MLP Review: Griffon the Brush-Off (Season 1, Episode 5)

The plot of this episode follows, mostly, Pinkie Pie (Andrea Libman), as she becomes more friendly with Rainbow Dash (Ashleigh Ball) through their love of pranks. However, an old friend of Rainbow Dash's, Gilda the griffon (voiced by Maryke Hendrikse, a voice actress from the same group of voice actors as Andrea Libman), shows up, and the saying "two is company, but three is a crowd" is very obvious, as Gilda makes it fairly clear who she thinks should be the odd one out.

This is a plot that is fairly often done. You know, the old friend comes back to visit, and the new friend feels like the odd one out? Yeah, that plot. There are a few interesting twists, however. What makes Rainbow Dash and Gilda hang out is at least partially what makes Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie hang out, their mutual enjoyment of pranks. That gives it more of a realistic feel, as well as an understanding of how jealousy could play a factor when you see your friend doing the same thing you used to do. At least, that would be the case if they actually showed Gilda and Rainbow Dash actually doing pranks, an opportunity that is sadly missed.

As for the voice acting, all of the major characters are done well. Andrea Libman doesn't seem to fully into character with Pinkie Pie at this point in the series, however. She shows emotions decently well, but she always does a super high voice that doesn't really lower or raise with emotion, save for a few scenes. Ashleigh Ball, however, does a really good job as Rainbow Dash, to the point where it is hard to believe she is also the voice of Applejack, thanks to the differences in attitude, accent, and pitch. Finally, there is Gilda. The voice actress does a pretty good job, but then again, there isn't much to do, really. She does do a decent job switching between the friend towards Rainbow Dash and the jealous rival towards Pinkie Pie.

I'll let you figure out who is who in this picture.

The characterization is another bit of an issue. You get a sense of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash both being good-natured pranksters, who know that certain things are off-limits (no pranking Fluttershy). However, the only other development that is given is reinforcing that Pinkie Pie's solutions to problems tends to involve parties, and that Rainbow Dash is loyal to a fault, both things that were established in the second episode. As for Gilda...let's just say that she is popular with some of the fandom, for reasons I cannot fathom. The characterization they show of her is the stereotypical bully/cool kid, down to calling those "beneath" her dweebs. It's so flat as far as characterization goes, it's almost cardboard. Granted, she does get some scenes showing that she is actually decent friends to Rainbow Dash, knowing how to be nice, but it is not very often.

This episode is notable in that it is the first episode since the premiere to feature an actually antagonist, rather than just dealing with a situation or character flaws. However, the villain isn't even one of the "love to hate" antagonists, the main focal character is just not really developed further, and the overall plot is too often done.

There are some nice things in the episodes, such as some great pranking humor, especially when pranks inadvertently affect a second person (Let's put it this way. Dragons can send scrolls and letters instantly via fire they breath. When dragons get the hiccups, they breath fire. Spike's fire sends scrolls to Celestia. Spike gets the hiccups while carrying a bunch of scrolls. Hilarity ensues), and it does show that while Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are pranksters, they do limit themselves to people they know can take a prank, and show concern if they think they may have upset someone in the process.

Overall: 5/10

This is unforgivable.

MLP Review: Applebuck Season (Season 1, Episode 4)

This episode, for the first time, does not feature Twilight in the main role. Instead, the main character is Applejack (Ashleigh Ball), who is in charge of clearing the apple trees on the orchard her family owns, Sweet Apple Acres, after her older brother, Big McIntosh (voiced by Peter New, a Canadian actor who has essentially made his career out of minor roles), is injured and unable to do so. Too proud to ask for outside help, and with her family unable to help her, she is determined to clear the entire orchard herself. However, this is no easy task, and as she gets more and more exhausted, her efforts not only affect her, but those around her as well.


Honestly, this plot is one of the better ones. It is grounded, following the more character-focused plotting that "The Ticket Master" predicted, and is rather easy to relate with, for me. Who hasn't had that moment where they are in over their head, but rather than ask for help, just tries to work harder?

Another plus about this episode is the fact that Twilight is not in the main role. Not that she is a bad character, but having a different focal character gives that character's voice actress a chance to shine, and shine Ashleigh Ball does. Her voice acting shows quite skillfully the tiredness in the voice of Applejack as the episode goes on. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Ashleigh deprived herself of sleep in order to get the tone of voice right. Combine that with managing to successfully keep the accent up, and you have a strong performance.

Applejack and Big Macintosh. Eeyup.

That's not to say that characterization goes by the wayside. In fact, this episode is the first one that is strongly focused on character flaws. Specifically, Applejack's pride and stubbornness. The impressive thing is that, unlike many kid's shows, this episode shows realistic outcomes of refusing to help. It's not like her refusal to help causes an invasion of something (well, other than a stampede of bunnies. Trust me, it makes sense in context). Rather, it just interferes with her day to day life, and her attempts to help her friends.

Yet another good thing about this episode is that is surprisingly accurate when it comes to the symptoms Applejack shows from her exhaustion. Hard of hearing, blurred vision, irritability, all of these are symptoms accurately depicted. That is more than you would usually see in a show aimed at younger kids, who aren't likely to appreciate the amount of detail put into depicting exhaustion accurately without overly exaggerating those symptoms.

