S03:E01+02 - The Crystal Empire

[Aerial~Shot 177]

It was... it was just beautiful... I think I'm gonna cry... Spike was amazing! He's finally on the same level as the mane 6 - his own window in Canterlot Castle, AND singing?! OK, thoughts on characters...

Twilight - interesting development, she's worked so hard and has really come a long way

 

Applejack - still the hardworker and great friend we know and love. Anyone realise her Element sort of came up? She couldn't lie about the Crystal Heart not being there, I liked that

 

Rainbow Dash - ah, Dashie. Dashie, Dashie, Dashie, when will you learn to let Fluttershy be Fluttershy? http://mlpforums.com/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.png Liked her overacting trying to distract the crystal ponies

 

Fluttershy - so cute. Her face when she was running the petting zoo, and when she gave a little sob when Dash was getting her to joust with her

 

Pinkie Pie - Loved her Fluttershy disguise And her jester costume "I WANT A FLUGEL HORN!!!!!!"

 

Rarity - The first thing I can think of to say is - HER SINGING VOICE WAS SO EPIC AT THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *ahem* Rarity's little crystal obsession was funny

 

Cadence and Shining Armor - it was good to see them again, and they got a little development, too! Their relationship is so sweet, and Cadence's flight near the end was awesome

 

Celestia and Luna - I think this is the first time we actually saw them discussing royal business together...

 

King Sombra - honestly, I didn't think there was enough there for his character. He's at the bottom of my favourite villian list -_-

And the big one:

 

Spike - OH... MY GOD... so many moments where I almost teared up at his awesomeness, cuteness, loyalty, funny-ness, sarcastic-ness, and that little moment when he's jumping across the crystal-rock-thingies with the Heart and he breathes a little of his fire - I really liked that ^^ It's great that he's finally getting the recognition he deserves. Also, what I think got me the most was when he saw his worst fear through Sombra's door - that moment, I literally wanted to do nothing but reach into the screen and hug him, and cry with him... Like, you know when you say you wanna reach into a screen to hug a character, you're mostly joking around? I'm not joking. I think I can now say that Spike is my favourite character in the show. Maybe even my favourite animated character ever... Or favourite character overall... I love you, Spike

 

WHY CAN'T I HUG YOU, SPIKE?! WHY?!

 

Well... sorry that was so long

[Champion RD92 8,658]

Ok so here's some of my thoughts on the episode:

 

-King Sombra looked frickin badass!!!! It's too bad there wasn't actually any fight scene with him or something

 

-Pinkie Pie was pretty funny in this episode. The part where she was disguised as Fluttershy was unexpected (and kind of weird)

 

-Why do the writers keep making Rainbow Dash act like such a bitch???? That pisses me off

 

-I didn't care for the songs as much as other songs like This Day Aria

 

-Yayyyy for more Cadence and Luna!!!

 

-Rarity had some pretty funny moments too

 

-I like how the crystal ponies were like super depressed lol

 

-That part where Twilight saw that fake vision of Celestia telling her she failed was pretty awesome. I could tell it wasn't real though.

 

Overall, it was a pretty good episode. I would give it like a 8/10.

 

Can't wait for the rest of the season!!!!

[Lacey Shadows 164]

Once again, it seemed like they beat the biggest villian ever without him even doing anything. It seems like Discord and Chrysalis (kinda) are the only ones that actually got stuff done. The premiere was like the others in the fact that it felt way too rushed (to me anyways). The villian gets like 5 seconds of legit screen time before he/she is blown up. I might be a little too cynical but man, I wish they would put up a better fight. But hey, it's a show for a younger demographic, so whaddaya gonna do?

 

Overall, it was good setup, the main characters haven't changed, we actually get some Luna right off the bat, and we get another new meme to exploit. How can you not go wrong with season 3?

[sampsoninc916 27]

My gosh, Twilight's worst fears are basically my worst fears, my loved ones hating me for anything I did or didn't do. I'm starting to wonder if Twilight Sparkle, compared to Fluttershy, is the pony that is a lot like me. I never even expected that in the episode, with Twilight Sparkle walking through a door that leads to her worst fear, Celestia getting ticked off at Twilight or failing the test.

[Sam Polson 25]

This 2 episodes were pretty funny and nice. I was a bit disappointed, because of lame villian. But humor overwhelm everything. Especially Pinkie's disguise.

