Summer of Pony ~ Session VI [S1E14-15]

[Rosewind]

Summer of Pony '12 ~ Session VI ~

Introduction/Schedule

Previous Sessions:

I, II, III, IV, V

Suited for Success, Feeling Pinkie Keen

Hiya, everypony! Weesh is off visiting his LSBBF, so I have full creative control this week!

So...this week should be short and sweet! We have two episodes to watch, a really neat Quote the Frame Game, and a quick recap of last week's goodies!

STAMP was pretty successful! Unfortunately Bloomberg had to get his leaves trimmed and Snowflake mysteriously vanished, but their legacy lives on with these fine STAMP submissions:

Nice one, Bronita!

If this was a contest, I think you'd be the clear winner, Angie! I laughed so hard at this one. Pure genius!

Oh Weeshy, you so silly!

Thanks for your great submissions, everypony!

Join in the awesome! Watch:

"Suited for Success" Original airdate: February 4, 2011

Rarity decides to make dresses for her friends to wear at the Grand Galloping Gala, and hold a fashion show to showcase them. However, she is stressed by the constant demands they make for how they want their dresses to look, and the news that famed fashion critic Hoity Toity (Trevor Devall) would be in attendance.

"Feeling Pinkie Keen" Original airdate: February 11, 2011

Twilight learns that Pinkie Pie has an unusual ability to sense happenings in the immediate future, known around Ponyville as "Pinkie Sense." Not willing to accept that all of the events her friend had predicted are anything but a mere coincidence, Twilight sets out to find the truth behind Pinkie's power and figure out the "doozy" she says is about to happen.

I never realized how many neat memes Suited for Success spawned, and of course, Feeling Pinkie Keen was Pinkie at her Pinkiest, so it's one of my favorites from S1! Give'um a watch, see how many memes came out of Suited for Success alone!

Quote the Frame Game:

This one should be loadsies of funsies! I've picked out a few frames with Weesh from this week's episode lineup, and I want you to figure out a super clever quote for each of them. We'll be featuring a bunch of them next week in Session VII, so go nuts!

First Frame:

Second Frame:

Secret, but fun frame:

Have at it, my little ponies! I can't wait to see what our community comes up with!

~ Rosie

Quote this too, if you want!

[Conor Colton]

Seems like fun

Hmm...

First Frame: "Ha! That's just a colander with Heart's Warming lights!"

Second Frame: "This YOUR mascara, Rarity?"

Secret, but fun frame: "Hey! I'm on next!"

[weesh]

Hey Guys!

My LSBFF is totally a brony now! In between all of our other activities, we have watched the first 37 episodes in the last week. We've been fishing/hiking/bird banding/salsa dancing/partying/etc, and she is taking a shower so I get a few minutes to participate!

First frame:

TS: you made a time machine out of Delorian?!

Second frame:

AJ: lots of people go to college for 7 years.

R: yeah, they're called Doctors.

Third frame:

(link contains explicit lyrics)

[starswirlthebearded]

First frame: (I apologize in advance)

TS: Now that I have you hooked up to the lie detector, I have but one question... What happened to Rainbow Dash?

PP: What? Nothing happened to her! She's in my basement where I left her!

Second frame

AJ: hehe. I didn't know you wore glasses four-eyes

R: Like I haven't heard that one before...

Third Frame:

I get to invade MLP?! TAKE THAT PINKIE PIE!

[weesh]

While I always lead with the the first two episodes, I usually ask new people what their favorite character is, and then I show them an episode that showcases that character. And "feeling pinkie keen" is my go-to episode when they say 'Pinkie'. At least half of the peoples have said her so far, so I have watched the episode many times. I love it! Mostly because I sympathize with Twilight so strongly.

[Davroth]

First Frame:

Pinkie: Ah, Twilight.. Are you sure this will work?

Twilight: I HAF NO IDEA!!

Second frame:

Rarity: Where did you hide that camera again?

Applejack: ...You are right in front of it..

Secret But Fun frame:

Rawr, I'm a cyclops. : D

[weesh]

Pinkie: Ah, Twilight.. Are you sure this will work?

Twilight: I HAF NO IDEA!!

Yay! I finally get a TF2 joke!

My two favorite parts about that scene are Twilight's complaints about Pinkie not getting any twitches and the locking mechanism that Pinkie just slips right out of.

[BaconofChaos]

First Frame:

"Do you expect me to talk?"

"No Ms. Pie, I expect you to die!"

Extended version:

"Do you expect me to talk?"

"No Ms. Pie, I expect you to die!"

