Episode Reviews: Pilot (Friendship is Magic/Elements of Harmony)

(Originally posted on Fimfiction August 27th, 2012)

Below the break, we take a look at the very first two episodes of Friendship is Magic. Have those episodes held up all these years later, especially compared to the rest of the show? Or are they antiquated relics of an earlier production time? Let's find out...

TECHNICAL SPECS:

Season: 1

Episode: 1 and 2

Written By: Lauren Faust

First Aired: October 10, 2010 (Episode One), October 22, 2010 (Episode Two)

REVIEW:

Looking at a pilot episode of anything is always an interesting experience. The entire goal of the pilot is to pitch the series to the network, to convince them that the series will be a success both in ratings and additional sales, and will be able to be produced on time and within the available budget. Some pilots are just a few minutes long, serving more to provide a proof-of-concept, while others are whole episodes that can be used as the series premiere. Obviously, this one is in the latter category.

One of the key things a pilot like this has to do is sell the show not only to the executives, but to the viewers as well. In order to do that, it has to establish the setting, show who the characters are, and then create something genuinely entertaining. After all, our time as customers is precious, and if it seems like they’re wasting our time, much like I’m wasting yours with this pointless review, then people will not be coming back for the next week. So, how well does this one perform? Actually pretty well, all things considered.

The opening legend of the two sisters is a very well-animated piece, even if it is kind of misleading to have something so different appear in literally the very first scene. However, I love the little touches, such as the glint in the younger sister’s eyes as she sees how neglected she’s become, and the narration is very well-done.

And then we’re introduced to Twilight Sparkle, our heroine for the pilot and most of the first season. Much of the first act of the first part is spent setting up her character, while everypony else gets their development shipped to the second half. This works because Twilight is supposed to serve as our surrogate for this first season; we’re learning about Ponyville, Equestria, and the other characters mostly through her eyes, and she’s the one that learns the lessons about friendship.

Anyway, the groundwork for Twilight’s character is set up when the three ponies invite her to a party. Her response is to quickly make up an excuse and gallop away rather rudely. Granted, she really was looking into something, and if she had gone to the party, Equestria would have been doomed. (Seriously, someone make a fic of this now.) Still, she was being a bit of a jerk there, and it helps establish her main traits for this episode: she studies a lot and doesn't have (or want) any friends. While the former will remain with her for the rest of the series, the latter will be dropped once she starts developing here.

The next character on our list is Spike, and he’s introduced doing the same thing he’ll do for the whole series: suffering eternal pain at the hooves of his cruel mistress, Twilight. The library scene is mostly there to provide more exposition and establish the episode’s conflict, but we also get key bits of Spike’s character as well. Unlike Twilight, he actually wants to be sociable, but she doesn't allow any such cavorting on her watch. He’s also a pretty dutiful assistant here, but also rather snarky. Oh, and he’s also a baby dragon, although given the way dragons age he acts more like a ten-year-old boy would. I actually really like the character he has here, and it’s a shame that he’ll be gradually reduced in significance until he’s barely a supporting character by the end of the second season.

And yes, you can see Nightmare Moon’s face in the hourglass. We all know it. It’s good foreshadowing. Let’s continue.

The ride to Ponyville is mostly there to provide more exposition, establishing why Twilight is going to the show’s main setting and her primary goals once there. However, it also gives some more character to Twilight and Spike. She’s obviously torn up about being effectively banished after giving a warning to her mentor, so he tries to cheer her up by saying they’re staying in a library. This works for the wrong reasons, and she decides to blow off Celestia’s order to make friends and just finish everything really fast so she can find a way to stop Nightmare Moon’s return. Again, we see that Twilight is adamant about not making friends, since they just get in the way of her study time. She’s even willing to defy a command from her sovereign and mentor, albeit so she can save the land.

