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MLP:FIM S5E10 - "Princess Spike" - Grading & Discussion

Episode Grade

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Episode Title: "Princess Spike"
Air Date: June 20th, 2015, 11:30 AM Eastern Time (3:30 PM GMT/UTC)

Summary: "When Spike is tasked in making sure nothing disturbs Princess Twilight, the power goes to his head and he begins making important decisions in her name, with disastrous results."

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Ruminations:
A new Spike centered episode! We've finished the silliness of the 100th episode, and are now back to the shenanigans of our Mane Six + Spike/Substitute Rainbow Dash. This time around he's gone mad with power. Just my opinion, of course, but I usually find that Spike episodes are pretty hit and miss. I like Spike, and consider him a fun character, but when episodes focus on him they tend to exaggerate everything he does to comedic effect. This is generally the idea, I understand, but sometimes Spike regresses instead of grows, and that tends to bother me. We've seen so much growth from the others, I want Spike to continue growing as well. Regardless, the episode should be entertaining!
 
J. Allen said:
A new Spike centered episode!
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29866__safe_animated_imagemacro_lyra_bonbon_lyraheartstrings_sweetiedrops_carrottop_colgate_minuette_zpsyevbo63e.gif
 
Well, keeping in mind that Spike is a BABY dragon and the show has advanced MAYBE a year or more (we've seen two Galloping Galas and Runnings of the Leaves), and assuming that dragons here are apparently really long lived in the D&D sense, Spike taking a longer to grow and evolve could be an understandable thing to see.

That said, it WOULD be nice for Spike to stop making the same mistakes over and over again and not learning from all the Friendship Problems (tm) that the Mane Six seem to resolve in a half an hour or so.

Mark
 
Chemahkuu said:
J. Allen said:
A new Spike centered episode!
Click to expand...

29866__safe_animated_imagemacro_lyra_bonbon_lyraheartstrings_sweetiedrops_carrottop_colgate_minuette_zpsyevbo63e.gif
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I imagine this will be the general consensus in the various brony fora after the episode airs tomorrow. :lol:

Mark_Nguyen said:
Well, keeping in mind that Spike is a BABY dragon and the show has advanced MAYBE a year or more (we've seen two Galloping Galas and Runnings of the Leaves), and assuming that dragons here are apparently really long lived in the D&D sense, Spike taking a longer to grow and evolve could be an understandable thing to see.

That said, it WOULD be nice for Spike to stop making the same mistakes over and over again and not learning from all the Friendship Problems (tm) that the Mane Six seem to resolve in a half an hour or so.

Mark
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Exactly. I just don't like it when they turn competent Spike into idiot Spike solely for the sake of lampooning him.

Unicron said:
So... Spike is the new Fluttershy? ;)
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Spitfire's hot. Yeah, I said it.
 
Wow.

You know all the stupid, idiotic things he does is one thing. We're used to that, it's become the stapple of his character.

But leading an angry mob to Twilight, not bothering to own up to his own mistakes then TRYING TO ABANDON HER out a fucking window and leave her to them?

Jesus Spike, that's low.

After this many years, this many mistakes, I don't see much hope for a turn around.
 
I'm with Chemy on this one. I wasn't much on the Spike part of the episode, even though I like Spike, but I am absolutely certain that Twilight Sparkle managed to triple her cuteness in this episode. It was nice to see some favorite Canterlot ponies get a few moments, as I'm a fan of Fancy Pants, and of course seeing Cadence is always nice.

So for me, the Spike stuff gets a "C" as they are yet to really make Spike work on his own, but the Twilight cuteness, and a few other pluses, adds a little more to it, so the episode will get a "B" from me. Not bad at all, but they really need to better utilize Spike. I can tell the differences and growth between season 1 and season 5 of every main character except for Spike.
 
I'm tempted to boost it to B for the cute nerdy pony, and Twilight being more adorkable than normal, but still can't quite get past Spike's utter stupidity and lack of any growth over the years.

Also damn with Cadance's powers, what was that?
 
Yeah, that one was a new one to me. I didn't know she had those kinds of powers, though it was pretty cool. I get irked about Spike because he's not growing. If the timeline of about a year between season 1 and 5 is correct, then we've seen massive growth from everyone else, but Spike is still the same. He's just written so consistently inconsistent. He repeats the very same mistakes he's made time and time before, even though we know he's quite smart and self-aware. Spike gets to be the throwaway joke, and I don't like that. I like Spike, he deserves better.
 
It's been at least three years, they mention Summer Sun Celebrations and Galloping Gala's happening that they don't go to. Rainbow said it was "their turn" to have winter so they don't get it every year.

Plus Shimmer mentions months passing between each EQG visit etc
 
Chemahkuu said:
It's been at least three years, they mention Summer Sun Celebrations and Galloping Gala's happening that they don't go to. Rainbow said it was "their turn" to have winter so they don't get it every year.

Plus Shimmer mentions months passing between each EQG visit etc
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If that's the case, then that's even worse. 3 years, at least, and no growth from Spike? That's a criminal underuse of his character.
 
The amount of time that has passed since S1, E1, is... well, it's like warp drive. Speed of plot. Or time frame of plot, in this case. It's all over the place, there is zero consistency. It was sort of halfway manageable until "Tanks for the Memories," when Dash says it will be her and Tank's "first winter" together, which cleanly cut the thin thread that was still holding up one's ability to make sense of the timeline of the whole show. :lol:

Anyway! No matter how much time has passed, I don't disagree with the cirticism of Spike's character. "Spike screws up and then atones" seems to be all they know what to do with a Spike-centric ep. It's one of the reasons he's generally my least favorite main character.

