Thoughts on the episode "Dragon Quest"?

[Azureth 686]

Am I the only one that really doesn't like the way they made the dragons so stereotypically "boyish"?

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

26 minutes ago, Azureth said:

Am I the only one that really doesn't like the way they made the dragons so stereotypically "boyish"?

Nope. It's one of the episode's most fatal flaws. The episode actively shames Spike to be a dragon in many ways, like the RM5 mocking Spike for his apron and archetypal femininity, the story stereotyping all dragons as brutish and rude, and both the climax and moral flat-out confirming the generalizations with dragons. This episode is toxic to kids.

[Jeric 46,834]

It's certainly not one of the better episodes, though it has some good in it. The fact that they showed us what happened to the phoenix egg without the use of dialog was novel. 

Also there is this ... 

 

Added some depth to Rarity and launched a few headcanon theories about her pre-show evolution. 

[PurpleDawn 0]

Definately one of my least favorite episodes of season 2, if not overall. Although personally don't care much about the boyish stereotypes I think they were just trying to portray them as jerks. Just a poorly written episode overall.

[Megas 27,064]

It's a pretty disappointing episode in the sense that it starts off with Spike wanting to find his origins....and never goes anywhere with this ever again. It just wastes it's time on the dumb teenage dragons who've unfortunately become recurring characters(though as punching bags thank god). I mean overall, I don't hate it, nor do I think it's that bad, but it could have been a lot better

[FlareGun45 2,221]

There were so many flaws in here. It started off alright, but once Spike met the dragons, it went downhill from there. 

Here's what I would've added: female dragons, and Spike saying, "I don't know if I'm a dragon or a pony, all I know is that I'm Spike, and that's all I care about!" Then it would've been a much better episode! Wouldn't everyone agree?

[Jeric 46,834]

Another positive is it gave us this 

 

Gotta love Crackle

[Ganondox 899]

The epsidode reeked of racism, sexism, and ageism. I think the intended message was that you don’t need to be friends with people of the same background as you, but it came more across as “conform to your host culture as your native people suck”. The episode was also really disappointing as many people were looking forward to seeing the dragon lands, especially with hopes of seeing Faust’s female dragon design, instead we got Crackle and the jerk-bros. The one thing I like about it is the soundtrack. 

Edited October 28, 2017 by Ganondox

[Thrond 3,257]

I am soft on this episode, to be honest. I always viewed the dragons Spike encountered to be the equivalent of a frat, and I never thought this likely unrepresentative sample hurt Spike's journey of self-discovery. I like how Spike discovers that who he is has less to do with his DNA and more to do with who he grew up with, and I don't think the episode gets enough credit for that. I confess that I don't like how the episode represents Garble & co. as "the dragons," and neither am I fond of the mane six mocking him early on, but I don't think the dragons here are as different from "Gauntlet of Fire" as people make out. And, ultimately, I just find the episode funny, plus I like how the ponies ultimately show their maturation throughout the series. I consider this one underrated. Yeah, Spike never finds the answers he's looking for, but does he need to if he's found a different sort of belonging?

[Aethylynn 45]

Many people have expressed that Spike's origins are a loose end and that he needs to find his parents etc. But I always felt that this eposide resolved those issues. Spike decided that it was not important. As far as he is concerned the ponies are his family, and that concludes the story.

On another line of thought, my beef with this, and other dragon episodes, is that they took something which is supposed to be badass, the dragons, and simply made them look like ass.

[FlareGun45 2,221]

6 hours ago, Aethylynn said:

Many people have expressed that Spike's origins are a loose end and that he needs to find his parents etc. But I always felt that this eposide resolved those issues. Spike decided that it was not important. As far as he is concerned the ponies are his family, and that concludes the story.

On another line of thought, my beef with this, and other dragon episodes, is that they took something which is supposed to be badass, the dragons, and simply made them look like ass.

That sounds like a lazy way out. Even if Spike is ok with it, it still should happen. There's alot of unloose ends on the show that took the lazy way out that needs some coming back to, including Babs and Lightning Dust. 

[cmarston1 5,951]

We were soo close to learning about Spike's origins, but we sadly didn't get any information about them.

In fact 5 seasons later we still haven't either.

Which I find to be a shame.

[Sovereign Leader Rarity 12,000]

My opinions? Not great unfortunately. The Mane 6 are jerks at the beginning, don't really learn their lesson and it depicts dragons all as immature ruffians just to make the ponies seem optimal by comparison, which is both a lazy way to go about things as well as a really bad message. It's like if I claimed that all black people had no jobs or education which is untrue, offensive and generalization. Not one of the show's stronger moments I'm afraid.

[Brainstorm 4,092]

This episode shows even though Spike is a dragon, he doesn't need to act like other mean dragons, like Garble. 

[Castle Bleck 19,167]

At least it gave us Crackle:

 

 

Furthermore, at least we eventually got the much-needed Gauntlet Of Fire to even things out.

Edited October 29, 2017 by The Artist Formerly Known As A.V.

[Truffles 2,033]

I'm with @AlexanderThrond and have to admit that despite it's flaws, I have a soft spot for this episode as well; and it's not just because of Spike. In fact, because I didn't pay any attention to the show until a few weeks before S3 started, I binge-watched seasons 1 and 2 in whatever order The Hub was showing them (IOW, random). This was one of the earlier episodes I saw if I recall correctly.

Thus without much of the context of Spike's character in previous episodes, I thought it was interesting enough:

• It gave us that great opening scene of Fluttershy escaping out the window to avoid viewing the migration. 
• It gave us the world-building of the Great Dragon Migration, one of the rare times dragons leave their hordes and get down to the business of (presumably) making more dragons. 
• It opened the door to the question of Spike's parents which had been glossed over until this point, and did reveal he does wonder about them. Even if it did shut the door on him doing any further research for now, I still feel like he probably wonders who they were and whether they were good or bad dragons.
• It revealed dragons like to swim in lava (and could apparently drink it if they wanted); something the show has kind of forgotten about until the lava surfing scene in the S7 finale.
• It's actually Garble's best appearance (which I know isn't saying much) since he actually showed some depth besides being the stereotypical bully due to his being impressed with Spike's awesome lava belly-flop. The scene of his brethren knighting him as an official dragon was actually heartwarming, and Garble giving him the official "noogie" made him seem like an older brother rather than a villain.
• It gave us Peewee, who would have been a great addition to the cast as Spike's pet. "Would" being the key word here, since the staff seemed to forget about him completely until it was revealed in "Just for Sidekicks" he was returned to his parents. =P But that's a negative on that episode and not "Dragon Quest."
• It revealed that dragons apparently have sensitive areas just like human males. 
• One word: Crackle. We need more Crackle. She got a cameo in "Gauntlet" but alas she wasn't around during the surfing comp in the S7 finale.
• Although Rainbow Dash was particularly mean to Spike in the beginning and Rarity was a little careless with her words, both of them made up for it by accompanying Twilight to the Badlands in Rarity's awesome dragon disguise.
• The episode showed Spike was not a pushover as it seemed to initially indicate. First it was by how he tracked the migration and walked all on his own from Ponyville to the Badlands (I was surprised he was so winded doing a similar walk to Klugetown in the movie, though I guess that was somewhat longer). Then by him showing the courage and resolve to do the leap into the lava, despite the danger from jumping from such a height. And then finally for standing up to Garble and refusing to smash Peewee's egg.

And that's why I still like this episode even though it bothered me for quite a while how dragons (at the time I wasn't really distinguishing between "teen dragons" and "adult dragons" as I do now) were portrayed in such a negative onenote manner. I explained it away to myself after I finished my binge watching of S1 and S2 that the main purpose of the episode was to come up with a believable reason for Spike not to basically give the ponies the proverbial middle finger and take off for greener pastures, due to how much slapstick physical abuse he was receiving until S6.

