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» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Books, Films, Food and Culture » "Pretty Little Liars" and "My Little Pony" are both apparently good shows (Page 1)

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Author Topic: "Pretty Little Liars" and "My Little Pony" are both apparently good shows
Raymond Arnold
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For a long time this was on my "guilty pleasure" list. At first glance the show looked like a girly soap opera marketed to the Twilight crowd, and I kept it classified under that stereotype for a while. But the fact is it's genuinely good show. Good acting, interesting plot, with a great Xanatos-style villain. There's some angsty high school drama, but none of the ridiculousness of Glee. And I know plenty of us are still watching Glee (even if we don't really know why anymore).

I could describe the plot, but it's twisty and turny and telling you the details won't really convey why it's good. The best description I can give is that this is a "Slytherin Show." (The good kind of Slytherin, as depicted in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality). Each character is an ambitious and cunning, weaving webs of lies around each other. There's a closely knit group of five girls, each with their own secrets. Initially their plots are small minded, high school affairs. Then there's a murder, and the girls are confronted by a mysterious villain who knows all their secrets and forces them to play their games at a much higher, dangerous level.

Almost all the characters are morally grey. I like that the show doesn't really force a particular moral down your throat - each character has their own motivations and they make decisions based on that. You might respect their motivations, you might not, and you're free to judge them (or not) however you like. Each of them has a reason for being the way they are, but that reason isn't treated as an excuse.

Has anyone else been watching this in secret?

[ March 19, 2011, 04:11 PM: Message edited by: Raymond Arnold ]

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Blayne Bradley
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The manga "Judge", "Doubt", "Liar Game", "Death Note" a few others.

edit: Oh, I thought you meant "Has anyone else seen shows similar to this?"

Woops, I guess not, but I might give it a look.

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Samprimary
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"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" is also a good show and I'm not embarrassed to admit it
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Phanto
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I watched part of the first episode then decided I was too icked out by the premise of the show combined with the ultra-high school girl type setting.

But will give it another shot now, thanks.

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scholarette
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quote:
Originally posted by Samprimary:
"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" is also a good show and I'm not embarrassed to admit it

My daughter and I eagerly watch that every Friday. It is the best kids show on right now. Before I had kids, I used to watch Powerpuff girls too (same producer I think).
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Raymond Arnold
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I have no idea whether you guys are joking.
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Raymond Arnold
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quote:
Originally posted by Phanto:
I watched part of the first episode then decided I was too icked out by the premise of the show combined with the ultra-high school girl type setting.

But will give it another shot now, thanks.

What part of the premise were you icked out by? The show definitely gets better than the first half of the first episode, but if you don't like the premise I don't know that you'll like it any better as time goes on.
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Aros
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This thread makes me smile.
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Samprimary
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quote:
Originally posted by Raymond Arnold:
I have no idea whether you guys are joking.

The new My Little Pony is done by Lauren Faust, who did work on Foster's Home for Imaginary Children, and decided to take a series that was originally going to be a cheap throwaway for selling toys using sailor-moon themed pony team, and turn it into something actually good for girls, and not braindead.

and which, in some bizarre unforseeable twist, became the largest most inescapable meme of the day among my contemporaries. This is actually the last forum I'm part of which is not yet full of adult males going 'aww ponies!'

4chan is trying to scale back the tide of ponies.
somethingawful has gotten literally thousands of dollars by a wave of my little pony avatar theme changes. I am not making any of this up. I have already brought and watched half of them with two daughters who are stuck at their mom's eight billion rehearsals at our orchestra, and it actually legitimately makes me laugh. And actually go 'awwwwwwwwww THAT IS SO ADORABLE sldkfjsgadf'

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Raymond Arnold
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Huh. I assumed you were making fun of me. Interesting. (I watched a clip after your first post, I didn't get far enough to see whether it's genuinely good, but I was definitely impressed with the animation).
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Blayne Bradley
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I've seen Goons also talk about it in a positive light, though I'm apprehensive. I think going into shonen targeted magical girl is as far I dare tread.
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Samprimary
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quote:
Originally posted by Raymond Arnold:
Huh. I assumed you were making fun of me.

welp, it's the assumption du jour these days
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Raymond Arnold
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On a scale of 1-10, 1 being Barney to 10 being Avatar the Last Airbender, what'd you rate the show?
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Shanna
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I'd judge you but I cried during the series finale of "Greek" last night. However, I did think that show was ABC Family's lucky break when it comes to good original programming.

