Jump to content
Guidelines

Nyactis Mewcis Catlum

User
 View Profile  See their content

  • Posts

    242

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Nyactis Mewcis Catlum

  1. Nyactis Mewcis Catlum
    Starting line: I'm not so crazy as to review every episode.
    Certain episodes that make me think a lot (whether negative or positive) will get full entries here. For everything else, I will be doing something similar to the recently adopted JelloApocalypse trend on YouTube, that is to say to make "Every Episode of MLP: FiM Reviewed in 10 Words or Less". These entries will be made as I go back over episodes or I personally remember them.
    I may make things with my voice for these, not sure yet. We'll see how it goes. (If that happens, it'll be heavily scripted because you don't want to hear me take 300 years to get to the point.)
    I know it doesn't have the same effect when it's written as opposed to voiced, but it'll do for now.
    My rating system:
    0 - This episode has literally no redeeming values and you shouldn't waste your time watching it if you haven't already. Like, the episode could literally cease to exist and nothing would change. (Generally goes for extraordinarily boring episodes, rather than episodes that infuriate me. There's nothing worse than a boring episode.)
    1 - This episode is pretty rancid, but it has something in it that's worth talking about.
    2 - This episode has small merits to it but is still generally not worth a watch and it'll make you wish the episode was just over already.
    3 - This episode is...eh. I probably enjoyed it upon first viewing, but thinking about it later made me realize I didn't like it much.
    4 - Just below average. It's fine. Go ahead and watch the episode, it probably won't be a complete waste of time.
    5 - Average. This episode does what I expect a MLP: FiM to be in terms of quality.
    6 - Slightly above average. This is when the episode enters "good" territory.
    7 - An episode I would recommend someone should definitely watch. Worth watching at least once.
    8 - A solid entry. There's nothing extraordinarily wrong with it. I'd probably watch it again, no problem.
    9 - An outstanding episode. I remember it long after watching it and I wouldn't mind rewatching it again.
    10 - An absolute must-see. This doesn't go to episodes that are "perfect" or do what they set out to do. This goes to episodes that I feel legitimately changed the landscape in how a character is viewed, or an episode that really changed the way I viewed the show. In other words, this goes to episodes that I look at and go, "Jesus, I'm really glad I'm watching this show and decided to give it a chance." This especially goes to episodes that changed me emotionally in some way.
    The rating system also has negative numbers, which are basically the same as this, but in the form of ironic enjoyment (that is to say, it's more of a guilty pleasure episode than anything, or it's so extraordinarily bad that it unintentionally does something good).
    Thanks for checking this blog out!
  2. Nyactis Mewcis Catlum
    You know how the joke goes: it's interesting how "politics" sounds as if it's a combination of "poly", meaning many, and "ticks", meaning blood-sucking creatures.
    As of the S8 premiere, discussions about ponies have been curbing more toward the political side. I'm not overly surprised by this, as cartoon analytics often tie in the media they consume with the real world - as well they should, as cartoons and other media don't exist within a vacuum. The cautionary tale is not so much in the fact that real world events and politics are being related to the media we consume, but rather that the oversaturation of it is blinding us to what the episodes, and indeed the spirit of the show, are actually primarily about.
    This would not be the first time that this issue will come up, and it will certainly not be the last, either. I think the problem in this lies in the assumption that events within a cartoon or any other media are actually, 100%, 1-to-1 parallels of these events and they're intended to be. The problem is that making them like this would make the media not age well, as it will comment on events that may eventually blow over as time proceeds onward, which is why I think reducing it to that can be problematic in the sense that it misses the overall message being conveyed. I am, of course, the first person who will tell you that no interpretation is wrong when it comes to media, and it's why I didn't like Fame & Misfortune, because it attempted to spread the idea there's a wrong feeling to garner about it. Rather, I'm attempting to say that authorial intent is rarely these 1-to-1 parallels as no smart writer would do that; it would date the work unless it's outright about it being that particular parallel (such as older works that specifically talk about an issue). I also find another problem is that these comparisons are, well, to be frank, they're not well thought-out, and I think that's because people oversimplify why something is good or bad, rather than actually considering why they feel that way. In other words, they listen to the authority figures that have told them this over their life, but never stopped and considered why those authority figures said that to them.
