What is a "FILLER" episode?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2023
- People often talk about shows having "filler" episodes that you can skip. But is this another one of those reviewer terms that's just been thrown around so much that it loses all meaning?
I look at a handful of shows such as Amphibia, The Owl House, Gravity Falls, Hilda and Molly McGee to try and make sense of it all.
Sunnyland Productions Discord: / discord 
Кино
I just binge watched all of Amphibia a couple weeks ago, and while it started out feeling slow, I believe that every single episode of that show is worth watching. I actually got more attached to Amphibia’s main cast than that of the Owl House because of those “filler” episodes.
Same, which is why the Owl House is sooo overrated.
@zacharyyamashita8554 honestly u can't blame toh it got cut short could have used more world building and exploring different dynamics but blame Disney not the creator
@losetthewaytogo I love the owl house but I feel like people giveth show to much praise for being faster pace than amphibia which I personally believe that's the owl house down fall since I personally did really care much for most of the characters in season 1 except for luz and maybe amity and I found season 1 of owl house to be kinda meh while I still loved season 1 of amphibia
@@jeremybottoms7619yeah, they never got time to develop the characters and whenever they DO have a filler episode, they are super stereotypical body swap plots. (Maybe i would care for the characters more if they made the filler episodes better)
@bobfromanimalcrossing6754 people complain that amphibia has "to much filler" but it a completely different type of show befor the owl house was wasn't complaining about gravity falls "filler" which I believe season 1 of gravity falls have about the same amount of "filler" than amphibia.
Also at least amphibia "filler" episodes are more interning that when ever owl house tried to have filler episodes like the body switch episode and the wizard episode are worst than any amphibia episode imo
I agree with many of your points, especially with fandom reception to different shows. I adore Lumity but I feel like so many people ignored other elements of the show. People only cared about Willows characters after her and Hunter became a couple, ignoring other aspects of her character. It's perfectly fine to pick and choose what you like in a show, but just because Amphibia doesn't have as much shipping doesn't mean it's bad or has too much "filler"
Yeah 😅 when I describe the owl house I mention the fantasy elements. I appreciate the LGBT stuff but to say that’s all it is would be incorrect and a disservice to the writing 😅
This is such a weird take. Why is it everywhere? There's like some portion of TOH's fan base which is convinced the whole fanbase is about shipping. Like, most of what I've seen is analysis of the world, found family, character's development and growth in platonic relationships, theories about what's going to happen next, etc.
Matt Braely: Filler is a dirty word and we do not use it in this household!
this is why i hate "shipping". i hate the word and i hate the culture. it's toxic
Agree 100% with Matt Braly that "Filler is a dirty word that we do not use in the Braly household."
Because these are the two shows I feel most qualified to talk about from this list and I have points that were not made here, I'll talk about Gravity Falls and Amphibia. This is your spoiler warning. If you do not want spoilers for both of these shows, DO NOT READ ON!
Gravity Falls: Coming out in 2012 when Phineas and Ferb was starting to run out of steam, it was really one of the first shows that had serialized storytelling. GF was great because every single episode (and every single preview, short, game, and piece of merchandise!) had the fans devouring and analyzing every single frame up, down and backwards (literally) and then begging for more. This especially became the case following Gideon Rises -- in the 364 day hiatus, the fandom (led by RUclipsrs who took off during that time like Vailskibum94 and Douglas MacKrell) managed to decode every possible secret we could think of from just the first season of the show, to the point where some of us felt like Mabel that "Bro. You've looked at that thing like, a billion times. There's nothing left to discover!" And then Scaryoke perfectly re-introduced us to all our favorite characters and plotlines and gave us, as Dipper pointed out, "a whole new chapter of mysteries to explore."
And then the three week breaks between episodes in season 2 were just *perfect* for the type of show we had. We got a 15 second teaser one week (which we analyzed to death in minutes but then spent the whole week connecting to everything else), a 30 second trailer the next week (which we analyzed to death in minutes but then spent the whole week connecting to the teaser and everything else). and an episode the following week (which we analyzed to death in hours and then spent the next three weeks connecting to everything else). It did taper off at the end when some of the mysteries got solved, but August 2013 to July 2015 was truly the golden age of Gravity Falls.
And the continuity? Every little plot line was deliberately set up with the end in mind. Like they came up with the end result before they wrote the first episode. That's how you write a good mystery: you come up with the ending before you fill out the beginning or the middle. For instance:
- Stan needing to sustain himself while trying to get his brother back? Foreshadowed with Stan's business being a mockery of everything about the supernatural.
- The author living in the Mystery Shack? Foreshadowed when Soos found his bedroom.
- The author having some relation to Stan? Foreshadowed with Stan's odd behavior in that episode.
- McGucket actually being smarter than he seems? Foreshadowed in his propensity for mechanics and being responsible for The Legend of the Gobblewonker and for Dipper's Voice Over.
- Speaking of him, the infamous McGucket hoax showed us the PERFECT way to deal with the fandom figuring out a major spoiler too early: subtly throw them off track by pretending to be a fan on the internet who had snapped a spoiler picture during a tour of the studio, then pretend to be mad about it. The only drawback is that the same trick won't work on Fallers again.
- Bill's goal of setting up Weirdmageddon? Set up in his first Deal with Gideon, then foreshadowed again in each of his appearances. (Note that each of Bill's deals had two things in common: Bill fulfilled his own end first, and the act of doing so (as well as the other end) would have actually helped him in his goal of starting or spreading Xpcveaoqfoxso.)
- Speaking of which, the way that cryptogram was used as the episode title was, as you can tell from this comment, the PERFECT way to hide a spoiler when Disney decided to release the episode titles early. Nobody could decode it until we had the keyword, and we didn't get the keyword until the preceding episode was already underway, guaranteeing that we couldn't decode the episode title prematurely.
- Even the cryptograms were sometimes important -- oddly enough, most of the important ones were in the books and merchandise, meaning even that stuff wasn't Filler.
Just... every moment, every frame, every element of Gravity Falls felt deliberately placed.
Then there's Amphibia. Coming out in 2019, the trend of serialized stories in children's cartoons had been going on for a while now. And Amphibia's continuity mostly felt like it was written in order. Like season 1 was them coming up with a good starting point, and season 3b (as well as episodes like A Day at the Aquarium and Return to Wartwood) was them trying to find ways to pay everything off. For example:
- The secret Plantar Family Lairs? Those became New Wartwood.
- Domino 2, Tritonio, Apothecary Gary, Jeremy, and the Moss Man all returned as allies.
- Mrs. Croaker's past, Sprig and Ivy's mutual affection and eventual relationship, Stumpy's hand being made of bone, Maddie being a curse user, those were all brought back.
- As you said, everybody from season 3a came back to help in Escape to Amphibia.
- A Day at the Aquarium brought back a ton of the enemies the family met in season 1 (albeit mostly in coral form).
- And Return to Wartwood was definitely written after Hopping Mall was finished, since neither Hop Pop nor Polly called out Sprig on not getting a red sun shell for Ivy.
Amphibia also did subtle foreshadowing much better than Gravity Falls:
- Loggle having a super buff statue of himself in his shop? That was paid off with his actual appearance in season 3b.
- Again, Anne's drugged-up line about Domino (as well as the picture behind her bed) foreshadowed The Guardian and the place where it met Anne respectively.
- By the end of True Colors, the first time viewer has forgotten about Polly's itchy butt from the beginning. So it's a shock when she grows her legs at the end. (Well, maybe not that much of a shock, given that Marcy predicted it would happen in her debut.)
Marcy having sent everybody to Amphibia on purpose is an example of the opposite -- the Gravity Falls style of foreshadowing -- where the Big Reveal was written first, and then they wrote Marcy to be the most endearing character in the show for maximum impact when it was revealed. But that wasn't the majority of continuity and foreshadowing in Amphibia
So yeah. Those are my thoughts on the continuity and foreshadowing in these two shows.
I have a theory behind the criticism for season 3A of Amphibia, personally, I think a lot of people suddenly jumped on the show post season 2 because the season 2 finale was so shockingly dark, people wanted more shockingly dark moments like Marcy getting stabbed, and I stand by the theory because when season 3 was airing, the early season 3 episodes weren’t trending every time they were released the same way the Owl House was always trending when a new episode dropped, then all of sudden Olivia and Yunaan was aired and all of a sudden Amphibia was trending again, another episode with shockingly dark elements with Marcy getting possessed (poor Marcy, poor girl was the punching bag for traumatic events in Amphibia), I think all of people brushed Amphibia off at first as a goofy lil frog cartoon and all of a sudden the season 2 finale happened and every was like “OH MY GOD THIS SHOW IS ACTUALLY DARK WHAT?!” And then got disappointed by season 3, because it wasn’t the horrifically dark show they were expecting where more teenagers got stabbed by newts
I think you’re onto something, but I also think shipping is at least partially responsible.
