Another episode featuring the Biskits. So to avoid repetition, have some ponies.
This week, the twins have a fight over academics of all things. This should be interesting.
Stream
The Brony Network
On-demand (will be added as they become available)
TVRip from the Hub (480p)
TVRip from the Hub (1080p)
Any additional sources can be sent to me on Twitter @theblackwidower, or by email at theblackwidower@noprestige.com, and I'll post them as soon as I am able.
Sigh... I know BOTH Adam Beechen and Roger Eschbacher can do better than this, especially when it's nothing to do with those two idiots...All I can do is sigh in disappointment at the time spent harping on this... and I thought last weeks felt flawed out the ass, despite not being as terrible as I thought it would be to begin with...
ReplyDeleteI'm being blunt - if I were to watch this a 2nd time, my opinion won't likely change... I just felt the whole way through that this was a bad idea from the start.
This break from those two idiots next week better be worth it, because right now I rank this week, and last week as well, below Secret Cupet (which is not a good sign, writers!), due to simply being either bad ideas or ideas whose potential to be good were ultimately faltered... Whether on paper on in practice.
And to think we had such decently good to spectacular episodes before this week and last week... Even if just IMHO, too!]
- The Shop Soldier
Well this was a step back from last week's episode I expected that, but more of a step back that I would like, but not a terrible episode. It is like a bumpy car ride, you get there and no real dammage. It is like every few moments they did something to irritate me, but not enough to make me hate the episode.
ReplyDeleteLet's get this out, JASPER IS BACK, JASPER IS BACK, NO NO NOOOOOOOOO!, GOD DAM IT TH PARTY IS OVER. Okay I got that out of the way, I do have some serious grips when it comes to that, more on that later.
I though the pet plot was predictable, and kind of dragged. The guest pets didn't excite me, I love that Sunil and Vinnie got focused, the whole part of the pets getting dragged into the feuds, reminds me of the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "The Great Divide", I always say the world would be better if more cartoons can try to be more like Avatar: The Last Airbender, but LPS chooses to be like the worst episode of A:TLA, okay but it wasn't too bad.
Now the Blythe plot, two things they did terribly wrong that they stopped in season 3 and they went back to their old bad ways. First of all, the pets were not involved at all in the plot, it was humans, even in "Some Assistance Required" Blythe plot had Cairo involved, you should always have a pet involved in someway even if it is not the 7 main pets.
And second of all, Jasper and Sue are back. No just no, I have no problem with them being extras, or background characters that have a scence and maybe a couple of lines. But they should not have important roles anymore, they are interferring with one of the elements of the human side of the show that I like, that is Blythe and Youngmee friendship, they make a great duo, I like their chemistry as characters, I am real excited about "Secret Recipe" hopefully there relationship well get that big development in that episode with you know what, anyway Sue and Jasper we don't need them mucking it up. We don't need a Larry and Elmyra to this duo. On the bright side we find out Youngmee's parents are alive. This plot was suppose to be a follow up to Blythe messing the ammusement park between season 1 and season 2, so I guess they were needed, hopefully this is a one thing. I am serious I don't want them interferring with the Blythe / Youngmee duo. Why can't they just move away.
And now onto the Biskits, they were okay. I am disappointed we couldn't follow up more on "Doorjammed" with either Brittany having her turn to bond with Blythe, or more of Blythe and Whittney bonding. I didn't like how they resolved this plot, it should have ended with Blythe talking to Whittney and tell her she should be proud of Brittany's grade and being smart is not a bad thing, and also tell Brittany not rub it in Whittany when she gets a better grade, and have the Bisktis realise knowledge is not the enemy. It is a shame they think that.
On the bright side, and I am full of bright sides today, I liked the scene when Blythe made the Biskits laugh, I thought the way the Biskits laughed at first, it does show that deep down they like Blythe and her antics, and like we saw in "Hamster Hoods", it appears to me the three of them are friends deep down, they just don't either know it or too stubbern to admit it.
And I loved the science class thing, seeing Brittany in lab coat was somthing to see, she looked cute, and what she did to Jasper, hillarous. Stuff like that happening to Jasper never gets old.
And the whole premese of feuds, I wonder if that is forshadowing to the LPS vs LEPS arc and Mrs. T and Fisher's pity feud.
So yeah this episode made a lot of mistakes, a big step back from the greatness of season 3, but it was still overal good or in the spirit of a theme of this episode passable.
Okay, I thought this episode had some very enjoyable scenes, but I didn't like the premise of either plot. The human plot has the Biskits seperated over a slight difference in grades and Britney decides to hang out with Blythe and the gang thinking that hanging with the "smart" kids is where she "belongs". Blythe and her friends are annoyed at this so they try to get the twins together. The pet plot has two koala cousins (both with stereotypical redneck accents, weird considering koalas are Australian) in a feud with each other over something they can't even remember feuding about. They randomly choose which pets will be on their sides and they rile them up against each other.
