Analysis of Season Three · 8:15am Feb 23rd, 2013
Blogger: http://blogofpony.blogspot.com/2013/02/analysis-of-season-three.html
Season 3 has left us almost as quickly as it appeared, and once again we are facing many, many months. But even with comics and that...spinoff thing in the future, this season still waits to be utterly dissected by the scalpel of overthinking. So let's start picking this thing apart and see what makes it tick.
And like before, remember that these are all my personal opinions. You may agree or disagree, and feel free to express your own thoughts in the comments, but keep things civil.
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SEASON OVERVIEW:
The season opens with news of a new land suddenly coming into existence to the north of Equestria: the Crysal Empire. This in turn sets up one of the running themes of the season, as the story is quickly tied into the events of the previous seasons. Twilight is still panicking about Celestia telling her to take a test, Cadance and Shining Armor are still around, and Princess Luna has returned to voice her own concerns about Celestia's plan and to offer to enter the conflict directly. We are also introduced to the Crystal Ponies, a race of crystalline equines who were enslaved by the evil King Sombra before vanishing for a thousand years after his defeat and reduction to smoke.
The Mane 6 and Spike head up north to meet up with the advance party, but things quickly go wrong. Shining Armor is attacked by Sombra on the way back, and his horn is corrupted so that he can't use his magic. Cadance has been using her own power to repel Sombra's corruption, but has been awake for days with almost no food or rest and is losing her strength rapidly. The Crystal Ponies have had their memories erased save for Sombra's rule, and are so depressed that they can't muster the strength to even shine. Their library research uncovers a Crystal Fair that was used to rally the land before in times of crisis, including a Crystal Heart as its centerpiece. The Fair works at first, but then Twilight discovers that the Crystal Heart was actually an artifact powered by the love and hope of the Crystal Ponies, and without it, there's no chance of stopping Sombra.
With Cadance about to lose power, Sombra starting to break through, and the other ponies unaware of just how doomed they are, Twilight takes Spike to find the Crystal Heart and save the land by herself, thus completing Celestia's test. Her friends hold the fort as best they can, keeping ponies away from the fake Crystal Heart Twilight made while providing as much entertainment as possible. Twilight's search reveals a secret passage in Sombra's throne room, which leads to a deep pit with a door to one's worst fear; in this case, Twilight's fear of Celestia abandoning her. Spike saves her from this danger, however, and they are both able to break free of its enchantment and reach another endless staircase to a tall tower, at the top of which lies the Crystal Heart.
However, Cadance's magic has failed, Sombra has broken through, the fake heart has been revealed, and everything seems doomed. Even worse, Sombra had installed a trap around the Crystal Heart; the minute Twilight grabs it, she is encased in a cage of black crystal, the Heart flying away to land at Spike's side. With no way to teleport out or escape in time, she surrenders herself to the inevitable and throws the test, telling Spike to rush down there and give Cadance the Heart while he still can. Spike does so, with Cadance grabbing him in midair after being tossed by Shining Armor and revealing herself to be the Crystal Princess. The Heart is activated once again, restoring the land and destroying Sombra utterly.
Twilight returns to Canterlot, disgraced at her failure, but contrary to her fears, Celestia tells her that she had indeed passed a far greater test than saving an empire. She delegated duties and refused to risk losing the day simply to preserve her own glory, and thus, she has passed the test with flying colors. The triumphant group returns to the train to Ponyville, while Celestia and Luna bring out an old book...
The rest of the season is then devoted to the ponies going about their daily lives, with Twilight practicing more difficult spells than ever and learning to think outside the box to stop a brainwashed Trixie, Rainbow Dash realizing just how much she's grown, Pinkie Pie being contrasted with one-dimensional clones of herself, Fluttershy outplaying a God of Chaos and reforming him, Applejack holding her family reunion and dealing with an overly-enthusiastic Spike, and Rarity being herself. Along the way, they successfully get the Equestria Games Committee to appoint the Crystal Empire as the hosts. And finally, at the very end, Twilight receives the mysterious book, which turns out to be Starswirl the Bearded's last journal, and is tasked with finishing the unfinished spell at the end...which Twilight casts without thinking, disjointing reality and switching about her friends' destinies.
Her friends are miserable in her new roles, but because their memories have been altered, they can't think of anything but doing what their Cutie Marks tell them to do. Twilight is unable to think of a way out until Spike tries to give her a pep talk, giving her the inspiration she needs. She tracks each of her friends down and reintroduces them to what they've always loved. Before long, all the ponies are restored, Ponyville is saved, and Twilight has finished the spell...just in time to be vaporized by the Elements of Harmony. In reality, though, she was transported to a celestial plane where Princess Celestia congratulates her on proving herself worthy for the next step in her journey.
