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| The animators clearly had a lot of fun with this episode |
S5E21: "Scare Master"
My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.0
Thoughts: S5's Nightmare Night-themed episode went out on Halloween itself, which was nice. It's not a bad episode in its own right, either. I particularly like the ending, in which Fluttershy is open that much as she likes her friends, this isn't something she wants to do with them. The message of "you don't have to share all your friends' interests" is an excellent one. Although her scaredy-pony stuff can feel just a bit overblown for S5 'Shy, she still has a fairly good episode all round, and I quite like her spooky tea party. More than the genuinely scary stuff she does in the maze, really, even if we do see one of Derpy's finest moments in there! There's the odd scene here that's really quite scary for a TV-Y show, though I imagine the Halloween setting allowed a little bit of leeway. The Mane Six's costumes are cute (especially Applejack's) and Spike's double-headed dragon suit is hilarious, but Rainbow Dash really isn't at her best in this episode. At times she's really rather a jerk, and if anything more reminiscent of her S1/S2 self. You'd never mistake "Scare Master" for one of FiM's most important episodes, but it's better than mere filler and it easily kept my attention for 22 minutes. I scored this three in 2015, and I see no reason to change that rating now.
Choice quote: Rarity: "That's so plain it's frightening."
New rating: ★★★
Next
up is "What About Discord?" Oh what utter, utter joy this thought brings me. I shall, of course, try to approach my rewatch without prejudging the episode. Which might not be easy...
Oh wow, blogger's changed their comment system again huh? c.c
ReplyDeleteScare Master is honestly perfectly fine, and I feel like it might have been received even better had it not been patterned after one of the best episodes in the show's run. Without that comparison, its flaws would probably not stand out in as stark a relief. I do still love the 'scary' tea party, though, she was trying so hard. XD
Blogger better get this new system sorted out so I can login proper again, and soon…
ReplyDeleteNOTE: Because I rewatched this season in production order, what Netflix also follows (before Seasons 2-5 got delisted…) I watched and wrote up about this one between "Canterlot Boutique" and "Rarity Investigates!", almost three months ago. Which is the better place for it, breaks up the run of three consecutive Rarity episodes. But just to let you all know my take below, and the production notes to follow, are not as fresh as they usually are.
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Y’know, I’ve really soured on Flutterbat as a concept in the year since I last saw “Bats!”, mostly because it’s an early example of overt fandom pandering that really started to rot the show around this time (I’m sure Derpy fans would use her Princess Twilight cosplay from this episode as an example of how it’s not all bad). But this episode comes close to making it fit organically, and it’s brief enough, so I won’t dwell there.
Otherwise, it’s a pretty good look into Fluttershy’s psyche, and the moral, in full “Filli Vanilli” mode of standing up for doing things your way even when you excel at the way your friends want, is pretty great too. The Mane 5 are actually all super supportive throughout the episode. One could argue Rainbow Dash is less so, but once one looks past the “you’re gonna brave this night? Really?” jokes, and noticed they come from a place of sincerity, she’s fine – it’s just Rarity is used as the spokepony for comforting and supporting Fluttershy in most scenes, and sometimes Pinkie/Applejack. It’s still much closer to how Rainbow was in “Hurricane Fluttershy” than “Dragonshy”, anyway. Coupled with Fluttershy trying really hard to not ruin their fun, and it’s all quite sweet on top of amusing.
Certainly, this episode is no “Luna Eclipsed”, and truthfully its gags are mostly mild grin-inducers, but there are hardly any that fail either. The production design of the various props and costumes (minus those copied from “Luna Eclipsed”) are stellar, and this being a Halloween episode lets it be slightly more scary than the show usually is, letting some of the jump scares actually work for someone over the age of five.
Fluttershy’s also pretty adorable in this one, not just from trying and failing to scare her friends (despite being pandering, I’m not immune to those anime/manga/goth pastiches/homages she whipped up), but just from little touches, like some of the more out-there reasons she comes up with for not doing certain things, down to the fort under her bed at the end. The writing and dialogue throughout is largely problem-free. The episode doesn’t quite make it to greatness, lacking as it does something that truly stands out in the plot, gag, or character department, but it’s a well-executed one, and a solid effort. Certainly, of all the “repeat holiday/event from a prior episode for a different plot” episodes, it suffers the least, staying far away from how “Luna Eclipsed” used the holiday. Not to say it doesn’t still suffer somewhat. Sequel episodes like that always have an uphill battle.
Oh, the Mane 5 costumes are all awesome. Cowardly Lion Applejack? Nice. Buzz Lightyear for Rainbow Dash who also has an ego? Clever. Mermaid Rarity tail-slapping Fluttershy? Great comic timing. Roman Guard Twilight? Her brother’s the captain, and the colours are great. Disco Roller Skate Pinkie? Lovely colours and movement gags throughout. Spike’s is the best. Not only did he basically dress as himself again, but he went to the effort of making a costume himself. He’s just trying so hard with the badly-attached 2nd head! I’m glad he’s here, though it does irritate he was written out of half of the episode on the grounds of finishing his costume, and then that explanation got removed in editing. The ghost of how much of his side business in many Season 4 episodes got cut continues to haunt him…
"Scare Master" – Production Changes
ReplyDeletePREMISE
Short enough, this dwells on Fluttershy's 1st scene longer, with her deciding to come out on her own. Rainbow Dash is the one who has the idea for Fluttershy to do the scaring, and the scary incident she succeeds at is different (zombie ponies and a haunted cottage), but the broad function and path of the story is the same.
OUTLINE & 1ST DRAFT SCRIPT
Covering these together, because they are basically identical.
Broadly, the basic function of most scenes is quite similar, but the path taken, and the dialogue and incident within, often differs, quite substantially.
