S07:E22 - Once Upon A Zeppelin

[Dark Qiviut 22,396]

This is Fame & Misfortune done correctly.

1. Unlike the former, Zeppelin doesn't forget to write a story. Brittany Jo Flores develops an actual story and intertwines it without making it the focus. It's not a hodgepodge of scenes and disguising it as a story. The story is the focus.
2. The fans here have a very solid reason to be on the cruise. They were promised by Iron Will that they'll spend quality time with the princesses, and the ponies were really happy when they found out she was there. But if you take a look, no one on the cruise is treated like an asshole. They look up to the princesses and are happy to see them. When Twilight kindly asks them at the end if she can spend time alone with her family, they were more than happy to oblige.
   
   Now, Star Tracker. He's awesome! Here's a question: If you as a teenager were guaranteed to spend a day with your favorite celebrity, would you be so giddy and nervous, too? I bet. Star Tracker's the second-youngest pony seen in the cruise line, and he was so happy to be with Twilight that he got nervous and accidentally got too close. His moment telling IW to leave her alone was AWESOME!
   
   The fans aren't stereotypes, straw men, or dumb. They're people, and this episode shows that.
3. Twilight slowly gets to the breaking point. She wants to be with her family, but misses activities from getting swarmed by Iron Will and her promise to live up to the deal. Missing the northern stars was her breaking point. Like To Change a Changeling and Marks & Recreation, the episode doesn't treat her or the fans as entirely in the wrong. Both sides have really good reasons to feel the way they did. But like Parental Glideance, when Twilight crossed the line and started yelling at Star and her family, the story doesn't let her off the hook. She's right to be frustrated, but not burst out and yell at everyone.
   
   After Cadance (who had maybe her best appearance of the series) gave her some advice on where to draw the line, Twilight made things up and apologized to her family and Star. Her hug to Star Tracker was really sweet.

Really well done!

[ImpctR 155]

This episode in one WORD

So.. Twilight finally gets her own episode and there are her parents that I have barely seen if ever (I've forgotten maybe they appeared somewhere). Well this episode was a nice one and although not ever 5/5 I give is of the same level, that one just deserves it unlike the last week's 'Marks and Recreation' "GREAT" "one of the 3 best of the season"  where half of the replies forgot their kappa.

 

Apparently we will be seeing Shining Armor in just green and sick state, I think happens a lot lately. Good to see Cadance and Flurry Heart were also on this trip.

Iron Will if not looking him up I thought this was a new character, so this minotaur.. the antagonist from Putting your Hoof Down. I thought he was up to something bad, looks like he was just a showman. 

As for Star Tracker, a new pony? Never seen him (I think), earth pony. He seems a lot into Twilight.. Star-Sparkle SHIIIIIP. Why not? Who else is candidate for Twilight. Interesting, He was cute and for standing for her in the end. But my Twilight going bad was  interesting and worth seeing, finally not letting everyone and even the friendship go over her head. I liked her reaction.

 

Misc observations:

I like the interior of the Zîeppelin, looks like for celebrities only. Well that's what the zeppelin cruise is about, though I didnt know it's called a cruise when flying..

 

Spoiler

 

Grand Pear is now officially a prop stand for the episodes   xD

 

Did they forget the alpha channel here, the black and white squares.

 

Edited October 7, 2017 by ImpctR

[Dynamo Pad 11,306]

I found this episode to be really enjoyable. I like how we get to see Twilight's family going on vacation together. It's nice to see her parents after not seeing them for a season. I'm glad seeing how Spike was selfless and helped Twilight while she went on vacation. I thought they would have left him out and not be a part of the family. It's great seeing Twilight confirm that when wanting him to join her and the others. At first, I was thinking Discord or someone else could have set up this special cruise. I did not expect to see Iron Will in charge of the cruise. It was interesting to see him after not seeing him for around 5 seasons. I thought it was pretty nice of Twilight to spend time with the fans of the cruise. While at the same time trying to spend time with her family. I found it hilarious when Shining Armor was sick throughout the entire trip. I honestly thought he was gonna lose it sometime on the cruise, but he managed to make it through the trip. Twilight Velvet was pretty awesome and I never would have expected her to be a thrill seeker. It was pretty funny and awesome how she went over Neighagra Falls during the cruise. At first, I thought Star Tracker was more of a stalker during this episode. While watching the episode, he was just nervous and happy to meet a celebrity like Twilight and Cadence. I could understand how Twilight got upset and frustrated how she couldn't get to do some of the activities that she wanted to do. I like how Cadence helped Twilight to understand. As well as how Twilight went to correct the problems that were present. All in all, the moral was pretty good and I liked the episode. I hope we get to see more of Twilight's parents and Iron Will later on in the series.  

