Support NeoGAF

[Orcastar]

Guys, Dr. Whooves was obviously an amalgamation of Doctor Who and Doc from the Back to the Future trilogy, i.e. two different doctors associated with time travel. He even had Doc's mind-reading helmet in his lab.

Also, in Back to the Future, Doc's actual name is Emmet Brown. Brown! As in the colour of Dr Whooves's coat! It all makes sense!

...

I'll show myself out.

 

[Gold Coins for Cats]

Spoiler

holy crap this is almost more anvilicious than Harrison Bergeron in tearing progressives a new one. The evil cutie mark is practically identical to the HRC's ferchrissakes.

Guys, Dr. Whooves was obviously an amalgamation of Doctor Who and Doc from the Back to the Future trilogy, i.e. two different doctors associated with time travel. He even had Doc's mind-reading helmet in his lab.

Also, in Back to the Future, Doc's actual name is Emmet Brown. Brown! As in the colour of Dr Whooves's coat! It all makes sense!

...

I'll show myself out.

Nope, you're right, I can see reference as well. It's also 2015, 30 years after 1985, and the year BttF2 takes place in. Meta!

Spoiler

Which is why I'm betting heavily for the Cubs to win the world series.

 

[Loona]

Onto a topic that can be discussed, which new side character do you think was established well enough to appear more often with speaking roles, as opposed to fading back into the background? Derpy was handled much better than before and she was a lot of fun, so I think that's the option most people would go with if they had to pick one, but I also thought Doctor Whooves was set up well enough that he can be used in a variety of situations in the future. He can easily fit into a Ludwig Von Drake / Gyro Gearloose / nutty professor role. Although I suppose he would be taking some of Twilight's steam if they used him for that more often, now that I think of it.

Bon-Bon/Sweetie Drops and Doc Whooves got the more potential for future story uses:

- while Bon-Bon claimed to only have to work with the creature of the day, whatever agency she's working it would make sense to be under Celestia's supervision to some extent, and with visits to Ponyville like the one in that actual episode, it seems possible for her to get reassigned to something else, or at least to keep an eye on whatever issue, providing backup, whatever - in the very least, it would make sense to have her show up to provide info on a given episode's crisis, maybe using some poor disguise so the mane 6 couldn't tell it's her, but the audience could.
To put this in terminology I recall from Legend of the Five Rings, Twilight and the rest of the mane 6 might b Celestia's right hand/hoof, but Bon-Bon can be her "underhand".

- Doc, of course, could handle a lot of research/lab stuff - Twilight comes off as more theoretical, and her new responsibilities can keep her busy enough that she can know about some issue and read about it, but not have the actual time to put non-field work into it.

 

[SigmasonicX]

100th episode art from Rarijack Daily. It is somewhat remarkable how many characters can easily be identified without color, given how so many use the same base model.

And Larson says that the changeling at the wedding was a friend of Matilda's, so update your fanfics!

 

[Link Man]

Love the CMC posing for the camera down in the corner.

 

[SigmasonicX]

More details from the Larson panel about episode 100, including video
Some interesting things not mentioned before:
* The original plan for the episode was just Twilight leading a tour of Ponyville. Rogers was the one who came up with the wedding thing.
* Hasbro was the one who wanted Vinyl and Octavia to be roommates.
* Sombra was going to appear in front of Octavia and there would have been a song battle between the two.
* "Magical Mystery Cure" originally ended with Twilight and Dash flying all around Equestria and going to the land of dragons.
* At the start, when Derpy says, "You gotta help me, Doc," it was originally going to cut to Dr. Caballeron (Daring Do's Belloq), whereupon she realizes she was talking to the wrong doctor.
* Coco Pommel was originally going to be in this episode, along with green-haired Carrot Top. Now, does this mean the earlier reveal that Coco was in this season was referring to this episode?
* Hasbro was the one who pushed for the episode, but in the end, it was Larson who requested more pandering.

 

[wookieofdoom]

I have to say, this moment has to be my favorite moment from this entire show. I think the only other moment that comes close is the Scootaloo/Rainbow Dash sister scene from Sleepless in Ponyville:

And no, I don't ship these two together as I can't stand shipping. It shows them as good friends, a regular odd couple with mutual respect. I really, really hope to see these two talk again. For me, their scenes are a highlight from this series and a good reminder of why I like this show so much.

