S03:E06 - Sleepless in Ponyville

[Number62 1,246]

Since Luna can dreamwalk, what did she do before she became Nightmare Moon during the night? Either the ponies are ungrateful for her help when they get nightmares, or the ponies she did help all happen to hate the nighttime.

[Thrond 3,257]

I have trouble relating to the CMC like I do the mane six, but it's hard to deny this episode's strong emotional core. It's a simple plot based around a simple idea, but simplicity defines many of the show's strongest episodes. It allows for characters to drive an episode, and even if the episode sometimes teeters into exaggerating traits for humour, it also gets to the core of these characters and brings out what makes them work. Scootaloo's anxiety is simple and a little silly, but while these childish conflicts don't hit as close to home for me as those the older ponies experience, it's understandable that Scootaloo would feel that way, and this makes her sympathetic. Meanwhile, I'm not entirely sure that Rainbow ever believed that Scootaloo wasn't scared, which makes it sweet that she'd humour the filly. I kinda think that Rainbow should have intervened sooner, as I dunno if having Applejack be the one to express concern in an episode which is supposed to be about RD/Scootaloo bonding is a good idea, but that ending episode where she reveals that she was initially afraid of those stories as well is surely one of the show's best scenes. 

 

Luna is always great to see again, and these episodes where she helps the CMC out with their anxieties are all pretty splendid (though I think "Bloom and Gloom" is the best of them.) Bellowing "FACE YOUR FEARS" is a bit silly, but it clearly worked. I think this is the first we saw of the "dream walking" thing she does, and it really does add a lot. The dream sequences themselves are visually and atmospherically appealing, but Scootaloo really is the star here. I don't connect to her conflict as much as I did the last time I watched, but it does a lot to deepen her character, and although her approach is childish, hiding your fears in order to avoid disappointing others does have some universality to it. I also like how she's animated. While she can't fly and doesn't have the grace of Rainbow Dash, she's energetic and quick on her feet, and those visual touches add more to her personality. Since this episode she's increasingly become the most complex of the Crusaders, whatever that's worth; that probably feels more significant when viewed in sequence with her earlier appearances than it does now that it's become expected. 

 

The stuff with Rarity and Sweetie Belle, though? That's more of a mixed bag. We can see that Rarity cares about her sister, but having her force Sweetie Belle to carry her absurd cart of luggage just feels off for her. It's season 3. Would she not have the self-awareness to not bring so much lugage? It's kinda funny, but Sweetie pulling the cart isn't, and both feel like they're taking Rarity's worst qualities and inflating them for humour. The scene at the end where Rarity is excitedly playing with her sister is great, but otherwise I don't think the episode handles her all that well. 

 

Still, that Scootaloo characterization is pretty great, and there's enough here to make the episode utterly irresistible even though this viewing was a slight disappointment. Best of season 3? Not sure. Great episode? Certainly. 

 

Score:

Entertainment: 9/10

Characters: 8/10

Themes: 10/10

Story: 9/10

Overall: 90/100

[bluseymoe 258]

Is it just me or is Rainbow out of character? That may just be from me not liking Dash too much, but she seemed like a bigger jerk then usual.

 

And yays for Luna!

What episode were you watching? Dash couldn't have been less of a jerk in this one.

[Moony the Cat 3,695]

I liked this Episode, also its nice that Luna has a new job now, in which Ponys actually see her and can admire her work, so its definitely better than in the Past, where nobody noticed her work. Its a great solution.

[Meushell 52]

Yikes! I’d hate to have anyone looking at my dreams, especially the nightmares. Knowing that Luna does that would be enough to make me sleep during the day.

Also that idea alone is really fuel for fanfic, isn’t it? 

As to the episode. I enjoyed it, but the conflict went on a bit too long. Maybe it needed another side story, with Luna, because Luna is awesome.