[MovieLord101 140]

31 minutes ago, Kreamer said:

Hehe  Why did he ask for money anyway? I mean, in his latest episode he kind of just popped money into existence. Or, is he teleporting it from somewhere else? Anyways, that's a discussion for later.

I agree with most of what you said except for what you said about Iron Will. He's still not the nicest person but he did put all the details about the cruise in the papers and even offered to put an end to it if Twilight didn't want to participate. If anything, Twilight's parents were the arrogant one for immediately signing off on the papers without reading them. This whole conflict wouldn't have happened if they had read the fine print. So, I still don't like Iron Will but I don't think he's as bad as he was in the last episode. Here he was giving a quality product and trying to make everypony happy, Twilight's parents just simply didn't read the full details about the trip. So, in the end, I feel like Twilight wanting to please everypony and her parents not reading the full agreement are the ones to blame, not Iron Will.

Exactly. Iron Will's not a bad guy (despite that IDW "Siege of the Crystal empire" story trying to MAKE him into one). He's just ungodly misguided. Despite that, he's not like the Flim-Flam Brothers who ARE shady and dodgy to the point of being villainous; he was upfront about everything and, yes, offered to end the whole mess if Twilight wanted. Twilight AGREED to let the nonsense continue. So just like last time we saw him, he's not really at fault here. Like Fluttershy's bullying in that previous story, Twilight brought it all on herself. Let's please stop scapegoating Iron Will just because he gets overly-ambitious.

 

Also, Twilight never met him previously. Rarity and Pinkie did. So how did she know who he was?

[Violet Bookish 350]

5 minutes ago, MovieLord101 said:

Exactly. Iron Will's not a bad guy (despite that IDW "Siege of the Crystal empire" story trying to MAKE him into one). He's just ungodly misguided. Despite that, he's not like the Flim-Flam Brothers who ARE shady and dodgy to the point of being villainous; he was upfront about everything and, yes, offered to end the whole mess if Twilight wanted. Twilight AGREED to let the nonsense continue. So just like last time we saw him, he's not really at fault here. Like Fluttershy's bullying in that previous story, Twilight brought it all on herself. Let's please stop scapegoating Iron Will just because he gets overly-ambitious.

 

Also, Twilight never met him previously. Rarity and Pinkie did. So how did she know who he was?

"ungodly misguided?" I've never heard that expression before. I don't know the comic but I agree that in both episodes, he wasn't really at fault and he simply was being over-ambitious.

As for how Twilight knew him, Fluttershy and the others probably told her what happened eventually. They are friends after all, I'm sure she'd hear about it sooner or later.

Edited October 7, 2017 by Kreamer

[MovieLord101 140]

13 minutes ago, Kreamer said:

"ungodly misguided?" I've never heard that expression before. I don't know the comic but I agree that in both episodes, he wasn't really at fault and he simply was being over-ambitious.

As for how Twilight knew him, Fluttershy and the others probably told her what happened eventually. They are friends after all, I'm sure she'd hear about it sooner or later.

Makes sense. Also, the rest of the season leaked.

[Violet Bookish 350]

6 minutes ago, MovieLord101 said:

Makes sense. Also, the rest of the season leaked.

I've heard the rumors but I'm not interested in looking into it myself. I'd prefer to experience the episodes when they come out myself rather than looking at spoilers.

Edited October 7, 2017 by Kreamer
added more

[Megas 27,625]

I was really excited for this episode and it definitely delivered. Really funny, cute and heartwarming. Surprised with Twilight Velvet, she was different from what I expected, but I guess Twilight takes after her dad more. Iron Will was quite a surprise and I especially loved Cadance's role here

Definitely a top 3 episode of the season(along with A Perfect Pear and Parental Glideance, the other two family episodes funnily enough)

[Violet Bookish 350]

30 minutes ago, MovieLord101 said:

Makes sense. Also, the rest of the season leaked.

Also, this is getting rather offtopic so we should discuss this stuff somewhere else. If you want to talk, message me.

5 minutes ago, Kiryu-Chan said:

I was really excited for this episode and it definitely delivered. Really funny, cute and heartwarming. Surprised with Twilight Velvet, she was different from what I expected, but I guess Twilight takes after her dad more. Iron Will was quite a surprise and I especially loved Cadance's role here

Definitely a top 3 episode of the season(along with A Perfect Pear and Parental Glideance, the other two family episodes funnily enough)

I agree. It's great to see that the episodes showing the main six's parents so far have been well made and really enjoyable. I hope the writers keep it up and I hope we get to see Rarity's parents next as they haven't gotten a lot of screen time and every since Sister hooves Social I've been curious about them.

