BONUS Random Episode Review of the Day: It's About Time · 10:52pm Aug 22nd, 2012
Well, boys and girls, it looks like we got a bonus review today! Why? Because I needed to wash the taste of the last review out of my mouth. So let’s take a look at our next episode…
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And it’s Number 44, “It’s About Time.” Well, it still has a lot of Pinkie, but she isn’t the main focus this time, so it’s a step in the right direction. I just wish we could have gotten a better Twilight episode…
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TECHNICAL SPECS:
Season: 2
Episode: 20
Writer: M. A. Larson
First Aired: March 10, 2012
SUMMARY:
It’s About Time is the tale of two astronauts who travel back to caveman days so Sherman Schwartz could recycle those props he had lying around from that other crappy show he did. The two run around and do the same unfunny gags as Gilligan and the Skipper, all while breaking every scientific law in existence in two and…
Wait, wrong show.
Spike is awoken in the middle of an “Ice Cream Dream” by Twilight pacing downstairs. As it turns out, she had packed her monthly schedule so full that she didn’t leave time to plan next month’s schedule. Spike, realizing he’s woken up over nothing, heads back to bed, while Twilight stays up all night trying to rework her time table. But just as she’s discovered a way to open the schedule just enough to get back to planning, a mass of magical energy suddenly appears in the middle of the library. When the energy clears, Twilight is horrified at what she sees.
It’s herself, dressed in a torn black catsuit, and complete with an eyepatch, scar, bandaged head, and ruined mane. The new version of her quickly announces that she’s from the future (next Tuesday morning, in fact), and that she has something important to tell her about her dark, horrible fate. Present!Twilight, however, is so obsessed over pulling off time travel that she barrages her future self with questions about where the time spells are and how time travel works. She goes on for so long that by the time Future Twilight manages to shut her up, she can’t get her message out before disappearing.
Twilight finally realizes that yeah, she should have paid attention. However, she managed to gleam enough to realize that Future!Twilight was trying to warn her about some kind of disaster. After some initial difficulties, she manages to convince the rest of Ponyville to help her secure the town, fixing a number of legitimate issues. And just in time, for Cerberus has left his post at the Gates of Tartarus and is rampaging through Ponyville. With the help of Fluttershy and Pinkie, Twilight manages to tame the giant, three-headed puppy dog and take him back to the gates. But when she gets back, Spike accidentally burps a letter into her cheek, giving her a papercut that perfectly matches the scar on Future Twilight.
Realizing that the future is not changed, Twilight instead resolves to simply stand still until next Tuesday; that way, she won’t cause anything that’ll bring about the apocalypse. Unfortunately, Dash and Spike both see this as a chance to poke fun at the Unicorn, with the Pegasus making her think a mouse is behind her and the dragon downing giant tubs of ice cream. However, during an attempt to tickle her, Twilight accidentally flings Spike away too hard, causing him to slam into a wall and burp out a fireball on reflex. Twilight isn’t hurt, but her mane has been burned and frizzled into matching Future Twilight.
Next, she tries consulting Pinkie Pie, who has decided to open up a fortune telling business as Madame Pinkie. After consulting her Mystical Orb of Fate’s Destiny, she divines that Twilight will receive a cool birthday present next year. When Twi asks her to use her Pinkie Sense to discern the nature of the disaster, Pinkie explains that it’s only good for vague and immediate events…like the flower pot that just fell onto Twilight’s head.
A few days later, Pinkie stops by the library, only to discover a sleep-deprived (and bandaged) Twilight spying on everything in Equestria. That way, she’ll know for sure when the disaster will strike. Unfortunately, after she learns just how long she’s been up, Twi runs to check her telescope…and ends up pointing it at the sun, burning out her eye in the process. Cue the eye patch, and Twilight’s most desperate plan. She’s going to stop time itself.
The three dress in black catsuits and sneak into the Canterlot Archives, in search of the time spells within the “Star Swirl the Bearded Wing.” In the process of getting inside, Twilight rips her suit, and thus finishes her transformation into her future self. Panicking, the three try to find the spell, but fail to find anything before sunrise. Fearing the worst, Twilight pushes Spike out of the way and ducks for cover…only for Celestia to come by and wish her a Happy Tuesday.