Twilight floats down from the sky, now an Alicorn and a Princess of Equestria. She is a student no longer, but rather, Celestia's equal. Still, Twilight stands by her friends, and even in her new role, she knows that everything is going to be fine...
THEMES:
Growing Up: Where Seasons One and Two kind of meandered about regarding characters achieving their hopes and dreams, Season Three advances several of these fronts. Twilight's development is the most pronounced, as she learns about delegating responsibilities and managing the team in “The Crystal Empire,” looks outside the box to stop Trixie in “Magic Duel,” and finally learns to control her neurosis in “Games Ponies Play.” Rainbow Dash becomes much closer to joining the Wonderbolts in “Wonderbolt Academy,” which also shows how much she's grown since the series began. Scootaloo became much closer to Rainbow Dash in “Sleepless in Ponyville,” and as a consequence has gained a new pillar of strength. And on a more metaphysical level, the ponies are writing far fewer letters to Celestia, with only two being sent this season. The ponies are starting to grow beyond the need for a central mother figure to guide them through lessons about making and keeping friends, and instead are becoming model citizens in their own rights.
Redemption: Two long-standing antagonist characters, Trixie and Discord, are redeemed through the season, but in different ways. Trixie was obsessed with overcoming Twilight and redeeming herself in the eyes of the public after the shameful events in “Boast Busters” ruined her reputation, but in the process has her body and mind hijacked by a corrupting artifact until she's little more than a petty, insane tyrant. After being bested once again and having the artifact removed, she becomes far more apologetic and resolves to become more humble and apologetic. Discord, meanwhile, attempted to con Fluttershy into thinking he had reformed so that she would refuse to use her Element on him, thus riding him of anything that could impede his return to dominance. What he had not counted on, however, was Fluttershy's kindness actually getting through to him, making him feel something for the first time and bringing his chaos to an end. He resolves to use his powers for good (most of the time), but is still rejected by the community save for Fluttershy. In both cases, however, the underlying characters are not altered; they learn their lessons and resolve to become better, but are still identifiable as themselves. The only villain not to be redeemed was Sombra, but it's arguable whether he could even be considered alive by the time the Crystal Heart destroyed him. His intelligence had certainly waned over the centuries, reducing him to little more than a single-minded monster seeking to regain what once was his.
STRENGTHS:
Continuity: While continuity was present in Season Two, Season Three is where it truly reached its strongest. Many episodes retain links to previous events, from simple background scenes to entire storylines. The Great and Powerful Trixie returns for revenge, Rainbow Dash tries out for the Wonderbolts, Scootaloo grows closer to Rainbow Dash, and even the pets return. But “Magical Mystery Cure” takes things even farther, attempting to tie almost all of the series into its pivotal moment and showing just how far Twilight has come from the socially awkward bookworm who didn't want friends.
Return of the Group Dynamic: While not as strong as it was in the first season, Season Three reintroduced the idea of nearly all of the ponies at least making an appearance in all episodes. While not all of them got speaking roles all the time, it still showed how the ponies would react to the various situations around them and helped give things more of a community vibe. When you see the Mane 6 standing and watching the parade in “One Bad Apple,” you don't have to have them say mandatory lines; you know who they are, and their non-verbal responses are spot-on for the situation going on around them. Likewise, “Wonderbolt Academy” tried to show us how the others were worried about Dash and what was going on in Ponyville while she was out of the episode, where in Season Two they would never appear once and everything would be entirely about Dash and Dust.
Utilized Underused Characters: This is a bit more of a toss-up, as these episodes tend not to be all that popular. Still, the season addressed the lowered profiles of Applejack and Spike from previous seasons and attempted to give them more to do. They both receive one episode to themselves, and then shared the starring role in a third. The season also addressed the fate of Applejack's parents in about the only way they could get away with, with Word of God officially marking them as passed on.
Willingness to Experiment: This season showed some attempts to toy and play with the confines of the series and the limitations placed on the production team by Hasbro. “Just for Sidekicks” and “Games Ponies Play” ran synchronous to each other, and have already been masterfully edited into a single episode with little to no obvious changes. “Magical Mystery Cure” was a full-on musical, which helped to patch along the story at a breakneck speed. McCarthy has already promised more along these lines in the future, which, if executed properly, can help maintain the series' freshness and open up new possibilities.
WEAKNESSES:
Weak Opener and Contentious Ender: “The Crystal Empire” is so far the most poorly-received season opener, and will likely remain that way for some time. Sombra was a fine idea executed poorly, the story ultimately focused on Twilight to the detriment of the group, and much of the foreshadowing was never acted on until the finale. And speaking of that, everyone has an opinion on Alicorn Twilight. Was it a horrendous decision that'll destroy the show, or will it lead to new episodes and concepts? How much control does Hasbro have? Just whether or not the episode was a good one is a matter of personal preference, and merely speaking of it can ignite flame wars dwarfed only by the likes of the Sopranos finale and Joel vs. Mike.
Poor Showing of Rarity: Rarity didn't get an episode this season, and indeed was barely used at all. Not helping matters was the fact that she was more or less ignored in the second season after “Sweet and Elite,” and that her roles this season were mostly played for comedy. According to the Writer's Panel at Unicon 2013, Rarity was going to be the focal point of Spike's unwelcome assistance in “Spike at Your Service,” but the idea was ultimately rejected because it painted her in too negative a light and, by the time it was finished, she was reduced back to comedy sidekick status.
Overambitious Scripts: This is a bit of a gray area, but many of the scripts this season aimed for the stars, almost made it, but then got slammed by a passing UFO. “The Crystal Empire,” “Magic Duel,” “Keep Calm and Flutter On,” and “Magical Mystery Cure” all fell victim to the show's time limits, with rushed conclusions that rendered the episodes unenjoyable as a whole in the eyes of many. “Wonderbolt Academy” had a very different ending that actually explained what happened at the end of the Academy itself, but it was cut for time, which was perhaps the fate of these other episodes.
Thirteen Episodes: Beyond all else, this is what crippled the season. With only half the number of possible episodes, every mistake hurt twice as much. An episode like “Spike at Your Service” might have been laughed off in Season Two, but with fewer episodes to deaden the blow it had a much more significant impact. Likewise, several poor episodes in a row could kill the series in the eyes of fans, as their flaws become magnified.
GREAT EPISODES:
Because of Season 3's short episode number, it's only appropriate that we shorten the number of episodes on both lists. Thus, we will only be counting down the top and bottom three episodes. Everything else is just about the middle.
1. Too Many Pinkie Pies (Episode 3): Out of all of Dave Polsky's many contributions this season, this was the best one of the entire series. “Too Many Pinkie Pies” is practically a counterpoint to the Pinkie Pie of Season Two. While her manic energy is still present, as is her horrifying fear of losing her friends, she is examined and expanded upon in a meaningful way. Pinkie is more than just a fun-loving sociopath, as many fanfics and Season Two depicted her as; she cares deeply about all her friends and wants them to be a part of her fun, not the butt of it. The Pinkie Clones, on the other hand, are utterly flat and straightforward, showing what many of us think Pinkie is like. While this episode had some headscratching moments, the good far outweighs the bad for me.
2. Sleepless in Ponyville (Episode 6): The season's contribution to many “Best Of” lists, “Sleepless in Ponyville” is the first time Scootaloo gets a chance at bat, and finally cements Scootaloo's relationship with Rainbow Dash. The episode makes very efficient use of its time, going over Scootaloo's fears and descent into sleep deprivation at a perfect pace, while her relationship with Dash is presented less as the negative thing Faust wanted, but rather as a chance to show Dash's less brash and more loving side. Luna is also used rather well here, giving her a domain well outside of Celestia's influence while also letting her perform much of the same function in her own way. All in all, a fantastic example of character advancement and a wonderful story.
3. Wonderbolt Academy (Episode 7): Coming right off the heels of the other episode is Dash's first steps towards becoming an actual Wonderbolt. Much like “Too Many Pinkie Pies,” this episode serves to contrast Rainbow with a less-savory counterpart, only instead of clones, they created an entirely new character. Lightning Dust is Dash without her sense of loyalty, a skilled but utterly ruthless pony who simply does not care who gets hurt in the middle of her stunts. And while the animation is stellar and the flight scenes very, very well done, it's the writing (by Merriweather Williams, no less) that really propels this episode. Even the annoying scenes with Pinkie aren't quite that bad a second time through, as they help to show what's going on with the rest of the ponies while Dash is partnered with her darker half. All in all, a very good episode.
Runner Up: Magic Duel (It was a close match between this and Magical Mystery Cure, but this episode was a bit more enjoyable on rewatching. That, and you'd probably all kick my ass if I picked MMC.)
NOT-SO-GOOD EPISODES
With the good comes the bad, so let's take a look...
