#Filler episodes

[zukkaart]

#choose wisely #Atla #avatar the last airbender #sokka #zuko #sokka avatar the last airbender #Katara #aang #toph #Atla filler episodes #filler episodes #Suki #Azula #Ty Lee #Mai #Atla polls #a:tla #aunt wu #piandao #the painted lady #Kyoshi #atla kyoshi #boost this

[burbupollito]

Goku and Piccolo driving, based on gohan’s little drawing from the same episode

#my art #fanart #dragon ball z #dbz #dragon ball #goku #piccolo #cute #dbz fanart #driving #filler episodes #wholesome

[bunitivity]

I’m so glad that I for once in my life decided to actually watch a filler episode and got to see gems like this(whEN I TELL I WAS NOT PREPARED):

Luffy and Law being so easily bested and forced to do doggy tricks by a mid villain was so fkn funny I fkn died

#one piece #trafalgar law #monkey d. luffy #one piece luffy #filler episodes #post punk hazard #found this in my queue forgot to post lol #deep into the wano arc right now so this feels like forever ago #but still love these stills and I want them on my blog

[thedomesticanthropologist]

Things Mira the Cleric did as Leader, filler episodes/funny edition:

- Organized a strict chore chart for everyone based on their skills, needs, routines, and abilities. Famously flipped out on Astarion not for biting her in her sleep, but for him having not revealed his vampirism until after she had finalized the chore chart. She made him write the revised edition while she dictated orally.

- briefly introduced a "companion feedback box" where everyone could anonymously share their thoughts about each other. This lasted precisely one day and nearly ended with several bruises. The box was burnt in ritual ceremony and never discussed again.

- Mira encouraged the party to engage in team-building trust exercises. Trust falls, etc. Backfired immediately. Thankfully she has a lot of healing spells. Wyll did great. Astarion and Shadowheart not so much. Laezel started a duel, Karlach had to play cheerleader to avoid burning people and actually had a great time.

- After they aquired an incredible amount of booze from a crate, Mira declared they do a "Talentless Talent Show," where companions showcased their lack of skills in one thing or another. From off-key singing to clumsy juggling, the camp was filled with laughter at the endearing lack of talent. This was one of their best nights together.

#baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 companions #tav oc #mira the cleric #tales of mira #cleric of ilmater #bg3 funny #shenanigans #filler episodes

[inpursuitofnunchi]

Not me watching the filler episodes to watch the straw hat theatre segments - absolute gold 😭😭😭😭

Look at zoro with makeup im screaminggggg

#one piece #straw hat pirates #straw hat crew #straw hat theatre #monkey d luffy #roronoa zoro #nami #usopp #sogeking #vinsmoke sanji #nico robin #franky #enies lobby #filler episodes #one piece fillers

[random-jot]

One Piece: *is slap bang in the middle of one of it’s most emotionally turbulent and dramatic arcs*

Also One Piece:

Gotta love those filler eps

#one piece #one piece x toriko #toriko #marineford #summit war #return to sabaody #fishman island #filler episodes

[matt0044]

While it is interesting to bemoan the lack of filler for a chance...

...I'm not sure if that makes for a good conversation about pacing.

See, I often want to just a show based less on what it could be if XYZ external factors were different like how many episode per season.

Can they convey the stories they wish to tell within 26 episodes per season or 13 episode per season? 10 can seem pretty tight and is becoming the norm.

There's also how some shows seem keen to, rightfully, assume that their show will be lucky to make two seasons. Thus there will likely be a sense that a plotline that could've been delegated for a future season but too many are aware of how companies are allergic to paying taxes like "peasents.

Even so.

While we can take Streaming to task for not giving show even the bare minimum of thirteen episodes, what I care about it how well the creative teams manage with the hand they are dealt with.

Can this "eight hour movie" pace itself well?

Can it feel like a chapter book where its it real page-turner?

Does it know what ideas are important to keep?

Can it give itself time for the characters to just be before the next big plot beat?

Can it juggle characterization with plot progression? A lot of stories are actually more about a character's decisions than just things that happen to them.

I get that good pacing is something terribly hard to judge when pacing itself is only noticeable when it's bad, when it jars you out of the immersion of storytelling. But I feel like if we want to appreciate storytelling better, I think we need to actively be more conscious about these sort of things.

#netflix #hulu #disney+ #amazon prime #storytelling #pacing #writing #on writing #television #television writing #episodic fiction #serialization #plot progression #characterization #characters #characters vs plot #streaming services #filler #filler episodes

[mdhwrites]

The Uselessness of Filler

Filler is not useless. Filler is flavor. This is about how useless the term 'Filler' is to modern discussions, especially with non-adaptive works.

