S04:E05 - Flight to the Finish

[Batbrony 16,055]

The weakest point for this episode here was, as is starting to be the case with a lot of CMC episode, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, in other words our "antagonists.". I get that they are supposed to be bullies, but with each new appearance they start not only becoming more and more needlessly cruel but more one-note and one-dimensional to the point that if randomly Diamond Tiara threw her head back and let loose with a B-villain "Mwhahahahahha!" I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. Plus, here they didn't face any comeuppance for they said. Sure they didn't win, but that was it.  

 

I will admit that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are two of my least favorite recurring antagonists in any show, but I will say this in their defense in this particular episode: they actually had a plan and a purpose!  Usually they just show up in a scene and start spouting some nasty garbage for absolutely no reason whatsoever other than to be mean ("One Bad Apple" being a prime offender, and that's saying something considering it's such a great episode besides those two), but here at least we got a whole scene of just those two deciding that they needed to do something to screw up the CMC's mojo so that they wouldn't be able to compete against them at the tryouts.  So, at least here they had some logical motivation; yeah, they were still nasty, but at least they were nasty with a purpose for once.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Batbrony

[Bright Knowledge 10]

 I didn't care at all for that verbal garbage that came spewing out of the mouths of Diamond Tiara and Silver Soon. Seriously, DT and SS should not either be seen or heard, they should get a life and go far away.

 

 I liked how Rainbow's speech brought Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle back to their senses, the CMC should always try to be the best of friends. Maybe they could get their cutie marks by becoming a musical sing band.

 

 If Scootaloo is concerned seriously about her wings, she could visit a clinic, and have a doctor examine her wings, or to give her a special wing growing/enhancing medicine.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Bright Knowledge

[Outkin 35]

I was soooooo pumped for what I thought was scoot's cutie mark.....there was the music and the mini montage and the GASP and the zoom and....

 

Nope.avi

Edited December 15, 2013 by Outkin

[Rainbow Dash 1,472]

DUDES...THIS WAS AWESOME!
*fanboy squees*
 

Seriously though, this episode was great! Not only did it have the CMC, but it had Scootaloo learning an important lesson from her idol. One thing stood out to me, the over animation of Ms.Harshwhinny (i think thats how its spelled). It seems the animators over-exaggerated her facial expressions, which was a bit of a put off to me. 

 

The song that the CMC sang was flippin awesome! Can't wait for Sim Gretina to do a remix of it. Heck, i may even try my hand at doing one. 

 

The story flow was ok, in my opinion; for a twenty-two minute show that is.

 

 

 

 I didn't care at all for that verbal garbage that came spewing out of the mouths of Diamond Tiara and Silver Soon. Seriously, DT and SS should not either be seen or heard, they should get a life and go far away.

I agree, those two rotten apples should be like the rest of the school ponies: seen but not heard.

 

It was a nice, heartwarming episode. I liked it, and I've been impressed with the episodes by the new writers so far. I was surprised to see that this was the first episode to feature only one Mane 6 character, but that's another story. The song was alright.

In my opinion, it was a welcomed change in the show. Also, your Avi disturbs me....but in a good way.

[Total Lunar Eclipse 516]

This was such a great episode! It's the reason I was ready to stop keeping up with MLP after Season 3, but season 4 is incredible! Particularly this episode.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Solar-Wind

[dash3835 20]

i love this episode scootaloo is awesome but the ending really felt rushed

[takai 1,060]

Great development for Scootaloo. I'm glad they finally focused on her flying ability. I'm hoping they have an episode of Rainbow Dash teaching her how to fly.

 

Is it me, or does it feel like they're completely whoring out Rainbow Dash? It's like every episode she's the main, or one of the main ponies. There's a severely scary lack of Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie this season. Especially Pinkie.  I'm hoping Dash doesn't show up in the next few episodes and they finally share the damn spotlight with the others.

[Misty Shadow 7,867]

Applejack was the only one in Family appreciation day

Twilight was the only one in hearts and hooves

 

Damn it, I can't believe I forgot that. Good job pointing that out.

Edited December 15, 2013 by CloudMistDragon

[The Blades Shadow 444]

I was soooooo pumped for what I thought was scoot's cutie mark.....there was the music and the mini montage and the GASP and the zoom and....

 

Nope.avi

I know right?! That was so misleading...

 

Other than that it was a pretty good episode, and they had an awesome new song for the CMC finally

[Damonater 70]

I honestly thought that Scootaloo was actually going to fly in that episode. But she didn't, I thought that was good in a way because there might have not been lesson to be learnt if she did.But also bad at the same time because fillys at her age should be able to fly. I also felt the ending was a bit rushed aswell since we didnt get to see what the others did. I give that episode a solid 9/10!

