S04:E04 - Daring Don't

[FlutterSpike 30]

I loved this episode!!! I loved having Daring Doo in the episode as a real pony! It's always epic to see that Rainbow Dash looks up to someone even with an ego as big as hers is. I also loved how it pretty much showed that no matter how great you think you are you can always use help once in a while. My favorite was the fact it showed that no matter how awesome/great/perfect you think someone is they have flaws that makes them just as pony as you.

I see the message of the episode. I still don't like the idea of DD being a real pony and Celestria not even making a mention of it at any time. 

[Ayvid_Reader 77]

I see the message of the episode. I still don't like the idea of DD being a real pony and Celestria not even making a mention of it at any time. 

Yeah. Thinking of it now wouldn't that make any of the DD books nonfiction and give it away to begin with? Plus if all this major crap is going on then why hasn't Princess Celestia asked the Mane 6 to help with it...or at least mentioned it to TS when she became an Alicorn...Holes...

[FlutterSpike 30]

Yeah. Thinking of it now wouldn't that make any of the DD books nonfiction and give it away to begin with? Plus if all this major crap is going on then why hasn't Princess Celestia asked the Mane 6 to help with it...or at least mentioned it to TS when she became an Alicorn...Holes...

 

I don't think the writers had intended for DD to be a real pony. At least not the writers of the first episode she was in. 

[Ayvid_Reader 77]

I don't think the writers had intended for DD to be a real pony. At least not the writers of the first episode she was in. 

That's true. It might have been a complete after thought. Plus the target audience of the show isn't going to put this all together and go "Hey...That doesn't add up.." lol.

[Flutter-Power 8]

Can anypony believe that RAINBOW DASH was actually in a DARING DO BOOK? HOW EXCITING IS THAT?!

[rainbowdashgal123 4]

Idk but the other daring do episode (can't remember what season) is better than this one im not trying to make you guys mad at me or anything but that's my opinion...

[Scrawler 7]

This picture is totally how I'd be if I met Daring Do

 

[(MARVEL) Blue Blood 991]

Daring Don't was an episode that I didn't like before hand, but after watching it a few more times, I realized that I was wrong about the episode. I really like Daring Don't, the action is awesome, the humor is well executed, and this is one of my favorite main roles Rainbow has ever been in. I actually did a commentary of it, and I'll post a link to it when it's done uploading. Keep in mind that I have a pretty awful voice, so if you can get by it without wanting to rip my vocal chords, I applaud you.

EDIT:

*Shameless plug* Edited July 15, 2014 by (MARVEL) Blue Blood

[Pixel Stick 927]

I rewatched this episode again the other day, and I didn't hate it as much the second time as I did the first time.  But I still think this is one of the weakest episodes of the season.  My main two objections are still:

 

(1) The plot that Daring Do (and therefore her entire universe) is real, just felt way too far-fetched.  You would think that since this all happens within Equestria, Celestia would know something about it.

 

(2) I still feel that the Mane 6 as a whole were too far out of character.  Twilight should have been more level-headed than she was.  Rainbow Dash flip-flopped way too much between annoying fangirl and her usual brash, over-confident self, and the rest still struck me as awfully airheaded and mostly unnecessary throughout.

[Violet Heart 10]

This episode made me wonder what would I do if I met my favorite literary author. (Ed Greenwood), I probably wouldn't have freaked out..... well.... maybe geek out a little teensy weencie bit... and well.... I guess just talk to him.

 

Its a rare thing to meet our "heroes" in the flesh, and sometimes we can't help but freak out a little when the rare moment hits us. However, its important to note that (unlike Daring Do), the authors are just common people just like you and me; granted with a huge imagination and a willingness to share their imagination through their literary works.

 

As for the episode, it was a cute episode and I can totally relate to Rainbow Dash when a good book is due to come out.

[FlutterSpike 30]

This episode made me wonder what would I do if I met my favorite literary author. (Ed Greenwood), I probably wouldn't have freaked out..... well.... maybe geek out a little teensy weencie bit... and well.... I guess just talk to him.

 

Its a rare thing to meet our "heroes" in the flesh, and sometimes we can't help but freak out a little when the rare moment hits us. However, its important to note that (unlike Daring Do), the authors are just common people just like you and me; granted with a huge imagination and a willingness to share their imagination through their literary works.

 

As for the episode, it was a cute episode and I can totally relate to Rainbow Dash when a good book is due to come out.

Meeting our heroes can be either a very exciting experience or a very disappointing one.   9 years ago I got to hang out with the cast of Transformers: Beast Wars which was a very awesome experience. On the other side, when I met William Shatner I ws very disapointed. 

[Violet Heart 10]

Meeting our heroes can be either a very exciting experience or a very disappointing one.   9 years ago I got to hang out with the cast of Transformers: Beast Wars which was a very awesome experience. On the other side, when I met William Shatner I ws very disapointed. 

