by Happy Trails Sat Feb 16, 2013 7:16 pmI just watched the finale and decided to finally put that film class to some use and review it as I watched.
Opening: good shot, song is ok although i can't help feel as if I'm having to ready myself for the long haul this episode is going to be already. It does it's job well and the sudden cut off is a delightful way to introduce the conflict.
Conflict development: thus far I'm actually pretty surprised how much I'm enjoying the episode, my fears of it being terrible seem unfounded. Then a song comes and ruins it, there is no reason why the swapped roles had to be introduced with this song. The song, while technically solid and efficient in its job leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I want dialogue and interaction, not static two dimensional stating of problems. Although I have to admit I enjoyed spike's gungnam style, his best moment ever by far.
Flashback sequence/woe is me song: this part of the episode just feels rushed, the entire flashback feels like a phoned in setup for the episode. To make matters worse before we can even really let the thought of the plot device, i mean spell, sink in we cut to yet another song. You know what, I'm referring to them as ringtones now, that's how frequent, short, and pointless these things are. I understand that with the 13 episode season time was always going to be an enemy of the production, but swapping a minute long song for some actual interaction between the characters we've grown to love over the past seasons is not a good decision.
Fluttershy sequence: FINALLY we get some actual interaction between the characters instead of musical number, and guess what, it's the best part of the episode thus far. You get to actually see the process of fluttershy rediscover herself and it's satisfying, though it's lessened by the thought that it would be a much more satisfying pay off for an entire episode's worth of build up instead of about 2:30 worth of non ringtone build up.
Wrap up ringtone: you know what would be a great idea for an episode? one where all the main characters get their identities swapped by a magical mishap and they have to spend it rediscovering themselves through various trials and tribulations, we could even have it tied so that friendship is what really helped them rediscover themselves. "Great Idea, now make that fit in a 12 minute segment with 5 songs." You see the problem here? They took what should have been the premise for an entire episode, and smashed it into a bite size featurette, and if that wasn't a big enough challenge, they made it so the story would be conveyed through half baked musical numbers instead of what we've actually enjoyed this entire time: the characters.
Alicronification: first off, the animation here has to be noted. The studio's been mixing flash and cgi all season and here we see what they were building up to. And honestly, I'm not sure I like it, a lot of the time it just feels down right off putting, especially when Celestia gestures or flies. The montage of past clips is a device that i think really shows itself as a double edged sword here. On one hand it let's us look back on all the good times and really illustrates how Twilight has grown, on the other it gives a definite feeling of an ending. While this is an appropriate reaction, and the plan is to make us experience a new high with the joy at the prospect of a new beginning I can only feel that once again this is being rushed.
Closing: We get a few minutes of uninterrupted interaction, which is nice, but at this point I'm just too drained from the constant ringtones and can only think about how this needed to be a two parter, maybe even a tv movie. The moment with Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor is one of the definite highlights of the episode, and I have to admit the coronation sequence was done well, it was just spoiled by everything that lead into it.
General Criticism: This was a rush job in every sense of the word. I understand the episode budget was limited, but some fat could've definitely been trimmed elsewhere in the season to allow for this to have been better paced. Only one or two of the songs felt like they fit, and weren't just convenient ways to skim over the story. The background music was often overbearing and irritating. Honestly this episode serves as a good catchall for all the problems season three had: sudden endings, rushed story lines, and too many songs. I can only say that I hope the mistakes displayed here will be learned from in the next season.
Opening: good shot, song is ok although i can't help feel as if I'm having to ready myself for the long haul this episode is going to be already. It does it's job well and the sudden cut off is a delightful way to introduce the conflict.
Conflict development: thus far I'm actually pretty surprised how much I'm enjoying the episode, my fears of it being terrible seem unfounded. Then a song comes and ruins it, there is no reason why the swapped roles had to be introduced with this song. The song, while technically solid and efficient in its job leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I want dialogue and interaction, not static two dimensional stating of problems. Although I have to admit I enjoyed spike's gungnam style, his best moment ever by far.
Flashback sequence/woe is me song: this part of the episode just feels rushed, the entire flashback feels like a phoned in setup for the episode. To make matters worse before we can even really let the thought of the plot device, i mean spell, sink in we cut to yet another song. You know what, I'm referring to them as ringtones now, that's how frequent, short, and pointless these things are. I understand that with the 13 episode season time was always going to be an enemy of the production, but swapping a minute long song for some actual interaction between the characters we've grown to love over the past seasons is not a good decision.
Fluttershy sequence: FINALLY we get some actual interaction between the characters instead of musical number, and guess what, it's the best part of the episode thus far. You get to actually see the process of fluttershy rediscover herself and it's satisfying, though it's lessened by the thought that it would be a much more satisfying pay off for an entire episode's worth of build up instead of about 2:30 worth of non ringtone build up.
Wrap up ringtone: you know what would be a great idea for an episode? one where all the main characters get their identities swapped by a magical mishap and they have to spend it rediscovering themselves through various trials and tribulations, we could even have it tied so that friendship is what really helped them rediscover themselves. "Great Idea, now make that fit in a 12 minute segment with 5 songs." You see the problem here? They took what should have been the premise for an entire episode, and smashed it into a bite size featurette, and if that wasn't a big enough challenge, they made it so the story would be conveyed through half baked musical numbers instead of what we've actually enjoyed this entire time: the characters.
Alicronification: first off, the animation here has to be noted. The studio's been mixing flash and cgi all season and here we see what they were building up to. And honestly, I'm not sure I like it, a lot of the time it just feels down right off putting, especially when Celestia gestures or flies. The montage of past clips is a device that i think really shows itself as a double edged sword here. On one hand it let's us look back on all the good times and really illustrates how Twilight has grown, on the other it gives a definite feeling of an ending. While this is an appropriate reaction, and the plan is to make us experience a new high with the joy at the prospect of a new beginning I can only feel that once again this is being rushed.
Closing: We get a few minutes of uninterrupted interaction, which is nice, but at this point I'm just too drained from the constant ringtones and can only think about how this needed to be a two parter, maybe even a tv movie. The moment with Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor is one of the definite highlights of the episode, and I have to admit the coronation sequence was done well, it was just spoiled by everything that lead into it.
General Criticism: This was a rush job in every sense of the word. I understand the episode budget was limited, but some fat could've definitely been trimmed elsewhere in the season to allow for this to have been better paced. Only one or two of the songs felt like they fit, and weren't just convenient ways to skim over the story. The background music was often overbearing and irritating. Honestly this episode serves as a good catchall for all the problems season three had: sudden endings, rushed story lines, and too many songs. I can only say that I hope the mistakes displayed here will be learned from in the next season.
