Help! My Heart is Full of Pony! - Grandpear · 4:24pm Jun 26th, 2017
Source: MLP: FIM, A Perfect Pear
When I first heard that William Shatner would be playing a pony, I was excited. I thought of all the potential memes, all the humor, all the references, and, of course, the fact that William Shatner, as an actor, is very charismatic, and always fun to watch / listen to.
What we got, however, was far deeper than that. Grandpear could very easily have been hateable, or worse, annoying, had he been played differently. Shatner brought an extra spark to the role. It was a powerful and nuanced performance that held together a powerful and nuanced episode.
Why am I spending time talking about a particular performance when usually, I spend such energy writing about the morals?
To put it simply, because these two things are entwined. The Perfect Pear is a landmark episode, not just because of the show's decision to finally tackle the subject of Applejack's parents, but because of Grandpear himself. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is populated with ponies of all ages, and it has no shortage of a geriatric community. However, until now, all of the elderly ponies have been voiced by younger actors, and all of those performances, while well-executed, and heartfelt, were still cartoonish. That's not a complaint, merely an observation. When Shatner played Grandpear, however, he brought with him over 80 years of life experience – real loss, and real regret.
Grandpear felt real.
My Little Pony has plenty of redemption stories, but this one sticks out above the others. There is no magic driving it forward - no high adventure. There is no "mission to reform," and no threat of world destruction looming over it - just an old stallion who disowned his daughter long ago, and never got to say goodbye when she died.
Then there's the fact that so much of this devastating arc goes on entirely off screen. There is no grand epiphany for Grandpear - not that we ever see. The story that we learn, the story that the Apple siblings are investigating, the story the episode focuses on - it's not Grandpear's at all, but rather, one that he had played a regrettably villainous part in.
The Perfect Pear, in this way, is the mirror opposite of Forever Filly. It depicts what can happen when that generational gap is never bridged - when stubbornness and pride gets in the way. It is truly tragic, and sadly, it happens every single day
.
We don't get to see what drove Grandpear to finally come back to Ponyville. All we know, is that he's got decades of bitterness and loss behind him, and in his declining years, he wants to take solace in getting to know his grandkids. He comes, not even seeking to impose, or to demand forgiveness, but simply to be near them, and to see where it leads.
His redemption happens almost entirely off screen, and it's probably the most powerful one they have done yet, because it is so very natural. So human. Shatner's voice brought that role to life in a way that doesn't make me want to run out and make silly memes, the way I thought a Shatner Pony might. It makes me want to cherish those nearest to me.
-Sprocket
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I honestly didn't even realize Shatner voiced Grandpear until I saw the credits. The performance was what mattered, and he knocked it out of the park.
I have to say Granny Smith's part in this story was interesting too. From the beginning of the episode, I was almost expecting Granny to change like Twilight did in the episode about the Pinkie sense. But no, the response is rather tame, if a bit of distrust leaks through Granny Smith's demeanor.
It does sort of make me wonder just how many years Grandpear and Granny Smith have? Granny being there since the town's founding and still not looking that old back then really hits home how far a pony can get in the years and live a healthy lifestyle. But at the same time, I can't help but notice both Grandpear and Granny Smith look quite a bit different from the way they use to look.