And then we meet Pinkie Pie, only we don’t know it yet. When I watched this episode for the first time, I found most of it fairly entertaining, but nothing spectacular outside of the animation. This scene, however, forced me to pause the video because I was laughing so hard. While the scene has two narrative functions (to reinforce Twilight’s belief that friends are stupid, and to establish Pinkie’s reasons for the party), it’s just a gloriously funny moment. It also sets up that Pinkie isn’t bound by the same laws as the rest of the cast; she can gasp so hard she floats off the ground for a few seconds before dashing off without any momentum whatsoever.

The next character is Applejack, who is in charge of the food preparations. The main traits we’re introduced to here are all part of her…well, Southerness. She has a Southern U.S. accent, wears a cowboy hat, runs an enormous farm, and has a gigantic extended family. This bit is just okay, although it does introduce us to Big Mac and Apple Bloom, albeit briefly. I just love AB’s little blinking eyes here. Naturally, though, this led to a bit of a story problem a few episodes later, so they had to handwave why the rest of the family wasn't there when Applejack was bucking apples.

Rainbow Dash’s introduction is, again, rather funny, but also really goes the deepest of them all. The other characters get mostly surface scrapings in this first half, but here, we get Dash’s attitude, ambitions, and general personality in one scene. She knocks Twilight into a puddle by accident, tries to rectify it twice, and then laughs at the damage she’s done to Twilight’s mane. Then she lounges on a cloud, all while bragging about how awesome she is and how she’ll impress the Wonderbolts. (Actually…that never gets resolved. The Wonderbolts don’t show up to the Summer Sun Celebration. I guess they canceled when Celestia got kidnapped, hence why Dash was even more desperate to get the Gala ticket in the next episode.) We also see that, as lazy as Dash is, she’s still super-competent, and manages to clear the sky in ten seconds flat, thus creating our very first meme. Yes, this meme was the first one to show up, even before Derpy.

Next is Rarity, who honestly has the most rushed introduction of any of the characters. Heck, the first time I saw this, I didn’t even catch her name. It just flies by too fast. We also get Spike’s romantic infatuation with her, which isn’t touched on again until much later in the season. Here, though, it’s mostly about Rarity being prim and proper, screeching in horror when she sees Twilight’s mane, and then her taking time out of her day to fix Twilight back up. Unfortunately, she’s also a bit too forceful in this scene; she practically squees when she hears that Twilight is from Canterlot, and almost chokes her when tightening a saddle. Personally, I think this was the weakest of the introductions, and it won’t be until the second half that we can really get a solid feel for Rarity’s character.

And then we have the most famous scene of all: Fluttershy being shy. If you’ve ever talked to a shy person in your life, then you’ve had this experience. Fluttershy is quiet, then gets quieter, and finally reduces her voice to a few mouse-like squeaks. Twilight’s reaction is hilarious, from her shifting her eyes nervously to just backing away slowly. And of course, there’s her reaction to Spike, where she just flips in the most adorable way and practically huggles the little guy. It’s a very funny scene, and establishes Fluttershy’s key characteristic.

The party scene…is just okay. Granted, Pinkie talking Twilight’s ear off about nothing was funny, and I loved her “I need a freaking drink” reaction, but other than that, it’s just…okay. Still, this is where we first see Derpy, our favorite little accident, and Spike wearing a lampshade is funny, as is Twilight’s reaction to the town’s insanity. Really, though, the important bit here was Twilight lamenting how she couldn’t research anything because of this stupid friendmaking.

The final scene of the first half is where the story shifts gears completely. We see the culmination of everypony’s contribution to the Summer Sun Celebration, but that’s not important. What is important is that, when Twilight looks up at the sky, the stars have booked it over to the moon, with the Unicorn-shaped shadow disappearing soon after. And right after, Princess Celestia disappears and Nightmare Moon makes her appearance. This scene is just wonderfully set up, and the animation here is very well-done. It’s a shame, though, that the best bits really went into the first half and not the second.

Nightmare Moon’s introduction is…mostly played for laughs. None of the ponies there can recognize her, and Pinkie takes time to give her insulting nicknames in a vain attempt to guess who she is. This causes a bit of a plot hole when Nightmare Night is introduced next season, but I already crossed that bridge, so let’s continue. The scene ends with her giving her villainous laugh, which then segues right into the second half. She smacks down some guards to show she’s a badflank, and then flies off to go do her evil plotting. Because she’s evil. And plotting what evil ponies do. I have no idea where I’m going with this.