Yeah, the shipping definitely played a big role in it too, I love Sasha and Marcy, but the Plantars are wonderful too, and it’s too bad they get brushed off as characters a lot in favour of the girls, now personally, if there’s anything I would have tweaked with season 3A of Amphibia, I would have liked to have more Sasha episodes, because to me, the way there was only one episode dedicated to her redemption and then we don’t see her again until 3B, it made her redemption arc feel incomplete to me, but that’s really more of a minor nitpick than anything, and I think a lot of people are too harsh on 3A, I remember seeing this people online complaining that Amphibia couldn’t pick a lane between being a comedic slice of life, or an ongoing adventure story, which lends more to my theory because anyone who had been watching Amphibia from the beginning could tell you that has been the format for Amphibia from the beginning, a goofy slice of life episode, then a keystone episode, that’s the way Amphibia has always been.
Maybe it's because I *just* watched this show a couple days ago and was never involved in the fandom (too interested in TOH), but I don't think shipping was a big thing in the show itself. Anyone who actually watched the show could tell you the MAIN point of Amphibia was the found familiy + fish-out-of-water stories. Anne becoming a Plantar and true member of Wartwood, learning how to survive in the dangerous world she found herself in, growing out of the selfish mindset she had, etc. Anyone who was upset that that was the main point of the show was just unfairly projecting their expectations and desires instead of appreciating the story the writers wanted to tell.
@@starsiadraws Oh, exactly. The shipping is almost exclusively in the fandom. The show never cared about it.
@@SunnylandProds @starsiadraws Right, I mean there's like only two or three canon couples in Amphibia, and none of them involve Anne, Sasha, or Marcy, all the shipping that involves the girls is a fandom thing only
Very well said - I completely agree with the idea of ‘standard and keystone’ instead of ‘filler and plot-relevant’. No one’s saying that you have to like EVERY episode of a show, but we should stop being so callous when it comes to disregarding the ‘standard’ eps of a show
Another thing about the Earth episodes is that it showed us what Anne, Sasha and Marcy had left behind as well as what they stand to lose with Andrias's coming invasion. By seeing L.A. and all those quirky side characters as well as minor ones, the invasion carries weight to it rather than it being some place that's gonna get blown up if the big newt isn't bitch-slapped in time.
Though what’s also funny is how if shows skipped filler episodes, they’d remove context for later. This is due to how they can feel like episodic shenanigans in the moment but retroactively carry more weight. Take… Amphibia for instance.
Domino 2? She returns to help with the coming army.
Tritonio? Kicks off Anne’s swordsmanship and returns to lead the newts against Andrias.
The mushroom hive-mind? Not only does he return for the finale but Andrias utilizes his kind to control the wildlife for his army.
Mr. X? Seems like a diversion but he factors into the finale with Earth being armed enough to help Anne.
These are what I often call “Filler until proven otherwise.” Until the show progresses without any callbacks to even a moment in that one episode, it is filler. That said, I do have to ask… so what?
I’ve often seen advocates for shows to have more filler. Specifically, to have more episodes that are self-contained and are character focused first. Many feel like made-for-streaming series take too much advantage of not fretting about missing an episode. I too miss when you had more episodes like DBZ’s driving episode as a calm before the storm.
Now there are still fun filler episodes but where the “filler” aspect is done away with. While the episode might stand on it’s own in terms of its individual storyline, it has elements that will explicitly be set up for the future.
So it’s not lost but packaged differently. There are even stealth filler episodes where act one and two feel like their own thing before something entirely new comes in like a bolt from the blue. Said new thing might be for that one episode at first but will return in the finale.
Imo I feel like one of the reasons people don't appreciate episodic shows as much as before is because after years of serialized shows, they all go into a show expecting it to have an overarching plot and don't care for the show after learning it's not that, and I feel like a lot of people are just starting to have expectations when they enter a show and forget the whole point of it in the first place when it doesn't meet those expectations
To expand on my thoughts on filler, I can think of no better example than The Mandalorian Season 2 (stay with me). The major plot points that season revolve around finding Grogu a mentor, and that plot progression goes from finding Bo-Katan, Ahsoka, Grogu's kidnapping, and the rescue. About half the season is devoted to getting to these plot points, but it is done in a manner that informs the characters and showcases more of the galaxy far far away we know and bicker about. The Mandalorian does excellent filler, not unlike how well Amphibia and DT2017 do as well.
a way i've seen people describe the Mandalorian that i love and think is accurate is like a video game with side quests on side quests that eventually lead back to the point of why you took the main quest to begin with. this description doesnt degrade certain episodes by calling them "filler" and therefore not worth watching, instead it says that they are a valid and fun progression of characters and the world that you'll miss out on if you skip it
I agree, I think the term filler is just thrown around too much, especially when it comes to cartoons. If it's not constant story advancement, some people just don't care, I will always watch every episode even if it's not very good or important to the main plot. As for the binge format or weekly episode format, I think both have good benefits to it. The weekly format gives the not so popular shows more and longer life to talk about and get others involved, as for the bing format it well it gives the people the full story then and there, which allows people to judge the story as a whole as soon as possible, overall people have their own preferences on how they want to watch and if they can get a full experience in whichever way they want then by all means, as long as we all keep watching and appreciate the love and care put into these works of art!
The ”filler” episodes in Amphibia were like world building and once the finale was coming closer i felt more emotion for not only the main cast but also the other characters
So one, I fucking love you and this entire essay. You used the term “binge model” which I’ve been using for years on Reddit to describe what Netflix has been doing to degrade the experience of television.
Second, that friend of yours you used as your first example to describe filler is almost verbatim the same that I use to formulate my argument with countless clueless or willfully stupid or ignorant people online.
If I could like this video a million times I would absolutely do so. This video genuinely made me feel validated and seen in a way I was starting to think would never happen in the animation community. So honestly and genuinely, thank you.
So glad you liked it!
Regarding "we;ll never know what a 3rd season of the Owl House would have looked like, and how different the story would have been" we do have an idea from the post Hoots-there was no original Season 3. They had a few plans of story threads to include in that season, but it wasn't a matter of "they wrote season 2, then got the news of Season 3 and had to condense 10-20 episodes to the equivalent of 6". Everything from Follies at the Coven Day Parade onward was changed. The montage in Season 3 was never "cut episodes", but rather something that was created specifically for that special.
Eeeeeexactly!!
YES! Finally someone says it!!! This has been bugging me ever since "Thanks to Them" released and fans have been whining about those episodes that could've been! Like for titan's sake, the Collector was only added after the cancellation and the day of unity was supposed to be the series finale event so who knows if the even had plans to send them to earth in the first place!
@@legobrickstudios21 You're mostly right, but the Collector did exist before the cut-he was in the Owl Beast's flashback in Knock Knocking on Hooty's Door, after all, which was before that. However, it seems that the Collector's original intended personality was similar to the Archivists, and they changed it once they had to trim the 30-40 hoped-for episodes to 27.
@@RavenStarMedia it‘s literally confirmed that he was added in after the show got cut short tho. Like straight up confirmed by Dana.
@@legobrickstudios21 Dana said that the cut was when they decided to toss the character in and "go ham" with it, but since she said that they got news of the cut from Follies at the Coven Day Parade onward, and KKKOHD was prior to that, the Collector from that episode seems like he was intended to be a one-off villain, while the cut led to them changing the character's personality and greatly expanding the role to the point you might as well say they're different characters.
What I like most about ''filler'' is that many of the components that were created on it come back later, whether they advance the plot or not, or they are simply a nice little throwback to it, and it makes you feel satisfied as a viewer. Even if it's slow or doesn't advance the plot, doesn't mean it's still not entertaining to watch. You get to see what the characters are like and what they do when they aren't solving mysteries every episode and just having a good time. You get to learn more about their likes, dislikes, quirks, relationships, their world, and also their general personality that you never even knew. It gives you much more appreciation about the characters, the world, and the story even more. ''Filler'' can be enjoyable if done right but that's just my take.
TGAMM, Amphibia, Spy x Family, and even The Owl House are excellent examples of these.
I remember that as Bad Batch season two was airing, a lot of people were complaining about certain episodes being filler. But all of them had like character or worldbuilding stuff and a lot of them ended up “being important” to the plot in the end.
