My Little Repeats 190: "Yakity-Sax"

Well, this isn't disturbing at all...

S8E18: "Yakity-Sax"

25 Aug 2018 (previewed by Discovery Family 20 Jul 2018)

My original rating: ★★
IMDb score: 5.3

The one with randomly Irish Lily Daisy

Thoughts: This ep was not in fact hated by everyone from the start. But it had a negative reception overall, sometimes very negative – and if anything it's got worse over time. A few nice touches, such as AJ's callback to "Horse Play". The way Pinkamena gradually gets greyer and greyer. I quite like the Pinkie Pie Appreciation Party, too. But. But. Here we have Pinkie valuing a hobby we've never seen before over her friends. Twilight making a mess of wording the "you're bad at this". Pinkie deciding the best response is to run away to Yakyakistan, saying that without the yovidaphone her life has no meaning. The Manes being unutterably thick about how they need to talk to Maud. And the rotten cherry on the whole stinking mess of a cake, the appalling moral. "Sod everyone else, Pinkie, your personal obsession beats their welfare any day!" So: don't be honest with your friends when they're keeping a whole town awake, just encourage them to annoy everyone even more! Besides, there is a canon silence spell ("Amending Fences") which Twi doesn't even mention. Use that, for Celestia's sake! There's actually a fun episode somewhere in this basic premise. The teeny, tiny snag? This ain't it.

Choice quote: Pinkie Pie: "Those apple turnovers aren't gonna apple themselves!"

New rating: ★

And breathe. Next time it'll be "Road to Friendship", which isn't a perfect episode by any means but is on another level to this. It's one of Josh Haber's most popular eps, helped by the chemistry of its principal characters and a very catchy song. I liked it a good deal in 2018, and I hope I'll like it a good deal again this year!

My Little Repeats 155: "Discordant Harmony"

Now there's a con cosplay idea for someone brave!

S7E12: "Discordant Harmony"

5 Aug 2017

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.4

The one with singing teabags

Thoughts: Season 7 picked up after its (fairly short) mid-season hiatus with this episode, one which was quite popular even among those strange people who don't think Fluttershy is Best Pony. This ep isn't one where I've really changed my opinion in six and a bit years: it's a good deal of fun, and it's probably my favourite extended look at Fluttershy and Discord's friendship.¹ There are plenty of amusing jokes, and I like how it's 'Shy who takes the initiative – by now she's comfortable with Discord in a way few ponies are, and she steals the show in the third act. The moral is solid and MLP-appropriate, too. Pinkie has a nice cameo, and this could have been a four-star episode. It's a notch lower because of its uneven pacing, spending significantly too much of the running time on the setup. Even so, a clear high three and still a good watch.
¹ I'm generally not a great fan of actual FlutterCord as heavily hinted in S9E26.

Choice quote: Discord: "And although we've never discussed it, I'm pretty sure Fluttershy likes gravity."

New rating: ★★★

Next up, we'll move on to one of the most beloved (by the fandom as a whole) episodes of the entire series, let alone of the last three seasons: "The Perfect Pear". I did not give it five stars in 2017, rating it a "mere" four, but will it make the leap this time around? We shall see.

My Little Repeats 149: "Forever Filly"

"Aww, I remember when CheeriMac was a thing, too."

S7E06: "Forever Filly"

13 May 2017

My original rating: ★★
IMDb score: 7.5

The one with extremely small ice creams

Thoughts: I did not have a great experience with this episode in 2017, finding it tedious viewing at times. Now? Now I feel I was rather harsh on it. Sweetie Belle clearly does have a point that she's still being treated like a little filly when she's (more or less) a teenager, and Rarity is being somewhat dense about this. The ep isn't perfectly paced, with the parallel Zipporwhill plot having that pony being at least as slow to grasp the point as Rarity is. I'm also a bit iffy about the CMC: I get that they're best as a threesome, but surely AB and Scoot could have had more ideas even as a two. Still, Sweetie's attempt to be polite while not quite being able to cover up her boredom is actually fairly well portrayed. Maybe I was just in a  grumpy mood six years ago. This episode is getting bumped up a star.

Choice quote: Chip Cutter: "When I look at my sandwich, it's like it's just asking me to turn it into a dragon."

New rating: ★★★

Next up will be the 150th My Little Repeats, which will look at "Parental Glideance". An episode I really did enjoy a lot first time around and have watched again for fun since. I fully expect to have a good time with it again now.

