SPOILERS! Mariusioannesp Reviews: "Slice of Life" · 5:41am Jun 14th, 2015
WARNING!!! The following contains SPOILERS for today’s episode of MLP “Slice of Life”. 
Now, without further ado-do, here is my review of “Slice of Life”.
Today’s episode begins Cranky Doodle Donkey and Matilda, who we have really seen since their introduction in Season 2’s “A Friend In Deed”. Turns out they’re getting married after all these years. However, disaster strikes! The invitations they just had sent out have the wrong date, and so they have to get married this very day! We then follow Ponyville’s most notable unnotable ponies as they scramble to get ready for this wedding.
Oh, and Twilight Sparkle and her friends are prattling about in the background fighting this monster.
So, what’s the verdict?
Some of you may be aware that this is an episode that I had some misgivings over. It’s not the concept. The idea of an episode focused solely on the background ponies the Brony fandom has latched onto was one I legitimately wanted to see. I question the propriety of making such an episode the 100th episode. To me, if you’re using the 100th episode as an opportunity to celebrate the show, you should celebrate everything that makes the show great. The Mane 6 are a major part of what makes this show great. Shuffling them off to the background like this didn’t quite jibe with me.
This episode basically boils down to a half-hour long orgy of fanservice.
And I loved every minute of it!
As said in the beginning, Cranky and Matilda’s wedding invitations had a fatal misprint on them because Cranky got them printed at a discount from one of our favorite ponies. 
That’s right! Derpy is in this episode! And she is quite close to front and center here. She even speaks! I kid you not. She has a ton of dialogue in this episode. She is once more voiced by Tabitha St. Germain in a manner some have said to be reminiscent to the that heard in the pre-edited version of “The Last Roundup”, but I don’t know for sure. (In the credits, she is called “Muffins”, which is apparently the name Hasbro likes to call her. I think we can all agree that she will always be Derpy!) She hasn’t appeared that much in this season so far, but she more than makes up for it in this episode. Anyway, Derpy laments the situation with a companion, explaining that she gave Cranky the discount because she had Featherweight handle the printing even though he was inexperienced running a printing press. A cutaway shows the printing press breaking down and Featherweight being covered in ink. And who knows who this companion is? 
That’s right! It’s Doctor Whooves! Let’s talk about the Doctor for a moment. He is portrayed this time by our good friend Peter New with a British accent. He doesn’t sound like any Doctor in particular, but he certainly acts like a regeneration of the Doctor. He has this Doctor-esque catchphrase “Great Whickering Stallions!” And like any regeneration of the Doctor in the modern Whovian era, there are callbacks to previous Doctors. He wears a bowtie like Eleven. He intended to wear a bright-colored suit and tie to the wedding, kind of like Ten used to do. (This Doctor though seems particularly fond of the color green.) He ends up wearing a long, colorful scarf to the wedding just like the Fourth Doctor used to. He even says “Allons-y” like Ten as he’s walking into the wedding. The interior of his house (at least I think it’s his house) looks vaguely like the TARDIS. Derpy even looks around in confusion when she enters, as if it’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. He says he’s been studying time-travel for decades and then quietly adds “centuries even”. Derpy also calls him “Doc” and he is called “Doctor” in the credits. I think it’s official. Doctor Whooves is the Doctor somehow transformed into a pony. He mentions also that a childhood trauma drove him to study science. I don’t know enough about old school Doctor Who to know if this was something established for the Doctor back then, but that made me think of the last series episode “Listen”. It’s also official that Derpy is basically his companion.
Anywhooves, while the Doctor and Derpy are prattling around in what I am certain is the TARDIS, Derpy spots these flameless fireworks the Doctor has created. He can’t figure out how to ignite them though. When Derpy reminds him that Cranky and Matilda’s wedding as accidentally moved to today, he realizes he still has to get his suit tailored. He runs off to Carousel Boutique but finds that Rarity is not there. That’s when Vinyl Scratch comes walking by, listening on her headphones just like in that Rainbow Rocks short. The Doctor begs her for help finding Rarity. It’s unclear if she really understands what he’s saying, but she nods and leads him away. They end up in a bowling alley where the Doctor runs into these ponies.
