S04:E01+02 - Princess Twilight Sparkle

[ShadOBabe 18,997]

Okay, so just watched the premiere.

My thoughts...

 

Pros:

- Love Celestia's emotions about the Summer Sun Celebration

- Celestia getting snatched by that plant. Friggin' EEP!! D8

- Awesome flashbacks into the past

 = Awwwww... poor Celestia crying... 8(

 = LOL!! Celestia's tail!! And her reaction to it!! XD

 = Tree of Harmony? Well it's pretty!!

- Awesome new creatures in Everfree

- Love Discord's backhanded encouragement and advice towards Twilight

- No more Elements, eh? Very interesting. No more just blasting the big bads away

- KEYS?? Squee!! I am intrigued!!

- (EDIT) Forgot about the new intro!! That was cool. But why the heck were Snips and Snails in that group shot? They're not friends with any of the characters...

 

Cons:

- Very rushed feeling all throughout the episode, especially in the flashbacks

- The dialogue feels REALLY scripted, but I don't know why. The show has used corny or cheesy lines before, but it seemed authentic. This seemed really insincere in a lot of places, but I don't know why. It was uncomfortable to listen to.

- WHY DID THE GIRLS SEND TWILIGHT HOME?? I know what their excuses where, but their plan was "Blast threat with Elements of Harmony". THEY ALL KNOW DAMN WELL THE ELEMENTS DON'T WORK IF YOU DON'T HAVE ALL OF THEM!!

- (EDIT) Sort of a con, but someone else mentioned it and I agree, the cameos were a little ridiculous. Yeah, let's just cram EVERYTHING into the premiere!! EVERYTHING THAT PEOPLE ENJOYED EVEN SLIGHTLY!!

 

My overall thoughts:

Very interesting concepts introduced. Lots of lore and speculation. But presentation very, very, MEH.

Edited November 23, 2013 by ShadOBabe

[Dsanders 5,747]

Just finished watching the grand season 4 premiere. For those of you guys who, like me, missed it's initial premiere, here's a link to the two-part episode on YouTube. Just note that the video will be deleted on Monday.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXb4qdlBzog

 

 

Now before watching this, I have managed to avoid all of the trailers, and just about 80% of the spoilers that so many fans here have been spewing around. I'm fine with spoilers usually, but for these first two episodes of freakin season 4, I just decided that I must narrowly arrow any snip-bit and peak into it! So I can very well say that I've watched this completely blind!

 

 

So on to my rambling review!

 

 

The animation here was definitely top quality. These two episodes encompassed a lot of special animation effects, techniques and even some CGI schemes that really seem to surpass all the episodes prior to this. From the lighting of the stain glass windows inside the castle, to the transformation of Luna into Nightmare Moon. You can tell that the animators here have seriously put a whole lot of effort into making all this, and I applaud them for that. 

 

Twilight's rather awkward but growing progress in learning how to fly was also really interesting to see. Though it seems very clear that Twlight still needs some time to adjust to her new wings and has a whole lot more to learn, I'm sure Rainbow Dash will be able to continue to assist her there and make her a pro in no time. And on an additional note, Spike's reaction to her flying was priceless.

 

Twilight's use of what seemed to be dark magic to incite the potion Zecora gave her, which was used by Sombra in The Crystal Empire, did appear a little odd and unique. Perhaps its simply a higher level of magic, only unique to alicorns. Who knows really. 

 

Now as for the flashbacks, they were quite mind blowing. Do you realize how many brony analysis videos have been made on the subject of Equestria's history!? From what I've seen, they'll probably have to really revise and update their theories now that the show has finally revealed some insight into the thousand year's past. It was great to finally see the era of Discord's reign and to see just how Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were able to figure out how to stop him. And not only that, we finally got to see the canonical origin of the Elements of Harmony! I knew the Tree of Harmony appeared to be somewhat related to the elements from first getting a glimpse of it but I never expected it to be the direct source of them! As for the battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon, I have no words to describe how epic that was. Great animation, intense, thrilling, and probably one of the most climatic and epic scenes in the series, thus far. I can't even imagine how the episodes and even seasons after this one are gonna turn out like.

