Where Bobdude Watchs MLP Tales

[bobdude]

So, Ponies are quite the thing noindays, aren’t they? As is reviewing said ponies, which is something I’ve decided to do? But Bob-dude, you think to yourself, that’s old hat by now! What can you possible bring to the table that hasn’t been done by people more talented/funnier then you? Ah, but here’s the thing, I never said WHICH incarnation of pony I’m covering, now did I?
That’s right, we’re covering the (in my humble opinion) tragically short lived MLP Tales cartoon, which lasted one season and 26 episodes.
And what better way to kick this whole shebang off then with the first episode of Tales (at least if Wikipedia and the like are to be believed), titled simply: Slumber Party.

This bad boy aired all the way back in July 3, 1992 (which made me… 72 or 73 days old at the time, huh), and having been written by a Mr. George Arthur Bloom, who’s written a few MLP episodes in the past.
But before we can cover the episode proper, I might as well talk about the theme song.
First off, I honestly quite like that the fact that it doesn’t start out with the familiar My little pony, my little pony notes. Personally, I like this as I think it gives the show it’s own feel. Plus is does have one thing over the FiM opening (not counting the extended version that is):

It actual gives us the list of our characters names.
And like all decent theme songs, it gives us a some hints at each characters personality/role in the show. Starlight works the salon/ice cream bar thing, Bon Bon likes to snack and bake things, Clover is a well meaning klutz (and being a well meaning klutz myself is probably the pony I most relate to),   Melody, the  proto Rock version of Vinyl Scratch (why is it with characters like Melody and Flash Sentry that rock and roll never seems to die? You’d think they’d be into grunge and dub step respectfully or something. Or better yet a Grunge/dub step mash up, make it happen people), Patch is the tomboy of the group who isn’t afraid to dish some pain back if that returning spitball shot on the bus is anything to go by, Sweetheart seems to be the Fluttershy of the show but with the added bonus of having a bow in her mane,, and Bright Eyes is the brainy one (who I feel would be both amused and annoyed at the same time by Equestria’s very… odd and inconsistent technology level).


Also, although the song might not start with that ever infamous jingle, it certainly makes up it latter with some good ole fashioned name dropping. On a side not, I like how the Tales Mane Seven are all spinning around on the… spinning thing that’s name escapes me at the moment as friends, something the Mane Six don’t ever do in their opening if you don’t count their random together for that photo they always send off to Celestia. (An unfair comparison to be sure, but I thought it was worth mentioning).


So, our episode begins properly on a windy, and somewhat cloudy night, though the full moon can be seen peaking behind the clouds. A few seconds later we see a nice (and pink) house. (I’d like to think that if Wind Whistler and Bright Eyes met up with Twilight in Equestria that they’d comment on how much the color pink and the Valentine’s day heart symbol seems to be an almost universally shared symbol throughout the pony multi-verse. That and breaking out into random song for little to no reason).


A seconds later, we’re introduced to our cast, in the midst of the grandest of all slumber party traditions: Charades (guess Twilight needs to get Slumber Party 102 at some point if she wants to step up her slumber party game). However Clover (voiced by, if Wikipedia is to be believed, Lalainia Lindbjerg who’s other big voice acting role seems to be… voicing Venus de Milo…. Poor dear, that’s Clover levels of luck right there) quickly ends the game by saying what it was she was trying to tell the others with her body language.
Sweetheart (voiced by Maggie Blue O’Hara, who voiced Shadowcat in X-Men: Evolution and is apparently the voice of some character in She-Zow. Neat) gets annoyed. I like that she’s capable of expressing visible annoyance with her friends instead of hiding under her soft voice of meekness (and I say this as someone who like Fluttershy).

Good for her.
So in spite of screwing up the game the first time, it’s still Clover’s turn and to her credit she does much better (also Bon Bon’s comment of the three dwarfs sounds like some sort of long lost Three Stooges plot line. And I can’t help but wonder what dwarf ponies would even look like, seeing as how ponies are by nature mini horses.).
When the girls finish the game, Sweetheart’s parents (we can tell its them because of the matching coats and similar mane to Sweetheart’s. Seems that in the Tales verse coats and mane do in fact act a lot like hair and eye color do in real life, I like that, makes it different from Equestria.) offer them a chance at ice cream.

And like all good…. kids between the ages of 10 and puberty they rush off in excitement.
We next see the girls gathered around a bowl of ice cream so huge, it’s melting and actual dropping into the floor (also, seems that Sweetheart’s family has a cat. He’s cute.). Bright Eyes (voiced by Laura Harris, who’s appeared in stuff like the X-Files, the 90’s Outer Limits, CSI, and the miniseries adaptation of King’s IT) shows off her brains by listing a number of nutritional facts about ice cream.
Sweetheart comments on Bright Eye’s brain swag and Bon Bon (voiced by Chiara Zanni, aka the voice behind Daring Do/AK Yearling, yet another reason why I refuse to hate that episode) breaks out the whip cream, though her aim needs a bit of work as she winds up spraying everyone with the white creamy goodness by accident.


The girls to their credit aren’t annoyed in spite of the fact that they just blasted with Bon Bon’s white cream stream and Melody (voiced by Kelly Sheridan) then decides to bring out the nuts. Insert your own innuendo jokes my friends.
With their frozen heart attack having been significantly sugarfied, Sweetheart places the lone cherry onto the ice cream, though if the animation is anything to go by she put it in the middle and not on the top like your supposed to. This anger’s the storm gods as thunder and lighting start up not a second after that fruit touches the ice cream (guess those goods take their ice cream very seriously here).
The power goes out and the girls are scared, Patch thinks that it’s the works of a ghost, which Sweetheart’s father dismisses as nonsense as the power goes back on a few seconds later. then they look and see that Bon Bon (food connoisseur and potential Big Beauty Pony model in the making) seems to have snagged some ice cream while the lights were out and take this as a chance to finally dig in. (Is it sad that I’m actually envious of those girls and that ice cream, seriously that thing looks huge!).