First I want to get into what I mean by 'Filler is flavor' though because it gets into what the modern, rhetorical definition of Filler is. See, plot, action and drama are great and when those elements are high, very few people will even consider calling such a piece Filler. After all, it clearly serves a purpose and often has the big payoffs we want out of the thing we're watching... But it's not actually always what is most memorable about the story in general. After all, these moments are big, flashy and they mean a lot but they're the ones that usually paint in the broadest strokes for most pieces because they actually have to have a goal they're accomplishing.

Meanwhile, an episode that lets the characters breathe, flex smaller elements of themselves, etc. like that get listed as filler. After all, no plot or character development happened so it can just be thrown away, like one would useless, bland filler. Except how often are those episodes bland? A LOT of filler does something a lot of more plot driven episodes can't do: Character and world EXPANSION. It can get into their hobbies, the small ways in which a world works, it/the characters' quirkier elements that make them feel more distinct from their archtypes, etc. like that. It's important for making them feel fully fleshed out instead of feeling like they're just the archtype. A story without filler after all has no room to make it so a redeemed character is anything but their redemption, not if every scene and episode is only focused on moving the plot forward.

But this raises an even bigger question: What the fuck does this term mean when there isn't a plot? Or when the main focus of the plot is just interactions? We have after all made a rhetorical term, that a LOT of people seem to think is deeply important, that straight up doesn't apply to certain genres. If a comedy doesn't push the plot of the show forward but is hilarious during that episode, is that Filler? If a slice of life show showcases the characters cooking for an episode and just seeing how those personalities bounce off of each other in that situation, is that Filler? In a romance, if the two leads have a fun day out but don't deepen their relationship by the end of the chapter, is that Filler despite getting to see the two interact?

And a lot of people would go "I mean, those are fun and good so they're not filler" which is actually even true for the traditional definition and use of Filler. It originates originally after all from anime adaptations that will fill time because the manga they're adapting is out of material but they want to keep putting out animated material for it. So they have to come up with a plot that doesn't actually change the status quote to fill time. When done poorly, it's lambasted for being filler. When done well, it's PRAISED for how good its filler is.

That doesn't feel fair. It's almost like it being filler ISN'T the problem. The problem is whether or not it was any good. A LOOOOOT of what is branded as 'Filler' with Western, Non-Adapted media is just what the fandom or person doesn't like. 'I got nothing out of this so it must be filler'. That's just bluntly not true. If that is what the definition is, then the term is just "This is my opinion" while trying to sound like it's an actual, structural critique, especially for someone who cannot actually verbalize why they disliked it besides just not gelling with it. Which it's okay not to like something but you shouldn't try to deepen the reason why if all you have to say is that on a rewatch, you'd skip it because you found it personally boring. Because it didn't cater to your tastes.

And for anyone going "Well, this is just your opinion. Can you back it up with an example?" I can actually.

Hazbin Hotel exists after all.

That is a show that has such a breakneck pace that it'd be almost impossible to call any of it filler... But also it struggles to remember that it needs to actually sell us on the characters, world, etc. before getting into status quote shake ups and major plot beats. That's how you get a show that is spending its first episode simultaneously going "Look at our hotel for redeeming sinners" and "Alright, we are ramping up the conflict with Heaven to set up an eventual war."

I don't know about you but I don't feel like those should be happening at the same time. But... If Filler HAS to move plot and character arcs along, the base premise of Hazbin is literally flawed. Having a random sinner of the week would be Filler. Tackling a failed method of trying to redeem someone would be Filler because technically would be accomplished or moved along. Instead, it HAS to immediately go its big plot because that's how you justify it as a real story in a modern, critical context.

That's just a flawed way of seeing media to me. How many classic works have been rendered almost entirely without merit by this way of thinking? Monster of the Week Sentai like Power Rangers? Come on, can't you cut that down to the couple plot relevant monsters and episodes in each season? Who wants to see them fighting weird, fun concepts after all, there's a big bad to kill! Classic modern shenanigans like Ed, Edd and Eddy? There's no plot so it's an entirely ephemeral product. Literally ANY sitcom from Friends to Frasier to Seinfeld, etc. can be just said as being filler and so not be meaningful and where is the usefulness of that.

And if the term is ONLY for genres with plot like adventure series... What the fuck do you have to say about Journey to the West, one of the most influential books of literally all time... Most of which is spent on obstacles that accomplish literally nothing, except maybe reinforcement on a theme, besides enabling them to take ten steps before the next obstacle slams in front of them? Are you telling me that Journey to the West is fundamentally flawed when so much of its episodic pacing is part of why it has been able to be influential and inspirational?