A coworker at the bookstore (who loves a good guilty pleasure as much as myself) did watch the first episode of "Pretty Little Liars" and did some research on the books. She was turned off by the idea of highly-sexualized teenagers stealing boyfriends and hooking up with teachers. It seemed very "Desperate Housewives" to me but with younger stars. Just not my cup of fluff.

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Raymond Arnold
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I'm not sure what I think of in terms of the social impact of the show. I wouldn't be making this post if the show was nothing but the soap opera stuff. I feel like the show manages to walk a line of depicting questionable things without glamorizing them. (I've felt from the beginning that the character who hooks up with the teacher is being an idiot and the teacher is being irresponsible, and I haven't felt like the show was trying to convince me otherwise). But I'm sure there are plenty of creepy old guys fantasizing about Aria and plenty of young girls idolizing her.

That does concern me, and I totally understand if its a dealbreaker for anyone. But I think overall the four girls are positive role models that are very self-driven. Some of them make bad decisions about the guys in their lives, but ultimately the guys(girl) in their lives are mostly secondary to their main goals, instead of the defining aspect of their character. (I don't watch m(any) girl-targeted shows show I don't know what's actually common in that regard these days).

(Again, compared to Glee, which squicks me out almost weekly by throwing sexed up stripdancing teenagers at us while trying to make statements about safe, healthy sex and self image).

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Samprimary
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quote:
Originally posted by Raymond Arnold:
On a scale of 1-10, 1 being Barney to 10 being Avatar the Last Airbender, what'd you rate the show?

On a scale of 1 to 10 it's .. pony. It's totally its own thing. Have already seen many episodes with those adorable girls who are in absolute rapture while the show's on. It's like their favorite thing ever. It evokes like this unstoppable amazing incomparable happiness with life, the universe, and everything. I'm amazed. The show is absolutely a good thing. Lauren Faust, who's in charge of the show, gives a revealing look into why:

quote:
I have been a lifelong feminist, and as an artist working in the animation industry for more than 16 years I have striven to do right by women and girls in the animated projects I have been part of. I try to bring sincerity and depth to the female characters I’ve animated and have fought in development and story meetings to make female characters more than just the typical girlfriend, Mom or sex symbol. I’ve even fought to see that there was more than just one girl character in whatever project I was working on. Sometimes I swayed my coworkers (often it was easy, to their credit) and sometimes I lost. My goal, as an artist and as a storyteller, was to one day have a show of my own for and about girls.

After years and years of pitching original animation for girls to studios and networks and always hearing “This is great, but animated shows for girls don’t get ratings,” or “Girls don’t watch cartoons,” I finally got the opportunity to have my own show. It’s called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

I was extremely skeptical at first about taking the job. Shows based on girls’ toys always left a bad taste in my mouth, even when I was a child. They did not reflect the way I played with my toys. I assigned my ponies and my Strawberry Shortcake dolls distinctive personalities and sent them on epic adventures to save the world. On TV, though, I couldn’t tell one girl character from another and they just had endless tea parties, giggled over nothing and defeated villains by either sharing with them or crying–which miraculously inspired the villain to turn nice. Even to my 7-year-old self, these shows made no sense and couldn’t keep my interest. No wonder the boys at school laughed at my Rainbow Unicorn Trapper Keeper.

From what I’ve seen since I’ve grown up, little has changed. To look at the quality of most girls’ cartoons, it would seem that not one artist really cared about them. Not one designer, not one background painter, not one animator. Some of the more well-meaning, more expensive animated productions for girl audiences may look better, but the female characters have been so homogenized with old-fashioned “niceness” that they have no flaws and are unrelatable. They are so pretty, polite and perfect; there is no legitimate conflict and nothing exciting ever happens. In short, animated shows for little girls come across as boring. Stupid. Lame.

This perception, more than anything, is what I am trying to change with My Little Pony.

...

