S09:E03 - Uprooted

[Truffles 2,033]

A pretty good episode. The story was a bit on the light side, and it was predictable how it would play out once the students got into a fight over how to memorialize the tree, but it gets a vote of "loved it" from me due to no mistakes, and for all the extra credit it earned:

+10 for Spike getting a speaking role.
+10 for Thorax(!) getting a speaking role.
+100 for getting a musical number featuring just the students, especially learning that Smolder can sing.

Someone needs to inform Silverstream the color of loyalty is red and not yellow, however.
Unless that was an animation error since there was already a can of yellow paint on the side?

 

I need to go back and watch it again and catch the lines Twilight said when the school was going to reopen. It would give some indication as to how far into the Summer the previous 2 episodes took place.

 

On 4/13/2019 at 10:04 AM, ~C. Discord~ said:

I'll be sleeping off this cold, somebody shout if Thorax or Pharynx show up. 

Thorax was there! And he even got in a few lines! I hope you get better soon, though!

On 4/13/2019 at 10:44 AM, Will Guide said:

The montage of the Students getting their permission slips signed was a nice moment

Not only was I pleasantly surprised to see Spike and Thorax get speaking roles (I didn't expect them to even be in this episode, TBH) but we got to see the families of most of the students. And even though we didn't get to see Smolder's family (yet), we got to see Ember again and some dragon culture which was also nice.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Truffles
Added missing 'to'

[BornAgainBrony 2,398]

1 minute ago, TheAnimationFanatic said:

So, prior to this episode airing, I was almost certain that the students were going to inherit the elements, but now I'm not so sure... It seems like they'll either save that for later or give them some other type of "upgrade". 

I think at the end of all this, the elements will become accessible to everyone, instead of it being left up to a specific elite few. Last episode of Buffy kind of thing.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,162]

Am I alone in thinking that the Tree Temple looks a lot better than the castle? I mean I like the castle; don't get me wrong, but this new structure looks a lot more natural. Plus, it's in the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, so bonus!

In any case I thought this was a sweet and heart-warming episode that takes the same idea as "Castle Sweet Castle" and improves on it. The conflict between the characters feels a lot less petty and much more emotionally charged. How they overcame that, with Yona's help, was just so great.

Lovely episode!

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,597]

Just now, BornAgainBrony said:

I think at the end of all this, the elements will become accessible to everyone, instead of it being left up to a specific elite few. Last episode of Buffy kind of thing.

That's EXACTLY what I was thinking! You read my mind. Also, Hooray, I'm not the only Buffy fan here! 

Edited April 13, 2019 by TheAnimationFanatic

[Early Sunsets 2,107]

29 minutes ago, TheTaZe said:

...Hate me for saying this but I'm not the biggest fan of the Student Six and having a whole episode dedicated to them is eh... not great in my book.

Finally, someone else with sense.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

SPOILER ALERT!

 

Ok I REALLY liked this episode! The opening had me scratching my head until it was clear the Student 6 were dreaming. I loved the development on the Student 6 in this episode because we got to see more of their personalities and conflicts with each other and how their different species cultures influence their taste. For instance the Changelings seem to have a new age Eastern Yoga like taste. This kind of development should have happened in season 8 but way better late than never.  Nice to hear them sing. They have good singing VAs. The permission slip sequence was cute in that we got to see Sliverstream interact with Taramar and her parents and the Yaks doing household chores rather than smashing things but that sequence dragged on a bit too long. The whole episode felt a lot like “Castle Sweet Castle” with characters grieving a tree and totally messing things up at first but because it focuses on the Student 6 instead it feels really fresh. I liked the idea of the tree parts becoming sort of a club house for the Student 6 and it is pretty obvious from this episode the Student 6 are the new elements. I adored that Twilight FINALLY got to see the connection the Student 6 have with the tree since she was completely unaware in season 8. I just wonder why the tree only talks to the Student 6 instead of the Mane 6? And weren’t the student 6 able to put the elements back together? The one big missed opportunity for this episode was not pointing out that Twilight’s castle is an extension of the tree’s magic like the Student 6 club house so its also alive via Twilight’s castle. Design wise it seems the MLP creators listened to our complaints about the castle and improved them for this club house. I hope we get to see the inside of the club house soon.

[RulesofRarity 493]

7 minutes ago, PathfinderCS said:

Am I alone in thinking that the Tree Temple looks a lot better than the castle? I mean I like the castle; don't get me wrong, but this new structure looks a lot more natural. Plus, it's in the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, so bonus!