That’s right! It’s The Big Lebowski ponies. I’ve heard of people who’ve gotten into Doctor Who because of Bronies creating the whole Doctor Whooves thing based on that pony that looked like the Tenth Doctor. Similarly, I saw The Big Lebowski for the first time after learning that those background ponies in “The Cutie Pox” were supposed to be based on the characters of this film. It’s actually become one of my favorite films. The Dude pony here also gets quite a bit of dialogue. He’s voiced by one Michael Dobson, who sounds almost perfectly like Jeff Bridges! (In the credits, he’s also straight up called “Lebowski Pony”. They’re not shying away from such an adult reference. And yet they can’t call Derpy “Derpy”.) The background music is even very reminiscent to the soundtrack of The Big Lebowski. The last time we saw The Dude pony, he was frying things in “Trade Ya” and had a cutie mark that was a frying thingy. Here, two of the Lebowski ponies have cutie marks that are references to the fim. The Dude pony’s cutie mark is a rug. Clearly, his special talent is tying the room together. The Walter pony’s cutie mark is a briefcase, because Walter had a briefcase in the scene where they confronted the kid who stole the Dude’s car. The Dude pony also says “man” all the time because he’s The Dude, man. The Doctor even calls him out on it.
So, the Doctor is impressed by their impeccable style and wishes to know who their tailor is. Turns out, they tailor their suits themselves. The Doctor wishes for them to tailor his suit, but they can’t because they’re competing in the finals. I sure hope he makes the finals. But they make him a deal. Their fourth didn’t show up, so if he rolls with them and they win, they’ll tailor his suit. Wait, fourth? They don’t mean this guy do they?
I wouldn’t replace him, Doctor. Nobody fudges with the Jesus.
The Doctor does some fancy mathematics in his head and refuses because there are too many variables. Has a Doctor ever like done math all Beautiful Mind like that? I know Sherlock does in Sherlock. Well, Steven Moffat makes both shows anyway. The Dude explains all he has to do is roll it straight. The Doctor then agrees.
I don’t think even in the most insane of crackfics has there ever been a crossover between Doctor Who and The Big Lebowski. And yet MLP just did it. At least in pony form.
Meanwhile, outside the bowling alley, Octavia joins a crowd of background ponies and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who are watching the Mane 6 as they huddle up. Octavia here is voiced by Kazumi Evans just as she was in Rainbow Rocks, but here she has a much stronger British Accent. Apple Bloom wonders if the Mane 6 are dealing with a friendship problem or a monster attack. Octavia is concerned if it’s a monster attack because she has to perform at Cranky and Matilda’s wedding. Sweetie Belle assures her though that if it’s a friendship problem, it’ll be cleared up in half an hour. That has to be my favorite line of the episode. It’s just so meta! That’s when the monster shows up.
Sweet Lovecraft’s ghost! What abortion of nature is this?!
If Bears Are Bad News and we should Bee Afraid, then this thing must mean… 
It’s later called a bugbear, missing the obvious opportunity of calling it a “bumblebear” like we all were these past couple of weeks. Wait, bugbear like the ones in Dungeons and Dragons, which also has owlbears which have popped up in the MLP comics. (Fun fact: Dungeons and Dragons is owned by Wizards of the Coast, which is in turn owned by Hasbro.)
