Friendship is Magic! The Great Pony Deconstruction: Episode 1

Grrrrrrrrreetings everypony! My name is Mystic Mind, an ex-youtube pony analyst turned fimfic writer. And you know what? I miss the whole analysis shindig. So, I have set myself a challenge: review and analyse every single episode of my Little Pony: Friendship is magic. Some may be shorter, some may be longer, and not all will fill a video's length (which I won't be doing anyway 'cause I hate video editing). But they will perhaps give some good perspective and some new details that may not have been as well remembered, 10 years later.

So, let's not waste anytime! I am the Mage of Mind, and I welcome you, to the Great Pony Deconstruction! Because as we all know, at the end of the day you can take anything, a benign object, you could take a cheeseburger and deconstruct it to its source!

We begin our tale at the head beginning, with "Friendship is Magic: Part 1".

What always grabbed me about this show from the beginning, was its commitment to worldbuilding. The opening shots are the opening of a story book, telling us the tragic tale of Nightmare Moon, the jealous sister who's neglect triggered a descent into madness with a desire to rule it all! (Well, that backfired spectacularly, huh? I sure hope you brought a book.)

Speaking of books, we are introduced to our protagonist, Twilight Sparkle. This helps to frame the opening exposition as her reading the story to herself, establishing her central character trait: bookworm. All of the characters follow strong archetypes, revolving around a particular character trait without ever sounding wooden. This is a credit to both the voice acting and the writing, as it demonstrates how Lauren Faust was able to flesh out these characters to talk like any one of us wood. No baby talk for this show! (Except maybe to Spike. Poor kid.)

Twilight is using her bookworm skills to research and pinpoint the grandest conspiracy of all! That cupcakes are PEOPLE-- wait, what's that? My editor says that joke is over-used already. Well, it's not like anypony's gonna read this, so who's gonna know the difference? ANYWAY! The real conspiracy is that Nightmare Moon was never just a legend. I relate to Twilight's personality, as I know what it's like to get hyper-fixated on a singular topic, at the expense of other social situations. Twilight takes this to the extreme, of course, but the way she talks to Spike demonstrates she is nothing but a well-spoken mare.

While this episode only scratches the surface of the rest of the mane six, but this is intentional. We have five central protagonists to introduce, but even here we get at least some multi-dimensional portrayals! Applejack is a passionate farmer, but is also a dedicated family mare, welcoming anyone to her family gatherings with great enthusiasm. Rarity is the typical fashionista you might find in any girl-centred show, but she is still outfitting the style for a grand holiday in Equestria, doing what she does to bring the best out of any pony.

Likewise, Fluttershy is incredibly bashful, as her name suggests, but her passion and love for animals also shows another trait of the autistic spectrum: Special interests. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are equally impulsive, but in different ways. One is the sporty type who idolizes stunt fliers and puts her physical flying athletics into focus, while the other is Pinkie Pie. They can be socially oblivious at times, despite their good intentions, with Applejack being the grounding force that helps reign in these impulses.

Though the words "autism" are never mentioned in the show, I don't think it needs to be. These traits speak for themselves, and demonstrate one of the biggest core tennants of this show: that there are many ways to express one's gender, and oneself in general. There isn't a single defining aspect of being a girl, and we can have many different paths in life, all of which are as valid as the next.

Friendship can account for many intersecting interests, as we will see in many episodes to come! My only real critique is that there are some details which would later be retconned. Twilight's 'friends' back in Canterlot being a prime example. They refer to Moondancer, but unlike their depiction in "Amending Fences", their attitude to Twilight is one of disdain rather than the cheerful acceptance. But then again, this serves a purpose, to highlight Twilight's isolation and anti-social tendencies. When this is the first episode, there are going to be a lot of details that may be altered later on, since it's testing the water and setting the stage for the show to come. Even Celestia and Luna are referred to as "unicorns", not Alicorns!

I especially love Nightmare Moon, for the few lines she gets. She's a smooth talking, over-confident villain, becoming the bombshell that makes Equestria a fully developed fantasy world. It's an epic adventure element that is revived from Gen 1, mixing it in with modern writing that isn't afraid to use bigger words. It's talking to children, but not talking down to them.

CONCLUSION!

Friendship is Magic, Part 1 is giving us everything we need to know going forward, while showing us the true strengths of Gen 4, which make this show part of the new animation renaissance of the 2010s! With how much character and worldbuilding they pack into this single episode, it's no wonder so many were captivated by it. While there are some shaky dialogue moments with the secondary characters, this is to be expected in the first episode of any long running show, especially given the number of writers who come and go. Lauren Faust began her epic masterpiece, against all odds imposed by Hasbro! I cannot give this debut episode any less than 9/10!