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Saturday, June 29, 2013

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: "Friendship is Magic, Part 1" Review

            



Introduction


            In this day and age, animated television programs of high quality are quite seldom nowadays due to the lack of creativity / effort on the part of the writers. (For example, many of the shows currently running on Cartoon Network that have been noted for negative reception.) Coming from someone who has a finicky taste and a low tolerance for poor animation, I was completely surprised by how a revival of a notoriously
weak animated cartoon series based off a brand of toys by Hasbro would be quite enjoyable. For those who are wondering, the older MLP cartoon shows based off the brand of toys by the same name were an absolute joke, seen by many as a cheap advertising tool that barely managed to appeal to a small audience of children. Since 2010, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has been revered by a large audience not only for its high quality episodes, but being able to appeal to all audiences as seen within the community of fans. Being a huge of the fan of the show for quite a while now, I decided this would be an acceptable starting point as the blog continues to develop and grow, since I am admittedly new into "blogging." Without rambling on about trivial aspects, hope you enjoy the review, whether a long-time follower of MLP:FiM or someone who happened to stumble upon this.




UPON THIS POINT ARE SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN IT. 

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Synopsis



Prologue


 

                The episode, as well as the show in this case, begins with a brown picture book opening, illustrating briefly a history of the setting of Friendship is Magic in a medieval context. A narration details of two royal sisters who ruled over the magical land of Equestria, an equine civilization under a peaceful monarchy. Throughout time, the older sister of a white hue raised the sun to bring out daylight, while the younger sister of a bluish-violet brought out the moon as night approached. As time went on, however, bitterness and resent from the younger sister developed, as the ponies would play and frolic during the day, while sleeping during the night. This growing acrimony caused her to transform into a "wicked mare of darkness", known as Nightmare Moon, vowing to shroud Equestria in eternal darkness. Even through she tried to converse with her younger sibling, the eldest one was forced to banish her sister into the moon with the power from the Elements of Harmony. The narration switches over to the voice of Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn pony, who reads that for the next 1000 years into present time, the eldest sister has been responsible for raising both the sun and moon, maintaining harmony in Equestria ever since. Meanwhile, Twilight tries to recall the Elements of Harmony in a book she perhaps read.

CUE WHAT AT FIRST WAS A VERY CRINGE-INDUCING INTRO!
                                  




A Letter From Princess Celestia


    As the theme song closes, Twilight also finishes the book and proceeds to head off towards an ivory tower where she holds her studies routinely in a city within Equestria known as Canterlot. On the way there, she is greeted by three ponies who invite her to a party hosted by Moondancer. Twilight politely refuses, stating that she must catch up on her studies. As she runs past them, they comment about how the unicorn is more interested in studying than making friends. After running up the ivory tower, she barges through the door, in the process knocking over Spike, her baby dragon assistant. The present he held ended up being a teddy bear for Moondancer, which got impaled in his tail. Twilight simply disregards the present, stating that
there isn't time for such a frivolous activity, much to Spike's dismay. She then directs him to find a book titled "Predictions and Prophecies", which he finds quickly. She reads that the Mare in the Moon is to be freed from her imprisonment on the longest day of the thousandth year; on this day, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring "night time eternal." This day is also the day of the year's Summer Sun Celebration. From this information, Twilight draws the conclusion that the Mare in the Moon and Nightmare Moon are in fact one and the same. Spike falls off his ladder right on Twilight Sparkle's back, and she instructs him to take a letter to Princess Celestia, warning her of the implied return of Nightmare Moon. Spike then sends off the letter to her by breathing green fire on it, turning it in to smoke as it travels quickly. Twilight asserts with Spike that Princess Celestia trusts her completely on the matter; she confirms this when Spike belches
out her hasty reply. The letter begins with "My dearest, most faithful student Twilight," affirming her
relationship with the Princess, but she is in surprise when Spike reads on about the Princess telling
Twilight to stop reading those "dusty old books."

                                                               Oh please, Spike.