We next see the girls and their back in Sweetheart’s bedroom, with Bright Eyes doing a fairly good impression of their teacher Mrs. Hackney, though why they have a hoof puppet of her is anyone’s guess (I’d also question how a hoof is moving a sock puppet but if I can buy the sun and moon being attached to day and night and needing to be manually moved, then I can buy this).
Patch, being the tomboy and trouble maker that she is, give’s her ‘teacher’ a good taste of what missile pillow tastes like and thus starts off the great pillow fight war of 92, there were no survivors. Which is to say that Sweetheart’s mom comes in and gets them to settle back down to bed.
We then see the formally dark and somewhat cloud night decide to go full cliche on us and start to add in some rain (guess the lighting and thunder wanted to make it a three some… God Tumblr what have you DONE to me?) into the mix. Bon Bon, Sweetheart, and Clover all get unnerved by the storm (they all are ten after all… or in Sweetheart’s case will be ten).


However, Patch (who will be voice from here up to episode 16 by Venus Terzo, aka the women behind female Ranma from Ranma ½, Jean Grey from X Man Evolution, and (ironically) G3 Rainbow Dash) thinks that it’s the perfect time to tell a ghost story and Starlight (voiced by Willow Johnson, who does the voice behind Kasumi Tendo from the Ranma ½ series and Kiko from the InuYasha and as Starlight has quite the lovely singing voice) suggests building a tent. And it’s under this sheet made tent that we learn a bit of this setting past and history.


Apparently, Ponyland (not to be confused with the Ponyland of Dream Valley, though why you would is beyond me) in the past was a monarchy complete with an impressive looking castle and everything (also like how Paradise Lake isn’t just called Pony Lake, or Pony-dise Lake for that matter). Much like the night the girls are experiencing, it seems that the castle is experiencing some rain of their own this night and Baron von Dad Pony tells his son Squire (both of whom have matching colored coats and hip symbols, reinforcing my idea of this stuff being more genetic bound then it is in Equestria) that if he wants to become a knight that he must maim a dragon.

Well, that shouldn’t be too hard, all ole Squire will need is 13 dwarfs, an old pipe smoking wizard who hands out adventures and quests like favors at a birthday party, and a hobbit with a ring of invisabil-
I’m sorry, apparently Squire has to ‘tame’ a dragon. Not sure if that’s just how nights were made back then but I suppose it better then the dragon egg hatching schtick from Eragon.

So in that case kid all you need to do is get yourself a hot head, a bookworm, a cowgirl, a gal with a love of shiny things, a nutcase, and when the dragons been lulled into a false sense of security, you yell at it until the dragon breaks down in tears. Also, the dragon’s name is surprisingly enough, not-Spike, but Basil.
Eh, still a better name then Sapphira.
So the next morning our daring young man sets out alone on his quest to ‘tame’ the dragon, who lives in a cave in the deepest part of the old woods.

As opposed to that new-fangled woods they put up in the next hamlet over that lacks the charm and aged history of the other one. Interestingly enough, Squire’s dad gave his son a sword as opposed to a shield for his son’s quest, in spite of the both of them having shield hip symbols. So after walking a bit through the nicely atmospheric and misty woods, a nasty serpent gets the drop on our intrepid hero and hisses at Squire, Squire however simply gives the old snake-in-a-tree a raspberry for his trouble, and this apparently enough to scare the snake off (and back at the Snake Bar, Bob the snake was never able to go in for a drink without the other snakes mocking him for it).
Having vanquished his foe without even having to take out his sword, Squire soon finds the ominous cave of Smug- I mean Basil the dragon. A roar erupts from the cave and back in the real world/present/90’s, Sweetheart asks if that roar was Patch (nice to see that they didn’t blame Bon Bon and went after the obvious fat pony joke.

Good job Tales)
Back in the story, Basil enters the cave, find’s a leftover torch from a dead knight, and runs into Basil himself, who while maybe not on the level of a certain famous red dragon, still looks pretty intimidating all things told.
Squire manages to pass his doge check on a burst of incoming flame and boldly declares that he’s here to tame dragons and blow raspberries, but Basil (having no doubt heard that sort of speech in the past) is having none of Squire’s nonsense and just burns a hole in the caves floor (somehow…) and our young hero falls in.
Apparently though, he doesn’t die, though by the time he crawls out of the whole (which somehow took a long time to crawl out of even though Basil didn’t spend that much time making the hole for it to be that deep…) Basil has left the Ponyland world.

Ole Basil decided from then on to change the color of his scales from green to red, travel the multiverse, and find a nice new cave with a nice new horde of gold and shinny stuff where he can finally take that 100 year nap he’s been meaning to get around to.
Patch ends her story with the typical spooky story: “And they say that old man Jakin’s still haunts that old mill, cursing any and all kids of a meddling type that pass by”, type of ending.

A creaking noise is heard in the distance and Bon Bon instantly thinks its Squire, which Melody dismisses as nonsense.
Patch, being the Rainbow dash/Pinkie Pie of the show, decides to pull a Fred Jones and investigate the mysterious noise. Both Starlight and Bright Eyes insist on joining Patch (no doubt to keep her from getting in more trouble then she would if she were on her own) and eventually the rest of the girls follow in suite.
The girls enter the clustered, dark attic (which if the art is anything to go by as it’s own staircase leading up to it I think) and Sweetheart tries to turn on the headlight, but to no avail. Both Bon Bon and Clover start to get nervous (can’t say I blame them honestly, if I was there age and in a dark cluttered attic while a storm was a brewin’, can’t say that I’d want to stick around either) and a noise causes all of the Coltenville Mane Six to turn around scream as they see a fluttering figure near an open window (having been opened by the outside wind).


A tug from Starlight reveals that it’s nothing more then sheet on a bird cage (I can only assume that the Sweetheart’s family cat was the main cause of that particular item going up in the attic) and with that we get a transition into the first sound of the series, titled
“Things are not always what they seem.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIUVsz7ZsHE
While it’s not one of my favorite songs from Tales (that honor goes to Perfect Pair so far), the singing isn’t that bad for what it is. Fun fact, the woman who does the voice for Equestria Spike and Mayor Ivory Scroll directed the above mentioned voice actresses for the Tales cast for these songs, so have fun with the image of Spike with a little conductors baton trying to get the Tales Mane Seven to sing.^^ And I like the continuing spooky imagery of the attic, as well as some of the facial expressions from the girls as they freak out (poor Clover gets a tower of cardboard boxes and one camcorder to fall on top of her, girl makes Mr. Binks of Naboo look like a freaking trapeze artist by comparison sometimes I swear).


