S04E22: Testing Testing 1, 2, 3

Episode, movie, and comic book discussion threads are kept here once they have been released.

Moderators: Perrydotto, Dexanth, Venusy, Wayoshi

Re: S04E22: Testing Testing 1, 2, 3

Postby Wayoshi (?) » Mon Jul 14, 2014 4:44 am

EPtothelimit - I suppose a good extrapolation of the worldbuilding of this episode, but it's just that - an extrapolation. I doubt AKR or anyone else on the team really cared about any of those implications. The point of the episode was its moral of learning methods, and it 100% delivered.

everyponytothelimit wrote:That's not a "some people learn differently" problem, that's a "this is going to be a huge impediment to you education and career problem".

How are these two completely separate? In fact, I would say it could easily be causal - R.D. has trouble learning, so she avoids studying, leading to conflict and tangible failure that would lower self-esteem despite denial, like... flunking out of flight school. How many real students today end up really struggling because education systems are too uniform in their teaching method? You can't tell me that doesn't bleed over to careers.

This is probably a bit dark of me also, but my own extrapolation: R.D.'s weird style of learning perhaps contributing to her low self-confidence, as a big flaw of hers, while also leading to her excelling as a flyer, and also contributing to her laziness since she can do her weather job so fast? That's just beautiful in creating a well-rounded, organic character.
Wayoshi
User avatar
Paper Fluttershy
Stare Masters
Joined: Oct 26, 2011
Location: Boston, MA
Gender: Male

Postby everyponytothelimit (?) » Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:33 am

Foxfyre wrote:Well, part of the point of, like, the whole series is how great friendship really can be. Yeah it's unrealistic that so many characters would put in the effort to help her, but that's the entire point of that scene - that Dashie may think she's stupid and worthless, but she still has so many ponies willing to help her.

And yeah, Dashie's real problem is how poorly she handles failure - but from the way she acts, I see a lot of the same stuff I have to deal with due to depression. Brushing aside how uncomfortable it is for me to see this written off as 'she has issues', it's not unreasonable to connect her aversion to education with her belief that, because she learns different, she's stupid. Yes, that habit needs to be broken, but Rainbow Dash has twelve hours to study for the test and she thinks she's the most worthless pony in the world. The real problem is that she hates herself for not doing something she's not even good at, and while educating her is obviously an important goal, helping her realize there's some way for her to learn is the real victory.

It's like that saying, 'if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it's stupid'. Maybe she's gonna have other battles to fight later on and she won't be equipped for it, but she's not going anywhere if she doesn't realize that she can still win something.

I mean, if we're looking at this from the perspective of her being a student, it'd be more realistic for her to get an imperfect score, yeah, sure. But if we're looking at this from the perspective of her having a history of beating herself up, it's something she really needed. The point of this episode is to hit Dashie's low self-esteem with a mental Sonic Rainboom, nowhere near as flashy but with the same feeling of 'oh gosh oh gosh I am actually this good I literally can't believe it'.

Maybe I'm just too sensitive about this, because I spent a lot of my senior year of high school struggling with depression while trying to keep my grades up, and 'barely passing' meant I'd just hate myself more for cutting it so close, so I'm projecting quite a bit onto Rainbow Dash. I just don't think that this pushing-down 'realism' is necessary when the conflict is already about Rainbow Dash pushing herself down.


Ah, first off I want to say I didn't mean to offend with the 'issues' comment, that was a bit of poorly thought out flippancy and I apologize. As I mentioned I've been struggling as well recently so I can relate although my problem was that I found success easy and never really learned how to strive for it, and here that coloured my perception and I didn't consider things from the perspective of someone who has always had difficulties.

I suppose to me, what I fear (as silly as that sounds when talking about an imaginary cartoon character) that Dash will learn the wrong lesson from this- that she won't use this as a boost to her real self-esteem, but instead as another protective wall in her bravado, if that makes sense. Filing it as a hollow "I'm even greater than I thought I was!", where it simply becomes another way for her to continue propping herself up while never truly learning to deal with failure. I think the question is in future situations like this, where she has to study, will Dash think "Now that I know I can study and learn on my own terms, I should be proactive about it so that I'm not in such a bad situation" or will she think "I'm awesome and can learn anything in no time flat, I'll just put off studying until the last day and get my friends to put on a show and then ace the test, it worked last time" and frankly her behaviour in previous episodes and similar situations makes me doubt her but I'd certainly love to be pleasantly surprised.

