S05:E05 - Tanks for the Memories

[Jeric 46,851]

And exactly how does that justify her actions towards her friends? Didn't you see what a bitch she was to them earlier?

 

When dealing with strong emotions, most psychologists rarely use the word justify. Rainbow Dashes motivations and fears explain her actions really well, and have extremely well grounded context in the real world. In fact her behavior is literally bullet point marked in the DSM5. What really limits or restrains many people in her situation is ... opportunity. 

 

Everypony grieves differently.

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

And exactly how does that justify her actions towards her friends? Didn't you see what a bitch she was to them earlier?

 

Have you ever heard of the five stages of grief? Rainbow Dash was in a stage, where she slowly started to realize that she is forced to accept Tanks fate and reacts very angrily towards her friends and even isolates from them.

 

Our emotions make us do things, that we might later regret.

[Sazama Ichida 2,367]

Have you ever heard of the five stages of grief? Rainbow Dash was in a stage, where she slowly started to realize that she is forced to accept Tanks fate and reacts very angrily towards her friends and even isolates from them.

 

Our emotions make us do things, that we might later regret.

But he was just going to sleep it's not like he was dying...Overreaction much?

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

But he was just going to sleep it's not like he was dying...Overreaction much?

 

Alot of people react differently to alot of things. Rainbow was probably used to having Tank around her all the time and now all of sudden, she can't anymore.

 

Some people would think "yeah, i can live with that." But others would probably feel like Rainbow Dash.

 

Emotions aren't always logical.

[Sazama Ichida 2,367]

Now that I've heard of the five stages of grief I will admit that this episode had a more reasonable catalyst for Rainbow Dash's behavior than some do. But some didn't have a reasonable catalyst at all.

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

While I have to commend the episode for portraying every stage of grief, the fact remains that it's an overblown reaction to hibernation, not an actual death, thus the episode disregards the difference between grief and separation anxiety, the latter of which should have been more realistically portrayed in the episode. The same corporate mandates that allowed MLP to exist and flourish are unfortunately continuing to hold it back from its true narrative potential. The writers, if given free reign, would have made this episode about an actual death, and it would have worked. Many other shows in children's television have done it and handled it with amazing tact (Sesame Street is the first one that comes to mind). If it would have been over a death, it would have been very fitting and justifiable among the earlier episodes this season in dealing with psychological states and actually being the second one to deal with loss. Unfortunately, it seems very self-centered and takes Rainbow Dash's character back quite a few steps to show that all of this chaos was over what would amount to about 4 months of lost time. Wrecking the winter season in Equestria, when everything is put into perspective, took her character back even further than any simple bragging about how "awesome" she is ever could. All of this could have been avoided within the singular context of this episode if that one plot point, Tank's hibernation, had been changed to more realistically reflect a death.

 

It seems as if "Tanks for the Memories" was a last-ditch effort to make up for the brevity of the emotional scenes in "Castle Sweet Castle" and the fact that said scenes had to share an episode with a B-plot that was stretched thin. It would have made much more sense to have better addressed these themes in the preceding episode by cutting the narrative padding of Spike's distraction and the Mane 6's bickering in order to focus more on Twilight's emotional conflict, which would have felt much more natural and realistic to portray as grief because it was, you know, an actual loss.

 

The best point of the episode, however, has to be the visuals. We got to see quite a few things here that we don't normally see in this show, like fall and winter, as well as Cloudsdale and Pegasus culture. Pegasi changing the weather seems to be the best opportunity for the animators to really show their stuff in the sheer scale, dynamics, and amount of objects and movement on the screen, and the winter scenes are great as an occasional break from the normally green and blooming Ponyville.

 

Overall, this episode seemed to have everything in the right place except one major point that would have made the conflict more relatable and changed the justifications for everything that happened in the plot. There was a clear line that shouldn't have been blurred out, but was. It seems to be one of those divisive episodes, either you agree with what Dash did or you didn't. I personally go both ways.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Wind Chaser

[Jeric 46,851]

While I have to commend the episode for portraying every stage of grief, the fact remains that it's an overblown reaction to hibernation, not an actual death, thus the episode disregards the difference between grief and separation anxiety, the latter of which should have been more realistically portrayed in the episode. The same corporate mandates that allowed MLP to exist and flourish are unfortunately continuing to hold it back from its true narrative potential. The writers, if given free reign, would have made this episode about an actual death, and it would have worked. Many other shows in children's television have done it and handled it with amazing tact (Sesame Street is the first one that comes to mind). If it would have been over a death, it would have been very fitting and justifiable among the earlier episodes this season in dealing with psychological states and actually being the second one to deal with loss. Unfortunately, it seems very self-centered and takes Rainbow Dash's character back quite a few steps to show that all of this chaos was over what would amount to about 4 months of lost time. Wrecking the winter season in Equestria, when everything is put into perspective, took her character back even further than any simple bragging about how "awesome" she is ever could. All of this could have been avoided within the singular context of this episode if that one plot point, Tank's hibernation, had been changed to more realistically reflect a death.

