Mini Re-Reviews: "Friendship Is Magic Part 2" - Season 1 Episode 2

TWILIGHT: "Hm. Feels like this would be a good point to insert a meta-joke about how I look very much like my future Princess self in this shot, with the glowing heavenly/demon eyes and everything. Here we go -"
APPLEJACK: "No, Twilight, no we're not doing that, sugarcube."
TWILIGHT: "Again, Applejack? All you've done in these captions since I became Princess is take shots at any changes in me or how I'm written. Seriously, what's wrong with me after Magical Mystery Cure?"
RARITY: "Oh great, darling, now you've gone and gotten her started. Nightmare Moon will have to wait, this could take a while..."
PINKIE: "Ooh, ooh, can I join in, Applejack? Sounds like fun! You coming, Fluttershy?"
FLUTTERSHY: "Oh, um, I think I'll just, uh, stay floating here. I don't like to argue."
NIGHTMARE MOON: "Clearly every pony went crazy during my 1000 years on the moon..."

The horse puns technically kicked off last episode with a few scattershot uses of everypony, but they really gallop out of the gate with quite the fast gait in this one. You can thank me later, but fans of the show know that they're largely never that blatant and self-aware, simple presented seriously as a place or character's legitimate name before moving on (Twilight's "She is the 'mane' event" followed by a chuckle from the start of the Movie is the only exception that springs to mind).

[If you're reading this, it's fair to take it you know the episode's plot back-to-front, so the direct plot recap will be minimal this time and scattered throughout the review.]

It's a known fact that more then a few Friendship is Magic episodes have often had snippets trimmed during production to fit the episode into twenty-one minutes. That happens surprisingly often with the plot-heavy two parters that demand lots of elements be involved (with a slice-of-life story, its fair easier to reconstruct the story to be a natural fit for 21 minutes to begin with), despite them getting twice the length. But arguably nowhere in this more true than with the series' 2nd episode. This is mostly because since Part 1 was largely focused on introducing our 7 main characters, this episode has to most of the plot-heavy stuff, so it almost feels like a two-parter squashed into one episode. Or more like one and a half episodes. And while much of that comes from the structure of the episode, having to show spotlight moments for the Mane 5 showcasing the virtue they represent before the final confrontation with Nightmare Moon, a cursory look at the episode's locked script (as in, the one sent to DHX, or Studio B at the time, for animating) reveals that lot of scenes has snippets trimmed.
This sucks out a lot of the breathing room, and while the episode doesn't feel on fast-forward or anything, you never quite escape it. From a quick recap (usually the length of a recap in the second part of a two parter is a good indicator as to how condensed it is - the shorter it is, the more room the main episode needed), to a massive hurry to get to the Everfree Forest, to no more then a few lines between most of the individual challenges, it's noticed. That's not even counting how the episode is doing what could arguably fit across several episode in one - even if the once persistent internet rumour of Lauren Faust wanting the series to be more serialised has been long since debunked, the series feels like it needed a three-parter to kick things off. But I have blown the horn about Hasbro's refusal to not let two-parters be three-parters in the past many a time, so let's not dwell there.

So, the bulk of this episode is a series of five structurally separate obstacles on the way to the not-yet-named-as Castle of the Two Sisters. Frankly, it's a rather forced chain of sequences that are quite transparent in how artificially constructed they are to highlight each pony's strengths. It doesn't start out that way: the cliffside breaking off comes suddenly enough that the viewer doesn't know what's going to happen, only something bad, and that works great (though it bears mentioning that the scene lands rather clumsily because of how awkward and stilted Applejack's "honest truth" line is). The rest of them, eh. It's basically watching the characters be spun through rather predictable fables, and while it's by no means bad, it can't help but be outshined by more elegant plot construction in future episodes.

Of course, the true nature of the episode's conceptual compression doesn't become apparent until the last third in the castle, with many concepts thrown at us without the rich buildup they needed to truly land. Thankfully, some of them would get more fleshed out in the aftermath through the seasons (a compressed landing followed by decent cleanup after the fact happens more then a bit during FiM's history, most obviously in the case of villain redemptions like Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer). Still, from the physical elements all being at the castle, to each character embodying an element, to Twilight's flip from "crazy town ponies" to "these are my best friends", to the looming threat of Nightmare Moon's apocalyptic eternal night, it's a lot of things happening as surface-level stuff.

Oh, and I won't dwell on it too much, but Nightmare Moon - not Luna, you understand - is frankly a underwhelming villain, despite a nice buildup at the end of the last episode. While she does have more personality then King Sombra, her problem is kind of the inverse of him in that she seems weaker when not onscreen, by virtue of her decision to just leave Town Hall and generate obstacles for the group that end up handing to them the keys to victory, its just fridge logic (apologies for the trope naming, but it's too apt), where she would have won if she'd done nothing. And that's not even bringing up how the mythology of Nightmare Moon herself got more convoluted every time the show (and comics) delved into it, with each take just devolving into a continuity mess. While some will still prefer her to Sombra, that's largely a byproduct of Luna herself and people being unable to separate Nightmare Moon from her, and head canon ingrained in fans' heads (or from the thousands of fanfics expanding on the matter).

