S03:E09 - Spike at your Service

[Dark Qiviut 22,172]

As much as I like to say I enjoyed it, I can't. The previous eight episodes have all been good to amazing, but this one is the first (and hopefully only) clunker of season 3.

 

First, some things I do like:

1. Rainbow Dash's character. Dash has shown a bit more of her sympathetic side lately, but here is where we saw her cockiness, eagerness, and going in way over her head. Her blurting out her own novel idea as well as Applejack's was hilarious and gave me the most laughs throughout the episode. From the way she's behaving, she's grown into liking action novels more and more. (Bronies, she gave you her idea. Write it!) But I also laughed hard at the fact that Rainbow Dash had to keep her promise and demolish the tower. Mission failed! >)
2. Twilight's concentration. Over the past several years (in the canon), she's shown a huge desire to learn, grow, and be invested in doing her very best in her assignments. If there's one thing she can get into, it's get into a zone of deep concentration. It fits extremely well into her character, and I can really relate to her in this scenario.
3. Rarity's compassion for Spike. She knows Spike's mud pie is absolutely disgusting, but she is good friends with him, and their friendship has grown considerably since the series premiere (especially Secret of My Excess, my second-most favorite Spike-centered episode behind Dragon Quest). She spat it out, but only when Spike turned away; she doesn't want to hurt his feelings, and he can get pretty reactive. It's obvious she cares for him as a very dear friend.
4. The Mane 6's "Master Plan" to break Spike's "code" failing miserably. They were desperate to break Spike's code and decided to have Applejack get attacked by a timberwolf puppet. But they forgot big time about Spike's advanced intelligence; he's naïve, but he's not someone who gets easily fooled, and that trick almost bit them each on the flank. And it nearly bit them back harder when he rejected the timberwolf breath late in the episode. Sometimes, it's better not to cry, "Wolf!"
5. The timberwolves. They're extremely detailed, but very well-done. Given the nature of the Everfree forest, there are many scary, dangerous creatures to watch out. The timberwolves looked scary, dangerous, and powerful. And I'm not sure if Spike's flame wouldn't have worked, given the spell-casting substances the wolves had.

Now the two things I didn't like, starting with the smallest:

1. Pinkie Pie's erratic character before the last commercial. She's bubbly, excited, happy, slapsticky, and random. But given the nature of the scenario before the commercial, it didn't fit her one bit.
   
   Her antics prior to it fit her really well. Too Many Pinkie Pies explored her sensitivity, care for her friends, and commitment. Wonderbolts Academy had her behave obsessively, but Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash have shown throughout the series that they have an extremely close relationship. Each of the Mane Six are very great friends, but some are closer than others. Pinkie Pie is extremely close with Rainbow Dash, and as Wonderbolts Academy is tiring and strenuous, she doesn't want that bond to separate.
   
   But in here, it didn't fit. She would've taken the whole scenario a bit more seriously; if it were slapsticky, it would've been more toned down, as she's a character with tremendous depth and understanding of serious circumstances. She was too hyperactive and happy in this case.
2. Spike himself. He has been in the spotlight so much more this season, and he's had several small but very important roles: getting the Crystal Heart back to its rightful spot (only to be rescued by Cadance), finding the book about the Mirror Pond, and keeping the team composed in Magic Duel. Prior to season three, for the little spotlight he's had, he's had great character development, particularly in three season two episodes: Lesson Zero, Secret of My Excess, and Dragon Quest. Season two was, honestly, the best season he's had, and season three continued to develop him even more. It wasn't the Mane Six (with Spike bouncing behind them). It was the Mane Six (with Spike crouching in front and getting a nice little hug from his friends).
   
   He didn't feel right at all in this episode. His eagerness wasn't the problem at all. He's a kid dragon, and kids tend to be extremely eager; boredom sucks. But it resulted in him being not only being continually clumsy, but also CARELESS. Spike is many things, but carelessness and continual clumsiness aren't either. Spike can be bored, eager, or excited however he wants, but he has known Twilight and the others for quite some time already. He's shown to have a somewhat advanced intelligence due to his talking, cunning, and line of thinking. Seeing him become so destructive (and not even be aware of how bad his clumsiness was at times) doesn't fit him at all. He has known the characters long enough to understand how things work for them, and he's able to understand each of their expectations, mannerisms, and personalities. Spike himself is also a very good cook, and I'm sure he'd know how to handle an oven as well as preparing fine ingredients for an apple pie.
   
