Season 3 Episode Reviews: Games Ponies Play · 5:26pm Feb 9th, 2013
Blogger: http://blogofpony.blogspot.com/2013/02/episode-reviews-games-ponies-play.html
Is everyone ready for high-stakes Olympic Committee-courting action? I know I am! Let's review “Games Ponies Play.”
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TECHNICAL SPECS:
Season: 3
Episode: 12
Written By: Dave Polsky
First Aired: February 9, 2013
SUMMARY:
The Mane 6 have been invited to help earn the Crystal Empire the Equestria Games, an Olympics-styled event that goes to one of Equestria's cities. To do this, they have to woo the Games Inspector, Miss Harshwhinny, until she's convinced that the Crystal Empire is indeed fit for the challenge. This is personal for Rainbow Dash; when she was just a filly, Cloudsdale was passed over for a chance to host the games, thus traumatizing the poor pony for life.
After a train ride full of rehearsals and preparation, the girls arrive to find the Crystal Empire polished to a sheen and excited over the possible games. Cadance, however, is busy in the spa, getting her Ceremonial Royal Headdress treatment for the Games Inspector. Unfortunately, a messenger soon arrives to give the princess two bits of bad news: the only pony who can remember the headdress is sick, and Harshwhinny is on the next train in...which is in fifteen minutes. Rarity stays behind to work on the headdress while the others go out to meet the Inspector, who is carrying floral luggage.
They soon find the pony with the correct luggage, a country bumpkin with a seeming chip on her shoulder. Dash points out that the Games Inspector would no doubt be trying to throw them off-guard, and thus they invite the pony to the Crystal Palace to show off. At this, her mood completely changes, and she happily follows them to the palace. Unfortunately, she's also claustrophobic, so being in the tight, reflective confines of the royal castle is more than a little disconcerting. Still, the initial displays and cheers seem to be working...except that Cadance still hasn't arrived. Twilight goes to check on her and leaves the others to give the Inspector a tour...despite none of them knowing a thing about the palace.
As it turns out, Rarity taking shortcuts in the headdress process has rendered Cadance's mane a total mess. She manages to shoo of Twilight, and just in time; Pinkie is rapidly failing to keep the increasingly-panicky Inspector calm. She next turns to Shining Armor, who's coaching a team of runners on the hurdles. Unfortunately, before he can buy them some time, the Inspector charges out of the palace in a blind panic, smashing through the runners and hurdles before getting a pot stuck on her head. Rainbow Dash chases her through the town, finally managing to pull it off at the last minute...but not before she's propelled into the distance by inertia. Shining Armor and the others arrive to check on her, and she's happy to be out in the wide open spaces outside of the Empire...which remind her of her chicken farm back home.
Yeah, there was a small problem: this wasn't the Games Inspector. The real Miss Harshwhinny was abandoned at the train station, wanted through the streets herself, got splashed by water a couple of times throughout the episode, and by the time the ponies find her, she's in the spa with the false Inspector – and Cadance, who finally has a proper headdress. Harshwhinny very loudly berates the princess over the horrible reception, and the ponies are all downtrodden...but Rainbow Dash steps up to admit responsibility, as it was her desire to make up for losing the Cloudsdale games that got them into this mess. Fortunately, the chicken farmer's story about her own reception has convinced the Inspector more than any phony reception ever could, and the Crystal Empire gets the games.
And so our episode ends with the ponies returning home, along with some luggage mysteriously falling over. Everypony wonders about Spike, and Twilight says that is he's kept his calm, things will be working out fine.
REVIEW:
Oh boy, it's a mistaken identity episode. And it's right about now that I wish sarcasm could communicate via the written word. Episodes like this tend to be very polarizing, since it's far too easy to just make the cast turn into complete morons and make a totally absurd episode. (Doesn't help that it's a Polsky one.) So let's just break down how this episode handles this concept.
The opening serves as a nice bridge between this and “Just for Sidekicks.” (In fact, I expect someone to have these two episodes edited together pretty soon.) We see Twilight wish Spike goodbye, he closes the door...and then we see her freaking out as the entire library starts bouncing with utter chaos. But after that, we continue on to the train station to get our exposition dump. Turns out Cloudsdale had a chance to host the games once, but was passed over for Fillydelphia. Fortunately, they got their revenge years later after they “accidentally” dropped that box full of Parasprites on the city.
