Episode Re-Review: Luna Eclipsed · 6:56pm Feb 17th, 2021
So after not being seen at all since the pilot, Princess Luna had indisupitably become the Brony fandom's mascot. Entire headcanons had been written around "Woona" based entirely on her design from Season 1 and what little we had seen of her in the pilot's closing minutes. But then this episode came along and would be Luna's official re-debut into the show. This episode was so popular in fact, that during the only major marathon The Hub ever ran (the "We Heart Ponies Fan Favorite Mareathon" in 2012 during Valentine's Day) this episode was number one. And considering it was written by M. A. Larson that should've been a good sign, right? After all, most had given him high praise for his work in "The Return of Harmony". So surely handling the most popular character in the entire fandom would be no sweat for him, right? Well, let's find out.
The episode is taking place at night, on Nightmare Night no less. And it seems to be the pony equivalent of Halloween since everyone's dressed up in costume. Twilight's costume is that of some kind of wizard, and it's here that Starswirl the Bearded is mentioned for the first time. Twilight even refers to him as "The Founder of the Anthomorphic Spell" which makes him literally a hairy potter. We also see Spike wearing a dragon costume (for some reason), and Granny Smith is chaperoning a bunch of kids during the night, including newcomer Pipsqueak who's dressed up as a pirate. Pinkie Pie also happens to be in this group, dressed as a chicken. When asked if she's a little too old to be partaking in the festivities she replies with "Never!". However, Twilight is disappointed when no one is able to tell who she's dressed as. But then again, that's probably what happens when you dress as an obscure historical figure that only certain ponies know about. I should also mention that Twilight is mostly using her Season 1 magic color here, which I suspect is because this episode was originally in development as a Season 1 episode and was fairly along into development before it got bumped to Season 2. There's been no confirmation, but we do know that there were deleted scenes, so it's possible. Wouldn't be the first time a project for a show would be pushed back or cancelled midway through production.
Twilight and Spike head to the town square as we see more ponies dressed up for the evening, with Mr. and Mrs. Cake even being dressed as Raggedy Andy and Annie and the character of Fiddlesticks debuting (a pallet swap of Octavia as part of a pallet swap of the entire fancy band from "The Best Night Ever". Though at least one fan comic treats Fiddlesticks solely as an alternative persona Octavia dons). Suddenly, while Pinkie Pie is showing off how much candy she got, she gets struck from behind by a bolt of lightning and runs off. Except it turns out that the lightning was from a storm cloud courtesy of Rainbow Dash, dressed as a Shadowbolt. When Twilight points out that Rainbow Dash scared Spike so much he started choking, Rainbow is unconcerned and just flies off to go prank others. This isn't the last time we'll have such meanspirited displays from characters that are supposed to be the protagonists. Anyway, Twilight hauls Spike away (presumably getting the obstruction cleared) and Mayor Mare takes to a podium dressed up like a clown (complete with a red nose and a rainbow wig).
Mayor Mare turns the festivities over to Zecora who leads everyone into the Everfree Forest and to a statue of Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon has basically become a sort of pony boogeyman. Instead of wanting to bring about eternal night she wants to gobble up children. So the costumes are worn as a disguise, and the candy is left at the base of the statue as an offering so Nightmare Moon won't come back. I kind of have to wonder how someone who wanted to bring about eternal night (and likely kill everything under the sun as a result) could be turned into some monster that eats children. But then again, Halloween's origins can be traced back to Celtic priests believing that evil spirits of the dead roamed the Earth and thus they needed to wear strange masks to scare the evil spirits away. And of course, while there were real people named John Henry and Johnny Appleseed, the true stories about them are usually far less exciting than the tall tales people make up about them (same goes for the story of George Washington and the cherry tree). Anyway, all is proceeding well until suddenly a dark chariot with bat pony guards clad in their own armor (which we'll never see again) shows up. And a mare in a dark cloak appears. Said mare descends to the center of town and throws back the hood of her cloak, revealing herself to be Princess Luna. She's definitely got the dramatic entrance down pat.