Finally, Twilight realizes that she was letting her fears for the future get the better of her, and only wishes that she could go back and learn this lesson a week earlier. At that moment, Pinkie arrives with a spell that’ll allow Twilight to go back in time for a few moments. Armed with this new magic, she travels back and tries to warn herself not to worry. All she does, though, is restart the time loop, thereby damning herself to a week of pain and suffering. Even worse, Spike’s stomach is now in agony after eating all that ice cream, teaching the dragon that you shouldn’t completely ignore the future consequences of your actions. Their lessons learned, the three go on home.
REVIEW:
I would like to preface this review with a plea. I’m pretty sure nobody who works on this show will be reading this, but just in case, I would like to ask you do something. Please stop making Twilight obsessed with schedules. She had a schedule in “Winter Wrap-Up,” but that was only because she was so excited over that one day. “Lesson Zero” had her with a schedule, but it was about her being fearful of what would happen if she lost face with her friends or teacher. But here? The entire opening act is so stupid that it hurts. Why does Twilight suddenly need to have a set time in her monthly schedule to plan a schedule? Why has nobody tried to approach her on this? Are there no therapists in Ponyville at all? I thought she learned not to be so uptight about stuff like this in “Lesson Zero,” and she’s doing it again? Seriously, just stop. You’re making the Twilight that dumps space bears on villages look sane by comparison.
The biggest problem with this episode’s setup is that it borrows heavily from “Lesson Zero.” And to be fair, I liked LZ a lot. But in this case, it doesn’t work nearly as well. While the presence of Future Twilight justifies Twi’s panic attack significantly more than tardiness, the actual story is basically a string of random events strung together to inflict the right wounds on Twilight to make her go nuts. No scene exemplifies this like the one with Cerberus. He literally appears out of nowhere, starts munching on buildings, gets defeated in less than a minute, and then gets escorted home. Something like Cerberus and Tartarus is far too big a concept to just shove into the middle of a self-fulfilling prophecy episode like this. Sure, LZ had her harassing fillies with a Want-It Need-It Spell, but there, the episode paced itself, used the scenes to progress the narrative, and actually focused on Twilight’s mental issues. Here, it’s done far simpler, and it just doesn’t work.
The scene with Twilight and her future self is one of the best in the episode. Twilight’s sheer exuberance at learning she will one day travel through time is amusing enough on its own, but the way the scene is paced renders the entire thing hilarious. Throw in Twi going “You’re not scientifically possible!” to a talking Unicorn, and you have a classic moment. Unfortunately, they repeat this exact same scene in the finale, without so much as a different shot or even a different splash of animation. Granted, the point there is that Twilight has just propagated the same event that caused her to go crazy in the first place, but it just stinks of episode filler.
While I greatly dislike the episode’s structure and characterization of Twilight, there is still a lot to like here. For once this season, Pinkie is actually in pretty good form. She performs her usual antics, sure, but she also helps solve the Cerberus incident, her fortune telling business worked surprisingly well, and as I’ve said before, I love it when the two team up. Twi and Pinkie have a natural relationship with each other, which makes both for good storytelling and good humor, and they’re neck-and-neck with Dash and Fluttershy as my favorite comedic duo. While “MMMMystery on the Friendship Express” pulled this off better, that chemistry still shows here, especially with the telescope scene and when the three are sneaking through Canterlot. I also loved the jokes about past, present and future selves, such as Pinkie reassuring Twilight after she restarted the loop that, "It's Past Twilight's problem now," or Spike constantly saying that his ice cream eating is a problem for Future Spike...until he becomes Future Spike.
One other thing I really enjoyed was the moral. There was the obvious lesson, where Twilight learns not to worry so much about the future. (And, to be fair, “Lesson Zero” was about taking your friend’s concerns seriously, not simply not to worry about things too much.) But then Spike’s ice cream subplot comes to a close with him getting a terrible stomachache, despite Twilight warning him earlier that this would be the result. And thus, we get both sides of the spectrum, and thus a very well-balanced, intelligent Aesop: don’t focus all your attention on things you can’t control, but instead just try to keep an eye on the things you can. After all, Twilight was actually accomplishing a lot of good when she was focusing on fixing up Ponyville; it was only when she jumped into pure speculation that things went downhill fast.