This scene is good for two reasons. First, we get a real feeling of how this loss affects Dash and motivates her actions for the rest of the episode. Considering she hates to lose and has loyalty to her old hometown, it makes sense that she would get some scars from being all hyped up only to lose out at the end. And second, we see Dash's father. This is the first time we've seen the parents of any of the Pegasus ponies. And it's about time, too.
This is carried over into the first proper appearance of the Crystal Empire since the opening. (“Just for Sidekicks” never left the train station.) We get to see all the ponies getting all worked up over the possibility of hosting the games, and even a couple of foals are excitedly waving their flags. Of course, Rainbow Dash then swoops in to scar one of them with the idea that all their joy and excitement will lead to is disappointment, rage, and depression. You know, kind of like all the Bronies who jumped ship because of the upcoming finale. And this is why I am not allowed anywhere near a children's playground.
The spa scene is interesting in a couple ways. First, we get the now-very-tired secret hoofshake between Twilight and Cadance, although they thankfully keep it in the background. Rarity is actually really well written this episode, fainting at the splendor of it all and eagerly taking up the task of fixing Cadance's mane. And then there's Pinkie jumping into green jello. They say it's mud, but I haven't seen mud yet with that kind of bouncy composition. (And if you say anything that rhymes the with the main character's name from “Saved by the Bell,” you will die.) And of course, the messenger has winged shoes a la Hermes from Greek mythology. So, nice touch.
One other thing to note, though, is Cadance showing Twilight how to take deep breaths to calm herself. Of course, we all know this won't amount to anything. Twilight always goes crazy in episodes like this.
And so we get to the main crux of the episode, which is the cast mistaking a tourist for the real Games Inspector and going through the ensuing hijinks. Of course, the episode makes it very clear that this is not the real one almost immediately, but to its credit, actually turns that into a fairly funny running gag. The ponies keep passing the real Miss Harshwhinny, and she keeps getting splashed with street runoff. Meanwhile, the fake Inspector is actually pretty well realized for such a minor role, and the added dose of claustrophobia helps to elevate her up a few notches.
This leads to the obvious question of why they don't just ask her who she is. Well, there...is a bit of an answer to that, and that's Rainbow Dash. In her drive to make up for her past disappointments vicariously through the Crystal Empire, she figures the Games Inspector is going to be trying to throw them off before laying down the fatal blow. Thus, every time the characters seem ready to start asking questions, she steps in and keeps steering them towards keeping her entertained. While part of this feels like an Idiot Plot, a lot of it does seem to add up thanks to Dash.
What ultimately doesn't work out is Rarity's subplot. While her screwing up the royal headdress is fairly humorous, and her poofing up Twilight's mane to demonstrate is funny, the ending is ultimately a disappointment. She gets the headdress done in time for the Inspector to finally notice her, and...well, we'll get to that in a minute.
Shining Armor also gets to make an appearance, having been degraded to being a coach. Apparently the shift from military to civilian life is harsh, even if you go from Captain to royalty. He also makes a really good coach, and the way the scene alternates between him yelling in Twilight's face for the pansies to run faster and calmly talking to her is funny. Meanwhile, we have the others lying their flanks off to disguise the fact that they have no idea how the castle is even laid out. And this all ends with the fake Inspector having a panic attack, fleeing into the open air, smashing things, getting a pot on her head, and finally getting off just in time for the reveal.
(Dash sliding down the glass roof of the spa was by far the funniest moment this episode. Just thought I'd throw that out.)
Of course, the Games Inspector, the tourist, and the princess all meet up in a spa, where everything comes clean. Rainbow Dash confessing that she let her own bad experiences ultimately ruin the entire process is a pretty nice touch, and a good way to make her less of a flankhole. But what kind of ruins the ending is the idea that them giving the big show to the fake Inspector is somehow “more authentic.” I can kind of understand where they're coming from, but...it's still just not very good. And of course, they get the games.
The last scene on the train is also good, but there's a part of me that wonders if they would have worked better if the ordering was reversed. That way, everyone would see Spike, the pets and the CMC under the benches and wonder just how they got there during the two-week break. Still, seeing events occur from the other way around is fun. And Twilight...
