S03:E13 - Magical Mystery Cure

[Wingnut 6,733]

Episodes like this have so much to them, I have to watch it twice to take it all in. 

 

So why am I NOT watching the second telecast of Magical Mystery Cure this Sunday morning?  I think it's because the whole Twilicorn thing has been so overhyped all season long.  It was simply a great relief to get this over with and I'm just not into watching it again now.

 

I wonder...if this was a SERIES ending episode, would it have been a two parter in that event?  It was incredibly rushed from Twilight fixing everyone's scrambled destinies to her elevation to princess at the end.  Twilight was never given a minute to breathe and take in this incredible change.  She never had the chance to express any sense of loss of her old way of life.  And no matter what, by finally completing that old spell, Twilight summed up the complete underlying theme of MLP:FiM for seasons 1 through 3. 

 

I am glad they had their best overall writer, Mitch Larson, write the script.  Nobody else could've crammed all of this into 22 minutes.  Where they go from here is beyond me since the elementary lessons about friendship and letters to Celestia appear to be over with.  Which is sad in a way because Twilight is driven to learn new things every day of her life.  Nothing, not even possibly replacing Princess Celestia in the distant future will ever change that.   

 

On a sad personal note, I find it highly ironic that the day Magical Mystery Cure aired with its overall message about the power of friendship was the same day my former best friend and I decided to go our separate ways. 

Edited February 17, 2013 by Wingnut

[Heart's Desire 181]

Hmm...I will have to watch it again at some point to see if it feels different. As it is it was kind of strange to me, it felt more like a series finale than a season finale. It also felt like they tried to squeeze a movie into a half hour episode. I think the actual plot was brilliant, and the way Twilight figured out what she had to do was good too, but it was all so rushed there was no time to enjoy the strangeness of the situation. I would have liked to try to figure the mystery out myself rather than just having it be "we're all doomed!...Oh, wait! We're fine now!"

 

Also, the fact that the alicorn ending had been leaked, or whatever, made that whole segment less than thrilling. I've no problem with alicorn Twilight as long as they write it well. Also, is she the princess of friendship?

 

And I really don't think one just knows how to fly the second they have wings. I mean, it seemed to me like she couldn't even figure how to put them down.

 

 

 

...Derpy

[SharkJump 14]

A seven year old who questions an unexplainable magical event? Wow  even i find that kinda sad.... most kids who watched this show were probably like "OHHH Spakley PRINCESS YAY...... and she has WINGZ!!!" 

 

I hope she dosent quit the series...

 

I'm not sure if that was sarcasm or not, but if it wasn't you underestimate the average child's intelligance nowdays. They're far smarter than they seem.

Which is why children shows need to have solid plots nowdays. FiM was doing a fine job... until this.

[Nas 2,863]

^This. Yep. Littlest Pet Shop. The MLPFIM S3 finale makes me wonder if there will be any  continuity or potential "big events" in LPS, even though it is more of a laid-back show. The prospect of people finding out that Blythe can talk to the pets, or the question of how aware humans are of animal intelligence, could be a theme. I'm still looking for an active fan community/forum for LPS, maybe one will start growing as more episodes happen.

It'll be interesting to see how the show carries out alongside MLP; I must say I am very excited for that. I just got into the show last Saturday (not yesterday, the week before) out of sheer curiosity, and watching it instantly made me question why I have not watched it before. The characters are lovable and compelling, the script is funny and clever, the music is stellar- pretty much nearly all of the good things about MLP.

 

The thing is, the show isn't nearly as popular for a couple of reasons. 1) It is a rather new show, despite it being popularized due to the fact a handful of MLP staff work on it. 2) Most of the hate it unfortunately generates is from some people refusing to watch it because they probably think it's just a copy/knock-off of MLP. I say it's a perfect redemption of one of Hasbro's iconic franchises. It has its own mini-fandom going on right now, with art, music, small communities, etc. But in due time (not to say a little mini-project me and a few other staffies are probably working on ), the LPS community will burst into a well-deserved full-sized fandom. It will most likely never reach the pulse MLP has generated, but I hope with every fiber in my being that LPS gets to be up there as one of this generation's great fandoms.

