S02:E20 - It's About Time.

[Jokuc 8,172]

It's funny how everypony is using the title of this episode as an answer.

[KTP Pretorius 16]

It kind of reminded me of The terminator. Come with me if you want to live.

[Jack Durango 119]

I can't say this was one of the more memorable episodes for me. IMO, it had an interesting plot (no, not that kind of plot! ), but it didn't follow through on the storytelling part. Twilight went crazy, but not Lesson Zero crazy. All in all, though, I wouldn't object to watching it again.

[hwrogers 168]

I can't say this was one of the more memorable episodes for me. IMO, it had an interesting plot (no, not that kind of plot! ), but it didn't follow through on the storytelling part. Twilight went crazy, but not Lesson Zero crazy. All in all, though, I wouldn't object to watching it again.

 

because lesson zero had already been taught. also there was a little of THAT plot in the latex suits, which had near zero reason...

[Gikkleslick 41]

I noticed how this would be impossible, since if there was no disaster, there would be no reason for Twilight to go back in time to tell herself not to worry so much. It's confusing...

[TheBronyHeart 2,640]

I dont know if anypony else has realized this or not but how could the whole twilight time loop even have started. go way back to the first twilight... she would not have become paranoid and none of those things would have happened because she wouldnt have have needed to go back in time to tell herself anything..... just give it some thought

[Lightning Fluttershy 1,844]

I don't understand how it all started. For Twilight to go crazy over it she has to be visited by her future self but it would just keep going on forever. Something must have started it it or they wouldn't go back in time to tell themselves not to worry. Get what I'm saying?

[Rainbow Dash 1,471]

@,i was thinking the same thing!@@Lightning Fluttershy, maybe the first time she was trying to warn her not to be paranoid or something.  I feel she should have realized she was making these things happen due to her worrying so much half way through the episode. Also i thought it was a little out of character for her to interrupt her future self. isnt she a good listener when it comes to getting orders or advice?

[Buttonmash1973 1,024]

That episode had not been what I had waited for.

 

I had been hoping for to see Twilight teleport to that pony war, so maybe it could be the S4 ending.

[Zerobot 179]

I dont know if anypony else has realized this or not but how could the whole twilight time loop even have started. go way back to the first twilight... she would not have become paranoid and none of those things would have happened because she wouldnt have have needed to go back in time to tell herself anything..... just give it some thought

It is my head canon that Twilight's disaster-proofing actually DID prevent a large disaster. That disaster being Cerberus not being there to guard the gates of Tartarus. In the original, unaltered timeline, they weren't prepared to bring it back to Tartarus and the evil creatures within started escaping. It is in this timeline that some epic level disaster goes down. Whether they eventually solve things it's hard to say. Twilight decides to go back in time and warn herself. So she does. And it works. Then, Twilight realizes that now that she has solved the disaster she needs to go back in time anyway, to stabilize the time loop, and to ensure that someone is there to bring Cerberus back to Tartarus without previous Twilight's timeline there to warn next timeline. So she does, and maybe that one successfully does it too. And thus we get the telephone game! With every new layer, Twilight's message to the next one is vaguer, even just slightly. The Twilight from the last timeline I detailed isn't going back to warn Twilight of a terrible future, it's just to ensure the Timeloop doesn't get destroyed. As such, she's less worried and maybe doesn't get the message of fear across as well. Things get calmer and calmer until she isn't able to get the message across quite as well, leading Twilight to just disaster proof everything, leading her to stop Cerberus from letting the creatures of Tartarus escape. It is THIS timeline's Twilight, thinking that she should go back in time to tell herself not to worry, does so. And it is the NEXT timeline that we get to watch in the episode.

 

Or maybe I'm just over analyzing a children's television show. Hay, that's what happens when time travel gets involved. It. Gets. Complicated.

