BASeCamp Programming Blog

No, I’m not talking about a mysterious bacterial infection that is sweeping the nation. I’m actually talking about a television show. At least I think it’s on television, not sure. I stumbled upon it while browsing www.knowyourmeme.com. I’m really not sure how I ended up there. Anyway, so I found myself on this page. HAHA. I said to myself. GOTTA SEE HOW DUMB THIS IS. So pressed play. Mixed opinion on the opening sequence, good animation. sensible music that isn’t really really annoying. At least they got somebody to actually write the song, anyway. So, very soon I noticed that I was no longer watching it in an ironic “let’s see how ridiculous this is” fashion. I discovered I thought it was great. This caused a crisis of sorts for me; until I realized that no such crisis really exists except in my mind. Perhaps that was solidified by a response in IRC when I made it clear I was not being facetious when I repeatedly stated “My little pony rules”.

<Me> MLP=My Little Pony the new one
<Me> it’s gangster man
<Other> ahhh yes
<Me> it’s hip and cool and pop and fresh
<Me> and also it is clearly done in flash and is very well animated
<Me> makes me want to make my own non-crappy cartoon
<Other> It’s retarded is what it is
<Me> no man you’re just ignorant
<Me> heh

Note the immediately close-minded opinion about it, based entirely on it’s name. “Neotenous multi-hued sapient female horses? Clearly such a show is designed for the intellectually inferior needing to see many colourful objects to maintain their attention”. To be fair my response was less brash; mostly on account of expecting just such a close-minded reception based entirely on the title of the show… or maybe the introductory sequence. I suppose the less secure in your own masculinity you are the more uncomfortable liking the show makes you feel, so some people avoid that discomfort by simply refusing to allow the show to be “enjoyed” by them, and merely state that “it’s retarded” without any actual data; instead providing blanket statements that in no way- as shown above- attempt to discredit That it’s well done in flash and well animated; it also has good writing. No attempt was made to discredit that, so I could just as easily say that any show of any sort done in flash that is well animated and has good writing sucks. Although to be fair no particularly common shows come to mind, I don’t think that Family Guy is animated in Flash; I think South Park is, though. At least, now it is.

<Other> Sorry had to be said
<Other> Your a grown Man… act your age not your shoe size

Again, not surprising; Although to be fair I was somewhat surprised that somebody who essentially prided themselves in their ability to come to logical conclusions based on evidence rather then feelings would do the latter. I was actually somewhat disappointed in that respect. Nonetheless, I perservered

<Me> I mean come on, where else but some sort of street gang will somebody be named “twilight sparkle” yeah, that’s what I thought
<Me> FACE
<Other> heh
<Other> OK may be act your age and not your IQ
<Me> oddly enough it’s fanbase is mostly people like myself who were inadvertently directed to it by that damned knowyourmeme.com
<Me> I was all HAHA! this is gonna suck
<Me> but just like that damned minecraft I underestimated it

You’ll note that my good friend here continues to pile on the hate for something of which he only has very limited information; at this point in time he is only aware that it is well animated and well written, and that it has a name implicating the presence of mares suffering from extreme cases of dwarfism.

Now, to be fair, the target demographic- I think- is definitely younger girls. But I mean, if you are willing to entirely dismiss a piece of creative work based entirely on it’s target demographic then clearly you are more close-minded then you profess; after all, megaman is a Nintendo game and was no doubt written for people with Nintendo’s of the time, which generally meant 10-14 year olds; similar to other machines such as the ZX Spectrum. So you say “well, of course you still like it, you played it when you were younger”. And you would have me there; except the first Megaman game I played was Megaman X when I was 17, and I was more “meh” at the fact that it was a SNES game using a password system.

I didn’t play the “classic” (“original” Megaman series) until FAR later, so there was no shield of nostalgia that could be said to be preventing me from seeing how crappy they are. Perhaps it is this very shield of nostalgia that allows me to find Megaman 6 to be my favourite of the 6 NES games? I’ve found this to be an uncommon viewpoint but I hold to it. MM2 comes a very close second. Although I haven’t played 6 in ages.

In any case, my point is that a lot of people seem to think that target demographic makes any bit of difference. It shouldn’t. If you actually see the “Y” rating on MLP and shrug away because it might make you feel like less of a man, then go ahead and do so; clearly you aren’t very secure in your masculinity. I have a job and work and I’ll watch whatever I damn well please though, regardless of ratings. After all, most of my favourite Nintendo games are Rated “Kids to Adults” And everybody knows the “to adults” part is only added so people playing them that are around my age and have the sense of sexual security of a purple scarf on viagra don’t feel “unconformist” if they play and enjoy said game.

Moving along though; I think what is important is to not highlight the bits that are clearly “dumbed down” in the show- that’s the problem when people try to view these things, they often don’t look at it subjectively and instead start the show off with -100 points and give the show an additional -100 points for every “silly kidlike thing” it does; such as for example the ridiculous “what lesson have you learned” at the end (which really seems like something that some higher-ups said they needed, it often seems rather contrived). It’s important to look at it objectively.

