You know, it was only a matter of time before we got to a zombie pony story. Like Ron Stoppable said once

"I hate rage zombies"

...?

No it was

"Yeah, I guess we were do for one of those"

And we all knew this was coming. I just hope that this isn't going to be a retread of the Mare-Do Well. Why>

Because I hate rage zombies.

...?

No, it's because I a the only person who will freely admit to liking it and having a blast with that episode. Don't ask me why, lets just leave it at "I like it because I enjoy it (and frankly have seen worse than what the mane 5 did. SO...MUCH...WORSE!) and also, I dread the incoming fix fics and accusation fics. So far I have only seen a few done really well that didn't come off bad (Triniary is one of those that pulls it off awesomely)

Well, that was funny, in that this episode makes me think back to a statment I made in the last review that I haven't gotten an answer for yet. When do we sacrifice character, for the sake of a joke. And is it a good idea, especially when the joke is done well and everybody can laugh.

I mean, me...I love the humor, the jokes hit well, and the look of th zombponies were hilarious, but...I know there will be sticking points and the joke might not work as well. Shoot, the opening annoyed me because 1) Fluttershy talking about the dark like that kind of doesn't work when youtake in the fact that she has animals to take care of that live in the dark. and 2) Dash already knows this about Fluttershy and knows she may b scared of everythng she can also be a pretty badass girl in her own right. But, to another person watching the opening, this is freaking hilarious.

So, loking beyond the plot, wich was still pretty fun though I wonder if it would've worked better in season 1 than here, the show presents a question. Is it better to have a joke and a comedy bit where everyone is laughing with you. And for the right reasons? Is it better to have Dash and these girls in this situation, sacrifing some character development and us saying "They should know better!" The jokes are fine for those of us who might not pay attention to some of these things, but for some of us, the jokes don't work.

With comedy being as it is, I like what this epsidoe asks, and ironically, it asks that by using Dash in this matter. Is it really fun to sacrifice a little character and just have fun? Hell, I struggle with this when I write comedy...that is, when I am not busy torturing the characters and making them go through hell only to come out stronger. Heck, a frequent running gag of mine is saying "Suddently everyone is a muppet" and you can't see that!

So , I posit to you, is it good to sacrifice character for a good laugh? And if so, does that work for everyone?

And I hate Rage zombies.

...see, that is another joke? Did it work, was it funny? for some yes, for other, no.

I don't like Zombies, period. Though these are tolerable.

The episode itself reminded me of an episode of "Austin and Ally" and "Best Friends Whenever".

In the former: Dez and Chuck are continuing the McCoy/Hatfield feud (because those are their last names). And as luck would have it, Chuck is in a relationship with Dez's sister (so "Romeo and Juliet"). Eventually, Austin, Ally, Trish, and Dez's sister decide to end the fued. They do this by faking a Zombie apocalypse, which both Dez and Chuck believe will happen. And it works.

In the latter: Berry and Naldo are in the middle of a prank war and Daisy, a princess from 500 years ago, wants to join in, but the boys refuse, saying that a prank war is dangerous business (relatively speaking, of course). Later, Daisy mentions that as a princess, she is able to knight Berry and Naldo, if they performed noble deeds. So, Berry and Naldo put up with getting hit by paint balls, leaches, and carrying around Bret and Chet. And when Daisy is about to knight them, it's revealed that she proved she could prank better than them, and that she couldn't actually knight people.

5423599

So , I posit to you, is it good to sacrifice character for a good laugh? And if so, does that work for everyone?

I'd say the goal should be to have comedy and character enhance with one another rather than having to sacrifice one to achieve the other. I should be laughing at the joke not just because its a funny joke, but because it fists the character so well and would be something they'd do.

