Were these episodes really "rushed?"

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

In some alternate universes, each of these three episodes exists as a two-parter.  And in each of those realities, there are fans who complain that the episodes dragged on too long - and really should have just been one episode.  

[Caramel Apple 7]

I really despised Magical Mystery cure  <_<

Magic Duel was great. Keep Calm and Flutter On was...satisfactory. 

Really though, I was so disappointed with MMC. I wanted to cry because of how rushed it was. I think they should've kept What My Cutie Mark and True, True Friend. MAYBE Celestia's Ballad, but eh.    

 

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

I don't really understand why some fans dislike "Magical Mystery Cure."  I was posting a list of my Top Ten favorite episodes, and I put that one at number three.  

[Starflower 323]

The only episode I will agree with is the final episode of season 3. While I think it's a great episode, and it gave me so much feels, I do feel that it needs to be separated in two parts (or at least three to expand *how* Twilight switched the cutie marks). It was all crunched up and smushed to make it seem rushed, and that's how it outraged a few of us.

 

For the other two episodes, I think they were just fine. It may be just my opinion though.

[Zygen 6,065]

eh, I don't really find them rushed personally. The only one I could justify being rushed personally in my opinion is the finale, and even then I don't have anything wrong with the original product, however I do agree there are points where its obvious they rushed a bit, however I am still happy with the musical and everything since I love music, but I would be fine and it may have even been good to have the episode be two parts and show more, while still having music.

 

I didn't find "Magic duel" rushed , I mean I don't know what else they would've done really, it felt fine to me, I was actually itching for more, but not because it was rushed. Just because it was a great episode.

 

"Keep Calm and Flutter on" Was maybe in a very slight bit rushed, but they did have time constraints considering they had even less episodes to work with and stuff, plus I think of it this. Discord was a friendless being who had never felt the feelings of friendship before, and he at first didn't care for the gestures Fluttershy made, but I think eventually he had one of those.. "What am I doing with my life" moments when he realized Fluttershy was his only friend he was going to lose. And that he had felt the feelings of friendship.

 

Besides you know Friendship IS magic .

 

I do agree that S3 out of all the seasons had the most "rushed feeling" episodes, but I'm not sure they where all really rushed. They may have been the slightest bit rushed, but I think that the limited amount of episodes made them feel more contrained for time, especially on the finale.

 

I still love the episodes, Especially the finale, i think it was great even if it does have some issues with pacing kinda. But they did make it work for what they did, so i love it. Made me get a bit emotional actually.

 

So yeah, while one of the major problems of S3 was pacing, the problems aren't prominent enough in most of the episodes really for me to consider them rushed.

[dragoonanime 39]

In Keep Calm and Flutter On, when Fluttershy calls Discord her friend at the dinner party he shows emotion about it and says he never had a friend before.

[Clairifeline Ciel 1]

Magical Mystery Cure was so rushed, that I think it was Twilights dream. In the first episode of season 4, she will wake up and realize it.was a dream. She will try to get it to come true, by either manually changing the cutie marks or attepmting to create a spell. Celestia will have to inform her that if se was to actually change, the elements of harmony would fall apart because Twilight would be elevated to a higher stance thanher friends. THE END.

[Callisto 1,874]

Honestly?

 

Magical Mystery Cure was not rushed. I mean, what do you want 10 minutes for each pony getting their cutie mark back, and then another 10 minutes for the Twilight turning into an Alicorn, and then another 10 minutes for the coronation? What in the episode needed more time?

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,694]

Magic Duel? Yes, but not because of Trixie.

Keep Calm and Flutter On? A little bit, but it didn't hurt the experience.

Magical Mystery Cure? No, it didn't have enough real content to be rushed.

[Megas 27,060]

I honestly don't see what was so rushed about Keep Calm and Flutter On. Sure it may have come quick when Discord was hurt after Fluttershy said she wasn't her friend anymore, but sometimes I feel like fans keep forgetting the foreshadow where Fluttershy said she was his friend with Discord saying that he never had a friend before, then the scene came where he realized he lost his only friend

 

The only episode I feel like was truely rushed was Magical Mystery Cure, and the writers even admitted that they originally planned it as a two parter

[Stary Dreams 87]

As a writer myself, I could clearly see why these episodes have seemed kind of rushed. They mainly want to write about the good climatic, action parts that will get everypony roaring and screaming; aka Season 3 finale. Seriously, if I were a storyboard writer I would've been blazing through everything JUST to get to that good part and start writing everything that pops off my mind.

