Spring Breakdown Review · 5:20pm Mar 30th, 2019
Well folks, the end is almost upon us. But before we get to the final season, Hasbro has decided to tease us with another Equestria Girls full length special, the third one written by Nick Confalone who wrote the two we were treated to in 2018. "Forgotten Friendship" was a wonderful special that still holds up really well, even if admittedly the rest of the Rainbooms did nothing the whole time. However, "Rollercoaster of Friendship" was a disappointing mess, the lowest of lows. And considering Nick's Season 8 works involved "The Maud Couple" that appeared to retread ground from "Rock Solid Friendship" and "The Break Up Break Down" which was cliche all around, his track record isn't as solid as it was at this time last year. Considering "Rollercoaster of Friendship" marked the first attempt to shift the focus away from Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi, did this special decide to try and follow up on it and do better? Or did it only prove that the Equestria Girls specials need to be in the hands of a different writer or two? Well, let's find out.
This special takes place during Spring Break and the Rainbooms somehow managed to afford a luxury cruise. At no point do they establish that any of the Rainbooms friends or family members work there, and it's definitely not a bargain cruise, it's got all the trappings of a luxury cruise. Sci-Twi apparently organized it somehow and just wants everyone to relax and have a fun time. But human Rainbow Dash keeps hoping they'll fight a monster or go on some kind of epic adventure because she thinks they're super heroes and all. Of course, no one else agrees with her. Rarity is interested in tax free shopping, Fluttershy wants to visit a petting zoo, Pinkie Pie wants to check out the all you can eat buffet, and Applejack is seasick (no word on what Sunset wants to do besides just relax, I guess). Thankfully, they don't try to milk this joke like they did with Shining Armor's air sickness.
Rainbow goes around annoying everyone and causing trouble for them. The only thing that really stands out here is Rarity meeting what is essentially a male Applejack with what sounds like someone trying to do a cockney or Irish accent, and not doing a very good job at it. In case you're wondering, Flash Sentry does appear here but he gets no speaking lines at all and is just there. I know we ragged on him for being a bland love interest with no development, but that doesn't mean he should just be discarded and forgotten. Give him a personality, give him an actual character besides the lover, you had an angle to work with after "Legend of Everfree" when he wants to start over with Sunset and is still getting over Sci-Twi not being into him. It's even worse than discarding Diamond Tiara after her redemption, when she arguably became more popular than she had been at any point prior to her redemption.
After a bit of an argument over what to call what had previously been defined as "Pony Up", Rainbow convinces the Rainbooms to put on a concert that night on the cruise. They do so, Rainbow transforms, and just after she does so it somehow causes the ship's lights to blow and the engines to stop working, all the while a storm is brewing. The Rainbooms split off again while Rainbow searches the ship on her own. The most she finds though is human Trixie who seems to have become an actual performer (they do make references to the various Equestria Girls shorts, but even then I don't think any of them explained how human Trixie could become a credible performer for a luxury cruise liner). She asks Rainbow for help stuffing trick, color bandanas. Where, you may ask? Why, down her sleeves of course. Meanwhile, human Pinkie gets into a bit of a Metal Gear Solid type of scenario trying to steal a special desert from the spatula wielding chef.
However, Rainbow thinks she sees the symbol of the Storm King in the water and rounds up everyone to show them. Of course it doesn't work and Sci-Twi chews her out for it, claiming they're not superheroes and that they just want to enjoy the vacation. Rainbow slumps off and Sunset begins to worry, convinced that there might actually be Equestrian magic on the loose. It's nice that they're still occasionally dwelling upon her guilt, but even so her doubts this time come out of nowhere. It might have helped if she was the only one who defend Rainbow, but then became convinced that she was seeing things. Later, Sunset and Sci-Twi go to help human Rainbow, while Rarity finds the new male dancing an Irish jig and claiming he's the son of coal miners. But Rainbow decided to steal a lifeboat and go off into the stormy waters by herself. Instead of doing the sensible thing and alerting a member of the ship's crew, Sci-Twi and Sunset decide to go recuse her themselves with another lifeboat (though they at least tell the rest of the Rainbooms what they're gonna do).