My Little Repeats 139: "P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)"

🎵 And I know that my hat will go on... 🎵

S6E22: "P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)"

1 Oct 2016

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 6.8

The one with Rarity confronting a giant crab

Thoughts: Quite a fun episode for the most part, but one severely let down by its feeble ending, one that's become almost legendary – largely for the wrong reasons. It's so disappointing to come off quite an enjoyable ride and find out that "Ha, it's a bunyip who eats cucumber sarnies and who we'll never see again" is the best these writers can do to round it off. Okay, it's just about given clues in the episode, but come on. That's not the only irritation, either: as just one example, Applejack late on sounding surprised that Pinkie bringing a pile of games was intended for her friends. The Rashomon-style approach is quite nicely done, and allows the animators to go to town once again: compare the ship's flag to British Columbia's. Twilight does some fairly good work on friendship, though I'm iffy about her outright lying to the others to get them to arrive together on the pier. No doubt that Arrrplejack steals the show, though! All in all, I think this is more a highish two than a three for me now.

Choice quote: Rarity: "Oh, don't worry dear. Luxury cruises never sink."

New rating: ★★

Next time, it's on to "Where the Apple Lies". A slightly strange episode, that, and one which I had mixed feelings about back in the day. I suspect that might still be the case, but we shall find out.

My Little Repeats 127: "Applejack's 'Day' Off"

"Er, Twilight? I think Troubleshoes has already made this act his own"

S6E10: "Applejack's 'Day' Off"

28 May 2016

My original rating: ★★
IMDb score: 6.3

The one with Rarity pronouncing "schedule" the British way

Thoughts: This was written by the Fox brothers, with Neal Dusedau in addition for story duties. Let's be honest, that's not the most inspiring FiM team. And look at that IMDb score. Not great, is it? Even allowing for IMDb-ishness, that's not the sign of a popular episode. It wasn't particularly popular with me either, as my 2016 review score shows. What I remembered, and indeed said back then, was that I wasn't actively repulsed by it but that it just wasn't all that interesting to me. This is still the case: the 22 minutes really do not fly by. Now, a lower-key, small-town feel isn't a bad thing in itself, of course. But I'm afraid this one just feels dull. It also doesn't help that for some of the routines Applejack with eg the pig-feeding, her having stuck to them all this time without thinking about it requires her to be frankly rather stupid. And AJ is not rather stupid, nor even always set in her ways. Indeed, when she fixes the spa machinery her intelligence is there for all to see. Twilight and Spike don't do a whole lot that's actually interesting in this episode, at least not until fixing the farm irrigation system at the end. Rarity has a decent showing in this episode and is probably the most entertaining character pretty much throughout, though Rainbow's pretence that she doesn't like spa pampering is amusing, or at least would be if the one joke didn't go on quite so long. (Her Tank slippers get a point, though!) So yeah, I'll stick with the two-star rating here. This isn't offensive, it's just not very interesting.

Choice quote: Rarity: "An hour of spa perfection? I can work with that."

New rating: ★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "Flutter Brutter", an episode which many people disliked (largely because they disliked a certain character in it...) but which I rather enjoyed.

My Little Repeats 120: "The Gift of the Maud Pie"

Someone bring one of these to a convention!

S6E03: "The Gift of the Maud Pie"

2 Apr 2016

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.7

The one with toyetic swan boats

Thoughts: For some reason the IMDb air dates for S6 seem to be completely wrong. The website says this one debuted in early June, which is rubbish. Oh well, to the episode itself... the Fox brothers' writing debut is a bit of a mixed bag. Though... I have to admit, this was considerably less dull than I'd remembered. Although I still feel Pinkie's craziness is overdone (certainly for this late in the series) in the first act especially, there's a surprising amount of really quite touching emotion here. Pinkie playing with the confetti to avoid hurting Maud's feelings is heart-wrenching, and though I'm not sure the businesspony really deserved the Wrath of Maud it is pretty amusing. Actually, Maud in general is used quite well comedically here. Rarity plays her "outsider" role reasonably efficiently, too. On the downside, this is another step in modern Manehattan taking over from olde-worlde Canterlot as the centre of Equestria, and I personally do not particularly like that. The first half of this episode is a two-star for me, due to Pinkie's iffy characterisation, but the second half is a clear three. As such, it's another ep I have to come down on one side of the line for. A bit to my surprise, I'm sticking with the higher rating. Maud, you're the main reason for that. More custom closing credits music is nice to hear, too.

