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| "Logan's actually watched this at last? No way!" |
21 Nov 2015
My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.6
Thoughts: Remember when I said I wanted to do these rewatches fairly quickfire fashion? [Nope, I'm not that old. —Ed.] Anyway, this was Amy Keating Rogers' final episode of FiM, and fortunately it was a solid one. Lena Hall's guest turn as Colaratura/Rara worked very well – I didn't like this much first time around, but I now love that "The Spectacle" is full of artificiality, with that brilliant little touch of unicorn-induced autotune. Contrastingly, Rara's triumphant rendition of "The Magic Inside" has a few minor imperfections left in, just as a live stage performance would. It's so much more genuine. Hall also clearly enjoyed herself: witness her adorable episode reaction. On the other side of things, there's Svengallop, one of the few antagonists in FiM with really no redeeming features whatsoever. Awful stallion who I'm glad to see the back of. This is a really good episode for Applejack, of course, and Pinkie also puts in a good innings, even if she does have a hard time of it in places. Rarity is a little irritating occasionally, but not horribly so. It's a simple story, set entirely in Ponyville and with half the Mane Six barely used, one that in a way harks back to the show's earlier days. I found "The Mane Attraction" slightly lightweight in 2015, but I now find that simplicity rather charming. As such, it's being bumped up a star. A nice send-off for one of FiM's best episode writers.
Choice quote: Pinkie Pie: "I call this straw... Fernando."
New rating: ★★★★
Next
up is "The Cutie Re-Mark", at which point S5 is finally done! This has long been a finale that attracts very mixed reviews. I liked it quite a lot in 2015. I don't have much of a feel for how well it will hold up, so we shall see...
Always really liked this, even accounting for my Applebias - it's simplistic and easily resolved, but it's just all so wholesome and heartwarming! And that reaction video is glorious.
ReplyDeleteLena Hall also made an appearance at one of the online conventions a year or so ago. She didn't have the right preparation to sing "The Magic Inside" sadly, but she did sing something else and answer questions, and she had a lovely, easy rapport with the online audience. So that helped too. ;)
DeleteFor a long time, this was one of my top episodes, due to a combination of timing of when I first saw it, and listening to its music in isolation a fair bit over the years. Obviously it was never going to live up to that standard, but it still comes in a bit softer than expected.
ReplyDeleteThe music, of course, is fantastic, with all three numbers excelling in the genre they're imitating while being enjoyable to listen to, from the manufactured pop of "The Spectacle" to the wholesome anthem vibe of "Equestria, The Land I Love" and especially the sincere openness of "The Magic Inside". Once again, the whole third act at the concert made me tear up a bit, helped by Lena Hall's earnest singing and speaking (she's a little inconsistent throughout the episode as a whole, but her final minutes make it all forgiven). Pinkie is also really good in this one, proof Amy Keating Rogers really got a handle on writing her in her last two seasons (at least, in major roles) after some major slips in the early seasons.
Frankly, though, the non-musical parts of the episode are skating around story issues. Compression is certainly a factor, with the fast turn Applejack and Rara have on each other being the most obvious example, though the unmasking of Svengallop also sticks out (and Twilight's magical screen projection just doesn't feel right for this series). It's easy to say this all could have flowed better without Svengallop, having Rara herself be the issue, but I don't know this show could have pulled that off all that convincingly, especially in light of the constant shifting of the root of the problem through the scripting process. Certainly, though, the focus on Svengallop's demands tires quickly, more than is needed, and indeed the episode doesn't trust the audience enough to pick up on things shown, telling most of everything instead. It's a far cry from the subtlety in "Amending Fences" for sure.
All that, though, I knew and had already accepted. What surprised me this go around was Rara herself; it's kind of a stretch to believe she and AJ could have struck up that close a bond once, with how little they have in common. And despite the episode's attempts to convince us her bad aspects are all Svengallop, there's not a lot of sympathy elicited. She got what she wanted, top of the pops, and clearly buys into the ego hype around herself. None of this sinks the episode, but it does make it unironically kind of like Countress Coloratura herself, all the razzle dazzle and lights and effects over a wobbly centre.
The episode feels fantastic for ending on its best material, truly probing stuff. But that it's designed as a star vehicle is quite obvious, and less successful on that front than "Pinkie Pride", even if the character of Rara does play to Lena Hall's strengths (and why the hype at the time, I'm sure very few Bronies had heard of her before this episode – the Comic Con preview of “The Magic Inside” and her allusion in the acceptance speech that got her the gig can’t be all there is to it). Despite Hall’s strong desire to return, it's not surprising Rara was never written for again, designed for this plot as she was.
