S04:E04 - Daring Don't

[Hawk Moth 390]

Those party hats at the beginning. Love Pinkie Fez. Also this episode was rife with awesome Dashfaces. Daring Do has a great voice too, and she's totally badass! She punches kittens!

[Vinyl Scratch (Filly)™ 936]

I really enjoyed the episode, honestly this season is starting off really well

[JonPear 209]

I kinda feel cheated. Having a fictional universe within the greater fictional universe was a really neat idea. We've kinda lost that now that the two fictional universes have been simply lumped together

Edited December 7, 2013 by JonPear

[thewookie5 11]

Weakest thus far of the season but it was no doubt fun to watch.

 

Pinkie painting the travel line was hilarious, and all the fanboy/girl moments were priceless.  I almost see Twilight and RD frozen during that initial fight scene due to being their favorite action/adventure hero doing her thing.  The rest I'd assume were waiting on their judgment seeing as they don't know about the series a ton. 

 

Daring Do seemed very recluse, almost Batman/old Indiana Jones styled. Likewise though she has RD's ego, just quite a bit older.  The marriage joke was fitting, especially how she said it.

 

The show seems to have become slightly more adult in nature, while still being a kids show. If Season 1 was for 6-10 year old girls, it seems to be going up to 12 at very least based on the violence. Daring got her leg snapped, which magically seemed to heal, by her captor's henchman along with the death trap for Daring just to name two.

 

The only other thing I wished to have seen was RD mentioning that she was the Element of Loyalty when Daring talked about trusting people. Then at the end Daring Do, having an epiphany that the 6 following/helping her are none other than the Element bearers including the newest princess.   

[hawkflame 3,310]

I'm of two minds on this episode

 

First of all, the fandom nods were really good.  Dash's insane anticipation for the new book was a lot of fun, as was the geekily detail oriented argument with Twilight. And I LOVED the red-line-on-a-map Indiana Jones shout out.  The last several minutes were really strong, especially when Dash decided to stop feeling sorry for herself and *be herself* again...

 

But man, I was annoyed by Dash as the fangirling incompetent sidekick- you know, the type that tries to help by intervening but only makes things worse.  Seriously, she was like Scrappy Doo meets Leeroy Jenkins- and twice as aggravating.  No wonder Daring didn't want her around.  And seeing her feeling sorry for herself afterwards didn't help.

[Batbrony 16,052]

OK, "Daring Don't", the fourth episode of Season 4.  Honestly, I'm kind of a bit split on this episode.  Overall I think it's a solid one, but some very big plot points within it especially bothered me, so I'll cover those first in my review.

 

First of all, the twist that A. K. Yearling (and can I just reiterate again that that play on J.K. Rowling's name is fantastic!  ) is in fact the real Daring Do, while epic on quite a few levels, also bothered me a bit, as did parts of her characterization.  Firstly, this twist apparently means that every single one of her adventures that she's written about have actually happened.  So you're telling me that nopony in all of Equestria, including Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, Shining Armor (former Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard and now Prince of the Crystal Empire), and the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle, was ever aware that ANY of these events that could have had disastrous ramifications across the globe EVER happened?!?!  I'm sorry, I just find that hard to believe.  I mean, yeah, it's epic that Daring Do is apparently a real figure in Equestria, not just a fictional character, but still, how the hay is nopony aware that she actually exists?  I know that some people might say that maybe Celestia just lets her do her own thing without revealing her identity, but I can't buy that because I just feel like if Celestia really was aware of her, she'd definitely involve herself in trying to help Daring Do out and save the world from the villains Daring Do confronts.  So yeah, that plot point was just a bit hard to swallow, even if it was awesome, and for the rest of the episode I was seriously waiting for it to be revealed that they'd somehow stumbled upon a film set for a Daring Do film or something, it just seemed that hard to believe that these events were actually happening!