And to me it isn't really about "realistically pulling her down" but instead giving her a proper base that she (with the support of her friends) can build herself up. After reading your comment, specifically this line "barely passing' meant I'd just hate myself more for cutting it so close" I'll admit I was harsh there. I still don't like the getting perfect, not because it's not realistic or to punish Dash, but I think that it would be better for her, in the long run to have the incentive to continue putting forth the effort and striving to improve herself. Perhaps a solid 75% would be a nice compromise???

Honestly I think at this point something that would be good for Dash's mental health would be to, well, fail. In a controlled way over something not at all critically important but to still have her own Last Round-up type deal. I think that Last Roundup, along with Hurricane Fluttershy and Flight to the Finish are all follow-ups to Sonic Rainboom:

SR asks "what if you fear you aren't good enough" and answers "you are"
LR asks "what if you really aren't good enough" and says to take pride in your achievements, not fear your failures.
HF asks "what if your best is really quite crap" and says to not to define yourself against others but instead always try to better yourself for its own sake.
FttF asks "what if you straight up can't" and answers "don't define yourself by what you can't do, but instead by what you can".

These are all natural follow-throughs to SR, but despite being present for them, or actually teaching some of them, I don't think that Dash has really internalized these lessons herself...... although actually her gracious second place loss in the Games contradicts me. We'll see in S5, I think and here's hoping! I still think that Dash would be better off if she were to confront real failure, or at least, not 100% pure best ever success- not what she fears failure to be, not something she can avoid, but just... to not be #1, to not be perfect, to feel what that's like and to realize she doesn't have to be, to be able to actually admit her flaws and be able to improve upon them because she wants to, not because she's in a critical situation where she needs a quick fix.


Wayoshi wrote:EPtothelimit - I suppose a good extrapolation of the worldbuilding of this episode, but it's just that - an extrapolation. I doubt AKR or anyone else on the team really cared about any of those implications. The point of the episode was its moral of learning methods, and it 100% delivered.


How are these two completely separate? In fact, I would say it could easily be causal - R.D. has trouble learning, so she avoids studying, leading to conflict and tangible failure that would lower self-esteem despite denial, like... flunking out of flight school. How many real students today end up really struggling because education systems are too uniform in their teaching method? You can't tell me that doesn't bleed over to careers.

This is probably a bit dark of me also, but my own extrapolation: R.D.'s weird style of learning perhaps contributing to her low self-confidence, as a big flaw of hers, while also leading to her excelling as a flyer, and also contributing to her laziness since she can do her weather job so fast? That's just beautiful in creating a well-rounded, organic character.


I agree on all counts here, just that, to me, TT123's resolution presented things purely as a "learning differently" thing, and that now Dash knows she learns through fly-by's everything is hunky dory. Maybe this will be the boost she needed to change things around, or maybe not. I'm totally willing to admit I'm being very pessimistic here, and in all likeliness yeah, this is a legitimate success and improvement for Dash, it's that Dash in this episode struck a chord with me and my own personal experiences say that this is just the start, and it's very easy to back-slide or find whole new pits to fall in.
everyponytothelimit
User avatar
The Spike is to the limit.
Joined: Oct 18, 2011

Postby The Doctor (?) » Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:52 pm

The thing to remember about Dash's bravado, is she can back it up. She is very likely the fastest flyer in Equestria. She is an expert stunt flyer, and has shown that she's a fantastic leader.

I don't really have a problem with her friends rallying around her for this. It's ultimately a small part of the Wonderbolts program. Dash isn't good at everything, and book learning isn't one of them. She sees her dreams come crashing down due to something that she knows she isn't that good at. I don't blame her for being down on herself. And I do think she learned a lesson, even if it's not how she can learn, it's that her friends will always be there for her.


:pinkieshrug: Though, I will admit there's a bit of a problem with the whole story, as Dash has shown that she can easily learn things from books she is interested in. I have never met a pilot who isn't huge into aviation history, and I have a tough time believing that Dash, who has wanted this since childhood, didn't read every book on the Wonderbolts she could get her hooves on.
The Doctor
User avatar
Turner of all things timey wimey
Celestia's Champions
Joined: May 05, 2011
Location: Time & Space
Gender: Male

Postby Headless Horse (?) » Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:59 pm

Just because she doesn't think reading is for eggheads anymore doesn't mean it's ever occurred to her to read anything but Daring Do. :smirk:
Headless Horse
User avatar
The pumpkin is strictly ornamental
Faithful Students
Joined: May 23, 2011

Postby Fizzbuzz (?) » Tue Jul 15, 2014 12:01 am

The Doctor wrote: :pinkieshrug: Though, I will admit there's a bit of a problem with the whole story, as Dash has shown that she can easily learn things from books she is interested in. I have never met a pilot who isn't huge into aviation history, and I have a tough time believing that Dash, who has wanted this since childhood, didn't read every book on the Wonderbolts she could get her hooves on.