As someone who generally doesn't binge watch, I love the point you make at the end. I watch maybe one episode a day of any given show in order to prolong my enjoyment, even if it does create a backlog.
There's a show that i love called Glitch Techs on Netflix and if you wacth season 1-2, you can describe them as "filler episodes". But the more you wacth it, there's actually lore in the story or the show noughes you and remind you theirs more to the show. If the creators. If the creators and crew of the show decided to make episodes lore focus then episodic episodes, or "filler episodes", the fans, including myself, might not enjoy the show more if the show doesn't focus more of the main characters relationshipwirh each other and their loves one, i can even say, we wouldn't care about the main characters if we didn't explore their lives without those episodes. I think we can consider that some shows need episodes that doesn't have to be about the plot, and just focus on the characters and their lives so we can care more about them and the story (world building as well). Also, in my opinion, sometimes it's exhausting if we didn't have a breather if the show continues with the lore without non-stop and just focus on the characters having fun or discuss other then the plot. (it's especially voming from me when i like theoring shows and lore) Well done with the video! Beautiful work! :D
I'm in agreement with the Ryan W. Mead guy. No such thing as filler in Western animation. You're definitely missing out on the overall experience of the series if you skip any episode. I don't think it matters whether or not any episode has any importance to the "overarching story" or whatnot. Filler only exists in Japanese animation and even then, I prefer to call it anime original content since filler has an inherently negative connotation and I don't believe it deserves that.
I agree, which is why I like the terms “Keystone episode” Vs “standard episode”
I think you did a good job explaining ¨filler¨ in TV shows, I´d also like to say that my series too is based off of real life experiences, as in how the kid (Ethan) and the soul (Boo)´s friendship are based off of me and my little brother´s relationship, like how Dipper and Mabel are based off of Alex and his twin sister.
THANK YOU FOR ADDING HILDA!! It’s so underrated
Oh my god yessss I’ve loved Hilda since it came out, and it’s fall season so it’s the perfect time to rewatch
We need a balance of episodic fun and deep lore shows and I am tired of everyone saying we have too much of the former because it is largely the opposite
i dont know if it's exactly the opposite, especially in this genre, but i do agree that you need a balance
In regards to The Owl House... it's complicated.
It’s natural to pour over the likely could’ves, would’ves, and should’ves of what should’ve been a standard length season like the last to as well as to hold Disney responsible for such.
However, there’s a danger in letting it take over all discussion of this season rather than approaching it for what it is: a trilogy of specials that make up the three acts of what’ll come out to a feature length storyline fit for theaters.
We can lament, “Oh, wouldn’t this had been so much better with a full season,” all we want. That’s literally the one thing that every fan will agree upon unless you’re criminally insane. But pose other discussions instead of what we already know:
How well does the story come across as?
Do they balance plot and character writing well?
Has there been any major lingering threads left about from the previous season?
Basically, focus less on what we didn’t get and more on what we got maybe?
Also, and this might be the Amphibia fan in me talking, I feel like if we got that fuller Season 3, the Earth arc would’ve been lambasted as “worthless filler” with many wanting to get to the plot with Belos and the Collector already.
I wasn’t kidding with that Amphibia thing. Like Luz, Anne returned to Earth forcibly with her extra-dimensional pals and had to find a way back. However, much of it was self-contained shenanigans that would build up to a final push but not in a terribly high stake journey like with the second half.
Would you really expect Fandom™ to take the time to see the forest for the trees here? Lauded as The Owl House is… experience has taught me otherwise. Trust me, a clothes shopping episode or a Spanish learning episode would’ve been decried no matter how fun or cute it would be.
Just saying.
To answer you're three questions:
Despite wishing for an actual season 3 and getting episodes of all or most of those montage moments, I think the story told by the three specials is very good and comes across very well and solid.
Most of the plot and characters are balanced and written well in my opinion, but some characters do get shafted a little bit, like Vee. er staying behind makes sense for her character, but if we got a proper season 3 Earth arc then she would have had more time to shine before she was taken out of the show until the epilogue like we could have seen her finding her own unique identity separate from Luz and becoming friends with Masha all over again and so on.
The only major lingering thread left at the end of the series I'd argue is the Bat Queen. Everything else was either answered or enough evidence was given that we can infer a mostly correct answer. And if you make it to the end of a series with only one lingering question, especially after a shortened run time, then I still call that a win and a well-written show to have answered almost everything despite the shorter run time.
Also, I'd argue that the Earth arc would have included Belos stuff since he was also on Earth. So I imagine if we got a proper season 3, Belos would have regenerated a lot sooner and become a reoccurring threat and antagonist to Luz and the others while on Earth, similar to the role the Cloak-Bot and Mmr. X played in the first half of Amphibia season 3 during the Earth arc stuff.
@@zexalbrony4799 I mean, I can see Belos trying to possess various animals to attack the kids only to burn out each one and eventually realize that the part within Hunter is his ticket out.
The search for Titan's Blood would likely be similar to Amphibia's search for resources on a working portal as well as clues like the Mother of Oums. As in each episode being a piece of the puzzle.
As is, I can see an extended Season 3 being twelve episodes of the same story but more breathing room. Twelve bumping the episode count to 52 for syndication if that's even a thing anymore.
@@matt0044 Huh, I always saw a proper season 3 having Belos just regenerate normally, maybe not at full power given all the damage the Collector did to him so that it would be believable Luz and the others could beat him back since when they fought him during the Day of Unity it was clear they were outmatched. So no possessions and stuff in my mind.
I feel like in a proper season 3 they wouldn't have used Titan Blood, because that kind of felt just like a quick way for them to get back. It just seems a little too convenient that there was a vial of Titan Blood buried somewhere in Gravesfield. So more likely they would have been finding a couple of different magical artifacts from the Boiling Isles that had found their way to Earth, either because of Eda and her past trips, or because as Gwen mentioned over the years there were many small rifts that sucked some stuff in the Hhuman Realm to the Demon Realm so the reverse would also be true and thus some Demon Realm stuff would have been sucked into the Human Realm. So they probably would have combined the powers of a bunch of different artifacts that while destroyed or damaged in the process would be powerful enough together to open a temporary portal for them. After all, Luz comes from the same Earth as Anne, Dipper, and Mable, so with what we save in Amphibia and Gravity Falls we know there's more than one way to make a dimensional portal, Titan Blood isn't the only way.
Yeah, 12 episodes sounds about right. I wrote my own season 3 fanfic and it was only 15 episodes. So I wouldn't expect a full 19 to 20-episode season but just long enough.
@@zexalbrony4799 I mean, the Titan's Blood being in Gravesfield works off of how Phillip and Caleb managed to get from Earth to the Boiling Isles.
Furthermore, Flapjack was Evalyn's Palisman and recognized Hunter as Caleb's Grimwalker. Obviously, he'd be privy to how his owner's S.O. got to the Demon Realm.
All this on top of how things dreamt on Earth make their way to the Demon Realm, implying that there's a connection. Perhaps more veins of Titan's Blood exist across Earth.
No offense but I feel like what you'd suggest wouldn't feel nearly as set up.
@@matt0044 Okay, more veins of Titan Blood existing across Earth actually kind of makes sense so I can buy that. I was just confused and found it kind of odd that either Belos, Caleb, or Evalyn just happened to have left a vial of Titan Blood behind instead of just taking it with them so they would have it on them to open a portal whenever. But the veins across the Earth might actually explain that.
No offense taken. But I feel like my suggestions were decently built up. Eda leaving stuff behind given how often she visited Earth would make sense, not to mention as we saw in Yesterday's Lie she would sometimes turn into the Owl Beast on Earth and in that state, I believe she would drop stuff without relazing. And other artifacts being there because of the small cracks that open between worlds was mentioned by Gwen before so again it would make sense.
It may feel like filler now, but you’re going to regret skipping it later.
So what I can understand from fandoms goes like this. Sometimes they dont know what they want, If anything i love big stories and slice of lifes. It doesn't always have to be super lore focused 100%. It can be little bites with fun charecther adventures. If you cut those out the big finish won't feel as satisfying.
Amphibia: Why are we spent so much time with the Plantars in season 3? Too much filler!
Owl House: Dammit why did you cut out all the wholesome mini moments. More witch lesbians!
Me: Which is it? Make up your minds geez.
It’s almost like people care more about shipping than anything else
Yeah I can see why you got that impression. And that's coming from a shipper 2!
Six months ago I got my cousin into amphibia and we watched it together. His reactions reminded me of each time a new episode especially in season 3 came out and I was just dying to see the next one. Now I’ve gotten him hooked on the owl house and the same thing is happening.