 

[draetenth]

More details from the Larson panel about episode 100, including video
Some interesting things not mentioned before:
* The original plan for the episode was just Twilight leading a tour of Ponyville. Rogers was the one who came up with the wedding thing.
* Hasbro was the one who wanted Vinyl and Octavia to be roommates.
* Sombra was going to appear in front of Octavia and there would have been a song battle between the two.
* "Magical Mystery Cure" originally ended with Twilight and Dash flying all around Equestria and going to the land of dragons.
* At the start, when Derpy says, "You gotta help me, Doc," it was originally going to cut to Dr. Caballeron (Daring Do's Belloq), whereupon she realizes she was talking to the wrong doctor.
* Coco Pommel was originally going to be in this episode, along with green-haired Carrot Top. Now, does this mean the earlier reveal that Coco was in this season was referring to this episode?
* Hasbro was the one who pushed for the episode, but in the end, it was Larson who requested more pandering.

Good for Hasbro for pushing for this episode. TBH, I didn't really care for most of the cut content: the Derpy scene with Dr. Caballeron would have been nice and seeing Coco would have been nice as well. However, I'm a bit disappointed the guard scene was cut. I'm still curious if all guards are look alikes/twins (like Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny in Pokemon) or if they look the same due to magic armor. Plus, bat ponies are best ponies - I would have liked to see more of them.

 

[brian577]

. I'm still curious if all guards are look alikes/twins (like Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny in Pokemon) or if they look the same due to magic armor.

Magic armor was pretty much confirmed back in Season 3 during the premier. When a guard removed his helmet his eye color changed.

 

[draetenth]

Magic armor was pretty much confirmed back in Season 3 during the premier. When a guard removed his helmet his eye color changed.

Really? Huh, can't say I remember that.

 

[brian577]

Really? Huh, can't say I remember that.

First scene of the premier.
Before

After

 

[SigmasonicX]

Really weird that there isn't a preview for "Princess Spike" besides that new general commercial, or even a promo picture.

 

[PhoenixDawn]

Really weird that there isn't a preview for "Princess Spike" besides that new general commercial, or even a promo picture.

Have to keep Spike's wings a secret for as long as they can!

 

[SigmasonicX]

Honestly, I'd be alright with Spike getting wings. Or at least an explanation for why he doesn't have wings even in his giant form.

 

[SigmasonicX]

The hell? No one is talking about this episode? I suppose I'll watch this episode later with the assumption that it's extremely dull.

 

[PhoenixDawn]

The hell? No one is talking about this episode? I suppose I'll watch this episode later with the assumption that it's extremely dull.

It's a spike episode, you probably already know what it going to happen in it 100%. It sucks that even the new writers on the show seem to be forced to replay the same stupid Spike plotline over and over in almost every episode that focuses on him. At least it's out of their system for this season hopefully and we don't get any more Spike-centric episodes... That's about the nicest thing I can say about it, haha.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Yeah, I wasn't a fan of this episode. It started out well enough, with an interesting venue and set of background characters, but as soon as it presented Spike as unappreciated yet again (despite there being crystal ponies there), I knew it was going to be bad. The moral didn't even work, because the flood was caused by things Spike did when he was just acting in Twilight's best interest. Now, it could have worked if Cadance had offered to do Twilight's work when she talked to Spike midway through the episode and Spike turned her down, but they didn't do that.

At least sleepy Twi was cute.

EDIT: Book horse in her natural habitat

 

[s_mirage]

Not a massive fan of this episode. It was okay I suppose, but as SigmasonicX said, the moral fails since the decisions which caused the problem were the ones Spike made when he was just interpreting Cadence's instructions.

Easily the weakest episode of the season so far.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Those all could've been avoided if Celestia had donated guards to protect her.

 

[BDGAME]

This episode is so nothing that I can say. It is not bad and not good either. Like a filler.

At least that say introduce some cute characters.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I enjoyed this one well enough. As everyone else is saying, it suffers from being kinda the same story Spike always gets, being an amalgam of "Spike screws everything up" and "Dragon greed/general selfishness".