 

Wayyy better. If I was Twilight, I’d feel like the tree did me dirty. Both the school and this treehouse are so much more appealing than the castle. 

[Zestanor 98]

I can't rewind and get a better look a the new tree temple thing. But I think the inside of Twilight's castle is great. Never really had problems with the outside design.

Also why is the spirit of the tree a ghost Twilight? Has that been explained before?

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,597]

In typical Episode 3 form, "Uprooted" is a slight comedown from the insanity of the premiere. It's no "Lesson Zero" or "Castle Mane-ia", but it's still an agreeably entertaining and solid outing, much like "Castle Sweet Castle" and "The Ticket Master".

[YoshiAngemon 223]

Just now, Zestanor said:

I can't rewind and get a better look a the new tree temple thing. But I think the inside of Twilight's castle is great. Never really had problems with the outside design.

Also why is the spirit of the tree a ghost Twilight? Has that been explained before?

I think it has to do with the Tree of Harmony having Twilight's Cutie Mark engraved in it when Celestia first saw it. It would literally translate to the writing below the hilt:
"Whososever possesses this Cutie Mark upon their self, is rightwise Ruler Born of Equestria." See, the Tree of Harmony takes the form of the Future Ruler of Equestria, and it explains why Celestia took Twilight under her wing. She saw the mark on Twilight's Flank, and thus realized that she must be properly groomed to become the successor to Celestia!

Edited April 13, 2019 by YoshiAngemon

[BornAgainBrony 2,398]

3 minutes ago, YoshiAngemon said:

I think it has to do with the Tree of Harmony having Twilight's Cutie Mark engraved in it when Celestia first saw it. It would literally translate to the writing below the hilt:
"Whososever possesses this Cutie Mark upon their self, is rightwise Ruler Born of Equestria." See, the Tree of Harmony takes the form of the Future Ruler of Equestria, and it explains why Celestia took Twilight under her wing. She saw the mark on Twilight's Flank, and thus realized that she must be properly groomed to become the successor to Celestia!

It reminded me of "The Moment" in Doctor Who. Maybe it simply chose that form because it's one that would be most comfortable to the six of them? I see no reason to think it has no choice but to take that form. If it wanted to talk to Twilight, it would probably appear as Celestia.

10 minutes ago, StitchandMLPlover said:

Ok I REALLY liked this episode! The opening had me scratching my head until it was clear the Student 6 were dreaming

Am I the only one who had this brief moment of... "OMGZ, Twilight is already doing Luna's job!"

[Truffles 2,033]

38 minutes ago, VG_Addict said:

Did the montage feel like padding to anyone else?

Not to me. I enjoyed getting a glimpse of the students' homelands again.

 

19 minutes ago, StitchandMLPlover said:

I just wonder why the tree only talks to the Student 6 instead of the Mane 6? And weren’t the student 6 able to put the elements back together? The one big missed opportunity for this episode was not pointing out that Twilight’s castle is an extension of the tree’s magic like the Student 6 club house so its also alive via Twilight’s castle.

Presumably the Mane 6 are connected to the elements, but not the ToH. So I'd wager that's why it can't communicate directly with the Mane 6. I'd have to go back and rewatch "What Lies Beneath" to see if there was any exposition as to how it chose those students to be the ones it would create a connection to.

I too, wanted to see it mentioned that the tree's roots already extended all the way to the school, so it still had a lot of structure to survive. But maybe without the element gems it would have eventually died, like it almost did in S4? I guess we can assume Twilight is lousy at putting puzzles together since the Student 6 had no problem re-assembling them.

To be fair, the Mane 6 were under duress at the time. But one would think they would've gone back to try and fix them after Sombra was defeated.

[FirePuppy 735]

This episode was okay at best. The Treehouse of Harmony looked beautiful, but unfortunately, NOT all of the Mane Six got to see it. I hope they all will in a later episode.

And why was Spike in this episode? He didn't even see the Tree of Harmony's destruction that last time!

[Jeric 46,861]

5 minutes ago, FirePuppy said:

And why was Spike in this episode? He didn't even see the Tree of Harmony's destruction that last time!

Because he was with Twilight as she was setting up the school when she felt the magical surge and teleported them both there. Whether he was there during the destruction is irrelevant to Twilights motivation. She brought help in case it was needed. 

Episode was interesting. I’m all for more ToH lore and was please by the resolution. The only comments I had while watching was to counter a few people agreeing that Sandbar was dumb a few times for removing the remains of the tree thereby ruining memories. A good analogy to death as a memorial to this would be cremating the person who passed and scattering their ashes. Doing so does not impact the memory of the person. 

