At Least There Were No Castles [episode spoilers!] · 7:14pm Apr 2nd, 2016
Y'know what bugs me most about the season 6 premiere? The fact that it's been eight episodes since the announcement of Cadence's pregnancy (Episode 110 - The One Where Pinkie Knows), and one since Starlight's hasty reformation, and in all that time, Twilight hasn't come up with a friendship report for her. Okay, actually, realizing that Starlight was only just reformed makes it bother me less, but still. You gotta fit at least nine months in that eight-episode gap (Cadence wasn't really showing, so I'll give her a month or two head start on her pregnancy), and given how many episodes constitute a "year" in canon, it leaves a lot of empty space somewhere.
Either that, or ponies don't have gestation periods. :V
But y'know what's really funny? That shot of the trailing scroll being sucked under the door as Starlight pulls Spike out of Sunburst's place. I don't know why, but it made me laugh a lot both times I saw it. :D (Also, the watering can freezing in place was a really good, fairly subtle visual gag.)
I guess the other thing that really bugs me, then, is Starlight herself. I just don't care about her. I don't even want to care about her. (Believe it or not, when Cadence was introduced, I wanted to care about her because she was so important to Twilight. I just didn't.) And I think the main problem is she's just Sunset Shimmer. And Sunset is already Sunset. I never thought I'd accuse the movies of doing anything better than the show, but I really think they've done a better job of handling a reformed villain. I only like Starlight as far as her boyfriend Sunburst is concerned, and since I expect we'll never see him again (certainly not before the changelings invade in the finale), well, that's that. :B Time for new episode!
This might end up being the first time my new episode commentary is shorter than my previous episode commentary. <.<
What a dumb episode.
I could feel myself not being entertained. I laughed a few times, almost exclusively at the referential jokes, almost always forced. I just don't like Maud, and yet again, she fails to carry an episode. And yet this was somehow more and less boring than Maud Pie, while being equally boring as our last outing into Manehattan. I can't even explain it. Rarity at least does a better impression of Pinkie than of AJ, but even that sequence didn't really inspire me. If there was anything I liked, it was the guy with the crayon in his soup, and that's pretty barrel-bottom stuff.
And can I just grouse for a moment about how they didn't even do Gift of the Magi right? The title completely telegraphed the ending, if you know your classic holiday stories, and yet it was completely one-sided. And Rarity was kind of irritating through the whole thing. Show, stop making me dislike ponies I like. :|
I would be apocalyptic about this episode, but episode 3 of a season tends to be pretty meh, so this is really just par for the course. In all, it was just a big deal about a small thing, and it didn't have the decency to be funny along the way.
The Crystalling
The Gift of the Maud Pie
Beautiful Art.
I know that feel, bro.
Even after Rainbow Falls and everything, Spitfire is still among my top five. Don't ask why.
Anyway, while I didn't dislike it as much as you, I will say that the episode was—just kind of there in my opinion. I liked Rarity and Maud, though Pinkie did get annoying at times, and the plot itself wasn't much to write home about. So I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it at the same time. The next episode should be better if all goes well, as its premise does intrigue me.
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Yes, it's a very there episode. As in "I just watched an episode". It's ultimately not worse than the worst of season 5, but that all consisted of varying wastes of time, so 'hate' is slightly a strong word.
I really really enjoyed Maud this episode, but Pinkie was written amateurishly and Rarity was too predictable. How many times did they do the "talking fast" thing?
Personally, I'm a huge Maud fan, so I ate that episode up. Definitely suffering from Third Episode Syndrome, though.
Typical horse gestation periods are 11 months, actually.
But on the episode, it's very much a love-hate one. If you like Maud's deadpan personality it was centered around, then you're in for a ride. If not, then, well, you get the reaction you had. I for one love understatement as a form of comedy, and Maud's personality hits that nail just right for me. Pinkie Pie had some grating moments, but they were complemented by some brilliant background reactions from the other ponies, and Rarity held her own as a balancing force/audience surrogate of sorts for reactions to either Pie sister. Still, I'm a sucker for the small things in the background, like the crayon and the hockey trio from Tanks For the Memories on the skating rink. Also, that rarity face on the map was adorable.
This one's up there with A Friend in Deed and MMMMystery on the Friendship Express for me.
To each their own. You say they didn't do it right, I say they mixed up the formula. I hoped they would. Plus, I found Maud on the warpath fantastic on multiple levels.
