S01:E09 - Bridle Gossip

[midnightlegacy 172]

Let me tell ya, I cannot seem to get enough of this episode.  I will admit, I even looked up Flutterguy's, "I don't want to talk about it." line on youtube.  I watched that thing about a million times, and it still wasn't enough.

[Wicked Funky 2,955]

I love this epsiode, It was the firat epsisode i ever saw when it was on TV. I really lile Zeccora, Applebloom and of course FLUTTERGUY in this epsiode Such a great epsisode

[JonasDarkmane 19,785]

I thought the episode was alright, it was a nice introduction of Zecora

[Lexamena 391]

Another good episode, except I was repulsed by twilight's phallic horn. I did like all of her 'not impressed' faces while everypony was trying to say what zecora was so scary. I lol'd when Spike giggled at Fluttershy the first time she spoke. 

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

Oh boy...this wasn't good. It was significant in the fact though, that it had Appleblooms first real appearance, even before becoming a part of the CMC.

 

I give the episode that the poison joke transformations where funny, especially the flutterguy transformation. She kinda sounds like Barry White with that voice.

 

But seriously, does nobody in Ponyville, except Twilight know about Zebras? It seems kinda strange if you ask me, that they fear Zecora.

 

Speaking of Twilight, i don't buy it that she didn't atleast looked through the plant book atleast one time, even if it was mumbo jumbo for her. You just can't tell me that.

 

Really can't say much more, except that it's not good.

 

Thumbs down.

[FlyPie 86]

One of the best season 1 episodes in my opinion!

[Sunwalker 981]

This is the one episode in which the message and the premise really does not make sense with the series' own universe, which was Twilight's skepticism of the supernatural. MLP:FiM is an universe in which was well established that the supernatural is real, plus Twilight herself spellcasting talking unicorn nonetheless. The premise would work better in a sci-fi universe, like Star Trek, but it really looks forced in a magical universe.

 

At least the writer was more or less aware of that paradox with Twilight, and hand waved it by having Twilight to say something in the lines that true magic comes from the heart and yadda yadda. This still is vague and not enough to justify, did Twilight mean that she is skeptical of non-unicorn ponies using magic? Or of magic coming also from potions? Nothing of this was stated, this is just headcanon, in other words, the viewer making the writer's job. Plus Twilight specifically shows disbelief of the supernatural while she has supernatural powers herself. Magic in MLP was never established as "sufficiently advanced science", it was always just regular magic.

 

But let's for a second ignore that the moral of the story contradicts the very own story. This still shows a double standard when it comes to TV and entertainment in general: morals that go against a spiritual worldview are acceptable, while morals that are favorable to it are deemed "offensive". A future episode, Feeling Pinkie Keen, regardless of what Lauren Faust said afterwards, had a clear moral favorable to faith. And then the Internet Thought Police™ lashed out on that episode exactly because of it having a spiritual message. On the other hand, Bridle Gossip having a materialistic message is acceptable to them...

 

I am a religious person myself, but I can accept a nonreligious message in a story for the sake of the Freedom of Speech. What I do not like is when a story have to contradict itself in order to force a specific message, this sacrifices part of the entertainment value of the story. The story itself is more important than the message it is trying to convey, and the story itself does not even need a message, it only needs to be entertaining.

 

Having Twilight from MLP to be skeptical of the supernatural makes as much sense as having Dr. Spock from Star Trek saying "a wizard did it".

Edited February 14, 2016 by Sunwalker

[powerpuff-tsubasa 448]

don't remember anything about this episode, but the ponies acting scared about the rumor was kinda fun to watch 

[twiia 1,843]

The Poison Joke sure was interesting! Zecora was kinda an interesting character

[EVBP 94]

It took me 5 years to realize that the reason Rainbow's flying is all messed up is because her wings were upside-down and on her underside, instead of her back. :-P

 

Also, I think with everything going on politically in recent years, this episode is an excellent example to show to racists and islamophobes. Don't judge a book by it's cover.

[Honeysuckle 135]

i just imagine the ever-free forest laughing hysterically internally

[Guest]

Great episode. Zecora's a really good and interesting character, just well made in general and this episode was a great way to implement her. That fluttershy voice made the episode ten times better alone lol

Edited September 28, 2016 by Guest

[Dawn Darkness 217]

A great and funny episode in my opinion. The way Fluttershy sounded in this was hilarious. I nearly laughed outloud. And Applejack's tiny form was also kinda funny. And, this was a good premiere for Zecora the zebra. She wasn't that bad. I found her rhymes kinda hard to find out sometimes.

Edited October 25, 2016 by Dawn Darkness

[chili-pepper-thinker 37]

How can this episode be hated? I mean there was Flutterguy and Zecora, one of my favourite characters.  :crackle:

[Thrond 3,263]

Funny episode, if one of season 1's messier ones. I imagine the extremely simplistic lesson about prejudice plays better if "don't judge a book by its cover" doesn't seem entirely obvious to you, but Twilight falling into the trap of blaming Zecora seems to fly in the face of her general rationality. She starts off by snarking about her friends' prejudices, but then takes them on herself based on frankly rather feeble evidence. Hard to deny all the memorable scenes in this one, though - I mean, Flutterguy is classic. 