 

Never have me as a storyboard writer, because all hell will break lose if you do

[FlawlessMissRarity 13]

I completley agree with you on everything you said. I did kinda feel though that this was an eyeopener for Trixie though, I just had to put my two cents in there about that one! I'm a big Trixie fan and was so pleased with her being in another episode, most shows (cartoons especially) have a great character then they "ditch" it and move on..so i was pleasently suprised by Magic Duel.

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

Magic Duel wasn't rushed. I personally thought it was paced almost perfectly for the story it wanted to tell.

 

KCAFO may have been a bit rushed, though it probably wouldn't have helped to make it a two-parter.

 

Magical Mystery Cure was most certainly rushed. It tried to tell two stories in only eleven minutes, and dedicated the rest of the runtime to having one musical number after another. They should have split that episode into two parts, and done away with a majority of the songs.

 

If they were up against the wall with the 13 episode limit, then maybe they could have just cut out Games Ponies Play to make room. No one actually liked that episode anyway.

[Rainbow Dash Loyalty 1,274]

Magic Duel: I didn't think it was 'too' rushed IMO, I thought it was fine. She helped Twilight by adding fireworks to her performance and apologized to her for being an ass, I guess the apology thing was easily forgiven after taking over Ponyville and abusing everyone but hey xP What can you do?

Keep Calm and Flutter On: As much as I liked this episode, I did feel that it was a 'tad' it rushed. The story and everything was great though, plus the seeing the best villain was a pretty exciting moment for me. It was just that he got reformed pretty fast xP But it is a meant to be a kids show and it learned that Friendship is Magic xD

Magical Mystery Cure: Obviously rushed, I actually thought I missed a massive chunk of the episode when I first saw it on the stream because equestria.tv didn't start the stream for some reason xP But if this wasn't a musical episode then I would have no idea on how they would pass the time of explaining the story for every problem and solving it. So they did a real good job for keeping everything in 22 minutes, but I would of loved it if it was a 2-parter.
 

[Clover Heart 978]

Just because an episode is rushed doesn't mean that the only solution is to make it longer. They could omit content, rework the storyline, or even simply rearranging things can make an episode feel not so rushed. I don't feel that Magic Duel and Keep Calm and Flutter On were rushed, and they certainly shouldn't be two-part episodes. First, the only two-part episodes we have are when a very serious and epic story take place. I think this is kind of the accepted standard, now that we're 3 seasons in. In those two, the fate of all Equestria isn't at stake. I did enjoy those episodes, but they're more like normal episodes. Magical Mystery Cure, however, was completely and utterly rushed. There was no time for development, explanation, expansion, setting up the story or basically, like, anything. Did it need to be a two-parter? Well, maybe. I think if they got rid of all the songs, they might have had time to fit everything they needed to to make this episode good into 20 minutes. However, thinking about the potential of the story and how much further in depth it could have (and should have) gone, it definitely could have been a two-parter. Also, Twilight becomes a princess and an alicorn. Whether you like that or not, this is probably one of the most important developments in the whole series. And it doesn't even get a two-part episode? And the episode it -does- get stretches a mere 5 minutes of plot out for a full episode? Some coronation, huh? To me, that just gives me an image of the developers tenting their fingers and going "Yessss, we must get alicorn Twilight out there. Do it! Do it now!!!" It feels like it was rushed to just push this whole Princess Twilight thing. I dunno. That's my opinion.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Clover Heart

[FlawlessMissRarity 13]

Just because an episode is rushed doesn't mean that the only solution is to make it longer. They could omit content, rework the storyline, or even simply rearranging things can make an episode feel not so rushed. I don't feel that Magic Duel and Keep Calm and Flutter On were rushed, and they certainly shouldn't be two-part episodes. First, the only two-part episodes we have are when a very serious and epic story take place. I think this is kind of the accepted standard, now that we're 3 seasons in. In those two, the fate of all Equestria isn't at stake. I did enjoy those episodes, but they're more like normal episodes. Magical Mystery Cure, however, was completely and utterly rushed. There was no time for development, explanation, expansion, setting up the story or basically, like, anything. Did it need to be a two-parter? Well, maybe. I think if they got rid of all the songs, they might have had time to fit everything they needed to to make this episode good into 20 minutes. However, thinking about the potential of the story and how much further in depth it could have (and should have) gone, it definitely could have been a two-parter. Also, Twilight becomes a princess and an alicorn. Whether you like that or not, this is probably one of the most important developments in the whole series. And it doesn't even get a two-part episode? And the episode it -does- get stretches a mere 5 minutes of plot out for a full episode? Some coronation, huh? To me, that just gives me an image of the developers tenting their fingers and going "Yessss, we must get alicorn Twilight out there. Do it! Do it now!!!" It feels like it was rushed to just push this whole Princess Twilight thing. I dunno. That's my opinion.

