S02:E11 - Hearth's Warming Eve

[The Second Opinion 270]

This one was a pretty decent episode. Personally, I think they should consider bringing up the holiday again and doing another special. There's definitely enough options for a plot left open, especially since this one was mostly about the play, instead of the main characters.

[Ice Fox 1,145]

I absolutely loved this episode. It may well be my first episode to re-watch! I love medieval-themed stories, and this episode had that theme. The plot of the play was simply great and rather heart-warming. And, I loved Fluttershy's role in the play.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Frozen Fox

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

I hope S5 will have more Equestria history.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Ulrik Raben

[JonasDarkmane 19,785]

I thought it was ok, it was getting pretty boring, but the lore/history made up for that. It was interesting to know about. 

[FlyingLikeDash 33]

I need to watch this again. I found it pretty mediocre. And my least favorite of seasons 1-3.

[Mr. Blue Sky 28]

Strangely enough.... up until Twilight's Kingdom and Amending Fences, this was my all-time favourite episode. And the strange thing is - I have never found out why it was my favourite for so long. 

 

Maybe it was the humor which had me laughing from start to finish. Maybe it was the lore behind it all. The windigoes were a very interesting concept and maybe that's the reason snow still exists in Equestria because disharmony still exists...both figuratively and literally. I don't think I'm right on that, though. 

 

I don't know if I'll ever find out why I considered this to be my favourite episode but until then, it will remain one of my top three.

[Hederik 119]

RIP the Fanon: October 2010- December 17, 2011.

 

Inspiration killed?

No way; fanon must go on!

Canon taming time

 

Obligatory unnecessary reminiscing rambling for roleplay access, part 5/5

 

Here we are: one last step to roleplay. Always, my main source of inspiration was searching ways to tie the loose ends in my favorite shows/books/whatever to explain everything and lose nothing of the canon. As beginning my RP is almost possible, I thought it'd be proper to tip my hat to the one episode that inspired me more than any other to that end.

 

Seriously, there are tons of potential in a story delivered in a sketchy, humorous form, especially when it concerns times so long past that they're almost ancient. Starting point for inspiration: why's the Equestrian flag show the Royal Pony Sisters and they aren't mentioned in the story at all? So many possible answers!

 

This being said, Hello world! Time to hit that juicy forbidden fruit. RP section, here I come!

[powerpuff-tsubasa 448]

the entire episode was off-topic and had no Christmas spirit at all

[twiia 1,843]

Not the best, not the worst

[cmarston1 5,959]

This was a really interesting episode that definitely put me into the holiday spirit.

[Teavvi 627]

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVED IT!

[Thrond 3,263]

I always felt that having the historical characters so closely resemble the main six was a bit silly at best and a cop-out at worst. If these ponies actually existed, I do not believe that they acted exactly like they do in this episode, and while the broad strokes of the story are confirmed elsewhere, the refusal to move away from the main characters and usual humourous tone for a single episode strikes me as an early example of the show being unwilling to take meaningful risks. The story's nice but it could have been better. 

[Thrond 3,263]

I do enjoy the worldbuilding of showing us this traditional story of pony history, and it's not like warm Christmas platitudes are all that out of place for this particular show, but I still think the historical characters feel a little too right for these characters to play. It's possible that they're just letting their own personalities shine through their performances, but the roles make it very easy for the mane six to just play exaggerated versions of themselves, and I'm not entirely convinced those are the exact personalities the historical figures would have. I can tell that Chancellor Puddinghead wasn't very bright, Princess Platinum was extremely vain, and Commander Hurricane was overly aggressive, but I can't look past the performances to see the actual people being portrayed. Maybe that's the point, though, and I could identify the differences between the present and historical characters a lot more this time through. Wish I learned more about the actual pre-unification pony societies, though, but that might just be the history nerd in me speaking. 