I think everyone is dissapointed with William Shatner. lol

[FlutterSpike 30]

I think everyone is dissapointed with William Shatner. lol

But..he's...Captain... James T....Kirk....lol

[(MARVEL) Blue Blood 991]

I did a commentary of Daring Don't, and here it is:

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

I feel like I was one of the few who really enjoyed this episode when it first aired; though I have to wonder if that is because I'm a big Indiana Jones fan. XD It doesn't help that one of my pony OC's is basically inspired from Indy.

 

 

What I liked:
 

1. Daring Do - She was just AWESOME. Granted she was a bit stubborn and hateful, but I could hardly blame her.

 

2. Ahuizotl - He is SOOOO entertaining as a villain; and he's probably the most dangerous villain outside of NMM, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, & Tirek. I mean if he was correct about that prophecy...well, a good portion of Equestria would've been in trouble. Not to mention he is just SO fun. XD

 

3. Dr. Caballeron - So basically we have Belloc in pony form? *Squee*

 

4. The action, but that goes without saying.

 

5. Humor - The chemistry between Daring & Ahuizotl during that fight was priceless. XD Plus, Dashie had some good moments to.

 

6. The moral - Easily the strongest aspect, and one that I can identify with a great deal.

 

Overall, LOVED it!

[Old Fluttershy 349]

OMG the chemistry between Ahuizotl and Daring was hilarious. I loved this episode, although I am a big Daring Doo fan sooo, ya.

Rainbow Dash meeting her hero though, that was priceless! She acts so cool and macho all the time I literally forget she's a mare until episodes like these, that show off that weird fanpony feminine side more. That is what made this episode.

[AskScarletTears 8]

Meh, this episode was okay I guess. I didn't like it too much to be honest, I dunno. It just didn't... it didn't really make me feel much, I mean it was like "Oh cool, Daring Do is real... cool..." the only thing I liked about this episode was that one dace Dashie made, that was funny.

[TheJLeeTeam 914]

This was an awesome episode. We got to see Daring Do for real this time and the Mane 6 got to adventure with her. One of my favorite episodes and one of the first I watched.

[Will Guide 21,360]

I'll admit when I first saw this episode a year ago, and "A.K. Yearling" first appeared, my thoughts were "Yearling resembles her character, Daring-Do. Daring-Do must be like an Author Avatar to Yearling." But when the big reveal happened, my reaction was "Daring-Do isn't an Avatar to the Author! The Author IS the Avatar!" I enjoyed the episode, but the reveal made a perfectly good episode idea I had in mind back then go to waste. If you want to know what I had in mind before this episode first aired, read on.

 

Daring Don’t: What Could Have Been?

For the purposes of this story: The reveal that the Author IS Daring-Do NEVER happened and the author really DID just created Daring-Do as an author avatar. (I personally don’t mind; it just moved what I had in mind from “could become canon” to “never going to be canon”) It was a few weeks before the episode's first run when I thought this up:

 

Just so you know, it would be a Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash focused episode. and this is the sequel episode I wished they could have made.

 

First Act: It starts with the premise that despite the author A. K. Yearling (remember, at the time, I thought the author was just an ordinary author…okay, I won’t bring this up again.) having previously retired from writing Daring-Do, she has gotten a new author to write more books for the eager fan base. Let’s just call the new author, Mare E. Weathers. (you can figure out where I’m going with this, but I’ll continue.) When the new book from Weathers came out, Twilight and Rainbow agree to read their own copies over the weekend and meet up to talk about it.

 

The reaction: Rainbow would react, “Ohmigosh! (x5) Daring Do was sooo awesome [insert awesome moment you can think of here] and it was very exciting!”

 

Twilight, on the other hoof, would say, “I have owned all the Daring Do books Yearling have written, ranging from good to perfect, but this new author wrote…the worst thing I have ever read! This new author used so many bad writing tropes in this book, and I’m shocked that Yearling herself supported and officially approved of it!”

 

Second Act: Next thing you know, Twi and Dash got into a spat about whether the book was good or bad. In the process, Twilight introduced many literary terms and tropes to Dash and–with great disappointment–said the book doesn’t meet her standards. Dash admitted that she has always seen the Daring-Do books as just stories of adventure and escapism, not meant to have any deeper meaning to them. (After all, she got into reading because Daring had a broken wing in the first story; which Dashie identified with, being in the hospital for a few days.) Sure enough, they broke it off and stopped talking to each other.

 

Soon, after taking some advice from their friend, (AppleJack, most likely). Twilight and Rainbow re-read the new book (as well as the original author’s saga, in Dash’s case). This time, having calmed down from the anger of reading a poorly-written book, Twilight had to admit there were a few moments in this new book that she actually enjoyed. Now, she knows why Rainbow still loves the book in spite of the bad writing. Likewise, going back over the original author’s saga, Dash re-read them with more thought and discover so much fridge brilliance and thought-provoking scenes between the lines that actually made her love of the original series even better. And so having re-read the new book, Dash now understood why Twilight got so upset with the new book.

