Retrospective Review: Lesson Zero and Luna Eclipsed · 4:51am Mar 22nd, 2021
S2E3 Lesson Zero
In this episode, we get the first change in the opening sequence.
You know how in A Bird in the Hoof, Twilight Sparkle worries about being banished and thrown in a dungeon in the place where she's banished? Well, this episode is a logical continuation of that same ability to not understand rational consequences.
This is the first episode that really plays up Twilight Sparkle's obsessive-compulsive nature for laughs. It's a little bit bothersome, but it does work into the episode's lesson.
This episode also plays up Rarity's drama queen nature, and shows that her fainting couch travels with her always.
Twilight Sparkle's friends were awful this episode, not recognizing she was in obvious distress. (It's obvious to the viewer because of both seeing the earlier scenes and also the animation's visual cues, but it may have been less obvious to the others in "real life".) But kudos to Spike for taking her fears seriously and working with the one person who could help her.
Twilight Sparkle is one of several unicorns in the series to resort to mind control when things don't go her way. There probably should be a "Don't do these Evil Overlord things" lesson at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
From a writing perspective, this episode makes a major change. By explaining in character that the lessons should come from each pony, it allows the world to expand beyond just Twilight Sparkle. No longer do the friendship lessons have to be filtered through her perceptions.
And from a personal perspective, mandatory weekly letters remind me of journal writing in elementary school. "Here's a journal. Oh, and you have to write three entries every week." It is no longer a vessel for personal expression, but a chore that lacks meaning.
S2E4 Luna Eclipsed
One of the most influential episodes for the fandom:
·Pipsqueak
·Batponies (seriously, did they ever appear in the animated series again?)
·The Royal Canterlot voice
·Ye Olde Equestrian Language
·Luna's struggles with the modern world
·"The fun has been doubled!"
There's a definite continuity error in this episode, where Twilight Sparkle talks about Starswirl the Bearded being in a book of obscure unicorn history, only for him to later be one of the Pillars of Old Equestria, and I'm sure FanOfMostEverything can describe all the things he's shown as having done in the comics (teaching Celestia and Luna?).
I am a fan of prankster Rainbow Dash.
This is another episode where problems are caused by Pinkie Pie. It's a similar problem to past episodes: Pinkie Pie assumes everyone thinks like she does. "This is a party that's all about having fun by being afraid!" Not everyone got the memo, Pinkie.
More classic cartoon slapstick in the scene with Fluttershy.
I feel the whole episode would have been avoided had someone just explained to Princess Luna how Nightmare Night is typically celebrated in Modern Equestria. For all its lingering impact on the fandom, this episode could be skipped.
Bonus picture for FanOfMostEverything:
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It works out for me: In the main canon, unicorns immediately resort to mind control when things aren't working out for them. In the Doomsdayverse, unicorns immediately resort to doomsday devices when they become unicorns.
Honestly, I think both these facts say a lot more about us than about them.
My vague headcanon is that someone traveled back in time somewhere between Season Four and Season Six, and changed the past to introduce the Pillars, make Star Swirl a whole lot more important, make the seasons change by themselves, and a number of other things.
Not sure who'd do it, though - maybe the Tree of Harmony itself?
The thing is, they were never meant to be mandatory. That was Twilight assuming and taking on a burden she was never meant to. Hence Celestia clarifying that the Bearers only need to write when the occasion calls for it.
"Lesson Zero" in general makes a lot of sense if you assume that it really did happen just after that first encounter with Discord, with the girls still recovering from the sanity damage. Especially Twilight.
According to the man himself at an EFNW panel, Larson tried to get them into "Slice of Life." One scrapped scene would've been a Day and Night Guard seeing who could do the best impression of their respective princesses.
My hypothesis regarding Star Swirl is similar to 5480882's, except that it was Star Swirl himself who was wandering the timeline performing continual adjustments. Even from here to "It's About Time," he goes from having a shelf named after him in the Canterlot library of magic to an entire wing. I'm not sure when in his personal timeline he went into Limbo, but it may have been earlier than anyone realizes.
I respectfully disagree on the basis that without it, the only impression a viewer will have of Luna is her diminished form in the series premiere. It's an important episode for establishing both her actual character and her lingering disconnect from society.
That said, Celestia definitely could've brought this up. I suspect she mentioned a festival in Luna's honor and Moonhorse rushed off to prepare her chariot without listening to any of the details. (Plus, a thousand years is a long time. Luna's knowledge of the world was bound to have a few gaps.)
And yes, Smarty Pants does work quite well as Stuffy... even if that does imply she's been used in a number of torture devices.
This is your reminder that batponies matter as much as Diamond Dogs. :) Even the buffalo, who were a bad idea from the beginning, showed up again in the background of Pinkie Pride's opening.
5480941
Buffalo also appeared dancing in tutus in The Return of Harmony part 2.
5480946
The actual racial stereotypes showed up three times.
Batponies ain't shit but hoes and tricks. >:V
5480968
Thestral.
Thestral thestral thestral thestral!
5480941
Didn't the Season 5 finale have Rainbow Dash as one in the appropriate timeline for it? I remember this because someone needed a male and female of as many species/subspecies as possible for one project or another and had to use it. (Amusingly, they also used Luna as the alicorn female so that they could list the habitat as "Dreamscape" and have a canon male alicorn at all)
5480971
how dare you, sir D:
how dare you
5480919 I was assuming the "Star Swirl the Bearded Wing" was a new establishment recently added after Luna's return. Though, no, you can't exclude time travel from having a role; after all, that's where the time travel spells are shelved...