She wasn't interested in their history, though. In that argument they were having right before Fluttershy broke them apart, Rainbow Dash completely dismissed it as being just for "eggheads" and "history buffs" (i.e. non-flyers). It always seemed to me like she was interested in the present-day Wonderbolts, both for that they flew a lot and that they were really famous. Dead ponies from centuries past don't have that same sort of flashy appeal to her.
Image
Fizzbuzz
User avatar
Stare Masters
Joined: Mar 02, 2013
Location: TN
Gender: Male

Postby diribigal (?) » Wed Jul 16, 2014 12:52 am

I finally got around to seeing this episode. It was very heartwarming, especially when everyone was working together towards the end.

Also, I can't believe all those things I saw were screenshots/directly inspired by this episode, not random fan things. (Pinkie Hammer, Rainbow on invisible turntables, Fluttershy dressed like Celestia, etc.)
diribigal
User avatar
Neither dirigible nor dirigibal.
Special Flowers
Joined: May 17, 2011
Location: near Baltimore
Gender: Male

Postby Mordja (?) » Mon Jul 21, 2014 12:07 pm

Eh-heh, it's been a while, but what an episode to come back on. I loved that the solution was actually established in the first few minutes of the show; while the cold-opens have always been amusing, I can't remember one that foreshadowed so effectively. So this may well be the greatest Rainbow Dash episode yet, which is kind of funny since it's pure slice-of-life for an action pony like RD. Who, by the way, was portrayed perfectly this episode; she's brash, fun and egotistical, but she still panics and gets depressed as soon as things stop going her way. To be fair though, her friends' teaching methods were hilariously obtuse. It's testament to season 4's strength that I'm still having a hard time deciding if this is my fav; there's been so much good stuff!

Last little detail to mention, there was a tonne of great wing-emoting this episode, especially notable in Twilight's case, since she hardly uses the damn things. :offendash:
Image
Mordja
User avatar
reality: a man falls through the earth and into parisian catacombs. taking a torch from the wall he spies row upon row of skeletons. grasping the nearest by the shoulders, he shakes it madly, yelling "my nigga have u tried mlp"
Rainbow Racers
Joined: Apr 09, 2011
Location: Toronto

Postby Dexanth (?) » Fri Dec 19, 2014 3:33 am

Welcome to Week Thirty-Two of Let's Re-Watch, where a random episode from the pony pantheon is chosen to be the episode of the week!

The basics :
1. Threads will go up on Thursdays! Re-watch day is Saturday. This is the new cookie as of week 32. You can obviously join in sooner or later, but the first two days are more for reminiscing, while Saturday-Wednesday is for fresh eyes! Sometimes I put this up early on Friday cause it's still Thursday as far as I'm concerned.
2. Each week is a random episode. All episodes are now fair game, except repeats!
3. This is fun, and totally random - I literally roll the episode moments before making the thread. Two-parters are combined so technically have a double chance of being chosen but hey! More fun!
4. :dwi:

In this episode, Rainbow Dash forms a band with her fronting on the stool-drum.

Week Thirty-Two is

Testing Testing 1, 2, 3!

Image

Testing Testing 1, 2, 3 (spelled as Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3 by some sources) is the twenty-first episode of the fourth season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the eighty-sixth episode overall. In this episode, Rainbow Dash uses unorthodox methods to prepare for the Wonderbolts Reserves entrance exam.
:milkshake: Image ImageImage Image
Dexanth
User avatar
Love conquers all
Celestia's Champions
Joined: Oct 23, 2011
Gender: Female

Postby Juju&Lulu (?) » Fri Dec 19, 2014 3:38 am

A pretty good episode. Lots of good moments and a feel-good ending. Also Flutterlestia is best princess.
"Why does life have to be so IRONIC?" :milkshake:
Juju&Lulu
User avatar
Joined: Nov 01, 2013
Location: US

Postby The Doctor (?) » Fri Dec 19, 2014 3:58 am

I liked this episode a lot. Everyone trying to help Rainbow Dash. An inventive solution, even if the problem seemed a bit off. I can't imagine that Rainbow Dash, in growing up to want a be a Wonderbolt she didn't find out everything she could on them. They made it work though. I still think Pinkie's rap was awful, but it's a small blemish on an otherwise very enjoyable episode.


