S05:E01+02 - The Cutie Map

[BlinkZ 1,151]

You know, FiM is not new to towns in the middle of nowhere, with creepily happy inhabitants who dislike cutie marks, right Applebloom?

 

 

OH sweet ceelsita that game

 

 

anyway i really dont get what her plan was. she was as powerful as Twilight as to remove her cutie mark from an alicorn, so what was her plan i mean she wasn't like tirek who ate up magic and got stronger she sort of just liked being in charge and was sthe only one with magic...just didn't make sense for a 'grand villain " 

 

and yes the episdoe culd have easly had no villian and just the conept. Oh yeah and Twilight used lecture mode to hammer in the message..well kind show logic after all can't leave kids to think now can we

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

Omg that town was Sooo creepy ....... Also great episode..... MLP FIM IS BACK BBY!!!!

OH sweet ceelsita that game

 

 

anyway i really dont get what her plan was. she was as powerful as Twilight as to remove her cutie mark from an alicorn, so what was her plan i mean she wasn't like tirek who ate up magic and got stronger she sort of just liked being in charge and was sthe only one with magic...just didn't make sense for a 'grand villain " 

 

and yes the episdoe culd have easly had no villian and just the conept. Oh yeah and Twilight used lecture mode to hammer in the message..well kind show logic after all can't leave kids to think now can we

Her plan was to become better than everypony else.... And rule them all..... She probably has mommy/daddy issues....

[Metemponychosis 1,236]

I realize that the notion of balance between the mane six has been almost entirely eroded, but there's something that really rubs me the wrong way about this statement...

 

 

Interestingly enough, a similar statement was made by Twilight towards the end of Twilight's Kingdom. 

 

So this is what it's come to? That the mane five are simply accessories to Twilight who can receive no praise or gratification unless it comes through her first? That she alone has to be the one singing their praises, because everyone else only sings for her? 

 

Or, is this pretty much the show's way of stating: "See guys? They many not be alicorns, but those other five ponies are important, too!" 

 

That's really annoying. We cannot seriously be at that point where the show has to actually remind us that it's not The Twilight Sparkle Show, can we?   

 

Other than that, I admit that this premiere was pretty damn good. 

 

 

Celestia, you're out of a job.  

 

The reason I think they put it in the episode is because this argument has been running around in the fandom. I bet that in subsequent episodes we'll see more of that.

[Sobana 100]

I think the weirdest part of the episode was when Applejack ran into the house made a B-line to that water pitcher and smashed it on the ground before she even started to search.

 

Does Applejack have some deep seeded hatred of water pitchers or something?

 

Also, applejack lost her ability to apple.

[Banul 3,831]

After driving in a car all day, I finally got a chance to watch this. Totally worth the wait, one of the stronger season openings in my opinion, probably even the best one.

 

 

Also, Christ that song was delightfully creepy. 

[Gearbox10mm 794]

Does anyone know what the dark blue Spitfire lookalike's name is? I don't think they said it in the show.

 

:Edited: to add apparently her name is Night Glider.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Gearbox10mm

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

Hi. First off, I just want to say how excited I am to be here today. I joined the fandom right around the time season 4 was ending, and I waited until the dvds came out and played catch up with the series. Today is the first time I've actually been here for the party.

I thought this episode was phenomenal. I was so pleased to see that it wasn't another Twiight Mad-lib. After all, what are the odds of an epic villain threatening Equestria back to back all the time? (I.e. Chrysalis and then Sombra, back to back.) I loved that this episode was so different than other premieres and finales.

This show continues to impress me with writing that belies the stereotypes of kid's cartoons. This was some pretty serious sh*t, right here. That village was so creepy. It made me think of Somerset Isle from The Wicker Man. And that propaganda broadcast! Wow.  And the re-education center.  That was so messed up. A real brainwashed cult.  It was a cross between Somerset Isle and Pleasantville, if Pleasantville was communist. I loved it. And I especially liked how the villain of this story was a regular pony, not another Tirek type deal. It was such a great moral, as well--that differences are what make us special. And of course, they left the door open for Starlight Glimmer to make another appearance at some point, which is nice.

I loved it, still have absolute faith in the show, and can't wait for more. The only thing is that they didn't show much of the castle or Ponyville in this episode, which is fine, but ever since the end of Twi's Kingdom, I've been a little nervous/apprehensive about how they're going to handle the castle. I wasn't sure it was the right move, and hope it doesn't change things too much. So, we'll have to wait and see what they do with it.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Justin_Case001

[hungoverpony 58]

Its really scary how a Unicron who can do cutiemark magic has excaped and is now roaming equestria. I bet she is going to cause trouble in future episodes....

