Reviewing is Magic: Episode 14

Acting on what was, in essence, the universe daring him to watch an episode, Erik sat down and started watching My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.  It is, by far, the most insane program he ever watched in his life.

And he used to watch a cartoon about Mr. T driving around the world with a bunch of teenage gymnasts.

After the jump, he'll break down another episode and discuss what makes it good, what makes it bad, and what makes it just outright crazy.  This week's theme?  Continuity!




Continuity is a tricky beast.  On the one hand, it's important to keep your material accessible to everybody, old and new followers alike.  Part of the problem many comic books have is that, in order to understand how a character is what he is, you have to look back at years (and in many instances, decades) of previous source material to understand who that casually mentioned character is, or why a specific place or event has such meaning.

This is why DC comics likes to do a reboot every now and again, I think, because they feel characters become too inaccessible for new readers, but they've learned that new characters tend to not sell as well because they don't have the same fame and profile as, say, Batman or Superman.

However, you also want there to be some sense of a larger story through a series.  Cartoons like Pinky and the Brain and Animaniacs work without any sense of continuity between episodes, because they weren't a constant, flowing story.  However, in a series like Avatar you can't just have every episode be its own self-contained storyline since you're trying to tell an grand, epic plot with a wide cast of characters.

Both means have their advantages and disadvantages.  The Pinky and the Brain method means you an have a new viewer join in at any time, and they'll pretty much be caught up from the word "go."  But if you want characters to grow, develop, and form relationships with other characters, you need to have that over-arcing plot.

So what happens when a kid's show like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.introduces continuity by touching back to one of their earliest episodes?  Well, let's find out!

First off, let me acknowledge that the continuity on this show isn't perfect.  In the space of thirteen episodes we've seen time be summer, fall, summer again, winter, the start of spring, and then fall again.  I've talked before about how messed up the seasons and weather are on this show, but I'm willing to suspend disbelief and assume that, so far, the "Grand Galloping Gala" first mentioned in episode 3 hasn't happened yet.

Which is good, because this is a Rarity episode, and I'm going to need all the patience I can get.

I'm not sure why Rarity is so low on my list of characters I like.  I don't object to the fact they gave her a trans-Atlantic aristocratic accent (in fact, I love the correlations others have made to Grace Kelly), I think it actually fits the character extremely well given her love of the "upper class" lifestyle.  I also think the voice plays off well with the fact that she embodies the spirit of "generosity," and it's actually (mostly) genuine most of the time that she wants to help others be their best.

Maybe it's that I just don't know a thing about making clothes, and really have little interest in learning.  I respect people who are gifted couturiers, but it just isn't my thing.

From the opening, we learn two things about Rarity:  One, she owns a cat named Opalescence, which actually is a cool name for a cat.  Second, she's still working on dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala.  Rather, she's just now getting started on dresses.

Girl needs to work on her time management skills.  Fer reals.

Once the episode gets going proper, Twilight and Applejack stop by to ask Rarity if she could possibly mend a button on Twilight's dress for the Gala.  Something interesting that I never knew was that apparently Twilight Sparkle regularly played Annie in her school's dramatic productions.

Or she doubles as a clown in the circus.

Can I also just point out that the fact that Rarity's glasses have no side frames to go over the ears is a nice touch?  I really wonder if that was planned or if the animators gave up in frustration trying to get them to fit on her face with complete frames and went "fine, they just pinch her nose, now we're done!"

Rarity vows, on the spot, to make Twilight a new dress to wear the the fanciest event in the entire country, and actually has to pressure the other pony into accepting it.  Of course, the real fun begins when she looks at Applejack, the second-least "girly" pony in Ponyville, and inquires what she wants to wear.

Rarity's expression to "my old work duds" ranks up there with one of the most appalled expressions I've seen in a cartoon.  Her insistence that Applejack show up in formal attire is met with a nonchalant "nah," and instead she offers to "spruce up" the old working duds.  This seems to work.

This is interrupted by Rainbow Dash (the least "girly" pony in Ponyville) crashing through the roof (don't ask), and Rarity vows on the spot to make outfits for all of her friends, with an opportunity for it to double as a fashion show to show off her designs.

Can you feel the excitement?

Applejack seems to be the only one to realize that making six completely original dresses in a short time frame is quite a bit of work for just one pony, but Rarity laughs it off, leading to..a pretty awesome song.

Well, the first half of it, anyway.  The second half comes in a bit.

Now, I'll admit that when I heard this, it sounded vaguely familiar.  Turns out it's an homage to a Steven Sondheim song called Putting It Together.  I also thought this was one of the two songs from the show nominated for a daytime Emmy award, but it turns out I was mistaken.  Those come later.

I will point out that, through this whole thing, there is one pony whose dress isn't being worked on yet.  Three guesses whose.

Rarity presents the dresses that she slaved over made for her friends and asks for their opinions.  She's given what we can all a "less than enthusiastic response."  Rarity vows to redo them, because having her friends be satisfied means so much to her.  You can see the cracks starting to show, though.

Things continue downhill when Fluttershy (Fluttershy, of all ponies!) gives Rarity grief over how her dress is made, and we get the second half of the song showing Rarity struggling to agree to what her customers want.  This leads to Rarity proclaim her works "the ugliest dresses I've ever made."

But, her friends love the dresses, and that's what's important, right?  Well, it is, up until Spike announces that "Hoity-Toity" (seriously, someone needs to explain how names work in this world, since it sure seems convenient that names relate to what people do in life) is coming, and apparently Hoity Toity is the Tim Gunn of the My Little Pony universe.

