S04E22: Testing Testing 1, 2, 3

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Re: S04E22: Testing Testing 1, 2, 3

Postby MochaBean (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:16 pm

Bravinim wrote:Maybe she didn't need the flying part is what I'm getting at, maybe a well constructed retelling of events (Which was Fluttershy's intent) would have been enough.

But it's the actual act of flying that kicks her into "hyper vigilance" mode, which she's unconsciously trained herself to do her whole life as a reflex. Take out the flying, and she goes into restless goof-off mode and nothing sinks in.
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Postby The Doctor (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:19 pm

I think it's more Dash multitasks while doing things she likes. She was focused like a laser on the tasks in Hurricane Fluttershy.
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Postby Fizzbuzz (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:22 pm

MochaBean wrote:But it's the actual act of flying that kicks her into "hyper vigilance" mode, which she's unconsciously trained herself to do her whole life as a reflex. Take out the flying, and she goes into restless goof-off mode and nothing sinks in.

That's how I saw her. If she isn't flying or doing something else she thinks is awesome, she gets stuck in her "ughhhh I NEED to fly" state of mind, making it hard for her to concentrate. Despite the effort that flying requires, it actually results in a net decrease in distraction.
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Postby Kamek (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:31 pm

Great episode today. While it revolved around a specific long-term plot-related element, it had a feel of a good old slice of life episode.

:saddash: What am I going to do if I fail?! I'll have to be a shoeshine pony...
:-I Or you could just, I dunno, keep your current job as a weather pony.
:spoiler: Those clouds won't move themselves, you know.
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:43 pm

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Anyone find Spike's face creepy during this scene? :starity:
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:48 pm

Nah, it was fine. I'm not sure of his character motivation in that scene, though.
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Postby The Doctor (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:51 pm

Wayoshi wrote:Nah, it was fine. I'm not sure of his character motivation in that scene, though.


Spike and Owlisious have both been through Twilight lectures and have done the same thing.
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Postby Strangest Letter (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:52 pm

MochaBean wrote:But it's the actual act of flying that kicks her into "hyper vigilance" mode, which she's unconsciously trained herself to do her whole life as a reflex. Take out the flying, and she goes into restless goof-off mode and nothing sinks in.


Rainbow seemed like she was paying well enough attention the during first performance (enough attention to know that it was garbage) :pinkieshrug:

Like, if Fluttershy's original play was as well executed as the one in the end of the episode, and Rainbow still couldn't remember anything, then I feel like taking advantage of Rainbows increased attention when flying would have been a more well presented solution (because I understand being less distracted when moving, I understand that 100%).


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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:54 pm

The Doctor wrote:
Spike and Owlisious have both been through Twilight lectures and have done the same thing.

That's the best inference, I agree? I found it kinda OOC for Spike though. :pinkieshrug:
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:58 pm

It was just a silly gag they decided to throw in. Spike and Owlisious were used because they live in the library as well.
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Postby Minty (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 9:01 pm

Spike was just goofing off. If that Future Twilight episode is any evidence, Rainbow Dash encourages him to do such things.

This was a really great lesson.
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Postby PictishBeast (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 9:17 pm

Haven't read the thread yet but that was pretty close to a perfect episode for me. Low-key, character-based drama. Main focus on just a couple characters. Nobody overused. Everybody acting like we'd expect them to ask, including fighting and being rude to each other. And heartwarming resolution anyway. :yay:

It's actually what I was hoping Read It And Weep was going to end up being before it was revealed as an Indiana Jones parody.
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Postby Perpetual Lurker (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 9:28 pm

Anyone noticed how crushed Spike was when RD smack-talked Flutterhsy's animal play. Poor little guy probably wrote and directed it himself. :whyme:
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Postby SlateSlabrock (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 9:31 pm

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Postby The Doctor (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 9:37 pm



Love this one.
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Postby Mechanical Ape (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 9:41 pm

Twilight's face has so many ways to show annoyance/disappointment, and I never get tired of them. :-/
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To be continued, though!
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Postby die Fledermaus (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 9:45 pm

Wayoshi wrote:That's the best inference, I agree? I found it kinda OOC for Spike though. :pinkieshrug:


I like to imagine Dash has a long history of hanging out at the window during Spike's lectures and trying to distract him.
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Postby Captain Rufus (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:04 pm

As someone whose issues with how I learn and basically having my entire life changed because nobody knew, cared, or understood it, this episode was really bittersweet. I'll leave it at that before I have a small breakdown on my iPad Air that I haven't finished paying for yet.