 

Second, concerning Daring Do herself, I found her Batman-esque alienation in the extreme to be a bit... out of character?  OK, seeing as we've never seen her before outside of "Read It and Weep", let me explain.  Daring Do is obviously a send up to Indiana Jones, right?  Well, here's the thing; Indiana Jones never, ever turns down help.  Sure, there are some things he tries to do on his own or he tries to keep certain people he cares about from getting in harms way, but in all of the Indiana Jones films he never goes around telling every single person who tries to help him that he works alone!  So, in that regard, it felt like the writers were somewhat betraying the very source material for the Daring Do character.  Yes I know it was partly for plot convenience and delivering the lesson of the episode, but you're also telling me that in all her adventures Daring Do's never needed any help at all?  No, she's not Batman, she's Indiana Jones, and Indiana Jones is not a dark loner, he's a charismatic, Americanized James Bond, archaeologist style, who's worked with fellow professors, loudmouthed Egyptians played by John Rhys Davies, his father, adolescent Asians, and countless love interests to save the world from Nazis, communists, and terribly stereotyped Indian cultists!    So to me, the loner characterization just didn't seem to fit Daring Do, at least not the one we were introduced to in "Read It and Weep".

 

We're seriously about to pull THIS plot twist?  Seriously?  Ughhh, fine, but I'm not happy about it one bit, and I'm gonna show that the entire episode in how I treat my #1 fan!

 

So those are my two complaints about Daring Do.  What else did I have a big problem with?  The Mane 6 for the first 3/4 of this episode, especially Rainbow Dash!  For so much of this episode, it seemed like the Mane 6 had one big, giant brain fart and completely forgot that they're heroes just like Daring Do!!!  They've saved Equestria countless times, but apparently they forgot that when they found out that Daring Do was real.  Two things in particular ticked me off.  The whole first scene with Daring Do, all the Mane 6 did was literally stand there outside her window and watch!  WHAT THE BUCK GIRLS?!?!  She's getting mobbed by three ponies right there (and later a fourth showed up RIGHT BESIDE THE ENTIRE GROUP), and all they did was just stand there and watch!  I don't get it, why didn't they jump into action right on the spot?  Yeah, plot convenience, I know, but I'm sorry, this plot convenience required the group to be way too OOC.  Heck, this would've seemed OOC in Season 1 even, but here, it was just downright laughable!  Sure, learning that Daring Do was real was a whole lot to take in, but these are the girls who've battled godlike figures, dangerous magical creatures and enemies, and an entire Changeling army on a regular basis!!!  WHY DIDN'T THEY DO ANYTHING?!?!?!  Their ineptness in that scene drove me crazy to no end, and just came off as stupid and lazy on the writers part.  In fact, this would've made far more sense; Rainbow Dash, in her excitement, gets to the house ahead of the whole group, finds out Daring Do is real, and, when she tries to help her, fails and is overwhelmed, and then fills in the whole group once they show up, who then proceed to try and help Daring Do after convincing Rainbow that together, they can be of valuable service to her.  Same lesson, but executed SO MUCH BETTER!  Still, to the Mane 6's credit, they seemed to get over that collective brain fart after that scene, and the rest seemed raring to go and help out Daring Do once they caught up to RD, so I'll give them credit there.

 

Since Derpy wasn't in this episode, we decided to honor her in spirit by leaving our brains back in Ponyville!   

 

 

 

Ya know, I'd buy that.

 

Now, as for RD in particular, she apparently forgot that she was Rainbow Dash for most of this episode.  I mean... what the buck was she doing?  She kept saying she was going to help out Daring Do, but all she did was fangirl over her!  Don't get me wrong, she was adorable and hilarious the entire time, but she wasn't Rainbow Dash!  Rainbow Dash is a pony of action, a pony who always proves on a daily basis that she is the most awesome pony around.  But here they made her an idiot just so they could phone-in a lesson about believing in yourself for a pony besides Fluttershy (which I get to an extent, since Fluttershy's usually been the only character who's needed to learn this lesson, but still, Rainbow Dash is the last pony who needs to learn a lesson about believing in herself!  ).  The few times she did try to "help" Daring Do before the episode's climax, she was completely inept!  She was nothing but dead weight, and my gosh was it driving me crazy!!!  It's just... it's not the RD we've come to know and love in the last three seasons.  I don't know, it just bugged the heck out of me and felt extremely OOC that she was incapable of doing anything to help her idol out before the climax of the episode.