 

Third Act: Both ponies discovered that in some way, they were both wrong. In Dash’s case, it ties back to the end of Read it and Weep when Twilight said, “Rainbow Dash, just because you’re athletic doesn’t mean you’re not smart.” Reading the books with a more thoughtful mind enriched the saga for Dashie. In Twily’s case, she still stands by her opinion that the new book is the weakest Daring-Do book she has ever read. But is it the worst thing ever? Of course not! There are far worse things than a poorly written story, such as a broken friendship over conflicting opinions about the new book. Twilight had to admit she found her first Guilty Pleasure in Mare E. Weathers’ first book.

 

Of course, they made up with each other and wrote the letter to Princess Celestia together. (At the time I thought this up, the lesson of the day being written in an journal instead a letter hasn't been made canon yet). In addition to what I already mentioned above, the letter’s main point would be along the lines of:

 

Dear Princess Celestia,

Rainbow Dash and I nearly lost each other as friends over our opinion of a book. We both learned that even when you have an entirely different opinion about something than your friend, it doesn’t mean you can’t still be friends. Everypony can share, not force their opinions with each other. And with that, they just might learn something new about the other. Maybe even make their friendship even stronger.

Your faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle

 

And right before the episode ends, we find out a few books later that Mare E. Weathers finally wrote a book that does meet Twilight’s standards!

 

To elaborate, I have seen Twilight as the kind of person, uh pony who would critically analyze a book and Rainbow as an excitable fangirl. So, you can see how the above reactions would be possible. As you might have realized, I imagined the new author as the Equestrian version of real-world MLP writer Merriweather Williams, with the new, badly-written D-D book being like the Mysterious Mare Do-Well episode and the book written a few installments later as the Wonderbolts Academy episode. On a meta level, this story would reflect the group of Bronies who analyze what they see and the group of Bronies who get very excited every time an new episode is released.

 

Now that’s a story I wished could have been a real episode of the show. 

[Pixel Stick 927]

WiiGuy24, that is a wonderful concept, and I think you really should still write it as an alternate-timeline fanfic. If you're not up for writing it, can I? I can already vividly picture a whole bunch of the conversations between Twilight and Rainbow.

[Justin_Case001 4,881]

I just finished watching this episode for the first time not two minutes ago. (Just got the season 4 dvds, started watching through.)

I'm sorry to say this, but this episode was horrible.  The first three episodes of season 4 blew me away.  It was off to such a great start.  Now I just don't know what to think.  I'm legitimately upset about this episode.

I'm of the mind that having the DD universe actually exist makes no logical sense.  Why would nopony in all of Equestria have mentioned this before?  Why would the three princesses have never once mentioned this Ahuizotl, however the f*ck it's spelled, character?  He seems like a pretty big threat to Equestria.  Wouldn't somepony, besides DD, have noticed him?  And what the hell is he even suppose to be, anyway?  He looks like the top of a totem pole.  And these locations they visted--the fortress where the rings were kept.  Where the f*ck was that suppose to be?  Why did nopony know about this stuff?  This would be like if we, irl, randomly found out that Lord of the Rings was, in fact, 100% real, and that Tolkein and Bilbo were the same person.  Yeeeaaah...um....I don't think so.  I'm sorry, but this is f*cking ridiculous.  I could understand if the DD universe didn't involve stories that could potentially impact the fate of all Equestria, but there's no way that this could fit anywhere in the show.

I loved the episode when it started.  When we found out who Yearling was, I first thought that maybe she had simply based the appearance of DD on herself.  When she started fighting off the bandits, I started thinking that Yearling had loosely based the books on her life.  By the time she and RD were retrieving the ring in the fortress, I was sure that this episode was one of two things: a dream of Dashie's, or a book that Dashie herself was writing.  I thought that after the ending hug, we would fade back to reality, where Dashie would be writing in a book, and we'd learn that the whole episode was a fanfic that she crafted.  That would have made this one of the best episodes.  As is, it is hooves down the worst.  Worst episode in the entire series.  It just feels like they took all lore, all continuity, and just shoved it up someone's ass.  I can't understand how they thought this was a good idea.

And what happens now?  Now that they all know that the entire DD universe is real, are they just gonna go back to the way things were, pretending it's just a book?  I would assume so.  It's not like the show is going to continue heavily featuring DD, but how can they just ignore this stuff?  Wouldn't Twi go to the Sisters and, like, idk, maybe tell them about this rampaging villain that may be a threat to Equestria?