That said, I don't think this episode was Mare Do Well 2.0 as some people are claiming it to be already. While having a superficial similarity in terms of structure, the nuts and bolts are different. Dash getting overly incensed to prank to excess fits well when you realize that the rest of the girls, unknowingly or not, challenged her to do it. And Rainbow Dash does not back down from a challenge. Really I kind of wish the episode had addressed that more, the girls realizing they'd kind of thrown down the gauntlet to Dash when they accused her pranks of being "lazy".

Well, regardless, the humor did work this episode and I found myself laughing more than a few times. The only place where I feel character got suppressed for the sake of comedy was, perhaps ironically, Pinkie Pie. While I can accept Rainbow Dash forgetting what she'd been told back in season 1 about Fluttershy being kind of a no-go zone for pranks, I find it hard to swallow that Pinkie Pie, the one who'd imparted that information in the first place, would space out on that. Its not actually that big a deal because the plot could have commenced the same way regardless, but I would have appreciated Pinkie Pie bringing that up in the opening scenes to remind Dash of why pranking Fluttershy was a bad thing to do.

Hm, not sure I have much else to say about this one. Not a highlight of the season for me, but not a low point either. Kind of in the upper middlish range.

I need to start watching these episodes when they premier. Instead I inevitably end up accidentally missing them and having to wait until Sunday night when I watch them with my friends.

This is a zombie-centric episode. With two exceptions, I rather... dislike zombie -centric media of any kind. I'll see how this holds up tomorrow.

5423707
5423718
don't bother. this episode sucked

5423707

That doesn't sound like a bad thing to me.

From my perspective it was a fairly good episode not stand out but not bad. The biggest issue for me was Rainbows regression, in the first season she already knew not to prank ponies who couldn't take it (namely Fluttershy) and here she just goes and does it.

5424018

From my perspective it was a fairly good episode not stand out but not bad. The biggest issue for me was Rainbows regression, in the first season she already knew not to prank ponies who couldn't take it (namely Fluttershy) and here she just goes and does it.

No she didn't. Pinkie Pie had to tell her not to pull the prank on Fluttershy.

5423707 5423718
Actually, it's pretty good... or at least I thought it was fun for change.

5424073

Yes but she learnt it from Pinkie and it seemed to stick at the time. Now she seems to have now forgotten it.

5424084
Yeah, but I can buy that after a year or however long it's been since Griffin the Brush Off that Dash might’ve forgotten that detail.

5424516

Maybe, it might have worked better if Dash had said something about thinking that Fluttershy had grown enough over the last x years to have become brave enough to deal with a scare.

5424592
I agree it would have been nice if that had been addressed in some way, so at least it looked as if the writer had been aware of it. As it is it does leave the impression the episode was written without knowing of that scene in season one. Regardless it's not too distracting for me.

I found this whole episode to be decidedly....meh. Never liked zombie stuff so that aspect of the spoof meant nothing to me. Without that the episode just kind of...existed for me. Not good, not bad, but something that filled twenty minutes of space before I moved on.

Eeeh... I'm not so hot on the episode... visually it was excellent, but I guessed the whole plot by the time the opening credits rolled in

"I see what you did there" had m laughing so much, it was worth the whole episode for that moment!

5424650
That's likely, honestly. The story was by Meghan Mccarthy, but the episode was actually written by F.M. De Marco, who's never written for mlp before. I'm guessing that they brought him over from Littlest Pet Shop, since he's written 5 episodes for it.

--arcum42

5425298

I am willing to put money on this being an old episode script they had laying around and wanted to use up before the movie came out. It's happen before, not on this show, but several before it. Now, this might be indicative of the regieme change, post-script season (but seriously, the way the finales have been going you could almost say that we have been in post-script season since season 1 and I am including return of harmony as a finale) , or that the finale will be the end of the show and we are heading for G5 (Wich I hope is either a) an alternate verse that is a little more serious, b) 1000 years later and the mane six faded into legends, c) the CMC all grown up, or D) a new universe with a new set of characers.)

5425349 Going by how previous generations were like, I thing option D is the most likely.

Even though I could mostly tell what was going to happen, this episode got legitimately creepy once the zombie aspect came into play. Can't say I'll watch it again, but I liked what it was trying to accomplish.

