Mini Re-Reviews: "Griffon the Brush Off" & "Boast Busters" - Season 1 Episodes 5 & 6

"Listen up, dweeb, it's not my fault they never brought me back after Season 5. That doesn't make me any less important then the other originally-one-time character from these pair of episodes! You got that, you pink puffball?"

Another pair of episodes to rewatch this week! These were two I had quite fond memories of, after the pair from last week had "early instalment adjusting" all over them. They both also feature characters that were initially only for one-time appearances but later returned in future seasons, so a comparison between the two will be interesting. Let's dive in with "Griffon the Brush Off". the first episode written by Cindy Morrow, a writer with many future hits under her belt, and whom I always think of as the "emotional feels" writer.

Well, it's no classic, but it's a solid episode. As both the first Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash episode, this one has a lot to do in getting us fully into their mindset's. Interestingly enough, it actually switches perspective - for the early stuff where RD's trying to avoid Pinkie, then warms up to her and starts doing pranks with her, we're seeing Pinkie from Rainbow's perspective, which is a useful trick, warming us up to a pony that won't leave her alone and who could have been annoying were it not for the fact that she wants others to be having fun with her (well, that, and the classic "Pinkie Pie, you are so random" moment does a lot to tell the audience the way to groove when it comes to Pinkie).
However, once Gilda appears, the episode shifts to being from Pinkie's viewpoint, which does a lot more to warm us to her. Truth be told, even if it only lasts a few minutes, the brief stretch where Twilight convinces Pinkie it's maybe all in her head is a bit tedious, because we the audience know it isn't so, but that thankfully gets quickly corrected during Pinkie's amusing soliloquy as she witnesses Gilda's actions around town. And they're right - when you mess with Fluttershy, you're going down.

For an episode that does quite a bit to flesh out one of the Mane 6, it doesn't hit the heights later Pinkie classics would. Still a little finding-their-footing going on, of course, but it mostly doesn't have much classic, top tier stuff going on here. That said, there's still plenty going on here - the dynamic of being a story about Rainbow from Pinkie's POV does a lot to flesh both of them out (helpful given Rainbow wouldn't get a proper centric episode until "Fall Weather Friends", the 13th in the season), and there's plenty of great gags along the way, many serving the characters quite well (Applejack chuckling after the paint washes off the apples got me especially, and Pinkie holding back from pranking Fluttershy is perhaps the episode's best moment, though it's clear Faust and Renzetti hadn't yet thought of Rainbow and Fluttershy knowing each other as kids). Seeing Spike have no restraint when he gorges on the cake was a good one too. Plenty others, but as always, I'll restrain from turning this into a laundry list of the good gags. A 7.5 out of 10 here.

"Admit it, ponies, this pose was the main reason there was so much fanart of The Great and Powerful Trixie from the moment this episodes aired. You may thank me later for providing you with the MLP-fandom equivalent of a waifu."

Here we go, people. It's a small wonder Trixie became such a fandom hit after "Boast Busters", almost Luna-level, while Gilda got some love but not much more then an average early character of the day. Not everyone liked Trixie - there are people who only warmed to her once she came back in S6 and mellowed a bit which becoming Starlight's platonic girlfriend - but her theatrical personality with just a dash of depth in there towards the end planted far too many seeds for fans to not latch on to. She hits that sweet note of having plenty of space for fan's own interpretations while being defined enough with hints of further complexity as to why she acts the way she does.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Truth be told, it's perhaps the series' most cut-and-paste story to this point, hitting all the beats you'd expect. Twilight's practising her magic when a new boaster of a unicorn shows up, but Twilight doesn't show her up for fear she'll be equally given out to. When that boaster fails to repeat a feat they lied about and they're exposed, Twilight steps in and solves the issue, giving us the useful lesson of having amazing talent and using it when right is perfectly fine. There is plenty of nuance there - Spike switching from "show her up!" to "do it to stand up for your friends!" midway through makes it far less repetitive then it might have been - but overall this is a plot seen in plenty of cartoons.

As mentioned, character moments are what make this one, with Trixie being the ultimate troll as Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity all rise to her bait. And though the episode's plot has Twilight mostly in an anxious mode, she still gets plenty of that early snark that works oh-so-well - her removal of Spike's moustache early on for instance, though it's the moment where she conjured up a door to slam on him that's absolute comedy gold (the after moment where Spike closes it, then opens it again to leave the other way makes it even funnier; words cannot describe their expressions). There's honestly not a lot to say about this one, given most of what makes it fun is in the experience of watching it. It shows, if nothing else, that MLP is definitely skillfully crafted to make even a clichéd plot like this work for an adult audience. I prefer Magic Duel quite a bit, but this is another early episode easily likeable with much of the strengths of S1 MLP in full abundance. Another 7.5 here.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS
- Already there are so many little details that say a lot about the characters and the world. Fluttershy's "I'm a year older then you" is not only a funny moment that fits in with her spindly appearance in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" later; the way it's delivered in a quiet but lecturing tone already shows Fluttershy's inner strength. RD and Gilda being as a Junior flight camp too, and what that means for past pony-griffon relationships (it's a hot point of reference for quite a few early fanfics). The same can be said of much of Boast Busters, with the translucent appearance of the Ursas as well as their lore.
- You can tell Griffon the Brush Off is an early episode by how characters almost exclusively say "Pinkie Pie" rather then just "Pinkie". Excusable under her being relatively recently acquainted with most character, given Rainbow clearly never hung out with her much before. But it is still there to get audiences used to her full name, no doubt.
- "Boast Busters" is the first episode where some of the Mane 6 don't speak. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie (both Andrea Libman characters - a cost-saving decision, perhaps?) are present, in the early scene, but only in a handful of crowd shots. I'm sure the reason was because there wasn't enough script space for Trixie to show up all of them, but I don't believe we'd ever go so long again without Pinkie saying a word. She's not that restrained or contemplative.
- Hilarious sight gag in that Golden Harvest/Carrot Top has a green mane early on rather then her usual orange one, but after Rarity's "green is the worst colour!" wail and her "well, I never!" response, she's gone back to orange later. Guess the green dye didn't work out, huh?
- Small wonder Twilight/Trixie stories were so popular for ages, romantic or not. They're a great protagonist/antagonist pair, both foils to each other (if we're being frank, most MLP antagonist aren't really the kind that actually correspond to any of the mane characters, they're just a threat to be stopped - Starlight is the only two-parter exception that springs to mind.

Comments

[Loganberry]

Time I caught up here!

Cindy Morrow, a writer with many future hits under her belt, and whom I always think of as the "emotional feels" writer.

And my first major misjudgement in the fandom. Nothing awful, just that I missed out on getting a page from one of her scripts because the autograph line at BUCK 2013 (where she was a guest) was so long. I'd probably have done it now.

when you mess with Fluttershy, you're going down.

You tell 'em, Mike!

Something about this episode that I didn't think of until now: Rainbow was surprisingly often cute in S1. A good example here is when she and Pinkie are skipping out of the joke shop.

Not everyone liked Trixie - there are people who only warmed to her once she came back in S6

*waves*

the moment where she conjured up a door to slam on him that's absolute comedy gold

No argument there! I'm giggling just remembering it now.

it's a hot point of reference for quite a few early fanfics

Not least Junior Speedsters Forever, which came out in January 2011 and was the first ever fic to get EqD's old "6 star" rating.