Once Upon a Time (complete)

[Sir Finkus]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

Yeah, I've noticed the season 2 episodes seem to be a lot more preachy.

[Tobias]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

There was too much of an agenda in the first act for me, like with Energy Book, but thankfully it let up for the rest of the ep.

Yeah, I've noticed the season 2 episodes seem to be a lot more preachy.

Definitely
In addition to inferior songs (with some exceptions, given) season 2's mo has been: have the first half of the ep be really flat and hammer your message, then drop it after the song and go back to being the best show on tv. School Scam, Pixel TV, and this ep really show this most off the top of my head
The bit where Pixel says "Reading is cool" and allthe kids nodding in agreement and then Mayor Milford of all people chimes in "Yes it is" -- >_< gaah, what a horrible little segment.

Other than that (and the song, which if not for Stephanie in the princess/red riding hood outfits and the other kids, woulda been a total bust) the ep was one of the better eps in season 2. The animation was good -- if not a bit weird for some reason, but its a neat gimmick that didn't overstay its welcome. Julianna was more "comfortable" in this ep than in other season 2 eps....tho it really sounded like she phoned in the voice over for the animated segments =P

I was talking to cicley yesterday and saying that I'd like the show to end on a high note. If they had saved this ep for last (or intended at least,) I would not mind at all because all the characters more or less "did their part" in the show the last words in the ep (saving for "Bing Bang" and Robbie's epilogue) are Stephanie saying "and they all lived happily ever after."

[ForGreatJustin]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

I think it was an awesome episode. So far I haven't really had a problem with messages, but when Pixel said reading is fun I did kinda cringe.

[crosis52]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

I think it's hard to get the message across on a tv show unless they're that direct. It's easy to demonstrate how great moving and eating sports candy are, but reading doesn't really require enough movement as opposed to the regular pace of LazyTown. If they just took out all of the preachy parts, it would end up like the LazyTown Snow Monster or Rockin' Robbie, i.e. not very educational, and not especially entertaining. All in all, if I had to choose between an episode being preachy or being mind-numbing, I'd go with preachy.

/rant
I just seem to be in a ranting mood today. :)

[Sir Finkus]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

They should have sticked to the season 1 forumla: just show everyone having fun while doing healthy activities without resorting to cheesey "reading is cool" type segments. I think it worked a lot better, now the "message" seems forced.

Still, once this one got going, it was a good episode.

[Tobias]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

Part of what made Lazytown appealing to me is that when they had a message (which wasn't always the case. What was the message of Secret Agent Zero?) it was secondary (if not tertiary) to being an entertaining show. Like, Dr. Rottenstein, the message was "fruits and veggies - good, junk food bad" but it never bogged down the ep, they never compromised the "energy" of the show. Whereas the recent trend is, lets front load the ep with moral junk thats not particularly engaging, then ramp up the fun and energy to make up for it in the second half.

And I thought Rockin Robbie was one of the best season 2 eps! It taught kids that rock and roll is pure and will never die \m/

[crosis52]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

yeah, season 2 lacks the subtlety of

*Sportacus knocks an apple out of the tree*
*Stephanie catches the enormous apple, while sporting a smile so large it might be digitally enhanced*
*Stephanie takes a bite* MMMMMMMM *The power up noise sounds, while the smile seems even larger*

yep, the cheese of season 2 needs to be much more refined,
of course, there is Ziggy's excellent response to "sports candy is great" from the Laziest Town, and I quote:
"Yeah, it's better than lying on the ground with your tummy full of junk"

[Tobias]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

true, but it wasn't as "distracting" as "reading/school is fun." It didn't take you out of the moment, it didn't compromise the energy. And whatsmore, your examples are still pretty much "in character" whereas some of the season 2 instances of preachiness i think are questionable in that respects.

Season 1 started the eps plot really quickly, whereas in the case of some of the season 2 eps, the plot doesnt even really start until the 10-15 minute mark, with all the time preceding being "the message" and that isn't as effective. Its the difference between taking your bitter medicine, then washing it down with something sweet afterwards, or mixing your meds with the sweet and maybe you wont taste the bitter at all.