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Like I said, I don't like either of the plot ideas... I understand Blythe and her friends don't like the Biskits, but couldn't they have at least seen this as an opportunity to reform one of them? I think it would've made for a better episode if they welcomed Britney into the group and attempted to make her into a better person and instead she ends up sucking at it. If they wanted to go back to the status quo at the end they could've had her find out that hanging out with the "smart" kids isn't so great for her after all and then decide to crawl her way back to her other half. But no, it had to be about team Blythe putting up with or trying to avoid her. I liked the scene where Blythe thrashes around in a skateboard and lands in the dumpster, but it was only to get the twins to laugh at her together so they could get back together again. Again, I enjoyed a lot of the scenes but the reason behind what makes them happen kinda ruins it for me in a way.
I also don't like that the human plot is the seemingly dominant one in this episode. We have a few too many human scenes here. On the bright side, at least the Biskits are less jerky and more funny, I give this episode credit for that.
Now onto the pet plot... Okay, I liked the food fight scene and I liked the space scene where Vinnie and Sunil discuss what the hell is going on with the feud. Again, plenty of hilarity which is a plus from me, but everything that leads to it kinda leaves a sour aftertaste. I didn't like how the pets were just randomly chosen on different sides based on who happened to be on what side of the room when the koalas made their little border. What I think would've worked better is if the koalas forced the pets to choose sides and that could've served as the source of the conflict as well as an important moral. In the end, the koalas realize that they can't even remember what it was they were fighting over...and they make up. Nice to see them hug and all but it's just stupid how it's resolved.
This review makes me sound like I hate this episode. Don't get me wrong, I actually did enjoy much of what I saw in this episode. I just didn't like the way the plots were handled and it could've had less human scenes.
Looks like a more positive review is up to me. I'll, uh...do my best.
ReplyDeleteThe pet plot: I feel like this could have been better done in a short, since it should have been very easy to resolve. All it would have taken is for the main pets to just tell the koalas that they're not part of the feud and they aren't getting involved. They can't force them to hate each other and if Zoe can tell an alligator off and end it with "What are you going to do about it?", telling these two to leave them out of the fight should be simple.. Or, cut out all but establishing the feud, maybe a little something about watch captains and then Vinnie, perhaps excited by his new position, could ask what the fight is about, at which point the two koalas would have to admit they don't know and go out on the joke. As it is, I'm kind of wondering why the regular pets went along with this. If friendships can be temporarily broken for no other reason than "this koala I don't know says so," maybe it's not that strong. At least the argument in "Topped with Buttercream" was fueled by sugar and fear that it had turned into a problem of survival. Now that I think about it, none of these pets seem like very good friends because getting them to turn on one another is as simple as locking a door behind them.
That said, there were some good moments here, the one that comes most readily to mind being Vinnie and Sunil's moon fantasy. That and seeing Zoe get so angry. Slightly wolf-i-fied, I would go so far as to say.
The people plot: So many missed opportunities. They may never get the Biskits apart again (the writers or Blythe and co.), and all they did with it was confirm that, yes, they're annoying? Why was it so important to Whittany that she's the smart one that she was willing to snap at her twin so quickly? She doesn't like being the smart one and she clearly didn't like being alone. What did she do when she was by herself, probably for the first time that didn't involve a bathroom or sleeping? If Whittany doesn't like Blythe because her sister doesn't, why doesn't Brittany like her? Who is she constantly texting if not her sister? That one's more of a curiosity than a missed opportunity, but now that I've said it, don't you kinda wonder, too? And why would Whittany go where Blythe tells her to? I will say though that seeing the moral mixed in with "Blythe sucks" sentiments was pretty funny and I liked their trying not to laugh faces.
As a side-note, while I may not have the hate-on for Jasper that Steve up there does, he's not my favorite Kathleen Barr-voiced character on the show. But he did contribute to the episode by letting the dock plans slip and by his involvement in a couple of gags. But why did he forget how to walk as soon as he put on the camo? Sue was kind of useless, though, except to complete the group. Which hasn't happened in kind of a long time. It's been Blythe and Youngmee lately, which is fine since they work so close to one another and they work so well as a duo, but it was kind of strange to me that the others seemed to be falling by the wayside.
Overall, it wasn't a bad episode. The biggest sin it committed was making me okay with accepting Brittany as a 1.5 dimensional character. She's half of the antagonist, I shouldn't be able to write her off like that.
What you pointed out regarding the pet characters in general... Was the result of bad writing; but at it's core, it could also be a key factor as to why this show is not as popular nor good as MLP, as well, besides those damn idiot twins being in too many episodes for their own good.
