Doctor Perseus Reviews: "The Hooffields and McColts" and "Sleep No More" *SPOILERS* · 5:39am Nov 15th, 2015
In this week's episode of MLP, the Map sends Twilight and Fluttershy into the Smokey Mountains to end a feud between two families on opposite sides of a valley. However, Twilight quickly learns that she may not be as prepared for this as she thought...
After a mixed bag and a dud, it's nice to see Season 5 return to form. So, yeah, I liked this one.
It's nice to finally see Twilight and Fluttershy get their map adventure. It's really a shame that we don't get more episodes with these two together because I really like the friendship they have. Though, I must say that Fluttershy shined the most out of the two in this episode. Twilight had some fun and some genuine moments throughout the episode but Fluttershy really shined with how she was portrayed. I can't recall a moment where Fluttershy was overly scared by something. If anything, she was only scared the most when the lives of the animals were in danger. And her only awkward moments were when she had to introduce herself after Princess Twilight Sparkle, which was a fitting execution for those scenes. This is an example of a good Fluttershy portrayal in my opinion. Just the right blend of shyness and courage. It was nice seeing them work together to end the feud and I hope we get to see these two get more episodes together in the future.
The new characters had some interesting designs and some fun moments but, aside from that, there's not a whole lot to say. They're basically your average "feuding episode characters" that we've seen in countless other shows. Though I must say that this episode as a whole was basically The Great Divide done RIGHT. For those of you not in the know, The Great Divide is an episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender whom most members of the fanbase (myself included) label as the worst episode of the entire series. The episode was about Aang, Katara, and Sokka encountering two feuding tribes while visiting the Great Divide, which was basically the Avatar universe's equivalent of the Grand Canyon. To make a long story short, Aang and his friends had to help the tribes get through the canyon, the tribes learned to work together, and Aang ended the feud by explaining how their respective stories about how the feud started was nothing more than a story about a game between two brothers that was warped over time. However, the real kicker is that, after the tribes leave, Aang reveals that he made the whole story up. That's a great message to send to kids, right?! Anyway, it's hard not to see the similarities between these two episodes (even with both episodes ending with one of the main characters explaining the "truth" behind the feud's origins). However, this episode managed to execute this concept A LOT better than The Great Divide.
And...huh...I don't think I have anything else to say about the episode. It was just really enjoyable. I guess all I have left to say is that I know the title's a play on the whole real-life Hatfield-McCoy feud. Nice to see MLP reference historic events. 
Overall, I really enjoyed The Hooffields and McColts. It was a very good episode for Twilight and Fluttershy's first map episode.
Next week's episode is The Mane Attraction!
An old friend of Applejack's has become a huge pop star and Applejack fears that the singer's manager does not have her best interests at heart.
I can't wait to see the finished version of this song number!
What did the rest of you think of The Hooffields and McColts?
In this week's episode of Doctor Who, found footage shows the Doctor and Clara encountering a search crew on board a space station orbiting Neptune in the 38th century. However, they quickly discover that they're not alone...
I was really interested in this episode. For one, I've had a more positive experience with Mark Gatiss's stories than others in the fandom. And secondly because this was Doctor Who's first shot at found footage. So how did the episode turn out? Pretty well, if you ask me.
The Doctor and Clara were as enjoyable as ever in this episode. While we didn't get any emotional or shocking performances like we've seen in recent episodes, it was nice just seeing these two on an adventure and occasionally sharing banter. Good ol' 12/Clara dynamic. Not much else to say except they were just a lot of fun to watch in this episode.
The guest cast was likable enough. I do like how diverse the cast was with there being Japanese and Indian characters. It's nice when Doctor Who shows that there's more than just British humans in the universe. The guest actors gave good performances but I have to admit that the characters were probably some of the least memorable of Series 9's roster. They were enjoyable but overall nothing special. Well, all except for Reece Shearsmith as Rassmussen. For those of you who don't remember, Shearsmith also played Patrick Troughton in An Adventure in Space and Time, which was also written by Gatiss. Coincidence? Maybe. But that now makes two actors who have appeared in both An Adventure in Space and Time and the main show. The other being Jessica Raine. Anyway, Shearsmith gave a truly chilling performance and his final narration at the end with him slowly turning to dust sent shivers down my spine. Though, with that ending scene, I do hope that the Doctor and Clara managed to save the solar system from Rassmussen's plan. I'm assuming they did but we just never saw it happen.
The Sandmen were very intimidating monsters and they really were something ripped right out of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The reveal about them being made out of sleep dust was a fitting explanation. Great, now the stuff that appears in the corners of our eyes while we sleep is scary now. I also liked how Clara noted the Morpheus project being named after the god of dreams. Another fitting detail.
