MLP:FIM S5E13 - "Do Princesses Dream..." - Grading & Discussion

[Amaris]

Episode Title: "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?"
Air Date: July 11th, 2015, 11:30 AM Eastern Time (3:30 PM GMT/UTC)

Summary: "Princess Luna enlists the Mane 6 to help her track down the Tantabus, a magical force that threatens to turn everypony in Equestria's dreams into nightmares."

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Ruminations:
Tantabus? What's that?! It doesn't sound good whatever it is, because it's up to Princess Luna and the Mane 6 to save everypony from their own nightmares! This one sounds really interesting, and I hope it is, because it will be the last episode before the 3 month season 5 hiatus. That's right, after this one we're not seeing new episodes until October.

Soak it in, folks. It's going to have to last.

 

[Kemaiku]

As much as it's great to have a Luna episode and focusing on her dreamwalker status without the CMC's...3 months?

Discovery Family done fucked up. 11 months wait, multiple gaps, dropping figures as people don't know when the show is on, poor advertising in general and now this?

Get your shit together!

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Three months?
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64UcgVzm4pY[/yt]

We also have a summer season... if I didn't know better... I'd say they're trying to kill the series...

 

[Unicron]

I heard something about that online, even though I don't watch the show. I can't understand the logic between starting a season and then stopping it for three months.

 

[Kemaiku]

The Discovery channel bought back the portion of the network they donated to create the Hub giving them 60% share/control and bringing all the series over to Discovery Family.

So they're shoving them in anywhere they have room, Littlest Pet Shop is getting it's second chopped up season just like this and it's hurting it too, but the show is still going.

I'm seeing claims of this being done to have 13 episode blocks with less waiting in between, and EQG movies to tide people over in the fall of each year.

But yeah, they've done all this, and I was just reading the SDCC report tonight on the MLP panel, they spoiled the plot of the season finale to everyone attending in the audience, well sort of. Just the tease of the first half but it's enough.

The seasons quality is way up, their handling of it, is abismal however.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

They've done it with other shows. But I really hope this isn't an attempt to kill it...
ETA: Chem ninja'd me!
Honestly, Discovery Family has really put on some lame programming...

 

[Kemaiku]

It isn't. Hasbro consider this series their cashcow and are prioritising it over it's other franchises now. Some are complaining a little too much as Transformers is being left behind in development.

Discovery Family just don't care, it looks like they thought The Hub wasn't making enough money and took back their half, not caring how it affected anything brought over in the requisition.

 

[Amaris]

I doubt there's anything Hasbro can really do about it, right now, either. Which means Discovery Family has put everyone over a barrel.

 

[Kemaiku]

Yup, but we know that Hasbro have no intention of stopping now and have at least 2-3 years more work to produce.

We just have to hope DF get their asses in gear and clear their schedule better over the next year.

On a related note, SDCC has been dropping masses of spoilers for the second half of the season, Hasbro is running the booth, so this is probably them trying to keep us hooked by letting us have something we wouldn't have normally.

They do care, they just can't do much about it.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

We need to find a way to spread the word!
ETA: A solid A from me!

Spoiler: Do Princesses Dream...?

I loved this insight into Luna's feelings regarding her time as Nightmare Moon. It's obvious she's held a lot in and probably felt she couldn't talk to Celestia about it. Or if she has, Celestia has been very forgiving, but Luna herself hasn't been able to accept it, knowing what she did.
It's fun to see the different dreams of the ponies. Why does Derpy meow? And... does Big Mac really harbor dreams of being an alicorn prince?

 

[Kemaiku]

That was a great episode:

Spoiler: Spoilers duh

The cold open was nicely done, pity they didn't go with the parasite idea from the comics but okay.

Tantibus, latin for "nightmare" (although similar to the Scandawegian root for the English word from "Mara" a dream eating demon). Started living up to it when it got bigger, that final form was damned creepy.

The shared dream world was just crazy, Larson is really trying to make up for some of his earlier problems with getting his ideas mucked around by the studio.

It's just, whats worse than Luna still not forgiving herself and dragging around so much guilt, is that she essentially started to self harm to punish herself for her past. That's...harsh. I know she's started to let go of it because of this episode and let the mane6 in, to help her and move past it, but damn, that's depressing.

