Lemurthon: Look Before You Sleep · 3:22am Feb 16th, 2017
Thinking of a moose for this one.
F'naaaaa.
SLUMBER PARTIES
Look Before You Sleep
-early-early Faustian horses were very... communal, weren't they? One with nature... one with the weather... one with each other. Ohmmmmmm
-So, most of this prelude is Applejack bitching at Rarity for wasting time on tiny details. Isn't Applejack wasting time in nagging at Rarity over wasting time?
-I feel like Tabitha's portrayal of Rarity breaks accent a bit in these early deliveries. And Ashleigh's AJ!voice is higher than Everest. Heeeee
-Applejack's temporary solutions to things (like Rarity hiding under a bench to avoid the rain) aren't exactly brilliant
-GIRL PONY GLARES
-In my head, the age of the Mane 6 is "young adult," like early to mid twenties. But this episode... bah gawd... I swear they're all teenagers
-I love "stormed in sleepover" episodes. Too bad they had to use it so early. Ah well. It's a good use of it.
-And then after the break, AJ is the one under the bench
-I find that post-S1 Rarity is too clever and creative to be caught unaware in a storm
-AJ expressing sudden worry about "being inside a tree during a lightning storm" is sooooooo Saturday Morning cartoon. Of course Twilight's solution is MAGIC
-funny how pegasi are responsible for the plot of this episode and yet they scarcely appear
-gawd, Twilight is so cute and innocent in this episode. Funny, given that she's more or less the internal voice/spirit of S1
-and thus begins the gag of Twilight learning EVERYTHING from books
-AJ was out in the rain for like twenty minutes; how come her mane isn't messed up?
-When I wrote "Y'allin'," I needed to go back and look for instances in which Applejack used the term "Y'all" for singular individuals. Turns out every instant that I remembered was from this single friggin' episode
-This episode is a very good way of showing how Applejack's style of being "feminine" isn't necessarily stereotypical. Vice versa for Rarity, I suppose
-When mudface!Twilight hugs Rarity and Applejack and shouts "YAY!" she holds that pose for an insanely long time
-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
-UuUuUuUuUuUuUuUuUuUuUuUu
-"It's a ghost story, they're all made up." Rarity confirmed for atheist
-scared ponies are so cute
-Tara Strong sounds extra squeaky in this.
-magic hooves
-Poor Twilight and her teary-but-not-teary eyes
-Princess Applejack! This episode just became a Ten
-Again, duality of Brutal!Rarity when she gets hit by the pillow. Such good voice acting
-Scenes like this pillow fight made me think of Power Puff Girls while doing early MLP marathonning
-Rarity's three dimensional pillow dodges
-It's strange to have so many lengthy sequences with little to no soundtrack, such as when AJ and Rarity are fussing in bed
-Man... the Rarijack senses must have been tingling with bronies super hard throughout this episode when it first aired
-man, sassy Applejack is adorbs
-"I ain't BUDDDDGin'"
-See? Teenagers. Gawd.
-I'm surprised it took so long for Twilight to get pissed off. I guess she's good at keeping it bottled in
-Remember that one episode where Applejack bucks it all up? Well here ya go
-teehee... dangle pone
-Tree branch inside a tree. Treeception
-Rarity's the girlier girl, proven. She's mastered sarcasm.
-Applejack's the one to apologize first. BEST PONY. Ahem
-I love Ashleigh's voice acting when AJ gets frustrated with Rarity's hesitance. "CONSARN IT—what the—I mean—YES." And marsupials wonder where SS&E gets his weird vocal ticks from.
-magical bullshiet
-All in all, a nice show of how both AJ and Rarity learn to exhibit the opposite pony's best behaviors
-the cucumbers over the eyes don't accomplish anything at the end, but bah gawd if it isn't cute!funny
-kid cartoons almost always end in giggles
THOUGHTS
Anything poignant I have to say about this episode can be summed up in a comment a marsupial made in a previous Lemurthon. Namely, this episode is important in establishing the characters of Applejack and Rarity--especially by showing that they weren't necessarily best friends before meeting Twilight. 'Cuz if we look at the pilot episode, it's easy to assume that all the members of the Mane 6 came together in a blink. But, this and Griffon the Brush-Off show us that not all things "camaraderie" happen naturally overnight. And I suppose that's a healthy thing to learn.
I used to... hmmmmm... dislike this episode. Not that I thought it was "bad," just minimalist and dull. But sometimes the best stuff are those two things. Take Star Trek, for example. So very friggin' much of that show is just a stage play in outer space... with people standing in a room, wearing peanut butter on their foreheads and talkiiiiiing. But--all things considered--that's one of the best things about Star Trek: in that it's exploring characters and their reactions to various circumstances. A lot of times the super boring episodes of Star Trek are infinitely better than all the ones that have tons of explosions and crew members of Voyager turning into giant salamanders and sexing.