Oh, PresentPerfect. Looks like we'll never go on a secret, hot, pony-watching date. Each time I go, "You know, I really liked that episode", I can be assured that you did not. Though we do often agree when I think an episode is bad.
What I'm asking is "Why do you hate ponies so much?"
I liked this just fine. No, it's not high comedy, but it was enjoyable enough. And where you see the title telegraphing the ending, I was pleased that they didn't follow it to the letter and have Maud's gift also be compromised by irony. I found it far more refreshing that way than if they had followed the referenced plot to the letter. Besides, it was less a plot piece than a character one, and it did that fine for me. Even all of Maud's rock jargon was correct, save one questionable one: I don't really see how chalcedony would end up in a pavement crack.
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Yeah, I'm taking 1-2 months off the 11, giving us nine. :B
3844054
The only episode I've enjoyed Maud in is Make Friends but Keep Discord. Notably, her role was quite small. :B
3844464
Honestly, I don't think it would have made a difference had they done it all the way through or not. Half-predictable is still predictable, and the predictability wasn't what made me dislike the episode.
3844595
I LOVE PONIES
I LOVE THEM SO MUCH I WANT TO KILL THEM
I just want the series to die ;_;
3844600 I agree. This was definitely a character piece, so if plot is what you're after, then I could see where it would drag. Since character is what I'm after, I thought it was great.
I think the montage we saw of Starlight spending time with all of the Mane 6 and traveling to Our Town to apologize in the S5 finale was supposed to last 6 months-ish, and that is the missing time where Flurry Heart gestated.
And here we see an adorable face hugger being born.
3844930
This kind of makes sense, I guess. :B
[Conspiracy theory ] Cadence was never pregnant fury heart (horrible name BTW ) is actually the offspring of Armor and Crissy. They just didn't want any pony to know about Armor's pre-wedding naughtiest. Thus the discrepancy of the pregnancy time. All will be revealed at the end of the season when Crissy demands her parental rights back.
I must agree that the episodes failed to make me hype for the next episodes
I hope it gets better later on but for now I find the episodes to be a solid OK
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3844464 everyone is talking about whether the title made the story predictable, but honestly how many kids have heard of The story it's based on? I hadn't.
3845732
This is a definite problem, as season six, for me anyway, is facing an uphill battle. Season five was great, but I'm very much ready for the show to die already. :B
>> PresentPerfect
That's the thing, season 5 was really good and, even though I have nothing against more pony episodes, the ending of that season, in my opinion, would have been a great way to end the show
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Every ending since 2 would have been a great way to end the show. :C
3844058 Me too. I didn't really notice the problems in the episode because I loved Maud being there; it could probably have been the worst-written episode yet and I'd have liked it XD
With the whole 'gestation time' thing, I guess it comes down to whether the writers are actually trying to be consistent with the passage of time or not. Fans have tried for years to contrive some sort of sense out of the passage of time that we see in the show. Winter showing up for one episode and being gone the next isn't helping. Other things like the Cake twins being perpetual babies throughout the entire series also doesn't help. And then with Cadence and her microwave pregnancy, I really have to wonder if they are just tossing the passage of time, as a concept, completely out the window.
Speaking of the passage of time, has anyone considered that the idea of a "year" depends on a heliocentric orbital model? The way Celestia moves the sun around each day doesn't really jive with the idea of seasons or years. My personal theory is that the planet rotates on its axis once per year, and the background stars would indicate what part of the year you're in. Then, that takes it out of Celestia's hooves to determine the passage of time.
So how long should the pregnancy have been? You mentioned 9 months. But they aren't human. Even though they act more or less like humans. In real life, horses have an 11 month gestation. Dogs take 2 months. So there's a lot of variation within animals. Perhaps in Equestria, babies aren't even carried internally. Maybe they are magical constructs which appear through some sort of arcane energy outburst like Twilight's wings, suddenly, when the time has come. And then with the whole "first alicorn born in Equestria" line, anyone with a headcanon which says the royal sisters were born as alicorns is jumping through hoops to maintain canonicity.
Personally, I would have been just fine having the baby being born mid way through season six, and have a few more pregnant-Cadence episodes. Would it really have cost them that much to make an alternate Flash puppet for her? It would have been adorable, and be good for kids to not perpetuate the "babies come magically" illusion.
Or that they aren't horses/equines as we know them. Since they don't eat, sleep, or live as horses do (and most horses I've known don't talk, use magic, live in mutual pair bonds, or fall in love) I can't help but feel that there's very little reason to apply "horse sense" to the chronology of the show.