My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - "Bridle Gossip" - Talkback [12/10]

[The Huntsman]

Today @ 1:30 PM ET on The Hub

I still really like this series. It's unfortunate that it doesn't get much discussion on here, but it is what it is. I sent The Hub an e-mail trying to explain how they are killing the show by airing it while its target audience is in school, and while they said they would take it under consideration, I doubt they'll do anything. It deserves to be treated better than it has.

A zebra is blamed for an illness afflicting the ponies.

[Mandouga]

I'm not sure about the title. Animated shows have been doing punny names for episode titles for decades, but recently punny episode titles seem to be an indication that the humor in the episode might be unfunny, for lack a better term. Furthermore, the name "Bridle Gossip" sounds like an episode that plays yet another serious issue for laughs, afterwhich they would try to impart the moral about how gossip hurts other people (which it does, but I digress), and possibly all with nothing else to go for the episode. In fact, I'm wouldn't be surprised if the zebra mentioned in the episode's (ultimately vague) description either didn't cause that disease after all, and/or whatever happens to the ponies isn't actually a disease at all (i.e., with the whole disease claim being the result of gossip).

However, I will watch the episode before I judge. After all, some episodes of this show have been better than others, IMHO.

[Mesousa]

The episode just ended.

What the **** did I just watch?

But seriously, the episode lost me on Fluttershy's curse.

[Mandouga]

One thing is certain, it was totally uncalled for, IMO. That, plus Applejack's "not now Bernard" treatment of her sister Applebloom.

Basically, the entire episode was a half-hour joke followed by a punchline, and all for the purpose of illustrating a moral about not judging a book by its cover (which was kind of different from I expected, but still). I did call it in some respects, though. Everything the ponies new about Zicora was based on rumor and speculation, plus certain parts just weren't funny (most of all the aforementioned Fluttershy curse).

There's nothing wrong with morals, but there has to be some actual story to back that up, and this episode clearly focused more on illustrating the moral at the expense of story, plus I think this was also one of those episodes where if it wasn't written a certain way, it would have otherwise ended early (either that or we wouldn't have an episode at all). I want to support this show, really I do, but if this is how future episodes are going to turn out, I don't know how long I'll be able to keep watching...

[The Huntsman]

...okay. I know humor is subjective, but I thought "Flutterguy" was hilarious. I'm surprised that you two feel the way that you do. A lot of the people discussing the series elsewhere feel that it was very funny as well. I actually believe this was one of the best episodes yet. I've always felt that the morals tend to be too heavy-handed, but the episode was very funny and it more than makes up for that.

[Mesousa]

One thing is certain, it was totally uncalled for, IMO. That, plus Applejack's "not now Bernard" treatment of her sister Applebloom.

Basically, the entire episode was a half-hour joke followed by a punchline, and all for the purpose of illustrating a moral about not judging a book by its cover (which was kind of different from I expected, but still). I did call it in some respects, though. Everything the ponies new about Zicora was based on rumor and speculation, plus certain parts just weren't funny (most of all the aforementioned Fluttershy curse).

There's nothing wrong with morals, but there has to be some actual story to back that up, and this episode clearly focused more on illustrating the moral at the expense of story, plus I think this was also one of those episodes where if it wasn't written a certain way, it would have otherwise ended early (either that or we wouldn't have an episode at all). I want to support this show, really I do, but if this is how future episodes are going to turn out, I don't know how long I'll be able to keep watching...

I really don't see what was wrong, actually. The stories in these kinds of cartoons aren't meant to be that deep.

As for the Fluttershy thing, I couldn't stop laughing, though, it's just that was just too good of a joke. I didn't see it coming at all.

[TheGunheart]

...okay. I know humor is subjective, but I thought "Flutterguy" was hilarious. I'm surprised that you two feel the way that you do. A lot of the people discussing the series elsewhere feel that it was very funny as well. I actually believe this was one of the best episodes yet. I've always felt that the morals tend to be too heavy-handed, but the episode was very funny and it more than makes up for that.

"Flutterguy" singing Pinkie Pie's song was easily one of the fumiest things ever. Just the look on her face alone while she sang was priceless. Plus, the simple fact that it was probably Pinkie's most annoying song of all time and "Flutterguy" actually made it sound surprisingly good. All while Pinkie Pie is doing her silly dance.

[MetroSparkster]

Fluttershy's "curse" was oddly hilarious. She sounded just like Barry White!

I especially like Zecora the Zebra.

[Particle_Beam]

My little pony is one heck of an awesome show.

All that humor which is also for adults to see makes this easily my most favorite cartoon of this year.

And yeah, Flutterguy is awesome. Just like Princess Vespa in Space Balls singing in her prison cell...

[Zam]

For the people who want to hear FlutterGuy again..... (at your own risk)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7PGKcikaGY

[TheGunheart]

For the people who want to hear FlutterGuy again..... (at your own risk)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7PGKcikaGY

You, my fine Toon Zone user, are officially awesome.

