Pony A Day
Daily retrospective mini-reviews of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
With so much horse-dung getting flung around in the world this year, it's left me in some less than pleasant states of mind. One of the things that helps me get through it all is a podcast series called School of Movies featuring a Alex and Sharon Shaw, a lovely British couple who, along with some friends, do hours of in depth analysis of the films they love.
Check them out here!
(http://schoolofmovies.com/)
I’ve been following them for the better part of the past decade now, and I’ve come to think far more deeply about the movies I love, gaining a deeper understanding, and a deeper appreciation for them. This year Alex has been doing something new. He watches one movie a day and does a mini review as a writing exercise. In an effort to practice my writing more, and to not focus so much on the negativity in the world, I’ll be doing something similar, but with single episodes of MLP instead of whole movies (Baby steps everypony) I’m not sure I’ll have much to add to the years of analysis others have done on the show, but I do have one idea how I might do that.
Ever since I started College, I’ve been watching way more anime, cartoons, and as of summer 2011, My Little Pony. I’ve developed a deep appreciation for single episode 22 minute storytelling most commonly associated with serialized and episodic animated series. Time is relative, and I’m constantly amazed at how much good story the masters of this medium can squish into 22 minutes and make it feel like time has passed naturally. The very first episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is easily in my top 10 examples of this form. Several times in the past few years I’ve envisioned doing an extensive breakdown of this first episode and how masterfully it's constructed. My procrastination has kept me from doing that, which is why I’m doing this shorter daily series, so I can train myself to be a little more disciplined.
So without further ado...adoo?
Pony A Day
Daily retrospective mini-reviews of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Season 1 Episode 1
Friendship is Magic Part 1
April 4th 2017
Personal Score 10/10
We begin with a storybook like sequence of narration, that establishes the history of the world we’re about to explore. Luna, the pony goddess of the moon becomes very jealous of her far more popular sister Celestia, the pony goddess of the Sun and attempts to overthrow her to establish a world of eternal night. Celestia tries to reason with Luna, but is forced to use magical artifacts called “The Elements of Harmony” which trap Luna in the moon for 1000 years. The simple but human failings of Luna grant this introduction a feeling reminiscent of the Greek myths, lending the world a feeling of authenticity for older viewers, but it serves a greater purpose. The story book like sequence sets the tone for what ends up being an all ages adventure. Regardless of age, almost everyone can remember a time when we were told told stories in bed at night.
We soon discover this story is being read by our main character Twilight Sparkle, the only pony who seems to notice it's been 1000 years, and Luna is about to return. Twilight has grown across the span of the 6 seasons, but is still a fully realized character here at the very beginning. She feels like a slightly twisted mirror of Disney’s book loving Belle, of Beauty and the Beast, with the know it all attitude of Hermione Granger combined with the stuck up curmudgeonly Bilbo Baggins before he’s forced onto his adventure. As Twilight rushes off back home to learn more about the relics that imprisoned Luna, she politely declines an offer from some classmates to attend a party. As she leaves, the comments from her classmates indicate Twilight regularly snubs offers to socialize, and has no friends of her own.
The closest thing Twilight has to a friend is her assistant Spike, a young dragon who’s constantly cleaning up after her messes. Spike serves a narrative purpose by giving Twilight someone to trade dialogue with, but also serves to further illustrate Twilight’s poor social awareness and often self centered behavior as she leaves a messy trail of books in her search for more book about the “Elements of Harmony”, and Spike gives a look of “I just cleaned this room,”
Twilight has Spike send a message to Princess Celestia warning her of the impending danger, to which the response is that Twilight has been spending too much time studying, and mustn’t become obsessed with old fairy tales. Seriusly when was the last time your teacher told you to stop studying so much? Twilight is assigned to oversee preparations for the kingdom’s annual Solstice celebration, which this year is being held in the small town of Ponyville, along with a royal order to “Make Some Friends”.
This is where the real brilliance of the episode shines. In the short span of about 10 minutes we’re introduced to 5 unique characters who are all instantly iconic and memorable despite the short introductions we receive. Applejack is a rowdy, but polite, hardworking apple farmer. Rainbow dash is a talented but lazy would be stunt performer, who’s self centered, but also happy to help others. Dash’s introduction also cleverly inserts some world building, by showing us that Pegasi can move and stand on clouds and are responsible for managing the weather. Rarity instantly shows her generosity by fixing Twilight’s hair which Dash wrecked, and also expresses her desire to move to a big city one day. Fluttershy is ludicrously...shy, but instantly opens up to animals, adding in some more world building by showing us that animals like birds can be understood by certain ponies. Lastly Pinkie Pie is a marvel in and of herself. She’s the kind of super hyper, fast talking character who usually grates on you in children’s cartoons, but in this case, you can’t help but like her. Especially when we learn Pinkie threw a surprise party for Twilight because she had deduced from an earlier interaction that Twilight was new to town and had no friends. Seeing that Pinkie’s over the top demeanor is in deliberate service of the happiness of others, makes a usually unbearable archetype instantly lovable.
The show’s creator Lauren Faust has said several times before that with this new series she wanted to overcome the stigma that a show aimed at little girls automatically equals a crappy show with no real substance to it. Twilight’s cynicism is a key part of how Faust accomplished her goals. The entire episode, she’s acting exactly like the kind of person who scoffs at the idea of adults being invested in a children’s cartoon. The show is simultaneously letting the audience know that they are aware of how inherently silly this all is, while telling them they need to drop their prejudices towards kid’s shows and just enjoy themselves.
The episode culminates with Celestia being a no show at the Solstice celebration, and Luna, aka Nightmare Moon, making a grand entrance. The dark princess is aghast that no one remembers her, and we get a bit more characterization for Applejack, who despite being as confused as everyone else, shows herself to be the most mature by stoping Dash’s temper and Pinkie’s naivete from incurring the wrath of the god horse who just crashed their party. The episode ends with a “To Be Continued” and a Twilight who looks likes she is no longer happy about being right.