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| Look, just be grateful I resisted the temptation to use a pic where they're gazing into each other's eyes! |
Rollercoaster of Friendship
6 Jul 2018
My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 6.7
Thoughts: This just got a three-star score from me first time out. It's where we encounter villain/antagonist Vignette Valencia, who by chance got a look-in last Ponyfic Roundup. Amazingly, a seven-year-old cartoon's social media stuff doesn't come across as unbearably prehistoric now; nice work, Nick Confalone. Valencia's zapping phone thing is silly, but that's okay. The solution to the "white room" problem, though, is idiotically stupid and a significant mark against the special. Vignette reforms much too quickly and easily, but the end song is okay if not amazing. Mostly, though, Rollercoaster of Friendship is remembered for the RariJack shipteasing, of which there is plenty almost from the word go. Just a little FlutterDashing on the side, too. Other notes: (some) Americans pronouncing "caramel" as two syllables always gets me. Vignette's dog being called "Yas Queen" is... strange. The ponying up late on is pointless, but apparently Hasbro demanded it, so... I think my overall view is the same: not quite as good as Forgotten Friendship, but though bitty and imperfect it is still quite fun – and so it maintains its rating as a low-end three.
Choice quote: Sunset: "It's not about the parakeet!"
New rating: ★★★
Unlike in 2018, I don't now have to wait ages for the next Friendship is Magic episode, which is nice. As I said last time, in strict release order the next ep would be "Yakity-Sax" – but although I did watch it early back then, pretty much everyone places it at E18 nowadays. That being so, I will have to put off the misery experience for another time. "A Matter of Principles" will be next on this blog.
Haven't seen this since initial airing back in Summer 218 (I hadn't even met Logan online yet, let alone any of the rest of you :twilightblush:). Don't feel inclined to look again, but it's at least better than Spring Breakdown. Don't care enough to figure out whether this or Backstage Pass would inch ahead of the other. Nothing to add to the commonly cited issues (weak typical late EqG villain, the white box, the ship teasing getting very uncomfortable, and all the contrivances in both plot and character). Though the Sci-Twi/Sunset material (which is a fan pairing I find, if anything, even moreoverblown and tiresome than RariJack) is far more subtle (possibly to ignore any shipping hints, even!) and suitably funny. Even if Human Film & Flam continue to look grotesque – hard to believe anyone could be conned by people looking like that. I guess on balance, especially with all the social media stuff tied to one character, this feels very qualitatively similar to a G5 episode or two, if slightly better due to being in 2D and having a much better handle on pacing, visual flow and how to use background music.
ReplyDeleteDoes Hasbro demanding the ponying up come from a tweet by Nick upon being asked why it happened? It's not cited on the wiki page for this, though looking there led me to a tweet where EqG director Ishi Rudell said one idea with Movie Magic was to unobtrusively provide a reason for Starlight's absence during the event of the theatrical movie. Never occurred to me before – evidently the board artist who added the cameo of her and Trixie, and everyone who would have approved it, didn't get the memo!
That being so, I will have to put off the misery experience for another time. "A Matter of Principles" will be next on this blog.
It may not be one of the reviled episodes of all time, but that's still not a good sign. Discord being the worst he in in the show's back half (at least, before next season…), so many demonstrations of how and why the School of Friendship is terrible, and while she's not bad, putting Starlight under this much abuse and suffering doesn't so much endear her to me as make me raise an eyebrow at that being the only trick the writer can play with her. Understandably, I will return to being sthum until… probably "Road to Friendship", though maybe I'll pop in for "The Hearth's Warming Club" (tv writers of the FiM's crew generation just love The Breakfast Club, homages and nods to it are ubiquitous in the 2010s). No personal care for the Student 6, but the tales from each tribe – which do take up the bulk of the episode – are fun.
Does Hasbro demanding the ponying up come from a tweet by Nick upon being asked why it happened?
DeleteTo be honest, I can't remember. I mentioned it in my original review in 2018 but I didn't cite a specific source. A tweet is the most likely, I'd guess, yeah. It's possible it was mentioned on UK of Equestria (still going at that time) but of course that's inaccessible now.
Still, if you're going to get anyone to write an Equestria Girls story at this point in G4's run, it's hard to look past Nick Confalone. Even though he didn't get everything right (the aforementioned Spring Breakdown being his low point for EqG) I suspect for the most part the other potential options would have done worse.
And yeah, Discord is pretty terrible in "A Matter of Principals", I remember that much. Also that Starlight's response to him (yeah, that one) will probably still have me cheering and will probably still be my high point of the episode. We'll see, as ever.
I remember this one paling in comparison to Forgotten Friendship, but also, yeah, Rarijack. :) I actually forgot about that, can you believe it?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I would have totally forgotten about Vignette without the happy accident of reading a (good!) fic featuring her so recently. Not a memorable villain/antagonist, really.
Deletenot in the slightest! she had that one good line (the abbreviation), but was otherwise very much "how corporate thinks The Kids These Days are"
DeleteThe only rea point in its favor is the Rarijack, and that's followed through nicely on a later short that I don't remember the exact title of, but it was something like The 5 Lines You Need to Wait In. Otherwise, this was kind of dumb, and the mechanic of the villain was a low point.
ReplyDeleteI must admit, my knowledge of the shorts is pretty patchy. I don't think I've seen that one.
DeleteI rewatched it just now (the short) and was surprised to realise I had seen it! It's one of those ones set at the margins of the music festival in "Sunset's Backstage Pass" – during one of the lines Pinkie is talking about, you can see (half-hidden behind Pinkie taking up like 60% of the frame) Rarity holding Applejack's hand and pointing excitedly to something, then leading Applejack offscreen to it. With the blurred distance and Applejack wearing sunglasses, it's impossible to tell if she's excited or putting up with it for Rares.
DeleteEither way, very much falls into the "hidden enough to be okay subtext that no foreign censor would raise an alarm" territory of a background gag. Like, it makes Lyra and Bon Bon proposing to each other (which I believe was edited out in rather un-liberal territories) look like a focused moment everyone watching would have got.
When Rarity is holding AJ's hand and pointing, I imagine her saying, "Over there, dear! Behind that tree is where we shall make out!"
DeleteThe writers admitted to Rarijack shipping through numerous EqG specials, iirc.
I read the review and struggled to remember anything at all about this episode. I was beginning to suspect creeping senility when I realized I had never watched it.
ReplyDelete