S05:E25+26 - The Cutie Re-Mark

[ErisPegasus 56]

There are flaws with this ep, but 'predictable' doesn't seem to be one of them.

 

 

1. Who was expecting Applejack to still be working at the farm in the Sombra timeline? Or for Rarity and Fluttershy to assume jobs involving sewing and animals, respectively?

 

 

I at least thought the alternate timelines would show the Mane 6 in different jobs, having not gotten their original cutie marks. Instead they portray the villains taking over, with the Mane 6 members having small appearances. I assume it would gave been the reverse should this have been a slice of life hypothetical instead of an epic two-parter.

 

 

2. In each timeline, the Mane 6 members still have their original cutie marks.

 

 

I didn't predict this. It seems the importance was not the individual's talent, but that they gained it from the exact same event as the others - the Sonic Rainboom. This could have some implications for cutie mark lore - that they are determined in advance, rather than contingent on a single moment.

 

How does this help the ep? Well, for all the changes, it was smart for the writers to show what stayed the same.

 

 

3. From the promo, who was expecting Sweet Apple Acres to be industrialised due to Flim and Flam taking over?

 

*Raises hand*

 

It turned out that, yes, they did take over, but in a completely different timeline. The apple farm was industrialised because of the war. Having Flim and Flam own the Apple farm in Sombraverse would have been the predictable choice.

 

 

4. Was anyone expecting Zecora to have such a prominent role in one of the timelines?

 

 

5. Who was expecting a war-torn Equestria? Who was expecting Sombra to jam intimidating armour onto the Crystal ponies and force them to battle? Who was expecting Rainbow Dash with a prosthetic wing?

 

 

6. Who was expecting Twilight to lose her wings, or for Spike to stop existing?

 

 

Nope, she keeps them throughout the two-parter, and Spike isn't unhatched. I found this particularly striking, since Starlight's intent to ruin Twilight's life was clear to me weeks before the ep aired. In that case, wouldn't it make sense for her to steal Twilight's spot as Princess or stop her Number 1 Assistant from being born? Both of these make perfect causal sense: Twilight never gets into magic school and Spike is never born if the Rainboom doesn't take place. I understand why the writers didn't, because ripple-effect logic isn't for everyone, but it was a missed opportunity considering Starlight's motive was to get revenge on Twilight. Having the temporal changes directly effect Twilight and Spike instead of leaving them alone would have been icing on the cake.

 

 

7. Who was expecting a timeline where Starlight takes over, equalises everyone, and/or becomes an alicorn herself?

 

 

One of the teasers on the MLP Facebook page suggesting an equalised timeline, but we never received one.

Edited February 18, 2016 by ErisPegasus

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,694]

Finally, I'm ready to watch this.

 

Can the show recreate the charismatic, complex, and indomitable Starlight Glimmer I disagreed with--but respected--in The Cutie Map? I don't know, and I'm worried about what's supposed to happen with her at the end. (I've heard a few rumors but no major spoilers.) But I'm going in with cautious optimism.

 

The finale doesn't waste any time getting started. Starlight has gone back in time. That's an AWESOME idea. The first issue I have is that Starlight, upon encountering Twi and Spike, acts too much like a generic baddie and not enough like herself. The second issue is what she does with her temporal magic. Hear me out: if you were Starlight and you could go back to any time and place and meddle with history in any way you desired, would you bother messing around with the Mane 6 and the Sonic Rainboom at all?

 

Of course not! You would alter history in a way that would actually make your dream a reality, or at least protects that (shiver) NICE village of yours. What Starlight's doing just isn't right for her character. I know she's supposed to be mean and unwise, but she's also supposed to be principled--at least in her own twisted way. This is just petty.

 

Twilight, with all her alicorn magic, still can't defeat Starlight in a fight; I liked that unexpected wrinkle, and the Nightmare Moon world is a lot of fun too. The ending...well, that's my third issue. Starlight's backstory is interesting but doesn't seem traumatic enough to produce the "Mayor Marx" we know, and her reformation just isn't convincing. No speech by Twilight should be enough to make her turn her back on her radical beliefs. I feel very strongly that if she ever discovers she is wrong, she could only do it on her own and over a period of years. Picture it: she tries to make her vision work over and over in carefully calculated scenarios, and time and again it ends in disaster.

 

If Starlight absolutely MUST be reformed, and the only one who can stop her is herself...at least have her do it with style.

 

It's all very sweet and they made a noble effort, but this wasn't really satisfying for me. It had the potential to be something spectacular, but conceptually, it was just OK.  -_-

 

On the bright side, there must be some pretty good AU fics out there... 

[BlackWater627 700]

Feels like I'm kinda double-posting here, even though my last post was, like, way back in December.

 

I, like pretty much everyone else, enjoyed this finale, but I feel like the morals they were trying to go for got a little confusing, and the plot had some pretty unfortunate implications regarding the Mane Six's friendship and Equestria. For that reason I actually enjoyed the Season 4 Finale more...I dunno, maybe it's 'cause of Tirek's pretty awesome villainy coupled with a story arc they were building up since Princess Twilight Sparkle Part 2.

