S01:E21 - Over a Barrel

[Life Giver 1,063]

Fluttershy can be whom ever she wants...

[closetbrony666 4]

This episode was a mixed bag for me. I felt like Pinky Pie was objectified in this episode much more than I'd ever like to see. She was obnoxious and contributed little to the episode, which is sad because she's my favorite character, and more often than not she's charming and fun. I also didn't like how racist the episode was, intentional or not, one of the main reasons for my brony fandom is how positive, uplifting and progressive the show is. It almost felt like the show stooped during this episode. Those complaints aside, I love visiting places other than ponyville in equestria, and this episode gave me hope for exciting new places in the show's future.

[Princess Lona 382]

As an "isolated incident", I liked the episode. Within the universe of My Little Pony, the problem between the buffalo and the settler ponies was minor and the solution made sense, so the lesson about compromise and sharing came through. However, because this episode was very closely based on real history, it almost seems like the show is suggesting that the real Aboriginal/settler descendants conflict could also be solved this easily.

 

Aboriginal people in Canada still face many challenges and road blocks as a direct result of the historical tragedy of colonization. And so much more was taken from those people than a single strip of sacred stampeding ground. As much as I love the design of the buffalo and the settler ponies, I think it would have been a better choice to tell essentially the same story, but in a world that was not so obviously "Cowboys and Indians".

Or they could have kept the Wild West setting but done a Hatfields and McCoys feuding families thing.

[Ellie 36]

The physics of this episode are quite interesting.    

The fact that one pie can knock down a leaping buffalo and completely alter it's trajectory is pretty good comic relief.  xD  I just hope a pie doesn't hit a human or pony.  That might kill them similar to being hit with a Nokia...

[kelseymarie805 301]

Love this episode, so good! But I do agree with a previous poster who said that they thought Rainbow Dash looked bad here b/c she betrayed her friends, although I do think what she did was very noble and very good, it did make her look a little bad......

 

But, oh well, the characters aren't always going to look good.

[Pastel 7,630]

One of the best scenes ever.

[UnicornWolf 8]

This was always one of my favourite episodes! To me it just has so many positive things about it I can never understand anyone not liking it! The train is fun, the scene with the joke is pure class, the young buffalo, the big ones at their camp, Spike being revered, Applejack and Braeburn, the battle scene, even Pinkie's song...

 

Regards

[More_Fluttershy 127]

This episode reminded me of what was going on between the settlers and the bison in the late 1800's. 

I also loved that scene posted a few posts ago. 

[paradoxical 1,735]

I doubt it will happen but I'd like to convince the haters (looks at poll) erm not-likers into meh-er's

 

I don't think the fight is MEANT to be a reprise of the Native American/ European settler's history.  Merely a parallel.  The thought is that had the U.S. made the deals with the Native Americans and kept them, it'd have been better.

I think that it's even kinda like a mistake that Appleoza was built in the stampeding grounds.  The ponies thought it was open and now they have their houses there.  This is a serous issue -- in fact in Jewish law, if somebody steals a beam and puts it in a building, the claimant can't get their beam back.  Sure they get paid.  But taking down that beam causes more destruction than is worthwhile.  Now that we have a tough situation, now what?

 

I think the Mane 6 went with Pinkie because this show was shortly after the parasprites.  The discussion may have gone like this:

that's crazy pinkie. Well, if we don't have any better ideas then this beats nothing.  (agreement) I know this is going to work.

 

Then Pinkie, who thinks outside THE box, has her thought process stuck inside her own personal box.  This is a theme for FiM all the time.  We work better together because it increases the box size.

 

 

Finally, it was nice to have the bad song be merely meh rather than CMC's disaster.

[Noei 718]

It seems that I am actually the only one who loved the "share song"..........

but yes , it seems that the mane six didnt do nothing supportive , although I really love the episode

[paradoxical 1,735]

It seems that I am actually the only one who loved the "share song"..........

but yes , it seems that the mane six didnt do nothing supportive , although I really love the episode

 

I think there are a lot of people who loved it, but they're mostly Pinkie fans. 

 

I personally have no problem with it and think it was done quite well.  (probably) Wouldn't put it in the top half of this show's songs, but there are a lot of good ones.

[SnowSunbeam 41]

I thought Bon Bon lived in Ponyville not Appleloosa.