5424650

As it is it does leave the impression the episode was written without knowing of that scene in season one.

That's kind of the weird thing though. Because in many ways this episode very much feels like a semi-sequel, even acknowledging that Rainbow and Pinkie share a love of pranking. Also, I think it could maybe even go without saying that Rainbow could easily have decided Fluttershy had toughened up, especially after the events of Scare Master.

Really in someway the thing I find just a bit more inconsistent is the extent to which Rainbow is framed as having been in the wrong throughout most of the episode. I'll admit that one or two pranks probably crossed the line, but most of what she did this episode didn't really seem any worse than what she and Pinkie did back in S1. Even Pinkie seemed to still be enjoying it, which herself being the paragon of laughter should really have counted for something. More so what seemed to have changed is the way everyone else responds to those pranks.

5425349

I am willing to put money on this being an old episode script they had laying around and wanted to use up before the movie came out. It's happen before, not on this show,

Actually, as I recall, most of the first half of S4 was repurposed from scripts that had be previously scrapped from S3 due to its shortened length. That's why for instance outside of the premier Twilight's new status as a princess went by largely unacknowledged and she hardly if ever uses her wings, because they were all originally drafted with her still as an ordinary unicorn.

(but seriously, the way the finales have been going you could almost say that we have been in post-script season since season 1 and I am including return of harmony as a finale)

I don't know about that. It's pretty much normal for children's television to be written one season at a time with no expectation of getting any follow-ups there after. That said, however, I think the only finale that was ever written as to capstone for the series as a whole was S3. After all, that was the 65 episodes marker, the magic syndication number after which Hasbro might have just decided to put the series into indefinite reruns until an eventual G5, or have focused on a soft reboot transition into EQG as a sort G4.5.

Over all, I'd really only consider S4 to be any kind of post script, as I think it was the only time the staff legitimately went into a new season without a plan.

5425392

Going by how previous generations were like, I thing option D is the most likely.

One might think. Except last I heard G4 is still running strong. It's ratings have ostensibly been slipping as of late compared to previous seasons, but it's still pretty high compared to other Hasbro properties, or it at least it was last time I heard anything about it. Not to mention that Hasbro has got an upcoming movie to market next year and their new attempt at an all-genders sub-line in the form of Guardians of Harmony. There's really not much to indicate that G4 is winding down anytime soon, and given how established the G4 setting and characters have become it might even be too risky for Hasbro to try any kind of full reboot. Although the movie might give the series it something of a kick in the pants that could lead into a G4.5 style transition, whatever form that might take.

5425706 You know, for a person that has a habit of wearing rose tinted glasses, I really enjoy seeing something new to the series.

Okay, long story short, I LOATHED this fucking piece of shit for an episode. This is 'A Friend In Deed' levels of awful and of character assassination. I had to force myself to watch it, and even then I paused six or seven times and had to walk away from the TV.

5423599

Well, that was funny, in that this episode makes me think back to a statment I made in the last review that I haven't gotten an answer for yet. When do we sacrifice character, for the sake of a joke. And is it a good idea, especially when the joke is done well and everybody can laugh.

*Takes a breath* NO! We do NOT sacrifice character for the sake of a joke! It's a horrible idea... any and every time it happens. Especially here, in this abomination of an episode!
5423659

I'd say the goal should be to have comedy and character enhance with one another rather than having to sacrifice one to achieve the other. I should be laughing at the joke not just because its a funny joke, but because it fists the character so well and would be something they'd do.

This, so much this. And this episode failed so hard it went back to magic learning-how-to-breathe.

Okay, like I said, there's two pieces of zombie-centric media I actually like. Shaun of the Dead, and Thriller. This episode will not be joining it.

I also don't like pranks. Strike two!

