FiM Rewatch: Friendship is Magic, Pts 1 & 2 · 11:34pm Jul 23rd, 2020
So, this is where it all began... okay, this is where G4 began. This was the very first episode of FiM. How is it?
...pretty meh, actually. Part 1 handles itself pretty well. You meet everyone, and get a feel for their personalities (Spike's poor assisting notwithstanding). It's the mandatory "meet everyone" episode. It's done well, don't get me wrong, but it's kind of feel like we're going through the motions when we get to Ponyville.
The scenes in Canterlot are great. Twilight blows off Moondancer, shows the ego in her (thankfully mostly benign) and gets her bubble busted. Nightmare Moon appearing in the hourglass was a great shot.
Part 2 has some clearer problems. Showing Twilight show her first real compassion to Spike was good, and the scene in the library where the others confront her was solid.
The times we see the the others show off their Elements was mixed. Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy are solid, but why would Applejack do a trust exercise in such a tense situation? And why would Rainbow Dash get tempted to join a group she knows nothing about? Well, I guess a leadership role would be tempting, but I think it could have been made clearer.
Twilight's speech was corny, and not the good kind. I needed to fast forward through it. It's the kind of thing this show usually does better.
Nightmare Moon is a dull villain. Now, Luna is a great character, but Nightmare Moon herself is Maleficent-lite. Her sudden change of heart is something I've criticized later villains. Yeah, the expanded universe goes into the fact that she was possessed, and later episodes go into her guilt, but here it's just her getting to rule Equestria again immediately after kidnapping her sister.
This was a pretty meh start. If I was trying to sell anyone on this show, I wouldn't say start here. Still, I wanted to see more afterward, so it must have been doing something right.
This may not seem like much nowadays, but back in 2010 and 2011 I guarantee you that everyone who saw this couldn't believe that this was coming from My Little Pony of all places.
Also, fun fact, this wasn't the original intended pilot for the show. That was originally supposed to be the next episode when the show was originally going to consist of two eleven minutes stories per episode.
Nice of you to blog your series rewatch. Admittedly this is kinda a weak start to a great series, but most great shows kinda have a “meh” pilot before they find themselves.
My main problem with Part 2 was that Nightmare Moon's 'nefarious' actions were... kind of lame. Give a Manticore a splinter, make scary trees, cut off some purple lizard's mustache, and make a bunch of Shadow Bolts try and trick Rainbow Dash.
I think it's one of the reasons why fans preferred later villains like Chrysalis. They had actions that impacted the characters in some way.
Well, every series has the same problem in the first season. It takes a while for the actors to get a sense of their characters. Also, don't forget, the voice acting is recorded long before the animation is drawn. So when they did the first season, they had nothing but still images and sketches to work with. After that, it got easier.
I always thought the first two episodes were a bit weak, but the show was finding it’s footing for most of season 1. Season 2 was really where the show came into it’s stride. Season 1 was far more attuned to the little girl audience than any of the succeeding seasons.
This was a pretty good start to the series. While a little tame by later seasons' standards, watching this is what got me hooked on the show.
Was Celestia kidnapped? Or did she just lay low while her plan carried out? That would explain Luna's quick forgiveness.
You know what's funny? These were the only episodes where Lauren Faust got the written by credit and most of us agree that they were "meh" episodes. But then, when Lauren left the show, all of a sudden people were shouting "NOTHING IS CANNON ANYMORE!!!" and "LAUREN HATES ALICORN TWILIGHT!!!" I just found that all rather amusing.