And thus, we get to the biggest point of contention I’ve found for this episode: Why does Twilight go back in time? After all, she should have made the connection that, since going back in time didn’t work last time, then going back again wasn’t going to help. Of course, discussing this point means bringing up the mess that is time travel, which is rarely a pleasant thing to think about. However, here’s my opinion of the situation.
Twilight had just gone almost a week with no sleep whatsoever. During the course of said week, she had gotten a scar on her cheek, got hit with a face-full of fire, been smacked on the head with a flower pot, burned her eye out, and had learned just a minute ago that it was all for nothing. So yeah, I’d highly doubt she would be in the right mind to actually stop and think this through. Also, she never heard what her past self was trying to say; for all we know, she was trying to warn her about something else, and this time she would set the message right. It wasn’t until she popped back into the present that she realized just how badly she screwed things up. And what if she hadn’t gone back? Best case scenario, nopony was prepared to stop Cerberus, who would not be stopped in time to prevent the evil spirits in Tartarus from escaping. Worst case, she causes a time paradox that destroys the universe…
I hate time travel.
CONCLUSION:
Revisiting this episode leaves me with very mixed feelings. On the one hand, a lot of the humor is good, and the moral is a pretty good one. On the other hand, structurally, this episode is a mess. Not only does it copy Twilight’s personality from the worst parts of LZ, but it has no real focus other than getting Twilight smacked around. With some tweaking, this could have been one of the best episodes of the season. As it stands, everything just averages out into an okay episode.
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Well, it’s our first episode that didn’t focus on Pinkie, but…I wish we had something better, like “Suited for Success” or “Hurricane Fluttershy.” Still, we’ve gotten four episodes down, leaving us with…forty-five left to do. This is gonna hurt.
I hope you all enjoyed having an extra review today, even if you don't agree with what I said. As always, feel free to tell me how wrong I am in the comments below. Oh, and since I haven’t put a YouTube clip in here yet, here’s my favorite line in the episode:
This BONUS Episode Review is not scientifically possible!
But it was fun to read, nonetheless.
I agree that this episode felt a lot like Lesson Zero, one of my favorite episodes to date. Still, Crazy Twilight is a hoot to watch and listen to, so I generally give it a pass. And Future Twilight's design is awesome. Plus, Pinkie Pie was used effectively here and NOT annoying.
See you next time. Woot!
>I needed to wash the taste of the last review out of my mouth
You gave it oral?
I still think baby cakes is the best episode dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Twilight_Sparkle.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Twilight_future.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Sweetie_Belle.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Scootaloo.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Applebloom.png
Dude....your talking about an episode that was created by someone who WASN'T Lauren Faust....What did you expect?
Just kidding. I know that the MLP staff actually cares about us and wasn't just throwing at us a completely rushed filler, or anything.
I for one LOVE Time Travel. And the fact that it's physically impossible
But good review, and I would LOVE to see you review some seasom 3 episodes....I have a bad feeling of what they're going to do in that season.
I rather liked this episode. I loved the Ouroboros-like time travel wherein her time traveling ends up causing the events that cause her to time travel. Ultimately, time travel changes nothing. It's like the time travel is as much a part of the set timeline as any other event is. I love it. I think the repeated clip at the end really drives this home. Still, perhaps the pacing could've been better. Other than that, it was gold.
305272 As do I... about the bad feelings, that is...
I actually disliked the episode for another reason. When Twilight went back in time, she caused an endless loop; she sees her future self, then visits her past self. Where is the reality where she doesn't see her future self, but does visit her past self? Time paradox, anypony?
Yeah, I too found this episode quite disappointing for perpetuating the Twilight is a crazy loon (and yes I'm well aware that I'm sort of writing something that does the same, but that's AU). Then the wedding came along and did more of the same, and even if she happened to be right so is a broken clock twice a day. Then we have her song aobut failing tests in the S3 preview. Seriously, I'm very concerned that she's going to become a total one not character.
Is it wrong that I almost hope S3 is so terrible that you backdoor into the Lunaverse because it becomes the lesser of two evils?
Okay, now I know your just being an anal nitpicker, you flat out admit that it was the entire point and then complain anyway. Sometimes I think there is just no pleasing you. Could you maybe just prove me wrong and cheat by choosing your next episode review and having it be one that you unabashedly love without a single "but" in it?