Matilda then rushes in searching for her wedding planner, but Pinkie Pie is currently preoccupied with wrestling this bugbear. She then spots Amethyst Star, the one we call Sparkler, organizing the crowd to get them to safety. Matilda asks if Sparkler can help her move the wedding to today. Turns out, Sparkler was the best organizer in Ponyville until Twilight showed up so she agrees. As they run off to the spa, Derpy shows up asking Matilda if there’s a way she can help her out some how. Matilda just cries out her need for flowers. Derpy then goes to Flower ponies Rose, Lily Valley, and Daisy asking for all Matilda’s arrangements for today, causing them to faint in horror. They also faint when they notice a broken stem on one of their zinnias. I don’t know if the fandom has ever depicted them as so easily panic-stricken based on how they fainted way back in Season 1’s “Applebucking Season”, but it sounds like something we would do.
Meanwhile meanwhile, Lyra and Bon Bon are decorating Ponyville City Hall for the wedding. They’re even called Lyra and Bon Bon! I can’t recall if Lyra at least has ever been called that before. Anyway, they keep going on about how such great “friends” they are. 
The sexual tension is so high here, you can’t cut it with a knife! You need a frickin’ diamond saw! When Bon Bon finds out a bugbear is attacking Ponyville, she lets drop a rather surprising bit of information. Turns out, her name isn’t Bon Bon; she’s actually Special Agent Sweetie Drops. (We’ve always called her Bon Bon, but Hasbro insists on calling her Sweetie Drops. This is good enough a compromise I guess.) She used to work for a monster-hunting agency in Canterlot until this bugbear escaped from Tartarus. Since Bon Bon was the one who captured the bugear, she had to go deep undercover in Ponyville under the assumed name Bon Bon. Lyra is particularly heartbroken by this revelation.
B-b-but the lunches! The-the long talks! The benches we sat on! All the times we made love! None of that was real?!
Tee hee. Benches we sat on! One of these lines is not like the others.
Bon Bon assures her it was all real and that she really is her best friend… With benefits! I know that’s what you want to say! 
Bon Bon rappels out the window to find a crowd to blend in to. You know like she always does.
I don’t know if there’s a fanfiction where Bon Bon is a secret agent. It is something we would do. There should have been. If there isn’t, we should be ashamed of ourselves.
Back at the bowling alley, in order to win, The Doctor has to make the dreaded seven-tenths split. The harshest of the harsh. 
That could be an innocent glass of milk The Dude is drinking, but I’m certain it’s actually a White Russian. Derpy comes in and announces to the Doctor that she can fix the flower problem for Matilda’s wedding by using The Doctor’s flameless fireworks instead. The Doctor drops his ball in a panic and runs after Derpy, concerned that the flameless fireworks are too volatile. The Doctor’s ball fails to knock over the pins, and the Walter pony grunts in frustration. It would have been so much cooler if he had cried “Out of line!” or one of his other lines. (At least one without cuss words.) Guess they didn’t have a good enough John Goodman impersonator.
Meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile, Matilda is at the spa get her mane done for the wedding. There she happens to meet Steven Magnet. I realized today that this is the first time we’ve seen Stephen Magnet since the second part of the premiere episode! I remember when I first got into MLP like two-and-a-half years ago, Steven Magnet was like in every fanfiction. And yet until he showed up in today’s episode, I had almost forgot about him. Turns out Steven Magnet is Cranky’s best friend and is serving as his best man at the wedding. That’s quite a surprise. They had met and shared a number of adventures during Cranky’s search for Matilda. Matilda is shocked because she was under the impression Steven Magnet was a pony. While Matilda is finally relaxing about the wedding, Steven chooses to remind her that the wedding is everything.
Meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile, Vinyl Scratch arrives at the cottage she shares with Octavia! It’s official! Octavia and Vinyl are roommates, and they live in Ponyville! I like how the house literally divided in half between Octavia’s classical style and Vinyl’s electronic style. Octavia is lamenting how all the wedding songs are too standard, and she wants to play something special for the wedding. Vinyl then starts messing around with her equipment, and they start to Lindsey Stirling it up, blending Vinyl’s wubs and Octavia’s cello. What follows is then an epic, professionally animated version of all those fan-made dubstep cello mashups that Bronies have made for Vinyl and Octavia! When Octavia realizes she’s going to be late for the wedding, Vinyl and Octavia ride out in a mobile DJ platform that I’m sure is the equivalent of the “wub-mobile” of Rainbow Rocks. As they roll along, they crash into Button Mash, that jelly pony, and the disco-dressed pony. (You know, ‘cause they were all in that “Perfect Stallion” song from “Heart and Hooves Day”.) They crash into Crafty Crate, they crash into Davenport the Sofa and Quills pony, they crash into Filthy Rich, they crash into Thunderlane, they crash into a whole bunch of other ponies, they crash into the Cakes and Matilda with her wedding cake, they blow Cranky’s dreamboat special toupee off, and then they get flipped over by the Twilicane, which is there for some reason, and they all go flying!
That’s when we see Gummy sitting in the window. We hear his thoughts for some reason. 
Gummy is quite surprisingly a deep thinker. That has to be my favorite moment of this episode.
Everypony conveniently gets flung into city hall. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are already there, arguing about who was it who should have brought the present. This is the first time we’ve seen them together this whole season. Cadance and Shining Armor are also there. It's like every character in this show is in this episode except the Mane 6. There's even a lone Changeling in attendance! Anyway, Shining is balling his eyes out because he always cries at weddings, but usually it’s after the wedding starts. Bon Bon arrives, announcing that the Mane 6 have taken care of the bugbear. I imagine it was actually Bon Bon who did it though. She goes over to Lyra, and they reconcile. Perhaps they’ll be the next to get married. Like that’ll ever happen on a kids’ show.
Not now Korrasami!
The Doctor arrives, as previously mentioned, with his Fourth regeneration’s scarf. Cranky laments the loss of his toupee to Steven Magnet. Steven follows in Rarity’s footsteps from the series premiere and generously cuts off his moustache for Cranky to use as a wig. The Mayor appears asking if everypony is there so they could start. The Mane 6 are rushing to make it when Derpy locks them out. The Mayor then gives a speech, mentioning how everypony is the star of their own story, and that it’s not just the main characters that are important, but everypony; the big and small parts as well. That lesson is quite meta, but it’s one I can stand behind. Steven Magnet is so moved he grabs Bulk Biceps. 
Like they couldn’t make Steven Magnet any gayer.
So Cranky and Matilda say their “I dos”, they’re pronounced “jack and jenny” (‘cause they’re donkeys), and he may kiss the bride. Suddenly, the flameless fireworks go off! The Doctor grabs Rose in his realization that it is love that ignites the fireworks!
Tee hee. It’s The Doctor and Rose!
The Mane 6 are watching the proceedings from outside. Twilight declares how lucky they are to live in Ponyville and how much she loves her friends. Well, at least Twilight spoke.
You can tell by now, how much I enjoyed this episode. Before I go into that some more, I feel I should mention the two things that still bother me.
The first you all probably are aware of. As great as this episode was, I still find myself questioning the propriety of making this the 100th Episode of MLP. I admit, I wanted to see an episode like this. Many of us wanted to. I know what they’re saying by this. They’re thanking us, the Bronies, for being there. Without us, MLP wouldn’t be Hasbro’s longest running animated series. Without us, MLP wouldn’t have a feature film coming out in 2017. Without us, MLP wouldn’t have 100 episodes. I appreciate that really. But part of the reason for MLP’s success is its protagonists. Shuttering the Mane 6 to the side for the 100th episode in favor of the background ponies we Bronies have become fixated with just doesn’t seem right. I could see why they did it. They’ve been kind of building it up since the premiere. Remember how in the premiere, the day was saved by a group of ponies inspired by the Mane 6 rather than the Mane 6 themselves. Other fandoms have their background characters the fans become fixated with. The Last Airbender’s Cabbage merchant and Transformers: Prime’s Steve the Vehicon just two examples. Bronies have taken it to a whole new level. So much so, they made an episode celebrating it. That’s saying something. This was definitely an episode for a special occasion. What better special occasion than the 100th Episode.
