MLP:FiM S3E12 - "Magical Mystery Cure" Grading & Discussion

[Gep Malakai]

Derpy Hooves all up in this bidniss:











Can I get an "amen?" Hallelujah!

[OdoWanKenobi]

Amen to that, at least! I'm happy that she's not gone for good, and makes her return with a vengeance!

[Gep Malakai]

The wink above all excites me. Suggests that not all is lost.

"Miss me?"

[Chemahkuu]

It all pales, of course, in comparison to the sight of Luna in her little dress smiling right at the screen.

[T.Geiger]

This episode is kind of a microcosm of the season as a whole. Not great, very rushed, and much more a "young girls" show. (I will stop short of calling the songs unnecessary and unremarkable, unlike the rest of the season.) If they can't do better next season, I think they should just leave it at three, as this episode still works well enough to be a capstone.

[Chemahkuu]

[Peach Wookiee]

DERPY!!! Our muffin-loving pegasus is back! YES! TAKE THAT, YOU SOCCER MOM HATERS!

And with all due respect, had this been a truly girly eppie, Twily would've found a colt this season that was somehow related to Celestia or Luna and married him and become a princess that way.

[J. Allen]

This will definitely be a love it/hate it episode. Me? I loved it. So very much, and SO MUCH MUSIC! They crammed a full length musical into 21 minutes, which is a spectacular feat, in my opinion. Loved everything.

A+, and I cried at the end, too.

[Chemahkuu]

J. Allen wrote:

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This will definitely be a love it/hate it episode. Me? I loved it. So very much, and SO MUCH MUSIC! They crammed a full length musical into 21 minutes, which is a spectacular feat, in my opinion. Loved everything.

A+, and I cried at the end, too.

Ditto

[Count Zero]

Gep Malakai wrote:

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For some light pre-episode reading, let's have the wikipedia article on Magical Mystery Tour, the 1960s Beatles' film that leant this a title. What intriguing hints may we find inside?

Hmm. Magicians mixing it up for ordinary citizens? Lots of singing and dancing? Eeeeeeeeneresting. *steeples fingers*

Haha. Despite the title it would never have occurred to me to think of the movie as a possible source of inspiration for a MLP episode. Now that you mentioned it, I kinda want to see a pony adaptation.
I don't know if you have seen the movie but it's quite surreal and lacks a coherent storyline. Basically, the plot is that some people go on a bus trip and do or encounter some very weird things on the way while inbetween the Beatles perform some awesome songs without any real connection to what is happening in the movie. Also, you can see Paul's penis (possibly in HD nowadays since it's out on Blu-Ray). I suppose it's better the episode didn't mirror the movie.

Chemahkuu wrote:

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Now about the episode: I agree that things were rushed. I, too, would have preferred the cutie mark chaos to go on a bit longer or at least prove a bit more difficult to solve. The way it was shown it came off as a bit too effortless to result in Twilight being rewarded with being a princess. Then again, it was a bit unclear what she was rewarded for exactly. It probably wasn't for the resolution of the problem itself or even the completion of the spell (since Star Swirl the Bearded wrote plenty of spells apparently without being turned into a princess) but for bringing the element of friendship into magic. Maybe no one had done this before. Well, that's my take on it, anyway, for the time being.
I liked about the episode that finally the cutie mark fascism was addressed in some way - though not quite as radical as I would have done it. This is a society where your lot in life is assigned to you in some way at a very early stage in your life and then you're supposed to stick with that for the rest of your life and be happy with it. And it's even clearly visible to anyone else. If you think about it that's a bit disturbing, isn't it? I know it wasn't intended that way but still, ever since the introduction of the CMC this has bugged me. People should be free to choose their own destiny, regardless of what their cutie mark says. This shone through a bit in the episode although instead of just accepting that their cutie marks are wrong and living with it, they just got their old ones back. (Yes, I realise that was important for the plot of the episode.)
I loved how Rarity made all those great weather patterns (and getting no love for it from those philistines in Ponyville ). Rainbow Dash's struggles were a riot, too. I also appreciated the return of Pinkamena. The scene in that cosmic princess-space with Celestia was great, too. I loved Dashie's reaction to Twilight turning into an alicorn and Rarity's comment about it.
All things considered, there was too much singing for my taste. I must admit, though, that I ultimately liked the pompous coronation.

This opens up a lot of additional story potential. So I'm curious how this will play out in the next season.

[Peach Wookiee]

I think that the idea that magic needs friendship is a good one. And vice versa. And the idea of the cutie mark isn't that you get your destiny and live with it. It's that you embrace what is good about yourself and follow that path. I like that idea. In G1, you were born with your cutie mark. Of course that told something about you, but the writers never told us why ponies had their cutie marks.

[Count Zero]

Yeah, but what if you have more than one talent (most people do)? Or if you want to radically change your career after a while? I know that the aspects about cutie marks that I find mildly disconcerting are unintentional but they're there, nonetheless. It's likely that I'm not the only one who had the idea.

[smiki]

First impressions:

I didn't like it very much.

Sure, the songs were good, the animation was good (I really did enjoy that), it was like a MLP musical, entertaining to watch, but everything else... no.

For one (due to cramming in lots of songs) the episode just felt rushed, it felt like they smashed the plots from two different stories together and didn't give either one a chance to develop. Alicorn Twi... not impressed... the idea itself aside I feel like there were better ways of doing it... And I just don't know how will they keep the show the same like it used to be from now on. I iz puzzled.

This would be an okay (not great, not bad, maybe even quite good) episode to end the show...but not this.

I found it hilarious how the production team was trying to reassure everyone everything is gonna be just fine with that song: "Everything is just fine" or something like that.

At least there was tons of Derpy. I mean, there were good parts sure: Princess-space/Pinkamena/animals cooking Rainbow etc etc...but as a whole....

[brian577]

Great episode with the exception of the princess elements, they managed to compact the cutie mark swap plot fairly well but it could have benefited from more time. I was bit annoyed however that Celestia purposely set Twilight up to mind screw her friends. There had to be a better way to test her that doesn't involve brainwashing. Overall B, it didn't blow it out of the park but I've been convinced to stick around for season 4.

[Gep Malakai]

Count Zero wrote:

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I don't know if you have seen the movie but it's quite surreal and lacks a coherent storyline.

Ah, so it was the inspiration for this weeks episode.

smiki wrote:

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First impressions:

I didn't like it very much.

Sure, the songs were good, the animation was good (I really did enjoy that), it was like a MLP musical, entertaining to watch, but everything else... no.

For one (due to cramming in lots of songs) the episode just felt rushed, it felt like they smashed the plots from two different stories together and didn't give either one a chance to develop. Alicorn Twi... not impressed...

Eeeyup. Perfect summary here:



I don't know who "noobsqoou" is, but I salute him for cooking up the perfect analogy.

brian577 wrote:

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Great episode with the exception of the princess elements, they managed to compact the cutie mark swap plot fairly well but it could have benefited from more time. I was bit annoyed however that Celestia purposely set Twilight up to mind screw her friends. There had to be a better way to test her that doesn't involve brainwashing. Overall B, it didn't blow it out of the park but I've been convinced to stick around for season 4.

Ha! You're usually so down on things I was sure you were going to hate this one. Shows what I know, eh?