Flutterlestia was adorable.
Image
The Doctor
User avatar
Turner of all things timey wimey
Celestia's Champions
Joined: May 05, 2011
Location: Time & Space
Gender: Male

Postby Marioland1 (?) » Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:18 am

I'd say something, except the Doctor already stole everything I wanted to say. Well, except for the unbelievability of the problem. We all know Rainbow didn't want to get anywhere near a book until she encountered Daring Do, and even then she seems pretty exclusive when it comes to that. Yes, she'd try to go off and find as much as she could... outside of books. Given that so much of this is history, it'd all probably be in one of those dreaded paper devices and would therefore be missed by our rainbow-maned friend.
ImageImage
Marioland1
User avatar
Trouble in Horse Town
Joined: Jun 30, 2014
Location: Behind Minecraft_B5's TTT Control Panel (and autoslay system)
Gender: Male

Postby Bremen (?) » Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:11 am

This episode is a real favorite of mine. I completely lost it as soon as I realized what was going on with Fluttershy's animal reenactment, and then again a few minutes later with Pinkie Pie's rap. The "lesson" of the episode, how different people learn in different ways, was also really well handled and an important thing to show kids.

Marioland1 wrote:I'd say something, except the Doctor already stole everything I wanted to say. Well, except for the unbelievability of the problem. We all know Rainbow didn't want to get anywhere near a book until she encountered Daring Do, and even then she seems pretty exclusive when it comes to that. Yes, she'd try to go off and find as much as she could... outside of books. Given that so much of this is history, it'd all probably be in one of those dreaded paper devices and would therefore be missed by our rainbow-maned friend.


I actually thought RD's trouble was depicted really well. The episode does a good job of showing that she isn't stupid, she just has trouble concentrating on "book learning" type stuff and gets easily distracted. I liked that Pinkie's method almost worked except she didn't remember the names :gotcha:
Bremen
User avatar
Joined: Oct 09, 2011
Gender: Male

Postby CrystalBrony (?) » Fri Dec 19, 2014 7:00 am

I can't wait to rewatch this episode, as luck would have it this is also another one of my favorites. It hit really close to home, too; my 8 year old son has a learning disability and is dyslexic. As a parent, I deal with alot of Twilight's frustrations on a daily basis, and I remember spending countless nights over the past few years racking my brain on what I can do to help him succeed and achieve his full potential. It has its good days and bad days. Little successes like when he brings home an adapted math test that he scored a 95% on are tempered by the quarterly parent teacher conferences when the teacher tells me that, even though he is in 3rd grade, he is still reading on a marginally 1st grade level and his standardized test scores are in the <10th percentile range.

I watched this episode with him and I think it gave him a bit of hope that he could identify with RD's struggle. Unfortunately, kids who have trouble learning in school become the class clowns and end up thinking they are "too cool" for "egghead" things like studying and reading (I'm so glad they dealt with that in the Daring Do episode).

This is one episode that I made a point to share with my wife, as it kind of affirms her dislike of the education system here in the U.S., espescially standardized testing. She feels that when you base a child's success off a single test that doesn't measure a child's artistic or other non-academic talents, you foster an environment that discourages creativity and does not acknowledge that all kids are different and may learn this at a different pace or through different methods. She described it to me one day as taking many different shaped pegs and trying to jam them hrough the same round hole.

But, I digress. I know this post is a bit long, but I felt compelled to share my experience. Do I think they took a bit of creative license and really reached for a problem so they could present the solution? Yeah, maybe. But, it works, and creates an opening for discussion about a topic that I think is sometimes ignored. Yes, RD is studying to take a test for the Wonderbolts Academy, but it's easy to draw some very important parallels from this, too. This is one of a few episodes that, in my opinion, deals very effectively with a very big real world problem.