You brought up a really great point. Filler isn’t just about shipping and romance it’s about developing the characters and expanding the world. The Last Airbender is the best example of this. Filler is supposed to be character establishing like Lily Pad Thai, not fan service.
Great video :)
Thank you so much for making this video. I feel like nowadays, “filler” just means “content I don’t like”.
Tv Tropes has a better name for these kinds of episodes being “breather episodes”. I tend to call them “palette cleanser episodes”.
I feel like another thing about people ranting over “filler episodes” is this false belief that all overarching stories have to take themselves super-seriously and be all dark and depressing as possible. I’m only saying that because I was once one of those believers that think all story-driven cartoons can only be doom and gloom.
I still remember a tweet from someone talking about The Ghost and Molly McGee when it was still a new show and how they felt like the show was going to get dark by the second season. This kind of goes into another false belief I had about story driven cartoons with that they had to “dupe” their audience to get them invested.
I think there’s also this feeling that kids’ media can’t bring up serious and mature issues like abuse and genocide, where it should only be reserved for anything with a hard R-rating and nothing else.
Sorry if this was long. I just had a lot of questions for you.
I agree that Filler is used way too much for so many shows these days. And to comment about the Owl House stuff. I think I can say confidently that if we did get a normal season 3, and they had episodes that focused on the fun adventures on earth. Those absolutely would have been called "filler" by a, admittedly small, group of fans. The main reason so many were upset about Owl House being obviously because it was shortened so even if was going to be a season that focused solely on them getting back the Boiling Iseles and nothing else that wasn't possible either. With how they set everything up, it almost looked like they may have had a bigger focus on what was going on in the boiling isles considering Eda and King were still there. but that's just my theory. Regardless if we actually got those episodes teased in the montage/scrapbook I bet everything most of them would have been called "Filler" by many.
Love the video by the way.
To be honest, I think the earth plot wasn't gonna be in the show until the cancellation. I mean the day of unity was apparently supposed to be the series finale event and in season 3 some of the other covenheads were supposed to be spotlighted. I know the fandom loves to dwell in the fact that we "missed out on those episodes" but hardly anyone ever considers the fact that it could've also been the chase that the stuck on earth thing never even was supposed to happen.
@@legobrickstudios21 that's also true. As many have pointed out there were a lot of characters with unresolved story. Like the Batqueen for instance. And Vee I'm sure was originally going to have a much bigger role. You don't build up a character like they did with Vee and not use her for other story elements. Unless you had to change the story to fit a smaller time frame. (For the record Vee is amazing and she was awesome is season 3 but she was clearly meant to do more) I remember thinking how Owl House's S2 finale kind of felt like Amphibia and that was definitely not the original way things were going to go. But nonetheless I still love what we got and Owl House's crew did amazing with what they had
@@7L13D pretty sure Vee‘s story was connected to how the draining spell was intended to be done by Basilisks before they brought the collector in and decided he gave belos the draining spell (that‘s however just a theory, and also it would make sense that this was the original plan which was abandoned)
All those early Season 1 episodes of Amphibia matter, every single episode has a point, whether it's Anne learning to love Amphibia, her bonding with different people of Wartwood, or her bonding with the Plantars, that all add up to make it so you truly value her journey and her love of Amphibia and its people later in the show when she is fighting for it against Andrias and the Core. This was an amazing video, very well-put. A lot of times, filler episodes aren't actually filler, it's just focusing on something that people don't consider to be the plot. For example, in The Ghost and Molly McGee, if you consider the plotline with the ghost hunters to be the plot, than nearly the entire Season 2 would be filler. But if you know what the show is ACTUALLY ABOUT (the adventures of the ghost and Molly McGee) than you can actually value every episode. Because none of it is actually filler. The problem with filler is that people are actually mis-valueing what the show is actually about. Like what you said, people call Amphibia 3A filler even though it's about Anne and the Plantars (who are the actual main characters) and want more Owl House in the Human Realm, even though the characters in the Human Realm aren't even all the main characters and the focus of the show. This was a great video that explained it all so well. "Filler" episodes are underrated.
About the "filler" thing you said about amphibia and owl house's own take of 'back to home' thing I guess the problem people (or may be me) had was, in case of Amphibia we were thrown from a really 'dark' and 'action oriented' plot to that old *slice of life with a twist* plot which though was enjoyable for me I can kinda see why it upsets more people as it slows down a lot.
And in other hand owl house just fast forwards that in a absurd amount (may be beacause of the Disney drama). And that left the audience to wonder what must have happened in those gaps. And left some of potentially good moments.
Though i must say I agree with your points it kind feels stupid when you're criticizing one show for a thing while criticizing another for not doing the thing. But you know fandoms..
An Example of “filler” being used in serialized cartoon poorly is in Steven universe season 5 where they have a lot of “filler” episodes which yeah they had before but when they knew it would be the last season they still purposely had a lot of “filler” which made the finale feel incredibly rushed.
So this train of thought, that steven universe has filler continuously crosses my path and every time I will say that other than it being incapable of having filler, the story isn’t the purpose of the show. Showcasing the characters and their mental health journey and experiences with trauma and a genuine love of life has always been the reason why the show exists in the first place.
Don’t believe me? They were given the option to continue the show without the wedding, chose to do it anyway because of what it meant to real people watching the show and then proceeded to double down not only in the movie which as any movie based on a cartoon tv series serves as an entry point for new viewers, but also in future and the finale of the original show itself. Future deals with the very real consequences of the chosen one narrative almost everyone grew up with so that those very real people would have the language and the resources to understand something they otherwise likely never would have without professional help, and the original show ends with a story many trans and non binary folk struggle with in not only finding out who they are and accepting who they are as someone worth loving themselves but also the struggles of the hostile family dynamics that come with being people like that which are represented by the toxic characters that are the diamonds. However, the script is then flipped to reveal that since it’s a fantasy world that very real people feel they can escape to, it’s shown that the diamonds are capable of listening, understanding and changing their behavior which is amazing to anyone who has ever been part of a hostile or abusive family.
What I’m saying is that Steven Universe isn’t about the plot or story. It’s about the journey through mental health and the joys of living life. In a world dominated by cynicism, it’s a fucking miracle that a show that gives its viewers very real therapeutic language to understand and grow as people.
@@megasxlr22 The mental health stuff is mainly in future. Sure we see characters dealing with problems but it’s mainly with self worth issues in them not feeling that they are good enough. This happens with pearl, amethyst, jasper, and even spinel in the movie. Sure garnet’s arc is about the relationship between ruby and sapphire sometimes but it’s mostly about fusion in general. The only character you could argue that had problems coming to term with their identity is Steven and that was mostly about him accepting he’s pink diamond. The diamonds as straight up natzi’s who are homophobic and genocidal. They don’t just represent toxic family. Steven universe has a lot of “filler” and I’m sorry if you can’t realize that. Tiger millionaire, the episode where Steven grows cat fingers, Dewey wins, the one where Steven questions who’s Nora, etc don’t have to deal with the message of the show. Shows can have deep meanings but still have “filler”. Future doesn’t have “filler” since it’s all about Steven dealing with his trauma. It didn’t have time for silly side adventures since it only had 20 episodes to wrap up the whole series. The gems could be argued to struggle with identity but it’s about what to do after the diamonds have been stopped since they no longer have a purpose. I’m again truly sorry if you can’t realize that Steven universe has “filler” because it does. Even some the biggest fans of it know that. If the show helped you with your identity and with mental health good on you. But it doesn’t mean the show doesn’t have “filler”.
@@kirbystar7474 you don’t have to be sorry that I can’t see that it has filler because it doesn’t. That’s a you problem and a systemic problem with the general audience as a whole.
And if you don’t see what someone like pearl went through with self worth or what amethyst went through with her saying that she never asked to be made as mental health issues, then I strongly recommend you check in with a professional to learn something about yourself and the language you need to communicate what mental health awareness actually looks like.
And while I will agree with you about the diamonds representing more than a toxic family, there wasn’t only not enough time to address that but when given the opportunity to utilize the time they were given in the movie and future, they actively chose to double down on their efforts on reinforcing the messages of mental health awareness.
That message is an irrefutable fact of the show’s dna. It’s why it resonates with more than just the lgbtq people who needed the show more than a bunch of entitled people on the internet who think plot and story matter more than characters and real people that relate to them.
@@kirbystar7474some of those mention isn't that filler cat finger was the first time steven learned shapshifting witch is alot of season 1 gems teaching steven a new power and Dewey wins (while not being a good episode) did move the plot in some way it was the start of the Connie ignoring steven arc (not a good arc but it was something important going on in that season) and beach city getting a new mayor.
