S06:E08 - A Hearth's Warming Tail

[CrystalRarity 119]

Besides the songs, this episode was really really boring. I had to put it down with some of my least enjoyed episodes of the entire show. The story didn't do anything for me since it has been parodied countless times in other shows.

I don't get it, why do so many people like this episode? Someone please explain to me what is so great about it

I don't get it, why do so many people like this episode? Someone please explain to me what is so great about it

There's 13 pages of thoughts you can read through~  Not all the posts will explain what's great about it for your reading convenience, but a goodly amount are relevantly positive.

[Indigo Zap 12]

When I saw the trailer for this I honestly thought starlight was evil again but then when I actually saw the episode it was a Christmas Carol ponified. The songs in this episode were amazing, catchy, and pleasingly to listen to. Unfortunately at the time of this post the season is on hiatus but at least we know some episode titles.

[Everfree Whisky 10]

Well, episode was really cool. One of my fav from this season. (Probably cuz of Luna Future song)
I'm a simple man, I see Luna - I give 10/10

[maxl28 21]

So, I'm trying to catch up with all the new episodes and I watched this one a couple of minutes ago.

 

The episode started out alright, christmas cheering and happiness, the usual stuff.

Then, appearance: Starlight stating "I was thinking I might just skip it. [...] I just find it all a little silly".

 

Now that got me excited. I was thinking that they decided to make an episode teaching kids that some people (like non-christians) don't necessarily partake in those kind of holiday. After some exchanges between Twily and Starlight, she decides to read a story to her pupil.

 

A few seconds in I realized it was a classic "Charles Dickens: A christmal carol" and thought "Hey, why not, everyone does that!". After some decent singing and the well known storyline, the grand finale took me aback. Apparently, who ever was in charge of the episode thought it was a good idea to finish with the Aesop "You whole country will be doomed if not for this holiday / custom, so you better participate".

 

Now, this is something I certainly don't agree with. After that, I had little hope left that Starlight, who at least voiced some scepsis wouldn't take the bait. I was let down, the episode finished with her participating without any further internal or external conflict nor reasoning.

 

 

The whole episode, at least in my humble opinion states that you should do what everyone else does and is not a lesson in acceptance and all those other important things.

 

Please correct me if you see any error in my reasoning, but this is how I experienced this episode and I'm quite sad about that development.

 

 

PS: Discussions, corrections and constructive critique are more than welcome  :-P

[Sparklefan1234 169,785]

As lover of both Christmas & A Christmas Carol adaptations I think this episode is awesome.

 

Especially, the casting for the Ghosts of Hearths Warming.

[Aurora Storm 83]

I loved this episode for the music, the casting of the characters as the Christmas Carrol, my favorite songs were in the beginning where Fluttershy and RD harmonize. They sound so good together. AJ is an awesome singer, and Pinkie Pie's song was just awesome and fun. I found it interesting that Kazumi Evans didn't voice Luna in the last song, instead it was done by Aloma Steele. (I thought she sounded different and I looked it up and sure enough, different voice actress.) Anyone else catch that?

[Sonic5421 423]

I loved this episode for the music, the casting of the characters as the Christmas Carrol, my favorite songs were in the beginning where Fluttershy and RD harmonize. They sound so good together. AJ is an awesome singer, and Pinkie Pie's song was just awesome and fun. I found it interesting that Kazumi Evans didn't voice Luna in the last song, instead it was done by Aloma Steele. (I thought she sounded different and I looked it up and sure enough, different voice actress.) Anyone else catch that?

 

I caught it. Interesting that they had a different singing V.A. for Luna instead of Kazumi.

[Pinky_Music 66]

I loved this episode for the music, the casting of the characters as the Christmas Carrol, my favorite songs were in the beginning where Fluttershy and RD harmonize. They sound so good together. AJ is an awesome singer, and Pinkie Pie's song was just awesome and fun. I found it interesting that Kazumi Evans didn't voice Luna in the last song, instead it was done by Aloma Steele. (I thought she sounded different and I looked it up and sure enough, different voice actress.) Anyone else catch that?

