Who ya gonna call?
Sorry about that. Just had to get it over and done with so no-one tries it in the comments.
Let's get on with the review, shall we?
Once again, this review will contain spoilers. For those of you who haven't watched this episode yet, you have been warned.
So our episode begins with Spike helping Twilight to practice her magic. She's been trying out a number of new spell recently and is finally ready to try the last on the list. The spell in question is giving Spike a moustache (though why PONIES would even have a spell like that I'm not entirely sure). Spike's impressed in this latest in along line of successful spell's Twilight has undertaken but is even more interested in the prospect in using his new facial hair to impress Rarity, whom he has a crush on (something I neglected to mention in earlier reviews). Twilight though, says it's just for practice and promptly removes it with magic (okay, THAT spell I wouldn't mind having), leading into the title screen.
After the credits we see the two of them walking through town, Spike asking Twilight about her impressive magical ability, especially considering the fact that unicorns usually only have a very small amount of magic at their disposal. Twilight explains that most unicorns magic power is used to help them in whatever their "special talents" are. But Twilght's talent IS magic, so who knows what that might eventually mean for her. Spike praises her for her skill with magic, but just as he does so, a pair of younger male unicorns named Snips and Snails come rushing past them. They keep going on about a new unicorn in town who's giving some sort of demonstration nearby. They all go there, along with most of the town it seems, to witness this new unicorn's performance. The unicorn in question, Trixie, makes her appearance and boasts greatly about her magical ability to the town. Using her power she conducts several feats which impress much of the crowd.
However, some of the other main characters, like Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity all say to Twilight how much this boasting on Trixie's part annoys them and that just because she has great magical ability doesn't give her the right to think she's better, leading Twilight to feel very insecure about her own impressive abilities. Spike attempts to counter Trixie's boasts by declaring Twilight to be the better magic-user, but Twilight forbids him from doing so in front of everyone for fear of having people think of her as a show-off. The other ponies confront Trixie over her boasting, but she simply informs them of a time when she single-handedly defeated a dangerous creature known as an Ursa Major with her powers. This impresses much of the crow but the main characters have had it. They each challenge Trixie in turn with their own abilities but one by one, Trixie manages to use her powers to embarass them afterwards. Trixie's attention then turns to Twilight as she challenges her to show her abilities like the others. But Twilight refuses and leaves, prompting the bragging unicorn to boast even further (you know writers, if you wanted me to dislike this character, mission accomplished).
After the show, Spike confront Snips and Snails over their admiration of Trixie, asking if they've actually SEEN the things she's boasted about. They admit that they haven't and Spike says that until he actually sees her defeat one of those Ursa things, he's not going to believe it. So, as you probably guessed, this leads to the two idiots actually going to the cave of one of these things to prompt it into coming to town so Trixie can prove she can do it. The Ursa, basically a giant bear the size of a house, wakes up and chases them. Back at their home, Spike tries to encourage Twilight to show Trixie up but she refuses, saying that she runs the risk of losing her friends if she comes across as being a show-off like Trixie. Spike (rather reluctantly) accepts her decision.
Outside the village, Spike runs into Snips and Snails, who've been fleeing the ursa right behind them. They each run off to their respective unicorns. Trixie, upon seeing the approaching monster, flees in terror at the sight of it. Spike goes to Twilight to tell her what's happened. After being cornered by the beast, Trixie, after finding out that it was Snips and Snails that woke this thing, tries using her magic to defeat the Ursa, but to no avail. It's at this point that (you guessed it) she confesses to never actually fighting one of these things before.
As the Ursa starts to ravage the town, Twilight shows up and, after much urging from Spike, uses her powers to send the creature to sleep before levitating it back into it's cave, right in front of the whole town. Everyone cheers her, including the other main ponies but Twilight is very apologetic for having done it (yes, sorry she saved everyone's lives, that's a good way to think right?). But the others tell her that it was her being a "loud-mouth" rather than her magic which upset them, much to Twilight's relief. They praise her for being able to beat the Ursa Major, but Twilight reveals that it was only and Ursa MINOR, an infant, much to Trixie's shock. She then takes this opportunity to leave the town, boasting about her greatness all the way. Twilight's attention then turns to Snips and snails and decides they should clean up the mess caused by the creature as punishment for bringing it into town, as well as giving them moustaches while they do it.
The episode ends with Twilight narrating a letter to Princess Celestia about the lesson she learned, which I'll get back to later.
So, how did this episode hold up?
Well, I'm sorry to say, but much like last week's episode "Griffon the Brush-Off" I didn't think this episode was particularly special. I liked that Twilight got some more development in terms of her realising how much magical ability she has but in terms of her character the only thing that changes about her is that she was willing to display it to save people, something that anyone watching the episode would have seen coming. Having said that the episode's story is not an outright bad one. Twilight comes off in a very positive light throughout, which is what anyone wants to see in their lead protagonist, so I can't really complain about that.
