S02:E18 - A Friend in Deed

[Flow 1,619]

This shows my approval:

[hwrogers 168]

my mom is arachnophobic, but has a tendency towards the "fight" side of fear response, as in she sees a spider and immediately makes every effort to destroy it by stomping, swatting, throwing is uncommon but often means me or one of my brothers get thrown at the spider, anything in within reach becomes a weapon of spider destruction. yes it's possible

[Comet Tail 808]

Here's my fav. moments:

 

When Doodle said "You're smarter than you look, kid." And Pinkie Pie took it as a compliment.

A moment later I got it and Lol'd! XD

 

Then I was like - Pinkie Pie Genius! (I haven't been to that thread since this new episode, yet, but I'm 100% sure it's Canon now. She clearly is a genius!)

 

Another similar funny moment was when he called her an "extra special friend", and once again, she took it as a compliment.

 

Lol, and when he said: "Keep your hooves off!", at that moment, I'm watching it on my laptop with cat and latpop on my lap, and my cat reaches forward and touches the mousepad, pausing the video at that exact moment XD

 

 

Perhaps we were all too busy freaking out about the song, but did anypony else notice Pinkie... err... finding herself and pulling herself up out of the gloom during the song? That was... special. What exactly happened?!

 

Pulled a screenshot:

 

See abridged quote:

...I loved the felt animation in Pinkie's mind-theatre in this episode, as well as the occasional stylistic animation - ...

[Zalgo 593]

Wow that episode had AMAZING animation. I swear, it gets about 20% better everytime.

 

And pinkie's song was bucking amazing too.

[Thewookie Wooker 64]

Perhaps we were all too busy freaking out about the song, but did anypony else notice Pinkie... err... finding herself and pulling herself up out of the gloom during the song? That was... special. What exactly happened?!

 

Pulled a screenshot:

 

She's a genius with a cloning machine?

[Comet Tail 808]

Ohp - I forgot to mention one thing I loved!

 

Rainbow Dash was in Twilight's house reading Daring Doo!

 

Those are my two favorite characters (Twi and Rainbow)! And this is the best part - Rainbow Dash's downside was how insensitive she was - she wasn't really soft at all, but now she's broken her "egghead" stereotype, is probably more open minded, less quick to judge, and now she's hanging out with Twilight, like, the least "cool" pony ever, because she's an "Egghead" (nerd)!

 

I mean, imagine if RD used to be laugh and make fun of Twilight for being a brony (or, I guess "pegasister"), but now she's joined the herd! This is like exactly what's happened!

 

I know this old news from last episode, but now we see that the creators are really making a permanent change to Rainbow Dash - it wasn't some little thing that's insignificant, it's fo' real, Rainbow Dash - ex-hater, has joined the herd!

_{(Okay, she wasn't quiet a hater, but she did laugh at Twilight when she entered the race in Fall Weather Friends, and called her an Egghead, making fun of her!)}

Edited February 19, 2012 by EASA - Dr. Braun

[Thewookie Wooker 64]

The Smile song I enjoyed for mainly the part she would say "Yes, I do" there's just something about how she says it and the animation for it.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

I waited so long for the smile sequence, and it was everything I hoped for! I choked up a little when Pinkie pulled herself up out of depression. I absolutely loved that Rainbow was visiting Twilight for some quite time to read together. Like Dr. Braun mentioned in the last post, it's very good to see that Rainbow is growing as a friend.

 

Here's something I couldn't help thinking after Pinkie gave her gift to Cranky.

 

 

 

 

 

[Envoy-in-exile 101]

Just when you think the show couldn't get any better...

So many gems/new trends in this episode here but I think you all covered it pretty much in this thread. One thing that stands out as well is how many talking non-ponies were in this episode (3!) Definitely worth re-watching tonight.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Envoy

[Mister Jack 565]

This episode is awesome. I'm glad that I can love every single new episode that gets released.

 

I want to ask, did anyone else notice Pinkie's spider freak-out, you know, the one that caused her to ruin Cranky's toupee? She had another spider freak-out in The Ticket Master when she ran into Twilight and the tickets fell on her face, only she figured out that the tickets weren't spiders before she could ruin them.

 

Pinkie Pie is afraid of spiders. It's canon.

 

She was afraid of bats that time, not spiders.

[SailorCardKnight 84]

This was the 3rd episode I managed to catch the live stream for and boy was it worth it! I can totally see this becoming the new fan favorite along side Luna Eclipsed, Lesson Zero and Party of One.

 

-songs galore, including the leaked Smile, Smile, Smile (which is fav pony song), looking forward to hearing all the remixes on the way

-so...much...meme....potential

-some of the best quality animation yet, including that unexpected shift to stop motion with felt

-the literal welcome wagon made me lol, me and my love of puns

-continuity with the baby Cakes and Dash reading Daring Do!