 

Ughhh, what I wouldn't give for one of the Element Bearer's help right about now.  Wait... what do you mean she is one?  Quit yanking my tail, there's no way THAT pony is an Element Bearer!

 

OK, that said, we've got the bad out of the way.  And the bad was pretty bad and, more than anything, head scratching, I want to say.  BUT, there was also a lot of good in this episode, so let's cover that now.  First of all, the humor was spot on yet again, in just about every department.  We had Twilight and Rainbow Dash's ongoing Daring Do debates: the Mane 6's obliviousness to what they were talking about: some hilarious one-liners: Rainbow Dash and, to a lesser extent, Twilight's fangirling over Daring Do: all kinds of visual humor (Pinkie's red line, that hat Applejack was wearing at the party, Rainbow Dash's duck face (seriously one of the funniest things I've ever seen!), etc.): Ahuizotl's hilariously over-the-top personality: Daring Do's hilarious marriage proposal quip: dozens upon dozens of fandom jokes that apply to just about every fandom ever, it was all over the place and busting my gut throughout!  The animation as well was simply spot on, and really captured the Indiana Jones-esque feel that you could tell they were going for here.  Speaking of Indiana Jones, besides Daring Do's loner mischaracterization, I think they nailed that feel that they were going for.  The music was very adventurous, Daring Do was undeniably awesome and had all kinds of slick moves, her enemies were very affectionate references to foes faced by Dr. Jones, especially that Dr. Caballeron (a very spot-on reference to Rene Belloq), and everything just felt like something out of an Indiana Jones movie (especially that rather ingenious trap that Ahuizotl put Daring Do in, loved that scene!).  Rainbow Dash's fangirling, even though it got quite old after awhile, was undeniably adorable and hilarious (as was Twilight's, even though it didn't show up nearly as much), and she had some hilariously adorable faces throughout (including the return of the Rainbow-squee face, very much appreciated  ).  The climax was probably the highlight of the episode, but there was a very healthy amount of action throughout, it just kept getting interrupted before the end by Rainbow's idiocy and fish-out-of-water position (and again, she shouldn't have been a fish-out-of-water, she's an even bigger hero than Daring Do if we're being honest, along with her friends!).

 

SURPRISE MOTHERBUCKER!!!

 

So here are my final thoughts on this episode: it was undoubtedly a very cute and very fun-filled episode with an interesting addition to the canon, some fantastic animation, gut-busting humor, sweet and slick action sequences, some wonderful shoutouts to the fandom, and a whole lot of D'AWWWtastic moments.  Basically, it was a rollicking good time and just a really fun episode to watch.  However, it also had some very confusing and head scratching major plot points, especially the A.K. Yearling/Daring Do twist, Daring Do's characterization, and Rainbow Dash and the rest of the Mane 6's characterization for 3/4 of the episode.  These took a lot away from the episode and made the lesson feel both unnecessary and insincere.  Also, it didn't really contribute anything to the season's main story arc, even less than last week's episode, and I was kind of a little disappointed it didn't, just a bit.  Overall, I really liked this episode, I really did, but I wish I could like it more than I do, because what we got in the end was kind of a mess.  This was an episode with all the right elements to be a great episode, but in the end those elements were poorly utilized and it was pretty sloppily executed, resulting in just a pretty above average episode rather than a phenomenal episode.  By far my least favorite episode of Season 4 so far, but still a very fun and cute episode that I can't wait to rewatch as soon as possible.

