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Poll MLP:FIM S6E07 - "Newbie Dash" - Grading & Discussion

Episode Grade

  • Total voters
    7
  • Poll closed .
A

Amaris

Guest
Episode Title: "Newbie Dash"
Air Date: May 7th, 11:00 AM Eastern Time (3:00 PM GMT/UTC)

Summary: "Rainbow Dash finally achieves her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt, but makes a disastrous first impression with the team and gets saddled with a mortifying nickname she is determined to change."


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REMEMBER: NO OPEN SPOILERS UNTIL 3 PM ET (7 PM GMT)

=-

Ruminations:
Holy Celestia on a toothpick! Is Dash about to live the dream? Is it about to happen?! Is she going to be an official officially official Wonderbolt? I think this is a big episode. I mean, aside from the fact that this episode involves one of my most very favorite ponies, it's also a major event for her. Like I said a few weeks back, they're really setting up this season as if it's the final one, even though I've heard nothing from Hasbro about such a thing. I've been wrong before, though. Still, I hope we get more pony. That said, here comes what I hope will be a fantastic episode. Let's all root for Dash (do it!) as she works to achieve the dream!


EPISODE PREVIEW TRAILER (possible spoilers):
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Peach Wookiee said:
That trailer... I wonder if she was sabotaged...
Click to expand...
It's pronounced... sabotaaaaage. ;)

Seriously, though, I don't know. I didn't glean much from the trailer. It could be sabotage, could be nerves. Heck, it could even be a dream. They've done that to us before.

Tomorrow's episode should prove very interesting.
 
The first scene was good. The scenes at Dash's house were good. The last couple of scenes were good. In between, I was mostly cringing. Humour around people in awkward situations is not my cup of tea.

Also, Dash,
using your surrogate sister's adoration of you to get them to risk their life is not OK.
 
Yeah, Polsky episode so it was bound to be a real mixed bag of things.

The whole middle third was...dumb, and filler. The opening was rushed, the resolution was pretty okay.

This should have been a much bigger thing, but they've been dragging it out since season 3 so it's more like a frustrated 'finally' than a triumphant one.
 
Agreed on both counts. I like Dave Polsky, but you have to kind of deal with the rough parts to enjoy the really good moments in each of his episodes.

While I was watching, I kept thinking "it should be bigger than this. It should feel bigger than this, but it doesn't." Which is a shame, because like you guys I've invested so much into these characters. We know the staff cares about them, we know the fans care about them. Honestly, I like Dave, but if I had my druthers, I would have rather seen someone like Amy Keating-Rogers handle this story, because her tone and pitch is almost always spot on (IMO).

So we have Dash becoming a member of the Wonderbolts in a so-quick-you-could-miss-it-by-blinking moment. Then we proceed to see her play things off, which would normally be in character for her, because Dash will always try to be too cool for everything around her, even if she's squee'ing like a little filly inside. The problem for me, here, is that Dash knows she has to buckle down. She should be past this point in her character development, and for a while she was. On the plus side, she clearly learned a lot from "Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3" because her knowledge of the 'Bolts history is excellent.

The use of Scootaloo to buck a very dangerous storm cloud over to Dash was a bad idea, and I don't just mean from Dash's perspective. You should never do something dangerous simply because an adult tells you to do it, regardless of whether or not that adult is someone you admire. That makes it even more dangerous, because you're likely to do it without question because you firmly believe that adult wouldn't put you in a dangerous situation.

That's some of the complaining out of the way, now on to the fun stuff: Oh my god, the impersonations of her friends were hilarious. I was giggling the entire time. What I love is that you can tell Ashleigh is clearly having fun doing these impersonations, and it shows in her approach with Dash's characterizations. Oh, and I completely lost it at Applejack, because we know that's Ashleigh anyway, and her "shee-yucks" and buck toothing there at the end had me rolling. I was rolling, and I couldn't breathe. :lol:

Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie much to Spike's chagrin was funny. The massive cotton candy and Spike's "really?" expression is just gold. This season has been very good on Spike, I think, and I'd like to see that continue. I think he's a great character that usually doesn't get his just due, and I believe they're making up for that now.

I love love LOVE that ending, especially the final shot, as it was a "it's about damned time!" moment. I also like that Spitfire and the other 'Bolts actually took a moment and became real with Dash. Those few moments gave them more character development than we've seen in 3 seasons. It's that ending that bumps the episode up from a C to a C+, but since I'm in a generous mood and because of the epicness this episode should have entailed, I'll round it to a B. Decent job, Polsky, just... less filler in such an important episode, please.
 
Finally got to see the whole thing.
Seeing the whole, I see what tripped up Rainbow. A foalhood taunt that made her fight all the harder to be a good flier. But it's a double-edged sword in that it makes her showboat. She's grown, but for a moment she regressed. However, she found out the nickname by Spitfire was all in good fun. And now I want to know what Spitfire's call sign is! I wonder if it's a dirty word...
I think I'm giving this one an A-... I understand why Dash asked Scoots to help her (bigger siblings do that stuff), but it was still not a good idea!
 
Did anyone notice the dialogue error? While Pinkie Pie was away getting cotton candy, Fluttershy said that she'll miss the big moment, to which Rarity replied, "Nothing would keep Pinkie Pie from missing this!" :guffaw:

See it here at 16:30:
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I found Dash's imitation of her friends embarrassingly unrealistic, it was just too much. It didn't ring true, it was dumb and I feel like they dumbed her down with that. Trying too hard to fit in is a fine storyline but they didn't write it to Dash's personality at all.
 
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I'm starting to think I'm one of the few people who giggled at that scene. :lol:
 
The biggest giggle for me in that scene besides the imitations was "Reading Rainboom." :D
ETA: Since I can still edit this post... I also noted that a lot of the moves that the Wonderbolts used matched the US Navy Blue Angels. I've seen them fly since I was a little girl and I know their routines. It's pretty impressive!
 
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