Zack Warner (aka The Railfan Brony) commented last week to alert me to Scyph's review of "The Last Crusade". It's an interesting and quite in-depth review that takes a fairly critical line on the theme of "This episode could have been so much more". Unfortunately Scyph doesn't seem to be a regular MLP reviewer, otherwise I'd have added them to the TRR roster.
Here we go with the final TRR of the first half of S9. I'll be doing one for "Rainbow Roadtrip", and the show people may decide that counts as an episode as "Best Gift Ever" did, but it's going to be a bit different from the usual 22-minute instalments nevertheless. After that, there'll be a few weeks of hiatus. I'll probably kick off "Sounds of 2012" during that period. I'll get round to the latest Equestria Girls special at some point, too, though I keep forgetting it exists which maybe isn't the best sign.
As far as "Between Dark and Dawn" went, the text-based reviewers were a pretty mixed bag. A couple really liked it, two reviewers really disliked it, but everyone else was somewhere in the middle or slightly above. There was general agreement that the song was good – even The Railfan Brony said that in his otherwise very negative review, leaving Present Perfect as the only reviewer here who actively disliked it. Most reviewers also considered the Twilight secondary plot to be somewhat dull. I was again in the main pack but near the back of it.
Cuddlepug – mildly positive (graded B-; "great song [...] enjoyable, even if it ultimately fails to say very much")
Dark Qiviut – very positive ("Great humor, great characterization, and great heart [...] The little details add extra shape")
DrakeyC – mostly positive ("a fun episode, love the sisterly dynamic between Celestia and Luna, and they gave us lots of fun moments. And we got a SISTERS SONG [but] Where this episode really didn't work was the B plot")
Dramamaster829 – positive ("the side plot [was] forgettable [but] a sweet and endearing tale featuring two soon-to-be former rulers of Equestria")
JDPrime22 – positive (rated 9/10; "This episode was a blast! Aside from Fancy Pants not stating early on that the princesses relied on the Canterlot Gala Committee [...] this episode was great")
Lightening McQueen – positive ("great [...] Twilight sounded a bit stubborn not wanting Fancy Pants' help [...] the song "Lotta Little Things" was so lovely")
Louder Yay – mixed (rated 3/5; " It was odd, and in both good and bad ways [...] a Celestia/Luna duet and boy was it entertaining [...] A nice way of doing the old "Luna doesn't understand modern life" trope [but] Twilight really should not need to learn yet again how to delegate")
Mike Cartoon Pony – mixed ("enjoyable in the moment but leaves a borderline-incomprehensible impression once it has wrapped, not helped by the quality frequently veering back and forth between cloud-breaking highs and trench-deep lows")
MLEEP Reviews – positive (rated 9/10; "hammy playfulness [but the secondary plot] got old really fast [...] still a fun-filled and heartwarming road trip")
Present Perfect – very negative ("Neither Celestia nor Luna has gotten any real respect since about season two [...] Why do I feel like the plot is a mishmash of numerous other, better episodes? [...] I just hope I never see this again, it’s one of the worst episodes of the show’s run.")
The Railfan Brony – very negative (rated Atrocious; "The only good aspect about this episode is Celestia and Luna's duet [but it's] one of the most abysmally written episodes of the entire series [...] retreading old ground [...] unfortunate implications, and an uninteresting end result")
TheDragonWarlock – positive (rated 9/10; "The writing is great with solid characterization, the comedy is just as good, and it manages to take a concept that sounds cliche and make it work very well [though it] does suffer some issues like Fancy Pants still being a jerk")
I'm going to start taking being the only one who hates a song as a badge of honor. :V I'm glad Railfan agrees with me overall, though!
ReplyDeleteThis episode seems to fall under the Marmite episode category, you either like it or hate it, personally I liked it even if Fancypants has been replaced by Prince Blueblood by the looks of it. And Pinkie if you're going to like kitchen utensils don't put it back into the mixing bowl afterwards, you might make somepony very sick.
ReplyDeleteMent to say lick kitchen utensils (stupid autocorrect!)
DeleteThis one doesn't seem to have been *quite* as polarising as the last two, but what I do find interesting is that all three were received with less than unanimous praise, including some outright hostility.
ReplyDeleteI say it's interesting because, anecdotally, almost everyone I encountered who'd seen the early-release Italian TV episodes, and who wasn't as circumspect as Logan (whose discretion was much appreciated!) and felt the need to say something about them without necessarily going into spoilers, was gushing about these last three.
I enjoyed all three - though The Last Crusade feels more perfunctory and like a lost opportunity each time I rewatch it - and the jokes in 11 and 13 are all (to me) good ones, at least, but I was a little disappointed with all of them partly because the only things I knew going in were that some bronies (including analysts and reviewers whose opinions I highly respect) were hyping them up as some of the best in the series' entire run, when... not for me, Clive.
So it's interesting to see this much greater spread of opinions, and far higher levels of ambivalence, reflected in the TRR reviewers' views. I wonder why there was such a big divergence between the (public) early watchers and the majority? People simply getting carried away, or overexcited about things we (as a fandom) have been waiting for finally happening, or maybe the less convinced preferring to stay quiet?
And since I don't always say this... Another great roundup, thanks!
Yeah, I'd noticed that too, that all three, and especially the Last Crusade and this to a slightly smaller extent (Episode 11 notably less so) had all that going for them: massive early release hype, more muted actual release opinion. I can guess it's a combination of several factors. Mostly that the kind of people more likely to watch ahead of time are the more easily satisfied, where the fact of what happens in the episode is often enough, never mind if the execution is flawed. But the less satisfied being the kind of people more likely to be discreet is a part of it too. And two of them being long-awaited episode concepts has something to do with that. More so, the mere fact of watching earlier then you're supposed to be able to see it can feel special to some, and make it easier to feel charitable.
DeleteFinally, and this may sound like a weird thing to say, but sometimes people aren't confident about having reservations when most people love something if hardly anyone else seems to have those same reservations. Thus, I think there might be the odd person here and there uncertain of their opinion that convinced themselves, without even realising it, that the episodes were excellent when watching them early, because just about everyone else who posted their opinions were gushing. When they came out proper and some people were more reserved, those who had been holding back without even realising it were able to raise their true opinion to the surface. In essence, sometimes people don't want to be the only one disliking something, and this affects their though process on a level they're not even aware of.
It's a complex, multi-layered thing. But I do find some mild satisfaction in a sizeable chunk of fans finding the execution somewhat lackluster these last two episodes. I'm not used to much of the fandom latching onto such things (most viewers tend to respond on a gut reaction level - a perfectly healthy level to do so, just not the same wavelength that I do myself), so it's a surprise to see that happening here. Preferable if the episodes were better, of course, but such is life sometimes.
> Finally, and this may sound like a weird thing to say, but sometimes people aren't confident about having reservations when most people love something if hardly anyone else seems to have those same reservations.
DeleteThis is not weird at all and I do it all the time. :( It's why I don't post my episode reviews on Fimfic anymore.
The other factor is that sometimes, you see something and get real hyped about it, then see it again later and that hype and excitement cool. I've done this before, and the opposite as well.
Out of curiosity, are you planning a TRR for the EQG Backstage Pass special?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure at the moment, as I haven't even seen it yet! I might, though "Rainbow Roadtrip" is a higher priority.
DeleteIt's not officially out until late July, I think, but it aired early in Mexico and thence to Dailymotion.
Delete(I do like the world tour of early airings we're enjoying these past few seasons, it's geographically diverse if nothing else!)
Whoof, following releases of unscheduled specials is rough.
DeleteAh, then I'll probably wait until it airs on DF.
Delete