S05:E05 - Tanks for the Memories

[Antidaeophobia 299]

I really liked this episode. We'd been wondering for awhile how Tank fared being Rainbow Dash's pet, and now we know how close they've become. I remember my hedgehog, and my tortoise both going into hibernation, so I understand how Rainbow Dash feels.
I really loved the expressions this episode, and it was really nice having a RD episode where she isn't a total insufferable dash-hole, but an actually decent sensitive person with real emotions. Sure, she's still being selfish, but it's nice to see is because she wants to keep her friend, and not just being arrogant. I really like the little song, but it was a bit over auto-tuned, but still nice. 
LOL Pinkie Pie walking through the wall, and that picture in the factory locker was amusing.  Also, can we talk about how adorable Tank's little Rainbow Dash slippers are. OMG 

Edited April 26, 2015 by Antidaeophobia

[Jon the VGNerd 842]

 

 

All the ponies in ponyville really loved Hearths-warming a lot...

But Rainbow Dash, who lived just above Ponyville, did NOT!

Rainbow hated hearths-warming, the whole hearths-warming season!

Now please don't ask why, Nopony quite knows the reason.

 

(I hope you know what the reference meant. )

[Dark Qiviut 22,160]

@, @@RainbowDash24, @,

 

Ugh, always people who over think and over analyze to the point where an episode is bad.

You don't know what overanalyzing is. The one line of Dash saying it'll be her first winter with Tank is a small detail with a lot of implications. To flip it around, say Tank didn't feel well after waking up from a previous hibernation. Dash would have a reason to be worried or upset because she'd feel something as bad as then can happen here, if not worse. It would make her desperation make sense. Stupid, yes, but excuses it to an extent.

 

Here, the one line completely affects the continuity of the episode. Since season two, the show's seasonal timeline has been consistent. MTBPW! was the seventh episode of season two. HWE was a few weeks later. This means Tank would've hibernated at some point while still Dash's pet. But the episode instead handwaves it away.

 

Your example with the dog is completely apples to oranges. Very early in the episode, Fluttershy told Rainbow Dash that Tank was preparing to sleep for the winter. Dash and Fluttershy are close friends, and FS is around animals who hibernate. So Dash should know about hibernation prior. Tank isn't dying, and FS explicitly stated Tank is healthy. Given her knowledge of animals, Dash should've trusted her.

 

Think of the one line and how it connects to the climax of Winter Wrap Up. AJ and Fluttershy were arguing about how to clear the weather, and Fluttershy explicitly stated that the snow couldn't be quickly melted to wake the animals slowly.

 

And this episode did not break any continuity.

You're factually incorrect. HWE aired after MTBPW!, and Twilight was still a unicorn. Even if HWE didn't air out of order (originally supposed to be S2's thirteenth episode instead of the eleventh), the continuity drawback flaw applies.

 

I swear, most people just want to be there own little Digibronies.

If you're going to make an opinion credible, never pull fallacies like this. Just because some people have plenty of problems with an episode doesn't mean they don't like the show. Not every brony will like every episode, and I certainly don't like this one.

 

I give up. If all you're going to do is complain about the plot hole you're never going to enjoy the rest of the show.

This kind of attitude is what helped make what should be family products into "kids' shows," such as modern Spongebobs and MLP G3's. Factually good shows don't pull BS excuses. Contrary to some people here believe, I do enjoy the show, but if an episode's gonna publish crap, it deserves to be called out for it. Blindly defending it is tolerating bad quality.

 

I don't watch the show to make sure it's consistent. I watch the show for some fun Comedic moments and some dramatic moments. Don't be a McNitpick.

It's very naïve to call this nitpicking. A simple animation error such as the cyclops pony in The Best Night Ever is a nitpick because it has no actual effect to the episode quality. The repetitive "divine" from Rarity in The Cutie Map is also a nitpick because there are no implications, and the dialogue altogether's very well written.