Assignment in Ponyville


      Twilight and Spike are being carried in a flying chariot by two Pegasi royal guards to a nearby city, Ponyville. Spike in the meantime continues to read the letter, in which Celestia explains that life is more than just studying and has assigned her student to supervise the preparations for the annual Summer Sun Celebration, which is set on the longest day of the thousandth year since Nightmare Moon had been banished from Equestria. Anyway, the letter ends with a task assigned to Twilight, which Spike teases: "Make some friends!" Twilight groans in response, while Spike tries to encourage her by mentioning that they would be staying at Ponyville's library. Not long after landing, Twilight and Spike run into a pink pony with a pink mane, who stares blankly at the two. Spike believes that the residents may have something to talk about, so he urges Twilight to try starting a conversation. Twilight complies, meekly saying a "hello" before the other pony gasps, springs into the air, and runs out of the scene in a matter of seconds. 

Most interesting response to a greeting ever.


       Proceeding forward, Twilight and Spike begin the evaluation by heading over to Sweet Apple Acres, where the food is managed. They see a blond haired, orange mare bucking a tree in the distance as they walk over. This time, Twilight makes more of an effort to introduce herself in a more acceptable tone, to which the pony introduces herself as Applejack. She vigorously shakes Twilight's hand and also offers samples, bringing out the entire "Apple family" using a triangle. A fast-paced montage of ponies bringing out caterings occurs as Applejack introduces Twilight to all of her relatives.  Twilight is pleased to see the food situation is handled and politely says she'll be on her way. Apple Bloom then invites her to stay for brunch. Twilight turns down Apple Bloom's invitation for brunch, but the disappointed reaction of the entire Apple family causes her to begrudgingly change her mind.

I mean, who would say no to a face like this? 
         
        Twilight and Spike proceed on, Twilight's stomach swollen after eating too much pie. The next procedure on the checklist is the weather. Spike mentions that there should be a Pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash clearing the skies; after a quick look, Twilight quips that whoever she is isn't doing a very
good job. Suddenly, Dash flies into Twilight, crashing her into the mud. 
She giggles and apologizes, then brings over a cloud to rain-wash Twilight in order to help out. The rain soaks Twilight, so she attempts to 

dry her with a small twister which frizzles Twilight's mane and tail. Dash and Spike fall down on the ground laughing at the sight. Twilight, clearly not amused, concludes that the Pegasus pony is Rainbow Dash and introduces herself, saying she's here to check on the weather. Rainbow nonchalantly puts this off, stating that she'll get done after she's finished practicing for The Wonderbolts, an aerial aerobic team featuring some of the fastest fliers in all of Equestria. Twilight scoffs at the idea, stating that The Wonderbolts would never accept a pony who can't keep the sky clear for "one measly day." Rainbow Dash claims that she can clear the sky in 10 seconds flat, in which Twilight wants to see her prove. She does so with grace and agility, astonishing Twilight and Spike. Rainbow chuckles, inviting Twilight to hang out with her sometime.


                                                                Yay for the memes!


               Next on the list is decorations, as the scene shifts to inside the town square pavilion. Twilight and Spike look around, Spike mumbling, "she's beautiful..." to which Twilight agrees that the decorations are coming along quite nicely. Spike was actually referring to a white unicorn with a stylish purple mane, her name being Rarity. In a typical cartoon style, hearts form in his eyes as he magically starts levitating. Upon seeing Twilight's mane still being in a mess from Rainbow Dash, Rarity drags her into her boutique to give Twilight a makeover. 
Once Rarity decides on Twilight's look, she asks Twilight where she's from. Twilight starts saying she's from Canterlot, and Rarity cuts her off, glamorizes Canterlot, and cozies up to Twilight. When Rarity turns away to get a different jewel for the dress, Twilight makes her "escape", not wanting to prolong the stay at Ponyville more than she needs to.



                                    Now that I look at it longer Spike's face in this is kind of creepy.


