Welcome to Weekly Ponies, where Daniel Newton takes a look at My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the charming kid's show that's taken the internet by storm and somehow amassed a predominantly teen to adult male fan base. Created by Lauren Faust, who previously worked on shows including The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
Season 2, Episode 15: The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000
Summary: The future of Sweet Apple Acres is in peril when the Apples challenge the Flim Flam brothers to a Cider Making Contest. The winner takes the farm!
Air Date: Jan. 28, 2012
Run Time: 22
Warning: This article contains spoilers. We recommend watching the episode on YouTube or buying it through iTunes.
I can only imagine the fan-fiction that will spawn from the opening scene when Rainbow Dashwakes Fluttershy up... Anyway, time for a musical episode! You know, I'm generally not a huge fan of musicals, of the few I've seen I prefer older musicals. Films. Basically, I'm just not the biggest Glee fan in the world. That said, there's something great about the songs in Friendship is Magic, Winter Wrap Up is especially great while we're on the subject, and this week I think was a special treat with a great homage to "The Music Man" from 1962. A pair of twin unicorns--Flim and Flam--come to Ponyville to make a quick buck with their steampunky magic cider machine, dressed in bow ties, suspenders and all the rest of it. They look the part and sing the part, check out the full song embedded above.
So it's "cider season" in Ponyville (non-alcoholic... presumably?) and the Apple family are ready to sell their famously delicious cider to everyone. And I mean everyone; Ponyville camps out in front of the stand likes it's an iPhone launch. I felt really sorry for Rainbow Dash this week, desperately trying to get her hooves on one cup of cider and falling short right up until the very end, bless her. Because of the low supply of cider, the Flim Flam brothers show up and challenge the Apples to see who can make the most cider in an hour - winner takes the farm.Granny Smith, after being called a chicken (in what was possibly a Marty McFly reference?) puts the farm on the line to teach the unicorn duo a lesson. After a heated battle and some dirty tricks, the twins win, but because they disregard quality control to get the edge, their cider is awful and they're driven out of Ponyville. A-ha! Applejack was right from the beginning; good cider can't be rushed.
The best part of this episode--you know, other than the song--had to be Applejack's letter the Princess Celestia. I literally burst out laughing when she bounced happily across the screen saying she didn't learn a damn thing that day and knew she was right all along! It was one of those great moments you just didn't see coming. Her letter basically reads "Dear Princess, today I learned NOTHING because I'm AWESOME" and you coldn't help but love her for it. Best letter ever.
Verdict
I think the reason the songs work so well in this show, other than the fact that they're brilliant, is because it's not overdone. Friendship is Magic isn't a musical first and foremost, it's a cartoon. If there were musical numbers in every episode they wouldn't be nearly as good as they are. From the singing to Applejack's letter to Derpy and "Doctor Hooves" (fan name) appearing in the episode, you can't go wrong.
Bonus Content!
Guys, check this out. A fellow member of the Whiskey Media community, Psycosis (@Psycosis91) very quickly remixed the Flim Flam brother's song... with Lady Gaga. I kind of can't stop listing to it.
You may know Psycosis for his blogs on Giant Bomb, the latest of which discusses his obsession with Friendship is Magic, but as well as blogging he regularly churns out these great remixes. Check out his YouTube channel for more.
Daniel Newton moderates Anime Vice and runs the community twitter @AnimeVicers. Find his personal twitter and more here.
How is this anime related? MLP is not anime. How AV has fallen.
Ooh, the pony invasion spreads!
@BloodRavyne: You obviously missed last week's article. This show has become popular on the internet so we're covering it here. AV hasn't "fallen" at all, we're producing more articles than we have in months. Myself and the other moderators put a lot of effort into this stuff so if you have nothing nice to say then don't bother commenting at all, thanks.
@ScarletKittie: I can't get enough of the remix. Good to know I'm right about the Back to the Future reference, I love the writers of this show, they include so many homages and references the older audience can appreciate.
Applejack's letter is just the best thing.
@eldiax: A few people actually gave the show a try after reading last week's article and they're totally into it now, which is awesome.
This episode remind me of the Simpsons Monorail (I really enjoy this episode)
Nice review
Sigh, someone poke me when AnimeVice becomes the site it has the potential to be...God damn it Whiskey Media.
