EqG Mini-review: "Holidays Unwrapped"

Does nobody do any work in EqG-world when it snows?

Here we are, then. With the final Friendship is Magic episode now a few weeks behind us in the rear-view mirror, here's the final Equestria Girls special. This is actually not a special in the usual sense of the word, although it was marketed as such. It's a collection of several scenes, and it was written by Anna Christopher – who I'll confess I knew nothing whatsoever about before "Holidays Unwrapped" appeared. Was it any good? Well, past the cut you'll find my short assessment.

G5 film news!

Equestria Daily has reactivated the timer!

All being well, I'll finally have my "Holidays Unwrapped" mini-review up tomorrow. However, there's something big to report today! Well, probably. And it's this news. Paramount will be releasing a My Little Pony movie on 24th September 2021. Admittedly we poor sods in the UK probably won't get to see it until October, unless of course the sieve-like leakiness of recent years continues under new management – but hey, it's coming eventually!

There are, as far as I know, no further details yet in the public domain. I'd be staggered, however, if this wasn't to be the long-awaited CGI G5 prequel. The word is that this will use celebrity VAs, while the follow-up show (in 2D Toon Boom) will go with a regular voice cast. I'm not sure about this – I think one of the things that made the 2017 movie work was that it did use the show's voice cast – but then with the 2021 film, we won't have had seven years of voicing to condition us. Anyway, we'll see. But the ride rolls on!

UK PonyCon report, part 6: Some thoughts

Bathed in sunshine as the con comes to a close

And at last, here's the final part of my waffling about UK PonyCon 2019. This takes the form of some semi-connected ramblings about the convention – obviously from my point of view, because writing from others' perspectives is something I can only really do in fiction. :P That being so, I make no claims that this will be a complete assessment, nor that other attendees will have had a similar experience.

This was a pretty happy con. The only thing that really went wrong was the appalling level of street noise almost throughout Friday night, and that had nothing to do with the convention itself. Otherwise, people seemed cheerful and good-natured, even when they were tired – as quite a few of us were. I think most of us will look back on UKPC 2019 with a smile, and certainly the notion that the end of Friendship is Magic might add a layer of melancholy didn't really come true.

It seems that attendance numbers were broadly comparable to last year's (900+) and that seemed a fair size for the venue. There was nearly always plenty of room to move around without things seeming too sparse – except perhaps in the refectory, which was surprisingly empty when I was there on Saturday lunchtime. Given this was the con's (and my) second year at NTU, it wasn't surprising that things were quite well laid out, but it was still very much appreciated.

UK PonyCon's committee, volunteers, venue staff and so on were all excellent. That rather goes without saying these days – this is an extremely well run con. I'm sure things are a lot more hectic behind the scenes at times, and I'm sure there were issues in places – but it says something that absolutely nobody I spoke to all weekend had any serious criticism of the people who make this convention possible. The history of MLP conventions is slightly chequered, but this one has a deservedly excellent reputation

More thoughts past the cut!

Ponyfic Roundup 271

Read it Later story count: 232 (-3)

The end of Friendship is Magic certainly doesn't seem to have stopped people contributing ponyfic. In fact, Fimfiction's stats page shows that October was the first month since December 2017 when the total number of new story approvals broke the 1,000 barrier. Nearly three-quarters were E- or T-rated, too. It may not last – but it's still nice to see. Anyway, three fics today:

Special Relativity by Melon Hunter
Whoya gonna call? by Lexicon Spark
Let Her In by TooShyShy

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0

My Little Repeats: full-series rewatch coming very soon!

I was originally going to leave my full-series rewatch of Friendship is Magic a little while longer, but it turns out that I'm just too impatient for that! So, like (it seems) about half the fandom, I'll be getting under way with that very shortly – perhaps in just a matter of days. If I waited until the other rewatchers had finished then I'd be waiting literally years to get started, so that is definitely not on!

I'm going to call my own rewatch My Little Repeats. For those unaware, "repeats" is the word that we in the UK use for what Americans generally call "reruns" – shows that have already been seen on TV. I thought the MLR name was a bit obvious, but a quick Google reveals that the phrase doesn't seem to be being used by anyone else in the fandom, and certainly not for a series rewatch like this.

My current intention is to watch about three episodes a week, with occasional adjustments for holidays, conventions and so on. (I'm tempted to break from the norm and review double episodes singly.) I'd like to try to avoid posting on two successive days, and this is the fastest pace that allows me to do that. I won't be worrying too much about posting on exactly the same days each week, since I can't guarantee to keep to an inflexible schedule.

Of course, Louder Yay won't only be here for My Little Repeats – another reason I want to keep some off days. Ponyfic Roundup and Sounds of 2012 will be continuing, and I'll carry on posting from time to time about other stuff that comes up. If there's a Really Big Deal, such as an official peek at the G5 designs, then that may well bump a planned MLR instalment back a day or two.

My Little Repeats is not going to be a short-term commitment, as I intend to see it through. Even at three episodes a week, it's going to take me well over a year. I'll still be writing MLR stuff into 2021. I already have a pretty good idea of the format I'll use – please don't expect full-length reviews, but more my briefish thoughts and points of interest; think Ponyfic Roundup review length.

Episodes will be reviewed in the order of their release on US TV, ignoring earlier foreign broadcasts or leaks – though I may well make a slight exception for the 2017 movie and watch that after all of S7; it's only a few weeks out and seems more comfortable there. I will also include "Best Gift Ever" and "Rainbow Roadtrip", even though the latter doesn't have an episode number.

And what about Equestria Girls, I hear you ask? That's a good question. Even though EqG is part of the G4 My Little Pony world and several of its releases do include segments set in Equestria, my current inclination is not to include them in this rewatch. That doesn't mean I won't rewatch them at some point, possibly even as another rewatch series – but not as part of this series.

Oh, and I hope this goes without saying, but just in case: I will be assuming that everyone reading MLR posts has already seen the entire series – so there will be no spoiler cuts! If I see something in S1 that reminds me of an episode in S9, then I'm not going to be coy about what that is. And now I think I've rambled quite enough. Keep a look out for My Little Repeats, coming very soon!

His Dark Materials

I haven't forgotten about the final part of my UK PonyCon report, but as that will take the form of a (moderately) thoughtful summing up, I want to take my time a little and get it to say what I want it to say. Unless anything comes up, though, I will have it up on the blog at some point this week. I'll also have a mini-review of Holidays Unwrapped, though it's not much of a spoiler to say now that it didn't exactly blow me away.

And now for something completely different. Last night, I watched episode one of the BBC/HBO adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Well, all right, episode one of the first series, which will cover Northern Lights (US: The Golden Compass). I am a big fan of HDM, so I was nervous. I'm happy to report that I was very pleased. Not everything was perfect, but I definitely feel the makers get this world. So yes, recommended!

A few more specific thoughts now, with spoilers – though many probably won't make sense unless you've read the books, in which case they won't be spoilers!

Sounds of 2012: Nos. 48 to 44

Let's have a quick "Sounds of 2012" post today. Unfortunately I've had to skip two of the five tracks this time for not complying with the four rules I've set myself for determining inclusion or otherwise. That's made this a rather short edition, for which apologies. Still, at least we have some music to remember! Before I get on to the three tracks I can talk about here, have a reminder of the inclusion criteria:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the artist
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion

48: skipped
47: Makkon – Deae Lunae
46: MLP:FiM Season 1-2 Medley
45: Aviators – Never Back Down (feat. d.notive and Yelling At Cats)
44: skipped

Come past the cut with me to find out a bit more about the tracks I didn't have to skip.