 

The present-day scenes are all rather slight, but it's pretty clear that they're not supposed to be much more than just silly little bits of context, and they work pretty nicely for the theme. If this pageant is such a big deal, I wonder why the mane six were selected for it - if it's a community thing, wouldn't Canterlot amateurs be selected? And if it's a national thing, wouldn't they put professionals in the parts? It doesn't really matter, and much of the humour actually comes from the mane six's personalities shining through, but it's something I find myself wondering about every time I watch. The issues I've mentioned keep this from being more than a slightly fluffy holiday story, but I like learning about the stories which ponies tell each other each Hearth's Warming, and this is pretty entertaining besides. It's a fantasy cartoon; questions of authenticity aren't all that important in the grand scheme of things. 

 

Score:

Entertainment: 8/10

Characters: 6/10

Themes: 8/10

Story: 7/10

Overall: 73/100

[blackstarraven 142]

5outof5...

Jolly good show...

_
Really I'm a sucker for world building. And this is good world building.

I enjoy that it is.. well Christmas. But that's its not.

Just like with Halloween and nightmare night.

I like to actually see the information of pony holidays.

Good stuff all around... I honestly... could have done without the story being told 100% with the cast we know.. I would have just as well liked to have see it with original characters. but... That would have taken a lot more work, so I'm ok with it.

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

It was a good Episode and showed us how Equestria was made. Even though i still disliked Pinkie, but thats always the case. Even though the Story was already shown in a more simplistic fashion, in the game Twilight Sparkle - Teacher for a Day, so it seems more like an Adaptation of the Game, just with more effort and detail put into it. ( i assume the Game came out before, because it features Lunas Season 1 Design and Clips from Season 1. ) The Episode kinda seems like a Sequel to the Game, first Twilight shows the History of Equestria to a Class by Cherilee and then Princess Celestia, impressed by the first Show, allows Twilight, to present the History in a more bigger Fashion, making the Game Canon as well.

[Meushell 52]

A good way to show history without alienating the audience. It was fun when we saw what was on the set versus what we were seeing.

I do feel like the mane six are just bad actors since the personalities were too similar. I wonder if the writers thought they were avoiding confusion.

The only other issue is that the pony Twilight was playing seemed to just randomly pull the explanation. The scene would have been just fine without her explanation. Maybe that was added to explain to the pony kids watching the play. Otherwise, it could have been explained at the end of the play.

[bigbertha 414]

I really love this episode. Aside from the opening and closing scenes, which felt pointless, this episode was hilarious. The jokes were all top-notch and it was nice to see the history of Equestria. 

Score: 9/10

[Summer Storm 256]

Hey!  I didn't know these threads were here!  This is terrific!  And they're divided by seasons?  So no spoilers?  I love it!  8D  Thanks, MLPF!  

Um, I'm not going to rate anything.  I'm not a critic.  I'm just going to speak from within and hope that's good enough for everypony.  =)

"Hearth's Warming Eve" hit me right in my heart!  I just watched it.  Plus, did you know on the DVD set they have a live reading with all of the pony voice actors (except for Tabitha St. Germain which is a pity)?  They perform the entire episode with the help of a very cool stand-in for St. Germain.  Plus, this is the first time I've seen the human beings behind the voices of Mane 6!  It is very cool to watch them at work, see their body language, witness how they react when goofs are made (we all make them), and best of all - have fun together!  Talk about good times.  =)

I very much like the story because I think it's a story virtually anyone can get behind.  It's not supposed to be about Christmas or any other Real Life holiday - because I think the story is not about Real Life.  It's about Equestria's holidays and, more importantly, the origin of that fantastic land!  It makes me wonder (which I think is the true purpose of art, music, etc. at least for me).  I think if humanity had "Windigos" (instead of Wendigos?  Heh!) back when humanity was tribal, I think our own holidays would be much, much different. 

