Are 'plot holes' an excuse?

[V da Mighty Taco]

Spoiler: For a personal example...

MLP:FiM had a two-parter called "A Canterlot Wedding". The thing that killed these potentially great episodes for me were that - particularly in the second episode - the plotholes got so horribly out of hand that the entire thing just crashed and burned even with all the good things the episodes had going for them. Whether it was the main villain and her army suddenly losing 200 IQ points in the final act or by having the villain singlehandedly one-hit KO the strongest pony in the series - in perfectly healthy condition, btw - only to have the villain herself and her entire army get one-shot insta-nuked by two crippled / wounded ponies later on. No, I don't buy that the power of love is so strong to where Cadence and Shining Armor while half-dead could eclipse a perfectly healthy Celestia that much, unless you wanna convince me that Mr and Mrs Cake are also superponies well beyond Alicorn Princesses. Yes, I'm still bitter. DX<

Spoiler: An explaination

Ohh, actually, the comics reveals Celestia threw the fight, hoping Twilight would fix it, even hinting that she knew "Cadence" was a changeling but let her be to teach Twilight a lesson about doing the right thing even if others think you're wrong. And the power of love worked in the episode because Cadence is the closest thing Equestria has to a love goddess, her Special Talent, her destiny and strength is love, of course hers would be powerful.

There's a few issues with that though. First off, the canon of the comics is dubious at best, especially with all the retcons it keeps throwing out.

Spoiler: Comics spoilers

Luna's envy of her sister made her personally decide to revolt and become Nightmare Moon? Nonono, she was possessed! Celestia gets waffle-pwned by Chrysalis after the latter absorbs Shining Armor's strength? Nope, Cele actually threw the fight all along! Typically speaking, when a spinoff series made by different people in a different medium starts retconning key elements from the source material (which is still ongoing), it becomes hard for people to take it seriously as a part of canon. (Keep in mind than whether or not something is canon isn't a measure of quality. Something can be non-canon and still be awesome and vice-versa. In other words, I'm not saying that the comics are or aren't good, just that they're most likely non-canon.)

Secondly, it shouldn't be the job of the comic book series to fix major plotholes from the show like that (and 7 months later to boot), especially when - once again - the team behind the comics is entirely different from the one making the show. Spinoffs like the IDW comic book series are great for addressing smaller plotholes like why Twi and Shining Armor / Cadence didn't really seem to keep in touch during the first 2 seasons. However, plotholes that completely affect the outcome of the show's episode should be addressed in the show itself (preferably in that very episode / multi-parter).

Lastly, while I know you were just addressing that particular gripe of mine, that still leaves all the other major plotholes and issues with ACW - which leaves me to believe that the writers of ACW didn't exactly plan on having the comics deal with it. In other words, it's still sloppy writing on the part of FiM's writers.

EDIT: As for the "Cadence" thing,...

Spoiler: ACW spoilers

... my issue isn't that Cadence won or that Celestia lost, only how effortlessly it all happened. Celestia got beaten in a matter of seconds by Chrysalis alone, only for Shining Armor and Cadence - both in terrible condition - to turn right around and annihilate Chrysalis and her entire army in one shot. Even with the power of love in the hands of the Princess of Love, the power gap between Cele and Cadence would have to be too big for me to believe that an injured Cadence could wipe the floor with someone that could apparently beat Celestia in her (Chrysalis') sleep.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Also plotholes that were caused by pure laziness annoy me.

Argh, yes, when the writer could fix then easily, but doesn't seem to bother.

 

[HardkorSB]

What do you guys think? are new films subject to more plot holes than classic films, or do you think people are just looking to tare things down these days because everyone's a critic?

I think that, in the past, we didn't have the internet so even if these complaints existed before, we weren't aware of them.
I also think that because of the fact that we hear so much criticism from everyone about everything, a lot of people (like me, for example) notice more flaws more often than they used to.

I don't care about "plot holes" in regards to our reality (such as "this gun doesn't have this many bullets" or "that fall should have killed him") because a movie can have it's own reality with it's own rules.
What matters is internal consistency.
When a thing happens in the movie that is inconsistent with the movie's reality, that's when pointing it out makes sense.

 

[Dalisclock]

If the plot hole(s) mean that the entire movie/game could have been resolved in 5 minutes if everyone hadn't been acting like an idiot, then yes, plot holes can ruin a movie.

Eagle Eye is my go to movie for this, but most people didn't see it so I'm both glad(that I'm the only one who wasted money on it) and sad(I can't use it as an effective example).

Interestingly, having a bunch of plot holes otherwise is not a deal-breaker but can affect my enjoyment of a game.

I recently replayed the COD:MW games. MW2 has a lot of loose ends and plot holes, but generally works because the overall theme of the Cycle of Revenge and the setpieces in general.

Unfortunately, MW3 was made by a completely different team who apparently didn't seem to get the whole "War is Bad" memo the previous games were operating off of. It also introduced a bunch more plot holes and contradicted at least one very important plot point from the previous game(The same Russian President who ordered the genocidal invasion of the US is suddenly all into a peace treaty, Makarov suddenly running the Russian army, Price hanging out with the Delta team despite being the 2nd most wanted man on earth), making a bunch of stuff make little sense. So yeah, a lot of the missions are fun to play but now feel like a series of barely connected scenarios then an actual plot.

 

[Alterego-X]

Heroes, the show, is a perfect example. So many characters had powers that could have solved EVERY problem that arose single handed, but they refused to use them intelligently.

If you are looking for a good superhero story that takes all the powers to their most intelligently pragmatic conclusions, you should probably try reading Worm [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-1-gestation/1-01/].

Warning: Worm is extremely long.