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| Proper horse food, too. A rare sight by this point in the series! |
S5E12: "Amending Fences"
My original rating: ★★★★★
IMDb score: 9.3
Thoughts: Here we are, then, The episode often picked as the best FiM ep of all time. Is it? Well, it's not quite my utter personal favourite (that's "Hurricane Fluttershy", as if you didn't know) but M. A. Larson does provide us with an absolutely tremendous 22 minutes of animated Pony. I loved it when it came out and I still love it now. I adore almost everything about it: the way it links in with the start of S1E01, Moondancer showing where Twilight could have ended up, Minuette's wonderful (and criminally unused hereafter) bubbly character, Pinkie and Spike playing fine supporting roles... oh, you get the idea. Although it's not a big deal now, there's even a tiny Starlight Glimmer cameo. Okay, the "trail of books" lure isn't the most original idea in the universe, but somehow it still works perfectly here. The reminiscences of Lemon Hearts and the others (that flask!) are lovely, and on the other hoof Moondancer not instantly forgiving Twilight the second she sees the party is very nicely handled. Twi wouldn't say, "I failed friendship" until the movie two years later, but the phrase would have been apt for her here too. I love "Amending Fences" for all of this, but perhaps most of all for the way it takes pre-FiM Twilight and S5 Twilight and contrasts them to such great effect. Would the old Twi have been so persevering and resourceful when trying to make it up to Moondancer? No, and indeed the fact that she wasn't is a big reason why Moondancer ended up a recluse – but it's also the reason Celestia sent Twilight to Ponyville in the first place, without which this episode would have been impossible in another way. Look, it's just so good, all right?
Choice quote: Twilight: "All my old friends! ...I can't remember any of their names right now."
New rating: ★★★★★
Next up is "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep" which not everyone thinks is great but which I very much enjoyed in 2015. Will I still?
As far as I can tell, “Amending Fences” seems to be the show’s most-adored episode. At least, I’ve seen it in Top X lists more consistently than any other episode, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it at number one more than any other too.
ReplyDeleteEven if one doesn’t have it as their personal favourite (I’m not sure that I do, personally), it is unquestionably one of the show’s best. The only recent episode I think can compete is “The Cutie Map – Part 2” (and even there, I’m not 100% sure, in which case we need to set the bar all the way back to Season 2’s “Hurricane Fluttershy”). Like this season’s stunning two-parter, it’s because it totally subverts what you believe is possible for this show, even one passing 100 episodes. It’s the rare case where a very fandom-type nitpick, Twilight being a terrible original friend despite her new title, makes for a phenomenal story, going back to the pilot to rectify that loose end. Praise be M.A. Larson for pushing for this story all these years, it’s just more proof he really “gets” both the characters and how to push the boundaries of stories to be told with them.
With Moondancer, they achieve a great balance of making what is conceptually a Twilight palette-swap not just that, mostly but not exclusively through a year-plus of bitterness and self-doubt infesting her soul. And it all being Twilight’s fault. This episode gets really uncomfortable as it proceeds, with all the realistic nuances of Moondancer being a shut-in (her frazzled hair; the unkempt jumper; her dilapidated yard and cottage; not even caring she’s in a go-nowhere routine) building up until her tear-ridden rant is let loose, bar none the best crying scene in the show.
Otherwise, the script is just immaculately constructed, and I can’t even argue with how few edits Larson made between his first and final draft (though the revisions and retakes made at the animatic stage to tonally soften the episode’s first half – for logical realism, to keep the episode from being suffocatingly dour, and to make the emotional depths later land better – are great additions too). Spike is used the best he has been in a long time, Minuette is an absolute delight, and the balance of using events and flashbacks from the pilot and before alongside new content is just perfect (another part improved from Larson’s final draft!).
With Twilight, alongside the writing reflecting her at this stage in her life, and her having to confront the awful pony she once was, we get some interesting nuggets. I think the implication that she automatically assumed her old friends were missing her terribly, like she was the centrepiece of their worlds, is telling: sure, everybody sees things with themselves as the centerpoint, but this is so strong, it only foregrounds how much she’s always been a focal point in many ponies’ lives, and how that informed her mindset over the years. A naive assumption of self-importance to everypony she knows, if you will. The brushing off by the others at her apology is as key a moment as many others.