I still really enjoy it, make no mistake. On the whole, it's a likeable, solid, enjoyable one, even if it's not quite the top-tier episode I remembered. And that reaction video is pretty great.
I thought I'd touched on the "Rara suddenly getting angry with AJ" bit, if only lightly, but indeed I didn't. I should have done as it's really the only bit of the episode that grated at all. I differ from you in that I do believe a fillyhood AJ/Rara friendship, given people (and ponies) can change quite a lot in even a few years at that age. For me, now, it's only just a four. Maybe a three/four boundary episode. And maybe, yes, I was slightly relieved to get here after one meh and one awful episode before it. But still.
DeleteAs always, I phrased that part poorly. Oh Mike, eh?
DeleteIt's not the fillyhood friendship that's the issue, not really. Especially as it's told in flashback, when emotions are heightened anyway. I guess it's more just that Applejack has been shown throughout the series to not form close bonds with ponies going after the high life (for which Rara does count) unless a very important event brings them together. Sure, with Rarity, it took a sleepover on top of saving Equestria! Perhaps also that this is after she got her mark and turned away from Manehattan herself – I can picture Filly AJ being told by Rara "I wanna make it big in Manehattan!" and AJ's brow furrowing like Rarity said "let's play dress-up!" or something, with AJ forming an instant opinion of this snooty. Even that's a nitpick, for sure, and one I can dismiss quite easily. I think it's more that, on top of a few things like that, this episode tells us, it doesn't show. And look, that's the kind of show this is, mostly. Honestly, it's probably just that "Amending Fences" showed so much about Twilight and Moondancer's past relationship instead. We've being spoiled!
Perhaps I can sum it up like this. There are parts of the episode where the AJ/Rara relationship/friendship is very keenly "because the script said so". Only parts, not the whole thing. And the other parts - mostly the music scenes, and pretty much all of the third act - manage to get over that, thanks to other aspects, and they do sell the relationship. It's what the power of good animation and production and music will do, I suppose.
And actually, were I using your rating scale, I think I'd still be the same barely-a-four, maybe a three/four boundary rating myself. It's just, again, this used to be one of my favourites, and thus the flaws, largely small but notable, stuck out to me more.
Two other thoughts. As noted below, despite lots of trimming everywhere to get the episode in under time (though it's hardly any key info, so no real losses), that "Rara suddenly getting angry with AJ" bit wasn't any more fleshed out in the script, just Rara saying Pinkie made a mistake before AJ states she saw the incident herself. So, you know, that was always a bit sudden!
And it's funny you mention relief to get to this one. I actually watched this before "The Hooffield and McColts" and skipped "What About Discord?" altogether, so I was just coming off of "Hearthbreakers" and "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" (as I watched "Scare Master" in production order). Still too middling-decent episodes, but a bit better than your pair! So even those this is easily better than both of those, not quite the same sense of relief. Funny, what an episode's numerical placement can do for it perception. Lord knows "Owls Well That Ends Well" certainly suffers a bit from coming in the otherwise-sustained run of great episode at the end of Season 1 and start of Season 2, eh?
Hm. You know, I should start compiling my ratings of this season's episodes and adjust them to your scale like I did with S4. Get them ready for the wrap-up post…
"The Mane Attraction" – Production Changes
ReplyDeletePREMISE
This Premise is written only 9 days after Lena Hall's allusion to MLP in her acceptance speech at the Tonys. Which led to her being asked to guest star. Either they already had this episode idea, or Hasbro got Meghan to write this up as a pitch to help accelerate Hall’s hiring. No way the legal contracts could get resolved that quick.
Perhaps as a result, this is longer than Meghan's one-paragraph pitches this season. Coloratura is named Duchess Frivoliy (and as a child, Daisy Whimsical). Same broad plot (the concert is the Pony version of Coachella – can you tell the writers live in California?), though the conflict comes from AJ assuming Frivolity's bizarre requests are beyond her own understanding, and observes the manager and entourage being yes-ponies for the privilege too. Thus the issue is that Frivolity doesn't have ponies around to tell her which of her ideas were good. Episode ends with Applejack declining the request to be the new manager, but assuring Frivolity she knows what to look for now.
