I'm planning on doing an evaluation of my opinions for all 4 of my personal favourite animated series- MLP:FiM, The Simpsons, Phineas and Ferb and of course, SpongeBob. Note that I'm not going to be updating any of them nearly as frequently as with SpongeBob, maybe because I might alternate between this, Phineas and Ferb and MLP:FiM as my secondary review show, furthermore, SpongeBob is where I got my start, so I'm going to hold onto that just a little longer. With that out of the way, this is the only show here in which I haven't watched every episode of a particular season, and this is one of those episode in which I'm going in fresh. MLP:FiM is a strange specimen when it comes to TV animation, it came out, had somewhat famous animation people behind it, attained a cult following, and now opinions about whether it's still good or not fly all over the place like Rainbow Dash on an apple cider bender, so this review series should be interesting.
Current Season: Season 1
Original airdates: October 10 2010-May 6 2011
Episode Count: 26
Segment Count: 25
Additional Information: The only season to have all the animation done by Studio B Productions as opposed to DHX Studios, The only season in which Twilight Sparkle appears in every episode, The only season to have Lauren Faust be the executive producer throughout the whole run, The only season to have an EI rating
Friendship is Magic part 1/Mare in the Moon (Season 1, Episode 1)
Original Airdate: October 10 2010
Episode 1 non-compressed, Episode 1a compressed)
Plot: Twilight Sparkle and Spike are sent by Princess Celestia to Ponyville to make new friends
Written by Lauren Faust
"
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/f/ff/Twilight_tells_Lemon_Hearts%2C_Minuette%2C_and_Twinkleshine_that_she_has_to_study_S1E01.png/revision/latest?cb=20120904120800"http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/f/ff/Twilight_tells_Lemon_Hearts%2C_Minuette%2C_and_Twinkleshine_that_she_has_to_study_S1E01.png/revision/latest?cb=20120904120800[/img]
6 years! A lot has changed for our world in the ever-extending time in which My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the TV adaptation made for the 4th generation of the famous toyline, has been on the air. Adults have started to accept cartoons as a serious form of entertainment more frequently, the 8th generation of video games has started and it's basically a cockfight outside of mobile devices at this point, the world has passed 7 billion living humans and is still growing and teenagers now use this website called Vine to make complete fools out of themselves on the internet, among other things.
It's not just outside of MLP:FiM in which major differences have come. Discord has come as a villain and has since been reformed, Twilight is now an alicorn princess, there's apparently a parallel dimension where everybody's human, the Elements of Harmony have been replaced by rainbow-thingies, the Cutie Mark Crusaders have recieved their cutie marks, babies can now be alicorns and Twilight has reformed a time-travelling, cult-leading, magic-abusing sociopath called Mary Sue Starlight Glimmer. With all that, would it be hard for me to take this episode seriously, or will I feel more comfortable with an unintentionally more retro vibe from the series? As I've been hesitent to watch two-parters for quite some time, this may depend on how I feel about the style, so keep that in mind.
It opens with a legend regarding two magical sisters, with the younger sister (going by the name Nightmare Moon) originally being in charge of controlling the moon, but since she was hissy-pissy about nopony (ugh, pony vocabulary) appreciating the night as opposed to the day, she unleashed her inner rage and made it so that the night lasted forever, which would be like if HAL Laboratory wasn't happy about the lack of new Kirby games, so they sabotaged Nintendo and made every new game Kirby, which hey, I'm down with unless they involve touchscreens. Anyway, the eldest locked her inside the moon using "the Elements of Harmony", but Nightmare Moon vowed to return in 1,000 years. It cuts to Twilight reading the book next to a pond where she wonders where she would've heard about the Elements of Harmony previously, and that's the prologue to the first episode of this cult hit, a simple yet effective backstory. It sort of feels like the opening cutscene of a video game, you know the kind where it would play after the company logos but before the title screen?