[Thaliel 116]

geez, the CMC are just friggin adorable, I had various heart and diabetus attacks while watching

[Scootaloo Is Best Filly 578]

I really, really, really, liked this episode. Really good song, but would of loved to know more about Scoot. Where she actually lives, Who she actually lives with and how does Dash know where she lives? I guess technically we can all make an assumption that Sweetie Belle and/or Apple Bloom may have told her, since they went with her. And if anyone would know where Scoot lives, it'd be them. But, this seemed a bit rushed, I would of loved to see what DT and SS did, and you know what would of pleased me more? Seeing their evil little faces, after they found out they didn't win. I really hate them. All in all, a really great episode with a great song, I just wish a bit more could be told about Scoot to us. But, I saw a really good lesson in there, Be proud of who you are. At least that's what I got out of this episode.

 

I give it a 9/10. They just made 2 episodes back to back in which I really. really, love.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Scootaloo Is Best Filly

[Rainboom Dash 1,056]

This is the best of the season so far for me. I love episodes about the CMCs and this failed to disappoint. I was really hoping Scootaloo would finally fly though. With a great streak of episodes so far, Season 4 is looking to be the best season yet.

[Music Chart Fan 819]

This episode was generally decent, but also a little disappointing. While watching the episode, I actually didn't quite know what was going to happen, which helped to sustain interest a little more than usual. There were several good moments, including seeing Miss Harshwhinny's facial and verbal expressions (especially when reacting to Rainbow Dash's enthusiasm) and the Cutie Mark Crusaders' routine, which was actually pretty impressive.

 

There did seem to be a bit of a pacing problem, and the episode maybe could have used a longer time slot. A good chunk of time was spent setting up the flag-bearing routine competition in the classroom, and after having a song, showing Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon planning and executing their bullying, and watching the Cutie Mark Crusaders burn themselves out over changing their routine and then fight and split up, there was only a few minutes left in which to cram in the resolutions - the Cutie Mark Crusaders making up, Scootaloo learning her lesson about flying not defining who she is, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders winning the competition. The last few minutes felt very rushed, and we missed seeing the Cutie Mark Crusaders react to the Crystal Empire, seeing anyone else's routine, and more.

 

Another disappointment was that the episode synopsis led many of us to believe that we would see more of Rainbow Dash's and Scootaloo's sisterly relationship, but not only was that relationship not furthered, the episode made no reference to it at all, despite having the opportunity. Had the events of Sleepless in Ponyville never occurred, would any of the events or dialogue of this episode have been any different? I don't think so. When Scootaloo was in the schoolyard by herself hopelessly trying to fly all night, I was thinking, why doesn't she talk to Rainbow Dash about her concerns? Why doesn't she ask Rainbow Dash for help with flying, instead of trying the same way over and over again? That might seem like the kind of thing that a big sister would help with.

 

On a related note, while we do see that Scootaloo has a room, we still haven't seen any other member of her family yet. And if she does have a family, did they just let Scootaloo stay out at the schoolyard practicing all night? Did they know about that and approve of it? If not, wouldn't they go looking for her if it was getting late and she hadn't come back home yet?

 

One rather annoying thing that I noticed was that on several occasions, characters said that Scootaloo thought she had to include flying in the routine, and in all of those instances it was never mentioned that that was a response to Diamond Tiara's and Silver Spoon's bullying. Even when Scootaloo says "I didn't want to ruin their chance to win because I couldn't fly", and Rainbow Dash replies "And who said you had to?", Scootaloo doesn't mention that it was Diamond Tiara's and Silver Spoon's idea. It just seems odd that none of the characters make the connection to the two bullies, but maybe there just wasn't any more episode time to devote to them.

 

Finally, I didn't think the song was terribly good. The lyrics often seemed poorly worded and didn't flow very well, the actual song wasn't as catchy, and the instrumentation and production seemed more sparse than usual.

 

Now, a few specific oddities, inconsistencies, comments, etc.:

 

When Miss Harshwhinny said "Ms. Dash, will you please curb your overenthusiastic outbursts?" I thought for a second she was going to say to "curb your enthusiasm", but the writers went for some alliteration instead.

 

The chalkboard illustrations didn't seem very helpful and could have been misinterpreted. Why not just use words?

 

When Rainbow Dash is describing her time being flag bearer, we switch camera to watch Scootaloo's reaction, and then at one point Rainbow Dash suddenly is waving a flag. Where did Rainbow Dash get that flag? She didn't have it when she started telling her story. Was it really somewhere in easy reach in the classroom?