[Prof. Yana 16]

Okay, after reading 9 pages of this thread, I have come to this conclusion: People are misunderstanding what Starswirl the Bearded's intentions were with his spell.

 

He merely wanted to create a spell that could safely swap peoples' cutie marks. The way I understand it, is that he never learned enough about the relationship two ponies would have had to have for it to swap their cutie marks safely. His intentions were not to become an alicorn. If you actually listen to the incantation, you hear that it is entirely about swapping cutie marks, and nothing more.

 

The reason that Twilight became a princess was due to a number of factors, all of which Princess Celestia pointed out. Here are some examples.

 

Since you've come to Ponyville, you've
displayed the charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and of
course, the leadership of a true princess.

 

And

 

 

We are gathered here today in celebration of a momentous occasion. My
most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, has done many extraordinary
things since she's lived in Ponyville. She even helped reunite me with
my sister, Princess Luna. But today, Twilight Sparkle did something
extraordinary. She created new magic, proving without a doubt that she
is ready to be crowned Equestria's newest princess. Fillies and
gentlecolts, may I present for the very first time, Princess Twilight
Sparkle!

 

Just read what she said. It is not the specific spell that she created that matters, it's that she created a spell at all. They were already seriously considering making her a princess, but this was a final test of sorts.

 

/rant

 

Anyway, I really enjoyed this episode. In fact, I'd say that it's one of my all-time favorites. Definitely the best of Season 3. Behind it in Season 3 are The Wonderbolt Academy and Sleepless in Ponyville. The only real problem I have, is that at the beginning it was a bit jarring having so many different songs back-to-back.

[Ylaena 21]

I loved this episode, and the only negative thing I have to say is it felt rushed. 

 

Anypony else notice this, though? Rainbow Dash has her own cutie mark!

 

Also, Gummy winking makes it look like they did that on purpose.

[Wingnut 6,733]

I loved this episode, and the only negative thing I have to say is it felt rushed. 

 

Anypony else notice this, though? Rainbow Dash has her own cutie mark!

 

rdand gummy.PNG

Also, Gummy winking makes it look like they did that on purpose.

It's possible.  While the animators say they ignore everything on fansites and Youtube, they may have done this to troll the people who put together the "Bloopers Are Forever" series. 

[Nas 2,863]

http://mlpforums.com/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=41759]Untitled.png[/url]

 

Anyone else find this extremely funny?

Just a sofa clerk and his quills.

Hey! Am I the only one that remembers this very store from way back in season 1?

 

It was Owl's Well That Ends Well, when Spike was going to look for a replacement quill for Twilight after she broke hers, he eventually stumbled upon this convenient quill and sofa shop (the convenience and coincidence is for a comedic effect it seems), and of course they lack quills, but are in stock of their sofas.

 

Anyway, looks like they brought it back, that's a nice little thing.

 

Edited February 18, 2013 by WinnipegJetsFan160

[Silanda 23]

I'm not sure if that was sarcasm or not, but if it wasn't you underestimate the average child's intelligance nowdays. They're far smarter than they seem.

Which is why children shows need to have solid plots nowdays. FiM was doing a fine job... until this.

I agree and I believe that while the makers of the show probably understand this it is something that toy companies have difficulty grasping. I've been a Star Trek fan all my life, and some Star Trek toys have been prime examples of the low quality crap that companies think they can get away with if children are the primary market. Why bother putting effort in, it's for kids right?

 

For the record, I enjoyed the episode for what it was but it seemed clear that the showrunners were fulfilling edicts from Hasbro in order to support a new toy line. It was too rushed but it left me feeling a little strange to be honest as it really had the ring of a final episode about it. That worries me because if I was an executive purely interested in toy sales, and I didn't have much imagination, I might be tempted to push for new main characters as well. It happened to an extent to Transformers back in the day, and given that the original plan in that case was to replace pretty much all of the protagonists, I wouldn't put it past Hasbro to try something along those lines.

