My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - "Hearth's Warming Eve" - Talkback [12/17]

[MetroSparkster]

Today @ 10:00 AM ET on The Hub

It's the holiday episode you've all been waiting for! Unfortunately, it's also the last new episode for 2011, with a new one coming January 7th of next year.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Twilight and her friends are honored to put on Canterlot's most important play of the season: the Hearth's Warming Eve's holiday pageant that illustrates how Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies put aside their differences and founded Equestria.

[JAG]

First!

Can't wait for this one. Canterlot, one of winter's 'awesome holidays', a play, a Pinkie song, How Equestria Was Made...that's a lot of quality ammo. There's almost no way this won't be good. Only a few hours to go. And I should probably sleep through a few of them, so...yeah. I'll get on that.

[King9]

Hoping it will be a suitable end to my first year of Ponies. Looks fun from the clips.

[The ShopSoldier]

So far, I'm not a fan of all the arguing they're doing with each other about this play.

The way this all ends is what will make up for it, IMHO.

At least Spike is doing his job and making sure the show goes on proper...

[Kookamunga]

Not a bad episode this week.

Still enjoying these Derpy cameos.

The entire play on the making of Equestria was a pleasure to watch. Everypony(and Spike)'s acting was well-done and humorous, especially from Pinkie Pie and Rarity. :anime:

It was rather terrifying at the sight of them all almost freezing to death.

Although, some things about the play bugged me. For instance, it was unusual that throughout the play, there was no mentioning of Celestia, Luna, or
Discord. But apparently, there were these windigos(?) that created snow from the leaders' arguing when I expected Discord would have a role in that unless
he was already imprisoned in stone by then. Also, how could the leader of the earth ponies name the new land "Earth" when that term already existed?

Regardless, this episode was a hilarious treat and a fitting special for the holiday season.

[nakak]

So does this episode forgive Merriwether Williams for her other episode?

I liked how the play itself was the story. Nice change of pace. Chancellor Pudding stole the show. "Can you think inside a chimney"?

Well, that or Private Pansy. "I don't hate Commander Hurricane. I just really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really dislike her"

(also, no lesson at the end!)

[Blankments]

Interesting episode this week. It was very intriguing to hear about Equestria's history, even though I think more questions were raised than answered. I was waiting for the reveal that whoever Twilight was playing was Celestia, but it never came. I'm really wondering why they didn't make the Windingos or whatever be Discord. That would've been a VERY nice surprise, and would've made sense, but eh, it was still good. Pinkie Pie and Spike definitely stole the show. I think I need another episode with Williams writing, because although this was much better than Mare Do Well, none of the ponies were themselves. One last thing was that at the end of the play, I was bummed there wasn't a song with a minute left, but then they started singing. Good episode overall, but it leaves me wanting a Celestia/Luna/Discord flashback episode.

[MetroSparkster]

Although, it was unusual that throughout the play, there was no mentioning of Celestia, Luna, or Discord. But apparently, there were these windigos(?) that created snow from the leaders' arguing when I expected Discord would have a role in that unless he was already imprisoned in stone by then.

I was afraid of this. The excuse I could come up with would be that this was before Equestria needed a ruler, so Discord and the princesses wouldn't arrive until much later.

1300TH POST!

[JAG]

Hmm...I'm still kind of working out my thoughts regarding this one. It wasn't bad, certainly, but felt...inadeqate, I guess. I didn't like that the Princesses never showed up; I know the story wasn't about them, and shouldn't've been, but it still would've been nice to finally know where they came from. Hell, if anything this just raised more questions about them. If they were on the original Equestrian flag, implying that the ponies already knew and worshipped them, where were they during all the ponies' suffering? Trollestia strikes again, I suppose.

Pros:

- The train! Nice to finally see that thing show up in an episode.

- Chancellor Pudding. 'nuff said.

- The snow spirit things were pretty cool.

- Stuff I'm forgetting.

Cons:

- The song was kinda pitiful. I wasn't expecting the next Winter Wrap-Up or anything, but...yeah. It could've been a lot better.

- Just...I don't know. A general feeling of inadequecy, I guess. In the episode's defense, my hopes were very (maybe even unreasonably) high, so that may just be me. Like every other episode, I'm sure my opinion of it will improve with repeat viewings.

Rating for now: 3/5.

[army128]

This episode's pretty good. The story of the origin of Equestria was interesting. Of course I still would like to know how Celestia/Luna became their leaders. I like how the ponies are still their characters in the play; Pinkie Pie is even more random as ever, Rainbow Dash's brute and fearless and Rarity still acts like a spoiled princess. In fact I just realize before and after the play they were arguing just like how it was portrayed in the play. It's quite funny how they know Earth and its circumference (or at least mentioned it.) I like the song at the end. To me it feels like the national anthem of Equestria.