 

It seems as if "Tanks for the Memories" was a last-ditch effort to make up for the brevity of the emotional scenes in "Castle Sweet Castle" and the fact that said scenes had to share an episode with a B-plot that was stretched thin. It would have made much more sense to have better addressed these themes in the preceding episode by cutting the narrative padding of Spike's distraction and the Mane 6's bickering in order to focus more on Twilight's emotional conflict, which would have felt much more natural and realistic to portray as grief because it was, you know, an actual loss.

 

The best point of the episode, however, has to be the visuals. We got to see quite a few things here that we don't normally see in this show, like fall and winter, as well as Cloudsdale and Pegasus culture. Pegasi changing the weather seems to be the best opportunity for the animators to really show their stuff in the sheer scale, dynamics, and amount of objects and movement on the screen, and the winter scenes are great as an occasional break from the normally green and blooming Ponyville.

 

Overall, this episode seemed to have everything in the right place except one major point that would have made the conflict more relatable and changed the justifications for everything that happened in the plot. There was a clear line that shouldn't have been blurred out, but was. It seems to be one of those divisive episodes, either you agree with what Dash did or you didn't. I personally go both ways.

I don't know. I have always preferred when the show (or any form of art) doesn't throw up a neon sign and says "this is what the story is about!" To me, my favorite scenes in FiM when they refuse to use dialog or viewer expectations to tell the story in a scene.

 

Rarity and Spike falling

Scootaloo throwing away her possessions

Spike giving Rarity the Fire Ruby

The shooting stars

The cancer pony

Inspiration Manifestation

 

It is a long list. Telling a hidden story like this isn't a cop out, it is brave and sublimely artistic.

[Foliha 395]

@@Foliha,

-snip-.

I think you got it right when you said, "But it does seem to be true that I watch the show in a different way than other people do. I tend to notice a lot of little details in the episodes, and analyzing the plausibility of the events of the episode and the characters' dialogue and actions is an inherent part of the viewing experience (and the enjoyment) for me."

 

By your own admission, you have an analytical mind.  (On your profile page.)  I am capable of fairly stringent and detailed analysis, but I have a handy on/off switch for it.  I generally turn it off for MLP.  MLP is about feelings for me - feelings, where they can take you, and how yours and others can be affected by them.  Mostly MLP makes me feel good - even the 4-hankie ones.  That's all that I ask of it.  (Although it has given me food for thought re: how my actions and the expression of my emotional states affect others.) 

 

I can be very hard on live-action films.  Continuity, historicity, economy of story-telling are important to me in the context of a story set in a real time/place, with real people.  But I'm less demanding of MLP because it's set in a mythical place where magic is used.  There are all sorts of things which are arbitrarily put in place, like only Pegasi can walk on clouds.  Oh yeah?  Why is that?  When they fall they are subject to gravity like other ponies.  So apparently, physics are different in Equestria.  OK. 

 

Why are the Alicorn's wings so much bigger and complex that the Pegasi wings?  They just are... 

 

You seem like an intelligent, likable person.  I think you are probably well adjusted and secure in you persona and world view.  Me - not so much with the well-adjusted and secure.  I'm on a different point on the bell-curve.  More emotional.  Sometimes over-the-top.  But an emotional state/reaction is not something you choose.  It's just something that happens as a result of your inborn temperament/sensitivity and the experiences you've had in life.  

 

I can accept Rainbow Dash's extreme lability and intense emotion because I've "Been there, done that."  I may not see it as optimal, but I can relate.  I think the reason a lot of people put Rainbow Dash at the bottom of their popularity list is that she doesn't seem to have the ability to constantly filter her feelings before they burst out in action or words.  So she comes off like a jerk when really, the only reason she's seen that way is because most people are better at toning down their "inner butt-head" and not showing it to others.  Rainbow Dash is raw emotion, with less of the "civilized" control-mechanisms in place.  Her reactions seem especially extreme to those who are less emotional in the first place. 

 

Clear as mud?

[Luffyiscool 397]

 

Y'know, because the law is the law XD

[duidamasterXD 9,627]

 

Y'know, because the law is the law XD

 

 

Maybe she'll be out in time for Tank waking up in spring

 

In the meantime, Hasbro pls give spinoff about RD forming a prison gang with Lightning Dust

[inactive user 79]

I have made a beautiful creation.

