tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106648781852702786.post9132832896141765272..comments2023-11-10T00:18:38.053+00:00Comments on A.T.D.I.: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - "Princess Twilight Sparkle"James Corckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16994731268585922124noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106648781852702786.post-83331891457249435212014-01-13T22:00:02.970+00:002014-01-13T22:00:02.970+00:00(cont.)
Bad points:
There was less humor than usu...(cont.)<br />Bad points:<br /><br />There was less humor than usual. The few funny and dramatic parts were scattered along the plotline and it didn't give a smooth feeling.<br /><br />The atmosphere was a bit too dark. To think of it for the second time, it could have been a good thing, if it would have supported a strong moral. However, I felt the moral weak for this purpose because it was unemphasized. The ponies of course sacrifice the elements of harmony for they have no other choice. I rather think, the moral is supposed to be about what friendship means in this new situation. The Mane 6 learned that they are getting nowhere without each other.<br /><br />Sometimes it felt like Twilight was forced to do things to show she is prepared to be a princess -and maybe, to assure us that "Magical Mystery Cure" makes any sense-, e.g. when she instructed the royal guards.<br />Pinkie was out of character in most of the time -though, it is a long-lasting tendency and isn't totally the fault of this episode. She does random things around, but nothing, which shows her other sides. It was perfectly done e.g. in "Bridle Gossip", "Green Isn't Your Color" or in "The Last Roundup", where Pinkie was a great supportive character.<br /><br />There are some inconsistencies and unanswered questions. The two most annoying one:<br />Where is Cadence in the meantime? Did she have a spa-therapy in the Crystal Empire? Didn't she noticed the moon and the sun being together on the sky?<br />Why didn't RD fly right off to save Twilight in 10 seconds flat, when she was captured by the evil carnivore plants? She could have done it and it would have fitted better to her personality.<br /><br />The graphics were all good, but Celestia looked a bit weird.<br /><br /><br />All in all, if season 4 keeps up this level and get over the problems of season 3, there won't be problems.<br /><br />Ps.<br />If you think about it, you can realize the similarities with "The Crystal Empire" in story structure and atmosphere. Luckily, here the implementation was undoubtedly better. However, I still reckon "The Return of Harmony" is the best two parter (maybe the best MLP episode) so far.nemderogatoriushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11479519156593310864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106648781852702786.post-70868547038355001542014-01-13T21:58:33.327+00:002014-01-13T21:58:33.327+00:00Thanks for the great review!
I use to read your r...Thanks for the great review!<br /><br />I use to read your reviews on MLP episodes because I'd like to broaden my mind. Your reasoning is so intelligent that I can fully understand your opinion even if I disagree with some points. So, I decided to write short comments with my opinions on all your episode-reviews of Season 4 -a true brony doesn't just take, but gives back something in return :). I'm not a professional reviewer (and I'm not a native English speaker as well), hence my thoughts will be mostly subjective and simplistic. I'm a moral-centric viewer; besides, there are four other aspects that I'm touchy about: humor, drama, cuteness and insaneness.<br /><br />This two parter was a good one, but not good enough for my taste. My rating is: 3/5. However, be careful with this rating! The first double episode "Friendship is Magic", which turned me (and other thousands of people) into a brony, got the same rating. This is the MLP standard average rate, far beyond the level of any other cartoon created so far.<br /><br />So, the episode has some really good points and some bad points too.<br /><br /><br />Good points:<br /><br />It has a uniquely intricate plotline with great twists (almost-time-traveling potion, parts of Discord, AJ send Twilight home, small hexagonal chest). It is the strongest feature of this two parter and I enjoyed it the most. I hope we can see more episodes of this kind.<br /><br />The 'best scene award' goes to the one, where AJ send Twilight home! It was like AJ would have said, "We are all expendable, but you are a princess. We will defend you by all means." Oh, my God, the air froze in my room and my heart stopped bumping for a moment! What is a drama, if not this!? It was the most touching moment in the whole episode.<br /><br />There are other important and serious things here.<br /><br />Twilight have to deal with being a princess. What are the problems that a new princess should face with? The story fulfils this purpose in every aspect. Here, I mean EVERY aspect. I counted at least eight of them, which is awesome!<br /><br />The flashbacks were really long-awaited and filled huge gaps about the most important events of Equestrian history. At the Nightmare Moon scene I do not know that it will be a flashback, which is funny, and I was surprised at the end. The animation was spectacular. The fight between Celestia and Nightmare Moon was also well-made and enjoyable.<br /><br />I am fully convinced that Discord is reformed. The humor was concentrated around him, and he was such an excellent and hilarious character. Sadly, the others were not so funny. Though, one can easily find out that this double episode wasn't a humor-centric one.<br /><br />At the end, we had the Tree of Harmony, which is probably the most powerful thing near and far, and the small hexagonal chest, which made me just more curious about season 4.nemderogatoriushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11479519156593310864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106648781852702786.post-41317054151539103122013-12-12T10:35:38.226+00:002013-12-12T10:35:38.226+00:00Good to see you come back.
Best Season opening un...Good to see you come back.<br /><br />Best Season opening until now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106648781852702786.post-51467384345441144802013-11-30T23:34:44.289+00:002013-11-30T23:34:44.289+00:00Great review, as always.