The guest character of Trixie was, much like Gilda last week, a character I very much disliked. She existed only to serve as a counterpoint to how modest Twilight is by comparison, which we already knew before she even made her appearance. Not only that but I have a big problem with the fact that a character like this was chosen to be the "boaster" for Twilight to counter. The reason for this is that Trixie is an entertainer, a performer. People like that are supposed to sell themselves and their achievements to the masses for the purposes of entertaining people. And she does that. True she got somewhat carried away with it at times, especially after the other ponies started challenging her, but for the most part she's just doing her job.
However, my biggest issue was that Twilight never acknowledges the fact that Spike was right throughout the episode about her using her powers. He speaks many times about how showing up Trixie would be easy for her. But she refuses saying how she would come across as a show-off like her. But that argument doesn't make sense when you consider that the other ponies tried showing her up with their own skills nad not once were they criticised for it. And by the end, when she uses her magic to save the town, she doesn't tell Spike he was right about using them. A small thing, I know, but it still bothers me.
Once again, there's no song here this week.
The humour now and unfortunately the episode falls flat here as well. Unlike last week's episode which had some funny moments, this one had none that made me laugh-out-loud, nor many which even made me smile at any point. Few lines of dialogue stood out in my mind as being worth remembering and the whole "moustache thing" at the beginning and end felt like the writers were trying to make it funny, but failed in doing so. it's not all bad news however. There was some good news though. There was a point in the episode where Spike is trying to convince Twilight to use her magic but with her refusing. She magically creates a door and slams it in Spike's face and after another argument between the two, Spike closes the door on himself as if going outside only to open it again because he's already in his own home. I admit, that part had me chuckling and is probably the funnies and most well-times of this episode's jokes.
The moral message now and this week it seems to be that it's alright to be proud of the things you can do without going overboard with it. It's a good lesson, especially in times when children are often made to feel that being better at anything is something to be shamed of. So kudos on trying to teach them that merely having ability in not something embarrassing.
Overall this is, like last week's episode, fairly weak. Except here it doesn't have the benefit of having as many funny moments to help prop it up like that one did. The moral was decent and needs to be taught but other than that I feel very much the same way towards this episode as I did towards "Griffon the Brush-Off", that it's an episode that, whilst not outright bad or difficult to watch, seemed to lack anything to make me want to watch it a second time. If you like it, good on you, it's just not for me.
Join me next week when we cover Fluttershy's first starring role in episode seven, "Dragonshy".
See you then.
Sorry about that. Just had to get it over and done with so no-one tries it in the comments.
Let's get on with the review, shall we?
Once again, this review will contain spoilers. For those of you who haven't watched this episode yet, you have been warned.
So our episode begins with Spike helping Twilight to practice her magic. She's been trying out a number of new spell recently and is finally ready to try the last on the list. The spell in question is giving Spike a moustache (though why PONIES would even have a spell like that I'm not entirely sure). Spike's impressed in this latest in along line of successful spell's Twilight has undertaken but is even more interested in the prospect in using his new facial hair to impress Rarity, whom he has a crush on (something I neglected to mention in earlier reviews). Twilight though, says it's just for practice and promptly removes it with magic (okay, THAT spell I wouldn't mind having), leading into the title screen.
After the credits we see the two of them walking through town, Spike asking Twilight about her impressive magical ability, especially considering the fact that unicorns usually only have a very small amount of magic at their disposal. Twilight explains that most unicorns magic power is used to help them in whatever their "special talents" are. But Twilght's talent IS magic, so who knows what that might eventually mean for her. Spike praises her for her skill with magic, but just as he does so, a pair of younger male unicorns named Snips and Snails come rushing past them. They keep going on about a new unicorn in town who's giving some sort of demonstration nearby. They all go there, along with most of the town it seems, to witness this new unicorn's performance. The unicorn in question, Trixie, makes her appearance and boasts greatly about her magical ability to the town. Using her power she conducts several feats which impress much of the crowd.
However, some of the other main characters, like Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity all say to Twilight how much this boasting on Trixie's part annoys them and that just because she has great magical ability doesn't give her the right to think she's better, leading Twilight to feel very insecure about her own impressive abilities. Spike attempts to counter Trixie's boasts by declaring Twilight to be the better magic-user, but Twilight forbids him from doing so in front of everyone for fear of having people think of her as a show-off. The other ponies confront Trixie over her boasting, but she simply informs them of a time when she single-handedly defeated a dangerous creature known as an Ursa Major with her powers. This impresses much of the crow but the main characters have had it. They each challenge Trixie in turn with their own abilities but one by one, Trixie manages to use her powers to embarass them afterwards. Trixie's attention then turns to Twilight as she challenges her to show her abilities like the others. But Twilight refuses and leaves, prompting the bragging unicorn to boast even further (you know writers, if you wanted me to dislike this character, mission accomplished).