This is probably the equivalent of serving Hamburger Helper to Julia Child, or, for you southern viewers, showing your cap gun collection to Charlton Heston.

So, the worst dresses ever in front of a fashion icon?  How does that make you feel, Rarity?

So...it's all good, then?

The fashion show begins and- okay, I need to take a moment to spotlight this character here:

Meet DJ Pon3.  That's the official name.  That's awesome.  They actually have pony DJs with turntables...which means technology does exist in this world.  But look at this character again.  Someone actually went to the effort of designing a pony who not only has hair like you might see in a lot of dance clubs, but is pale, like many DJs who only work at night.  The glasses indicate a rather extreme style...but the horn is the detail I love.  Someone actually realized "you know, we could have this be a pony without magic...but then they'd get hoof marks all over the records."

These people pay attention to the strangest things.  Clear weather systems?  Pft.  DJ mixmasters?  Gotta get it just right.

Now, I could spoil the episode here and show you just what the dresses look like, but I'm not going to do that.  You need to see for yourself just how atrocious these outfits are.  I mean, I find them terrible, and I wear white socks with shorts sometimes.

Okay, I'll spoil one thing.  Fluttershy's hat is a bird's nest. With eggs in it.

Needless to say, the show is a disaster, Rarity's name in fashion is pretty much ruined, and it's at this point that the show takes a dark turn as she stalks her friends with scissors and a pincushion and- ...oh, sorry.  I got this mixed up with something else.  So, what does happen?

Oh, right.  The five friends realize, once everybody starts whispering, that they might've gone a wee bit too far in offering suggestions in their designs.  Hoity Toity is appalled, and Rarity gets publicly humiliated because Spike can't read a crowd to save his life (we'll see this again).

We fade ahead to a few days later, where Rarity is yet to leave her house.  Her friends try to talk her out of her room, but she's too distraught.  There are two great lines here, one where Rarity bursts into tears because she doesn't know what sad ponies are supposed to wallow in, and one where Twilight asks what they're supposed to do now, and Fluttershy responds with, "Um, panic?"

Rainbow Dash's response: "That's your answer for everything!"

Instead, the ponies get together and finish Rarity's dress for her "thanks to Fluttershy's freaky knowledge of sewing."  So, Rarity gets to be pretty at the ball, her friends realize they should trust the expert when it comes to dresses and they all lived happily ev-

Oh, wait, her career's still over.

But what's this?  They talked Hoity Toity into coming back for a private show!  ...why am I typing like I'm excited?!  Okay, fine, this part's actually rather cool, and I wonder if this is just special effects for us, the audience, or if Rarity's magic is letting Hoity Toity seeing how the original dresses she designed actually fit the wearers so well.

It appears to be the latter, since Hoity Toity is actually startled when Rainbow Dash's appearance involves indoor lightning.

Fashion shows are hardcore, ya'll, and Rarity don't mess around.

The show's a hit, and Twilight's letter to the princess helpfully explains two things that I think a lot of people need to remember:  One, if you try to please everybody, often you don't please anybody, including yourself.  Second, when someone offers you something out of kindness, don't be critical of it.

I'll admit, I sometimes had trouble with that second part when I was younger, but honestly, I'm doing much better now!

Seriously!

The Good:

This was the first episode that I actually liked Rarity in as a main character.  I didn't not like her before, but she was always just...I dunno, "meh."  Hearing her voice actress go completely over the top in her self-pity had me feeling bad as well as stifling laughter, but that was partly from being able to recognize the vocal influences to what she was saying.

The animation seemed especially crisp this time, especially when it came to the second fashion show.  The altering of patterns of animation in different areas, going from the crisp colors to faded greens for nature, and some of the artistry choices were really well done.

Plus, it made making outfits interesting, something that shows on Bravo were never able to do for me.

The Bad:

Honestly, there wasn't really much in this episode that was "bad."  I could tell a few scenes where the animators cut corners (the overhead view of the crowd at the first show), but these people aren't George Perez, they aren't going to draw detail on every individual pony.  And the small details, such as how Rarity's legs moved in an overhead shot, made up for it.  

The only problem I really have is, like I said above, I have no idea how much time has passed between the third episode and this one, ten episodes later.  There's no clear, coherent timeline to how the seasons move, unless the Grand Galloping Gala only happens every few years (which I think episode three disproved).  

It might just be a nitpick to what is otherwise a solid episode, but when you spend this much time developing how a world works, it can become a bigger issue down the road, especially since we still have the rest of this season to go before the Gala occurs (spoiler alert, I guess).  If they had aired a few episodes in a backwards order, this might've made much more sense.

Overall:

This is, quite possibly, one of the most individually solid episodes I've seen.  You get moments with each character while still having someone in the spotlight (as opposed to the dragon episode where Applejack just up and vanished when they were putting plans into motion), and it allowed for some interesting artistic choices.  Plus, one of the better songs so far (seriously, it's Steven Sondheim, people!), presented not just once, but again with a twist as the mood of the episode shifts.

I give it an A-, if I was doing grading.  It's not one of my favorites, but it got me to care about how clothes are made, made me appreciate a character I really hadn't before, and gave me pretty much nothing to complain about.  And it wasn't even that insane, unless you count the dresses that Rarity wound up making for the first show.

Those were b-a-n-a-n-a-s.