Plus the message of the song isn’t a bad one all things told, I mean let’s be honest here, all most all of us have been scared of the dark, or thought we’ve seen scary things in the shadows that were more mundane in the daylight. Granted, it might not have the catchiness of Giggle at the Ghosties, but I have to say that I think the situation that the Tales Mane Seven are in makes more sense from a terror standpoint then the spooky/mean looking trees from the second Fim episode.
I mean these girls are anywhere between the ages of ten and under the age of 15, and their in a honestly creepy looking, stuffy old attic at night while a gusty storm is raging on.
It makes sense that their a bit unnerved and scared of their surroundings while the Mane Six it makes… less sense what with them being vaguely defined adults and all (Rarity’s love of pin the tale on the pony not withstanding).

I mean those trees weren’t even sentient like the ones from the Wizard of Oz for crying out loud.
But I digress.
One final note of interest on the song is Patch’s line of not jumping into battle, once we get into episodes like Who’s responsible and Up Up an Away this become retroactively hilarious.
With the song over with, the girl’s share a laugh at Cover’s recent bout of klutziness and a mow from above brings Patch’s flashlight (she brought it up with her when they entered the attic) to the ceiling, where the see the family cat. Cat’s name apparently Springfield as she jumps down on from the rafters and onto the back of her owner (Sweetheart), Bright Eye theorizes that Springfield must have gotten locked out in the rain and came in through the attic window, and Bon Bon’s relived that there wasn’t any ghost, while Patch expresses some pretty visible disappointment that there wasn’t one.


Why do I get the feeling that Patch would be willing to kick Saggy and Scooby out of the Mystery Machine if it meant a chance to see some ghosts?
Later, with the storm seemingly over and everyone tucked away in their beds/sleeping bags a strange figure looms over Patch. But instead of being a creepy 100 year old vampire, it’s just Squire’s ghost.
You know it’s ironic how despite being the most mundane and normal of the settings it’s the Tales version of Ponyland that has ghosts while the Dream Valley verse and Equestria (if Twilight’s to be believed but this is the pony that thought that time travel wasn’t possible when there was clearly another version of herself in the same room as her) don’t. Funny how that works, aint it?


Patch wakes up with a gasp and Squire thanks her for telling his story. Maybe ghosts in this universe are like Tinkerbelle and need people to believe in them? Eh, I’ve seen less arbitrary afterlife rules before.
And if his voice and appearance are anything to go by, this kid either killed himself out of shame of never being able to find Basil, or from sheer depression. And that’s just if you assume he wasn’t supposed to be killed by that blast of fire that made a hole in the rock floor back in the cave in an earlier version of the story. Really, any three of these theories are pretty disturbing on Mr. Bloom’s part, so bravo I say.
Squire says that he must continue his search for Basil (apparently being dead hasn’t stop the kid from keeping the optimistic outlook that Basil is still alive, though if he was maybe being a ghost would make the whole ‘taming’ process easier now?) and asks that Patch keep an eye out for him (Basil that is).
Patch gives a salute promise that she will (which will come to nothing because this show only lasted 26 episodes) and Starlight asks in a tired tone who Patch is talking too.

Patch prepares to say who she was talking to, but instead goes for the old ‘it was just a dream’ chestnut as she looks back up to Squire, who’s floating up to the ceiling and out of sight never to be seen again (Just like Chuck Cunningham!). Patch then ends the episode with a playful and knowing: Or maybe it wasn’t.


And that’s the episode, and honestly? I think it’s pretty good for what it is. The songs got some nice singing and a decent beat/tune as well as a good, if not very original moral, to it that I think, given the target audience and such, is pretty good to keep in mind even as an adult. We get a pretty decent look at most of the characters and while the likes of Starlight or Bright Eyes don’t get too much to do, Patch, Clover, Bon Bon and Sweetheart have some nice moments to make up for it.


Basically, when watching Tales you have to do into with an open mind and role with the punches. Above all, I just find these episode relaxing and nerve calming as oppose to the intensity that Fim (or to be more accurate the fandom can produce).
I also like how we actually know that our characters have parents that love them and are pretty fair and reasonable, I mean we’re four seasons into Fim and I swear that by this point I’m convinced that Fluttershy was spawned one day when an oak tree thought that particular willow down by the river side looked particularly delightful blowing in the wind like that. I mean hell, at least we know that Sweetheart’s parents can talk, I’m half convinced that Twilight’s are mutes incapable of talking by now.
But yea, my complaints of the mane six’s disinterest in talking about their parents aside, hopefully you guys enjoyed my first MLP Tales Review (don’t worry, they do get ‘better’, for a given meaning of the word better) until the next episode, I’m Bob-dude.

[darkabomination]

Hopefully you'll get some good views here. I liked your first one here and on tvtropes, so here's to hoping it goes the way of Al's thread on MLP and friends.

[bobdude]

^Thanks, glad you like it! I have about nine of them written up (posted on a thread on RPG.net) so it's just a matter of me getting of my lazy butt and uploading them. 

[bobdude]

Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. And by thrilling I mean a short lived slice of life show, and by yesteryear, I mean over 21 years ago. It's July 10, 1992 and airing on the Disney channel either in the morning or afternoon, is My Little Pony Tales's second episode, written by two writers, a miss Kayte Kuch and Sheryl Scarborough. Kuch seems to have (according to IMDb) written for a number of kids shows, such as Kim Possible (Oh Boyz), Doug, and even Darkwing Duck (Dirtysomething) while shery has a similar resume having worked on a number of 80's cartoons as well. But we’re not here to talk about the writers of the show, but the ponies, so on with the episode!

This episode is all about Bon Bon (potential future BBP, that’s Big Beautiful Pony) and her family. So, it’s already different from FiM, what with showing the relationship between large families (parents included) and one of the mane characters.

