On Filler and Recap Episodes
Oct. 12th, 2009 11:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tsukikageIn your mind, is filler "material that wasn't in the original work", "material that doesn't contribute to an overarching plot", or something else?
And if you contribute to the "material that doesn't contribute to an overarching plot", how... driving... does that plot have to be before filler can exist for a series?
Also, is filler necessarily bad? What about usually?
Part of the reason I ask is that on the Chi's New Address forums on MAL people were complaining about the filler episodes in the series, and that had me a bit boggled. In my mind filler is primarily material that doesn't contribute to an overarching plot, which is often inserted to "fill in" when an anime gets ahead of its original manga counterpart (and designed not to interfere with original canon). But regardless of how it may deviate from an original work, a series whose longest plot arcs last 8 3-minute episodes AT MOST can't really have "filler", so I can't exactly understand how this "filler" made the series worse than it could have been without it.
And while we're at it, what about recap episodes? Are they ever necessary, or at least valuable? Can they be done well, either such that you mind them less, or even that you actuallyenjoy them? What sort of elements would make you enjoy a recap episode more?
Again, giving my own answer, in general I only find recap episodes useful when you're actually watching the series on TV, with one episode a week, or in series like Gundam Wing where the plot is quite dense. Usually what makes a recap episode more bearable is having a fair amount of new material thrown in - and not in a "game show" sort of manner either. That's just... lame. But watching episode 27 of HagaRen:FA (I've moved to this terminology since Japanese pages tend to abbreviate Fullmetal Alchemist as FA), I discovered/was reminded of what you can really do in a recap episode. First, and probably foremost, the material that wasn't clips had a lot of interesting directorial choices thrown in that made me constantly think about what was going on, and what the show was trying to convey to the audience. Second, they showed the clips in thematic rather than chronological order, which reduced the feeling that you were simply re-watching the show at high speed. And third, the theme groups they chose worked carefully into the non-clip discussion (and, to some extent, imagery), such that we were not just being reminded of what happened, but they were, as subtly as possible (which wasn't necessarily that subtle), helping us to start thinking about the overall significance of the clips to presumable future developments. This helped to build a strong, almost climactic, tension as we evaluated the significance of the events being recapped. I suppose, in summary, it made me look forward to watching the series' progression even more so than I was.
I might be over-analyzing and inflating the quality of this episode, which you'll have to forgive me for, but I guess my point is... This episode reminded me of the power of a strong recap episode, and why I should never automatically dismiss them as the pointless, boring crap that they too-often are.
And if you contribute to the "material that doesn't contribute to an overarching plot", how... driving... does that plot have to be before filler can exist for a series?
Also, is filler necessarily bad? What about usually?
Part of the reason I ask is that on the Chi's New Address forums on MAL people were complaining about the filler episodes in the series, and that had me a bit boggled. In my mind filler is primarily material that doesn't contribute to an overarching plot, which is often inserted to "fill in" when an anime gets ahead of its original manga counterpart (and designed not to interfere with original canon). But regardless of how it may deviate from an original work, a series whose longest plot arcs last 8 3-minute episodes AT MOST can't really have "filler", so I can't exactly understand how this "filler" made the series worse than it could have been without it.
And while we're at it, what about recap episodes? Are they ever necessary, or at least valuable? Can they be done well, either such that you mind them less, or even that you actuallyenjoy them? What sort of elements would make you enjoy a recap episode more?
Again, giving my own answer, in general I only find recap episodes useful when you're actually watching the series on TV, with one episode a week, or in series like Gundam Wing where the plot is quite dense. Usually what makes a recap episode more bearable is having a fair amount of new material thrown in - and not in a "game show" sort of manner either. That's just... lame. But watching episode 27 of HagaRen:FA (I've moved to this terminology since Japanese pages tend to abbreviate Fullmetal Alchemist as FA), I discovered/was reminded of what you can really do in a recap episode. First, and probably foremost, the material that wasn't clips had a lot of interesting directorial choices thrown in that made me constantly think about what was going on, and what the show was trying to convey to the audience. Second, they showed the clips in thematic rather than chronological order, which reduced the feeling that you were simply re-watching the show at high speed. And third, the theme groups they chose worked carefully into the non-clip discussion (and, to some extent, imagery), such that we were not just being reminded of what happened, but they were, as subtly as possible (which wasn't necessarily that subtle), helping us to start thinking about the overall significance of the clips to presumable future developments. This helped to build a strong, almost climactic, tension as we evaluated the significance of the events being recapped. I suppose, in summary, it made me look forward to watching the series' progression even more so than I was.
I might be over-analyzing and inflating the quality of this episode, which you'll have to forgive me for, but I guess my point is... This episode reminded me of the power of a strong recap episode, and why I should never automatically dismiss them as the pointless, boring crap that they too-often are.
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 11:16 pm (UTC)However, there are two types of filler:
Items that are classified as absolutely useless. They are filler that does not add anything to the greater plot, but also does not contribute anything valuable to the characters or knowledge of the canon.
Items that are pointless, but interesting. They do not contribute towards to larger plot, but they do add character development and/or add more information about the world.
And recap episodes: They can suck it.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-14 01:20 am (UTC)