Retrospective Review: Dragonshy and Look Before You Sleep · 6:59am Jan 25th, 2021
S1E7 Dragonshy
What can I say about this episode that's good?
Okay, I think that Fluttershy finding her courage when it means helping her friends is a powerful message and important definition for her character that fits the future, particularly her reforming Discord.
And if you wanted to explain to someone unfamiliar with the series why a show for little girls found such a wide audience, this episode would be a good example. It features the characters scaling a mountain, surviving an avalanche, and facing a dragon. Action! Adventure! It could easily be the plot of any fantasy cartoon. Definitely not your run of the mill girls' cartoon.
But the plot? It is straight out of a Screen Rants Pitch Meeting sketch.
"So Princess Celestia will send the Mane Six to convince the dragon to leave Equestria."
"But why them? Why not send the Royal Guard, or Equestria's foremost expert on dragons?"
"Because they're the stars of the show."
"Well, okay then."
Given this episode, it was probably a mistake to have Fluttershy gush over Spike in Episode 1. They do explain it here, but I’m not sure how many people who are afraid of dogs like puppies, for example.
And in terms of character interaction, the way Rainbow Dash treats Fluttershy in this episode is completely at odds with what happened later in the series. Fluttershy is Rainbow Dash's oldest friend. She stuck up for her at flight camp. And she treats her like garbage here. And the rest of the cast does a terrible job of listening to her.
And of all the characters, it shouldn't be a pegasus that has problems with the physical obstacles in this episode.
A fix for this episode would be to have a more rational response to the dragon. Princess Celestia sends the Mane Six to negotiate, but only after giving them a bunch of information about dragons, and with the Guard explicitly backing them up. "The Guard is ready to drive the dragon out, but I hope you can speak to him, and with the magic of friendship, reach an understanding."
And fix Rainbow Dash. If you want conflict, make it more from a misplaced sense of urgency, rather than contempt bordering on hatred.
S1E8 Look Before You Sleep
Was this the first episode that really talked about pegasi planning and controlling the weather? We had Rainbow Dash clearing the sky in episodes 1 and 3, but I think this was the first scheduled storm. (And it involves the pegasi having screwed up... not a good look!) It ended up being one of the topics that comes up the most in fanfiction, particularly those that involve people from different worlds (HiE/PoE).
The setup is a bit convoluted--I can't imagine it would take that long for Rarity to walk home--but get past that, and you have a pretty reasonable episode. Neither Applejack nor Rarity really want to have a slumber party, but they do it to make her happy. Their conflict is reasonable, due to their differences, noticeably unlike the previous episode. And they eventually apologize and see the good in each other.
And many ships were launched.
Twilight Sparkle is very much in character here. Her not having had a slumber party, and wanting to do one by the book, are both on point.
(raises hand) Oh, I grew out of the fear once I was sure the big dogs weren't going to eat me, but that is definitely a thing that can happen. And it's not like Labs and Dobermans are firebreathing kaiju.
But yeah, sending a ragtag band of adventurers to chase out the dragon doesn't make much sense when there's, you know, an organized military on hoof. We never did find out what Celestia was thinking there, did we?
5441652 Maybe the Guard was busy elsewhere with other dragons? I see this as Celestia testing Twilight's leadership skills and the Mane Six's friendship with a more limited threat than Nightmare Moon or Discord.
But yes, ideally the show should've explained.