Speaking in a loud and booming voice and using "Ye Olde Elizabethian English", Princess Luna announces that she has come to Ponyville seeking to change her reputation and the nature of the holiday named for her darker self. But Pinkie Pie seems to assume this means Nightmare Moon is planning to feast on them and everyone runs away. There is kind of a contrivence in how Luna is coming to town on the night when her darker self is feared the most, and talking in a way that she didn't talk before during what little screen time she had before. Lauren Faust did say that Luna's design here was meant to be a transition as she was still regaining some of her powers, but once Lauren left this vision would be discarded and this would be Luna's canonical full power design going forward. Anyway, Luna seems to want Mayor Mare to kiss her hoof but is confused by how everyone is still fearing her and slips away. Twilight follows Luna into the Everfree Forest and finds her sulking by the statue. Princess Luna is the first to correctly identify Twilight's costume, and explains that her manner of speaking is called the "Royal Canterlot Voice". It would take several seasons before we would know that Princess Celestia was capable of the same.
Twilight offers to help Luna change her ways to fit in better and make friends. The first stop is Fluttershy's cottage to learn how to speak properly, but Fluttershy has to be coxed into helping. Still, her lessons do help. But Princess Luna accidentally slips back into old ways due to excitement and starts hugging Fluttershy too tightly. Just then, Pinkie Pie shows up with several of the kids, but she panics and screams when she thinks Nightmare Moon is trying to take Fluttershy's voice. What makes this scene work is that this is something that would definitely look wrong without context. From here we likely would've gotten the deleted scene with Rarity where she would be tasked with making Luna a dress, and would make something rather gaudy out of panic. Luna would take it off by ripping it apart, and Pinkie Pie would show up at that moment and assume Nightmare Moon had devoured a princess. As weird as it is that Rarity doesn't appear in this episode at all, I'm glad that scene got caught since it was ultimately redundant. Still, a fan comic would end up adapting the scene. Anyway, from there Luna is brought before Applejack to learn how to have fun.
It all goes well until Pipsqueak falls into a tub for bobbing for apples and Luna fishes him out. Pinkie Pie shows up at this moment and thinks Luna is trying to gobble Pip up. And somehow, this is all it takes to undo everything Luna's done up to this point even though ponies have been getting to know her. She becomes so furious that she stomps a hoof down, summons lightning, and then takes to the sky to declare that Nightmare Night is cancelled forever (which she has no actual authority to do). A frustrated Twilight then decides to take matters into her own hooves to solve the problem, convincing Luna not to give up and leave town. Then she sets a candy trap to lure Pinkie into an alleyway and tackle her, telling her not to scream, shriek or squeal.
Twilight tries to get Pinkie Pie and Princess Luna to make peace, but a dark cloud with lightning shows up behind Luna and scares Pinkie. It turns out that Rainbow Dash set this up and did it on purpose. But when Twilight confronts Pinkie Pie, she reveals that she knows Princess Luna isn't really Nightmare Moon. So why has she been intentionally screaming every time Luna does anything? Because as she pus it "Sometimes it's really fun to be scared.", except in that case the fun is coming a the expense of someone else. Pinkie Pie knows what she's doing is wrong but is doing it anyway because she thinks it's fun. She never apologizes for the trouble her "fun" caused Luna or anyone else! And as fun as it may be to scared, that doesn't excuse causing a panic in others (like how it's famously said that Freedom of Speech doesn't protect you from falsely shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater).
Yet that's basically what Twilight takes as a basis to fix the issue. Rather than have Princess Luna try to change her image or reputation, Twilight wants Luna to instead be what everyone assumes she is and basically conform to a role that she quite obviously doesn't want to play. Once again, did no one think through the implications on this?! The idea of conforming to certain roles within society carries a lot of baggage and most of it isn't good! But that's what we're going to use going forward. Princess Luna is somehow able to transform into Nightmare Moon willingly and play along. And somehow it's this that causes everypony (or at least Pipsqueak) to accept her, forcing Luna to completely embrace something she regrets being because other think it's fun. This is supposed to tie into the message of how just because someone looks scary on the outside doesn't mean they're scary on the inside. But that falls apart when Luna is intentionally being forced to be scary because that's what everypony in town wants! And at no point does anyone ever apologize for the earlier misunderstandings or other behavior at her expense, not even when Rainbow Dash is given a taste of her own medicine courtesy of Luna.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Quite honestly, it's a mess. Mean spirited seldom equals funny, and this episode is living proof of that. Much like "Winter Wrap Up" there's nothing fun about watching someone try to fit in and be accepted and basically be shunned at every turn no matter what they do. When you go for mean spirited humor you usually need to have the character who suffers do something to deserve it, or have it so that their tormentor/tormentors get some kind of comeuppance in the end. If this episode were taking place early into Season 1 when the events of the pilot were still fresh in everyone's mind it probably would've worked better. But the fact that the magic color keeps changing on Twilight indicates that this is meant to take place after Discord's defeat, which means a considerable amount of time must've passed. Time enough to where most ponies who aren't children shouldn't be so afraid of Luna's presence if they've already learned from Zecora not to judge based on appearances. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are horribly out of character here, with their idea of "fun" coming at the expense of everyone else and without concern for the feelings of others, which isn't fun so much as it is sadistic. Princess Luna is obviously the one good thing about this episode, but one good character does not a good episode make. This episode gets an E, much like "The Return of Harmony" it really needed more time in development than it got and it suffers because of that.