Edited October 7, 2017 by Kreamer

[Skytower 71]

One thing this episode showed us that is consistent with previous episodes is that while Twilight is a famous Alicorn Princess she doesn't really get that she's a famous Alicorn Princess.  Twilight at heart is still just Twilight who would rather spend a day doing research in a library or experimenting than going out and being adored and admired.  In fact she's almost oblivious to her own accomplishments.  At the same time if I lived in Equestria I'd be very grateful to Twilight and the rest of the M6 and wouldn't mind showing it.  I loved the Twilight cosplayers.

[Ganondorf8 11,304]

1 hour ago, Kreamer said:

I agree with most of what you said except for what you said about Iron Will. He's still not the nicest person but he did put all the details about the cruise in the papers and even offered to put an end to it if Twilight didn't want to participate. If anything, Twilight's parents were the arrogant one for immediately signing off on the papers without reading them. This whole conflict wouldn't have happened if they had read the fine print. So, I still don't like Iron Will but I don't think he's as bad as he was in the last episode. Here he was giving a quality product and trying to make everypony happy, Twilight's parents just simply didn't read the full details about the trip. So, in the end, I feel like Twilight wanting to please everypony and her parents not reading the full agreement are the ones to blame, not Iron Will.

You could say that the disclaimer was their undoing for not bothering to read through it. I will admit that Iron Will's misinformation about Twilight and her family was pretty funny and I think the writer had a field day coming up with stronger exaggerations.

[WubBeast 49]

Hey everybrony WubBeast here and I'm giving my thoughts on Once Upon A Zeppelin I liked this episode I like that we got to see Twilight's Family actually go on vacation for once does he Twilight's mom Twilight velvet and Twilight's father NightLight actually have a lot more development that was great  I also like the return of IronWill and I like the moral of this episode that Twilight was doing so much to make everybody else happy that she wasn't happy not doing the things she wanted to do like the Northern Lights because she was trying to make everypony else happy that she should've set some boundaries from the beginning it was a good mortal that everybody should follow I can't wait for episode 23 what did everybody else think of this episode

Edited October 7, 2017 by WubBeast

[KH7672 1,604]

3 hours ago, ImpctR said:

Grand Pear is now officially a prop stand for the episodes   xD

Grand Pear? I didn't see him. You mean the old pony with the camera and the golfing cutie mark? He's been a background character since Season 2. (Funny enough, like Iron Will, he was also in "Putting Your Hoof Down" as one of the ponies buying asparagus in front of Fluttershy).

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

This was an enjoyable and sweet episode.

I kinda didn't liked the beginning though, when Twilights parents just said "Well we just sign the contract and didn't asked questions." I ALWAYS look at the stuff that i need to sign, just to be sure that i know what i am getting into. Of course, that is just a personal tweak of mine, so i guess that is a personal criticism.

I really liked the interaction with every character in this episode. Glad to see that Twilights parents finally get an episode and it seems we finally know which part of the family twilight has her fixations for letters and numbers from.

To be honest, i kinda liked Star Searcher. I mean, he kinda reminds me of me, because i would also react like him seeing Twi, of course i be a bit more respectful. And i find it really cute that they have accepted him later.

Twilights outburst was very justified. This kinda behavior actually reminded me of what Jack Nicholson said in my favorite Adam Sandler movie Anger Management

Twilight smiles and is friendly all day just so everyone is happy and nobody cares about her feelings. When the one thing that she was looking forward to passed her, she totally snapped and people don't think what they do when they implode like this. It's okay to make others happy, but you also need to take time for yourself.

All in all, Wonderful episode. I give it a big thumbs up.

[Aethylynn 45]

A pretty solid episode. Some of things I thought added spice to it.

- Iron Will

- Cool looking zeppelin

- Twilight Velvet is a thrill seeker

- Spike being family to Twilight is official

- Spike predicting Twilight's OCD

- Twilight's family overall

- Poor Shining Armor's going to get teased relentlessly for getting airsick

 

6 hours ago, ShootingStar159 said:

Obviously, he and Starlight threw the biggest party Ponyville has ever seen in Twilight's castle while she was on vacation.

Right after an Ogres and Oubliettes marathon.

[Victoria Sponge 1,017]

It was a good episode, I liked it. Good setting, good characters and a good story. It was cool to see Twilight's parents again and a nice surprise to see Iron Will again. One of the better episodes this season. 