To have three different tribes with very different viewpoints, each quite reasonable to them, and then watching some of them get along while others don't, well, I feel it makes a good point of how very powerful love is.  This is extremely good writing.  Fun, silly, and full of emotion with a true lesson that can help us all in Real Life now as it has those who came before us.  

I can't wait to watch more!  Really!  =)

Honor and fun,

Summer Storm =)

[bigbertha 414]

This episode is a ton of fun. The entire episode is based on arguments, but that's a good thing in this case since the arguing is really entertaining. 

I could complain that everyone only came together because they were forced to by outside forces and not because they actually like each other, but we don't know if this pageant is what really happened. This could easily be exaggerated or completely falsified and just be a simple tall tale for kids. 

One complaint I don't get is the issue of how Celestia and Luna tie into things. Spike literally says in the beginning that this takes place long before Celestia and the flag at the end is just because they don't know what the original flag was.

This is just an overall really enjoyable episode.

Score: 10/10

[Rushing cash 836]

A nice slice of life episode, with a lot world building. It was a history lesson for us odience, and I really liked the story itself. In hindsight, I am shocked that the windigos didn't return in one of the episodes.   The interactions between the characters was great and overall an enjoyable episode. 8/10 

[Lucky Bolt 35,062]

I loved this episode! Brings back some major nostalgia and who doesn't love FIM's holiday themed episodes? 10/10

[Justin_Case001 4,881]

And that's how Equestria was made!  Maybe next time I'll tell you the story of how I got my cutie mark! 

[Landi 600]

I really liked this episode. We really got some great world-building when this episode came out. I mean, it's about how Equestria was made.

I definitely think that the play was the strong suite. First, it started off by explaining how pre-equestrian society was split up. It's actually kinda like what we see of modern Equestrian society. Main difference being that the three types flat out disliked each other back then. Then, once the windigos brought forth the blizzards, the ponies built up hate let itself out. It was interesting to see the three pony tribes so against each other, considering how they are all friends in modern Equestria.

We see the main six each play a significant figure in the story. Commander Hurricane, Chancellor Puddinghead, Princess Platinum, Private Pansy, Smart Cookie, and Clover the Clever. It was fun to see all these characters personalities. The three leaders being be hilariously unreasonable, and the helpers being the voice of reason. In fact, the three tribes each had their own interesting culture. I was particularly fond of the Greek-Roman inspired pegasus tribe. Pretty freaking epic.

Lastly is the end. The three tribes are forced into a cave after just finding Equestria. After making "borders" in the cave, they star fighting over trivial matters. That's when the windigoes finally freeze the Leaders. With the combined friendship of the helpers, the windigoes are defeated.

I just love watching this episode for the lore. The three pony tribes and their similarities&differences are such an interesting topic, and it's a shame the show didn't touch upon it much. At least we got a few times like this episode that showed us that. Quite a great episode.

Oh, and one more thing: Pegasopolis Forever!!!

[Astralshy 26,441]

Let me start where @Landi72 finished: Pegasopolis forever!!!

Definitely one very important episode for world-building. We learn how this Equestria came to be and how the three different tribes used to interact with each other. This episode is a really important to watch, not only but especially for the season nine ending.

It's a lot of fun to see the ponys from a long time ago interacting and eventually solving the problem. For someone who used to go to theatre a lot the idea of the mane six plaxing on a stage is also a great one.

I love this episode too

[Cash In 22,229]

World building was incredible. Learning even more about the history of Equestria is very engrossing and while the structure of the episode is different, it's still very enjoyable.

The story being told in the form of a play acted by the Mane 6 was awesome. It worked way more than it had the right to. I loved the concept of Windigos and the fact that friendship was the foundation of Equestria itself.

Interestingly enough, the plot of the G5 movie does fall in line with this episode, so it is quite interesting to look back on in that sense.

This episode has so much charm and I love it for that reason.

Also, has anyone else noticed the typo in the title of the thread??

Edited February 27 by Cash In
Updated thoughts