On 1/3/2017 at 9:31 PM, AlexanderThrond said:

The stuff with Rarity and Sweetie Belle, though? That's more of a mixed bag. We can see that Rarity cares about her sister, but having her force Sweetie Belle to carry her absurd cart of luggage just feels off for her. It's season 3. Would she not have the self-awareness to not bring so much lugage? It's kinda funny, but Sweetie pulling the cart isn't, and both feel like they're taking Rarity's worst qualities and inflating them for humour. The scene at the end where Rarity is excitedly playing with her sister is great, but otherwise I don't think the episode handles her all that well. 

Yeah. It’s an old gag, so it needs to be done right when it is done. Making a child lug it around isn’t it. It might have worked if it didn’t even slow Sweetie Bell. Having boundless amounts of energy isn’t part of her characterization though. Imagine if she had Pinkie Pie-like energy, and was always waiting for the others to catch up or just running circles around them.

[bigbertha 410]

This episode is fantastic. Scootaloo's fears are relatable and engaging and this is one of Rainbow Dash's best appearances. The only problem is Rarity making Sweetie Belle carry her wagon. I get that it's payback for Sweetie Belle guilt tripping Rarity, but it's pushed just a bit too far.

Score: 9/10

[bigbertha 410]

While there are a lot of great things here, there is one big problem that somewhat brings it down. My biggest problem is how unaware Applejack and Rainbow Dash are made to be. Sure, Applejack notices that Scootaloo seems off, but it doesn't go any further than that. It doesn't ruin the episode, but it is frustrating when Scootaloo is obviously sleep deprived, yet neither Applejack nor Rainbow Dash do anything about it. 

Everything else is really good. I like how Scootaloo is characterized. Her attempts to impress Rainbow Dash are all really charming and her conflict is relatable. Luna getting a supporting role is pretty neat too. The dreams themselves are really atmospheric and interesting to watch with some good tension. The comedy is solid. The episode doesn't focus on jokes, but the episode does a good job of not letting the jokes clash with any more dramatic moments. The dramatic moments work when they need to and the comedic moments work when they need to. Rarity making Sweetie Belle carry all of their stuff can seem a little off, but I think it's justified well enough here and there are moments of Rarity being a good sister to counter it. And the ending is really sweet. Rainbow's obliviousness may be a bit frustrating, but the ending more than makes up for it. 

Score: 9/10

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

Ahh!  One of the all time greats!  I love seeing a ratio like that on the poll.  75% love!  That's rare.  The touching scene at the end was one of the best moments of the show.  I always wished that they had played up and developed the Rainbow adopted sister thing more.  It could have been a really sweet, heartwarming story to watch their bond grow, but they hardly ever mentioned it again, which is a shame.

I think this episode is also probably the one that started the speculation that Scoots in an orphan, which they basically flat-out confirmed in freakin' Parental Glideance, only to then throw away in the episode when Scoots parents showed up and were all, "Hi!  We're good parents, we're just gone all the time!"  That was BOGUS, man!  I know it would have been dark, but I always wanted them to make Scoots either an orphan, or have abusive parents, or something like that.  Some kind of broken home situation.  I think that sort of story, done with the utmost care and tact, would be a useful and meaningful topic to explore on a kid's show.

[HedonismBot 217]

2 hours ago, Justin_Case001 said:

Ahh!  One of the all time greats!  I love seeing a ratio like that on the poll.  75% love!  That's rare.  The touching scene at the end was one of the best moments of the show.  I always wished that they had played up and developed the Rainbow adopted sister thing more.  It could have been a really sweet, heartwarming story to watch their bond grow, but they hardly ever mentioned it again, which is a shame.

It certainly would have been cool to see a few scenes of Rainbow helping Scootaloo train her wings in hopes of one day flying.

Also, Rainbow Dash was there when Apple Bloom tried hang gliding in "Call of the Cutie", and in "May the Best Pet Win" it was implied that she came up with the idea to get Tank his propeller backpack. If we're to assume that Scootaloo would never be able to fly on her own two wings, one would think Rainbow would have been able to help her obtain some form of assistive technology. 