Wait, how can you consider this a point of contention when you proceed to go on to explain exactly why she makes the mistake of perpetuating events?
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Actually, the wedding wasn't that bad. Twilight wasn't so much insane as she was pissed that her brother had neglected to tell her about something as huge as him getting married. (And security problems or no, that's a big dick move.) She changed her tune completely when she learned who the bride was, and didn't start accusing her again until after she had seen her treat each of her friends like dirt. About the only crazed thing she does is confront Evil!Cadance during the rehearsal with no proof.
Again, though, table for later. If you're still reading this by that point, that is. Sorry.
Sorry, I like buts and I cannot lie.
Actually, I think I just picked the wrong words there. What I mean was that it felt like lazy padding, like they couldn't change the scene up a little, animate it from a different angle, chose a different score, something like that. Instead, they repeated the exact same scene, frame by frame, picture by picture. I get the point, but they could have handled it better.
I know a lot of people who hated the ending to this episode because, as they see it, Twilight should have realized what was going on and not jumped back in time to close off the loop. I even know a few who said she knew what would happen, but did it anyway because she didn't want to blow up the universe. Honestly, the ending bugged a LOT of people since it's an incredibly stupid mistake that, if Twilight was still fully conscious, she probably wouldn't have made. Instead, she tried to take the easy way out, and only succeeded in making things worse. Going back and restarting the loop just makes her feel like a colossal dope.
Why does everyone immediately assume that Season Three is going to be terrible?
I thought Season Two was going to be terrible the moment I saw the first clip with Discord, and it turned out pretty good.
Irony of ironies, I actually read GrassAndCloud2's latest story just before coming here, mostly because I was very bored. The ending was enough to cause my once-again-reborn interest in the setting to keel over and vomit blood, but it's not quite dead...yet. I really need to stop reading his stuff.
305109scranton.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw5542-loled.jpg
EDIT: I accidentally the rest of the comment. I also meant to ask what was wrong with the last review.
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I don't see why I would stop. I'm one of your followers here on this site for good reason. I respect your words, even when I don't agree with them.
...but one with a perfectly valid set of reasons to make such a mistake (sleep deprivation, possible concussion, and loads of stress). Though I guess I misinterpreted you initial words. By, And thus, we get to the biggest point of contention I’ve found for this episode, I'm guessing you more so meant the fandom in general than yourself personally.
Just to be clear, I DO NOT NOT THINK S3 WILL SUCK. I was trying to crack a joke about leveraging it against you as a reason to convert you to the Luniverse banner.
On a further note, I'm sorry G&C2's fic caused you such pain. Honestly I'm not happy with the ending either, (actually that's something of a running problem I have about half or so of his works). If you feel that strongly about it though, I really think you should have left a comment. No author can fix these problems if people don't tell them what's wrong. Furthermore, the Lunaverse is a group project. If you want to like it so much, please come onto our boards and talk about it with us; make suggestions on how to improve it. I promise we won't bite.
Also, while we are on the subject of you still trying to read the Lunavers, if you don't mind me asking, have you read RDD's latest work with Raindrops? I think it goes a long way towards fixing that problem you had with her just being Rainbow Dash v2.0
305579 dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Rainbow_Dash_lolface.png
Gotta admit, this is probably my top favorite episode out of the entire show. A stable time loop in MLP, that's just fantastic. Plus they apparently included some appropriately timey-wimey equations on the chalk board in the library scene.
My only complaint, if I had to come up with one, is that the knowledge that the time spells are kept in the SSTB wing comes out of nowhere.
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After what happened with RDD last time, I'm pretty sure I'm persona non grata in that group. And besides, most of my ideas suck.
And I actually did read the Raindrops one. It's what got me interested in the universe again, sent RDD over here to kick my ass, and made me write that lovely little blog post. It did alleviate a lot of my issues with her as a character, and was a good story.
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Man, I totally forgot about that. And yeah, the equations were an awesome touch, way above-and-beyond the call of duty. It's those little background things that make this show wonderful.
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Obviously time travel in MLP works the same as in Disney's Gargoyles. There is no first time for any event; all of time is effectively happening simultaneously, and it's only our limited human perspective that makes it seem otherwise. Seriously, you should both read Greg Weisman's notes on the subject (or rather that's what I would say, but his blog seems to have disappeared or something).