The episode begins proper with Bon Bon preparing herself to go out to the movies with her dad (Honestly, after four seasons of Fim, it's nice to at least hear about father-daughter bonding if nothing else). One of Bon Bon's younger siblings asks what movie they're going to see, but a crazy powerful sneeze interrupts her before she can reply.

Another sneeze is fired off, this time with enough force to break Bon Bon's vanity mirror thing. Damn, that's almost superpowered levels of sneezing right there. Bon Bon comments that it feels as if the house is falling apart (a touch over reactive maybe but Bon Bon is a kid after all) and goes with her siblings to investigate the case of the earth shattering sneezing. While on their way Bon Bon notices a number of feathers floating through the air as they make their way down the hallway.

And it culprit is... Old man Jakins! Naw, turns out it's just Bon Bon's new born baby brother. Bon's mom is holding the new born foal while Bon's dad is trying to desperately to clean up the messes that Baby Pony's sneezing leaves in it's wake. And what is this new born baby pony's name? Baby Pony.

… Huh, guess that Bon's parents haven't thought of a good name yet and must just be using BP as a placeholder name until they can think of a good one for him. I mean, Baby Pony can't be BP's REAL name, I mean that be like calling your child human bob or Pony Joe....

Moving on. Bon's mom comments on how BP's got such a big sneeze for such a little feller (though given the fact that the room looks as if a twister came through, I'd say that be just a touch of an understatement there) while one of the younger siblings ask why BP's exploding (can't say I blame them, what kind of new born, pony or not sneezes with that sort of force? …. You two weren't driving along a cornfield when you both saw a rocket ship land nearby did you?) while Bon's dad (let's call him Garden Hose, partly because he's got a garden hose hip symbol, and partly because it's the best name I can think of at the moment) lampshades his son's crazy strong sneezing.

Bon Bon (who I should mention is wearing a cute hat/ribbon looking thing on her head) asks if she and Garden can still go to the movies. Garden says that he'll be to busy taking care of BP and Bon Bon is disappointed.

But she doesn't let it get her down as some time later she comes running into the living room (which has a TV, something that even Equestria at it's most technologically inconsistent doesn't seem to have, that and computers with internet access). she asks her mom if she would be willing to do her (Bon Bon's) mane. Bon's mom points out that Misty (Bon Bon's older sister) should do it as she's currently occupied with BP.

But it seems Misty is preoccupied by the Baby as well, preparing milk for the bottle in the kitchen. Bon Bon, not five seconds after trying to get her older sister's attention through the Sheldon Cooper method (Penny, Penny, Penny, Misty! Misty! Misty!), chooses to pull on her sister's tail, causing her to spill some of the milk in the process.
Apparently this forces Misty to start over, even though she seems to have plenty of milk left in those measuring cup (maybe the gal's just a perfectionist like that?) and Bon Bon decides to play with her brother Rusty.

Over in a pile of clothes (Why do these folks even have that many clothes if they wear clothing even less than the Mane Six do?) Rusty pops his head out of the pile, Bon Bon (thinking that he wants to play) jumps into the heap of clothing, which only proceeds to make Rusty angry at her as well as he apparently now has to start over.... even though it was clearly a lumpy pile before hand and Bon Bon's jump didn't seem to do much to it. Beside, it was his own fault for popping his head out like one of those Alien parasite things in the first place.

Still, I do have to commend Rusty for doing his part and helping out the family, Bon Bon could learn from that example. Rust comment that he'll have to sort it all over again (seriously? It really didn't look that neat in the first place kid) and Bon Bon remarks to herself that she's sick of BP being, well, sick.

And thus we get a transition into the song for the episode, A Little Attention, where we see among other things, Bon Bon pull off her best Rarity impression in an effort to get some attention. When this clearly fails (with Bon Dad not even bothering to look up from his newspaper) we see Bon Bon looking at a number of pictures of her family, the one I happen to like is the one of Bon Bon showing off her swag. Eventually the song ends with Bon Bon randomly winking to no one (poor dear might want to get that looked into at some point) and deciding to fake sickness in order to get some attention from the rest of her family.

While it's not one of my favorite songs from the show, and lacks the creepy imagery of Slumber Party's song, it's not a bad tune in of itself. Chiara Zanni isn’t the strongest singer of the Tales Mane Seven, and out of the lot is probably the weakest but she’s WAS only 14 when Ocean Group did the work for Tales, so I can’t be too hard on the gal. As for the selfishness of Bon Bon's decision, I'm honestly not bothered that much by it. I know I've mentioned it before, but she is roughly ten or so (I place Rusty at 8 or 9 and the twins around five or something like that, Misty I'm guessing is somewhere between 16 or 18?) and given that she's the middle child of a large family I'd say that it makes sense that she's more than a bit jealous of her baby sibling getting all the attention.

Granted, as the first born child with only one younger brother, I myself never went through the sort of thing that Bon Bon has, but I'd like think that other middle children will have gotten jealous of their older or younger siblings at some point in the human race, so take that as you will.

Also, on a side note, something I've just noticed is how the songs in this show seem to transition by way of that blury effect you see that normally denotes dreams and the like in movies. Makes sense seeing as how in later episodes we'll see that the Tales world does not run off of Musical logic.

So after the song, Bon Bon enters the family kitchen where she puts in her entry for the Academy Awards of 1992 by starting up her fake coughing. The rest of her family is SO wrapped up in their individual actives (isn't that how it always is with life?) that it actually takes them a moment to realize that someone just coughed.

After a quick process of elimination from everyone in the family, Bon Bon continues her effort of aiming for the 92 Awards by letting out some sorry sounding groans and moans and adding in some more fake coughs, eventually flopping over on her back for extra dramatic effect (Good Grief, even Rarity and G3 Dash would think this girl's milking it too much, you know maybe Bon Bon should think about an acting career at some point in her life, though given that she wants to be a model, the two might intersect at some point).


In spite of Bon Bon ingesting 2 and a half full sized swines Bon's family seems to buy the act, with Bon dad remarking that she looks pale, while Mom Bon is somehow able to tell that her daughter is running a fever without even touching her. Damn now THAT'S maternal, eat your heart out Mrs. Cake. Bon dad takes Bon Bon into their very pink ( seriously, pink flooring, walls, and a freaking pink lampshade, what is it with ponies and the color pink? And Rainbows, and random singing, and..) and lays her on the thankfully very blue couch.