Wait a minute. There's something wrong here. The end credits are rolling...AND TWILIGHT DIDN'T GO CRAZY! Holy crap, what is this? I thought Twilight was supposed to be the perpetually-nuts one who flips out at a moment's notice! You mean we're finally getting cool and collected Twilight..and she becomes a PRINCESS next week?!
Deep breaths...deep breaths...
CONCLUSION:
Meghan McCarthy tweeted that an episode this season was based around Fawlty Towers, and this one definitely has that feel to it. While there's not a lot of originality here, the episode is just a lot of fun, with plenty of really good jokes and some surprisingly nuanced minor characters. Rainbow Dash gets some development here, Rarity gets to do something, and Twilight seemingly learns to stop freaking out at long last. And the way the two episodes are intertwined is actually pretty clever; I hope to see more of this in the fourth season. Overall, this was a pretty good episode. Not the best of the season, but still good.
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- 7 Days Remain -
Is there a link for this episode (HD) on Youtube yet?
Also, everyone's talking about Fighting is Magic shutting down. Can somebody explain what exactly is going on?
Polsky is pretty good at writing comedy, isn't he.
He's actually proving to be really good at what he does.
Although Corey seems to be the best writer on the team as of right now.
And Merriwether is stuck at the bottom.
810920
Fighting is Magic got a Cease and Desist. Unfortunately, it's a bunch of legal crap, so...let's not discuss it here, k? I got my share of that drama yesterday.
810928
Unfortunately, Corey is gone. She got booted over to Littlest Pet Shop.
Twilight didn't go crazy and she becomes a princess next week. He is right, we should have realize Cadence was the answer to Twi's OCD. Man, being a foalsitter means knowing your filly inside-out. Well now Cadence has my kudos.
Now, let's make a certain comic come true and have Shining say WHAT? real loud after finding out she is to be a princess now.
810932 Really?
FUCK!
At least we had 2 really good episodes from her.
She was awesome!
Maybe she'll make LPS not so mediocre anymore?
810920
Pardon my words, but if you are offended by harsh language, skip the last paragraph.
Fighting is magic was given a C and D because Hasbro doesent want a show like FIM to be associated to a fighting game. hasbro is in their rights to do so because it is thier property. For example, because Inmy Fic i have Rainbow Dash call my OC a sonofabitch, hasbro could contact me and threaten me with a lawsuit to change or delete my story, hell, they could do it with all of the brony related propoganda.
Its just like Will Smith being casted to be in Django Unchained, He declined the offer to be the main character because he doesent want to be associated with a movie that says "Nigger" a thousand times. which was a good call since he didn't miss anything because Django Unchained was a stupid movie.
810932
Well, nothing relly says that she has to only write for the show, back in the olden days of CN (Celestia I am oooooooooooolllllllllldddddddddd. I mean, my gosh...I wrote fanfics 13 years ago, still was around to enjoy KP and wonder how the fans reacted to season 4 still keeping Ron and Kim as a couple and
sorry) That some of the creators of certain shows would write for the other series while the show was being aired. So there is a good chance that Corey can write for one and then come back to do another, they are under the same house after all. Then again that is how I feel.
I think the lesson to this episode was about Karma, because they treated the false inspector so well that she talked to the real one and managed to change her mind..... Even though i only watched the last 5 minutes of the episode live and dont know all of what happened. since my house has hoppers, i dont want anyone finding out that I am watching MLP, so since noone was here today i realized that i should give it a shot.
810932 Wait, WHAT? The best writer in the series leaves as soon as she became the fan favourite?
IS THERE NO END TO HOW MUCH THIS WEEK SUCKS?
Oh, and good review and stuff.
811022
To be fair, I kind of knew she was gone for a while. I just didn't want to bring it up until now. We've had enough turmoil, methinks.
Twilight DIDN'T freak out? Holy crap... this changes a lot of things...
810920 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GJ114kPuTQ&feature=youtu.be
811070 Thank you!
810997 It's annoying that they waited until it was almost finished to shut it down though.
Little side note: Rainbow Dash's father is now established in canon - lilac pegasus with rainbow mane and tail. I'm presuming she got her cyan coat from her mother.
Sigh, that's going to become "canon" despite never being actually stated in the episode, isn't it.
Dad is the most obvious explanation of course, but nothing was established that would prevent Hasbro from eventually using him as an uncle or older brother or some other male relative.