OUTLINE
There are three big differences here. First, Svengallop's character (not yet named) is a good pony, and it's Coloratura's entourage getting demands through him and who get let go at the end, while he opens up about getting caught up in their scuffle and is forgiven. Second, throughout, Coloratura is more full of herself, saying the show needs to be even bigger, and often personally demanding many of the things Svengallop demands in the episode. Third, the episode has a totally unnecessary extra opening scene (as will happen in outlines), with Apple Bloom flabbergasted that Applejack doesn't recognise any of the booked music acts. Thus giving us many Ponified parody names: Coldhay, The Whooves, Neigh Z, Filly Joel, Brittney Spurs, Goatee Hay, Nine Inch Tails, 30 Seconds to Mares and The Talking Herds. And Granny Smith adds that the Red Hot Filly Peppers are coming too. I doubt many, if any, of these were fully serious considerations to use.
SCRIPT
In the 1st draft, two of the main differences above are gone, but Coloratura's character being more aloof remains (the early requests are unambiguously hers, for instance, and she chides Pinkie for forgetting the straw and not bringing the water to her lips for her to drink). This requires some scenes with her, and many with Svengallop (called Pony Baloney in this draft) to have different dialogue. At this stage, there is also far more focus given to the specifics of the bells and whistles on Coloratura's act, especially AJ's distaste for them, with her openly saying they make Coloratura's voice garbled. And backstage before the show, after Rarity says AJ's opinion does matter even if this isn't her field, AJ opens up about her terrible she thinks it is. The trap for Svengallop still relies on Coloratura proposing outlandish act changes he only agrees to as a yes-pony. And as Rogers noted on Twitter, in this draft only, Coloratura fires her manager, though it's such a small detail it's of little note.
Most major and medium differences get sorted out by the 2nd draft, though Coloratura's trap for Svengallop remains different. Here, she still proposes going bigger, and he calls out most of the Mane 6 by derogatory descriptive terms and gives them tasks not suited to them (demanding Rarity call the Wonderbolts and Rainbow to sew new costumes). Also, he only takes Pinkie a few feet away, promising Coloratura a spa treatment too before wrangling one for himself in private. Also the episode has a joke ending after the final song of Pinkie at a stand selling all the peeled and pre-cored apples (covered in Appleloosan Hay). It took two further drafts to fully change the trap to how it plays out in the final episode.
[animatic-stage changes below]
[continued from above]
DeleteANIMATIC-STAGE CHANGES
The first cut came in at 27 minutes according to Jim Miller. Slow music numbers need ample screentime to play out! So, there were quite a lot of little dialogue trims; take it as a given most scenes had extraneous info that got removed. This episode certainly had a bit too much content and ambition for its runtime. Notable cuts include:
* When Pinkie asks how Applejack hasn’t heard of Coloratura, she says unless AJ’s been living under a rock, which she knows AJ hasn’t as only her Uncle Flint does. Also, in the script, Pinkie’s mane frizzed back itself when AJ revealed she knows Coloratura rather than manually in the first post-title shot.
* AJ’s Camp Friendship Flashback has more dialogue explaining how Rara was modest, that the song stunned her despite having heard it in rehearsal, and it was obvious how Rara got her Cutie Mark. AJ also played on a washboard in the script, not a guitar. And some of AJ’s dialogue on either side of the flashback was originally in it, over other visuals of the crowd mobbing Rara, but Rara then hugging AJ.
* Svengallop’s talk with Pinkie over the goodies for “Coloratura” included Pinkie bringing over the drink on demand before Svengallop pointed out the lack of a straw, and then her hoof-handling it for Coloratura to drink. At the end, AJ and Rarity’s discussion included a comparison to a caterpillar blossoming into a butterfly, with AJ feeling the caterpillar was plenty lovely already.
* AJ’s disbelief after “The Spectacle” had her listing off all the bells and whistles, especially the auto-tuning garbling Rara’s performance.
* The schoolponies scene had Coloratura specifying the foals needed to write their names down and put the paper in a jar, and she’d decide tomorrow. How did such unnecessary information make it this far…?
* Svengallop’s personal demands to Pinkie included the finest cupcakes she’d ever baked, as he’d heard of her affinity for them. He also specified why he didn’t like apple peels (“they stick in my pearly whites”) or cores (“And cores are a bore”).
* A couple extra lines with the CMCs and Rara, notably her appraising a story they just told and giving them “extra special Cutie Mark Crusader Hoovsies”.
* Only one cut to Rara and AJ’s falling out; she says Pinkie has misinformed AJ of what Svengallop said, until AJ retorts that she heard this herself.