 

Well, the pony fun's not over yet today my friends!  Later tonight, on Everfree Network at 9 PM EST, we've got the premiere of Ponies the Anthology 3!!!  Be there or be square everypony; this should prove to be one of the best fan projects of 2013, no joke, and just a rollicking good time in general.  Hope ya'll have a great day everypony!!! 

 

It's almost here everypony, and it will most definitely be EPIC!!!   

Edited December 7, 2013 by Batbrony

[dekutree64 713]

I found it ironic how Twilight kept telling Dash to respect A.K Yearlings privacy, when Twilight didn't respect Celestia or Luna's privacy in the last episode. xD

Nah, Celestia is the one who told Twilight to go there looking for secret books. I'm pretty sure that counts as permission to read anything she finds. This was abuse of royal access to information, for purpose of personally stalking a complete stranger at her home uninvited. Pretty creepy

 

I thought the episode was ok, but a little disappointing. When Twilight said she knew everything about the author, I was hoping that meant they were going with the comic canon where Twilight's mom wrote the books. Would have been a great opportunity to get to know the family better, and be totally awkward with Dash obsessing over her, and then get all Twidash shippy after Rainbow learns more of Twilight's past.

 

But alas, it turns out everything is real, and it's all just kind of chaotic adventure and then it's over with no real purpose to it all. I did love the fangirl moments. Dash and Twilight's "discussion", and Dash beating the crap out of herself trying to calm down and come up with something cool to say to Daring, and ends up with "I'm a huuuuuuge fan O_O"

 

And this just makes Rainbow and Scootaloo even more perfect for eachother They're forming a conga line of obsession. I hope Scootaloo gets to help Rainbow on an adventure sometime

[lomk 20,663]

I thought it was a pretty good episode. I didn't think it was one of the best ones but it was great nonetheless.

 

Praises

 

It was nice to see Dashie meet her idol. I mean, it's something most of us can only dream of. It was kind of a surprise that the writer herself is Daring Do, which makes her books all autobiographies rather than fiction. However, I could tell based on her coat color that A.K. Yearling was Daring Do when I saw her but that didn't take away from the episode any. There were some memorable moments. Rainbow Dash still shows her typical fangirl-ness. She holds Daring Do in the same respect as she holds the Wonderbolts. I laughed pretty hard when she was expressing how eager she was for the book (like we were for the Season 4 premieres lol), and her reaction to the book's release being pushed back. Fluttershy's popping in with, "Yeah...I can vouch for that..." was pretty hilarious. But all in all, I thought the episode had a pretty good message that you shouldn't hold someone like a celebrity in such a high regard that you forget your own importance as a person.

 

 

Criticisms

 

Rainbow Dash treats Daring Do with very little respect. Sure, the Wonderbolts never asked her to leave them alone, but it seems like she's taking every opportunity to force herself on her idols when she sees them. I felt like this episode did address one of her main character flaws: that she holds the celebrities she likes in too high of a regard. For example, in Sonic Rainboom, she wanted to impress the Wonderbolts so badly that she ended up with a terrible amount of stage fright and she couldn't do a thing until there was an emergency. I have to point out that Princess Celestia was at the competition. I'm pretty sure the pony with the power to raise the sun and moon for 1,000 years has the ability to use her magic to pull five ponies out of the air and get them to solid ground. But that's a different topic. Regardless, Rainbow Dash was very disrespectful to Daring Do's privacy. She wanted to be left alone and Dashie just kept forcing herself on her and it started to kind of annoy me. 

 

One other concern: Neither Rainbow Dash nor Daring Do had broken wings. There were so many opportunities that Daring Do had when she had the ring to just fly away. It made perfect sense that she couldn't get away in Read it and Weep because her broken wing was going to keep her grounded. But if nothing else, Rainbow Dash is the only pony in Equestria known to be able to pull of a Sonic Rainboom. I think it's safe to say she's much faster than Daring Do in the air. Given her speed and agility, I think Rainbow Dash could have zipped in and snagged the ring at any point and just got out of there. Even if the ring would have messed up her aerodynamics, I'm sure that she'd still be fast enough to get out of there in a hurry.