 

Well, both enders had epic elements but this one was more about escaping and convincing rather than outright defeating. Quite a different flavor. I really enjoyed both but for different reasons. It's hard to compare them when it's like apples and oranges. Furious Twi battling Tirek was awesome, but I'm glad they took a different route for season 5. Some people were getting tired of the redemption theme but I say that without it the world would be a very depressing place where villains are always villains and can never hope to change. One thing I would like to see more of is Rainbow Power from the season 4 ender. It's awesome but completely underused. 

[hollow-shades 129]

eh, Starlight redemption was too rushed.

 

Seriously, the ponies on Our Town redemeed her in 2 seconds when she has been manipulating them for YEARS.

 

Also, ruining the whole Equestria because of a friend? Sure, he was close and stuff but seriously, Drama Queen Glimmer.

[Star treker. 4]

I liked it alot, it was awesome.

[Midnight Oil 5]

I was hoping for an Equalestria timeline but never got it. Liked the sort of-FO:E timeline, though.

[MovieLord101 140]

Well, both enders had epic elements but this one was more about escaping and convincing rather than outright defeating. Quite a different flavor. I really enjoyed both but for different reasons. It's hard to compare them when it's like apples and oranges. Furious Twi battling Tirek was awesome, but I'm glad they took a different route for season 5. Some people were getting tired of the redemption theme but I say that without it the world would be a very depressing place where villains are always villains and can never hope to change. One thing I would like to see more of is Rainbow Power from the season 4 ender. It's awesome but completely underused. 

 

I though the Rainbow Power was a one-time deal? The only other time it's been show was in Luna's dream in S5, but that wasn't real!

[ImpctR 155]

My most fave episode so far of all seasons was Twilight's Kingdom the season 4 finale. After watching this episode again I just can't put this episode any lower, so the Se05 finale for me is equally the best episode of all seasons. I cannot say Twi's Kingdom was lesser either, as many things happened but this episode.. wow. For the first time we see Twilight or even the Mane 6 unable to solve a problem and the only way of that happening is convincing Starlight to not stop the sonic rainboom or anything to change the course of time. I admire this power of SG. It doesn't bother me at all that 'time travel cannot happen' or  'are these the only outcomes' - as they showed some of what many others could happen but they had to fit them in the 2 part episodes

 

Even after watching it again now - The cataclysm/wasteland scenario made my eyes wet with tears. I love such plots and about going to a future where everything has changed in the timeline.

 

Also since I rewatched the episode, now I noticed SG sitting at the lecture, the first time I watched I didn't. It was so interesting I was like watching with fear, what would happen next!

 

Season 5 was a great season with lots of shipping but I liked it for the interesting Luna based episode (Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep), I liked Scare Master, The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone, Make New Friends but Keep Discord and The Hooffields and McColts for funniest,  and I think overall had more of the nice episodes than previous seasons, now I cant wait to see Starlight taking part in some 'quest' the Mane 6 will be sent to in next season, are they now mane 7? 7 is symbolic number

Edited March 5, 2016 by ImpctR

[MovieLord101 140]

My most fave episode so far of all seasons was Twilight's Kingdom the season 4 finale. After watching this episode again I just can't put this episode any lower, so the Se05 finale for me is equally the best episode of all seasons. I cannot say Twi's Kingdom was lesser either, as many things happened but this episode.. wow. For the first time we see Twilight or even the Mane 6 unable to solve a problem and the only way of that happening is convincing Starlight to not stop the sonic rainboom or anything to change the course of time. I admire this power of SG. It doesn't bother me at all that 'time travel cannot happen' or  'are these the only outcomes' - as they showed some of what many others could happen but they had to fit them in the 2 part episodes

 

Even after watching it again now - The cataclysm/wasteland scenario made my eyes wet with tears. I love such plots and about going to a future where everything has changed in the timeline.

 

Also since I rewatched the episode, now I noticed SG sitting at the lecture, the first time I watched I didn't. It was so interesting I was like watching with fear, what would happen next!

 

Season 5 was a great season with lots of shipping but I liked it for the interesting Luna based episode (Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep), I liked Scare Master, The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone, Make New Friends but Keep Discord and The Hooffields and McColts for funniest,  and I think overall had more of the nice episodes than previous seasons, now I cant wait to see Starlight taking part in some 'quest' the Mane 6 will be sent to in next season, are they now mane 7? 7 is symbolic number

 

We've got more than just shipping. We got a FLEET of ships!

 

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,671]

Thinking about it, Starlight may not have even needed plot armor to succeed. Think about it, would it have mattered if Twilight was winning? Don't forget, the timeline got messed up because the fillies and colts decided that they would rather watch the fight rather than continue the race. This would have happened regardless if Starlight was getting her flank served to her -- all she would have needed to do was stay in the fight long enough to make a scene. Could you imagine an injured exhausted Starlight Glimmer looking up smugly to Twilight and saying to her face: "Not even brute force can get you out of this one, Twilight." Then, when Twilight comes back from an altered timeline, she is met with Starlight at full strength. She could have written in a spell that lets her choose when to travel back in time to before Twilight shows up, giving her ample time to recover from any injury she may have sustained battling Twilight.

