MLP Reviews

If you were to ask a random person about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, they'll say it's a girls show. But if you ask any brony, pegasister, or any fan, they'll tell you that it is one of the best shows that came out of the 2010's. Everything about this show has left an impact in not only our culture, but also our lives. But like every show, for every good episode, there's bound to be a bad one, and everyone has their only point-of-view on what's good and bad about it. That's where this series comes into play, not only will I talk about the show, but I will also talk about what makes a episode good and bad and what the characters are doing in them.

Keep in mind that I’m giving my opinions on each of these episodes. If you agree or disagree with some of these episodes, that's ok, everyone has their own taste on what makes an episode good. The story, the characters, the songs, the animation, the lessons, these are the things people can pick up and see what goes into these tales. So, get ready everyone, as I tell you which episodes worked, which ones didn't, and which one left the biggest impact on our lives. Get ready everyone, cause here we go.

Let's start off with the one that started it all "Friendship is Magic." We need to understand with what the story is, who the characters are, and what kind of adventures we might see thought out the series. Everything was new to us, the characters were new, their world was new, the songs were new, we weren't sure what to expect out of this. But when it came out, we wondered if it started with a high note or a low note.

Despite the first two episodes being predicable, we all know it. Twilight Sparkle is a unicorn from Canterlot who values studies over everything else, being the loyal student to Princess Celestia, and has no time for parties, friends and get-togethers. But when the night of the "Summer Sun Celebration" is approaching, Twilight tells her only friend, Spike, a dragon, to send a letter to the Princess, for she fears that Nightmare Moon is coming to bring nighttime eternal. But Celestia tells Twilight to stop reading books and tasks her and Spike to go to Ponyville to not only help with the "Summer Sun Celebration," but also, make some friends, something Twilight has no time for.

After looking over the preparations for the celebration, and meeting the ponies, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, Twilight is upset that she had no time to figure out the Elements of Harmony, magical artifacts made to bring peace to Equestria. But it all for not as Nightmare Moon appears to make the night last forever. The five ponies follow Twilight to the library and found that the Elements of Harmony can be found in the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest. Twilight wants to go alone, but the others are coming with her no matter what.

During the trip, they run into problems that help in showing who has which Element of Harmony, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty, and Twilight finally understands that having friends is not a bad thing after all and unlocks the element of Magic to stop Nightmare Moon, who it turns out is actually Celestia's Sister, Luna, who was banished to the moon for 1,000 years after being jealous of her sister. After making amends and Twilight happy to have friends, Celestia assigns Twilight to stay in Ponyville to learn as much about friendship with her friends as she can.

This opener was a great way to start the show, you get to meet the characters, you learn what each of them can do, and you get to understand them as the show goes on. Twilight is a good example of the social introvert, she's used to being around books that she has no time for anything else, so to see her interacting with others was a big thing for her. and I love how each of her friends show their elements, Applejack on the cliff, Futtershy with the manticore, Pinkie Pie with the trees, where she sings a song about laughing at what scares you, Rarity helping a sea serpent who had his mustache cut, and Rainbow choosing her friends or the Shadowbolts. They showed their elements to help Twilight and she learns the having friends is not as bad as she thought.

I guess if a have to find one thing wrong with the opener, it would be how fast we were meeting the characters thought the episode. We do get little hints on who they are and what they want to do in the future, but we spend like two-to-three minutes with them and only know so little about them. And I know why they did this, the future eps would explain what each of them what in the future and what keeps them on their hoofs, but i feel that the intros of each of them was a little rushed. But if that's my only problem with the opener, I have little to come-plane about, for the rest of it was great.

As openers go, it's done a good job. It gave us a taste on what was to come later in the series and looking back at this, it was a great way to bring fans into the show and join these girls on their many adventures around Equestria and maybe beyond. It's shocking that boys as well as girls watch this show, which i think is a good thing, no show has to be made for just one gender, everyone can watch it and see what it has to offer. It's an intro that knew how to introduce us to the series, and to prepare on what might happen as it goes on.

Final Rating: 9/10

Like a lot of pilots for TV shows, this pilot was written by Lauren Faust and aside from being a co-writer on “The Ticket Master,” she hasn’t proceeded to write any further episodes since, also like very many creators of TV shows. Given how bad the Powerpuff Girls episode “Equal Fights” was received from feminists, I was skeptical when approaching this episode. Did this episode succeed in drawing people in? I’m pretty sure the bronies would tell you so, but for me, this pilot episode has several problems.

First and foremost, the episode starts off with this exposition dump about how Princess Luna became jealous of Princess Celestia, and her jealousy consumed her, turning her into Nightmare Moon. Because of this, Celestia had no other choice but to banish her sister to the moon for a thousand years. Unfortunately, the exposition doesn’t stop there. Whatever story the writer seemed to be trying to tell here just seemed to put on hold so that the characters could spout more exposition. Here’s the problem with that: prelude and exposition are not story.

While it may seem as if I’ve been nitpicking so far, I really can’t do anything else. The story elements of this pilot are so insignificant and so disjointed that any comment you make about them is going to seem like nitpicking. I say this because there’s no story here; it’s just exposition. In fact, if you think about it, this whole pilot was entirely exposition. It’s like:

"Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon."

"There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters."

"The book said: when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed."

I mean, it just goes on and on like this right to the end. I don’t understand why they decided to cram all of this exposition into two episodes. This would have been a lot better had the writer made this a season-long story arc. Each character could have their own episode, discovering the Element of Harmony that they represent along the way, and then for the finale, they could all come together to take down Nightmare Moon. Hmm, come to think of it, that would probably make for a good fanfic.

Another problem with the pilot is that a lot of things just felt contrived, from the Summer Sun Celebration being held in Ponyville to all of the future bearers of the Elements of Harmony being in Ponyville and Twilight meeting all of them within one day. I can buy all of them knowing each other seeing as how they all live in Ponyville, but what are the chances that they would all become best friends and learn that they all represent an Element of Harmony? That’s a lot to buy, especially for a pilot.

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If you were to ask a random person about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, they'll say it's a girls show.

The sad fact with that statement is that most humans who discuss the nature of 'MLP' in general (Not just one generation) would ultimately make this the 'first' argument when it comes to a series of magical talking ponies. Although we can't say that we blame them for making that statement either. Ever since the 80s, Hasbro has always meant for 'MLP' to appeal to the female demographic because girls love horses and ponies, who knew? At least that's the argument most board members make and that fact is showed from the nature of how most of these MLP programs stem with more female-oriented stories, the like of which are considered 'safe' choices. Now while we can't always say FIM was 'perfect' in every regard (As for every good episode, there's a bad episode) speaking for myself I can say... come the 2010s, this show changed my mind about 'MLP' in general (Or else I wouldn't be here in FIM overall).

Keep in mind that I’m giving my opinions on each of these episodes.

That being said, just because everyone on this site are fans of MLP does not mean that everyone likes the same things. We have users who 'love' the episodes, and there are some who find a few rather 'unbearable' (More often seeing the worst instead of finding that one trickle of light). And then there are some... who are pretty neutral, they neither love it enthusiastically or hate it for the sake of hating. But I like to believe if you have a really good story with unforgettable characters, and everything else in between (Animation, music, etc.) and the audience are so hooked they want more... the lasting success a show like FIM clearly shows. Hence why it's one of the lucky few to last longer than the typical three season run.

Let's start off with the one that started it all "Friendship is Magic."

Like most shows in comparison to 'Friendship is Magic', what we have is the typical 'introductory' episode(s) set on a first season that stems on the theme of truly getting to know our cast (At least until we are comfortable enough to expand their characteristics in later seasons). While the premise itself is not new, at the time everything with FIM expands itself greatly from other generations. Apart from the names, the characters themselves are new in terms of personality, as well as the landscape (Calling it 'Equestria' rather calling it 'Ponyland' like most MLP shows). As an two-parter, these episodes were all about 'first impressions'. What were these group of ponies required to do to have us believe they were going to stand out from generations prior? Because at the time, this show was either going to be one of the most entertaining programs that brings an assortment of audiences together... or we'd be walking into a cringefest before the first season even finished.

Despite the first two episodes being predicable, we all know it.

The key word to note with this two-parter, as most of us all can agree, is 'predictability'. A formulaic two-parter in lament's terms. We have our protagonist made to go into a town to organize an event. She meets a few of our other main leads. A villain makes their big return to ultimately end part one on a cliff hanger, and then it starts with this big quest to save the world. The two-parter doesn't even hide the fact that these 'ponies' she meets are the ones destined to be the new Guardians of Harmony (Even though we didn't use that term at the time) with Twilight Sparkle taking the lead. In a way they are like the 'Sailor Senshi' where Twilight's leadership is symbolized by being the 'only' member with a Tiara to go with their element, while everypony else gets those fancy necklaces. Course, these would not be 'permanent' additions to their overall appearances in most episodes but we'd soon learn the lore of these treasures as more and more episodes are produced (At least in terms of their significance).

This opener was a great way to start the show, you get to meet the characters, you learn what each of them can do, and you get to understand them as the show goes on.

By itself, I will admit the opener is a decent way to start the show. It's meant to serve as strictly an introduction to the cast. In a manner of 44 minutes (Combing the 22 minutes per episode, not counting the commercial), we're already aware of our characters based on their simplistic personalities. We've come to know the characters we're bound to love and the characters we still needed to grow into. But by this point, the show basically gives us the overall premise of 'FIM' as a whole through this introductory.

I guess if a have to find one thing wrong with the opener, it would be how fast we were meeting the characters thought the episode.

I will agree that the opener is not entirely 'perfect' either. Pacing is often the issue in episodes like this, as there's only so much to cover in such a required timeframe. One minute this happens and we're suddenly jumping to one circumstance just like that. It's like with a snap of a finger, we have to have Twilight meet this pony, then this, and this, and this... that it's almost repetitive. Not to say it's entirely a terrible thing. But we come to understand why some fans argue there's so much they could've done between a certain set of minutes but they decided not to.

As openers go, it's done a good job.

That being said, looking back, I too believe the opener for Season 1 is still fairly decent. For without them, we wouldn't have the series we know today. Although it would take time before a HUGE fandom would explode from this, we'd eventually discover that not just 'women' are engaged with the show but even the 'male' demographic find themselves rooting for these characters. There are so many reasons as to the shocking up-rise in male fans for programs like this, but one thing is certainly: Whatever notes the show hit with just its opener by itself, the results of which clearly show. It's not often we have a show that both men and women can enjoy together and FIM just happened to be one of them. From this point in the show, the series would take any lengths to improve from here on out and sure enough our fans would be returning to their televisions and/or computers hungry for more.