        The last step on the list for the Summer Sun Celebration is music, as Spike rides Twilight's back. They hear a bird choir from a short distance, so Twilight peeks through the bushes to see a pink-maned, yellow Pegasus orchestrating the bird choir. The pony quietly and politely tells one of the birds that he's a bit off on pitch. Twilight calls out to her, causing the birds to fly away and the Pegasus to be rather startled. 
Twilight apologizes for frightening the birds and compliments her on the music, but she shyly stares at the ground and says nothing. Twilight tries to break the awkward silence by asking Fluttershy for her name, but her replies are too quiet and timid to clearly make it out. After another awkward pause, Twilight hesitantly concludes that everything is in order and turns to leave with Spike. Fluttershy catches a glimpse of Spike from her mane, and in turn flies into the air, and exclaims "A baby dragon!" She knocks over Twilight and tells Spike she's never seen a baby dragon before. She fawns over Spike who boasts in the process, but Twilight magically pulls him onto her back and starts walking off, with Fluttershy following them and conversing with Spike. She introduces herself as Fluttershy, and keeps questioning Spike on the long way to the library, much to Twilight's dismay.



                                Twilight's face pretty much shows how she feels after such a long day.

        By the time the three reach the library, a very large and living hollow tree, Spike has litreally finished 

talking about his entire life story up until their arrival in Ponyville. Twilight tries to brush off Fluttershy, claiming she needs to put Spike to bed. She rudely blocks her way inside and wishes her goodnight. Inside the library it's pitch black, and only Twilight and Spike can be dimly seen, their eyes kept bright despite the darkness. Spike sarcastically complains about Twilight's rudeness, to which Twilight apologizes and explains she needs to be alone to study about Nightmare Moon," without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time." The light flicks on, showing dozens of ponies standing all around, who yell "surprise!" Streamers and balloons drop everywhere, and a party whistle blows right in front of Twilight's irritated face before the scene fades to black.The pink pony from earlier introduces herself as Pinkie Pie and says she threw the party in honor of Twilight's first day in Ponyville. She's very talkative, barely letting Twilight get a word in, explaining that she gasped when she saw Twilight because she got the idea to throw her a party when she saw her and realized that she was new in town. To help her make new friends, Pinkie Pie brings along the four other main ponies from earlier to celebrate. Twilight, perhaps not aware, pours herself a drink which turns out to be hot sauce, and comically whisks out of the room with her mane on fire. Pinkie adds some of the sauce over a cupcake before eating it, causing the others to look at her awkwardly, however, Pinkie asserts that "It's good."


                                         If this happened in my house I'd be damn surprised too.

        Twilight runs into her room, annoyed, checking the clock. Spike enters the room and invites her for a party game (Pin the Tail on the Pony I think?). She snaps at him, while he explains it's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration, and that "everypony" has to stay up or they'll miss the raising of the sun. He tries to soothe her and leaves. Twilight mockingly repeats his last sentence, and perhaps quite overbearingly complains to herself about all the "ridiculous friend-making." She remembers the few words about the prophecy from the book: Night Mare Moon would return during the longest day of the thousandth year. Twilight assumes that she was sent to Ponyville because Princess Celestia would think the Mare in the Moon is just an "old pony's tale." Just then, Spike barges in again and invites her to watch the sun rise.


                                          "All the ponies in this town are crazy!" (hell yeah they are)

At the town hall, Pinkie Pie meets up with Spike and Twilight and goes on about how excited she is for the event. Fluttershy's bird choir is cued, and the mayor gives a short speech announcing the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration, Near the end of the speech, Twilight nervously watches the moon undergo a transformation, the mare in the moon disappearing in a blink. The mayor introduces Princess Celestia, who is mysteriously absent when the red curtains open. Rarity announces the princess is gone, and the sound effect of Pinkie Pie's gasp from earlier in the episode is heard. Pinkie Pie yelps when she spots an eerie glowing fog, out of which emerges a dark, intimidating Alicorn, and the crowd gasps. Twilight recognizes the dark figure as Nightmare Moon from the prophecy, making Spike faint. Nightmare Moon addresses the crowd of cowering ponies, mocking and asking them who she is despite being banished from Equestria for 1000 years. Rainbow Dash gets furious and tries to charge at Nightmare Moon, only to be stopped by Applejack grabbing and holding her back by her tail.  Pinkie Pie takes Nightmare Moon's question literally and throws out several guesses in rapid succession before getting a cupcake shoved in her mouth by Applejack, still restraining Rainbow Dash. Nightmare Moon continues, confronting Fluttershy and Rarity with accusing questions, which prompt Twilight to answer her that she is in fact the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon. After Twilight reveals Nightmare Moon's name, the crowd gasps on cue once again; Nightmare Moon telling Twilight she's impressed with her knowledge. She asks Twilight if she also knows why she's here, but Twilight is too fearful to answer. The episode ends with Nightmare Moon proclaiming that this will be the ponies' last day, and that the night will last forever. She laughs maniacally with a lightning storm gathering around her, Twilight understanding that this situation will be very terrible indeed, as the episode fades to black.


