S03:E01+02 - The Crystal Empire

[karizake 6]

The idea of the episode was great, but like many others I don't think it was executed well enough. Though I can't blame the writers for wanting to try something new with the villain; they might have been afraid that the direct confrontation approach of Nightmare and Discord, even though the plot formula does work, may have become cliched. With all the hidden traps and secrets, King Sombra would have made a great Saw-esque villain if his backstory were to be explained.

[Page Turner 607]

Does anypony else see Sombra as this Gen's answer to the Smooze? think about it, He's a big unstoppable wave of stuff that makes ponies depressed.

Edited November 11, 2012 by PageTurner(Pwny'sHeir)

[Vega 107]

Very meh. The Crystal Fair was silly, the crystal ponies acted like loons, Sombra had about as much character as the smoke monster from Lost, we are told next to nothing about the Crystal Empire, and the entire plot somehow manages to drag and move slowly without actually revealing anything interesting. The character interactions were pretty good, but overall, these episodes did not hold a candle to the season 2 opener or finale.

[TheBronyArtist 32]

Very meh. The Crystal Fair was silly, the crystal ponies acted like loons, Sombra had about as much character as the smoke monster from Lost, we are told next to nothing about the Crystal Empire, and the entire plot somehow manages to drag and move slowly without actually revealing anything interesting. The character interactions were pretty good, but overall, these episodes did not hold a candle to the season 2 opener or finale.

 

Aaaawwwll it wasn't bad at all I loved it! And off course they didn't live up to the hype(yet) or to past seasons, come on! Hey had discord and changlings! I did feel a little thrown into mid-action since the story took place as caidence power was fading, but that was after the shows need and I had come down from my fan boy high.

[Victor van Dort 202]

I loved this episode, the only problem for me was the fact that they didn't flesh out King Sombra. On a side note, I wonder how many STD jokes will be made about the Crystals on Shining's horn?

 

First!

[irobern2857 95]

it is about time that season three drops. i think that this was a good episode but in no way was as good of a season premiere as the one for S2. I did not like how the did the villain. NM Moon, Discord, and Chrysalis all played a major part throughout but in this one the villain was almost a background character. They just jumped back to him every now and then to remind you that there was a reason for the rush in finding the heart. I mean he had like three lines in the whole episode.

 

By far this was my favorite part:

MY COVER HAS BEEN BLOWN.

Edited November 11, 2012 by irobern2857

[booptidoo 4]

I'm this crazy-excited for the new episodes

[Mister Jack 566]

So we all know by now that Sombra was kind of a disappointment. Can we talk about how friggin crazy it is that Celestia (and technically Twilight now) knows black magic? Why would she add that to her repertoire?

 

Also

 

Edited November 11, 2012 by Mister Jack

[Sunny Fox 5,950]

Awesome parts about this episode:

1. Rarity being Rarity ("I made it work..." is now my favourite line in the entire show)

2. Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie (the Fluttershy suit was pure genius)

3. More Shining Armour

4. More Luna actually being troubled and brooding (as she should be.)

5. Princess Celestia and Twilight being able to use dark magic

6. Crystal Pony Apple Bloom during Celestia's history lesson.

7. Gravity magic

8. The Mane 6 as Crystal Ponies, especially Rarity

9. Hints of something awesome/epic in Twilight's future, which hopefully can be built up into a story arc that lasts longer than just 2 episodes. Either that, or it gets resolved in a full-length movie. I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight does end up being something like Cadence, Celestia or Luna herself.

 

Not so awesome parts:

1. Too many songs. Beautiful as they may be to listen to, it runs the risk of making FiS a musical. It's not a musical, people. It's a show with some songs added in. Look at the recent two-parters - 6 songs ("BBBFF", "This Day", "Love is in Bloom", "Succeed or Fail", "Save the Crystal Ponies", "You Were Prepared") in 4 (technically 2) episodes? Do not want. Not one song was sung in "Return of Harmony", and that is still more highly rated by most fans, going by this thread's responses. As I say, though, it's the idea I object to, not the songs themselves.

2. Related with above - this should have been a three-parter. It was rushed too much, and the songs didn't help, taking up time they could have used to better effect in the climax.

3. They did not do enough with the villain. Although his magical horn was thrown into the distance by the explosion, so maybe he'll come back and they can correct it.

4. RD forcing poor old Fluttershy to joust her. If it had gone the other way, it would have been funnier. As it was, it just seemed mean-spirited of Dash.

 

Overall, it was a good offering. Not the best episode by a long shot, but certainly not a bad attempt. 7.5/10, maybe.