Choice quote: Maud: "It's the only restaurant in the city with nepheline syenite in their bathroom tiles."

New rating: ★★★

Next time, it'll be "On Your Marks", a CMC episode that I had a reasonably good, though not amazing, time with back in 2016.

Episode review: S9E14: "The Last Laugh"

"Unusual shipping can often be entertaining, Miss Pie"

It's been... well, actually it hasn't been that long a time since the last new episode of Friendship is Magic. I've managed to avoid the early Chinese releases, so apart from knowing that Weird Al Yankovic would be returning, I was going into "The Last Laugh" blind. The Fox brothers' last Pinkie episode was the below-par "Yakity-Sax", which concerned me a bit, not least because I thought its moral was dreadfully expressed. The last Weird Al episode was the sublime "Pinkie Pride", so did S9's return get anywhere near S4's original?

Episode review: S8E18 (or 14, or whatever) : "Yakity-Sax"

Back in "Magic Duel" you could play ten instruments at once...

The release schedule for the next few episodes of Friendship is Magic is a complete mess, and since that period also coincides with a holiday week for me, I'm likely to be a bit behind with episode reviews once again. However, this time there's an early release. Equestria Daily calls this episode 18, while the MLP Wiki calls it episode 14. Whatever, it was written by the Fox Brothers, with whose episodes I have a fairly mixed relationship. After the break, a few thoughts...

Episode review: S7E12: "Discordant Harmony"

Wreaking anarchy and all that it brings. Or not

Although Canada and the US have entered a hiatus after episode 11, Australian television has now shown episodes 12 and 13 as well. That being so, I've decided to review them straight(ish) away. I should warn you in advance that E13 in particular is not one you want to know about before viewing. This ep is more ordinary, so you won't be spoiling yourself on any earth-shaking revelations if you do decide to read it. Beyond the break, a shortish look at "Discordant Harmony".

Episode Review: S7E06: "Forever Filly"

The May Flashfic 150 contest is now on! This month's prompt, chosen by April winner Pascoite, is "Laugh so you don't cry". Everyone with a Fimfiction account, regardless of experience, is welcome to join. :)

"Actually, Rarity, I'm just annoyed you're hogging the popcorn"

I'm writing this review after the following episode has already gone out on Treehouse. This is starting to get confusing, and we're only a week into the new Canadian regime! Anyway, this ep was written by the Fox brothers, which wasn't really news to gladden my heart. We knew it would be a Rarity/Sweetie episode, like "Sisterhooves Social" back in S2, but would it be any good? Find out my thoughts after the break.

Episode review: S6E22: "P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)"

Because they know that Tractor Arrrplejack is waitin' in the bay

The Fox brothers were back as the writers for this episode. They'd previously given us the moderate "The Gift of the Maud Pie" and the outright dull "Applejack's 'Day' Off", so my hopes weren't all that high going in. Still, the synopsis seemed to be hinting at a Rashomon-inspired storyline, and I'm all for trying new things in the show. Beyond the cut, I'll say how I thought the episode did. As you'd expect, spoilers galore!

Episode review: S6E10: "Applejack's 'Day' Off"

"I'm gonna fix this episode an' that's all there is to it!"

After the triple hit of Rainbow's elevation, Starlight's musical and Twilight's sweeping, the synopsis and preview for "Applejack's 'Day' Off" seemed to promise something of a more traditional My Little Pony episode. Not that there's anything wrong with those – if you read my fanfic reviews, you'll know I'm quite a fan of slice-of-lifey slice of life. The Fox brothers, who wrote the not-bad-I-guess "The Gift of the Maud Pie", returned, and...

Episode review: S6E03: "The Gift of the Maud Pie"

Hey, I did say "hope to fly" — and now it's come true!

I'm a little bit quicker off the mark with this week's review than I was for the premiere! For our first one-parter of Season Six, we had an episode with a new writing team: Michael P. Fox and Wil [sic] Fox. In addition, Josh Haber contributed to the story, though wasn't credited on screen (so doesn't get a tag). As you'll know if you've read my reviews for a while, I tend to be wary of episodes written by teams as many of them haven't been very good. What about this one, then?