"That's a shame, 'cos I reeeeally like to talk! I'll talk about anything! Like, did you know that bees make honey from nectar? I only just found that out. How cool is that? I mean, you'd think something made by bugs would be gross, but I use honey in my cooking all the time it makes everything taste so super sweet and have you heard that saying "the birds and the bees"? I always wondered what that meant 'cos my Mom would always tell me I'd find out when I was older but I'm older so so I asked Mrs. Cake about it and she said it was something about babies but I don't really see how birds and bees would have anything to do with babies except that they all start with the letter B so I thought about other stuff that begins with B like bananas I like bananas I had this sweet banana sundae yesterday it was so good they served it with toffee ice cream and-"

Quote this too, if you want!

"Guys, I think she's crashed! Help me find the reboot button! I know it's here somewhere!"

In other news, up until Art of the Dress, Rarity was my least favourite of the mane 6. Afterwards she was my favourite, and remained so for quite some time (nowadays my favourite pony rotates on a roughly weekly basis). This episode was great for making me see everything that was special about her. And the song was fantastic.

When I first watched Pinkie Keen, the whole thing made me feel uncomfortable. The combo of Pinkie gaining precognition out of nowhere (which I knew would never be mentioned again (and I was right, for season 1 at least )), Twilight being kind of aggravating, the overuse of slapstick comedy, and the moral at the end made me dislike the episode. After a while I went back and rewatched, trying to just enjoy it for what it was, and I realised that it was actually a pretty good episode. I still think the slapstick was a bit much, but really, it's a genuinely fun episode.

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

I got my sister to watch Feeling Pinkie Keen a little while back. Inconceivably, she didn't have any comment one way or the other on it. Its usually such a polarizing episode, I was expecting her to either say she enjoyed it or hated but nope, nothing. It was the first episode I ever watched, and I still think its amazing. The moral of the story is a nice interplay between fact and faith that, in the end, doesn't really diminish either. (I've written pages about that particular fact by now, I could probably write a thesis paper about that episode.)

Frame 1

Pinkie Pie: Explain again. Why is there a colander on my head?

Twilight Sparkle: Oh, I wouldn't worry about that Pinkie, I wouldn't want you to strain your noodle.

Pinkie Pie: ...

Frame 2

Rarity: I hope you can see because I am rolling my eyes as hard as I possibly can.

Applejack: Actually Rarity, yer kinda facing the other way there... just so's ya know.

[weesh]

I got my sister to watch Feeling Pinkie Keen a little while back. Inconceivably, she didn't have any comment one way or the other on it. Its usually such a polarizing episode, I was expecting her to either say she enjoyed it or hated but nope, nothing.

So after 9 days of hanging with my sister, she is gone. We pony binged from episode 1 to episode 52. When we got to the end of Feeling Pinkie Keen (which seems like a very long time ago at this point), she said something to the effect of "I'm Pinkie and you're Twilight, huh?"

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

Well, I've always said that Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle make a good team

Now, on to my Suited for Success review!

As an artist myself, I have to say that Suited for Success holds a very special place in my heart. I think for a lot of people it was the episode where Rarity proved she was a cool character. My own struggles to break into the art profession have given me a strong empathy for what Rarity is going through in this episode, compromising on her vision to make her friends happy.

Poor opal, Rarity just doesn't speak cat at all

You can't wear this *eh* old thing. Its only a minute or so into the show and Rarity is already making me chuckle.

Rainbow Dash "Oh, I love fun things!" This is just another reason why Rainbow Dash is best pony.

I think part of the message of the episode is balance. (Other than the expressed moral that is.) The conflict swaps from two extremes from the beginning to the end. At the start, Rarity is overconfident and her friends are hesitant to accept her generosity at all, then in the middle it switches so that Rarity loses her confidence and her friends are taking too much advantage of her generosity. By the end though, they realize that they'd have been better off somewhere in the middle. Accepting, but not taking for granted. Offering, but not over-extending.

As a professional artist, I can say that if the client doesn't tell you precisely what they want at the start, it is often a good idea to keep the client involved in the development process, even if you don't actually listen to any of their suggestions. You show them what you've got during the rough draft stage, let them give input and then move on, that way they know what to expect when you're finished. Since the other five ended up being pleased with their dresses in the end, I think part of it was just managing expectations. Which, of course, is foreshadowing for the gala itself. They expected something different and thus weren't able to enjoy what they had even though it wasn't any worse.

Fluttershy's "if you really want to know..." speech is part of why I think Fluttershy is awesome. She may seem like she is devoid of personality because she's so quiet at times, but then she goes and shows that she's actually thinks about things a lot, she just doesn't always express herself.

