The Forum Decides: MLP: Friendship is Magic S02E01: “The Return of Harmony Part 1"

mario

As The Forum Decided, so must I do. In 30 minutes (6pm PST), I will watch The Return of Harmony Part 1, an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

This thread will contain my thoughts. I assume the live-posting will last about 30 minutes, though I reserve the right to pause and resume as needed to collect myself.

Enjoy! :facepalm:

mario

All right Friendship, let's Magic this thing.

mario

I will say that Flash tweening in cartoons has come a long way. Still, mostly I just want to watch Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends right now.

mario

Chocolate milk raaaaaaaain, some stay dry and others feel the pain...

mario

Whoa, there's a lot of backstory Big Pony Lady is throwing at us right now.

hlavco

Season premieres tend to be a lot more backstory-ish than normal episodes.

mario

What the-? John de Lancie?!

mario

hlavco wrote: »

Season premieres tend to be a lot more backstory-ish than normal episodes.

I wasn't sure if the events they described were in previous episodes or were more ancient legendy-type things.

mario

But seriously, John de Lancie as Q but in Pony Universe?! WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN

hlavco

Actually, some of the events do make more sense if you watched the beginning of the first season. Like the whole 'Elements of Harmony' thing. But I think it's easy enough to just roll with "they gotta get those things to beat that guy".

mario

Oh man, Apple Cow would love this episode. He may even already love it, I don't keep track of his non-apple-eating hobbies.

mario

These ponies should probably stop listening to obvious conjurations of Q Pony and his attempts to trick them.

hlavco

That would prevent so many future funny parts from happening.

mario

That prim and proper pony seems mildly turned on by diamonds. I'm uncomfortable.

mario

hlavco wrote: »

That would prevent so many future funny parts from happening.

I can't help but compare how easily they're fooled to Picard not standing for such shenanigans.

mario

Wait, he can just de-power them by poking them in the head?! Why even have the pretense of trickery?

mario

That's one hell of a cliffhanger. Q-Pony successfully tricked all the pony children into not finding the gems he hid, so now he gets to... usher in a new era of chaos and despair?

PONIES WILL RETURN IN THUNDERBALL

hlavco

So how was it?

mario

I have to dash out of the house, but I'll deliver final thoughts later tonight. First impressions: I can see what people enjoy about the show, it's definitely got decent writing and comedic timing, but nothing to really draw me in on a regular basis (unless every episode has Q in it).

Hamelin

God damn it you guys. :facepalm:

mario

Yeah, pretty much. Our community is a little sadistic when you give them power.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Well it's a kid's show, isn't it? I've certainly appreciated my fair share of kid's shows over the years, and I can judge a show for its intended efforts and target audience. But this show carries with it such an established reputation of being enjoyed by the brony community that I have to evaluate it on those merits as well.

As a kid's show for girls: pretty okay! The humor is approachable, the characters' archetypes are easily identifiable and they stick to their conventions (even more important in this episode which makes a point of making them play against character for shenanigans), the voice acting is just fine and dandy. The animation is clearly Flash tweening for cheapness, but it's bright and colorful and gets the job done.

In this episode, John de Lancie guest-starred as an omnipotent pony-monster that was obviously intended as a Star Trek reference, which I can only assume would be totally lost on any little girl tuning in. I've heard in the past that the writers don't make the show for the bronies, but a move like this makes me wonder how true that is. They also made a casual reference to Chocolate Rain that I can't believe is coincidence.

Is this why the bronies are watching? Do they wait for random references to their nerddom to be dropped? As far as appealing factors go, this doesn't rank highly for me; it reeks of Family Guy's "remember when EIGHTIES TV SHOW" antics, where the nostalgic reference itself is supposed to stand in for actual humor. And again, the little girls that actually watch the show aren't going to catch any of it, so it seems misguided and a waste of energy on the writers' parts. Unless the writers are dropping references for themselves, which seems more likely. If so, go for it!

What does that leave us with? It's a perfectly serviceable cartoon for children, and the story as far as I could discern has a depth you don't normally see in these types of shows (the old MLP shows didn't have an expansive continuity on this level)... but I didn't feel any appeal as an almost-30-year-old. I watch lots of shows with deeper stories that don't feature ponies.

But I'm glad I watched it, if only to say that I have. And John de Lancie is the man. Honestly, if I knew going in that John de Lancie was in this episode, I probably would have been more excited about the prospect from the start.

hlavco

I read in an interview with the writers once, that they don't really make the show with anyone in mind, they just try to make a show that they're happy with. And apparently Hasbro gives them pretty much full freedom to do whatever. Anyways, I'm not saying it's one of the best shows ever, but I would say it's one of the better cartoons of late. But it's also a rare case of the fandom actually improving the show through all their crazy videos and projects and things.

(also part 2 of that episode is funnier than part 1 )

mario

True, the fandom stuff is fun enough.