[TheJLeeTeam 914]

I thought this was a great episode. It centers around a Buffalo tribe against Appleloosa whether they should keep the land. It felt very adventurous and I really liked Little Strongheart, I think she's cute. I also really liked the message at the end. My highlight for this episode was:

 

This song isn't very emotional but It's really catchy and amusing

 

[Ember Scales 43]

This was probably the better portrayle of colonial times. Most other adaptations portrayed the colonists as the villains. Here we see both sides are at fault due to a lack of communication. This goes to show that compromise is a better alternative to violence.

[Tameless 979]

*SPOILERS*

 

This episode was great. It showed the new town of Appleloosa. There we met an enthusiastic relative of Applejack's named Braeburn.

 

One thing I liked about this episode was that it was more focused on native americans (buffalo) and how they wanted their land back. It's very interesting and in the end they resolved it with baked apple pie.

 

However when Pinkie sang that song about sharing and caring, nopony liked it at all and thought it was horrible. She was trying to help and nopony thought she was any help. Pinkie got very underestimated.

 

Overall it was a good episode. Loved Braeburn and his voice xD

 

[HorsesandMOARGaloar 300]

Many people were disappointed with the results of the episode "Over a Barrel": the town-ponies should have left the buffalo herd's area alone, but they instead won over the buffaloes with pies -- which some interpret as "using Western inventions to impress the natives, and to justify colonialism" -- allowing the ponies to use the buffaloes' sacred ground together.

In that case, to appease such critics and all, how should the events of "Over a Barrel" be changed to make them "less offensive"?

[Guest]

@@HorsesandMOARGaloar, as your thread relates to the discussion of a single episode, I have merged your thread with a pre-established thread which is dedicated to the discussion of 'Over a Barrel'.

[Rohinar 72]

Many people were disappointed with the results of the episode "Over a Barrel": the town-ponies should have left the buffalo herd's area alone, but they instead won over the buffaloes with pies -- which some interpret as "using Western inventions to impress the natives, and to justify colonialism" -- allowing the ponies to use the buffaloes' sacred ground together.

 

In that case, to appease such critics and all, how should the events of "Over a Barrel" be changed to make them "less offensive"?

 

In my opinion, the only thing that would have made this episode okay would be for the Apple-loosans to realize their mistake, pick up their stuff, and move somewhere else.  But honestly, I would rather it had never been made.  I know that it's tempting to bring a Wild West/Western movie themed episode into a show about ponies, but it's a temptation that should have been avoided.  There is pretty much nothing about Western movies that isn't in some way racist or demeaning to Native American peoples, and I don't think it's ever a subject that should be addressed in a children's tv show.  The tired old narrative of "Oh we just gave them cool stuff we had and everything was fine!" is so dead wrong that there is no saving it.

 

If they wanted an episode with the same lesson, it could have involved all ponies without the buffalo wearing feathers and talking in stereotypical-sounding accents.  Some other pony country could have been involved, and it could be about fair trade, a relevant and modern lesson that doesn't try to sugar-coat a historical genocide. 

[Timid Lullaby 20]

I think the moral of the story was to go towards Sharing then Native Prejudice as some people are arguing...

 

I doubt a show that's doing great on air is gonna throw it all away for the spotlight of Racism..

 

People just gotta ruin the good things and turn them into problems.

[Rohinar 72]

But even good-intentioned things that seem harmless to some people can hurt others.  The sharing lesson could have been told many other ways that had far less chance of offending anyone.  I don't think that harmless intentions make this episode okay or justify it.

[Princess Lona 382]

To repeat something I said before the threads were merged, just in case anypony missed it:

They could have kept the Old West setting but had two Cowpoke pony families fighting over something. What most people liked about the episode was Breaburn, Pinkie's song, the Fluttertree scene, and the wagon chase. The Buffalo had some cool moments too, but overall they weren't the reason people liked the episode, so it would be easy to write them out and keep the good parts.

 

Since Equestria is Equestria, and not our world, it would be perfectly fine to assume that the Settler ponies themselves were native to the area and that no other species inhabit the area. They could have written two families or posses of ponies fighting over the exact same thing.

 

Episode saved, no accidental racism.

[KiwiPony 125]

I believe this was the first episode that made me realize MLP could be really deep and thoughtful, I thought it was really well done and impressive to watch no matter how many times I see it

[RainbowTashie 378]

This was such a good episode it had a real deep meaning to it but unfortunately the tree incident is all most people give it credit for

[Dust and Memories 557]

You know, I remember exactly one thing from this episode.

 

That -one- time when you see Doctor Whooves in the background.

 

You know, and the tree joke.

 

But mostly the Whooves.

[Rasydan 43]

"You gotta share,you gotta care"<--- that catchphrase though~