This Episode is Terrible!.......Why it isn't #2 Feeling Pinkie Keen

[Anadu Kune 668]

This is an episode that I feel is very harshly Judged for a pretty silly reason. This one is a bit shorter so lets get right into it.

 

Pinkie Sense comes out of nowhere and doesn't make any apparent sense!

 

Well that would be one of the main themes of the episode. If Pinkie sense made apparent sense Twilight wouldn't go out of her way to invetigate/disprove it would she. 

 

The other ponies know about Pinkie sense why didnt it come up before in previous episodes?

 

Why didn't Sweetie Belle being Rarities sister come up before Stare Master? There is a simple answer to this. It wasn't established yet. The episode was written to establish this and explore the character of Twilight and Pinkie. Another answer is that the other ponies accepted it as a part of ordinary life. Its easy to see Twilight not noticing it up till that point. It is only the 15th episode of the show. 

 

Why didn't Twilight just Teleport across the gap "rather than taking a leap of faith"?

 

I think it important to note first that we have no way of knowing how far twilight can teleport. The most impressive use of the ability to date I think would be in Dragon Quest when she teleported multiple persons out of sight. Though even in that case distance in vague at best. All other indications point to her mainly being able to use to ability for short range.

 

My main thought on this though is that she  was hindered by emotional stress. Stress can effect ones normal abilities in many ways when one is in a stressed or panicked state you can freeze up, or your reflexes can be heightened subconsciously. You can feel incredibly weak or gain seemingly heightened strength. Now we just need evidence that a unicorns mental state can effect their ability to perform magic, and it is present. In Ticket Master Twlight unexpectedly teleports when under the pressure of surrounding ponies. Twilight burst into an uncontrollable magic fit set off by the Sonic Rainboom in Cutie Mark Chronicles. In Dragon Quest Twilight seems to have trouble teleporting whilst being perused by the dragons(though this could be interpreted in another way). In Magical Duel it is shown that a break in concentration can effect Twilights ability to perform magic. These examples show that mental states can affect the ability to control/perform magic. It would then be logical to argue that under pressure Twilight either couldn't perform the spell or simply didn't think of it in the panic of the situation. 

 

Can you believe that moral, it promotes uncritical thinking and religion. 

 

It would seem to me that those who complain of this did not examine the whole content of the episode and are themselves guilty of uncritical thinking. It is made clear by the end of the episode that Pinkie Sense does in deed work or at the very least enough evidence has amounted to strongly suggest that is the case. It also seems clear that by the end of the episode that Twilight is not being skeptical but cynical.  She actively disbelieves in the possibility of Pinkie Sense occurring and seems to go out with the intention of disproving it. The whole moral of the episode is that just because you don't understand something does not mean it doesn't exist. In the face of overwhelming evidence that said phenomena you don't understand exist it is unscientific to actively deny them. Its a lesson that should be taken to heart as it is a mistake that seems to be repeated over and over again throughout the history of science. Rocks cant fall from the sky its impossible because I cant think of how it could be so. Well wouldn't ya know it meteors exist. Those brothers couldn't have made a flying machine because that's inconceivable. What do ya know planes can be built. I think this also happened with the tectonic plates, the light bulb, and quantum mechanics. 

 

This is literally pretty much the sole reason I get from people who not only claim that this is a bad episode but the worst. At this point it has been confirmed by none other than Lauren Faust herself that  the episode is not promoting religion. Yet still to this day I see this complaint. At this this point the best you can claim in the defense of this complaint is that the letter to Celestia could have been clearer. Perhaps it could have but this does not negate the lesson in the episode, and it does not negate all of the good the episode has to offer. 

 

Standing criticisms

 

​My main problem with the episode is that it seems far more gag  orientated.  This isnt necessarily a bad thing but I feel there could have been even more focus on character in the places where considerable time is spent on piano crushes Twilight or door smashes twilight. as a result the climax of the episode really felt as if it didn't have the proper build up to me. We get this big awesome chase really out of left field and its a cool scene, but it didn't feel like a pay off.  In the end those are my problems with the ep.

 

This Episode is terrible..... Why it isnt #1 A Canterlot Wedding.

http://mlpforums.com/topic/41725-this-episode-is-terrible-why-it-isnt/

Edited December 13, 2012 by Anadu Kune

[duidamasterXD 9,627]

Yep, personally I didn't have any of these issues with the episode except for the question of why she didn't just teleport. You make a good case for the stress, but Twilight has teleported in very stressful situations before, such as when she was being charged by Nightmare Moon, but I could buy that she couldn't control a longer distance teleportation in her condition.

