S04:E01+02 - Princess Twilight Sparkle

[SaburoDaimando 1,196]

Also, when you think about it, the events of the movie were rather necessary, for had Twilight failed to recover her crown, the seeds that bloomed into those horrible plants would have consumed Equestria.

[Frith is Magick 1,471]

I will want to watch the episode again before posting any in depth opinions. For now, I am very happy with it. The flashbacks probably wrecked a large number of fanfics, but they were worth it. I loved Discords antics, but also his role and actions a thousand years in the past. I am very happy with the episode, and like I said, I want to watch it again before giving a real opinion.

 

 

Youtube link if anyone wants it:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXb4qdlBzog&list=PL62AB0439C7019684

hopefully it stays up. This is low quality version, so if you can find HD, go for it.

[SBaby 660]

I have to address the Elements of Harmony thing, and by extension all the people that are 'sad to see them go'.  Honestly, I like the fact that they are gone.  I know that sounds strange, but hear me out here.  Why do I like the fact that they're gone?  Well, for a few reasons.

 

First, they really haven't been that important to anything plot-related since the beginning of Season 2.  All they were, was an end-all, be-all solution to big threats.  They were borderline a cop-out, if you really think about it.  Plus in A Canterlot Wedding, it was established that big threats to the world could indeed be solved without using them.  Then in Season 3, they defeated Sombra without even mentioning them.

 

Secondly, the loss of the Elements really does symbolize the mane 6 'growing up' a bit.  They no longer have the 'final solution', so to speak, to deal with big threats.  From this point forward, they'll have to rely on each other and their own natural abilities to get them through each situation (something that fans have asked for at least since Season 2).  Basically, the show is saying they're strong enough that they don't need some magical device to solve all of life's problems.

 

Finally, the mane 6 themselves created (or re-created, depending on your take on it) the Elements to begin with.  So if some big threat happens that does require a deus-ex machina again, they'll probably just make another one later.  In fact, that could be the 'key' to a certain item later on, if you catch my drift.

 

 

Someone asked me a few months back to sum up Season 3 in one word.  Well, to paraphrase Linkara, that word would be 'change'.  They were no longer relying on some magical device to solve all the major problems with the world, and more development revealed new characters, as well as Twilight's transformation not only into an Alicorn, but a Princess as well.  So things definitely changed in Season 3.

 

Based on what we've seen just in the premiere, as well as some information I know, I can deduce that it's very likely (read: almost guaranteed) that change will be happening much more substantially in this season.

Edited November 23, 2013 by SBaby

[MontagnaMagica 307]

No Discord song? This means another Discord episode later!!!

Edited November 23, 2013 by MontagnaMagica

[Batbrony 16,052]

Me, I loved it!  Definitely one of my favorite premieres to date, and I cannot wait to rewatch it.  For my full thoughts, just click on the link below and you can read them for yourself in my blog.  Here's to a brand new season of MLP everypony!!!  The ponies are back, and all is right with the world!

 

Batbrony Reviews "S04:E01+02 - Princess Twilight Sparkle": http://mlpforums.com/blog/1009/entry-8328-batbrony-reviews-s04e0102-princess-twilight-sparkle/

 

CELEBRATE!  CELEBRATE!  COME ON AND CELEBRATE!!!

Edited November 23, 2013 by Batbrony

[Tunderstorm 1]

This was the cuteness part of the show

[Rainbow Dash 1,472]

    Like, oh my gosh...i seriously fan boy squealed on this. Everything was just so awesome. The opening scenes were hilarious and having both Zecora and Big Macintosh speak in the episode was a treat. I'm also glad the John de Lancie stayed Discord; on the commercials Discord sounded different. When I saw the opening credits it said something like, "Produced for television by Lauren Faust." Correct me before i get my hopes up, but is she back on the show?
    I felt like some parts of the episodes where rushed, but that could be me. The scene that confused me was when Zecora told Twilight of a potion that only alicorn magic can make it work. Suddenly Twilight uses the dark magic we see from season three's second episode. How does she know to use that? How is it Alicorn magic? Im wondering if the dark magic she used was 'alicorn magic' since only an alicorn could handle such a powerful magic type. Overall the two parter was awesome, and i intend to watch it again when im not groggy. 

