MLP Review: The Ticket Master (Season 1, Episode 3)

After the events of the two-parter premiere, Twilight Sparkle (Tara Strong) finds herself relocated to Ponyville in order to be with her new friends. One day, she receives a message from Princess Celestia, who is inviting Twilight and one other person to the Grand Galloping Gala, which is a fairly big deal, akin to being invited to a presidential dinner in the U.S. However, the fact that it is a big deal is essentially the conflict of the episode. With five friends, who is Twilight going to pick to be the one to get the ticket, and how is she supposed to pick one? Well, her friends aren't going to make it any easier, as they each do favors for her in order to try to persuade her to give the extra ticket to them.

This is another fairly basic plot. The idea is a plot that has been done quite a few times before (friend gets something, has multiple friends that want it, and has to pick one, while the friends try to sway favor towards them). On top of that, the end of the episode, while making sense, still feels like a bit of a cop-out. You know those plots where there is an easy solution that is just not considered by the characters? Well, it's the same sort of thing here.

The characterization is, however, one of the good things about the episode. All of the characters get a chance to shine again (although Twilight is still the focus of the episode), and they do so in a more noticeable fashion. Each character gets a scene to themselves, for one thing. While each character got a characterization scene in the first episode, then a scene to showcase their element in the second episode, this is different. The scenes aren't shared with everyone, for one thing, unlike the second episode, which had the entire group together for almost the whole thing. And while the scenes do involve characterization, it's not so much establishing the characterization as developing it. The characters show how their reasons for wanting the second ticket are all different from each other, since no two people, or ponies in this case, have the exact same wants and needs. Also, each character does different favors for Twilight, involving their area of interest. Overall, this is one of the better parts of the episode.

Rainbow Dash is not trying to earn the ticket or anything.

The voice acting is...as good as it was in the last episode. Unfortunately, no one really gets a further chance to shine, other than Tara Strong as Twilight. Everyone gets a few scenes, but not enough to really tax the voice actresses. They do a good job with what they have, but other than Tara Strong, not much of them have anything, even the ones that voice two characters.

However, this episode does have a few improvements over the premiere. For one thing, the nature of the show changes closer to a form that most of the show deals with. The premiere was focused on a big threat, taking down somepony threatening to bring eternal night. This one is a step down in scale, dealing with more personal issues. The characterization really helps in that regard, as each character gets a scene or two to show their own personality, while doing a good job of demonstrating that no one character is "more" deserving of the second ticket than the other.

On top of that, there is some more adult humor in this one, as well as some more old school references. For an example of the latter, the entire episode is basically a 22 minute long version of the scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, where various characters try to "buy" a ticket off of the recipient. Towards that end, a bit of the adult humor is slipped in there, where one of the offers from a background pony in exchange for the ticket is "I'll do your taxes!" While that isn't exactly "adult" as in "parents will not want their kids to get it, and wonder where the censors are", it is still a joke only adults would get.

Not a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory reference at all.

 Overall, this episode is mostly notable for what it represents in terms of the future of the show. It's more character focused, there are some noticeable references, and a bit of adult humor is involved. The formula just hasn't really been refined yet, and it is a bit rough around the edges.

Overall: 6.5/10