Finally, this episode shows a fair bit of humor, balancing out the seriousness. Big Mac's name is two puns for the price of one (Big Mac, as well as Macintosh apples), and the screw ups from Applejack's exhaustion, while serious, are also played for humor. Also, anything that includes a reference to Apocalypse Now is a winner in my book (one pony's reaction after the aforementioned bunny stampede is "The horror! The horror!"). Overall, this is definitely the best episode of the 4 I've reviewed, and one of the strongest episodes of the show I've seen so far, in my opinion.

Overall: 8.5/10

The bucking isn't always accurate, but it is better in other scenes.

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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

MLP Review: Friendship is Magic (Season 1, episode 1 and 2)

After posting my reviews on MLP Forums, I realized that I was not fully comfortable with the format, along with feeling that I would get more to read my reviews through a blog post. For that reason, I decided to make a blog.

For these reviews, I want one thing kept in mind. Average, on my scale, is 5/10. So if you see a score that says 6/10, don't ask me why it scored so low. After all, that means I thought it was above average. That said, let's get the review going.

The basic plot of this two-parter follows our main character, Twilight Sparkle (voiced by Tara Strong, an extremely accomplished voice actress). Convinced that the evil Nightmare Moon is about to awaken from her thousand-year slumber, bringing an endless night in the process, Twilight voices her concerns to her teacher, Princess Celestia (voiced by Nicole Oliver, who has done quite a few anime dubs, as well as voicing Betty Ross for "Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow). However, Princess Celestia (seriously, why is it always "Princess"? Don't queens ever do any ruling?) seems to brush off Twilight, sending her and her assistant young dragon Spike (voiced by Cathy Weseluck, who did the English dub of Near in "Death Note") to the town of Ponyville to make some friends.

Don't let the look of the show fool you.

Once there, she eventually comes across the down-home pony Applejack (voiced by Ashleigh Ball, lead singer for the band Hey Ocean), tompony Rainbow Dash (Ashleigh Ball again), fashionista Rarity (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain, who did the English dub for Naomi Misora in "Death Note") , hyperactive Pinkie Pie (voiced by Andrea Libman, who did the voice of Madeline for the TV series way back in the 90's), and shy, well, Fluttershy (Andrea Libman again). Needless to say, however, Twilight discovers her fears are true at the end of part one, when Nightmare Moon (Tabitha St. Germain again) reveals that she has kidnapped Princess Celestia, and plans to make the night last forever! Cue evil laugh, and our heroines rushing to save the day in part 2.

It may seem like I've revealed a lot of the plot but, to be honest, it isn't exactly original. Villain reveals themselves after being locked away for [insert number here] years, group of heroes goes to save the day. That said, the second part is surprisingly well done. While part one was mostly spent on introducing the characters, part two returns to the quest, which honestly is depicted kind of epically. On top of that, each character gets a chance to shine, showing not only who they are, but proving there is no Ma-Ti in this group. You know, that one person who gets stuck with the sucky power and can't contribute? But hey, shows live and die off of their actors. If the acting sucks, even the most elaborate plot will fall apart.

Luckily, the voice acting is one of the strongest parts of the show. As you may have noticed from the voice actors, there are quite a few repeats. The thing is, they do a good job of sounding like different characters. For example, while Applejack has a fairly strong southern accent, and a higher-pitched voice, Rainbow Dash's voice is more scratchy and low-pitched. While Pinkie Pie, as befitting her hyperactive nature, has a very high pitched, quick talking type of voice, Fluttershy has a more mellow, softer voice (though still somewhat high-pitched). The biggest star, at least at this point, is Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle, however. She conveys her various emotions throughout the show very effectively. Scared, annoyed, prideful, depressed, she covers all the bases. So, the voice acting is quite solid. But how are the characters? I mean, we have had all of 40 minutes. How much development could these characters get?

Yes, that is basically Maleficent in pony form.

 

Well...not that much, to be honest. Don't get me wrong. You definitely get a sense of what every character's traits are, and when everypony is given their powers as befitting their main trait (Generosity, Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty, and Kindness), you really get the sense that the characters show that element, rather than just "Yeah, they totally deserve that. Not". However, there just isn't much time spent on developing the characters beyond those basic traits.

Overall, these episodes, when combined...aren't all that impressive. Don't get me wrong. Even at the beginning, it is better than many kid's shows today. The stakes are effectively set, the plot feels surprisingly epic, and the voice acting is amazingly good. However, the characters just aren't all that developed, and the villain doesn't really have much going for her outside of her scheme and being a reference to Maleficent. You do get some glimmers of what makes the show stand out, however. There are references to things kids will not get (Spike getting called "Casanova", a plot reference to Androcle's Lion), along with a few jokes that are a bit...adult (Twilight's reaction to Pinkie Pie's chattering being pouring herself a drink), with the show avoiding feeling like it pulled a solution from its rear at the last second.

Final Score: 6/10