I think a good sign of how probing and uncomfortably real this episode is lies in not just the bodily (okay, spirit-ily) reactions I felt towards the end, but how much of my past unintentionally selfish decisions I saw in Twilight, or some shut-in aspects of Moondancer. As much as I love this show, I very much don’t see personal reflection in my entertainment (and even when I do, it almost never affects me). For this episode to probe that deep is as much proof as is needed for everything here combining to an immaculate hole, far beyond what anyone would expect from children’s entertainment.
That it’s still fun and enjoyable on top of that is icing on the cake. Even if it’s still not an episode I’d rewatch all that often.
Oh, I always forget the Starlight cameo until others point it out. Yay…? There must be a reason my brain's doing that. I have an inkling why…
Amending Fences – Production Changes Highlights
ReplyDeletePREMISE
Pretty faithful Premise to what we got. There are signs of figuring out the nuances, as Twilight remembers skipping out on Moondancer's party from the start, and thus the episode middle has her bumping into her other old friends while tracking Moondancer down. When Moondancer resists, Twilight brings in Pinkie, and that does the trick (no outraged venting from Moondancer yet). Twilight reflects, between a friend from her old life and one from her new life, that it's never too late to repair a broken friendship, and always worth trying.
OUTLINE
A big surprise – Charlotte Fullerton wrote this! Yes, the S1/2 writer (okay, and part of "Power Ponies"). Unsure as to the circumstances, if there were scheduling conflicts, or if Larson always intended to write it. Though the differences below do point to perhaps Larson not fully liking her output…
The main difference is Moondancer literally waited in her house for Twilight to show up for the party for five years, and is ecstatic when she does (and smiling the whole time). But this alienated her from her other friends and fried her social skills (she also doesn't even have a cutie mark, so Twilight's attempts to get her reacquainted with the others come to naught. She finally becomes properly sad when Twilight admits she wasn't planning on ever coming to the party. Finally, at the new party, the others' gestures make Moondancer realise she could have had the party even without Twilight, and she chose to shut the others out. Forgiving Twilight lets her get her cutie mark.
Side note: Amethyst Star is part of the friend group at this stage. Guess Fullerton was religiously copying the pilot cameos at this stage.
Yeah… not surprising this was junked, what with Moondancer being creepily happy and a little insane.
SCRIPT
Up until the animatic, this might be one of the most unaltered scripts in a long time. When the writer is the story editor, and you've pitched the episode for years… yeah, not unfathomable 90% of the dialogue was unchanged from the 1st draft! The 2nd draft compresses some lines and enlarges others, and makes a few tweaks. The remaining drafts have literally no changes, until the last pre-animatic one, which alongside a few extra Minuette lines and adding Pinkie and Minuette now recognising each other (though how they know each other, and Pinkie's ribbing on Twilight being the Princess of Friendship, appear to be booth ad-libs), adds Lyra being part of their group and now living in Ponyville.
ANIMATIC – PRE-FEEDBACK
The sequence of events is a bit different here! Firstly, the animatic DHX prepared and submitted for feedback removed two whole scenes. One, of course, Larson revealed publicly. It's where, after the restaurant scene, Twilight goes to Celestia and admits she doesn't think she should be the Princess of Friendship anymore. However, Celestia reminds her it’s never too late to repair a broken friendship (we focus on the moon, making the illusion obvious), and being Princess of Friendship means a lot of that work must first be done on yourself.
The second is just after Moondancer leaves the restaurant – she tells Twilight she learns plenty about friendship from her already. We flashback to the two studying under a tree. The others approach and ask for their company at a fair. Moondancer is excited and makes to join them. But when Twilight says you/I can't waste time on friends and invest it in studying, Moondancer sadly returns to reading instead. As harrowing and effective as that is, the episode was probably getting a little flashback heavy, and others got the point across, so this wasn't strictly necessary.
The episode's dialogue was so tight and effective DHX probably didn't want to do lots of little trims, hence cutting these two scenes instead.
[post-feedback animatic changes, and final thoughts, below]
[continued from above]
DeleteANIMATIC – POST-FEEDBACK
In Hasbro's own words: “This episode is so near and dear to our hearts. We know it’s going to be a high watermark for the series, so we’re digging in a little deeper with the notes to make sure we really nail it.” They go on to say that Twilight’s attitude was making the episode a little dour, and her tone in the early going needs to be more in a determined “problem to be solved” tone, as currently the peaks and valleys of her emotions were being missed. This was all so the episode would still be fun, and the emotional depths later would land with more of a wallop. Thus, a lot of the feedback was “this take/facial expression is too dour/extreme/sad/depressing”.