Good episode.
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:05 pm

Some more tweets:

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Postby Space Ghost (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:07 pm

Awww, Firefly was a nod to Faust. That's sweet. :3:
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Postby PonyHag714 (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:15 pm

That was a really cool thing to do. :-)
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Postby ZamuelNow (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:17 pm

Tailspin wrote:Awww, Firefly was a nod to Faust. That's sweet. :3:

I dunno, I find myself incredibly bugged by it being a Faust shoutout. Especially with how much the fandon trashes earlier generations, this kind of a nod would have been a really good thing.
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Postby Space Ghost (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:27 pm

ZamuelNow wrote:I dunno, I find myself incredibly bugged by it being a Faust shoutout. Especially with how much the fandon trashes earlier generations, this kind of a nod would have been a really good thing.


Well, to be fair, a lot of people first thought it was a nod to G1 Firefly. From what I understand AKR didn't even know that pony existed, anyway.

I mean, yeah, it would be nice if it was, with how the fandom treats previous gens, but it's still sweet they made a little nod to Lauren Faust. And besides, Firefly is her favorite pony, so in a way it is kinda a referance.
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Postby Fizzbuzz (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:28 pm

As far as G1 ponies go, Firefly is one of the most respected. There's a lot of art out there showing her as Rainbow Dash's mother.
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Postby WandereringPony (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:28 pm

Tailspin wrote:
Well, to be fair, a lot of people first thought it was a nod to G1 Firefly. From what I understand AKR didn't even know that pony existed, anyway.

I mean, yeah, it would be nice if it was, with how the fandom treats previous gens, but it's still sweet they made a little nod to Lauren Faust. And besides, Firefly is her favorite pony.


And seriously, with some of the weirder nods we've had in S4, can anyone complain about "Mom" getting a shoutout like that?
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Postby PictishBeast (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:28 pm

The big win for me in this ep was characterization because it nailed it. This is what I wanted to see in Read It And Weep but it's also pretty close to the "bottle episode" I've wanted to see since forever. Seriously, almost all of the running time is Twilight and Rainbow talking. And it is glorious.

Buuuuuuut here's another thing that's great -- the animation and character direction! Like I said, almost all of this is Twilight and Rainbow talking, but look at what they do with that (potentially boring) visual setup:

Hanging on clouds. How weird is it to see Twilight in this environment?
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Casual Dash above, thousand-foot drop below.
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Inverted shot because Dash is confidently goofing off in three-dimensional space.
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Another shot that seemed so surprising to me. Dash storming away, Twilight running to catch up. But in the sky.
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Damn, those shadows. This is what life as a pegasus would be like.
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Postby Space Ghost (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:33 pm

PictishBeast wrote:Damn, those shadows. This is what life as a pegasus would be like.
Image


Huh, didn't notice they were casting shadows. That's cool.
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Postby ZamuelNow (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:39 pm

WandereringPony wrote:And seriously, with some of the weirder nods we've had in S4, can anyone complain about "Mom" getting a shoutout like that?


I think I'm already mostly over it. Most people (myself included) thought it was a G1 shoutout. It still works quite well as an oldschool shoutout due to that being Faust's favorite pony. More of a reflexive nitpick trigger. Even with that brief kneejerk annoyance, it was still only like lowering a 105 test grade to a 103. This episode was a really good thing.
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Postby Cthulhu Inc (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:42 pm

It's the details that make this show so great :allears:
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Postby Angel Beat (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:55 pm

Aaaah, this episode.

Cute, funny, tearjerking and heartwarming, all at the same time. :allears:
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Postby ZamuelNow (?) » Sat Apr 05, 2014 11:09 pm

So just how many rap references were in Pinkie's segment? I saw Run DMC, Flava Flav, Will Smith, and MC Hammer.

Pinkie Rap smiley absolutely needs to happen. That or one of those background ponies in the music video as a smiley.
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Postby Headless Horse (?) » Sun Apr 06, 2014 12:27 am

ZamuelNow wrote:So just how many rap references were in Pinkie's segment? I saw Run DMC, Flava Flav, Will Smith, and MC Hammer.