Fluttershy is calm until she realises it's Nightmare Night (outline) or until Angel demands food and she realises she has to go out and get some. Fluttershy get spooked in town (including a diversion into Sugarcube Corner only for Pinkie's light ghost makeup to scare her further), and finds Spike at the castle, who tells her the others are meeting up like they do every year, it's their favourite time. Despite assurances they only leave her out because they know she hates the night, Fluttershy is hurt and wants to know where they meet. It turns out to be the Castle of the Two Sisters (yeah… it doesn't make sense). Fluttershy shows up and wants to join, despite them being unsure if she'll be able to handle it. In the outline, they accept here. In the script, Fluttershy gets cold feet and leaves, but has a change of mind after seeing the CMCs having fun in town and catches the Mane 5 in the Everfree. The dressing up and party games scenes play out similarly, though the latter has largely different outlandish fears holding Fluttershy back.
The one major difference between the outline and 1st script is the party scene. In the outline, Applejack helps Fluttershy set it up, and the scares are good, but Fluttershy keeps assuring the Mane 5 they're fine by revealing how each scare once whenever they yelp, ruining the experience. The script, meanwhile, is the one scene already a near-perfect match to the final episode. In both cases, we don't see Fluttershy getting a 2nd wind and asking Angel for ideas.
The corn maze scene has the Mane 5/Spike following a masked pony until they get diverted to a back part Applejack doesn't know. The scares here are all different, involving covering them in goop and gross thing, separating Applejack and Rainbow Dash from the rest, and springing a scarecrow on the rest and an animated skeleton on those two. It all culminates in a creepy pony approaching saying "Come to me…!", until they're all out of the maze.
Outside of the tea party scene, the rest of the script, 90% of the episode, doesn't match the episode, even if many scene are functionally identical. It's quite rare to see that much different even in the 1st draft.
REMAINING SCRIPTS
The 2nd draft is basically a page-one rewrite, and outside of the tea party scene, everything else is junked and written from scratch, the odd line of dialogue or description excepted. The games scene in Sugarcube Corner remains a hybrid between the prior version and what we got (the biggest difference is the candy bags party being Pinkie draining some water from the barrel, and Fluttershy being able to play happily, only for Dash to pass, opting to wait until there's water back in it – at least, enough to submerge the apples). The corn maze scene is a good bit longer, and though it mostly matches what we got, it still has different chunks, largely centred around the hole not getting blocked and the group leaping out, no tunnels).
The next script corrects most of the above, and the script after that removes a lot of bloat from the scare in the corn maze, shortening the script by a whole page.
[animatic changes and final thoughts below]
[continued from above]
DeleteANIMATIC & OTHER CHANGES
Cuts are actually quite light, with the first two acts just having a few tiny trims to snuggle up the pacing. The major cut was removing a page-long scene right before the corn maze, where the Mane 5 were in Ponyville’s marketplace, among the vendors selling Nightmare Night-centric objects. They were sad Fluttershy wasn’t with them. Spike then showed up, having finished his costume. However, the CMC push past him to Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo eager to get Dash’s approval on her Wonderbolt costume (which she got, obviously). The CMC wonder if Luna will pop by, and Rainbow Dash spookily says “You never know…” after saying it once normally. Applejack then leads them all to the corn maze. A very easy cut, didn’t contribute anything. Otherwise, the corn maze scene was trimmed of a few lines of dialogue during the scare, as was the reveal of Fluttershy and her apology.
Honestly, there’s more visual additions of note then there are cuts.
* Some of the Mane 5 had different costumes in the script. Twilight was Clover the Clever, Applejack a fireman (yes, it said “fireman”), and Rainbow Dash a black cloud with lightning bolts shooting out. Apple Bloom was also Little Red Riding Hood, rather than the platypus we got.
* Virtually all of Pinkie’s skating gags were board additions.
* In the script, the camera didn’t pan up to show Granny Smith telling the CMC a spooky story, we just heard it while staying on the Mane 5/Spike.
* Several other visual gags, most costumes, etc. (including Derpy as Princess Twilight) were all board additions.
* One line was ad-libbed: Rarity passing by a vampire fruit bat costume while picking one for Fluttershy, as a setup for where she got it later.
Little to animatic feedback: praise centred mostly on the scare tea party and Pinkie's disco roller skate gags. Just three tiny clarity or timing concerns otherwise. Discovery Family has literally nothing to say, just a standard ‘The animatic for MLP episode 515, “Scaremaster” is acceptable for Standards’ note. What a lively, creative and fun network!
OVERALL THOUGHTS
It's interesting how, outside of the tea party scene, the 1st script was almost completely junked. I can't argue with that – even discarding the use of the Castle of the Two Sisters, which makes no logical or continuity sense and just pads the script, most other scenes lack the spark they had in the final script. The corn maze initial scare would have been harder to animate as well. Otherwise, hardly anything in the cuts department, just one totally unnecessary scene in town. A good few board additions, though! Good to see them willing to chunk nearly a whole script – it's not a massive change, but the differences are felt.
I liked this one a lot and thought the costumes were quite clever. Loved Derpy's and AJ's in particular. And now I can't remember whether it was this one or "Luna Eclipsed" that had some of the kids in the background dressed up like He-Man, Skeletor, and Sailor Moon.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned this in the comments of your first review, and I'll bring it up again: when Fluttershy is talking to the Apples in the market, and she gets scared and runs off, there's a quick sight gag that's easy to miss. If you pause the video to see the dust cloud Fluttershy leaves behind, it's in the shape of a chicken.
I think it's one of the better Fluttershy episodes out there, and I like the way she was willing to try to (but ultimately couldn't) go out of her comfort zone to accommodate her friends.