 

Dash calling her time with Tank as their first winter is akin to the line of dialogue from the Nightmare Rarity Arc (where she states how it was the Nightmare Forces controlling her, not Luna herself). It's a complete contradiction of established canon, and it affected the entire plot. When it affects the whole story, that's not a nitpick anymore.

 

I am not sure I agree with that. My best friend is physician, and I am a developer. Our interactions, as interconnected as these elements are to ourselves individually, do not mean we understand each others skills. Dash understood something of hibernation, but not how tortoises hibernate.

I don't know about your case, but this situation feels very different. Dash and Fluttershy are close, and they worked to clean up winter at least once before. Dash knows about hibernation and should know how important it is to many animals, from mammals to reptiles. Like I told ryanmahaffe earlier, Dash had to work with the other teams to clear the weather, and one part was having Fluttershy wake up the hibernating animals. She should understand how important hibernation is.

 

More importantly, how she tried to stop it was absolutely irresponsible of her. She sabotaged Cloudesdale and only made things worse. As a captain, she should've been punished for it. instead, she all but got away with it. No sound consequences whatsoever for her bad behavior.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Dark Qiviut

[SteveMorison 404]

Did this by any chance remind anyone of Futurama's Jurassic Bark?

[Foliha 395]

second thing I disliked- Fluttershy making Dash cry. OHHHHH, if it had been anypony making FLUTTERSHY cry, NO ONE would be forgiving. But It's all fine and dandy for her to make other ponies cry (let's not forget how she kept going on about RD's fears to freak her out, in Sonic Rainboom, but Luna forbid Pinkie goes and throws Flutter's fears in HER face. And Rarity gets upset over Fluttershy crying and not Rainbow Dash? Bias, much?

 

Well, if Rainbow Dash had swallowed poison by accident, would you think it was bad for Fluttershy to make her throw up?  I think Rainbow Dash needed to have her cry and not stuff her feelings.  She needed to just let go and admit she was hurting instead of turning her her hurt into toxic anger.  Fluttershy could see this.  It was like when she had to "tough up" and kick the Breezies out.  It may have looked/felt mean, but it was the right thing to do.

[Cloud Strife 928]

I wasn't really all that fond of this episode. I'm watching it and I'm just not getting that 'best Rainbow Dash episode ever' vibe that others are. I understand people's point of view on her loyalty, but there are a few things that are taking me out of this episode:

• Tank is literally only hibernating. I mean, Rainbow being a little depressed that she won't be able to play with Tank makes sense, but enough that she's bawling for several minutes? It's much more akin to a reaction of Tank permanently dying. I know the intention was to parody that but it just makes Rainbow look as if she's highly reactive, which she isn't.
• Rainbow is one of the more grounded of ponies, in that she can easily grasp common sense. It's common sense that Fluttershy would know best about Tank, especially since Rainbow got Tank from Fluttershy. I know it's supposed to be 'denial', but I must redirect to my first point on that in that case.
• It has already been pointed out by someone else but I will reiterate that yeah, it takes me out when you consider that Rainbow likely has already dealt with a Winter Wrap-Up with Tank before, and I highly doubt it was only one, either, considering she got Tank seasons ago.

I did like the solo, and I liked the emotions that were being aimed for, I just feel 'the feels' here were misplaced. As a result, instead of heartfelt, it comes off as cringy to me. It's kind of sad, because I really wanted to like this episode.

 

EDIT: Also, to those noting the episodes are 'out of order', keep in mind that Twilight has her wings in this episode.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Ken Ichijouji

[Unr3alGamer 230]

The song (which was AWESOME) and the Game of Thrones references were the outstanding things in a generally pretty good episode. 

 

It's somewhere between and 8.5 and a 9 out of 10 for me. 

[Twilight Frost 271]

honestly, RD was my least favorite pony and now she has to be my second favorite. Until now, she has just been a stereotype with no real personality or interests outside of the cliche of I am a girl who is athletic and the token its ok to read episode. This added the MUCH needed emotional layers she was missing. We now know that is is every bit as vulnerable and has genuine feelings like all the others.

