Sunset's Backstage Pass Review · 7:09pm Jul 2nd, 2019
The spoilers tag is still warranted here, because this special isn't supposed to air in the U.S. until the end of this month. But it aired early in Mexico, and an official English version popped up online not long afterward (most likely the English version gets exported to different countries for them to dub over, sort of like how anime dubs work). Anyway, the writer for this special is not Nick Confalone as was led to be believed, but actually Whitney Ralls, whose previous writing credits are just some of the Equestria Girls shorts. But among them was "Find the Magic" which saw the Dazzlings finally make a reappearance (and supposedly reform). I'm glad they gave Nick Confalone a break, because after he peaked in "Forgotten Friendship" he slid downhill fast with "Rollercoaster of Friendship" and only slightly improved for "Spring Breakdown". It's sad that the franchise finally got a consistent direction, and it turned out to be a direction it suffered under. So, was Whitney Ralls up to the task of writing a full length special that was in fact based on a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book that most fans didn't care for? Or did she somehow manage to do worse than Nick Confalone? Well, let's find out.
We open up with a lot of exposition that, while it feels more natural, is still really jarring. It seems like every Equestria Girls special since at least "Legend of Everfree" has had to open up on these exposition dumps that even the show is getting better at avoiding. Long story short, Sunset Shimmer and Pinkie Pie are looking forward to seeing the reunion concert of their favorite band, Post Crush (which we've never heard of before). However, Sunset starts to experience problems when she steps in mud and the lines to get to the concert grounds are really long. Makes me wonder how bad security is at the airport, does Equestria Girls have an equivalent of the TSA?
They get onto the concert grounds and Pinkie immediately runs off to partake in a guessing game to win a two seated bicycle. She guesses wrong, then runs off into a hedge maze that causes her and Sunset to get lost. They then end up splattered by an ameatur artist and have to wash off the paint in the bathroom. They're about to get to the front of the stands for the concert, when Pinkie is drawn by the smell of churos and ends up knocking over the cart, which gets her and Sunset kicked out for some reason. Sunset goes off on a hillside and wishes for the day to be done over, and doesn't notice as a wave of Equestrian magic washes over the hill. The next morning, she wakes up to find the events of yesterday repeating itself, and she tells Sci-Twi about this, who basically suggests there could be a time loop. The day proceeds the same as before, except now Sci-Twi is involved in all of it. And it ends the same way too.
On the third loop, Sunset decides not to bother with Pinkie Pie and just runs off to see the concert herself. Considering how beyond annoying they make Pinkie Pie at this point (she's acting not unlike Seasons 4-9 Patrick Star from Spongebob Squarepants) the fact that I can actually sympathize with Sunset means they really messed up on writing Pinkie. Especially when they show her having made a prop version of Sunset to lug around. But of course the time loop doesn't end there, it keeps going and going until Sunset has spent two weeks reliving the same experience. It gets to the point where she decides to hijack the RV with everyone asleep inside it.
It's then that Sci-Twi and the others suggest Sunset talk to pony Twilight, which she does in the next loop. It's another Equestrian artifact that somehow ended up in the human world, this time it's the Time Twirler. Seems like we've gone from just Equestrian magic in general to actual Equestrian artifacts. Considering there are apparently more portals than just the one at Canterlot high, I have to wonder how many of these unaccounted for artifacts are lying around. Maybe Sunset should go on a quest to find them all? It works for anime.
After a bit of snooping around, Sunset and the Rainbooms discover the Dazzlings who have regained their singing voices somehow. But another loop has to go by before Sunset can successfully convince the security guard to let them pass. The Dazzlings talk about a time loop as they leave their mini-van, and Sunset tasks Pinkie with standing guard while she looks inside for the Time Twirler. Of course, Pinkie gets distracted by churos again, and Sunset is caught by the Dazzlings (they forgot to turn off the toaster and Sonata apparently once started a fire by putting tacos in the toaster). She immediately reads their memories (or Adagio's anyway, probably figuring her to be the mastermind) and finds out that they don't have the Time Twirler. The loop they were talking about, was a looped audio track, and the song is about them being stuck in the human world with no magic. I kind of like how they're still bitter and resentful, but at the same time they've moved on and aren't still hung up on Equestrian magic. But human Trixie served as a better decoy antagonist, because once they stopped trying to trick us with the red herring, they decided to devote time to showing what she was like beneath the bravado. And of course, Sunset blows up at the worst possible moment, causing Pinkie to run off. This time it's more understandable, but all she really said that was hurtful was that she hated churos. Human Pinkie seems even more emotionally fragile than her pony counterpart.
