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| And then they missed |
S6E18: "Buckball Season"
3 Sep 2016
My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.4
Thoughts: Another new writer in Jennifer Skelly and... look, I'm not impartial on this one, lump it. Fluttershy and Pinkie teaming up is great, though hard work on Andrea Libman – so though disappointing there wasn't more of the double act, I guess also understandable. Still, their quiet, short scene in the forest is lovely: touching and sympathetic. Anyway: buckball is a fun sport, I'm sure more interesting than hoofball, and Pinkie's natural brilliance at it is funny. Talking of: Snails gets some character at long last, and even a very brief song – one later polished up by DoTheDaringDew! The overall feel, although more interestingly animated than the early days, is often reminiscent of several seasons ago: this is very much small-town Equestria. This was Skelly's only episode. Not a bad hit rate, then! For many people this is probably more of a high three-star episode, but it has heart and charm and humour and, well, it feels just so Pony. So from me it's keeping its four, and I'm happy about that.
Choice quote: Pinkie: "That's a relief, because I left my unicorn costume at home." [funnier post-G5 film...]
New rating: ★★★★
Next
time, I'll be rewatching "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks". Gabby's debut, and as such often remembered more for her being cute than for anything much else.
Four stars minimum. The early-seasons charm is a huge part of why I so thoroughly enjoy this.
ReplyDeletePairing Fluttershy and Pinkie (along with Rainbow and Applejack for a great lower-deck episode), making Snails actually likeable, having a fun-if-small worldbuilding detail (the game of Buckball works fine here as an Apple-exclusive little match: in fact, I like the fan theory that AJ originally invented it to fit all the Main Six into the roles), balancing the moral between the characters (and exploring performance anxiety!)...
It's good, is what I'm saying. It's all good.
Well, maybe not the memefaces that pop up occasionally, but other than that blemish, surprisingly spotless.
As for next time...
Next time, I'll be rewatching "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks". Gabby's debut, and as such often remembered more for her being cute than for anything much else.
Er, excuse me. Petunia Paleo. I love Gabby, but Petunia's the best thing to come out of that episode.
Good grief, I love being able to gush over this show again.
DeleteAnd I love seeing you be able to do it! I'll enjoy it while it lasts. :)
DeleteI always found this one rather dull. I liked Snails's cameo, of course, and I thought he was used well. Maybe it was that sense at the time of "a thing that's supposedly been around forever, which we've never heard of and likely will never see again". Which, of course, was not completely correct, as season 9 would prove. And I rather liked that episode. Does it justify this one's existence? Eh, I dunno, but I also wouldn't say this one is bad, per se. Just a big... shrug.
ReplyDeleteIt was quiet and low-key for the most part, but I liked our that way. But then I like S1 quite a lot these days, too.
Delete[Blogger's Google sign-in outta commission again. Ugh…]
ReplyDeleteBuckball Season was one I was eager to revisit, given I'd marked it as my favourite of the season (or at least wrestling for the top spot) recently enough. I am a little sorry to say it did dilute relative to my memories. Only slightly! This is still unquestionably a really solid, fun episode about which I have hardly a bad word to say against (though, yeah, I don't care for some of the meme faces here). AJ and Rainbow Dash's worst traits are toned back while still serving the plot; the game itself, while a bit Quidditch-y in being a plot device, works for this one episode; the show's one Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie team-up, if not finding much comic chemistry between them (and I still don't know how much sense it makes for Fluttershy to be good at this game even when not hyper-focusing), is still very warm and affable, and it's overall just a nice smile-inducer. Plus, it's easily the best and most useful Snails has ever been.
Now, the reason this deflated slightly. It may just be my scriptwriting bone talking, but in rewatching this, I often found moments where a line of dialogue just felt slightly off or stiff, usually from repeating or prolonging exposition in a somewhat dry manner. More so than is needed for this show, and more than it has often done most of the time. It has the effect of feeling like an 18-minute episode bumped up a few minutes (or possibly the train fallout could have used some more breathing space).
