May
27th
2017
Points of Canon: S1x18 - The Show Stoppers · 7:09pm May 27th, 2017
Blame Canada!
This is a chronologically important episode, because during it, an important landmark appears: The CMC clubhouse.
- Sweetie Belle has never been in this region of the Apple land, not that this is very useful.
- Applejack says, “This was my clubhouse when I was your age.” So, who were the other members? The only candidate I can think of is Rarity, and if Rarity had been a member, there would be some traces of the clubhouse being fabulous at some point in the past. Everypony else is from out of town and wouldn’t have been there in the time period when Applejack was the Crusader’s age. Other Apples wouldn’t be around for long, would they?
1. That is, Three Letter Acronyms.
Scootaloo says “TLC as in Tender Loving Care or Totally Lost Cause?” Ponies have TLAs.1
- Restoring this hovel had to take a considerable time – especially if it was during the school year – placing the cold open multiple weeks before the rest of the episode.
- This is the first time Scootaloo is seen on her scooter. Notably, she always uses a helmet. For humans, that’s a very recent requirement.
- …And of course the Canterlot Friends were there for her to jump over, how kind.
- Granny Smith is seen with her zimmer! So it doesn’t appear just once.
- Sweetie Belle is using her tail for a broom, which is very cute and horribly unhygienic.
- Sweetie Belle is the principal author of the CMC theme song, or at least, of the music.
- Scootaloo’s map of Ponyville is hardly a map. I honestly don’t know what sort of helpful information one would expect to get by looking at it. It does demonstrate that Scootaloo can draw rather well for her age, though. Subsequent episode uses it more like a mindmap or a list of activities they might try. Notably, this isn’t the last time this style of “map” turns up on screen – there’s one more in Stranger than Fan Fiction. It is important that all the locations displayed in the subsequent montage refer to this map “of Ponyville.”
2. And they probably don’t have the lewd connotations the fandom typically ascribes to them if children mention them, do they?
Apple Bloom’s contribution to “No stone unturned” tirade is “No sock unworn!” And that’s how we knew ponies have socks.2
- Activities the CMC try during the subsequent montage are: Feeding pigs, a mysterious sweet-producing technology using a machine that only appears in Sugarcube Corner this once, (And absolutely has to be powered.) using the Carousel Boutique as a hair salon and offering hair dye, attempting to discover if they have ESP using some manner of Zener-like cards, and a mechanical device to display the guesses, mountain climbing, swimming in the lake.
- And that’s how we knew ponies keep pigs which they don’t appear to actually eat.
- Notably, ponies do dye hair, they don’t just talk about it. But competing with the other extant hair salon has to be an unwise move in the first place.
- Mountain climbing involves climbing a boulder covered in snow in an otherwise perfectly green field. Presumably, Rainbow was helping them?
- Zener cards imply at least popular belief in ESP exists, though we have no clues whether it is real or not. We also don’t know if they were trying for mind-reading or precognition.
- Swimming involves flippers on each of the four legs, a mask and a snorkel. The lake appears to house what looks like a species of coral and a rather huge squid. There is no such thing as freshwater coral on our Earth, let alone giant freshwater squid, but there might be some on theirs. Alternatively, the lake might contain salt water. If that is the case, the minimum required teleport distance for Starlight and Twilight teleport training sequence in Every Little Thing drops dramatically.
- Twilight is chatting with Cherilee, which is very rarely shown to occur, though you’d think it would happen rather often. Looks like Cherilee wanted to put the poster up in the library, which implies that it does get visitors, we just never see them.
- Instead of any manner of Latin letters, confused or not, the poster for the Ponyville School Talent Show has the same script that is seen in Predictions and Prophecies in Friendship is Magic
- Among the activities discussed by the CMC are square dancing and tiger taming. Tigers exist. So do square dances, though I’m not sure why they’re seriously considering square dancing with just three ponies.
- One other thing to note is magic tricks, that is, stage magic, whether actual or manufactured illusion, is also on the list as a separate category in the talent show – even before Snips and Snails, which could be thought to imitate Trixie, try theirs.
- Twilight says, “My little ponies!” Twice in this episode. She has to have picked that up from Celestia.
- One Mr. Breezy donates a fan, that has to be powered. I don’t think we see the guy again, do we? But he does appear to run a dedicated fan shop.
- …And he looks at least thirty and has a cutie mark of a fan, which means that electricity has been around for at least twenty years.
- The supplies collected include plywood. Which is a rather old technology, but involves complicated wood processing industry and industrial logging in general.
- The name of the book borrowed from the library is “Ghosts, Goblins and Ghoulish Figures.” So all three are subjects of pony mythology if not pony fact.
- Twilight says, “Good heavens, girls.” Hm-m-m-m-m-m.
- Sweetie Belle refuses to sing in front of the crowd, which is somewhat chronologically important.
- Scootaloo wants to sing a “rock ballad,” as rock music turns up again.
- Apple Bloom likes “kung fu” which is “kinda like dancing.” Kung fu exists. Unlike karate, which had very human-like moves when shown, kung-fu seems to be slightly more adapted for quadrupeds, at least judging by the moves she performs when she says that.