The situation that Applejack and Rarity find themselves in isn't exciting... but it is uncomfortable... and the best ways to dissect characters is to have them experience maximum stress and discomfort.
And, as silly as it is to say, there is a certain level of satisfaction to be had in watching this episode. It is a slumber party episode, after all. And even though the characters spend the most time bickering at each other, it does give this warm and toasty sensation... especially since the two main characters become better friends from it.
And what's even niftier is that they're still not perfect friends. We can tell from how it ends that there's residual conflict between the two, but they've learned to be mature (despite their insanely immature antics). And it's more about just playing face for Twilight's sake, which was what motivated them in the first place. Applejack's apology broke the ice and Rarity--despite her fastidious nature--learned to just live with the "ickiness" that comes with getting the job done.
It's a start. And although I feel as though not everything is resolved about the two mares in this episode, what's snazzy is that it makes us--the viewers--expect even more character development from them in the future. And that's the important part. Catharsis with the promise of continuation. Smexy stuff.
What else can be said? Good episode is good. Good episode is still good.
But... f'naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... Rarijack fans can just count themselves lucky... at least until Episode 13. Then, victory is ours. Ha.
-SS&E
I've always assumed an 18-22 year age range for the Mane 6, as it allows them to be adults and do their jobs while still not being completely mature individuals. AJ and Rarity can run their businesses and adult it up most of the time, but when it comes down to it they are still kids in a lot of ways and still figuring a lot of life out. They are just better at hiding it than some of the others, most of the time.
Also, I'm curious: What is the origin of Lemur's and Marsupials when it comes to your stuff Skirts?
Teenagers? More like six year olds. Most childlike ponies ever in this episode imo.
The first time I saw this episode, I absolutely loved it. It was the first episode that showed me this might not just be a series I like, but one of my favorites. There's sort of a reality show satisfaction to watching Rarity and Applejack butt heads. They have such naturally clashing personality traits, and it was a lot of fun just watching them bounce off of each other. Of course, this is Poni, so there's a nice optimistic ending about compromise and seeing the good in each others differences, which I love. Really, I wouldn't change a word of Applejack's end speech to Rarity about dealing with the big problem head on for anything, it's bliss. I also like that Twilight does everything in her power to keep cool before finally snapping. Something about her line, "It's... well, it's NOT okay!" is refreshingly honest.
Thing is, I don't find this episode rewatchable one bit. I didn't even finish it last time. I think it's because Rarity and Applejack have so totally moved on from this. They throw their little jabs at each other now and then to deal with each other's personalities ("Gee Rarity, remember to pack?") but the only time they get back to this level is in Trade Ya... which I didn't like. Still, my memory of my first viewing is an important one to me.
I, err... I tend to think they're between 16 and 19. I know that's much, much younger than most, but episodes like this one is one of the reasons why. And it's not like human societies didn't/don't have kids work pretty young, even without magical puberty marks offering occupational guidance.
I remember a quote that was something like "Maturity is knowing when to act immature", I'd say that applies to this one.
This is why S1 is so engaging. It's not about the big battles -- it's all the little moments in between that make MLP-FiM great.
GUILTY AS CHARGED.
I have to admit when I first joined the fandom, I had assumed, based on the episodes, that the big ships would be Twinkie, AppleDash, RariJack, and RariShy. I was very surprised that the big ships were like, all Rainbow Dash centric (other than Sparity and RariJack). I'm still confused by RariShy not being more of a thing.
They're too busy being plotholes.
This whole episode was basically Twilight Bubbles.
This episode is pretty much where Rarijack was born.
So much this. Star Trek is at its best when exploring the human condition, such as in episodes like "Measure of a Man", "The Inner Light", and so forth. And sometimes, MLP does the same thing and does it well.
4424554
I smiled seeing you mention "The Measure of a Man", my favorite Star Trek: TNG episode.
Can't help to mix this one with it's Friendship is Witchcraft equivalent sometimes.
Also, like 4424393 said, sometimes it's hard to rewatch some early episodes of stories that have big character developement. The characters may not feel like they already are the characters as we see them. That's the reason I have never rewatched early Steven Universe.
I actually laughed at this line.
Wait... did this happen?
I've had a very bad day, and this lemurthon is the first thing that's made me smile today.
"Scenes like this pillow fight made me think of Power Puff Girls"
Craig McCracken's wife does not disappoint.