That an awful lot of sniping for an episode that is still good. Truth be told, sans Nightmare Moon or straightforward plot choices, most of what doesn't work here does so simply because of compression, which is still vastly preferable to an Idiot Plot or Character Regression, both of which trip up many late-game episodes big and small. But the individual moments along the way, while largely not nearly enough to shake off the wheel spinning, they are really good. Even compared to the last episode, we see many more moments of the Mane 5 breaking beyond their established main traits - my personal favourite is Rarity giving the first double hoof kick to the Manticore, but plenty others exist. Fluttershy's lesson may be about kindness, but it also required her to raise her voice loud enough to get them to stop, pointing out they're going about it the wrong way. And Applejack, despite a clumsy line, makes her moment of raw honesty to Twilight come across great. I would also be remiss to mention that Steven Magnet, who's name origin nearly rivals Derpy in terms of bizarre fan things officially canonised, is delightfully flamboyant (and the animation of the waves is nicely off-kilter).

As shown by Giggle at the Ghosties, the show knows when to tip its hand and be just meta aware enough to turn off the sweetness from getting to be too much. Without familiarisation, the musical style of MLP could seem little different than that of most shows aimed, in Hasbro's eyes, at the same demographic. The interplay between Twilight and Rarity of their disbelief at Pinkie breaking out into song may seem like such an obvious gag, but it honestly works - the show doesn't do obvious self-aware humour, for the most part, so as the first notable instance of such, it's enough of a surprise to make the jarring tonal shift to the song work. As for Pinkie's song itself, it's fine and cute, though one that would quickly get dwarfed as the show progressed.

Post the defeat of Nightmare Moon, the episode wraps up quickly enough, but in a pleasant manner, including a minute of early design Luna that nonetheless kicked the fandom into overdrive, and a swift but sweet final setup of the status quo of Twilight staying in Ponyville and reporting her (weekly) friendship findings to the Princess. It's kind of the episode in a nutshell - swift and entertaining, for it is, despite all the quibbles (as well as, with every future episode, it mashing with them less and less well, but it's basically the same as the Nightmare Moon thing. Not every case of Early Installment Weirdness works well). The defences call enough attention to themselves that Part 2 is the rare second half of a two-parter I'd actually rank lower then its first half, at 7/10 (though the overall would still be a 7.5/10). Until arguably "Princess Twilight Sparkle" (if not that, then until "The Cutie Re-Mark"), all future two-parters fare better then that, but that just shows how largely strong the show's first half of two-parters are. Many television shows, animated or otherwise, have launched with more rickety starts. Even if "Friendship is Magic" is not a pair of episodes I revisit much, it need not be shamed more than marginally.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS
- The animation budget went to this episode a bit more then the last, probably due to all the effort required in the action scenes. While the storyboarding and cinematography is sometimes a bit rusty, it still acquits itself quite well.
- It should be said, it's a delight to see the Everfree Forest at its most menacing again, if only for an episode. That is all.
- There are many small character moments here that work quite well I didn't mention, so I'll add two more I can't let go undiscussed: Twilight's hesitation during her Big Speech to Nightmare Moon. Brief as it is, it suggests she's making this up as she goes, and it makes it all the more gloriously real.
- The other moment is the scattershot hints throughout this episode (and, indeed, the whole first season) that while the Mane 5 all knew each other before the show, some friendship were closer and stronger then others. It's most clear here with the rapport Rainbow Dash and Applejack have, of course (the two other obvious ones, Rarity and Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash not thinking much of Pinkie Pie, get episodes to themselves later), but even simply the fact of who says what to who throughout the episode speaks to a great care in the dialogue. As it should, given Lauren by that point had her extensive show bible of over a year and input from the other writers as many future episode were being outlined while she wrote this script.
- Because this episode had the first big shining moment for every one of the Mane 6, it was reused in all six clip show episodes that aired (in Australia, still not in the US yet) nearly a decade later. Just a fact of note, though doing so drew attention to both Applejack's changing voice, the evolution of the animation, and how many other things changed, not necessarily for the better).

Comments

[My dearest]

Thank you for writing these, I'm enjoying reading them!

[hawthornbunny]

the scattershot hints throughout this episode (and, indeed, the whole first season) that while the Mane 5 all knew each other before the show, some friendship were closer and stronger then others.

I really liked this too. It made the characters feel much more solid in the first season, rather than taking the easy option of having them all be friends because that's more convenient for the writers. A subtle detail but it really makes a big difference.