[Sir Finkus]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

yeah, season 2 lacks the subtlety of

*Sportacus knocks an apple out of the tree*
*Stephanie catches the enormous apple, while sporting a smile so large it might be digitally enhanced*
*Stephanie takes a bite* MMMMMMMM *The power up noise sounds, while the smile seems even larger*

yep, the cheese of season 2 needs to be much more refined,
of course, there is Ziggy's excellent response to "sports candy is great" from the Laziest Town, and I quote:
"Yeah, it's better than lying on the ground with your tummy full of junk"

Sportacus: Mmm, I love sports candy, and it gives me lots of energy
Stephanie: Yeah, and it tastes so good too
Ziggy: I wish I could eat sports candy ALL the time
*all laugh*
Pixel: Did you know carrots contain a vitamin that helps you see better?
All: Wow!

etc...

Instead of showing how you can benifit from healthy behavior, the show seems to be telling how you can benifit. This particular episode didn't really show how you benifit from reading. The first half was just telling you that reading is good, and the second half was an almost completely unrelated story that doesn't at all show how reading is good for you.

[crosis52]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

You're correct about the recent stuff being out of character, I think they may have "painted themselves into a corner" by only tackling themes such as reading and school after spending the whole first season dealing with vegetables and exercise

How I think the plot should have gone:
open with Bessie's storytelling but have Stingy focusing on the stick house as a result of not paying attention to why the pig built a stick house, or maybe he's not even there, maybe he's counting his money or something, it just needs to be clear that he doesn't care about reading stupid books, there's the song,etc.
then, Pixel, Stingy, and Ziggy go off to play video games or something and Pixel ends up showing them his zapper thingy
needless to say, Stingy declares that it is his, and accidentally zaps himself and Ziggy into the story
Stingy builds his stick house because he doesn't want to waste the more valuable bricks, leaving Ziggy with the straw,
Pixel panics and gets Stephanie to agree to get zapped, so that she can keep the story the same, Robbie zaps himself for the same reason as the original
when the time comes, Stingy acts the same towards the wolf, because he doesn't know what happens next, and is shocked when the house is blown down, he wanders around, and Robbie arrives at the brick house, now occupied by Stephanie and Ziggy
when Robbie gets the bulldozer, Stephanie and Ziggy cry out, and Stingy hears and comes running, and Stephanie and Ziggy fail in their attempts to communicate that the wolf must fall down the chimney(they can't yell through the glass windows)
Stingy wishes that he had read the book
Sportacus saves the day, bing bang, etc.

[Edgar]

Thank you so much Kelly, Cannot Wait to see it.

[Crafty]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

Watching the episode right now. Thank you Kelly. Did anyone think this scene was ?

[Tobias]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

Watching the episode right now. Thank you Kelly. Did anyone think this scene was ?

I also expect to see the screencap of Stephanie in the princess outfit, passed out on the bench, with Pixel approaching her quite often

[Crafty]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

Watching the episode right now. Thank you Kelly. Did anyone think this scene was ?

I also expect to see the screencap of Stephanie in the princess outfit, passed out on the bench, with Pixel approaching her quite often

[img]http://img487.**********.us/img487/6138/vlcsnap11622977mb8.png[/img]

For a better close up of Stephanie.

[img]http://img413.**********.us/img413/8577/vlcsnap11623205ox8.png[/img]

[Ponycat]

Re: Once Upon a Time (complete)

Watching the episode right now. Thank you Kelly. Did anyone think this scene was ?

I also expect to see the screencap of Stephanie in the princess outfit, passed out on the bench, with Pixel approaching her quite often

I loved that bit
And it used an apple in a negative way...

Thanks so much Kelly for uploading this, I was relly stuck with the video to DVD conversion. :oops: Lazy Rockets will be on it's way soon.