Unfortunately, that scene at the end is the closest we'd ever get to seeing Rainbow (or anyone else) get Scootaloo the help she needs in that department.

[Thrond 3,257]

On 10/21/2020 at 9:56 AM, Justin_Case001 said:

only to then throw away in the episode when Scoots parents showed up and were all, "Hi!  We're good parents, we're just gone all the time!"  

Honestly I think that episode was about how Scootaloo has bad parents. I mean yes the execution is weird but what happens in that episode is that her parents make a major change to her life out of nowhere despite having neglected her for years beforehand. Though perhaps that's a conversation for that episode's thread.

[North Star 4,467]

Who cares about clearing the sky in 10 seconds flat when you can literally kick through 4 fully grown trees.

Using the equation of the energy of a moving object is equal to one half of the object's mass times the square of its velocity, and taking into account work and pressure, I estimate Dash hit the tree with about the same amount of force as an express train, and has horse bones that are as strong as stainless steel.

Dash is literally Super Mare D:

 

[Props Valroa 25,974]

I really liked this episode. Rarity acts all posh while camping. The stories were fun but my favorite part was with Princess Luna. I saw her in one of Scootaloo's previous dreams so I knew she was coming. I find her to be a very relatable pony, Princess Luna. This was back when Princess Luna was still recently Nightmare Moon and I can see a little bit of that in this. The moon seems so huge, she always comes out of the moon in the dreams. I love that part. Sometimes you have to face your fears even though you don't want to. Scootaloo sneaking out of the cave at night is the scary part to me. Imagine if RD wasn't there to save her.

The ending bit is important. Luna plays a pivotal role in ponies dreams. No wonder why she felt bad about not getting the credit...

[Astralshy 23,450]

I love this episode. The bonding between RD and Scoots was something I wanted even before I saw this episode. So I love the ending of this episode, even if I wished we had more of it.

It's this episode where I understood who Scoots is and she went directly to be my fav. CMC.

And then as the previous posts already mentioned Luna appears and we learn about her duty in the dreamworld.  This is used multiple times in the show, but it's here where it'S first introduced. So in my book this make this episodes alone a very important one.

On 2020-10-21 at 5:56 PM, Justin_Case001 said:

I always wished that they had played up and developed the Rainbow adopted sister thing more.

I wished that too.

[JMTV99 1,348]

This is a really good episode. It's my favorite Luna meets CMC episodes of the series. I really love Rainbow Dash in this episode. She has a good heart.

[Cash In 21,492]

I never noticed this until now, but it's strange that Scootaloo didn't get her own episode until season 3.

Scootaloo's struggle was wonderfully done. The childlike fear of disappointing those we look up to is powerful and I really feel that the writers did it justice. Also enjoyed seeing Scootaloo and RD's relationship being explored.

I adored Luna's role here. Easily the highlight of the episode. Seeing her influence and involvement in the world of dreams has to be one of my favourite moments in the entire show.

I can't say anything about this that hasn't already been said a million times. Wonderful episode.

[Props Valroa 25,974]

This was a really funny and cute episode to say the least. It wasn't too complex or anything - my thoughts remain the same when I last watched this episode. Rarity's poshness and bringing all that cargo while camping is the funniest thing in this episode for me. 

[Hadrien 937]

I always forget this episode exists. I think I watched it once and never again, on any replays I did of the serie. It's pretty mid, Scootaloo having nightmare she doesn't want to face and ending up super tired isn't much in the way of shenanigans. I like the bonding they tried to do with the pairs of AJ/Applebloom, Rarity/Sweetie Bell and RD/Scoots. It kind of make sense, since those three Mane Six are the most sisterly of the bunch (Pinkie's way too intense, Twilight too important, and Flutters too nurturing she turns into a mom instead of a sister).

It's alright, 5.5/10