 

 

I don't mean to be nitpicky with my criticisms but I think that things like that leave major plot holes. Like, there are so many things that could have gone differently that were blatantly obvious to me. I don't know if anyone else was bothered by this, but every time I saw something like it, it bugged me lol

 

Overall, it was a good episode. Not great or awesome, but still good overall. I give it 8/10

[immblueversion 331]

The only other thing I wished to have seen was RD mentioning that she was the Element of Loyalty when Daring talked about trusting people. Then at the end Daring Do, having an epiphany that the 6 following/helping her are none other than the Element bearers including the newest princess.   

 

That's the kind of talk I'm glad the show doesn't use. I know the Mane Cast are supposedly famous for their saving-the-world stuff, but to flaunt the Elements they represent like that would cheapen their use of the Elements. And now that they've relinquished the Elements after accepting they don't define their friendship, and their identities by extension, I think that would cheapen it even more. That's why I believe the Elements were hardly ever used: it would make the ponies' lessons less authentic.

[yayayayayala 1,668]

I liked the episode a lot! The fact that Daring Do was real was pretty awesome, and I liked how RD got her act together. My dad watched this with me and when Dashie failed Daring Do he said "I have lost all respect for Rainbow Dash." LOL she's his favorite character. By the end of the episode, though, he felt differently about her.

[hawkflame 3,310]

Oh, and am I the only one really thrown by the timeline at the end?  First the book is four months away.  Then Twilight says the book was delayed another two months.  Then they have their adventure.  And then, when Dash is writing in the journal about her experiences, she gets the new book a week early. 

 

So either A) The Mane Six getting involved really speeded up production on the book by nearly six months, B ) the adventure itself took almost six months to transpire (kind of a long time to keep them out of their daily lives) or C) Dash for some reason decided to wait  almost six months to write about it in the journal.

[lomk 20,663]

Oh, and am I the only one really thrown by the timeline at the end?  First the book is four months away.  Then Twilight says the book was delayed another two months.  Then they have their adventure.  And then, when Dash is writing in the journal about her experiences, she gets the new book a week early. 

 

So either A) The Mane Six getting involved really speeded up production on the book by nearly six months, B ) the adventure itself took almost six months to transpire (kind of a long time to keep them out of their daily lives) or C) Dash for some reason decided to wait  almost six months to write about it in the journal.

 

Cartoons have broken physics before. Now they're breaking the flow of time.

 

My God. What have they done?

[JonPear 209]

In the Read It and Weep episode, Daring Do was the Rainbow Dash of her own fictional universe, which is why the palette swap made sense in the first place. It's actually kind of redundant and silly for Daring Do and Rainbow Dash to be side by side in the same fictional universe. It would have worked better if Twilight had cast some kind of magic spell to make a storybook character come to life or something.

[Malinter 3,064]

Oh, and am I the only one really thrown by the timeline at the end?  First the book is four months away.  Then Twilight says the book was delayed another two months.  Then they have their adventure.  And then, when Dash is writing in the journal about her experiences, she gets the new book a week early. 

 

So either A) The Mane Six getting involved really speeded up production on the book by nearly six months, B ) the adventure itself took almost six months to transpire (kind of a long time to keep them out of their daily lives) or C) Dash for some reason decided to wait  almost six months to write about it in the journal.

 

Dash helped her level the temple so Daring had the ending she needed.

[Cwanky 17,569]

Well time for obligatory Indiana Jones theme music:

 

 

AK Yearling's hat and cape were pretty much a dead giveaway. The hat seemed oddly familiar to Daring Do's and 9 outta 10 times someone wearing a cloak or trench coat is hiding something underneath all that. 