Anyway, personal pet peeves aside, I really liked this one and the previews for next week were interesting. I can't wait!
810997
I liked Django Unchained...I will acknowledge that it was a stupid movie, but there is a distinct divide between the relative quality of a movie and the entertainment value of a movie. So despite being stupid, it was fun.
811082
I guess that in this secenario, "Its easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission" didn't work.
One thing that kind of bothered me about this one was that the crystal ponies kept swapping between clear and solid between scenes. Still, aside from my gripes about the how they resolved the plot, it was a pretty decent episode.
811126
This has nothing to do with the episode review, so don't read it.
Well, other than the fact that I live in a place where the word "Nigger" is used every day, I don't its use in a movie entertaining at all. the funny parts were far and few between, and the nonsensical shootout at the end left me in more confusion rather than awe. overall, the only saving grace to the movie was Sammy J and Leo's performance. Otherwise, the movie was senseless and amounted to, as he says in the movie, "I get to shoot white people and get away with it."
Now, lets compare that to Martin Scorscese's Casino where they say "Fuck" 422 times, the director still can tell an interesting tale where the characters act like who they are susposed to be, Gangsters, rather than boys in a middleschool Lockeroom trying to sound cool.
Then again, I havent seen a single quentin Tarentino movie where I havent left the theatre saying, "What just happened?" or "Wow, I feel dumber now."
Indeed. Deep breaths. We will maybe see some panic twilight soon
I totally agree that reversing the order of episode would haveb een incredibly more effective! The reveal at the end of this episode would have nicely lead into the next one. I also think the mistaken identity ploy would have worked better if the inspector had just had a good time on her own instead of constantly getting splashed. I thought Shining Armor worked well in this episode and I hope we see more of him in the future.
Also...
...
...
Gak
811223
To be completely fair to the movie, in 1858-1859 you really would have heard the word "nigger" used that often and that casually all the time. It wasn't really an insult back then - at least, the people using it didn't intend it to be insulting, and the majority of blacks didn't take insult from it either. It was just a way to refer to black people. Yes, today it's an insult, but it wasn't a hundred and fifty years ago, so I wouldn't judge the movie based on that. If anything all it does is make it period-accurate.
You don't go to Tarantino movies for any kind of intelligent plot or story, anyway. You go to them for the violence and one-liners.
Though the most awkward thing in the world for me kind of relates to that...there's a book series about a world where the CSA won the war and became an independent nation from the USA, referred to as the Timeline-191 series by Harry Turtledove. There's like 15 books, they're all pretty long, and they all take place between 1880ish-1940ish and have literally dozens of focus characters from both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. The word nigger is used casually by both the Union and the Confederacy throughout by people of all races, and I read the books one right after another really quickly over the course of about two months. I found myself accidentally using the word "nigger" in my mind simply 'cause of osmosis. Thank God I never accidentally used out out loud and I've been able to break the habit...
810932 I know this is paranoia, but It seems like Hasbro is backing away from MLP a bit. I know a fourth season has been confirmed (with 26 episodes, yay!) but they're shunting staff of companies about and they are attacking some of the fans best content. That aside, you know the frighting is magic C&D, well, there is a fair bit of copyrighted material on fim fiction. I doubt it, but I'm just throwing the point out there...
every time Twilight calmed herself down, all I could think was "Sieg Heil!"
811401
Actually, a lot of staffers are coming back for the next season. AKR has already confirmed her return (which makes me wonder what happened to "Care Bears), as is Morrow and possibly Fullerton. M. A. Larson is still on board, and we have a new writer, Natasha Levinger, coming in. Meghan is also staying in her current position, making this the first time two seasons had the exact same overhead staff. And that doesn't even bring up the new IP they've apparently got in the works.
As for fanworks, I'm going to cover that in a larger blog post, but there were other circumstances around FiW and Fighting is Magic. The former was an abridged series (which is already a copyright nightmare in and of itself) and more likely fell victim to YouTube's infernal ContentID autoflagging system. It also can't actually be claimed to be fair use, since it isn't actually a parody. It just recycles the animation and puts up an entirely new script, thereby making it technically an entirely new work. As for Fighting is Magic, there are two other circumstances around it: Hasbro has licensed the game rights to Gameloft, and the EVO charity run technically counts as making money off the work, thereby triggering the copyright police. (That, and a whole mess of other legal issues.)