And it seems like Bon's devious plan is working, Misty offers to read her stories to keep her entertained, she (Bon Bon) has a comfy looking blanket over her, her father's heading out to the store just to pick up medicine for her.

Yup, life's pretty sweet right now.

And then the phone rings, which Bon Bon gets up and rushes towards, only to stop half way when she realizes her mistake. Patty, amazingly enough, simply scolds Bon Bon for running when she's as 'sick' as she is, while Misty picks up the very old rotary telephone. Turns out it's Starlight, with an offer to go to the movies no less

(Oh yea Bon Bon, don't you have five OTHER friends you could hanging out instead of lying to your family the way you are? Just saying), but because Bon Bon's 'sick' she of course can't go.

But the Irony train just seems to keep on going down the rails as soon Patch and Melody call with things to do. Melody somehow having gained backstage passes to a Cleveland Bays concert (not sure how a ten year old with a nurse mom got said tickets but oh well), and no I'm not sure if this means that Ponyland in Tales is a stand-in for the state of Ohio or if the Bays just picked that word out a of hat, your guess is as good as mine people. The Bays I can only ASSUME would be the Tales take on... New Kids On the Block? Eh, always like the Wylde Stallions better myself.

Bon Dad must somehow have access to either a TARDIS or a transporter from Star Trek as he's now back very quickly with Bon's medicine, which she expresses visible disappointment at. Later we see Bon Bon running her siblings ragged, such as forcing Misty to go back to the kitchen yet again for a different type of juice while Amber and Twink crash into one another, causing a mess in the process.

Poor Bon Mom and Misty are being kept so busy in the kitchen that Misty winds up a very green a poisonous looking 'pudding' in the baby bottle by accident. A scene or two later we see both Rusty and Dad Bon coming in from a very nasty rainstorm carrying stacks of magazines, such as Pony Beat, Teen Pony, Super Teen Pony (make your own superhero jokes folks) and Cosmo Pony....

The earth pony's of Tales Ponyland are very... upfront with their naming when compared to Equestria, though after 4 seasons worth of puns (Bridleway, seriously?) I can't say that it isn't an unwelcomed change of pace, honestly it's kinda nice having them being up front with their poniness instead of being cloy and hiding it with puns.
Unfortunately for Bon Dad and Rusty, they apparently got LAST month's issues and Bon Bon asks if they can go back (out in the rain I might add) to the store. Doug's incredulous tone pretty much says it all in that scene.

Also, what sort of store sells magazines that are a month past their prime? But thankfully both stallions are saved from having to make another trek out into the rain, as Bon Dad notices something coming in from the kitchen. So congrats, you guys will soon have to deal with the opposite of water, fire!

As everyone else goes into the kitchen to try to save poor Mom Bon’s dinner (bet you the family's ordering out tonight) Bon Bon goes off into her room, where we see the first appearance of her dairy. Through writing in her dairy, Bon Bon undergoes a face heel turn and realizes what a brat she's been to the rest of her family. Liked how in this show, more often then not when the girl’s have acted like dicks they come to the realization on their own, slight prodding aside.

Both Bon Ma and Pa, having apparently dealt with the doomed dinner, go back into their oh so very pink living room (I suppose I should be thankful the TVs not heart shaped or something. People as much as I like ponies and small cute things, even I have a limit.) only to noticed that Bon Bon is gone.

She appears behind them, looking down in the dumps and manages to give her father a zen riddle in the process. Bon Pa: You feel worse, but your not sick? I don't get it. (what is the sound of one Bon Bon confessing, the answer is Chiara Zanni of course^^) It's here that Bon Bon finally comes clean about everything and apologizes, and much like FiM it seems that if you apologize and are sincere enough in that apology, then all is forgiven.

In fact both parents seem more relived that they'll have one less pony to take care of then anything, though Dad Bon does remark that while their not happy that Bon Bon lied to them, their also just happy that she's not sick either. Patty even admits amid a pony snuggle thing that they were paying perhaps a bit too much attention to BP, but that doesn't mean that none of them love Bon Bon any less because of it.

Bon Bon then starts to clean up the mess made from Amber and Twink, going so far to say that she'll even break out her mad baking skills and make her parents favorite desert (which I wouldn't be surprised involved beets somehow). It’s at this point that both parents come under a case of the Rarity, falling onto their blue couch in an overly dramatic fashion. Those poor fools never stood a chance. (shakes fist at the sky) RARITYITOUS!

Very soon everyone else falls under illness though how much of that is catching BP's cold and how much of that is them faking to give Bon Bon a taste of her own medicine is left vague, either intentionally or unintentionally up to the viewer, though given Bon Bon’s behavior, I would be surprised if they were messing with her just a LITTLE bit.

Bon Bon, to her credit, plays the roll of nurse maid to... seven ponies without complaint and when she answers the door (which has what looks like a picture of a horse on one of the side walls.... draw your own conclusions people) it's Starlight with a bouquet of flowers (might want to try for a more subtler approach their my dear, or at least make the gift chocolates) remarking with surprise that she thought that Bon Bon was sick, hence the flowers.

It's a nice little gester from a friend and I like it, think it's sweet, though whether the others had anything to do with it (Ie they all pitched in their money to get Bon Bon a nice thing of flowers) or this was all just Starlight's idea is left up to the viewer. Given the earlier stuff with Patch and Melody though, I could see all the girls pitching in to get their friend something nice while she was sick. When have any of the mane six done that hurm? … Or gotten sick for that matter, and no Appleajack's sleep thing doesn't count.

Anyhoo, Bon Bon admits that all she needed was some attention and her conversion with Starlight is cut short as her family members bark out new orders. Mom Bon wants a magazine; Dad Bon wants to turn on the TV, ect. And so our episode ends with Bon Bon carrying out her family's wants without complaint, having more attention than she knows what to do with.