Did this by any chance remind anyone of Futurama's Jurassic Bark?

 

No, just, Hoofing no. Don't you DARE mention that episode again.....not around..

me.

[Fawkes The Phoenix 737]

I'm having a hard time. I always enjoy every episode regardless of their flaws, but this one.... I couldn't. It started really great, but the way it was executed totally ruined it for me...

 

First, dealing with the loss of a loved one is a great lesson for the audience. The problem? Nobody was losing anything. If you wanna pull a message like that make sure the characters in the episode are actually dealing with something similar. Otherwise everything ends up being an over-reaction. They did a better job with that in "Castle Sweet Castle".

 

Second, the idea of stopping winter was totally stupid. I can see Rainbow coming up with that idea, but no getting that far. How in the world didn't she get punished for trying to sabotage the weather factory? She was lucky it ended up making winter come faster, and only for the convenience of the plot. 

 

Finally, the continuity issues some people have mentioned. 

 

It could have been a great episode with an amazing lesson, but it failed. The episode had other good things too, like Fluttershy's characterization, the song, the humor, seeing how much Rainbow loves Tank... It's sad not even that makes me enjoy the episode, or at least bear it.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Fawkes The Phoenix

[Cloud Strife 928]

honestly, RD was my least favorite pony and now she has to be my second favorite. Until now, she has just been a stereotype with no real personality or interests outside of the cliche of I am a girl who is athletic and the token its ok to read episode. This added the MUCH needed emotional layers she was missing. We now know that is is every bit as vulnerable and has genuine feelings like all the others.

 

Er, what? This episode didn't introduce those to Rainbow's character. In fact, we've seen her be vulnerable several times. I'm not sure why people keep saying this.

 

I know we love to decry The Mysterious Mare Do Well but even that episode showed how vulnerable Rainbow could be when she feels she's not admired for who she is. We also have Sonic Rainboom, a season one episode at that, in which she succumbs to stage fright. As far as other interests go, she has that in Read it and Weep (I mean, it was the whole point of that episode...). May the Best Pet Win had her pretty vulnerable, too, outright crying because none of the other pets aside from Tank came back to rescue her when her wing got stuck.

 

If anything, this episode made her seem overly dramatic and bawwww worthy, which I feel is too much. I don't want Rainbow to be crumpling and weeping over the smallest thing. It's nice to have things that round her character, yeah, but there's a point when you're making the character seek the WHAMBULANCE instead of having actual rounded character.

 

EDIT: Just noticed you pointed out the reading episode anyway. Here's the thing - unlike other shows who supposedly do the token 'it's okay to read' thing, Rainbow keeps and references that interest in other episodes. Also, it's not the only instance in which she's been invested in something that's completely unrelated to sports; even just two episodes ago, Rainbow was completely focused in helping Twilight feel happy in her home, even giving away her posters which likely meant a lot to her.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Ken Ichijouji

[Tao 6,706]

You didn't like it? Was there something in particular about it? 

 

1. Over done RD drama.

2.This issues should have been done bout winter and Tank given a timeline wise.

3.Yes had cute moments and I could have seen Dash crying a bit,  being upset but it was just "pushed" way to much to feel like a RD and how they have made her in the show a bit.

4. Reasons for a solo song, I think fans wanted a RD solo that they might have just did a service ep...

5.Animal Abuse.

[Jonny Music 3,307]

I definitely had the feels when watching the episode. And I did cry in the inside like AJ did during "that scene" (because it was touching (and also a bit funny), imo).

 

It was also nice to see another side of RD. There was some great character development of her. I've got to tip my hat to the writers who did a great job handling that part nicely without going too far to make it too dark for this episode specifically.

 

Overall, I liked the episode. Despite how much RD had to go through, she had to let it go eventually.

 

(Just a minor rant/confusion/complaint that I had with this episode) Cathy Weseluck fooled me into thinking it was Matt Stone (who voiced Terrance (the South Park reoccurring character (along with Philip) in the South Park franchise)) who voiced Sunshower. Their voices (comparing Terrance with Sunshower) sound too darn similar! I had to rewatch that skit to be sure that it was Cathy Weseluck all along. After doing so I can confirm, that it was indeed, Cathy Weseluck who voiced Sunshower. Case Closed.

