S06:E08 - A Hearth's Warming Tail

[astral ice 6]

can we just all appreciate how magnificent lunas song was

[Thrond 3,263]

Rainbow Dash talks about making "awesome snow," but I don't think such a thing exists. 

Shout out to Twilight getting distracted by her hero worship for Starswirl. Shame she found out he was a jerk. 

This pony is cute: 

Doesn't Snowfall know that cauldrons are for cooking and potions? Using it for magic seems like a waste of a cauldron. 

Turns out ghosts are cold. Seems like a good reason not to summon ghosts. 

The teacher is the only major character in this episode who Twilight doesn't imagine as one of her friends. Could it be someone else she knows?

The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Presents says buy My Little Pony toys for your children this Christmas. 

Are these even the characters' real names, or did Twilight alter them to be more like her friends? 

You know, I think Spirit of Hearth's Warming Future might be kinda redundant, but I'm glad we got that scene, because it's just so good. 

It can be argued that Snowfall gives in a bit too easily... but that's part of the joy of this episode. Snowfall isn't really a bad person. She didn't need to be shamed into doing good. She just needed to acknowledge her own pain, to recognize what she's missing, and to realize the consequences of her actions. She may have repressed the little filly we see in the past, but that goodness is still inside of her. 

And the story helped Starlight understand that, y'know, maybe silly songs and fun aren't such a bad thing. It's something you do with friends, and friends are something that she's longed for her entire life. She started a cult because she was so afraid of losing friends to something arbitrary. She knows now that this was a silly fear... and so she can identify with Snowfall, who was also a decent person led astray by loneliness and confusion. 

Did Twilight just use Starlight's doubt as an excuse to read a favourite story? It's almost like inspiring Starlight to recognize the virtue of Hearth's Warming was a happy coincidence, but she must have known how Starlight would see herself in Snowfall. I guess there's no reason she couldn't have had more than one reason to read the story. 

[bigbertha 414]

I think my big problem with this episode is with that future vision. Not only is it just a bad scene that misses the point of A Christmas Carol, but I don't see how it has any point in convincing Snowfall to join the Hearth's Warming party. All it says is that she can't get rid of Hearth's Warming. It doesn't say she'll be lonely and miserable if she doesn't celebrate. It doesn't say anything about her needing to celebrate. The past and present visions do a good job of making Snowfall reconsider her attitude, but the future vision is totally pointless.

And while I'm talking about the future vision, I still hate Luna's song. It's just so cheesy and melodramatic when it would've been much more emotional to have a softer song playing over Snowfall walking around the destroyed town. Show don't tell.

But I still like this episode, even if the story doesn't stick the landing. The episode is still a very fun watch (except for Luna's scene) and most of the songs are great. While the professor from Snowfall's past feels a bit too overly evil (especially in his design), it works for what's essentially a fairy tale and the Seeds of the Past sequence is effective. And the episode looks great. The animation is great as always, but the Christmas aesthetic makes everything stand out even more. 

Score: 7/10

 

Edited February 12, 2019 by bigbertha

[kazamacat 64]

Best Hearth's Warming related episode imo, love it. I like the songs, the celebration at both the beginning and the end, it's just such a special episode. I hesitate to call it a Starlight episode since it's also an ensemble affair, but it's definitely my favorite episode that features Starlight prominently.

[Jane 123]

Wow! This was fantastic, I think it is one of the best 10 episodes of the series, I enjoyed all the songs, especially those of Snowfall Frost, I loved the atmosphere and the clothes. I wonder why I never saw it before. 
 

 

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

I love her song aswell! 

~ say good bye to the holidays!~

Her voice is epic!

I love the remix they made and her meniacle laugh

[JMTV99 1,353]

Meh. It's a typical Christmas Carol/Scrooge story. Been there, done that. I don't know if sounds wired for me to say this, but as someone who loves Christmas and celebrates Christmas every year, I'm not into MLP Christmas episodes because they're not all that appealing to me. There are so more Christmas episodes from other cartoons are watchable than this.

The only good thing that I do like from this episode was the past scenes. I may be biased, but seeing filly Starlight wearing a school outfit is so super adorable. Plus, I do love Applejack's song. I find that to be much better than Raise this Barn 1,2,3,4 and Apples to the Core altogether.

[Astralshy 26,625]

It's really a typical Christmas Carol story but it's well made and I like it quite much. I think I even watched it over the Christmas Holidays 2020. I also really liked the songs here. So it's nothing which would revolutionizes or set new standards for MLP but a well made and good episode to relax. I really enjoyed it.

[Iforgotmybrain 5,663]

Nice musical episode. The story itself isn’t anything crazy but it was done well enough here. And the songs are all pretty good. Snowfall’s and AJ’s songs are especially great. 

Also that dark green Platypus looking doll that was featured a couple different times is totally a reference to Perry the Platypus.

Also very fitting episode since Christmas is right around the corner. I might just go and rewatch all the Hearth’s Warming episodes after this.

[Antiyonder 1,150]

YouTube upload of the episode: