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| That shooting star was intriguing... but how significant will it prove? |
...My Fair Lady. Not up to the standard of Hohlfeld's other two eps, thanks largely to the unoriginal plot and moral, but fairly watchable all the same. Yona seems to have become the fan favourite among the students (though personally I favour Silverstream) and so it was good to see her get the spotlight. What was more surprising was Sandbar – who'd never seemed that interested in Yona before – asking her to the dance, though it was carefully left ambiguous whether his feelings for her ran especially deep.
Rarity was hit by the Idiot Ball this time. After all these years, and episodes such as "Sweet and Elite", I find it hard to credit that she would still think completely changing someone's personality to "fit right in" was a great idea. Sure, Yona asked her, but Rarity should have tactfully steered her away. She didn't really cover herself in glory in this episode. More fun were the dance lessons from Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy – if you cared to look for it, there was a potential bit of FlutterDash ship-teasing lurking somewhere there, too.
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| Spike has dressed as a dragon before, in "Luna Eclipsed" |
The moral of "She's All Yak" was very simple: be yourself. Nothing we hadn't seen before a dozen times, and perhaps a little too obvious, though the folly of being artificial just to try to emulate everyone else was still a good message. I don't think it was enough to carry a full episode, though – the presence of another montage suggested that. We did at least get some fun background stuff with the other students, not to mention Twilight's anti-food shield!
Other little observations: apparently Americans pronounce "fete" as "fett". That threw me, as the usual pronunciation in my part of the world is "fate". The Amity Ball (not a bad name) noticeably welcomed same-sex partners, though I guess as it was explicitly a friendship dance Hasbro wasn't going to get too jumpy about that. Silverstream's eyebrow-bounce was both funny and worrying. And Yona's sad song was rather heartbreaking. So this is worth watching. A high two.
But you really do need to like Yona.
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| We got both Angel and Opal in this episode. More pets, please! |
Best moment: Silverstream's popcorn
Worst moment: "There's more to a dance than just having fun" – oh dear, Rarity.
Yays
- A good, albeit very well-worn moral
- The students had some nice background stuff going on
- Yona is always an appealing character
- Barely a flicker of surprise in the story anywhere
- The song was moderately engaging at best
- Sandbar/Yona has never even been hinted at before
- Thin plot that has to stretch to fill the running time
There's something that is concernono me about the S9 lately: with the reception of the premiere, non of the episodes so far feels like it belongs to this season. All the other episodes could have been easily featured in S8 and nothing would have changed (I give pass to Sparkle's Seven and Common Grounds thought due to the background in their production) Shouldn't writers be more focused in concluding all the loose ties instead of doing eps like this? I know MLP is a slice of life kind of show, but this is the FINAL SEASON for goodness sake! They should put aside stories like this to make more important ones! A school dance episode? In a final season? Seriously?
ReplyDeleteBah... as I pointed the other day, there's only one thing I want now from this show: the series finale. I just want the Mane 6, and possibly even the other characters having a satisfying conclusion. If Best Gift Ever, the Beginning of The End and Sparkle's Seven are an indication, even the current writers should be able to pull that one right and they should acknowledge its importance, so I'm still preserving a sparkle of hope for that.
But if the series finale will fail, then I will play the last card I have left: pretending that FiM ended with Best Gift Ever and burning up to the fire what came afterward. I'm not gonna accept a disappointing finale like Voltron's or Samurai Jack's ones, not after having followed it for this long. I'd rather prefer to think it ended on a good note. And that is all. Sorry for the long comment sir, but I wanted to share my thought.
Well, it's not as bad as all that; of the six episodes (counting the Premiere as one), only two are really just filler episodes: this and The Point of No Return. Sparkle's Seven and Common Grounds have their unique concepts and production stories to elevate them above mere filler, and while I didn't care for Uprooted at all, it at least does focus on a thread leftover from the Premiere.
DeleteI do agree this episode was a waste, but it would be a mistake to expect true serialisation in FiM, given the way the show is written and made. Personally, I don't even expect it to be on the level of Teen Titans (where typically half a season was filler and half was focused on the seasonal story). I think it'll build up to the finale in more subtle, marginal ways, like getting last episodes of certain types and things the characters learned/gained coming back to be pivotal at the end.
That said, next week's episode looks to be all about the seasonal arc, so that should be something!
The upcoming "Going to Seed", for instance, which could very well be our farewell to "Applejack and Apple Bloom" episodes, for instance. Certainly, there's a good chance it could be the last one. In another way, The Point of No Return was perhaps our farewell to that small subgenre of "Twilight in Canterlot/Twilight fixing her past mistakes" episodes. Something to mull on, for sure.
DeleteEpisode 13 in particular looks like it could be something the show's never really had before - a proper mid-season Finale. But, as always, we'll see. The staff are certainly trying to close the show out as best as they can, that much is certain.
By the time you replied me, I Watched Freenemies in Italian (It's my native language so I could understand everything). Without spelling anything:
Delete1)Get ready for THE GOODNESS;
2)Finally they're making progression in the story.
Still, I don't know if the all the other eps of the first half will be more "conclusive" as well. Episodes 9, 12 and 13 had good chances. Episode 10 is quite unpredictable of what will be about so I'll preserve my judgements for that one.... episode 11 on the other hand... sounds like even more "filler" than She's All Yak...
My hope for the rest of the season, is the important writers (Haber, Dubuc (as long she works with Haber...), Vogel and Lady Writers) handle the most important ones like they already did. The Point of No Return and She's All Yak were the only eps written by their respective writers, so this might mean that the biggest one were given to the better writers. I hope I'm right.
That sounds great, man! I'll keep my expectations down a little from that, just to avoid overhype, you understand (also not a Cozy Glow fan much).
DeleteYou raise an interesting point when it comes to assigning certain episodes to certain writers. Obviously they do try to play to certain writer's strengths or familiarity with past characters/concepts (hence Haber getting Common Ground as he had co-written Stranger then Fan Fiction with Vogel).
Yeah, I'll admit Episode 11 doesn't have an intriguing hook, seeming very much like A Matter of Principles in tone and content, just without Discord.
And ooh, an Italian watcher, eh? That's very interesting! Tell me: what's the quality of the Italian Dub like, in terms of both how well-suited the voices are to the characters, and the quality of the acting? And compared to how cartoon Dubs usually fare in Italian?
Though I don't speak it myself, I know that the German Dub is rather mixed on those fronts, with a few ill-fitting voices (Applejack especially doesn't sound remotely country) and several recastings throughout its history, which stand out given German animation Dubs are usually of very high quality (the impressions I get it that since the cartoon isn't from a major studio, the Dub's budget for quality translators/actors/casting agents is smaller then, say, Nick or CN or Disney cartoons). That's what my German-speaking MLP acquaintances tell me, anyway. I'd be curious to know how the Italian Dub fares on that front.
I have seen the Italian opening, though. Love it.
The dub had a rocky start but improved over the time. However, the songs sucks in Italian.
DeleteY'know, us English speakers really need to get together and decide who pronounces French-based words like the French and who makes up random shit just to be different. <.< Cuz usually it's the other way around.
ReplyDelete"Homage" is a good example. Traditionally, it's been "hommidge" in British English. But I've noticed a drift to "ommaaj" recently, perhaps because that's more common in American English. I still say "hommidge", though, so "a" rather than "an" is not a typo! :P
DeleteIt took me until the final scene to work out she was saying "fête", and that the event wasn't called the Fet-Lock-Fet. I was trying really hard to figure out what obvious thing that pun name must have been riffing on...
DeleteAnyway. My parents are French, and I'll say that while the American pronunciation is a more accurate rendering of the e-circumflex than the British version (which always makes me think it was an overcorrection by someone faced with an unfamiliar diacritic mark who knew it would modify a vowel sound but just guessed what it did!), that still wasn't quite the French pronunciation either. But I lack the linguistics vocabulary to explain quite why.
I think "fete" has been naturalised by now, in the same way that "restaurant" has. Hence my omission of the circumflex. I do still usually write "café" -- but I tend to feel that e-acute is a special case.
DeleteYeah, otherwise you'd say "caif".
Delete"Caff" is a fairly common, albeit now old-fashioned or consciously humorous, pronunciation -- but "caif" is very rare.
DeleteI just... it really saddens me to say this, but for me, this episode barely sits above the trash pile (so, the weakest since Yakity Sax). And you pointed out things that I didn't even notice enough to write about but which are severely problematic; despite Yona asking for it, Rarity should have known to not try and 180 her personality. Oh, but then we wouldn't have this episode. Wouldn't that be a shame...
ReplyDeleteIt's especially disappointing for Brian Hohlfeld, who not only did two of Season 8's best episodes, but is also an industry veteran, and clearly has more skill then this. Maybe this was just one of the episodes that had to be used to contribute to the Student 6 quota I'm sure the show now has. Maybe he was given the 'My Fair Lady' parody idea, or it was his own. Whatever the reasoning, I just found it an episode I sat through in stony silence.
And even if someone is a fan of Yona, it completely betrays one of her few consistent character traits. Yaks are supposed to be stubbornly proud of their Yak ways, as annoying as they are for the audience. Yet this episode requires her to have a period of self-doubt bordering on an identity crisis, neither of which were even hinted at in any previous appearance. It's character assassination not unlike the very concept of The Tigger Movie, where Tigger, who's normally constantly delighted that he's the only one of his kind, suddenly starts longing for other Tiggers to call family (the movie leapt to mind due to Brain Hohlfeld having written Piglet's Big Movie and Pooh's Heffalump Movie).
So yeah, that's kind of my takeaway.
I'm not quite as negative as you about this one: I'd choose this over "Yakity-Sax" without even thinking about it. But I would certainly have expected more from Hohlfeld. You and I are probably not the only ones: Text Review Roundup (which will be on Friday this week) should be interesting!
DeleteYeah. As final episode from Hohlfeld I expected MUCH more. Even Berrow's final episode had a bigger soul than this one. It wasn't a masterpiece, granted, but at least was clever and funny, and had a neat moral about not pursuit the perfection....
DeleteIs this officially Hohlfeld's last ep? I missed that announcement. A shame if so.
DeleteWhisper it, but I didn't hate Yakity-Sax.
ReplyDeleteThis? Eh, easily the weakest S9 outing to date for me, and honestly I'll be surprised if that's not the general consensus when the Text Review Roundup comes in. Yona is so endearing she's almost worth a star all by herself, but... goodness me, it's a good job she has such strong shoulders, since her natural charisma has to carry an awful lot of weight here.
The song was pretty good (although the VA leap from Tabitha to Kazumi has never been more jarringly obvious). I liked shy blushing flirty Sandbar. My kids liked Yona's epic sprout burp. I'm intrigued as to whether Brussels (as in sprouts) is the first non-mangled real place name to make it into a script. Beyond that... disappointing, especially after the taste of old-school pony life lessons last week.
It's maybe worth pointing out that "She's All That", the 90s teen flick the finger-on-the-pulse title pun is referencing, is - like "My Fair Lady" - an adaptation of Shaw's "Pygmalion".
To pick up on something someone else said above - it would never, ever happen, but I would love it so very much if Grogar et al are defeated in epic fashion in episode 24, and then the series finale is a pony version of My Coffee with Niles, just the Mane 6 meeting up for donuts and chatting with one another as various side characters wander in and out. Unrealistic, but it would be so good!
Actually, my least favorite would still be Uprooted (asd, the other Young 6 episode we got so far. Tables turned for the characters in this season: the Young 6 were the best thing of S8, while the Mane 6 weren't generally handled good. In this season is happening the exact opposite instead). This comes close second but I still found it alright.
DeleteI actually found myself wondering about Brussels sprouts not long before the episode aired. It's not the first place name, though (I mean, French haute couture in S1, as well as Dutch apple pie).
DeleteHow could you ponify it though? c.c I can hardly blame the writers for being lazy when I can't come up with anything easily myself...
How could you ponify it though? c.c
DeleteI wouldn't. Here in Britain, we often just call them "sprouts". If you mean bean sprouts, you have to specify that.
Well, to hearken back to my linguistic theory of how to ponify "mannequin" (I think I came up with "pfertikin"), my off-the-cuff, can't-actually-research-it-properly-first answer would be along the lines of either "Parsels" or "Farsels".
DeleteI'm completely opposite of the review and comments. I love this episode and place it at one of the best of the season. During Pony's history, the ponies sometimes acted at the "savior" to non-ponies in non-pony kingdoms, risking imperialistic implications. Just like episodes prior, the ponies help her with completely good intentions, but by realizing their actions accidentally both erased her identity and hurt her in the process, they learned a valuable lesson that was a long time coming.
ReplyDeleteThe three things I critique this episode for are the episode following a clichéd formula seen quite often, Fluttershy's "you're so well spoken" being too on the nose, and would like to see a scene of Sandbar at the Palace of Solace included to balance the perspective.
Other than that, this was an episode that shouldn't do well and delivered.
Although I think you may be in the minority, you're certainly not alone: a couple of people on UK of Equestria viewed this episode similarly to you.
DeleteI very much look forward to reading your review when I get to that! (I always do, since they're so detailed, even if it does mean I have to lose a lot of nuance for my TRR summary.)
*chuckle* I'm flattered. :D
DeleteP.S.: Just in case… https://mlpforums.com/blogs/entry/24306-shes-all-yak-review/
:P
This ep takes one slot of the final season which should belong to some more important stuff like wraping thing up or sth, and the worst thing is: it's not even good. I hope this is the worst this season could deliver, any worse than that is fatal.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who Watched the next ep in italian: would make you feel better if I say that the next episode is awesome instead?
Delete@Lambdadelta: Whenever I feel down about something like this, I remind myself that Season 5 had "Princess Spike"... and then two episodes later it had "Amending Fences". :)
DeleteFor that matter the second half of S8 had it even more intense on that regard: after an EXTREMELY rocky start with TWO big duds in a row (Yakity Sax and A Matter of Principals) the season improved a lot for the rest of it (aside of Father Knows Beast which was meh).
DeleteI don't know about that. Hearth's Warming Club was really good, but then The End in Friend and Friendship University were both kind of dull and weak, though more in an "nothing about that episode stuck with me at all" way, which is preferable to making big mistakes. I think On the Road to Friendship was where S8 picked up a consistency of quality (though for me only until Sounds of Silence - I wasn't warm on the kitchen-sink School Raze much at all).
DeleteThis is hardly the first time this has happened, a season improving as it goes and hitting a consistent quality. Heck, even Season 1 took until midway through to move past the "writing exercise" phase (just an observation that, like any series, it was finding itself a bit). But from midway through all the way up to "The Mysterious Mare Do-Well" (obviously not including it, of course), it was a very smooth run, some minor bumps in the road excepted.
@Anonymous: Your words gave me some hope xD (still waiting for US release)
Delete@Logan: Any season will have their bag eggs, i just want them to be minimized as much as possible. The final season should be the good last impression.
It was only from reading reactions etc. to this episode that I learned about the trope of the female foot pop (as in the first screencap you posted) to show attraction -- I apparently have not seen enough movies to have known previously that this existed.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the spoken lines in "Fit Right In" made the difference between Kazumi and Tabitha very obvious, and I could swear that the spoken lines were also mixed quieter (or perhaps not as compressed) as the sung lines.
I didn't know about that trope either! I certainly didn't select that shot on those grounds. Hmm, maybe this is intended as an actual ship, then.
DeleteThe Kazumi/Tabitha point is fascinating in terms of how many people have brought it up. I did notice it, but it barely registered with me.
I knew something felt off about Rarity's singing in this! The constant lapse back into speaking lines make it stand out all the more. Come to think, you may be right about the mixing; it's not something you ever really notice except when it deviates from the norm.
DeleteMaybe this is something the fandom has already dissected and figured out/being disclosed in interviews, but: why does Tabitha St. Germain not sing for Rarity? The other two have explained or obvious reasons: Libman finds singing as Pinkie very straining on her voice, while Shannon-Kent doesn't. Meanwhile, I assume Tara Strong either cost too much to sing alongside acting, or being based in LA (and thus already recording solo rather then in a group) deprives her of the necessary hands-on session typical of recording the songs. Either way, Shannon-Kent and Shoichet imitate their characters near-perfect, with the tiny changes being easy to credit to any person sounding slightly different when singing anyway. As such, it's easy to shelve the fact that they have different singing voices when watching, especially with Pinkie.
Rarity though... Evans is too beautiful a singer to complain, but that disconnect between her take on the character and St. Germain's has always been there. Not that St. Germain minds, I doubt, she is the go-to for incidental roles due to her vocal talent and almost certainly has voiced more characters in the show then anyone else easily. But it is something I find curious. Maybe they just felt Evans' demo was better all those years ago? Shrug.
She's never sung as Luna either (and as of "Hearth's Warming Tail", Luna has a new singing double that sounds closer to Tabitha), so I just assumed she wasn't very good at singing in character.
DeleteWhen the audience asked Tabitha about it via video chat at PoNYCon 2016 (the last one in NYC), her answer was more or less that she's not allowed to sing on the show because our ears would explode from the pure sexiness of it all. So...
I do not doubt this answer for one second.
Delete