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| Okay, I'll admit it: I did giggle at Applejack's line here |
Apparently from next week, Pony Life will consist of four 5½-minute episodes instead of the two 11-minute eps we've had up until now. If that's the case, I'm not sure I find the prospect of even faster pacing terribly appealing. I'll give next week a shot, but I don't guarantee anything about the future of these reviews. If my enjoyment disappears entirely, so will these things.
Today's now. "Bad Thing No. 3", written by Whitney Ralls, had a pretty simple plot. Okay, like that's a shock. Rarity had had two bad things happen to her and was scared that no. 3 would come along just when she'd been asked to go for a stroll by Fancy Pants. Some amusing little segments with her (and a couple of others) talking to themselves – as in actually a second instance of themselves – but this is an episode that is already fading from my memory.
The exception is unfortunately a negative aspect. I hated how Fancy Pants was depicted. His visual design was fine and Trevor Devall reprised voice acting duties, so no worries there. But he came across as exactly the sort of self-obsessed idiot that Fancy himself looked down on in "Sweet and Elite". Even "Princess Spike" didn't make him this bad. Frankly, the FiM pony he reminded me most of was Prince Blueblood, and that's rarely a good sign.
In short: Annoying
Following on from this was Katie Chilson's "Pinkie Pie: Hyper-Helper", which took us back yet again to the Royal Jelly Juggernaught arc. Pinkie was desperate to make the event on time, but she couldn't leave her friends hanging and things looked dicey. Thankfully, with the help of said friends everything worked out... except that it didn't. Princess Celestia, apparently in Trollestia mode, suddenly pointed out that the RJJ was an individual contest. Oh dear.
If the first episode this week was annoying, this one was merely unmemorable. There wasn't anything as bad as Fancy Pants' characterisation, though you could quibble with how Celestia was portrayed. But even for an 11-minute episode the story seemed pretty thin. This one didn't even have the couple of really funny lines that distinguished "Bad Thing No. 3". Maybe the problem is that I just don't care about the Royal Jelly Whatsitsname. Sorry, Pinkie.
In short: Meh
Truth be told I think that AJ is the best thing about the show at moment. Unfortunately I still stick to my opinion that it stills feels like G4 after drinking many cans of a popular Austrian energy drink.
ReplyDeleteAt least Fancy Pants being poorly characterized is nothing new. They were doing that basically forever. I did enjoy Rarity's freakout antics at least.
ReplyDeleteBoy, going to four episodes per hour slot sounds really bad though. :/ Not looking forward to that.
I'm not sure the new format will change much. As it is now, they still often do two-parters, so maybe now they'll be four-parters? I doubt we'll see many standalone ones.
ReplyDeleteI liked the Rarity episode except for how they portrayed Fancy Pants, but since that was a significant part of its resolution, it hampered my enjoyment a lot.
I liked the second episode as well. The theme of Pinkie putting herself out for everyone else isn't exactly something new, but each time they play it, they go for a different protagonist: Applejack in "Applebuck Season" and Rarity in "Suited for Success," so getting yet another character's take on it was fine with me.
Slight spoilers, now that I've watched episodes 7-8. Yes, it was divided into four episodes with individual titles instead of two episodes that each had two parts, but all of episode 7 and the first part of episode 8 still were more or less a single continuity.
DeleteAnd I predict Logan's going to hate Fluttershy's characterization through the whole thing. I didn't much care for it. Applejack continues to get the best lines.