There is, however, one question that this scene raises: what happened to Celestia? She doesn’t appear in either episode until the very end of the second, and everything up to that point is a mystery. A lot of fans contend that she was banished to the sun, but…that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Celestia had to use the Elements of Harmony to trap Nightmare Moon into the moon. There’s nothing in the episode to indicate that NM is more powerful than her “sister.” Still, this is a fairly minor point in the grand scheme of things.

The scene at the library is where the differing characters finally come together. It’s somewhat disappointing to see Spike written out so early, but I guess he really wouldn’t have contributed much. Dash immediately confronting Twilight about being a spy is perfectly in-character for her, as is Applejack yanking her back down. And of course, there’s Pinkie finding the right book just by looking alphabetically. We get our exposition about the Elements of Harmony, our reason to go to the Everfree Forest, and the glue that holds the party together. Twilight tries to break off again, but this time she has five ponies to stop her, and has no choice but to go along.

The Everfree Forest is also introduced here, as it will be an important set piece for future adventures. It’s established that it doesn’t work like the rest of Equestria (although exactly how doesn’t come up until “Bridle Gossip”), and Dash tries to scare the group by acting like nopony ever escapes. By the time Season Two comes along, the forest is actually not that scary anymore, but here, the inherent danger is played for all it’s worth.

Unfortunately, the next several scenes are where the second half ultimately stumbles. Up to this point, most of the characterization has been very organic, save perhaps for Rarity. But from this point on, the party keeps running into one forced encounter after another, with each scene serving only to demonstrate which of the Elements each character embodies. Still, I suppose I shall go over them one at a time:

- The cliff scene is probably my least favorite of them all. It drags on a little bit too long, and is just a basic “let go and you’ll be fine” scene. To date, the only show I can think of that pulled this off well was Deep Space Nine, and that was because in the scene in question, the rescuer was trying to kill the rescuee. Still, I liked the delivery of AJ’s line about the “honest truth,” and the music was pretty good here.

- The manticore was a much better scene. It’s nice to see Rarity actually kicking flank, even if she backs down once it musses up her mane. The AJ and Dash bits are fairly predictable given their character archetypes. As for Fluttershy’s resolution…it’s the “thorn in the lion’s paw,” only with a manticore. It’s basic, but it works.

- The fanged trees were kind of an “eh” threat, especially since they aren’t even moving or trying to attack the party. I loved the first Pinkie song of the series, though; it not only sets up her character, but the confused reactions from everypony else just make this scene golden. The song itself is pretty decent, as well.

- The sea monster scene strikes me as rather odd. The creature itself is funny, especially with him throwing a fit over his moustache. What makes this scene work, though, is that it finally establishes Rarity’s character when she cuts her own tail off to make a replacement. Granted, his facial hair is now split into two colors and doesn’t really look too impressive, but hey, it works.

- The last bit is the one I find the most interesting. Nightmare Moon directly trying to tempt one of her adversaries is a lot more clever than just outright killing them with death traps and monsters, and using Dash’s own ambitions against her ramps up the tension. Interestingly, Dash was willing to go along with the Shadowbolts until they turned it into a “Friend or Idol” moment. If she hadn’t done that, Nightmare Moon would have won.

And so we arrive at the end, with Nightmare Moon and the Elements on one side of the room, and Twilight on the other. Granted, teleporting the one weapon capable of stopping you to the other side of the same palace your enemies were already in wasn’t exactly a stroke of genius, but in case you haven’t figured it out by now, Nightmare Moon is a lame villain. She makes a big first appearance, but she has not only failed to stop the six from finding the Elements of Harmony, but as we’ll see in a minute, she’s actually made Twilight’s job easier. The only interesting thing about NMM is her backstory, and that only makes you sorry for the pony who became her.