DeleteReal friends don't act that stupid - Also, sometimes... Violence is the answer.
Quick addendum: Dat arm!
Deletehttp://postimg.org/image/8verqjlel/
First of all, I should point out that the HD upload by Spazz is up, despite the post not being updated yet: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x226wvp_littlest-pet-shop-309-feud-for-thought_animals
ReplyDeleteI feel like the B plot of this episode had promise from the beginning, by splitting the Biskits up. However, the way the went about this was all wrong. Let's start in chronological order though, since the episode begins with the P plot in the stinger. The only thing I really have to say about this is that I liked the reference to the Hatfield and the McCoys, potentially the most famous feud ever. Back to the B plot after the theme song, I see Jasper's back. Doesn't look like Steve's happy, even if I don't see much wrong with him. Of course, Blythe, Sue, and Youngmee all get respectable if not perfect grades on their tests. Apparently Youngmee's parents don't care what grade she gets as long as it starts with A, which doesn't help fight stereotypes. http://s.quickmeme.com/img/97/97bab7a4c6cf826dce01eefb257f3518f60d7354cf62221f19ededbe8252e27c.jpg We never find out what Jasper actually got though, he says he's "sure someone got a worse grade." Considering Brittany and Whittany got a D- and F, respectively, I'd say he's probably not wrong. This somehow starts a feud between the two of them since this is apparently the first time they got different grades, which seems only possible if they cheat off each other. How have they managed to do this all the way to High School without any teachers catching them? Anyway, to Whittany Brittany is now considered "smart" and thus the only advice she can give is to hang out with the "smart kids," AKA our human heroes.
Back to the P plot, the koalas belonging to the "Hatcoys" and "McFields" seem to share their feud and take to dividing the room with chalk and nopet is allowed to cross the line. Vinnie, Minka, Zoe, and Russell are caught on the Grey one's side and Sunil, Penny, and Pepper are caught on the Brown one's side. I couldn't keep track of which Koala was which so I'll just refer to them by their colors. Initially the pets think this is stupid but the koalas somehow manage to convince them. Grey appoints Sunil (who hails from the Indian Subcontinent) to be a Watch Captain which for some reason causes him to start fantasizing about Team Fortress 2. It's totally unnecessary and I can't believe Valve let them get away with it. Brown appoints Vinnie to be their Watch Captain, which Vinnie thinks means he has to wear a shit ton of watches.
Back to the B plot: Brittanny is following the human heroes around and annoying them. Whittany can be seen moping by herself, which is where the writers could have redeemed this episode by having Blythe talk to her about it, and potentially follow up on "Door Jammed." The writers instead just let it by and instead go for a bunch of visual gags involving Jasper being a cross between Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan from Harry Potter. Of course, he ends up letting it slip that the four are planning on going to the docks to Brittany by the same logic as Pinkie and Applejack in "The Last Roundup," except Brittany is talking about totally unrelated stuff.
Reply because I went over the character limit:
DeleteBack at the shop, the koalas are telling lies about the other pets to try to get the pets to feud, and somehow succeeding despite it being totally OOC for the pets. Nicole Oliver channels Rarity when Grey does it to her. Sunil and Vinnie somehow end up with a totally random fantasy on the moon where they start to dissent from the "hate everyone" ideology. Blythe comes home and they try to convince her to help, but she somehow ends up with an idea to help with the Biskits instead and leaves Sunil and Vinnie out to dry. This idea is apparently some roundabout plan that almost involves getting herself killed just so the Biskits can laugh at her and get all heartfelt and return to the status quo. Sidenote: Why would Blythe have their numbers? I somehow doubt they'd give them to her. Back at the shop, the pets ask the koalas how the feud started, and they can't remember, so they make up. Their owners come back and they go back to feuding. Blythe and "others" go to the dock, where the Biskits make fun of them. Status quo returns.
Overall score: 3/10 incredibly disappointing. And now we've got a few weeks before the next one I'm interested in, which is "Secret Recipe." Let's hope we can get at least some average episodes until then.
I don't see the show being cancelled due to negative reviews. Honestly the thing that will cause it to be cancelled is low toy sales. They've already got a problem with low viewership.
DeleteWhether it's low viewership or not, I continue to question the longevity capabilities of this show with episodes this bad. I can only hope there is more logic in what I say here than there was earlier this morning...
DeleteI still think someday that negative criticism should be enough to sink a bad show, IMHO (which I know LPS isn't - just not as good as MLP is all...) - so much actually bad stuff on TV today would get cancelled much quicker if such a thing were reality.
You are right in that respect. While I maintain that LPS is a good show, MLP is still superior.
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