   I think it would be much better if some things would've changed, Spike's carelessness especially. It would be having Spike be clumsy with the balloon, apples, and then the pig (with him actually being aware of it), but then AJ and Spike would have a chat telling him that he can help, but slow down and take it easy. Afterwards, Spike would help with the chores and perform well at them. If Spike were to ask for help, AJ would, and the two would make a fine team. Then maybe they can visit Rarity, and maybe he could help her out a bit, too, using AJ's advice and Spike's knowledge on his surroundings and expectations of how Rarity works around the Carousel Boutique. You can write the rest.

I was extremely eager seeing Spike get a much bigger role, as he and Rainbow Dash have been the two breakout characters this season (minus Scootaloo). Despite several great small things, the main plotline in Spike at Your Service just fell completely flat. Overall, this was a big disappointment. Worst episode of season three so far.

[TwilizzleFoShizzle 95]

Now that's a bit harsh isn't it? The Crystal Empire episodes were great, "Magic Duel" was excellent. As a matter of fact, I can't think of any episode that was really bad ("reunion" and "Wonderbolt Academy" being kinda meh).

Care to elaborate?

Well I can agree that until wonderbolt academy it was going great, but I think that since then they have run a bit dry on ideas in my opinion, the episodes seem rushed out, with cutoff conclusions and pretty basic themes. WIth "Spike at Your Service" this trend seemed to worsen, with the "character A saves character B's life, B is forever in A's debt, then A fakes a life or death situation" theme.

[Stellafera 3,835]

It felt like something straight out of Season 1 with better visuals. That's how I'd describe the episode. Like Season 1. I think that most of my problems with it just arise out of the fact that I expected a different sort of story, having only heard before watching that "Applejack saves Spike's life in this episode". I had in mind an episode written by Mitch Larson and closely following his usual style. 

 

Merriwether proves again that she is great at writing Applejack and not so great at writing Spike episodes. I liked it more than Dragon Quest, but I'm pretty sure that it's mostly because of Applejack. She was great. Awesomely heroic when she saves Spike, and not awesomely arrogant ever since. She usually doesn't get a chance to be the side focus of an episode. It was nice to see the rest of the Mane 6. Finally we get some decent Rarity in this season! Seriously, where has she been? Twilight was funny, and I liked how she only payed attention when somepony moved one of her things out of line. I love Rainbow Dash being a self insert fic writer, it's just so totally something she would do. On another note, her actually showing concern for her safety with the rock tower is a good touch. Fluttersarcasm is fun. So, I loved the Mane 6. Only one problem: Spike.

 

The downfall of this episode was the "Dragon Code". Since the story is written by Dave Polsky, it may have been his idea, which I would not discount, as he likes to introduce new ideas that cause much contention amongst the fandom. Here, it fell flat. It was gimmicky, and implied that Spike would just change his loyalties at the drop of a hat because of some sort of rule. The growing with greed thing (Secret of My Excess) was a new idea about dragons that worked. It didn't damage previous things about the character, it was important to the episode/could not be removed from it (whereas removing the dragon code would have meant just changing some lines around), and was taken seriously. Also in that episode, Spike became a menace. He sort of did in this episode too. But the problem is that there, when he was dehumanized, it was because he literally became a monster. Here, it dehumanizes him, but he's supposed to just be Spike. He was like a pet cat that keeps rubbing against your computer screen demanding to be petted and stepping all over your keyboard. Do you want to pet that cat? No, you don't. It's now a nuisance, not an animal companion.

 

Interesting Fact Of The Day: Every single time Spike goes outside of Twilight or Rarity's house without Twilight Sparkle, he almost dies or gets into some other extremely dangerous situation. This happens every single Spike episode.

[SparklingTwilight 109]

I think the episode was pretty good! There was Pinkie Pie with a mustache, some pretty bad-ass timberwolves, Rainbow Dash writing a fictional book (or maybe soon to become non-fiction   ) and Spike saving Applejack's life! (and vise-versa) However, I would have liked a more original idea in the first place, and even though this episode had a unique spin on it, the idea has been used more times than the second-hand underwear you gave your grandson for Christmas. But it also had some really funny moments, not to mention the mane 6 and Spike were very in character. I loved how Twilight couldn't respond to the constant calling of her name, but could when a small item is misplaced, lol. And isn't it great when a show can make eating some unattractive pie more dramatic than facing an enormous, bloodthirsty killer?    