And, as always, they still manage to make me feel good at the end of the episode and have fun, which is the "mane" reason I love this show so much!
“Fairy tales are more than true – not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.” ~ G. K. Chesterton
CrystalBrony
User avatar
Joined: Dec 14, 2014
Gender: Male

Postby PaulloDEC (?) » Fri Dec 19, 2014 8:09 am

The Doctor wrote:I still think Pinkie's rap was awful, but it's a small blemish on an otherwise very enjoyable episode.


Image

But seriously, I love this one. Great message, great delivery, Fluttershy cosplaying as Celestia... it has it all.

I loved all the back-to-basics Twilight in this one too. The scenes with Rainbow Dash towards the beginning are solid gold, the lot of them.
PaulloDEC
User avatar
Gah!
Joined: Jun 13, 2014
Location: Queensland, Australia
Gender: Male

Postby CrystalBrony (?) » Fri Dec 19, 2014 8:19 am

I loved the rap too! They totally nailed it. I laughed so hard I almost fell off my couch the first time I saw it.
“Fairy tales are more than true – not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.” ~ G. K. Chesterton
CrystalBrony
User avatar
Joined: Dec 14, 2014
Gender: Male

Postby PaulloDEC (?) » Fri Dec 19, 2014 8:30 am

CrystalBrony wrote:I loved the rap too! They totally nailed it. I laughed so hard I almost fell off my couch the first time I saw it.


A wonderfully on-point late 80s/early 90s tribute, I thought. Loved that they went the whole nine yards with it, right down to cropping the picture to 4:3 and adding some VHS-ey distortion.

I enjoyed reading your post, too. The message of this one, as well as the smart way they delivered it was one of my favourite parts of the episode.
PaulloDEC
User avatar
Gah!
Joined: Jun 13, 2014
Location: Queensland, Australia
Gender: Male

Postby ROBOT B9 (?) » Fri Dec 19, 2014 10:27 am

This episode is probably one of my all time favourites of the season. Everything works perfectly-the different types of lessons such as the pet play, Epic Rap Lessons of History with Pinkie, the fashion show are hilarious. The entire part where Twilight tries to teach RD is just so funny, it makes me laugh everytime.

And it does have touching moments as well, such as the ending and the twist in the end really took me by surprise. The flying scenes were just so beautifully animated.

This was the first episode I watched with others at a meetup and it was just wonderful to see everyone else's reaction as well.
:plonk: Image :)
ROBOT B9
User avatar
Round and round and round she goes, where she'll stop, nobody knows :pinkietoot:
Semper Pie
Joined: Mar 27, 2012
Location: Albir, Spain
Gender: Male

Postby Marioland1 (?) » Sat Dec 20, 2014 4:24 am

CrystalBrony wrote:I loved the rap too! They totally nailed it. I laughed so hard I almost fell off my couch the first time I saw it.

I've got nothing against the attempt, but I really really do not like rap, so it fell really flat.
ImageImage
Marioland1
User avatar
Trouble in Horse Town
Joined: Jun 30, 2014
Location: Behind Minecraft_B5's TTT Control Panel (and autoslay system)
Gender: Male

Postby Bremen (?) » Sat Dec 20, 2014 4:40 am

I didn't like the rap as a song, I admit, but as a joke I adore it :awesomedash:
Bremen
User avatar
Joined: Oct 09, 2011
Gender: Male

Postby Headless Horse (?) » Sat Dec 20, 2014 5:37 am

PaulloDEC wrote:
Image

But seriously, I love this one. Great message, great delivery, Fluttershy cosplaying as Celestia... it has it all.

I loved all the back-to-basics Twilight in this one too. The scenes with Rainbow Dash towards the beginning are solid gold, the lot of them.


Are those music notes backwards as a tongue-in-cheek nod to Vinyl Scratch's cutie mark? :smirk:
Headless Horse
User avatar
The pumpkin is strictly ornamental
Faithful Students
Joined: May 23, 2011

Postby Marioland1 (?) » Sat Dec 20, 2014 7:53 am

Knowing Hasbro they probably just copy/pasted it from Vinyl's mark and decided to mirror the notes to fit the shape better.
ImageImage
Marioland1
User avatar
Trouble in Horse Town
Joined: Jun 30, 2014
Location: Behind Minecraft_B5's TTT Control Panel (and autoslay system)
Gender: Male

Postby Fizzbuzz (?) » Sat Dec 20, 2014 1:58 pm

Bremen wrote:I didn't like the rap as a song, I admit, but as a joke I adore it :awesomedash:

Honestly, I doubt anyone liked it for its musical merits. Like most of Pinkie Pie's other random songs throughout the series, it's somewhat of a "what the fuck are you doing, Pinkie" sort of thing.
Image
Fizzbuzz
User avatar
Stare Masters
Joined: Mar 02, 2013
Location: TN
Gender: Male

Postby ROBOT B9 (?) » Sat Dec 20, 2014 4:30 pm

Yeah, it also works because of the visual effort put into it: making it look like a music video of sorts.
:plonk: Image :)
ROBOT B9
User avatar
Round and round and round she goes, where she'll stop, nobody knows :pinkietoot:
Semper Pie
Joined: Mar 27, 2012
Location: Albir, Spain
Gender: Male

Postby CrystalBrony (?) » Sat Dec 20, 2014 4:55 pm

I love, love, LOVE the flyover history scene. There are probably a dozen gems within about 30 seconds, starting with the VHS style rewind (between that and the rap scene the VHS tape gets a huge nod in this episode). Then there's the Fluttershy - Rarity Celestia-Luna cosplay (Rarity's "Nooooooooooo!" is classic. And then there's this:

Applebloom: "Earth!"

Sweetie Belle: "Unicorn!"

Scootaloo: "Pegasus!"

Applebloom: "E!"

Sweetie Belle: "U!"

Scootaloo: "P!"

Big Macintosh: "E-UP!"

It would have been totally acceptable if the writers simply revisited the "E-U-P!" chant from Flight to the Finish, but to go the extra mile and insert a Big Mac "Eeyup!" and use it as a homonymic pun is absolute genius.

Oh, and I didn't particularly care for the rap song either, but the every detail about it the clip is precisely the reason I love this show from the 4:3 aspect and the VHS style graininess (how do you even animate that?!) to the references (Flava Flav, Run D.M.C., and Nelly are just a few that I caught I'm sure there's more). :party:
“Fairy tales are more than true – not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.” ~ G. K. Chesterton
CrystalBrony
User avatar
Joined: Dec 14, 2014
Gender: Male

Postby Marioland1 (?) » Sun Dec 21, 2014 12:05 am

CrystalBrony wrote:Oh, and I didn't particularly care for the rap song either, but the every detail about it the clip is precisely the reason I love this show from the 4:3 aspect and the VHS style graininess (how do you even animate that?!) to the references (Flava Flav, Run D.M.C., and Nelly are just a few that I caught I'm sure there's more). :party:

How do you animate that? Run it all through a filter in post production. :gotcha:
ImageImage
Marioland1
User avatar
Trouble in Horse Town
Joined: Jun 30, 2014
Location: Behind Minecraft_B5's TTT Control Panel (and autoslay system)
Gender: Male

Postby Fizzbuzz (?) » Sun Dec 21, 2014 12:13 am

While I'm sure they just did it with an audio and video filter, part of me still wishes that song had been rendered normally, played out to a recording VCR, possibly copied back and forth between tapes a few times, and then re-digitized.
Image
Fizzbuzz
User avatar
Stare Masters
Joined: Mar 02, 2013
Location: TN
Gender: Male

Postby PaulloDEC (?) » Sun Dec 21, 2014 1:18 am

Fizzbuzz wrote:While I'm sure they just did it with an audio and video filter, part of me still wishes that song had been rendered normally, played out to a recording VCR, possibly copied back and forth between tapes a few times, and then re-digitized.


This is something I've wanted to do for a long time. I make TV commercials for a living, and I swear one day I'll find an excuse to create an 80s/90s parody sequence so I can do it.
PaulloDEC
User avatar
Gah!
Joined: Jun 13, 2014
Location: Queensland, Australia
Gender: Male

Postby Marioland1 (?) » Sun Dec 21, 2014 2:03 am

Honestly, who wouldn't want to make an 80s/90s parody? There was some fairly good stuff there.
ImageImage
Marioland1
User avatar
Trouble in Horse Town
Joined: Jun 30, 2014
Location: Behind Minecraft_B5's TTT Control Panel (and autoslay system)
Gender: Male

Postby Durandal (?) » Sun Dec 21, 2014 2:35 am

This is a strange episode for me because it starts off reeeeeaallly slow and boring and then slowly gains steam and then turns into one of the best episodes of the season.

