Peewee's Farewell · 11:53pm Jan 26th, 2013
Hi-ho, all.
While I posted my thoughts about this elsewhere, I figured I'd give a more complete rendering here. Just because.
So, if you haven't seen the latest episode Just for Sidekicks (this is not really a spoiler, you see this in the first few seconds), it opens with a set of photographs of Spike and Peewee (the baby phoenix he adopted at the end of Dragon Quest). According to the photos, Spike had trouble taking care of Peewee, and it got him in trouble with Twilight. Because of this, he ended up having to return the baby phoenix to his real parents.
Now, this does kinda make sense. Spike isn't really the best with animals (case in point, Dragonshy), and considering how much trouble Fluttershy had taking care of a phoenix, I doubt Spike would do that much better. Nevertheless, I feel that this was a missed opportunity. Even if Spike isn't great with animals, he can always learn. Goodness knows he sure learned something after the ordeal he went through in this episode.
Also, to be frank, this is pretty lazy writing. It's a nice nod to the fandom that explains why we haven't seen Peewee, but to just brush him under the rug like this, eh, I'll just say they could've handled it better. Maybe they figured they could get away with it because he wasn't that important, and I get that. However, I've seen them handle continuity nods better than this (Magic Duel, anyone?), so I guess I was kind of expecting more.
On a final note, this might not be the last we see of Peewee. Yes, Spike did return him, but keep in mind that he was the first thing Peewee saw when he hatched from that egg. Considering how animals work in that regard (at least in fiction), Peewee might come back because he still thinks Spike is his parent. Of course, I don't think Twilight will allow Spike to keep the little guy unless he can prove that he can be responsible.
So perhaps Peewee will return (who knows, it could make an interesting plot for an episode). But until then, godspeed, little phoenix. Godspeed. *salutes*
...
Er, Celestia-speed. Whatever.
I think Peewee's story was handled about as well as they were allowed, time-wise. The bigger issue to me is that he existed in the first place. Why allow a character to be created if you aren't going to follow up on it?
To me, it seems like someone wrote this episode and then it was pointed out to them that Spike already takes care of an animal, so why would he be bad at it. Then, to make the episode work, they shoe horned in this Peewee story. I have no idea if that is actually the case, but it feels like that to me and I dislike when writers do things for their own convenience.
TV is all about time, though, and I suspect someone fought to have the story in there while the producers just wanted to skip it. They compromised on a 15 second montage. If time wasn't an issue, then yes, I agree that it could have been done better.
762271 Huh. I actually didn't think about it like that before. That actually makes a lot of sense.
I agree with everything you wrote. Here I was hoping for more Peewee and we get a small mini story writing off the show.
However, I would love a later episode where Peewee returns and Spike has to prove he is ready to take care of him.
Hooray for commenting on old, forgotten journals!
But anyway, I actually saw that as Spike and Twilight deciding it was simply better for Peewee to be raised by his real family, not that Spike couldn't take care of him well enough, so it actually seemed pretty appropriate to me. I do agree that they'll likely meet again some day, though.