The Return of Midnight Castle · 5:25am May 12th, 2014
There’s quite a bit of retcon from the original My Little Pony special back from 1984. Tirek (Tirac is actually the correct spelling for the original, based on the official writing material, but it seems they went with this spelling in the credits) and his former slave Scropan (who was a human prince transformed) are now brothers, his goal was changed from covering the world in darkness to taking it over, his defeat involved not his complete annihilation but instead imprisonment, and of course, there’s no humans, gnomes., and, worst of all, no sea ponies. I don’t think this is blasphemous (well besides the sea pony bit); MLP and MLP-FIM are two different series and it’s not wrong to change something. But it comes across to me as a) lazy, b) confusing (if you’re going to make the characters different from the originals, why not just create new characters altogether), and c) awkward given how different G1 and G4 are. So, I really wish that McCarthy had avoided the stuff from 80’s, and that’s what this feels like this finale it’s from.
Like every season opener and finale, Twilight’s Kingdom is a Twilight Sparkle episode (well I suppose it’s a Discord episode as well, but the other ponies… they were just extras, althougth they become these weird things) that only pushes her down the special path (admittedly, at this point is becomes expected that it feels like complaining about the melodrama in a Dickens novel). Now, I actually did like the opening in that Twilight’s only job was what could be classified as typical princess work in another story (aka sit pretty, smile, and wave) and her frustration with it (not a fan of the song, but that’s okay). I don’t really have a problem with the episode’s message (your time will come) either (besides Twilight’s line, “the role you choice to have,” but that has more to do with last season’s finale and it’s implications). There are other things I liked such as the conversions between Tirek and Discord, especially the one before Discord’s betrayal. So, honestly, I actually did like how things started out.
What I didn’t like was Tirek. Putting aside all I’ve mentioned above, he’s boring. He lacks the motive that made Nightmare Moon better than most of her kind (not that she’s a good heavy), and the humor that made Discord fun to watch. All he is your generic evil bad guy (his goal actually reminds me of another G1 baddie, Somnambula, who stole the youth of the ponies and the magic of the unicorns to enhance her own). And if there’s anything I dislike, it’s boring villainy. I do have to ask, does his appearance confirm the existence of centaurs in the show (that’s what the official material refers to him as).
And then there are plot holes. Why the hell didn’t Twilight tell her friends that Discord had betrayed them? Why the heck are there less signs of a panic going on given that Tirek is stealing what might as well amount to pony souls or when he and Twilight do battle in Ponyville for example (my reason: budget)? While, I don’t have a problem with Discord betraying Equestria or that he wouldn’t think Tirek would double-cross him (given his personality; he's arrogant enough), what I do have a problem with is that he would believe he needed Tirek to get his fun and freedom. Return of Harmony showed that Discord had enough power to take over Equestria by himself without a problem (he was to wrest control of the celestial spheres from Celestia and Luna, for one). So joining forces with Tirek (and letting him grow stronger) doesn’t make sense to me; if since his release, Celestia had managed to restrict Discord’s magic (somehow) and it would only be undone if the princesses were defeated, then I could buy the team up.
There are also tonal problems as well. There are numerous bits of humor (such as Twilight struggling to move the sun and moon) when Equestria is being wrecked by Tirek. The gags dissipate the urgency and tension of the situation, and they stall for time as well. I don’t think it’s a problem with Discord (given his character), but it's a problem with Twilight.
Finally, there was the battle with Tirek. This was for me the low point of the episode, a full out display of pyrotechnics, attacks that appear flashy and powerful (including nuclear explosions) but are actually not suppose to be powerful (an attack can burn a library down, but can’t destroy the other buildings). I didn’t care for the wedding, but when Celestia got hit, she went down. Instead, I felt like my time was wasted. And what the heck are they going to use for a library now that Ponyville lost it’s own; on personal level, there are some implications of the whole castle tree and how it got there that bother me. Plus now that Twilight and friends have been given these spots of "nobility", they feel more distant.
Besides season 1, all season closers have let me down. I don't have high hopes for next season, but strangely enough, I feel relieved that season 4 is over. I don't know why, if I had to guess, I've slowly lost the ability to angry with fiction since Season 3. I just feel like the start of something new is around the corner. Doubt I'll like it, but then again, I've been here for what the fandom has to offer for a long time.
And can someone please put in some sea ponies for the next season.
When Discord helped Tirek, I don't think it was any kind of strategy. He was simply helping a friend
The sun/moon bit was probably intended to do just what you cited as a problem. I'd imagine someone (McCarthy or an executive) felt things needed to be toned down a bit for the kids. Not that I agree with the decision, but I do think it was a conscious decision and not merely incompetence
I liked this Tirek more than the original, but he was pretty flat. I would've liked to see Scorpan's betrayal and parallels to Celestia and Luna played up a bit more