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So how about that season opening huh? [SPOILERS]
12 years ago
General
... Wow.
They sure pulled out all the stops for this one. As per usual, I will give my take on the episodes and then open the floor for everyone else.
The opening was interesting. Not surprisingly, it goes a bit into what Twilight's new status means for her and her friends and how they all deal with it. Not much to say about it in general. It makes sense to address it and it was handled well. I loved the little conversation between Twilight and Celestia. It wasn't much, but it was very nice to see a bit more off Celestia's thoughts and feelings. It must indeed have sucked to celebrate the fact that you banished your own sister every year for a thousand years. The very first episode and we get Luna (not that surprisingly) and Zecora. As well as Big Macs' first "Eeeyups!" and "Nopes!" of the season. Loved that scene myself. And of course, the big guy himself, Discord.
As I probably mentioned before, I am not the biggest Discord fan. I certainly don't dislike the character, but I do feel he wasn't handled that well in his previous appearances. In the season 2 opening he was very menacing and for the most part a great character, but I am one of those who are of the opinion that the ending was very rushed. Didn't do the character much good. In "Keep Calm and Flutter On", he seemed way to tame to me. Almost none of the menace was left. Of course, there was the thread of him being turned back to stone, but... And the switch between manipulative and "reformed" happened way to quickly. As many others have said, would probably have worked better as a two parter.
But man oh man, did they nail him now. This is what a reformed Discord should be like. He has decided this whole friendship malarkey is worth the trouble of reigning things in a bit, but that doesn't mean he can't have some fun, does it? He has found a way to deal with things that suits him and it does feel like he is constantly testing how far he can go. I loved his performance.
Anyway, the potion thing was a bit random. Didn't diminish the episode for me, but it does feel as if maybe they could have come up with something better. Still, nitpicking and it leads us to the flashbacks. Nightmare Moon. Holy... Remember what she was like in the second episode? I guess a thousand years on the moon must have been hard on her if she went from "magical unicorn death laser" to "put thorn in Manticore's paw." How bad-ass was that scene? Arguably the most interesting of the flashbacks. It doesn't completely rule it out, but it does make it more unlikely that there was a civil war before Luna's banishment. There certainly was no indication of anything like that here, the transformation just happened. The flashback with Discord seems to me more uninteresting. The one thing I can take out of it was that it seems Luna and Celestia were able to gather more power from the elements then the Mane Six, looking at how fast Discord was turned to stone here in comparison with the season 2 opening. Then again, different Elements in the first place.
Which brings me to the next flashback and the reason I said Nightmare Moon's was "arguably" the most interesting one. Because the elements we saw Luna and Celestia use and the ones we see them take from the tree look nothing like the Elements the Girls find in the second episode of the first season. That is interesting. Does that mean the writers simply ignored that, did they somehow change into those round stones, or have there actually been at least three different sets of Elements? I'm probably looking to deeply into this, but it does intrigue me.
The girls head into the forest and find the crocodile (they do say crocodile right? I kinda want them to say Rockodile, but...) and then we get the discussion between Twilight and the rest of the girls. And to me, it makes sense. In that very situation, Twilight has a responsibility. As (possibly) the only Princess within short distance of the Equestrian capital, Equestria's needs should come before her's and her friends. It could have maybe be handled a bit better if they went a bit more deeply into that aspect, but they pretty much say exactly that. Of course, this is a kids show so that doesn't go as far as it could have gone.
Twilight encounters Discord again. And I can't help but feel that Discord is actually helping Twilight here, in his own way. He uses a mocking tone to do it, but he does send her back to the forest. From the conclusion we know he knows what is going on, so to me it looks like this is his way to help Twilight with her "Princess lesson" as he calls it.
They save the tree, we get a little heartfelt moment between the three princesses, and we get the Mystery Box. Very promising indeed. Looks like we will see a bit of a storyline throughout season four, more then a middle episode about how to make a dress. If that really is the case I am sure most of us will welcome that. We also loose the Elements, which I think is a good thing. You don't want to do the same thing to many times. Personal note, it made me think of the Power Rangers. Bit of a "OMG, they are getting new Zords" moment. But I digress. Whether or not we will see a larger storyline remains to be seen, but I will be fine either way. And I am sure we will get some slice of life one shots regardless. And that pretty much is it, other then learning that Discord does not do windows and Twilight's part of the Celebration is pretty cool.
I am very curious to see what next week will bring. Will we head straight for the Mystery Box or will we get a breather and see how Twilight handles things now, assuming she still lives in Ponyville, in a one-shot? Time will tell. As far as I'm concerned, this was a fantastic opening. I can find very little to flaw it with. Enjoyed it very much from beginning to end and I am certainly looking forward to the rest of the season. How about all of you? Share your thoughts.
They sure pulled out all the stops for this one. As per usual, I will give my take on the episodes and then open the floor for everyone else.
The opening was interesting. Not surprisingly, it goes a bit into what Twilight's new status means for her and her friends and how they all deal with it. Not much to say about it in general. It makes sense to address it and it was handled well. I loved the little conversation between Twilight and Celestia. It wasn't much, but it was very nice to see a bit more off Celestia's thoughts and feelings. It must indeed have sucked to celebrate the fact that you banished your own sister every year for a thousand years. The very first episode and we get Luna (not that surprisingly) and Zecora. As well as Big Macs' first "Eeeyups!" and "Nopes!" of the season. Loved that scene myself. And of course, the big guy himself, Discord.
