My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Page 509

It's About Time

Back by popular demand, (AKA: Me wanting to practice masochism in writing form) is my breakdown of season 2 episodes. Last weeks premier was spurred on by the dislike for the episode, which I felt was misplaced, but I digress, this Breakdown is about today's episode, which I am happy to note was received much better. I also want to address the writer issue once again before we get started, as this episode was written by (and again, I had to look this up) M. A. Larson, who wrote the 2-Part season premiere, Luna Eclipsed, and Secret of my Excess this season. While many people would agree that those episodes were exemplary, It's just as bad to go into an episode thinking that "Oh, Larson wrote this episode, it MUST be good!" positive preconceptions about episodes can affect your thoughts just as much as negative ones, and like I said last Breakdown, should be avoided. That said: it's ponies - it's hard to go in without preconceptions!

Getting to the episode: Opening up with a dream sequence! Wat? If you, like me, played ME3, then you would know my current opinion on dream sequences. Luckily, there is only a small bit of comedy and Rarity x Spike Crushshipping in this scene, setting up the premise for the episode. TWILIGHT OCD! It's nice to know that even through character building episodes(aka: TS's OCD and scheduling issues from Lesson Zero) problems like that don't just go away, and need to be worked on. I would like to draw attention to the amazing animation the studio is pulling out, even for such a small scene as this intro. TS's teleport magic received much love, sprinkling stars as the magic fades is a wonderful touch, which contrasts the twinkling stars as TS maintains her magic. Also they seem to be experimenting with positioning for the "camera" as seen in the scene right before spike notes what time it is. This is a wonderful shot, showing off their creative use of perspective, and not just using a ground level, eye to eye shot. Little things like this help separate this show from other animation, and I love it. Que up some OCD scheduling issues, and this episode would have been a repeat of Lesson Zero (read: not a good thing) I am so glad for the twist shown after the first break.


Oh man, at this point, I knew the episode would be good!

And suddenly - 2 Twilights. Man oh man, did I enjoy this scene. Twilight, after initial shock immediately goes into super over-the-top adorkable wanting to "study" this new and unforeseen circumstance, causing "Big Boss" Twilight to waste time and not get her whole message out. It's CLASSIC time loop scenario, and as many people in IRC noted - Even though we all knew where the story was going as soon as Future TS showed up, the journey was by far the most entertaining part. It should be noted that, alas, we are NOT the targeted audience, and a time travel episode in this show has to be simple enough for kids to understand/follow. Time Travel is confusing as it is guys xD. Also: The music when TS is talking to FTS is some of the most amazing I've heard in the series to date... Seriously, go watch that scene again, it's that good. I'll wait. Back? Ok, good! Now that Time Travel magic is canon, I foresee many fics involving Time Travel to pop up, even with such a short duration on the spell.


The face of a Champion™

Insert a short freakout session to herself, then to the town, TS rallies Ponyville against the unknown "threat". It's interesting to see that TS still commands respect from the town, as this is not the first time that she stood on her soapbox and delivered warnings/caused the town to prepare against some threat to the town. I wonder if its because she is a student of Celestia that the townsponies give her respect, or that she simply commands respect when dealing with crises. In any case, a Balboa Montage of the mane 6 and the town fix up Equestria. It's worth noting that Twilight uses Equestria when describing ponyville and its surrounding cities, which leads me to believe more in the whole "Equestria is a continent, not a planet".


Oh man, ish just got real...

After a small slapstick filled montage (including a little Rarijack shipping =P), insert Hasbro's flexing of their DnD muscles. Cerberus, the 3 headed guard dog of Tartarus (essentially hell). WOW I'm starting to really appreciate these subtle references that Hasbro lets them use. FS comes to the rescue again, and TS literally runs to hell and back in a night. And now the classic time loop build up starts. Most of the episode revolves around the message TS got from FTS, and then consequently her vain attempt to thwart the future through various actions. The cut on the left eye for one, was awesome, because through the episode, they show TS in the mirror, and the cut is always on the right cheek. A small detail, but a welcome one from Season 1 with such things as AJ's freckles disappearing every time she runs =D.

Small notes on the transition to the Canterlot scene: Gypsy-Pie, an uncanny similarity to our well known Friendship is Witchcraft. Yes, I realize this isn't a direct reference, but hilarious nonetheless. Rainbow Dash's scene with spike was amazing, TS's face during that scene was too cute.

As TS slips into more and more worry, she descends into OCD levels of research, a nice little continuity to her Lesson Zero self, nicely toned down from that episode though. In her hysteric state, she decides that the only solution is to stop time. I saw a few people noting that the biggest time "loop" in this episode was how TS knew that the time travel spell was in the StarSwirl section. She actually went there to look for the Time Stop Spell, NOT the Time TRAVEL spell. Also, William Anderson strikes gold with his BGM again during the hectic search for the stop spell. Go back and listen. Yeah, go do it. After learning that there is no "Tragedy" TS finally learns her lesson - To stop worrying about problems that MAY happen, and solve problems as they appear. Finally, Deus Ex Pinkie shows up finding the temporary time travel spell, wrapping up this time loop in a nice pretty bow.

Small notes about the "Metal Gear Solid" trip to Canterlot Archives: Ponies in latex xD. That is all. I love the fact that Twilight is completely in her own zone while PP and Spike repeatedly try to tell her that she is, in fact, important enough to access high value research materials at will. The guards ponies themselves are also an interesting thing to note, as it looks that the night guard officially have their own uniform now that Luna is back. I was in doubt way back in Luna Eclipsed, but seeing it again confirms that Celestia enlisted a group of night guard ponies, or at least gave them a new set of armor now that Luna has returned. Speaking of Celestia - The whole "Why doesn't anyone care I'm sneaking around" comes to an amusing finish as Celestia doesn't mind that she sees TS in her locked archive room.

All in all, wonderful episode yet again - Well paced, great handling of a tricky subject (Time Travel) lots of comedy, and excellent interaction between PP and TS. I especially love the continuity of Pinkie Sense where TS goes to pinkie to ask directly for help with it. I give this episode FutureTwilight/10 (I hope you guys are catching that I don't like giving an arbitrary numbering system to episodes =D)

Once again, if you made it this far, thanks for reading! ♥ you all!

I fucking love this show.

I cared very little for the fact it was a predictable story.

It was hilarious! And it was in accordance with Twilight's basic nature, something she shares with many of those who organize things - constantly worrying about every single possibility - I'm sure there are plenty folk more organized than me who could identify with TS' freakout.

Favourite moments:
"You're not scientifically plausible!"
"MONITOR EVERYTHING."
Schedule the scheduling with Xzibit Sparkle.
Calculus on the board (post above)
Twilight "sneaking" through a building and noone giving half a fuck about her presence (including Trollestia, who raises the sun and then just pops over to say hi...)

Hah, now that you mention it, perhaps you're right!