2012-08-13, 04:32 AM
I think more or less the point of "Double Rainboom" is that it's a homage, and a chance for the people involved to show off skills, be they animating, voicing, or music.
It's not very unique, and neither are the other fan-made episode projects, but they are well done, and that's nice.
I really think the homage is really what they're going for. If they wanted to do anything unique, it has to be in the bounds of what can be "homage" and not "parody". That means that the final script can't deviate too far from what an actual episode might be, and neither can the music, animation, or overall feel. VAing, is something entirely different, it's neigh impossible to do a perfect match.
The .MOV series (and Jappleack), the Mentally Advanced Series, Friendship is Witchcraft, many tumblr blogs; all parody. They don't draw much from the original source, other than basic character models, candy colored equines, and a few personality quirks. Sometimes they do borrow the show's tone, but not always.
Comics sometimes fall here too; Pixelkitties and CSImadmax tend to be somewhere between homage and parody; they maintain the feel of the show and it's characters, but also draw from other sources and sometimes stray from the original feel. Veggie55 tends to lean more toward homage. His strips may be more risque or mature at times, but you still feel that on the whole, they could be things that happen in the show's universe. WillDrawForFood1, who does "Ask Suprise" would be here too, as would the artist of DisorderlyConduct. Most fan music fits in this section as well.
Other tumblr blogs tend to fall more under "homage". Original Twilight, Ask the Flower Trio, Ask the Pie Sisters, any ask blog that stays to the original characters from the show, all tend to maintain the feel of the show, sometimes with canon characters, sometimes without; but they still stay more or less true to the source material. Picture Perfect Pony would be here as well.
Then there's things like Discord Whooves, which takes place in a similar universe, and takes inspiration from the show, but also draws from other sources, fanon, etc. They have little to do with the show, but if done well, can still be popular.
All the artists I mentioned are "creative" through different ways of using the source material, some more, some less.
I guess what makes projects like Double Rainboom unique is how un-unique they are. They're intended to be fanmade episodes, so, what they're trying for is exactness. This... isn't something we see much. Things like "Picture Perfect Pony" work well, because it fits in with Photo Finish's personality, and it feels like part of the show's universe. The problem with a whole episode is drawing lines. What point does homage become parody? When do references to fanon or memes start to corrupt the idea of the show? Ask blogs that stay true to their characters work well because they have material to draw from; other bloggers. If they have enough people who know what the pineapple they're doing working on it, then it could be well done.
They have to more or less reverse engineer that; what makes the show good?
1. Characters
2. Writing
3. Animation
4. Music
5. Voice Acting
6. The Fans
1 is easy, they're making a homage, they have characters ready for them. 3, as you can already tell, is time consuming, but doable, and they've done a great job so far. 4 is tricky, but we have such a wide variety of musicians that it's not a huge hurdle. 5 is tough. You can't match a voice exactly, but people like Rina and Bree Faith do a decent job, so it's not too bad. 6 is simple, Bronies will most likely eat it up. 2 is where the problem comes for reasons I mentioned earlier, and it'll depend on who they have writing. Consider that these writers are writing for fans only, not the wide demographic the show tries for. If they have the feel of the episode, then for all intents and purposes, I'll enjoy watching it.
There's just no way to tell how good it will be until we see it; it could be really bland and terrible. What makes the show so amazing is how well those six elements blend together in perfect harmony(that was dumb of me), getting fans to do that might be a little tricky.
tl;dr
I spend way too much time reading into this fandom and the people in it.
It's not very unique, and neither are the other fan-made episode projects, but they are well done, and that's nice.
I really think the homage is really what they're going for. If they wanted to do anything unique, it has to be in the bounds of what can be "homage" and not "parody". That means that the final script can't deviate too far from what an actual episode might be, and neither can the music, animation, or overall feel. VAing, is something entirely different, it's neigh impossible to do a perfect match.
The .MOV series (and Jappleack), the Mentally Advanced Series, Friendship is Witchcraft, many tumblr blogs; all parody. They don't draw much from the original source, other than basic character models, candy colored equines, and a few personality quirks. Sometimes they do borrow the show's tone, but not always.
Comics sometimes fall here too; Pixelkitties and CSImadmax tend to be somewhere between homage and parody; they maintain the feel of the show and it's characters, but also draw from other sources and sometimes stray from the original feel. Veggie55 tends to lean more toward homage. His strips may be more risque or mature at times, but you still feel that on the whole, they could be things that happen in the show's universe. WillDrawForFood1, who does "Ask Suprise" would be here too, as would the artist of DisorderlyConduct. Most fan music fits in this section as well.
Other tumblr blogs tend to fall more under "homage". Original Twilight, Ask the Flower Trio, Ask the Pie Sisters, any ask blog that stays to the original characters from the show, all tend to maintain the feel of the show, sometimes with canon characters, sometimes without; but they still stay more or less true to the source material. Picture Perfect Pony would be here as well.
Then there's things like Discord Whooves, which takes place in a similar universe, and takes inspiration from the show, but also draws from other sources, fanon, etc. They have little to do with the show, but if done well, can still be popular.
All the artists I mentioned are "creative" through different ways of using the source material, some more, some less.
I guess what makes projects like Double Rainboom unique is how un-unique they are. They're intended to be fanmade episodes, so, what they're trying for is exactness. This... isn't something we see much. Things like "Picture Perfect Pony" work well, because it fits in with Photo Finish's personality, and it feels like part of the show's universe. The problem with a whole episode is drawing lines. What point does homage become parody? When do references to fanon or memes start to corrupt the idea of the show? Ask blogs that stay true to their characters work well because they have material to draw from; other bloggers. If they have enough people who know what the pineapple they're doing working on it, then it could be well done.
They have to more or less reverse engineer that; what makes the show good?
1. Characters
2. Writing
3. Animation
4. Music
5. Voice Acting
6. The Fans
1 is easy, they're making a homage, they have characters ready for them. 3, as you can already tell, is time consuming, but doable, and they've done a great job so far. 4 is tricky, but we have such a wide variety of musicians that it's not a huge hurdle. 5 is tough. You can't match a voice exactly, but people like Rina and Bree Faith do a decent job, so it's not too bad. 6 is simple, Bronies will most likely eat it up. 2 is where the problem comes for reasons I mentioned earlier, and it'll depend on who they have writing. Consider that these writers are writing for fans only, not the wide demographic the show tries for. If they have the feel of the episode, then for all intents and purposes, I'll enjoy watching it.
There's just no way to tell how good it will be until we see it; it could be really bland and terrible. What makes the show so amazing is how well those six elements blend together in perfect harmony(that was dumb of me), getting fans to do that might be a little tricky.
tl;dr
I spend way too much time reading into this fandom and the people in it.