Episode Re-Review: Once Upon A Zeppelin · 5:02pm Jun 19th, 2021
Fun fact about this episode, because it got bumped around in production order it ended up airing a day after the big 2017 movie premiered in theaters. Coincidentally, this meant we got to see an interesting comparison of Twilight's character because of this episode. Her last two focus episodes had involved "A Flurry of Emotions" and "A Health of Information", largely seeming to pair her up with others even though she was now freed from being Starlight's teacher. A new writer in the form of Brittany Jo Flores was penning this episode. Her only previous writing credit was Skylanders Academy. Not many people seem to really talk about this episode though, although overall reception seems to be positive. Has this episode deserved to be remembered better? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Twilight sorting out some important paperwork when Spike belches up a scroll. It's from Twilight's parents (still not named on-screen) who have informed Twilight that they won a zeppelin cruise and get to take the whole family. Twilight wants to go, but she can't because she's got too much stuff to do. However, Spike proposes taking over for her for a few days to let her go on the cruise. Twilight protests, claiming that Spike is part of her family too, but Spike doesn't acknowledge this. And at the time this episode was written I'm quite certain they didn't know about "Sparkle's Seven" addressing the family matter for Spike once and for all.
So it's unfortunate that Spike will be written out of this episode even though this is the first time Twilight really addressed what he means to her. Would it really have been too much to ask for Starlight to take Spike's place and let Spike go on the cruise too? Well, that aside, Twilight goes to pack and suggests making a schedule since cruises tend to have activities. To that end, Night Light and Twilight Velvet, as well as Shining Armor, Cadence and Flurry Heart all join Twilight for the cruise as the zeppelin is waiting at Canterlot. And it turns out that Twilight Velvet is a thrill seeker and an adrenaline junkie, though that doesn't mean the popular headcanon of her being a writer is completely dispelled (they never state what she does for a living). However, I do kind of fault them casting Patricia Drake as Velvet here, because she's using a voice similar to the one she used for Miss Peachbottom from "Games Ponies Play" and it's really distracting.
Night Light knows about this and jokes about his wife's behavior behind her back, then feigns ignorance when she asks him about it. But we'll see later on that he clearly still loves her, this is just the kind of idle teasing that couples engage in. Night Light also mentions a "Bingo Strategy Book", and we'll soon learn that he loves bingo because "all the numbers and letters are organized", which could suggest he's where Twilight got her OCD tendencies from (and I could see Velvet inspiring in her children a sense of adventure, a desire for them to do grand things). We also get a reference to a ponyfied Coney Island named what else?: Pony Island. Twilight jokes about Shining Armor getting airsick, which Shining claims he's over but we'll later learn he isn't. Anyway, the group gets aboard the zeppelin and receive an "assertive" welcome from a voice that sounds very familiar (to us anyway). Then, Twilight suspects something is up when her parents reveal that they don't remember entering a contest, they just received a flyer and signed off without reading it. And you just know that's gonna come back to bite them.
Twilight then shows off a schedule she made detailing all the various activities offered on the cruise, one for each member of the family including herself: She specifically is hoping to see this rare phomenon called The Northern Stars. However, there's some time before any activities, and to that end the group takes the suggest of a loudspeaker to take a tour. It seems though that the tour giver (provided via loudspeaker) has gotten their facts mixed up considering they claim Twilight was born in a tree and Spike is Cadence's baby. It turns out that the cruise is princess related, specifically themed around Twilight and Cadence. Furious, Twilight goes to confront the captain who turns out to be none other than Iron Will, now running a pyramid panzy scheme. Much like Flim and Flam in all of their re-appearances, I don't like how Iron Will is demonized and made into an undisputable bad guy here when he wasn't before. He was running a legitimate business, and while his advice was certainly questionable he not only was well within his rights to demand payment, but also left willingly when Fluttershy said she wasn't satisfied.
