TheBrianJ Reviews - Make New Friends But Keep Discord (and a discussion on MLP) · 3:37am May 20th, 2015
Oh damn son, the Grand Galloping Gala came back! It's like this show has continuity or something, but that can't be right because everyone knows that cartoons are just babby shows for babbys.
Discord episodes are interesting because the very nature of his character basically allows the writers/animates to do whatever the hell they want. So head below the Smoozining to get some more thoughts on the episode, and Season 5 as a whole so far, as well as discussing my #1 problem with My Little Pony.
Have you heard the news? It is actually quite difficult for the Smooze to be stopped.
It honestly surprises me that we haven't had more Discord-centric episodes. I mean we had the premiere and finales of Season 4, but those were just him in a supporting role, while Keep Calm and Flutter On was him still as a villain, and Three's a Crowd was him as an antagonist anyway to Twilight and Pink Action Horse Girl Go Time!! . This was really the first episode that I can think of that was truly Discord-centric, and had everyone else playing supporting character.
So it felt like this episode was something that was a long time coming, and I think it delivered. It was exactly what I expected from an episode based on Discord: lots of references, lots of humor, a solid friendship lesson at the end, just everything worked. Unlike a lot of episodes that take short breaks for seriousness, this one was just breakneck comedy from the very start. For Discord, it was perfect.
"The Gala is a big event, huge event. You know how many ponies work at the Gala? One out of four!"
I can't exactly say I'm familiar with the older seasons of My Little Pony—the closest I have was ringing customers toys up when I used to work at Toys R'Us years ago—but I know of The Smooze. And I'm just going to assume that this is the same Smooze as olden days, just older and more mature and relaxed. He's not angry or hate-filled, he's just kinda there doing his own thing.
So I had a lot of fun with this episode, I really did. It was a lot of laughs and randomness, a lot of fun, a solid lesson at the end... but something about the episode just wasn't sitting well with me. I rewatched it and loved it, I think in terms of humor, it was the funniest episode of the season. In fact, all of Season 5 has been great, and if we continue with the quality we've been getting so far, Season 5 could end up being my favorite season. So what was it that I couldn't get past in this episode?
Then it hit me, and from there, I realized what my biggest problem with MLP as a whole is.
Let's take a look at Tree Hugger.
Behold: CJ Parker's favorite pony. And no, I don't expect anyone to get the reference.
I friggin' love Tree Hugger. Hippie characters make me laugh, and she seemed like a great foil for Fluttershy and Discord. And in all honesty, it's very likely we will never see Tree Hugger again: she had her role in the show, and that's that.
And that's the problem I have with MLP: how many of these "one and done" characters have shown up over the years.
Think about how many characters show up and do things in one or two episodes, then never appear again. Gilda, Lightning Dust, Babs Seed, Fancy Pants and Fleur, Braeburn, Coco Pommel, Maud Pie, Silver Shill, Tree Hugger... yes, they have great characters, but the most we've seen of any of them is Braeburn, who I think has a total of three appearances. Yes, you have secondary characters like Cheerilee, The Cakes, and Zecora, but of them, only Zecora has really shown up regularly as an important character; Cheerilee had a one-episode spotlight, and the Cakes just appear every now and again.
This is really just a nitpick more than anything and doesn't actually take away from my enjoyment of the show, but with all these characters who have come and gone, it really surprises me that none of them have shown up more often as regulars like the ones I mentioned earlier.
But at the same time, I suppose that's why the fan fiction community for MLP is thriving, isn't it? Because there there are so many characters with so little information about them that there are seemingly endless ways that we can interpret them, and thus create stories. I dunno, maybe it's better this way... with so few secondary characters and just as few recurring characters, it creates an environment practically begging for fan work. And that fan work is what's kept the fandom, and probably the show itself, going for this long and turning it into the cultural phenomenon that it is.
Sorry for getting so off topic, but this was an episode that I really don't have a whole lot to say about: it was really funny, it had a nice lesson at the end that can certainly be applied to real life, and was just a big showcase for Discord to be Discord. After a few really deep episodes, it's nice to have a really comedic one to refresh us. Another very good episode in a season that has been damn impressive so far.
See you guys next week!
One pony didn't even get an invitation to the Gala this year...
Maud did have the single greatest line in the episode, though, which instantly put it up a few notches.
It's sort of a necessary evil, I think.
On one hand, the show wouldn't be as good if it just had a short list of characters to use, and those were the only characters we saw, over and over and over again. Things would get stale and claustrophobic. On the other hand, it would be hard to get all the characters we've been introduced to in for repeat performances and develop them to viewer satisfaction in a finite number of episodes without it seeming obligatory and awkward. Yeah, it's kind of a bummer when a cool new character is introduced and then we never see them again, but... then, life kinda works that way sometimes, for better or worse. All we can do is enjoy the moments. Oh, and make a metric butt-ton of fan work to fill in the gaps.
Also, the episode was delightful.
I totally got the CJ Parker reference.
I'm disappointed, Brian. You completely forgot to mention Princess Celestia's slight show of character, even tangentially!
Pfft, if Octavia wanted an invitation to the gala she shouldn't have spent months painting the town red and every other color too!
I do appreciate that the nitpick really was a minor nitpick, so often I go into a blog post with that sort of intro above the fold and it turns out to be a long diatribe on how the show is terrible and getting worse all the time.
Honestly, I like how many lives we briefly glimpse through the show. It makes it clear that there's more to Equestria than the Mane Six and Ponyville. It makes the world feel larger and richer, that there are stories going on beyond the ones we get to see. As you noted, all of these tertiary characters give us incredible fan fiction fodder, because they're so well characterized that we can't help but detail their lives beyond the time they met those crazy mares from Canterlot's suburbs.