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S8 E1+2: School Daze


Rhythm Red

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Hello, everypony- err... everycreature (shudders)- err... everyONE! And welcome, to RHYTHM RED'S RADTASTICAL REVIEWS!!! On this blog, I'll be talking about what I like and dislike about the newest episodes of MLP. And now that I'm finally all caught up, I'm going to give my late (but hopefully great ;)) review of episodes 1 and 2 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Season 8!

Let's get right into it!

 

So first things first, I love the way the episode starts. Move references EVERYWHERE. That's awesome to see. I'm glad they're treating the movie as show canon. Next, we dive right into the friendship school idea, which, as many of you know, is something I wasn't all too thrilled about. However, I've decided to keep an open mind about it, so I could give the new season a fair shot. And boy, was I pleasantly surprised!

First off, the song was great! Funny lyrics, the story was told quite well, and the alternating vocals were fun to listen to. Not anything incredible, but I still liked it!

Now, on to perhaps the biggest positive for me: I LOVE the new characters! They're all immediately likable, and their interactions were both hilarious and realistic! I TOTALLY get them when they were talking about how bored they were. As of right now, my personal favorites are Sandbar, Ocellus, and Yona. If you take my personality, and copy it onto a pony, you get Sandbar. He's literally me in pony form. Well, technically, that's my OC, but you get the point. :P I like Ocellus for being a cute lil changeling version of Fluttershy (which was an awesome idea!), and Yona is insanely funny. 

I could rant about the characters all day, but we have other things to get to, right? Which brings us to the episode's main villain, Chancellor Neighsay. I think the way he was used in this episode was PERFECT. MLP just talked about racism. Racism is definitely a huge topic in our current day and age, and I think it's a great idea that our little show is finally mentioning it. I definitely want to see more of Neighsay in future episodes, as he has a lot of potential as a villain. He kinda reminds me of pre-reformation Starlight. He's just a simple unicorn, but he has a messed up mindset. Everyday villains like him could make a bigger impact than big baddies like Tirek or the Pony of Shadows!

Let's move on to the part I was most nervous about: the idea of a school in MLP. This is one of the reasons why I dislike EQG. To me, school is an overused, boring, and terrible setting for a cartoon. But MLP did it again. They made the impossible possible. This school idea has me very, very excited. It's not some boring ol' high school. It's a FRIENDSHIP SCHOOL! And they're not teaching boring school subjects. They're teaching relevant lessons revolving around their elements! That's awesome! I'm also really looking forward to seeing Starlight in the counselor role. That's got a lot of potential to be great. ;) 

Part two opens with a crying Twilight Sparkle (and when ponies cry, I cry :(). She's sad because she believed she failed as princess of friendship. I can relate to that feeling of failure.

After Starlight helped motivate her again, she sent the rest of the mane six to find the students, who are all missing! But wait- there's more! They're missing TOGETHER! They don't want to stop being friends, despite all their differences!

After the mane six, Starlight, and Spike rescue them from those little hedgehog things, they immediately go back to the school to open it back up. After convincing all the guardians (except that stubborn old gryphon) to let them stay at the school, the seal is broken, and the school reopened, though Neighsay didn't like that. He left via portal, and class was officially put back in session. After another great song, the episode ends on a happy note with a picture of the teachers and students together.

 

That's a lot of positive stuff! But what about the negatives?

While I love that the show is finally talking about racism, I think it's a very tricky subject. The people making the episodes will have to be very careful not to say anything that could be taken the wrong way. Heck, even mentioning it in this blog makes me uncomfortable! However, if this subject is properly addressed, then it could be huge. I'm sure it will be handled well. ;) 

I HATE the term 'everycreature'. It sounds terrible. I much prefer 'everypony', though I completely understand why they aren't using it, given the show isn't all about ponies anymore. Still though, why couldn't they just say 'everyONE'? It means the same thing, and sounds sooooo much better. Though it's still not as fun to say as 'everypony'. :P I know that's just my opinion, but the word 'everycreature' is going to take a lot of getting used to.

 

Overall, this episode was pretty good, though! I'd give it a 7/10! Good songs, GREAT new characters, and an interesting new storyline, but overall, it's nothing all that special, in my opinion. There have been much better episodes in MLP.

 

Well, that's all I really have to say, I'll catch all you crazy ponies later, in the next RHYTHM RED'S RADTASTICAL REVIEWS!!! ;) 

 

  • Brohoof 4

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I wasn't fond of the school idea in the beginning either, I just didn't really like change in the show as a whole. But after having watched the episode, it was a lot better than I thought it would be! :) And I 100% agree with what you said about the word "everycreature", that is one of the worst names they could have come up with. This is a really nice review too! You pointed all the things you liked and didn't like about it reasonably, which I mostly agreed with. :P Nicely done! 

  • Brohoof 2
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@They Thanks! :D This is my first time doing a review, so I’m glad you think I did well. :P 

And I’m glad we agree on a lot of stuff, too! :) 

 

  • Brohoof 3
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I'm agreeing with you two again! :D I guess I liked the episode a little more, I rated it 9/10. Though I generally like pretty much all episodes. :P Not one of my favorites either but a good introduction for the new season.

I don't really see why they don't just say "everybody" (they have in the past), though I guess this beats using "everypony" for non-ponies. I also remember Fluttershy saying "everyanimal" in some older episodes. Sometimes they've also made slip-ups, I remember Twilight talking about things getting out of hand in one episode, so the ponyspeak isn't really consistent...

What do I have to add? Well, Ocellus is by far my favorite student at the moment. She's so cute (almost making me change my mind on the old changeling design being better!) and that moment when she took Rarity's form was hilarious. :lol: As for the episode's depiction of racism, it was probably the most effective way that was done yet, though I wouldn't say it was the first. "Bridle Gossip" and "The Times They Are a Changeling" also had pretty obvious anti-prejudice messages (especially the former).

Edited by Tacodidra
  • Brohoof 2
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@Tacodidra For me, anything 5/10 and above is good. 7/10 is above average, though it’s probably closer to a 7.5. I save the high rankings for REALLY good episodes. 

You’re definitely right, a few ponyspeak errors have slipped through, but that’s totally understandable, they aren’t gonna catch everything. ;) 

Ocellus is really cute... :wub:

I definitely think that ‘bridle gossip’ and ‘the times they are a changeling’ did the prejudice thing better, but the way they handled it in this episode was also really good, imo. They’ve done really well with the topic throughout the series. :) 

Seems like we agree on a lot of stuff, too! :D 

  • Brohoof 2
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Every creature doesn't sound too good either to me. Everyone sounds better. The song at the end almost had me in tears because I've wanted multiculturalism/cultural acceptance and harmony in MLP AND THEY FINALLY DID IT!! AND IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!! :pinkie:

Edited by Shabb3r
  • Brohoof 1
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