[Toxotis 0]

Cant wait till it gets posted somewhere so i can watch it. to bad i dont have cable

[Felix 1,363]

I slept in! When is someone gonna put a video on youtube? I didn't look at any of the posts on this thread just now but gosh dang apparently it was exciting!

[MontagnaMagica 307]

Did anyone else notice how Applejack basically led the whole gang the whole episode? She even got her own epic slow-mo action shot to herself!

[yayayayayala 1,668]

I slept in! When is someone gonna put a video on youtube? I didn't look at any of the posts on this thread just now but gosh dang apparently it was exciting!

lol your avatar is fitting for the "I slept in!" thing XD

[Discount_Flunky 75]

    When I saw the opening credits it said something like, "Produced for television by Lauren Faust." Correct me before i get my hopes up, but is she back on the show?

   

 

Don't quote me on this, but I think shows always credit the original creator near the beginning of episodes for as long as the show is airing, regardless if that creator is sill around or not.  This may just be the first time you've noticed it.

[Wingnut 6,988]

 

 

I think everyone can agree that the others ditching Twilight was really unnecessary. Feels like they just wrote that in there because they couldn't think of anything else to fill five minutes with.

 

I agree.  I understand the need to have a pony in command while Luna and Celestia are incapacitated.  But they all should've realized their best bet for success was to undertake their mission as an intact unit like they have so many times before.  This was their worst mental laspse as a group since they couldn't see that the pony they were entertaining in Games Ponies Play wasn't the games inspector. 

 

 

 

Secondly, the loss of the Elements really does symbolize the mane 6 'growing up' a bit. They no longer have the 'final solution', so to speak, to deal with big threats.

 

That makes sense in a way. Yugi lost the ability to summon Exodia for an automatic win for the same reason. There are other sources of great magic firepower that can be found when necessary.  Also, the physical elements may have served their final purpose, as far as the Mane 6 are concerned, by transforming Twilight into an alicorn.

[Silanda 24]

Overall I loved it. I don't think it was a better opener than "The Return of Harmony" but it has gone a long way towards dispelling my fears for the quality of this season, especially with the hint of a season long story arc.

[Jokuc 8,173]

I just realized something, Twilight has no wings when she walks out of the balloon in the season 4 intro..
 

 

btw discord in the intro

 
And then...
 
Wings

Edited November 23, 2013 by Jokuc

[Guest]

Sooooo.... I can't watch it on TV (Not american) and the livestreams are not working for me (and I must shut down my computer soon anyway).... Anyone knows when it'll be up on the net?

 

I CAN'T FRICKKIN WAIT.... IT'S KILLING ME!!!!

 

EDIT:

 

 

Wings

 

Where did you find this ? I cannot find an HD version...

Edited November 23, 2013 by Guest

[Hell Patrol 41]

Well.

 

That was.

 

A thing.

 

I guess.

 

 

Could of been worse. At least it was better than Season 3.

[Misterian 118]

This certainly has been a surprisingly good premiere, it provide the show with an over-arching story, and made clear that Twilight has been given no real practical perks from her alicorn transformation outside her now being able to fly.

 

That's obvious that the cast and crew are really upping their game on this show!

 

I just wish the premiere did more to cement the things Meghan McCarthy said were going to happen, like didn't McCarthy say that Twilight was still gonna live in Ponyville? oh well, I guess I'm not bothered with that not being shown in the premiere, if only because at the start, the first part did state that Twilight will make time to be with her friends as frequently as possible, and maybe in a later episode we'll see Twilight going back to living in Ponyville.

 

 

And the premiere must be doing something right when literally the only this; Who's supposed to be watching the Golden Oaks Library if Twilight's working in Canterlot? The show already revealed there was no one running the library in her place, and apparently Twilight forgot to lock the door cosndiering her friends seemed to have been able to just go right in, and they even apologized for going in without her permission.

 

I don't know, but even then, if and when the show cements the Twilight-still-living-in-Ponyville thing Twilight will likely move right back in the library.

 

Also, speaking as someone who at first disliked Discord in the Return to Harmony two-parter, but softened up to him when he returned in Keep Calm and Flutter On. I have to say, I actually enjoyed his appearance in the season 4 premiere, he was very funny and he subtly made clear that he genuinely has been reformed, if still into annoying others.

 

But bottom, great premiere, looking forward to the next episode with genuine optimism!

[Tunderstorm 1]

Did anyone else notice how Applejack basically led the whole gang the whole episode? She even got her own epic slow-mo action shot to herself!

Yes I have noticed this; this was the only problem with this episode.

[RWB2 17]

(Spoilers are in the spoiler boxes, you have been warned.)

 

First off: I did like it. However, I think it felt a touch rushed, honestly. They tried to fit too many concepts into 44 min.

 

(1) Being a Princess won't undermine the friendships of the Mane 6 coupled with (2) Deaus Ex Machina Brand flash-back soda world building and (3) evil plant monster... All cool stuff, just too much for the time frame.

 

 

 

 

Can't say it was too much for the timeframe, really. Season 2 premiere of W.I.T.C.H. had more going on at the same time, very solid handling, set up several season-spanning plot threads, set up our new villain, and had some fine character development on one of the main characters... and it had only 20 minutes and didn't feel rushed in the slightest.

 

On the other hand, Greg Weisman himself wrote that episode... A is for Anonymous is one of my favorite cartoon episodes made.

Edited November 23, 2013 by RWB2

[Discount_Flunky 75]

I just realized something, Twilight has no wings when she walks out of the balloon in the season 4 intro..

I noticed it to and thought it was weird at first, but then I realized that in the opening the balloon is what's taking her to ponyvile for the first time.  The open lyrics also imply shes just showing up. ("I used to wonder what friendship could mean, till you all shared it magic with me.")  So it makes sense she doesn't have her wings yet.  Basically when shes on the balloon, no wings, when shes in the picture at the end, wings.  Get it?

Edited November 23, 2013 by Discount_Flunky

[Jokuc 8,173]

I noticed it to and thought it was weird at first, but then I realized that in the opening the balloon is what's taking her to ponyvile for the first time.  The open lyrics also imply shes just showing up. ("I used to wonder what friendship could mean, till you all shared it magic with me.")  So it makes sense she doesn't have her wings yet.  Basically when shes on the balloon, no wings, when shes in the picture at the end, wings.  Get it?

Yeah I know but well.. She didn't come with a balloon the first time she went to ponyville But I see what you're saying

[SaburoDaimando 1,196]

I'm also gonna say this, and I hope none of you get upset, but I'm expecting this season to be the peak season of the series.  I don't think the next seasons will get any more epic than this.

[PoisonClaw 8,164]

Well, now that I've seen the parts of the episodes I missed, time for my full review!

 

Before this episode aired, the one thing I said would validate Twilight as an Alicorn is a scene where Dash teaches her how to fly. I didn't care if it was a whole episode or just a three second throw-away scene but as long as it was there than I was satisfied. Imagine my surprise when that was literally the first thing we got, and it went about as well as anyone could have expected. Actually, most of the beginning seems purposely written to put fears that Twilight and her relationships with her friends would drastically change to rest. She's still the same mare who tends to freak out over little things, only now she does so by flying upward until she hits her head on the ceiling. 