It's never boring, the voice actors ensure that, but as much as this is a great debut from a new writer, you can tell it's a new writer: there's just a certain level of hesitation in the writing that, if I'm being honest, holds it back from being great. Not to repeat myself, but between the lower visual energy compared to some earlier seasons, I can easily imagine a writer in Season 2, one who came from Cartoon Network like Lauren, easily patching this script to streamline and shorten many exposition lines and fill in the extra space with more gags and verbal wit. And hey, look at that: give or take Fluttershy not being super-timid, nothing time-stamps this to Season 6. Though yes, you couldn't put this as far back as Season 2 with the way she was then; Season 4 would probably work.
Still, if that's the worst thing to say about this episode, we're in pretty good hooves. I still absolutely take this episode capturing the early seasons feel ninety-odd percent, make no mistake. I think it's flitting just on the low side of the greatness border, after this watch, but that's still a ★★★★ for sure. It's a pity Jennifer Skelly never returned to further polish her solid debut chops shown here. The third quarter of Season Six is generally quite solid, and it's nice to be in a stretch where most episodes are ones to look forward to again. Let's savour it while it lasts!
To be honest, I'm not that bothered while watching about whether a certain line might have hit better five seasons earlier. If the episode is actually bad, as I (but not you) will experience in S8 for example, that's different. But this one is good enough that I'm happy to let it all wash over me.
DeleteTo be honest, I'm not that bothered while watching about whether a certain line might have hit better five seasons earlier.
DeleteIt took me ages to realise this was referring to my mention of Fluttershy's characterisation being the only thing (that and greater visual ambition and fluidity) making this not spottable into Season 2. For literal hours earlier today, I thought you were misunderstanding my breakdown of a certain stiffness, transparency, repetition and deficit of wit in the dialogue that I felt did nick at the episode slightly (probably the root of the same reason why Present Perfect found it dull, I'd wager), and something the early Season writers would have solved easily.
In all honestly, I try not to sweat the whole "would this have fit in better in x season" question except when the episodes demands such comparisons be made. Because, even if the writing itself was a dead cert for a Season 2 script, you'd still feel it was different from little differences in the visuals, flow, storyboards and so on, ones that cannot be controlled so precisely on this schedule to mimic the earlier stuff and which shouldn't. And that's true of any show, animated or otherwise. All they can do is make the best that can right now. And within that, they do pretty darn well here. I'm happy!
I really wouldn't recommend spending ages worrying about the fine details of what I say here below the line. My comments are bashed out quickly and not carefully crafted unless there's a really good reason for doing that.
DeleteFor literal hours earlier today, I thought you were misunderstanding my breakdown of a certain stiffness, transparency, repetition and deficit of wit in the dialogue that I felt did nick at the episode slightly (probably the root of the same reason why Present Perfect found it dull, I'd wager)
DeleteThis is fair. It's also a pretty low-stakes episode, and it's about sports. :B
This one doesn't necessarily keep me enthralled, but I do like it, and it carries a good message. Fluttershy and Pinkie do indeed mesh well as a team. Like you this one hits a particular niche I enjoy: different abilities combining to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts, which is why I often like shows that have people with specific powers that cycle through each being the critical one that week or them working better in combination, like Sailor Moon.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes think I'm the only person on the planet who's never watched an episode of Sailor Moon... :D
Deleteso what you're saying is you and me need to have a Sailor Moon watch party
Deletebecause it's me, I'm the other person :B
I gotta say it's a four-star episode for me, too. I suspect that may be because I'm "grading on a curve" with the rest of the season, but it's solidly interesting and fun, as well as re-wactchable.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple more episodes this season that I like a lot, but I'm not expecting those to get such broad agreement from you guys...
DeleteI've always enjoyed this one. Adding in another vote for the four-star rating!
ReplyDeleteYay, an actual consensus that isn't "What are you blathering about, Logan?" :D
Delete