If it were up to me, I would have made a compromise. I would have made the 100th Episode a two-part special. The first part would be from the Mane 6’s perspective, and the second part from the background ponies’ perspective. That second part would probably just be this episode.
The second thing is that Vinyl Scratch doesn’t get to say anything. I mean Octavia gets lines, Doctor Whooves gets lines, Sparkler gets lines, Lyra and Bon Bon get lines, even Derpy gets lines, but not Vinyl. Are they just waiting to somehow figure out how to get Nowacking on the show to do Vinyl?
The best part about this episode is how there is so much going on in this episode, and yet it doesn’t feel rushed or cluttered. Normally, the most characters the writers have to deal with is the Mane 6. Here, there are about ten characters that they’re dealing with. They get props for that.
Another thing I liked about this episode is its similarity to an episode from the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer called “The Zeppo”. You see, your typical Buffy episode had an “A” storyline, which dealt with some kind of apocalyptic circumstance, and a “B” storyline, which dealt with a character undergoing growth. “The Zeppo” reversed this, focusing on a storyline involving the character Xander dealing with his apparent uselessness, while the rest of the cast dealt with stopping the Hellmouth from opening once more in the background. “The Zeppo” has also been cited as the inspiration for the “Doctor-lite” episodes of the new Doctor Who like “Love and Monsters” and “Blink”. This episode is basically the MLP version of that. It brings the background ponies to the forefront and shutters the Mane 6 to the background.
There is also a similarity to a Futurama episode called “Three Hundred Big Boys”, which was a series of connected comedic vignettes concerning how a collection of characters, both main and background, spent a $300 stimulus package. This was in turn inspired by a The Simpsons episode called “22 Short Films About Springfield”. I don’t really watch The Simpsons so I don’t really know for certain its similarity to this MLP episode.
Still, I don’t think MLP has ever done an episode like this before: a collection of connected comedic vignettes. I could see them doing an episode like this in each subsequent season. Each season will have its “Slice of Life” episode.
Overall, “Slice of Life” was a wonderful episode. Given the slight impropriety of this being MLP’s 100th Episode, I can’t say this is MLP’s best episode. It certainly is though the best episode of the season so far.
What did you all think of “Slice of Life”?
God bless you all. God bless America. And God bless Equestria.
Woooooo! Lyrabon OTP someday! I will dream! Also, the Doctor, and Derpy, and Lebowski ponies, and Existencial Gummy, and-and-I LOVE THIS EPISODE!!!
So why cant they manage this again?
3149396 That's what I want to know?
3149480
Some said the unions, some else said trade regulations.
It is as you said in your comment on my review. Our thoughts about this episode almost match up perfectly. Great minds think alike I suppose.
The area where we differ is obviously how we feel about the 100th episode putting the Mane 6 in the background. Though, I will admit that I do like your alternate idea of this being a 2-parter. I could have seen it being like Just for Sidekicks and Games Ponies Play from Season 3.
Nice reference there.
It's really something to see the slow progression of differing sexualities being shown in cartoons. I'm sure it's going to be quite a while before we see straight up homosexual couples in cartoons but it's nice to see the origins of their integration taking place. 
I know, right? I'm predicting that we'll be seeing a lot of Steven/Cranky and Steven/Bulk Biceps fanfics and fan art quite soon.
I can't believe I forgot to mention that in my review. That was a really subtle Doctor Who reference that only us Whovian Bronies would recognize. As I said in my review, I'm astonished with how far they went with the Doctor Whooves references. I guess it goes to show how many MLP fans are also Whovians.
I've got to check that show out sometime soon. I really need to now since I now owe them for laying the groundwork that lead to the creation of one of my all-time favorite Doctor Who episodes.
3149602 I believe Buffy the Vampire Slayer (as well as its spin-off Angel) are both available on Netflix streaming. At least if you have a Netflix. Buffy is definitely worth checking out. It's probably one of the best shows ever made.