-Dexter's Lab reference when Pinkie was in Crakey's cart going though his stuff

 

A really great episode overal. I thought the lesson for todays episode was either going to be along the lines of “take the time and listen to other people's reasons why” or “you can't make everyone like you” but what we got works too.

 

As a bonus, as soon as I saw the beginning, this was the first thing that popped into my head...and just watch someone has already beaten me to the punch and made a video of the exact same thing.

 

Edited February 19, 2012 by SailorCardKnight

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

Perhaps we were all too busy freaking out about the song, but did anypony else notice Pinkie... err... finding herself and pulling herself up out of the gloom during the song? That was... special. What exactly happened?!

 

Pulled a screenshot:

 

 

It's metaphorical, an expression of Pinkie cheering herself up when she's had a terrible day. It actually ties in rather nicely with how I've come to understand Pinkie's psychological state. She has to deal with her own depression and anxiety, even if she doesn't often show it, and as she sang in the song, the best way for her to pick herself up is to cheer up others. The song itself isn't just about Pinkie trying to be happy for everyone else, but also about what really makes her happy, what she really LIVES for.

 

She is the Element of Laughter, in all its myriad ways.

[Eenohay 318]

The Smile song I enjoyed for mainly the part she would say "Yes, I do" there's just something about how she says it and the animation for it.

 

When does she say that?

 

EDIT: No wait, I remembered.

 

Anyways, I did feel that at parts it didn't really seem like she was singing, wich bothered me, but still it was great

Edited February 19, 2012 by Eenohay

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

Actually, to me, the opening was more reminiscent of Fame. Anypony else know that musical?

 

I heard the Smile song when it was leaked, and I can't say I was too enthused about it at that time. After hearing it in this episode and watching the related sequence, though, it has grown on me dramatically.

While I liked the song when I first heard it weeks ago, I agree that it's a lot better in-context.

 

me or one of my brothers get thrown at the spider

Is your mom a professional wrestler, soldier, weight-lifter...?

 

I mean, imagine if RD used to be laugh and make fun of Twilight for being a brony (or, I guess "pegasister"), but now she's joined the herd! This is like exactly what's happened!

I call this "reciprocity"; the show's makers becoming brony fans and making references to MLP-lovers' lives. Edited February 19, 2012 by Derpth Fader the Ponith

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

As for the Xanatos Gambit: Pinkie isn't Batman, planning each movement with precision. But she intuitively---whether knowingly or not---created a situation where she was guaranteed to succeed. Gilda would have played into the plan whether she learned to chill out, became furious with everyone (as she did), or no showed her own party. Pinkie wins. Exactly as planned.

 

 

Her Pinkie Sense must also function at the subconscious level. It guides her actions even when she isn't fully aware of it's influence on her behavior.

[Yellow Diamond 7,561]

Each time I listen to "Smile Smile Smile", I like it more and more.

 

Her Pinkie Sense must also function at the subconscious level. It guides her actions even when she isn't fully aware of it's influence on her behavior.

That's probably accurate to a degree. Much like Twilight's teleportation abilities, however, sometimes Pinkie's own Pinkie Sense fails to manifest (e.g., all throughout "Baby Cakes"). It is unclear at a glance why her Pinkie Sense works in one scenario but in apparently inactive in another similar situation.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Thereisnospoon303

[Scootaloo Is Best Filly 576]

This might be my most favorite episode of like all time. I love the plot, I can't stop listening to "Smile" Oh, and that "Cranky Doodle Donkey" song I must have listened to it like 20 times and it makes me crack up every single time. It was hilarious when she was going what she had done right with all those check marks. And then Pinkie Pie rolling out the Welcome Wagon. (LITERALLY) LOL!!!!!!

[Great Galloping Galoshes 5]

Am I the only one who just did'nt really like the episode much? Dont get me wrong, the song was FANTASTIC. but everything else... just meh

[hwrogers 168]

 

Is your mom a professional wrestler, soldier, weight-lifter...?

 

 

she's 5'4" 130lb mother of three texan boys, chuck norris is her bitch.

[83awsm 234]

Thought this episode was great! Finally the much anticipated cannon song reveal and Pinkie was well… extra-Pinkie I thought which always livens up the scene xD The introduction of cranky doodle and his song was another cool reference and I enjoyed the overall antagonistic development. Another 5 stars to the guys at DHX.

[Tailssod 20]

EASA, great point! I loved that too, she was so overcoming a preconcept, it was awesome :3

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

Am I the only one who just did'nt really like the episode much? Dont get me wrong, the song was FANTASTIC. but everything else... just meh

 

I have heard others on other forums express dislike as well, including one person in particular who found the entire episode to be, I quote, "a slap in the face" because of her significant personal space issues and a supreme dislike for what she feels was the message of the episode.

 

While I don't share those negative opinions I can definitely understand where they're coming from.

[Ron Jeremy 2,032]

Just thought I'd mention I threw together a clip of the

scene set to random music.

 

Also, in my last post, I forgot about Rose actually speaking, even though I intended to post about it.