Of course, now that Twilight's family knows about the true nature of the cruise they want no part of it and want to turn the zeppelin around. However, Twilight opts to make a "deal with the devil" kind of bargain with Iron Will wherein if she agrees to do whatever princess activities he wants from her, her family gets to do what they want. Everyone says Twilight doesn't have to do this, and indeed she doesn't (she could easily rat Iron Will out to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and have his operation shut down). Naturally, Iron Will insists on taking advantage of the deal as much as he can.
So to that end, Twilight is made to participate in a raffle where the winner gets the prize of spending a whole day with Twilight's family as an honorary member. And I have to ask, how is that legal? If it is, it shouldn't be.
The prize winner is an earth pony named Star Tracker who is very much a super fan. He even gets to tag along with Night Light for the bingo tournament, which of course is princess themed.
But Twilight is now serving as the bingo caller, so she can't hear or see her dad well and can't tell how well he's doing. And somehow, she doesn't think to ask for a microphone for him (even if all the other tournament participants would ask for one too). Then, we have Shining Armor scheduled to race Twilight in a tiny boat race. But he's suffering from airsickness even as he claims otherwise. Maybe the first time it happened it was kind of funny, but now it's just pathetic and makes him look hopelessly incompetent. If it's that bad, why isn't he taking medication for it or maybe casting a spell to ease his symptoms? I'm sure there are lots of people in military, navy, marine and air force divisions that have to deal with chronic conditions and have ways to manage them. I mean, the first time it wasn't so bad when Cadence was covering for him, but now it's just not funny. Anyway, Twilight is forced to serve as the race official, so Velvet takes her place to race Shining.
With that over, Iron Will tells Twilight that there are ten heats that she must officiate. We then cut to Flurry Heart attending a "Peewee Princess Playtime" where she stacks other foals like blocks, and yet none of the parents besides Cadence are worried. This mostly serves to emphasize how Twilight is getting annoyed with Star Tracker and is upset that she can't participate in the cruise activities with her families like she wants to. But she does her best to hide it as she heads off for a Q & A session, which unfortunately causes her to miss a barrel ride with Twilight Velvet at Neighagra Falls. Night Light chuckles about this being a "relaxing vacation" as he takes pictures, but when Velvet emerges from her barrel she senses that Twilight is upset and tells her that "it's your cruise too". However, Twilight just needs to do more one thing and then she's good for the day: Sign autographs on the deck. She gets annoyed when Star Tracker is the last in line even though he could've asked her for an autograph much earlier. And because of this she misses the Northern Stars and begins to cry. Then, in what has to be animator's mistake, we see Twilight crying right in front of her family. But they're all talking about how wonderful the Northern Stars were as if they can't see how upset Twilight is.
At this, Twilight snaps and complains about everyone is happy except her. Then she turns around and stomps on Star Tracker's hoof, yelling at him for standing right next to her.
Soon afterward, Twilight is comforted by Cadence who basically tells Twilight that her own well being is important too and that you can't please everyone, as well as the fact that you don't have to go out of your way to constantly do nice things for others just to prove your worth. But I feel like this pep talk would've worked better coming from either Princess Luna or Princess Celestia, largely because expanded media and even the show itself have suggested that Cadence is not satisfied with being ruler of the Crystal Empire (though in the show's case it was more throwing Shining under the bus to make Twilight happy). Twilight then returns to the private suite her family is staying in and apologizes to everyone, Star Tracker included, for losing her temper. And then, to the shock of everyone, she proposes doing something off the schedule which prompts Star Tracker to ask "Who are you?".
This activity is getting ice cream, and Star Tracker declares that he realizes now Twilight just wanted to be alone with her family on this cruise. Iron Will, of course, has to ruin it by trying to make the ice cream into a new princess related activity. Star Tracker rightfully berates him for doing this, but Twilight opts to use Iron Will's mic to express her gratitude to the cruise ponies for giving her family privacy and that she just wants to take a break from being a princess. The cruise ponies completely understand (I mean, if you saw royalty on a cruise of any sort you'd probably assume they were on vacation as well), soon turning their fury on Iron Will for his dubious scheme. So Iron Will bails, jumping overboard before deploying a parachute.
