S06:E08 - A Hearth's Warming Tail

[NeonCobalt 256]

Right so before I get to my thoughts, let me get this pun out of the way: A Christmas Mare-al. HA HA HA, heh, heh, yeah I'll show myself out.

 

Ok, so horrible pun aside, this was a fantastic episode! I guess after six seasons it makes sense that this show would do A Christams Carol at some point. This was a very good rendition. All of the characters were very well cast in their roles in the story, with my personal favorite being Pinkie as the Spirit of Hearthswarming Presents. Having Starlight as Scrooge was also a stroke of genius too, seeing as this entire story could also be seen as very similar to her character arc. The songs were all excellent, with my favorite being "Goodbye to the Holiday". Seriously, Starlight can sing! They need to give her more songs. The Framing segments with the actual characters in present day were also really good. Spike was very well utilized, and provided good comic relief, but only in places where it worked, and it didn't get too annoying. Overall, fantastic episode. 10/10

Edited May 14, 2016 by NeonCobalt

[BlackWater627 700]

 

 

I also sort of wish that this episodes lesson had been something more along the lines of don't force others to agree with you instead of a lesson about the gifts having meaning but that could be just me.

 

I get what you mean and pretty much agree. It would also be nice if they had gone more the Grinch rather than the Carol route at the end and excluded the presents to put the emphasis on the meaning of relationships rather than presents. Starlight could have found out that perhaps...just maybe...Hearth's Warming means a little bit more. 

[Sporemane 545]

This episode was great! I thought they couldn't top "No Second Prances" boy was I wrong. This was like a early Christmas! The characters costumes looked incredible all the songs were well done and even the humor was top notch. It might of bin a Christmas episode in May, but that didn't take away any of the entertainment from this episode.

 

Also we got to see Evil Starlight again which was really great!

Edited May 14, 2016 by Sporemane

[Allen 1,371]

I'll say this is the best Hearth's Warming Eve episode! Also this is the 4th music pony episode too!

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,269]

After last week's, in my opinion, disastrous episode with Newbie Dash, this episode comes along and shows us once again that this show is friggin' awesome. While this type of story has been done over and over and over again, the way it was portrayed here was still really cool. Twilight and Spike were great in the episode, but it is the story that really shines. Mainly because of one huge thing: THE SONGS. Holy wow the songs. They were incredible. I love me some wonderful music in this show and this episode shows how much talent the musicians for this show have. Every song matched the mood perfectly, the instruments used for them, perfect, Luna's song? FRIGGIN, AWESOME. There was also Derpy on a christmas tree. My heart can't take it! D:

 

I am not entirely sure if this is my favorite Hearth's Warming Eve episode only because it is difficult to compare this to the others, but I can say this without hesitation: This is by far my favorite musical episode in the entire show and that is saying a lot, simply because Pinkie Pride exists.

 

Episodes like this remind me exactly why I love this show so much, so thank you DHX for a wonderful and heartwarming experience.

[Sonic5421 423]

That Luna song was the best part.

 

Sure was. Second time we hear Luna sing since "You'll Play Your Part" with Celestia and Cadance.

[snowflame 189]

It was so amazing    True it was not maybe the most original episode (apart from the Grinch addition providing something of a new mix) but originality was not needed with such as perfect execution! Musical episodes are the best, why we can't have more, at least 3 per season.

 

Finally Luna singing! Lol, but it was not really Luna, well I would say it still counts.

 

Edit. I just noticed the Sherlock and Watson ponies! And Snape pony was the best.

Edited May 14, 2016 by snowflame

[Batbrony 15,994]

OK, sorry I'm a bit late to the party everypony, I just needed to absorb and process how amazing that episode was.  Welcome back to another edition of "Batbrony Reviews".  Today's episode is what I would describe as quintessential MLP; something that captured everything we love about the show to begin with while also doing something new (surprisingly considering this holiday, and the story they recycled, are both very well-established).  It also highlighted what I love about Starlight's addition to the main cast this season, namely the fact that her presence gives them the opportunity to retread old stories or themes while making them still seem fresh and new since, obviously, she has not participated in most of the Mane 6's adventures in the past and still has a lot to learn about friendship.  Without further ado, let's dive into "A Hearth's Warming Tale".

