Okay, so this weeks episode is "The Cart Before the Ponies", by Mike Vogel and Ed Valentine. I saw a screenshot of this one.

So, I think the cmc hafta take on Diamond Tiara in a cart race or something, and it's really really hard 'cause she's played a bunch of Mario Cart and drives like a maniac. I could be wrong.

We've seen a lot of Mike Vogel recently. He did the story for this one, and he was one of the writers on the last one too.

Ed Valentine, who did the teleplay, we only actually know of from Flight to the Finish and Three's A Crowd.

I hope this is more like Flight to the Finish...

As usual, this is the main discussion thread for the episode. Have fun!

--Sweetie Belle

I watched a preview for the episode. I think the CMC just wanted to have fun racing carts against each other, but they all enlisted the help of their elder sisters (adoptive sister in Scootaloo's case) for help to building them. But the three element bearers end up taking over to the point where they do all the work and make the CMC sit in passenger seats for each cart while they race against each other. My guess is that Rarity, AJ, and Rainbow got into an argument that turned them competitive.

And no, it's not that long of a preview, but you can easily read all of that from just this short clip.

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5408358 Plus, "the dads really build the go-karts and get really competitive about it" is a really old storyline that's been done a lot. And sometimes those are the best episodes: they take a very standard kid's story plot and do something totally unexpected with it.

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I'm expecting a classic dad / son soapbox racing storyline.
I'm hoping for a neon soaked Neo-Tokyo-drift street racing session complete with Eurobeat.

Something tells me that we're getting the first one.

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It's not fall, tho.

5408402 To be fair, go-karts make everything better.

Kinda wish it was motorcycles instead of gokarts. Then we'd finally have a ponies on motorcycles episode.

Derpy wins again!

I wonder if her and Dinky will roll in and sweep the competition! That would be the best ending.

Update: Saw Derpy with possibly Dinky in the background! It's still possible!
Update 2: Wait! Who the heck is that?

Boooooo! Should have been Dinky!

Honestly I don't see how this was the adult's fault. They crashed because the course was poorly designed with a massive intersection almost specifically designed to cause them to crash!

Also I already hate that kid who appeared with Derpy. He made the unforgivable mistake of not being Dinky.

5408290 It was an overall enjoyable episode. I'm sure everyone's heard this story many times already, but the episode has its moments. I thought it was a well-thought-out move to not finish the episode with handing out awards. I was hoping they wouldn't. Having everything work out absolutely perfectly would really cheapen the message, and MLP isn't that kind of show. And I thought it was hilarious how Scootaloo was really pushing the chicken theme during the first build montage.

5408646 Dinky's brother?

You think an episode involving the Crusader's in a cart derby will be fun, but oh how wrong that assumption would be.

The school ponies are assigned to participate in the Applewood Derby, held at Sweet Apple Acres. They are given a day to build their cart, alongside one adult of their choosing. The episode is already making critical errors: a day? Really? This is not carving out a model sized cart, this is building a fully functional vehicle, with steering mechanics and everything.

Even with the help of adults, who would conceivably be able to craft something functional in so little time?

I'll tell you who: the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Back in season 3's One Bad Apple, the Crusader's were able to build two professional, fully furnished and steerable parade floats, with just each others help and no adults. If any ponies can take on this task, it is them. Each wants to win a specific ribbon, of which there are three: most creative, fastest, and most traditional. They shake things up, so instead of Scootaloo wanting the fastest, she wants most creative, Sweetie pines for most traditional, and Bloom vows for fastest.

Unfortunately, the adults they choose to help (Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity) do nothing but humiliate them for most of the episode. Applejack is so stubborn in her wishes to win "most traditional" (a family tradition), that she scolds Applebloom for even suggesting something modern. Rainbow and Rarity follow in the same suit, though with different attitudes. Rainbow is ignorant of Scoot's feelings, and Rarity laughs off Sweetie Belle's suggestions. But all three are equally awful.

I get what the episode is trying to say. The adults take over the task, not realizing they are ignoring what their younger siblings actually want. The adults eventually realize their mistakes, and apologize. The children get to participate in the event with the designs they set out to create in the first place. It is a message seen many times in shows, and not a bad one.

But The Cart Before the Ponies bungles it by making the adults so hideously awful that it is hard to watch. This is even worse than Rainbow being humiliated in Newbie Dash. Applejack is so staunch and mean you would have never thought she was a nice character. Rarity is only out to win the ribbon she wanted to win as a filly. And Rainbow...is the only one to get somewhat of a pass, as Scootaloo is too afraid to give her own suggestions. That does not mean Rainbow is entirely in the clear, but she at least has a little leniency. Rarity and Applejack know exactly what their sisters want, and yet are total butt munches.

Part of the problem is that the Crusader's do nothing wrong. In examples like Sisterhooves, Rarity is impatient with Sweetie Belle, because Sweetie unintentionally makes situations worse by trying to help. There is a buildup of tension between the two characters, and both have understandable view points.

In Cart, there is little misunderstanding between siblings. The older sisters start out as awful *&^%^&*((, and stay that way through the whole thing. Yes, even after they've "learned" their lesson, they still get a chance to be uncharacteristic monsters (more on that later). But what really gets me is how callous the adults are when the Crusader's add their own touches to the carts. Applebloom adds a back panel, AJ kicks it off, Bloom paints a flame, AJ immediately erases it. Same thing for Sweetie and Rarity, Scootaloo and Dash. Though Dash does not know Scoot's real wishes, but still. Oh, and the Scootaloo as a chicken gag returns oh so subtly when Scootaloo places a hood ornament in the shape of a chicken's head. Isn't that just so hilarious? I at least understand why Dash ditches that decor.

And just when you think they couldn't warrant more hatred, these three decide to drive the carts themselves. All of the other racers are going by tradition, with the school ponies driving, and the adults as passengers. Not the CMC.

And remember that lesson I spoke of earlier? Well, the carts end up crashing in the middle of the winding track, and the CMC publicly denounce their sisters for being terrible. Luckily for the school ponies, Cherilee declares a new race for the next day, just without adult riders. The CMC get to design the vehicles they want...with only a little help from their Mane 6 companions, and the CMC happily ride off. And at least Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity truly feel remorse, deciding to stay on the sidelines to cheer their little sisters on. No wait, they decide to spend their time during the race relaxing in lawn chairs, with glasses of lemonade. When Rainbow cheers for Scoot's, she quiets down due to the jeering stares of AJ and Rarity. What a load.

This episode is just so mean, and unlike other episodes with mean moments, there is little else of interest. One Bad Apple has the great song number and cool visuals, Newbie Dash has genuine moments of emotion, and at least some silly moments. Besides the CMC's sisters being cruel, Cart is not that engaging. The derby is plain, and has no real flare. Cherilee does not do much besides emcee the event, albeit in a cheerleader outfit. And no time is spent with the other school ponies building their carts.

Look, I am not against mean-spiritedness in and of itself, nor am I against unlikable characters. Even children's shows are allowed these things, but they have to be done so, so carefully. Season 1's Fall Weather Friends does it well. Both Rainbow and Applejack behave less than admirable there, but there is buildup. They start out reasonable, and things escalate. And they learn from their mistakes.

I also can enjoy stories where characters don't learn anything from their misdeeds. Usually these stories have humor to lighten the mood, or interesting characters, or even an entire cast of characters who are awful, and so they deserve each others poor company.

Cart has none of those. Not even a single gag works.

If there was any suggestion to improve the episode, it is this: remove the three adults, and make it about the Crusader's designing one cart for them to ride in. They could argue over their ideas and what ribbons they want, and even things such as who gets to drive, etc. The same or similar enough lesson could be taught with them behaving in the wrong. Or do the episode with the adults, only tone down their terrible behavior and make them more reasonable.

Extras:
*One thing I've noticed is how drastically different Michelle Creber sounds as Applebloom. Michelle's aging almost goes hand in hand with the show itself. Gone are the innocent days of season 1, before the fandom exploded.
*Rainbow reminisces on her days competing in the Cloudsdale derby. The racers compete in what is essentially a bobsled pipe built in the sky. Reminds me of the bonus stages from Sonic 2.
*Rarity reminisces on her days competing for most the creative cart award. Who did she lose to as a filly? Derpy, whose cart was a mess of a few wood boards and nails. Forget that any sane judge would consider that "creative", Derpy is just there for a cheap laugh.
*Rarity's new cart design is a goose, which she rigs so that its wings can span out and block other racers from getting ahead.
*The episode has a song number, from none other than the three of the Mane 6 and the Crusaders! It's not catchy like Babs Seed; it's just the adults praising themselves, and the Crusader's lamenting their situation.
*If there is one positive about the episode, it is Scootaloo's own cart being designed as a Phoenix.
*My review makes the episode sound like the worst thing ever. In all honesty, it probably is not. It is just that, asides from the bad stuff, there is so little to talk about, only mediocre fluff with no funny gags or notable cinematography. This one's definitely a stinker.

The whole conflict this episode sets up could've easily been solved...

The CMC just needed to switch their partners!

Applebloom pairs with Rainbow Dash.
Scoots pairs with Rarity.
Sweetie pairs with Applejack.
Problem solved!