They find that Rainbow landed on an island and went into the jungle by herself to search. Sci-Twi gets a little bit of everything as she reluctantly ventures through the jungle with Sunset. And Rainbow ends up stuck in quick sand. Sci-Twi prepares to get her out, but then a giant plant monster suddenly shows up.
However, the quick sand turns out to be a portal to Equestria, and Sunset, Sci-Twi, and human Rainbow Dash all go through it. They end up near Canterlot, and Sci-Twi still has her glasses on.
Sunset decides they should go to Ponyville and see Twilight, even though they could in fact draw attention to themselves there and they're closer to Canterlot. They manage to get to Twilight's castle undetected, but for the most part they just pal around and laugh, and we get a pointless scene with Pinkie Pie that is added just to bring back the outdated "20 percent cooler" meme. It isn't until Twilight shows off the Storm King's staff (why she held onto it I have no idea) that anyone suspects Equestrian magic is on the loose and the human world is in danger. Speaking of which, in the human world, the ship loses its steering and crashes into the island, beginning to sink as a lightning strike takes out the life boats. Somehow, Sci-Twi, Sunset Shimmer, and human Rainbow Dash go back through the portal that brought them to Equestria and use the Storm King's staff to dispel the storm. Then Rainbow channels her inner Flash to run the lifeboat back to the ship.
They then pony up to save the crew and passengers, taking them all to the island and deciding to just bring them all through the portal and to Twilight's castle. I should also mention that there's no appearance by Starlight Glimmer, or even a mention of where she is, and neither does it seem like the School of Friendship appears. But it has to take place after the movie, so therefore it has to be sometime during Season 8 (maybe in the time skip in "School Daze"?). Starlight's absence this time feels kind of odd, you'd think that Sunset would at least inquire about her whereabouts (supposedly, because of the show's budget Kelly Sherdian can only record for Starlight if she has a big role). Spike is present but he's only there for a repetitive joke about hanging a picture that then crashes down. Oh, and the male lead was faking his accent all along, but there's no real twist behind it or anything of the sort, so his inclusion is pointless aside from giving Rarity someone to flirt with. At the least you could've made him the human equivalent of Trenderhoof.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the special? To be honest, I have no idea what to think of it. I mean, it's better than "Rollercoaster of Friendship" but considering how bad that was doing better than it isn't a surprise (it'd be more of a surprise if they somehow did worse). It feels like the only things they wanted to do was get the Rainbooms on a luxury cruise and bring some of the cast to Equestria so as to have an excuse for more pony Sunset Shimmer. Everything else is just there, really. The biggest problem is definitely human Rainbow Dash. You thought she was bad in "Rainbow Rocks", well her performance here might just top that. Granted, she does apologize, but the whole plot never would've happened if she hadn't insisted on fighting evil and had ponied up since it's quite clear that her doing so is what caused the ship to lose power. In the end, I give it a borderline C-/C. Nick Confalone needs a break, his writing doesn't seem to be getting any better anymore. "Rock Solid Friendship" and "Forgotten Friendship" might have been his last hurrah.
Well, hopefully Season 9's premiere can make up for it, so come back next week for "The Beginning of the End, Parts 1 and 2". At this point, all I'm hoping for is for Season 9 to be better than Season 8 and give the show a proper conclusion. No more shorts, no more specials that count as episodes, nothing. The final episode should be the final episode, plain and simple.
I actually found Dash's behavior here to be more amusing than annoying.
And I think it's pretty alright, though definitely the fourth weakest EQG thing.
As for season 9, I actually do kind of want there to be one last special after the series is done as kind of a ten year anniversary thing next year, especially as a way to fill the gap between the main G4 and G5.
5035215 Well, there's a theatrical movie in the works that's supposed to do that. And supposedly there's a "Rainbow Road Trip" special that's a sequel to the G4 movie that's supposed to air sometime this Summer.
5035216
The theatrical movie IS the start of G5, and doesn't come out until 2021
I mean one final special that would come out in 2020.