Pinkie Rap smiley absolutely needs to happen. That or one of those background ponies in the music video as a smiley.


And DON'T COPY THAT FLOPPY.

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I ... feel like I shouldn't even say anything about this episode. Like anything I say would detract from it. Like, I don't even want to touch it because then I'd put a fingerprint on it and ruin the shine.
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Postby The Doctor (?) » Sun Apr 06, 2014 12:30 am

Don't forget to be cool about fire safety. :gotcha:

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Postby Dexanth (?) » Sun Apr 06, 2014 12:41 am

ZamuelNow wrote:
I think I'm already mostly over it. Most people (myself included) thought it was a G1 shoutout. It still works quite well as an oldschool shoutout due to that being Faust's favorite pony. More of a reflexive nitpick trigger. Even with that brief kneejerk annoyance, it was still only like lowering a 105 test grade to a 103. This episode was a really good thing.


Well, given that Firefly is Lauren's favorite G1 pony, her DA & Twitter handles may you know, not be coincidence in that regard :crack:
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Sun Apr 06, 2014 12:42 am

Headless Horse wrote:I ... feel like I shouldn't even say anything about this episode. Like anything I say would detract from it. Like, I don't even want to touch it because then I'd put a fingerprint on it and ruin the shine.

Defile it, Headless. You know you want to :scheming:
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Postby Headless Horse (?) » Sun Apr 06, 2014 12:55 am

Okay, I lied, I'll say things.

Amy Keating Rogers shows here that she can still write episodes that play like Applebuck Season and Ticket Master, what with the unconventional out-of-immersion narrative techniques—the VHS rewind thing reminded me of the picture-in-picture stuff in TM and the flight-path-tracing in ABS. And the round-robin nature of "each pony takes her turn" also felt like a return to the show's earliest form.

Also, how many different ways did they goofily re-enact Celestia moon-banning Luna here? Three? :gotcha: Let us never again say that the show has neglected to poke fun and parody even its founding elements.

So many things that felt like subtle fandom references/show staff injokes that we just can't be sure of.

- Firefly :awesomedash:
- Celestial Year X
- Princess Winona :gotcha:
- That fucking rap, holy god. The Round Stable: "Pinkie, Stop Rapping!"
- :eeyup: EUP
- Lampshading breaking out in song (again)
- "I am not that tall!" :twonk:
- I said earlier, but I was hoping the "spit wad to the eye" thing was a jab at how gigantic their eyes are :v:
- RD making below-the-belt jabs at Twilight's flying abilities

.... You know, screw this list. I just got to " :twasnothin: Guess you're up a creek" and it's like gooooooooodnighteverybody :ponydrugs:
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Postby Pingcode (?) » Sun Apr 06, 2014 12:59 am

ZamuelNow wrote:I dunno, I find myself incredibly bugged by it being a Faust shoutout. Especially with how much the fandon trashes earlier generations, this kind of a nod would have been a really good thing.


I'll point out that the reason Firefly isn't in the series is because Hasbro doesn't have her copyright. Passing it off as a Faust shout-out is just good sense - actually admitting it was a shout-out to G1 could have landed them in hot water. Best to pass it off as the 'less fitting but plausibly deniable' one.

Just ask Men At Work. One of them admitted part of their classic song Land Down Under had a riff from another classic australian song in it during a radio show, and then they got sued into the ground by the owners of said song's copyright, ending in one of their members' suicides. No, I can't blame the crew for claiming it's a Faust reference and not a G1 reference.
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Postby Headless Horse (?) » Sun Apr 06, 2014 1:00 am

Ooh-ooh-ooh, yeah, holy shit, they referenced Rainbow Dash being a prankster

The last three years have been a dream or something
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Sun Apr 06, 2014 1:02 am

I did find it funny (and somber) how Fluts kinda bluntly implies that Celestia/Luna were only happy when together. :starity:

Also, if EeyUP doesn't illustrate how they manage to stretch infinite mileage out of Big Mac's trope, I don't know what does.
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Postby The Doctor (?) » Sun Apr 06, 2014 1:03 am

Wayoshi wrote:I did find it funny (and somber) how Fluts kinda bluntly implies that Celestia/Luna were only happy when together. :starity:


It was an adorable little line just tossed out there.
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