[Righteous Fury 344]

It is my head canon that Twilight's disaster-proofing actually DID prevent a large disaster. That disaster being Cerberus not being there to guard the gates of Tartarus. In the original, unaltered timeline, they weren't prepared to bring it back to Tartarus and the evil creatures within started escaping. It is in this timeline that some epic level disaster goes down. Whether they eventually solve things it's hard to say. Twilight decides to go back in time and warn herself. So she does. And it works. Then, Twilight realizes that now that she has solved the disaster she needs to go back in time anyway, to stabilize the time loop, and to ensure that someone is there to bring Cerberus back to Tartarus without previous Twilight's timeline there to warn next timeline. So she does, and maybe that one successfully does it too. And thus we get the telephone game! With every new layer, Twilight's message to the next one is vaguer, even just slightly. The Twilight from the last timeline I detailed isn't going back to warn Twilight of a terrible future, it's just to ensure the Timeloop doesn't get destroyed. As such, she's less worried and maybe doesn't get the message of fear across as well. Things get calmer and calmer until she isn't able to get the message across quite as well, leading Twilight to just disaster proof everything, leading her to stop Cerberus from letting the creatures of Tartarus escape. It is THIS timeline's Twilight, thinking that she should go back in time to tell herself not to worry, does so. And it is the NEXT timeline that we get to watch in the episode.

 

Or maybe I'm just over analyzing a children's television show. Hay, that's what happens when time travel gets involved. It. Gets. Complicated.

No, I think you're on to something here.

 

Assuming there is only one universe, and reality isn't splitting off into an infinite number of different timelines (and I think multiverse theory is a little too deep for a kids' show) then reality has to be self-regulating to avoid paradoxes. And that puts a limit on the flow of information.

 

Disaster-Twilight can't go back to warn herself about the disaster because then Disaster-Twilight wouldn't exist, which would mean no warning was sent, which is a paradox. Whatever message Twilight sends back HAS to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, otherwise the timeline is broken. And if Cerberus getting loose leads directly to Twilight going back in time and creating a paradox, the ONLY way to resolve the paradox is for Twilight to send back a message that prepares her for Cerberus AND leads to her going back in time to deliver the message! It's not just a random timeline we're seeing, it is the ONLY timeline, at least the only stable one!

[Starlight Song 43]

Pinkie Pie lives up to the Gypsy Bard song in this one - Madame Pinkie? Nice.

Also a little note:

Twilight: Cares too much about the future, and goes into hyper drive trying to change it.

Spike: Cares too little about the future, and keeps eating ice cream not caring about a stomach ache.

Pinkie Pie: Always has a bright outlook on the future, and is always prepared, at least in this episode.

And these were the three main characters in the episode....

MLP - you are too freaking well written!!!!!!!

[True Rarity 1,239]

This was amazing.

I love how the future Twilight looks as if she's gone ultra super awesome ninja spy!

And when Spike was saying that Future Spike would get a stomachache I couldn't help but shake my head at his incompetence!

[Dark Horn 430]

The entire episode was funny, even though that sort of thing happening is completely impossible. Twilight sneaking around the library with Spike licking ice cream and Pinkie Pie bouncing behind them was a pure MLP moment.

[Bossycarl 0]

If I was spike:

Eat ice cream

Tell past spike not to eat a ton of ice cream

Has memories of eating ice cream

Satisfied.

[Ianpiersonjdavis 512]

Loved all of the Time Travel references (and the Escape from New York/MGS reference for Twilight's outfit).

 

And the humor with both the guard and Celestia while the trio put so much effort into sneaking into the library.

 

[Batbrony 15,994]

"It's About Time"... so this episode's all kinds of fun! I mean how can it not be? It's time travel mixed with ponies for crying out loud, you know without a doubt after reading that premise that you're going to have a blast! So as you can tell, I certainly like this episode a lot. It's not my favorite episode of Season 2 by any means, but there's still plenty here that works and on the whole it hits all the right notes. Let's begin.

 

Ughhh, good job Twilight, you've created a time paradox! What do you have to say for yourself missy?