 

And speaking of Discord, it was great to see John de Lancie pull off his wonderful role as Discord once again. I'm actually quite happy that though he has been 'reformed' he still had the same trollish, sarcastic, and arrogant personality that we've all grown to love him for. Though I was kinda hoping he would be able to help them out in some way; the idea of Discord and Princess Twilight and her group of friends teaming together would be a really epic idea for an episode plot, no doubt about that. Nonetheless, seeing Discord belittle them and rustle their jimmies was still just as amusing and freakin genius.  And since he didn't sing his first solo song in this episode, we may most likely be seeing more of him in the episodes to come.

 

 

However the one scene that really confused me, as well as bring me frustration to a certain extent, was when Applejack was explaining to Twilight, the element of magic, that she would be better off leaving the group for her own safety as a Princess. This really seemed to contradict what Twilight's friends were saying to her in some of the earlier scenes of the two part episode. Plus, it seems more like something Rarity would say to her, rather than AJ. Regardless, it was kinda stupid and ignorant of them to even consider that. It created unnecessary conflict, and it clearly wasted the mane 5's time when they realized that in the end, they did needed Princess Twilight all along! That scene was ultimately kinda pointless. But as we've seen throughout the series, the show is known for making situations more complicated than they needed to be(take Pinkie Pie's behavior in Green Isn't Your Color). 

 

 

And finally, that box at the end. The box that required six keys for it to be opened! What's inside of it? Where and what are these keys? Also, what's gonna happen with the Mane 6 now that they don't have their elements of harmony?

 

 

I just love how they left us with so many questions in end. I can't wait to see how they will be answered. 

 

 

And Discord's response as to why he didn't tell the mane 6 about the seeds in the end was priceless. 

 

"Oh, why didn't I tell you? Well there's no fun in not learning anything, is there?"

 

^This is why he is my favorite former villain. 

 

 

Finally, the ending. The Summer Sun Celebration and how it was portrayed was beautifully put together. The way Luna flew up to lower the moon and similarly with Celestia raising the Sun, was not only great animation as well, but also the first time we've seen the Summer Sun Celebration play out perfectly. Then we have Twilight pull off what appeared to be Super Sonic "Starboom?" Not exactly how she was suddenly able to fly so efficiently to pull off that, but nonetheless, it was beautiful.

 

~End of Review~

 

Overall, I give it a 9/10. 

 

 

Very rare for me to rate episodes this high, but this one clearly earned it, at least from me. 

[Princess Periwinkle 3,775]

(This is taken from my blog post, which has many screenshots and other fun stuff)

 

 

You know this scene? The one where Discord convinces Twilight to go back into the forest? How evil of him, right? Didn't he sound evil?

 

That's the beauty of this scene. Discord actually helped save the day by making Twilight go back in to the forest, because of course, he knew that they would need Twilight and her element in the end.

 

So that's pretty awesome. Really enjoyed this two parter.

[Rinkitty 589]

Throughout the entire 2 part episode, I kept looking out the window to watch the snowfall instead.

 

It was very boring. Discord made it bearable.

[TheLuigiLightning 65]

I think that this episode was very well done.  It wasn't as good as Return of Harmony, but hands down the second best season opening so far.  I have strong faith that Season 4 will be great.  But the one thing that I cannot stress enough the fact that I am absolutely bothered about how Twilight is treated so differently as a Princess.  This was exactly what I was worried about.  The hub made it sound like this wasn't going to be much of an issue , but it IS!  Granted, Twilight didn't just become all high and mighty, and miss important, like we feared, but this is still a problem for me.  And it's such a shame that I'm using season 3 material to degrade my experience for season 4...

Edited November 23, 2013 by Pinkie Pie Guy

[dekutree64 713]

   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.

Indeed, that was confusing, since she used dark magic as a unicorn. I have a bad feeling that Twilight is going to be corrupted by that stuff in the finale.

 

Having watched it again and seen the parts I missed the first time, it was indeed better and less rushed feeling. Hard to tell if it's the hype or something about the writing of this show, but that seems to happen with all the adventure episodes for me. But I actually kind of prefer it that way. They really squeeze every second out of the running time, with no boring filler to sit through on re-watchings.