Review

         So that was the first part of the pilot, and for what the initial expectations were given towards the show, I  thought it was pretty good for a multitude of reasons. Especially when held in comparison towards older generations of My Little Pony, such as G1 starting in 1982, G2 from 1997-2003, and G3 from 2003-2009. All of the mentioned toy lines failed to impress when taken into the animated setting, due to incredibly poor plot structure, bad voice acting (and sound in general), flawed animation, etc. So coming in to watching the first episode of G4, I really didn't expect much considering how much of a laughingstock it was prior to the show's release. Immediately a difference was shown, even despite another corny intro which I have grown to like somewhat. Anyway, let's begin breaking this down.


Characters/ Development - 8/10


        I remember how one-dimensional, flat, and uninteresting My Little Pony was to begin with, and that is evident based on the lack of character development. I have to say, MLP:FiM has some of the most entertaining,  intriguing characters due to each having their own unique personalities, aesthetic appeal, relatability, and strong character development for the most part as the show progresses on. Here we are introduced right from the start the main protagonist in Twilight Sparkle, who was shown in the first episode to be very studious, hardworking, persnickety, skeptical, as well as being quite hotheaded and having a fixation to justify that her claims are right. This type of personality isn't often explored in a main character, whom at times may not have definite, memorable traits, or have too many positive traits that often arise a "boring" label associated whenever brought up in a review of a show. (Ex. Johnny from Johnny Test and Chris Thorndyke from Sonic X.) When introduced, I immediately wanted to know more of her character, as she was portrayed so realistically that her character was very relatable to me- something that more often than not fails to occur when it pertains to cartoon characters that actually have endearing personalities. Twilight in this episode showed to be a very promising protagonist, and I found that how she handled the friend situation to be quite humorous. My particular favorite line from her in this episode, "All the ponies in this town are crazy!" was so spontaneous yet made sense at the moment which is why I was surprised and amused at the same time. 
        When talking about the other characters, I'm not sure if they received enough screen time to make an accurate judgment of their personality. For instance, Applejack was shown to have an incredibly large family reunion, being proficient at apple bucking, and having the mightiest hoof shakes in all of Equestria, but to be honest she did remind of the atypical Western character that I have run into in other cartoons as well as even in real life for that matter. Even though I didn't really know what to think about this stereotype at first, I still found her introduction to be appealing and hoped that she and the rest of her family would be explored more throughout the series.
      Also, Pinkie Pie didn't leave the greatest impression either for most people; she was seen being very hyperactive, obnoxious, loud, spontaneous, and perhaps quite overbearing for Twilight and the others. However, her gasp at the beginning I will always remember as a legitimately awesome moment and throwing that party for Twilight since she was new in town, showing that Pinkie was quite amiable, which anyone can appreciate as a universally appreciative characteristic in a person.
       Moving on, Rainbow Dash, to many, left the best impression from the first episode due to breaking the idea that female characters are inherently supposed to adhere to how they are intended to be portrayed in common literature. Her few scenes with Twilight proved to be very awesome and funny; I mean, every time she tried to assist her it seemed to comically get worse. The "10 seconds flat" meme is awesome and it was a wonderful sight to see her show up Twilight with an arsenal of aerobic cloud-clearing. 
         Rarity was quite an interesting character from the beginning, as we only saw a brief aspect of her hopefully broadened personality in the future: her "passion for fashion", love for beauty, and preference to the high classiness of the city of Canterlot. Some were annoyed with personality at first due to being "obsessed" with the superficiality of fashion design, others were also reminded of My Little Pony characters from previous generations who had tea parties, dress up, and other activities that were perceived as "girly." I don't blame them, for I was under that same impression at first, but she did hold out regard for helping Twilight out and actually cared to offer assistance. 
       The perception of "girliness" as a negative aspect within shows being predominantly cast of female characters is not due to the fact that being feminine is uninteresting and bland; rather the portrayal of femininity by so many writers is extremely exaggerated and unrealistic to the actual realism of our world, which is where this idea comes from.
     Anyway, the final main character introduced was Fluttershy, who garnered a mixed response from the viewers at first. Some found her shyness to be too stereotypical and unappealing, while others felt the opposite and considered it to be cute. We do know from the start that she is gentle and kind with animals, but bashful towards ponies in her own town. On a personal level I can relate to this as I am also quite shy around others and only open up towards people I know who wouldn't be judgmental, or simply put, with friends. I was in the middle with Fluttershy, finding her to have an average personality and didn't really care for her too much at the beginning. Overall however, the show has already proven to have quite interesting characters that show promise for development in future episodes to come.