They have done a lot of bickering & whining & arguing in the play, haven't they? How come only earth ponies can grow food? If you ask me, unicorns and pegasi can do a lot of things that an Earth pony can do and more. Surely they can just learn to grow food on their own, can they? I guess they don't want to participate in digging in the dirt, huh Rarity?


Regardless, I really like its moments in the play. Great holiday special.

[TnAdct1]

Going into this episode, I was a little concern about how the episode would turn out, since the episode is supposed to be about how Pinkie Pie got her... I mean how Equestria was founded, meaning that execution is pretty much key here. Thankfully, the FiM crew made sure that this episode would indeed be one of the big ones of the season. Naturally, you need a good story for the founding of Equestria, and they were able to come up with one in the form of how the stubborn heads of the three tribes (Pegusus, Unicorn, Earth Pony) being unable to cooperate, resulting in their homeland being wrecked by a blizzard, with their aides being the ones to save through the power of friendship after their bosses become as frozen as their hearts. At the same time, the episode still has the great comedy that we've come to expect from Friendship is Magic (which I'll get to in my additonal comments).

If there's one flaw in the episode, it's probably has to be the song. While I can understand that it's supposed to be a carol sung by everyone attending the pageant, given the build-up, I was really hoping for something for extravagent (of course, part of it could be due to the leaked Pinkie Pie song and the "Find a Pet" song).

Additional comments:

-Gotta love Fluttershy's attempts at shouting. :anime:

-Lookie there, they were actually able to sneak a reference to the best Xmas movie ever, A Christmas Story, in the prologue. Of course, there's so many way people will probably react to Scootaloo being one of the ponies whose tounge is stuck on the candy cane.

-This week's Derpy appearance: Near the beginning of act one, where she pops his head out of the curtains as ponies are arriving to attend the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant.

-Pinkie Pie definitely steals the episode with her portrayal of the head of the Earth Ponies. Given the way the plays the part (i.e. entering her base from the chimney, wearing the map like a mask), she'd definitely be a good ruler of Cuckoolanders. BTW, I'm sure some people will be asking why she's playing the leader instead of Applejack. The reasoning for this is actually simple: given how Applejack is one of the few ponies with common sense, she's better off as one of the aides (alongside fellow "common sense" pony Twilight Sparkle and the moust Fluttershy) that save the day through friendship.

-A clever variation of an old joke by Fluttershy: I can see my future house from here.

-Another early episode callback, this time it involves Starswirl the Bearded (the wizard pony that Twlight Sparkle dressed up as in Luna Eclipse) being the mentor of oracle pony that Twilight Sparkle is playing in the pageant.

[King9]

Very entertaining episode! I think every main pony had a hilarious moment. Favorite had to be Chancellor Pudding. the costumes and the pageant were awesome. Derpy's cameo was beyond awesome.

But like everyone else I'm mystified about the role the princesses play in all this. Unicorns used to raise the sun?! I thought that was something only Celestia could do. And what was with that heart Twilight made in the pageant? Confusion central. But yes, great episode.

[JAG]

But like everyone else I'm mystified about the role the princesses play in all this. Unicorns used to raise the sun?! I thought that was something only Celestia could do.

I completely forgot about that detail. That is a problem. It completely undermines the Princesses' importance and Nightmare Moon's threat level. As such, I'm chalking it up to a dumb oversight on the writers' part and considering that line to be non-canon.

[Monte]

They have done a lot of bickering & whining & arguing in the play, haven't they? How come only earth ponies can grow food? If you ask me, unicorns and pegasi can do a lot of things that an Earth pony can do and more. Surely they can just learn to grow food on their own, can they? I guess they don't want to participate in digging in the dirt, huh Rarity?

While not magical like the other pony types, Earth Ponies do have a connection to the land that other types do not. In Equestria, growing food and tending animals (Fluttershy's talent with animals is unusual for a pegasus, I always imagined she feels more at home on the ground than in the sky) is just as necessary, as managing weather and magic. Perhaps more important, don't you think? They are ponies, not people, so perhaps appreciating each other as equals is not so difficult for them.

Basically, Earth ponies have an innate ability that makes them so good at farming, that's no different than unicorn magic, or pegasi magical ability to manipulate clouds... hence why they are the only ones able to make food... If we needed a more logical explanation we might also take into account the possibility that earth ponies are more physically capable than the usual pegasi or unicorn. pegasi maybe fast and agile, but Working a farm requires strong legs

I completely forgot about that detail. That is a problem. It completely undermines the Princesses' importance and Nightmare Moon's threat level. As such, I'm chalking it up to a dumb oversight on the writers' part and considering that line to be non-canon.

That is true. Hell at the end of the episode one thing that was going through my mind was why they made a flag with Luna and celestia. I mean did were they or were they not already around?