So how did the found footage aspect work out? I think it worked rather well for this episode and I liked the twist reveal of what we were seeing was simply the POV of the mutated dust in the air. There were certainly a lot of meta moments with the Doctor questioning the story of the episode. I also liked how the original opening and ending credits were cut for the episode (aside from the unique title page created solely for this episode). It really added to the found footage vibe. The episode being mostly devoid of music was very fitting for this type of story. It was a surprise to hear "Mr. Sandman" in this episode and quite ironic. I've been hearing that song a lot recently. I heard it when I watched Back to the Future for the first time, I heard it when I re-watched Halloween II, and now I'm hearing it here. It was yet another fitting addition to this episode and I liked how the holographic woman that accompanied the song was perfectly 50's.
Overall, I really liked Sleep No More. It had some really scary and intense moments, the Sandmen were great monsters, and the found footage was an interesting format for the episode.
Next week's episode is Face the Raven!
Oh mah goodness! Oh mah dayum! New outfit for 12! Rigsy! Ashildr! Diagon Alley-esque setting! Ravens! Epic music! Is...is Clara going to die in this episode?! Is the Doctor? What's going to happen?! I need to know! I NEED THIS EPISODE NAOW!
...So...yeah. I'm looking forward to the next one.
What did the rest of you think of Sleep No More?
So overall, how would you rank the episodes in the Cutie Map Adventure Trilogy (The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone, Made in Manehattan, & The Hooffields and McColts) from favorite to least favorite? Interesting little fact, the Fridge section of this episode's TV Tropes compares all 3 episodes of the CMA Trilogy to a past episode of Season 1 that featured the same Mane 6 duo pairings:
* The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone = Griffon the Brush Off (Pinkie Pie & Rainbow Dash)
* Made in Manehattan = Look Before You Sleep (Applejack & Rarity)
* The Hooffields and McColts = A Bird in the Hoof (Fluttershy & Twilight Sparkle)
Also, as a bit of a heads-up for you, next week's episode will be the final MLP: FIM episode written by series veteran writer Amy Keating Rogers as she has left the series to become a full-time writer for Disney. One of her current projects includes a web series called Star Darlings. Just thought I'd let you know about this so that you can judge whether or not she went out with a bang for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic next week. In fact, I'll even provide a list of all of her contributions to the series down below for you.
* Episodes: 17
** Season 1: 6 (The Ticket Master (Collaboration w/ Lauren Faust), Applebuck Season, Bridle Gossip, Fall Weather Friends, A Dog and Pony Show, & The Best Night Ever)
** Season 2: 4 (The Cutie Pox, The Last Roundup, A Friend in Deed, & MMMystery on the Friendship Express)
** Season 3: 0
** Season 4: 3 (Pinkie Pride, Filli Vanilli, & Testing Testing 1, 2, 3)
** Season 5: 4 (The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone, Canterlot Boutique, Crusaders of the Lost Mark, & The Mane Attraction)
* Movie Shorts: 4
** Guitar Centered
** Player Piano
** Shake Your Tail!
** Perfect Day for Fun (Collaboration w/ Daniel Ingram)
As for "The Hooffields and McColts," I also very much enjoyed it. I go into why in my review on my blog.
I did note the similarity to "The Great Divide," but I chose not to mention it in my review. To be honest, I've never understand why this episode is despised among Avatar fans. I didn't think it was that bad. It was confusing, but it wasn't that bad.
As for "Sleep No More," it was okay. Honestly, I found the found footage angle a bit odd. Why did Doctor Who feel the need to do this? I recently saw the Nostalgia Critic question whether found footage as a genre has already run its course.
Still though, I did like some of the twists in the episode, like when you suddenly realize you're seeing things from Clara's perspective and don't know why. When they first admit that they don't have any cameras on them. And of course there's the end where Rassmussen reveals the true purpose of footage. I do hope we get some resolution to that though. Like maybe in the beginning of the next episode, the Doctor is shown disposing of the footage. I didn't think they really needed to remove the title sequence though. They could have just stuck it at the very beginning. But that's just me.
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I agree. It's only really a "bad" episode by Avatar standards.
Doctor Who's always trying new things. But, being real here, it's obvious this was a "money-saver" episode. Not too many guest actors, simple sets (some actually reused from Under the Lake), etc. I'm pretty sure they were saving their budget for the next three episodes.
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The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone was my favorite. Followed by The Hooffields and McColts. Followed by Made in Manehattan.
That is quite interesting. Maybe it was intentional. This season has had a few homages to Season 1.
I'd actually forgotten about this detail. It'll be sad to see her go (surprised she stuck around after all the death threats she received during last season) but I hope her final contribution is a good one and I look forward to seeing what she'll contribute to Disney.
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I suppose that's bound to happen when you're as good as Avatar was.
I liked the Doctor Who episode overall, any disappointment on my part stems from reading too much in the month without sleep bit combined with last week's longest month of my life comment.
I watched the episode with captions on and noted that they called Ashildr "Mayor Me." I'd already been thinking in this direction since the Woman Who Lived, but now more than before wheels are turning within my personal "Doctor Whooves" headcanon.