After the title sequence is over, Twilight Sparkle is introduced to us as a 15 21 18 14 16 20 (in pony years) year old unicorn who studies magic and lives in a fancy library, but is a social outcast, very much outcasting herself through her antisocial behaviour, who would much rather spend time with her nose in a history book than with friends, except for her baby dragon companion, Spike, even if she acts to him as if she were an agitated older sister sometimes (I can relate to Spike, just saying). This is displayed through her not wanting to spend any time with what may have been her group of friends, simply rushing home, saying she's got important business to take care of. The thing is, we don't know just how important it is, but as the episode progresses, it gets much more serious, particularly at the end.
Another thing we learn about her is that she has a rather low opinion on everypony that isn't herself or Princess Celestia, revealed to be her mentor and teacher, but we don't see her until the end of the episode. This is shown via her attempting to notice the similarities between the fairy tale she had just read and the information regarding the Elements of Harmony in one of her many,
many books regarding Equestria. The example provides a good showcase of her intelligent thinking, although I wonder why nopony had drawn similarities between the facts and fiction within the
thousand years they had to analyse both accounts simultaneously, as well as realise that Nightmare Moon was planning on escaping on the thousandth night. Really, you could either say that Twilight is smart or all the other ponies are really dumb, even though it's trying to lean towards the former.
Twilight sends a letter to Princess Celestia about her discoveries, but Celestia writes back saying that Twilight should ignore it, not only that, but she sends her to a new town, Ponyville, to make some friends, particularly in preperation for the 1000th annual Summer Sun Celebration. I have to talk about the overall style of Ponyville now that it's that point in the episode. Visually, it looks like an average village, but with ponies, hence the name (which is kind of like calling a town Humanland if you think about it; I really hope hundreds of bronies haven't already made that joke even though this is my first time watching the episode and I was going in fresh). One thing I admire is that Canterlot, Twilight's original location, has a blue sky while Ponyville has a turqoise one, and complemented with the different aesthetics of the new location, which includes more houses and trees, it really does it's at feeling like a different location.
Now here comes the part of the episode in which Twilight and Spike are introduced to 5 ponies, which is my favourite part of the episode, as although I already know how these characters act and their distinctive personality traits, it's nice seeing how they were introduced to Twilight, and to an extent, most of the fans, and you know what, these are actually rather well-excecuted introductions.
The first pony Twilight sees is Pinkie Pie, who upon noticing that Twilight is new, gasps and runs away. This tells us very little about Pinkie Pie, the most you can say is that she moves and behaves much less realistically than other characters, being able to jump several feet into the air and dash off quickly like a cartoon. At the very least, she gives herself a more proper introduction to herself later in the episode.
The first pony that Twilight actually meets is Applejack, who works at a farm called Sweet Apple Acres and has a large Apple family, like most Southerners which is a very exaggerated and cartoony thing, but I wonder why they never appear in other episodes outside of Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. The reason Twilight meets up with Applejack is that she checking to see if everything at the 1,000th annual Summer Sun Celebration (explained in the opening), and was sent to see if everything with the food was in order, which was a smooth move on Celestia's part, as all her soon-to-be friends have something to do at the Summer Sun Celebration.
The second one is Rainbow Dash, who's in charge of the weather, but their relationship is already a bit more on the rocky side, as Rainbow Dash accidentally pushes Twilight into mud, then accidentally makes her too wet while trying to wash her with a cloud, and then accidentally makes her hair all messy while drying her with a mini cyclone, all the while Rainbow Dash giggles away at Twilight's misfortune, even if she tries to make things better. This sets up that Rainbow Dash is cheeky and still needs to learn a lot about respect, oh, and that she wants to train for "The Wonderbolts", an airshow/air force featuring pegasi (like herself), which puts the inclusion of her wings in her design to good use.
Next stop is decoration, where she finds Rarity, a fellow unicorn, decorating the town hall. Spike mentions she looks beautiful and instantly develops a crush on her, setting up a dynamic in which Spike falls bashful for Rarity whenever the two are onscreen together, which I find to be cute, considering Spike's like, what, 10? It's at this point that Rarity decided to fix Twilight up by taking her to her boutique and making her a dress, and then there's a brief montage of her putting several different items of clothing on Twilight, even though Twilight doesn't want to co-operate and would rather make her way to the next pony she has to meet with. When I say that Twilight doesn't want to co-operate, I mean that she takes her chance to escape as Rairty has her back turned, that's how desperate she is.
