Rating:
And lo, onto this tenth episode of the
first season, a savior was born. Not
that you’d realize it from what was presented here.
M.A. Larson has written the best episodes of the first three seasons of My Little Pony, but like all of the
other writers on the show, his initial offering is a complete bomb. Swarm Of The Century is not nearly as bad as the awful string of
episodes that came before it, but there’s not a whole lot of positive
either. The plot is a Ponyville update
of the classic original Star Trek episode The Trouble With Tribbles. The Tribbles and the Parasprites here are
basically the same species, in that they’re both incredibly cute, have an
insatiable appetite, and are born pregnant.
Only the Parasprites have eyes and wings, and one wonders how they didn't do more damage than they did. The
Star Trek episode survives this somewhat sketchy plot by providing a host of
iconic moments, such as the fight on the space station (with the subsequent
dressing down of the officers by Captain Kirk), and the scene when Kirk opens a food
storage bay only to have Tribbles rain down upon him. The Tribbles’ conflict with the Klingons also
provides a number of fun callbacks throughout the series. Unfortunately, the closest Larson comes to
matching those moments happens when Pinkie Pie’s one-pony band marches into
town to a rousing march. Other than
that, Swarm Of The Century is a minimally disturbing horror movie that doesn't really
have much of a point.
Princess Celestia will be visiting
Ponyville again for some reason, so most of the town is freaking out over
it. Fluttershy is rounding up flowers
when she discovers a round ball of a creature with eyes and wings. Immediately taking a liking to the cute
little guy, she chooses not to be disturbed when he devours a complete bucket
of apples. Fluttershy has to show him to
her friends, and she again chooses to be nonplussed when he suddenly has two
companions of his own. Twilight happily
accepts the gift of a new pet, but Pinkie Pie looks annoyed and starts rounding
up musical instruments for an unspecified purpose. Before heading home, Twilight visits Rarity’s
place to show off her new pet, and like before finds she now has three. Rainbow Dash (looking as feminine as you’ll
ever see her and wearing an 18th century wig for some reason) and
Rarity happily take the new ones, which means they all have pets now
(duh-duh-DUHHHH!).
Twilight wakes up the next morning to
find that her one pet has now turned into a herd of Parasprites. This is naturally also the case at the other
mane six abodes, which means they spend most of the rest of the episode trying to figure out how to get rid of them.
The Parasprites are still hungry, so they spend most of this period
eating. That is, when they’re not
barfing up their kids. While this is as
gross as Rarity observes, Larson was right not to bring the pregnancy issue to
the show, and any alternative would have been even worse. Applejack’s herding ability rounds up most of
them and sends them off in a ball to Fillydelphia (apparently), but returning to Fluttershy’s place reveals they didn't get all of them (it was unnecessary
and silly to have Fluttershy admit she kept one, although perhaps the development was
preferred to having them magically reappear.
Unfortunately, this doesn't explain how the remaining few reproduced so
fast).
Twilight casts a spell on the
Parasprites to make them stop eating food, but now they just devour all of the
inedible objects in town instead. Just
when it looks like all is lost, Pinkie Pie marches into town, which reveals why
she thought it was so important to round up various musical instruments
throughout the show. She Pied Pipers the
Parasprites out of Ponyville and into the forest, where they willingly decide
not to return or go anywhere else.
Princess Celestia happens to run into the mane six on the road, and
mistakenly thinks Pinkie Pie’s reception is a parade. Celestia tells the ponies she has to go deal
with an infestation problem in Fillydelphia and will have to postpone the
visit. The mane six breathe a sigh of
relief at somehow keeping the princess from witnessing the mess in town, but
the upcoming reconstruction of Ponyville isn't exactly a cause for
celebration.
The Parasprite/Tribble epidemic may
make for decent television, but there’s not much of a real world basis for it anymore
(unless you broadly want to go the “human beings as virus” route, or compare
them to bacteria, but the latter aren’t cute or taken home willingly
as pets). Since that means the episode doesn’t have much to say about any issues, Swarm Of The Century’s “message” boils
down to Pinkie Pie being misunderstood by her friends. While this may be a problem in some circles,
Pinkie didn't do herself any favors by never explaining why she wanted the
musical instruments or what the potential danger with Parasprites would
be. She’s the only one who’s seen them
before (although how or when she has is never explained), but she never tells
her friends to get rid of those three “pets” right away because they’ll
eventually take over the whole town.
When witnessing her friends rolling a ball of Parasprites out of town, Pinkie doesn't tell them that it won’t work and that playing music is the only
way. She only acts surprised that they
don’t magically know this bit of trivial information. All of her friends apologize to Pinkie at the
end of the episode for not listening to her, but can you blame them? The apology probably should’ve been the other
way around. When watching the episode for the first time, Pinkie’s motives are indeed mysterious, but the intrigue is gone on repeat viewings. Yes, Pinkie
Pie is different, but she didn't seem all that much a “black sheep” in previous
episodes. After watching her needlessly
inhale large cakes meant for the princess, the question must be asked: who is the real enemy in this show???
These lapses of focus are atypical of
Larson, and thankfully he improved immensely his next time out. If there’s one positive in Swarm Of The Century, it’s that the dialogue is solid, and Larson’s understanding of the characters is already
present. Rainbow Dash’s boredom at being
a model is almost a teeny bit over the top (although no doubt appropriate), but
everything else is spot on. Fluttershy
is the logical choice to encounter the first Parasprite, Applejack takes
charge of the roundup, and Pinkie Pie is the only one we could believe being a
one-man band. Twilight’s
fretting over the princess’s arrival eventually leads her to go crazy long
before Lesson Zero, while the Rarity and Rainbow Dash scenes accurately show
their relationship even if a bit absurdly (how was Dash going to look “nice” in
something that old?).
All of the potential is there, which
means Larson’s later success isn't too surprising if you watched closely. But whether Larson just didn't have much to
work with, or whether he dropped the ball, Swarm Of The Century just doesn't come off at all. The endless Parasprite
scenes seem like filler at some point, and it’s incomprehensible that they wouldn't have completely wiped Ponyville off the map with their eating and
reproduction habits Their origin is
unexplained, and we’re given no good reason why they would leave at the end of
the episode and never return either (the Tribbles had the advantage of being
immobile and confined to their one planet and the docked spaceship, and it is
later stated that the Klingons eradicated their home world). While seeing the pony version of Raiders Of The Lost Ark was fun in Read
It And Weep, Larson could find nothing new to bring to the Tribble saga, and
that makes Swarm Of The Century mostly a chore. A
relatively interesting chore that shows writing skill in parts, but still a
difficult and inconsequential episode overall.
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