As I probably mentioned before, I am not the biggest Discord fan. I certainly don't dislike the character, but I do feel he wasn't handled that well in his previous appearances. In the season 2 opening he was very menacing and for the most part a great character, but I am one of those who are of the opinion that the ending was very rushed. Didn't do the character much good. In "Keep Calm and Flutter On", he seemed way to tame to me. Almost none of the menace was left. Of course, there was the thread of him being turned back to stone, but... And the switch between manipulative and "reformed" happened way to quickly. As many others have said, would probably have worked better as a two parter.
But man oh man, did they nail him now. This is what a reformed Discord should be like. He has decided this whole friendship malarkey is worth the trouble of reigning things in a bit, but that doesn't mean he can't have some fun, does it? He has found a way to deal with things that suits him and it does feel like he is constantly testing how far he can go. I loved his performance.
Anyway, the potion thing was a bit random. Didn't diminish the episode for me, but it does feel as if maybe they could have come up with something better. Still, nitpicking and it leads us to the flashbacks. Nightmare Moon. Holy... Remember what she was like in the second episode? I guess a thousand years on the moon must have been hard on her if she went from "magical unicorn death laser" to "put thorn in Manticore's paw." How bad-ass was that scene? Arguably the most interesting of the flashbacks. It doesn't completely rule it out, but it does make it more unlikely that there was a civil war before Luna's banishment. There certainly was no indication of anything like that here, the transformation just happened. The flashback with Discord seems to me more uninteresting. The one thing I can take out of it was that it seems Luna and Celestia were able to gather more power from the elements then the Mane Six, looking at how fast Discord was turned to stone here in comparison with the season 2 opening. Then again, different Elements in the first place.
Which brings me to the next flashback and the reason I said Nightmare Moon's was "arguably" the most interesting one. Because the elements we saw Luna and Celestia use and the ones we see them take from the tree look nothing like the Elements the Girls find in the second episode of the first season. That is interesting. Does that mean the writers simply ignored that, did they somehow change into those round stones, or have there actually been at least three different sets of Elements? I'm probably looking to deeply into this, but it does intrigue me.
The girls head into the forest and find the crocodile (they do say crocodile right? I kinda want them to say Rockodile, but...) and then we get the discussion between Twilight and the rest of the girls. And to me, it makes sense. In that very situation, Twilight has a responsibility. As (possibly) the only Princess within short distance of the Equestrian capital, Equestria's needs should come before her's and her friends. It could have maybe be handled a bit better if they went a bit more deeply into that aspect, but they pretty much say exactly that. Of course, this is a kids show so that doesn't go as far as it could have gone.
Twilight encounters Discord again. And I can't help but feel that Discord is actually helping Twilight here, in his own way. He uses a mocking tone to do it, but he does send her back to the forest. From the conclusion we know he knows what is going on, so to me it looks like this is his way to help Twilight with her "Princess lesson" as he calls it.
They save the tree, we get a little heartfelt moment between the three princesses, and we get the Mystery Box. Very promising indeed. Looks like we will see a bit of a storyline throughout season four, more then a middle episode about how to make a dress. If that really is the case I am sure most of us will welcome that. We also loose the Elements, which I think is a good thing. You don't want to do the same thing to many times. Personal note, it made me think of the Power Rangers. Bit of a "OMG, they are getting new Zords" moment. But I digress. Whether or not we will see a larger storyline remains to be seen, but I will be fine either way. And I am sure we will get some slice of life one shots regardless. And that pretty much is it, other then learning that Discord does not do windows and Twilight's part of the Celebration is pretty cool.
I am very curious to see what next week will bring. Will we head straight for the Mystery Box or will we get a breather and see how Twilight handles things now, assuming she still lives in Ponyville, in a one-shot? Time will tell. As far as I'm concerned, this was a fantastic opening. I can find very little to flaw it with. Enjoyed it very much from beginning to end and I am certainly looking forward to the rest of the season. How about all of you? Share your thoughts.
However, I do feel like it was a very poor decision of the Mane 6 to tell Twilight to leave the Everfree Forest. Why? Because a)if they don't stay together, they won't be able to use the Elements of Harmony, which might've been the only way to solve the problem, and b)surely Cadence could rule Equestria in an emergency.
Rochndil, who wonders what you fertilize the Tree of Harmony with...
*squeeeee*!!!
Has been a long time since I acted this fanboyisch to a series premiere.
I watched it via stream with a friend. Other friends planned to *ahem* "get" the episodes on a video-cd and watch it together in a bar and having a premiere-party while doing so.
For myself I planned to just watch it, have fun and then continue to do some office stuff for my business.
Was not possible!
I was so full of joy that I just had to prokrastinate the work, go to that bar and watch it with a huge load of friends again. They felt the same way that one time watching is not enough so we all watched it again there together. So I watched the two episodes a third time this day.
It remained pure AWESOME!
So yeah... I could say, that I like the season 4 from the beginning something about a little? :D
There was a few things thatI wished was put together better.................BUT all in all I really loved it!!!!! X3
As for the Elements, I think that somepony cut the original stones into something prettier than the original cut, perhaps when making them into the jewelry seen later.
I guess we'll see what happens.
How Luna become Nightmare moon was awesome!
My OCD kinda flared up at this part, but when Twilight Sparkle is hovering in the air in front of the Tree of Harmony, her right wind flaps BACKWARDS xD I watched that part several times to make sure I wasn't seeing thing, haha.
All artistic oddities aside, loved the episode. I was very happy to see Discord again :)
So what?
Today I learned that Discord sings in the shower. He apparently sings songs that were sung earlier in the series.
Also, mystery box mystery (and of course it has six keys).
A good way to kick things off, for sure. Can't wait for more, the drought has been far too long this time.