 

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

 

Again, it was a great episode. So I am indeed looking forward to the next ones.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Jonny Music

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

Meh.  Meh, I say.

 

Not a fan of this one.  I'm biased out the door because I never liked Tank.  I'm sorry, but I wanted her to choose the Hawk.  Never really got over that.  I know that would have defeated the purpose, but Tank's is just stupid imo.  I know that's not a popular opinion, but that's my two cents on the matter.

 

So, I just didn't enjoy it being a whole Tank episode.

 

PROS

 

RD finally gets to sing.

Grinch face

AJ crying on the inside.

The six finally visit RD's house.  That's been overdue.

Great Fluttershy moments, good character development.

Who's on first.

Game of Thrones reference ("Winter is coming.")

 

CONS

 

RD's song had to be about something stupid.  (Just my biased, unpopular opinion)

 

I really hated seeing Rainbow be so negligent and reckless.  I agree 100% with @Nightmare Muffin on this one.  Their actions need to have consequences now and then.  Rainbow is suppose to be chief weather pony, is she not?  And she f*ckin sabotoged Cloudsdale?  I hated that.  I want to see her be more professional.  We haven't actually seen her do her job since (I believe) Winter Wrap Up.  AJ and Rarity are shown doing their jobs more than others.  They are usually very professional as well.  Rarity in particular, what with her filling orders for prestigious clients all the time.  But Rainbow.....it regresses her character, in my opinion, to have her act like she did here.  They just took it too far.  I want to see her actually lead her weather team and do her friggin job.

 

Revealing that this was her and Tank's first winter together is a HUGE continuity error:

 

Season 2, Episode 7:  May the Best Pet Win

Season 2, Episode 11: Hearth's Warming Eve

 

I rest my case.

 

This added the MUCH needed emotional layers she was missing. We now know that is is every bit as vulnerable and has genuine feelings like all the others.

We now know?  I'd like to direct your attention to Testing 1, 2, 3.  Though I do agree that seeing her be emotional was nice.  I just thought the saboteur stuff went too far.

 

*EDIT*

 

It raises my opinion of this episode when it's considered as an allegory for death/permanent loss, which I didn't think of at first.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Justin_Case001

[Soaring Symphony 372]

BEST. EPISODE. EVER.

 

Prepare yourselves, winter is coming - Twilight Sparkle 2015

 

I know I've heard that phrase somewhere before seeing this episode but I can't remember what exactly.  What the BUCK was that a reference to????????

[LongGoneGr 1,304]

The feels!!! I'm crying after watching it..... SO SWEET!!!

[BlackWater627 700]

1. Over done RD drama.

2.This issues should have been done bout winter and Tank given a timeline wise.

3.Yes had cute moments and I could have seen Dash crying a bit,  being upset but it was just "pushed" way to much to feel like a RD and how they have made her in the show a bit.

4. Reasons for a solo song, I think fans wanted a RD solo that they might have just did a service ep...

5.Animal Abuse.

 

I see. Though I disagree with some of your points, I'm glad you responded. It's good to voice your opinions. RD's song really might have been fan-service since so many people (including me) wanted it. Having said that, I'm happy they did it. 

[LongGoneGr 1,304]

This episode makes me like RD a bit more.

[Jonny Music 3,307]

This episode makes me like RD a bit more.

Agreed. I respect RD much more than before after watching this episode.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Jonny Music

[LongGoneGr 1,304]

Agreed. I respect RD much more than before after watching this episode.

 

She's still tied with Twilight in dead last of the Mane 6, but she's still great.

 

1: Pinkie Pie/Rarity

2. Applejack/Fluttershy

3. Rainbow Dash/Twilight Sparkle

[Buck Testa 5,503]

By Celestia's fashionable shoes this was a good episode. RD sings amazingly, the comedy was spot on, Fluttershy and DAT CHARACTER GROWTH THOUGH! great stuff, going to watch that more than once today!