[Truffles 2,033]

This was a fun episode, and like almost all S1 episodes, it placed the entire main cast in prominent roles to great effect.

 

This episode also featured some notable firsts: The first appearance of Zecora and Flutterguy, and the first time the nickname "Rainbow Crash" was ever used. (It's true she was called that in the past when we saw the rainboom flashback, but Spike was the first character to ever utter it in an episode.)

 

You can tell this episode was written before a lot of the characters were fully defined, and in isolation from other scripts from the same time period. Looking back, a lot of the ponies' xenophobia seems out-of-place from how they act now, and the cruel way Spike taunts Rarity here seems strange considering how he reacted to her in the premiere.

 

And it features one of the series more off-color jokes:

 

 

You can tell the exact moment he went from being mesmerized by her flaccid horn to realizing it reminded him of a part of his anatomy. XD

[Tropico 226]

I just watched it and I love it too xD

I felt so bad for zecora knowing that she's good. Amazing how all ponyville fear her for no reason. More amazing that they don't know what a zebra is lmao wow nopony in this village read a book it seems.

Poor zecora when they destroy her house. Loved to hear her talking in her native language. I would love so so much an episode where mane6+zecora travel to the African version of equestria and visit her village.

Also funny how AJ implies that zecora talks weird because talks with rhymes. Would be funny that only zebra to talk like this were zecora and not the other ones.

Also loved the flower transformations. And how twilight almost all episode was giving zecora a chance and telling their friends that treating her like this with no reason was stupid.

Loved the friendship lesson so much: don't judge a book by its cover. (and don't be racist xD)
Sometimes when you judge a book by its cover you're right tho. But that's an advanced lesson xD first the kids gotta learn the first one xD

 

 

 

and the first time the nickname "Rainbow Crash" was ever used.

 

 

noticed that too! funny how now she doesnt gets traumatized by remembering the past xD

Edited February 25, 2017 by Tropico

[blackstarraven 142]

4 out of 5 on my sliding scale of cartoon awesomeness.

Great Episode.

Flutter Guy.

Zecora.

Applebloom and Twilight are the only sane ponies... And even Twilight lets the other ponies get to her.

[JadeSerpent 7]

This is also another one of my top favorites! Flutterguy is the absolute best!!!!! I also love the message it teaches to every pony!

This is also another one of my top favorites! Flutterguy is the absolute best!!!!! I also love the message it teaches to every pony!

This is also another one of my top favorites! Flutterguy is the absolute best!!!!! I also love the message it teaches to every pony!

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

I found the Episode to be okay. I mean, it tells a good message, im just not sure about what is said at the end, that even if someone looks scary or frightening or what she said, that they still can be nice.

So, if this is about racism and People from somewhere else, is it really okay to call different people scary looking? Not sure what she says in the english version, i watched the german one.

But it was a good Introduction for Applebloom, specially since Twilight is my favorite Character at this point, i like that she also thinks a bit ahead.

[Thrond 3,263]

Yeah, yeah, moral about cultural sensitivity and not judging a book by its cover. That's nice, and the poison joke curses are creative, but there's just not very much to this aside from waiting for the mane six to be corrected on their misunderstandings. It's all a little contrived - so the book has an obtuse title, AND Zecora lives in the Everfree Forest, AND they just happened to run into some Poison Joke? Sure, fine. A few big laughs in places, but not many, and everything in-between is kinda boring, and it doesn't say great things about these characters that they became so judgmental. I wish Twilight never actually gave into mistrusting Zecora. 

Score:

Entertainment: 3/10

Characters: 3/10

Themes: 7/10

Story: 3/10

Overall: 40

 

[Forest 35]

flutterguy needs to make a comeback lol! her and pinkie pie's song made this episode hilarious! zecora seems really cool and i hope they'll do more with her character

[Will Guide 21,360]

8 minutes ago, forest said:

flutterguy needs to make a comeback lol! her and pinkie pie's song made this episode hilarious! zecora seems really cool and i hope they'll do more with her character

So how are you watching the episodes? Netflix? Looking around youtube? Cause I want to make sure I don't spoil.

[Forest 35]

12 minutes ago, We. said:

So how are you watching the episodes? Netflix? Looking around youtube? Cause I want to make sure I don't spoil.

nah, i'm watching them here: https://www.mlpstream.org/index.php

i'm on 01x11 right now

[NathanW200 306]

I love this episode because it's so historical Spitty Pie is the most Hilarious Pinkie Pie with her tong hanging out and her spitting and spraying while trying to speak is so funny I love what the poison joke did to Pinkie  

Spitty Pie

 

Edited April 3, 2018 by NathanW200