And now for the Nora episode I completely agree that episode disguises it self as a very important episode just for it to lead no where by the end and never mentioned
@@kirbystar7474 Tiger Millionaire is a character development episode, it plants the seeds for Amethyst's character arc about accepting herself for who she is, leads into episodes like Tiger Philanthropist and such. Cat Fingers is both character and plot development, it develops the lore of the show by showing human-gem hybrids are somewhat capable of shapeshifting, as well as strengthening the bond between Steven and Greg. Dewey Wins is character and plot development, it's a pay-off for years of development with the 'side' characters in the town, and how Mayor Dewey's incompetent and ignorant leadership was causing real danger for the townsfolk when any sort of Gem activity happened, such as the humans getting abducted, or Jasper's ship crashing into Beach City, etc, and the episode also establishes that Nanefua will be the new mayor of Beach City, which has a real effect on the town in later episodes such as Letters for Lars and the movie. "The one where Steven questions who's Nora" aka Lion 4 is character development, it deals with Steven's mental health and how insignificant he's feeling at that point in the show and comes not too long after Storm in the Room where Steven questions his own mother and his own purpose.
Every single example you provided there is either a character or plot development episode (sometimes both), which also disproves your point. There is no filler in Steven Universe, they literally couldn't afford to add filler.
I agree with what you've said about filler episodes and I feel the same about binge watching that it has caused way too many people to have immediate gratification. For example, when I decided to watch The Good Place, I discovered the first season on Netflix and finished it before the second season. While I did enjoy it a lot, I felt that I had seen it week to week, I would've been more excited as finishing it very quickly kind of made feel a little tired. Though its first season finale did make me enthusiastic to see the second season. Watching the rest of the show week to week really made me appreciate the individual episodes a lot more. That's the issue I feel with shows that classified as 8-13 hour movies like Stranger Things. As much as I love it, because it's treated like a movie, it doesn't give you a chance to talk about individual episodes. I feel the 4th season did get a better chance for this as it released with volumes as Dear Billy was one of the most talked about episodes of the year but given how long the episodes were, I feel the serial model would've benefited it a lot more. Another example of a serial show that really got talked about was The Last of Us. The episode focusing on characters Frank and Bill was widely considered the best episode of the season and I feel if the show was on a binge model, it would've been dismissed as filler. Great video.
There was a whole episode of Season 2 of Chucky that takes a really wild detour that some people probably would call filler, but it was really fun, and of course it all comes back into the fold by the end.
Your RUclips channel is truly my favorite on the platform, Chandler. It’s always a good and comforting day when you upload.
-Harrison
Thank you so much, Harrison!
“Filler” episodes are actually some of my favorites. They’re the episodes I watch before going to sleep
I watched Amphibia and I hated the first season at first, as I watched the show I realized how important the first season is to the plot. It might not seem like it but Anne has so much character development in the first season its just a bit hard to see, then in the finale all those "filler episodes" punched me in the gut and made me cry
honestly same. i didnt hate it but i couldnt really get into the whole frog world thing. it was too weird and gross for me. i mostly just watched it for the Anne character moments and the little teases we would get about her friends. it started to get more interesting at the end of season 1 with Sasha and then later in season two with the trip to Newtopia and then finally getting there and meeting Marci. i started liking the Plantars more and more throughout season 2 and especially into season 3. i agree with you that the first season setup is necessary to really understand the characters and the world and to really fully understand Anne's journey
1. I genuinely enjoyed the weekly released episode format. It has given me a schedule during trying times
2. I never saw Hailey's on it as the next Owl House more so disney channel's the terminator in my perspective
3. Spoilers
I actually really love the Way Milo Murphy’s Law does it. It’s mostly episodic and character driven, but it becomes serialized and overarching when it needs to.
I always compare molly McGee to big city greens because they're both actually episodic.
I think Molly McGee might be just a *smidge* more plot-based, but yeah, definitely.
I actually really love the Way Milo Murphy’s Law and Gravity Falls does it. It’s mostly episodic and character driven, but it becomes serialized and overarching when it needs to.
Hailey on it is really good but i dont see it becoming the next owl house it seems more in betweeen ghost and molly Mcgee and amphibia
More serialization than mally mcgee but not as much as amphibia
Seeing animation fans bemoan shorter seasons and less episodic filler is such whiplash as a fan of Miraculous.
The Earth episodes from Amphibia Season 3A can also be compared to the Farmhouse episodes from Season 3 of TMNT 2012.
Both episodes took place right after a intense Season 2 finale ( True Colors and Invasion ) and the Farmhouse episodes went back to the monster of the week episodes of the first 2 seasons much like the Earth episodes which went back to the slice of life episodes
I'm sorry, but you can't compare Hailey's On It to The Owl House. Not because one show is better than the other, but because they're two completely different shows with different tones and themes. I love Hailey's On It. I think it's a great show, and would love to see more people talking about it. However, comparing it to The Owl House is like comparing Sailor Moon to Naruto.
there is a lot of well made points in this video, and i agree with them all! To be honest I don't see much people talk about this, as it's very interesting to know peoples opinions.
I loved Amphibia season 3, I have no complaints.
The Legend of Korra has been polarizing since the word go but one aspect that stood out to me was a back and forth about the lack of filler episode in each 12 to 14 episode seasons.
While I stand by that the writers did great with what they were given, I still find the talks intriguing even now. Avatar may be lauded today but it was criticized for its episodic pacing and fillers like "The Great Divide."
This clearly evolved into certain posts I've seen on Tumblr where many take beef with how each season of most TV shows are now 10 episodes long, some feeling like they were originally written for a classic twenty-six run.
So Filler being this lauded or hated seems to depend on the Socials you might or don't frequent.
I usually use filler to refer to episodes I skip because they do nothing to progress the plot, worldbuilding, or character development, or if nothing that happens is mentioned in any other episode. To qualify, they must be boring. This is specifically only in my head.
A very informative video on the concept of "filler" episodes.
As an owl house fan, the reason why we wanted a season 3 is because it would’ve been really cool to see the friend group dynamics and the mystery of belos returning and the aribus as a full season
That was never going to be what a full third season would’ve been, though.
9:10 the hot air balloon concept I’ve seen twice in Curious George, my favorite show of all time.
Didn’t they also do that with regular balloons in the movie?
@@SunnylandProds yes!
10:35 JUST MAKE ME CRY.
As someone that just finished a show (I'm not going to name it) out of pure obligation was torturous I wish someone would have given me a list to skip those filler episodes, but even then all the important episodes were still a pain to watch because the characters were the problem, not because the show had filler, for me you need good characters so that if a show has filler you don't mind because you just want to keep watching the characters.
Another great video!
I will say this that Season 3 could've easily been 12 episode long to cover more bases as well as to make it ripe for syndication at 52 episodes. Each Special (or Act as I like to fancily call them) in four episodes as a director's cut of sorts.
I mean, unless Disney wanted the heat from fans as a form of engagement. Some companies are catching onto hate being profitable.
I always sound sprigs birthday to be the funniest episode of the show but it get alot of hate for bei g "filler"
I know you mostly do Disney content, but I think another good example of a show that’s episodic and has an overarching story is Craig of the Creek. I was content with a story about kids playing and exploring but when it eventually got to the arcs about the other side of the creek my mind was blown.
Yeah, I’ve heard a lot of great things about Craig of the Creek, I definitely need to check it out at some point.
@@SunnylandProds Oh, sorry if I spoiled anything for you
this is an excellent video i feel like many people should watch
I actually love "filler" episodes in serialized shows. They just allow me to take a break from the story. For example, when I was watching adventure time, I watched the second to last episode, then the minecraft episode. The next day I watched the finale. I needed a break before the finale, so I could get ready for it (and also be able to watch distant lands right after). I also love regular "filler" episodes, because they do help me connect with the characters more. I don't even know how I would live if I skipped half of season 1 of amphibia. Plus, I don't know if I would've cared for the characters as much.
I did also see another video explaining what a filler episode was, and they pointed to a family guy episode where absolutely nothing happens, and it's all just random noises. That is what a filler episode is, an episode where absolutely nothing happens. The "filler" episodes people talk about are episodes where they expand on the characters, and give the characters an even better bond with each other, while still staying episodic. They are not filler.
I also found out about a month ago, that apparently my older sister skips sections in books. The specific thing I remember her talking about is that in lord of the rings, she skips part of the first chapter (the birthday party? Idk, I haven't read (or watched) the lord of the rings). Personally I think you shouldn't skip any part of any book, no matter if not much is going on (ok, if it's 3 pages describing one wall, then go ahead and skip it. That's filler).
