The warning's there in case new viewers haven't seen it, but...

Apparently, I'm the only one who seems to care anymore about them depicting Sophie as a daughter of Flower, not of Mozart. It wouldn't bug me so much if they hadn't...you know. Shown Mozart giving birth to her. In the third episode. Period. I'm pretty sure they kept continuity up the the next season too, and didn't make any reference to it third season.

I mean, seriously. I tolerated the issue with the name Sparkle being reused, but barely.

I didn't get to see last week's episode, but it sounds like they explicitly stated she was a sister to Rocket Dog's generation there.

It's not like they need to do it to up Sophie's reputation. Au contraire, saying she's Mozart's daughter is one of the best things they could do for her.

I'm just wondering if I'm the only one here that this blatant disregard to long-term fans miiight be a little more important than who's voicing what.

a-chana,

If you don't mind knowing what happens ahead of time, there is a thread in the spoiler forum titled "Sophie" that addresses your concerns.

Yo a-chana

Yes and its not just Sophie. Now the kat that played Columbus last year, Machu Pichu is playing "Mitch" simply because Machu became the dominant male at Whiskers but instead they wanted to put another feather in their character, Mitch's hat.

Wouldn't it have been better to be honest and say Mitch left the family after the roving expedition with Zaphod and now the big young adventurer, Columbus, has taken up the task of protecting the family by Rocket's side.

It truly makes me wonder if the editors even watched the earlier episodes. The continuity of the characters is worse this season than ever before.

However the storyline is very close to true.

Sigh...hold onto your Whiskers folks, oh the dunes they are a changin...

Pronker

Oh, Lordy, Pronker, I get chills when you say something like that.
MaryJane

I find it very annoying how they don't just give them new names instead of constantly using one name and changing the entire life history of that meerkat. I understand the researchers aren't there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year but I would rather know that they have no idea what happened to a particular meerkat than create a stand in.

Hello a-chana! In my humble opinion, you are FAR from the only one. Speaking up only causes "issues" and I will defer to pronker's post for any further "feelings" that I may have.

I agree that continuity has drastically changed, not that it was ever totally accurate. And its nice Pronker confirms the LH is being followed.

There is an up side to all this however. Now that MM has stopped using the "real" names of the kats, they can manipulate the portrayal of the events. The same story, the real LH can be told, but by using composite or screen created kats we won't have to see so many die or go last seen. After S3, I look at that as a good thing.

No, I'm upset about that one as well! Mozart was loved dearly and to say Sophie is Flower's daughter is not fair to her great mom! I thought though Sophie left the research area that they still kept her "character" on because she was Mozart's daughter!

Oh there is a whole lot more too. What a mess they make of a good show.

Since everything is NEW this season, maybe the scriptwriter is too and they never saw the previous seasons. Sad.

quote:

Originally posted by a-chana:
The warning's there in case new viewers haven't seen it, but...

Apparently, I'm the only one who seems to care anymore about them depicting Sophie as a daughter of Flower, not of Mozart. It wouldn't bug me so much if they hadn't...you know. Shown Mozart giving birth to her. In the third episode. Period. I'm pretty sure they kept continuity up the the next season too, and didn't make any reference to it third season.

I mean, seriously. I tolerated the issue with the name Sparkle being reused, but barely.

I didn't get to see last week's episode, but it sounds like they explicitly stated she was a sister to Rocket Dog's generation there.

It's not like they need to do it to up Sophie's reputation. Au contraire, saying she's Mozart's daughter is one of the best things they could do for her.

I'm just wondering if I'm the only one here that this blatant disregard to long-term fans miiight be a little more important than who's voicing what.

I think there's a reason for this. I think the reason for saying she's RD's sister is their way of showing it's a new kat, and not Tina Sparkle, while keeping the same name. I'm sure that once in S3 where they say she's Mozart's daughter.

I don't think they state anything about Sophie's relationship to Flower and Mozart in S3, actually, but I'm not sure. I'm guessing a new viewer's supposed to infer that she's in Rocket Dog's generation, but I might have to look at those episodes again to see if they say anything.

Thanks, all. It still doesn't make that much sense to me, since, as I said, it'd make her even more widely-loved, if that's the angle they're trying to go for (Sophie is to Mozart as Mitch is to Shakespeare, sure, but in my personal opinion, they're not doing as well as I'd hope with Sophie). And, I took a look at that spoiler thread. It cleared up a couple things about where they may go with her, but not about the heritage switch.

I'm thinking that if there's ever another question session, like back in S3, this is something we could ask about? It really just boils down to "Did you just throw continuity down a five-story window?" for me.

Yo a-chana

Well, I think episode 8 Divided We Fall gives you a clue where the storyline is now headed. It was pure fantasy.

I think the reason they used two point of views is that it was a patchy story and they couldn't tell it straight on.

The only thing great about it was Nugget and Beaker. They are just the cutest little pups ever.

Pronker

Of course. Pups make everything better.

Yeah, I'm seeing it start to deviate a little more than usual now, and that's not even counting another disregard of continuity slapping me in the face like a wet fish ("First male eviction"? Oh, come on, now the writers aren't even trying.).

I'll keep watching, but it's not all gonna stay bottled up. I need to gather the courage to find some way to contact them and ask what happened to keeping the story straight.

(To those that frequent FandomSecrets: Yeah, that one MM Secret poster was me.)

For those of you who still don't know, "Sophie" WAS RD's sister this season... that's because they used that name for Ella, the meerkat's REAL name. "Sophie" has become a title for the writers to put the soap opera feel to the show, like how they use "Mitch" for every heroic act done by a male who isn't Zaphod. It's silly really, to make people think that only a few meerkats are keeping the family together, when there are obviously other meers pulling their own weight.

you know, i too get annoyed with the way meerkats are played by multiple meerkats and name changes, sister to niece etc. but people rip animal planet all the time but look at it in a different light:
for tv, things are simplified,not everyone is an expert, especially new viewers, so:

GROUPS:
there is no need to feature all the groups: ie 'young ones' and 'zappa' are just 'zappa'
'vivian' and 'commandoes' are just 'commandoes'

FAMILY TIES:
Mozart giving birth to sophie makes sense, but afterwards, it dosent. to a new viewer - who is/was mozart? its easier to pass her off as rocketdogs sister, like, why explain youssarians scar in a fight for dominance with zaphod when its easier to say he was attacked by a bird? also youssarian had 2 litters to flower inc maybelline and rocket dog but they are all 'zaphods' kids in mm.

ANIMAL PLANET DONT LISTEN TO VIEWERS:
People say this but, remember shakespeare? everyone was going mad because he 'dissapeared' - this was true! so animal planet carry on the character of 'mitch' through machu piccu and... youve guessed it.. everyone complains.
finally...
as much as people dont like the way mm portrays the whiskers (inc me) if it wasnt for them bringing them to TV, lets be honest.. YOU wouldnt be reading this... just think of that.