Deliberately creating something that will hurt you everyday is a desparate measure, how much pain has she been hiding since she came back?

 

[Taylirious]

A+

Another great EP!

Spoiler: Thoughts

Lots of crazy stuff in the dreams I don't know why Luna punished herself so badly and let it go on for so long given all they have been through together.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

A+

Another great EP!

Spoiler: Thoughts

Lots of crazy stuff in the dreams I don't know why Luna punished herself so badly and let it go on for so long given all they have been through together.

Spoiler: Regarding Luna

Sometimes, even when you've been through something with other ponies, you still feel you can't let them in that far. Luna knows what happened a millennium ago (Frankly, I think Twilight saw just a very brief vision and things were much worse), and she was still in pain from what she did. And then she knows she tried to kill her sister in cold blood. She didn't want the others to hate her... or she didn't want to risk the monster coming loose again and hurting others. So Luna put herself in her own personal Tartarus.

 

[Count Zero]

So, the answer to the question in the title is apparently no.

I loved the dream sequences - Big Mac as a princess, giant Derpy, super hero Spike riding Derpy, Fluttershy dreaming of being a pet, giant monster Angel and Scootaloo slightly... overcompensating.

Also, was Lyra's and BonBon's delight at being fused together a compensation for all the shippers who surely were disappointed by them just being best friends in the 100th episode?

I agree that Luna creating something that would give her nightmares is very disconcerting and I would have liked the resolution to be less rushed.

 

[Kemaiku]

^SDCC hinted more LyBon stuff is coming up, that Lyra is starting to show her feelings now.

And yeah. Tantibus is literally latin for nightmare, she brought one of her own nightmares to life to punish her. Maybe using the spell from Luna Eclipsed.

 

[Amaris]

Okay, this was a great episode.

Spoiler: MLPFIM S5E13

This is a seriously Luna episode. She doesn't get enough of them, so I'm glad this one centered on her. We find out she's been torturing herself because of her past, not realizing that her friends forgave her a long time ago. While the self harming isn't a great message, as Chemy mentions above, it is a great message about forgiveness, and that our past is our past, and we shouldn't torture ourselves over things we cannot change.

Great highlights, too:

* LyraBon again. Love it!
* Flutterbat makes an appearance!
* Princess Big Mac! Also, I love the anime style power-up sequence.
* We get to see Filthy Rich as the good pony I always thought he was.
* Rainbow Dash is "Steven Seagull".
* Applejack dreams of apples. Giant apples. Giant apples that she shines.
* Twilight dreams of books. This does not surprise me one bit.
* Treehouse makes a return!
* Spike rides Derpy Like A Boss.
* Sleepy Twilight is just so darned cute!
* You don't have to keep all the yawns, Spike.
* Scoots dreams of giant wings!
* Luna sleeping peacefully makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

All in all, a fantastic episode. Lots of great fun, some callbacks and continuity, and a Luna centered story makes this episode "A" worthy in every sense of the word. Loved it.

Now we have to wait months for another one. *sigh*

 

[Gepard]

^SDCC hinted more LyBon stuff is coming up, that Lyra is starting to show her feelings now.

Really? What specifically did they say?

 

[Kemaiku]

^SDCC hinted more LyBon stuff is coming up, that Lyra is starting to show her feelings now.

Really? What specifically did they say?

They had a sequence that hasn't been animated yet, Andrea and Asleigh reprising their roles as Lyra and Bon Bon, we hear Lyra getting jealous that Bon Bon is staring at Applejack or RD, can't remember which.

It's basically them having a bit of a joke at both the LyBon and Appledash shipping, since they voice both.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

^They'll keep it tame, lest the parents' groups get angry.
But on the subject of Luna... I think her punishing herself is realistic. And saying she was wrong to do it is a good message for the older members of the audience.

 

[Amaris]

^SDCC hinted more LyBon stuff is coming up, that Lyra is starting to show her feelings now.

Really? What specifically did they say?

They had a sequence that hasn't been animated yet, Andrea and Asleigh reprising their roles as Lyra and Bon Bon, we hear Lyra getting jealous that Bon Bon is staring at Applejack or RD, can't remember which.

It's basically them having a bit of a joke at both the LyBon and Appledash shipping, since they voice both.

That sounds awesome.