Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling (episode spoilers) · 4:17pm Feb 22nd, 2014
I've figured out what went wrong in Filli Vanilli: there's nothing at stake. If Fluttershy doesn't indulge her sudden, slightly contradictory desire to perofmr covertly, what is lost? Rarity puts it best: "It's a shame to waste such a talent." Yes, a shame. But it's something that can be done, and Fluttershy herself is the only one losing out. I can't help but feel like she was peer pressured into doing something she didn't really want to do, not to mention set up for an eventual downfall (that, again, ended up not being so bad, so what was the point?) It was her prerogative to keep her "talent" to herself. Also I'm firmly in the "Pinkie fucked up" camp. And while it's no "Bats", I could definitely stand to not hear that song for five minutes straight. I'm done with this episode. Also, the Ponytones irritate me. Also, this episode just irritates me.
So, Twilight Time. WTF did I just watch, that was great. Not as balls-out as Daring Don't, but I think we can safely say Polsky's found his stride at long, long last. The only thing I can really say against this one, other than it's not super-duper-unspeakably amazing, is that the moral was equal parts telegraphed and hammered home. That's still better than his usual fare, though.
BUT HOLY SHIT TWILIGHT'S TEACHING SWEETIE MAGIC :D AND SHE CAN ACTUALLY DO IT BY THE END!
Also I know I heard half the fandom scream when it was revealed Apple Bloom was learning potions. Some will be disappointed Zecora's not teaching her, but take what you can fucking get. I now have hopes that sometime in the next ten years, the CMCs will in fact earn their cutie marks.
Also, Sweetie is totally growing up faster than her friends. God, it was marvelous watching her lead them through the motions of this episode. (I think the lesson was "always listen to Apple Bloom" except we know damn well none of them have any sense whatsoever. She just happened to be right this time.)
Let's talk about pandering for a second, because I think Horse News brought up the spectre of pandas in anticipation of this episode. Pandering is doing things the fans want solely because the fans want them. Colgate having lunch with Berry Punch at the burger joint is technically pandering, except that it has no bearing whatsoever on the story, or the world on the whole, being nothing but a background joke. Twilight teaching Sweetie magic is also pandering, except not, because it's something good for character development. Sweetie may be a mental midget (I loved the hollow sound Diamond Tiara made knocking on her head) but she's not a cripple like Scootaloo she's going to learn magic at some point, and after the weirdness of her cameo in Princess Twilight, that time seems to be nigh.
But that right there is the difference between fan pandering and... not. :B "Is it good for the story/characters?" If yes, then do it, if not, then it's probably a bad idea, because if there's anything life has taught me, it's that a million people can be wrong.
Also, this episode shows how to use Pinkie for once in their fucking life. (Holy shit, none of the other mane cast showed up!) Also, Diamond Tiara totally ignores Silver Spoon and thinks only of herself. (Take that, IHED!) Also Silver Spoon totally called her "Di". Also, hamburger pony. Also, Pipsqueak is back! :D Argh, there's so much to take in, I can't!
Pinkie Pride
Rarity Takes Manehattan
Rainbow Falls
Daring Don't
Pinky Apple Pie
Twilight Time
Flight to the Finish
Simple Ways
Power Ponies
Filli Vanilli
Three's a Crowd
Princess Twilight
Castle Mane-ia
Bats!
Throughout this season so far, Twilight is becoming to her friends what Princess Celestia became to her. In addition to being a great friend, she's also shown to give advice and act as a mentor/teacher of sorts, which is something this episode highlights specifically.
Wait, what? How is a couple of background ponies doing background pony things in any way pandering? Same for Twilight teaching Sweetie magic, it's not pandering if it is a perfectly sensible thing for the two characters to be doing.
As far as I am concerned, pandering is like "jumping the shark", it has been misused so much it basically has no meaning anymore.
1862152
Ooh, neat point. :D
1862177
Colgate/Punch was actually an early background pony ship that's kind of lost traction in recent years. And Twilight teaching Sweetie magic is something that shows up a lot in stories involving the CMCs growing up. And yeah, it's perfectly sensible, that's why it's not pandering. :V
For my part:
Rewatching Filli Vanilli this morning has pretty much pushed it into position as my favorite episode of the season so far and maybe my favorite episode of the series. Because they couldn't've pitched it more directly at me if they'd been rummaging around in my brain while I was sleeping.
I mean, for an introvert like me who nonetheless has strapped on a guitar to get up in front of people and sing once or twice a week for nearly 35 years, this episode was right there: the terror each and every time followed by the elation each and every time. The stakes for me, then, were Fluttershy's immortal soul, but it might just be that I can't be detached about this...