[[NULL] 906]

I thought it was pretty good. It had some funny moments, and I liked seeing Rainbow Dash in denial over Tank leaving. It was also nice to see Fluttershy have a redeemable moment.

Also Who's on First.

 

However, It would've been easier for me to sympathize with Rainbow Dash during the final scene if there was more previous on-screen time with her and Tank. Also it was kind of odd for there to be no consequences for destroying a workplace. I understand that shifting the story to her paying for damages would take up too much time and make the episode feel unfocused, but they could've at least made it so her friends were initially angry with her, or something.

 

8/10

Edited April 26, 2015 by SpaceOnion

[Tao 6,706]

 

 

I see. Though I disagree with some of your points, I'm glad you responded. It's good to voice your opinions. RD's song really might have been fan-service since so many people (including me) wanted it. Having said that, I'm happy they did it.

 

I think they could have dealt with it given the time they made us wait for the new season .   (I could withstand pink pie in this season a bit,  only time was season two..) But parts of it felt pushed to forced in some ways, I did like the soft moments of Tank and RD but the over drama killed it a bit.

 

(thanks, also brewing Tea in the Valley must make for some killer sun tea,  im in north AZ )

[Grepper 3,192]

I thought the slapstick was hilarious, but I really didn't like the implications of Rainbow Dash not getting punished at all for her sabotage.

[HailTrixie 239]

This episode was awesome!

 

Th-there was the Flutteshy giggle near the start, a-and then like RD's angry face, and l-like the name confusion scene with the AMAZING voice acting, and t-then they had the whole sneaky beaky weather factory, a-and the Game of Thrones reference, and the crying on the inside joke, and-and-AAAAAARGH!

 

It was a pretty funny episode, and Fluttershy coming out of her shell a bit was nice to see. It's also pretty good to see some character development. I'd give it an 8/10.

It lost one point because of the fact that Rainbow Dash had no punishment whatsoever for what she did, and nobody was even mad at her, and it lost the other point because Rainbow Dash's crying scene went for way too long (but I guess they had to fill that time up with something) and was a bit too over-dramatic. It just would have been nice to see the reaction of the other ponies (non mane 6) to Dash's sabotage.

I want to remove a third point because of Twilight's "WE R ALL FRUNDS AND LECTURE LECTURE BLAH" but I don't think that would be too popular.

 

Also, weather factory. Rainbow factory is closer to becoming canon guys!

Edited April 26, 2015 by HailTrixie

[Steve Piranha 28,747]

I definitely had the feels when watching the episode. And I did cry in the inside like AJ did during "that scene" (because it was touching, imo).

 

It was also nice to see another side of RD. There was some great character development of her. I've got to tip my hat to the writers who did a great job handling that part nicely without going too far to make it too dark for this episode specifically.

 

Overall, I liked the episode. Despite how much RD had to go through, she had to let it go eventually.

 

(Just a minor rant/confusion/complaint that I had with this episode) Cathy Weseluck fooled me into thinking it was Matt Stone (who voiced Terrance (the South Park reoccurring character (along with Philip) in the South Park franchise)) who voiced Sunshower. Their voices (comparing Terrance with Sunshower) sound too darn similar! I had to rewatch that skit to be sure that it was Cathy Weseluck all along. After doing so I can confirm, that it was indeed, Cathy Weseluck who voiced Sunshower. Case Closed.

 

 

Again, it was a great episode. So I am indeed looking forward to the next ones.

Yeah, I knew it was her all along 

But also, doesn't that Sunshower looks kinda like a certain OC with big........ assets?

 

Well, apart of Cutie Map, this is definitely my favorite S5 episode. Dash's solo song was way better than I expected, and we got some more Dashie, INCLUDING OUTRIGHT CRYING  . Well, I found the crying more funny than touching, but it was welcome seeing a more sensitive part of Dashie