 

I didn't like how many times Big mac just said "yep" and "nope". I know that's his thing, but I wish they'd progress his character more, with better lines now and then. Also, Sweetie's magic should be green, even when out of control. But I like that she was included... and that Rarity's first impulse when things go wrong is to blame her They have a brutal relationship.

 

One thing I'm a little sad about... no song Unless you count Discord singing winter wrap up in the shower... which was glorious. Definitely the most stick-in-your-head song in the show But I guess last opener had Twilight singing about her insecurities, so doing it again this time would be a little repetitive, and I'm not sure where else a song would have been appropriate, so I guess I'm ok with it.

 

Did anyone else notice this shot?

Finally we know which elements Celestia and Luna controlled! Celestia is Magic, Kindness, and Generosity. Luna is Loyalty, Honesty, and Laughter. I can agree with those assignments.

 

I love how Celestia looks when flying. Her tail really is beautiful I hope we get to see it more often now. She's barely ever flown in the entire series.

 

And then she became the death star. SHOOP DA WHOOP

 

And at the end, did Twilight do a sonic star-boom? Sure looked like it, leaving a trail with her tail colors and everything. And was it a trick of the angle, or are the sun and moon a lot closer to the ground than in real life, and she actually flew between them?

 

I wonder if the original legendary sonic rainboom was performed by none other than Celestia herself. She's got the tail for it, and maybe alicorns with their massive wings are capable of it without much effort. Maybe that's why she doesn't fly... just because it's too demoralizing to pegasi

 

All in all, the series is pretty much going exactly where I've wanted it to go all along. Celestia, Luna, Twilight and Spike are an unstoppable near-immortal team, but Twilight will stick with the mane 6 for the rest of their lives. Cadance was always kind of a fifth wheel in Team Celestia, and she's been put on a bus to the crystal empire.

 

Can't wait to see where things go from here. And there is definitely room for a season 5+, which makes me very happy

[ShadOBabe 18,997]

Put more detail into my post on the episode discussion forums, but the short version is this:

 

Funny moments with lots of goodies for lore junkies like me.

Very "meh" story telling execution with dialogue that felt incredibly insincere. I don't know why either. It wasn't the lines themselves as the show has used cheesy writing before, but the way it was performed felt very... fake.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

Very amazing episodes, I loved them. They easily place among my favorite episodes in the show as a whole. I like the new intro a lot.

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

Well, I had to re-watch the premiere to absorb all of the, shall I say, awesomeness. It feels good to be able to write up a notes on new episodes again. So let's see if I can cover everything there was to love about Season 4's premiere, starting with characters and whatnot.

 

- Twilight. Right off the bat the episode gave us that Rainbow Dash flight lesson that we were all chomping at the bit for! Twilight doesn't like being referred to as a princess, and I find that humility of hers to be very endearing. She was the same Twilight we know and love all throughout - our modest but sometimes spastic leader.

- Pinkie. Those frosting dreams... typical Pinkie. We also got to see the "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," as well as the Pinkie Sense, in addition to some fun new scenes, namely the coloring book and her letter to Twilight while on the train! Overall, Pinkie had a strong performance.

- Rainbow Dash was her usual action-y self, wanting to kick some flank as soon as possible. Seeing her start an argument with Applejack made me smile. For some reason, I enjoy when these two butt heads.

- Rarity had a good deal of dialogue. I especially liked when she told Twilight that she and the others were "lost" without her.

- Fluttershy. While she didn't totally stand out, she had a few token cute moments, and she was quick to defend Discord when RD, AJ, and Rarity were ready to blast him. She did a good job of scolding Discord at the end of the episode as well.

- Discord. This guy was his usual self - pure gold! And while I was worried he was going to end up being useless to the plot, he actually did play a part through his actions in the past which surprised me, and if it weren't for him encouraging Twilight to go back to the Everfree Forest, the others would have been completely and utterly lost and who knows what would have happened! As for his more comedic scenes, I particularly loved seeing Discord in a cowboy outfit whilst sitting on Applejack's back and messing with her mane.

- Zecora. This zebra continues to amuse me with her rhymes, but more importantly she proved her self to be a very valuable friend and asset to the Mane Six once again.

- Spike proved why he's Twilight's number one assistant once again, while providing his usual snarky humor. It's good to have the little guy back after what was considered a less than stellar previous season.