Edited March 7, 2016 by SunBurn

[Th3 Arb1tur 26]

Cause we gotta go back in t-i-i-i-ime!

Cause we gotta go back in t-i-i-i-ime!

[AtomicStone 723]

This HAS to rank amongst my favourite episodes of all the seasons. Loved how they included all of the villains too. Loved it!

[The Nth Doctor 652]

So, at the end of the day, I liked the episode up until the reveal of why Starlight started her Equality Cult

 

But, hey, kids show, so obviously we can't have anything too dark/graphic

[LegendKitten 25]

Did anyone notice something funny? In the episode, Twilight kept saying that every timeline she visits gets worse and worse. And the last timeline is Film Flam brothers. FlimFlam> Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, and Sombra. Geez.

[Burizinatu 91]

O MY GOSH O MY GOSH !!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS EPISODE IS AWESOME GREATFUL PERFECT !!!!!!

Starlight: Clap clap clap

me: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Pastel 7,627]

Very "sober" season finale, I loved it!

However, it was too much focused on Twilight. Basically it's 40 minutes of Twilight, Spike and Starlight Glimmer, only 3 characters...

 

Really nice scene when Starlight decides to give up.

[ScootsRiver 1]

I seriously did not like Cutie Re-Mark, and my biggest gripe toward it is the end. Starlights motive, to be specific. Mostly because it didn't even make sense for that to be why she did what she did, because what she did was make everybody equal so nobody would feel superior, or inferior. Her motive was her friend leaving...

 

Oh, you expected more? Sorry, there isn't any.

[Unamed 0]

Did anyone notice something funny? In the episode, Twilight kept saying that every timeline she visits gets worse and worse. And the last timeline is Film Flam brothers. FlimFlam> Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, and Sombra. Geez.

Yeah that some quite a strange.

What we see in 1 episode? War with Crystal Empire hmm ok.In second episode? Guerilla war(lost war) with Chrysalis.

Third? Stability society with NMM in main ruler. No war. Everypony do their best. No way to useless guards. But way for who can do their best(Rainbow Dash in bodyguards? of Moon)

And this worser than War?

[Sonic5421 423]

His timeline was actually the most lighthearted of all, IMO.

 

Turning Celestia and Luna into clowns vs. causing an apocalypse like everypony else ain't too bad, IMO.

 

Yeah, and truth be told, I actually liked Celestia and Luna in their clown outfits in the Discord timeline as at least there, they are still around, even if now they have been reduced to the humiliating state of being Discord's personal clowns/jesters for him to play with for eternity since they no longer had the Elements of Harmony to use against him.

 

I mean, look at them:

 

They may be Discord's playthings, but don't they look cute as clowns?

 

This is my favorite of the alternate timelines.

One little thing I've noticed is that in the Discordverse, we see that Luna is reverted back to her regular self. Since she was still in the moon during the events of the Sonic Rainboom, her appearing like that caught me by surprise, but it's easy to not realise this during your first watch. It doesn't sour my viewing experience, but it's just an odd observation.

 

Discord probably let her out and reverted her back to Luna from Nightmare Moon so that way, he would have both Royal Sisters to torture for eternity after he usurped them of their thrones again to become the King of Chaos once more.

also the dischord future seems to be the least terrible future

 

I liked how luna and celestia had afros

 

Yeah, out of all the alternate futures, Discord's was my favorite since at least there, Celestia and Luna were together, even if it was to be Discord's personal jesters/clowns to torture for eternity after usurping them of their thrones again since they did not have the Elements of Harmony to beat him a second time.

 

[powerpuff-tsubasa 447]

a very fairly satisfied ending with too much ups and downs. glad that starlight chose to surrender.

[Amethyst Splash 86]

It was awesome! Starlight is actually really powerful..... not pretty powerful.

[twiia 1,842]

IT WAS THE BEST EPISODE I EVER WATCHED!!! YAY

[powerpuff-tsubasa 447]

I'm a bit upset that this has happened, losing your friends and everything that has ever happened to you. Imagine that just go down the drain one day because of Starlight Glimmer and that would be hard to take in. No pony can be equal and changing the timeline only makes things worse. A great close to season 5 and the biggest troll pony ever.

ohohoho. that face made me felt giddy about starlight

[Midnight Seashell 206]

Congrats guys every fanfic and headcanon is now canon

[Rainbow Dash 1,471]

Man, I don't know about you guys but the last part was super disappointing. Sure, the episode was awesome but they buggered up the ending.

 

I get that this is all about Friendship and acceptance, but STOP TRYING TO REFORM THE VILLIANS! Holy hoof grenades, Batstallion! If there are anymore reformed villains then you won't have a season 7.

 

Oh, and she was a butt because she had abandonment issues? Come on! I feel like they dug at the very bottom of the idea bucket and pulled out a mediocre plot.

 

YOU COULD HAVE DONE AN AWESOME SUPERMAN REFERENCE HASBRO!!