Act 1: I really don't like any of the classroom scenes, apart from dancing on the stool because Rainbow's face looks so gosh-darn happy and then Spike shows up and he's all like :plonk: and playing his rinky-dinky drum...Gets me every time.
Act 2: Things get better once Fluttershy shows up. The animal play is adorable, of course, and starts warming me up to the episode as a whole. I unironically love the rap song. The scene in the Boutique starts reminding me of the predictable Ticket Master-style narrative, which I'm glad gets subverted in an awesome way by Applejack just saying "Welp, yer screwed" and walking away. :lol:
Act 3: This is where I really start thinking "wow, yeah, I've felt exactly this same way before", and Rainbow's behavior becomes a lot more real to me. By the time the final montage is over I almost feel like crying. "Yes! You got this, Rainbow! You had it in you all along!" and overall it's just a great heartwarming ending. Also, Fluttershy dressed as Celestia :flutterunsmith:

Overall rating: Cool as Ice
Image
ImageImageImageImage
Durandal
User avatar
dunkification in progress
Faithful Students
Joined: Jun 05, 2011
Location: Issaquah
Gender: Male

Postby CrystalBrony (?) » Sun Dec 21, 2014 8:09 am

Marioland1 wrote:How do you animate that? Run it all through a filter in post production. :gotcha:

This shows exactly how much I know about animation. Oh, well, I suppose that's why I'm a musician. :pinkieshrug:
“Fairy tales are more than true – not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.” ~ G. K. Chesterton
CrystalBrony
User avatar
Joined: Dec 14, 2014
Gender: Male

Postby Applepie (?) » Sun Dec 21, 2014 2:27 pm

Awesome ep. Funny to see the use of rewind.
Pinkie Pie: So, you see this here? This, um, this is um, a big, round room. It's known for its roundness, and bigness, and did I mention that it's round?
Applepie
User avatar
Mr. the Dragon
Joined: Jun 18, 2012
Location: Yakyakistan
Gender: Male

Postby Dexanth (?) » Sun Dec 21, 2014 3:55 pm

CrystalBrony wrote:This shows exactly how much I know about animation. Oh, well, I suppose that's why I'm a musician. :pinkieshrug:


Autotune has nothing on animation's bag of tricks :v:

Also I love Pinkie's rap - it's terrible as a song, but as a bit of 90s nostalgia it sure as heck gosh darn amuses!
:milkshake: Image ImageImage Image
Dexanth
User avatar
Love conquers all
Celestia's Champions
Joined: Oct 23, 2011
Gender: Female

Postby Durandal (?) » Sun Dec 21, 2014 4:20 pm

In the interest of full disclosure, the first CDs I ever owned were the Space Jam soundtrack and MC Hammer's Greatest Hits, so that should tell you something about my musical influences
ImageImageImageImage
Durandal
User avatar
dunkification in progress
Faithful Students
Joined: Jun 05, 2011
Location: Issaquah
Gender: Male

Postby PictishBeast (?) » Sun Dec 21, 2014 5:50 pm

Love, love, love the first half of this. (Second half is great too but it only gets 2 loves.) It's basically "put Twilight and Dash in an elevator together and film the results," which is my fave kind of story setup when you have strong characters.

:offendash: "I'm gonna fail and it's your fault."
:-/ "WTF? I'm trying to help!"
:grumpydash: "You're also showing off."
:twiright: "Shit isn't even hard. I could be a Wonderbolt."
:offendash: "You can BARELY FLY."
:fluttersmith: not this again

They're both being jerks but they're being believable, in-character jerks who would say exactly those things in moments of extreme frustration. Angry cartoon horses are the best thing.
PictishBeast
User avatar
Character Select: Winter Nickel
Abilities: Cynicism lv1, Ennui lv1
Inventory: Turnip
Diamond Dusters
Joined: Aug 12, 2012
Gender: Male

Postby Marioland1 (?) » Tue Dec 23, 2014 5:56 pm

I do agree Pictish. I'm fine with them being jerks, as long as they're not going overboard "I'm a jerk because I can be" mode. When it feels natural like this to the point when they probably don't even realize that they're doing it themselves, then you've got gold.
ImageImage
Marioland1
User avatar
Trouble in Horse Town
Joined: Jun 30, 2014
Location: Behind Minecraft_B5's TTT Control Panel (and autoslay system)
Gender: Male

Postby ROBOT B9 (?) » Tue Dec 23, 2014 5:58 pm

Yeah, it seems more realistic when its like that. It works better for that because it COULD happen in real life.
:plonk: Image :)
ROBOT B9
User avatar
Round and round and round she goes, where she'll stop, nobody knows :pinkietoot:
Semper Pie
Joined: Mar 27, 2012
Location: Albir, Spain
Gender: Male

Postby CrystalBrony (?) » Wed Dec 24, 2014 10:11 am

PictishBeast wrote:Love, love, love the first half of this. (Second half is great too but it only gets 2 loves.) It's basically "put Twilight and Dash in an elevator together and film the results," which is my fave kind of story setup when you have strong characters.