The only thing that didn't make sense to me ( I've taken for granted that Pinkie won't make sense.) was that for that entire day the universe seemed to have decided to hate Twilight, but I suppose everyone has bad days.

[Shift 4,272]

And the fact that people are thinking Twilight murdered Pinkie Pie's. Really, I think that was just stupid.

Anyway, I thought it was a really good episode. The only thing I thought bad was the things that could of gone wrong with that test, but then again, I can't think of anything better. And it was a pretty humorous episode in whole. And the g3 face was the best part of the whole season.
 

[Obsidian_Winter 1,159]

I didn't think it was a great episode but I have no hate towards it. I never gave anymore thought to it then "Oh, a Pinkie Episode...joy". I agree with this 100% though.

[MorningFlash 214]

Well, we didn't know about Shining Armor or Cadence's existance until the Season 2 finale, and everypony's reaction was pretty much the same, we were annoyed that this "brother" wasn't mentioned before the season 2 finale

Edited December 12, 2012 by MidnightInferno

[duidamasterXD 9,627]

And the fact that people are thinking Twilight murdered Pinkie Pie's. Really, I think that was just stupid.

 

Anyway, I thought it was a really good episode. The only thing I thought bad was the things that could of gone wrong with that test, but then again, I can't think of anything better. And it was a pretty humorous episode in whole. And the g3 face was the best part of the whole season.

 

Actually you're thinking about Too Many Pinkie Pies, this review was on the season 1 episode Feeling Pinkie Keen, the one with the Pinkie Sense. Edited December 11, 2012 by DashForever

[Pan the Fabulous Ferret 2,642]

I dont get it, how could that episode possibly be promoting religion?

 

Even if it did, so what?!

 

I didnt have any problems or questions from this episode really, it was just another enjoyable episode of ponies.

[Randomiser 115]

I agree with this, and I actually really did enjoy the episode when I first saw it. The moral was more about Twilight's inability to accept that she may be wrong, while the Pinkie sense is pretty much proven to be true, and any good scientific mind should be open to new concepts and ideas. So it was not so much about "blind faith."

But the wording of the moral at the end did kind of make me worry "oh no, people are going to bash this because of religion."

[Shift 4,272]

Oh, dang it! I was thinking about Too Many Pinkie Pie's, right. Okay, then, I have no idea what the problem with the episode is then!

[Obsidian_Winter 1,159]

Well, we didn't know about Shining Armor or Cadence's existance until the Season 2 finale, and everypony's reaction was pretty much the same, we were annoyed that this "brother" was mentioned before the season 2 finale

Yes, we went two whole seasons without her even mentioning or writing to a brother. If I was Shining Armor and found out my dear LSBFF (Little Sister Best Friend Forever) had gone that long and not even mentioned me to her best friends or wrote to me...I might not tell her about my wedding either..........

[Spring Storm 276]

I thought the moral was less about religion and more about "Sometimes s**t happens that you just can't explain", which is very true. Anyway, I don't see how this episode even comes close to being the worst episode - the jokes are great and the characters are spot-on. It's one of my favorite episodes to be quite honest.

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

I didn't have a problem with it , and I really don't see why it's so harshly judged. It's not promoting religion, It's just telling you to keep an open mid about things.

[Tall_But_Short_37 233]

This is an episode that I feel is very harshly Judged for a pretty silly reason. This one is a bit shorter so lets get right into it.

 

Pinkie Sense comes out of nowhere and doesn't make any apparent sense!

 

Well that would be one of the main themes of the episode. If Pinkie sense made apparent sense Twilight wouldn't go out of her way to invetigate/disprove it would she. 

 

The other ponies know about Pinkie sense why didnt it come up before in previous episodes?

 

Why didn't Sweetie Belle being Rarities sister come up before Stare Master? There is a simple answer to this. It wasn't established yet. The episode was written to establish this and explore the character of Twilight and Pinkie. Another answer is that the other ponies accepted it as a part of ordinary life. Its easy to see Twilight not noticing it up till that point. It is only the 15th episode of the show. 

 

Why didn't Twilight just Teleport across the gap "rather than taking a leap of faith"?

 

I think it important to note first that we have no way of knowing how far twilight can teleport. The most impressive use of the ability to date I think would be in Dragon Quest when she teleported multiple persons out of sight. Though even in that case distance in vague at best. All other indications point to her mainly being able to use to ability for short range.