I didn't mind the la...Great review, as always.<br /><br />I didn't mind the lack of comedy at all, personally, as well as the absence of explanation about the Tree of Harmony (it keeps some mystery intact, which is always a good thing). Zecora's potion was a bit out of nowhere, though, but oh well, like you said, it's not that big of a stretch. <br /><br />But I'd like to know what you think about the Nightmare Moon flashback, aside from its flawless and gorgeous execution: it does give the impression that Luna turned into NMM for literally 5 minutes before being sent to the moon. Do you think that's how long lasted her rebellion?<br /><br /><br />SimonthebAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04760458390800528875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106648781852702786.post-64557669295626574382013-11-30T20:13:31.921+00:002013-11-30T20:13:31.921+00:00I have to admit this is my favorite two parter sto...I have to admit this is my favorite two parter story also. It had a lot of good points that you listed and the tone, while serious, worked really well. <br /><br />I do wonder about the Tree of Harmony though. And the fact that Celestia and Luna pretty much stole the elements from it. Before the Discord seed reveal I was persuaded that the whole thing was a belated revenge plot by the tree to punish the two alicorns who stole from it. And that after getting back what it had lost the tree was calmed down and freed the two sisters. <br /><br />Cadance's existance seem to always flip flop in this. We know she's busy with the cristal empire so she can't be bothered to rule both or something but even with the tree. We had Celestia, Luna, and Twilight's cutey mark but no Cadance. So I guess it rules out the "Alicorn power tree" theory. <br />My theory right now is that since it seems Celestia and Luna are a immortal legend type of alicorn maybe Twilight is too. And that she, unlike the two, is rebirthed from time to time into a different pony but always with that cutey mark. Cosplaythiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03029229856854477286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106648781852702786.post-40822257693069469442013-11-30T02:25:56.470+00:002013-11-30T02:25:56.470+00:00It's very serendipitous how in the same year w...It's very serendipitous how in the same year we got Iron Man 3, we get a second story about a hero renouncing their powers as a metaphor for how much said powers have made them stronger, better people in the process.<br /><br />"You can take away our fancy necklaces and crowns, but there's one thing you can't take away: WE ARE THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY" <br /><br />...still I'm pretty sure that whatever's in the box is just gonna replace the EOH anyway.Arturohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07660813614072812727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106648781852702786.post-19594889312954861002013-11-29T21:22:20.527+00:002013-11-29T21:22:20.527+00:00- ehm I seem to recall Lord of the Rings bringing ...- ehm I seem to recall Lord of the Rings bringing life back to the movie industry and make the room for blockbuster two hours long pieces. And before that was Titanic which came less than two years after Cuthroath Island. And why does everybody hates that movie? I barely recall it and I loved the sega genesis game.<br /><br />- Love you intepretation of the intro =)<br /><br />- Yeah, I was one of those who complained to Mcharthy but she later retracted for that statement. Honestly, had she said they were going to adress that issue, it would have been better. I honestly think she has nobody to blame but herself for the things she says. That womans needs a tumblr.<br /><br />- ouch, that jab at Equestria Girls hurt. Meh, I have no problem with that scene, in fact, it helps explain a point that Polsky missed in Keep Calm about the Elements working individually. Makes sense to me, I guess I´m saying. <br /><br />- For what I understand, Pinkie originally got a scene trying on different hats while the weather kept changing, which was more slapstick. I would have traded Rarity scene for that one but then you´ll be complaining of lack of best pony XP<br /><br />- SYMBOLISM!!!<br /><br />Yup, great review as always. Hope you´re feeling better since I read you were kind of down in your twitter =)Alesiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15230792488270133118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106648781852702786.post-68116145948307557872013-11-29T09:22:10.392+00:002013-11-29T09:22:10.392+00:00You know James? I must admid it, Meghan McCarthy m...You know James? I must admid it, Meghan McCarthy made me worried after her works in the S3 (Crystal Empire and Equestria Girls, I'm not a big fan for both of them), but now that she made my new favorite two-parter in the entire show, I've not problems anymore. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03916788210904398072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106648781852702786.post-33011414202707957932013-11-29T06:44:39.668+00:002013-11-29T06:44:39.668+00:00Not much I can really add to this since you covere...Not much I can really add to this since you covered a lot already including some of what I had said in my original review I posted on the episode followup page. That being said there was a major theme I saw in this episode. I saw that the bulk of the interactions and conversations with the Mane 6 involved them emphasizing that they will be together. Either with Applejack talking about how they are united or the group and Twilight seeing that they need each other and shouldn't be split up it all continues to drive home the point that the writers wanted to make sure us bronies got in our heads: that Twilight is still going to be Twilight and she is still going to be with her friends. They even covered the "what about Twilight's importance in the kingdom" question here when they send Twilight back to town and since I know this question had to be asked to make sure that the point was fully driven home that Twilight would be with her friends I actually had no problem with it being a tad rushed. It had to be asked and if it hadn't been done then I don't think it would have been done.<br /><br />All in all I personally consider this not only the best season opener but the best FiM episodes thus far. This will now be the episode that I can be like "Oh you want to see why this show is awesome? Watch this episode." For months I've had a friend I've been slowly getting into the brony fandom but aside from the Discord episodes (he loves Star Trek so I knew starting there would be good) I really couldn't think of many episodes he would like without already being a brony. Then this episode happened and I got him to watch it and he thought it was awesome so that's huge progress. Since I guess you didn't get around to reading my comment on your Turnabout Storm review I just wanted to say thanks again for reviewing that and I can't wait to read the rest of your season 4 stuff as it comes out.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11204455238926224700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106648781852702786.post-83904088209617847762013-11-29T06:13:35.160+00:002013-11-29T06:13:35.160+00:00Fantastic review! I'm glad to see you back! =D...Fantastic review! I'm glad to see you back! =D<br /><br />"In the next scene we have Twilight organizing the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration with the help of Spike and his new pencil! I know it’s weird for me to point this it out, but of all the things that popped up to me during this scene it was the pencil the one that stuck with me."<br /><br />Hah! I thought I was the only one. Spike finally using a pencil stuck out to me too, more than it really ought to have.Unknownlighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09278487323218605513noreply@blogger.com