And what are my thoughts overall? I like it. To be sure it's not my favorite episode in the series, and Bon Bon's choice to play sick in order to get attention might rub some people the wrong way (if the reaction to a harmless episode like Feeling Pinkie Keen is anything to go by) but I like that Bon Bon realizes her mistake on her own, and that the show goes out of it's way to 'punish' Bon Bon for playing sick in the first place. I also like that Bon's parents aren't over reactive jerks like what you'd get out of a different show. That, I think, is something Tales does well. It’s parents are just good humble folks, who are, shockingly enough, decent parents.

Basically, episodes like these will depend on how much you like the character in question, and given that I honestly like all the Tales gals pretty equally (though Bon Bon is one of my top four, the others being Clover, Sweetheart, and Starlight) I happen to like this episode quite a bit. Next time we go back to before Rainbows Rocked and when ten year olds could somehow have decent rock n roll bands battles and have it still be believable.

[sunstar]

You forgot Starlight in the theme song, and Melody is mentioned twice. I loved the Tales saga.

[bobdude]

Mar 9, 2014 1:56:32 GMT -8 sunstar said:

You forgot Starlight in the theme song, and Melody is mentioned twice. I loved the Tales saga.

Huh, so I did. Well let it never be said that I don't make mistakes. And glad to see another Tales fan. 

[bobdude]

So today on July 17, 1992 we have the third episode, Battle of the Bands. Eh, title's not the most creative but even the great and holy Fim isn't above using used titles (though they at least have the common decency to put a pun spin on it. Keep Calm and Flutter On indeed ^^). But enough about the title, it seems for this one we have a return of the good Mr. Bloom as the writer for this episode and given that I've enjoyed his past pony work pretty well, let's see what he's cooked up for us this week shall we?

Our episode starts off at the house of the 1992 version of Vinyl Scratch, Melody where she's in her kitchen doing some song work. Melody it seems is having some trouble coming up with a good rhyming word to go with orange, while her mother (a blue coat pony with a light blue mane with a clock hip symbol) chuckles and says that that's because nothing rhymes with orange. For simpliticty's sake I'm naming Melody's mom Mel Mom. It's at this point that Melody's two twin siblings call Melody into their admittedly quite nice looking living room to look at the TV.

On screen is PTV (which I can only assume is the Tales take on MTV, enjoy it while it's good Melody, because once they introduce Pony Shores and the Situpony and Pnooky, it's all going to go down hill from there, and don't even get me started on Here Comes Pony Boo Boo...) and the TV host Dazzle, a... Cockney(?) accented pony voiced by also Venus Terzo (who up til episode 16 does Patch's voice), so if she sounds a bit like G3 Dash, that's the reason why. Also can't help but feel that her hat and green fro-like hair style is a reference to something. But anyways it seems that Dazzle has come down with a case of expostionitis and explains to both the viewers and Melody that the Battle of the Bands will be held in ponyland soon in order to fine the next hip, funky fresh, and radical band in the land (Ow! Hurts to even think that stuff, let alone type it..)!

Melody, confident that her band the Rockin' Beats (a toyline at the time) can win if they enter, asks her mom if they can enter the contest. Mel Mom says yes, but because Thursday is her night at the hospital Melody has to make sure that she finds a babysitter in time, but first we practice. And what better way to practice in the early 90s then by a montage?

And thus we transition into our song for the episode, Sweet Music, and I have to say that I really like this one. While Venus Terzo and Chiara Zanni were alright as singers, I have to say that Sheridan and the rest of the singers for the Rockin' Beats (who seem to share voices with the Mane Coltenville cast, truly MLP's long standing tradition of having more then one voice actress voice different ponies was alive and well even back then) did a wonderful job for the song. It's got a great, catchy beat to it, nice lyrics, and some cute imagery (love Melody's 90's version of Rainbow Dash's cool shades from Equestria).

Hell, I love the song so much I'll even give you lot a link to a PMV that features it (and given that it's a shipping vid and my general indifference to shipping I think it says something about how much I enjoy this song that I'm still using the vid regardless) www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiC16-ctND4

So after the sweetness of Sweet Music, we have Melody admiring herself in the mirror in her room, decked out with a nice looking orange scarf and bow ensemble , some bracelet thingies on her front hoof arm, and she's got her glitter going on. Mel Mom comes in and Melody asks her if a french scarf with green bracelets would look better, personally I prefer her current look but what the hell do I know?

Wait a minute, french scarf. That implies that France exists in the Tales-verse. France and french was referenced to a few times in season one of Fim, and later both the French language and snooty french chef culture where shown to exist as well in Equestria. France was also refrenced in G3, and if the Moochick's song and knowledge of earth culture is anything to go by... There can be only ONE logical explanation for all this: France is the center of the pony multiverse! (someone should write a fanfic based on that idea, hint hint). That or both George Bloom and the writers of FiM forgot to take out the reference to a very real location in an otherwise completely different world from earth.

So Mel Mom, being the supportive mom that she is, remarks that Melody looks lovely and asks who Melody got to babysit for the twins. Melody then does her best Princess Twilight impression and starts to freak out, worrying that no one will be available on such short notice.
She then asks her mom if she can't call in sick at the hospital, but mom points out that everyone there is depending on her at the hospital. Melody tries the same logic, pointing out that her band needs her as well but Mel Mom remains steadfast as finding a babysitter WAS Melody's job after all (damn you time eating musical montages shakes fist to the sky) and that if she can't find anyone then she'll have to stay home (woman... mare's apparently watch her fair share of Rugrats and knows the kinda of shenanigans babies/toddlers can get into).
We cut to later with Melody in the (admittedly quite nice looking, and NOT pink) kitchen on her corded green hook cord telephone (ah the 90s...) trying to see if any one of her friends is aviable. Patch's mom says she's at soccer practice (not sure why that would keep her the whole evening but if I was Patch and I had just worked up a sweat running about the last thing I'd want to do is watch after two kids for the night), Sweetheart is really truly too busy taking inventory... because she somehow works in retail now apparently (selling what I can only assume are Valentine's day gifts if those hearts are anything to go by, but given that hearts are just about a freaking universal pony symbol, practically their take on the peace sign thing from Star Trek, who knows what the hell is in those boxes. Starlight's too busy working the family ice cream parlor/hair salon, which I guess is cheaper than hiring a full time employee and neither can Bon Bon (though in a house of six ponies one can't help but wonder how Bon Bon even got the phone ringing past them in the first place).
I'd wonder why she's not calling up either Clover or Bright Eyes, but given that Clover is... well, the Derpy Hooves of the Tales verse and Bright Eyes is probably doing some brainy pony thing somewhere, I can't see Melody picking either of them.
Melody sets the phone back and sighs with clear disappointment, wondering how she's going to tell the band she can't participate (I'd make a Back to the Future or Bill and Ted reference but seeing as how those characters all play the guitar it doesn't really work). And then to add to her troubles one of her twin siblings decides to fling what I can only hope is jam on her muzzle. It's here that we learn their names even: Tingaling and Jing-a-ling. You know Mel Mom, I know your busy as a nurse and a bit of a dingbat and all that, but when you make Mom Bon's choice of 'Twink' for a name look good by comparison, you need to rethink your naming skills. Though at least it does fit with Melody's musical motif. So kudos there I suppose.

