Do Princesses Dream of Magical Sheep? Review · 8:25pm Jul 11th, 2015
Okay, seriously, what is with these titles?! They're getting sillier! XP But anyway, so we have the finale to the first half of season five! ...Because apparently that's a thing now. MLP is going on yet ANOTHER hiatus, this time for a few months, and then have the rest of the season resume later this year after the release of Friendship Games. Kind of sucky, but hey, we've had to wait longer for the show's return! At least the movie will be a great hold-over when that comes out!
Anyway, so on to the episode! A Nightmare On Pony Street!
Princess Luna is having nightmares about this creature known as the Tantabus, to which she gives herself nightmares every night. Pretty soon, having rough nightmares catches on to the Main Six, who complain about having had the same nightmare. When they alert Luna about it, she enlists them to help her find the Tantabus and stop it before it manages to leak into the real world.
So when they all go to sleep that night, Luna taps into their dreams, finding that they start nice... but eventually become nightmares. The Tantabus creates these nightmarish visions and situations, causing Luna to chase after it as it hops from one dream to another. But as long as the Tantabus is confined to their own dreams, it's okay, right?
Not really! Pinkie inadvertently dreams of everyone in Ponyville, and therefore they too are susceptible to being infected by the Tantabus. Luna is told she should have everyone in town share the same dream so that she may have a better chance of catching the Tantabus. As straining as it would be, she agrees.
Now, all of Ponyville is sharing the dream, and we now delve into the shenanigans of the dream world! With all kinds of monstrosities and the ponies having to tap into their imaginations to control the dream world! Amazing it becomes as they stop the Tantabus from escaping into the real world! But nothing they do can stop it! It just keeps getting stronger!
This is when it's revealed that the Tantabus actually feeds of Luna's guilt, which in turn makes it more powerful. Powerful enough to go beyond the dream world, into our world, and creating a living nightmare! It's then that Luna realizes that she has to let go of her guilt. The Tantabus has become a living manifestation of her inner demons. Twilight helps her realize that she has become a better person. That she is not the monster she makes herself out to be.
Luna finally relents and faces her own demons. She is no longer Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon would have let the Tantabus loose on the world. She, however, has tried everything to stop it. If that's not enough to prove how much she's changed, what will?
And so our episode ends with the Main Six waking up, seeing how everything has come together. Luna is fast asleep, settled in her own little slice of heaven in her dreams. A strong indication of how she has now let go of her own demons and can finally be more at peace.
This episode... was pretty awesome!
It had a great concept, a very relatable issue, fantastic visuals, great atmosphere, and terrific animation. It was especially a nice showcasing of letting go of your regrets and realizing that your past mistakes don't define you. That you should've live in guilt of your past actions. Letting go of your inner demons, forgiving yourself, is very healing.
I just loved the visuals here! The dream world sequences were awesome! Everything was just coming at you, all twisted and creepy, flying all over the place! As well as also being absolutely hilarious in other spots! The callbacks in these sequences were off the charts! Applejack and Rainbow becoming their Power Ponies counterparts, Fluttershy transforming into Flutterbat, Spike transforming into his imaginary hero form, and that's just to name a few!
Not to mention, how they all end up using the dream world to their advantage! That in itself was hilarious and fun! Like Alicorn Princess Big Mac! What the heck?! XD Oh goodness, it was just full of absolute fun in these bits!
Oh yeah, and Lyra and Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops become CatDog! So, they'd be... Lyrabon? Sweetiestrings? It was especially cute how they reveled in this idea!
I just loved how it was a great showcasing of dreams. It's wacky, unpredictable, but tons of fun and you can still control some elements of it!
What else can I say about this episode except, wow! It was so much fun! :D I really enjoyed it! It's a great finale to the first half of season five. I look forward to what the rest of the season will bring once it returns!
See you all when I review the Friendship Games!
You took the words right out of my mouth.
And I can already hear all the Luna-haters whining "But Luna hasn't learnt anything! She never talked to Celestia about her feelings 1000 years ago and still didn't talk to her before creating the Tantabus to torture herself every night!"
A: Do you know for CERTAIN of whether Luna talked with Celestia or not about her self-doubt and unwillingness to forgive herself?
B: Maybe Luna DID talk to Celestia but still felt the immense guilt. Feeling past sins like this isn't something you just "get over".
C: Maybe she DIDN'T talk to her because beating yourself up over extreme guilt and never talking to anyone about it IS a thing that happens and a thing that will ALWAYS happen. It's just the way most people are.