 |
| I'm still amused that "George" has a jelly babies cutie mark |
S5E11: "Party Pooped"
My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.5
Thoughts: For the second week running, a new writer, but this one was destined to have a rather more successful MLP career than Neal Dusedau: "Party Pooped" was Nick Confalone's Pony debut. And it's better than the previous episode, too, although still no classic. Part of this is that I find the first act pretty tiresome, with the "YAKS HATE IF NOT PERFECT" stuff really going on too long. Later, Pinkie's journey to Yakyakistan is quite fun, if all a bit thrown-together, and her Party Bunker is an amusing little touch even if I don't think we ever see it again. I'm still not sure why Yakyakistan wasn't called simply Yakistan, which is (to my mind, at least) a much better pun. Mind you, I still don't see any obvious inspiration for Rutherford's name, either. Meanwhile, Twilight is having the kind of freak-out more reminiscent of her earlier days. Again, it's fairly amusing to start with but does go on a bit too long. All these things considered, I'm going to nudge my rating down from a low three to a high two. While this is clearly more fun than "Princess Spike" was, it's still not that great an episode. Happily Confalone would go on to write several very good eps, but he didn't quite hit the ground running and "Party Pooped" was a bit of a mish-mash.
Choice quote: Rainbow Dash: "It's sort of panic themed."
New rating: ★★
Next up is "Amending Fences", and frankly I think we all know already how that one is going to go down. :D
I will try to not let my knowledge of what this episode could have been colour my judgment. But as the first episode of Season 5 where I unambiguously prefer how it started, it was a hard thought to banish from my mind.
ReplyDeleteThis episode is not without merit. In particular, its the debut of Nick Confalone, who I feel is, if not the best late-show writer, definitely the one I feel most confident in. He has some duds to his name, sure, but most importantly, he's the rare writer going forward actually able to write funny material while almost never indulging in character-breaking plot decisions. One can see evidence of his future writing all over this episode, namely making random and wacky humour fit (not 100% here, but a good first try). Mostly in the Pinkie plot line, which is largely a success. Right from her train monologue, we're in comfortably silly territory, and while it doesn't quite have the control of a more familiar writer, being basically throwing ideas at the wall (and thus the humour doesn't leave a significant lasting impression), it's at least fitfully amusing. Even if parts are just bizarre: the brief Yeti attack feels out-of-place, a side effect of such monster attack tropes having mostly stayed back in Season 1.
The party cave and reunion with Pinkie works too, and is touching and sweet (if less so than its original usage… okay, I'll stop!). And while it doesn't amount to much, I appreciate having Twilight doing bigger friendship duties for Equestria, even if it means more lore that doesn't make sense (a nation just outside the border Equestria hasn't contacted in centuries… how?). Other gags here and there, like Gummy on Twilight, I liked. Had the whole episode been at this level, it would still be quickly forgotten – it's too unfocused and not disciplined enough – but a satisfying and positive experience.
…and then we get to the Yaks.
I'm sure there are viewers who unironically liked the yaks even before Yona came along. I can even just-about see it for this episode, where they are knowingly portrayed as a joke (less so by their next appearance, where all that lore turns out to have been serious and they are confirmed to be sharp as a brick, all twelve of them living in a dump). Indeed, this viewing, I wasn't seething in rage… for about the first two times they had their smashing reaction. Once it got old again, they irritated for the same reasons they always have: the joke of them being dumb is dumb, they're unlikeable, and the actual point of them here – that Twilight and co. were offending them by doing a facsimile of their culture – is not dwelled on or acknowledged, having to share ending lesson space with other morals. Worth mentioning this isn't all a writing thing, the visuals amplify it quite a bit.
It's an early instance of the persistent problem in the show's back half, pushing dumb or lore/character-breaking comedy which lands because much of the audience isn't taking it seriously. Ditto for the executives, as there was lots of praise in the animatic feedback for how the Yaks were done. "I think we have some new fan favourite characters!", they actually said.
Gerry Chalk does give a good performance as Rutherford, if one can get past the writing.
The end result is a weird case of the episode not being as bad as I remembered – I wouldn't even call it the worst episode thus far this season, it has highlights and comedy that work far more than "Princess Spike" – yet the lows so thoroughly dominate one's impression that it still feels like a poor showing. Or at least a mixed one.
P.S. I think the one non-Yona Yak moment I remember fondly is Rutherford saying Yaks are terrible gift-givers in "Best Gift Ever". Make of that what you will.
