This review will contain spoilers for those who have not seen the latest episode of MLP.
The premise of this episode is that the main cast and Spike find themselves in a comic book world, and must contend with the evil villain, Mane-iac.
In terms of the episode's story, I'm sorry to say that I wasn't particularly happy with this one as far as it's basic premise went. The basic point of this episode is that it's meant to be a parody of superhero and comic book stories, mocking all of the weird and absurd things that go on in them. But that doesn't really interest me as it's something that I've seen done many times in other franchises. Now, I know I've gone on record many times as saying that I don't mind if an episode has a story that I've seen before, but only if it does something new or interesting with it. And, sadly, this one doesn't. There wasn't anything in here that I though distinguished it compared to other superhero parodies I've seen before. So on that count, the episode is a bit of a letdown.
In fact, one of the things that bothered me about it was that this show has already done a superhero parody-style episode once before, with "Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" back in season two. And, as those who know me will tell you, that episode did not endear itself to me that much, so the absolute last thing this episode needed to be doing was reminding me of another episode I already didn't like. In fact, I spent much of my viewing of this episode half-expecting Mare-Do-Well to show up at one point as her own character, rather than just a persona of the main six. Though, to the episode's credit, if that had actually happened, I'd have just stopped watching then and there, so that's something in it's favour I suppose.
Also, the very idea of having the main cast become superheroes in incredibly flawed when you think about it. In other TV shows, episodes that have characters become superheroes are almost always showing people from mundane and ordinary lives being thrust into the extraordinary. But that just doesn't work here, and the reason for that is that we have a cast of characters who can, among other things, fly around and cast magic. Twilight especially is supposed to be one of Equestria's best magic-users, already making her more able than many other ponies, so having her suddenly elevated to being a hero to save the day with powers doesn't really make this much of a change for her.
And that's really the problem here. Having the main six gather together to stop some villain by banding together superhero-team-style is something the show has done many times before, and much better, without ever having to resort to superhero gimmicks or costumes to make it happen. And while we're on the subject of the villain, Mane-iac, I'll put aside for the moment what a terrible pun than name is, and instead just say that this is an incredibly weak villain. I know it's meant to satirize a lot of the over-the-top bad guys from classic comic books, but when you consider all of the other great villains or antagonistic forces we've seen these characters go up against, this character really seems like a downgrade.
However, in spite of all the negative things I've said so far, there is one element of this story that elevates it far above being just your run-of-the-mill comic parody, and that's the involvement of Spike. This episode can, in many ways, be viewed as a commentary on this character's role in the series as a whole. Much like the sidekick characters he dislikes in his comic, Spike has often served as a source of not only comic relief but of being a character hat's viewed as less important than the rest of the main cast. This is something fans have often felt about him, myself included, so it's interesting to realise that this is a view that he holds himself.
Having this character believe that he doesn't really contribute to the group that much serves as a critique of virtually every episode he's been in so far. But, like Twilight says, he has more than his fair share of useful moments in the show and has even saved the day on more than one occasion. But with most of his roles in the show being that of an unimportant side character, it makes sense that he wouldn't consider his more important acts. In addition to this, having him fill in a kind of mentor role, with him filling in the rest of the main cast about their own roles and powers, puts him in a position he's never been in before, but it's clear that he rose to it fairly quickly.
As for the other characters, there's plenty of other stuff to like here and there. Twilight in particular seems to have a number of good moments, especially in terms of her relationship to Spike. Her acting as a kindly mother figure to him at the start, particularly with them sharing a love of good stories, was nice to watch, and it makes sense that she'd be the one to let him know how important he is to the main group. As for the rest, they all serve their purposes well, with Fluttershy especially having her moment to shine when she went "Hulk" on everyone at the end. But, to be fair, she's had her fair share of angry moments in the past, so we can't really say it's out of character for her.
In terms of humour, as you'd expect, much of it is centred around the absurdities of the superhero genre. Now, to be fair to the episode, many of the things they poke fun at are things which are just as absurd now as they were when people first started making fun of these things, so at the very least they can make fun of something that's pretty easy to mock. However, as I said before, I've seen these jokes before, many times, so the episode doesn't really have anything new to add to that. However, the humour of the episode is saved by, who else, Pinkie Pie. Her moments throughout the episode were a joy to watch and often kept me coming back whenever the episode started feeling dull for me. In terms of entertainment value, she was one of this episode's saving graces.
As for the songs, this week we have none to talk about. But, with last week's being as good as it was, I'm willing to be patient this time.
The animation and design of this episode are yet another consistently good thing about it. With most of the episode set in another world with new characters and even new personas for the main cast, there's a slew of new designs here which, of course, take a lot of notes from existing superhero tropes and art. The facial animation is as amusing as it's been this season and there were several well-animated action sequences that, all-in-all, make this a very good-looking episode.
In terms of the moral lesson this week, the message seems to be that, according to Twilight, just because people don't always need your help doesn't mean they don't value you or think you can't help at all. This is, I think, an important lesson for children. From my memories of my own youth I know full well how eager people can be when they're young to help those around them, and how let down with themselves they may feel when that offer of help is rejected. Kids need to learn that even though people might not want your help right now, that doesn't make your or the help you can offer any less worthwhile. So while it might not be as deep as other morals, it's still a fine lesson.
So, how does the episode fare overall? Well, as you can probably guess, I find it a bit hit-and-miss. The parody angle isn't anything that I haven't already seen before, the antagonist was weak and there was nothing in this episode that really added to the superhero parody trope. However, the stuff involving Spike and him coming to terms with his role in the group was great to watch and really put his character in a new light for me. While I can't say that this episode is as good as last week's, I can say that it was still entertaining and served as a good character piece for one of the show's most important characters.