- Sweetie Belle made an appearance! Unlike Apple Bloom, whose appearance was more of a given, I was rather surprised to see Sweetie Belle at Rarity's house. I for one love the Crusaders and welcome any appearances they make, major or minor, (no Scootaloo unfortunately).

- The flashback scenes were all very well-done. It's great that we got to see some of the major events from Equestria's past. Twilight's failure to realize that she was in a flashback resulted in a pretty feelsy moment with her and Celestia. :3

- The Tree of Harmony, along with the box and six keys is the next step for the Mane Six. I'm thrilled that Season 4 has seeds planted for a story arc. I cannot wait to see how this all plays out.

 

- Applejack. Good gracious was she awesome in this one. As usual, she was the one to offer the most comfort and support to Twilight. She consistently took down the vines like the boss that she is, and also proving that she is by far the strongest pony. She offered Twilight some important bits of wisdom, while also receiving some from Twilight, and I sucked up every second of the bonding. Applejack took charge as a leader several times, proving that she is indeed Twilight's right hand mare. She used her amazing lasso skills (with the help of the others) to save Twilight from the crocodile. Even though she was wrong when she thought it'd be a good idea for Twilight to leave the Everfree Forest, she really had her heart in the right place, and her fortitude was rather commendable. That scene where she ties up the vines that were attacking Twilight made me squee out of delight. She had her hat lowered and then looked up which was just epic. That entire scene had a nice heap of action, and it makes me happy to see Twilight get saved by her friends instead of vice versa, for a change. It definitely reminded me of MLP's series premiere.

 

I have no major complaints other than there were no songs, but for all of the content that they had to cover in a short amount of time, I thought the story was perfectly paced and well executed all-around. I am beyond pleased that this episode took focus on the friendship of the Mane Six once again, instead of focusing on Twilight and/or Cadance and Shining Armor while the others take a back seat (one of my main complaints about A Canterlot Wedding and The Crystal Empire). "Princess Twilight" had a great plot, splendid animation, and everything else in between. If ponies had thumbs, it'd receive two thumbs up for sure! I am stoked for the rest of the season.

Edited November 23, 2013 by Sugar Cube

[pinkiefan1287 610]

I thought it was a really good episode. It explained a lot of questions we were asking about and now we have answers. Can't wait to see what's next. 

[pinkiefan1287 610]

Just got done watching and it was a really good episode. The episode answered a lot of questions we had. So fare a good start. Also seeing Discord was really cool.

Edited November 23, 2013 by pinkiefan1287

[Party Cannon 876]

The new intro...A SLAP IN THE FACE. If the show insists on having Twilight as an Alicorn at least give us certain fans that are not cool with it a nice memory of seasons past.

 

As for the episode, Discord was the real strong point. Otherwise, it was quite scripted and severely underwhelming. The Tree of Harmony story arch was interesting, yet not enough to save the episode.

 

"You should go back." Highly contrived. I know Applejack is not the most liked pony, but I think it was out of character for her to say such a thing. B***S***.

 

As a Pinkie fan, it seems with the premieres the writers like to make her look ,frankly, completely retarded. Of course she is random and spontaneous, but she is not an imbecile.

 

I have high hopes for the following episodes, however this was a rocky start in my opinion.

 

2/5 for Princess Twilight Sparkle

[Rinkitty 589]

Okay, so the Sparkleboom thing came out of nowhere. She can barely fly. How can she break the sound barrier in a second?? 

 

Also, it irks me for some reason that Snips and Snails are in the opening. Those characters just need to die, and never be mentioned again.

 

My head is killing me, so I don't want to traverse into the good and bad right now, but overall, the episode was fairly mediocre. Hopefully they're not on a big hill.

 

6/10.

[Metemponychosis 1,259]

Finally watched it in full.

 

So, this is the season one opener again. A lot of great ideas that don't get enough development. Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon felt like a temper tantrum, but the rest of the flashbacks were ok IMO. Great action in the scene where Celestia gets her flank kicked by Nightmare Moon too. That scene looked great.