 

 

But I am really exighted to see all the new places in equestria :3

[John Locke N7 52]

Hi. First off, I just want to say how excited I am to be here today. I joined the fandom right around the time season 4 was ending, and I waited until the dvds came out and played catch up with the series. Today is the first time I've actually been here for the party.

 

Me 2

 

I became a brony in January of this year. This is really kinda exciting being a part of the fandom as new episodes are coming out. I can't wait for all the new fan made stuff!!

[Horsing Around 28]

Does anyone know what the dark blue Spitfire lookalike's name is? I don't think they said it in the show.

 

Wikia says Night Glider.

[NavelColt 22,876]

Had four times this amount but life was a bitch and said 'lots of text in a post? Let me backspace the page for you.'
 
Overall Premiere Ranking:
S2 > S4 > S5 > S1 > S3
 
Overall Premiere Villain Ranking:
Discord > Tirek > Nightmare Moon > Chrysalis > Starlight Glimmer > King Sombra
 
Pros:
* Good jokes, good dialogue, interesting and unique storyline and villain type, so on and so forth.
 
* Best of all was the inclusion of all these new background stallion characters, who all had noticeable lines. This is the premiere of the fifth season, and we have never, ever had as much stallion pony dialogue as we've had between these two episodes, and I absolutely love it.


 
I'd love if we can have more background/side character stallions in future episodes in this manner as well. About time we had some more sausage to go with all these tacos, and now I've got two new background stallions (of whom actually have dialogue) to be a fan of, other than Thunderlane. Big fan of this premiere just for the fact that there was so much stallion.
 
Cons:
* 'Starlight Glimmer/Sunset Shimmer'? Really? Seems like the thought process was, 'villain name...villain name...let's make a rhyme off that last villain we worked with!'
 
* And the fact that Starlight, a seemingly average unicorn for the most part, has the ability to remove cutie marks and replace them with custom ones, despite how the show has built up the idea that cutie marks are incredibly difficult to mess with. It took Starswirl levels of magic to fuck with cutie marks, but some random unicorn we've never heard of before is able to play God with them? I can only imagine Starlight's going to be coming back, so I assume it'll be explained in a later episode. For now, it's passable.

[Declen 118]

 

 

I suppose I'm just thinking that it didn't show Starlight keeping and using her talent for just her own benefit

Her "comrades" didn't know that. All they knew was that she lied to them and she kept something what they weren't alowed to keep. And that made them "shake with rage".

[Vertigo_95 572]

I just want to point out if no one did already, this is the first two-parter premiere that didn't have Princess Celestia in it. Second thing I want to point out is an animation error, if no one saw it. In this video here around 38:29, Fluttershy has her normal Cutie Mark:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUl1yCZZGEI

 

Now onto my short opinion on what I thought about the episode. I thought everything about the episode was weird from all the smiley-wiley ponies to the way things were solved at the end. Over all that, I still thought they were great episodes. The way they let Starlight Glimmer escape like that was not smart. She appears to be a powerful unicorn, possibly close to par with Twilight herself. Because of her escape, I feel like she can become a much bigger threat towards the end of the season, but hopefully not as major as Tirek. 

 

My rating of these two episodes? I'll give it a 7/10

[TheJLeeTeam 914]

These episodes were just what I expected. It shows that friends should have differences. And sometimes having friends with differing opinions and interests leads to a better friendship. And this was the first episode I saw on airdate.

Edited April 5, 2015 by TheJLeeTeam

[ManaMinori 4,143]

Had four times this amount but life was a bitch and said 'lots of text in a post? Let me backspace the page for you.'

 

Overall Premiere Ranking:

S2 > S4 > S5 > S1 > S3

 

Overall Premiere Villain Ranking:

Discord > Tirek > Nightmare Moon > Chrysalis > Starlight Glimmer > King Sombra

 

Pros:

* Good jokes, good dialogue, interesting and unique storyline and villain type, so on and so forth.

 

* Best of all was the inclusion of all these new background stallion characters, who all had noticeable lines. This is the premiere of the fifth season, and we have never, ever had as much stallion pony dialogue as we've had between these two episodes, and I absolutely love it.

 

 

I'd love if we can have more background/side character stallions in future episodes in this manner as well. About time we had some more sausage to go with all these tacos, and now I've got two new background stallions (of whom actually have dialogue) to be a fan of, other than Thunderlane. Big fan of this premiere just for the fact that there was so much stallion.