Edited February 17, 2013 by Silanda

[Cadance of Love 1,118]

That was uncalled for, I DIDNT LIKE IT! She didn't read a book, she didn't train, she just bucking flew!

 

But it is/was her destiny to become an alicorn. therefor it has been her destiny to be able to naturally fly when she became an alicorn. you don't need to read a book to something that comes naturally to you (in this universe.)

I may be wrong or i may be right (i was a bit rushed and didn't look over the post)

9.9/10

[Akihiro 90]

I enjoyed the episode.

 

But this particular scene made me really happy :

 

I absolutely wanted them to keep the mystical nature of alicorns, this whole scene was perfect.

We just need to know more about Cadence.

Great animation, BGM and songs as well.

I think I'm gonna rewatch the entire series in the next few weeks, cause this episode is a great retrospective on what happened since then.

 

It was beautiful

[Slytorn 0]

Twilight reads an unfinished spell that she receives in the mail, wakes up the next morning, everyones cutie marks are swapped, she reminds them of their destinies, all the marks change back and she becomes a alicorn by finishing the spell. fluff it up with 15 minutes worth of song and send it to print. total cop out, and my least favorite episode this season. They basically took a 23 minutes episode and fluffed up 5 minutes of story with 18 minutes of singing, and it feels cheap. Its almost like they wanted to get to the point of the episode as quickly and as easily as possible

 

the finale of season 3 was disappointing, considering some of the great episodes they produced this season. 

This is exactly how I feel. It felt so horribly rushed, and there was practically no plot. There's no justification for Twilight to be an Alicorn other than "just because". I'm against her becoming an alicorn because of the Mary Sue implications, but even if they could have at least done it correctly, I would've been happy. I'm sorry, but this episode was just complete garbage.

[immblueversion 331]

The reason that Twilight became a princess was due to a number of factors, all of which Princess Celestia pointed out. Here are some examples.

 

 

Since you've come to Ponyville, you've

displayed the charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and of

course, the leadership of a true princess.

 

And

We are gathered here today in celebration of a momentous occasion. My

most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, has done many extraordinary

things since she's lived in Ponyville. She even helped reunite me with

my sister, Princess Luna. But today, Twilight Sparkle did something

extraordinary. She created new magic, proving without a doubt that she

is ready to be crowned Equestria's newest princess. Fillies and

gentlecolts, may I present for the very first time, Princess Twilight

Sparkle!

Just read what she said. It is not the specific spell that she created that matters, it's that she created a spell at all. They were already seriously considering making her a princess, but this was a final test of sorts.

 

 

 

See, this is pretty much what I said earlier; Twilight's coronation seems to be more along the lines of Equestrian knighthood.

Edited February 17, 2013 by immblueversion

[5guysburgersnfries 216]

--------------------

Edited November 13, 2022 by 5guysburgersnfries

[moduz94 78]

I have a feeling that in that tweet he is implying that someone from Hasbro didn't simply say "Hey guys, you have to add this to the show and you have no choice". In fact, I have a feeling that Hasbro give them a check list of things they can do (similar to the list of names they can choose for characters) and tell them to implement them in some way.

 

An example of this: Rarity with butterfly wings. They were probably given a checklist at the beginning of production on S1 that said 'a character has butterfly wings in an episode' and the creative team gave Rarity butterfly wings. Toys were then created for multiple characters with butterfly wings, despite the fact that only Rarity had wings in the show. This showed that the creative side working on the show had no direct influence with the toy line that was being produced.

 

The decision to specifically give Rarity the butterfly wings and the decision of how Twilight became an Alicorn would have been down to the creative team at DHX. People from DHX and Hasbro probably have a meeting before work starts on the season where they decide on what points from the checklist they're going to implement in the season. Meghan actually said she had liked the idea of making Twilight an Alicorn for some time, so when she became head writer she could have turned around to Hasbro and said "we're going to do Alicorn Twilight at the end of this season" just as how in S2 Lauren could have said "we're going to do the wedding theme at the end of this season".

