My Little Repeats 96: "Tanks for the Memories"

Aw, those slippers... and Dash has Tank slippers, too

S5E05: "Tanks for the Memories"

25 Apr 2015

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.3

The one with Applejack crying on the inside

Thoughts: It's nice, and fairly unusual by this stage in the series, to see a significant amount of an episode's plot rely on the way ponies control the weather in (most of) Equestria. Good to see an old-school writer handle it, too: this was the last of Cindy Morrow's 11 episodes. (She also wrote "Winter Wrap Up", so she can handle snow just fine!) It also felt a little old-fashioned – again in a nice way – to have the educational snippets about how hibernation works. What's best, though, is that Morrow manages to take Rainbow through the five stages of grief without the episode ever once mentioning death. Fluttershy's handling of Dash later on isn't liked by all fans, but I think it shows that where Rainbow is concerned, and especially by now, 'Shy can have plenty of self-confidence. "I'll Fly" remains a song I like although I still don't adore it, while the whole "Who's on First?" homage is great fun. You can argue that Rainbow's character is regressed a bit for this ep, especially as she suffers no real consequences for her Weather Factory sabotage, something you'd think would be an absolute no-no in Equestria. Oh, and Caramel and we got some Sassaflash too. An established non-married couple is rare in FiM, but I've always liked those two. Overall, then? Enjoyable, but not without flaws that hold it back from real greatness. Three stars last time, three stars this time.

Choice quote: Twilight: "Winter is coming."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "Appleoosa's Most Wanted", which wasn't that popular at the time but which may gain a bit now we know what happened to the CMC later in S5...

My Little Repeats 60: "Apple Family Reunion"

"Whaddayamean, ya never heard of batway surfin'?"

S3E08: "Apple Family Reunion"

Written by Cindy Morrow
22 Dec 2012

My original rating: 5/10 (=★★)
IMDb score: 7.1

The one with firelighter Spike

Thoughts: Surprise afternoon episode review! Back when I first reviewed this, I didn't think much of "Raise This Barn". My opinion of that song has improved quite a bit since, but what about the episode as a whole? Well, that has too. I still wouldn't put this in the same class as "Sleepless in Ponyville", but these days I find its down-home feel comforting in the way I do much of S1. Applejack also gets a proper letter to Celestia after her amusing get-out last season, and the moral she finds in the Reunion's events is one that I think has a lot of resonance for many of us in 2020 looking forward to seeing our family and friends again. There are some nice little touches – the fruit bats, baby Applejack, and of course the shooting stars representing AJ's absent parents – and Cindy Morrow gives the character interactions a warmth that I didn't quite grasp first time around. It's a real shame Babs never had a proper role again, as she had potential. Oddly, Braeburn doesn't get a speaking line, either. All in all, this goes into the "superior filler" category for me nowadays, and instead of the original two-star rating I gave it, I'm bumping it up to a solid three.

Choice quote: Applesauce: "A lady never reveals the age of her teeth."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "Spike At Your Service", one of the worst received episodes of the first half of the show's run – but one I didn't actually mind too much at the time. Now? We shall see!

My Little Repeats 56: "One Bad Apple"

I remember this gag being very widely appreciated back in 2012

S3E04: "One Bad Apple"
Written by Cindy Morrow
24 Nov 2012

My original rating: N/A
IMDb score: 6.6

The one with Sweetie's first little spark of magic

Thoughts: From one of S3's most popular episodes to one of its least: "One Bad Apple" has the second lowest IMDb average of any this season. It's not hard to see why: this is pretty much a Very Special Episode about bullying, and not an especially subtle one at that. Its high point is definitely the fantastic song, which is one of the catchiest FiM ever produced. The accompanying animation was apparently deliberately given a Hanna-Barbera feel, right down to the recycled sequences. It's beautifully done, though: watch how well the Crusaders' eye-blinks are fitted to the beat. The low point? Well, Babs Seed herself doesn't have much of a motivation to be a bully (and no, "she was bullied in Manehattan" isn't good enough), but for me it's that the CMC are nowhere near their most likeable here. Sweetie partly excepted, but I mean, getting a foal to drive a float over a cliff? It's surprising, since Cindy Morrow is usually pretty sure-footed when it comes to character interactions. Not, unfortunately, this time around. There are some wonderful moments, not least the little A-Team montage when the CMC are building the golden float, but they can't disguise the episode's central weakness. Great song or no great song, this has to end up down in the two-star bracket. Watch it for its fun little touches, not its hackneyed message. Oh, and Pinkie's "veggie salad!" line is still near incomprehensible.

Choice quote: Sweetie Belle: "That must be what Rarity uses on her emergency edible boots!" [Yeah, I know SB's "ironic" quote from the tub is a classic, but I wanted to choose something else for a change!]