Garbage episode.  It shakes my faith in series, sorry to say.  I'm not sure how to take anything very seriously going forward.  And just for the record, even though it's a kid's show, I've always been able to take it seriously, as they do a very respectable job with lore and continuity.  This makes no sense  It sucks.  I hate it.

*EDIT*  After living with this for a day, I still don't like it.  But I've watched some reviews that defend the episode and point out some ways that the lore could make sense.  I don't really agree, but it's worth considering, and made me feel a little better.  I would like to point out some things I liked about the episode, though.  I thought the characters were well written, well acted, and behaved very much in character.  I think Dashie is adorable when she goes all fangirl, which she has always had a tendency to do.  I loved the nerd-off.  That was priceless.  And I think the dilema that Dash faced, about placing DD on a pedastal to point of forgetting her own self worth, was a very realistic, identifiable, and relatable one.  It's a problem that I have faced, continue to face, and will face in the future.  Some may argue that she is too out of character, because a super-confident pony like her wouldn't act so down on herself.  But I disagree.  If she was always super-confident, she would be a little too one-dimensional, a little too one-sided.  These characters have always been dynamic, realistic, with multiple sides to their person..ahem...ponyalities.  They are real and have flaws.  That's what makes them so great.  Even the most confident person can face a real dilema like Rainbow did.  Sometimes the ponies can show a different side that's out of character, as long as they remember who they are in the end.  (E.g. Putting Your Hoof Down.)  Being a confident pony, it didn't take Rainbow long to snap out of it as well, so it worked.

Good character writing and acting, entertaining jokes, great moral.  Those are the positives.  But I still can't get past the whole DD universe being literally real.  There's so many ways they could have fixed it, too.  Here's another direction it could have gone: Daring is real.  Dashie meets her and finds out that the books are loosely based on her [Daring's] life.  But RD learns that the stories are embelished and exaggerated.  There is no Auixotl irl.  Daring is indeed an adventurer and treasure hunter, but she's not as epic as she makes herself out to be in the books.  Dashie has a hard time swallowing this, and feels like her heroine has let her down.  She sees her heroine as a real and fallable pony, and doesn't know how to deal with it.  In the end, she gets past it, realizes that Daring is still heroic, and sees that they're very similar.  They become friends yadda yadda yadda.  This would work, and would eliminate the ludicrous idea that the whole universe, that every detail in every book is real.

OR: make Daring live outside of Equestria. Bam. Problem solved. If they had kept going past the border, the whole episode would work, and I wouldn't have a problem with it. That's why the Equestrian authorities don't know/care about DD or Auixotl. Because it's not in Equestria. That leaves the (much smaller) problem of how/why the mane 6 would travel that far, but that could be explained away much more easily. Most of the locales in the DD universe didn't really look like anything we've seen in Equestria, anyway. This would have been a great solution. So many ways that it could have worked...but alas, I'm still very disappointed.

*RE-EDIT*

My reaction to the episode.  (Video by yours truly)

Edited January 22, 2015 by Justin_Case001

[Red Storm 14]

very good episode, I enjoy continuity & I really don't understand why people don't like it.

[Pixel Stick 927]

very good episode, I enjoy continuity & I really don't understand why people don't like it.

 

Well, speaking just for myself, the problem wasn't "continuity".  I'm fine with that - in fact, there are various places in this series where they do the continuity quite well without making it feel like a serial drama.  My problem was mainly that the whole "A.K. Yearling IS Daring Do!" thing felt forced and gratuitous, to the point that it risked invalidating much of what we know about Equestria and the general world of MLP, and it was further hampered by most of the Mane 6 going totally brain-dead through most of the episode.

 

But, that's my opinion, and I know this episode has its fans.  (A very good friend of mine LOVED this episode, and I don't begrudge him that.)  And to be fair, I'm a fan of both "Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" and "Putting Your Hoof Down", and I know significant portions of this community really don't like those episodes, so again, all comes down to opinion.

[Judgement 445]

I think it would have been better if the rest of the mane 6 didn't go with Rainbow Dash to help A.K. Yearling. Their roles were so minor that it was pretty much like they weren't even there.

 

In my opinion, instead of having Daring Do getting into trouble, they should have made it so Rainbow Dash got into trouble and Daring Do had to rescue her. That would have shown how much of an annoyance Rainbow Dash really was to Daring Do.

[Pixel Stick 927]

In my opinion, instead of having Daring Do getting into trouble, they should have made it so Rainbow Dash got into trouble and Daring Do had to rescue her. That would have shown how much of an annoyance Rainbow Dash really was to Daring Do.

I disagree. I think this would have weakened Rainbow Dash's character too much. Yes, Rainbow has had to be rescued before, but never by someone who was a personal hero to her. If Daring Do had to swoop in and save her, I think it would be impossible to separate her fangirlism from her damsel-in-distress situation. Much as I disliked the plot they chose, they at least let Dash be internally consistent throughout.