- Sweetie Belle uses a pedal-powered sewing machine.
- Apple Bloom calls the ponyquin a “dress form.” Notably, Sweetie Belle does not know what they are for, and I wonder just how did she manage to avoid knowing that.
- Apple Bloom says “I feel like I have four left feet.” Ponies occasionally do use this word to describe their own legs, though I don’t think this is correct… Is it?…
- Ponies have child-sized pianos. Notably, however, at some point the CMC had to record the backing track, because nobody is seen playing it during the actual show.
- Apple Bloom says, “You’re not using power tools, are you?” Power tools exist, but where would Sweetie be using them? She uses a pedal-powered sewing machine, so they don’t have electricity there, do they?
- The preparation for the talent show had to have taken a considerable time as well.
- Of course the Canterlot Friends turn up for the talent show…
- Snips and Snails are doing stage magic.
- One of the props that drop out at the “there is nothing that we fear” line is an oversized teru teru bozu, though we don’t know whether the meaning ascribed to it by ponies is anything similar, nor do we know if they call it that. I suppose that’s what the above mentioned book was for, but the only other kinds of “scary” props are bats and spiders.
- A steam-powered fog machine is used. Which is kind of silly when you have an electric fan and obviously electric stage lights.
- The fog machine would have to use either glycerol or dry ice to produce fog, and I’m thinking glycerol, because I wouldn’t trust these fillies with something that can choke them if used incorrectly.
- Once again we see the stomping kind of applause.
- Notice that Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Twist also participated, but did not win anything.
- The award medals for each of the three categories look radically different.
- This is the first episode in airing order to present Scootaloo as a surrogate little sister to Rainbow, in that she accompanies Applejack and Rarity when those turn up backstage for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
Chronologically, this is an important marker episode, and yet it has to be spread across at least one, possibly two months, which could accommodate multiple other episodes. And that if it happens in the summer. If that happened in spring of the first year, as I think, it would have taken almost the entire spring to complete.
P.S. Want a divergence point that would radically change the rest of the series? The episode is permeated with irony when each of the CMC does anything except an activity they’re actually good at, and even Twilight picks up on this. There’s a good chance they could have acquired their marks right there, if someone convinced them to switch places, but that would require foreknowledge.
I assumed it was a taffy puller. Kind of an odd design for one, but that wouldn't be the first time the show has done this.
From what I've seen, usage of "foot" for horses is inconsistent. Some use it interchangeably with hoof; others use it for all of the bones analogous to our foot bones.
Apple Bloom's line references our expression "I have two left feet", meaning they can't dance well or are otherwise clumsy on their feet.
Looking over the screenshots on the MLP wiki, I see Dinky Doo wasn't a performer in the talent show. Funny—somehow I was convinced that this episode was ground zero for the "Derpy is Dinky's mom" fanon.
Crazy as it may sound, Applejack might have had friends as a filly who she later lost touch with, possibly as a result increasing responsibilities on the farm and/or moving to Manehattan for some time.
The mayor certainly doesn't.
If that lake does contain saltwater, I have to wonder how the Crusaders got there in the first place.
It's possible that cordless power tools exist, employing Come-to-Life spells in place of batteries. Of course, there's no evidence of this whatsoever, but the pieces appear to be there.
4549105
Pretty sure that was "Winter Wrap-Up," when someone noticed the similar color schemes.
4549142
She did have Coloratura, but she met her at a summer camp somewhere else entirely.
It’s actually kinda strange, while Twilight is occasionally shown conversing with Cherilee, addressing Daisy by name early on, shopping for books, quills and sofas, Applejack interacts with anyone in town far less often. I think, even Fluttershy gets to do this more.
No idea, but it is on Scootaloo’s “map,” so it has to be within easy scooter reach.
Linked article points out they're similar to Western simple ghost-dolls…which is more likely than monks for "things to fear", methinks.
4549156
The problem with that is, Cloudsdale is within difficult scooter-reach…
4549183
…So do you think they made a rubberband big enough to get all three to Baltimare?
4549187
No, but "easy" distance is going to be pretty big.
New headcanon: adult Scootaloo could be in a train-pulling team…so long as she's got skates. (I wonder how Scootaloo would do at Roller Derby…)
I mean, I guess the episode with Mare Do Well had a hydro-electric looking dam in it, but since they never really re-used that, I guess they just wanted a cool set piece?
At least that would be a source of power for those electric appliances we do see.
4549208
That dam has typical powerhouses attached, but no transmission lines. Instead, there seem to be Tesla power transmission towers on the roof. maybe that's how Ponyville has all sorts of powered appliances, but no cords or wires?
4549156 4549142 Or Carrot Top, or Derpy, or Cheerilee, or any number of other ponies living in Ponyville, or any number who might've moved away between then and now...
4549485
There was one thing with a clearly visible wire: The clothes iron.
I imagine most of the rest are simply thinner and don’t make the cartoon resolution. :)