Doctor Perseus Reviews: "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" *SPOILERS* · 3:01am Jul 12th, 2015
In this week's episode of MLP, a parasite known as the Tantabus escapes from Princess Luna's nightmare and begins to infect the dreams of the Mane 6. Luna enlists the help of the Mane 6 in order to trap it back inside her dreams. However, if they don't hurry, the Tantabus could eventually gain enough power to escape the realm of dreams and plague the real world...
...Damn. If you're going to put your show on hiatus for a bit, this is the type of episode to kick it off. I really had no expectations of what to expect going into this episode. I was certainly looking forward to getting another Luna-centric episode. I don't think we've had a proper one since Luna Eclipsed all the way back in Season 2. Sure, Luna's made plenty of appearances since then but has yet to have another episode focusing on her...until now, at least. And what did I think of this episode? I really liked it!
Princess Luna...damn this episode got deep with her! The fandom has certainly enjoyed exploring Luna's guilt pertaining to her time as Nightmare Moon but the show has hardly gone into detail about it before this episode. But, seriously, this episode made up for us waiting that long to get an official examination of it. Luna really is a tragic character. Even after being reformed by the Elements of Harmony, forgiven by her sister, and accepted by the ponies of Equestria, she still feels the need to punish herself for her past actions. So she creates a nightmare-inducing parasite made specifically for herself so that she can relive the same nightmare every time she falls asleep, which involves her turning into Nightmare Moon and being defeated by the Mane 6. All for self-punishment for her past actions while also reminding her to never go down such a path ever again. Luna's dilemma was a really relatablle one. I myself can relate to constantly reminding myself of and punishing myself for my past mistakes in hopes of never repeating them. The moral of this episode really spoke out to me: learn to forgive yourself by trusting the feelings of those close to you. Luna really was the best character in the show to be taught a moral like this and I applaud the show for finally giving us some insight into Luna's guilt. It was also incredibly satisfying to see Luna have her first peaceful dream at the very end.
I really enjoyed getting a look into the dreams of the Mane 6. They were pretty easy to predict but they were still fun to watch. My favorites had to be Pinkie Pie's constantly changing dream (due to her constantly changing attention span) and Rainbow Dash's best dream involving her taking on an army of changelings. And Rainbow Dash's worst nightmare involving the happy singing flowers also made me break out into laughter. Fluttershy's dream was also really interesting. To me, it showed Fluttershy's desire to receive the love and affection that she gives to animals. Interesting indeed...
It's clear that the writers and animators had a ton of fun with this episode. The dream sequences were entertaining to look at and fun to experience. It got especially crazy when all of Ponyville got pulled in. Derpy being a giant who talks like a cat, Spike turning into his knight self, Rainbow Dash and Applejack turning into their Power Pony selves, Princess Big Mac (okay, seriously, there has to be someone in the MLP staff looking at fanmade content), Lyra and Bon-Bon sharing a body, Fluttershy turning into Flutterbat, etc. It was a blast.
Overall, I really liked Do Princess Dream of Magic Sheep. It had fun dream sequences and gave us an interesting look into Luna's guilt. Unfortunately, it looks like this is the last episode we're going to get for a couple months. Damn it, MLP! Did Steven Moffat make you start doing season splits?!
Anyway, I might as well give my thoughts on the two animatics shown at Comic-Con pertaining to the second half of Season 5.
The Season 5 finale is definitely going to be an interesting one. As predicted, Starlight Glimmer will be making a reappearance. I'm really excited about the finale potentially looking at what would have happened if the first Sonic Rainboom had never happened. I have a feeling that Starlight may try to use time travel to stop it from happening and thus change the destinies of the Mane 6. But, whatever happens, it's definitely going to be an interesting ride.
...I think I've found one of my favorite Season 5 songs. I really don't have that much to add. Applejack crying was really heartwarming and I'm definitely looking forward to whatever episode this song is in. This was just a really great song.
So what did you guys think of Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? Also, what did you guys think about the two Season 5, Part 2 animatics shown at Comic-Con?
Now that we've reached the halfway point of Season 5, that means we'll soon be getting an overview blog about your thoughts and scores for the episodes that have been presented so far like last season. Obviously, these overview blogs will be for every 13 episodes. However, I'm curious if you've ever considered going back and doing overviews and giving scores to the first 3 seasons (or as I like to call it, the "Unicorn Twilight era") like you're doing right now for the current seasons (aka the "Alicorn Twilight era").
I also enjoyed this episode very much. I go into why in detail in my review. I thought the pacing was a bit off though. And I didn't exactly enjoy the collective Ponyville dream all that much. I mean, there's weird and then there's... Whatever that was.
Yes.
As for the animatics from the SDCC, I will be dedicating a blog to them as well as to other news that came out of that of that panel.
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Glad I could give you the idea. Though do you think you might wait until Season 5 is over before rating the episodes of Seasons 1-3?
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Yeah. I'll probably wait until Season 5 is over and after I've already given my overview of the second half of the season. Speaking of that, I'll write my overview for the first half in a few days. I just wanted to have the time to go back and think about the episodes a bit more before giving my scores and such.