I feel like Cadance maybe has a bit to answer for here too. Surely she knew Twilight was going to be constantly harassed during her nap? What did she think Spike was going to do about that?

So anyway, fair to say it isn't a strong episode, but by the same token it's nowhere near as egregious as some of the worst episodes in the series. I liked all the new characters and I found the dialogue to be pretty nice.

 

[Link Man]

Well, the episode wasn't completely worthless. It had some cute Twilight moments.

 

[draetenth]

Well, I just got a chance to watch it and Sigma pretty much covered it: standard Spike is unappreciated episode and the moral was kind of off.

Honestly, I thought it was a bit of a dud episode. It felt like they just over exaggerated things (it was so predictable that everything would go horribly wrong) and handed out the idiot ball. Seriously, Cadence keeps popping up, but doesn't offer any help until the very end? Not even a couple of guards or something?

 

[PaulloDEC]

Well, I just got a chance to watch it and Sigma pretty much covered it: standard Spike is unappreciated episode and the moral was kind of off.

Honestly, I thought it was a bit of a dud episode. It felt like they just over exaggerated things (it was so predictable that everything would go horribly wrong) and handed out the idiot ball. Seriously, Cadence keeps popping up, but doesn't offer any help until the very end? Not even a couple of guards or something?

In a funny kind of way, Spike is one of the few characters who doesn't act like an idiot in this episode. Why did they wait so long to trim the damn trees? Why can't the polo players keep the damn ball on the ground? Why doesn't Cadance consider all the ponies who'll be wanting to see Twilight?

Seriously Canterlot, get your shit together.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Super early art:
How to make a five-minute episode

Fargo pony was cute

By the way, Cadance creating crystals was interesting, like a good version of Sombra's ability.

And I'm surprised to already see humanized art. By the way, it turns out this guy's been drawing a bunch of humanized art for this season's episodes and I didn't realize.

EDIT: Decided to trim the OP a bit.

 

[wookieofdoom]

Meh.

 

[BDGAME]

 

[Choppasmith]

Super early art:
How to make a five-minute episode

You know, seeing the episode and then seeing this reminded me of the fantastic Wander Over Yonder episodes The Day and The Night (which, SURPRISE, Lauren Faust worked on) and I was expecting something clever but it was just another "Spike getting carried away" episode.

That Fargo Pony was the BEST part of the episode no question. In fact I was just surprised how many new Pony designs showed up in this episode AND we even got a return of Fancy Pants.

@BDGAME: Yep, when I saw that, I just KNEW some kind of sniper edit would be made.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Still the best part of the episode

UK commercial that randomly has new clips. I'm not sure what's going on with the Rainbow Power scene at the beginning, but it looks like Pinkie and Applejack were just edited into an unrelated scene, so we'll disregard that for now. I'm not sure what episode the other Pinkie scenes could come from. The most likely one we know of is "Party Pooped", but I'm not sure how a snow wolf monster thing connects to a Friendship Summit.

And theories about upcoming episodes. With the upcoming "Party Pooped", the description mentions a Friendship Summit, which is odd, considering that this episode was about a very similar venue. But, the one in "Princess Spike" is supposed to be three days long and only the first one was covered. Perhaps it is the same conference, and the other girls simply chose not to come on the first day for whatever reason.

All we know about "Mending Fences" after that is the title and that one of the commercials showed Twilight with the exact set of ponies that she avoided at the start of the first episode. Assuming that scene actually is from "Mending Fences", then my conclusion is that it's a Trixie episode. OK, there's a bit more to my logic. In season 4 and 5, we've been seeing a lot of revisiting of concepts introduced in season 1 that hadn't really been followed up on since--Fluttershy's singing in season 4 and Gilda this season, for example. The former is notable, because Lauren Faust had revealed that Fluttershy's singing was intended to be a more major part of her character, but the show hadn't developed that way until "FIlli Vanilli". Another thing that she mentioned but hadn't been followed up on is Trixie being from the same Magic School as Twilight. Now Twilight didn't do much that would require mending fences with the other Magic School students, other than avoid them, but there could certainly be a story with Trixie. It could be a school reunion or something.