I totally agree with you. I thought the whole Princess Twilight was rushed at the end but I really enjoyed the concept. I always thought since day 1 this would happen. I do wish though that there would be a episode about how Princess Cadance became an Alicorn like her coronation ceremony etc..I would have loved to see the ponies with there mixed up cutie marks for longer..But I deffinatley think  MMC was a bit rushed and I think that the songs were perfection. I cried alot and I think that says something. But those are my opinions.

[SailorCardKnight 84]

I thought the end of Magic Duel was a tad bit rushed, but it was fine overal, pacing-wise. While many don't like how Trixie was redeemed at the end, its a kids show, and people seem to forget that. Her redemption was better executed and made more sense than some of the other villains/bad guys in other kids shows/films I've seen. She was never a bad pony to begin with, just someone who let their ego get the better of them.

 

Keep Clam and Flutter On had potential to be a 2 parter. It just seems off that Discord, one of the biggest threats to Equestria, could be reformed in just one episode. It just seems like that kind of story that deserves 2 episodes. What we got still works, but could have been better with some tweaking (or took out a commercial break to add a few minutes). The buildup to Discord's turn around was there, it was probably a too subtle for people to see, but it most certainly wasn't a sudden "I have a friend now and I wanna be good! =D " They should have elaborated on it a little more.

 

MMC. They most certainly should have made this a 2 parter. After hearing about how Spike at your Service  was originally Rarity's episode but had so many revisions to the point that it no longer was, they should have nixed it completely in favor of making MMC longer. The whole episode just flies by so quickly. The musical numbers do help in helping the story along in such a short time-frame, but Twilight's transformation did not come out of nowhere. The whole *series* has been building up to it, but like many others, they should have waited at least another season or two.

[Bruno © 125]

Yes, i think that Keep Calm and Flutter On was rushed, and Magical Mistery Cure was way more rushed, because you had to put many informations in only one episode, i really think that they could make a 2 parter of it.

 

And i have nothing agains Magic Duel, i think that it is a good episode, it wasn't rushed at all.

[Metaright 76]

I don't really understand why some fans dislike "Magical Mystery Cure."  I was posting a list of my Top Ten favorite episodes, and I put that one at number three.

 

I wrote a rather extensive exposition on why I hated it, found here.

 

Now remember, Magical Mystery Cure is going to be a three parter leading into season 4. That episode was only the first part. We still have more to see, so stick around. 

 

No, the Tweet meant that the first two episodes of season four would be a continuation of season three's finale. Magical Mystery Cure is not the first part of a three-parter, in the same way that Return of Harmony is not a three-parter with Keep Calm and Flutter On as the final part.

 

The songs make it move a little faster. If it were a two-parter, there would have to be some sort of villan involved who switches the cutie marks and does something else, like put the rest of the mane 6 under his control or something like that.

 

It is a sign of terrible writing when you can't have a conflict without a villain needing to be there to cause it. The writers have shown numerous times in the past that they don't require a villain to write a compelling story.

 

Anywho, Magical Mystery Cure was most definitely rushed, for reasons explained in that link at the top of this post.

 

Keep Calm and Fluttery On was rushed in that Discord's reformation happened way too suddenly. He finds the "magic of friendship" with painfully little leadup.

 

Magic Duel didn't feel extremely rushed, though Twilight's training with Zecora went by far too quickly. Also, Trixie's apology and her exit happened too fast. I'm disappointed that she ran off again; I suppose this means we'll never see her again.

[Derpular 90]

I thought Magical Mystery Cure was a little rushed, but I adored it anyway. I just think it would have been even better as a two-parter. I didn't even know people were saying Magic Duel was rushed; it felt absolutely perfect the way it was to me. As for Keep Calm and Flutter On, I can see how some might think Discord was redeemed too quickly, but I personally thought the pacing was just fine. I loved all of these episodes.

Edited March 14, 2013 by Derpular