[Brainstorm 4,108]

 

11 hours ago, Jeric said:

Yeah, 3/3 on parent episodes. Mark me down for adoring this episode. 

How the handled Spike, the parent's personalities, the cheek peck, Star Tracker, the talk between Cadance and Twilight, the fact that the 'fandom' understood, the cheek peck, Flurry going in for a grandma hug, the cheek peck, the apology, super enthusiastic mom, low key dad, and that cheek peck. And yay Iron Will returns. 

5/5

Why would he? Seriously ... take a breath. He wasn't condemning you for your tastes.

I'm glad Twilight said to Spike, he's just as family as the rest. That shows how much Twilight cares for Spike.

The episode was something I didn't expect. Iron Will making a return after helping Fluttershy stand up for herself. And Twilight standing up for herself, saying even she needs a break once in a while.

[Thrond 3,263]

I think I liked this more than "The Perfect Pear." Perhaps the funniest episode this season - up there with "A Flurry of Emotions," and would easily be on par if Cadance had more to do and Star Tracker were a little more developed, but this is just so funny, and the moral is so good, that it hardly matters. It's also maybe a little too on-the-nose, but again, everything else compensates. This does stuff with Twilight that I've wanted since season 4, and Twilight's parents are just delightful. Wish Cadance could do things other than being a mom, though; as much as I love Flurry Heart, she's really limited the poor princess. 

And maybe watching this on a bigger screen would change my mind slightly, but I'm sorry, I really do think this looked way better than the movie. Surely they could have increased the details without changing the aesthetic. 

Anyway: Review to come. Provisional score for now? 88/100. Probably my second favourite of the season. 

Honestly, I could watch an entire season of episodes about the mane six's families at this point, especially if they're as good as they've been this season. Give Fluttershy's family this treatment! Pinkie's! Rarity's! And Scootaloo's too while we're at it! 

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

I have been distracted with everything else going on, but dang this was a good episode, my favorite of the season, not even top 5 but definitely a solid episode

78/100

Edited October 8, 2017 by Ryanmahaffe

[Sparklefan1234 170,594]

Once Upon a Zeppelin Spoilers

Spoiler

I liked this episode a lot, it had an interesting setup, a cool new location & an entertaining story that kept me interested throughout it's runtime.

Also, the ending where The Sparkle's & Star Tracker showed Twilight Sparkle the "stars" might be the most adorable thing I've seen in MLP:FiM.

 

[Ganondox 899]

Man, after seeing the movie the actual episodes just seem to be way too short, and now I'm sad because we might not get another movie like this one. Hopefully they'll follow Adventure Times lead and start doing miniseries instead of just having two-parters. Main thing that would be missing from a movie would be the animation upgrade. 

Anyway, the episode. It was nice. I'm really glad they had the Spike season at the beginning. Twilight's parents were much different than I would have guessed. I was not expecting to see Iron Will again, he's kinda Flim-and-Flamish, but the clear difference between the two is that while Iron Will is pushing and manipulative, he is still honest and honorable, so not as much as an outright conman as those two. It was so sad that Twilight missed the one thing she wanted, I was worried that was going to happen the moment she expressed interest in it. It was shocking though to see her essentially attack a fan afterwards though, that blew that one scene in the movie people were calling OOC out of the water. That's all. 

 

[Pastel 7,630]

Amazing episode, and very funny too (thanks to Iron Will and Twilight's parents). One of my favorites off this season.

It's rare to see Twilight that mad, I liked the ending and how the cruisers were understanding the situation.

Edited October 8, 2017 by Blobulle

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Finally got to see the whole episode. It's weird seeing this now after seeing the movie, but the episode is still top notch. Twilight's struggle really hit me hard and seeing her cry really broke my heart. That situation has happened to me and...really; this is a lesson I really need to take to heart.

Overall; GREAT episode. Season 7 is just killing it!

[Adamgreen 1,129]

Another feel good episode! (And it's focus on the topic of family bonds again lol)

It was an enjoyable experience all the way. I love that moment where Spike convince her to go spend time with her family while he do her Princess duties, and Twilight wanted Spike to come with her too because she considered him as a part of her family too. It just goes to show that their bond is still strong than ever before.

Star Tracker was a good character too! Most fans do tend to act like that when they meet their idol in person. And it is just great to see his interaction with Twilight at the end. I hope we will get to see him again in the future since it will be nice for him to hang around with Twilight and her family more often. But for now, I sense a new ship over the horizon

 

[Midnight Seashell 206]

And this is why you must always read a contract before signing