Episode Re-Review: Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? · 5:41pm Apr 29th, 2021
Because having one dream episode per season wasn't enough, now we had one focused directly on Princess Luna. Scott Sonneborn was writing this episode, though the story was credited to both Jayson Thiesen and Jim Miller like with "Princess Spike" and "Party Pooped". Considering how bad the former turned out and considering the latter had received a rather lukewarm reception, that wasn't exactly a formula for success. But hey, Scott had worked well with M. A. Larson and Meghan McCarthy for "The Cutie Map" so maybe he'd picked up a few things from them? Maybe his writing was starting to improve now that he had others to help him out? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with the mane six rushing to stop Princess Luna as she refers to something called "Tantibus" and transforms into Nightmare Moon again. The mane six, however, bust out rainbow power and battle her. Suddenly, the "Tantibus" rips open a hole and escapes, causing Nightmare Moon to be defeated. It turns out to be a nightmare as Princess Luna wakes up, horrified that it ended happily.
Then we cut to the mane six all sleep deprived and tending to their pets at Carousel Boutique (for some odd reason). Spike, however, brags about not being affected. It isn't long before the mane six suspect something must be up, so they ask Spike to write a letter. Not to Princess Celestia but to Princess Luna even though there was never any statement before that Spike knew how to get in touch with her. He even sends it the same way he'd send a letter to Princess Celestia. So what, is he asking Princess Celestia to forward the message to Princess Luna? Seems like that could cause a delay if Luna needed to be informed immediately. Fortunately, Princess Luna just happens to have been nearby and comes running in, asking for varification that the mane six all dreamed of a dark, whispy substance and they all say yes. Luna explains that this is the work of the Tantibus, a creature that as of now exists solely in the dream world but possses the power to change dreams into nightmares.
Luna insists that Celestia can't help because her magic has no effect in the dream realm, which at the time just seemed like a cop-out and even now that we have canonical confirmation that this is true it still feels disappointing that Celestia isn't involved at all. This is something that should be of concern to her, especially given what we'll learn later on about the Tantibus. Anyway, Luna arranges for the mane six to have a joint sleepover at Twilight's castle so she that can enter their dreams and track down the Tantibus. Spike offers to help since he's not a pony, but Luna rejects it, and once all the mane six fall asleep she connects to their dreams. One by one, each dream gets hijacked by the Tantibus, whether it be making books and fabric come to life or turning Rainbow Dash's "dream" of fighting changelings into a nightmare involving happy flowers that sing a very familiar tune.
Luna nearly corners the Tantibus in Pinkie Pie's dream, but alas due to Pinkie's energetic nature her dream doesn't remain consist and the Tantibus gets away. Luna is eventually expelled after failing to get rid of the Tantibus, but she's determined to try again next night. However, Pinkie reveals that she had a dream of sharing ice cream with all of Ponyville, which means the Tantibus could jump to any of their dreams now (you'd think Luna would've warned them about this ahead of time). Rather than waste time jumping from dream to dream, however, Luna is convinced to merge all of Ponyville into one shared dream (without asking ponies for their consent). She does so, and from here the episode embodies the idea "You can do anything in a dream". We have Derpy being huge.
Lyra and Bon Bon being joined together ala Catdog style.
And all sorts of other things. The Tantibus soon takes over the shared dream though, forcing the mane six to convince other ponies to help them fight back. Filthy Rich transforms into a superhero, Scootaloo gains massive wings, Spike dawns his knight persona from his daydream in "A Dog and Pony Show", Applejack and Rainbow Dash become The Power Ponies and Big Macintosh turns into an alicorn princess in a transformation scene similar to that of Sailor Moon.