[Koori 156]

So we all know by now that Sombra was kind of a disappointment. Can we talk about how friggin crazy it is that Celestia (and technically Twilight now) knows black magic? Why would she add that to her repertoire?

 

Also

 

 

That's another thing that actually caught my attention. Princess Celestia used that kind of magic only ONCE in front of Twilight and didn't really teach it and yet Twilight was able to do the same thing TWICE without any guidance. This indicates, that whatever destiny Twilight has, it involves being a true master of magic since apparently she can learn magic just by looking at it.

 

Also, LOL! at the picture.

[Qsphere580&9/5 10]

I personally liked this episode. Sure king sombra didn't get enough development, however at least he didn't hog all the screen time. I thought the mane 6 were really good. I am curious though about the spell Celestia casted and taught to twilight.

 

I was annoyed to see twilight over worrying herself about failing again, you would think she figure out Celestia isn't going to banish and so on.

 

Did any one else notice Berry Punch in the crowd at the jousting scene?

[PlunderSteed 1,252]

Oh, wow...I watched the episodes this morning, then had to go to work. I came back and there are almost 20 pages of comments. Daaaayum, Bronies! Ok, must sleep now but I'll catch up in the morning. I expect to see dedicated threads for...

 

- That creepy book Luna was holding at the end

- The G3 Pinkie Pie face

- Comparison between Sombra and the other villains so far

- The "1,000 year" thing

[Motion Spark 7,807]

first of all thank you guys for making my review popular, I re-read it and I saw my disgusting grammar mistakes so I apologize for that, I would write more, because there are things that I didn't say, but it would take me a lot of time...

 

anyways, I agree with everyone else, everything was rushed...OMG! it almost painfull to see how much potential Sombra had, and I can't believe that I'm cheering up a villain. But he just had so much to give, so much potential to be the most epic villain ever! and it was not bad, because the Sombra Storm was pretty awesome, but like many said very poorly excecuted.

 

what a disappointment, but you know it's MLP, it's always gonna be awesome compared to other cartoons we have these days.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Motion Spark

[Lando 80]

This was the first season premiere that I had to wait for (I became a brony about five months ago) and I was not dissapointed. The animations were great, the songs were perfect, and I love that Spike was the hero for once!

[Kamui 0]

I really loved the season 3 premier. It was really nice to watch new stuff, after such a long wait. I´m just very curious about the Celestia-Luna conversation and the book in the end. Can´t wait for more.

[Pepperoni 7]

Why did Cadence smash the heart that Twilight made

Edited November 11, 2012 by Pepperoni

[poniesforfun 716]

I was actually expecting Spike to go into his big dragon form after touching the crystal and beating Sombra to a pulp.

[Ponsiedon 5]

I too noticed the early conversation between Luna and Celestia. Then Luna pulls out 'the black book'. I am sure there is a logical explination for all that, but for a few moments I couldn't help but feel like Celestia and Luna were planning to sacrifice Twilight to give them another 1000 years of life....

[Pony Joe 583]

The good:

 

- The story concept, with the idea of a new empire with its own government and culture. That's just something I never thought they'd do, and they managed to give the new setting a pretty unique flavor.

- The songs, of course! Ingram never disappoints!

- Pinkie Pie. There's a reason she's my favorite character. "I WANT A FLUGELHORN!"

- The end twist, that showing the ability to sacrifice her own test score was Twilight's test. That's actually very clever, and a perfect match for her character.

- The animation, as usual. Lots of flashy magic effects and camera rotations, which I know from personal experience will make you hate yourself for attempting. But it paid off, and this is one of the nicest looking episodes yet.

 

The bad:

- Sombra is the worst villain we've seen so far. Everything about him is generic, from his design to his voice, and we didn't even get a glimpse at his personality! If they had spent more time focusing on WHAT makes him a unique threat, WHY he's trying to destroy the empire, and HOW his corruption spreads, he could have been truly memorable. As it is, though, he's just... bluh.

- Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity almost seem like parodies of their own personalities. I know it's just a cartoon, but I expected them to be more entertaining and less repetitively reminding us who they are. We get it, Rarity. You like design. Now show that you have the capacity to shut up about it when the empire is at stake.

- Celestia and Luna's dialogue remains stiff and overly regal, as if absolutely everything they say is the most important thing we've ever heard. The writers need to show us that the princesses aren't on some arbitrary higher level that demands an overly dramatic tone of speech.

- Luna herself remains pushed to the sidelines whenever things get real!

- The whole evil-magic-forcing-its-way-through-magically-sustained-shield gimmick to keep up the tension is just cheap, and feels like a repeat of A Canterlot Wedding.

