How The Starlight Stole Christmas [SPOILERS]

This episode was an interesting one. The description had me expecting a fairly boring episode that I'd watch, give a 3/5 to, and forget about fairly quickly. So really, it was a pleasant surprise that I enjoyed this one as much as I did. It was fun.

Not much to talk about since there's not much to critique, but here are some thoughts:

I found it amusing that Snowfall Frost was portrayed with Starlight Glimmer's colors and such. First, because the worst Starlight could be accused of was casual indifference toward the holiday where Snowfall outright hated it. Second, because this episode, for being such a classic tale that predates the whole show by however many decades, bears a lot of parallels to Starlight's whole thing in The Cutie Remark. Some sort of time shenanigans to prevent certain events from happening? Check. Being shown a past event that led to present mindset? Check. Going from downright demonic smiles to meek and upbeat? Check.

To be honest, I couldn't condemn Starlight for her mild distaste for the holiday, if mainly because that opening song was diabetes on an exponential level. Diabetes to the power of... sugar. You know what I mean.

So to be honest, when she was talking about taking away Hearth's Warming Eve, I thought they were going to pull a bait-and-switch on us and turn it into a ponified Grinch story. In that regard, I'm mildly disappointed, but what we got was pretty great anyway. Also, I liked how Snowfall's skill mainly seemed to lie in Alchemy. Hopefully she doesn't lose any arms and/or brothers.
I feel like eighty people have already made that joke. Hmm.

Snape pony. Alan Rickman, you will be missed.

I like how Pinkie as Ghost of Hearth's Warming Presents points out that it's the thought, less the material goods, that counts.

But Luna as the Ghost of Hearth's Warming Future definitely stole the show. That song. THAT SONG.

Overall, for Vogel's first effort, this is pretty good. Sure, it's a tale that's been told and retold many many times, but he managed to put some interesting spins on it to make it fresh and enjoyable, particularly integrating the windigo story and using Starlight and Twilight as the framing device. Overall, I want to see what else he does before judging, but he seems to be off to a decent start.

5 out of 5 victorian-ified background ponies

1. Gauntlet Of Fire
2. No Second Prances
3. A Hearth's Warming Tale
4. The Gift Of Maud Pie
5. Newbie Dash
6. On Your Marks
7. The Crystalling

Luna's Future
The Seeds Of The Past
Pinkie's Present
Say Goodbye To The Holiday
Out On My Own
Hearth's Warming Eve Is Here Again

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Actually, I'm pretty sure this is the first Full Metal Alchemist joke I've seen with regards to this episode. It's a nice touch how the student of pony Snape focuses so heavily on potions.

[ColdGoldLazarus]

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Actually, I'm pretty sure this is the first Full Metal Alchemist joke I've seen with regards to this episode.

Ah, okay. Whew

It's a nice touch how the student of pony Snape focuses so heavily on potions.

Ooh, good point!

[Emeral Bookwise]

Can't really rate this episode more than 4/5 myself, maybe even only a 3/5. There's a lot to like in it, but there's one thing bringing it down, the same elephant that's been looming over this whole season for me -- STARLIGHT GLIMMER.

Which isn't to say her performance is bad in this episode, in fact it great, but that also sort of the problem. Morse specifically it's using her for the role of Snowfall Frost. Again we have another episode that just leaves me wishing Starlight was still a villain because she's just so good at it, as wonderfully evident in her Farewell to the Holidays song. There's just so much passion and menace in that performance, whereas her turn as a reformed protagonist has been largely generically bland at best. Although the worst part is how the show itself still insist on reminding us all about how Starlight used to be a villain. Last episode it was Starlight herself who repeatedly commented on it, most of it before she even meets Trixie and so could have the excuse of bonding over past mistakes. This time it's Spike who bluntly draws the comparison between Starlight and Snowfall.

I sort of get what they might be trying to do, a more long form version of the way in Rainbow Rocks everyone keeps inadvertently bringing up Sunset's turn as a villain, but it's just not the same her. In that movie it was treated as sort of awkward problems that results from an incident that while FORGIVEN is clearly not FORGOTTEN. More importantly it was clearly a source of recurrent shame for Sunset herself as well a sense of lingering doubt over whether she could ever truly make amends. With Starlight, however, it's treated more like a gag, something everyone just casually laughs over like it was just some embarrassing anecdote.

More than that though even is that for all this episode is ostensibly about convincing Starlight to join the part, she's still mostly an ill-defined outsider. Despite supposedly being our newest cast member we still barely gotten any meaningful interaction between her and our most of our other main characters. We actually got a pretty strong start between Starlight and Spike in The Crystaling, which is still much of why I rate that episode so highly. After that, however, we've not really seen her having much in the way of positive interactions with anyone else, not even Twilight who's supposedly her mentor. In fact, so far the show seems to have done more to ostracize her from everyone else, to make a recurrent point of how she just doesn't fit in with the group.

Personally I think the problem is that Starlight really hasn't been allowed to have a role in any episode which isn't her own feature spotlight. We never get to see her just casually hanging around with the others in minor roles, or even so much as anyone else acknowledging her existence in passing. What we desperately need is more episodes where she co-stars with one or more of the ManeSix, what we've gotten instead so far is bonding with an occasionally recurrent guest-star and a fictional facsimile of Starlight interacting with fictional facsimiles of the rest of the cast.

That last bit is probably what I find most disappointing about this episode. While it's great to get further insight into the lore of Equestria, I can't help but feel like an opportunity to have the real Starlight learning a real lesson from the real ManeSix was wasted. That maybe instead of having Snowfall be visited by the ghosts of Hearth Warming Past, Present(s), and Future; that a reclusive Starlight shutting herself in her room for the night or awkwardly sitting alone in a corner at the party should have been visited by Applejack, Pinkie, and maybe even Luna too. We might not have been able get as many cool songs, but we could have gotten something even more important -- CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

[ColdGoldLazarus]

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STARLIGHT GLIMMER.

Ah, good point.

There's just so much passion and menace in that performance, whereas her turn as a reformed protagonist has been largely generically bland at best.

She's like the inverse of Sunset, in a way. Sunset as a villain was kinda underwhelming and typical, but as one of the 'good guys' she works rather well.

With Starlight, however, it's treated more like a gag, something everyone just casually laughs over like it was just some embarrassing anecdote.

Quite true.

More than that though even is that for all this episode is ostensibly about convincing Starlight to join the part, she's still mostly an ill-defined outsider. Despite supposedly being our newest cast member we still barely gotten any meaningful interaction between her and our most of our other main characters. We actually got a pretty strong start between Starlight and Spike in The Crystaling, which is still much of why I rate that episode so highly. After that, however, we've not really seen her having much in the way of positive interactions with anyone else, not even Twilight who's supposedly her mentor. In fact, so far the show seems to have done more to ostracize her from everyone else, to make a recurrent point of how she just doesn't fit in with the group.

Personally I think the problem is that Starlight really hasn't been allowed to have a role in any episode which isn't her own feature spotlight. We never get to see her just casually hanging around with the others in minor roles, or even so much as anyone else acknowledging her existence in passing. What we desperately need is more episodes where she co-stars with one or more of the ManeSix, what we've gotten instead so far is bonding with an occasionally recurrent guest-star and a fictional facsimile of Starlight interacting with fictional facsimiles of the rest of the cast.

This is a very good point, one I hadn't really thought of until now.
Hopefully they can fix this issue soon.

but we could have gotten something even more important -- CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

Indeed.