The more we lean on hard criteria like Filler over whether or not a piece was effective or entertaining or anything like that, the more we narrow what media is allowed to be. What a story can be. Rhetorical tools like these aren't meant to do that. They're meant to help express our discomforts and annoyances with a work. That is why we have terms like 'Repetitive,' 'Pointless' or 'Bland'. These all specifically address a problem within the work, rather than dismissing it outright simply because of its position in a narrative. They all touch on reasons why people call something Filler without being able to be misinterpreted or misused. They require the person to actually state what they don't like about it than using some arbitrary criteria in order to dismiss something.

Filler as a term doesn't even have that flavor, making it more pointless and rote than the media with that label.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#filler episodes #Writing Advice #Analysis

[30rock-fanfiction]

About to get high for the evening - I need a list of best popular anime filler episodes RIGHT NOW!

#filler episodes

[unmarked-credits]

Excuse me WHERE is my boy?

#and ventress? #filler episodes #cad bane #the bad batch spoilers #the bad batch #the bad batch season 3

[early-gray]

Say what you will about Steven Universe’s filler episodes but at least, because of that, it hit harder when you got the emotional bits and the major plot beats.

I would kill for 8 filler episodes of Hazbin Hotel

#hazbin hotel #steven universe #thoughts #filler episodes #not hating on either of these shows #i enjoyed both of them even as flawed as they are #cartoons

[skygirlstars]

the criticism of a lot of the Star Wars animated series post-The Clone Wars, namely Rebels and The Bad Batch, that I find absolutely bizarre is that they have “too much filler.” I disagree with that, and honestly just the concept of filler in general, but sure, you’re entitled to your opinion. but what bothers me is how a lot of people say TCW is the best Star Wars show and then hate on others like Rebels and TBB for “filler.”

like….did we watch the same TCW?

it’s probably over half “filler.” the droid arc, the one where Jar Jar gets laid, the blue shadow virus, etc etc. TBB especially reminds me so much of TCW with the sometimes meandering storylines and extremely jarring tonal shifts between episodes or arcs. but I find it kind of endearing tbh. I love that these shows are goofy some of the time and really deep other times! it’s part of the fun! that’s Star Wars!

if TCW came out today, people would hate on it. I’m not saying you have to like any of the shows, but I just find that specific criticism kind of ridiculous when someone also reveres TCW. childhood nostalgia is definitely a factor, so maybe the other shows will become more popular in a few years, we’ll see. just something to think about

#star wars #the clone wars #the bad batch #star wars rebels #my hot take of the day #star wars analysis #star wars fandom #clone wars is my favorite star wars show too but some people are not remembering it correctly lmao #filler episodes #I could make a whole other post talking about the concept of filler and how ridiculous I find it #star wars animation #star wars shows #star wars criticism #using a gif from one of the most notorious filler episodes lol #gif by azertyrobaz #sky speaks

[snitchesnsneeds]

Bethany's Bizarre Miraculous Reviews Episode 3-17: Stormy Weather 2

If Stormy Weather is so good, why isn't there a Stormy Weather 2?

Alright, Marinette offers to do things for Alya and Nino on her own volition. Noted.

It's kinda weird that Aurore is a whole celebrity in Paris and yet she goes to the same middle school as all the other main characters. That lends more to my "local town copy" theory.

Chloe what the Fuck. Stormy Weather was one of the better akumas.

Chloe, you realize "Once a villain, always a villain applies to you as well, right?"

In general if we can't give Chloe a therapist someone should at least roast her back and utterly break down her character until she's left catatonic.

Wait, Marinette still has that letter from the trash? Weird.

...Is this just a recap episode?

I hope Natalie's love for Adrien is greater than her love for Hawkmoth and Emile.

Hawkmoth, you're choosing to abandon your son in his greatest time of need because of your desire to get your dead wife back. This is why I see you as evil. Go and be a family man.

...This is a fucking recap episode.

I'm not sure if volcanoes have much to do with the weather. Isn't the weather only atmosphere-related? Also I think there's less of a concern of the volcano being used to make Earth fly away from the sun and more of the volcano spewing out the Earth's innards while doing that. No molten core means no magnetic field, or both eternal winter and no atmosphere!

Stormy Weather icing Chloe and Sabrina like that lmao

They didn't even show the fight. This is an episode made to be cheap. The twins moving in harmony are repeated animations.

Natalie's voice sounds computerized this episode. Is this intentional? Her VA not caring because it's a cheap filler episode? Wakfu season 2 all over again?