* When Rara called for Svengallop, he showed up with frosting on his face, which he quickly improvised that he was testing it. Later, when she says to cancel the contest, he praises her for her new way of thinking, saying they’re finally in sync after all this time.
* The recording of Svengallop’s betrayal played the whole conversation, with the “diva ditches your dipy charity” line repeated and remixed at the end.
* Rara’s fretting about the performance with Svengallop has her theorising on all the stuff audience members would throw at her, with Applejack misunderstanding the apple-throwing remark.
* Almost a whole page of AJ and Rara’s backstage talk was cut. It included AJ listing off how her friends could help replicate the show the Svengallop way (Rarity on lights, Dash on lighting, Twilight on voice modulation). At the end, after Rara fretted that she didn’t think she could be her true self after all this time, Applejack gave more gruff “you’re not nothing, you’ve got you, that’s all you need” support, and reiterated that was just her take, and it was Rara’s show. These were all worthwhile cuts, ending on AJ’s “you’re the brightest star I’ve ever seen shine” line is much better.
* Twilight’s concert intro had her naming herself, thanking all the proceeds and stating what they’re for.
* The interlude before the “Equestria, The Land I Love” reprise had Rara specifying she chose the CMCs for a very special song, and saying to do the song they practised.
[animatic-stage changes continued below, and final thoughts]
Meanwhile, additions & changes:
Delete* The opening setup shots were different, having Rainbow and Derpy hanging up the projection screen and Rarity testing the projection on Fluttershy, who is embarrassed to see herself onscreen. Also, Pinkie’s frizzed mane was specified as a Bride of Frankenstein homage.
* Coloratura didn’t disembark from her transport container instantly, but was carried to the stage. Pinkie fainting and everypony walking over her was a board addition too (her line was moved up to facilitate this).
* “The Spectacle” was longer and had somewhat different visuals (flying pegasi dressed as bunnies and bees), more focus on the help from other ponies, Svengallop directing it, and it being projected onto the screen overhead.
* A fair share of visuals ideas were added, especially in the songs. I most love the board artists having Rara pulling AJ up on the stage at the end, and reprising the triangle strike (possibly this was off of Daniel Ingram’s song instrumentation for the earlier version?).
* Both versions of “Equestria, the Land I Love” didn’t change their lyrics (hence Daniel Ingram not getting a lyric credit), though the other two songs did, retaining enough of Rogers' lyrics to still credit her.
Hasbro went decently extensive with animatic feedback with this one, mostly concerning some line readings from Lena Hall not matching the expressions/desired effect (and a few times for Applejack & Svengallop too), and plussing some moments to sell the theme better, like more overdone production for “The Spectacle” (they suggested the horn lasers and auto-tune spells, and DHX made him a Prince homage), building up Coloratuna’s entrance, and so forth. Though it is the rare episode with no Standard and Practices notes from Discovery Family, so that’s something!
OVERALL THOUGHTS
It's interesting that earlier iterations experimented with where the root of the conflict should lie – first purely in Coloratura herself, then in her entourage with her manager being a good pony. Even after it was made Svengallop, they still had Coloratura being more full of herself, plugging the show, and making many demands of her own volition. It's easy to see these changes as simplification for the child audience, but the attempts at these layers don't come across all that well in the execution, so I can understand why they were made. Otherwise, we see early examples of many parody names. Weirdly, virtually all of the cuts made for time don't really improve the episode, they're almost all superficial details, and the scenes which skipped by plot points and character changes, especially Rara turning on AJ, still breezes by too quickly. So the compressed plot would have been there anyway.
Generally, though, the main issue of not quite figuring out Coloratura's character seems baked in, and the switch to pushing all the blame on Svengallop, while understandable given the attempts at layered fault weren't working, did make her inconsistent. At least Daniel Ingram worked his imitation magic with the music in this one! And for what it’s worth, Rogers undeniably improved and polished this one as it went, she does deserve plenty of credit, even if it remains somewhat shaky from a writing perspective. As 2000’s Simpsons can attest, guest-starring episodes are dicey to write at the best of times.
I agree the plot itself is kind of thin, but I always had a soft spot for this one. The villain is uninteresting, but it's quite understandable how Rara has gotten this way, and it's a nice take on the "people grow apart" trope. Plus I loved the nice song toward the end, one of the few songs from after season 1 to rate among my favorites. I am a little surprised to see you enjoy it more the second time around, and I'm glad you got some unexpected joy out of it.
ReplyDelete