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Opinion about this years pawpet show
Keidran:
Good day everyone,
I think I'll post this while my experience is still hot.
Please... PLEASE this is my own opinion. You may have yours so please don't try to force your opinion into me or insult.
You may discuss the topic ofcourse. But please respect the opinions of everyone. I will try and do so too.
Sooooo
Aside from the starting difficulties (which are EF traditions ;D ) it was a nice EF.
The puppets looked great, the props were awesome (I liked that little Null booth xD) and the technique was very cool.
It was very nice to see that you tried something new with those 3-People Puppets. Was a nice addition.
Now we come to the stuff that "bothered" me to some extend.
first of all the acting was a bit rough this year. There were some text errors and some blant parts. but okay. Not too big a problem.
second was the fact that it wasnt as emotional as last years PPS. I really cried last years when the 2 birds were talking (i think that was the part near the end). This years EF lacked it nearly completely. The only halfway emotional moment was the part under the tree. But that was mainly the
doing of the BGM. It wasnt as touching than the year before.
Third was the seeing of the puppeteers. I understood it that it was kinda normal for the big guys. But sadly I had the feeling that a lot of the smaller ones had the same problem. Last year (yes I'm comparing it to last year since its the same stage) I saw very very rarely a puppeteer. But this time I nearly saw them always in the scene. And I sat in the very back right at the sound table. And I could clearly see them from back there on the main stage (videoscreens are something different offcourse because the camera angle)
Fourth and last one: It didn't have a nice ending. The video message of Null was very nice but it ended too abruptly and didn't had a nice stage conclusion. The message behind what he said was great. No question. But for the characters... it was a bit too hmmm how to say it.
I dunno how to say it in english sorry :< so german: Ich fand es gab keinen wirklichen abschluss für die Geschichte der Charaktere. Das fand ich persönlich etwas zu abgehackt.
So this was it. I hope you understand my critic and don't hit me with a foul trout or something like this.
Greetings
Keidran
PS: I totally loved Null as a character! Thousands of Kudos to Henrieke to make him look so awesome and the puppeteer for giving him such live.
PPS: I also loved the Nerfgun action xD That really added to the overall fun.,
PPPS: The cameos of the usual main cast was great!!!
Cheetah:
Thanks for your feedback! I agree with some of what you say, but please realize ... we're just a bunch of guys doing a show out of a friend's garage. I take it as a compliment that you are judging us by such professional standards :) We are not professional actors, we are not professional technichians, we are not professional writers. We're people like you. We do it in our spare time, next to our day jobs, and we only do it only for the show at EF.
And we do it for the fun of doing it. We're living scattered around Europe, and nobody pays us so we can rehearse for weeks and months like professionals do.
Keep in mind how hard all the people in this production have worked to make it happen AT ALL. We never get to try out the production until we arrive at the hotel. Our dress rehearsal took 12 hours, an entire night from 19:00 to 07:00 in the morning. If you then find out, something doesn't work out as planned ... there is nothing you can do about it. Yet everyone has given their best ... up to complete exhaustion. The crew dropped like dead when the final rehearsal was done, and some people went straight on to do their day job at the con after just an hour of sleep.
And we only get that one show per year. As I said we're no professionals. Can you imagine how nervous we are, doing a show before 500 people, as complete amateurs? I dare you to stand in front of that audience and see how nervous you get :) So yeah, we sometimes stumble, we miss our lines, it's what happens.
And you just said how hard it is for you to write this posting in english, because english is a foreign language for you. Now ... imagine how hard it is for US to write an entire SHOW in a foreign language, and then also PERFORM it in a foreign language!
So you'll always find rough edges and unpolished spots ... and that is not going to change in the future. But thanks for your sincere words, and it's also very nice of you to also mention the things you liked. That really keeps us going :)
Fairlight:
The problem with the puppeteers' head being visible was due to the size of the new puppets compared to average arm lengths. We had to lower the play rail so people could see the full puppet instead of just the upper part of it, and unfortunately that meant that we couldn't 'hide' as well as usual. Not the ideal solution, I know, but the best compromise we could find.
Maybe in future years we use less superlarge quadruped puppets to aboid this, but to be fair, it was fun having them. But he quads added to the acting issue, as suddenly you need to synch 3 people for each and every move, and turning around to face another puppet suddenly becomes a matter of logistical excellence, hehe.
Very sorry to have subjected you to my head ^.^
Mew,
Fairlight / Cai Lung
SouthPaw:
Given the constraints touched on by Cheetah and Fairlight, I think the team do a damn good job to put on a 2.5 hour production every year.
Sure there are minor niggles, but then they only get four rehearsals before the show, and the team are believed to have real lives outside of the fandom, so those are excusable. And with the new puppets this year, the cast had to combine synchronised movement with whole new characters.
As for the emotional content of the story, I'd imagine it's difficult to get the right balance of comedy and drama to avoid turning it into a soap opera.
At the end of the day, it's the fact that it isn't too professional that makes the show more enjoyable to my mind. If everything ran perfectly all the time (which, to be frank, even the likes of Disney and Andrew Lloyd Webber can't manage), it'd lose some of the charm.
What keeps people coming back, to my mind, is not just the characters or the story, but the dedication of everyone involved in the show, and their teamwork. Your mileage may vary of course...
Cheers,
Southie
Karasaph:
Wow, my opinion is the complete oppostie from Kaidran.
I really enjoyed the pawpetshow. The croud control was so much fun with the balloons and the announcment (It was very hard to believe in the first place but fun) I thought "We have fun with the balloons, take as much time as you need". But at least having the imagination of a serious problem going on, I was calm and relaxed able to wait for a long time.
Then the scenes. I thought Mika would be in the center of attention this time but it was different. Big plus.
The introduction of the characters was very interesting and also the description of the PPS didn't give even a clue of how the tables will turn. I was flattered about the sweetness of Cai Lung! <3
Big plus were all the ideas you put in: The fursuiters taking part in the press conference in the audience and the lightning going into the stage. There were a lot of jokes I could relate to and that have not been done in a pawpetshow before. Flynn's bar! I loved the bartender there! It was so realistic XD
I really have no idea how one could top that the next time, but this PPS showed me again that the whole teams creativity is unlimited.
It was said before the show that there might some heads to be seen, which I can understand because of the difficult handling of the pawpets.
Maybe it's just my opinion, but I think that you do it so professionally, that you could even do this professionally. ;) Pupetering is after all a thing liked by theather goers http://www.haenneschen.de/index.php?kat=Startseite
And once again, thank you for such a wonderful show. I really had to cry at the scene with the tree. The music, character development and lighning just worked so together perfectly, I had to let it go. I even have tears in my eyes thinking about it, but now it's happyness of such a wonderful memory.
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