New rating: ★★

Next up is "Magic Duel", which I've generally been able to take or leave, though now I like Trixie more from her later appearances that may change. As always, wait and see!

My Little Repeats 48: "Hurricane Fluttershy"

This may just be my favourite single moment in the entire damn show

S2E22: "Hurricane Fluttershy"
Written by Cindy Morrow
24 Mar 2012

My original rating: N/A
IMDb score: 9.0

The one with Spike's alpenhorn

Thoughts: Best episode. Thanks for reading; see you next time! Oh, all right... this is a Fluttershy episode, which gets us off to a fine start. It's by Cindy Morrow, usually a good sign for character writing, and so it proves in spades this time. This is the very best depiction of Fluttershy's friendship with Rainbow Dash found anywhere in Friendship is Magic. It's pretty much perfect, summed up by a single moment: when Rainbow catches herself in the middle of her "Suck it up, Fluttershy!" speech. You really can tell these two have known each other for longer than most of the Mane Six, and Rainbow gets some welcome character depth out of it, too. The scene after Flutters runs away is excellent also: Dash's frustrated buck says it all. And when 'Shy comes back after that wonderful training montage – Angel demonstrating that he does care deeply about her – does our heroine triumph with 10.0 wing power? Oh no. That's much too obvious for Morrow; what happens here is so much more fitting: Fluttershy does better than ever before, but realistically so. (She breaks her PB again in the tornado, of course.) Add in some fun comedy with the film strip and Fluttertree, a decent amount of Derpyness, some very interesting – if hereafter barely used – world-building about water supplies, the feather flu and Spitfire in her gentler, pre-drill sergeant mode. And the eyes, of course. On top of everything else, this is a perceptive portrait of a pony with anxiety. At its heart, it's all about the character moments. See the screenshot above for yet another. I'm not a big fan of Bulk Biceps, but that doesn't matter. For its hugely satisfying depictions of both Rainbow Dash and especially Fluttershy, this episode was, and remains, a triumph.

Choice quote: Twilight: "Do I look like I speak squirrel?" [No. But Timmy Turner does!]

New rating: ★★★★★

Next up is "Ponyville Confidential", a CMC episode that I really rather enjoy. At least, I have done so in the past, with the odd reservation.

My Little Reviews 42: "Read It and Weep"

"I go through all this just to get retconned? Sheesh"

S2E16: "Read It and Weep"
Written by Cindy Morrow
4 Feb 2012

My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 8.8

The one with Pony Battleship.

Thoughts: The first Daring Do episode, and still quite possibly the best. Regardless of how you feel about the "A. K. Yearling" stuff that comes in later in the series, the Daring sections of this episode make a wonderful adventure in their own right. Here (as Daring's design demonstrates) it's clearly Rainbow Dash putting herself in the adventurer's horseshoes. I've never liked Ahuizotl's S9 retcon, but here he appears as I feel he should appear, a love-to-hate villain; mind you, it's strange now to see him without Caballeron! By S2 standards these sections are visually sumptuous, too, and we even get fantastic little touches like imperfections in the "film" and bleed at the edges of the "cinema screen". And the score is very good indeed. The adventure bits are interspersed with plenty of excellent character moments (hey, this is a Cindy Morrow episode) and provide us with the most likeable Rainbow Dash performance in a long time. It's all set up with Dash breaking her wing – at the time a clichéd fanfic setup, but used nicely here, and a reminder that Equestrian magic doesn't do easy healing. The hospital scenes aren't all quite so good, and the night-time slipper raid stuff is really a bit absurd. I'm also not entirely comfortable with Screw Loose and have always been surprised her appearance didn't create much controversy – we're only two episodes on from Derpygate, after all. These quibbles aside, though, "Read It and Weep" is a great episode and one I hugely enjoyed rewatching. Plenty of humour, too – we even find out next season that Rainbow really does snore like that! A four-star rating here, and a pretty high four at that. Indiana Pones indeed.

Choice quote: Pinkie Pie: "I'd say it was more of a fracas than a ruckus."

New rating: ★★★★

Next up is "Hearts and Hooves Day", an episode I wasn't at all a big fan of at first, but one which has gradually grown on me over the years.

My Little Repeats 38: "Family Appreciation Day"

One of my favourite visual gags in all of S2

S2E12: "Family Appreciation Day"
Written by Cindy Morrow
7 Jan 2012

My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 8.0

The one with bunny costumes.