 

I think it was a great twist to surprise the readers, er viewers, and reveal to them that Daring Do is actually a real person and her stories are actually accurately based personal accounts of her adventures and job. Everything was there down to the detail, including the army of felines and Ahuitzotl himself being an actual person.

 

And for those who don't know, the villain character Dr. Caballeron, is probably based on the Raiders of the Lost Ark character,  René Belloq, considering he's a rival archaeologist seeking out the treasure. Also in this context Rainbow Dash's character is a lot like Indiana Jones herself, considering he also had an archaeologist role model he aspired to be like.

 

Overall it was a solid above average episode, especially considering we had the chance to meet the actual Daring Do. A lot of head canons will probably explode now, but likely for the better. For once I could actually say my excitement watching this episode was almost on par with Rainbow Dash's.   

[The Time Pony 31]

Where can I find this episode I really want to watch it but can't find somewhere that has it

[hawkflame 3,310]

Dash helped her level the temple so Daring had the ending she needed.

 

If that's all she needed, well, six months is a hell of a long time to give yourself to set up an ending, though. 

 

Actually, shouldn't it have taken even *longer* now, since she apparently decided to rewrite the entire book to feature Rainbow Dash?

[Malinter 3,064]

If that's all she needed, well, six months is a hell of a long time to give yourself to set up an ending, though. 

 

Actually, shouldn't it have taken even *longer* now, since she apparently decided to rewrite the entire book to feature Rainbow Dash?

 its not like she could plan kicking ahuzotl's ass to a time schedule XD

 

6mths was probably her erring on the side of caution, after all, if she failed, everything would be smoking for 800 years.

[GlitzyGamer 3]

Omf. I loved this episode ;u; I really loved how RD got to meet her Idol. Unf. I think I'll go watch it again~ Eeeps <3   

[. eris . 1,661]

Does anyone have a link to this episode? I've been googling and I can't seem to find it anywhere. X_X At least, not in complete form. 

[caramba2654 602]

Just a fantastic episode! I loved every minute of it! Oh and this face:

 

Was just the greatest face in show history.

 

This face.

Is.

The reason.

That this episode.

Is the best.

In the season.

 

 

NOW SOMEONE GO AND MAKE ALL THE PONIES HAVE THAT FACE. AFTER THAT, PUT EVERYPONY WITH THAT FACE IN TWILIGHT'S CANE. AND THEN FLOOD DAVE POLKSY TWITTER WITH  THAT.

[rst64tlc 11]

seen the episode this morning...and I got to say. I was NOT expecting the author of the Daring Do series too BE Daring Do Herself. Go a say that was one interesting episode. The only problem I had with it was Daring Do has some trust issues.

[UserNotFound 964]

I'm watching it now so I'll edit my post as I find new things I love

 

 

First off... the face is back xD YAY!

Second... This line... "A K Yearling and Daring Do are one in the same! My mind is officially blown!"

Also "We're going to need a carefully thought out plan" "I'm coming Daring Do!" "That's not a plan!"

Plus the adorable fangirling of Dashie... Starstruck xD

Daring Do's accent during the 'ambush' xD

This face! :')

The 4 big cats and the little kitty made me smile

Rarity's line "or at the drop of a pith helmet"

Pinkie's epic hula hooping xD

The ending

 

 

Edited December 7, 2013 by Jingle JellyBean

[jorge123esp 912]

It was a very good episode, but there are some scenes that i don't like it. 

8/10.

[dekutree64 713]

This face.

Is.

The reason.

That this episode.

Is the best.

In the season.

 

 

NOW SOMEONE GO AND MAKE ALL THE PONIES HAVE THAT FACE. AFTER THAT, PUT EVERYPONY WITH THAT FACE IN TWILIGHT'S CANE. AND THEN FLOOD DAVE POLKSY TWITTER WITH  THAT.

http://derpibooru.org/tags/smugdash The process has already begun. Already Twilight and Dash versions of the cane with that face, and non-cane pictures of Pinkie and Derpy.