My Review of MLP: FIM season 7 episode 16 Campfire Tales · 3:46pm Sunday
Grading Scale:
A (fantastic episode)
A- (an excellent episode with at least one flaw)
B+ (a great episode with a couple of flaws)
B (a good episode which still could have been better)
B- (a good episode with numerous flaws but still rewatchable)
C+ (a decent episode)
C (eh... it’s not terrible but not good either)
C- (it’s not worth rewatching although it does have good elements)
D+ (a bad episode with a few good things in it)
D (a really bad episode with wasted potential)
D- (a terrible episode with badly written characters and butchered moral)
F (horrible and unwatchable)
Greetings, folks! This is Mr. J back with another MLP episode review for today. This morning, I will be reviewing the sixteenth episode of season 7 called “Campfire Tales”. This was actually a pretty good episode to rewatch. It’s very much like a Slice-Of-Life type of episode that is both entertaining and fun.
The episode starts with Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash getting ready to have a nice, relaxing camping trip with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. But before they can eat, they are swarmed by Fly-ders; the hybrid insects ruin their food, their tents, and bit the ponies repeatedly.
The ponies then had to run to the cave to avoid the swarm. Wanting to pass the time as they waited for the bugs to fly off, Applejack decides to tell a campfire story about her favorite legend named Rockhoof.
Before we move on, I like how each campfire story was written; it’s basically a backstory for all three legends/Pillars which sets each of them up for the season finale. We’ll get more into that later in this season. But still, we see how each of these Pillars were brave, firm, and resilient with their ways.
Now, you’re probably wondering why I’m speaking positively about these Pillars whom I’ve expressed negativity for in the past; that’s because these legends were being written as competent characters during their first introduction. So of course I’m gonna be nice in this review.
Back to what I was saying, Rockhoof, Mistmane, and Flash Magnus were fairly good examples of what being a hero is. Rockhoof made sure the entire village was saved from that volcanic eruption, Mistmane was so selfless with her generous sacrifice of her beauty to restore everything to their natural state, and Flash Magnus’s strategic thinking and courage saved his comrades from those fierce dragons.
This episode set up a lot of promising potential for these guys, and I wish the other writers did more with these characters. So yeah, that’s pretty much all I got for the three Pillars. Great backstories for each of them—just to sum it up.
Despite being guest writers for only this one episode, Barry Safchik and Michael Platt had solid ideas for these Pillars and executed them perfectly for their first introduction. They laid the foundation which the other writers needed to build upon. Will they do them justice later on? Hmmm…
Anywho, at the end of the episode, the ponies got out of the cave and safely made it to Winsome Falls where they can spend the rest of the day together in peace. Hooray…
Overall, this episode isn’t anything spectacular or special, but it does mark itself as the first episode of this season to set up their future return for the finale…which is something, I guess. But outside of the Pillar backstories, it’s a fairly good episode. Nothing more. With that said, this gets a B.
Peace!