Hasbro is not trying to kill MLP, nor is it running us off. We've just got a lot of difficult things happening at the same time.
811373
Once again, Don't read
first off, "Negro" was first used to describe black people since 1442.
secondly, in the summer of 2012 i hd to go to do charity work so i would have enough volunteer credits to go to my college of choice. I, unfortunately i chose to go with a group and hand out fliers in a ghetto as fuck neighborhood in downtown Detroit. Lets just say, it was a hotter than hell that day and since most of the homes don't have AC, ALL the gangbangers were outside I am NEVER doing that again. and, as Chris Rock says, its only an insult if a white person uses it.
Either way, there a point where your stupidity meter goes to the "this is boring" range. and that's where I was for most of the movie . there IS a way to have a stupid movie be enjoyable, Hence The Expendables 2, but at least it doesent TRY to sound smart and fall flat on it's face in the act.
Either way, Ive had it with this movie, it sucked and i wished i could have the 3 hours I wasted watching it back. I hope it doesent steal any awards from good movies like Argo, Lincoln, or Skyfall.
BTW, I think I can hear the NAACP knocking on my door.
Pretty much my thoughts. I figured that was where the episode was going when we see both the real and fake inspector talking with each other at the spa, but the whole thing is kind of spoiled by Rainbow Dash's confession about the mix up.
Then again that was hardly the only suspect plot point. Twilight's whole spiel about not being from the empire making the M6 into the ideal ponies to prove how welcoming a place it is? Not really sure that makes much, if any sense.
Still, the episode is overall pretty inconsequential and not worth fussing about. It's hardly a great episode, but is ultimately harmless. Although I am hoping for a follow up in S4 where we actually get to see the games.
811119
Wait, what's so wrong about him being Dash's father?
811198
Well, from past example their crystalliness is apparently tied to their current emotional state, so presumable any solid ponies were just feel a little down or something.
811126
Really? Admittedly, I've not seen the movie myself, but from what I've heard from sources I trust is that it was a genuinely creative satire that used it's somewhat absurd framing device as effective critique of an ugly part of American history.
811223
Seriously? Again haven't seen the movie myself, but if the only thing you took from it was that they said the N-word a lot, that would seem to me to be missing the point.
...well, yes, but it does so in a Quentin Tarantino way.
811529
Made sense to me. She was saying that since they aren't natives, they have an unbiased view of the Empire's worth and ability to host the Equestria Games. Granted, it's a flimsy line, but I actually think that was intentional. The whole point of the ending was that Harshwhinny was upset at basically being spoonfed a bunch of recycled garbage from every city that's tried to host the Equestria Games, which was kind of what the Mane 6 were doing to the tourist (who's been named Chickadee by Derpibooru, so I guess that'll work as a name). The fact that it ultimately worked was because they unintentionally treated an everyday tourist like royalty was because it's a G-rated Fawlty Towers plot.
And I think the episode was better than "ultimately harmless." It's nothing of major consequence (unless the games show up next season), but it was still a fun episode, and I loved the two episodes mixing with each other. (Speaking of which, what did you think of "Just for Sidekicks?")
811529
this is what I originally said about the movie. The main context was that the black guy,(i dont even know who the actor is) can kill white people and get away with it. The put in a bullshit love story rescue to make it so the movie has a plot, but even that is poorly done since several times through the movie Django can take his wife and escape unharmed, but instead decides to go back and kill every white person he can find,(plus Sammy J). the use of the word "Nigger" in this movie is more fitting to football players in a middleschool lockerroom, almost as if the director thought he could win an award from using it the most times in a movie. The only part I found funny was when the KKK members are bitching about the fact that they cant see in their masks.
Overall I interppreted the movie as "the black man winning over the white man". Which I find dumb because we have a whole month dedicated to black history ans several holiday to boot. The only character I found Lkeable at all throughout the film was Leo deCapi, and he was "the bad guy" because he owned slaves and got pissed when he figured out the two main characters were trying to rip him off. which, if we can't defend our personal property, why don't we all become socialists?
don't think I'm racist, I just though this movie was a disgrace. I am just done talking about this, so im not going to respond anymore.
By the way...If you DO want to make a interesting movie about that time period and or satarize it.....
WHY DOESENT ANYONE MAKE A MOVIE ABOUT THE FACT THAT FREE BLACK PEOPLE OWNED BLACK SLAVES!