Thoughts: A slightly odd mixture of an episode, but more works than doesn't. My least favourite part is actually the extent of the details of the zap apple jamming. A lot of time and detail is spent here, and it does eventually start to feel a bit like padding. At least the character interaction is good, as you'd expect from Cindy Morrow. The big attraction of this ep comes in the last third, when we find out that Granny Smith was there at the founding of Ponyville itself; her sepia-toned reminscences are by far the best bit of the episode. Granny is even more stereotypically elderly than she usually is at this point even allowing for the fact that her strange rituals are meaningful, and it does get a little irritating. The CMC are pretty fun, though. We meet Filthy Rich, who seems a better sort than his daughter – and we get our first look at the Timberwolves, though they're easily scared off by Granny. Probably four stars for the olden-days parts, two for the zap apple stuff and three for the general bits around the edges. It's therefore another three overall, though quite a high one because of the importance of that new lore.

Choice quote: Scootaloo: "What are you, a dictionary?"

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "Baby Cakes", which has long held the dubious honour of being my least favourite episode in S2 – and indeed one of my least favourite in the entire pre-Twilicorn run of the show. Can it pull off a miraculous recovery this time around?

My Little Repeats 31: "Sisterhooves Social!

"Look, Sweetie! You're the big sister now!"

S2E05: "Sisterhooves Social"
Written by Cindy Morrow
5 Nov 2011

My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 8.7

The one with liquid toast.

Thoughts: Ah, Rarity's parents. It's a shame in a way that we saw so little of them after this, as the show gradually shifted to the (unspoken) assumption that Sweetie was with her sister a great deal. Anyway, Rarity at this point still has some cold, sharp edges and Sweetie Belle helps to smooth them off a bit. The tension between them is well done, as you'd expect from character-writing specialist Cindy Morrow, and Sweetie "adopting" Applejack is a clever idea. (Apple Bloom's proprietorial attitude towards her sister is amusing, too.) The Sisterhooves Social itself also feels like the kind of event that Ponyville would love, so no complaints there! I'm slightly less impressed with the final race, as it's surely obvious even to a kid that "Applejack's" eyes are the wrong colour. Oh, we get talking sheep. One, anyway. The nature of the relationship between ponies and their livestock gets more disturbing every time you think about it! This is an episode that I used not to like all that much, but which has really grown on me in the last few years. A notch below classic status, but still very good.

Choice quote: Sweetie Belle: "Rarity never high-hoofs me."

New rating: ★★★★

Next up is "The Cutie Pox", which is generally (including by me) seen as a significant step down from the first five episodes of S2. But we'll find out!

My Little Repeats 24: "Owl's Well That Ends Well"

One of the very few times FiM directly addressed the fact that some animals eat other animals

S1E24: "Owl's Well That Ends Well"
Written by Cindy Morrow
22 Apr 2011

My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 6.4

The one with jewelled bow ties.

Thoughts: This episode has the lowest IMDb ranking of S1, and among the lowest of the whole show. I find it hard to disagree. It's not terrible, and it certainly has its moments. The meteor shower segment is lovely, even if Scootaloo randomly saying "once" (around 5:06) is a bit weird. I like Twilight's candlelit educational bit about comets. Quills and Sofas makes its debut. The big dragon has real menace. Twilight's anger with Spike for lying is convincing, and (although this one is YMMV territory) I find Spike's "silent movie villain" segment the funniest in the episode by far. But a big problem is Owlowiscious. He's just not very interesting, and the "Hoo?" joke being run so far into the ground it comes out in... well, wherever's opposite Equestria is infuriating by the end. Not only Spike, but even eventually Twilight, get Idiot Balled. Spike is especially bad, as he repeatedly interprets things quite absurdly, not least when "...not the Spike I know and love" becomes "Twilight doesn't love me" in his head. This episode was written by Cindy Morrow, a writer usually strong on characterisation – but I suppose everyone's allowed a bad day once in a while. This was hers.

Choice quote: Pinkie Pie: "And now the punch has been... Spiked!"

New rating: ★★

Next up is "Party of One", and this I'm particularly interested in rewatching. It's dated quite badly in a number of fans' opinions, but in mine? Well, let's see.

My Little Repeats 18: "The Show Stoppers"

"Scootaloo, Best Comedy doesn't mean Best Dad Joke, so can it with that 'biggest fan' line."

S1E18: "The Show Stoppers"
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.

My Little Repeats 11: "Winter Wrap Up"

Rather serves you right for your attitude, Spike...