 

So, Rose speaking. It's interesting seeing a background character like that suddenly have a voice. Makes me happier I nabbed a blind bag Rose a while back. :3

 

And I noticed, like others have, the interesting bits of continuity: Pound Cake and Carrot Cake appearing, and Dashie reading a Daring Do book. I'd love to see more things like this in future episodes, that's for sure.

 

Also, this is only half-serious, but will we be seeing more donkeys? There was the one donkey in Applebuck season, and the two in this episode. Is this slowly becoming My Little Donkey?

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

I simply love this episode. At first, I used to hate Pinkie Pie. Especially in the first season. But in Season 2, she's just been developing more and more into awesome. Her gags seem funnier and more original... and then she had the episode Baby Cakes. This episode increases my like of her by a lot. Why?

 

Because of the song Smile, Smile, Smile. I swear it is my new favourite song now. Listening to it had me smiling before my trip. And then afterwards when I was extremely upset that it was over and crying really hard... listening to it again made me feel better and stop crying. That song is amazing. It has the ability to make you feel good no matter how sad you are. It's just pure diabetes and happiness. Even my boyfriend who doesn't watch ponies seemed to like it. He joked that Pinkie Pie had a cult after seeing the ponies follow her all over town.

 

I heard it before, but seeing it was several times better. The animation in the song seemed more fluid than usual, and the facial expressions were just so happy and great that you can't help but smiling. Especially the part where they jump across roofs. I love that part. And the little felt animation was cute too.

 

The beginning with the 80's reference was especially fantastic. It psyched me up for what I knew was going to be a great episode, I loved how Pinkie looked in it, and there was something I found amazing about her putting on the belt. It fascinates me. I do not know why.

 

Other than that, seeing non-pony residents in Ponyville was great and answered the question of how equally non-pony sentient species are. They pretty much blend in and nopony pays attention to them. I do find it a bit weird that they seem to say "everypony," but maybe that's just what it's like being brought up in a pony-dominant world.

 

Cranky was cute and I loved his voice actor. His story was really sweet. I liked especially how the younger donkeys looked... they actually managed to make donkeys not look ugly! Oh and his toupee? Was just great! Oh Rarity, only you could make something like that. I did enjoy how he seemed to like his spa treatment and new toupee, which seemed realistic and showed that Pinkie could actually be considerate and not invade his personal space for once unlike on most shows where it just shows a montage of a character like that doing nothing but messing up before they get it right at the end. At least she got something right in the middle! Very nice.

 

Also, I actually did not see Matilda being his lover coming AT ALL. Caught me off-guard. Nice job. Or maybe I'm just ditzy.

 

Continuity with the Daring Doo book and Pound/Pumpkin Cake surprised me and reminded me of what first impressed me when I started watching the show. The fact that they actually REMEMBER things from past episodes. I was extremely glad to see that here.

 

Only thing I was a bit confused about was how Pinkie found out that it was Matilda. Her explanation went over my head, but maybe that's because I was watching it on my TV for once and couldn't hear it as well as with headphones like I usually do.

 

The unusual theme at the end was also a nice surprise that I really liked. I love that Yankee Doodle piano tone. As well as the past flashbacks with the black-and-white. It gave this episode a unique feel. And having an episode focus on a non-pony or dragon character was awesome as well.

 

Just great episode. Fantastic.

[Legendary Emerald 622]

I saw the episode yesterday, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The intro sequence was a bit confusing for me, as I haven't seen many season 2 episodes yet and don't know the story between the two baby dragons. But that didn't matter too much, because next up was an extended musical scene! One of the better ones in the series too; I'm still surprised by the fact that there are still cartoons today that have musical numbers that aren't absolute trash! In fact, I'm now going to listen to the song from this episode again while writing the rest of this post.

 

... Awesome! Okay, so, the rest of the episode. To be honest, the song number sort of overshadowed everything else for me. That's not to say there weren't some hilarious moments, though. The line, "this donkey is really, really, bald!" had me laughing out loud in particular. A large chunk of the episode's run-time was dedicated to Loony-Toon style antics, and it was fun to watch the animators try to out-do themselves in getting across the manic nature of the enigma which is Pinkie.

 

I guess my only problem with the episode was the pacing. It officially starts with a 3 and a half minute song, and the rest focuses almost exclusively on two characters and their butting heads; despite the chase scenes, quick editing, and inclusion of even more song, its very slow paced, and perhaps a bit uneven as well. The episode felt padded, as if there wasn't enough time to tell the intended story, there wasn't enough story for the required time. I'm sure the plethora of songs included in the episode had something to do with it either way.

 

To me, the episode felt less like a TV show and more like a short stage-play, right down to the musical numbers. Which isn't a bad thing, really, but its not what I prefer, I guess. Other than that though, it was a solid episode. I just don't think it'll end up being one of my personal favorites.

 

Except the song. That's definately going into my mp3 player.