Yona being the voice of reason was a nice touch. The song and seeing how each guardian reacted culturally to the permission was amusing. Ocellus’ family is adorable. 

Overall a 4/5. Nothing jaw dropping but has some nice touches. 

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,597]

2 minutes ago, Jeric said:

Because he was with Twilight as she was setting up the school when she felt the magical surge and teleported them both there. Whether he was there during the destruction is irrelevant to Twilights motivation. She brought help in case it was needed. 

Episode was interesting. I’m all for more ToH lore and was please by the resolution. The only comments I had while watching was to counter a few people agreeing that Sandbar was dumb a few times for removing the remains of the tree thereby ruining memories. A good analogy to death as a memorial to this would be cremating the person who passed and scattering their ashes. Doing so does not impact the memory of the person. 

Yona being the voice of reason was a nice touch. The song and seeing how each guardian reacted culturally to the permission was amusing. Ocellus’ family is adorable. 

Overall a 4/5. Nothing jaw dropping but has some nice touches. 

To be fair, the only real instance of Episode 3 being a jaw-dropping standout entry in the season is "Lesson Zero".

Edited April 13, 2019 by TheAnimationFanatic

[BornAgainBrony 2,398]

1 hour ago, StitchandMLPlover said:

 The one big missed opportunity for this episode was not pointing out that Twilight’s castle is an extension of the tree’s magic like the Student 6 club house so its also alive via Twilight’s castle. Design wise it seems the MLP creators listened to our complaints about the castle and improved them for this club house. I hope we get to see the inside of the club house soon.

That irked me a bit too actually. I'd been thinking that Twi's castle would have collapsed when Sombra attacked the tree. Maybe it did, but we didn't see it. But I doubt it'll get covered now since it's already alive again. It could have been a good shock moment though, since Twi is expected to inherit Canterlot palace anyhow.

[Dark Qiviut 22,447]

1 hour ago, PathfinderCS said:

Am I alone in thinking that the Tree Temple looks a lot better than the castle? I mean I like the castle; don't get me wrong, but this new structure looks a lot more natural. Plus, it's in the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, so bonus! 

Not alone at all. The temple's absolutely beautiful. Balanced everywhere, creative while maintaining the Tree's old identity, and great usage of blue, pink, and yellow. Above all, it feels welcoming. Course, I'm used to the castle now.

1 hour ago, Zestanor said:

Also why is the spirit of the tree a ghost Twilight? Has that been explained before?

The show never answered specifically, but I, too, believe it's something to do with Twi's mark on the trunk. Since she's the Bearer of Magic (the EoH's centerpiece), it takes up her form and voice.

20 minutes ago, FirePuppy said:

And why was Spike in this episode? He didn't even see the Tree of Harmony's destruction that last time!

6 minutes ago, Jeric said:

Because he was with Twilight as she was setting up the school when she felt the magical surge and teleported them both there. Whether he was there during the destruction is irrelevant to Twilights motivation. She brought help in case it was needed.  

Also, he's Twilight's family. It makes NO sense for her to not inform him.

1 hour ago, BornAgainBrony said:

I think at the end of all this, the elements will become accessible to everyone, instead of it being left up to a specific elite few. Last episode of Buffy kind of thing.

After this episode, that may be Dubuc and Haber's direction. The Y6 are connected to the Tree's spirit, and the spirit wants the Magic of Friendship passed on down. The fact that we see no cutie marks on the temple and the Elements' auras interchangeably transfer from one Y6 to the other may foreshadow more of what's to come.

[Jeric 46,861]

2 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

The fact that we see no cutie marks on the temple and the Elements' auras interchangeably transfer from one Y6 to the other may foreshadow more of what's to come.

Good observation. I didn’t catch that. I do need to rewatch the episode because the streamer was dealing with a EBS cut in a few times. Thunderstorms in TX. 

[Zestanor 98]

7 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

The show never answered specifically, but I, too, believe it's something to do with Twi's mark on the trunk. Since she's the Bearer of Magic (the EoH's centerpiece), it takes up her form and voice.

I must admit, whenever they referred to the tree in seasons 7 and 8 I zoned out, so I have almost no memory of what it’s all about. I’m currently rewatching the show and I’m finally at the start of season 7. The newest material is what I’m least familiar with.

[Dark Qiviut 22,447]

1 hour ago, VG_Addict said:

Did the montage feel like padding to anyone else?