Though I can see why the writers would want to give unicorns the power over the sun and the moon... Earth, weather and sun are all needed to grow food and survive; the 3 are harmonious. What else could the unicorn's have power over that would work so well with the other 2?

Still this does leave the hole of where Luna and celestia come into play. Not to mention those two have power over the sun and moon might have had more significance without this backstory; without this backstory you could say that power over the sun and moon was something one could only have when they possess the magic's of all 3 breeds of pony... but know its established that unicron's possess this ability... though granted it could still be said that maybe the unicorn's must work together to move the sun, while celestia and Luna can do it alone. Still we would need to know why and how celestia and luna came to bare the power and relieve the unicorns of the burden.... while the pegasi and the earth ponies must still do their work.

[Nel]

Unfortunately, wasn't really into it this week. The play kind of confuses me, as to how the alicorn sisters and Discord fit into all this. There were still a few funny moments though, mostly from the characters Applejack and Fluttershy were playing, and Fluttershy hiding in the box, but nothing that really made me laugh.

Poor Derpy gets turned down.

[The Landstander]

I'm going to preemptively call myself out for being overcritical.

There was a lot to like in this one: good animation, some nice humor, fun storyline, Equestria backstory, etc. Pinkie had some great bits []

But then a few parts just felt off. The cold open, which ended on a "haha oh that Pinkie" joke, or the chimney gag which felt really forced in terms of "wackiness". A few other moments felt off as well.

I know the counterpoint to all this is "children's show", and yeah, sure; but the whole point is the show has picked up a following in part for going a few steps beyond that in terms of cleverness and writing. It's a higher standard for a higher quality show.

Again, on the whole, I rather enjoyed this one, but I to say it kind of felt like this was a B level episode that could've been an A level episode with just a little cleanup. That may or may not be fair, but that's my read.

edit: also I don't care at all about the flag. Just write it off as a nationalistic thing to include the current flag or something

~*~Season 2 Tentative Ranking Station Subject to Change By My Discretion~*~
1. Lesson Zero
2. Sisterhooves Social
3. Secret Of My Excess
4. Sweet and Elite
5. May the Best Pet Win!
6. Hearth's Warming Eve
7. Luna Eclipsed
8. The Cutie Pox
9. The Mysterious Mare Do Well

[One Radical Dude]

Unlike last week, I don't have much to say about this episode. I thought it was a good episode (not as great as last week's, but still a good episode), a nice way to end 2011 (as there will not be a new episode until the first week of January). I enjoyed hearing about the history of the Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth Ponies, and of course Equestria. The entire cast performed their parts well. I got some laughs out of Pinkie Pie's performance, loved seeing Fluttershy in this one, and Spike was really good as narrator (and the English accent). I actually loved the song right near the very end. Sure, it wasn't one where you could tell which character was singing what, but I liked it.

Even though there are no new episodes for the next two Saturdays, I'm kind of glad to have a break (I got way too excited for this episode and last week's episode, I hadn't slept much). I'm hoping the first unseen episode of 2012 is a good one, though the brief description of it doesn't sound too impressive to me.

-This week's Derpy appearance: Near the beginning of act one, where he pops his head out of the curtains as ponies are arriving to attend the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant.

Isn't Derpy female? Sorry, I had to mention it.

[MetroSparkster]

I can't be the only one who thought when the mane six were arguing before the play starts, they would risk ruining it as it progressed.

I mean, AJ was arguing with Dash that this isn't "The Rainbow Dash Show".

[Juu-kuchi]

(also, no lesson at the end!)

I can't be the only one who thought when the mane six were arguing before the play starts, they would risk ruining it as it progressed.

I think therein lies my gripe about the episode.

As much as I sometimes feel that the lessons tacked on at the end of the episode feel a bit forced at times and contrived, it did not feel quite right around this time. It felt like they focused WAY too much on the story of Equestria, albeit a well-deserved focus, and not on the foundations given at the beginning of the episode with the potential downfall of the play thanks to their bickering. I guess no matter if I find the usual endings rather irksome at times, the fact that they exist give some sort of personal dimension and development to the characters that would cause us to invest in them. Had this episode done something about giving some nice inbetweens given the act structure of a play where they bicker and see themselves develop alongside their roles maybe it'd work a lot better, but here something didn't feel quite right.

As much as there are a lot of enjoyable bits especially with Rarity and Pinkie, this episode is definitely mid tier for the majority part.

That is true. Hell at the end of the episode one thing that was going through my mind was why they made a flag with Luna and celestia. I mean did were they or were they not already around?

I think they were around and probably all the ponies had a shared belief of them. It is just that instead of unifying under a common banner which they all believed in they instead vested themselves in who THEY were instead of what brings them together.

[HEATXZ]

Great episode :anime:
My favorite parts are Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy scenes and Derpy cameo XD