Lastly is the music, which will be provided by a timid pegasus called Fluttershy and her choir of birds, which aside from sounding rather soothing, also gives us an indication that Fluttershy can communicate with animals, and even talks directly to them, but when meeting Twilight for the first time, she can barely get her name out, which is adorable but also a bit sad seeing how far she's come with communication towards fellow ponies (taking Buckball Season into account, perhaps a bit too far). Like Phineas in the Phineas and Ferb episode Rollercoaster, it feels a bit odd seeing her acting like this so early in the episode, when throughout the rest of it, she's much less of a prototype for her usual self. Even the way she hides her face in her mane feels kind of compared to just being kind as seen in the second part of this story.
Also similar to Phineas, many of the ponies sound much younger, or at least higher-pitched than they do today. Perhaps the most notable example is Applejack, who sounded more like Miley Cyrus in the first couple episodes (remember, this was a time before Miley Cyrus went crazy), not because her voice actress, Ashleigh Ball, was going through puberty (she was 27 at this point), but because she wanted her to sound different from the other pony she played, Rainbow Dash, who sounds less like a woman with a slight voice crack and more like one of those boy characters, in which it just has the boyish inflection to it. Not to mention, Fluttershy also sounds much squeakier here, almost like Pinkie Pie whispering, compared to her deeper voice later on that sounds slightly motherly when she's around animals.
Finally, Twilight and Spike make it to what is called the Golden Oaks Library, where she intends to live in her time at Ponyville and continue her studies, but finds that it's overrun with a surprise party installed by Pinkie Pie, the first pony she saw, as Pinkie explains in a rapidly fast sentence that she threw a surprise party for her to initiate her into Ponyville, and her memories as she states to know everypony in Ponyville. The rapidly fast sentence thing as well as her bubble, hyperactive actions paint her as the show's comedy relief next to Spike, except wheras Spike is often seen going through either physical slapstick or giving a snarky comment about the situation at hand, Pinkie Pie performs crazier actions and has a tendancy to not really carry the appropriate emotion (ie, anything but happiness) for the situation at hand, especially in part 1's climax.
Twilight, not in the mood for a party, tries to cool down and pour herself a drink (Faust you clever
!), but accidentally pours herself hot sauce. Pardon me if I read too into this, but this might be a metaphor of her still not being able to fit in, as you can see that the other poured drinks are green and already set up, but she pours herself a red drink because she wants to keep doing her own thing, which has some consequences.
She heads into the upstairs room where, after a night of the others partying, she still hasn't gotten any sleep, but she does have the opportunity to look out the window and notices Nightmare Moon's silhouette in the moon which abruptly disappears, which is a reminder to the audience that the legend is true and this, being the 1,000th year since she was locked up, will be the year she escapes. This leads to some speculation as to what's about to happen, but if you're like me you'd already know everything and it will all be about the execution of this idea, and that's the best way to describe my feeling towards this episode, it's in the execution, and if I like or dislike something, I'll oblige to point it out. This is a positive thing, as I've said.
The last scene takes place at the Summer Sun Celebration which everypony is attending and awaiting Princess Celestia's arrival to bring up the Sun, where Rarity and Fluttershy do their jobs, Twilight gets frightened over the prospect of the legend coming true, and Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie just have a good time, alongside hundreds of other friendly faces. This little bit of happy anticipation crossed with Twilight's more negative anticipation for the upcoming events lends itself to a change in mood without a change of mindset, and when it changes mood again (as explained in the next paragraph), the mindset is only increased.
That mindset being that Equestria's in danger of eternal night, as indeed Celestia doesn't turn up and Nightmare Moon appears to the ponies announces eternal night across the land, meaning that the legends were true and the rest of the equines have been percieved idiots (at least percieved from my point of view) for not realising this over the millennium they had to read between the lines! I'd expect them to bring up some other pony centuries ago who may have predicted, but Twilight seems to be the only one in the entire thousand year history to put on her thinking cap, even if it was two days before the infamous event took place. Essentially, go Twilight!