[Two-of-Hearts 168]

Not my favorite episode, but it did give me a few chuckles. AJ trying to play the 'damsel in distress' in particular was funny and cute. Pinkies moustache jokes were well timed and executed also. Unfortuneatly the clunkyness was hard to get over, especially when you compare it to an episode like MMMystery on the Friendship Express which had pace and execution as smooth as silk.

 

The whole dragon code thing reminds me of the Gungan life debt (and wookies in KOTOR) in Star Wars. I'm guessing it could have been a Star Wars ref. And I wonder if the 'rock tower, Spike will build it' part was a book fort refrence from Friendship is Witchcraft. 'Book fort, Spike will build it.'

 

The Timber Wolves were awesome. Its nice that they're finally starting to reocure some of their villians (now if only they would bring back the Diamond Dogs). The Timber Wolves make for an interesting 'random monster encounter' type minor villian, which is great cause it adds depth to the world of Equestria itself. Plus they're just neat that they assemble themselves magically out of brambles. It leaves me with questions. What are the Timber Wolves? Are they the servants of some evil wizard? Or perhaps an evil wizard's creation that he lost control of? Its a great strand for future story arcs... but alas I doubt it will ever get explored by the writers.

[Fluttermoon 192]

I don't have any strong feelings about this episode. It wasn't bad nor was it fantastic. I just found myself going "meh, it was nice to see the other ponies in it." by the end of it.

[Whofch 128]

Not really going to comment much on this episode. I generally judge Spike episodes harder than others as I don't find him all that entertaining as an episodes main focus. I like him as the support character. Having said that, I might like it better than some of his older episodes just because there is more interaction with the other characters in this one.

 

I did like the simple little things from the mane 6 though, the likes of Pinkie and her mustache, Twilight needing her ink bottles to be perfectly placed, Rarity with the pie and AJ just being awesome as always.

 

I also liked the Timber Wolves. They're a lot less boring than I first thought since they can apparently reform or combine and such stuff.

[Circadian 1,273]

I thought the episode today was really funny. People often forget that FiM is a slice of life show with a big focus put on characters.

 

This is one that I'll remember for the little snippets of comedy gold that were sprinkled throughout. Every character got a moment in the spotlight, which doesn't happen too often. Highlights include:

 

1. Rarity's criticism of Dash's idea for a novel.

2. Tara Strong and Tabitha St. Germain's voice acting. (Voice acting in general was fantastic actually).

3. Fluttershy's commentary.

[Virulence 254]

This episode was kind of annoying with so much spike. In my opinion of course. But what I have to mention is the Timber Wolves. Those were well thought of and very creative. It was so neat to see them in action and disintegrate. Overall it was a good episode that aired.

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

So, I have mixed feelings about this episode. As many longtime members of this forum know, I tend to dislike what Merriweather Williams writes in terms of episodes. However, in this case, she was most probably not responsible for many of the issues I had with the episode, and in fact I want to give her serious credit. Let's talk about the episode, shall we?

The Good:

The interaction between all of the pony characters was fantastic. Everyone felt great in one way or another--I was expecting this to just feature Spike and Applejack, but instead everyone else came into the episode and without feeling like they were intruding or shoving Applejack into the background to boot! We experienced lots of little character moments, like how Rainbow Dash writes self-insert fanfiction promoting herself, as we all figured she would. Or how Applejack may very well be a writer herself. That's long been a bit of a headcanon of mine, and if it's actually the case it would be great. Twilight straightening her ink wells smoothly while keeping the conversation going was fantastic too--it shows how she keeps her desire for organization under control.

Also, Pinkie Pie makes some of the best facial expressions:



Plus, I found the timber wolves in this episode intriguing because they seemed a bit more like some kind of experimental magical construct that got loose and mutated in the Everfree, rather than something fully natural. That's primarily just because they kept reforming though--which explains why the writers so freely let Applejack tear them apart. (And skillfully too. Applejack is such a badass.) One possible hypothesis I had is that there is some central well of power in the Everfree that they draw upon, to derive that green energy stuff from, that gets weaker the closer they get towards the Everfree's edge and even outside its perimeter. This may be why we don't regularly see them preying on ponies and why they fell apart so easily: the force keeping them alive is just too weak that far outside the forest.