1. Spike at Your Service (Episode 9): This is the only episode this entire season that I hated. I absolutely loathe this travesty. Not just because it's bad, but because it's lazy. Nothing in “Spike at Your Service” is the least bit entertaining, engaging, or creative. Spike is written as an incompetent moron, despite the fact that he's been shown to do the same damn things every episode up to this point and be GOOD AT THEM. Applejack is utterly useless throughout this thing, serving only to justify recycling one of the most boring plots in the world because the writers couldn't think of a damn thing better to do. The CG Timberwolves look awful, and the way the giant one is defeated is just...dumb and anticlimactic. I hate this episode with every fiber of my being, and the only thing I will give in its favor is that “Over a Barrel” and “Mysterious Mare-Do-Well” are still worse than it.
2. Keep Calm and Flutter On (Episode 10): The Discord episode...hoo boy. Back when I reviewed this, I said that I didn't know what to make of it. Now I do, and it's...mostly meh. Discord's antics aren't that amusing a second time around; most of what made him work was that he was so out of left field that he threw everyone's expectations off. But Fluttershy is excellent this episode, a few of Discord's jokes are amusing, and I kind of liked his master plan. But then the episode shoots itself in the foot with the ending, which simply does not work with how quickly it happens. I get the idea, and can respect the intentions, but it requires us to disregard everything Discord did in “Return of Harmony,” and that just cannot be done. So sorry, but this one makes the list.
3. Games Ponies Play (Episode 12): This one is weird, because I actually do like quite a bit of the episode. The humor is very good, as expected from a Polsky episode, I loved the small flashes of character scattered throughout (from Rainbow Dash wanting to live vicariously through the Crystal Empire to Shining Armor coaching the track team, not to mention the chicken farmer's claustrophobia), and I really enjoyed Twilight's breathing exercises. But the actual plot in this one is pretty damn weak. Like “Spike at Your Service,” it's a very old story trope played totally straight, and the humor simply isn't enough to save this one from the list. It just barely scrapes on, but still, it's on here.
Runner Up: Apple Family Reunion (I almost went with this one, but GPP had enough go right to make the stuff that went wrong look worse. AFR is just dull.)
CONCLUSION:
Season Three is...um...well...
Season Three is a mixed bag to say the least. Given the way the finale played out, plus the number of writers that just came back for the next season, it's pretty clear that this was going to be the last season. The most likely scenario was that Hasbro was hedging its bets by giving it thirteen episodes; if it stayed popular, another season, but if not, then they had their syndication number. The staff was trimmed down to almost nobody, and the writers were almost entirely gone, with Polsky taking up more than his fair share of the writing credits this time around.
A lot of the ideas bounced around this season were good, and some were executed well, but there were still other issues that crept up. The front half was filled with classic episode after classic episode, but the backside was a lot more barren. While I liked “Just for Sidekicks” and “Magical Mystery Cure,” the rest of the final six were either bad or boring. But none of that compares to the nightmarish explosion that was Alicorn Twilight. To this date, nobody has a clear idea of what to make of that moment, with responses ranging from paranoid rants about Hasbro controlling the writers via psychic powers to the staff just being incompetent without Saint Faust's holy vision. And still others liked the change, didn't like being told that it was bad, started attacking people who didn't say anything, and then the Brony fandom collapsed in on itself for a good while. The dust is still settling, but things won't be back to normal until Season Four begins cleaning up.
Overall, though, I liked Season Three. It was a couple steps below Season Two, but there is quite a bit to actually enjoy here. Characters were allowed to develop and advance, the front half has a lot of good episodes in it, and several concepts were tested here that I would love to see in future episodes. Continuity became a much bigger concern, and for all the claims of the evils of pandas (and they are pretty evil), it really never came across as that. (That Rarity/Octavia duet people kept whining that they were promised but never got? That would be shameless pandering.)
So that leaves us with the question: will Season Four improve? So far, I'm cautiously optimistic, especially after the recent panel at Unicorn cleared up some issues I had surrounding the finale's conception and reasoning. Alicorn Twilight is seemingly a permanent change, but Season Four's opening is planned to acknowledge Twilight's fears and concerns after the Coronation and (hopefully) answer some leftover questions we all have. Until then, all we can do is hope for the best or leave the fandom. Either way works.
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Hope you enjoyed. Flamethrowers are to your left. You may begin torching when ready.
If Hasbro was preparing for the end with S3 (which you speculate is part of the reason the quality kinda dropped) but decided to continue with a full 26 episode S4, I am excited to see what is coming. I am also looking forward to the new dynamics Alicorn Twi will bring. If you want to be as "hopefully optimistic" as possible then Twilight being a princess will probably end up giving us more Celestia and Luna. That is always a good thing.
Hey, I thought the Rarity/Octy duet would be cool. :-) The show is musical enough that I'd really be interested to see what they could do with an episode that involved Octy (or Vinyl, Lyra, or another music-based pony). And Rarity was underutilized.