[Java Jive 440]

Was anyone even suprised at Celestia's & Twilights' blatant use of the dark/shadow magic? The one Celestia fired at the black crystal to show her knowledge of the Crystal empire, hell, she even made these crystals appear from the ground. Which Twilight basically picked up just like that and used it on the door. Now i wonder, doesn't this use of that kind of magic atleast corrupt? I suppose to summon that kind of magic they have to use their darkest feelings/emotions. To see both use it so easily was... Suprising. And even slightly ominous.

Edited November 10, 2012 by JavaJive

[Beat Shock 581]

I skipped turkey shooting and parkour lessons for this... WORTH IT!!!!! That was amazing; the plot (hehe), the action, the suspense, the black magic, the PONIES!

I loved it, but I think they failed a bit...

 

Where I think they failed: SOMBRA!

 

Sombra didn't say anything, he was just all like "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA" the whole time, and he didn't have any epic battle with Celestia or anyone else! Also, he had no real back story, and looked like one of those terrible newbie OC's...

 

http://mlpforums.com/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.png?

Edited November 10, 2012 by Beat Shock

[PonyRocker95 106]

It sucks that I was sick for the actual premier but since I have the DVR in my room I was able to watch it when I woke up two hours later. Hmm...why to say about this season premier well it was a pretty good episode except that STUPID KING SOMBRA HAD NO PERSONALITY!!!! COME ON! really!? all he did was laugh and say "Crysttttttalssssss..." I mean seriously? Queen Chrysalis had more personalty then him! sorry about ranting but that was pretty much the only part of the ep that got on my nerves besides it seeming kind of rushed....

Edited November 10, 2012 by PonyRocker88

[Fluttermena 1,223]

My gosh, Twilight's worst fears are basically my worst fears, my loved ones hating me for anything I did or didn't do. I'm starting to wonder if Twilight Sparkle, compared to Fluttershy, is the pony that is a lot like me.

 

Yeah, me too, I'm sort of a mix between Twilight and Fluttershy, with a bit of Zecora thrown in.

 

Anyway, great premiere, plenty of epicness and Spike was awesome.Of course, as it already been said, Sombra didn't have enough characterization.

I like the idea of shadow magic, it gives me some more fanfic ideas, the fact that the Crystal Empire is powered up and now spreads love all over Equestria on the other hand, screws with my other fanfic idea about changelings...

Maybe I'll wait a lot longer before making fanfics, the last thing I want is for my stories to get jossed as Hasbro gives us more content to work with.

[Driz 1,552]

Just managed to watch the episodes on YouTube... Boy, it was awesome!!

 

Pinkie Pie was crazier than ever, Fluttershy was cuter than ever, Rainbow Dash was more awesome than ever, Rarity was-- ...I think you get my point.

 

The singing parts were also pretty good, specially Rarity and Applejack. And despite the slightly floppy villain King Sombra was, the plot was very nice. I personally loved the whole Crystal Empire city, the crystal ponies and all of that!~

 

My hopes for Season 3 have just rocketed to its peak! I can't wait for the rest of it!~

[PonyRocker95 106]

Oh! I also thought it was nice that the mlp team finally was nice enough to give Luna screen time! I feel kind of bad for Luna considering she gets blown off alot but I also find it funny that even though she doesn't get much screen time there are alot of people who still love her cuz shes just awesome like that! <3

Edited November 11, 2012 by PonyRocker88

[Pinkie D Pie 1,036]

As sad as this is. I thought it was a nice episode, but I don't think it was the best episode. It seemed rushed in my opinion, just to much happening so fast. And that villain Sombra, I mean come on you did nothing, nothing at all. His magic from before he was banished was stronger than that of what he was doing. They make an epicly cool villain and then don't even make him awesome. Overall I thought it was nice episode, not the best, not the worst. Hopefully season 3 has some great surprises in store for us.

[sampsoninc916 27]

Fluttershy ends up getting her booty kicked in jousting. Looks like someone got it worse than Celestia, who I was disappointed that she didn't come in and kick King Sombra's booty just to make up to the fans for losing to Chrysalis. Besides, how did she even survive Chrysalis' attack? I am glad, though, that they didn't take many of my ideas for the actual movie. All my ideas are classified right now.

[Princes Cadance 345]

It was alright, the plot was pretty straight forward and the evil pony didn't play much role in it.

It could have been better so 8.2/10

[Nac0n 105]

 

Sorry if already posted, but this made me laugh so hard . now excuse me, i have to rewatch the whole thing now. The animation was godly.

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

It was a retty solid episode just as i thought i guess the only problem was as everyone is saying the villian didn't get as much as a role as he should've .

 

I think writers are good at everything except making backstories.