 

I'm with you there about Flutters and RD harmonizing. This was seen again when they sing in 'Flutter Brutter'.

 

I'd love to ask Andrea/Ashleigh how fun it was singing those parts together.

[Aurora Storm 83]

I'm with you there about Flutters and RD harmonizing. This was seen again when they sing in 'Flutter Brutter'.

 

I'd love to ask Andrea/Ashleigh how fun it was singing those parts together.

Yes! ( I am behind as I watch them only on Netflix when time permits.) I loved it. I was hoping for new duets between the two since May the Best Pet Win.

[Luminance 2,186]

I've realized how just plain cute Twilight is in this episode. Her willingness to teach weary Starlight about Heartswarming and to give her Pinkie Pie impression truly made her absolute cute pony in this holiday episode.

[ChB 18,550]

This is the best Season 6 episode I've seen, so far!! (Only saw the first eight, at the moment). Both the musical and the story are classical (not cliche).

 

 

My only criticism is that I wish the Dark Spirit would rebuke Starlight more illustratively, rather than being so "in you face" about it. Other than that, awesome episode!!

 

Edited September 5, 2016 by ChB

[Rainbow Dash 1,472]

Bah Humbug, the biggest mistake of this episode was not making it a two parter. You can't Parody A Christmas Carol without making it at least one full hour. Other than that it was pretty ok.

[Thrond 3,263]

I love how Snowfall Frost perfectly reflects Starlight Glimmer and everything which is fascinating about her. I love how Twilight is a total dork, possibly just reading Starlight the story because it makes her feel good. I love how Starlight takes so strongly to the story and joins the other ponies. I love how every song here is easily among the show's best ever. I love how the show has never been prettier. I love how Snowfall gets so wrapped up in her own ego and viewpoint that she can't see others' points of view, or even how her actions affect others. I love how being shown the past, present and future clearly affects her profoundly - she's making the wrong decisions for the wrong reasons, but that doesn't mean she can't change. 

 

 

This episode is just about perfect, and I love it so much. 

 

Score:

Entertainment: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Themes: 10/10

Story: 10/10

Overall: 100/100

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

 

 

perfect

"Perfect" is a bit of a stretch   I find calling an episode "perfect" is not right (i cant get used to hear that word from a critic ), just call it a "Total Satisfaction" 

[Thrond 3,263]

"Perfect" is a bit of a stretch   I find calling an episode "perfect" is not right (i cant get used to hear that word from a critic ), just call it a "Total Satisfaction" 

Well, it's as close as an episode can get, anyway. 

[Thrond 3,263]

"Seeds of the Past" > "Pinkie's Present" > "Hearth's Warming Eve is Here Once Again" > "Luna's Future" > "Say Goodbye to the Holiday"

 

"Seeds of the Past" and "Pinkie's Present" are two of the most universal, truthful, poignant and artful scenes in the entire show. Possibly the best songs this show has ever had, and that's saying something - I legitimately don't know how it can ever top those. Kinda easy to forgive the weakness of most songs this season, since *every song this episode* is one of the show's very best. Just insanely good. 

Plus I've reached the point where I can't listen to "Seeds of the Past" without bursting into tears, so there's that. 

[Thrond 3,263]

Seeing Snowdash celebrating made Snowfall Frost aware of the emptiness in her life. At that point, she realized that she'd never allowed herself any happiness, and that her values were by no means incompatible with the celebration of Hearth's Warming. At that point, her defenses were down, and she was probably teetering on the edge of changing her mind. The first two spirits made her aware of her own emotional walls and then aware of what she could have if she let them fall down. They reminded her that her current path is defined as much by pain as it is by determination, perhaps a desire to prove herself above all else - and then showed her that she can let go of this pain, that she has nothing left to prove. 