And seriously, I mean, come on. IT HAS A FREAKING TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES EPISODE. Ok, to be fair they were called “parasprites” but the same plot is there, one of them finds this “cute” little bug thing, they take it home, it multiplies on the way back, so she gives it to one of the other ponies, and so on, until the entire place is overrun with them. It doesn’t have klingons though, so I suppose that’s a minus point. lacking kirk could go either way though. In any case, while it has the same core plotline as the Star Trek episode the setting of course necessitates a few changes in the name of artistic license.

But seriously… one of it’s plots is based on a Star Trek episode. How will a young girl know this? they won’t. But clearly there was an intent at a connection, with the various clear similarities. In a way it reminds me of my own Flash Videos; with the exception that it’s animated well and actually has some coherent plots; but what I mean is the fantasical nature of it all; I mean, in my “Agent Stick” flash videos (you know the staple of any beginning flash animator) “Mr.Gregorson” somehow manages to make clones. I never explain this… I probably couldn’t if I wanted to. It’s clearly unscientific, particularly that one scene where one of his clones transforms into a “corporate magnet” <<< (see, puns too)… what was I talking about?

Anyway, clearly the best demonstration is to cut away the wheat from the chaff; of course somebody has to separate wheat from chaff to make flour but some people feel like making broad generalizations like “there is no wheat, only chaff” without even grabbing a mortar and pestle. They require handholding down the path of not being a moron to be enlightened. For those viewers, there are several youtube videos.

Here’s a short clip I took from another video:

I mean. Come on. That is hilarious… Actually, come to think if it, it sort of reminds me of that Family Guy Episode where they all have superpowers and are investigating them. I forget the exact dialogue but I do recall that Lois stated “we should only use our powers for good/when we need them” and Peter responded “roger”… and had transformed into a sandwich. Except in this case they all get nicknames. In this case the “Curse” is more akin to an illness caused by a blue plant called- get this- Poison Joke. haha! get it, Poison Oak… Poison Joke! HAHA. Some may say “wow, that’s stupid, a blue flower that does that” Well, true, but Then again flowers have done stranger things on star trek, including making Spock Climb trees. Truly the effect from Poison Joke is not as extensive as a plant that can make spock climb trees . Seriously. If you think so, you are clearly lying to yourself. Spock Climbing trees is almost as unthinkable as a scene on any star trek episode with a dinner that actually get’s finished. (Am I seriously the only one who notices that? they have like a full plate of food and then somebody calls them away and they just sort of leave it… Seriously do the characters ever get the finish a god damned meal?

	Ahh finally, We can sit down to a nice breakfast. Just Coffee and Croissant like we agreed that time we could like read each others minds.
	Did we ever actually do anything about the people who endangered our lives?
	Naw we just figured they did it for the lulz.
	hey gais sorry to interrupt but you’re like needed on the bridge, not a structure crossing over a body of water bridge though, lolz, the one on the ship.
	Wait, why?
	I am number 1 I call the shots around here, lolz, but there are like… romulans
	ROMULANS?
	Romulans?
	yeah, dat’s what I said, I shaved my beard lolz
	can’t we finish our breakfast?
	lolz I guess so but they are like, on our ship now killin our redshirts, soon we will be prisoners of war lol
	I would rather die then be a prisoner of war like my father!
	lol worf and his honour and klingon stuff, haha, we tricked u dood you’re just a human with a lot of makeup
	O RLY?
	haha yeah
	lol my beard grew back
	If I wear a hat am I klingon?
	LOL no I can do tests and make flashy lights with a piece of plastic if you like
	lol no remember that time I had blood fever or whatever
	No
	Oh yeah you weren’t here lol
	lol that was when we had the other doctor we never talk about, The romulans like killed the black guy at the console lol now I sad.

…

So, yeah. Aside from that, it breaks from “tradition” and follows a different “format” most cartoons like it split themselves into two plotlines; The problem with that is you’ve got two 10 minute episodes rather then one longer 22 minute episode; The “Longer” episodes are generally what you find in shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, South park, etc. With longer episodes there is more time for character development; In family Guy for example, think of how much they would have to cut out if they basically had to reduce each episode in half- Say goodbye to most flashbacks; and a lot of the Stewie griffin soliloquys would no doubt be gone; there would be no time to develop Meg into the Butt Monkey, and it would all in all be far less fun to watch. With more time per plot, there is more time for plain old character development. Prime example being Fluttershy and the Dragon; without most of the previous episode for context it’s difficult to understand the scope of that scene.

In any case, I felt like writing something. Seems a good chunk of this post is a fictional dialogue in The Next Generation, but I suppose that’s somewhat inevitable.

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