I.. am not the biggest fan of Rainbow Dash. She can be a bit of a jerk. However, here? Oh my god. This isn't Rainbow Dash. this is some horrific AU version that joined the bullies in mocking filly-Fluttershy instead of sticking up for her. This is some bad fanfic version, at best.

It's not a good thing that less than two minutes into the episode, I wanted to cross the fourth wall and strangle her. God, she was denser than neutronium here. And her pranks? You know, I'll give her credit in 'Griffon the Brush-Off'. For the most part, she left her victims laughing. And I could almost appreciate them. Here, they were mean-spirited at best and borderline criminal.

I mean seriously, a fucking brick in Mister Cake's sandwich. The only reason he didn't need major surgery was because of Rule of TV!

And her final prank... way to go, asshole.

Yes, yes, I know. "Tell us your true feelings!" and all that. I can't, because I don't want my blood pressure skyrocketing and my heart turning into a fusion bomb or something.

I, er... find it hard to be upset about anything in this episode, other than Pinkie being... even more spastic than usual.

Mainly, the thing is, from the moment I read the episode title, I knew everything that was going to happen. Anyone who's familiar with the movie it's referencing would, and although I don't watch zombie movies, I had still heard of it. "28 Pranks Later? Oh, I bet Rainbow Dash goes around pulling stupid pranks so everyone pretends to be zombies to get back at her."

And then it happened, exactly like that. And that was all that happened. Without anything to be surprised about, I wasn't outraged, and could therefore just enjoy watching it play out. Of course, the downside is that there wasn't anything to be surprised about. The episode set low expectations, and then met them. Woo-hoo?

Like Alchemystudent, I expected more people would really hate the episode just for its similarity to Mare-Do-Well. Like Striker, I loathe Rainbow Dash, but I think I take it in a very different direction... a spiteful one. I like seeing her suffer, and I'm willing to excuse a lot for the sake of that, so seeing her reduced to begging for attention in Mare-Do-Well or scared out of her mind in this episode is a decent payoff. But, I dunno, that's just not a very good reason to praise it, and the episode really didn't offer anything else...

I have no strong opinions on this episode, but...

I like seeing her suffer, and I'm willing to excuse a lot for the sake of that, so seeing her reduced to begging for attention in Mare-Do-Well or scared out of her mind in this episode is a decent payoff.

Okay, long story short, I LOATHED this fucking piece of shit for an episode.

I can never understand how people get this worked up over TV...

5427402
Same way you can get this worked up over a forum comment about TV? I don't even know what you mean, I'm just saying I like seeing a character who's pretty much terrible get some comeuppance once in a while.

5427672
Not sure how I'm getting "worked up", but okay. There's also a wee bit of a difference between liking to see Rainbow Dash get her comeuppance, and liking to see Rainbow Dash suffer.

I like seeing a character who's pretty much terrible

Oh, all the Mane-6 consistently have their moments at this (yes, even Fluttershy).

5427402 I dunno, same way I've seen others get worked up about the live-action DC movies.

5427690

(yes, even Fluttershy).

And then some. Of all the M6 Flutter is the most likely to rankly up my ire... well maybe "ire" isn't quite the right word, but she's still my least favorite of the mane cast regardless.

To me at least though that's sort of just the price we pay in becoming fans of something in the first place, or more specially becoming passionate. It involves a certain amount of emotional commitment, and as a result can make the inconsequential antics of fictional characters seem like something that matters far more than it actually does. That's not always a bad thing though, as it can be what intensifies the sense of joy we get watching our favorite shows, but the flipside of that bargain is that we open our selves up to experiencing negative emotions as well.

The real trick is how we deal with that. No show is perfect, so the important thing is to always be able to find appropriate ways to channel our frustrations whenever they might happen to crop up. I think LJP there is mostly doing just that. I might not personally agree that Rainbow Dash deserves such gleeful scorn in the first place, but as long as LJP is finding some kind of "enjoyment" out projecting those emotions in that way than I don't think it's wrong either. Negative emotions like that really only become a problem if we hold on to them, let them fester and grow into bitter resentment and, well...