 

Cons:

* 'Starlight Glimmer/Sunset Shimmer'? Really? Seems like the thought process was, 'villain name...villain name...let's make a rhyme off that last villain we worked with!'

 

* And the fact that Starlight, a seemingly average unicorn for the most part, has the ability to remove cutie marks and replace them with custom ones, despite how the show has built up the idea that cutie marks are incredibly difficult to mess with. It took Starswirl levels of magic to fuck with cutie marks, but some random unicorn we've never heard of before is able to play God with them? I can only imagine Starlight's going to be coming back, so I assume it'll be explained in a later episode. For now, it's passable.

we've never had as much stallion dialogue? Pfft. That's a big fat misconception

 

Braeburn talks quite a bit, in the episode he's featured in

Big Mac has has a chunky bit of dialogue outside of "eeyup" and "eenope" (in "Ponyville Confidential" "hearts and Hooves day", and "Applebuck season"

Shining armor, Fancy Pants, Hoity Toity, and even Thunderlane and Truffle Shiffle have dialogue

[NavelColt 22,876]

we've never had as much stallion dialogue? Pfft. That's a big fat misconception

 

Braeburn talks quite a bit, in the episode he's featured in

Big Mac has has a chunky bit of dialogue outside of "eeyup" and "eenope" (in "Ponyville Confidential" "hearts and Hooves day", and "Applebuck season"

Shining armor, Fancy Pants, Hoity Toity, and even Thunderlane and Truffle Shiffle have dialogue

 

Nitpick nitpick. Really don't care to debate one particular line of mine, brah. Sure, so maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration from excitement in the moment, who cares? Point is we haven't seen new, random background stallions have this much dialogue in a long-ass time.

[Confucius 194]

I'm getting a bad feeling Starlight's contingency plan will involve something along the lines of mind control. It only seems logical for a villain of her type. She wants her village to thrive under a united banner of communism equality, but what happens when somepony steps out of line? Take away their free will as a warning to others.

 

I mean, look at the other ponies in the town. Either they were frightened into submission, or they were brainwashed. What Starlight has going on here is very sinister, and I fear that this is only the beginning.

This was a anti communism/cult themed episode in my opinion. It was such a strong season premier even though Kim Jong Un and Stalin don't approve.

[BlinkZ 1,151]

Well they did reintroduce the character like 3 times.  role called happened liek yeah 3 times.  good new comere were insteld knwo which tosy to buy at the store lol

[Lightlingbolt 4]

I liked the episode, though I do think rainbow dash's idea of fighting a horrific monster would actually be  an episode worth watching! 

 

Anyone else like spotting animation errors? It's a fast one but it can be seen if you pay attention. And DHX was doing so well lol. RD says hi

 

 

 

[Wooona 29]

This was one of the better two-partners IMO. It's definitely given me a good feeling about the rest of the season.

[Pastel 7,627]

* And the fact that Starlight, a seemingly average unicorn for the most part, has the ability to remove cutie marks and replace them with custom ones, despite how the show has built up the idea that cutie marks are incredibly difficult to mess with. It took Starswirl levels of magic to fuck with cutie marks, but some random unicorn we've never heard of before is able to play God with them? I can only imagine Starlight's going to be coming back, so I assume it'll be explained in a later episode. For now, it's passable.

She has very powerful magic just like Twilight, I don't think it's that hard for unicorns if they study for a long time. Starswirl was a "random unicorn" too before he reached his level.

I'm guessing it took Starlight a lot of time to learn that spell.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Blobulle

[hungoverpony 58]

It was really interesting to see a cult like group in MLP....its kinda scary how close it is to real life ones. Seems they  did thier research to be sure the experence was genuen :S

[BlinkZ 1,151]

yeah before i even saw starlight i was like "Hmm will the villian ahve stirpped mane."  and then she appears nad i'm like "ding ding ding we have a winner

[Abia 258]

* Best of all was the inclusion of all these new background stallion characters, who all had noticeable lines. This is the premiere of the fifth season, and we have never, ever had as much stallion pony dialogue as we've had between these two episodes, and I absolutely love it.

 

[snip]

 

I'd love if we can have more background/side character stallions in future episodes in this manner as well. About time we had some more sausage to go with all these tacos, and now I've got two new background stallions (of whom actually have dialogue) to be a fan of, other than Thunderlane. Big fan of this premiere just for the fact that there was so much stallion.

 

Cons:

* 'Starlight Glimmer/Sunset Shimmer'? Really? Seems like the thought process was, 'villain name...villain name...let's make a rhyme off that last villain we worked with!'

 

* And the fact that Starlight, a seemingly average unicorn for the most part, has the ability to remove cutie marks and replace them with custom ones, despite how the show has built up the idea that cutie marks are incredibly difficult to mess with. It took Starswirl levels of magic to fuck with cutie marks, but some random unicorn we've never heard of before is able to play God with them? I can only imagine Starlight's going to be coming back, so I assume it'll be explained in a later episode. For now, it's passable.

 

Honestly, when I first checked the forums before I'd watched the episodes, I thought "Starlight Glimmer" was a typo for Sunset Shimmer.

I think the significance in the name is how closely it resembles "Twilight Sparkle".

 

I also noticed the increase in notable stallion dialogue. As someone else said, there have been inclusions of secondary or background stallions (Big Mac, Hoity Toity, Cheese Sandwich, etc.) having notable parts, but if I'm thinking correctly, this is the first time we've had numerous background stallions have frequent lines. It's not something significant, but it's nice. Their importance in the episode could be compared to Junebug's in "Secret of My Excess".

 

I imagine that Starlight Glimmer's ability to manipulate cutie marks has something to do with her special talent. Her cutie mark was a wand, wasn't it? She spent years studying magic, didn't she? (Not only magic, but that spell specifically, if her dialogue is true.) Gosh, she's got a lot more in common with Sunset than just her name.

Star Swirl's talent was generalized magic, as was Twilight's (?), but Starlight's might be more specialized, which would explain her abilities.

I'm not really looking forward to Starlight Glimmer's return, but I don't dread it. She was an average villain. She has potential, but it could go either way. I'll be disappointed if she reappears without dramatic expanding upon her character, abilities, etc.

Starlight Glimmer's "no bullshit" attitude was pretty fantastic. She was the one antagonist who not only didn't want to hear Twilight's friendship speech, but actually interrupted it. Hot damn, she's got attitude. I'm curious about that aspect of her personality, if nothing else. Will she return (as she inevitably will; this was more open-ended than Halloween) for vengeance? Understanding? A fresh start? Or will she attempt to spread equality across Equestria again?

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention how much I love the song. I love it. It's catchy and had me tapping my foot, and that no nightmares/no dreams line? Brilliant.

 

There were a few animation errors that I noticed, but overall it was fluid and gorgeous. (CMCs on the train caboose in the theme song--is that new this season, or has it been there and I just haven't noticed?) The facial expressions in season four were very expressive, but they disfigured the characters' faces a little. These ones seem to get emotions across just as well while also maintaining the basic facial structure.

 

I feel like it's worth mentioning that the mane six are kind of doing small stuff now. Seriously, how many ponies could have been in that town? 80, maybe 100? Probably fewer! I think it's neat that they're working on improving life for everyday ponies as opposed to saving the world. I guess it's not really small, since it's kind of an extremist cult that severely restricts the lives of tens of ponies, but it's smaller than Nightmare Moon/Discord/Chrysalis/Sombra/Tirek, which is cool.

That said, I'll be sorely disappointed if we don't get one saving the world episode this season. But the small stuff is fun to watch too!

[Marimo 555]

I realize that the notion of balance between the mane six has been almost entirely eroded, but there's something that really rubs me the wrong way about this statement...

 

Twilight: "But the map didn't send me, it sent us. You're a part of me, all of you. And there's no doubt you're a part of my mission to spread friendship, too." 

 

Interestingly enough, a similar statement was made by Twilight towards the end of Twilight's Kingdom. 

 

So this is what it's come to? That the mane five are simply accessories to Twilight who can receive no praise or gratification unless it comes through her first? That she alone has to be the one singing their praises, because everyone else only sings for her? 

 

Or, is this pretty much the show's way of stating: "See guys? They many not be alicorns, but those other five ponies are important, too!" 

 

That's really annoying. We cannot seriously be at that point where the show has to actually remind us that it's not The Twilight Sparkle Show, can we? 

I think it's just reaffirming what was said in the season 4 finale about the new meta-arc. After wondering what kind of purpose she should have as a princess, she figured she could help spread friendship across Equestria and chose that as her role, but she also knows that she hadn't succeeded before on her own, and needs the help of her friends to do her mission. Then they restated it after the first successful adventure that shows how spreading friendship across Equestria will be framed, both as a reminder to why they originally set out to the town and to lead into a feel good moment.