[Mephala 2,633]

My only problems with this:

1.), LUNA AS PER USUAL GETS NO ACTION WTF

I was surprised she even had those small few lines, though, so that was a small victory *laughs*

and

2.), Sombra didn't get any time and he wasn't even that powerful :/

It all went by really fast :S

 

Oh, and Pinkie's totally out of place "I LIKE HER " line *laughs*

 

But I like the songs, and Rarity was simply DIVINE

Edited November 10, 2012 by Dug

[Eenohay 318]

Was anyone even suprised at Celestia's & Twilights' blatant use of the dark/shadow magic? The one Celestia fired at the black crystal to show her knowledge of the Crystal empire, hell, she even made these crystals appear from the ground. Which Twilight basically picked up just like that and used it on the door. Now i wonder, doesn't this use of that kind of magic atleast corrupt? I suppose to summon that kind of magic they have to use their darkest feelings/emotions. To see both use it so easily was... Suprising. And even slightly ominous.

 

I was glad seeing Celestia use it. It was a prove of her god state, being an Inmortal alicorn, ruler of Equestria for over a thousands years must mean she knows a lot of stuff, so she being able to use dark magic was a way to make her seem, if not more powerful, more wise, as she knows anything.

 

But Twilight did surprise me. Why would she be able to use dark magic? What is dark in her? I wish we'd see more about this later. I also must point out how more powerful seems Twilight to be becoming all time passes. Now not only she made her house fly sever meters into the air, she also learned flying and reverse gravity spells, and of course, the dark magic was awesome.

[Reuel(Crystal Slave) 287]

I'm going to go ahead and say that I honestly felt this was not only the best premiere, but the best two-episode event in MLP so far. Here's my reasoning:

 

The story is immediately captivating, and the first episode steps up to a new level as soon as it starts. It opens on an urgent note, showcasing exciting new elements from the very beginning. Celestia's dialogue with Twilight and her use of the Sombra-esque magic is very cool, and sets the tone for a darker, more epic storyline than ever before.

 

The failure/success song, while many of us had probably watched it several times already, was quite well-done, and the inclusion of Spike's singing was a welcome treat. Overall it's a very nice song, and it ends on a wonderful note, so to speak.

 

Of course, the absolute best element of this premiere for me was the character development of the mane 6, which we are graced with from the beginning of the episode right up to the end. There are subtle changes in character, if you take the time to notice them, which make some of them seem to have matured a little bit. The dialogue and comical nuances are golden from start to finish.

 

As always, the animation is perfect.

 

Once entering the Crystal Empire, the story continues to unfold very well, and the Crystal Fair song is positively epic. It's cool how each character gets their own lines in this song as well. From there, the episode continues to carry its own momentum in exciting ways.

 

The humor, character development, and twists and turns do not diminish as the premiere goes on. Each character's different mission during the whole crisis makes for a unique and awesome plot. Even Applejack gets a lot of screen time. The jousting with RD and Fluttershy, Rarity's hat stand, and Applejack protecting the Crystal Heart, are all very entertaining. Pinkie Pie is crazy as always, but instead of being absolutely over-the-top, she's the tiniest bit tamer, and just genuinely funny.

 

The environment of the Crystal Empire is beautiful, and for me it's always a plus to have pretty locations.

 

Twilight and Spike's mission to retrieve the Crystal Heart is quite epic as well. The door to Twilight's worst fears is a really cool and unexpectedly intense scene, and her use of the Sombra magic is awesome too.

 

About the ending: yes, Sombra got very little screen time. Yes, he died without saying much more than "Rawr" and "Crystalllll..." but you have to admit, the climax of the episode was just that: climactic. Twilight's decision to have Spike go instead of her to return the heart, with his little dragon-Parkour, and the whole deal with Cadence flying (or being thrown) in to save him is really cool. Yeah, Sombra died easily, but it was still awesome.

 

The ending was so beautiful that it made me tear up. When Rarity started singing to Twilight I was overwhelmed with feels. Everyone was included in the song, and it was completely awesome.

 

Spike had a great role in this episode, and I now appreciate him as a character even more than I did before.

 

Overall, this was absolutely incredible. 9.5/10. Only time will tell if the S3 finale or S4 premiere will surpass it.

 

I'm going to watch it a second time tonight.

Edited November 10, 2012 by AndrewClocksin

[Draldeld 10]

Liked the episode. I personally thought that the villain did not have nearly enough screen time, but still, the ending was pretty well done IMO.

 

Also, did anybody notice this on the commercial? New character.

