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| Talk about eye |
Written by Meghan McCarthy
26 Nov 2010
My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 8.4
The one with Angel kicking his carrot.
Thoughts: The first adventure since the premiere, Meghan McCarthy's debut and and Fluttershy's first real Crowning Moment of Awesome. Before that, though, we get the A Team-style montage, one of the show's funnest. Then it's off up the mountain. Flutters is a bit over-the-top timid even for S1 – but Dash isn't very nice to her, especially given that they go way back. (Okay, we don't know that yet.) Still, 'Shy is the one who confronts the dragon and stares (though not yet Stares) it down when it really matters, and that is something nopony can ever take away from her. The others aren't much help in the cave, and it's decidedly not Rarity's finest hour. In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene about two minutes in, we first see Lyra sitting human-like on a bench – though she's with a blue earth pony, not Bon Bon! (The two are seen chatting shortly thereafter, though.) Also seen: Angel being a pain, Rainbow saluting and Rarity being incompetent at noughts and crosses. I do think the gang are a bit mean-spirited to Dash at the end, though, scaring her so close to the ball-bouncing record. But it's a minor problem in a generally excellent episode, to my mind the first classic ep.
Choice quote: Fluttershy: "I guess I forgot to jump."
New rating: ★★★★
Next up is "Look Before You Sleep", which I used to find dull but have warmed to considerably in recent years. Let's see whether that continues.
The one with... what? I GOTTA KNOW!
ReplyDeleteWhoops! Fixed now. It wasn't one of the most thrilling anyway, as you can see.
DeleteI always said this was the episode (after the pilot) that really made me stand up and take notice of the series. As I mentioned before, appreciation for Griffon the Brush-Off would come later, mostly after I'd gotten over initial distaste for Pinkie Pie.
ReplyDeleteI was already a Fluttershy fan, so I kind of had no choice in the matter. :D
DeleteOh yes, a definite classic in my book. I love the fact that it's a larky take on [i]The Hobbit[/i], wherein even with the high stakes suggested by the dragon's nation-covering smoke, there's still a sense that, on this quest, we're chiefly just enjoying the antics of likeable characters as they deal with it. In many ways, I prefer this approach a lot more to an urgent, plot-first approach.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting worldbuilding difference between early pony and later pony is how dragons are depicted. Similar to griffons, it's a big deal if merely one shows up in Equestria. Also, they're mostly just lighter versions of Smaug; treasure-obsessed, but not malicious animals, just barely sapient beings who are remote and unfazed by ponydom.
Yet later on, a migration passes through, and dragons actually have a (rudimentary) form of society, with rules.
It was actually quite a surprise to me (the first time around) when this dragon spoke. Up until that point, I hadn't considered the possibility -- the manticore didn't, after all -- and had felt Spike was a one-off in that respect. It was an interesting eye-opener. :)
DeleteExcellently, the dragon makes a reappearance in the very last episode, as a guest at Twilight's coronation.
ReplyDeleteSo he does! I'd forgotten that until you mentioned it. :)
DeleteAround the time this episode was coming up, it seemed we already know what to expect with most of our characters. We knew that Twilight was the straight pony of the group, Rainbow Dash has a bit of an attitude problem, and Pinkie is... Well, 'Pinkie'. With Fluttershy, she seemed to have one notable character trait: In that it all centers around her name alone. At this early stage of the series, it was expected she'd be soft-spoken, timid, and yet so adorable we almost ignore all that. Yet as it seemed with this journey, as she made little to no effort to reach the 'Dragon's Lair', making up every excuse she can think of (Like refusing to hop over an easy ledge), it seemed griping for fans who wonder why they let her tag along (Though some argue they 'dragged' her against her will). But it was only by the end of the episode do we start to see a different side to Fluttershy proving that images of ponies only tell so much.
ReplyDeleteWhen every plan to get the dragon to stop snoring smoke into the sky failed, when it seemed her friends were down for the count, and despite still showing a fear for dragons, when push came to shove Fluttershy was like 'enough is enough!'. We would see not the Pegasus who ran away in tears when a Griffin roared at her face, but a pony who looked a huge scaly beast straight in the eyes and reprimanded him for his rude behavior (Though to be fair, Rainbow Dash did attack him, as he points out). But in a way, this was Fluttershy's triumph and even if this doesn't cure her dragon phobia (Which is pretty clear later on), it goes to demonstrate that she can be useful when it does matter.
While I agree with some nitpicks such as how Rainbow Dash was too hard on Fluttershy at times or that Rarity's methods to get the dragon out of the cave are questionable (Though it was funny how she lost to Pinkie at Tic-Tac Toe), there were some generally fun moments within the episode. 'The A-Team' reference, the Hop-Skip-And-Jump bit, even when Fluttershy freaked out and caused an avalanche (One of those slight building up moments when we know it's coming), just to name a few. And from this moment on, we'd see more of these dragons (Most of them rather 'unbearable' at best) but at this point when we think of dragons outside of Spike this was kind of what I was thinking (Fearsome yet somehow majestic at the same time). I wouldn't say this was one of my 'favorite' episodes, but as a Fluttershy episode for me this was a moment of vital growth on this character.
goddamn
ReplyDelete