After the show, Spike confront Snips and Snails over their admiration of Trixie, asking if they've actually SEEN the things she's boasted about. They admit that they haven't and Spike says that until he actually sees her defeat one of those Ursa things, he's not going to believe it. So, as you probably guessed, this leads to the two idiots actually going to the cave of one of these things to prompt it into coming to town so Trixie can prove she can do it. The Ursa, basically a giant bear the size of a house, wakes up and chases them. Back at their home, Spike tries to encourage Twilight to show Trixie up but she refuses, saying that she runs the risk of losing her friends if she comes across as being a show-off like Trixie. Spike (rather reluctantly) accepts her decision.
Outside the village, Spike runs into Snips and Snails, who've been fleeing the ursa right behind them. They each run off to their respective unicorns. Trixie, upon seeing the approaching monster, flees in terror at the sight of it. Spike goes to Twilight to tell her what's happened. After being cornered by the beast, Trixie, after finding out that it was Snips and Snails that woke this thing, tries using her magic to defeat the Ursa, but to no avail. It's at this point that (you guessed it) she confesses to never actually fighting one of these things before.
As the Ursa starts to ravage the town, Twilight shows up and, after much urging from Spike, uses her powers to send the creature to sleep before levitating it back into it's cave, right in front of the whole town. Everyone cheers her, including the other main ponies but Twilight is very apologetic for having done it (yes, sorry she saved everyone's lives, that's a good way to think right?). But the others tell her that it was her being a "loud-mouth" rather than her magic which upset them, much to Twilight's relief. They praise her for being able to beat the Ursa Major, but Twilight reveals that it was only and Ursa MINOR, an infant, much to Trixie's shock. She then takes this opportunity to leave the town, boasting about her greatness all the way. Twilight's attention then turns to Snips and snails and decides they should clean up the mess caused by the creature as punishment for bringing it into town, as well as giving them moustaches while they do it.
The episode ends with Twilight narrating a letter to Princess Celestia about the lesson she learned, which I'll get back to later.
So, how did this episode hold up?
Well, I'm sorry to say, but much like last week's episode "Griffon the Brush-Off" I didn't think this episode was particularly special. I liked that Twilight got some more development in terms of her realising how much magical ability she has but in terms of her character the only thing that changes about her is that she was willing to display it to save people, something that anyone watching the episode would have seen coming. Having said that the episode's story is not an outright bad one. Twilight comes off in a very positive light throughout, which is what anyone wants to see in their lead protagonist, so I can't really complain about that.
The guest character of Trixie was, much like Gilda last week, a character I very much disliked. She existed only to serve as a counterpoint to how modest Twilight is by comparison, which we already knew before she even made her appearance. Not only that but I have a big problem with the fact that a character like this was chosen to be the "boaster" for Twilight to counter. The reason for this is that Trixie is an entertainer, a performer. People like that are supposed to sell themselves and their achievements to the masses for the purposes of entertaining people. And she does that. True she got somewhat carried away with it at times, especially after the other ponies started challenging her, but for the most part she's just doing her job.
However, my biggest issue was that Twilight never acknowledges the fact that Spike was right throughout the episode about her using her powers. He speaks many times about how showing up Trixie would be easy for her. But she refuses saying how she would come across as a show-off like her. But that argument doesn't make sense when you consider that the other ponies tried showing her up with their own skills nad not once were they criticised for it. And by the end, when she uses her magic to save the town, she doesn't tell Spike he was right about using them. A small thing, I know, but it still bothers me.
Once again, there's no song here this week.
The humour now and unfortunately the episode falls flat here as well. Unlike last week's episode which had some funny moments, this one had none that made me laugh-out-loud, nor many which even made me smile at any point. Few lines of dialogue stood out in my mind as being worth remembering and the whole "moustache thing" at the beginning and end felt like the writers were trying to make it funny, but failed in doing so. it's not all bad news however. There was some good news though. There was a point in the episode where Spike is trying to convince Twilight to use her magic but with her refusing. She magically creates a door and slams it in Spike's face and after another argument between the two, Spike closes the door on himself as if going outside only to open it again because he's already in his own home. I admit, that part had me chuckling and is probably the funnies and most well-times of this episode's jokes.
The moral message now and this week it seems to be that it's alright to be proud of the things you can do without going overboard with it. It's a good lesson, especially in times when children are often made to feel that being better at anything is something to be shamed of. So kudos on trying to teach them that merely having ability in not something embarrassing.
Overall this is, like last week's episode, fairly weak. Except here it doesn't have the benefit of having as many funny moments to help prop it up like that one did. The moral was decent and needs to be taught but other than that I feel very much the same way towards this episode as I did towards "Griffon the Brush-Off", that it's an episode that, whilst not outright bad or difficult to watch, seemed to lack anything to make me want to watch it a second time. If you like it, good on you, it's just not for me.
Join me next week when we cover Fluttershy's first starring role in episode seven, "Dragonshy".
See you then.