The premise of this episode is that the main cast and Spike find themselves in a comic book world, and must contend with the evil villain, Mane-iac.
In terms of the episode's story, I'm sorry to say that I wasn't particularly happy with this one as far as it's basic premise went. The basic point of this episode is that it's meant to be a parody of superhero and comic book stories, mocking all of the weird and absurd things that go on in them. But that doesn't really interest me as it's something that I've seen done many times in other franchises. Now, I know I've gone on record many times as saying that I don't mind if an episode has a story that I've seen before, but only if it does something new or interesting with it. And, sadly, this one doesn't. There wasn't anything in here that I though distinguished it compared to other superhero parodies I've seen before. So on that count, the episode is a bit of a letdown.
In fact, one of the things that bothered me about it was that this show has already done a superhero parody-style episode once before, with "Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" back in season two. And, as those who know me will tell you, that episode did not endear itself to me that much, so the absolute last thing this episode needed to be doing was reminding me of another episode I already didn't like. In fact, I spent much of my viewing of this episode half-expecting Mare-Do-Well to show up at one point as her own character, rather than just a persona of the main six. Though, to the episode's credit, if that had actually happened, I'd have just stopped watching then and there, so that's something in it's favour I suppose.
Also, the very idea of having the main cast become superheroes in incredibly flawed when you think about it. In other TV shows, episodes that have characters become superheroes are almost always showing people from mundane and ordinary lives being thrust into the extraordinary. But that just doesn't work here, and the reason for that is that we have a cast of characters who can, among other things, fly around and cast magic. Twilight especially is supposed to be one of Equestria's best magic-users, already making her more able than many other ponies, so having her suddenly elevated to being a hero to save the day with powers doesn't really make this much of a change for her.
And that's really the problem here. Having the main six gather together to stop some villain by banding together superhero-team-style is something the show has done many times before, and much better, without ever having to resort to superhero gimmicks or costumes to make it happen. And while we're on the subject of the villain, Mane-iac, I'll put aside for the moment what a terrible pun than name is, and instead just say that this is an incredibly weak villain. I know it's meant to satirize a lot of the over-the-top bad guys from classic comic books, but when you consider all of the other great villains or antagonistic forces we've seen these characters go up against, this character really seems like a downgrade.
However, in spite of all the negative things I've said so far, there is one element of this story that elevates it far above being just your run-of-the-mill comic parody, and that's the involvement of Spike. This episode can, in many ways, be viewed as a commentary on this character's role in the series as a whole. Much like the sidekick characters he dislikes in his comic, Spike has often served as a source of not only comic relief but of being a character hat's viewed as less important than the rest of the main cast. This is something fans have often felt about him, myself included, so it's interesting to realise that this is a view that he holds himself.
Having this character believe that he doesn't really contribute to the group that much serves as a critique of virtually every episode he's been in so far. But, like Twilight says, he has more than his fair share of useful moments in the show and has even saved the day on more than one occasion. But with most of his roles in the show being that of an unimportant side character, it makes sense that he wouldn't consider his more important acts. In addition to this, having him fill in a kind of mentor role, with him filling in the rest of the main cast about their own roles and powers, puts him in a position he's never been in before, but it's clear that he rose to it fairly quickly.
As for the other characters, there's plenty of other stuff to like here and there. Twilight in particular seems to have a number of good moments, especially in terms of her relationship to Spike. Her acting as a kindly mother figure to him at the start, particularly with them sharing a love of good stories, was nice to watch, and it makes sense that she'd be the one to let him know how important he is to the main group. As for the rest, they all serve their purposes well, with Fluttershy especially having her moment to shine when she went "Hulk" on everyone at the end. But, to be fair, she's had her fair share of angry moments in the past, so we can't really say it's out of character for her.
In terms of humour, as you'd expect, much of it is centred around the absurdities of the superhero genre. Now, to be fair to the episode, many of the things they poke fun at are things which are just as absurd now as they were when people first started making fun of these things, so at the very least they can make fun of something that's pretty easy to mock. However, as I said before, I've seen these jokes before, many times, so the episode doesn't really have anything new to add to that. However, the humour of the episode is saved by, who else, Pinkie Pie. Her moments throughout the episode were a joy to watch and often kept me coming back whenever the episode started feeling dull for me. In terms of entertainment value, she was one of this episode's saving graces.
As for the songs, this week we have none to talk about. But, with last week's being as good as it was, I'm willing to be patient this time.
The animation and design of this episode are yet another consistently good thing about it. With most of the episode set in another world with new characters and even new personas for the main cast, there's a slew of new designs here which, of course, take a lot of notes from existing superhero tropes and art. The facial animation is as amusing as it's been this season and there were several well-animated action sequences that, all-in-all, make this a very good-looking episode.
In terms of the moral lesson this week, the message seems to be that, according to Twilight, just because people don't always need your help doesn't mean they don't value you or think you can't help at all. This is, I think, an important lesson for children. From my memories of my own youth I know full well how eager people can be when they're young to help those around them, and how let down with themselves they may feel when that offer of help is rejected. Kids need to learn that even though people might not want your help right now, that doesn't make your or the help you can offer any less worthwhile. So while it might not be as deep as other morals, it's still a fine lesson.
So, how does the episode fare overall? Well, as you can probably guess, I find it a bit hit-and-miss. The parody angle isn't anything that I haven't already seen before, the antagonist was weak and there was nothing in this episode that really added to the superhero parody trope. However, the stuff involving Spike and him coming to terms with his role in the group was great to watch and really put his character in a new light for me. While I can't say that this episode is as good as last week's, I can say that it was still entertaining and served as a good character piece for one of the show's most important characters.