“a Family Guy episode where absolutely nothing happens” but isn’t that just most Family Guy episodes? I don’t ever recall Family Guy being a plot-driven show. The only exception I can think of is when they temporarily killed off Brian, but it’s not like that stuck.
@@SunnylandProds it's a family gy episode where the guy (idk peter? I don't watch family guy) just sits in a chair and makes random noises with his mouth for, I think it was a couple minutes. I would have to find that video to verify this.
@@ego-lay_atman-bay there’s a reason why I don’t watch Family Guy.
@@SunnylandProds me too
I have no issue with filler as long as there isn't too much of it. It should be sprinkled in here and there. It also depends on what I am watching. If I am watching Molly McGee I am fine with an episode not advancing the plot. It is a sitcom I watch for gags and heartwarming moments. The pacing is pretty good they did a lot in 20 episodes. A show like Stranger Things should have most of the episodes that advance the story. A show like that should have no filler whatsoever.
Yeah, I agree with you there.
Like I said, I was watching Chucky, and obviously there’s not really room for filler in a slasher series, but Season 2 did have a pretty crazy comedic detour for an episode. Hard to call it filler though, since it all comes back into the fold of the main story.
@@SunnylandProds was that the murder mystery episode with Tiffany?
@@legobrickstudios21 Yes!
A filler episode i LOATH is Unhappy Campers from Helluva Boss. Easily my least favorite cartoon episode of all time.
You’re talking about Hilda and I forgot to watch this video I feel betrayed. Mostly by myself lol
Yeah people maybe call character development/ focused episodes ‘filler’ but I’ll always call it character arc episodes 😊
And even if they’re not really focused on character development, they can still be fun!
Great explanation
Actually it’s because of amphibia season 3a that I can’t look at thanks to them from the owl house without wondering what might have been and what adventures the gang would’ve had on earth
But the thing with that is that the story would’ve been something very different if the show hadn’t been shortened.
personally I don't see a problem with that@@SunnylandProds
I watched all of Star Wars: Rebels with my brother who had already seen it all and he kept prefacing certain episodes by saying they were filler but still good, and after watching them I wouldn’t even consider most of them filler. Every single episode was focused on character building in some way. Sure, some episodes didn’t progress the overarching story, but they were definitely necessary to appreciate it all. I think a lot of us have just inadvertently raised our standards for what’s considered an important episode
honestly,i feel like the word "filler" has sort of become a nothing-word in the western cartoons community, often just used to refer to ANY episode that isn't actively and immediately addressing the main storyline. most of these supposed filler episodes are set up,or used to further establish and/or introduce character traits and hidden depths. if one takes the shallow meaning of "filler", then MOST of 2003's teen titans is filler, as a good chunk of the episodes are silly comedic adventures with a superhero spin,and I think this idea that EVERYTHING that isn't "plot-relevant" (read: a big finale) is filler just comes from an insecurity in watching a cartoon for children
Absolutely!
Filler actually is a problem in these children's shows with ongoing plots. The writers are forced to do them because networks think kids are too dumb to keep up with an ongoing story and they prefer to air the episodes in any order. This kind of thinking feels obsolete in the age of streaming in my opinion. They could just put (previously on) before the episode starts. Anime does a much better job with pacing in my opinion. ( At least modern anime do.) Filler episodes are rarely in modern anime because the companies ask for lower episode numbers. The days of shows like Naruto getting a billion episodes are over.
Unless you’re One Piece
@@SunnylandProds True, but One Piece is very old and that show is grandfathered in. It keeps getting episodes because it is already popular similar to how the Simpsons still gets new episodes due to its legacy. If One Piece came out in 2023 would it get as many episodes? No one knows. Also, One Piece has very few filler it's that the arcs are really long. They are well written but they are really long. One location or one fight could take 20 episodes. Some newer anime get 12 episodes and they are lucky if they get more.
@@SunnylandProds One Piece follows the manga (the pacing in the manga is way better then the anime though XD The anime streches too much, sometimes I would prefer some normal Fillers in One Piece so that the story episode aren't soooo streched ^^'') so it will end when the manga ends.
Detective Conan is another manga that has an anime which is still ungoing based on the manga. But Detective Conan has a lot of fillers, since the manga is not released weekly XD But that's ok, since you can skip the Fillers without a problem and the actual episodes are well paced. But of course adding Fillers in DC is way easier than in One Piece since, you can't really add a Filler right during a major fight that well, unless it's in an AU ^^''
Overall One Piece and Detective Conan don't have to fear being cancelled, they are both based on the manga and both really popular. Even if the animes would get cancelled (which will never happen XD) the manga would finish the story.
Interesting view great video
Haha Schaefer Ellis pissing off the creators.
He don't give af and I love it.
That’s not what happened
One American Cartoon that has really good pacing is Kid Cosmic. There are no filler episodes at all.
As a huge Kid Cosmic fan, while I love its story, I actually do wish there had been one or two filler eps in seasons 2 and 3. Don't get me wrong, those seasons were AWESOME! In terms of the story. But I feel like because it was constantly go-go-go, characters like Stuck Chuck and Tuna Sandwich got pushed to the side, and we didn't get as many of those bonding moments as I would have liked. Still love the cast of KC, but I feel like I'd love them even more if we got to see them go on little 'filler 'adventures or just hang out with each other
@@andreagrubaugh9699 I disagree. I like the pacing it has. It felt like watching an anime.
Personally I feel like “filler” is still important to watch as it makes you care more about the characters and the world, I would not have cared or understood why Anne wanted to save the wartwood citizens when the whole government collapsed and stuff. We also get to see just Anne interacting with people and growing as a person. And I say this as someone who originally hated the show since I found it too slow but now I have started really liking what people consider filler.
Filler doesn’t exist it’s all part of the adventure
wow ive nevr been this early
It's a treat isn't it?
yep i also enjoy his videos too which makes it even better@@DGilVids
It's Fullmetal Alchemist original ending basically or the first Hellsing
15:12 "People basically just want everything to be an 8 hour long movie."
Yeah... that is indeed the type of show I enjoy... what the issue? Legit asking. I don't understand what point this part of the video is trying to get across. What is the problem with liking a show with this pacing.
I just think it’s way more fun and enjoyable to be able to watch a show and speculate about it from week to week instead of having it all be in one go. And it’s so much better for fan engagement.
You notice how they dropped half of Moon Girl Season 2 in one go, and now NOBODY is talking about it? This model only benefits shows that are huge, and it actively hurts shows with smaller audiences.
And I don’t have a problem with shows that have tighter storytelling and less “filler”, but I’m tired of hearing people say that you should skip episodes of shows like Amphibia.
Pretty good video. But I hope you don't mind if I have a few arguments against it and play Giritina's advocate here, as when it comes to the concept of filler in media it is a topic with many interesting points to consider on both sides. Also, I apologize in advance for how long this comment is, as there is a lot to talk about and I'm also kind of a windbag who loves to hear himself talk or in this case write. LOL.
When it comes to the concept of filler, we must first ask a two questions about it before we disguise it. The first being, is filler inherently a bad thing? No. I'm a big fan of both Pokemon and Power Rangers and they have plenty of filler episodes where nothing is really accomplished, yet despite that, some of my favorite episodes are the filler ones, as it's just nice to see Asha and his friends, or the Rangers just relax and go about their daily lives, either helping a Pokemon in need from say Team Rocket, or just fighting a generic Monster leading to a Megazord fight, because I like these characters both the heroes and the villains so just having a few relaxing chill episode where it's just them all going against each other, sometimes having fun, and just bouncing off each other without the plot looming over them is fun. Sometimes filler can be good sometimes it's bad, just like any episode of a show there are episodes you like that you'll revisit a lot and episodes you'll never watch again because they didn't get grabbed by them, and in the case of filler if it's bad you can't even feel obligated to watch it like a bad plot episode because it doesn't further the plot at all and isn't even fun to watch.