And you can say "this isn't an action show" all you want, but I want a "RULES OF NATURE" moment with Twilight. Have an Ursa Major attack, Twilight grabs its claw with telekinesis, and after a struggle, she throws it into the air. You don't even need an analogue to the Metal Gear RAY being cut apart, as long as it can be synced up to that song.

 

[brian577]

I'm not sure what's going on with the Rainbow Power scene at the beginning, but it looks like Pinkie and Applejack were just edited into an unrelated scene, so we'll disregard that for now.

That's actually from last years season finale.

 

[Jay RaR]

Spike episodes continue to amaze me how terrible they are. I mean this Spike episode wasn't the worst but the leaps of logic this one had really soured me. Not too many laughs in this one either.

And you can say "this isn't an action show" all you want, but I want a "RULES OF NATURE" moment with Twilight. Have an Ursa Major attack, Twilight grabs its claw with telekinesis, and after a struggle, she throws it into the air. You don't even need an analogue to the Metal Gear RAY being cut apart, as long as it can be synced up to that song.

I dunno about anyone else, but I'd prefer MLP to not be too action heavy or DBZ-inspired like the Twilight vs Tirek battle. I like seeing action in certain forms of media but I find it incredibly jarring in a kid friendly series such as MLP. Maybe its the complete fantastical world and lore that makes people want these kinds of thrill in MLP, but I myself find it out of place.

 

[BDGAME]

I say wow.

 

[DrForester]

I say wow.

So is he the South Fillydelphia or Bel Mare delegate?

 

[SigmasonicX]

I was going to say that Will Smith isn't known for basketball, but then I remembered, oh yeah, the opening.

Season 5 already coming to Netflix. This is a surprise, but I suppose they do this sort of thing for other shows. It will probably be the first 13 episodes.

And all shortcomings of "Princess Spike" are forgiven for all of the sleepy Twi art that came out of it. The link even has a nice humanized Twi that ED didn't post, though it loses points for her not being sleepy.

EDIT: There were a surprising number of good YouTube captions from this episode:

 

[SigmasonicX]

Updated synopsis for "Party Pooped"
Extended Synopsis - It's up to Pinkie Pie's party to save the day when an important friendship summit with some visiting yaks turns into an utter disaster, but it takes an epic voyage of discovery across Equestria to reignite her party inspiration.

OK, that definitely clears up a lot. Pinkie actually fails to keep the summit together and goes on a journey of self discovery, and that's where the wolf thing comes in.

 

[draetenth]

I'm half-expecting her "journey" to be some five minute music montage. >.>

 

[SigmasonicX]

I'm half-expecting her "journey" to be some five minute music montage. >.>

I'd be fine with that.

I'm thinking it will be teaser -> yaks introduced -> Pinkie left in charge of them or something -> Pinkie angers them in her attempts to cheer them up -> yaks leave -> Pinkie goes on a journey to rediscover her sense of comedy -> Pinkie realizes that she's fine the way she is -> yaks get appeased some other way.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I'm half-expecting her "journey" to be some five minute music montage. >.>

I'd be fine with that.

Yup, that sounds fine to me!

I'm thinking it will be teaser -> yaks introduced -> Pinkie left in charge of them or something -> Pinkie angers them in her attempts to cheer them up -> yaks leave -> Pinkie goes on a journey to rediscover her sense of comedy -> Pinkie realizes that she's fine the way she is -> yaks get appeased some other way.

I'd be down with this.

 

[BDGAME]

I'm half-expecting her "journey" to be some five minute music montage. >.>

So, another weak episode is coming?

 

[SigmasonicX]

So, another weak episode is coming?

You saying a five minute song would be a bad thing?
I'm sure the episode will be fine, though I don't believe it will be great. Now an episode I can't imagine being good at all is "Hoofields and McColts" coming up toward the end of the season; all I can think of is Avatar's "The Great Divide".

Anyway, more sleepy Twi.

 

[BDGAME]

You saying a five minute song would be a bad thing?
I'm sure the episode will be fine, though I don't believe it will be great. Now an episode I can't imagine being good at all is "Hoofields and McColts" coming up toward the end of the season; all I can think of is Avatar's "The Great Divide".

Anyway, more sleepy Twi.

The song will be the good part... I hope....

The truth is that I like none of the songs from S5 to now. The exception is Octavia and Vinyl's battle song.

I hope a song that finally catch on me.

 

[SigmasonicX]

The song will be the good part... I hope....

The truth is that I like none of the songs from S5 to now. The exception is Octavia and Vinyl's battle song.

I hope a song that finally catch on me.

Just to be clear, the "five minute song" thing is just a guess.

I thought "Our Town" and "I'll Fly" were good, though yeah, nothing super catchy has come up yet.

 

[draetenth]

Yeah, the 5 minute song is just speculation at this point. I don't think we've even really seen anything from the episode other than yaks and possibly a monster (I don't think this was confirmed for the episode though). We just know Pinkie is going on a voyage of discovery around Equestria. That is possibly a lot of ground to cover in ~22 minutes. The song montage is just a guess for how they can do it (like a Rocky training montage).

 

[BDGAME]

Just to be clear, the "five minute song" thing is just a guess.

I thought "Our Town" and "I'll Fly" were good, though yeah, nothing super catchy has come up yet.

Ops, I forgot the "I'll Fly". Good song too.

 

[SigmasonicX]

So, given today and the apparent success of episode 100, episode 125 to be about Lyra and Bon Bon's wedding?

Spoiler

Probably not still, gotta protect the children

Anyway, it looks like another week without any previews at all. As spoilerish as they could get at times, I prefer having the previews. Without them, one can sometimes forget that there is a new episode coming up, especially with these breaks, and it's nice to get a general sense of the episode.

Speaking of which, it looks like we're getting another two week break, due to lack of episode synopses. No new episode on July 4 is understandable enough, but no new episode on July 11 is unfortunate.

 

[wookieofdoom]

I hate this network.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Anyway, it looks like another week without any previews at all. As spoilerish as they could get at times, I prefer having the previews. Without them, one can sometimes forget that there is a new episode coming up, especially with these breaks, and it's nice to get a general sense of the episode.

There is a preview image

 

[draetenth]

Anyway, it looks like another week without any previews at all. As spoilerish as they could get at times, I prefer having the previews. Without them, one can sometimes forget that there is a new episode coming up, especially with these breaks, and it's nice to get a general sense of the episode.

Speaking of which, it looks like we're getting another two week break, due to lack of episode synopses. No new episode on July 4 is understandable enough, but no new episode on July 11 is unfortunate.

I think I've read somewhere that the ratings are down (still the highest rated show on the network though) and I can't help but think that the combination of the lack of previews and numerous long breaks really hurts the ratings. People just forget to watch the episodes.

I'm guessing that they do want to limit the spoilers and possibly stretch out the season as long as possible, but there should be a limit to it. I'm loving the season so far, but I would be lying if I said that the numerous breaks weren't killing my interest somewhat.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I think I've read somewhere that the ratings are down (still the highest rated show on the network though) and I can't help but think that the combination of the lack of previews and numerous long breaks really hurts the ratings. People just forget to watch the episodes.

I'm guessing that they do want to limit the spoilers and possibly stretch out the season as long as possible, but there should be a limit to it. I'm loving the season so far, but I would be lying if I said that the numerous breaks weren't killing my interest somewhat.

This is true for me too. In an age where TV is moving to an "entire season all at once" format on services like Netflix, why do traditional broadcasters think it's a good idea to make us wait even longer than usual between episodes?

An episode every week is a great format; what kind of viewer doesn't like to know that their favourite shows will be around on a consistent timetable? This staggered approach is just a pain-in-the-ass, putting the viewer in a position where they have to keep checking online to find out when the hell the show is going to air next. It makes fans irritable and it puts the show in an uncomfortable "out of sight, out of mind" position for the general public. I really don't get it.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Synopsis for Amending Fences

S05, E12
Air Date: July 6, 2015

Synopsis: Twilight realizes she was a less than stellar friend to her former buddies in Canterlot, so she returns with Spike to make amends.

Guess we're making up for Minuette not being in Slice of Life.