 

When Scootaloo asked "What's special about Ponyville?" my first reaction was "It's the home of the Elements of Harmony and Princess Twilight Sparkle!" I'm not sure what kind of routine that would make, though.

 

When the Cutie Mark Crusaders ask Rainbow Dash what she thinks after their first performance, how do they not see Rainbow Dash starting to compliment them and being excited, but then holding it back? They were staring right at her the whole time.

 

The timing of the events occurring right after Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle leave Scootaloo on the train platform seems off. We hear "All aboard!" and the two of them walk off to board the train at a normal walking pace, but as they're walking away, we hear the train making chugging noises as though it's already moving, and a few seconds later, the train is entirely out of view.

 

Of course, the train apparently has pull cords that passengers use to request for the train to stop, and not just that, the conductor is fine with stopping the train in the middle of nowhere, and the train can stop pretty quickly. It seems much more like a city bus than a huge, heavy train that would take a lot of power to start and stop.

 

Scootaloo joins the ranks of Sweetie Belle in being super strong, since she uses only the power of her wings and her scooter to transport herself and the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders all the way to the Crystal Empire in time for the competition.

 

Oddly enough, the Cutie Mark Crusaders' routine performed at the competition is NOT the same as the first one, even though that's what they said they wanted to do. The Ponyville flag is simply planted in the ground, not on the scooter, and Scootaloo holds the other two up while standing on her scooter, whereas before she jumped off her scooter and held them while the scooter rolled by behind them with the flag attached.

 

Finally, the animation when Scootaloo received her flower "necklace" was off. Miss Harshwhinny doesn't actually seem to put the circular necklace over her head; it looks more like a U-shaped string of flowers is placed on Scootaloo's neck, but then it magically joins together at the bottom after she raises her head.

 

[Hawk McAdam 12]

It's just an accent, methinks.

 

I sorta agree with her though... calm down Dashie!

 

Does this mean Rainbow Dash has two middle names? Danger, and now Professionalism.

Dangalism. Or Profanger. Dafessionalisanger? Prodang. Whatever. Heh.

[Noodles 109]

Rainbow danger Professionalsim dash. or on the card Rainbow D. S. Dash

[edpedrero 25]

In my opinion I think the episode was great  BUT there are some major things that bug me.

The good: As a Scootloo episode it was great but not as good as Sleepless in Ponyville. as a CMC epside it goes on my top 3, the trio worked pretty well and it was the first time they "break up" as a group of friends. I would also like to say that they handled the concept of Scootloo being handicapped decently.........believe me I do, but I wish they talked about it for idk 5 more mins? 

Personally (as in my own opinion, don't take it as the holy opinion that has the infinite answer) when they zoom in on Scoot's flank and wings it meant that the CMC can continue searching for the butt-tattoos (gee, I wonder where have I heard that before?). Many people (myself included)  thought she was gonna get her cutie mark "but nooooo!" instead we got trolled! XD

[Ianpiersonjdavis 512]

Loved the way this episode turned out.

 

I was actually worried for a while that Scootaloo would actually fly and/or get her Cutie Mark-because I want to see more episodes about her and having her character arc cut short because of either of those things would make me quite disappointed.

 

I also think that the message was good for fans (young and old) who live with a disability that you can still be awesome despite the fact and the people who give you grief about it are just jerks.

 

Plus, I found it interesting that Scootaloo has a bedroom in a house on the ground-so it seems to contradict my earlier belief that she is an orphan.

[Renon Strike 67]

Ed Valentine also did a great job on the mean fillies..at the risk of sounding weird they were so mean i feel like putting them on my knee and spanking them many times.

[Coco Pommel 669]

That was adorable.

 

This was an episode where the CMC showed how they can be enjoyable and simply not characters who are there to allow little kids to connect with them. I've enjoyed the CMC, but this really is an example on how to make them all-around enjoyable.

[DiscordAnarchy 770]

As anyone else noticed the variety of facial expressions that have been going on? harshwhinny esp.

Ooo! They showed Scootaloo's bedroom neat! She's not homeless. Yay

after finishing the episode, however, I have to say that I am pretty disappointed that Scootaloo STILL doesn't have her cutie mark. Out of all 3 of them, she is the only one who constantly utilizes her talent to the fullest extent and the only one who uses it every day and goes out of her way to express it - such as driving off the plank for no reason other than unadulterated enjoyment. Seriously, she should have it by now >.<

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,695]

Well, this episode felt really...weird to me. Why was Rainbow Dash constantly hovering in the air when she didn't have to? She even did it when she told Scoots flying wasn't necessary for the presentation; isn't that kind of sending a mixed message?   The script was really simple and one-dimensional, the ending was predictable and so rushed that it was barely there. The song wasn't as creative as the ones we've seen in the past, lyrically or visually. The running gag with Dash trying to suppress her emotions is kind of silly; it's not like Ms. H was standing right there. And why are there so few characters? We had the CMC, Tiara & Spoon, Dash, Ms. H and Cheerilee. That was basically it.