 

And I'm tired of seeing Discord... All that happened in this episode could be explained by saying it's just that removing the Elements from the tree caused this over time. Until the point where Discord talks about the seeds (that I'd thought were raisins...). But seems like Discord is going to be a problem again in the future and now the girls don't have the Elements of Harmony. Interesting. Maybe we'll get a "season" villain.

 

I'm just a bit sad that nopony thought of just using the Elements against the vines.... Could have solved the problem, since they did work on Discord...

 

Anyway, it seems like there will be an overarching theme of finding those keys. Interesting. Since the Elements are powered by their friendship, I'm hoping that the keys will somehow be linked to the ponies themselves. Because it seems that everything that is important right now are the Elements themselves.

 

EDIT: And I hope that in the end, inside that "box-flower-thing" is not a "Twilight is the only one that matters device"...

 

I still don't really like the new relationship between Celestia and Twilight, as if she had nothing else to teach Twilight, but I guess I'm alone in this.

 

Beyond that, I really liked Applejack, Rarity and Twilight in this episode. Is it me or is the animation even better? I really liked the action scenes. Everything else was perfect in my opinion.

 

Did I like this episode? Hell yes I did! And if this episode is any indication, this season is going to be great.

Edited November 23, 2013 by moonlightavenger

[Life Giver 1,063]

Well that was a good episode. I can't believe I didn't fall asleep during that. I one I kept on shouting about was how Princess Celestia easily got captured. I mean really, she's supposed to be a goddess after all.

[Two-of-Hearts 168]

 

 

And then she became the death star.

 

Death Star Celestia... That is too awesome! XD    ....I'll resist the temptation to make a 'small thermal exhaust port' joke here.

 

Anyway... these episodes were top notch. Probably my favorite of all the season openers. We got some Equestrian history, we got plenty of action, Discord was a boss, and it left us with the mysterious d12 thingy at the end which will thread nicely for future eps.

 

The whole thing was just epic, they really kicked it up a notch in that respect. Even the animation seems to have gotten an upgrade; you could really feel that during the battle scene between Celestia and Nightmare Moon. I also like how Discord walked a very fine line between good guy and villian. In the end he was a good guy, but he still maintained his nature as a capricious creature of chaos. 

[FatPat 77]

Snips and Snails in the opening huh? I would like it if those two got more involved in the episodes. Of course they'd need to not be such idiots. Not sure if the writers would try doing something like that though. Still I can dream.

 

Those flashbacks were nice, but so quick and simple. These events really could use their own episodes to flesh out what was going on. But hey, we'll always have fanon.

[lomk 20,663]

So I was watching through the premiere again and I just had a couple of thoughts when I saw these faces Luna made

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dekutree64 713]

Death Star Celestia... That is too awesome! XD    ....I'll resist the temptation to make a 'small thermal exhaust port' joke here.

I hadn't even thought of that! Not to mention all the ways of using "that's no moon..."

 

Also, the inclusion of Luna in the opening theme fills me with squee

[Rinkitty 589]

So I was watching through the premiere again and I just had a couple of thoughts when I saw these faces Luna made

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hahahahahahaha! That's so funny!! ...

 

Oh yeah, and whatever happened to this Luna?

Edited November 23, 2013 by Rinku

[caramba2654 602]

Hm... Anypony has the link for the end of the credits? I heard there's a scene there that might introduce us to the Season 4 villain.

[lomk 20,663]

Oh yeah, and whatever happened to this Luna?

 

Sooooooo agree. I don't really like the royal sisters' wavy manes. I mean, the stars in Luna's is kinda awesome but it's not as cute as the solid blue mane she had in the series openers

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

Hahahahahahaha! That's so funny!! ...

 

Oh yeah, and whatever happened to this Luna?

 

That's Luna without being at her full power from what I speculate. As seen from flashbacks she looks like she did as always before becoming NMM so I can only imagine she's like that in her early years or after all of her energy is drained.

[Tan 91]

i love the new opening, and oh my god...this was amazing. I was surprised when

there was no villian and it was all discord's old tricks.

twas amazing!

[Rinkitty 589]

i love the new opening, and oh my god...this was amazing. I was surprised when

there was no villian and it was all discord's old tricks.

twas amazing!

"New opening"? You mean the same one we've seen dozens of times with things plastered on it?