The messages I’m really trying to get across with the show are these:

* There are lots of different ways to be a girl. You can be sweet and shy, or bold and physical. You can be silly and friendly, or reserved and studious. You can be strong and hard working, or artistic and beautiful. This show is wonderfully free of “token girl” syndrome, so there is no pressure to shove all the ideals of what we want our daughters to be into one package. There is a diversity of personalities, ambitions, talents, strengths and even flaws in our characters–it’s not an army of cookie-cutter nice-girls or cookie-cutter beauty queens like you see in most shows for girls.
* Find out what makes you you. Follow your passions and ambitions, not what others expect of you. For instance, if you like sports don’t let someone’s suggestion that that is unfeminine stop you from doing what you love. Be considerate of others’ feelings, but not at the expense of your own goals and dreams.
* You can be friends with people who are vastly different from you. And even though all friendships have their share of disagreements and moments when you don’t get along, that does not mean that your friendship has to end.
* Cartoons for girls don’t have to be a puddle of smooshy, cutesy-wootsy, goody-two-shoeness. Girls like stories with real conflict; girls are smart enough to understand complex plots; girls aren’t as easily frightened as everyone seems to think. Girls are complex human beings, and they can be brave, strong, kind and independent–but they can also be uncertain, awkward, silly, arrogant or stubborn. They shouldn’t have to succumb to pressure to be perfect.

Yes, My Little Pony is riddled with pink, the leader is a Princess instead of a Queen and there probably aren’t enough boys around to portray a realistic society. These decisions were not entirely up to me. It has been a challenge to balance my personal ideals with my bosses’ needs for toy sales and good ratings. I do my best to incorporate their needs in an acceptable way, so when we are asked to portray a certain toy or playset, my team and I work to put it in a place that makes sense within the story. There is also a need to incorporate fashion play into the show, but only one character is interested in it and she is not a trend follower but a designer who sells her own creations from her own store. We portray her not as a shopaholic but as an artist.

I never expected to work on a show based on a toy line, but I accepted the project based on my sincere childhood love of the toy and Hasbro’s desire to create an entertaining show that is not just a long toy commercial. When I took the job, I braced myself for criticism, expecting many people–without even watching the show–to instantly label it girly, stupid, cheap, for babies or an evil corporate commercial. I encourage skeptics like this to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with an open mind. If I’m doing my job right, I think you’ll be surprised.


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ambyr
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. . .you are making me want to add another show to my rotation, which I so very much do not need. I still need to finish Dexter! And Due South! And rewatching Avatar!

But man, I loved My Little Pony as a kid. . .

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scholarette
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Ambyr- so far only like 16 episodes at half hour each. My husband and I have talked aboutwhy we like my little pony and we came up with 2 points that were mentioned in the quote above- charecters and conflict. Just for comparison, watch the new stawberry shortcakes (conveniently on just before ponies). But ponies took the time to make distinct characters which is nice. Also, a lot of times, they don't go for the typical ending. Like they run a race and do a turtle and hare kind of thing, but the turtle wins 4th not first (hares win last). A minor difference but it makes things less hokey.
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Vadon
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All right, so I was highly suspicious of My Little Pony. But knowing Tara Strong played the main pony and it was produced by Lauren Faust was enough to draw me into the first episode. I laughed a couple times and loved the animation style, but wasn't sold on it. So I thought I'd give it another episode (Episode 3, since the pilot was two episodes).

I just finished Episode 18 and I'll admit it.

It's a great show.

Curse you Samp for giving my friends another thing to mock me for. [Razz]

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leeyn
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(Post Removed by Janitor Blade. Spam)

[ March 18, 2011, 01:18 AM: Message edited by: JanitorBlade ]

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TomDavidson
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Hey, leeyn. Spam much?
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Geraine
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I'll admit I watched Greek. I thought it was a good show and made me laugh quite a bit. (Especially Beaver!) I'm sad that it ended.

My brother kept telling me that I should watch Pretty Little Liars and I told him that I didn't want to watch a girly show. But now I might watch it.