:offendash: "I'm gonna fail and it's your fault."
:-/ "WTF? I'm trying to help!"
:grumpydash: "You're also showing off."
:twiright: "Shit isn't even hard. I could be a Wonderbolt."
:offendash: "You can BARELY FLY."
:fluttersmith: not this again

They're both being jerks but they're being believable, in-character jerks who would say exactly those things in moments of extreme frustration. Angry cartoon horses are the best thing.


I love to see AJ and RD go rounds, their personalities are so much of almost polar opposites that it almost seems they love to hate each other.

:eyebrow: It's a reenactment of the founding of Equestria. It's not the Rainbow Dash Show.

:colbert: Well it should be the Rainbow Dash Show! I'm the star!
“Fairy tales are more than true – not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.” ~ G. K. Chesterton
CrystalBrony
User avatar
Joined: Dec 14, 2014
Gender: Male

Postby Niels Olof (?) » Wed Dec 24, 2014 11:58 am

Together with Read It and Weep and the very unfairly panned The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well this episode is in my top three list of RD episodes. All three accurate character studies of the rainbow-coloured one.

The only real flaw was her perfect 100% score. I have all sympathy for different ways of learning, but as an educator I cannot in good conscience consider fly-by-diorama up to the task of reaching such dizzying heights of perfection. The ending would have been improved if Princess Twilight had proffered The Book to RD with the admonishment of actually reading the damn thing, or if Rainbow Dash had achieved a passing but not stellar grade (heck, just having it being a pass/fail exam would have been enough). Learning is hard, steady work, and we should not pretend otherwise.
In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro
Niels Olof
User avatar
Wide-ruled paper is for foals.
Rarity's Roughnecks
Joined: Nov 20, 2013
Location: Denmark
Gender: Male

Postby Headless Horse (?) » Wed Dec 24, 2014 3:31 pm

I think what I like most about this episode (and there's a lot to like!) is that there's a subtle but tasteful sense of continuity running throughout it, an awareness of where the story is in its arc. These are clearly not the Twilight and the Rainbow Dash that started out the series. Rainbow is well on her way to joining the Wonderbolts and is an avid pulp fiction reader, and Twilight is slowly but surely learning to fly (and is more teacher than student). And we get that both from the dialogue ("You're such a rookie") and the animation (Twilight landing on the cloud in the cold open and almost sinking through it). And also lots of little atmospheric details like Filthy Rich being a prop for Big Mac and the pets being recruited to put on a play.

This show can't usually afford to let itself get as serialized as something like, say, ATLA; it's designed for its major story arcs to be low-impact on the viewer's context. You should never have to sit through a "Previously on My Little Pony..." in order to know what's going on, except in the case of two-parters. But even given that, it's fun to see them push that envelope as hard as they can within the constraint. It really adds a lot to the texture of the world.
Headless Horse
User avatar
The pumpkin is strictly ornamental
Faithful Students
Joined: May 23, 2011

Postby CrystalBrony (?) » Thu Dec 25, 2014 12:08 am

I agree that they have achieved that goal very well throughout the series. Except for the two parters, there have been very few epsiodes where I feel as if I would be completely lost if I had never seen the show before. Sure, there are obviously going to be major plot holes that need to be filled in if you watched, say, an episode from mid-S4 and then a S1 episode back to back (like where the heck are Twilight's wings?). Aside from that, I think the writers do an amazing job of making sure each episode fits nicely in its own little 22-minute long container and still manages to keep the series moving as a whole.

EDIT: Just realized what ATLA stands for. I tried watching it once but I couldn't follow it and so despite what I thought was a fantastic animation style and fresh writing, not knowing what was going on really ruined it for me.
“Fairy tales are more than true – not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.” ~ G. K. Chesterton
CrystalBrony
User avatar
Joined: Dec 14, 2014
Gender: Male

Previous Next

Return to Pony Media Release Threads

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 1 guest