 

My main thought on this though is that she  was hindered by emotional stress. Stress can effect ones normal abilities in many ways when one is in a stressed or panicked state you can freeze up, or your reflexes can be heightened subconsciously. You can feel incredibly weak or gain seemingly heightened strength. Now we just need evidence that a unicorns mental state can effect their ability to perform magic, and it is present. In Ticket Master Twlight unexpectedly teleports when under the pressure of surrounding ponies. Twilight burst into an uncontrollable magic fit set off by the Sonic Rainboom in Cutie Mark Chronicles. In Dragon Quest Twilight seems to have trouble teleporting whilst being perused by the dragons(though this could be interpreted in another way). In Magical Duel it is shown that a break in concentration can effect Twilights ability to perform magic. These examples show that mental states can affect the ability to control/perform magic. It would then be logical to argue that under pressure Twilight either couldn't perform the spell or simply didn't think of it in the panic of the situation. 

 

Can you believe that moral, it promotes uncritical thinking and religion. 

 

It would seem to me that those who complain of this did not examine the whole content of the episode and are themselves guilty of uncritical thinking. It is made clear by the end of the episode that Pinkie Sense does in deed work or at the very least enough evidence has amounted to strongly suggest that is the case. It also seems clear that by the end of the episode that Twilight is not being skeptical but cynical.  She actively disbelieves in the possibility of Pinkie Sense occurring and seems to go out with the intention of disproving it. The whole moral of the episode is that just because you don't understand something does not mean it doesn't exist. In the face of overwhelming evidence that said phenomena you don't understand exist it is unscientific to actively deny them. Its a lesson that should be taken to heart as it is a mistake that seems to be repeated over and over again throughout the history of science. Rocks cant fall from the sky its impossible because I cant think of how it could be so. Well wouldn't ya know it meteors exist. Those brothers couldn't have made a flying machine because that's inconceivable. What do ya know planes can be built. I think this also happened with the tectonic plates, the light bulb, and quantum mechanics. 

 

This is literally pretty much the sole reason I get from people who not only claim that this is a bad episode but the worst. At this point it has been confirmed by none other than Lauren Faust herself that  the episode is not promoting religion. Yet still to this day I see this complaint. At this this point the best you can claim in the defense of this complaint is that the letter to Celestia could have been clearer. Perhaps it could have but this does not negate the lesson in the episode, and it does not negate all of the good the episode has to offer. 

 

I used to really dislike this episode because of what I thought the message meant, but recently I've gotten rid of that prejudice...

 

About your second point (why haven't we heard of it before): I think that can be simply explained because Pinkie Sense, as I think someone says in the episode (maybe I'm remembering wrong), comes and goes. This was probably the first time it's happened since Twilight came to Ponyville, so it makes perfect sense it's never been mentioned before.

 

And about the teleportation, had Twilight even teleported yet in the series? Do we even know if she had that power at this point?

 

And I know you reference it, but for those who haven't seen it:

 

[Stellafera 3,836]

I dislike the episode not so much for the moral, but because it was a comedy episode that I didn't find funny. The jokes just fell flat on me, and there's little else to the episode, so it felt like a grind forcing myself through it. It also had the misfortune to be placed directly after my favorite season 1 episode, Suited For Success. 

 

Subjective? Yes, but you can't really tell someone that they are wrong for not finding something funny, can you? Feeling Pinkie Keen is my least favorite episode. I don't say it's the worst, because that would imply that it was objectively bad. It wasn't. It was simply something that I did not enjoy.

[Anadu Kune 668]

Yes, we went two whole seasons without her even mentioning or writing to a brother. If I was Shining Armor and found out my dear LSBFF (Little Sister Best Friend Forever) had gone that long and not even mentioned me to her best friends or wrote to me...I might not tell her about my wedding either..........

It never came up in episodes but that does not mean she did not write. Its seems a pretty common occurance in my life to discover a friend has a Sibling that I had no knowledge of. Does that mean they did not write them them? I don't know. What I do know is that family member tend not to be mentioned accept when the apropriate time arises. which can be a while especially with newer friends.

 

Though I mentioned this in my post on A Canterlot Wedding.

[FruitRiver 355]

Stupid reasons not to like an episode. I mean, two seasons did Twilight have a brother and not talk about him yet people loved the episode. Also, I really doubt they had any huge reason about the teleporting thing. Its still a show, im guessing they just wanted her to get away quickly in the spike episode XD

[Zygen 6,066]

Yeah I actually like this episode, expecially when Twilights spying on pinkie and starts giving her the name Pinkieus pieakus.

For some reason i really like that.