 

Overall, I liked it, but it's far from being one of my favorite episodes. It lacks much of the originality, quotability, and just plain entertainment value that most episodes have. It seems like Studio B's not getting much better at telling longer-form stories, which is a real shame considering how well they can pull off regular, episodic content.

 

Still, I'm glad we finally have weekly episodes again. The next 12 weekends are sure to contain much

Edited November 11, 2012 by Pony Joe

[roptiriolg 49]

It was Awesome!!! It was worth waking up 7 in the morning to watch new episode. Watched twice. Can't wait for the other new episode after seeing this!?!

 

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajc1GfwFIxY

 

I fell off my bed when I saw Pinkie Pie made that face.

 

Haha that's the 80s ponies! Even MLP ponies can't stand the 80s ponies look, awesome reference with which MLP grabbed me even more.

Edited November 11, 2012 by ImtR

[Glaceon 793]

Well, this was quite good. Twilight's song was real good, the fair song was good too. Spike finally gets to be a hero!

All in all, a nice way to start of season 3.

Only complaint is that we could of had the antagonist be more popular.

[dekutree64 713]

I liked it. Definitely not as good as the wedding, but great epic vibe to the whole thing. The background music was a big part of that. Very cinematic sounding for TV, much less a kids show

 

Also a fair bit more lore/history, though even more new questions. Does anypony else think we need a couple movies or a spinoff series detailing Celestia and Luna's conquests 1000 years ago? Apparently they had as many villains back then as there seem to be cropping up now. Perhaps a 1000 year cycle, since that book Twiight was reading in the very first episode said that harmony had been maintained in Equestria ever since Luna's banishment?

 

An interesting tidbit I noticed is that unimportant looking stained glass window off to the side, depicting a round Earth with large oceans. Does that mean there are whole other continents that depend on Celestia and Luna raising the sun and moon on schedule? Or do the clouds around it mean that only that one area ever gets enough sunlight to support life?

 

It looks like Twilight is going to be in for some tough lessons from Luna, judging by that looming scowl after Celestia said "the next level of your studies". And Luna's book at the end... two stars and a spiral on it. Perhaps something written by Starswirl the Bearded?

 

I definitely get the feeling Celestia is grooming Twilight to become an alicorn (an idea I very much like, if it's done properly). I just really really hope it's not going to be a successor thing, as in dead Celestia. As a big Twilestia shipper, I hope it's as much about companionship as it is talent/destiny on Twilight's part. Celestia's gotta be lonely after 1000 years of ruling alone, constantly too busy to really make friends. At least she has Luna back now, but she has Twilight to thank for that, so it seems fitting for them to be a big happy family from now on

 

Not to mention, if Twilight remains mortal, Spike is going to outlive her by a longshot. Wouldn't it just be sooo awesome to do a series 1000 years in the future, about Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and full grown Spike's adventures with the next round of villains? Not that that would ever really happen, but at the very least I hope the series doesn't end with Twilight's ascension. That would be a total waste, alienating the fans who didn't want it to happen, and not giving the ones who did want it to happen any material beyond what they could have fanfic'd themselves anyway.

 

It's good to know more about Cadence, being the crystal princess. Still doesn't explain where she came from, since she looked younger when Twilight was younger, so apparently she was born/reincarnated/something recently. Doesn't explain why she was pre-cutie-mark-Twilight's foalsitter either. And I don't like that it means Shining Armor will be moving to the crystal empire, because that means he and Twilight will probably never live close to eachother again. Finalized his downgrade from BBBFF to BBBFUntilwegrowup

But Shining using his wife as a javelin, that was awesome

[cuteycindyhoney 13,302]

I never thought of it before. Sun, Moon...STARS! Celestia is grooming Twilight to complete the trinity! What devastating event is going to happen in the future where they'll need to join Twilight's extremely powerful magic with that of the royal Alicorns?

[Princess Lintsalot 73]

I never thought of it before. Sun, Moon...STARS! Celestia is grooming Twilight to complete the trinity! What devastating event is going to happen in the future where they'll need to join Twilight's extremely powerful magic with that of the royal Alicorns?

 

But we've already established that twilight might not be the most powerful unicorn around, with the one screeny of Trixie in control of ponyville, and possibly Sombra as well- after all, he's an ancient evil tyrant, and he managed to control his own empire for a while.

[Applesmack & Brandy 121]

It wasnt as good as I expected it to be, But I did enjoy the humor of it. (especially Pinkie) I got more hyped about the ads for the next episodes more then I did while watching the premire!

 

(and I enjoyed Ballad of the Crystal Ponies, is a good song)