Applejack... why? Just, why? You didn't have to be so mean to Applebloom. If anything, you should have heard her out. Rarity and Rainbow just didn't listen to Sweetie and Scootaloo, or at the very most shrugged off what they were trying to tell them. You though... you just flat out cracked down on her, you even questioned whether "she was an Apple". That's just not okay, you should be ashamed of yourself.

... Ignore the fact that I used your face to express my displeasure!

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I agree pretty much entirely with this review. It's by no means a terrible episode, but it's just... not very good. The thing that really bugged me was the rigid, formulaic writing, with each of the three sisters reiterating their position constantly as if we hadn't gotten it the first time. Nothing felt natural, there was no wit, no or organic conversation... this honestly felt like moving pictures put on to keep a small child entertained, with a moral tacked on.

And yeah, the crash that happens wasn't really even anypony's fault. It wasn't karmic, or the result of anypony's actions; it just felt like the writer needed to have the race stop at that point so that the moral could be delivered.

This was well below the show's usual standard, and it's a shame because they wasted the exciting "race episode" premise on an artificial and frankly tedious conflict.

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Well, it started out good. The whole idea of "now that we know our strengths, lets try different things, and become better ponies as a whole" was good. Doing things that aren't your strong point is a good idea, because it's boring to always play to your strengths and it makes you better overall. It could've been a good moral for the episode. Unfortunately, it wasn't for this one.

Then the sisters got involved and it all fell apart:

Rarity: "You want to do what? Darling, you need to be cliche and vapid, like me! Don't bother with little things like what you want to do. Play to your audiences expectations!"
Sweetie Belle: "You mean like in 'Spice Up Your Life'"?
Rarity: "Don't expect me to be consistent."
Sweetie Belle: "..."

Applejack: "All right! I reckon we can whip up a mighty fine cart, just like the olden' days."
Apple Bloom:"Well, I was hoping for something modern and fast..."
Applejack: "You want what? We're Apples! Won't do nothin' that's not tradition an' country, and certainly not fast or modern!"
Apple Bloom: "You mean like in Applejack's 'Day' Off?"
Applejack: "We only do tradition. Remember your little brother and what he thought of tradition?"
Apple Bloom: "What little brother?"
Applejack: "Precisely! Now let's get to it!"
Apple Bloom: "..."

Rainbow Dash: "Rainbow! Rainbow! Dash! Dash! This is awesome! We'll be so cool! Fast, Speedy, and Dangerous!"
Scootaloo: "..."

Then came the day of the races. We all end up as passengers is carts we didn't build, while Cheerilee shows off an outfit you can buy with a figure of her in a local toy store. None of us are happy, but it doesn't really matter, 'cause the course was designed by Bloody Stupid Johnson, and everypony crashes. We vent, and then it turns out that the moral of the story is that it's our fault that they walked all over us, because we didn't try hard enough to stop them. Guess maybe next weeks episode will have a moral of "she was asking for it, in that short skirt"? [1]

So we do the race over with our own, very neat carts, and miraculously don't die on the course, while our sisters pretend we don't exist instead of supporting us. Except maybe Rainbow Dash.

And the episode ends without showing the end of the race, which I actually wanted to see.

Not a fan of this episode...

--Sweetie Belle
[1] Well, okay, I'm probably blowing that one out of proportion, but I still don't like how it was presented...

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while Cheerilee shows off an outfit you can buy with a figure of her in a local toy store

To be clear, this was the one aspect of the episode that I didn't object to

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Guess maybe next weeks episode will have a moral of "she was asking for it, in that short skirt"?

Ouch, and I thought I was harsh on this episode!

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Well, I rewatched the moral section, and I probably was being too hard there. But it really wasn't that great of an episode.

I did like all the final cart designs, though, especially mine!

--Sweetie Belle

I expected little from an episode I heard was about a soap box derby with ponies. I got even less.

5408290 I'm not nearly as mad as everyone else seems to be here about this episode, largely because this episode is just so predictable and built around its moral. It doesn't do anything offensively bad, but I was really hoping there'd be more to the story than what we ended up getting, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been too hard to shake things up a bit.

Sometimes we need to give some break for the creators to make an episode that's focused on a younger audience for once.

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Sometimes we need to give some break for the creators to make an episode that's focused on a younger audience for once.

I do sorta agree with this. Firstly, we should never give the creators a hard time at all, because what they do - even when they don't hit the mark - is still a great thing. And we should accept that the show is not written for an adult audience, and that we cannot judge it as if it was. Buuuuuuuut...

...at the same time, we know that the show can do better than this while still focusing on the younger audience. That is what elevates it above other shows and, I think, what the fandom loves about it. And really, this should have been one of the easier episodes to do that for. It's a racing episode! There was so much opportunity for humor, shenanigans, and outside-the-box craziness, even on top of the formulaic plot, but somehow, that just didn't happen.