I Really Want To Like Luna Eclipsed

[Arctofire 227]

Today I made a blog where I review certain episodes and I made my first review today: Luna Eclipsed. Now I explained in my blog that this episode almost had it: the character of Luna was fantastic and extremly likable, the moral at the end was great, and the comedy was very well done. However despite all those good things, I feel that the plot is what really lets this episode down, not in the general sense, but in the way it was told.

 

Luna keeps on accidentally scaring people and for most of the episode Ponyville's citizens are being sincere, but then Pinkie admits that they were running away from her in good fun, and that they were going to be nice to her and thank her at the end anyway or so its played out. The problem is that she does the exact same thing at the end that she had been accidentally doing for the rest of the episode. The end also basically tells Luna that she was approaching it in the wrong way and just needed to have fun, which is a bad moral for kids as she was attempting to do it the right way before the end.

 

The letter written to Celestia is brilliant as well as having a lovely and fitting background score, however its completely different to the actual episode as in reality the citizens of Ponyville learnt nothing because apparently they knew she wasn't evil to begin with.

 

Am I missing anything or not understanding something, because I really want to like this episode. The character of Luna was ONE OF THE BEST, the Nighmare Night theme was really interesting, and I really hope we get to see more Luna in the future. However the episode was ridded with problems I just explained and I can't just look past that.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Arctofire

[Dulset Tarn 441]

Sounds like it's just got one big problem. With all that you know is great about the episode, is that one thing keeping you from liking it? It's not flawless, but what's the big deal?

[Arctofire 227]

I suppose not as I really did enjoy it, but it is stopping me from 'loving' it which is a shame because it could have been one of my favorite episodes. Also Pinkie was very insensitive and behaved more like S4 Pinkie (flanderized) than the original Pinkie.

[SFyr 1,982]

It's been awhile since I watched that episode the full length through (I browsed it recently while trying to do some drawings of Luna), but from what I gathered, the citizens weren't pretending to be afraid, they legitimately were. As for Pinkie, she was of the small camp that didn't think she was an actual threat (Twilight being another member of said camp), but in the spirit of fun and the holiday, Pinkie felt it best to perpetuate the game of being afraid of whatever she does. The party everyone enjoyed was fear-centered, and she had to be the life of it, essentially. The other ponies who were legitimately leery of Luna just got panicked a bit by Pinkie's antics.

 

By the end of it, the townsponies saw firsthand Luna was a kind pony, Pinkie laid off stirring the pot, and Luna embraced that she wasn't scorned--her actions simply were a bit strange and took some getting used to.

The message to me (I haven't seen the actual ending/lesson in quite a long time) was not to take yourself too seriously, and simply enjoying what others have to contribute can overcome the initial put-off of scary differences.

 

 

 

Or something about just having fun with things = friends, and overdoing anything can potentially put people off.

Edited January 10, 2015 by SFyr

[Dulset Tarn 441]

Yup. But you can at least kinda see what they were going for I guess.

[sweetolebob18 728]

The thing about Pinkie is that she is one of the VERY few people who likes a good joke even if the joke is on her.  Take "Griffon the Brush Off", for instance.  She thinks it is funny when Dash scares Spike into the hiccups, but she thinks it is just as funny when Dash scares HER into hiccups.  This is very rare.

 

IMO, she was scared of Zecora (in "Bridle Gossip") because she thought it was fun to be terrorized by an Evil Enchantress.  Her behavior in "Luna Eclipsed" is the same thing.  She explains it to be a case of "she didn't want to spoil a good ghost story" (or words to that effect).  To her, being scared is fun (when you know it's not really dangerous).  This is why people ride roller coasters.  She just doesn't want her fun spoiled & sort of lost track of the fact that Luna wasn't having fun & people were being really scared. 

[Dulset Tarn 441]

The thing about Pinkie is that she is one of the VERY few people who likes a good joke even if the joke is on her.  Take "Griffon the Brush Off", for instance.  She thinks it is funny when Dash scares Spike into the hiccups, but she thinks it is just as funny when Dash scares HER into hiccups.  This is very rare.

 

IMO, she was scared of Zecora (in "Bridle Gossip") because she thought it was fun to be terrorized by an Evil Enchantress.  Her behavior in "Luna Eclipsed" is the same thing.  She explains it to be a case of "she didn't want to spoil a good ghost story" (or words to that effect).  To her, being scared is fun (when you know it's not really dangerous).  This is why people ride roller coasters.  She just doesn't want her fun spoiled & sort of lost track of the fact that Luna wasn't having fun & people were being really scared. 

I think he means the problem isn't with Pinkie but with the others that really were scared. They showed no signs of "enjoying" being terrified of her but then at the end they just outright say it's fun to be scared.

[Judgement 445]

I liked this episode a lot. (Huge Luna fan here  :comeatus: ) but I will say, Luna is pretty complex. In this episode she has a really childlike personality, but In later episodes she becomes pretty mature. I don't think the lesson in this episode was so powerful that it made other sides of her personality show. In Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's dreams in the following seasons, she is pretty quiet and talks gently to them, though at the end of Luna Eclipsed Twilight pretty much told her that being loud is okay, because the ponies want to be scared.

