Reference: Entertainment Quality Line

Rick Retro’s Reference Rundown #7: Opinion Block, Entertainment Quality Line

Retro Reviews Reference

The second line of the Opinion Block is the Entertainment Quality Line, where I reveal my opinion of the entertainment quality of the reviewed work, divorced from my opinion about the viewpoint that the work comes from or advocates, and the adult content it chooses to include.

Following directly after my overall grade, a quick comparison helps any reader learn how much of my overall grade came from the entertainment quality of the work, as opposed to my opinion about the viewpoint of the work. This also helps readers who don’t share my viewpoints evaluate whether or not the reviewed work might be right for them.

In addition to the composite grade that I give for entertainment quality, I grade four aspects of the work that contribute to its entertainment quality. All grades are on the same A+ to F grading scale used for my overall grade for the work, without arrows appended to add precision (see Reference: Grade Line).

The emojis standing in for the titles of the graded aspect of a work are as follows, with more detailed explanations to follow:
👍 Entertainment Quality
📖 Story
👥 Characters
📽️ Visuals
🎼 Soundtrack

A typical quality line might look like:
EQ 👍B+ | 📖B+ 👥A- 📽️B 🎼B+

👍 Entertainment Quality (EQ), A++ to F

This is the composite grade for the entertainment quality of the work. (Although the overall grade of a work will never be shown as higher than A+, an A++ is allowed here to indicate the best of the best.) While this grade considers and combines the four entertainment aspects of the work that are individually graded, the weight given to those aspects varies with the type and genre of the work.

For example, Story might be the most important aspect of a typical mystery. Characters might matter more in a romance. Visuals are very important to a film based on a sci-fi superhero comic book. And a musical flops without a good Soundtrack. It’s all about balance and context.

Keep in mind these grades are not a judgment on the production values of the work. These reviews are for audiences, not creators. That’s why I grade entertainment quality and aspects of that, as opposed to Academy Award categories. Good production values absolutely make for better entertainment. But I’m more interested in grading broadly accessible categories, validly debatable by any consumer of entertainment, as opposed to technical details where industry elites can claim superior expertise.

The most credit for a good composite grade, goes to the creators with the most influence over the four subordinate entertainment aspects. For films or TV, that would be the producers. For literary works, the authors and editors. For songs and albums, the songwriters, artists and producers.

📖 Story, A+ to F

When evaluating this aspect of a work, I look at how entertaining is the story that’s being told. I start with the premise and uniqueness of the story choice, and its appeal to genre fans. I consider setting choices, pacing, plot, dialogue, character relationships, and the climax and conclusion of the story. I consider the themes of the story. Are they clear and interesting? Is there a message and was it well-delivered? I ask if the storytellers achieved their goals by telling their story well. Even a song has lyrics to grade.

I don’t automatically penalize here for adult content I find gratuitous, assuming that the story is aimed at audiences that want extra content of that type. But if that content harms other factors considered above, it doesn’t get a free pass.

I do penalize for preachy stories, whether or not I agree with the message being preached. Showing is better than telling. Is the message of the story delivered naturally, or does it feel forced?

Credit for a good grade in this entertainment aspect goes to screenwriters and authors of the original content behind a work, literary authors, and song lyricists.

👥 Characters, A+ to F

When evaluating this aspect of a work, I look at how entertaining are the characters in the story. Everything about how good the characters are is fair game. Acting performances are important, but don’t forget directors are responsible for getting good work from actors. Authors and screenwriters must deliver great characters to begin with. Interesting character motivations, arcs, and quirks start with the writers. Animators, if applicable, can make characters pop. Even costume and makeup artists might make important contributions, so film credit for a good grade in this entertainment aspect may sometimes be broadly shared.

For literature and music, the credit here goes primarily to the authors and lyricists, whereas a music video would dole out credit more widely, like a film.

Some song lyrics won’t really include a character other than, say, an intangible concept like “love”. Don't expect to see a high grade for this entertainment aspect when that’s the case, but don’t expect that to have much weight in the composite EQ either.

📽️ Visuals, A+ to F

When evaluating this aspect of a work, I consider everything I see when watching a film, TV show or music video. If I’m reading a literary work or listening to a radio play or an album or song, then I consider the images evoked in my mind’s eye by the words I’m reading or hearing.

Beautiful images are great and perhaps preferred, but genre appropriateness is important too. Generally you want scary monsters, not attractive ones. The visuals should enhance the work, not overwhelm it, and be a good fit with the genre of the work. First and foremost, are we visually entertained, perhaps even delighted by what we see?

For a film, the credit for a good grade in this entertainment aspect starts with the casting director. Let’s face it, we want a (mostly) good-looking cast that gives us a little eye candy. Next, art directors build good-looking sets. Makeup artists make up for casting imperfections. Costume artists also run cover. Then the director oversees the shoot, hopefully helped by great cinematography. The producer oversees post-production including film editing and the eye-popping special effects to which we’ve become accustomed. It’s definitely a team effort.

Credit for good Visuals grades with other types of works? See Characters above.

🎼 Soundtrack, A+ to F

When evaluating this aspect of a work, I consider everything I hear when watching a film, TV show or music video, or listening to a song or album. If I’m reading a literary work, then I consider the sounds evoked in my mind’s ear by the words I’m reading. As with visuals, the soundtrack should enhance the work, not overwhelm it, and be a good fit with the genre of the work. We’re looking for auditory entertainment, wanting our stupendous Story, carefully crafted Characters and vivid Visuals, to also have superb sound.

This grade is not an evaluation of a film’s soundtrack album. That work, if reviewed, would be graded separately, but an equivalent or similar grade would not be surprising.

Once again, credit for a good grade in this entertainment aspect is shared broadly when it comes to films. The composer of the film score might deserve the most credit in most cases. But sound effects editors, character voices in animated films, and even live-action actors with interesting accents can contribute. When songs play a part of the soundtrack, the contributing artists deserve credit. Eventually we get back to the producer who hires the score composer and likely selects the songs used also.

With literary works credit still goes primarily to the author and how his words tickle your mind’s ear.

For musical works, significant credit switches more from the lyricists to the music composers, if not one and the same, while the performance artists perhaps deserve the largest share of the credit for great musical works.

Originally posted to text group in two parts, both on 2025-01-07
Last updated 2025-03-02

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Primary Information Line
Version Line
Secondary Information Line
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Overall Content Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
My View Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

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