Mostly agree with your ep. picks. I liked Magic Duel a bit more, though. It was fun, and it featured the return of Trixie.
Ah yes I remember watching the Season 3 Promo's, back in the day. And look at us now, waiting for the next Season.. Hehe. Well with Twilight being a princess and all.. I am seemingly curious to what the writers have in stall for us. Will there be anymore friendship letters? What's going to happen to Twilight? I don't have must to say for Season 4, but I for sure know, that it's going to be interesting.
Also.. more Luna!
I strongly disagree on Spike at Your Service...essentially in every single aspect. But that's ok, opinions are meant to be different
I wouldn't say I disliked "Keep Calm and Flutter On", but I agree that the thing that stuck with me the most was the discrepancy with Discord's being capable of redemption (or at least redemption within a short span of time) in this episode and his portrayal in "Return of Harmony", which was as close as one can get to a literal sociopath in a show like this. A lot of defenders of the redemption claim that the writers, being the creators of the character, know his personality or characterization better than any of us, but the problem with that argument is the idea that a creator cannot lose sight of the original characterization is incorrect and the fact that when a story and its characters have multiple writers over a period of time, writers can get the characterization "wrong".
If anyone's interested in a Discord story that actually works, I would recommend for Hoopy McGee's "The Keepers of Discord": http://www.fimfiction.net/story/25125/the-keepers-of-discord. Part of what works is that the redemptive process takes place over the span of decades, put that's not all of it. A very important aspect is that Discord, for the bulk of the story, remains petrified, creating two important factors. The first is, even more so than "Keep Calm and Flutter On", he has no choice but to tolerate the redemptive process. He is incapable of even attempting, unlike "Keep Calm and Flutter On", of subverting it. The second factor is that, being petrified, he suffers from isolation, and needing some form of contact and entertainment, begins to enjoy the ministrations of one of his keepers in particular (not like that, get your minds out of the gutter. She simply talks to him). This leads him to being susceptible to the positive influence of his keeper. Even so, it takes these convergence of factors to redeem him.
Switch incendiaries. Light 'em up!
I still believe that the worst episode was "Games Ponies Play." We finally get to see the Crystal Empire again, but all we learn about it is that they need power tools to do their hair. It just really struck me as a missed opportunity.
I do fully agree with the plot being ineffective. The entire cast picks up the Idiot Ball and runs rampant with it in a gag that really should have ended within minutes. Every minute it went on was just pure cringing at how they could possibly be that stupid.
Aside from that, it had some very amusing moments (Rainbow Dash sliding down the glass was hilarious), but it just stood out as the most offensively bad episode.
And whatever happened to that rumour of Fluttershy getting turned into a dragon?
857628
That was killed almost immediately after it started. Apparently whoever was being interviewed mis-remembered "Dragonshy."
I know a better burn up thingy:
Lemons.
I will burn your house down, with the lemons!
I personally loved Season 3. I dare say it might be my favorite season. Nothing makes my heart grow three sizes more than seeing characters I love grow into who they dream to be. And its mostly that sense of growth is what makes me love this season so much.
There were definitely a lot of surprises; like returning villains, a GREAT Spike episode, and of course Alicorn Twilight. Yes there were also some downfalls, like great episodes that had to be rushed, an AWESOME villain that needed to be used more (I'm still hoping Sombra is still alive and will cause all kinds of hell for Middle Earth......I mean Equestria) but I personally didn't find an episode I would say I "didn't like". (I'm easily more forgiving of SaYS than you. I usually just watch the show to enjoy it, and their is no episode that I "hate". BUT to eaches own)
With regards to what the fourth season will bring; I am excited and happily optimistic. I have both hopes and a few worries mainly being mishandling of the change in the group dynamic.
But really those fears and pretty much EVERYONE ELSES fears are for one main reason: change.
Why did we fear Alicorn Twilight so much? My main theory is because we were afraid she would change and become a different character. But as shown in MMC she is the same Twilight we all know I and fell in love with from episode 1; and as someone who's heart swells everytime I watch that amazing finale I can only accept it with opens arms and/or hooves. This is a new thing yes, but in the words of Anton Ego from Ratatouille...
"The new needs friends."
So I think we should all take these months to not only anticipate the new coming to us, but also accept the new that is with us right now.
Its gonna be months before Season 4, and I will read the fics, talk about the show, find the art, maybe start my own fics, or just make a new friend in the mean time. I have absolute faith faith in the cast and crew of this show to bring us back to Equestria once again.
This was a great season and here's hoping they give us an even better one.
Till then...
A Faithful Brony,
Movie Reel
P.S. Twilight herself told us that everything was gonna be fine. I don't know about you butI would take her word for it.