Alongside this, Meghan McCarthy wrote some replacement dialogue to polish some bits. Some of it was clarification tweaks to better connect the gaps of the two cut scenes. Another bit was shortening Minuette's flashback explanation to remove parts before and after Twilight came and went, on Moondancer coming out of her shell, and the jab at Twilight from the pilot ("she likes books more than friends"). A few other lines were changed to get across the intended emotion better.
Most crucially, Meghan completely rewrote Moondancer's rant in the party's middle. Originally, it consisted of Twilight egging on Moondancer to let out her frustration. She started out restrained, but eventually broke the piñata and much besides, with the reveal that Pinkie had filled everything with a confetti great for buried-anger parties. Meghan's redo was the finished version, except it still had Moondancer breaking the piñata in anger (as the Hub felt the sense was getting too intense, this got removed too).
After that, just two other cuts. Moondancer's rant was shortened (removing her mockingly trying out some of the party stuff like cake), and while everypony was outside Moondancer's cottage, Minuette broke the silence after the knocking by remarking on Canterlot's goofball team doing great this season. Also, Twilight talking with Moondancer through a bookshelf was originally levitating Moondancer and her desk/things with her to the door, only for Moondancer to counter this spell, returning herself and her things without even looking up. We then saw Twilight concentrating and disappearing, leading to her appearing in the book. The new version grabbed a dialogue line from later.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
We all love this episode, and it's clear those involved thought so too, doing something not seen since "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils", in rewriting chunks after the first animatic for clarity and better effect (granted, not as much). Certainly much appreciated! As is scaling back the dourness from the first half through adjusted lines/facial expression/retakes, to let the episode remain fun and land harder as it progressed.
Otherwise, Larson really knocked it out of the park, given how much of the script was unchanged since the 1st draft. That will happen when you carry a torch for years! It was so well-done, that they did minimal trimming, instead cutting the two scenes not 100% needed later. It's certainly one of the most economical episodes, not a single moment wasted.
Charlotte Fullerton's outline was… interesting, and kind of creepy, in a way that's not impossible to do in a TV-Y cartoon, but I'm sure we're all glad we got a more realistic portrayal of a shut-in.
P.S. My favourite part in the script might well be Minuette’s description as "a bubbly, talkative optimist, like Del in PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES. She is always chuckling." That kind of description is so Larson.
(we focus on the moon, making the illusion obvious)
DeleteJust when you thought this episode couldn't get any more emotionally devastating. D:
I think that, if someone was going to pick another episode to be #1 in the show above this one, Hurricane Fluttershy is the only acceptable answer. >:B
This and Perfect Pear are the ones I most consistently see considered the best.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this one, and I don't have any nitpicks about it really. Just that the show can't decide where Minuette lives (which I gleefully poked fun at in a story). Moondancer's issue was a well thought out one, and very realistically handled, including, like you said, that it doesn't get quickly and easily resolved by the first thing they try. A few years back, I saw that someone had actually made a plushie of Lemon Hearts with her head stuck in the flask, and it was hilarious. Great episode, and while I still prefer a few S1 eps over this one, it's still easily in my top 10.
As things stand, I would rate this ahead of "The Perfect Pear", although I haven't rewatched that one yet so things may change. A few very minor things aside, I just think this is a good example of a great FiM writer at the top of his game. :)
DeleteThe cut back to Twilight's stunned face after her flashback is probably my favourite shot in all of Pony.
ReplyDeleteThis is a masterpiece, no quibbles from me.
Oh yes -- and of course it says something in itself that I can immediately picture the exact shot you mention.
DeleteYep, this is a brilliant piece of work, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteI think I've talked to one person, ever, who doesn't like this episode. It was years ago and I can't remember why, but there was a reason, it wasn't just to be annoying. Still, nearly everyone does think it's great, and on this one you and I alike are in the majority camp!
DeleteI feel like I remember seeing someone say they couldn't watch it because it hit too close to home, more or less recreating something traumatic from their own past. Which, y'know, doesn't make it a bad episode but is a legitimate reason to not like it. :B
DeleteYeah, I can go with that. There's something in a FiW episode, of all things, that I have to brace myself for every time as it's so close to home. I don't recall that being the reason for the person I mentioned not liking "AF", though. I'm pretty sure it was simply a plot issue of some kind.
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