The animation was also impressive. If you watch every last conversation for example, no character stays still while talking or even just listening as they might have in Season One or Two. They're nodding, they're moving their head around...it makes them feel so much more lifelike. The wolves were genuinely scary, I felt, even if they fell apart easily--notice how all of that was done at range. I don't think I'd want to get any closer than it takes to down them with pistol shots or shotgun shells. Plus, the animation made for some funny screenshots like these:





The Bad:

Spike. Spike, Spike, Spike. Every single last thing he does on screen is painful, absurd, and completely ridiculous and out of character. Dave Polsky's story is what I blame for this. Some cartoon shows have characters reinvent themselves or coming up with new random things for the sake of a single episode that is then later dropped, but MLP doesn't do that. It tries to avoid that instead builds consistently on a continuity of sorts, even if each individual episode is a separate story. Thus, episodic, but with continuity rather than the lack of or even anti-continuity that some other cartoons have.

Spike's whole Dragon Code concept emerged from nowhere. If it had been something he picked up during the events of Dragon Quest--where, incidentally, I should point out his life was also saved, without any "life debts" needing to be owed--then I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it as I do. But it wasn't. There's even a handy screenshot to sum it up:



Additionally, even if it was something he'd had in previous episodes, he just ask completely incompetent. He was acting ridiculous because the plot demanded he do so, and frankly I would argue the way he acted bordered on character assassination as a result. At the very least I feel like it undoes the good that's been given to Spike so far this season in making him a much closer part of the overall cast. Spike simply isn't this stupid. Yes, he's a little kid, but he's previously demonstrated a lot more competence, caring, and intelligence. The episode even dithers on what he can do. In some scenes he's making a mess with his very existence, in others he's able to stack ridiculously high towers of rocks or other things like a savant. I found much of what he did unbearable and, dare I say it, almost excruciating to watch. Particularly after last week's half-hearted song attempt, I am very glad his little two or three line dragon "song" wasn't scored and turned into a big number of some sort. There is a trope for this sort of writing for characters, colloquially known as the "Idiot Ball" where the character acting stupid is said to be carrying the titular ball. This episode was far more akin to Spike being caught in the gravity well of an Idiot Planet that emitted tons of Idiot Radiation.

The residual Idiot Radiation seemed to occasionally touch the other characters--notice how when the real wolves show up near the end of the episode, Twilight teleports all of twelve feet to end up right next to Spike, screams like a damsel in distress and then runs, rather than just teleporting everyone away super easily. It's almost like this was a completely different character from the one taking down dozens of Changelings with her magic. Considering how easily Applejack smashed the wolves apart with mere rocks, you'd think Twilight could have destroyed them outright. (Incidentally, why the puppetry, Twilight? No Come to Life spells? Would've been a bit more convincing if you could have kept it under control, which I think at this point you'd be capable of.)

Summing Up The Episode:

Overall, my feeling is that this episode is great when Spike isn't on screen, and horrible when he is. It dithers between levels of quality so wildly that I swear I was getting significant whiplash. I definitely want to give Merriweather Williams credit for her scripting for the pony characters; they felt far more in character than they have in previous Williams episodes, and they were funny and fantastic to watch. At the same time, while I want to take away credit for the way she wrote Spike, I suspect that it wasn't her fault, not entirely. She wrote the story that Dave Polsky gave her to write and did her best with it. In the past, I have laid the blame at her feet unfairly for a number of problems in episodes such as The Mysterious Mare Do Well, but truth be told I think if this episode had been written by Williams alone, without Polsky's story, she might have done a better job with it. She's been getting better as time goes on with her writing. At the same time, she doesn't entirely escape fault for Spike either, since she did write the script and therefore likely came up with a few of the more problematic elements. Still, because of her improvement, I will add a plus one bonus to my final score for this episode.

Thus, to rate this episode on a one to ten scale, with five being average, I give this episode a four out of ten (4/10). It contains plenty of good elements, but the overall plot sacrifices far too much character and is far too demeaning to Spike for the good elements to bring it up any higher than that.

[spas-ticShotty 3,582]

Plus, the animation made for some funny screenshots like these:

 

vlcsnap-2012-12-29-13h35m02s183.png

 

vlcsnap-2012-12-29-13h50m29s15.png

 

 

I swear, I keep thinking Spike is rubbing Applejack's ass in the second pic . If anyone is to to rub her butt, it's gonna be me

[Yellow Diamond 7,561]

I swear, I keep thinking Spike is rubbing Applejack's ass in the second pic . If anyone is to to rub her butt, it's gonna be me

 

Some of the clips are very awkward. Spike giving Applejack a massage is perhaps the most inelegant of them all, though my personal favorite is SeductiveJack glancing over her shoulder at Spike. The animators and writers are definitely messing with us.