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I'm sure you're wrong about being unwelcome in the Lunaverse, and I'll get RDD in here to prove it
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Yep, that's...pretty much what we should go with. It leads to fewer headaches. I can still remember that thing with the...Archmage, was it? The guy whose entire life is basically one massive time loop that was masterfully worked into the second season to hide the fact that he was never meant to make more than one appearance? Sorry, it's been a while since I saw the show outside of SF Debris' occasional reviews.
The events of this episode illustrate marvelously why, if my future self is stupid enough to try pulling that stunt, I will kill him before he can say a word. The same goes for any oracles or people capable of long-term prophecy. This is just something you don't mess around with.
No one is persona non grata in the Lunaverse. Like I told you: You're on a short list of authors that I really, really want to have read everything I write and give me honest feedback on (which, incidentally, means that at the very least, I don't think that most of your ideas suck).
I recognize that I'm a confrentational bastard and I know that makes me hard to deal with, but I never want anyone to go away, least of all the people willing to type out 2K words or so of stylistic problems that I need to work through - and that applies to the Lunaverse on the whole as well. Like I said when I finally noticed your blog post, I really wish you'd been around in the Lunaverse board itself since the beginning; if you had been, there's a decent chance that a lot of later problems might have been avoided, or at least handled better. For what it's worth, of the four problems you mentioned, Raindrops has been dealt with and I'm working hard on getting everyone to lay off the Mane-6, and to work Corona into the story more (she just showed up in "An Early Reunion;" dunno if you've been reading that or not but it takes place 980 years before I made Twilight into a bad pony, so it should be relatively clear of problems)
So, consider this a formal invitation: I'd like you to poke your head in every now and then and tell us what we're doing wrong. It can only help.
(and - maybe - you could one day contribute a short story? I can dream...)
HA! I see what you did there and it made me smile.
True, but as you pointed out, she's going on about a week without sleep, so it's forgiveable here. Frankly given what I understand of human psychology, at least, she should have been hallucinating and/or violently paranoid, and basically incapable of walking around, let alone any kind of cognative functions.
Me, I mostly don't like the episode becsue it shows a closed time loop. I don't like those; I like my time travel systems to be more fluid and allow for changes to the past and future, mostly because I think that makes for a more interesting story.
305692
Eh, I don't mind this, but then again I take a Cortezian approach to time loops and time travel in general.
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Who knows? I'm actually looking forward to seeing where "Tales" goes, so there may be hope yet.
And trust me, I'm not cut out to contribute there. I'd just make a mess of things.
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It was mostly because "Feeling Pinkie Keen" was NOT an episode I was looking forward to reviewing, at least this early. It's not that I hate the episode, but people have very passionate feelings about that episode and its messed-up delivery, and I'm just glad the comments didn't erupt into flames. (Had I done this a year earlier, nobody would have gotten out of this thread alive.) So I did an extra review just to have a funner episode. Somehow, though, I ended up with "It's About Time."
The Random Number God hates me.
You're too harsh on yourself.
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I'm sure you wouldn't go and make any more mess of the place than that idiot writing a fic with the ridiculous premise that Twilight, unable to come to terms with the reality of the Ursa incident, instead sets off on some misguided quest to build her own team of elemental misfits.
I actually really liked this episode. As you said: good humor, great character interaction, and the moral was beautifully handled (hoofled?). I also really love time travel plots, even if they do occasionally make my brain dribble out my ears.
Where have you been hearing people disliking the ending? I mean, I thought they made it pretty clear that Twilight hadn't slept for a week. Nobody complained about Applejack screwing up in Applebuck Season, so why would they complain here? That is, aside from the idiots who can't get past the fact that it's season 2 and thus not season 1 and it sucks and oh my god howcananyonewatchthiscrap!?
Either way, I'd say this is one of the better episodes of S2. It has a few problems, but I think the good far outweighs the bad.
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Lets face it, the RNG is a hateful sunuvabitch. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Mr_Cake.png Ask any D&D player. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Twilight_Sparkle.png Also, I feel I must have missed something between you and RainbowDoubleDash, as the last time I saw him interact with you it seemed pretty positive.
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Oh no you don't. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Redheart_shh.png
I love these reviews.
You said gleam instead of glean.
EDIT: WORST POSSIBLE SPELLING aside, good review. Now off to read the rest.