[Sketch]

Just started watching this show and was able to catch this episode on The Hub website.

Flutterguy was an absolute riot. Fantastic concept and execution.

Spike calling Applejack, Appletini cracked me up as well.

Interesting to see a kids show take on, well... racism. Perhaps I'm reading into that too far but pony's being scared of Zecora because she looked and acted different is at least as much of an allegory for racism as various stories in X-Men cartoons, Static Shock and Generator Rex.

It's fantastic to come across a show show that can be this entertaining and teach a good lessons.

[MetroSparkster]

Interesting to see a kids show take on, well... racism..

It's not racism!

[The Huntsman]

It's not racism!

In a manner of speaking, it is… or was, I suppose. The ponies weren’t racists – their fear of Zecora came from their lack of knowledge and not any substantive prejudices – but they were still being prejudice. Had a normal pony been acting the same way, they probably wouldn’t have been as worried as they were. The fact that Zecora was a zebra unnerved them, at least to some extent.

[Particle_Beam]

And she lives in the Everfree Forest, where trees grow wild, animals care for themselves, and clouds move without anybody directing them. Also, really dangerous beasts like the Ursa Minor (and its even more ghastly parent) live there.

What sane creature would ever live in such a spooky place?

Only a witch, I tell you. An evil enchantress who eats little fillies, brewing a stew to cook them inside.

[Undrave]

Hmm...fillie steak sandwich

[Animationerd]

Do you suppose that if Eartha Kitt were still alive, she would give Zecora Zebra an awesome voice?

[Undrave]

Do you suppose that if Eartha Kitt were still alive, she would give Zecora Zebra an awesome voice?

Nice image! What brought this along?

[SigmasonicX]

I'm currently rewatching the series between the end of season 2 and the start of season 3, with two episodes per week, adjusting as an actual start time for season 3 is announced.

And here we come to the racism episode. Well, speciesism episode. Well, really, it's just "distrust of people that seem different" in general, since no one seemed to have a problem with Zecora being a different species.

When I first watched this, I was pretty surprised that they got away with talking about zombies. You just don't expect that in a TV-Y show.

I was somewhat surprised to see Applebloom return, since I assumed she was just a one-off joke in the first episode, and she didn't appear in "Applebuck Season" with Big Macintosh.

There really is no way to get around the racism comparison, when you have southern-accented Applejack being one of the ponies most afraid of Zecora. Plus, Applebloom not being afraid of her while Applejack is does evoke a typical situation within families, with the younger family members being more racially accepting than the older family members.

The complaints about everyone becoming more jerkish in season 2 compared in season 1 irk me, because right here is an episode about the entire town shunning someone because she looks and acts strange. I'd say that's worse than anything we've seen from Ponyville in season 2.

Twilight does not know about Zecora before the beginning of the episode, and it's explained that Zecora visits every month, so this episode must take place within a month of the events of episodes one and two, unless Twilight was elsewhere the previous times Zecora visited after Twilight moved to Ponyville.

Forget about what I said about "Applebuck Season" being the hardest episode to be surprised by due to all the videos using clips from it. It somehow slipped my mind how many scenes from this episode were used in other videos. It's still to the credit of this episode that the Poison Joke effects still manage to be really amusing even after I've seen them so many times. In fact, I actually did manage to laugh out loud when Twilight exclaimed that Zecora's making Applebloom soup and everyone screams, including Flutterguy, which is a clip I don't recall in any videos I've seen.

I found Rainbow Crash to be strangely adorable, especially when she kept crashing into Twilight's window like an actual bird. Plus, though it's hard to notice at first, her wings are actually attached to her stomach instead of her back when she's "cursed".

While everyone else's "curses" seemed appropriate for them, I found Flutterguy to be pretty unfitting, as hilarious as it was. I didn't think Fluttershy ever took that much pride in her voice, but watching these earlier episodes again, I notice that Fluttershy does a fair amount of singing (mainly the theme song). I suspect that she was originally going to have her singing be a bigger part of her character.

I did like how the episode managed to both do a general "don't judge a book by its cover" story and a more specific "not quite racism" story, along with a lighter lesson about the dangers of gossip. I also liked how Twilight was, at first, above it all, but managed to fall into the same place as everyone else anyway. It shows that even people who should, and do, know better can fall into this same trap when peer pressure comes into play.

Overall, still a very fun episode.

I still hope we see an episode going more into Zecora's history.

[AJW73]

I liked this episode because of how the poison joke affected everypony. But one thing about this episode really bugs me. This may sound silly, but I hated how everybody, except Pinkie Pie was laughing for no reason at the end. (which happens to be my biggest animation pet peeve BTW) I think it would've been funnier if Fluttershy pulled a prank on Pinkie by making her think she still had the "Flutterguy" voice, and then they all laugh. Sorry if this was some pointless rambling, but I had to get this off my chest.