Notes for Chapters 25, 26 & 27 of "Giving Yourself Advice" · 4:33pm Apr 10th, 2022
Here are the notes for Chapter 25 of "On the Fine Art of Giving Yourself Advice", Thoughts of a Princess:
Raven’s origin
This ties her into the Pie cameo in The Best of All Possible Worlds (K). That story and this one are not in the same continuity, but that part at least was shared by both alternate universes.
The dead voice of Truth Delver
Oh look, I managed to get the other main character from Equestrian Business into this story!
Here are the notes for Chapter 26 of "On the Fine Art of Giving Yourself Advice", On the Road to Nowhere:
Hey, I found a way to sneak a song title into the story without everyone noticing. Here’s a link to the Talking Heads music video.
37°0'37"N 117°27'1"W
On Earth, those are the coordinates for Ubehebe Crater, a volcanic crater located in Death Valley, California. It does not contain a glass lake. If I could have found a glass lake in Death Valley, I would have used that instead.
Here are the notes for Chapter 27 of "On the Fine Art of Giving Yourself Advice", The Past: Recent and Distant:
The bank theft
I thought the bank robbery was the weakest part of Rango, making the main character seem far more incompetent than usual, in order to fill the plot hole of how that hole ended up in the middle of the street. The line of “maybe [the thieves] got lost, and came up [in the middle of the street] first to get their bearings” covers what actually happens in the movie. I countered with using it to lure Merrimack out of his impregnable bank.
The characters
Charlie is the name of a Diamond Dog in Klugetown. I turned him into a cat. He’s playing the part of Spoons, a mouse prospector in Rango.
Mori is the name of a fish vendor in Klugetown—yes, there was actually a walking fish in My Little Pony The Movie. He’s been turned into a buzzard, and the name just obviously makes him the mortician.
Ron the Roadrunner Wrangler is an invented character. Rango made a big deal of using roadrunners as mounts to the point of adding a couple of pointless scenes just so you could see them in action. I just dangle the possibility of Rarity riding a roadrunner before your noses, but never follow through on it.
Doc the Scorpion is a combination of two Rango characters: a rabbit named Doc and an unnamed scorpion.
The digging machine
The machine itself is in the movie. The extra clues are not. (We got the one appearance of red mud, and that was it.) “F&F” is obviously Flim & Flam.
Catching Tom & Jerry
I’m now going rather far astray from Rango’s plot, because the movie is more bloodthirsty than I am. In the movie, Merrimack is found dead from drowning, whereas I only left him mostly dead. And the movie has an extensive sequence with an outlaw mole family that I thought while entertaining was overcomplicating the story, so I cut them. Therefore it’s the moles that are thrown into jail in Rango rather than the outlaws who were killed off earlier in the movie.
By the way, Rarity’s dialog in this section is largely lifted from Johnny Depp’s performance as Rango.
Everfree Valance
I’ve already speculated that ponies view the subject of complete freedom with considerable distrust, hence the use of “Everfree” as a synonym for “Badass”. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is an excellent 1962 Western about the contrast between the Wild West and its out-of-control liberty, and the forces of civilization. I believe this movie had some influence on Rango, although perhaps only indirectly.
Adamantine the dragon
In Rango, this is Rattlesnake Jake, the most-dangerous gunslinger in the territory, and like Adamantine, under the secret employment of Mayor John.
Tall Tale
This is a town that some Apples hailed from in “Apple Family Reunion”.
Ransom Stopper
In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, “the man” is named Ransom Stoddard.
I have a hundred smart ass replies for that typo.
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I will confirm for the record that this was wrong before I fixed it.