P.P.S. We see the party bunker again in "Secrets and Pies", "The Maud Couple" and… "The Last Problem". Yeah, I'd probably forget it reappeared too.
"Party Pooped" – Production Changes
ReplyDeleteNOTE: As stated last week, from now on, these are highlights, including only what I honestly believe are the most interesting parts, and outright skipping the rest. Trying to condense those down without losing any information did them no favors. Better to focus on the best bits, and highlight them. Good thing too – today’s episode has enough to inch into two comments even after separating the wheat from the chaff!
Fret not: The eventual reposts of these on my Fimfiction blog (formatted better than here, I assure you), will have links to the original comprehensive notes for the morbidly curious. And exclusive parts too: I've already started with a post over there a few days ago on the eight episodes suggestion Jayson Theissen and Jim Miller gave for Season 5, with plenty more to come. And that is the only time I intend to plug it, and only so you all know.
PREMISE
The Premise for this episode is vastly different, lacking any Yaks. On the anniversary of when the Mane 6 got their Cutie Marks, Pinkie wants to throw the best party ever, but every idea is pointed out as something she's done before. Distressed, she covers up that she has no ideas by saying it's a secret. The next day, finding Sugarcube Corner in disarray, Twilight suggests Pinkie let them run this party instead. Of course, it's anything but, as they lack the Pinkie magic. Meanwhile, Pinkie goes on a voyage all across Equestria, even more existentially stuck than in "Pinkie Pride" – has she thrown all the parties?
Close to party day, Pinkie returns in failure as the others accidentally discover her party cave. They admire the mementos of past parties, but all the plans and unused ideas make them realise how hard Pinkie works at what she does. Pinkie is touched, but admits she has no idea. They help her realise they have the theme: “Blast from the Part”. What better idea for a party about when their shared destinies began than one constructed from their past parties?
OUTLINE
The outline gets closer to the final episode, bringing in the Yaks, though as they only make actual yak sounds and require translation from Fluttershy, they're mostly offscreen and don't do any smashing. The main difference is Pinkie's quest for inspiration has her run afoul of a lemur tribe, until they think she's a god (they have a statue shaped like her), and direct her to a party guru. Said guru pony is tired from 1,000 years of partying and relinquishes his title to her, and she later returns home in failure. Oh, and Cheese Sandwich was under him, in a vow of silence to meditate on partying.
Yes, it read pretty nutty. Also, the welcoming ceremony had Pinkie painted white (it's not blackface, but I wouldn't be surprised if this direction was scrapped partially for that).
SCRIPT
Though the 1st script solidified the Yaks' characterisation, many details took a few drafts to settle. Among the more interesting differences:
* In the first polish draft, Rutherford is accompanied by not two books, but his wife and daughter, who's even more timid than Fluttershy. Neither speak, and only affect the episode when the script demands it.
* The first few drafts had Pinkie's pre-mountain quest confined to a short montage of getting directions, which included, alongside Dodge Junction and the Crystal Empire, Griffonstone, already in full repair since three episodes prior. In exchange, the yeti chase is longer, ending with Pinkie falling into a crevice. Or, in the 2nd draft, he is friendly and talks like Chewbacca, but Pinkie falls off a rickety rope bridge. Pinkie also got attached to a leaf shaped like a cupcake earlier, which she lost when falling off, but found again at the very end, kissing it in delight and dancing away. Yep, a little loony!
[script changes, animatic and other changes, plus final thoughts – all this and more below]
[continued from above]
DeleteSCRIPT – CONTINUED
* In the first two drafts, the Yaks arrived a month early, making Twilight's panic be that of improvising a celebration.
* Twilight's fear changes multiple times (it was strawberries at first, then noise makers).
ANIMATIC & OTHER CHANGES
Among smaller cuts, one whole scene was cut from the final script. Excepting the overflowing "Slice of Life", been a while since that happened last, back with Fluttershy and Starlight having breakfast in the latter's cottage in "The Cutie Map – Part 2"! Lasting 1.3 pages, this scene happened after the title scene, with Twilight leading the yaks to her balcony view of Ponyville, then telling them to stay put while she gets the welcome ready. It was an easy cut, repeating info we get in the next cleanup scene. Surprised it even lasted that long!
Quite a few gags and visuals were added at the board stage. Some lines were added (Dash's excuse for not reading the book on Yakyakistan, Rutherford foreshadowing the vanilla extract failure), one was changed (Cherry Jubilee originally said they counted 412 cherries – they changed it to 417,234!), a good few were shuffled around in scene order (this is rare). The episode was definitely plussed in animation a fair bit.