    I'm not suggesting that such ideas should not be discussed, but I think some of the prevalence of these discussions can be attributed to not thinking enough into what makes a similarity, a similarity. Just because it reminds you of something, doesn't mean it's actually like that something in practice. And some of you who have thought already into what I'm saying know what I'm talking about, but for those who don't, the examples I provide you are: racism & imperialism, especially in the case of the latter.
    I don't think, and would never agree with, the idea that the S8 premiere was intended to parallel any particular real world situation. Certainly, it's inspired by real world events, but it's not specifically criticizing anything (except perhaps how the school functions, which arguably parodies real school boards, but even then it's not targeting any specific school board). I also don't think the Cutie Map has any particular implication toward this, either. And I think, given some of the arguments I've seen, people are bringing in their own personal issues with the world into the episode and suggesting that the episode is saying that much. A noteworthy example, though the individual will not be named, is something regarding "white unicorns", despite Chancellor Neighsay never displaying any bias toward a particular faction of pony, nor would any bias toward colors of all things make any sense within the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic universe. And this is what I mean. As I said, there is no wrong way to interpret a work, but I do think there is a simplified way of viewing it and there's a nuanced way of viewing it, and many people seem to be taking the simplified way without considering nuance.
    And that is why it's getting so heated and controversial. They're looking at an episode and suggesting it's making a statement that it may not actually be making. You could say it's an unintended side effect of the episode, which I would certainly agree in the case of other episodes, but when examining the actual context, the authorial intent rings clear as day that a political jab is probably not what they were trying to make with the premiere.
    Even without that, the focus on this particular aspect of the episodes without even seeing the full season, without giving Chancellor Neighsay a chance to get the development he clearly is going to (given that he's coming back), and the discussion seems inundated with the same talking points. I've noticed that a lot of the topics about these premieres are similar. Of course, be the change you want to see, I'm aware, and making more topics of my own would probably aid to remedy the situation, but I figured it was worth making a journal entry discussing it and pointing out that it's a trend I noticed. And evidently, I wasn't the only one to have noticed it, as I've seen other journal entries and status updates of people growing frustrated with it. I'm not frustrated that politics are being related to ponies, and in fact I believe it to be inevitable. But I do think there's a possibility such discussion is not nuanced enough, and it's also not contained enough.
    Those are just my thoughts, though. Feel free to let me know what you think.
  3. Nyactis Mewcis Catlum
    This is a silly idea that's been roaming about within my noggin, but I've kind of wanted to write something that's like a TwiDash romcom, especially considering the myriad of TwiDash fics that have emotional fallings-in and out, or otherwise have large plots - the focus, of course, would be on the trials and tribulations of a new relationship and getting it to work out, without all of the intense drama that usually comes from TwiDash fics where the two of them figure things out, if the focus is ever on that at all.
    The beginning ideas I have are henceforth:
    Rather than having a massive build-up at the beginning, I'm going to start out with the confession to give the impression that the relationship doesn't end at the confession, and in fact that a relationship can develop afterward. Leaning on the idea of Twilight confessing and Rainbow giving it a bit of thought before going, "well, sure, why not?" and then Rainbow trying to be an impressive marefriend (to varying degrees of success). Of course, there can't be no conflict, so there will be drama somewhere in there. But it'll be the typical relationship stuff, rather than something huge like it would be in other fics; the whole point is that it's mocking the ridiculousness of more real, down-to-earth relationships rather than reflecting a tumultuous one. It should be clear throughout the narrative that Rainbow and Twilight care a lot about each other and they're simply having hiccups due to lack of experience more than anything. Debating on having cheesy "lessons" at the end of every chapter, but not certain if that won't inundate the focus. Honestly, the idea of this was spurred on by the thought of it being funny having Rainbow trying to be smooth toward Twilight, because we all know she would, c'mon. Especially if she's a bit of a nervous wreck about certain aspects of that relationship.
×
×
  • Create New...