#mylittlepony - #An MLP Re-watch Re-Perspective - Part 1

An MLP Re-watch Re-Perspective - Part 1

Warning: This is going to get a bit long.

I recently have come to the realization that I used to rewatch episodes a lot, but recent seasons I don't rewatch much at all. And now I don't rewatch the older episodes either -- in fact, I haven't really re-watched any of the show since around the end of Season Four, when I moved out of my sister's place and no longer lived with my niece.

As such, I got to wondering how much my opinion on various episodes will have changed over the years. Will episodes I previously disliked suddenly be good? Will episodes I loved before fall flat?

I thought it would be fun to share my experiences, so I sat down and hammered out a brief blurb about each episode before I watched it, and then wrote some after watching to constrast the two perspectives. I intend to also ramble a bit about anything that jumps out to me as interesting, though many of those may be things people already know and I am just slow to catch on.

I have spreadsheets I've written out at various times that rate every episode on a "Bad/Okay/Good" scale [which is more about how much I enjoyed them] and a 0-5 scale [which is intended to be bit more objective on quality], and I'll be comparing against those. Before beginning, I filled out a few of the holes in both spreadsheets (though most of it was already completed, as I've updated both regularly).

With out any further ado,

Friendship Is Magic Pt 1 & 2

Before Watching: I've never been too keen on the show's introductory episodes. They do an adequate job of setting up some of the show's lore, which was what drew me to the show in the first place, but I've always remembered the narrative of the episodes falling flat, especially when it came down to the Mane Six 'demonstrating' their elements. And I've always hated cop-out tools for resolving conflict like the EoH are. I doubt this particular rewatch will shift my opinion any, as I've watched these two episodes more than most.

According to my previous episode rating speadsheet, I've rated these episodes collectively before as Okay and 2/5.

After Watching: The first thing that immediately jumped out at me is the absolute simplicity of the backgrounds. We're really spoiled in recent seasons, comparatively.

In Part 1, I can't help but feel there's some character quirks that have been ironed out since, particularly Spike's apparently lacking vocabulary.

On the subject of Spike, the way his character plays off Twilight is top notch here. There's some other character attributes I find amusing to see evidence of straight away that I've never connected with before. RD is 'practicing for the Wonderbolts', and lazing around doing nothing. Fluttershy is constantly and actively avoiding eye contact.

Pinkie Pie's the odd one out here. I never realized that she has no stated (or apparent) role in the Summer Sun Celebration, which stood out to me for some reason. She threw a party, sure, but it wasn't for the SSC in any official capacity. Also, Pinkie's scenes are characterized by a lot of fast, sharp cuts, which I never took note of before.

One thing that stood out to me as Part 1 comes to a close is that Nightmare Moon appears to be aware of the legends surrounding her. That seems odd, and can only really be explained by Luna having awareness of Equestria during her imprisonment.

Part 1 -- 9 / 10, far better than I remember.

During Part 2, I noticed something peculiar. I think it might have started in Part 1, but I didn't notice it then. Twilight physically cringes every time a pony mentions friendship, as if she's literally terrified of the thought. I also never really noticed that there's a great direction in the library where the camera pans across the Remaining Five, in order, as Twilight recites off the Elements she reads from the book.

Moving further into the episode, though ... things kinda start to fall apart. Twilight is capable of teleporting, so why is she freaked out about falling off a cliff? She's got enough leverage to hang there long enough to get the spell going - AJ has to prompt her to let go. Normally I'd overlook this, as most episodes tend to forget she can teleport, and yet she does so when charging at NMM later in the episode anyway, which just makes it a weirdly placed thing.

When the Manticore arrives, Rarity literally kicks it in the head. I only bring this up because I recall reading the transcript of a panel wherein one of the directors said Hasbro wouldn't let Twilight physically punch Tirek in the face. Feels like a double standard.

Right before Pinkie's song, Applejack makes a manure joke. A literal poop joke, subtle as it might be. This apparently went over my head on every previous viewing.

Steven Magnet seems fucking huge compared to his later appearances. Not that he's small then, either.

A lot of the facial expressions really deliver quite well, leading me to feel that the recent trend of super-exaggerated facial expressions is actually a step back for the series. They're funny at first, but they've grown tired. I love seeing the creativity in 'normal' expressions.

Right before NMM appears at the castle, the rest of the Mane Six leave the room for like ... three seconds. I can't figure out what narrative purpose that serves, as NMM teleports Twilight away moments later, rendering their location irrelevant.