Well, once again we're going to get something really really good to make up for this dud, so come back tomorrow for "Sisterhooves Social" whose moral was so good Rarity remembered it for all but one occasion.
Not gonna lie...
I actually thought Luna was possessed by the Venom symbiote when I first saw her new design.
I mean, it was much darker than the previous one and she kept referring to herself as "we" instead of "I".
I honestly consider this to be one of season 2's more fun episodes, though it's only in my top ten.
This is notably the last episode where Twilight sends a friendship report to Celestia.
5455951 Odd how that worked out.
I think twilight was more just trying to get her up to date with modern culture, less make her conform. Yes, over comforming is bad, but being taught not to yell at all the time not so much. As for her being scary and getting accepted, its less being scary itself that made her fit in, but rather uses it to become part of the fun.
I liked the premise of Luna trying to fit it a lot. It allowed for some great humour and character moments and interactions. Also Rainbow did get comeuppance at the end. Also this isn't the same as people being scared of Zecora cause of being scary. For one thing, Nightmare Moon was apparently a very deep rooted villain in society, so even if they consciously knew Luna wasn't evil, them instinctively being afraid of her is believable. Plus, her entrance was so damn intimidating I'm pretty sure anyone would be scared. Plus yeah, her being very overwhelming at first and yelling at the top of her lungs makes it make sense for them to not feel the most welcoming. Also Twilight was great in this episode. And we can't talk about this episode without mentioning the stunning visuals.
I was still in my "My Little Pony? Isn't that, like, some cartoon that became a meme on 4chan?" stage during the whole "waifu Luna" era of the fandom so I don't remember it directly, but everything I've heard about it since makes it sound positively dreadful. So I think this episode first and foremost deserves some credit for putting a halt to that trend.
I do agree that this episode had great potential and some crippling flaws. That potential comes from addressing some pretty heavy and emotional themes: Luna adapting to modern life and reacting to modern perceptions of her as this weird bogeymare that is simultaneously horrible and also not really taken seriously by adult ponies, and also Pinkie Pie continuing to exacerbate the situation before essentially saying "it's just a prank, bro" at the end. That, in and of itself, puts it above I'd say at least half of Season 1 and maybe a third of Season 2. It was also a more worldbuilding-rich episode, which was cool; and had much less of a didactic quality to it, which is a much-needed breath of fresh air given what we've previously seen in this review docket.
I think you're onto something with this having originally been intended to have been a Season 1 episode, though, because a lot of its flaws are things I tend to associate with Season 1. There's some of that cartoony screwing around unrelated to the plot. There's also the big problem you identify of Pinkie Pie getting away with making other characters legitimately miserable, and then never being taken to task for it because "LOL ZANY". Given the genuine pathos expressed by Luna at witnessing what modern society has made her into, this comes across as especially dissonant here.
I also have to wonder why Pinkie's claims are so readily believed by Ponyville given their superficial nature- the kids, sure, but the adults I'd think would be a little less credulous of Luna doing all the things she is accused of; since they know the "Nightmare Moon" Nightmare Night is themed around is just a children's story. As an analogy, if the historical Saint Nicholas were to miraculously return, I have a hard time believing that anybody, religious or not, would then immediately accept claims that he was going around in a flying sleigh climbing down chimneys like Santa Claus. I probably wouldn't find this point so worth remarking on if it wasn't for a few other Season 1 episodes having the Mane Six act conspicuously like children despite clearly being young adults, as key drivers of the story.
I really don't know how I, personally, would evaluate this episode. It stands out head and shoulders above what's around it, but it's also not remotely up to the standards of what the show would develop into later on.
Meanwhile, I've always wondered why, if the stated object is to hide being a pony from Nightmare Moon, then why isn't that concept the basis for all costumes instead of... well...
Been a season since we saw Luna and boy I enjoy this episode of her
You know, a thought occured to me. It could be, aside from early installment weirdness that, back in the day, Luna would act differently between her sister and say, peasants
Also, as someone noted, the word "fun" by itself, is less than 1K years old