RE: Fiends (2011 to Present)
So, I mentioned that in my review that Fiends was a huge disappointment to me. Fiends was the highlight of the event last year so the event this year took a big hit in my opinion. This wasn't because of the new cast, but because of the dialog and flow/tone of the show. Yes, I'm nitpicking at points, but I loved this show because of it's perfection last year.
To start with the dialog, it really felt like somebody was told to rewrite the show, "but different" and they had a really hard time doing it. It also felt like the park decided that the plot of last year's show was too complex (Because last year's show was something like Momento or Tree of Life), so they added a bunch of unneeded exposition and even foreshadowing. This was the lip synced version that I saw, so it might be different in the live versions, but they spend a few minutes about the doctor's motivation for making his "Son" (...really?). Not everything requires that amount of exposition, especially since you're using the classic trope of Frankenstein and the fact that the show is 20 minutes long. He's a mad scientist, we get the gist. The motivation is only for a single 4th wall joke which wasn't that funny. The same thing goes with the foreshadowing, it's kind of insulting to assume the guests are so dumb they can't figure out that the science experiment is going to blow up in the Doctor's face.
The new jokes themselves had lots of issues. A chunk of them are longer versions of the same jokes as last year. An example of of this is when the swamp creature comes out last year, the Doctor says, "I wanted the Creature from the Black Lagoon, not the Creature from the Back Lagoon." Simple, quick witted, and to the point. This year it's something like, "Doctor: I wanted the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Creature: Well what do you mean? Doctor: You're the creature from the fat lagoon." The joke takes longer to deliver and as a result, it feels sloppy. The Bieber/Facebook jokes feel shoehorned in to simply say, "Hey, young people who happen to be at a theme park, we get you." My biggest pet peeve about the jokes is the Simplicity sex joke is repeated four or five times. Last year's worked because it was a pun on her name, introduced her character a bit, and was a bit startling to hear for the first time. Now, the show is saying, "Hey...these guys have sex" over and over, might be interesting the first time you hear it, but it grows old. Not to mention the first sex joke is before the "I thought I was on top." joke, so it's killed before you get to it.
The tone last year did a good job switching from "Goofy" and "Sexy", both never getting too extreme so it fits the other. This year, they turned both up to the extremes so "Goofy" and "Sexy" clash with each other. I mean, after two Doctor/Simplicity sex jokes, a rastafarian banana plush is pulled out of the body the Doctor is working on. It feels like Tex Avery (Google Him) and Andrew "Dice" Clay took turns writing this show at times.
I would also like to mention the part with the Werewolf. Last year the Werewolf danced around on stage and scared the Nurses. This year, the werewolf doesn't really move around as much and the Nurses all fawn over him. The Nurses are sexy, yes, but in this year's show, I feel this part de-humanizes them a tad because they seemed vulnerable last year. Not to mention that the Nurses fawning over a guy in a ratty fur suit is less "sexy" and more "creepy", "unsettling", and "vaguely furry in nature". This part (well, the show in general) left me with the most "WTF" feeling of the show.
The costumes were talked about briefly before, but I just want to touch on the sequins. Sequins are dumb, they aren't sexy, please stop using them. That is all.
The thing that the park has seem to forgot (or ignored) is that details matter a lot. This is why I think Fiends failed this year was because the details that made last year so fantastic got botched up when they changed the show for whatever reason.
tl;dr- To those who thought it was a good idea to mess with perfection...
Note: Image is Zachary approved.