I fucking hate recap episodes. Objectively the worst kind of filler episode. If we were doing cheap filler episodes, could they have instead done 23 minutes of Rose and Juleka cuddling while Luka fiddles with his guitar in the background? I don't care how many repeated animations we get. It's worth it for me.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #miraculous #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous marinette #ml ladybug #adrien agreste #miraculous adrien #chat noir #ml chat noir #filler episodes #recap episodes #miraculous chloe #chloe bourgeois

[saltferret]

MULTIPLE THINGS

1, their matching scars 🥺

2, Kappa got long hair!!!!!

3, WORM HAS A SCARF AND IS PROUD OF IT

#filler episodes #they take my emotions on a rollercoaster honestly #webtoons #castle swimmer

[this-is-a-love-story-isnt-it]

Ok, so as I said in my post about that article where Kurtzman basically said that filler episodes should be avoided in Star Trek, I started talking about Farscape in the tags, but it started getting too long, so I want to make a separate post.

I was thinking about "filler" episodes in Farscape, and as I was looking through Farscape episodes, I realized that a lot of Farscape episodes can be considered "filler". I've recently started calling them "stand alone" eps, though. It sounds more accurate. I noticed that most of the time in Farscape, the major plot advances are in the multiple-episode arcs a couple times per season. Like, most of season 1 was what you would call standalone eps. Did it further the plot of "the peacekeepers are after us and John has wormhole knowledge that Scorpius will do anything to get?" mostly no. We see it in Nerve/Hidden Memory, and then at the end of the season in Family Ties. Then in Mind the baby (2x01) they're still inside of the main story arc of dealing with the peacekeepers who are after them and putting Talyn in danger also. Episode 5 is important for a lot of backstory (but also character driven). And then we don't get into any more major movement of the plot until the Look At the Princess trilogy (s2 eps 11-13).

And then the next time the plot gets moved forward is in the Liars, Guns, and Money trilogy (s2 eps 19-21), and then in Die Me, Dichotomy and Season of Death (s2 ep 22 and s3 ep 1).

And then Self-Inflicted Wounds parts 1 and 2 (s3 eps 3-4). Then ep 6 (Eat Me) is critical to the storyline of the rest of the season.

Actually, I'm looking at the season 3 eps, and season 3 is a pretty equal balance between plot advancement and character/relationship development. But especially with the multi-part episodes like the Infinite Possibilities 2-parter, and the Into the Lion's Den 2-parter there's plot advancement.

The season 4 eps 2-3 are major plot episodes. And then no more plot-heavy eps until Unrealized Reality, Kansas, and Terra Firma (eps 11-13). and I guess the rest of the season is actually pretty plot heavy except for ep 14. It doesn't sacrifice the character interaction and development, but the plot is moved forward or is key to the overall arc for the rest of the series after that.

So really, only less than a 3rd of Farscape episodes further the overall story along. Most other episodes are important for character development and world building. Some of them are true stand alones in that there isn't really a lot of character development, either, just kind of like a fun ep (Like Through the Looking Glass or John Quixote).

So idk, it's kind of like there are 3 types of episodes in a lot of shows. I'm thinking of Farscape, Firefly, Fringe, and Star Trek here (like TOS, TNG, VOY, DS9). There are plot heavy episodes that contribute to the overall plot or main story arc, episodes that develop characters either in relation to the plot or just backstories, and then eps that nothing really happens except a fun adventure. With Firefly I actually don't really know if they developed a min storyline yet, except for the whole thing with River. I guess that was supposed to be the main arc? But most episodes were kind of standalone eps. Like adventure of the week kinds of things which allowed for character development and character interactions/relationship development. Fringe had a bunch of "monster of the week" episodes. Some of them gave character backstories or expanded what we know about the characters, but didn't really push the arc forward (or at least you didn't realize it at the time, but like 10 episodes later it turned out to be something significant lol).

But shows like Gilmore Girls... I guess shows like that are character driven most of the time. Most of the story arcs had to do with relationships. And there were arcs like Lorelai and Sookie opening their own inn, and there were a couple episodes that almost fully revolved around that. But it doesn't really have one main storyline or arc. Even sitcoms are like this. the story arcs are usually relationship related and each ep is kind of stand alone.

I'm thinking this main storyline and filler episode thing is unique to scifi shows, actually??? Specifically the "old" ones before they started making shows that only have 6-13 episode seasons.

New Star Trek series like Picard and Discovery are 98% plot and 2% character or relationship stuff. Same with a show I watched recently called Emergence. Character relationships were developed, but every episode contributed to the one storyline. Also currently watching Containment and it's the same way. Both of those shows had 13 episodes.

#farscape #firefly #star trek #fringe #filler episodes

[hapifangurl]

i super loved the one piece omake sketch during the enies lobby arc.

mostly, fillers but they're super cute and funny. i miss this kind of sketch from one piece.

#one piece #omake #filler episodes