                             YES THE CHARACTER INTERACTION SEEMS VERY INTERESTING.

Animation & Sound - 9.5/10


       I was very impressed by how the animators kept the characters' lip movement in sync with the voices, and how all the interactions were very fluid and believable. There weren't any noticeable points where I ended up cringing or even being slightly critical of the animation. Being able to animate characters to perfection is very difficult even for professionals, but especially in comparison to older generations of My Little Pony, the animation is of top quality. There were some animation errors however, albeit most were unnoticeable to the casual viewer. Most of these errors were a lack of consistency between scenes graphically when it pertains to the plot. While this episode in particular doesn't show the fullest capabilities that this show proves to excel in when it comes to animation, it is still of legitimately good quality even to the standards of other highly revered cartoons.
      Much like the animation, the sound in this episode is really good when compared to the poor quality of sound produced in the older cartoons. Most of the voice acting in this episode is clear, realistic, and appealing to listen to. Tara Strong, Tabitha St. Germain, Ashleigh Ball, and Andrea Libman have had previous experience as known voice actors in popular television shows, such as Tara Strong in Teen Titans
( playing Raven), or Tabitha St. Germain in Ed, Edd n' Eddy (playing Nazz). They were excellent choices, and the voice direction makes the characters sound very engaging when emotion and adjustable pitch is
worked, and you can clearly see this even in the earliest of episodes in the case of Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle for example. Although not flawless of course, the animation & sound in the first episode is in the right direction for the rest of the episodes. 