Mike
1862358 That's just it, an early fanon ship that is so out of popularity that I with my 50+ million words read on this site have never even heard of it? The likelihood of it being an actual fandom reference is incredibly low. It's far more likely that the animators just randomly pulled a couple of background characters in to fill the scene out.
I realize that you aren't saying this stuff is pandering, but the idea that anyone is just makes me tired.
1862407
Well, the whole point was to cut off any arguments of pandas. :B I might have jumped the gun.
I loved how Claire's voice seems to be getting deeper at exactly the same rate as Sweetie Belle is growing up. It's not purposeful, but it works very well.
I really likes this episode. It was a sweet and simple slice-of-life. Somewhat Season 1-ish, in fact. While I love Season 4's direction for the most part, I've missed these kinds of episodes.
Eh. Except for Pinkie Pie's part in it, I'm reluctant to agree with you about Filli Vanilli. I'm still holding the episode up, but that mostly depends on if the show follows through on making Fluttershy's character development stick. This didn't really happen with Putting Your Hoof Down, so I'm ready to retract this opinion of mine in about a year.
The worst instance of pandering I can think of has been the CMC looking up their video on Youtube in Equestria Girls. It was pointless, it stopped the main plot for a good minute or so, and it was completely obtrusive. I'm not against fanservice per se, but I want it less blunt than this, please.
The episode itself was pretty cute, and I'm amused that the first instance of Twilight being treated like a celebrity comes from children.
1862774
Yeah, I noticed that too. It's an interesting coincidence.
1862363 Yes. That is all.
1862407 Yeah. It's new on me, too.
I am glad you enjoyed it; I also enjoyed it immensely.
1863744
Like you said elsewhere, the CMC episodes have been great this season.
inb4 Apple Bloom fucks it up like she always doesThank you for realizing that the title comes from a song by The Platters and not a forced M.C. Hammer meme like everyone keeps trying to make it.
Finally watched it late last night. Can't say I thought it was amazing or anything, but I'd put it solidly in the middle somewhere. It was great seeing Sweetie Belle actually develop her magic, but I wouldn't put too much stock in these actually being the things they'll get cutie marks for. For one thing, Twilight's been decidedly against herding them toward what she pretty much already knows they're good at. She's just helping Sweetie Belle with magic, Scootaloo with scooter repair, and Apple Bloom with something useful to farming because she knows they like those things, even if they're not excelling at them. I think Twilight's remarks regarding learning for the sake of learning back this up, since there's not some additional implied payoff. I mean, Apple Bloom's already been shown as the one with a particular aptitude at building things. And the girls themselves weren't really playing up the cutie mark angle with them either. So I actually liked it better this way, where it's just some nice interpersonal moments without an ulterior motive tacked on. Well, at least until it becomes a popularity thing. I hadn't thought about Sweetie Belle's voice changing, but it's natural when using a voice actor whose voice will naturally change, and as these things go, often faster than the character's would. Take Harry Potter, for instance. The actors age faster than the characters.
I can't say I thought there was anything bad about the episode, but there was something odd: the show's continued schizophrenia about how famous these characters are. The only other time I can thing of when anyone reacted to Twilight with even the least bit of awe was in the series pilot, and even then, it was subdued. So I'm not sure what suddenly makes the kids all interested in being around her, but the adults don't react to her at all. And is it not a public library? If the kids wanted to see her so bad, could they just go by whenever they wanted. She might not always have time for them, of course, but none of them have ever tried? And the other Elements still get no public attention...
Pretty good ep, though.They can't all be great, but this fills in the strong foundation that's kept the season as a whole good.
1866407
You and I seem to be in perfect agreement, more or less. :) This episode played well off something someone said about the last episode, namely a cutie mark doesn't represent all of a pony's talents. In other words, they can do something else well, like Big Mac singing, etc.
As for the famosity, I accept it internally as, they don't really know the details about what's going on around town necessarily, but once they find out princess, whoa, all bets are off. In other words, they were interested in the Princess part, not the Twilight part.
1867920
Oh, no doubt. I just find it hard to believe they're suddenly reacting to her being a princess as if they didn't realize it before or didn't realize she lived right in town and in a public place. Any of them could have gone there under the guise of checking out a book and struck up a conversation with her if they wanted. It's like they suddenly revere her, whereas they'd pretty much ignored her before.
I'm also a tad disappointed they referred to Apple Bloom's work as potions. Maybe that was just a semantic choice to keep her interested, but it seemed more of a scientific endeavor, which I think Twilight would encourage seeing as such.
1867960
Eh, magic seems to work in a very scientific manner in Equestria. Twilight certainly has no qualms mixing the two.
Also you're predicating an assumption on anyone actually using the library as a library. :V