[MiStErUnMeRry 328]

Hmm. A lot of people here have made very insightful reviews and opinions/points about this episode so I won't go into too much depth regarding this all but just give my piece over all.

 

 

Frankly, this episode was awkward and off to me.

 

As a fan of spike in general to see someone who has been normally depicted as a faithful assistant and a competent servant suddenly transform into a barely functional being who would be lucky to scratch his nose without destroying something really irks me, I feel a little...betrayed in a sense and confused as to why they possibly thought this was a good idea.  The fire breath on the timberwolf plot hole, they had a lot of monsters in this series, why did they purposely pick out the one that was clearly at the most disadvantage against a dragon, even if his breath is weak and minor it is still fire...this isn't an RPG, fire spread and burns wood period no matter how weak it is but I decided to wave out of my mind that the wolfs magical essence conflicted with his breath due to being magical in nature and if that wasn't the case, a simple "baby dragon" was understandable enough...he is still in many ways a kid.

 

The sad part about this is that this episode could of worked with spike in character, we've seen that hes a very eager assistant and easily jealous. Work means alot to him and so having him being too good could of been easily taken advantage of here, he could of been very over zealous, perhaps even intruding or too literal minded or waaaay overly organised and formal as he needed to be in Twilight demands.

 

 

The thing with these episode, season 3 I mean. Is that I don't sense the theme, in the first series it was all focused on Twilight and building the protagonist plot/ character development in her introduction to society and out of her introverted nature. In the second season an episode was focused each time to build up character development for all the cast. Season 3...I first thought they was no longer focusing on characters or personalities to look at the lore/ magical places and the world of Equesteria in general which would of explained the lack of lines for sombra and the random additions of enchanted pools and ancient amulets/ along with the crystal kingdom....

 

but now...there really no direction. Its all over the place. Suddenly letter for applejack episode, suddenly none. Sudden magical enchanted pools, suddenly Zecora is the magic go to girl for training, spike has a out of nowhere dragon code. Timber wolfs have a fear of banging metal, wouldn't it be more believable and heck...less costly for animation just to say spike found a stick or something to bang against a bucket in that little hut they was just in. Random crystal city spawns out of the ground-which is allowable since it had some decent pacing and explanation but still...you get what I mean-I'm starting to think this series theme and written goals is to allow spontaneous appearances...maybe there building up to a reality distorter or something made by Sombra. I don't know.

 

There are good episodes, the Luna new power makes sense and is believable. I loved Rainbow dashes episode, it was a nice scene and dilemma for the element of loyalty. The trixie one was also good, I genuinely liked it and pinkie pie is still letting off jokes but it seems so...out of character for pinkie to just...sit around and do nothing in depression when others are in trouble.

 

I thought they was going to grab her identity crisis and roll with it as maybe a tiny wink to the pinkamena and pinkie pie fanbase phenomena but instead she just kind of...moped. It so unreal, she hyper active, even when she was really sad she went crazy because she a fast paced character. It like having a big ball of energy deflate, while logically if that ball lost its composure it would go everywhere or off the handle- a bit crazy- like she did in party of one. But that could just be me. The episode still had a lot of good parts to it despite and the jokes/ pinkie humor animation was fantastic.

Edited December 30, 2012 by MiStErUnMeRry

[Shanks 10,811]

I swear, I keep thinking Spike is rubbing Applejack's ass in the second pic . If anyone is to to rub her butt, it's gonna be me

 

I wouldn't blame him for wanting to, but we are watching you Spike you scaly littler perv you, and Applejack you naughty mare you enjoyed that a little bit much. All jokes aside though, the clop and ship fic writers are really going to have fun with this.

[Lando 80]

Decided to rewatch this episode, and I noticed that almost all of the complaints could've easily been fixed. For example: at the start with Spikes list, why not have him say something like: "#3 check to see if Twilight is right when she says my feet smell like garbage.  *sniff* *sniff* ugh guess she WAS right..." instead of what they had? I get that he is a young guy, but I found that part more cringe worthy than humorous.

