When Social Media Meets TV, Are the Results Worth Watching?

blackbearnh writes "Forums and chat groups are letting fans organize and discuss their favorite shows with increasing ease, but what happens when the writers and producers of TV shows start paying attention? An article in today's Christian Science Monitor takes a look at how the production staff of recent shows has interacted with their fan base, and how the fans are having an increasing influence on not only the popularity, but also the plot and characters."

Re:Read article. Wasn't disappointed.

[Anonymous Coward]

And yet another article that's basically all about My Little Pony.

Six years ago, ponies on Slashdot were a joke. We were all grizzled men with grizzled beards. We made systems run through sweat and tears, we coded heroic late night fixes, congregating here to share war stories of pride in ourselves and defiance of users.

Now we're grizzled men with grizzled beards and a Fluttershy desktop.

How the times have changed.

Are you suggesting you just don't know what went wrong? [youtube.com] :)

To get serious for a second, here's what all the fuss was about: Derpy's voice, original and revised [youtube.com]. Voice actors often work from storyboards while recording the audio. (The animators need the voices first so they sync the characters' lip movements), and in this case, the voice actor thought the character was male, not female. Female voice actor, voicing male character? Eeyup, she's gonna sound low and derpy.

The whole thing started a year ago when an animation error inadvertently gave an anonymous background character a set of crossed eyes. Fans saw the glitch and named her Derpy. The second animation error (voice actor and/or scriptwriter being ambiguous about whether the character was male or female) resulted in a deep low voice, which a few viewers mistook (a third error!) for mocking mental disability.

(Obligatory Godwin: And then the fans flipped out like Hitler in the bunker [youtube.com], and here we are!)

When you're dealing with the Cambrian explosion of Internet remix culture, sometimes you get mutants. Transcription errors are all part of the game. Here's to the weird ones.