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| Again for the folks in the back: Angel and Fluttershy adore each other |
Written by Josh Haber
30 Nov 2013
My original rating: 8/10 (=★★★★)
IMDb score: 8.1The one with the Bee Stare
Thoughts: Josh Haber's debut. Which of us knew in 2013 how much influence that man would have on Friendship is Magic? This is also the first episode where (fairly mild) "meme faces" really became a fandom talking point, and it was also leaked in advance of its scheduled release date. A real taste of things to come! As for the actual episode: the general consensus on release was that this was "Scooby-Doo with ponies", and that summary still holds good to a fair extent. I'd forgotten the Fluttershy-Rarity team-up, something I appreciated seeing as I've always felt this friendship was underused throughout FiM. A little AppleDash shipteasing from their initial bet onwards, too, as Meghan McCarthy noted! It's a good episode for Angel, one that again underlines how simplistic it is when fans sum him up as "just a jerk". On the downside, Pinkie's characterisation, though fun at times, was rather shallow and one-note – not the last time I'll complain about her portrayal this season. And what was "Star Spider Season" all about, and why was Fluttershy scared of critters anyway? As for the plot itself.. yeah. Scooby-Doo with ponies. Zoinks! Pretty silly, not terribly deep but decent popcorn entertainment. Rather a shame the Castle of the Two Sisters faded away as a plot point before this season was out, but at least the Journal of Friendship is born here. As for the real "Pony of Shadows" at the very end... who was that, I wonder? Tirek has long been one post-S4 fan theory. Anyway, Castle Mane-ia four stars? Not any more; that was too high. But three? Yes, that rating I'll still grant this with ease.
Choice quote: Twilight: "No-one likes sarcasm, Spike." [You were once pretty sarcastic yourself, Twilight!]
New rating: ★★★
Next up is "Daring Don't", in its time a very controversial episode for its retconning of the Daring Do legend. I haven't seen it for ages, so I won't guess how I'll find it this time round.
Embarrassingly, I apparently don't inherently know the difference between this episode and Castle Sweet Castle. <.< Which I suppose isn't surprising, since they both have 'castle' in the title and are kinda boring ensemble episodes that appear third in their season.
ReplyDeleteI mean, this isn't that boring, really, but it does lack something.
The difficult third episode...
Delete"The Ticket Master" -- meh
"Lesson Zero" -- great (I know you disagree!)
"Too Many Pinkie Pies" -- okay
"Castle Mane-ia" -- decent
and my pre-rewatch opinions..
"Castle Sweet Castle" -- okay
"The Gift of the Maud Pie" -- dull
"A Flurry of Emotions" -- okay
"The Maud Couple" -- Mudbriar
"Uprooted" -- meh
It's not the most impressive set of nine episodes, really.
I'll refrain from the many - MANY - words I'd like to say about Josh Haber for now. While one can certainly, in hindsight, see some of his tics present in this here episode, it's not nearly enough to write about it detail (even if I suspect the heavier continuity present in his early episodes was down to McCarthy). Really, looking back, Haber's four episode when he was just a writer, and not Story Editor - this, "Simple Ways", "Leap of Faith" and "Bloom and Gloom" - are all decent ideas, executed competently. So he can write fine, as long as there's a sensible captain at the Story Editor wheel.
ReplyDeleteThis one being 'Scooby-Doo with ponies' does make it kind of hard to actually dissect it, because there's not a lot to dissect without simply lamenting that so much potential early setup for either the Keys, Tree of Harmony, chest, or the Friendship Journal is regelated to a framing device. It's not fair to judge an episode for what a viewer thinks it should be, but the silly hijinks in this episode simply aren't of high enough quality to overshadow that. They're competent and amusing, so even on this rewatch I wasn't bored. But it lacks that extra spark in the construction of said hijinks, that which elevated many Faust-era episode, to the point that the 65% or so of the episode spent on the spookily silly stuff blends together and gets repetitive fast (this is one of the few episodes in the series where an 11-minute version may have been stronger). As a result, it's a "good, but disposable filler" episode, or it would be were it not for its few small arc contributions (making this a case of a filler episode except for one or two tiny things, a trend annoyingly common in semi-serialised shows). When it comes to FiM slapstick, I think I'll stick to "A Bird in the Hoof".