Now the second question is, is filler necessary? To a degree it is necessary. It's just another writing tool in your toolbox, it has its purposes in stories. You can't go from 0 to 100 in just a moment and you can't just jump from one major plot point to another. Filler is needed to give both the characters in the universe and the audience themselves a break in between all the action, and allow for status quos to hold for a little while before a major shake-up so we can see how certain dynamics work. Going back to Pokemon, there are usually episodes in between when Ash, one of his friends, or Team Rocket catches a new Pokemon, that way the characters themselves and us the audience has time to get to know this new Pokemon and how it interacts with the rest of the cast and the story. Heck, I'm a fanfic writer and I've written stuff I consider filler in some of my stories. Like many fans of The Owl Hosue, I was sad at the shortened season 3 so I, again like many others, wrote my own fanfic version of the season before the first season 3 special even aired, I only wrote 15 episodes(I couldn't come up with enough ideas for a full 19 or 20 episode season) and 3, possibly 4, depending on how one views episode 9, are pretty much filler episodes. such as a Lumity Date episode or an episode where Luz and her friends (aka the Hexside Squad or Hhexside Crew as they are dubbed by many fans, myself included) are just dealing with a bully from Luz's school who constantly picks on her. Despite myself admitting this is filler, I still wrote these episodes for two reasons, one because I thought they would be fun, and two I need to give the characters and the audience breaks in between the plot stuff so as not to overwhelm them.
So filler isn't always a bad thing, it serves a purpose and can be fun and enjoyable just take a break and enjoy the staus quo and how these characters interact with each other in their dynamics.
However, despite all this good stuff I've pointed out, there is a darker side to filler, sometimes filler can be boring and there can be so much of it that you feel frustrated and like were wasting time on stuff instead of giving the important plot stuff the necessary time it needs and deserves. Like I said, filler is a writing tool and you shouldn't overuse a tool. There needs to be a proper balance of filler and plot. Now of course, everyone has different opinions and views, so there is no one-size-fits-all on how much filler and plot there should be, so I can only speak from personal experiences. Going back to the two series I mentioned earlier, Pokemon and Power Rangers, I have an example for both sides. For the too-long filler category, we have Pokemon Diamond and Pearl the series, now I love Diamond and Pearl it's my favorite Pokemon series, but there so much filler in this series, now some of the filler in Diamond and Pearl I like a lot, but there's just so much of it, sometimes massive amounts in between important plot stuff, and some of it's boring and it feels like were wasting our time, time that could have been spent on other more important stuff. Now for the right balance of filler and plot category, we have the third season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, this season had many multi-parter plot-centric episodes which change up the status quo, but there is enough filler episodes for the status quos to exist and us to see how these new dynamics work before the next multi-parter shakes things up, sometimes it's only a single filler, sometimes its 3 to 5 episodes, but there's not too much, there's just enough, in my opinion, that makes the thrid season feel balanced and the best of three Might Morphin seasons in my opinion. In fact, some Amphibia fans, feel season 2 was the best season because it balanced plot and filler so well, there was enough plot with the journey to Newtopia and the Temples to keep us entertained and enough filler for it not to feel like it was moving too fast and that there was no status quo. Plus, Marcy was a big part of that season and got a lot of time to interact with Anne and the Planters so we could see that dynamic, which is also good part about that season for several fans. Marcy actually got to interact with Anne and the Planters a lot more than Sasha did back in season 1, which was a complaint some had that Sasha and Grime didn't really play much of a role or get much screen time in the first season despite being the main antagonists for that season. And this actually segways into my final point.
You mentioned some of us caring more about the supporting cast in Amphibia. Personally, I'd argue Marcy, Sasha, and even Grime(given he's been in the show since season1 and was a pretty major play all throughout) are main characters too, sadly Olvia and Yunan not so much because they don't have nearly as much screen time, at least Marcy despite also not appearing until season 2 is mentioned in season 1 so we know she exists and will presumably be a major player in the show later, we didn't even know Olivia and Yunan existed until season 2 which is sad. I also argue that Luz's friends (Amity, Willow, Gus, and Hunter) are main characters too, I mean just look at the season 2 opening for The Owl House, Amity, Willow, and Gus prominently featured in the opening with Luz, Eda, and King, and Hunter is very important due to his relationship with Belos the main villain and all the development he went through(same as Amity's development), so we want to spend more time on Earth because most of the main cast is on Earth with the exception of Eda and King, whereas in Amphibia characters we really want to see and where most of the important plot stuff is happening is back in Amphibia not on Earth. Also, there's more of a ticking clock to get back to Amphibia because Adrias mentioned he was going to invade Earth, so the gang has to hurry back, meet up with Sasha and Grime, build an army to fight Andrias army, save Marcy, stop Andrias and save both Earth and Amphibia, so there's more to do in Amphibia which should necessitate hurry back. While in Owl House all they need to do when they get back to the Boiling Isle is regroup with their family and friends, then stop the Collector, so there's less to do back there than on Earth since many of us assume for a proper season 3 stuff like Hunter coming to terms with being a Grim Walker and telling the others would happen on Earth, as well as all the other drama would be solved on Earth so when the gang returned to the Bboiling Isles they would be completely unified and ready, whereas most of the drama is back in Amphiba and thus can't be resolved on Earth. And the Collector made no indication he was going to invade Earth, King even says to Luz that she and the others will be safe on Earth, so most of our main heroes and the Earth itself are not in any immediate danger and while the Collector is more power then Andrias or the Core, based on what we and the characters saw of him in the season 2 finale he's more a misguided child, dangerous yes, but not actively malicious, unlike Andrias. So Luz and the others can somewhat assume that their friends and family should be able to weather the storm of the Collector for a while until they get back, especially given how King was able to persuade the Collector to help showing you can reason or at least trick him, whereas Anne and the Planter should somewhat assume that based on Adrias conquering nature that hes most likely subjugating Amphibia with his army and stripping the planet of resources, and while their friends back there are strong they'll be up against a massive force that will continually hunt them, unlike the Collector, so they need to hurry back as they have less leeway then Luz and the others. So in that light the first half of season 3 can feel like filler and like Anne and the Planters aren't taking the threat of Andrias seriously, and that were losing time that could be spent with all the important plot stuff in Amphibia.
The thing with Anne’s time on Earth is that there’s not really a whole lot she can do until they have a portal figured out, and it plays as a nice parallel to her time in Amphibia with the Plantars.
@@SunnylandProds Exactly, that's what I was saying, that there's not a lot of story on Earth, as most of it's back in Amphibia, which is why many wanted to get back there. Not that I didn't enjoy some of the early season 3 stuff, the moments with the Planters bonding with the Boonchuys, Fight at the Musem, Temple Frog, and the Christmas episode, all really good and fun stuff.
Whereas in The Owl House, there were a lot of story possibilities on Earth, most of them about all the trauma Luz and Hunter were dealing with, but still, other things too, which is why we're bummed we didn't get it or it was rushed through like Vee finding her own identity with her new disguise and so on.
@@zexalbrony4799 But with The Owl House, I think it’s important to keep in mind that the only thing they really had figured out was that the Day of Unity was the endgame for everything. There’s not a scrapped longer version of Season 3, and the short order for Season 3 is why the second half of Season 2 basically cuts the brake line and floors the gas. There wasn’t ever a longer version of them staying on earth or anything like that.
@@SunnylandProds You know, when you bring up the Day of Unity being the endgame, that actually raises a good question and topic of discussion, what the original Day of Unity was meant to look like. Because Belos showed the Coven Heads a small glimpse of it in Hunting Pailsmens and it looked like the original idea involved fusing the two Realms together. Now you could say, Belos was just lying to the other Coven Heads to get them on board and that fusing the Realms was never the plan, but I don't know, I feel like the Day of Uunity was meant to go a decent amount differently then it did before the cancelation.
11:53
Speaking of said fan art, if you value your innocence, whatever you do, dont look up fan art of Mrs Boonchuy.
It’s like looking up fanart of Ming Lee… *shudders*
@SunnylandProds Never get onto the phone. Absolutely daggum right.
wdym like father like libby it's before season 2 premiere? What does it porve it?
It’s set in the spring
Someone praising the chance of not binge-watching a show? What are you? My lost twin?
I never find someoen agreeing with me on this topic. Everyone want to watch an entire show in 2-3 seats
Interested to a facts!
Heh... Core of the show.
Someone said the cast and crew of Amphibia actually wanted seaosn 3 to be darker right down to brining up what happened to Marcy more,but beacuse of the true colors incident,Standards and practices would not let them
What's the name of the music at the end ?
I don’t know offhand, it’s royalty free music from Final Cut
I don't think shows can afford to have filler episodes. TV shows can get canceled at any minute. Imagine a show that has filler ending on a cliffhanger. *Creator:* It's too bad our show got canceled and we can't finish the story *Me:* Well maybe if you didn't waste it on that beach episode that doesn't advance anything you could have finished the story.
Well, unless you’re doing a show that’s entirely episodic, I think when you’re making a TV show, each season needs to have a story plotted out with a beginning, middle and end for the season in mind. And the networks need to be transparent about what’s going on with the crew making the show so that *if* they’re not getting renewed, they have a chance to wrap stuff up. But something like Molly McGee is fun because it’s a goofy episodic comedy. I wouldn’t want it to be all plot-driven.