Can't agree with putting Too Many Pinkies on the list of best episodes, like not at all. Which is a darn shame -- Pinkie is after all my second favorite of the M6, so in a season with so little Rarity this should have been shoe in. Admittedly, the episode really did go a long way towards codifying what she is and isn't (though I still sharply disagree that S2 was so damning to her character that she needed any such redemption). Still, I can't forgive it for the way it portrayed her friends being so woefully unable to distinguish her from all the identically mono-dimensional clones, not one of whom showed any variance from another. As a first season episode, that could have worked and this could have been a great episode where everypony learns not to judge a book by its cover, but the idea that after so much time her friends still don't seem to know her very well just kills it for me. Worst of all it's Pinkie who gets stuck writing the friendship lesson at the end, and while managing the time you spend with friends is a good lesson, it gets trampled to death under just how little those so-called friends seem to know about her in the first place.
At the very least, I wish Rainbow Dash had been more meaningfully involved in the resolution, as episodes like Griffin The Brush Off and Party of One have generally established them as being pretty close. In the end though, I find this episode to be not really all that different than most other Polsky episode: amusing gags with a fairly compelling conceptual buildup, but which spectacularly fumbles the ball at the end in just about the most shallow and contrived way possible and so largely invalidating whatever could have been considered good about the episode. The only thing that saves this episode from being the worst of S3 for me is KCaFO, but my detest for that particular episode is so great as to tempt me into just writing it completely out of my personal head-canon, so that's hardly much of a saving grace.
...and yes, that means that even Spike at your Service bugs me less, though it's a VERY close running, ultimately coming down to it being more acceptable in my eye to assassinate what little character Spike has ever had than to assassinate pretty much all the rest of the cast by showing them seemingly holding such a purely superficial view of who Pinkie is (oddly coincidental enough, Spike is the only one who comes close to avoiding that mistake).
For me One Bad Apple is by far a much more deserving episode to get on this list (probably my pick for best of the season, and likely even a strong contender for the entire series as a whole -- if I discounted all the Rarity episodes
), so it's lack of even getting a runner up slot is to me something of a serious crime. Babs, I think, is by far the best "one-shot" character in the show (yes I know she returned shortly thereafter in Apple Family Reunion, but we didn't know that would be coming so quickly, and really her appearance there was largely just a token acknowledgment that she still existed). Compared to other characters of her ilk, she actually possess a degree of real depth, that makes her sympathetic without having to come up with contrived fanon in the way that characters like Trixie and Gilda do. Still, even if you don't personally like the episode that much, most of all I think it's a shame that Babs Seed didn't even warrant a mention under your theme of redemption heading because of all the characters who got that treatment this season hers was, in my opinion, by far the most exceptionally well handled, even if only because her character was specifically crafted with redemption in mind.
Are you joking here? Cause I really hope you are just invoking melodramatic hyperbole to make a point, because quite honestly I just haven't observed anything nearly that bad. Sure there are some pretty strong and even contentious feelings in the aftermath of Twilight's ascension, but that's nothing new. By and large the fandom seems to be chugging along just fine at more or less its usual pace. It's not even close to the overenthusiastic euphoria of the previous two finales, but really not all that bad for what was really just a weak season all together.
Heh. For the most part, I wholly love this blog.
My personal favorite new character in this season? Babs Seed. My fave episodes, consequently, of this season, are One Bad Apple and Apple Family Reunion. ... Okay, what's with my taste? First Gilda, now Babs?
My favorite of the Mane Six this season? Honestly... Rainbow Dash. It's shown here that Dash has come to mature and know her limits, and no longer has that same 'I can do anything you throw at me' attitude, and even a certain disliked, Spike-related episode shows that, alongside Wonderbolt Academy.
My least liked episode? Um... Keep Calm and Flutter On comes in second, much like for you. Out of the two redemption episodes, somehow Discord's felt far more rushed and less... complete... to me. There's a fanfic that, in my opinion, did it a bit better, "Broken Spirit" by Cryssy-miu. In hindsight, the catalyst of events for the fanfic, Twilight getting so angry she ends up heavily injuring Discord to a point that even Celestia, previously terrified of the thought of him being loose, is worried... is a bit laughably absurd, but the fanfic as a whole pulled off the whole 'redemption' thing better, and even throws in a bit of Nature vs Nurture.
Spike at Your Service was the least-liked for me, and no explanation is needed. I found the gag of Spike building the boulder tower hilarious -and it does break the episode by showing him doing something competently- but... yeah, it was mediocre, at most, due to lack of continuity.