 

So let's get this out of the way first: the only bad thing about this episode, the single worst thing about it, is the fact that it released in the middle of May.  That's about as hilarious and ridiculous timing for a Christmas-themed episode as you can get, and it's completely unseasonal in every sense of the word.  It's not a big deal in the slightest, it's just funny is all.

 

 

Hee hee, pissed off Starlight Glimmer please me   

 

That out of the way, let's begin.  So the story is essentially MLP's take on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" with some minor elements of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" thrown in there.  It's Hearth's Warming Eve (yet again, man this show is getting inconsistent with the seasons, I cannot keep track of how they work in Equestria at this point  :awuh:), and everypony in Ponyville is loving it.  Everypony, that is, except Starlight Glimmer.  Turns out she's grown to not see the big deal in Hearth's Warming.  She doesn't think most ponies care about its origins and that the stuff they really care about is superficial, so to fix that, Twilight sets out to tell her her favorite Hearth's Warming story, "A Hearth's Warming Tale".

 

 

We've seen this setup for Christmas episodes in A LOT of shows, but as so often happens in MLP with similar setups like this, what made this stand out was how fantastically everything was executed.  First and foremost, the fact that Twilight approaches this problem by reading Starlight a story is perfect for her!  The show likes to remind us a lot that Twilight is an egghead, but usually for jokes or just to begin solving problems.  An entire episode is rarely covered by her love of reading, so it's nice to see her channeling her bookishness so positively throughout an entire episode.  The other way it surpasses other shows that have done a similar setup before is how it conveys the themes.  There's a lot of parallels you can draw between Starlight's concern that ponies don't really care about the origins of Hearth's Warming and just stuff like presents and parties instead and both Christmas media and people in real life who fear that it's just a superficial, materialistic holiday these days where people don't really care about the more religious aspects of it.  A lot of Christmas media take this approach, but the difference is what conclusion they come to and how they get there.  In some cases you have people try to get people to abandon the materialistic aspects altogether and wholesale go back to the spiritual roots; it's rare, but sometimes happens, and those can be done well, but oftentimes aren't.  The best example of this I can think of is "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which almost entirely foregoes any materialistic aspects of the holiday in favor for a very somber message.  More commonly you have the compromise approach; someone tries to show how the materialistic and spiritual sides of the holiday can complement each other and are both equally important.  This can be executed very well, or horribly.  An example of doing it well would probably be "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"; conversely, a horrible way to do it is in Kirk Cameron's wretched and dreadful "Saving Christmas".

 

What makes this stand out is that it's super rare that a 22 minute television episode could cover these themes as well as MLP does here.  In an episode which includes setup and a conclusion before the actual meat of the episode, we get a wonderful message about how presents, parties, and celebrations with friends and family can, when approached correctly, embody as much of the spirit of a Christmas-like holiday as understanding its roots and celebrating those as well.  Neither aspect is thrown under the bus; Hearth's Warming's origins are just as important as what holiday it has become, so long as they're about the celebration first and foremost.  The celebration of the holiday is what's most important, embodying all the good of where it comes from and what it's led to.  This is as nuanced a message as a full-length Christmas movie could be which convinces an audience that the good to be found in giving presents at Christmas is just as much what Christmas is about as celebrating the birth of Christ, as long as both come from the same place.  It also works perfectly for MLP's setting considering friendship and community, we know by this point, are quite possibly the most central aspect of the most powerful magic in Equestria.  Overall, it was just a wonderful handling of tried and true themes, made all the more impressive by the short amount of time they had to cover them all, and MLP writing at its best.

 

 

 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, these sets are GORGEOUS!!!