[That note of Twilight once being pretty sarcastic does underline how this episode, for all it's hijinks, lacks a certain zest to the proceedings to make it stick in the mind]
That being the case, it would be unfair to deny that this episode is amusing and good. The improved quality of the visuals help the mock scary elements that little bit more, for a start. As Logan notes, Angel gets a rare positive showing (I find him forgoing Fluttershy and just lounging with Twilight and Spike hits the right balance of nailing his personality without being too jerky about it), which is much appreciated, as is the pairing of Rarity and Fluttershy ("Green Isn't Your Color" being one of many fantastic Season 1 episodes). And the episode's characterisation is consistent and strong, even if it lacks exemplary moments to make it stick. The opening few minutes that get the characters to the castle, especially.
So, solid, fine episode. It's just kind of easy to wish it were something else, given how much the show sets itself up for even just mild serialisation by now, yet continues to sidestep doing even that.
It's not that hard to write Angel well, I'd have thought. This ep demonstrates that Haber could do it, for a start! The problem is that too many people (including in the fandom) think of him slapping 'Shy in "Putting Your Hoof Down" and treat him as though that was his entire character. :/
DeleteAs a side note, alongside this Season 4 rewatch, I've been perusing the premises, scripts and outlines for each episode, to see what interesting changes occurred along the way, if any. Not enough interesting for
ReplyDeleteFor this episode? Very little - other then it being conceived and written as the seventh episode in Season 4, but being planned to be third (so it was still produced 3rd up at DHX), it began as the same silly hijinks we got, right down to the seasonal arc stuff being just framing. Setting aside shuffling of scene order throughout, most scenes didn't change even a single line from the 1st draft.
Only two things of note - right through to the final script, the opening was extended to have Twilight trying to study quietly, with Spike downgrading his chore to a quieter one (to the point that Twilight asked him to dust quieter). He's then happy to help her with researching the chest, but then construction noise from outside gets loud (fixing the damage the plunder vines caused), with the pair noting it includes a new school bell (hence why Pinkie was testing it!). Thus, Celestia's letter is also about having a quite place, suggesting the old castle as she and Luna often snuck away to a secret room there when they were young. This whole scene was cut for time at the storyboarding stage, and also because the staff at DHX and Hasbro felt it was unnecessary and detracted from the silly fun stuff.
For the other notable thing, the episode had trouble landing on Pinkie's role - she started out trailing them and assuming they were playing make-pretend scare, responsible for some of the scares until the halfway point when she found the organ. The bell subplot was a later addition. I guess what we got is preferable to her scaring them, but it's still random and under-characterised.
The group also has exposition on the way to the organ room explaining what happened to all of them, seemingly cut for Pinkie's longer spiel on how she ended up there.
So, yeah, very boring in changes, this one! The extended opening would have been neat for continuity, but at the same time it doesn't add anything to the episode (I totally understand where Hasbro and DHX were coming from), so it's no better then the prolonged antics in the middle.
the episode had trouble landing on Pinkie's role
DeleteReplace "episode" with "season" to an annoying extent... but that's something I'll have more words to say about later on! :P
Sigh... Josh Haber. We all have individual tastes, of course, but to me, his writing is just so bland. I can't think of an episode that he wrote that I thought was anything beyond meh.
ReplyDeleteAs for this particular episode... meh.
I do greatly enjoy a couple of his episodes... but the one that comes to mind first was a joint effort with someone else. That probably has something to do with it. Mind you, there's only one late-show writer I find usually came up with the goods for me, and... well, it's not Mr Haber.
DeleteNothing much to add to the existing analysis. An amusing genre shift of a timewaster, which barely sets up a damp squib of an ongoing arc.
ReplyDeleteAlthough really, if that "AppleDash" stuff qualifies for shipping, then so does practically every interaction between friends. Colour me unimpressed.
Minor points of note:
- The beekeeper is the postal pony who shows up in "The Last Roundup" and "Putting Your Hoof Down". Either Parcel Post has a beekeeping lookalike, or he has a hobby/second job!
- The Everfree Forest has suddenly lost its menace again. Just because the Plundervines are gone, doesn't mean things like the cragadile, the cockatrice, and the timberwolves aren't still around.
- Why are there so many traps in Celestia and Luna's old castle? If it's for protection, then you'd have to wonder whether the current Canterlot castle has them. Or else Celestia wanted to turn her home into a macabre funhouse, ha!
- Do like the design of the ancient pony armour, as well as some of the gothic horror visual styles and tricks. This may only amount to a disposable genre experiment, but it's a solid proof-of-concept.
- Also, am I alone in thinking that one of the gargoyle-like rooftop structures looks a bit like Ember? Probably just coincidence, or my bad memory, but it caught my eye.
- After being the best thing in the last two episodes, Twilight is back to being her boring perfect self while her friends run about like headless chickens. I like how her ongoing reading explains that in part (brings to mind a Marie Curie quote: "Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood."), but this is a fine line she treads.
- Fluttershy believing Angel is trapped under a fallen column? Aw, poor Fluttershy! Applejack stamping on it in panic? Hahaha, poor Fluttershy! (A moment of good dark comedy is always appreciated).
- Note that Twilight can perform a body-freezing spell that's not only instantaneous, but far-reaching. Believe me, I will be snitty about this in later situations where Twilight's spell could have come very much in handy.
- Pinkie's role here is so confusing that I'm not sure if it counts as Creator's Pet Pinkie similar to "Luna Eclipsed" or Tagalong Idiot Pinkie similar to "Princess Twilight Sparkle". Either way, I'm not sure I like it; I almost wish there was a real monster or mysterious stranger skulking about (and no, the five-second reveal at the end is not it, as it's effectively meaningless plot-wise).
- Let's not be coy: this journal gimmick boils down to "Dear Princess Celestia v.2.0." As gimmicky as the Friendship Map Missions get later on, they at least feel like a more confident break from tradition than this season's equivalent.
- Also, if you're interested, here's a good link to the mlp wiki, which details what those journal entries over the course of Season Four looked like in practice:
https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/Friendship_lessons/Journal_of_Friendship
- I doubt the ending shadow was intended to be Tirek, not least because of the completely glowing eyes which don't match his. It seems no more significant than Fluttershy's fang in "Bats!"
- Lastly, while the mini legend behind the "Pony of Shadows" is a nice touch, in hindsight it's basically Exhibit A of the case against Haber's ability to keep even his own canon straight, let alone the show's as a whole, given what it's utterly retconned into come the Season Seven finale.
I'm not generally a shipper, especially when the Mane Six are involved, so my own comment on that was merely a little bit of amusement; I doubt I'd have bothered had McCarthy not mentioned it herself.
DeleteOh, yes, Fluttershy's fang. Against the apparent ponyfic-subfandom consensus, I rather like "Bats!" -- but that last shot that turned out to mean nothing has always irritated me.
Against the apparent ponyfic-subfandom consensus, I rather like "Bats!"
DeleteHey, me too! :D But we'll get to that one later for the specific whys and wherefores. (Suffice it to say "Fluttershy's in it" gets us off to a good start). :P
I don't mind the fang thing (well, much: it's more puzzling than irritating to me).
Damn it, sorry! That was me. Don't know why it keeps doing that "Unknown" thing...
DeleteI always found this one very forgettable. It's a bit of pleasant silliness, but took much either didn't make sense or never went anywhere. Agreed that Futtershy shouldn't have been nervous about the spiders, and Pinkie was mostly annoying. I would have liked to see the princess explain why the castle had all these secret passages that were more about fun house amusement than security, what was the organ even doing there, and then the dumb tease at the end in one of the series' biggest Chekhov's guns ever. Probably 2 stars from me. I really tend to like slice of life in anime, and it surprises me that I'm less tolerant of it in this show. Probably because in this case, it wasn't set up as slice of life. There was something they were trying to accomplish, and it just fizzled out, instead of the whole point being just following them around on a lark.
ReplyDeleteYes, fair point that just leaving out any pretence to great significance would have made this better. Just some silly fun with the ponies careering about would have worked perfectly well.
DeleteA personal favourite of mine (edging into my top 10), which I know goes against the norm. I meant to say so with 'Princess Twilight Sparkle' as well, although getting my login to work on here has often been tricky. :P
ReplyDeleteThis episode is great deal of fun. 'Scooby Doo with ponies' it certainly is; I grew up loving that show too. The episode hits all the classic notes; running around a mysterious castle, at night, with thunder claps and the spooky music playing. I can enjoy sticking this on for a watch every Halloween, and for that it almost has a timeless quality to it.
It doesn't matter quite so much now, but the continuation of the Season 4 running plot helped a lot too. Twilight's straight back into researching about the chest from the previous episode. Also, I remember feeling like her "Alright everypony stop!" freeze spell was a notable moment in demonstrating her new position as princess (taking on a more leader-like role).
Two more things to take away. 'The Journey of the Two Sisters' became a real book! And the stinger shot of the cloaked figure at the end; most likely Tirek's first appearance. Overall, the episode's definitely not without it's problems (star spiders, Pinkie, the repetitiveness), but they don't detract enough to stop it from being a blast.
Always fun to have a personal favourite or two that go against the grain of fandom consensus! I have a few like that, as you know. :) I was only in the "quite like" camp as a kid far as Scooby-Doo was concerned, which might help explain that.
DeleteAnd indeed, the real book! I must re-read that at some point. Add it to the 3,000 other things I need to have a second look at! :D