Too Many Pinkies all the way, but I would replace Wonderbolt Academy with Just for Sidekicks. If WA had the original planned ending.... Also, I really like Apple Family Reunion. It's number two.
Raise this barn, raise this barn. 1. 2. 3. 4.~ 
I liked the Timberking...though he was poorly animated and did get defeated way too easily...but it was the only part of the show that made me laugh.
Overall...I'm hoping that from this season, they learn that the 22 minute time limit is perhaps a bit too constricting. What I'd like from Season 4 is if they'd do what Enterprise did in its fourth season, and start making little "mini-arcs" of two- and three-parters, with a few standalone episodes scattered throughout.
My only disagreement about Spike At Your Service is that I think it was worse than Over A Barrel. Otherwise, yeah I agree completely.
There was a comment from the writer's panel about Magic Duel that I thought was interesting. Apparently the bit about wheels was intended to represent Trixie going all Howard Hughes crazy.
I agree with a lot of what you said, except I don't hate Spike at your service but do agree it was a weak episode and while I agree that Too Many Pinkie Pies is good and a reminder that Dave Polsky has some talent, I don't think it was THAT great. As far as alicorn Twilight goes, I simply don't see it changing the show much. I also only see one particularly interesting episode (I'd say 2 except the way the finale ended makes a flying lessons episode unnecessary.
) and that would be the exploration of the princess life and make Twilight think twice about whether or not she really wants this. Otherwise, it's a change that has little other potential in my eyes but I'm sure they'll come up with others if they don't use the adformentioned episode to undo it (That's the most likely way if they choose to.). I'm also hoping they give every character time to shine.
Also under 'strengths': the art and animation for S3 was excellent.
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The big fear with Alicorn Twilight wasn't just what she'd change, but what it represented to the show. People took it to mean that Hasbro was assuming direct control over the show in order to pump out more toys and slide the series back into G3/3.5 levels of mediocrity and/or crap. Would this mean that Twilight would be the only pony to get attention? How many more princesses would we get? How many playsets will our heroes have to visit this time?
While these fears are legitimate, I don't really see that happening. Hasbro uses the show as a marketing tool, sure, but they also give the writers enough room to make the most out of their proposals. And I don't really see that changing too much.
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We're not getting back into TMPP.
I knew going in that you'd hate me for putting it on there, but I am not going to lie and say it was worse than the other contenders for that slot.
"One Bad Apple" is a decent episode, but what prevents me from ranking it higher was the way it presented its message. The entire third act is a constant repetition of "Bullies are bad, bullying bullies is bad" over and over and over again until your ears bleed. It tries so, so hard to come across as natural and educational, but instead just rams the lesson into you until you can't take it anymore. Plus, it kind of makes Applejack look like a blind idiot for not noticing something going on the entire time, so again, it falls into the same trap as "Call of the Cutie" and makes the adults idiot in order to prop up the fillies.
Again, we have not been hanging out on the same branches of the fandom. Let's just say that the finale wasn't so openly received everywhere and leave it at that.
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At the Writer's Panel, McCarthy said she was interested in doing character arcs, so they might do something along those lines. Actual serialization is out, though.
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I knew it! I told you all that, but you didn't believe me! WHY didn't you believe me?!
In all seriousness, it was pretty obvious when I first watched that Trixie was going insane. We had just established that the Alicorn Amulet corrupts the user, so yes, it makes perfect sense for the next scene to have her distrusting wheels. It's a quick way to reinforce what we had just learned, not something to be taken literally.
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That's almost a universal fact at this point. By now, it's only really noteworthy if it actually takes a step down. For something animated in Flash, this show can be really damn beautiful at times.
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Didn't mean to start an argument. You have your opinion, I have mine, and that's perfectly fair.
You take issue with oblivious adults in foal-centric episodes, I see it as being more or less Truth In Television because children and adults really do practically live in different worlds, and all too often even the most responsible adults tend to just presume things are always fine unless the kids speak up to the contrary, and in the case of OBA the CMC were specifically keeping tight lipped because they didn't want to be "snitches", and the episode very much carried the message of how much trouble that taboo can lead too.
Really, even CotC isn't all that bad on the oblivious adult front either. We never see Apple Bloom actually tell anyone that she's getting teased about her blank flank, only that she's embarrassed about going to Diamond Tiara's party without a mark of her own -- which lacking context could easily be mistaken for jealousy on her own part, especially given how much of an impatient nuisance she makes of herself for most of the episode. Furthermore, in retrospect after S2, knowing that Filthy Rich has a rather amicable business relationship with the Apples, it's not all that surprising that AJ would default to presuming that AB and DT get along -- all the more so given that AB did state at least once that she really wanted to go to the party, just not without her own cutie mark.