Filler Episodes are whatever you think they are
If you think every episode expect for the big important ones are Filler? Go ahead
You think Nothing's Filler? Go ahead
I personally think every Show as some shippable episodes
Usually very few
It kinda bothers me that you didn't put any Star Vs. footage here since that show can have good filler episodes, too.
That’s really just because I never finished that show and it’s been so long since I watched it.
@@SunnylandProds I say give it a shot. I say it should be alongside Amphibia and Owl House, and no, I still don't care if the ending is "controversial", I still say it's bald for a Disney show.
I grew up (and still) watch the Pokémon anime, infamous for having tons of filler between the big milestone Gym Battles (and contests) or Captures and Evolutions, and what I care about most is just having fun with the show. What I care about most in any show is “do I like this world/these characters/does it make me laugh?” If so, I don’t care how inconsequential it is or isn’t that Sprig is being a Spidersman or that Molly is dragging Libby and Scratch out to the countryside for a comet- I’m having fun with these characters.
When talking Hailey’s On It, to shift gears, I have been on record and will continue to say it has the potential to be the next serialized series out of Disney. They have a clear setup of a mystery figure trying to ruin the future and a recurring threat of the Chaos Bots. And I just get the vibe of this being the “first season builds the world with wacky episodic shenanigans before introducing the big story arc” structure most of these serialized shows follow. I’m never going to say it’s the next Owl House or Amphibia, though, because it is it’s own show. It will always be Hailey’s On It, even if they start doing more serialized storytelling. And even if I’m off base, it’s a fun enough show to just watch and enjoy for what it is. It’s all about potential for the direction they take things and how they handle what they’re setting up, be it story driven or purely episodic, but I’m getting story driven vibes from it.
And side note, I don’t think All Night Plight or Spider-Sprig are “filler” or bad episodes, they were just the first examples I could think of for episodes that weren’t “plot” episodes. The former since I love that episode, both because it works as a nice breather between the McGees losing their house and Scratch being on trial and for just being a fun episode with a beautiful ending, and the latter since you mentioned it and the admittedly jarring mood whiplash with Olivia and Yunan.
The truth is, the Pokemon anime has no Filler episodes ^^
It's not based on a manga, so it might have episode without major gym battles, etc. but it's still all part of the characters journey and all canon.
I think a lot of people overuse the word "Filler" these days. The shows are all made for us to have fun, why should we rush through them XD
I also enjoyed every Amphibia episode :)
👍
Im sorry but i dont think owl house would be able to handle earth adventures as well as amphibia
????
I think they meant ‘as well as Amphibia’
@@SunnylandProds that what I meant oops
Filler is just a cheap tactic to make weak manga strong!
No, wait. That's fusion... uuuuuhh... I mean, if the problem is that you (not you, you, the hypothetical you) don't like the episodes that don't contribute to the overarching plot that's cooking in the background, then not having one should be the perfect solution now, shouldn't it?
I remember Avatar never had this complaint. If we treat Avatar the same way they treat Amphibia, then the majority of the series would be filler. But the only episode that people today consider filler is the one that shows the war from the perspective of the Fire Nation, sonething, I'd argue, is very important if the supposed whole point of the show is the final battle between Aang and Ozai.
Yo
Hello!!
Of the way we look at TV shows isn’t the fault of Stranger Things
Not just Stranger Things, obviously, it’s just this binge drop strategy overall.
@@SunnylandProds I disagree. If anything streaming makes filler episodes more tolerable. Imagine waiting a week to see a show and the episode you get is a filler episode. That could be annoying. If it was binge-dropped you could watch the second one 2 seconds later and hopefully, it progresses the story.
@@icecreamhero2375 If it’s a good episode, it really shouldn’t matter.
@@SunnylandProds True.
Yeah, I think it's dumb to call Cartoon episodes "Filler", cause like you said in the video, Filler comes from Anime and is just used for episodes that are not in the manga and can be considered "uncanon".
But Cartoons and even some animes that aren't based on manga (like the Pokemon Anime) don't have Filler. Every episode is canon.
So maybe we should just use another word for them, like "not story relevant".
But I think storydriven is overrated. What I mean is: People are too focused on the plot that they forget to have fun. Sure you can have fun with just watching the story revelent parts.
But there are shows that aren't storybased and are so much fun and so are many of the episodes. And you can have even more fun with eastereggs from previous episodes.
And for storydriven shows the from some people so called "Fillers" can actually have important hints that you miss.
Gravity Falls is the best example, so many things that on first watch might seem unrelated are actually cluse. Like how in the room with the carpet there are glasses and you can see Stan looking thoughtful at the glasses in one scene. There's also a calender in the room with the same year on it, as a map in the Bunker episode in season 2 (which lead me to the theory that Stans twin brother, which was just a theory back then and no one knew if he was real XD, must be the author X'D)
I grew up with so many episodic shows that only had like a few 2 part specials with a connected story which was always special. And the thing I liked about that is, that people appreciated every episode. It was just the characters and the fun things that happened during each episode that made the shows a great experience. No rush to get the story going, just a fun time. I hope people will become more patient again and see the beauty in each well written episode even if they are not for the "main plot" or whatever XD Sometimes it's just about enjoying the journey and not about rushing to the end ^^
That’s why I like ‘standard’ and ‘keystone’
@@SunnylandProds Yeah, that's way better then overusing "Filler" XD
My want of more episodes for the owl house has nothing to do with lumity, even though i ship them... It's because there was character developpement to do, people exchanging. There was a lot more of things to deal with than amphibia. Also, filler episodes in amphibia are just boring whereas in the owl house there was always something important or at least interesting. Using LGBT content as a argument is really debatable and kinda low. The owl house had only one episode that is mostly useless. For amphibia it's the opposite , only a few episodes are relevant. Anyway, the points you're making are kinda crappy... Some shows are better than others and deserves mores than others. That's it. Amphibia had all the episodes they needed to do something great yet they chosed to make something mostly irrelevant. It's not to blame, but ignoring it is just a mistake.
I think you misunderstood my point. I was talking entirely about Owl House fans complaining that we could’ve gotten more ‘filler’ episodes with the kids in Connecticut, nevermind the fact that this would mean Luz would be totally separated from Eda and King (who, remember, are main characters) for an extended amount of episodes. If you don’t like the Amphibia Earth episodes, fair enough, but they’re still there for a reason.
Honestly, it sounds to me like Amphibia’s just not your cup of tea. And that’s totally fine!
@@SunnylandProds Yeah that's what i understood, yet i still don't agree. I did enjoy amphibia, but objectively, it's not as good as the owl house. As i said, it's mostly fillers, some of them having an impact but that's it. I also did enjoy the 3rd season but was frustrated how some episodes were so irrelevant. The owl house didn't have irrelevant episodes except one, and didn't get the opportunity to have really good "fillers", which really wouldn't have been ones. Saying people are upset of not getting "fillers" because they want "lumity" is wrong. The quality of episodes were simply better in the owl house than amphibia, that's why we wanted them, not because of lumity. The owl house isn't a romance, we enjoy it but we wanted more charac dev, exchanges... we got a time-skip... I know those 2 shows have similarities but they are really different in quality and comparing them as if they're the same yet saying what you said is just wrong. They don't have the same quality, they didn't have the same opportunities and didn't have the same tone. There was (almost) no filler in the owl house and the ones we could've have gotten in S3 wouldn't have felt like fillers. Amphibia is mostly frustrating filler, forgot the episodes that were irrelevant. Liked the ones that gave lessons and lore. Owl house i remember every episode, simply because all of them has a good lesson or lore or development. I liked both shows but i like quality. Amphibia isn't a good exemple of quality. Except if you cut short half the show.
@lollol6978 You can’t claim that Amphibia isn’t as good as The Owl House “objectively” since that’s your opinion. There are plenty of “filler” episodes in The Owl House, just look at season 1. So many episodes in that season were completely irrelevant to the overall plot, not to mention boring and unoriginal as well as forgettable. These “filler” episodes aren’t even good enough to stand on their own and actually make us care about the characters and their relationships, unlike the “filler” episodes in Amphibia. I personally don’t even remember most episodes of The Owl House since I found most of the show to be filled with an abundance of irrelevant plots that go nowhere, rushed/forced shipping, and overused tropes. To say that Amphibia isn’t a good example of quality as an objective statement is wrong.
Um, sorry, not everyone loves Lumity. I am living proof. As is everyone else with a brain.
Fair enough, I guess?