 

The final spirit might seem like overkill, but it was necessary for pushing Snowfall towards fully accepting Hearth's Warming for others if not for herself, and causing her to stop her efforts to remove it from pony history. In the original story, Scrooge is visited by the cursed soul of a business partner, and the final spirit shows him his grave. Snowfall is motivated much more by a vision of what's "right" than Scrooge, and so it would take nothing short of the ruination of Equestria to cause her to change her ways - and that's exactly what the Spirit shows her. Fundamentally, this alters the themes of the story. It's A Christmas Carol, and yet at the same time it isn't. 

 

What it is, though, is one of the show's absolute greatest accomplishments, a perfect episode which I see myself watching every Christmas from here on out. It's full of universal truths and deep characters, connects directly back to the series in a variety of ways, and is an absolute delight to watch on top of that. It makes me happy and never grows old. The show just doesn't get much better than this. 

 

100/100

 

Also: did anyone notice that Snowdash tells Snowfall that she's "missing the point"? That's the same thing Starlight was told in "Every Little Thing She Does." The writers must have put a lot of thought into her arc this season! 

[Pastel 7,630]

As good as the first Hearth's Warming episode imo. It was really in the spirit of Christmas/Hearth's Warming Eve/whatever. As others said, Twilight was really in her character here.

I liked the songs, except maybe the last one, it was a bit too much.

Edited September 21, 2017 by Blobulle

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

It was a good Episode and another cool Adaptation of the Christmas Carol, only one of the Songs in german, didnt sound as good as i hoped, i think the Luna one is better in english.

[Nye 1,652]

I really enjoyed this episode! There was a lot of great music! And it was one of the better "A Christmas Carol" parodies I have seen!  

[Jonny Music 3,400]

4 hours ago, Nye said:

I really enjoyed this episode! There was a lot of great music! And it was one of the better "A Christmas Carol" parodies I have seen!  

Same here! I loved this episode a lot for many aspects, especially the music selection. So much so that I got to making these organ arrangements which do the songs so much more justice.
 

 

Edited February 1, 2018 by Jonny Music

[Ruddboy Olaf 10,628]

Honestly, besides the songs, particularly Snowfall's villain song, I didn't really care for this episode.
I just felt that it was too one-sided about celebrating holidays and it wasn't even subtle about it. I was especially disappointed that the story worked on Starlight. 
I was expecting the episode to be clever and end it with her being unimpressed and skipping the holiday, but we get the cliche change of heart.

 

Maybe it's cause I'm a Scrooge, but this episode just didn't do it for me. 

[bigbertha 414]

This episode is really good except for one big problem. The episode forgets why the Ghost of Christmas Future works. It's a mystery. It doesn't show its face and simply guides Scrooge towards the hard truth leading to Scrooge finding it out for himself, leaving a much bigger impact. This episode has the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Future sing a melodramatic song and tell Snowfall what she did wrong. It would've been much more emotional if it was just Snowfall waking around the destroyed town making the realization that she did it for herself. At least, the song the spirit sings could've been more quite and thoughtful instead of loud and bombastic.

The rest of the episode is pretty good. The songs (aside from "Luna's Future") are really great and there's a nice parallel between Starlight and Snowfall, weaving this episode into Starlight's character arc. The episode also has a great Christmas atmosphere, more so than the other Christmas episodes.

Score: 8/10

 

[qwerE 96]

This was a very cool episode, though I think it lacks a bit storywise. I liked looking at how everypony looked in the past, and the music was fantastic. I liked Luna's song the most, and all the others were also really cheerful.

The story was a bit simple, but I guess there wouldn't be enough time for the songs otherwise. I liked the songs, so that's okay

Edited November 8, 2018 by qwerE

[Sparklefan1234 169,785]

I just realized that "A Hearth's Warming Tail" didn't have a "Tiny Tim". 

Well, it did, but he wasn't important to the story. 

Edited December 12, 2018 by Sparklefan1234