 

Overall I have to say this is my least favorite episode of the season by a landslide. I'm not exaggerating when I say I could have written Ed Valentine's script in my teens. This episode could have been so much more than it was. To me it felt like a perfunctory effort, as in "well, the bronies keep asking if she can fly or not so let's just get it out of the way." But it sounds like I'm pretty much alone in thinking this.

 

In any event it was nice to see Silver Spoon and Ms. Harshwhinny again.

Edited December 15, 2013 by TailsIsNotAlone

[DiscordAnarchy 770]

Well, this episode felt really...weird to me. Why was Rainbow Dash constantly hovering in the air when she didn't have to? She even did it when she told Scoots flying wasn't necessary for the presentation; isn't that kind of sending a mixed message?   The script was really simple and one-dimensional, the ending was predictable and so rushed that it was barely there. The song wasn't as creative as the ones we've seen in the past, lyrically or visually. The running gag with Dash trying to suppress her emotions is kind of silly; it's not like Ms. H was standing right there. And why are there so few characters? We had the CMC, Tiara & Spoon, Dash, Ms. H and Cheerilee. That was basically it.

 

Overall I have to say this is my least favorite episode of the season by a landslide. I'm not exaggerating when I say I could have written Ed Valentine's script in my teens. This episode could have been so much more than it was. To me it felt like a perfunctory effort, as in "well, the bronies keep asking if she can fly or not so let's just get it out of the way." But it sounds like I'm pretty much alone in thinking this.

 

• Dashie almost always hovers when she doesn't need too. If you compare her to Fluttershy, for example, Fluttershy prefers being on the ground whereas Dashie is almost always in the air unless she absolutely needs to be on the ground
• She was landed on the ground when she told Scoots that flying isn't a big deal whether Scoots can do it or not.
• There is nothing wrong with simple scripts, is there?
• The song is a personal preference thing
• Dashie was trying to be professional. While Mrs. H wasn't around it doesn't mean Dashie could stop being professional. It's like being at a job - you don't act professional only when your boss is looking over your shoulder, right?
• We've had episodes with as few characters before.
• Addressing Scoots' flying problem is kind of a big deal because up till this moment, no one was ever 100% sure if it was a "disability" or not. However now that we know that her wings are actually a lot smaller than they should be, this is a big step in character development. She literally may not ever make it to Cloudsdale without some sort of balloon or help. Makes you wonder why her parents (if she has them) live in Ponyville to begin with. Most Pegasai save for Fluttershy all live in the clouds. Even Dashie lives up there which makes me wonder why Scoots has to live on the ground.

 

Now, with all those stated I am not saying any of your feelings are wrong just offering my P.O.V. on your post is all

[spacestorm 183]

This was a good episode, much better than previous one.
Another where CMC aren't so annoying and don't pursue for their cutie marks.
They handled with Scootaloo's disability quite well, showing that even if she can't fly she still can be awesome. That was very good lesson. What's more, CMC also learned something valuable about friendship like mane6 do.

In return, this time Rainbow Dash acted a little silly and was a little annoying. And I hoped for a little more interaction between her and Scootaloo.

I don't care that much about songs, but they weren't bad. And now we know that horses are canon in MLP world.

 

Why Scootaloo didn't gained cutie mark? Because even if she use her talent every day she still didn't realize that this is her self. As long as she and the rest of CMC will think that they need to find their cutie marks (in the way they do now) they won't get them.

[Galen 1,354]

Great episode overall. Not my favorite, but absolutely worth watching. I was kinda hoping Scottaloo would make some progress, even if small, toward being able to fly, but the ending still worked really well nonetheless. The episode goes a long way to show (successfully) how acceptance of one's flaws, as opposed to suppression, takes you much further than you could otherwise as the important thing is being yourself, without being hampered by other people trying to bring you down.

 

Also, really love the dynamic of the CMC, but I feel we need more Sweetie Belle episodes now, considering that the other two have had more episodes between the two of them.

 

Dashie was trying to be professional. While Mrs. H wasn't around it doesn't mean Dashie could stop being professional. It's like being at a job - you don't act professional only when your boss is looking over your shoulder, right?

 

I do

 

 

 

 

(j/k)

Edited December 15, 2013 by Freedan