Plot - 8/10


    If I were to nitpick anything from the first part of the pilot, it would be the writing. Don't get me wrong, I found a lot of parts enjoyable and certainly the story has an interesting development and structure, but in comparison to future episodes, this one is just average in comparison which is very promising if you think about it. The prologue with the book was certainly an interesting way to begin, and leaves a lot of readers thinking about what happens next because at that point it is ambiguous as to how others perceive how the show is until the ending of the intro when Twilight Sparkle is introduced. I find that to be a fantastic way to start; Lauren Faust did a great job of introducing the setting using a historical narration to give a solid background to Equestria's political system.
     The first episode wasn't too action packed but I felt that it was appropriately paced, and there weren't any moments in this one that felt like nothing was happening or was unnecessary. However, the main ponies other than Twilight weren't developed too well, and honestly they did seem a bit two-dimensional instead of being well-rounded in all attributes of a personality. This isn't anyone's fault in the part of the writng since this was the first episode, but I still vaguely remember being genuinely annoyed with Pinkie Pie and Rarity in particular. Even so, the unique history of Equestria made me want to see more and I found the whole segment of Twilight and Spike looking over the Summer Sun Celebration to be engaging and humorous to see how they interacted in an unaccustomed  environment as Twilight learns to adapt in being a friendly pony around others. When Twilight shut the door on Fluttershy and the lights were off, I admittedly didn't expect a surprise party to be thrown within her own staying area, but once again I found it to be a nice event for Pinkie Pie to host as the hospitable and friendly pony that she is after her sudden runaway scene earlier.
    One thing I liked was the unique plot twist at the beginning; Twilight Sparkle had been largely known as a studious bookworm almost to the point of being overworked, so her mentor Princess Celestia assigns her the task of preparing the Summer Sun Celebration and more importantly making friends. Twilight was rather surprised and a tad irked, as prior to this, Princess Celestia had never asked her to do something that was
out of character for her. This plot development leads up to being a main factor in the upcoming course of events, which makes the 
significance extremely important. Rather than being a plot-based story, the actual
timeline is determined by character interaction and their decisions to proceed with something, instantly promoting character development in how they respond to events. I liked this style that they were going for and it makes the story that much more enjoyable when Twilight reluctantly decides to make friends.
      The major problem I have with this episode is the number of cliches being portrayed within the characters and how somewhat straightforward the plot ends up being around halfway through as Twilight
begins inspecting the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. Applejack instantly reminded me of a
hard-working farmer, Rarity as the fashion obsessor who enjoys dressing up with her friends, and Pinkie Pie just irked me a little with her humor falling flat as the episode proceeded. I didn't find the overall humor  from the episode to be that appreciable with the exception of a few moments that caught me off guard, such as Pinkie Pie's sudden gasp and Rainbow Dash crashing into Twilight. Some may say this isn't worth complaining about since the episode was in the earliest stage of development, but at first impression, I really didn't enjoy these characters as thoroughly as I do now. Other than that however, the characters seemed alright
       Nightmare Moon had a decent premise and background; her transformation into this mare of pure evil was interesting. I always thought that too- people would always come out and embrace the warmth of the sun and seemingly neglect the moon, so her perspective makes sense. (Unless you're a night owl like me.)
However her appearance at the end of the episode wasn't very intimidating to me and was once again cliche
with the cued thunder, obnoxious gasps of the ponies, and what I found to be a dull "evil" laugh. Pinkie Pie
is up to her antics again by shouting out a few fun names, and it was pretty cool that Applejack was managing crowd control. Overall with a few nitpicks and complaints, this was a great way to begin the story of MLP and I never once regretted watching this.
        

                                          Yeah this episode was pretty good.

Trivia

  • The episode's title that appears in Hasbro's viewing guide, and Night Mare Moon's "book" name, Mare in the Moon, is a play on the mythical Man in the Moon. The man's image is actually composed of Lunar maria, the darker sections of the moon's surface.
  • Moondancer, mentioned but unseen in the episode, is the name of a G1 and G3 pony.
  • One of the names Pinkie guesses to Nightmare Moon is "Hokey Smokes", a phrase used by Rocky the Flying Squirrel from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
  • Another one of the names Pinkie guesses is "Black Snooty", a reference to the famous titular character of Anna Sewell's 1877 novel, "Black Beauty".

Top 5 Awesome Moments

                                      5. LOOK AT HOW FAR I CAN STRETCH MY MOUTH.

 4. You are so awesome that I forgot my hair was like this!


3. Something's sticking out there.


                                                    2. Worst/ best animation error in the show.



                                                           1. 'Nuff said.

In Closing

      So that was the episode, and with all things considered, I enjoyed it, and as the first episode of MLP I got hooked instantly. This show may not even be for everyone, true, but the subtle references, smooth animation, flawless voice acting, witty humor, and intriguing plot, there isn't much that any other person-youth, adolescent, or adult- would want in an average cartoon. A second part follows up, and I went instantly to it as soon as I saw the credits of the first- it was really exciting and a breath of fresh air from the
low-quality shows I have seen in the last few years. This episode establishes a strong background, introduces the characters with genuine, distinct personalities, and leads into an exciting thriller that will be analyzed in
the following review. It wouldn't be a hassle to find all 65 episodes uploaded on Youtube, so if you are interested, they are all there. I hope you enjoyed the review, and as for the episode, 8.5/10.







                                            

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