MLP EPISODE REVIEW #1: The Ticket Master · 6:12pm Oct 29th, 2020
While Friendship is Magic started the show, The Ticket Master pretty much laid the groundwork for what the majority of the following episodes would be like: Slice of Life stories that mainly focus on comedy and character interactions.
Since this is a pretty important deal, it only makes sense for Lauren Faust to serve as writer one more time before handing over that duty to other members of her staff. With that said, she was not writing this by herself. She had help from someone who would later become one of the most prominent MLP writers of all time.
AMY KEATING ROGERS
As many of us know, she was the one who wrote some of the biggest episodes of the entire show, including but not limited to; Pinkie Pride, The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone, A Friend in Deed, The Mane Attraction, and of course, Crusaders of the Lost Mark. Now, whether or not you like these episodes, you cannot deny the impact they had made on both the fandom and the show as a whole. Rogers may not be a perfect writer, but she definitely knows how to write episodes that people remember and talk about for many years.
It's also worth mentioning that this was not the first collaboration between her and Lauren Faust, as she wrote several episodes of The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. In fact, she was a writer for many famous cartoons; including, The Fairy OddParents, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Johnny Bravo, and Dexter's Laboratory. So, as you can imagine, she had a ton of experience crafting stories for children's media and working alongside Faust. Did their combined efforts pay off once again? Let's find out.
The episode begins with Princess Celestia sending Twilight two golden tickets for Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.
Um, I mean, the Grand Galloping Gala, which is supposed to be a big and glamorous ball attended by Canterlot's elite. Twilight is naturally excited to go, but the problem is she has only two tickets (one for herself and the other for a guest) and all five of her friends want to go with her for various reasons. Applejack wants to sell enough apples to make renovations around her farm, Rainbow Dash wants to impress the Wonderbolts with her flying skills, Pinkie Pie wants to enjoy the biggest party of the year, Rarity wants to meet and fall in love with Celestia's nephew, and Fluttershy wants to be friends with the animals living in the royal garden.
As one can imagine, Twilight is pretty overwhelmed with choosing which of her friends she should take with her to the gala and it does not help that her friends try to do favors for her in order to influence her decision. This results in a lot of slapstick, some clever jokes, a few facial expressions that I'm certain they became memes, and even a chase scene that has a remix of the Benny Hill theme playing in the background.
So, as you would've guessed, this is a pretty standard plot for a cartoon episode. It's been done in several other shows and you could most likely predict the moral halfway into the episode. However, like I said in my previous review, you can repeat a trope or cliche as long as you present it in a unique and interesting way. Similar to the previous one, the twist that this episode puts on its familiar storyline, while not exactly interesting, is pretty funny. When it comes to humor, both Faust and Rogers are really great, and this is apparent in all the scenes where Twilight's friends try to do favors for her. The slapstick, the dialogue, and the voice-acting all work together to create legitimately hilarious scenes, and even though the Benny Hill theme has been used in several other cartoons before, it is nice to hear a remix of it in a chase scene instead of a carbon copy of the original music.
On a side note, when Rarity said, "Him", who else got excited to see this guy make an appearance?
I mean, yeah, when you think about it, it's very unlikely for the third (technically, second) episode of a cartoon to be a crossover, but considering the fact that this is a show created by Lauren Faust and starring Tara Strong, I wouldn't exactly be surprised if they actually made a crossover with The Powerpuff Girls.
And, no, this does not count:
The problems of the episode are pretty much the same as the previous one: There are some jarring animation errors and the songs are quite obnoxious. Yes, I know I shouldn't get too mad at artists who work with Flash Animation, but I must ask...
HOW THE HECK DID THEY NOT NOTICE SHOTS LIKE THESE?!
Also, while the episode's conflict is something everyone (especially kids and their parents) can relate to, I didn't find it all that interesting. As far as conflicts in Slice of Life stories go, it's not a bad one at all, but it's not exactly a very riveting one either. At least, not in my opinion.
FINAL SCORE: 7 out of 10
If she really had to pick one pony, Applejack probably had the most important reason to go
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Well, yes, but I also do sympathize with Fluttershy's reason.