5425963

I had to force myself to watch it, and even then I paused six or seven times and had to walk away from the TV.

...well, when it gets so bad that someone literally has to FORCE themselves to watch something, that may be the time to consider calling it quits and finding a new hobby.

Not that I'm telling you to quite, if you still feel like you enjoy other episodes most of the time. I just worry about you sometimes is all. I don't think you're a bad person, but you do often seem to carry around a lot of unresolved anger with you for which you have no functional outlet, and that's not good for anyone.

5427965 Okay...

I appreciate your concern, but it's mostly only a few episodes. This episode was basically a perfect storm of suck for me, between the pranks, Rainbow Dash being such a huge asshole she had her own gravitational field, and zombies.

Zombies... I don't get their appeal. I don't think I ever will.

Do i enjoy the show as much as I used to? No. For me and others, there has been a noticeable dip in quality. However, even if I stop watching the show, I'm not leaving the fandom. When Star Wars went through the NJO, Swarm War, Legacy and Fate series, I was still a part of the fandom.

As for my 'anger', well, I'll cop to that. I've gotten therapy, and I am better than I used to be.

5428238

When Star Wars went through the NJO, Swarm War, Legacy and Fate series, I was still a part of the fandom.

Me too. Never really cared for NJO and beyond, so I pretty much just ignored the existence of all that mess, while still otherwise considering myself a fan of most everything else Star Wars related.

I did sort of make a minor exception for the distant legacy stuff feature Cade Skywalker and Darth Krayt's new Sith order, but only with the caveat that in my own head-canon it was set 1,000 years in the future instead of only 100. Giving all the old familiar faces a chance to just live happily ever after, and giving the galaxy at large a chance to settle down peacefully for a few generations before starting up a new interstellar conflict.

5428238

However, even if I stop watching the show, I'm not leaving the fandom

That is...probably the best reaction I have ever seen and I think the best way to take it. I mean, shoot, you have heard my live reads and you seen me tackle a whole bunch of shows. Now, lets see: I hate seasons 6-11 of Supernatural, but I still read the fanfics like crazym, Super S and Crystal will always be a low point in Sailor moon to me, GT can go rot in Hell, nut I still love and cherish those anime. There are several variations of Star Trek that I find dispicable (Voyager, and you can probably guess) and B5 is only great around the first four season, but to me B5 is still the best dang sci-fi show in existance. Hell, Real ghostbusters turns into shit around the later seasons, and I will fight for the quality. And of course, the grandaddy of them all...Gargoyles. Want to see me rant? Ask me about season 3 of Gargoyles, That shit is aboslutly horrible.

But in the end, who cares. Does that mean that the season you do like are now bad? No! Does that mean the Seasons that got you in the show are bad? No! Those things are still wonderully awesome and cool. If I had believed that then I would've ditched Power Rangers LONG before now and I really only stopped watching thanks to Nick's infurating schedule.

It also doesn't change the fandom either. The fan art is still great, the fanfics are still enjoyable. I have always lived by the fact that when you are dealing with something you love going down the shitter (DC and MArvel for me) Sometimes it can be only in the fandom that the show you ove and the character you care about are still going to be in thier purest state. Hell, I think this is the only way I can enjoy Spider-man, Superman, and Batman anymore without their cannon coming and jumping down my face. Leave the show, enjy the fandom, whaever makes it more fun for you.

Hell, maybe one day I will notice the dip and quality, but I still will write Lunaverse stories fo you guys, and see the Lunaverse to its end. I have at least 16 stories on my mind that I want to do and like
5428450

said. Even when Sonic games went bad...I still downloaded Sonic CD remake.

5434212

Want to see me rant? Ask me about season 3 of Gargoyles, That shit is absolutely horrible.

If you're talking about that cheep imitation knockoff Disney shat out on Saturday mornings, then I agree. Or at least I would if I was even so much as willing to acknowledge that some hypothetical show called the Goliath Chronicles ever existed in the first place.