 

Anyways as for the whole teleporting thing, I think it may have to do with the fact that its really not ever stated when the episode takes place, so for all we know Twilight could've not had the power yet to do such a feat.

It may also have to do with being under pressure.

 

From a production standpoint, its because the episodes are normally written by different writers and at the same time. Thus ideas aren't 100% consistent all the time. Especially within a season.

 

So yeah. I like the episode, I mean i'm not saying everyone has to like it, but I had no quarls with it. I actually like it quite a bit.

[Jammo 986]

I thought the moral was less about religion and more about "Sometimes s**t happens that you just can't explain", which is very true. Anyway, I don't see how this episode even comes close to being the worst episode - the jokes are great and the characters are spot-on. It's one of my favorite episodes to be quite honest.

People on the Internet have a habit of looking WAY too deeply in things. It's a cartoon about silly marshmallow ponies. The only beef I had was Twilight's denial of things right in front of her face. Then again Twilight does tend to overdue things when she thinks she's right.

 

Not to fan the flames but.. If you look at an episode of My Little Pony and see at as some outrageous ballsy statement about the triumphance of religious dogma.. I think that says more about your personal insecurities, than anything about the show.

Edited December 12, 2012 by Jammo

[pinkiefan1287 610]

I never hated this episode. In fact this is one of my top favorite Pinkie Pie episodes. The episode was to show what else Pinkie Pie could do and I like her odd powers. It makes her different from the others.

[Joy 60]

I really am not a critical person, nor do I notice things that much, so this was just a normal episode to me. I liked it, I didn't love it. 

[rainbow_hearts 148]

Hurr Durr somebody has a different opinion from mine! Really some people liked the episode and some didn't except and stop fuming over it. 

[Antismurf9001 1,271]

I've actually always enjoyed this episode, and still consider it one of my favorites, though that is probably because it caters directly to my particular sense of humor.  I enjoy randomness and things that make complete sense to one character while leaving everyone else clueless.
 
I do however have one problem with this episode.  There was a specific question that never got answered:

 

 

What if Fluttershy exploded... AND THEN EXPLODED AGAIN?!

 

[Music Chart Fan 819]

For me, this episode is probably second only to "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" in terms of being the most frustrating and annoying episode of this show so far.

 

First, there are the problems with the Pinkie sense. I think that the supposed "predictive power" of the Pinkie sense is analogous to the "predictive power" of horoscopes, palm readings, and the like - the predictions made are vague and general enough that any number of coincidental events could be stretched to fit the predictions. Because of this, attempts to disprove any single one of these predictions will probably not work, since they are intentionally vague enough to allow for the predictor to worm his or her way out.

 

For example, if Pinkie's tail twitches, and nothing apparently falls, Twilight could try to say that that is proof that the Pinkie sense is not real, but Pinkie could always say that her tail twitch that time was a false alarm (since Pinkie has the final say on whether her Pinkie sense was activated), that something DID fall somewhere else in Ponyville, that it was a microscopic speck of dust that fell, etc.

 

Twilight could argue that there is no reasonable way for Pinkie to know whether a particular body motion is an activation of the Pinkie sense rather than the body motion being random or caused by some unrelated factor. For example, how could Pinkie know whether an eye flutter is an activation of the Pinkie sense or simply caused by an irritant in the air? Is every instance of an itchy back always an indication of a lucky day, or might some of those instances just be random? However, Pinkie could always counter these questions with some unfalsifiable claim like "I can just tell the difference and I can't explain why." 

 

A better method of disproving the Pinkie sense is to criticize its premise. The claim of the Pinkie sense is that some seemingly random motion of Pinkie's body occurs, followed by some event; therefore, that motion of Pinkie's body predicted the following event. This claim implies a cause-effect relationship: the impending event CAUSES the random motion of Pinkie's body, or the random motion of Pinkie's body CAUSES the impending event. However, the correlation of the event happening after the body motion does NOT imply that one caused the another; that is a logical fallacy. The burden of proof is on Pinkie to come up with a causational mechanism linking the two; otherwise, the default conclusion is that the temporal and spatial proximity of the body motion and following event is coincidental (or that both might be caused by an unaccounted-for third factor).

 

The problem is, Twilight does not logic to disprove the Pinkie sense in this manner. Instead, Twilight is made to look foolish and arrogant by countering Pinkie's claims with absolute pronouncements that are "hilariously" proven wrong time after time through embarrassment and bodily harm to Twilight, which quickly becomes annoying to watch. Twilight also spends her time and effort trying to disprove specific indicators/predictions, which as I stated before, probably wouldn't work anyway. Of course, I think Pinkie is also annoying in her lack of tact toward Twilight's legitimate skepticism (even if Twilight was acting arrogantly) and obliviousness to even the possibility that the Pinkie sense might not be believable.

