Rating:
Time travel is a popular science fiction subject with plenty
of potential for screwing up. It’s
probably impossible in theory (at least backwards), and never takes into
account the earth’s rotation or orbit.
Still, the amount of derived prospective stories is immense, and need
not be limited to sci-fi settings. As
Ponyville’s version, It’s About Time still contains that paradox of only
happening because of time travel which wouldn’t have occurred otherwise, but
everything else in the plot is surprisingly sound. Twilight receives a visit from her future
self looking like a ninja pirate and apparently warning of impending doom next
Tuesday. She spends the subsequent week
or so freaking out as little by little her appearance matches future
Twilight’s. Naturally she finally
realizes there was no such disaster, but going back in time finds her unable to
stop past Twilight from worrying.
Instead of just a fun meaningless story, M.A. Larson covers issues
regarding our perception of the future and how we often feel like it will never
happen. Additionally, Twilight’s fretting
about something happening ends up being its cause rather than some magic evil
force, which can also paradoxically be true in real life. While Larson’s dialogue isn’t always crisp
and not every scene works, the thought he clearly put in stands out. It’s About Time features fun storytelling and
excellent exploration of its subjects, when many season two episodes didn’t
have either. Despite not quite matching
Larson’s best work and being technically frivolous, It’s About Time stands with
the many entertaining and memorable episodes Larson wrote for this season.
In a rare occurrence though, Larson kind of wastes the
teaser. Spike awakens from an ice cream
dream of Rarity to find Twilight pacing and mumbling. Her reason is that she didn’t schedule time for
scheduling, which sounds a lot like the checklist hoopla from Lesson Zero. Fortunately, Larson has Twilight get off a
good line by asking how Spike can sleep at 3am.
While all vaguely time related, it doesn’t have much to do with the
story.
After the credits end, a huge flash of light surprises Twilight
and envelops her study. Another Twilight
warps in, but her appearance is almost unrecognizable. She wears a black skintight suit, an eye
patch, has other assorted cuts and bandages, and sports something close to a
Mohawk. Present Twilight assumes there
must be some sort of apocalyptic disaster in her future, but her excitement at
discovering time travel is possible means she doesn’t give the other Twilight
any time to talk. All future Twilight can squeeze out is that she’s from next
Tuesday, time spells are in the Starswirl The Bearded wing, and whatever you
do, don’t…
Twilight realizes this warns of something, but she can’t
figure out what. Her first recourse is
to take precautions by “disaster-proofing” Ponyville. Despite apparently being a success, the
three-headed Cerberus’ sudden appearance suggests it wasn’t enough. After taking him back to his post, Twilight
receives a letter from Celestia regarding her hell beast’s disappearance. Spike wasn’t expecting it, so the letter hits
Twilight’s face and produces a striking paper cut. While normally just a minor inconvenience,
Twilight recognizes her future self had one too. Nothing she has done so far affected the coming
disaster.
This doesn’t stop her from trying, although at first it
does. Twilight decides doing nothing will
work, and it probably would be if she could stand there unmoving. Unfortunately, Spike starts acting up by
eating lots of ice cream (it’s future Spike’s problem) and seeing what will
happen if he tickles Twilight. After she
stops Spike by throwing him against the wall with magic, another fireball unwittingly
cuts Twilight’s hair. Visiting Madame
Pinkie’s salon similarly checks off another facet of future Twilight’s
appearance, as does her subsequent attempt to “monitor everything” while
avoiding sleep.
Remembering the location of time spells, Twilight takes
Pinkie Pie and Spike to Canterlot in hopes that they can uncover one which stops
time. After donning black suits to
better blend in at night, Spike points out they don’t really need to be
sneaking around. This is confirmed when
a guard “catches” Twilight but just opens the Starswirl The Bearded wing for
them. With sunrise imminent, all three
search frantically but unsuccessfully for such a spell. Fearing the worst as light appears, Spike
soon realizes nothing is going to happen.
After worrying for no reason, Twilight goes back in time once Pinkie
finds a single use spell allowing her that ability. Of course, the exchange with past Twilight
goes exactly like before, and she is unable to stop herself from spending a
week needlessly freaking out. At least
that ordeal has passed now, but Spike must still deal with a stomachache.
While somewhat ancillary, It’s About Time does explore how
worrying about something can make it more likely to happen. This is the main discovery of Michael Moore’s
Bowling For Columbine (regarding the United States’ prevalence of gun violence despite
a “right to bear arms” theoretically preventing such an outcome), but the point
is still made even using fiction. Almost
everything happens because Twilight feared some disaster might occur that never
did, when she was better off living normally and getting sleep.
Likewise, Spike’s gorging on ice cream seems a dumb
throwaway but is actually an equally effective point. Many people make decisions for now rather
than later, often believing that the future will never happen. Perhaps it won’t in some cases, but time
keeps moving inexorably forward despite many world-ending prophecies. Living only for the present will inevitably
produce future hardships, and not necessarily just a stomachache. While this thread seems slipped in, it’s
actually more important than the main one and is depicted well and succinctly.
Unusually for Larson, It’s About Time only focuses on a few characters,
but they’re all excellently chosen. Twilight
gets into this predicament because she’s a nerdy fangirl, and is obviously
well-suited to organize repairs around town.
None of the other mane six members would react properly, but everything
Twilight does suits her perfectly. While
taking a bit of pain, it’s all in service of the episode’s lesson, and
Twilight’s new look rates as more badass than embarrassing. Spike is also fine while he keeps out of the
way eating ice cream. Not having anything
snarky to say about everything going on is a good sign.
Pinkie Pie hangs around a bit more than she probably should,
but is again much better supporting than in the lead. She happily looks at Twilight’s telescope
when asked to calibrate it, and when quizzed later if she did so, wonderfully
responds “I have no idea!”. Becoming a
fortune teller allows Pinkie to smartly criticize that horrid Pinkie Sense Merriwether
Williams drudged back up earlier. “It’s
only good for vague and immediate events.”
Larson’s words are a great sarcastic stab at this “skill” that should
never have been introduced. Another nice
thread is Larson introducing balls stashed “all over” so that Pinkie can pull
an eye patch out of Twilight’s fireplace at the necessary moment. Such insights
make Pinkie Pie much easier to take than earlier roles which concentrate on her
repeating stupid phrases or acting like a moron.
Even if not entirely plausible or dramatic (since the ending
is technically spoiled early), It’s About Time has a sense of fun that many of
the surrounding episodes lack. While not
necessarily an adventure, watching Twilight slowly evolve into her future self
is a treat since everyone does the same thing in real life. We never seem to notice how every little
change adds up to much bigger ones.
Perhaps the only disappointment is Twilight’s return, which should have
at least been done from different angles.
But otherwise Larson creates another strong episode that doesn’t shy
away from solid lessons. Whether you’re
a fan of time travel or not, the thought It’s About Time displays has to be
appreciated.
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