Apparently, the zeppelin is on auto-pilot or something since no one worries about the captain of the zeppelin leaving. We then cut to Twilight proposing to Cadence the possibility of doing something on the way back to Canterlot, but her family opts to surprise her by putting on a display of the Northern Stars. And the episode ends with one last air sickness joke at Shining Armor's expense.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? I daresay, this is the last Twilight focused episode (solo anyways) to truly get her character right: There's more to her than just freakouts, being a teacher, books or being quick to forgiveness. She is a complex, three dimensional character that this episode rightfully understands is more than just a few easily exploitable jokes or flaws. What she does is very much in character here, and Twilight has always struggled since becoming a princess to truly define herself. I also really appreciate how this episode treats fans and fandoms in general. It does still take a few pot shots at some of the less desirable aspects of them, but it's never so in your face about it or claiming that all fans are always like this. It understands that fans usually have great respect for the people behind their favorite works, but they don't always comprehend what it can be like to be famous and yet just want to do things on your own terms. Getting to see Twilight's parents was a nice treat, they feel the most fleshed out and the most well written of all the parents (we don't really get to see Bright Mac and Buttercup as parents, and what little we do see raises some questions), though I do wonder what it would've been like had they not recast the voices and kept Andrew Francis and Tara Strong as Night Light and Twilight Velvet respectively (the recasts were a good call though). However, the air sickness jokes with Shining Armor get old really fast. Much like when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna start to bicker like teenagers, it's compensating too much in the opposite direction for Shining supposedly not having a character before (even though he did). And Iron Will really didn't need to be in this episode, he was not really a villain before and like Flim and Flam in their debut he was running a legitimate business. Why did they need to have a "bad guy" here? Why couldn't the cruise just be an honest mix-up? It would lend Twilight's decision to make that deal more support, plus it wouldn't raise the question of how the heck Iron Will can get away with what he's doing and then leave with no apparent consequences. Also, it was a really missed opportunity for Spike to interact with Night Light and Twilight Velvet. I'm sure they could've worked him into the episode without sacrificing anything. So, due to those not so minor flaws this episode gets a narrow A-.
So up next is the last of the "out of order" episodes for Season 7 and only the third one all season not to feature any of the mane six on-screen (or even Spike or Starlight) "Marks and Recreation", in which Rumble becomes the new Starlight Glimmer.
This episode, while okay for the most part, just kinda makes me cringe a bit.
It's not bad, but not one I really enjoy watching more than maybe once every so often.
5537847 Why does it make you cringe?
5537848
Something about the way Twilight gets treated just makes it not fun to watch.
I know that it's part of the lesson for her to set boundaries, but still.
When I first saw this episode, I was openly confused as to how Twilight would know Iron Will despite having not met him in “Putting Your Hoof Down”. But then, I suddenly remembered that there was a Friends Forever comic about Fluttershy and Iron Will, and it was there that Twilight got to meet him first hoof.
Not every MLP comic is canon, but I think the 10th Friends Forever comic is canon because it’s the closest thing we have as to how Twilight and Iron Will know each other.
5537882 Or she could've just heard about him via word of mouth from her friends.
5537888
Maybe. But, I’m not sure that would be enough for her to know him like it was from personal experience.
That scene where Cadance was talking to Twilight about being a princess at the end was really great. This episode in general is really great.
This episode is actually written by Brittany Jo Flores, who later wrote A Trivial Pursuit. It's the next episode that is written by May Chan.
Anyway, this episode is near universally praised. The only exception I can think of is Voice of Reason. If you want to know exactly why, you can check out his Best and Worst MLP: FIM Season 7 video down below (skip ahead to 4:26 for his thoughts on Once Upon a Zeppelin).
5537859
Yeah, she missed the Northern Stars and she cries yet her family didn’t look that concerned for her. Also, Iron Will got away scott free. I hated those parts.
5537978 Fixed that part on the writer for the episode.