Sorry for not reading your review, but...
HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO SEE THIS SPECIAL?
In Rainbow's (partial) defense, considering how much has happened in such a short period of time (and given the stuff that happened the LAST time the girls tried to take a vacation) one could partially forgive her for a little bit of Wrong Genre Savvy.
But, yeah, you DO bring up A LOT of valid points. However, I have to respectfully disagree concerning the "no specials or shorts" deal. Considering how big the series got, one or two specials and a few shorts would actually make a really good extended epilogue to check in on the popular characters that won't be able to make it into the final season.
The ending when I saw it....... this was my reaction:
Now, while this could have very well taken place before Season 8, there's a chance these events took place after it too. But you are right, it is kind of a bummer they didn't show Starlight, since she's seem to have grown on many of us. And to see Flash in pony form again, I'll admit was actually a treat.
It all the more makes me wonder if we might see the EQG cast for a little while in the MLP season 9. If no, well, it was nice to see they got a little time to be in Equestria. I just wish there had been a little more interaction between the two Twi's. And I would have loved to see the two dash's awe over the fact they got to meet each other. I can imagine AJ and AJ meeting going to the extent of Applebloom sees to AJ's at once and wigs out. But alas, that won't happen.
Ah, yeah, definately didn't liked Rainbow here. Eight installments of EG, yet no signs of character development, or maturity on the characters. I really didn't liked how this special went.
5035259 It aired on Discovery Family. Admittedly, it seems they didn't bother to really advertise this.
5035459
I just saw the special via Dailymotion. I agree with you that it didn’t get enough promotion.
I can’t help but sense some Nostalgia Critic influence on your reviews, correct?
I will say that as a whole with the episode, from the point up to where the get to the island, if felt like the special was dragging itself along. Then when we got to the pony realm, and the whole "we know why there's a storm in your world" plot point, it then felt like they rushed everything at the last minute. I really feel they could have focused more on the actual plot, and less on the "Put each girl in a setting that fits their character". Like they didn't really prepare for this special, and just threw something together, even though they gave us little tid bits as far back as last year. I'll be honest, I was expecting a lot more time in the pony realm.
And, I was let down a bit on the whole "Sunset Shimmer meets her EQG counterpart" didn't come to fruition. But I still have a tiny bit of hope she will arrive, and we can also have Sunset Shimmer make it into Season 9 of MLP. Like I said, a very small shred of hope.
5035468 Yes, a tiny bit of influence.
5035289 I just want the show's end to be the end. If they do do a special it needs to be a stand alone special, not a special that counts as an episode like "Best Gift Ever" is now.
5035475
I thought so.
To be honest, I’ve hated the Nostalgia Critic ever since I first saw him on the screen. He’s nothing but an egotistical and overgrown man-child in my opinion, and I’m also not much of a fan of his reviewing style.
On the subject of your review, I actually just watched the special on Dailymotion a while ago. I will say that while I did enjoy it and consider it a step up from “Rollercoaster of Friendship”, there were a couple of things about it that you actually hit the nail on in this review that I found myself agreeing with personally.
Although, I’ve decided to immediately see it again. Probably tomorrow.
5035478 I watched his videos on and off, but after news broke about the way Channel Awesome was run and the way it treated its non Nostalgia Critic properties, I more or less dropped off. That's why I also stopped using some of his reaction memes.
Yeah, Rainbow Dash in this special can definitely come off as Unintentionally Unsympathetic to a lot of people.
Dashie was trying too hard to find trouble, but it was still funny. And I can only imagine the awkwardness of everyone on the cruise just running into their pony counterparts.
You know, a thought occurred to me. Do you get the feeling this special wanted to do with Rainbow Dash and Sci-Twi what The End in Friend tried to do with the former's pony counterpart and Rarity? What I mean by that is it wanted to show both parties being equally at fault by making it seem like Sci-Twi was being self-absorbed in only caring about the cruise in the same way Rainbow Dash was being self-absorbed in only caring about finding evil magic to fight.