 

...Wow. Long post is long.

I think they have put a spell on the episode, because I'm continuing to watch it and twilicorn is coming in me more and more that I watch it, to the point that I might even worship her in the future. lol.

[GuillermoGage 246]

It'll be interesting to see how the show carries out alongside MLP; I must say I am very excited for that. I just got into the show last Saturday (not yesterday, the week before) out of sheer curiosity, and watching it instantly made me question why I have not watched it before. The characters are lovable and compelling, the script is funny and clever, the music is stellar- pretty much nearly all of the good things about MLP.

 

The thing is, the show isn't nearly as popular for a couple of reasons. 1) It is a rather new show, despite it being popularized due to the fact a handful of MLP staff work on it. 2) Most of the hate it unfortunately generates is from some people refusing to watch it because they probably think it's just a copy/knock-off of MLP. I say it's a perfect redemption of one of Hasbro's iconic franchises. It has its own mini-fandom going on right now, with art, music, small communities, etc. But in due time (not to say a little mini-project me and a few other staffies are probably working on ), the LPS community will burst into a well-deserved full-sized fandom. It will most likely never reach the pulse MLP has generated, but I hope with every fiber in my being that LPS gets to be up there as one of this generation's great fandoms.

We might want to make a new thread/dig into an old thread about LPS soon, but for now I'll address the bolded statement:

 

By that logic, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Danny Phantom at the very least should've gone through skepticism by "being similar to" to a previous work. I don't know of any other examples....

(the examples would have to be for shows where the older show that the newer show is based on is still current, so Legend of Korra wouldn't work) In the anime/manga world, Fairy Tail and One Piece are a good example.

Edited February 17, 2013 by GuillermoGage

[Silverstream 51]

I went back and watched the last EP again,  still loving the songs which I think

are some of the best this season around but it still felt rushed in a  lot when it came

to the plot and events.   I think could have done much more with the idea of the change

of the cutie marks,  just not trading them but trading bodies a bit.  Making Rare a peggy and Pinkie

and Flutter a Unicorn or something like that!

[Twinhead B 482]

Alright, now I know I said I'd withhold my judgement (and I am, kinda.) on the episode, but I've got some mixed feelings about it, I feel I should share them:

 

1.) The episode itself was masterfully done, easily one of the best in the series. The songs were catchy and heartfelt, but at the same time, they felt right, almost necessary, even. In fact, I can't bring myself to re-watch the episode (I've watched it twice now), not because it's bad, but because the scene with Celestia's song brings to tears. Every single time.

 

I can't help but feel that scene in particular would've been better suited to be part of the series finale (though from what I hear, this was alledgedly supposed to be the end?), and I'm curious now how they plan to one-up that scene when that time finally does come.

 

2.) I feel the moral that first half of the episode had (you know, the whole "you're in charge of your own destiny" one) was severely undermined by the fact that once Twilight helps her friends change their destiny (with no magic, might I add), she's instantly wisked away and told that she is destined to be a princess (and is then made one with no warning what-so-ever).

 

Again, from what I understand this is technically the first part of a three-parter, so I'm hoping (and fairly certain) that everything will resolve itself in the end, because I feel that "you're in charge of your own destiny" is a much better moral than "some people are destined to be great with little to no effort, while others have toil away to find that they may never achieve greatness".

[Metemponychosis 1,236]

I hated the way they kept using the word "destiny" in the episode.

Cutie marks are supposed to be a reflection of what you are not some predetermined destiny.

 

I think that they were trying to use it in a "loose" way. Meaning more who they are and what their talents are more than "railroad" destiny that can't be escaped without terrible consequences. It would go too blatantly against some values from the show.

[Emerald Heart 24,598]

Ok. I just watched this episode yesterday, and I loved that twilight turned into an Alicorn.