 

Why didn't Twilight just Teleport across the gap "rather than taking a leap of faith"?

 

I think a better question would be "Why didn't Twilight take any other action with a higher probability of survival rather than taking a leap of faith?". I think this may just be the stupidest part of the episode (which isn't lacking for stupidity). What possible basis does Pinkie have for telling Twilight to take a leap of faith and she'll be fine? Twilight pretty clearly could not make that jump; even given a head start, she failed to jump to the next platform. Pinkie had no Pinkie sense telling her that Twilight would be fine making the jump, and even if she did, would Pinkie really have enough faith in her Pinkie sense to entrust Twilight's LIFE to it? And why would Twilight trust Pinkie's "faith" more than her own judgment that she couldn't make the jump?

 

 

I don't think that making the treacherous jump with practically no chance for survival was Twilight's only option of escape. She could have run into the woods and gotten some cover from the trees as she hid and/or tried to sneak away, which I think would have had a higher chance of survival than attempting that jump. Maybe even trying to charge right at/by the hydra (with Twilight's demonstrated good reflexes) would have been a better option.

 

In a realistic scenario (where a swamp bubble wouldn't miraculously act like a trampoline), Pinkie's insistence that Twilight take a "leap of faith" despite Twilight's obvious lack of ability to make the jump would have led to her DEATH. This really put me off of all of the talk about "faith" and "believing" when this talk put Twilight's LIFE at risk.

 

Can you believe that moral, it promotes uncritical thinking and religion.

 

Let's reproduce the moral of the episode:

 

"Dear Princess Celestia,

 

I am happy to report that I now realize there are wonderful things in this world you just can't explain, but that doesn't necessarily make them any less true. It just means you have to choose to believe in them, and sometimes it takes a friend to show you the way.

 

Always your faithful student,

 

Twilight Sparkle"

 

I think this moral is misleading and incomplete. Just because you personally do not have an explanation for some phenomenon doesn't mean that it isn't true, but it also doesn't mean that you should choose to believe just any explanation of that phenomenon put forth to you. You must still have criteria to evaluate potential explanations for phenomena you don't understand. Maybe any explanation you choose to believe should be based on sound logic and evidence you can understand, or should come from an authority whom you trust has verified that the explanation is based on sound logic and evidence.

 

The Pinkie sense appears to predict future events, and Twilight doesn't understand why. That doesn't mean that the apparent correlation between the two doesn't exist. However, that also doesn't mean that Twilight should choose to believe the explanation that the Pinkie sense really does predict future events. Twilight was legitimately skeptical of that explanation, and not without good reason, yet by the end of the episode, Twilight has seemingly uncritically dropped her skepticism and chosen to just believe in the Pinkie sense. Were all of Twilight's concerns answered? Does this pass the criteria I mentioned above? I was still not convinced of the ability of the Pinkie sense to predict future events, and I don't think Twilight should have been, either.

 

Maybe the moral of this episode was not written with religion in mind, but I can see how it might be applied to justify religion. After all, I think many people would say "I choose to believe in my religion because it explains things that science just can't explain." However, just because a religion may put forth an explanation for things which science can't yet explain doesn't mean that someone should just choose to believe the religious explanation.

 

For example, science can't yet explain the origin of human consciousness, but that doesn't mean that we should choose to believe in the religious explanation that humans have souls. Science can't yet explain what happens to us after we die, but that doesn't mean that we should choose to believe in the religious explanation of an afterlife where we spend eternity in heaven or hell. In both of these cases, I have not seen sufficient logic or evidence to believe in the religious arguments, and so my stance on these issues is "we don't know yet."

[TheRainbowDash 3]

Um...I always thought the  same thing. Twilight can use her magic under pressure, Like A Royal  Wedding, The Crystal  Empire. Well......I made half a point.

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,695]

This episode was not what I call bad, but I consider it a mistake on the writers' part. It was one of those rare situations where they stumbled on an idea that just plan and simple didn't work. The overall message was valid: there are some things you can't explain in life and Twilight has to accept it. The execution was the problem. They just reached the limits of how semi-omniscient Pinkie could be without losing some of the viewers.

 

Maybe they took it as a learning experience. In any case I don't remember Pinkie Sense ever being mentioned again, which makes the episode seem even more unusual in hindsight. But I liked that everyone did their best with what they had to work with.