 

A huge part of how they were able to execute this episode and deliver its message so well was the fact that it was a musical episode, and a delightful one at that.  First of all, it's about time we got a musical Hearth's Warming Eve episode, not just with one song thrown in at the end.  All of the songs did a great job of telling the story, capturing the spirit of the holiday, and just bringing the episode to life.  This is Daniel Ingram at his best, and my goodness it was delightful to see him get to make music for a holiday episode finally.  It also helps that they chose some of the characters with the best singing voices to carry these songs.  The opening ensemble in Ponyville was fantastic, Starlight Glimmer's Snowfall Frost had yet another great villain song, Ashleigh Ball proved yet again (in my personal favorite song of the episode) that Applejack has possibly the most underrated, gorgeous singing voice on the show in her delightfully simple and nostalgia-inducing number as the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Past, Pinkie had a surprisingly touching but still incredibly bouncy number as the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Presents (HA), and Luna came out of bucking nowhere as the Spirit of Hearth's Warmings Yet to Come and, in her first number since "You'll Play Your Part" since Season 4 (and first solo ever) absolutely KILLED IT!!!  Finally, the episode ended on a lovely ensemble with all the ponies celebrating.  Through and through, each number was delightful and thematically seemed to cover different aspects of the holiday season, making for an excellent way to convey the episode's message and themes.  The tunes themselves did not just tell the story, they told the themes, and that's quite impressive if you ask me.  By far one of the most impressive musical achievements on the show in some time, I loved every minute of the music in this episode and once again have to tip my cap to the always phenomenal Daniel Ingram on an incredible job well-done.

 

 

I was particularly fond of this number, but they were all phenomenal in their own ways

 

 

 

Dang, Luna got HUGE!  You been working out girl?

 

Besides those two big points, there's not too much more to cover.  It was "A Christmas Carol" MLP-style, so no reason to go over the story really, they just updated it in a few ways for the purposes of the setting.  The fact that main characters yet again assumed the roles of these story characters was a nice callback to the first Hearth's Warming episode where they staged the pageant in Canterlot together.  Twilight was adorable as she told the story, especially when it was suggested that she was actually singing the song numbers as she read.  I would have liked to see a bit more of Starlight's reactions as the story went on, but that's forgivable considering they could only fit so much into one episode.

 

The animation was probably the most gorgeous we've ever had for a Hearth's Warming episode; we've never seen Ponyville celebrating it, and it did not disappoint, the whole town and Twilight's castle simply came to life entirely as they should for this celebration, not to mention the animators also got to play around with lovely 19th century Victorian-style animation for the "A Hearth's Warming Tale" setting in old Canterlot and other surrounding towns.  That Snape-pony was kind of hilarious (seriously, who else could they possibly be referencing with that guy?  ), and I seriously couldn't get enough of that older setting, especially the outfits!  Holy cheese, those outfits were amazing!!!  My personal favorite was Applejack's and Rarity's, and for the former that's quite a testament to how great the design and animation were considering AJ was pretty much one color palette in her whole design.  It just had this simple elegance to it as so many other dresses AJ has worn have had, and showed once again why I adore little things like that with her character when they just tweak her ever so slightly and have her step outside of her comfort zone and adorn things she normally wouldn't.

 

 

Get rekt, m8   

 

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the background ponies.  In the both the present and story-setting we got to see some of our favorite familiar faces from around Ponyville (I was especially pleased to see Blossomforth and Cloud Kicker get some nice screen time, those two sometimes get overlooked), and it was loads of fun getting to see all of Ponyville celebrating the holiday.  My personal favorite of course (because I'm me) was Derpy becoming the best Hearth's Warming Eve star EVER, but nearly all of the major background ponies got some sort of fun appearance, and you can tell that the animators had a lot of fun playing around with them on this one.  Overall, as I said earlier, this was about as quintessential MLP as we can get: it had a great message, story, pacing, animation, music, humor, and just great everything in general.  It's possibly my favorite Hearth's Warming episode they've done to date, though I'll have to think about that carefully considering the Season 2 one is pretty darn amazing in its own right.  If you haven't seen it yet, check it out as soon as you can; as for me, I can't wait to see it a second time as soon as possible.  That's all I got for ya'll today, everypony.  Until next week, this is Batbrony signing out.  I'm off! *cue dramatic exit*

 

 

 

I think we can all agree that best Hearth's Warming Tree Star was the best part of this episode   

Finally Luna singing! Lol, but it was not really Luna, well I would say it still counts.