S1E11: "Winter Wrap Up"
Written by Cindy Morrow
24 Dec 2010

My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 8.4

The one with Twilight's "Nopenopenope" backwards run

Thoughts: Christmas Eve 2010 was quite an occasion for the nascent MLP:FiM fandom. We got so much lore about how much work ponies actually do to clean up winter – by choice, given that Canterlot uses magic. (And so does Twilight later on, much to AJ's annoyance!) It is really interesting – and very S1! – to see the details of how everything's done. Mayor Mare even gets a decent-sized role, plus we get bouncy grinning Lyra in the crowd! To be honest, though, I find Twilight's succession of failures a tiny bit sad to watch, especially when Spike outright laughs at her. Thankfully her organisational skills eventually find her a place, though far in the future ("Slice of Life") Amethyst Star will hint that maybe she isn't entirely happy at having been deposed as Ponyville's best organiser! One tiny, lovely touch: Twilight makes the bird whistle by magically controlling it. Later on, Fluttershy merely needs to wink. Buuuut we all know that, to many, this episode is all about the song. It must have been amazing in those pre-leak days to have a fully-fledged musical number of this quality sprung on you after little more than silly Pinkie ditties in previous episodes. I really like the instrumental reprise, too. This would have been a three-star episode without it, but the song is so good as to add an extra one.

Choice quote: Rarity: "Oh, Spike! It's not so bad. Maybe the birds can use it as a..." Spike: "An outhouse?"

New rating: ★★★★

Next up is "Call of the Cutie", an episode that in hindsight is far more important than it may have appeared at the time. I remember being a bit meh about it the first time around.

My Little Repeats 5: "Griffon the Brush Off"

Only in Equestria could a dragon burrowing through a cake be considered acceptable

S1E05: "Griffon the Brush Off"
Written by Cindy Morrow
12 Nov 2010

My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 7.6

The one with the "Junior Speedsters" chant.

Thoughts: Until S5, Cindy Morrow's FiM writing debut had an interesting moral: that, regrettably, it's sometimes necessary to cut ties with toxic friends permanently. "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone" changed that by redeeming Gilda; I've never been quite sure how I feel about that. Back to this episode, and it sees the effective start of Rainbow and Pinkie's friendship (including a self-referential joke about having no fingers to high-five with), as well as the birth of the "You can't outrun Pinkie Pie" meme. The contrast between Pinkie's concern for Fluttershy and Gilda making the latter cry is very noticeable – though it seems a little odd that Dash would even contemplate the prank, given we find out later this season that she's known 'Shy since fillyhood. As for Gilda herself, she's little better than a bully here (and a thief) and she doesn't engender the sympathy that "Griffonstone" would do for her years later. The big twist – that Rainbow set up the party pranks – is nice, though having it be "dumb luck" that Gilda set them all off strains credulity. Dash's speech saying she'd rather be "Queen Lame-o" than have a bully for a friend is good, though. I've slightly warmed to the episode overall now, hence the three-star rating.

Choice quote: Fluttershy to Pinkie: "I'm a year older than you."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "Boast Busters", which I've never been a massive fan of as I didn't like early-series Trixie – though will I change my assessment looking back from several years of StarTrix fun?

Episode review: S5E05: "Tanks for the Memories"

Then Dash thought of something she hadn't before...

Cindy Morrow is back! Okay, the last episode she wrote for Friendship is Magic ("Apple Family Reunion") wasn't a favourite, but no writer who came up with the outstanding "Hurricane Fluttershy" is one I'd want to lose permanently from the My Little Pony squad. This time around, we knew we were going to be looking at the Dash/Tank relationship and that M. A. Larson had promised Hasbro he'd take responsibility for... well, for something. Let's see how that turned out.

Classic episode review: "Griffon the Brush Off" (S1E05)

Fly away, Gilda. Fly. Fly away, and never return.

It's been some weeks since we had a classic episode review on this blog, so I think it's time that was changed! The often misspelled "Griffon the Brush Off" just happens to be the first of many episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to be written by a woman who will be one of BUCK's VIP guests, a certain Cindy Morrow. She's written episodes that almost every fan thinks are great, but this one does rather divide opinion. After the break, I'll say where I stand.

Cindy Morrow's going to BUCK!

I'll get a review of the latest MLP:FiM comic posted in the next day or two (sneak preview: it's very good) but for now, some BUCK news. Cindy Morrow will be attending! She's the writer responsible for my favourite episode of the entire series ("Hurricane Fluttershy") as well as another of those I'd put in the top tier, "Read It and Weep". I don't like everything she's done — "Owl's Well that Ends Well" was a disappointment — but I'm still delighted that the BUCK team have pulled this off. It's a tremendous achievement.

Review: "Apple Family Reunion" (S3E08)

"Buy some Apples"? Slavery has been abolished, you know!

We're coming up to Hearth's Warming now, so Louder Yay will be taking a short break. Not quite yet, though! Tomorrow, you can look forward to a full review of the Season One DVD from Shout! Factory. In the meantime, here's what I thought of "Apple Family Reunion". This is a rather shorter review than I'd expected to write, since there wasn't a lot to write about. Follow me past the jump to find out more.