 

So I somewhat agree that the end of the episode could have had a bigger impact.

 

If I had written the ending, I would have totally made the ponies get over Luna's frightening image in some way. In future episodes, the ponies aren't scared at Luna one bit.

[sweetolebob18 728]

Judgement

 

You must remember, Luna spent 1000 years being Nightmare Moon & locked up on the moon.  This episode is her 1st public appearance since her escape.  She is probably still recovering from what my psych class called "situational psychosis" (us common folks called it "cabin fever".  Boredom + sensory deprivation = totally freaked out).  Plus, her social skills are 1000 years out of date.

 

IMO, she started helping ponies in dreams & word got around "Hey, she's really kind of nice"

[Dulset Tarn 441]

You know, I used to think her line "What is this 'fun' thou speakest of?" was just a really lame joke, but then I found out the word is only just over 300 years old so naturally she might not understand it.

[Ianpiersonjdavis 512]

 

 

I think he means the problem isn't with Pinkie but with the others that really were scared. They showed no signs of "enjoying" being terrified of her but then at the end they just outright say it's fun to be scared.

 

 

I saw it as a little of both, honestly-Pinkie Pie wasn't trying to further alienate Luna by scaring everyone, but she didn't understand that they weren't just being scared to have fun-they were genuinely terrified that she might snap and go all Nightmare Moon on them, so her playing around like Luna was only made the situation worse.

 

 

 

You know, I used to think her line "What is this 'fun' thou speakest of?" was just a really lame joke, but then I found out the word is only just over 300 years old so naturally she might not understand it.

 

I wasn't aware the word was that recent, but it makes sense...when she first hears about it and throws the spider she says; "You're Princess enjoys this...fun!" which implies that she was aware of the concept and just didn't understand what the word meant up until that point.

[Sunny Fox 5,950]

I liked this episode a lot. (Huge Luna fan here  :comeatus: ) but I will say, Luna is pretty complex. In this episode she has a really childlike personality, but In later episodes she becomes pretty mature. I don't think the lesson in this episode was so powerful that it made other sides of her personality show. In Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's dreams in the following seasons, she is pretty quiet and talks gently to them, though at the end of Luna Eclipsed Twilight pretty much told her that being loud is okay, because the ponies want to be scared.

 

So I somewhat agree that the end of the episode could have had a bigger impact.

 

If I had written the ending, I would have totally made the ponies get over Luna's frightening image in some way. In future episodes, the ponies aren't scared at Luna one bit.

Even if she feels she can be loud, she might not want to use THE ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE in ponies' dreams, taking more of an advisory role; incompatible with gale forces winds issuing forth from her vocal chords.

 

BTW, the ending did have them get over Luna's frightening image:

The idea is she spent the rest of the night mingling pleasantly with the peons, so it's no surprise she was accepted in later episodes.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

Now I don't hate this episode. It's just not one of my favorites. The main problem being Pinkie not explaining anything until the end. It wasn't even obvious they were joking. I remember being frustrated that the mane six who have seen her redeemed are suddenly afraid of her due to it being not as obvious.

[child of the night 271]

There is a simple way for you to start liking it, have it playing on loop and listen to nothing else for a  day or two. Pure agony and pure bliss.

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,695]

I like this one more than I used to, but I can't quite love it, just because it's too repetitive. Luna tries to mingle, ponies (led by Pinkie Pie) get scared, repeat over and over. It feels wrong. If anything, Pinkie should have been one of the most helpful ponies in introducing Luna to modern Equestria. Instead she was the least helpful. 

[RainbowTashie 378]

Today I made a blog where I review certain episodes and I made my first review today: Luna Eclipsed. Now I explained in my blog that this episode almost had it: the character of Luna was fantastic and extremly likable, the moral at the end was great, and the comedy was very well done. However despite all those good things, I feel that the plot is what really lets this episode down, not in the general sense, but in the way it was told.

 

Luna keeps on accidentally scaring people and for most of the episode Ponyville's citizens are being sincere, but then Pinkie admits that they were running away from her in good fun, and that they were going to be nice to her and thank her at the end anyway or so its played out. The problem is that she does the exact same thing at the end that she had been accidentally doing for the rest of the episode. The end also basically tells Luna that she was approaching it in the wrong way and just needed to have fun, which is a bad moral for kids as she was attempting to do it the right way before the end.

 

The letter written to Celestia is brilliant as well as having a lovely and fitting background score, however its completely different to the actual episode as in reality the citizens of Ponyville learnt nothing because apparently they knew she wasn't evil to begin with.

 

Am I missing anything or not understanding something, because I really want to like this episode. The character of Luna was ONE OF THE BEST, the Nighmare Night theme was really interesting, and I really hope we get to see more Luna in the future. However the episode was ridded with problems I just explained and I can't just look past that.

yeah they were obviously genuinely scared of her and to changes their minds like that i was like.. what the buck?

[joshop070 0]

in Luna eclipsed, Twilight Sparkle pinned pinkie pie down with the inspirational anti-pounce maneuver technique that was used from Disney's 32nd full length animated motion picture the lion king.