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| "Scootaloo, Best Comedy doesn't mean Best Dad Joke, so can it with that 'biggest fan' line." |
Written by Cindy Morrow
4 Mar 2011
My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 6.6
The one with the giant squid.
Thoughts: One of only three S1 episodes that have IMDb ratings in the sixes, but I wouldn't rank this anywhere near the bottom of S1. It's a fun episode pretty much throughout, especially while the Crusaders are trying to prepare – "dumb fabric" indeed, Sweetie. The CMC treehouse makes its debut; I'd forgotten it wasn't actually made for them. Scootaloo's scootering sequence includes what turns out to be the start of a tiny side-story over the next few seasons involving Granny Smith. The CMC also get that fine instrumental for their montage. Kung fu is now canon as well as karate (see "Call of the Cutie"). The actual performance is enormous fun, and it's nice to see proper ponyish stomping applause from the watching ponies. At the end, the mares who turn up for the fillies are AJ for Apple Bloom, Rarity for Sweetie Belle... and Rainbow for Scootaloo. We'll be seeing that partnership again! Downsides? Not many. Twilight starting a sentence with "My Little Ponies" is intrusive, and a few of Spike's lines seem a little phoned in. On the whole, though, this is enjoyable stuff. Not a great classic, but for this storyline it didn't need to be. A fairly strong three. I do indeed disagree with the IMDb consensus, then!
Choice quote: Sweetie Belle, reading Scootaloo's attempt at song lyrics: "With our cutie marks we'll rock Equestria. We use our stomachs to digest-ia?"
New rating: ★★★
Next up is "A Dog and Pony Show", an episode which provokes quite mixed reactions. It's ages since I've seen it, so I'm really not sure what I'm going to think this time.
Sometimes there are IMDb ratings that don't make a lick of sense (most of them do, if one places themselves at the viewpoint of larger then a single person) and this is one of those. I can only guess that at the time people weren't necessarily happy or pleased about focus being taken away from the Mane 6 (7) that had gotten them into the show in the first place.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, a really good episode, layered in the kids not considering their actual talents as talents because they're so used to it (and I like the attitude of the adults' reactions to it, being a sort of "give them time, they'll get it one day" reaction). I consider this to be a very good example of how to write kids in a show for kids where the main characters aren't kids themselves, as such. Hilarious song, and that montage earlier, with its tune that would become so common in fan works even if the show never used it quite the same again, is also a killer.
The only other episode I remember in that side story between Scootaloo scootering and Granny Smith was in "Flight to the Finish", during the reprise of "Hearts As Strong As Horses". What are the others, can you recall?
There's at least one other, because I can clearly picture the scene. What I can't do, at least right off, is name the episode! It might be "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", but I'd be very unsure of saying that.
Delete"Sleepless in Ponyville". Because apparently I'm the kind of lurker who only posts when there's an easy answer.
DeleteI'm enjoying this series of posts by the way. (Even if I'm not saying much). And Mike, I'm really enjoying your reviews over on FimFiction as well.
Ah, of course it is! And that's an episode I adore, so I feel seriously ashamed not to have got it right!
DeleteAnd thank you. Always nice to know people are enjoying my ramblings. :) (Seconding the point about Mike's reviews, too.)
I'm just going out on a limb and say this also wasn't one of my favorite episodes, but not for the reasons that the focus shifted away from the Mane Six. At first, it didn't start off this way, here we get to see how the 'CMC' worked to uncover their cutie marks and I admit some of their efforts to do so were slightly funny (It was also nice we get to see them get their own clubhouse). But I think what really ruined it is how they decide to enter this talent show where they see a chance to not only get their cutie marks but to perform their own theme song. Initially before that, we know who the best singers are and we know most of the talents they are already able to do (Although I think Apple Bloom kind of jumps back and forth). But then that's when it falls apart when they decide to do things they don't normally do: Sweetie Belle wanting to do fashion like her big sister, Scootaloo being lead singer, and Apple Bloom... Doing karate in place of dancing (I've taken both courses during my childhood and I can tell you... WAY different).
ReplyDeleteBut I think what was really tough for a fan like myself to sit through is when they do get to perform in front of the ponies. For me, it's like watching a confused girl trying to perform 'Bohemian Rhapsody' on karaoke night and it's an uncomfortable 3 or more minutes of listening to off-pitch singing on what could've been a killer rock song. And that's just it: I do like the rock n roll style music, the outfits are actually fine, but the overall performance and singing included... I wouldn't even give them the bronze for that. Now of course something good does come out of it, while they 'don't' get their cutie marks they are least awarded the 'Best Comedy' act as if the ponies really think this is a 'spoof' of a rock song. And as if the one thing that's going to annoy me more is how they are completely oblivious to their true goals, they think it's their destiny to be a comedy act (This is going to go on repeat for the next few seasons much to my chagrin).
Now I don't necessarily think it's an overall bad episode, I don't even dislike it. There's just a few elements that I think didn't necessarily have to be bad for the sake of being done 'on purpose'. Granted, we know eventually it's going to pay off for the girls many seasons from now but at the time... All I can do is slap my head at the moments that make me think "WHY?!?!" Back then, I had always hoped if they ever do this performance again, it would be better than the last time but we never did get that reprise so... This is that one 'CMC' song I won't ever listen to again. Hence, why at every bad Karaoke performance that comes up I'm always hiding in a stall rather than sit and let my ears bleed.
Well then, we certainly differ in opinions on that song! I like it more every time I hear it, I made an 8-bit version of it a few years back, and I've even thought of singing it at a con karaoke, not merely listening. Not to say you have to like it yourself, of course not, but I'd actually enjoy the episode less without it.
DeleteThis is one of four episodes from the first season that I have little interest in rewatching. The first half is fine, but the talent show performance is just a joke that gets stretched out way too far for my taste. It's not pleasant to watch, and then it comes to the most obvious conclusion possible.
ReplyDeleteWhat I did like here, and... well, it's an odd experience to ascribe things to early shows that the writers very likely hadn't planned. But what I do love about this is the absolutely motherly way Twilight treats the CMCs. The sisters do swoop in with messages of pride at the end, but it's Twilight who bids them good luck and then tries to get them to make a realization from their experiences. It's probably more than she was still the only one writing to Celestia about her lessons, so she was the one the writers were predisposed to witness it herself.
However, I like to think this is the foundation of what eventually became Twilight Time. She takes a personal interest in them, even though she doesn't have much reason to. Well, except for helping get her un-petrified, I suppose. It would be really cool if this was the moment a mutual respect and closeness started up between them that led to her giving them special attention to develop their talents.
But now that I think of it, it's disappointing that Apple Bloom never did anything more with potions after that episode. But that' a topic for when you've plowed through several more seasons.
Looking around at a few other fans' thoughts, it does seem that a large part of whether people enjoy this or not comes down to how they feel about the talent show performance. I find it very entertaining and like the ep as a whole: you find it the reverse and don't.
DeleteInteresting point about "Twilight Time". That does make a lot of sense, though as you say it probably wasn't planned that way.