 

 How about instead of Twilight going: "This is the noble dragon code. Surely you know how important the noble dragon code is to a dragon!" have something more like: " The noble dragon code is an idea Spike came up with to keep his greed in check all the while helping out his friends. This means a lot to him, so we can't just get him to forget about it!"  That way, we know more about Spike and it sticks to the former notion that all things dragon related are basically unknown to ponies. 

 

How about instead of making Spike awful at cooking and completely botching the pie, do something like he accidentally grabbed a cup of salt rather than sugar due to lost labels? This would explain why he can bake in other episodes while not being able to in this episode and you could still have the Rarity pie gag. (this one actually happened IRL during a cooking class I was in when a girl make salt cookies instead of sugar cookies due to lost container labels)

 

And finally how about just having Spike do more farm labor tasks? The tasks that he was performing at AJs were tasks that he does everday such as cooking and cleaning. How about ones that he has never done before? Show him trying to buck a tree or may be carry too many apples up a hill (with hilarious results!) instead of just him just being a klutz for absolutely no good reason.

 

 

Maybe it's just because I am a Spike fan, but I thought this episode was a bust, despite it's high potential. I shall consider this the Alexandre Daigle of Spike episodes. 

Edited December 30, 2012 by Lando

[NavelColt 22,876]

Well, this episode "Spike at Your Service" wasn't the best. It had some great moments with the Mane Six, yet there seems to be a consensus that Spike was acting out of character this time around.

 

I would say @Wingnut said it best in the espisode's topic, saying:

 

"What about all the other times someone saved Spike's life?  He was saved from falling once in Secret of My Excess by Fluttershy or RD and again at the end of Crystal Empire by Princess Cadance.  I'm pretty sure he was saved other times too."

 

The little paper he spits out stating that he must serve Applejack is obviously drawn in crayon by him.

 

 

 

SEEMS LEGIT.

 

 

Also, when he helps outside of this episode, specifically with Twilight, he is quite competent and knows what he is doing.

 

This time he acted high, with a concussion, and ill.

 

It was a disappointing episode, which was mostly caused and compounded by his "Dragon Code" that was such made up bulls**t and not really aligned with Spike's character.

 

Hey no one is perfect. It seems this episode is not the show's wonderful writers' best work.

While you tried your best to make your topic, 'Dragon Code = Bullshit' unique, I personally find your OP to more or less a talk about the episode overall, just with a focus on the dragon code plot device. Thusly, I feel it works fine as a part of the official episode discussion thread. Merged.

 

On an unrelated yet related note, I'm baffled to how people think this episode was so terrible. It wasn't great, it had it's issues, but I found this twice as enjoyable as Apple Family Reunion, which just...bored me.

[Party Cannon 874]

While you tried your best to make your topic, 'Dragon Code = Bullshit' unique, I personally find your OP to more or less a talk about the episode overall, just with a focus on the dragon code plot device. Thusly, I feel it works fine as a part of the official episode discussion thread. Merged.

 

On an unrelated yet related note, I'm baffled to how people think this episode was so terrible. It wasn't great, it had it's issues, but I found this twice as enjoyable as Apple Family Reunion, which just...bored me.

 

Haha. You have the power (Holds up sword HE-Man style) to move this obviously. My beautiful topic...GONE! haha

 

I feel like a refugee:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ-bhM-xuec

[Appetite4Democracy 451]

SPIKE

 

YOU BREATHE FIRE

 

THE TIMBERWOLVES ARE MADE OF WOOD

 

SRSLY

 

This episode made a cliche work. It was genuinely funny, and I really like the timberwolves.

[pinkiefan1287 610]

I feel like this is going to be the Mare Do Well of season 3. This episode just felt really weak and not that interesting. Spikes Dragon code comes out of no where and it seems odd that he can't handle any job that Applejack said. Even thou Twilights jobs might be easier. 

 

The only thing I liked was the Timber Wolves. Just seeing them and showing off the powers they have was pretty cool. Down side they were beat way to easy.

[Anadu Kune 668]

Im conflicted about this episode. It had the continuity flubs and it was arguably out of character for spike. However the humor worked very well I thought. There were quite a few fun moments in this episode. It is my least favorite episode of the season, but I did enjoy it. Adifficult conumdrum indeed.

[Music Chart Fan 818]

This episode, like others by Merriwether Williams, once again seemed like a typical cartoon episode - entertaining enough, but not really great, with its share of good moments and annoyances.