Seriously, ever since Django and AC# came out, th eworld, mainly the UK, has gone to the internet in droves pointing out that the founding fathers had slaves, and that "america=EV0L".
Ill set it straight right now. If ANYWHERE in the world in that time period grew as much cotten as the cotton belt I would bet my entire gambling debts that that slavery in that area would NOT be abolished.
so quit pretending you know american history interweb.
(that last rant was not directed towards any of us. FYI)
...Why did my review turn into a discussion of a sub-par Tarantino movie?
All in all, it's a pretty decent episode.
... Is it me or I'm the only one actually not dreading the finale (Okay, I feel Twilight getting crowned is a little too early but I'm not freaking out that it is happening)? I'm actually very interested in what Twilight actually did to get to be crowned princess (maybe because of all the "changed destiny" thing which is kind of my pet favorite).
811647
I have no idea, man.
811647
cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/250x250/34573317.jpg
811529 Oh, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have any problems with him being her dad. It simply irritates me a little to see stuff passed around as canon that's based on assumptions. I'm probably just a bit gunshy about this, I've gotten into it a couple times recently with a few other users about how it's "canon" that Equestria doesn't have healing magic.
I've been away from Twitter and EQD all afternoon, so if I've missed someone from the show chiming in that it was indeed her dad I'll just shut up now.
811634
Right... about that one...
The episode was enjoyable enough in and of itself, but really didn't do much for me personally. I'm glad that you and others see it as the supposedly much vaunted "good" Spike episode, but it's far from my favorite. Which is why I've not really said much about it, because I didn't want to go raining on anyone's parade. Sorry to say, but I actually still prefer both Owl's Well That Ends Well and Secret of my Excess, so far as Spike episodes are concerned.
It's not that it's a bad episode, just that it never really felt like it amounted to much either, and it was basically just a singular joke stretched across 22 minutes with very little variation to keep things interesting. It also didn't help that the plot really didn't do much with any of the pets save Angel, and really only ever played the dick card with him (even if he was fairly justified). Heck I'm not even sure the plot makes all that much sense to begin with as this is hardly the first time the M6 have had to go out of town and getting someone to look after all their pets has never been an issue before, doubly so with Angel who half the time is more like Fluttershy's personal assistant, and it seems all the more odd since she doesn't seem the least bit concerned about all her other animals (to top it all off the events all seem to play out over the course of a single day, which would usually just mean leaving out some extra food at home, rather than getting a sitter, though granted Spike did have to basically talk everyone into it).
Still, my opinion of that episode would ultimately not be all that different than my opinion this episode: nothing all that special, but ultimately harmless
... ... ...
Well, except for putting Peewee on a bus off-screen, that part actually made me kind of angry. Not saying getting the little guy back together with his family was a bad idea, but it feels like such wasted potential to turn what could have been a very good episode in its own right into just a handful of photographs. As is, the sequence to me feels less like a touching nod and more like a late production saving through after someone realized that an episode about Spike being bad at taking care of pets wouldn't make much sense if he'd already been raising Peewee this whole time. Admittedly, starting off the episode like that might have soured me to the rest.
811844
WUT?
Now that's just silly. Rainbow Dash breaks her wing and then spends like three days in a cast followed by a week of no flying. That to me very much proves that Equestria MUST have healing magic, all the more so since her doctor was a unicorn.
811643
Actually that sounds like a potentially very interesting plot to explore. Right up there with how as bad as slavery was in the south, being a free black in the north wasn't much better (arguably worse). Or how quite a few abolitionists thought the best thing to do with freed slaves was put them all on a boat back to Africa, despite the overwhelming majority having been born here in the US.
811876
...I really liked "Just for Sidekicks." It's in the running for my third favorite episode this season.
...And today was going so well. Okay, time to check the gun again...
811899
Don't even joke about that... please!
I didn't much care for the episode, but that's just my personal opinion, and as best I can tell I'm pretty much in the minority here. Besides, it's pretty much tradition for us to be split in our opinions like this concerning the "good" episodes.
811906
Sorry.
The last couple days haven't been very good. I was hoping this episode would calm things down, but all it's really done is ramped up the heat. And after yesterday's mess, I...
Okay, I'll shut up now. I'll get better. Do something else.
