This expresses everything I felt about that dynamic way better then I could. I can see this comparison coming up a lot and it feel really unfair to the character work that was put into not just this final season, but the whole show. It wasn't perfect, but I still think it was pretty well done.Having finished watching Season 5 for myself...
I really dislike seeing anyone compare the endgame of Catradora to Reylo in TROS. All things considered, I feel like the season did a generally good job with Catra's redemption arc and moving her away to a point to where she isn't a toxic relationship to Adora. Especially opposed to Ben Solo, who has literally no dialogue after he tosses away his lightsaber at the end of Act 2 of TROS and went through a rather flimsy redemption arc.
Mind you, I wouldn't say Catra's redemption is perfect (though certainly not poorly done imo), and I get some folks being frustrated with this result... but overall I think the show handled these points well.
EDIT: Oh and another thing that I think is worth celebrating here...
Say whatever you will about Catradora as a ship, but I applaud Noelle Stevenson for making a cartoon show that not only heavily features numerous queer characters like say Steven Universe, but also having its main protagonist be a lesbian (I suppose Adora could be bi, but it doesn't seem very likely) and have her relationship with her love interest be at the very heart of the main story.
Take a minute to reflect on the big examples of representation that's been present in modern animated family shows. Korra was bi, but her romance with Asami was hardly a prominent plot point in Legend of Korra. Princess Bubblegum and Marceline had their ongoing arc, but they weren't the main protagonist of Adventure Time. So on and so forth. Noelle did something incredible with Adora and Catra, which deserves recognition.
Tempted to look at the spoilers but I'll just watch it myself.
This is a good point. I feel bad for queer men looking for significant rep in western animation, especially after the Voltron fuckery.
This was a pretty great final season. Probably the best the show has been since season one for me. They did a lot of solid character work, the voice acting was wonderful, and the main villain was way better then I thought they would be. My only real nitpick is that I wasn't thrilled with how they used Shadow Weaver, but that's because I have always hated her the most.
This expresses everything I felt about that dynamic way better then I could. I can see this comparison coming up a lot and it feel really unfair to the character work that was put into not just this final season, but the whole show. It wasn't perfect, but I still think it was pretty well done.
I gave up on Voltron about two season in, but I've seen a lot of people echo this sentiment. Did it do something real bad, or just the usual queerbaiting?
I gave up on Voltron about two season in, but I've seen a lot of people echo this sentiment. Did it do something real bad, or just the usual queerbaiting?
The showrunners revealed that Shiro is gay at SDCC 2018 while airing the first episode of S7, revealing Shiro's ex boyfriend Adam. For weeks leading up to the release of the season, they really play up Shiro's sexuality and how great it is that they could do this for the LGBTQ+ community.
Adam is killed a few episodes after the first episode and is used to fuel Shiro's angst when he returns to Earth. Also Shiro barely speaks for the whole season and is kind of just there. He gets a few cool moments in the season near the end, though.
In S8, Shiro's character is reduced even further to a more generic commander role and barely interacts with the main cast. His relationship with the male characters, especially Keith who he was popularly shipped with, is also nonexistent.
At the end of the show during the slideshow epilogue, he gets married to a random male crew member on the ship he commands. This male character maybe speaks once during the entire show. The wedding scene with the kiss is made the final scene of the show and is a very short animated scene. It is played up as being a very triumphant moment even though we do not know why Shiro marries this man, what kind of person he is (his name is Curtis but even the audio description called him Adam lol so take that as you will), and it is just clearly there to make up for killing Adam in S7 and to say they had the first animated mlm kiss on television.
This is just the cherry on top of the shitty story choices made at the end.
oh wow, that sounds horrible. No wonder fans were so hurt. That makes me appreciate what this show was able to accomplish even more. I'm actually kind of sad it's over, even though the ending was pretty satisfying. I hope this leads to more work for Noelle and the crew soon.
If you look back in the thread, there was a tweet possibly hinting at a Lumberjanes animated series (based on a graphic novel series which Noelle wrote on).
My boyfriend and I binged season 5 today and we both agreed that there were some...flaws with the writing in this show. It felt like a lot of characters got sidelined in order to focus on Catra and Adora's relationship. I feel like there should have been a season 6.
I think it's more of an issue of there being too many characters. The show overall definitely has some structural and pacing problems.My boyfriend and I binged season 5 today and we both agreed that there were some...flaws with the writing in this show. It felt like a lot of characters got sidelined in order to focus on Catra and Adora's relationship. I feel like there should have been a season 6.
didn't think i'd have to deal with getting your hair cut to show a change of personality in this show, but i should have known better
One thing I rather liked this season was how they kept modifying the opening.
Here's all the variations of the title card.
Ep 1
Ep 6
Ep 7
Ep 8
Ep 11
Ep 13
There are other neat changes in the opening aside from the title card.I skipped the opening when I binged. This is great. Spinnerella and Netossa go through a whole journey just in these openings. I love it.