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katharina
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This is the second mention of the My Little Pony show that I've seen. I LOVE the creator's essay. That's perfect.
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ambyr
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I finally watched the first three episodes of the My Little Pony show. I don't think it'll be making it into my regular rotation--the animation is a little too stylized for my taste--but for something to watch while I was flat-on-my-back sick, it was perfect. Thanks for the recommendation!
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Samprimary
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quote:
Originally posted by Vadon:

Curse you Samp for giving my friends another thing to mock me for. [Razz]

she's an evil enchantress
and she does evil dances

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Dan_Frank
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We watched the first two episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic the other night, instead of going to bed when I should have.

It was... incredibly adorable. Will definitely watch it again.

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AchillesHeel
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Let me know when My Little Pony goes more in this direction.
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Phanto
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Greek is an amazing show, it really is/was. Watched that show religiously and know like all the details of who did what to whom and when. Normally I hate trashy, melodramatic dramas.

great show.

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Aris Katsaris
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Thank you for this thread. I checked both shows: Pretty Little Liars is quite decent, and "My Little Pony" was *excellent*. Here's another guy now hooked to the latter.
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Raymond Arnold
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I am really tickled by how this basically became the My Little Pony thread. I haven't checked it out yet in detail but I intend to. ("Quite decent" is a pretty fair description of Pretty Little Liars)
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C3PO the Dragon Slayer
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quote:
Originally posted by AchillesHeel:
Let me know when My Little Pony goes more in this direction.

That totally made my day.
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Architraz Warden
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quote:
Originally posted by AchillesHeel:
Let me know when My Little Pony goes more in this direction.

I'll see you that, and raise you a SC II Trailer version. I love this video... though I'm slightly ashamed to admit that.
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Raymond Arnold
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[ROFL]
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AchillesHeel
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I lost this hand Arch, that was even better.

Edit

Its not My Little Pony, but is plenty ridiculous.

[ March 21, 2011, 12:08 PM: Message edited by: AchillesHeel ]

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Samprimary
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So, uh,

CUE AMAZEMENT

A/V Club noticed this show and is amazed by it.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic,55168/

quote:
The last time I had this many people tell me a show was worth watching before adding on some sort of embarrassed admission to the effect of, “I know how it sounds, but trust me,” was with the Battlestar Galactica remake, where a number of friends spent most of the first season insisting it was much, much, much better than the source material. But where that show just had to overcome the fact that it was based on a show that had a reputation as one of the biggest flops in TV history, My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic has to overcome a great many things (including the fact that its title needs a colon and doesn’t have one). But the chief one is this: It’s about f***** cartoon ponies.

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Tarrsk
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I saw the "Ponycraft 2" video a few weeks ago and was equal-parts stunned by how great the animation in "My Little Pony" was and how incredibly awful the dialogue was in "Starcraft 2." I mean, I kind of noticed that the dialogue was cheesey and laden with cliche while playing the game, but somehow it didn't really sink just how bad it was. Until, that is, I heard Jim Raynor's dumbass drawl coming from an adorable purple pony.

Anyway! I was a big fan of "Dexter's Lab" and "Powerpuff Girls" back in the day, and something about the animation seemed oddly familiar. Wikipedia dutifully informed me that Lauren Faust, a familiar name, was behind the new show, and apparently it was drawing a varied fanbase of young and old alike, much like its Cartoon Network predecessors did ten years ago.

So I looked up the pilot on Youtube. I'm now up to episode 11 and loving the hell out of this show. The animation is jaw-dropping and the whole thing is just a ton of fun. Plus I get a kick out of the fact that Twilight Sparkle is, basically, a grad student.

Odd realization: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" makes for a great double-header with "Game of Thrones." Wash down that dark, morally ambiguous epic fantasy with a 20-minute dose of brightly colored cartoon ponies singing about being best friends!

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Samprimary
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quote:
I saw the "Ponycraft 2" video a few weeks ago and was equal-parts stunned by how great the animation in "My Little Pony" was and how incredibly awful the dialogue was in "Starcraft 2." I mean, I kind of noticed that the dialogue was cheesey and laden with cliche while playing the game, but somehow it didn't really sink just how bad it was. Until, that is, I heard Jim Raynor's dumbass drawl coming from an adorable purple pony.
The dialogue in Starcraft II was bad and the story was also bad, having been written obtusely around a series of cutscenes that, when you think about them, are amazingly dumb and make no sense.
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theamazeeaz
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quote:
Originally posted by Shanna:
I'd judge you but I cried during the series finale of "Greek" last night. However, I did think that show was ABC Family's lucky break when it comes to good original programming.