Either way before Melody can do her best Homer Simpson impersonation with her front hooves, the Rockin Beats come a ringing at her door. Melody says that she can't go, that she has to watch the twins, and the band is understandably upset. Tuneful (the green earth pony) even remarks how Melody should have been getting a babysitter. And so the Rockin Beats leave minus their lead singer.
Yea I can't see that working well at all. I've ingested enough D and D related material over the years to know you NEVER split the party, even if that party is really a rock and roll band that won't last pass middle school. In a moment of doucheness one of the rocking beats members even remarks on how maybe they'll sound better without Melody, which leaves the poor dear in tears as she softly wishes them good luck.

… You know, I can't help but feel that Marriweather Williams would have been a perfect fit for this show. Don't know why but I do.
On a lighter note, we cut to the battle of the bands concert itself at PTV where Dazzle explains the basic rules of the contest: whatever band makes the most noise and scores the most points, wins basically. Also gives us this amusing line: So shake out those yappers and air out those flappers. You know, I could easily twist that into an innuendo, but I won't because that'd be too quick n easy (son of a...!)

Either way, Dazzle officially announces the start of the Ponyland Battle of the Bands contest, and the red pony of the Rockin Beats (hey I might be a nerd but even I'm not going to bother to keep track of all of these guys okay?) mumbles that she wishes that Melody was here (gee, ya'll kinda were singing a different tune back when you left Melody's house ya jerks><)

So with the rock contest to end all rock contests underway, we start things off with... hell, because my obscure references know no bounds, I'm call this group the Popcorn Fairies, while poor Melody sits at home on her cozy looking living room, smiling somewhat as she enjoys herself as best she can. Meanwhile Thing 1 and Thing 2 are doing their best Phil and Lill impersonations as they fight over a puzzle piece (how old are these kids that their solving puzzles at their age, granted it doesn't seem to be one of those 1000 piece monstrosities).

And I stand corrected on the punk-rock bands name, their name is apparently “Metaloid or Metalloyd”... Yea I'm just going to keep calling them Popcorn Fairies myself, though Metaloid isn't too shabby a name I have to say. Either way it seems that the Popcorn Fairies preformance is enough to stir Melody into action, saying to her twin siblings “Come on! Mom didn't say WHERE I had to babysit ya.” (Why am I now getting an image of Timmy Tunner saying “What could possibility go wrong?” in my head?)

*Later at the Hall of Music*

It seems the Rockin Beats turn is almost up and one of the band members wishes that Melody was here, and lo like an angle from heaven Melody appears!... Okay it's nowhere near as overthetop or anything like that in the episode but still. Either way the twins soon wander off where they come across two sandbags, which they soon open in an effort to make a sandcastle and reenact their Game of Thrones fanfic as they argue over who should be queen (silly ponies, everyone knows that Celestia is best queen pony).

With the two sandbags missing the background display behind the preforming band drops down on top of them, but instead of squishing them and killing them outright, just seems to given them a case of the Rainbow-Dash-and-the-baby-birds syndrome instead. In fact if anything their pain and misfortune just seems to work out for them as the crowd goes wild as a result. It seems that Melody knows her siblings hoofiwork when she sees it (and seems to have become a Twilight vampire in the process, no I won't be making more of a joke than that, Twilight jokes haven't been funny since 08 people).

Dazzle tells the Rockin Beats that their up, but Melody rushes off to find her siblings (green earth pony expresses her annoyance at being minus Melody once more, can't say I blame her this time around). Meanwhile in the Hall of Music, it seems that Thing 1 and 2 have wormed their way backstage (what was PTV too lazy/cheap to hire some freaking security around here? With one of the Things activating what I can only describe as the 'Lets cause some F—ing seizure up in this here joint' as the entire backstage starts flashing red and black lights.
... K.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, the Rockin Beats start preforming Sweet Music, but without Melody's mad singing skills, the song with nice lyrics and a catchy beat.... Just really has a catchy beat with some background singers.

And judging by 90s Carrot Top asking for someone to wake her when their finished, it seems that the Rockin Beats are about to.... (puts on a pair of shades) Hit rock bottom (Bulk Bicpse: YEAAAAAA!)
Meanwhile, normal things are afoot at the Rainbow Salon, where Starlight is still working and Patch (who may have just came in after soccer practice to get something to drink, and thus never have gotten Melody's message, ah the years before cell phones and texts), Bright Eyes and a pony who I'm going to dub Triangle Butt (yes I know the hip symbols are technically on the flank or whatever but Triangle butt this pony stays) all look on and cringe at the Rockin Beats minus Melody.

While Melody herself manages to track her siblings down, they ride down a giant slide thingy (why its there god only knows) and winds up with all three of them eventually bouncing about on a conveniently placed trampoline.
This allows Melody to make her conveniently dramatic air born entrance as she picks up singing and thus the hope (and chances of winning) of the Rockin Beats is restored. Melody's singing is so good that it manages to get Starlight and the others to do the front hooves wave, the biggest dance craze of the year 1992.
Not, of course, to be confused with Sir Floppington's dance crazy The Flop, which just ends in pain for everyone. Either way Melody's singing, along with Thing 1 and 2 somehow knowing the lyrics, nets the Rockin Beats the noise needed from the audience needed to take home the gold as it were.

