New Episode[SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY] · 8:30pm Feb 16th, 2013
Saw the new episode today, and it was... okay.
While the songs in it were pretty good in terms of quality, they weren't exactly memorable like Winter Wrap-Up or Smile Smile Smile, and just the sheer volume of them made them somewhat obnoxious. It's as if Hasbro was trying to cram in even more songs than they put into a 26 episode season just into this one episode. Honestly though, it seemed like it would have been difficult to tell the same story in the same amount of time without the songs. Rocketing through plot points like that almost made it feel like I should have been watching a two or three-parter. I think I nearly got whiplash.
On the other hand, the animation was even better than anything on the show in the past, and there was some pretty cool, if slightly confusing imagery. The Alicorn Ether, or wherever Twilight goes after she evolves into Super Twilight, made it seem as though there was some reference to a movie that I wasn't getting, but it's still kind of cool that the princesses have some kind of super-dimensional space where they can relive past events. Besides that, there were a few small scenes where excellent examples of animation flew by in seconds, like when Rarity was reclaiming her boutique, and the sequence when Twilight gets her wings was visually pretty outstanding. All in all, I really think that the visuals dominated this episode rather than the songs or story.
Speaking of the story, I found it a little difficult to follow, and not just because the writing and animation teams were flying through it at breakneck speeds. First of all, there's the whole issue of where all of the original magic came from. Twilight fulfilled her destiny by writing new magic. That's all well and good, but does that mean that Starswirl the Bearded was an alicorn? Writing magic seemed to be practically his only job. Was he actually an alicorn, too? Did Celestia and Luna create the original spells and get him to write them down? Is that why they're alicorns? If so, why does "fulfilling their destiny" for them conflict with their cutie marks? Is "fulfilling your destiny" just a euphemism for writing magic? All completely unexplained.
Then there's the weirdness about the story itself. Sure, it's believable that Celestia would send one of Starswirl's unfinished spells to Twilight, but why did she say "I knew you could do it" once Twilight fixed everything? Kind of makes it seem that Celestia sent her an incredibly dangerous, unfinished spell on purpose, a spell which, like most other things in the show, almost destroyed Ponyville. And since when has magic in this show just been words on paper? Twilight doesn't say "Teleport!" every time she does, so why does this other spell simply activate when Twilight says it? Inconsistencies are Magic, it seems.
All of these criticisms, while there may be a lot of them, are just that. It was an okay episode regardless, and it shouldn't affect anyone's opinion of the show as a whole. It should be a hit with anybody who likes musicals, too. I just think that Hasbro's marketing department is impinging somewhat on Hasbro's television department, and it's becoming obvious for the first time through the show. Or at least, it would be, if the show itself wasn't technically a twenty two minute advertisement for My Little Pony toys.
Overall, it was a fine episode that at least kept up to the standards of the show without setting any new bars. 6.5/10.
Leave your opinions in the comments below!
Well, my thoughts on this episode is here.
Now that I've actually seen the episode, I don't really have a clue what everyone was complaining about with Alicorn Twilight. That was a pretty good episode in my opinion, and I'm actually interested to see where it goes. Although, I do agree that it should have been 2 episodes long. It was very rushed.
I'd actually give it about an 8.5/10
835497 I agree that Alicorn Twilight isn't really that bad and does kind of open some interesting prospects for season 4, such as what she's her job's going to be now that she's a princess instead of a librarian. It's just kind of a shame they wasted the potential for a "Rainbow Dash teaches Twilight how to fly" episode by sending her soaring through the air as if it was second nature at the end. Even pegasi have flight school Twilight, you don't get to be good at everything.
835535 Yeah, too bad. That would make for a good episode. Although, it may still be possible...
Hasbro employee 1: "Let's make an episode where Rainbow Dash teaches Twilight how to fly!"
Hasbro employee 2: "But we had her flying in the season 3 finale! That would be inconsistent!"
Hasbro employee 1: "Psshhhh, only little girls watch this, right? They wouldn't notice!"
Hasbro employee 2: "You're right! Let's do it!"