That's cool. I'm going to have to check it out on a rewatch sometime soon.There are other neat changes in the opening aside from the title card.
...Hrm.
I feel thatCatra's turn around, while relatively well executed, is maybe a wee bit lacking? She tried to destroy the entire universe back in season 3 or what have you.
I'm not opposed to Catradora, by any means, but in the grand scheme of things, Catra's motivation being reduced to 'I'm angry because Adora left me, which means she doesn't love me' at its core - it feels like it doesn't fully 'gel' with her previous actions and headspace in previous seasons.
Also kinda sorta feels wonky given that Adora doesn't REALLY express 'love' to Catra ever before this season, either - friendship yes, but IDK about love - there's subtext, sure, but it becomes maintext a bit abruptly.
Bit too much karma-houdinin'ing for both her and hordak-offshoot, tbh - and I love Mermista for pointing it out multiple times, lol
All in all, managed to tie things up relatively okay, all things considered.
There are other neat changes in the opening aside from the title card.
It's still a bit of an issue where the character can only be Lesbian in the last episode of a show. Basically occured across Korra, Adventure Time and this. But that's fine.
Overall I enjoyed the show. My main gripe throughout the series was the major gap between the goofy loviness of it all and complete evil going on. It felt weird to have all this Hordak stuff going on with their henchmen, but the henchmen were all goofs. It felt neither side took the conflict particularly seriously? We're fighting a war, but also let's have a sleepover. I enjoyed that Hordak Prime was actually evil at least.
Also characters just not learning from mistakes - half of the episodes were "We're trying to sneak around" "Entrapta or Perfuma walk directly into danger and yell loudly".
Not sure if rights issues or creative decision with no relation but...
Stevenson admits that Adora and Catra's big moment almost didn't make it into the finale, even though she always saw it as integral to the story:
"I had been wanting to do that since season one, and wasn't sure how much of that I was going to be able to have in the show," she said.
"It was sort of a push and pull for pretty much the entire length of the show about what we would be able to show, and what we would have to keep between the lines.
"But when we reached that final season, I showed my cards to the people who had the right of refusal for that, and it was like, 'Look, this is what we've been building to this whole time. This needs to happen for both of these characters'.
"I wanted to make it so integral to the story in a way that – one, they wouldn't be able to take it out, and two, to give it a moment… it's the climax. It needs to be there. It needs to happen the way it does. And that was really important to me."
Looking at interviews Noelle Stevenson has done regarding the finale and the show as a whole, executive meddling did play a part in what she and her team could do. This one is particularly illuminating.
Apparently "Princess Prom" in S1 didn't go over well with some exec(s), particularly Catra and Adora's dance. I very much get the feeling she gained more bargaining power at some point during production and/or supportive execs emerged. There's a clear dividing line between the last season and the rest of the show in terms of what they could do.She-Ra boss and star break down that groundbreaking moment in the season 5 finale
Noelle Stevenson and Aimee Carrero break down that surprise ending.www.digitalspy.com
It's depressing that showrunners are still having to fight for this kind of thing, even after all the ground broken by Korra and Steven Universe. Very glad Noelle was able to do it in the end.Looking at interviews Noelle Stevenson has done regarding the finale and the show as a whole, executive meddling did play a part in what she and her team could do. This one is particularly illuminating.
Apparently "Princess Prom" in S1 didn't go over well with some exec(s), particularly Catra and Adora's dance. I very much get the feeling she gained more bargaining power at some point during production and/or supportive execs emerged. There's a clear dividing line between the last season and the rest of the show in terms of what they could do.She-Ra boss and star break down that groundbreaking moment in the season 5 finale
Noelle Stevenson and Aimee Carrero break down that surprise ending.www.digitalspy.com
I don't really get it either, you'd think DreamWorks and Netflix would want to have something that garners attention and critical acclaim like Steven Universe. I think it just comes down to conservative business thinking which is super short sighted.I'm glad she was able to accomplish what she did. The payoff in the finale was great. It's really cool to see how far things have come since I was a kid, even if it still has a long way to go until shows like this are normal and not the exception. It's lame that the prom episode set some executives off. It was easily one of my favorite episodes of season one. The pearl clutching regarding queer characters is especially weird with a platform like Netflix that isn't dependent on advertisers like a broadcast show, so a conservative boycott should be less intimidating.
I don't really get it either, you'd think DreamWorks and Netflix would want to have something that garners attention and critical acclaim like Steven Universe. I think it just comes down to conservative business thinking which is super short sighted.
I'm curious if the backlash against Voltron had anything to do with She-Ra gaining more freedom. It's hard to know how far along She-Ra was in the production process when that all occurred.
Yep, they are a real power couple. Unfortunately it was hard for the emotional beats to land for me since they had been background characters for so long.Can we talk about Netossa and Spineralla for a sec?
This season made them both stone cold badasses.
I am legit surprised at how great they have been.