 

Actually Luna sang previously in "You'll Play Your Part" in Season 4, but it wasn't a solo.

 

[BlackWater627 700]

 

 

After last week's, in my opinion, disastrous episode with Newbie Dash, this episode comes along and shows us once again that this show is friggin' awesome.

My sentiments so much. I was hoping for this episode to get back to the awesomeness we love and...yep. It did.  

 

I'm also not sure if this is my favorite Hearth's episode. It is indeed hard to compare. I like this one for different reasons and it was more musical than the others too so there's that. If I had to just give my favorite regardless, I might say Hearthbreakers. So much <3 in that episode. 

 

Now Hasbro needs to release an official soundtrack including these songs. Come on. I've bought all the other soundtracks. They better not make me rip the songs to my phone. 

[Sonic5421 423]

This was an amazing third Hearth's Warming/Christmas episode! Tons of songs from Daniel Ingram, a nice My Little Pony Friendship is Magic version of A Christmas Carol, Starlight getting into the spirit after hearing a story from Twilight, tons of cameos from background and secondary characters, and Princess Luna having her second singing appearance along with her third appearance overall in this season!

 

This episode gets a perfect 10/10 from me!

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

 

Twilight: Well, the party was—

 

Spike: Wait! Can we take a quick break? I need to refill my cocoa.

 

Twilight: *groan* Fine.

 

*Spike leaves*

 

Twilight: But hurry up! We're almost to the best part!

 

Anypony else found this super hilarious? I laughed way too hard from this. XD

Edited May 14, 2016 by Dark Qiviut

[Scootie 108]

Eh, looks like I'm going against the crowd here, because I found this episode really boring and uneventful. I've never really enjoyed adaptations of well known stories and it was no different here. This episode brought nothing new to the Charles Dickens story and therefore didn't grab my interest once. The songs were good, I guess, and I may go and listen to a few again, but felt they were just to cover up the really boring storyline. This episode didn't do anything interesting with Starlight either so she still feels like a really bland character to me. Her change of heart about HWE was really sudden and out of nowhere, and I don't see how Twilight reading her a fictional story could have helped.

 

I'd say I liked Newbie Dash better than this episode. I can see myself easily watching that episode a few more times due to pure entertainment value, but I would struggle to get through this again. Which sucks, because I've loved all the other musical episodes, Crusaders being far and away my favorite.

 

Random comments:

• Rainbow acting as Starlight's assistant? After her lackluster episode last week in which she messes up and has many bad things happened to her? Wow, she really IS the new Spike.
• Didn't see Luna as the Future coming. I was expecting Twilight. Glad she got herself a new singing voice as I always found it quite jarring that she sounded exactly like Rarity when singing.
• All the old fashioned outfits were really nice.
• Rarity's parents were there! Good to see they're still alive. Thought something had happened to them as Sweetie has spent a lot of time with her sister recently, and they didn't show up for her Cutecinera.  

[snowflame 189]

 

 

Actually Luna sang previously in "You'll Play Your Part" in Season 4, but it wasn't a solo.

 

 

 

I knew that, I was just too excited so I accidentally wrote that instead of first solo number 

 

In any case, a gret review. The message between both remembering the origins of the holiday and appreciating the current ways or celebration was wonderfully phrased.

[Fluttershyfan94 5,738]

So many references, Derpy as a Christmas ornament would be awesome also Luna's singing gave me goosebumps it was great I liked it.