However, during this scene they repeat three times about how the Tantibus will escape into the real world and it's being shared between Applejack and Rainbow Dash who already know this. But the real issue comes when Princess Luna starts having doubts despite everyone around her admiring her, and this causes the Tantibus to grow. She reveals that she created the Tantibus to punish herself with nightmares every night because of Nightmare Moon, as if somehow that would discourage her from ever wanting to be evil again (nevermind her being banished to the moon for a thousand years and potentially having an out of body experience). And she's been hiding this from everyone, including her sister who would probably be horrified to learn that Luna has been tormenting herself in such a way. Yet somehow it only takes a pep talk from Twilight and the mane six, who most certainly don't know Luna that well and have rarely interacted her, to make Luna learn to forgive herself. She recalls the Tantibus and the day (or night) is saved. Then the mane six (and Spike) wake up to find that Luna is asleep, wondering what she's dreaming about. And we end with Luna apparently sleeping in the dream realm, so I guess it's a dream within a dream?
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Quite honestly, this episode is coming far too late into Luna's character to be believable. You mean to tell me that even after the CMC dream trilogy, Luna still hasn't forgiven herself for the Nightmare Moon incident? And she's been tormenting herself in secret with nightmares, keeping it hidden from even her own sister who would surely disapprove? And not one of these ponies are able to talk her out of her harmful behavior, but the mane six who she barely interacted with all episode and were put in danger because of her are the ones who convince her to stop? And somehow, one pep talk is all that's need for Luna to let go of her past and stop the Tantibus? It really feels like Scott Sonneborn was looking at the Nightmare Forces arc in the IDW Comics and thought "I bet I could do it better." and to an extent he did. But the way he went about it ended up introducing a problem that wasn't in the original, and arguably made his story all the worse for it. Now it's Luna who has the sudden self doubts, to the point where it really feels like this whole episode should've just been focused on her. The revelation about the Tantibus ends up falling into the realm of "Unfortunate Implications" because it implies self-harm, and when someone is like that one pep talk is most certainly not enough to make them stop hurting themselves. That's the kind of thing that requires an intervention and likely therapy.
This ends up painting Luna's actions in both "Sleepless in Ponyville" and "Bloom and Gloom" as hypocritical, even if you assume she didn't want others to go down the same path as her and regarded the Tantibus as her burden alone. But even then, how did she keep the Tantibus in check whenever she was patrolling the dream realm? They never explain that or how Luna even came up with the idea to create it and let it have free will. And the biggest problem of all is that Princess Celestia almost certainly deserved to be in this episode, especially during the climax. Her words and actions would carry far more weight and would go a lot deeper towards convincing her sister to forgive herself. But nope, the mane six, Spike and the entire town of Ponyville are warranted. It's not even like Luna has to confront her past, the Tantibus has no connection to Nightmare Moon and never assumes the form of Nightmare Moon. Ultimately, Scott Sonneborn's final episode turns out to be a dud that raises some serious questions about what he knows or what he's like. So this episode gets a D-. Some clever visuals during the dreams and Luna forgiving herself for her past (which should've been taking place say before "Luna Eclipsed" when it would make more canoncial sense, rather than long after it) can't make up for the implications and the unnecessary exclusion of Celestia.
So, with a rocky first half behind it, Season 5 was now ready to move on its second half that promised to be far more eventful right out of the gate with "Canterlot Boutique", which would see Rarity finally achieve her dream.
It's kinda sad that out of all the episodes Scott Sonneborn wrote for the series, his best contribution is one that he needed help with.
This episode is one I'm never sure how to feel about.
I don't love or hate it, but it's just kinda weird to think about it.
I do LOVE the bit about Fluttershy enjoying being a pet, as well as Dash's dream/nightmare.
This is an episode I both love and hate. On one hand it's a fun laugh riot. One of the funniest and most enjoyable episodes of the season. On the other hand it has one of the worst morals in the show. Apparently just one conversation is gonna make you stop being depressed. Ok then. On a subjective level I think I love the episode but objectively it's down there.
This episodes has it moment, don't love or hate it. It that episode it has it moment
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Yeah, like, someone there to listen or talk CAN help, it is often just the first step
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Almost always, and not the last step.