One criticism I have with this scene is Pinkie Pie. Since it's her flaw that she doesn't display the correct emotion for more serious moments at this point in the series, she kind of drags the seriousness of the scene down with her eccentric back-talking to Nightmare Moon, and it overall feels useless. I know that she's supposed to develop over time (this is a character-driven show that has a lot of character development), but this really just feels like it was put here to remind the audience that Pinkie Pie exists. I guess the reason most bronies are typically critical of their favourite characters is because they simply expect better from them, and I for one expect Pinkie Pie to be better, but that isn't a bad thing, as we want the show to be better and we want to explain why.
Also, I have to point out that, at one point, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scotaloo were all huddling together. Knowing their purpose later in the series, this is some serious foreshadowing, as to an average viewer in 2010, they were just regular fillies. It unintentionally makes me feel smarter going back to watch this.
Friendship is Magic part 2/The Elements of Harmony (Season 1, Episode 2)
Original Airdate: October 22 2010
Episode 2 non-compressed, Episode 1b compressed
Plot: Twilight Sparkle and her new friends have an adventure through thr Evergreen Forest to stop Nightmare Moon
Written by Lauren Faust
"
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/6/64/Rainbow_Dash_%22nighttime_forever%3F%22_S1E02.png/revision/latest?cb=20140522170700"http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/6/64/Rainbow_Dash_%22nighttime_forever%3F%22_S1E02.png/revision/latest?cb=20140522170700[/img]
Featured Song: Laughter Song
Nightmare Moon vanishes off into the distance, as everypony tries to figure out where she would've gone to. The 5 ponies that have been introduced (Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash in no particular order) follow Twilight back to the library, knowing that she was the only one to really know anything about Nightmare Moon, admittedly an appropriate action, and I can understand them being the ones to follow her because they're the only 5 to have had extended interaction with Twilight. This is one of those things that I have to note because a complaint about later seasons in regards to massive events in the show is that it doesn't feel like these 5 characters aren't present for them, so I'm just pointing out that they're here and they're contributing to the plot. As a sidenote, I don't think I'd be too bummed by entire important episodes in which they don't contribute or even appear, because at least Twilight would have the ability to talk to them about those sorts of things.
Back at the library, Twilight tucks Spike into bed so he can get some rest, as he was up all night partying with the others, and it gives Twilight an opportunity to interact with the others, as the first part was about being introduced to them, while this episode is being introduced to their purpose in the show, of which Spike's has already been fulfilled.
After Spike's put to sleep, Twilight tries to find another book about the Elements of Harmony, but is confronted about her friends, some of them even being angry with Twilight thinking she had something to do with the eternal night, which is just one of those "OMG you're new and are probably the cause of this mess-style" misunderstandings that I have seen way too much in Classic Doctor Who to take seriously in the 21st century, but at least it's over before it goes anywhere as Twilight explains that she simply knows
of the legend and it's dark truth. Get it? Dark? Because it's gonna be nighttime forever?
Twilight and her new acquaintances (they're not really friends yet) find another book regarding the Elements of Harmony, specifically Pinkie Pie who sings that it was under "E", which is funny due to how cheerful it is, and unlike the ending of the last episode, it's in a more relaxing scene, so it's marginally more welcome. The book reads that they have to locate the "Castle of the Two Sisters", which is in the Evergreen Forest, if they want to do anything about Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony (Honesty, Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter and INSERT COIN TO CONTINUE GAME), and through all of this, I just have to say that reading books when the world is about to end really tells us alot about Twilight! At least it's a good lesson for the kids, as this was a point in time in which reading has become less and less popular among children (and it still is, and is probably even worse nowadays).
After this, we get my favourite thing about this two-parter as a whole, which is each of the Mane 6 discovering something about themselves relating to one of the Elements of Harmony, which is simply fantastic to watch. It's not even like they have to be in any particular order, considering how dense of a location the Evergreen Forest is in regards to it's designs and obstacles. I admire it when they mix around the orders of the ponies (minus Twilight), as it makes them all feel equal in regards to their role as Twilight's friends. My only problem with it is that it feels way too obvious, especially because they're each spelled out twice, but again, this was made to introduce the characters in greater detail.