[twiia 1,842]

I've finally watched it, and it was great! I think I liked the Luna's Future song. Was this a musical episode?

[JonasDarkmane 19,777]

I loved it. I thought that they really caught the Christmas Carol spirit rather well  

 

Also, when the spirit of Death or the Future came, just... wow.. that was pretty well handled . I was wondering how they would do that part and they did not disappoint  

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,269]

I've finally watched it, and it was great! I think I liked the Luna's Future song. Was this a musical episode?

It seems that it was, and in my opinion, this was the best musical episode in the entire show so far. Luna's song was nothing short of epic and powerful.

[LunaLover92 315]

I really liked this episode mainly because it was a pony take on "A Christmas Carol" (one of my fave holiday stories) loved the Snape pony, Luna as the ghost of Christmas yet to come! etc, what I can say I loved

everything about this episode

Edited May 14, 2016 by LunaLover92

[viper213 224]

i loved it waiting for the gif of twilight saying the reason is to be with your friends i need that as my profile pic squee over all i liked the episode i cant find anything wrong with it

[Goat-kun 2,497]

The episode was a modified Christmas Carol and it’s quite hard to screw that up. They didn’t. It was good. Though, I do hope that such episodes associated with other specific works are few and far in-between, and that this is not the pinnacle of what pony has to offer. Jim pls.

[Cleverclover 1,525]

Anypony else found this super hilarious? I laughed way too hard from this. XD

 

Too bad we missed the potentially awkwardish scene between Twilight and Starlight as they waited for him. 

 

Twilight: "So, umm, are you ready for your inevitable change of heart yet?"

 

Starlight: "Eh...I'm getting there." 

Edited May 14, 2016 by Cleverclover

[chronos911 22]

This episode did nothing for me.  Pointless episode.  It felt like they just shoe horned a Christmas episode in there just because well we've got to have one every season right?   I really hope there's an episode soon that advances the plot in some way because another friendship lesson for Starlight glimmer just aint going to cut it.  

[CastletonSnob 3,025]

I'm worried about next week's episode.

[Scootaloo Is Best Filly 576]

I can't believe I am saying this, but, if this is the kind of episode churned out after a "okay" episode the week before I'm fine with that. Excellent episode 10/10. My only problem is it felt a little rushed. I think with one less song , they may had been able to make the story not feel as rushed.

 

But, other then that major WIN. And the snape pony was amazing. I loved this little twist of a very classic Christmas book and movie.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Really, really freaking bland.

This isn't a BAD episode; its not like newbie dash or princess spike. but its HORRIBLY forgetable. There's just nothing really great about it.
Starlight still continues to be boring and bland, and the songs just felt phoned in and not on par with other greats (like Winter wrap up or welcome to the show). Rainbow dash feels like a caricature of herself that can only scream "AWESOME!" (continuing on from the horribly painful newbie dash), Rarity and Fluttershy were just THERE, spike might as well not have been in it...

 

The first seven minutes with Starlight, twilight and the intro to the book were pure boringness; it perked up once we got to AJ, but before then I was yawning my head off. AJ was surprisingly good as the ghost of christmas past and her song was pretty nice, and I liked her interaction with starlight (A nice ray of sunlight in the episode), but Pinkie was just a random ADHD idiot and dragged the episode back down. Luna picked it back up by being an incredibly good ghost of christmas yet to come due to her dark nature, but still couldn't save the episode (And it dropped back down again immediately after she left)

 

 

6/10. Pretty damned slow, songs that are bland, I STILL don't give a crap about starlight as a character and find her boring and without chemistry, and overall just really phoned it.
Its not BAD. I didn't hate sitting through it. But its not anywhere near up to the standards the show should have-- and given how mediocre this season is, 1/3 of the way through, this is a bad sign that we still aren't getting A or B titles reliably.

/yawn, please let this be the last Starlight episode till the finale (As I KNOW its going to be a starlight power hour since she's the entire theme of this season), as she is just BORING.
More AJ though please.