Some might try to argue that the adults should be more proactively involved in heading off problems before they get out of hand, but truthfully there is just as much to be argued that children need the freedom to make mistakes and learn how to solve their own problems without being coddled. It's a fine line between the two extremes, and it would be unrealistic to show the characters balancing perfectly (especially as no one really agrees what the ideal balance is in the first place). Most importantly though, if the adults were constantly butting into the foal-centric episodes there wouldn't be much point in even having those foal-centric episodes in the first place, since the CMC would never get the chance to be active protagonists in their own right and face off against appropriately scaled antagonists.
Tropes Are Tools, and sometimes everyone has to take their fair turn with the Idiot Ball or we wouldn't have much of a show to watch in the first place, because almost every plot (especially in a largely slice of life show like MLP) could be defused early on if the characters were always "perfect".
Hmm... well, that reply went on longer than intended.
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I've got to say, I really didn't care for that part. Not because I think the episode ruined FIM. No, I've always being willing to assume the best until proven otherwise. It's just that having Twilight practically break the forth wall to fly head on at the camera and make that declaration just felt extremely condescending to me.
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Actually, technically speaking, that's perfectly in keeping with the formula recipe for that kind of episode. The bumbling assistant is always incompetent at EVERYTHING, except when someone actually sets them up to fail, in which case their success becomes the "screw-up".
I much agree with the first, but the second -- not so much. Over reliance on extended mini-arcs is what has largely turned me off of the new Clone Wars animated series. The 22 minute time constraint can create problems as FIM:S3 has repeatedly bumped against, but conversely some stories just get stale when stretched out and in CW:S2+ I've repeatedly found myself getting bored with individual plot threads and wanting to move onto other events.
Maybe if like the Gala from S1 the arcs were all spread out across the season, but I'd not be so keen if each was clustered tightly together as it starts killing the variety that is a key strength of the episodic format.
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I would respond to that extremely long comment, but again, it'd get us nowhere. By this point, my distaste for adults being utterly clueless and useless to what their younger siblings/kids are doing is out there.
That seems to be what McCarthy wants to do. According to the panel, she wants to do multiple simultaneous character arcs that run through the episodes, sort of like how the Gala arc was handled. That would work a lot better than turning the thing into a continuous serial.
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Aw, but I like Doctor Who...but, on the other hand, I can see how Gala-style arcs are better for a kid's TV show.
The point being that, like you said, Season 3 had a lot of "big" episode ideas, but was frequently constrained by the time limit. KCaFO, Wonderbolts Academy, and MMC probably could have stood better as two-parters (or at least a follow-up episode for Academy). Interestingly, I'd actually say that the Crystal Empire might have been better as one episode. Or at least an episode with a more interesting villain.
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The irony was that the idea of Sombra was more interesting than what we got. McCarthy wanted to do a Sauron-esque villain, more of a force of nature than an actual character. That's actually a really cool idea, but the execution was very faulty. Either way, they've confirmed that he is deader than dead, so he will not be coming back
for a second roundto be redeemed.858637
Hmm...a character like that, we probably shouldn't have seen clearly at all until he finally made his appearance towards the end of the second part and actually did something. Prior to that it should have been the smoke and the eyes, but no head or talking, just animalistic growls.
Then when Cadance's spell finally fails we have him physically manifest fully and just start walking towards the city, trailing shadow and black crystals in his wake.
With a character like that, you don't want him to have much screen time at all.
I liked KCaFo, and the song in AFR made the episode for me.
Hmmm, I'm gonna have to grab one of those flamethrowers...actually two, I'll have plenty of targets...
I really liked Games Ponies Play. Like, a lot. It would be my favorite of the season if not for Sleepless in Ponyville. Yeah, that's right, I said it. come get some, buckers! BUUUUUURRRRN!!!
The fact that they rejected an idea that would make Rarity look bad says a lot though, it shows that they care enough to keep characters from being portrayed badly. Just the very fact that somebody in a meeting room said "we shouldn't do that, it would make Rarity terrible" tells me that they try to protect the characters from poor planning.
I won't get a flamethrower, though I thank you for the offer. My enthusiasm/rage has kinda fizzled down, though I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Season 4. I guess we'll see. And I definitely agree with you on the near-misses. Half the episodes this season would have done much better as their own Two-Parter.
I have this feeling that the writing staff is going to take advantage of the new Princess Twilight to tell some of the more adventuresome stories that Faust always wanted to do. They've pretty much run through the slice-of-life stories they could tell in 22 minutes, as evidenced by the number of eps this season that "really needed another episode". I'm expecting to see a lot more of the world from here on out, and I fully anticipate S4 blowing us all away.