"It's About Time" is the first Twilight-centric episode since "Lesson Zero" (I would say "Luna Eclipsed" since Twilight helps solve Luna's social awkwardness, but it's still Luna's problem so technically "Lesson Zero" it is), and to be honest it has a very similar conflict as that legendary episode in that Twilight's making a mountain out of a molehill again. I guess I should start by saying that, while the two problems she's trying to resolve in her own nutty way are distinct problems (and the lessons she learns in both are also distinct from each other), the similarities of these episodes are enough that it sort of takes away from the effect of Twilight's nuttiness in this one. I mean, after "Lesson Zero", no amount of insanity on Twilight's part can really phase anyone anymore, and every time I watch this episode, even though I do enjoy it, I can't help but think to myself, "I've seen this Twilight before, and for very similar reasons". Aside from that little bit of redundancy, however, Twilight's a delight and learns a great lesson to boot.

 

So what's the source of Twilight's insanity this time? Well, time travel if we're being frank. Basically, she loses her head because her future self traveled back in time to warn her not to lose her head. It's really silly when you think about it, but it works here really well, especially considering one usually would see time travel in a kids program in some sort of made-for-TV movie, not a single, 22 minute episode. After all kinds of whacky shenanigans (and much bodily harm and mental fatigue on Twilight's part, though nothing in comparison to the madness that is "Lesson Zero"... I'm just saying, nothing can touch that episode as far as insanity levels go), Twilight finally realizes that she's been worrying about nothing this entire time and learns a valuable lesson. You shouldn't worry about problems in the future that you can't even foresee, otherwise you'll end up accomplishing nothing and just waste your days making mountains out of molehills again and again and again; instead, you should worry about resolving problems as they happen, keep your mind focused on the present in order to secure it and the future! This results in a great bit of character growth on Twilight's part, and ever since this episode it's been more and more noticeable that she's made great efforts to keep her cool in high pressure situations and not put more on her plate than she can handle. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this was a major step in her road to becoming a princess, whether she knew it or not, and that Princess Celestia was most certainly waiting to see if Twilight knew how to prioritize problems before choosing the elevate her to princesshood. It's also actually one of the more adult lessons that the show's had; let's be honest, little kids don't usually have the problem of worrying about the future. They live for the present and can barely plan what they're going to be doing five minutes from now, much less one week. Rather, teenagers and adults are the ones who can get so easily swept up in so many affairs and projects that before we know it, we're trying to plan months ahead for as many situations as possible and losing our sanity in the process. I applaud the writers for knowingly making an episode with a message like this tailored more for an adult audience, and for that it most certainly stands out.

 

Pinkie Pie's a fortune teller... because of course she is. Ya know what, at this point, I'm not even surprised anymore.

Besides the creative lesson, the episode only REALLY stands out for one other reason: it makes A LOT of interesting additions to the show's canon. In this episode alone, we learn (1) that Tartarus exists as some kind of hold for evil spirits in Equestria, (2) that it's guarded by the 3-headed dog Cerberus (who's kind of adorable here ), (3) that time travel is possible in Equestria, (4) that Twilight is capable of using time travel spells, (5) that time travel spells are kept in the Canterlot Library, (6) that there's a Starswirl the Bearded wing of the Canterlot Library, (7) that there's a Horse Head Nebula in the MLP universe. THAT IS A LOT!!! There are few episodes, even in Season 2, that add SO MUCH to MLP's canon, and "It's About Time" most certainly deserves a lot of credit simply for all the cool additions that it manages to pull off.

 

That's hardly surprising either at this point, but it's also adorable, so I don't care cause it makes me so happy!

Aside from the two big qualities of having a great lesson and some cool canon additions, there's not much else to say about this one. Twilight's nutty, and Spike and Pinkie Pie especially provide some nice supporting comedy relief, playing off of crazy Twilight hilariously. There's some nice Mane 6 interactions from all the Mane 6, some without any words even being spoken (my personal favorite being Rarity and AJ fixing the Ponyville dam together; it's just nice silently seeing those two, such polar opposites, getting along so swimmingly together at this point in the show). The MGS and Escape From New York references are absolutely hilarious, plus, as I said earlier, the writers certainly use time travel here to great effect (far better than a lot of other shows do, I can tell you that much). Overall, while certainly not one of the greatest MLP episodes, "It's About Time" is still a lovely episode with some nice character growth from Twilight, some great laughs and clever writing, a very good lesson, and some cool additions to the show's canon. Definitely a worthwhile viewing if you ask me!