A coworker at the bookstore (who loves a good guilty pleasure as much as myself) did watch the first episode of "Pretty Little Liars" and did some research on the books. She was turned off by the idea of highly-sexualized teenagers stealing boyfriends and hooking up with teachers. It seemed very "Desperate Housewives" to me but with younger stars. Just not my cup of fluff.

One of the things that made "Desperate Housewives" work for my very tomboyish college roommate was the surprising fact (at least for the first seasons which we watched years ago, I haven't kept up much since) that the main characters were friends and not competing with each other-- the unifying season arc was a mystery they solved together. It was also very good at showing the bad things the housewives did as bad and stupid actions of, ahem, desperate people. I haven't seen PLL, but saw commercials when I was home for Easter, but if it's anything like DH, I might want to.
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katharina
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That's one of the reasons I like The Vampire Diaries - there are three female friends, and they don't compete with each other. They don't always interact every episode, but when they do, they are real friends. None of the three female characters are idiots - they are all self-respecting, intelligent human beings. I like it.

The second reason I love The Vampire Diaries is the pacing and the plotting. EVERY SINGLE EPISODE would be a season finale on another show.

Finally, Ian Somerholder. Because I am weak.

-----

Saw two or three episodes of Pretty Little Liars and didn't like it, which you'd think I'd would. I don't remember why, except nothing grabbed me and several things put me off.

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Vadon
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And so ends the first season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

I can't believe this became the show I looked most forward to for new episodes.

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Samprimary
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I can, especially considering I get the high-definition versions of each episode and bring them to the kids who are flat-out GIDDY WITH EXCITEMENT to watch it during rehearsal.

it's like sharing love, joy, magic, happiness, and all that. It warms my bitter, jaded heart.

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PSI Teleport
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Just watched the first minute of the first episode of MLP. When they described the "bad pony" as a wicked mare of darkness, I heard, instead, "a wicked mayor of darkness" and haven't been able to stop laughing.
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theamazeeaz
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Apparently Lauren Faust is leaving the show.

http://fyre-flye.deviantart.com/

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Rakeesh
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Man, I haven't even watched* the show and that makes me sad, just because of the kinds of things I've heard about it, and the attitude it takes towards storytelling in animation, towards children, and towards animated storytelling for girl kids in particular.

*Although I was actually watching the pilot and was almost done with part 1 when I read this news that she was leaving. I always wonder, when I see things like this, what the real story is.

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katharina
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With any luck, she got an offer to develop her own show for a different venue that was a wonderful opportunity for her.

Learn Physics with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

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Raymond Arnold
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Loved the physics presentation, even if his assumptions are horribly wrong. (Namely, that a world where weather is manufactured by flying ponies with magic horns would possibly be running on conventional physics).
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katharina
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"wrong" isn't the word I'd use there. "I disagree", definitely, if you feel that way, but...really. "Wrong" is way too strong for the situation when you're discussing your made up underpinnings versus his made up underpinnings.
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Raymond Arnold
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[nerdfight]

a) It is my opinion that when arguing about the physics or lack thereof of a show designed to appeal to eight year old girls, conducting yourself as if you were having an adult discussion just isn't a priority. The comedic value of having an overly serious and dramatic discussion about ponies outweighs whatever benefit I'd get from politely and accurately critiquing a youtube video on a forum that the physics instructor will never see.

b) Seriously, the show pretty explicitly spells out that their entire scientific framework is different than ours. If it were just a matter of "magic exists" there'd be a wide array of possible explanations with varying degrees of compatibility with modern physics. But when clouds are made in giant vats and moved around by pegasi, it's obvious that this world does not follow our rules. (They even have an episode where they discuss a different kingdom which DOESN'T follow their rules and instead follows ours, or at least something similar to ours. This isn't my opinion, it's explicit in the show).

[/nerdfight]

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PSI Teleport
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Toward the end, doesn't he point out that he disagrees with everything about the pony world, including the fact that magic is just plain wrong?
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Raymond Arnold
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Yup.
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