 

SHE LOOKS SO PRETTYYYY

 

But seriously, there are some bad things about this episode.

 

I mean, Celestia, really, we KNOW your 1,000 years old and all, but aren't you rushing into this?

 

Couldn't you put twilight becoming a princess into -I don't know- the last episode of season 3?

 

One of one those 2-parter episodes?

 

So, you just going to be like this Lauren Faust?

 

Celestia: "Twilight, congratz your an alicorn."

Twilight: ''Yay I have wings!"

*three seconds later*

Celestia: "Twilight, congratz, your a princess."

Twilight: "Yay poufuy dresses!"

[Ice Storm 1,020]

After reading through this thread, it seems almost blatantly obvious that everyone that's been complaining about the episode are all people who were whining about Alicorn Twilight to begin with and never gave the show a Legitimate chance from the start. Yeah it felt a bit rushed, but overall I found this episode to be one of the best episodes to air yet. I didn't see any of these major plot holes that were talking about and for everypony who was saying it didn't show any reason why Twilight Changed obvioulsy didn't pay attention to the show and were watching it to "get it over with so they could just hate it and move on." I'm actually getting quick sick of how this fandom is trying to turn everything from "Love and Tolerate" to "Hate everything" in a single episode.

 

Let's look at the logic here. Twilight accidentally cast a spell changing the main 6's destinies. After some tear shedding, Twilight goes to the one thing that's always helped them in the past. The Elements. The Elements of Harmon is what drew the mane 6 together to begin with so logically, it would have been the first thing twilight went to, as she did. Then over the course of fixing everything she did, she figured out how to fix the broken spell, and wrote her own magic, something that to my understanding, I don't even think starswirl could do, and not even any of the other princesses were capable of doing. Not to mention that Princess Celestia very clearly laid it out to Twilight, and then again to Everyone in Equestria why she did what she did. All the answers were right there for those who bothered to pay attention to them. I've only watched the episode once and I caught it.

 

And the fact that she's saved Equestria, not once, but on 4 different occasions, (Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis,and King Sombra) and Celestia has watched all of this. She even helped Princess Luna get re-accustomed to the modern Pony Era after being Abandoned on the moon for 1000 years. The only thing I really feel that needs to be explained any further is how twilight learned to fly so quickly. Do Alicorns just get that gift automatically? And also where the mane 6 are going to live now. Those are really the only two Open plots that I've seen in the show. Yes, the pacing felt a bit rushed, but I've seen much, much worse pacing in the past. (I'm looking at you Bleach) Over all, I dare say that in my opinion, I'd rank this episode up with Wonderbolt Academy with one of the bests of the series. I understand everyone has their own opinion on the matter, but seriously after reading everything it literally sounds like everypony was intentionally looking for something to hate about the episode, just so that they could say they hated the Twilight Alicorn Transformation.

Edited February 17, 2013 by Ice Storm

[Gemstone 0]

Wow, this episode was fantastic.

 

Though I have to say, the opening.. <_< -Is this brodway?!

The songs were catchy, but I noticed that there was way more singing then actual talking in the episode.

 

I love that Twilight turned into an alicorn though, you go mare!

[Apple Shy 1]

I'm soo glad they have these episodes on Youtube!! When you first watch it it's really bad, but once you watch this episode a few times it really grows on you. I can't wait to see what happens next season! Does anypony know about when next season will be?

[Sks_Burns 730]

Apparently, getting the right cutie mark is as easy as reminding somepony about their special talents, or more blatantly just pointing it out. Twilight should go tell Sweetie Belle that shes a good singer, then she can have a cutie mark too. 

 

The only redeeming thing about this episode was some of the background ponies being in the crowd, otherwise it was a piss poor way to end the season. 

[Whofch 128]

No matter what people say about the episode, I'm finding it very difficult to stop watching the first 15 minutes (depending on which version you watch). I absolutely freaking love it >< Don't care if there are logic flaws or anything to it or anything, I find it very fun to watch.