In feedback, Meghan McCarthy returned to replying to DHX too. She took exception to Pinkie being disappointed at thanking Twilight, until they all got thanked too. McCarthy reasoned, correctly, that Pinkie wouldn't care about the credit, and making it look like she did made her efforts less sympathetic. Jim Miller agreed and said they'd cut it, as they still needed to shave off a little time anyway.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
On that initial Premise: Just… why was it changed? It had plenty of comedy and emotional potential (tying it to the Mane 6's shared cutie marks was genius), as evidenced by the parts that were kept being the highlights of the episode we got. Sure, it's a little light on content, but it's a Premise, they always get fleshed out with time. The Yak elements grafted onto this, even if they loosely feed into Twilight doing more for Equestria and friendship… are just the worst. The Season 5 development trend of lacking confidence in an emotional idea and buffing it up with cringe comedy is… a thing.
After that, we can see them struggling with justifying the yaks, what with how little they do in the outline. The different content there is… a little tacky, but still better than what we got. As is usual, the scripts did improve from the stage where the Yaks' characterisation was solidified, and it would be remiss to deny there's plenty of great comedy in here (Nick Confalone would go on to do many of the best and funniest Seasons 6-9 episodes, and one can totally see some of that here – he wrote Pinkie better than most on his first try). But something went dreadfully amiss in fleshing out the episode's content from it's main thematic spine, or from trying to combine it with Twilight spreading friendship to other cultures. Not the only episode this season to get undermined from combining two great concepts and suffering from the joins, as it happens…
Unlike "Make New Friends But Keep Discord", where what we got works grand, even if the original direction might have been better, this is an undeniable downgrade. Everything that works in the final episode – Pinkie's journey and the party cave scene – was there from day one, and the big changes thereafter are just… no. Plus, sticking with the original Premise would have meant no Yaks in the show, or at least different characterisation for them if/when they did show up. Which, with apologies to Yona fans out there, could have only been a good thing.
What a terrible episode. Even before we knew what a presence yaks would have in the future, it was a complete mess, filled with stupid jokes and bad ideas. I have to agree with everything Mike said here.
ReplyDeleteI mean, what even is the point of the yaks? "Be careful around foreigners, they're touchy and nothing you do will ever please them." And which foreigners, you might ask? While there are some Mongolian trappings in yak culture -- fitting, since that's the area they're native to -- the writers very deftly stepped around having the yaks stand in for any given real-world culture, likely to avoid another buffalo scenario. And in doing so, they made the yaks a stand-in for literally anyone who isn't from your country. They are the living embodiment of xenophobia. Good job, writers.
Hindsight being what it is, I now consider this to be the worst episode of season 5, simply for the way it changed the show with a bad idea. Goddammit do I hate yaks.
I'm guessing "Yakistan" was nixed when someone pointed out that while it's an excellent real world place name pun on the lines of Prance, Fillydelphia and so on, it becomes markedly less cute when you're assigning it to a group of zealous violent tribal idiots. As PP says above, the removal of identifiable foreign characteristics makes the yaks basically a stand in for Generic Comedy Backward Foreigners (I wonder if Borat was an influence, as the name now sounds more generically Central Asian - interesting that they become more obviously Norse in later appearances) - between this and the Definitely Not Cartoon Jews of Griffonstone, it's not a *great* look, but at least it avoids the problems of the show drawing a definite real life parallel with the actual Pakistan. Though I still want to write a story where they play the ponies at cricket.
ReplyDeleteThe junked outline sounds like it would have made a much better episode than this, which (like last week's) just doesn't make much sense at the most basic level. At the time I thought maybe Celestia was trolling Twilight - you want more responsibilities? You're now hosting these morons who break everything, all the time. At your house. Have fun.
Anyway, yes, probably a high 2, though the whole Beatles sequence is pure Confalone (and making Pinkie Ringo to keep consistency with Equestria Girls was inspired). Knowing both fandoms are packed with nerds who decipher minutiae, have any Pony or Beatles fans gone to the trouble of identifying the ponies on the mock Sgt Pepper cover?
I barely remember anything about this episode, which says a lot. I've never had any desire to watch it after it was new, and though a few good jokes in there probably would have saved it fro a one-star rating for me, I just don't recall enough about it to say for sure.
ReplyDelete