The "real" seasons-3, however, the comics published from 2006-2009 and written by the original series creator was freaking sweet. The compiled anthology paperbacks sit proudly on my shelf alongside the season-1&2 DVD sets.

5428450 Exactly. I mean, you think my hatred towards this episode or A Friend In Deed is bad? Oi, you should've seen me on theforce.net when those fucking murders of trees came out. And I too liked the Legacy comics... except for how close they were to Luke's time, and that they used fucking Clone Wars characters instead of anyone from Luke's generation.

5434212 Thanks, I think. ;p And yeah, I've seen/heard your reactions. As for Gargoyles season three, what are you talking about? It clearly ended at season two.

Yes, the Goliath Chronicles sucked.

5435695

Goliath chronicles, what Chronicles...Unless you mean that bad dream that we just won't wake up from.

(It's funny though, I have yet to see a DVD release of that season. like at all. Now, if they would only release Kim Possible 4 season box-set)

5434395

It's a shame that those comics ended though!! I wanted to find out more about Brookyln's family!

And you want to talk about rage breaking points for me? Rurouni Kenshin Reflections OVA and the filler arcs.

5435695
For all that you and I might disagree about other things, it's all the more surreal for me in times like this when we seem to be in almost entirely perfect agreement. Maybe a little bit of why I actually get so worried about you during some of your angry rants. Because I've had plenty of experience over the course of my life struggling to keep my own temper in check.

We might get angry about different thins, and maybe I'm better at controlling it, or maybe I'm just better at hiding it... even though I know I've still lost it on more than a few occasions on just these forums alone over the years. Regardless I know what it feels like to get that angry, to feel like I need to do something about it, even if the only option available is to rant and rave like an inconsolable avatar of rage. Likewise though I also know how much it can hurt when everyone else around me doesn't get, thinks I'm just making a big deal over nothing. It's a very lonely feeling, and it can hurt so much that sometimes it only ends up making me turn my own anger inwards upon myself -- why can't I just let it all go and get along like everyone else?

I don't know if it's ever like that for you. All I know is that it's not a fate I'd wish on anyone, friend or foe alike. Which is why I always get so worried when I see some one raging like that. I makes me wish I could reach out and help them get over it, even as I paradoxically realizes that other trying to do the same for me sometimes only inadvertently makes the problem worse.

Well, I guess maybe that's enough introspective philosophical mumbo-jumbo from me for one day... onto other things.

5435713

It's funny though, I have yet to see a DVD release of that season.

It's not all that surprising seeing as Disney was reluctant enough as is to even release the first two seasons. As it was they only did because the originally series creator himself pulled what strings he had left with the company to convince them to do it by promising that they wouldn't have to spend a dime on advertising and that the fans would promote it themselves by word of mouth. Even at that sales of the first half of season-2 set were so low that it took another few years after that to convince them to release the second half, and even then only as an online exclusive.

And you want to talk about rage breaking points for me? Rurouni Kenshin Reflections OVA and the filler arcs.

Not a rage breaking point for me, but I can empathize regardless. Kenshin was is one of my all time favorite anime series As in so much so that I spent well over $100+ each to get the fancy collectors editions of first 2 seasons because way back when anime wasn't as ubiquitously marketable as it is today and those were the only option to own it on DVD at all. Heck I even spent like $90 or so on the thirds season, though I didn't know it was only a bunch of filler arcs at the time. The fact that the final arc of the manga is something that never got animated due to cancelation from low ratings resulting from all those extensive filler arc is pretty high on my list of most disappointing things ever.

As for the Reflections OVA. I've got mixed feelings there I can't really say I like the way it closed the series out, but at the same time I can't really say it was an "bad" ending either.

...

Now you want to talk endings that have pissed me right the fuck off the deep end --His Dark Materials: The Amber Spyglass-- is one of if not my all-time most despised final instalment for a series that I otherwise loved.