[roptiriolg 49]

Thanks for the YT video, AmateurFish07! I will be waiting for a 1080p, in case there will be one in such resolution but this one is aleady good!

[Randomiser 115]

I'll get the bad stuff out of the way first: I found Rainbow Dash's behavior in most parts too exaggerated. Pinkie Pie's too, to some extent, although she still had some tame moments. Something felt off about it. I can also second the opinion that Sombra didn't really get to do much besides act threatening.

 

All else was pretty good, I could try to pick out the funniest bits, but that would take a while.

 

The music was surprising good, including the background music. It and the animation seem to continuously get better as the show goes on.

 

The Twilight and Spike dynamic in the second episode was perfect. Not just the fact that Spike got to save the day, but how we see him rush down the endless for Twilight, and his fear of her abandoning him. He's cast to the side a lot but that mature and caring side of him comes out in episodes like Lesson Zero.

 

Overall, I think the series still has its charm. I'm excited to see the direction the rest of the season takes.

[Motion Spark 7,807]

ok here goes my review.

 

This premiere was a mixture of disappointment/coolnes/goosebumps/ with a touch of shock, still though, this can't Beat "A canterlot Wedding" or "The Mare in the moon".

I very much enjoyed the premiered, at least, MLP is a show that will never get to bore me even if I don't like the episode. And that's because the characters are so well developed, so well designed, they are no perfect, they have strenghts and weaknesses. And that's makes the show perfect, not to mention that the world of Equestria is fascinating, tha adding of spells, magic, pegasus, mitological creatures and whatnot is the icing on the cake. These thing builds a robust storyline based on how the characters reacts on certain scenarios.

 

The story.

Again, they have a perfect storyline base, but there are so many things that they can explore that it just not enough for 2 episodes, the writers have to break the monotony a make, I dunno, a 5 episode special or something. The Crystal Empire concept, the king Sombra, the Crystal Ponies, Twilight's test, Cadence love magic. Everything seemed perfect but for me, it was poorly excecuted, it doesn't mean that the episode sucked, it was amazing. But the concept wasn't exploited as it should be.

So in the end it was an great concept, just like Canterlot Wedding, but it was poorly excecuted, however I got goosebumps at many times, I enjoyed the talk with Princess Celestia and Twilight at the beginning of the first episode, but I find many flaws on this storyline. If Princess Celestia knew about the crystal heart all the time, why she was hinting it to Twilight the whole time instead of just blurting it out! and if she saw Twilight all unsure, why didn't she left to the Crystal Empire herself? Would she be capable of fucking up an entire empire just to put Twilight a test? Princess Molestia comes to shine! these are opportunies to make plot "gaps" because they leave a knot in my brain.

I don't agree very much with the fair, because that iddea was kind of childish to me, but hey! it's a kids show, so I'm not gonna say more about it, I have no word on it. I liked how Cadence has a very important role in this whole episode and Shinning Armor was pretty much useless LOL. She is the Crystal Princess, perhaps the ruler of the Crystal Empire. That made me think that Equestria and the Crystal empire are 2 different kingdoms, ruled by females, horse shaped, alircorn ponies. so, it is possible to be more of these kingdoms with more female rulers? if Cadence was a princess, then why she was a foalsitter, why she left her empire? Did she was kicked out by King Sombra? many questions as you can see haha.

 

Animation and Design

I LOVED IT that's all. MLP is the only show to existence that make me seriously think that flash 2D animation is capable of competing with traditional 2D animation. Even with it's flaws (because they were, and I saw them) the animation is superb, is fluid as water, the lip sync is amazing, the movements, the manes. Todo! amazing!

The design is another thing that compliments the animation, the backgrounds are so carefully made, every single detail. Celestia's Castle, beautiful as always. The Crystal Empire is completely beautiful I loved the the buildings and the castle, I have nothing bad to say about this.

 

Characters

 

The Crystal Ponies: I loved them overall, I find it interesting how their color schema is very diferent to Ponyville ponies, the color of their manes have gradients on them, which is very different to the ponies of Ponyville, except from Rarity which is the only one with gradients on her mane and tail. The fact the the "shine" in their eyes is shaped as a crystal form is a nice touch. And I like how their cutie marks follow some sort of pattern (in some case related to politics?)...theY remind me of greek ponies for some reason.

The thing that caught my attention the most were that they may look like earth ponies but they are inmortal (?), and they have some sort of magical powers based in love. Which is Cadence magic.