It's curious that Twilight seems disoriented after teleporting in her encounter with NMM. I don't think she's disoriented by any other teleport, and many of them are done with far less preparation.

Why is Twilight shocked that Luna is Celestia's sister? She literally read this in a book at the start of Part 1. The rest of the Mane Six make some sense, but Twilight makes none at all. Also, I still think this is the best Luna design.

This episode is a big step back from Part 1, mostly hamstrung by Rarity and Applejack's connections to their elements being presented so poorly. I'm not keen on Pinkie Pie and RD's either, but they're at least coherent. Despite all that, I still enjoyed the episode far more than I recall on previous viewings.

Part 2 -- 7/10, better than I remember

The Ticket Master

Before Watching: I've only watched this episode a scant few times despite its age. I remember being annoyed by it, but I don't recall much else. My spreadsheets say Bad and 0/5, so I apparently really didn't like it.

After Watching: Is it just me, or is Celestia's letter to Twilight at the beginning of the episode extremely over-formal? Did Celestia literally just send an advertisement and scribble some extra notes on it?

The sequences of the Mane Six begging for the tickets brings a lot of observations.

1) Dash mentions her 'signature moves' a couple of times this episode. I don't think they ever come up again.

2) Pinkie Pie's reflection during her song moves independently of her real self, which might be the first firm instance of her reality-bending weirdness.

3) It's still strange to me that Blueblood is never mentioned again after Season One, but being Celestia's nephew really needs a canon explanation. Rarity claims marrying Blueblood would make her a Princess, so being an alicorn is not a requisite thing. This logic also means Shining Armor is formally a Prince -- is that ever mentioned?

4) Fluttershy actually flutters during her daydream of the castle gardens - I don't think I've ever seen a pony fly quite like that anywhere else in the series, but it looks super cute and I really wish it was a defining part of her character to fly like that (and, given her name, may have been intended as such but never implemented?)

She also gets unexpectedly angry at points in the episode, which shows a weird inconsistency with her character only a few episodes in. I guess it's no surprise that her characterization has suffered throughout the series.

5) Rarity wants to go to the Gala in matching outfits? That seems out of character to me, but whatever.

At the end of the episode, each pony's ticket levitates with them as they leave. While Rarity and Twilight's horns are both lit, the tickets are in a golden aura, but neither Twilight nor Rarity have a golden aura with their magic, and they seem to be responding to the will of the ponies 'taking' them. Obviously, the non-unicorns shouldn't be able to do this. Do the tickets carry magic of their own? Who is levitating the other four?

7/10, way better than I remember. I'm really curious why I hated this episode so much before.

Applebuck Season

Before Watching: I have seen this episode a lot - probably more than any other episode, since it was my son's favorite episode for the longest time, and I've always found it mildly amusing, though not particularly great. My spreadsheets show it as Okay and 3/5, which seems to corroborate that.

After Watching: Parts of this episode are really funny. Parts of it are forced. I think I enjoyed it less this time than I have before, but I didn't dislike it. I don't really have that many notes on this one.

I still think the exchange with the stampeding cows is really bizarre in hindsight, though at this stage in the show's run there is nothing wrong with it. It's more an issue that the cows are largely ignored afterward. I also find it strange that RD has literally zero concern for AJ's physical well-being while she faceplants repeatedly from 20 feet up.

Sweet Celestia, just how long was Twilight's speech going to be? That stack of note cards is massive. On the subject of Twilight, she teleports again in this episode. If you take Part 1 and 2 of Friendship is Magic as a single episode, she's teleported in literally every episode of the series up to this point.

One thing that's clear to me after these first few episodes is that Spike is noticeably more childlike than in recent episodes, which really does make his unrequited crush on Rarity a lot easier to process from Rarity's perspective: Why address the crush of a little boy? He'll grow out of it, won't he? That the show continues to avoid Rarity's opinion on the matter as he seems to mature a bit really feels off.

Has Redheart's cutie mark always had the hearts in it? I know they changed it due to a complaint from Red Cross, but I don't recall it having hearts around it before, which also makes it strange that Red Cross would complain. Whatever, I kinda like the new mark anyway.

6/10, about what I expected. This is the first episode that didn't really change my perceptions at all.

Apparently, at some point, reddit increased the character limit on posts. I never noticed until now, cuz this went super long and I was shocked I was able to post it.

Submitted May 24, 2018 at 07:43PM by LunaticSongXIV
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/8ly27f/an_mlp_rewatch_reperspective_part_1/?utm_source=ifttt