Doctor Perseus Reviews: "The Crystalling: Parts 1 and 2" *SPOILERS* · 12:21am Mar 27th, 2016
In this week's MLP Season 6 premiere, Twilight travels to the Crystal Empire alongside Starlight and the rest of their friends to attend the Royal Chrystalling of Shining Armor and Cadance's newborn foal. While Starlight struggles to reunite with her childhood friend Sunburst, Twilight and the others must find a way to save the Crystal Empire once again when the alicorn foal accidentally destroys the Crystal Heart...
Hard to believe that MLP is already back. This is easily the shortest break between seasons we've seen thus far. It's certainly better than the nearly year-long break between Seasons 4 and 5. There were certainly a lot of interesting aspects about this premiere that I was looking forward to. And how did this premiere turn out? I really liked it!
With Starlight being added into the intro, it's clear that we'll be seeing much more of her this season; and, after this premiere, I can't wait for more! This premiere felt more like a Starlight-centered story than anything, even with the main plot involving Flurry Heart destroying the Crystal Heart. Starlight's arc through this premiere was easily my favorite aspect of it. It's great to see how far Starlight has grown since the Season 5 finale. I liked how this premiere delved into Starlight's struggles to face the sins of her past whilst dealing with the fears of facing Sunburst again. Her interactions with Twilight, Spike and Sunburst were easily some of my favorite parts of the episode.
Speaking of Spike, he got a lot of time to shine as well (given that he played a big role in Starlight's subplot). I liked seeing him pretty much be Starlight's counselor, partner and voice of reason throughout the episode. It's funny how, even compared to his good episodes, Spike seems to shine the best in episodes not entirely focused on him. Let's just hope he gets some good episodes this season. And it was great to finally meet Sunburst and see him and Starlight rekindle their friendship. I was relieved that we didn't end up meeting a Sunburst who's become snooty and arrogant due to years of studying under Princess Celestia. It's interestingly almost the opposite. Sunburst, in terms of magical know-how, is pretty much Twilight but without the magical talent. He has the knowledge but lacks the ability to carry out what he knows. It's actually kinda tragic if you think about it long enough. But, thankfully, he's now got a new title as the Royal Crystaller (and also potentially magical mentor for young Flurry Heart). The episode actually surprised me with that as I, along with everyone else probably, was expecting Twilight to take that role. But it was a pleasant surprise to see Sunburst get it. I hope we see him again at some point. I predict that we'll be seeing a lot of Starlight/Sunburst shipping fics in the near future.
Now I suppose I should actually talk about the main plot of this episode. It's weird for me to start off with the subplot but I honestly found Starlight's story so good and interesting and it practically overshadowed the main plot for me. That doesn't mean the main plot with Flurry Heart was bad. It was just the weaker plot of the two in my opinion. But it was nice to return to the Crystal Empire again and see more of Shining Armor and Cadance. Shining Armor especially got some fun moments in this premiere as a sleep-deprived new dad. I'm sure a lot of dads out there can relate.
Twilight got some really good moments in this episode. I especially loved the final scene with her struggling about her role as a mentor for Starlight. The rest of the Mane 6 each got their own little fun moments. Pinkie Pie probably had the most due to how many times she interacted with Flurry Heart. And speaking of Flurry Heart...there's not much to say. I mean she has an interesting design and all but baby characters sometimes tend to be very hollow in the personality department. As of now, she's just a cute alicorn baby. Not much else to her as of now. I'm sure we'll see plenty of fanfic writers and fan artists give her older, future self an interesting personality but, as of now, she's just a baby. Another plus for the premiere was that it actually gave a legit reason to remove Celestia and Luna from the action with them holding off the wild forces of the Frozen North.
Overall, I really liked The Crystalling. It was a very character-driven, low-key premiere with some fun antics and fantastic character moments. It's certainly not as creepy as the premiere before it but it didn't need to be. It was an enjoyable and interesting start to Season 6 and I can't wait to see what lies ahead!
Next week's episode is The Gift of the Maud Pie!
While in Manehattan looking for the ideal location for her new store, Rarity has to help Pinkie Pie find the perfect gift for her sister, Maud – without Maud finding out.
What did the rest of you think of The Crystalling?
Flurry Heart was the background for Starlight's story.
Flurry is so adorable when she fires her cute Little deathrays
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That demands a series of memes having her magic outbursts causing famous movie explosions. Get on that, Internet, I haven't found any yet.
So it turns out I was wrong about Kirby Morrow being the voice of Sunburst. Instead, it was Ian Hanlin, who also does the voice of a Pin Pony. What a shame. From what I've learned, Ian's only other role in the series prior to this season premiere was being McColt Guard 1 from The Hooffields and McColts last season. Oh, and speaking of voice actors, Twilight and Shining Armor's parents finally get a speaking appearance after 5 seasons. You know who provides their voices? Why, none other than the same pair of actors who portray their children: Tara Strong and Andrew Francis. So yeah, we have a case of Talking to Him/Herself within the Sparkle Family.
Anyway, I should let you know that Josh Haber, the writer of this season premiere, has been confirmed to be taking over as the lead story editor for Season 6 of MLP: FIM while Meghan McCarthy is off writing the feature-length movie coming out next year. Based on your review, I'd say you feel the show will be in good hands with him in charge. Oh, and BTW, something I neglected to mention when I brought up Josh's previous contributions to the series in your blog about the Friendship Games Trailer is that he also wrote two of the Rainbow Rocks prequel shorts: Hamstocalypse Now and Pinkie on the One. Just thought I'd let you know this little detail.
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I forgot to talk about Twilight and Shining Armor's parents in the review but it is funny (and fitting) that they got the VA's for Twilight and Shining Armor to voice them. And, yeah, this premiere has started Season 6 off on a good note for me personally. Though, from what I can see, I may be in a minority considering that I've seen a lot of other people online call this premiere dull and boring. Whatever. We're all entitled to our own opinions. I enjoyed it and they didn't. Simple as that. What about you? Did you enjoy the premiere or did you find it disappointing?
Well, you certainly did like this episode much more than I did. You know by now how I thought it was a tad underwhelming. But you're right about Starlight's plotline being the more interesting one in this episode.
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I thought the premiere was decent. Sorry it took me this long to respond.
Anyway, one thing I forgot to remind you is how Starlight has a different mane style now. No doubt this is supposed to be her equivalent of Sunset Shimmer's post-Rainbow Rocks outfit. What do you think of it?
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I'm personally fine with it.