 

As for the episodes themselves...man did they get dark real quickly. I mean, MLP has done some dark stories in the past, but this takes the cake.   Now, one thing I don't feel the need to comment on a lot is the animation since, save for a few examples, it pretty much goes without saying that the animation will be good. Here however...the animators really upped the ante here. The lighting on the stain-glass window scene, the dark atmosphere of the Everfree, the complete re-imagining of Celestia and Luna's old castle from the second episode, Luna's terrifying transformation into Nightmare Moon, all these scenes and more are gorgeously done and really showed what the people behind this show are capable of. Even the few uses of CGI worked well, a long way from the horrible Timberwolves from Spike at Your Service.

 

Again, despite claims by several people, I thought the episode flowed well for what is gave us. Yeah, the ending was a little rushed but by this point I'd be more surprised if the last ten or so minutes wasn't rushed in someway. Though that wasn't the only thing that could be considered wrong with these episodes. For one, Zecora and her potion of plot convenience that just happens to only react to Alicorn magic, which for some reason said magic eerily resembles the dark magic shown in The Crystal Empire.  

 

Another little nitpick is Luna and Celestia's capture. All we see is an Everfree root break through the floor and then fade to black as Celestia screams. One, are you telling me no one heard her scream? She is in a huge castle filled with guards every couple of feet or so, not to mention that as far as I can tell she wasn't that far from Twilight's room at the time. Two, what was stopping her from fighting it off? You could say it surprised her and attacked before she could defend herself but other than that it just seemed too easy for the Everfree to just kidnap her and Luna.

 

Though none of this compares to the biggest problem I had, which was the decision to send Twilight back to Ponyville instead of venturing into the Everfree. That entire scene was completely stupid, flew in the face of several key scenes from before hand and only served to further pad out the episode with needless conflict. Okay, I could kinda see their reasoning for not wanting Twilight to get hurt, but if there's on thing the previous episode and in fact large portion of the show have proven it's that when the Elements are concerned they do this together. Together they stopped Nightmare Moon, together they returned Discord to stone and now together they had to find the Tree of Harmony. It's especially stupid because they know that they'll need all the Elements to help the tree, so sending away what could have possibly been the most important piece was helping no one. It's like entrusting a small group of people with the parts for a machine and then telling the guy with the control panel to go home!

 

Plus, as I said, a large portion of the first episode was spent establishing that despite Twilight's new status her friends don't think differently of her. But here they completely ignore that and send her away with the sole reasoning that, well, she's a princess. Even if Celestia and Luna hadn't been freed in the end, fat lot of good it would have done them if they didn't manage to fix the tree, something they realized far too late they couldn't do without Twilight and her Element. I'm sure the fact that there's a Princess in charge will at least make things better when the Everfree Forest completely consumes Equestria.

 

So yeah...there's that. Though speaking of the Elements, if there's one thing these episodes can be credited for, it would be completely removing the Elements of Harmony from play. Several times the Elements were nothing more than an easy conclusion to a story, a way to easily reach a conclusion. But now that they've been returned to the tree, the writers will have to come up with more creative ways to solve conflicts now that the Elements are gone.

 

All and all, despite a few hiccups, I thoroughly enjoyed these episode. Not a hard claim considering the two-parters have a tendency to be epic, and after such a long hiatus we were all craving for new episodes by this point. If these episodes are a sign of what's to come in the future, then I look forward to it.         

[dreaper 136]

Well, this was an surprisingly superb premiere! The animation is good, the story was interesting and I love how they actually showed the origins of the elements, the defeat of Discord and the banishment of Nightmare Moon (plus an epic battle to boot!). The elements are now gone which I really like.

 

DIscord was awesome!

 

What I didn't like is Applejack's and the rest of the girls decision to send Twilight back. It was stupid beyond belief, they treated Twilight lack of flying abilities as a absolute handicap for her, forgetting that she can still walk and cast powerful magic.

 

And as a personal note I wonder what they will do with Spike in season 4, with all the worldbuilding they did with the princesses and the elements(something that the fandom have always loved to talk about), I expect we get to see an episode (maybe a two-parter) that finally explores Spike character in more depth.