasional scholastic newspaper article but never brooded on anything for months or years. Most output was inspired in an instant and completed in an hour or less. It was almost like I had to complete it before the inspiration disappeared. You know, looking back now over 30 years, I have always been the consummate storyteller without realizing it - my stories have not been about ponies but about how to, in minute detail, manufacture electronic instruments from the finest bolt and washer up to the layout of the instrument's front panel. Everything had to be in place in the story of how to manufacture it, leave out any detail and it did not work.
G5 movie is excellent and, without speculation, we will just see what happens.