Not me for the same reasons as @Zestanor. The School's still closed, and the Y6 departed to the Tree without permission. The last time that happened, their tribes' leaders blamed each other. Easy to understand Thorax's severity to Ocellus in hindsight, but it also helped transition to that wonderful montage. (Yona clearing the snow for her grandma was my fav. )

[DonMaguz 1,023]

Now, this is what has made FiM a great show.

I really enjoyed the students' dynamic and their different ideas.

The idea I didn't like as much was Gallus' museum, but he made it up having the funniest role, Grandpa Gruff helped for that too.

Silverstream's and Ocellus' ideas were very touchy. I liked how Ocellus pointed out having inspiration for her zen garden from what she remembered from the hippies back home, it was a nice reference to Change a Changeling. Silverstream's inspiration was the best one, in my opinion, the way she channeled the tree's emotions was beautiful.

From a pragmatic view Smolder had my favorite idea, a monument is something the ponies could have pay respect to and remember the tree for what it was, although at the end Yona proved she was the real MVP (as expected from best student).

Sandbar's idea wasn't so bad, I think that caring for a young tree and making it grow healthy could have been a nice analogy for what the tree stands for, maybe different group of friends could have visited the place and plant their own trees, eventually growing up a friendship/harmony grove or even a small forest.

I must say that at the beginning of the episode I wasn't thrilled about having the students on the spotlight instead of our beloved Mane 8 (Spike and Starlight), but their characters quickly convinced me that it was still a great episode.

I almost forgot about the first song from the season, it was nice but didn't become an instant classic, will need to listen to it again to make up my mind about it.

Overall it was a solid episode, the true beginning of the Season for me (since I care more about SoL stuff) and again a solid role for each of the students. I try not to rate episodes anymore, but this one smashed my face with an 8/10, if I've ever seen one.

Edited April 13, 2019 by DonMaguz

[RDDash 19,206]

Oh, I overslept the live streaming again, poodles . 

[Dark Qiviut 22,447]

Been thinking about the plot. Yeah, the inspirations to Castle Sweet Castle are obvious, thanks to its similar structure and ideas, but the plots aren't the same. In fact, there's one gigantic difference between them:

1. In CSC, the RM5 wanted to make Twilight's castle feel more like home. Twilight stayed away from it because she found it to not feel as homey as the Golden Oak Library. None of them were able to think of a cohesive solution until late, which was to use its roots as a tribute to her old home to connect her old home with her new one.
2. Here, the episode's about memorializing the Tree only, but none of the Y6 could come up with a proper solution without desecrating its legacy. Until Yona reminded them of how they became friends and became closer as a result of the Tree's test. So they used the Tree's old branches, trunk, and Elements to build a treehouse, and the Tree used its powers to create a temple.

[BornAgainBrony 2,398]

1 hour ago, DonMaguz said:

Now, this is what has made FiM a great show.

I really enjoyed the students' dynamic and their different ideas.

The idea I didn't like as much was Gallus' museum, but he made it up having the funniest role, Grandpa Gruff helped for that too.

Silverstream's and Ocellus' ideas were very touchy. I liked how Ocellus pointed out having inspiration for her zen garden from what she remembered from the hippies back home, it was a nice reference to Change a Changeling. Silverstream's inspiration was the best one, in my opinion, the way she channeled the tree's emotions was beautiful.

From a pragmatic view Smolder had my favorite idea, a monument is something the ponies could have pay respect to and remember the tree for what it was, although at the end Yona proved she was the real MVP (as expected from best student).

Sandbar's idea wasn't so bad, I think that caring for a young tree and making it grow healthy could have been a nice analogy for what the tree stands for, maybe different group of friends could have visited the place and plant their own trees, eventually growing up a friendship/harmony grove or even a small forest.

Gallus was practically in Flim&Flam territory. I hope they never try to do any recruiting.

Only problem with Sandbar is they really would've needed to put some lamps in that cave. A normal tree would never get enough sunlight down there. That said, this plan had me fooled. I kept waiting for that sapling to suddenly start doing something, just from being planted in the same soil.

It had been bugging me constantly about where he had put the remains. I kept thinking they must have been nearby. I can kind of understand his logic in moving them. I mean... we don't build monuments to commemorate the dead by using their bones as building material. Well... usually. Knowing it was sentient, I don't know how I'd feel about keeping the remains visible. My kneejerk reaction would either be to bury them, or do some kind of creamation thing; but then, if it's made of crystal, that would be insanely hard, and crystals are eye candy. So.... hrm. Yeah I'd probably be just as caught up in the brainstorming as they were.

[RDDash 19,206]

Well the episode was kind of meh, not that I liked the new treehouse or anything.