[QuillLune 15]

I loved that episode! It just showed a different side of Rainbow Dash. Aw.

Edited April 27, 2015 by QuillLune

[Guest90210 3,568]

This is the part that really bothers me... she DOESN'T ignore the consequences of her actions. She isn't being irrational, or acting rashly or thoughtlessly, or acting only on emotion, as others here have asserted. If she was, I probably still wouldn't like the episode, but I could at least accept it. But she's not. She quite clearly has thought this through, and knows that what she's doing is wrong. The episode isn't even ambiguous on this point, as Dash spells that out in the song. And yet for some reason, even knowing that, she goes through with her harebrained scheme anyway. She knows about the destructive potential of her actions, and she doesn't care.

 

Good point.

 

"I know it's wrong, but what does it matter?

'Cause nothing's gonna stop me now

I'll change it all, it's only the weather

And nopony's gonna bring me down"

 

 

Not gonna try to convince you that you should overlook things too, but that's how I see them

 

I understand your viewpoint, and that's fine. Certain issues may not even be issues, depending on how one interprets it or if they choose to overlook it. I do the same with some episodes, such as Spike at Your Service. Everyone trashes that episode for its bizarre plotline and characterization of Spike, yet I love that episode despite its questionable moments. I overlook the "out of character" aspects and focus on the humor and charm because that's what I see as the main purpose of the episode.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Rivendare

[Chrysa 28]

I loved it, usually I can't wait for Rainbow Dash to stop talking but this episode gave me a serious dose of the feels. I can understand some of the potential issues raised in the posts before mine but I'm still going to call this one a win.

 

Applejack stole the show for me at the end though!

[Jangocoolguy 433]

I want to like this episode. I really do. There is a wealth of good moments. Dash's expressions, seeing manual weather, another (long overdue) look at how things go on in Cloudsdale, another Running of the Leaves (which I never thought we'd see again  ), Dash finally getting her own song, Fluttershy laying down the law, and even the MLP version of "Who's on First".

...but when all's said and done it's Dash being a bratty bitch screwing with an entire season so she can spend more time with her pet. One who hasn't been developed enough or been in enough episodes for me to really care about :okiedokielokie:

Shame, really. If there'd been a better/stronger moral or lesson this would've been a great episode. But the weakness of its main focal point makes it something to watch infrequently.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Jangobadass

[LyraBae 82]

I liked the episode, but still, it was a little hard to comprehend.

So...has Rainbow randomly become a pegasus who NEEDS friends. Dash, you saved Equestria like 2,000,000 times. I'd think she'd have some other friends to be with during Winter.

And, what the heckidy is the lesson? Rainbow Dash: "Remember kids, let your turtle hibernate during winter." I think Hasbro was getting desperate for a lesson there. This episode could have clearly been a Cutie Map episode.

[Music Chart Fan 819]

By your own admission, you have an analytical mind.  (On your profile page.)  I am capable of fairly stringent and detailed analysis, but I have a handy on/off switch for it.  I generally turn it off for MLP.  MLP is about feelings for me - feelings, where they can take you, and how yours and others can be affected by them.  Mostly MLP makes me feel good - even the 4-hankie ones.  That's all that I ask of it.  (Although it has given me food for thought re: how my actions and the expression of my emotional states affect others.) 

 

Yeah, that's the thing - despite some other forum members' suggestions that I should "turn my brain off" and just enjoy the show, I don't feel like I could just "turn by brain off" when watching the show, even if I wanted to, which I don't, really. And there have been feel-good moments and episodes of the show for me - I just don't usually write about them in my posts on the forums here, in part because I don't feel like they're very interesting, and a lot of other forum members already post the same things about them that I would say anyway. It's kind of hard for me to figure out how I come across to other people in my posts, but from what I've seen, I feel like I may come across as being deadly serious, condescending, etc., when ultimately, I don't think I take the show too seriously, and I watch the show because I enjoy it; analyzing and making detailed observations of the show are just part of the experience.

 

I can be very hard on live-action films.  Continuity, historicity, economy of story-telling are important to me in the context of a story set in a real time/place, with real people.  But I'm less demanding of MLP because it's set in a mythical place where magic is used.  There are all sorts of things which are arbitrarily put in place, like only Pegasi can walk on clouds.  Oh yeah?  Why is that?  When they fall they are subject to gravity like other ponies.  So apparently, physics are different in Equestria.  OK.

 

Why are the Alicorn's wings so much bigger and complex that the Pegasi wings?  They just are... 

 

Interestingly enough, I think I take a different approach. I think that the relatively simple nature of the show, the fact that Equestria in many ways has its own "rules" which are defined in the show, and the relatively smaller scope of the show's canon (as opposed to, say, actual human history) actually make it easier for me to critically analyze and make observations about the show. On the other hand, with live-action movies (e.g., war films), I probably don't know as much about the accuracy of the history, technology, physics, etc. in the movie, so I'm more likely to just experience the movie without analyzing it quite as much.

 

I can accept Rainbow Dash's extreme lability and intense emotion because I've "Been there, done that."  I may not see it as optimal, but I can relate.  I think the reason a lot of people put Rainbow Dash at the bottom of their popularity list is that she doesn't seem to have the ability to constantly filter her feelings before they burst out in action or words.  So she comes off like a jerk when really, the only reason she's seen that way is because most people are better at toning down their "inner butt-head" and not showing it to others.  Rainbow Dash is raw emotion, with less of the "civilized" control-mechanisms in place.  Her reactions seem especially extreme to those who are less emotional in the first place. 

 

Yeah, I'll admit that I couldn't really relate to Rainbow Dash's conflict or behavior in this episode, and I'm sure that contributes to my not liking the episode. Regarding other people's opinion of Rainbow Dash, the funny thing is that (this episode excepted) I like Rainbow Dash as a character more than most of the other Mane Six, and that may partly be because I relate to her disregard for what she perceives as useless social conventions (e.g. trying to get to the point, and saying what she thinks without feeling the need to be excessively tactful), although there are other factors - I think Rainbow Dash as a character has been fairly well-developed, I think her action-oriented nature is generally more entertaining to watch in the context of a TV show, and I'll admit to liking her tomboyishness and "cool factor", at least to some extent.

 

You seem like an intelligent, likable person.  I think you are probably well adjusted and secure in you persona and world view.

 

Thanks for that, and thanks for the conversation - I've enjoyed seeing your perspective and how it compares to mine.

[Spartan 433]

At first I thought Rainbow was showing her idiot side, then I figured she was just denying hibernation. But I loved the part where they were argueing about clear skies and such xD

 

ALSO, the part where Dash hid in the locker, anyone else see that weird picture on the door of the locker? The hell is that?!

Edited April 28, 2015 by Spartan

[Lucky Headcannons 63]

There is never a bad episode of mlp fim but this episode was the worst for me. I mean the song is good and the development for cloudsdale is great but honestly the continuity is not there. Like in castle,sweet,castle they referenced tons of episodes but hearths warming eve is winter and dash all ready had tank so she should know. It kind of rewind the episode for me.

[Time Shield 402]

There is never a bad episode of mlp fim but this episode was the worst for me. I mean the song is good and the development for cloudsdale is great but honestly the continuity is not there. Like in castle,sweet,castle they referenced tons of episodes but hearths warming eve is winter and dash all ready had tank so she should know. It kind of rewind the episode for me.

 

It's been addressed earlier in the thread.  The writers have said that the 'slice of life' episodes are not in chronological order, so it's possible that Hearth's Warming Eve took place before May The Best Pet Win, which leaves no winter episodes between it and Tanks for the Memories.

[Grtxkkyz 388]

Well, this episode may very well be the closest thing the show deals with the demise of a loved one, even if Tank wasn't dying, RD acted quite a lot as if he were on his last toes, even passing through the 5 stages of grief. While this concept was carried decently, I agree with everyone that Rainbow's method of trying to stop winter was utterly reckless and destructive, not to mention she got away with it. But given the show's strong continuity and the fact it constantly references past episodes, there's some likelihood that in a future episode we may see a small nod to Rainbow's sabotage in the form of any major authority of the factory berating her for what she did, or something similar. But yeah, it's overall a heartwarming, if rather saddening, episode.

Also, epic Game of Thrones reference is epic

[Lucky Headcannons 63]

It's been addressed earlier in the thread.  The writers have said that the 'slice of life' episodes are not in chronological order, so it's possible that Hearth's Warming Eve took place before May The Best Pet Win, which leaves no winter episodes between it and Tanks for the Memories.

Right I didn't think of that but the ep. still doesn't feel right to me.

[Time Shield 402]

Right I didn't think of that but the ep. still doesn't feel right to me.

 

Sorry, but when I read things like this, it makes me think of an old Dilbert comic:

 

[Lucky Headcannons 63]

Sorry, but when I read things like this, it makes me think of an old Dilbert comic:

 

I see, any way thanks for clearing that up for me I forgot about that.

[A Joe in the Bush 255]

I just thought of a way for Rainbow dash to escape punishment for ruining the Weather Factory. He happens to be best Friends with Discord's Best Friend Fluttershy. I'd bet that Discord could fix the whole city in an hour, and he was reformed in order to use his magic for good anyway.