811931
I'm sorry too. Like I said, I've mostly avoided talking about the episode for good reason, but couldn't in good conscience refuse to answer when directly asked. Maybe I should have just left it at a quick "didn't much care for it", but it felt unfair for me to not make at least some attempt at explaining myself. It certainly wasn't meant as a critique of you or anyone else who liked that episode, because like I said, the episode wasn't bad for me, just sort of... mediocre, average if you will.
Then again, I've never really been bothered by the Spike is something of an antagonist in his spotlight episodes, so I really didn't need a "good" Spike episode to fix things. So maybe I'm the one who has got the problem here.
811987>>811931
Just for sidekicks wasnt bad like lets say Spike at your Service or Keep Calm and Flutter On, it actually let us see the pets again for the first time! It just got everyone in a tizzy because of the stupid thing with rarity's gem that she gave spike.
Is next week definitely the show's finale? I was hearing there were still chances for a season 4.
...so i just watched it...
Ummmm guys, did anyone else notice BOTH DOCTOR WHOOVES AND CAPTAIN JACK IN RAINBOWS FLASHBACK!!! AT 1:07 IN THE VIDEO!
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS!?!?!? DOCTOR WHOOVES BEING ABLE TO TIME TRAVEL IS CANON! AS IS JACK HARKNESS EITHER TIME TRAVELING TOO OR BEING AGELESS!!!!
BEST. EPISODE.
812127
Season 4 is 100% confirmed reality, and 26 episodes as well (link).
811798 I think it'll work out okay. I've seen the promos and I'm pretty excited about it.
I know everyone is talking about if the stallion that was in Rainbow's flashback was her dad and all but what I'm wondering is who Carrot Top was nuzzling at the train station.
Just throwing that out there.
I have to say, i think this episode was the second weakest of the season, and would be first if I didn't dislike Spike at your Service so much. The episode itself was rather boring, were i only laughed twice (one of which was imagining how the fandom would have reacted at the ending if this had aired before Spikes episode) and nothing really happened throughout the episode. We basically watch them give a successful tour to a visiting pony and then a tacked on lesson at the end, but Dash's' apology was random and unwarranted and the ending didn't really fit well. What did Dash do wrong that required an apology? Although they did mistake who they gave the welcoming to, the welcoming itself was a success since she had such a good time and nothing Dash did ruined that. Also, why make the pony claustrophobic? I guess it helped when they wanted her to cause some chaos, but wasn't really addressed and just felt pointless. This whole episode felt like filler, with really no character development, nothing new shown, and an ending that was forced. Overall it was just a weak episode with a weak story and phoned in moral (whatever the moral was). I do like calm and collected Twilight, glad that showed her addressing that.
I think they should have taken this episode and run it the opposite direction. Have it start the same with the visiting pony getting excited about having a personal welcoming from the princess but Dash's' over-zealousness does cause the visiting pony to have a bad time. Like have her be afraid of heights and Dash scoop her up for an aerial tour of the city, or have a running joke where she needs to use the restroom with Dash pushing her to the next event. At the end, she meets Cadance in the spa just like the episode and complains about her awful time. Dash and everyone apologize and ask for forgiveness, and maybe a do-over. Visitor reluctantly excepts and smiles, with someone mentioning that they thought they had ruined the crystal empires chances at the games. At this point they find out that they had the wrong pony and the actual games inspector walks in. She seems surprised to see them but gives them the good news that the games will be in the crystal empire. They seem confused until she explains that she had the most friendly and welcoming visit of any city shes been in, all done by the crystal ponies just being their friendly neighborly selves. Either have it do periodic tangents of her being helped with her luggage by a passing pony, or someone giving her a treat out of kindness and other good nature things, or have it all in a flash back at the end as she explains the great time she had. This would have made the message fit and had a chance for the crystal ponies (the ones who are so full of joy they can use it to kill evil rage clouds) be their cheerful welcoming selves.
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Ooh. Goodness. Where have you heard news of these staffing changes? And Fullerton is the only crew member among the ones you mentioned whose role in season four you are unsure of, I assume, since you preceded no other one's name with "possibly"?
I ask in part because I note that Corey Powell wrote for both Friendship is Magic's and Littlest Pet Shop's 2012-2013 seasons and would assume that she shall continue to do so, and that she has not tweeted anything on this matter.