Anyway, Twilight’s plan is actually pretty clever. She draws Nightmare Moon away from the Elements by blindly charging her, then when she’s too far away to retaliate, teleports behind her and uses her magic to jump-start their engines. Of course, this doesn’t work and Nightmare Moon just smashes the things, but still, it’s a clever plan. I actually really like how panicked the villainess looked when it seemed like she was about to take another trip to the moon, only to revert to her usual confidence when the spark failed.

Of course, this is where Twilight’s new friends arrive and she has her epiphany about the real power of the Elements of Harmony. This scene is handled pretty well, although again it’s fairly generic. We get to see the scenes we saw ten minutes ago, hear how wonderful friendship is, and see Twilight discover the Element of Magic (aka Friendship). She assumes a bunny rabbit pose, everypony gets sucks into a big ball of power, and Nightmare Moon gets to taste the rainbow. It is interesting, though, that the Elements all changed into each pony’s Cutie Mark; well, except for Twilight, who got the best gear because she’s the party leader and Needed everything.

And then we meet Princess Celestia. Her appearance is played up for the wonderful thing that it is, and I loved that cute little hug she gives Twilight, as well as the explanation for her schemes. But then we get to the best part of the episode: Princess Luna. This entire minute-long scene with her and Celestia reconciling is surprisingly moving given how quickly it came up. I enjoyed the little movements Luna made when Celestia approached, like she was afraid that her sister was going to do something far worse in retribution, only to become confused and then overjoyed when she was offered friendship. And of course, there’s her apologizing and saying how much she missed her big sister. It’s very lovely and beautifully done, which is why I’m so angry that nobody on YouTube has actually uploaded the entire scene so I could share it here. Perhaps a screenshot will do.

And on a personal matter, this is where I really became interested in the show, and in many ways, a brony. There is a lot of emotion here, even with Pinkie being a moment killer, and unlike a lot of other shows where it’s just pure sap mixed with more sap and a touch of molasses, here it’s full of heart and love.

The last scene is mostly there to show to show that the day has been saved, and celebrations are in order. And of course, Celestia allows her student to stay, as long as she sends in reports about the magic of friendship. Granted, she should have probably told her there was no hard deadline, but I’m sure that won’t come to bite them in the flank anytime soon…

Oh, and Pinkie breaks the fourth wall. The end.

CONCLUSION:

As a pilot, this episode is a success. It sets up Equestria and its inhabitants, giving us enough information to know what this place and show is about while also allowing plenty of room for future stories. The Mane Cast are all established, as are the key traits of their personalities. We get some history, a plot device to justify the episodes (in the form of the friendship reports), and finally, the production team proves that they know what they’re doing.

But as an episode? Well…it’s kind of in the middle of the road. While there’s a lot to like her, a lot more of it feels rather dry and formulaic. Mostly, this is because it’s the first episode; with a few exceptions, those are the ones that hold up the worst. And to be honest, Lauren Faust is a wonderful show designer, animator, producer, and anything else, but her writing isn’t always the best. A lot of the dialogue is rather clunky, the second half is horribly rushed in the middle, and Nightmare Moon is just a lame starter villain.

Believe it or not, my opinion of this episode has actually gone up thanks to Seasons Two and Three. Back when we only had the first season, the sudden removal of any “Magical Girl” elements and epic villains in favor of the slice-of-life episodes was very jarring, leading rise to the (untrue) rumors that Faust had planned a much longer, more epic series of episodes before having them whittled down to two. Since then, though, we have had the Elements return in “Return of Harmony,” and they were mentioned again in “A Canterlot Wedding.” Both episodes were very action-focused, with big supervillains launching various schemes to conquer Equestria. Just having a couple such episodes makes the first fit the rest of the series even more, and thus makes it a stronger episode as a whole.

That being said, it’s not one/two that I’ll rewatch over and over again. It was good for a pilot, but average for an episode.

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Well…thanks for reading all that. I hope you enjoyed this horrible review of the very first two episodes. Beer is available in the lobby. Be sure to drink up; you’ll need plenty to numb the pain from reading all this.