Rating:
If ever there was an episode that called out for the
luxuries of a 30-minute runtime that liberally enjoys the scenery and action,
then Power Ponies is it. The mane six
and Spike find themselves sucked into a comic book and transported to a
completely different world where they all have super powers and battle the
forces of evil, but all they can think about is quickly getting out of there to
return to their normal boring lives and cleaning. Spike has to narrate the action to acclimate
the neophyte mane six to this alternate reality, but that destroys any possible
sense of discovery. With Meghan McCarthy
at the helm (of three total writers), the world-deciding conflict is naturally
over in rapid fashion, although this almost qualifies as difficult given her
previous work. Mostly though, Power
Ponies offers only a huge sense of disappointment. It should have been one of the most fun
episodes in the canon, but instead feels rushed and unexciting. Nothing happens that isn’t predictable (more
or less), and there isn’t much of a point either. Spike only has an opportunity to succeed
because his character in the book is so much of a dunce that the main villain
ignores him. Unless this episode
foreshadows a later story where the exact same thing happens to the mane six,
Spike will only learn that he’s slightly better than the worst character in
comic book history. Oh, and Rainbow Dash
doesn’t care that Pinkie Pie is the fastest pony now.
I’ve never really understood the fetish a lot of people have
for comic books. They’re absurd,
awkward, and troperific, and seem mostly geared for action rather than anything
useful. Not that I’d know of course, but
I don’t think McCarthy really does either given how many clichés she hits. Of course the ponies all get ridiculously OP
super-powers, of course the bad guy monologues to her subsequent destruction,
of course Fluttershy finally gets mad at a small thing and turns into the Hulk,
and of course Spike saves the day so that he can feel better about
himself. Yes, it’s nice to see Spike not
be a complete disaster in an episode that sort of focuses on him, but it never
feels like he accomplishes anything either.
Obviously he’s better than his alter-ego Humdrum, even if the comic book
character is supposed to represent most fans’ opinion of him (given his
terrible starring roles, who can blame them?).
Spike was obviously going to come to the mane six’s rescue because
otherwise there’d be no point (and everyone would be dead). So blah.
At least the villain was more credible than most others on
the series, but she still followed the usual tropes. The Mane-iac has our heroes down early, but
leaves them be instead of finishing them off.
Then she captures the mane six later, but instead of killing them,
they’re left tied up (sort of) and awaiting a totally soon to come hideous death
from an improbable invention. Naturally
this leads to a long speech about how the world is absolutely going to be
destroyed soon, which distracts her while the heroes are saved by an unlikely
source. It’s like every episode of the
1960’s Batman series, but without the fun nods of The Incredibles. There isn’t
any acknowledgement of the trope, just fulfillment.
Thankfully the Mane-iac’s attitude is better than her arc,
as her delightful glee makes her feel like a strong threat. You gotta love her design too, with that
Medusa hair serving as de facto legs.
The only previous villain to match her levels of fun and crazy is
Discord, and unsurprisingly these two are far superior to Chrysalis or (yawn)
King Sombra. The Mane-iac is similar to
the Joker in that way (along with the appearance) because they’re not entirely
evil as much as being capable of doing anything next.
But I bring up The
Incredibles because that was a comic book movie that knew it was absurd but
actually developed its characters, along with giving the villain a good reason
for his actions. Or I could list a
number of the host of recent comic book movies that at least try to ground the
action in some reality. Not that I’d
expect that from My Little Pony, but
this is a genre that is being worn literally to the tread in recent years, and
Power Ponies has nothing new to offer.
What I want is to spend a lot of time in this world, enjoy the action
sequences, and learn who the ponies’ alter-egos are and why they have their
various superpowers. Instead, it feels
like Spike is just making things up and they become true because he’s in a
dream world or something. And again this
is another massive retcon from McCarthy, because Spike is suddenly a huge comic
book fan with an encyclopedic knowledge of this specific universe that somehow
has gone completely unnoticed before.
Never mind what we theoretically discovered in the previous episode, it
turns out you can be a comic book expert from one day of reading a
spooky-looking thing you found at a definitely not shady store. And then the book disappears at the end
because fuck you if you think we’re ever mentioning this crap again.
Despite the scathingness, Power Ponies is at least better
than the many bad episodes of previous seasons.
The animation department definitely showed up, as the designs are
colorful while the comic book world looks appropriately both dark and
fantastic. Even if the action scenes
aren’t spectacular, they look solid and are handled very well given everything
going on. But that just makes Power
Ponies the equivalent of a CGI masturbatory fest where the budget was blown on
design and effects while leaving little money for pesky things like story,
plot, and characters. Diversion episodes
can definitely be fun even if they don’t relate to the main arcs, and Power
Ponies does qualify in spots. But
rushing through all the events and having Spike tell rather than show robs the
episode of its intended effect.
If my review of Double Rainboom seems strangely positive
despite all of the problems, it’s because they did things that the actual team
can’t seem to muster. Honestly, this
material would have been perfect for that crew, since it is full of references
and action without much need for an enthralling story or character
development. Not that the student
animators could’ve come close to matching the professionals, but Power Ponies
needed to feel like Double Rainboom does.
The college group loves its created universe and enjoys spending time
there, while the pros feel like they can’t wait to get out. I understand Power Ponies couldn’t be 30
minutes or so in length, but trying to fit this story into a 3-act structure
just didn’t work, especially when the entire first act is just setup. It would be different if every TV show had to
follow this arrangement, but they don’t anymore. Game Of
Thrones’ episode lengths can vary as much as ten minutes throughout the
season, and The Sopranos was the same
way before it. My Little Pony may have started out as a kids show, but it’s clearly
grown into something bigger. The format almost
certainly won’t ever change, but after the chop jobs done to Larson’s work in
season 3 and the cuts made to the early fourth season episodes, there’s no
question it needs to. Until hell freezes
over then, expect more complaints about episodes feeling rushed or not working
with their slotted times. Material is the
length it needs to be, no good movie is too long, etc. Maybe the reason My Little Pony is lacking great episodes is because it’s trying to
fit itself into an old system that just isn’t working anymore. The problems evident in Power Ponies can no
longer be ignored.
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