That said, this was honestly a heck of a lot better than most of the previous Spike episodes, purely in execution. I liked the fact that to some degree, he seemed to KNOW he was stepping in it for part of the episode, but wasn't sure what else to do; sure it was the same 'ol Spike premise recycled yet again, but it wasn't as obtuse as say, "The Equestria Games" (not to mention show-stealing - that episode should not have been about Spike!). It actually made more sense on its own. And the comedy bits, also, were simply more well-executed overall. I liked how both Cadence and Twi were used.

That gem power thing Cadence did was neat! Yeah, not expected, but it was nothing so outrageous, I thought. I almost want to say it could tie into the fact that she's been spending so much time in the Crystal Empire - surely those ponies would know a thing or two about magic involving gems.

So, not a great episode, but not bad, and made me laugh more than half the episodes of season 5 so far. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.
 
I thought this episode was pretty bad, and it reminded me of why I've mostly quit watching the show. As flawed as last week's episode was, it was at least something different and got me interested in keeping up with the series again. Alas, I have no interest in watching Spike get an episode and carry the idiot ball for the tenth time. :thumbdown:
 
Saito S said:
The amount of time that has passed since S1, E1, is... well, it's like warp drive. Speed of plot. Or time frame of plot, in this case. It's all over the place, there is zero consistency. It was sort of halfway manageable until "Tanks for the Memories," when Dash says it will be her and Tank's "first winter" together, which cleanly cut the thin thread that was still holding up one's ability to make sense of the timeline of the whole show. :lol:

Anyway! No matter how much time has passed, I don't disagree with the cirticism of Spike's character. "Spike screws up and then atones" seems to be all they know what to do with a Spike-centric ep. It's one of the reasons he's generally my least favorite main character.

That said, this was honestly a heck of a lot better than most of the previous Spike episodes, purely in execution. I liked the fact that to some degree, he seemed to KNOW he was stepping in it for part of the episode, but wasn't sure what else to do; sure it was the same 'ol Spike premise recycled yet again, but it wasn't as obtuse as say, "The Equestria Games" (not to mention show-stealing - that episode should not have been about Spike!). It actually made more sense on its own. And the comedy bits, also, were simply more well-executed overall. I liked how both Cadence and Twi were used.

That gem power thing Cadence did was neat! Yeah, not expected, but it was nothing so outrageous, I thought. I almost want to say it could tie into the fact that she's been spending so much time in the Crystal Empire - surely those ponies would know a thing or two about magic involving gems.

So, not a great episode, but not bad, and made me laugh more than half the episodes of season 5 so far. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.
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I agree, Spike did seem to know he was stepping in it, it's just that he did it anyway. Spike has been through this before, and should have been able to come up with something. Hell, my first thought was "Princess Twilight can't be disturbed, as she is busy with organizing today's events."

Problem solved.

Of course, then there are these ponies who are threatening the Princess. They're beating on the door of her personal chambers. Oh, I'm sorry, what blithering idiot does that? Especially in Canterlot, where royalty is next to godliness? That dragged the episode down to a "C" for me. Only Twilight's immense cuteness, and Cadance's perceptiveness, brought the grade up one letter.

Gep Malakai said:
I thought this episode was pretty bad, and it reminded me of why I've mostly quit watching the show. As flawed as last week's episode was, it was at least something different and got me interested in keeping up with the series again. Alas, I have no interest in watching Spike get an episode and carry the idiot ball for the tenth time. :thumbdown:
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I think they followed up a fun, explosive episode with a retread of old ideas that rarely goes over smoothly. Maybe that's why they put it after the 100th episode. I mean, my niece and nephew love the show, but they don't care for Spike at all. My nephew loves Fluttershy the most. My niece loves Rainbow Dash/Twilight Sparkle (she switches depending upon who gets the most lines in a particular episode).
 
Saito S said:
The amount of time that has passed since S1, E1, is... well, it's like warp drive. Speed of plot. Or time frame of plot, in this case. It's all over the place, there is zero consistency. It was sort of halfway manageable until "Tanks for the Memories," when Dash says it will be her and Tank's "first winter" together, which cleanly cut the thin thread that was still holding up one's ability to make sense of the timeline of the whole show.
Click to expand...

As I said, they even get around that with Rainbow's line that it's "their turn" to have winter, that the cities take it in turns and can skip winter for however long they want or is on Cloudsdale's schedule.

Anyway, they're still in Canterlot next week for Twilight's reunion episode so maybe there'll be some follow up to this to start it all off, and likely some mention of how long it's been lol.

Minuette, Moondancer, et al gettting screentime will be nice.
 
J. Allen said:
Chemahkuu said:
It's been at least three years, they mention Summer Sun Celebrations and Galloping Gala's happening that they don't go to. Rainbow said it was "their turn" to have winter so they don't get it every year.

Plus Shimmer mentions months passing between each EQG visit etc
Click to expand...
If that's the case, then that's even worse. 3 years, at least, and no growth from Spike? That's a criminal underuse of his character.
Click to expand...

Though it makes his "oh noes, I'm only a sidekick" powerpuff episode even more funny. Because, that's all he is.

How come we never see the map?
 
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