 

King Sombra: what can I say about him. Physically he looks BADASS! He's strong, he's scary, he's powerful (apparently) and everything he is went to waste! he had almost none screen play in the episode and he did almost nothing in the same episode, again another villain defeated easily, I know it's a kids show, but c'mon. He had an amazing concept and it pop my veins that the writers didn't take advantage of that.

 

Twilight: I loved her during both episodes, she was mature, she was helpful, she behaved as a complete leader. Her new "dark" spell was fantastic, I hope to see more of these "new" spells in the future. Nothing bad to say about her.

 

Applejack. I'm very proud of Applejack, she had a lot of screen play on these episodes. She can be at the level of Rainbow Dash and make jokes to Rarity, and completelly change and be responsible, mature and polite. She was the only one to find a clue in how to help the Crystal Empire and Princess Cadence by finding the library, she was ready to get to work. She helped a LOT in the fair, she got responsible of the fake crystal heart, she was loving and tender with the Crystal Ponies and helped Twilight with what she could help, she put Rainbow Dash on her place when she was being mean to the Crystal Ponies. 5 stars for Appie! good job.

 

Rainbow Dash: I don't like her, I never liked her, and apparently never will. I saw her showing Twilight that she was available for anything which I think is very considerate of her, but when she does something good, her actions are overshadowed by her jerky side. She was mean, rude and brute to the Crystal Ponies and Fluttershy and still act like a bitch. I give props to her, for being fast and for covering the fake Crystal heart just in time. please Rainbow Dash fans, do not come at me, because you will never change how I see her, so don't waste your time.

 

Rarity: I confirmed it, Rarity is the funniest character in the show, almost all Rarity parts in the show were very funny to watch, I loved her fashiongasms during the whole episodes ahah. Besides Twilight, Rarity was the pony with more screen play in the show, and she as well was very helpful to the crystal ponies crafting stuff for them. However, she being an unicorn I've never seen her using her magic which was really disappointing, because I expected her to catch Spike with her unicorn magic when he was falling with the crystal heart, I mean, she was the only unicorn there! Cadence was too weak to move.

Her singing voice is the best in the show, and I love the fact that she was the closest to Twilight during that episode.

 

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie: I put both of them in the same group because I forgot who they were in the episodes, they had the least screen play and didn't give much to the story. Of course Pinkie being Pinkie is memorable enough, but not this time. And Fluttershy didn't do anything important or anything I would remember.

however the Fluttershy disguise was hilarious and the assertive failure of Fluttershy as well was awesome haha.

 

Princess Cadence: She was very important during this season premiere, her job was incredible, and I consider her a key character. There's no sign of pregnancy though XD

 

Shinning Armor: useless

 

so here's my review of the season premiere, I'm looking fordward for the next episodes, but I don't expect any "epicness" to happen, so I'm just gonna chill, relax and watch. Thanks for reading.

[Twiliscael 3,960]

That was fantastic. The best part in my opinion is how everypony got a chance to shine. Twilight passed her test and learned a new lesson. Rarity made me laugh a few times with her obsession over gems and being Rarity. Pinkie Pie showed her fun-loving side that always brings a smile to my face. Also, I laughed pretty loudly when she was botheeing Rainbow Dash for the flugle. Rainbow Dash did her usual thing (but hey, that's why we love her), Fluttershy was d'awww-worthy and was in heaven while at the petting zoo. Applejack really showed her element of honesty by not lying about the crystal heart. Cadance proved that she is willing to put herself at risk to save others as did Shining Armor. Also, I'd argue that Spike is a mane 6 level character now. He sings and gets a mural in the castle. My only gripe is that the villian left something to be desired. They didn't flesh him out at all. I liked this episode so much because of how well the characters were done.

 

It was a fantastic episode and I am definitely looking forward to the rest of this season.

[Discovery Dream 592]

Time for my thoughts:

 

As the episode started, I had high hopes. It looked awesome, it felt grand, I was all ready. "The Failure Song" ends, commerical break, and then...they're on a train in the snow, and then everypony's running away from Sombra. It was a bit too fast for my tastes, so I sat back and waited to see the rest of the episode. After that, I really liked it, though. Loved the scenery with the Crystal Empire and the story was really fun. They did the Ladybug chant again, squee!

 

The second episode blew me away. The animation seemed to have gotten better, and my God did I love seeing Spike be the hero on his own window in the castle. Not to mention the "worst fear" sequence--d'aaaaws for Spikey-Wikey. All of my d'aaaaws. Kinda sucks we didn't see a whole lot of Sombra, would've loved to see some flashbacks or something...oh well. The fanfics will start up soon enough.

 

Overall, a great start to an assuredly great season!