I didn't think this episode was as funny the last but I do agree that Applejack's letter at the end of the episode was hilarious!
@BloodRavyne: @Cloudenvy said:
Aside from Tom Pinchuk's Watch and Learn we have covered the majority of the Winter Season new anime, plus Sket Dance and Persona 4. It's funny how for the last month there has been tons of anime content yet users complain and comment on the MLP articles. Yet there are little to no comments on those other articles... Hmmm.
@Destinyheroknight: Thanks, yeah The Simpsons definitely had the same idea there, what they did in Friendship is Magic was much more impressive though.
@sora_thekey: Applejack's letter is going down as one of the show's top moments for me, it rounded the episode off nicely. By the way, I don't know how far you are with the show, but did I tell you the villain at the beginning of season 2 is based on and voiced by "Q" from Star Trek? Obviously if you're not a Star Trek fan that won't mean much, but it's still kind of amazing.
And just ignore the haters, all they're doing is making themselves look like jerks, so whatever. Unless someone says something really out of line I think I'll ignore it.
@Newten: My dad is a huge Trekkie and I grew up watching The Next Generation. So, yes, I know who Q is and that is really cool! I haven't seen that episode but I'll get there.
@sora_thekey said:
Haha, oh man, that's exactly how it was for me! I really want to watch The Next Generation and Voyager properly from the beginning some time. Deep Space Nine always looked weird to me though.
But yeah, it's all under the development section here. Don't read past that section though. Spoilers!
@Newten said:
Exactly the same for me! TNG and Voyager were my Star Trek series. I actually did manage to watch TNG from the beginning but not Voyager. Deep Space Nine was too soap-like. Ugh.
Interesting about Discord. To be honest, the episodes I've watched so far haven't caught my interest as much as last week's. Still, I will see the whole thing through.
@sora_thekey: Have you got to the Winter Wrap Up episode yet? The singing in the episode is catchy as hell.
Let's see... the Nightmare Night (pony Halloween) episode was a really good one... hmm, I'll have to go back and watch some older episodes thinking about it...
@Newten: Nope not there yet. I'm on episode 6. Too much stuff to watch!
I understand Pinkie, I also love too much the cider (but it's a bit more heavy than just juice of course)
Oh and the sound that Fluttershy makes is sooooo cute ><
@Newten said:
Sticky as bubblegum in your shoe, I was singing it all day long when we quit our christmas tree (2 weeks ago)
@sora_thekey: Oh, I don't think you've seen the Cutie Mark Crusaders yet, those episodes are fun. There's one where you get to see some back story for each of the main characters which is neat.
@RedOwl_1: I figured it out! This is from wikipedia:
I had no idea. In England cider is usually alcoholic and even when it's not, it's still a completely separate thing to regular apple juice. Guess I learned something today.
Ugh. This is the most blatantly opportunistic move I've seen in quite a while.
Thing is, it just doesn't matter how popular a franchise is when it doesn't fit the scope of your coverage. I just hope enough people realize this sooner rather than later, but I know that's not going to happen, and this'll surely have its intended effect of garnering substantial pageviews for AV. What's more interesting, anime content on an anime website or non-anime content on an anime website?
The Sci-Fi channel realized it was misleading people with its expansion into horror, and adjusted accordingly. The name "Anime Vice" should be a promise.
@Mdnthrvst: This isn't something Whiskey Media thought up. As a guest writer I suggested this as something we could try because the show has become popular with a similar demographic as anime and the Whiskey Media sites in general. While it doesn't initially seem to fit, it's really not a huge leap when you think about it.
I ran a poll to see if enough people on the site were interested in the show and I pitched the idea to staff. They thought it would be an interesting thing to try out. This and the article last week have done considerably well. There have been a few users, like yourself, who have questioned it. That was expected, we're trying something new.
Myself and the other mods spend a lot of our free time writing for this site. Right now it's covering more shows than it ever has before.
To anyone who isn't interested, this article is nothing more than a thumbnail that appears in the feed on the homepage once a week. Just don't click on it, like any other article you're not interested in.
*sigh*
@finaldasa: God damn it Dasa. You suck. So much.