Their first trial is them being thrust off a slippery slope, but most of them are able to stop themselves from getting close to the cliff, the ones having the misfortune of almost falling off being Applejack and Twilight. Twilight almost does fall off the cliff, but Applejack holds onto her, and then notices something below and says that she's gonna let go. Twilight is hesitant, but Applejack tells her it's the "honest" truth. Write that down in your notebook, because this is gonna be on the test, Applejack represents honesty. Twilight lets go and is saved by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who take advantage of their wings to carry her down softly, where Rarity and Pinkie Pie are waiting while Applejack simply hops down from platform to platform.
The second trial is a giant beast that has been set off by something. Some of the ponies try to battle it, but Fluttershy keeps quietly telling them to wait, until she just flat-out yells at them to stop, which shows me that although Fluttershy is soft-spoken, she can have a bit of a short fuse in situations where she knows how to handle the solution. In this case, she's able to tame the beast by simply talking to it and asking what's wrong, at which point it's funny seeing the beast simply pointing to his splinter, which Fluttershy removes, making the beast friendly, even going so far as to lick Fluttershy, which is somehow very adorable. She then says to Twilight that sometimes ponies need to show a little "kindness", which now brings us to 2 of the 5 known elements.
The third trial lands them in a dark area consisting of several tress with menacing faces on them, which frighten everypony except Pinkie Pie, who actually finds them to look rather funny. This gives me the feeling that it was nearly impossible for Pinkie Pie to feel fear this early on, and although that makes her much less three-dimensional than the other ponies, it does get them through the trial as she encourages them to take a minute and laugh at the now silly-looking faces. This is presented through the "Laughter Song", which has the same instrumentals and beat as the show's theme song, but it has Pinkie Pie singing an uplifiting message, finishing it by saying that the ordeal makes her want to "laugh". There's laughter down, so two more ponies have to show one of the virtues to realte to the elements.
The fourth trial involves a river that's difficult to cross, caused by a sea serpent (called Steven Magnet) who's upset over losing part of his moustache. I have to say that Steven look and sounds fabulous. Y'know…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TjdjTSbMac
…
that sort of fabulous. Seriously though, he has the same sort of hairstyle. Anyway, back to the episode, Rarity is able to understand how he feels, and is just as upset as him about it, so she commits an act of "generosity" and cuts off a bit of her tail and attatches it to his nose, making the moustache look more complete. He thanks her, settles down and allows them a bridge by letting them hop across his body to the other side. Now we only have one more (known) element to fulfill, and that's loyalty.
As they come close to the Castle of the Two Sisters, they find that there's a bridge crossing over that's broken, so Rainbow Dash takes one part of it and flies over and attempts to tie it up, which is a good deed. However, she's stopped by the "Shadowbolts", who want Rainbow Dash to be part of their team, but Rainbow Dash says she has to assist her friends, to which they foolishly say that it's either them or her friends, so Dash presents her "loyalty" to the rest of the Mane 6 by finishing tying the bridge, causing the Shadowbolts to disapper into a blue glow. This would probably be one of the weaker ones when you take into account that anypony else could've done the right thing, but with Rainbow Dash, she's dealing with temptation, and as she's the only one at this point to actually have a dream for what she wants to become, part of the Wonderbolts, this trial fits her perfectly.
It's at this point that I should mention the blue glow has possessed all the troubles that lay ahead of them from the beginning of them entering the Evergreen Forest. It's obvious that it was Nightmare Moon in a ghostly shadow form trying to halt the Mane 6's progresses, and what makes it work is that each of the Mane 6 (minus Twilight, but shhh, that's for later) help each other out, and they wouldn't be able to move on without the right pony. This makes each of them feel useful, helped by the fact that none of the trials overstay their welcome in regards to the main plot.
They eventually make it up into the castle where they discover 5 of the Elements of Harmony have been encased in stone, presumably for years and years, and the sixth one is nowhere to be found. Twilight tries to use her magic on them to see what can be done, so the ofhers leave her to concentrate. As she's almost got it, Nightmare Moon appears to her, obviously not wanting her to do anything with the elements and tries to whisk them into another location, but takes Twilight as well, which hightens suspense and puts the audience in the mood for action. This is going to be where the sixth element is revealed, and this is going to be concerning Twilight, as all the others have already been identified.
