Another preview!... And also some other stuff. · 7:38pm Nov 10th, 2012
Whelp, I just watched the season 3 premiere. Gotta say, I was really underwhelmed for several reasons:
SPOILERS AHEAD!
1) The introduction of the Crystal Empire seemed really contrived. This is the second "1,000 year old prophecy" plot that this series has had, and it feels distinctly less important than the first one. The return of Nightmare Moon felt grand and impressive; it introduced a kind of sinister mysticism to the show, one that got me hooked on MLP in the first place. The Crystal Empire tried to replicate that atmosphere, but it just didn't quite work out for some reason. Still, I know that the little black book that showed up at the end of the episode was meant to imply that the events which transpired in the Crystal Empire are going to have overarching significance, so I probably shouldn't complain.
2) Cadance and Shining Armor still have hardly any depth. I was really hoping that the writers might explore their characters a bit more, but I guess forty minutes just isn't enough time to develop more than one or two protagonists. And speaking of poor character development...
3) King Sombra was an awful villain. In fact, he may just be one of the worst villains of any TV series I've ever seen. His only motivation for enslaving a kingdom and opposing the alicorn sisters was "a heart as black as night," and we didn't even find out how his heart got to be so black in the first place. I really hope we get to see more of him in the future, though, if only so he can redeem himself as an interesting character and an actual threat to Equestria.
END SPOILERS!
So, that's my two cents. Anyway, here's another preview for chapter 3, just to show you guys that I am in fact working on this:
Rainbow Dash swooped down from the skies above, slamming into the ground with a thunderous crash. “We’ve got a big problem, Applejack! Everypony needs to find cover right now!”
Suddenly, the wind began to blow considerably harder, sending flecks of dirt into Applejack’s eyes. The air was strangely hot. “Is a storm comin’ in?” she asked, holding down her hat to keep it from blowing away. “Shoot, I was afraid this would happen. How long have we got ‘till it starts rainin’?”
“Not a storm!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Way worse than a storm. We’ve gotta find Rarity and Fluttershy, and—Where’d Pinkie go!?” She glanced frantically around the campsite, her eyes fraught with uncharacteristic worry.
“Calm down, sugarcube.” Applejack trotted up to Rainbow’s side, shaking her head a bit to clear her thoughts and restore her focus. It was hard to ignore Flim and Flam whispering anxiously to one-another, and harder still to talk over the noise of the wind. “You need to get ahold o’ yourself, alright? Just take a deep breath and tell me—”
“Where is Pinkie Pie!?”
“She’s in the tent, keepin’ watch over Twilight. Now what’s this all about, Rainbow?” Just then, a tumult of roars flooded the forest, so loud they rocked the ground beneath Applejack’s hooves.
“Take a guess,” said Rainbow Dash.
I agree with being underwhelmed: this was easily the worst two parter episode we've had.
Moving on to the thousand year thing... I'm kinda hopeful that the two events are going to turn out to be related. Sombra's final revenge against the Princesses, or something. It'd make up for him being a truly terrible villain at least.
I personally think they could've improved the opener by being bold and getting rid of all the Mane Six sans Twilight, and then using the space they took up to develop Sombra and the newlyweds. None of the usual cast really did anything to advance the story in a meaningful, "utterly essential that it was this character doing it" type way. The interesting parts of the story -- for me at least -- revolved around Twi's relationships with Spike and Celestia, and the resolution that pleasing Celestia isn't the be all and end all Twilight treats it as. The others really didn't need to be there for that to work; if anything, their presence hampered it.
On the other hand, I loved the foreshadowing and Luna's unexplained grumpiness. It's a subtlety we haven't really seen from the show before, a subtlety that would've made Cadence, Shining Armor and the whole Crystal Empire shebang a lot more easy to swallow if they'd started it a year back. Crossing my fingers for more of that.
Can't really say anything new about the Chapter Three segment. I've already had a read of it. Also, Gak.