It would have been a better episode if the dragons had all been simply portrayed as "extreme", going no farther than the dangerous contests and partying they were fond of. Maybe hint that Spike was not really comfortable with that lifestyle in the third act and longed for living like the ponies did, instead of creating the black-and-white ultimatum of committing murder that the episode went with.

That would have left no scene of him standing up to Garble, but if Garble was just "extreme" like Iron Will and not an all-out villain then the jumping into the lava scene would have been satisfactory in showing Spike standing up for himself.

In any case, the negative portrayal of dragons in the episode doesn't bother me as much anymore since it's been pretty much rectified by the dragon-centered episodes that followed.

So yeah, I still like it even if I don't love it.

Edited November 3, 2017 by Truffles

[Ivan The Adorable 304]

I don't know. It's been a while since I watched, but I don't remember having the issues with it others seemed to.

 I more took the young dragons being dicks as censure of teen cliques, conformity, and particularly machismo, which are big negative social problems faced by boys growing up. I appreciate that the show can be a little tone deaf in regards to other cultures in some instances, but this isn't one I think is worth looking at in such a way personally 

[Thrond 3,257]

1 hour ago, Truffles said:

• Although Rainbow Dash was particularly mean to Spike in the beginning and Rarity was a little careless with her words, both of them made up for it by accompanying Twilight to the Badlands in Rarity's awesome dragon disguise.

Two of my favourite moments in the episode are small touches which show how much these two have grown: Rainbow admitting she's done "lots of nutty things" (or something like that), and Rarity putting her hooves up to defend Spike. Both are very brief, but they also show how much both characters have matured since the show started. 

Plus, throwing Rainbow Dash into the mix means it's not just "Spike and the two ponies who care about him" like "Gauntlet of Fire," and I honestly miss when the show would experiment with its character groupings more often. 

Edited November 3, 2017 by AlexanderThrond

[Truffles 2,033]

8 minutes ago, AlexanderThrond said:

Two of my favourite moments in the episode are small touches which show how much these two have grown: Rainbow admitting she's done "lots of nutty things" (or something like that), and Rarity putting her hooves up to defend Spike. Both are very brief, but they also show how much both characters have matured since the show started. 

Plus, throwing Rainbow Dash into the mix means it's not just "Spike and the two ponies who care about him" like "Gauntlet of Fire," and I honestly miss when the show would experiment with its character groupings more often. 

I did miss not having Dash along during "Gauntlet", she would have added the snark Spike usually provides in such instances when he's not the focus of the story. I imagine with it being as compressed a story as it was, and maybe the bigger problem that Dash could retrieve the staff easily due to her competitive nature and speed and agility in contests like that would have made her inclusion problematic. But it would have been nice to have her along anyway. Or Pinkie. Or even AJ.

[EpicEnergy 22,076]

I was too focused on the bothersome behavior of the teenage dragons and how they treated Spike, it upsets me whenever someone is bullied or belittled because of their size.

[Tom Gallagher 33,521]

I liked it a lot. Bullying is a very relevant thing so it only made sense that FiM would have a lesson on it.

[Cash In 21,510]

It's alright. I don't have the same disdain for it that other people do. The portrayal of the dragons was pretty weak and that's the central focus of the episode, so that creates more issues. I liked everything else.

[dead account 2,703]

Nice episode! A lot of great, funny and unique moments! And I like that Spike protected the egg, instead of breaking it.

I despise bullying, but the ponies make it worth it to watch it regardless.

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

I liked that episode but it's strange that we never got to see any more of Peewee. I get we wouldn't have seen him for long anyways due to aging but it would've been nice for Spike to have a little friend. Not only that, but Peewee couldn't just immediately go back out into the wild as a chick, so there was a good opportunity there to have him as a side character in a few episodes.