This new location is where Twilight demonstrates her ability to teleport to different places using "magic", escaping Nightmare Moon chasing her and getting closer to the elements. Remember, "magic" is what has gotten her from one place to another. However, just as she's got a certain spark from the elements, Nightmare Moon breaks them, rendering Twilight seemingly unable to fix them. However, as her friends enter the room, Twilight feels that "spark", the spark of friendship, and is able to reassign the Elements of Harmony to each of her friends based on how they've helped each other out. This just feels awesome, as it's the penultimate scene in the episode and where everything aligns, they've recieved their elements (which have changed in appearance to resemble their "cutie marks", which is the first time the My Little Pony franchise ever gave a name to the ponies' butt tatoos) and somehow manage to trap Nightmare Moon inside a rainbow cyclone turning her into…
Princess Luna. Princess Celestia comes in to explain things, and all the ponies except Twilight bow down to her, which makes sense as Twilight will have had much more time with Celestia so this would feel more casual. Celestia reveals to them that Princess Luna is her younger sister and they were the sisters in that legend, which would nowadays be a no-brainer, and unfortunately that kinda speaks true. As Celestia and Luna raising the Sun and Moon respectively is perhaps their most recognisable traits, the reveal felt about as predictable as giving me an orange and saying that it originally came from a tree. It's just common knowledge to me.
After that's all said and done, Pinkie Pie breaks the 4th wall for the first time (of many) by saying that they should throw a party (specifically towards the audience) as the scene shifts to the aftermath as the Sun has risen back up completely, with Celestia and Luna being praised and supposedly a new era of Equestria beginning, what with the Elements of Harmony being bestowed upon Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack (in order of search interest this time). One thing I like is when Luna is given a wreath by some very young pegasi, signifying that even the most innocent and impresionable fillies have forgiven her.
Twilight is bummed out to realise that she has to return to Canterlot after meeting such great friends, so Celestia strikes a deal with Twilight that she can continue to study in Ponyville as long as she sends a report about friendship every week (specifically every week from October 29 2010-May 6 2011), leading to a group hug that sets the mood for a show that has no end in sight, and yeah, to this day, there's still no end in sight. As I said in my post about the Phineas and Ferb episode Rollercoaster, it's great when a first episode (I know that these weren't the first episodes made, The Ticket Master was technically the pilot, but these are chronologically the first episodes, so it counts) gives us little hints that the adventure isn't over yet, as it gives it's new fans excitement for what the show's going to do next.
The final part is Pinkie Pie breaking the 4th wall again asking the audience if they're excited. Yes Pinkie Pie, on behalf on all those that may follow this thread, I am thoroughly excited. I'm excited to watch how you'll evolve as a character, I'm excited to see what's going to happen to you and your friends in the future, I'm exci- wait, it's all about Glim Glam now? :( Okay.
Sorry if this was more summarising the events of the episode than actually commenting on what makes it good. I guess that, like Pinkie Pie, I've got to grow into this show and it's customs. With that, these episodes, in my opinion, are rather solid, but nothing to write home about. Part of that comes from the rather obvious answers to questions that may be mystifying for non-bronies, and the humour isn't fully-formed yet, but neither are the characters telling the jokes either. With that said, it really makes me wonder how this got thousands of adults interested in the series. Don't get me wrong, it's fine entertainment for kids, but I just don't see that mature appeal yet, at least not in full force.
New Rating System
1-2=
Corrputed
3-4= Bad
5-6= Average
7-8= Good
9-10=
Harmonic
Celestial Scale: Good (represents what MLP:FiM stands for)
Numeric Scale: 7/10 (solid but not top notch)
Question of the Day 1: If you're a brony, when did you become one and what was the first episode you watched?
Question of the Day 2: Do you like going to the library?
Question of the Day 3: How do you feel when certain characters are overused or play too much of a role in a character-driven show? I used to be bummed out, but then Filli Vanilli showed me why it's a bad idea to shoehorn certain characters into situations that don't fit them.
Join me next time as the ponies have to deal with the idea of picking favourites. Until then, here's the episode's featured song, the Laughter Song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVipH-SWJxQ
:sbthumbs:
