MLP Reviews

After having a big hit with the pilot episode, the team at DHX hope to have the same result with their next episode, The Ticket Master, and while it was a good follow-up, I thought it was decent. Why do I think that, well, let’s look at what we got.

After helping Applejack with her apples, Twilight receives a letter from Princess Celestia with two tickets inviting her and a friend to the Grand Galloping Gala, a big fancy party held in Canterlot. When Twilight’s friends hear about this, they try to convince her to take one of them to the gala, but Twilight worries on who to pick, afraid she would upset the others, and the fact that each one keeps doing favors to get on her good side is not helping either.

I get that the joke of the episode is that everyone is driving Twilight crazy about the ticket nonsense, I didn’t get a lot of laughs out of it, except for this one scene with Fluttershy:

Fluttershy: Oh, well, hello Twilight. I hope you don't mind, but we're all doing a little spring cleaning for you.

Twilight Sparkle: It's summer.
Fluttershy: Oh, well, better late than never, right?

And while I find the plot weak, I can understand the message it was trying to give, which is not to pressure your friends when they can’t figure out how to make everyone happy, and I like that Twilight sends the tickets back to Celestia saying that she won’t go if all of her friends can’t go. My main issue with that is why didn’t Twilight just tell Celestia for more tickets in the first place, where in the end, that’s what happened. But I know that if she did, then we wouldn’t have a story.

While not the best follow-up to the pilot, it at least tried to give us something decent, and the Grand Galloping Gala will be brought up in other episodes this season, but I’ll get to them when we get there. I give the episode effort for what it’s doing, but I don’t need a ticket to watch something so dull.

Final Rating: 6/10

The pilot showed the Mane Six forming what amounts to a sisterly bond over the course of one evening. That certainly was not reflected in this episode. In this episode’s defense, this plot isn’t exactly new. A lot of cartoons have used this plot, even an episode from one of the previous My Little Pony generations. That still doesn’t make this episode any good.

What makes this episode particularly annoying is how selfish the Mane Six come off as. Instead of giving Twilight some peace and quiet to think about her decision, they decide to constantly bother her, never giving her a moment’s peace. She can’t even eat lunch without them bothering her about the stupid ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala. What makes this worse is the fact that they’re trying to one-up each other at every turn. Applejack uses food to bribe Twilight into giving her the ticket. Fluttershy cleans Twilight’s house from top to bottom. Rarity makes her a dress for the Gala. And Pinkie Pie outright demands that Twilight give her the extra ticket.

In the end, though, the Mane Six end up apologizing. If this wasn’t a family-oriented show, I’m guessing Rainbow Dash would have said something along the lines of, “I got the ticket. I got the ticket, and you all can suck it. You all can suck it.” Twilight decides to not even bother going to the Gala, sending her two tickets back. Celestia sends her six tickets so that she and all of her friends can go. I think this is the episode where Celestia got her nickname: “Trollestia.” She should have known that sending two tickets would have resulted in the Mane Six attempting to kill each other over the other ticket, so why didn’t she bother to send Twilight six tickets to begin with? Furthermore, how does Celestia have a nephew? Does she have a brother that we don’t know about? Plot holes like this really annoy the crap out of me.

Like the pilot, this episode had a severe problem with its story, but, aside from that, this episode was okay.

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The Ticket Master, and while it was a good follow-up, I thought it was decent.

While I'm not going to argue and say that 'Ticket Master' was a better introductory episode than even the two-parter, I can understand where the review is coming from.

I get that the joke of the episode is that everyone is driving Twilight crazy about the ticket nonsense, I didn’t get a lot of laughs out of it.

The real issue stemming from this episode may not be so much that the episode wasn't funny. Because looking at it, there are at least a 'few' moments I get a chuckle out of (Like the 'Benny Hills' reference near the climax of the episode). I think what was really the problem is again the formulaic approach. Our protagonists receives two tickets, one for herself and one for a friend, and suddenly every pony is gunning to convince her to hand her a ticket. The desire to go to this once-a-year event is so strong for every pony, they do 'anything' to get the ticket. And for those questioning if we've heard this story before... that's because it 'has' been done. The real challenge was whether this episode would do anything to stand out?

And while I find the plot weak, I can understand the message it was trying to give

As with most first seasons, there's no guarantee that every plot is going to resonate strongly with their friends. For we must keep in mind that as a first season, we're still getting to know our characters as a whole and as the plot shows... the writers were playing it safe with something simple. Not to say that the story itself was bad because I for one don't really dislike it. I do agree that the message they were trying to show was there: About never putting pressure on your friends, trying to make them reach a decision where everyone is happy. Most of us 'can' relate to this scenario because at one point we've been through Twilight's hoofs before. But it's the questionable motives that ignites this story that may drive a wedge between fans. Some will argue there is a good reason behind it, others will merely say 'Why?!'.

While not the best follow-up to the pilot, it at least tried to give us something decent

Do I agree that this is not the 'best' follow-up to the pilot? In some ways, I do understand where this review is coming from. Any problems within the episode truly shows... but I give my respect to the team for the 'effort' to give us something decent. In a way, this episode was meant to casually throw in an arc that would come into play during this first season. The real challenge after this episode is how does the season approve after we just had a 'two-part' opener and our first singles episode. All we could do at this point was keep our fingers crossed and pray...