One thing that always impressed me with this episode was the camera work. The creative cuts during the song and the way each scene flows together along with the music during the second fashion show, its all just fantastic in every way I can think of. Using the twirling lasso or cutting scissors to change shots is excellent. ALso, I know its just a song and dance routine, but Rarity is a pretty talented telekinetic, moving all those things around the room at once.

Honestly, I thought Rainbow Dash's "bad dress" wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for the helmet.

The first appearance of dj-pon3, best DJ in Ponyville. No, best DJ in all of Equestria!

(I'm going to have to be honest, I had to fast forward past the first fashion show when I watched this the first time... it was too embarrassing.)

Rarity's monologues are hilarious, she's so melodramatic and even though she's miserable I can't help but laugh at her voice acting.

Fluttershy: Panic?

Rainbow Dash: That's your answer for everything!

Before I finish, I'll leave you with this, my favorite Art of the Dress Remix

[weesh]

(I'm going to have to be honest, I had to fast forward past the first fashion show when I watched this the first time... it was too embarrassing.)

I watched it the first time...and never since. I tried, but it was too hard. I wish they had just shown them going out there, and then the aftermath.

[BaconofChaos]

I was the same way actually. Kept pausing in order to cringe. Same thing with the CMC theme song and Spike's "dastardly" plan.

[weesh]

I was the same way actually. Kept pausing in order to cringe. Same thing with the CMC theme song and Spike's "dastardly" plan.

Pausing it?! That sounds even worse! At least if you leave the room it marches on without you!

The hearts and hooves day has a few of those moments too.

[BaconofChaos]

Pausing it?! That sounds even worse! At least if you leave the room it marches on without you!

The hearts and hooves day has a few of those moments too.

Eh, I pause it to give me time to steel myself for what's coming next. If I were watching it on TV, then yeah I'd probably just walk out for a bit, but when I'm watching it on youtube, I hate to just skip forward or leave it running. I'd hate to miss something, no matter how bad it might be.

Of course, now that I've watched those bits, they no longer bother me. Though I still watch the CMC theme song with the volume on low.

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

This is going to be a hard one to review, since we're now getting to the episodes I've already covered the first time they came out. I could probably just copy paste my old thoughts on it, but that doesn't seem like a good idea.

I always thought it was kind of funny that Twilight takes predictions from ancient tome very seriously, but doesn't believe Pinkie Pie can predict the future.

Its my personal opinion that part of Twilight Sparkle's special talent must be falling off of things, cause she does it all the time. She falls off a couple of cliffs in the pilot, falls in a ditch and she falls off another cliff while trying to escape the hydra.

I didn't notice it the first time, maybe because the colors are so faded, but it made me chuckle to realize that Twilight is standing on an actual soap box while she's giving her little "doesn't make sense" speech.

I don't get too involved in the "Electricity in Equestria," debates but I thought it was interesting to note that Twilight's science gizmo thing is actually steam powered. I mean, just watch it go, its spitting out little puffs of steam!

(I really liked Twilight's custom climbing up the stairs animation when they're finished with the experiments, something about it is just really cool.)

I wonder, if Pinkie Pie hadn't predicted it, would Twilight have fallen down the stairs into Applejacks cellar?

Pinkie Pie: "Letting Twilight secretly follow me all day without me knowing!" This is perhaps one of the funniest lines ever spoken by a pony.

Fluttershy isn't a very good flier. She spends all day flying to froggy bottom bog, and the other three run there in just a few minutes.

Love Applejack's deadpan "of course not."

If the episode had just been Twilight getting smashed, stung and otherwise beaten up, I wouldn't have liked this episode nearly as much. Once everyone thinks Fluttershy might be in danger though, everything takes a turn for the heart warming. Spike and Applejack's conversation about what they think might be happening ("Me too, but I'm thinking about it anyway.") is so well played, its hard not to feel some kind of empathy for how concerned they are.

Then even though Twilight Sparkle has spent the first half of the episode being a big grouch, she puts herself in harms way repeatedly to save her friends, going to show just how much she really cares. Saving Spike, grabbing Pinkie by the tail and distracting the Hydra while everyone else gets to safety.

"What would a brave pony like Rainbow Dash do? Charge!" Even though Rainbow Dash could just as easily fly away, she's not that kind of pony.

I really hope we get to see Twilight burst into flames in a future episode. It'd be like if Pinkie Sense didn't show up again ever.

Before I go, I leave you with a remix of the hydra's theme.