MLP Episode Review: Sleepless in Ponyville · 10:08pm Apr 26th, 2016
Okay... it's after miiidnight, and something evil's lurking in the dark! Is it a Nightmare on Elm Street? No, but we are...
Sleepless in Ponyville
Least it's not Seattle. :p We open at Ponyville! Dash flies, by, then we see Scootaloo speeding by, one stunt with an assist by Granny Smith. Dash flies by and compliments her, but that somehow causes Scootaloo's scooter to... lose momentum? Odd. Convenient haystack is convenient!
After the commercials, we're at the clubhouse. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are playing what appears to be the pony-version of checkers. Scootaloo is fangirling, natch. :p She also blows it all out of proportion, and wants to spend more time with her. Apple Bloom suggests having her go up with her and Applejack to Winsome Falls this weekend. Sweetie Belle wants to go, too. Aww... *Hugs the marshmallow* She'll get Rarity to go, too. "Rarity loves camping!"
Cue the jump cut... "I despise camping!" HAH! :D "All of that... nature." Yeah, I can see it. Sweetie Belle guilt-trips her and pulls of EPIC SAD-FACE! We cut to the trail to the campsite. Applejack and Apple Bloom do a small checklist of stuff. Bug spray and canteens. Rarity has packed all of Carousel Boutique and has Sweetie Belle pulling it. Turnabout's fair play. :p Scootaloo's nervous because Dash isn't there, but Applejack says she'll meet them at the first campsite. "Let's move 'em out!"
RAWHIIIIDDDDDEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH! *Whipcrack*
We get a lovely tracking shot of the trail and waterfall, then cut to them going along the trail. Rarity whines a bit, and Applejack snarks. Oh, just make out you two! :D They're at the campsite, and Dash engages in EPIC SETTING-UP! Scootaloo tries to play it cool... and ends up tripping on a log, spinning out of control across the stream, bouncing off a tree and crashing to the dirt. Tents are set up, Rarity going for the ultra-deluxe model. Scootaloo goes for some firewood, and we cut to dusk. Dash is about to tell the best story they've ever heard... but Scootaloo reminds her about the Sonic Rainboom episode, so second-best. It's a scary story. *Sigh* I'm not fond of scary stories. Dash channels Twilight from season-one, and we cut to the end of the story. An old lady looking for a rusty horseshoe, apparently. Scootaloo is a bit spooked, to say the least! Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are reassured by their older sisters, but Scootaloo's unfortunately got Dash.
Scootaloo's imagination begins running away with her, as tree branches become gnarled limbs. She goes inside her tent, but then goes back outside... into a nightmare. The Olden pony wanders by, looking for her rusty horseshoe. My god, it's G1 Mimic gone senile!
Suddenly shot of Princess Luna omai ohhai Princess of the Night!
Scootaloo gets back to the tent, but we've secretly replaced Rainbow Dash with the Olden pony. And she wakes up. The next morning, Scootaloo can't sleep. The clowns will eat her. They're back on the trail, Sweetie Belle an honorary Sweathog. Scootaloo hears they might not make it to the next campsite by dark, so she races ahead... and falls asleep while riding her scooter. She races along the edge of a cliff, onto the head of a crocodile, steals a fish from Harry the Bear or Harry's animation model, goes through a hollowed-out log and lands next to the others.
Scootaloo is jumpy and everything is setting her off. She also ends up pulling the wagon. That night, Applejack says they'll spend the night in some cave. Wouldn't it be prudent to check for anything living in that cave? Scootaloo's sent to get firewood again... Dash, Applejack picked up on Scootaloo's nervousness. Come on, okay? Scootaloo tries Persuasion on Branches. It's Super-Pathetic! She manages to get some branches, then Dash starts up another scary story. Scootaloo volunteers to tell a story... and tells G3, apparently. Dash says it's not a real campfire story unless somepony's shaking. I protest vigorously to that.
Dash tells the story of the Headless Horse. Clever, clever. Some nice shadow-play, too. "If it doesn't have a head, then how in tarnation does this pony know where it's going'?" Ooh, logic for the win! :D "It's headless, nor brainless." Surprisingly... Transformers in G1 Animated had auxiliary memory circuits in their chest cavity. It came up in several episodes. I wonder... "So, where's its brain?" Applejack, you're awesome. :D At the end, Sweetie Belle are scared, but cheer and hug their sisters. Scootaloo has no such safe haven. She stalls with a suggestion for campfire songs. Sweetie Belle is ALL over that. Buckets of oats instead of bottles of beer. Surprised it's not glasses of cider or something.
Sweetie Belle's voice is cracking worse than glass being struck by a sledgehammer. At the end, she falls fast asleep. Scootaloo is desperate not to sleep. Applejack asks her if anything's wrong, but Scootaloo denies anything wrong. They all go to sleep, with Scootaloo following. And it's the Land of Nod. She's back in the forest, and some damned creepy camera angles. The Headless Horse shows up... but LUNA OUTTA NOWHERE! Well, out of the moon. ;) Scootaloo is damned relieved. :D Luna explains as the Princess of the Night, it's her duty to come into other's dreams. Kinda creepy when you lay it out like that. :p Luna says even after Scootaloo awakes, what she's frightened of will still exist. Turns out it's that Dash will learn she's not as tough as she thinks she is. Aww. *Hugs the Scoots*
Luna tells Scootaloo her fears must be faced, and Scootaloo wakes up. Scootaloo freaks out and leaves the cave... and has her scooter back, despite losing it earlier. Continuity error, but minor one. She crashes and almost ends up at the bottom of a ravine and raging river, but grabs a Convenient Branch. It snaps and she goes down the rapids, then a waterfall... but Dash for the epic save! Dash asks her what she was doing. We get Callback from Luna and shot of the Moon, and Scootaloo apologizes and confesses about the stories scaring her. It's a good scene.
And Dash... admits she was scared when she first heard those stories. She brags a bit, natch. :p And she says she'd totally be Scootaloo's big sister. Aww, okay, good scene there.
The next morning, at Winsome Falls... it's a gorgeous location! The falls are rainbow-colored and multi-tiered. Rarity tries to hide her glee, but it's for naught. Dash flies Scootaloo along, and we end with Scootaloo dreaming again. The woods are a lot briughter, though. The Olden Pony wants her rusty horseshoe, and Dash gives it to her. And Olden Pony is surprisingly polite about it! I wish all ghostly abominations were as nice as her. :D Dash hugs Scootaloo, Luna watches, winks, and end credits.
Thoughts
Another winner! Great characterization/character development by everyone there. Some awesome effects and camera work. I love Luna in this. Dash was... pretty cool all-around. Great lesson, too. I loved the idea of those stories.
Now, I've seen people asking, "What did ponies do about their nightmares when Luna was banished into the moon?" Eh... deal with them like we do? I have nightmares all the time, usually the same damned thing. And it's not like the nightmares were magical, like the Tantabus.
Anyway, I'm gonna start another review. Next up is 'Wonderbolts Academy', where I ask... "What the hell does it accomplish to make the Wonderbolts look incompetent/corrupt?"
Answer? Nothing!
Yeah, this is one of the really solid episodes. It's got fun and feels galore, a neat slice-of-life setting, and a good moral.
Hey I have that Scootaloo Funko figurine!
(Actually, I have two of them, even. I have several figurines, but Scoots is one of my favorite ponies so I bought two of her so I could keep one out, while the other one stays in the box along with all her fellow ponies so they can sit and gain collector's value.
Please don't judge me.)
In all honesty, this and Flight to the Finish are two of my favorite episodes of the series. Considering Apple Bloom's gotten gross overrepresentation so far, we could use more Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle episodes, and if they keep to the quality trend for Scootaloo episodes a third one would be great as well.
Say it with me, Scoots. A clown is my friend. A clown will not bite me and throw me in the basement.