Sunset decides to spend the next loop doing what Pinkie wants to do, and everything goes great. They even get the chance to meet Post Crush before the concert. And it's then that Sunset learns they posses the Time Twirler. Long story short, they wanted the reunion concert to be perfect, and things kept going wrong. But even when they could play the whole concert without a hitch, they always argued about something that needed to be improved and kept resetting time. Sunset claims they can't ban her and Pinkie forever, since they'll just forget the next day, but the two are outwitted when a picture of them is drawn and they get thrown out. However, the security guard has a change of heart and lets them back in, pointing out that they didn't do anything illegal (though Pop Crush accused them of stalking, which isn't that a crime or at least a civil offense?).
They storm into the dressing room and confront Post Crush, with Sunset pointing out they'll never get it just right no matter what. The ensuing scuffle sees Pinkie use her spare churo to knock the Time Twirler loose, before she and Sunset end on up stage with Post Crush. This distracts the band long enough for Sunset to step on the Time Twirler and destroy it, ending the time loop. Post Crush is initially devastated, before Sunset convinces them that they have fans who don't care if its perfect and that sometimes the flaws and mistakes are part of the experience (I'm not too sure about that, I don't think fans go to concerts specifically to see their favorite bands screw up). This leads into the song "Pure Original", and Sunset and Pinkie even get a chance to play on stage with Post Crush. The next morning, the time loop has ended, and Sunset is ready to do whatever the day has in store for her.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the special? Well, it definitely starts off on a very rocky note. Human Pinkie Pie is incredibly annoying, so when Sunset decides to ditch her we end up sympathizing with her. The mystery of the time loop isn't bad, but after the third loop Sunset just gives up for about two weeks, and nothing really happens until her friends convince her to contact pony Twilight. It's then that things start to pick up, as Sunset finally starts to utilize the time loop to learn things and actually make changes. Seeing the Dazzlings again was a pretty interesting twist, though I wish they hadn't been there so briefly and got to do something. Why not have Sunset recruit them like she did with human Trixie? And I really don't know if we needed another twist antagonist. Wallflower Blush worked because they actually spent some time on the reveal and after the reveal exploring her motives, it was understandable why she would turn to the Memory Stone and why she would start to depend on it more. When Post Crush is revealed as the antagonists, we don't get to spend much time on them before the final showdown, and their reformation feels equally as lacking. I would've liked it if Sunset had pointed out the whole "We'll just keep doing this over and over again" argument to counter their motive of wanting it to be perfect. Speaking of which, the moral is kind of a mixed bag. Yes, no one expects perfection, and part of life is learning to improve. But having flaws is no excuse for intentionally being bad or doing bad things. People do expect a certain standard of quality, whether it's from a live band, a video game, or even a show. Saying "it's not perfect and it never will be" is a poor way to deflect criticism, as is "the flaws and mistakes are part of the experience". Yes, sometimes it can be funny to point out some of the funny mishaps or confusing things you didn't realize on a first watch (spotting animation errors became a favorite pastime of fans and it was because of one that Derpy became what she was), but knowing you have a flawed product doesn't mean you're excused from doing nothing to fix it. The show got to where it was because it didn't try to be pretentious, it was willing to listen to what fans had to say, and it was willing to acknowledge them. I don't know why it's jumping on the "Attack the critics" bandwagon that needs to die, without criticism it is impossible to learn what you're doing wrong and how to fix it! "You're not perfect" is where the moral begins but not where it ends. Ultimately, I give this special a C, tying it with "Rainbow Roadtrip" for specials released thus far this year, but below much superior works. "Forgotten Friendship" seems destined to remain the high water mark for the Equestria Girls franchise.
Well, now we're just going to have wait until "That's a Laugh" airs officially in the U.S. in about a month, seeing as there's actually only an English subtitles version. And Cheese Sandwich just isn't the same if he's not voiced by Weird Al Yankovic (the role was made for him). Until then, there will be two more updated lists, one for redemptions/reformations and one for the Top Ten Villains.
For me, this is my personal favorite EQG special, mostly for how funny it was.
And it's also my second favorite EQG thing overall, behind Mirror Magic.
I do prefer Rainbow Roadtrip, but this is a close second as far as MLP G4 specials go
I loved this special, mostly because I always find time travel shenanigans so much fun. I did love Hard Reset. It had some writing issues, but they aren't big enough that they make me say this isn't great. I also really like that they kept the Dazzlings evil, cause they are great as villains. Sure, they weren't utilized that much here, but what we did see of them was entertaining.
Also, Forgotten Friendship isn't the high mark of the EQG franchise at all. All of the latter 3 movies are better, and I like this and Spring Breakdown more.
I fully agree with Pinkie being full on annoying in this special. She was in about the same annoyance level as in “Yakity Sax” where she had no common courtesy to her friends. Also, I thought this special was as worse as “Rollercoaster of Friendship”. The good parts were when the Dazzlings returned and that was it.
I only saw this special once, but the last time I saw it...it seemed like there was some sort of glitch where some parts of it that were cut out and skipped, which was kinda ruining the experience for me. I'd like to see a glitch-free video of the episode more than the one with glitches, if I'm gonna be honest. I just wish someone would post it up already considering it made its official U.S airing a little while ago. The suspense is killing me!