 

Generally, the parts of the episode with the Mane Six were pretty good. I found that I liked Applejack a lot better in this episode - she seemed much more genuine and less characterized by the usual country/big family/etc. cliches. I particularly liked the way Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy worked together to make the fake timberwolf's sound effects and hoof-bumped when Spike complimented the roar. I also laughed at Pinkie smiling while supposedly screaming in terror. It was satisfying to see the Mane Six (+ Spike at the end) working together and acting natural with each other.

 

The obvious problems of the episode were with Spike - his sheer incompetence, his creepiness, and his strange code and slavish adherence to it. Spike even says that it's the "Spike the Dragon Code" (with a crayon business card to match), so did he just make it up himself? In the real world, saving someone's life is a pretty big deal, but in Equestria, saving someone's life is practically an everyday occurrence! Thus, I think Applejack had the right reaction - that's just what friends do in Equestria.

 

The timberwolves seemed very...robot-like and unnatural. Perhaps the style of animation was too reminiscent (for me, anyway) of similarly-animated machines in The Legend of Korra. The robotic perception was reinforced by the recombination into a larger form, which came straight out of Transformers or Power Rangers. The timberwolves didn't look bad, but the animation and recombination seemed out of place and maybe not very fitting for supposedly wild creatures.

 

On an unrelated yet related note, I'm baffled to how people think this episode was so terrible. It wasn't great, it had it's issues, but I found this twice as enjoyable as Apple Family Reunion, which just...bored me.

 

Agreed. I think this episode rose to the level of typical cartoon entertainment and had at least some good moments, while Apple Family Reunion was boring and awkward and had very few really good moments. I think I would rank Wonderbolts Academy above this one, though, because it had less annoyance and contrived character stupidity. Thus, my ranking of the last three episodes would be:

 

Apple Family Reunion < Spike At Your Service < Wonderbolts Academy

 

Now a couple of nitpicks:

 

Why does Spike seem to LIKE the smell of his dirty feet? Is it maybe a counter-reaction to Twilight making him clean things all the time? "Finally, something dirty that I don't have to clean!"

 

Shouldn't that hot air balloon be tied down more securely by more than one rope? It seems like if Spike hadn't bumped into the post, the hot air balloon would have untied itself sooner or later. Furthermore, if Spike or Applejack were riding in the hot air balloon, it would have enough lifting power to keep them afloat, so how can either of them individually keep it held down on the ground?

 

While Twilight not listening to Spike isn't necessary out of character, that particular scene seemed off. If Spike was making such a big announcement, why didn't he ask Twilight to pay attention or even look at him while making it? As cheesy as it would be, shouldn't Spike have given Twilight a hug or something before leaving?

[Phoenix237 353]

The episode had flaws. Out of all season 3 this was my least favorite. However I should note that it did have its moments and that I was still entertained. I felt that the concept was kinda forced you know what I mean.

On the other hand a cartoon series does tend to have a few miss episodes, but I have learned that these episodes tend to make the next episode (assuming its great) even better.

In short not my most favorite, but still watchable.

[Jessper 735]

You are overthinking it. It was funny episode that wasn't really bringing anything into the story or much of any development to anything. Enjoy it for what it was. Save the rage, dislikes and complains for when Twi turns into alicorn. 

[Phoenix237 353]

You are overthinking it. It was funny episode that wasn't really bringing anything into the story or much of any development to anything. Enjoy it for what it was. Save the rage, dislikes and complains for when Twi turns into alicorn.

You know what your right. I'll Chanel all my current and future anger like a bomb waiting to explode. Alicorn Twi will be the light to my short fuse. And when all is said and done all hell will break loose.

[Jessper 735]

You know what your right. I'll Chanel all my current and future anger like a bomb waiting to explode. Alicorn Twi will be the light to my short fuse. And when all is said and done all hell will break loose.

I mean, yeah, Dragon code is an obvious gimmick - it didn't exist before, it's unlikely to be ever mentioned again, also Spike can breathe fire, but throws stones at wolf made of wood. He could've just set them of fire or... even better, send them to Celestia.

 

So yeah, gimmicks, but it was funny and all those threads about it everywhere " MLP finally died" - "MLP going down" - MLP staff finally ran out of ideas" ... It's not that bad. It just isn't. Take it as comic relief combined with first test of CGI in MLP.