Edited October 26, 2013 by Batbrony

[~Brenden~ 11]

So, here I go! I will now procced on reivewing this baby! :3

 

Ok, so first off, I liked this episode like 8/10 because I really love anything involving things with time travel. But sadly, I felt who wrote the plot for this episode didn't even really put too much thought in it besides having the idea of Twilight time-traveling. And lets face it, there most likely wouldn't be a time-traveling episode if the person who wrote this didn't think of this idea. I felt the time traveling buisness stuff in this was weak unlike some time-traveling in other cartoons. And THOSE I think are pretty good.

 

I also like the refernce in this episode too, like Twilight's messed up mane and tail, but I forgot who was she referencing.

 

And, correct me if I'm wrong, but did this episode even have a moral at the like it is supposed to? O_O If it did and I forgot, cleary the moral of the ending felt rushed to me or it just wasn't a good one, therefore I forgot about it.

 

Also sadly, it had no song. And I bet the song would be cool to if there was a small little singing segment in this episode.

 

And so, this concludes my review for this episode.

Edited December 29, 2013 by BrendenHoovesOkazaki

[TurtlesForSale 128]

Didn't like this episode as much as some others, how was there no doctor whooves and I found the whole thing of Twilight freaking out a bit boring as I like episodes with the other 5 but Twilight is the star of the show so i'm really not the one to complain about the main pony being in to many episodes. It wasnt terrible though, id give it a 6 out of 10 

[ggg-2 3,550]

"Why is nopony surprised that i'm here!?" um, my guess is, being the princess's personal (and favorite) student, you probably have free rein in the palace to go wherever you want? just my two bits there twi!

[Pastel 7,627]

Good episode, but I found Twilight was a bit dumb in it...

There're a lot of episodes in the 2nd season better than this one. :|

Edited April 9, 2014 by Blobulle

[GameBreakerMills 7]

Am I the only person who looks at this episode and thinks "looks like twilight has decided to cosplay as Snake from MGS 3 Snake Eater". I can't help it. She really looks like it. Must be the eyepatch.

[Rainboom Dash 1,055]

This is one of my favorite episodes of the whole show, even if Twilight was a bit out of character. It's one of the more funnier episodes (Twilight, Spike and Pinkie make a great trio) and I love time-travel stories.

Edited April 14, 2014 by Rainboom Dash

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

I absolutely loved this episode.  It's a quite respectable sci-fi story, with the classic chicken or egg time travel paradox.  By all rights, the episode should have never happened, but it did, and always will because Twi always makes the decision to go back in time, thus causing the episode to happen again in the first place.  I thought that this episode was a great way to introduce kids to the paradoxical nature of time travel in sci-fi, particularly young girls who typically might not be exposed to as much of this kind of thing.  In fact, I was so surprised by the quality and sci-fi nature of this plot, that I find myself wondering if this episode was partly talored to, or inspired by, us bronies.  Not that that's really a good thing.  Obviously, we don't want the show changed and targeted at adults, but did think this episode was really well done.

 

However, even though I obviously knew this wouldn't be the case, when I first saw "future" Twilight, part of me was hoping she would in fact turn out to be from a time some ten years in the future when all of Equestria is locked in an all-out war between ponies and dragons.  In her time, Ponyville has been wiped off the earth.  Canterlot has been reduced to rubble.  Celestia and Luna are dead.  The rest of the mane 6 are dead.  Twilight and Big Mac are the only survivors of Ponyville, and together they have been traveling for years to the ends of the post-apocalyptic wasteland, desperately searching for the one and only thing that will save all ponykind from total annihilation: the time travel spell tome that will allow Twilight to go back and stop the war from ever starting in the first place.  Oh yeah, I think they need to do this.

[hirito 4]

This episode got me into MLP so kudos to this episode! Also, the fact that there is a 2 year long discussion on episodes is incredible! I already am starting to really like these forums.