Hell, the Rockin Beats are SO good that they manage to case the freaking screen measure to explode (years before the Over 9000 meme I might add, suck it Vegeta!). After Dazzle gives them the freakin huge trophy (thing is so big it's on wheels for crying out loud), a photographer stallion takes a picture of the Rockin Beats, which Melody keeps and puts beside the nightstand of the Twin's bed.

Melody makes the twins promise not to tell mom about their misadventure tonight, but when Mel Mom steps in and congratulates Melody on winning, it all becomes a moot point in the end. Melody promises that next time she'll defiantly get a babysitter ahead of time but Thing 1 and 2 only want their big sister to babysit them from now on (awww, and why shouldn't they, she took them to what was basically the most awesome playground ever in their eyes and let them have the time of their young lives after all).

And that's the Battle of the Bands. How is it? Honestly, out of all three episodes so far, this one is most likely my fave. It's got the best song (for now), and Melody is pretty fun to watch and it's nice to see her in one of her non jerk moods. I also can't help but think that both Melody and DJ Pon-3 would get along disturbingly well together. Rock N roll Wubstep mish mash anyone?

Next week's episode has a plot line very similar to that of a certain g4 season 1 episode, and has the most indecisive, somewhat gullible, klutzy, lucky-unluckist and over all best Tales pony as it's star (and the one I self identify with the most): Clover Bloom. Until next time, I'm Bob-dude

[darkabomination]

I was surprised I'd like Melody quite a bit. sure she's usually the one hit with the jerk ball most often, but her ego's endeering and has the music chops to back it up. She reminds me of a rocker girl Vinyl scratch with some Rarity thrown in. Maybe it's the voice...

[bobdude]

Mar 11, 2014 8:08:11 GMT -8 darkabomination said:

I was surprised I'd like Melody quite a bit. sure she's usually the one hit with the jerk ball most often, but her ego's endeering and has the music chops to back it up. She reminds me of a rocker girl Vinyl scratch with some Rarity thrown in. Maybe it's the voice...

Part of what I think helps Melody's character is how she's a sort of 5/10 on the shallow scale, girl may be a party gal (as Melody herself freely admits in the Sweetheart birthday episode) but she's 1. honest about it 2. generally pretty good about realizing when she's gone to far and mare enough to admit it (like this episode) and 3. (Ironically) Not shallow enough to fall for Ace, part of that may be her self centered nature, to be sure, but a part of me likes to think that Melody is well aware of Ace's feelings for her and ignores him because... well, it's Ace. This is the character whose, if a random Tumblr person is to believed, own voice actor once drew evil eyebrows on a picture of him when at a Con for an autograph thingy. 

[bobdude]

Welp, it's that time again folks-

Melody: Hammer Time?

N-No Melody, not 'Hammer Time', or Adventure or Howdedode Time for that matter.

Tis Pony Time.

Let us return again to that magical summer of 1992, or to be more precise July 10th, 1992 and to My Little Pony Tales's 4th episode (written once again by Mr. George Arthur Bloom): And the Winner is... (Spoilers, it Clover^^).

The episode starts off with some cheesy but nice rock music as we get a nice good look at the PTV logo in all it's glowing glory, before we pan down to see an glass orb with a bunch of slips of paper in it.

Dazzle (who's got an infectious sort of cheeriness that could give G4 Cheerilee a run for her money) explains that it's time to pick the winner of the last two tickets to the Cleveland Bays concert and she gives the ball a good hard spin before plucking a name out of the orb (no I don't know how she does it with hooves, but I figure if a land of earth ponies can make a late 80s/early 90s setting with just their hooves, then they can do something as simple as pick up things with their hooves.).

But before we learn who the winner is (see what I did there?), the scenery gets all blurry and we cut to Clover being awaken by an echoy version of her name. She glances around her room a bit (which is rocking some pink wallpaper and doesn't seem to be very big in size).

Turns out it's her mom, who I shall hence forth name Clove Mom. Clove mom says that it's time for school and that Clover has overslept (Clove's unluckiest strikes again!) but Clover goes onto talk about her dream about how Dazzle was about to announce the winner of the Cleveland Bays band concert thing. Clove Mom remarks that if Clover doesn't get to school then she'll be spending it with Mrs. Hackney and we cut to later that day to Mrs. Hackney herself, who is teaching her class about the concept of fractions and denominators.

The class however, like all... Elementary? School kids, are too busy staring at the clock on the very pink wall (same for the floor, and the desks, and the wall paneling, seriously what is it with little ponies of all generations and their obsession with the color pink?) waiting for the day to end.


When the clock strikes three, the kook coo bird from the opening theme song pops out to announce the days end, only to get shot at by Patch and her spit ball straw of doom (also, that bird may or may not be sentient give it's reaction to Patch firing at it like that).

All of our mane characters, including future characters like Ace (IWILLBETHEGODOFTHENEWWORLD!), and a random blue background pony all rush out of the classroom, happy to be free for the day. Clover calls everyone over to her house (at least I think it's her, it's hard to tell in this scene to be honest) for the drawing, as they all head down the school slide.

Not going to lie, I'm sort of jealous of these girls, I mean their school has a freaking slide for crying out loud! (How the tax payers were able to be convince I'll never know) Suck it Ponyville schoolhouse!

Later, at what I can only assume is Clover's house, the drawing on PTV is finally taking place, and it's turning out a lot like her dream, a fact of which Clover herself even comments on (does this mean that Clover can SEE THE FUTURE!?), while Bon Bon is so excited that she's happily stuffs her face with... vaguely white creamy stuff from a bowl.

Drums start to rolls as Patch clops her front two hooves up and down on the floor in excitement (not sure why I find that as cute as I do but I just do^^) And the winner is.... Clover of High Street West (I know, I'm amazed that Bloom actually gave them a name for her street as well, oh and Clover winning I guess).

Clover is doing her best adorkable Twilight impression as she hops about in an almost Pinkie like manner from joy (tis very cute I must say). Sweetheart uses her other seldom used catchphrase “It never ever fails” (Again, not sure why I like this as much as I do, but I do), while Bright Eyes remarks that Clover is the “Luckiest little pony I've ever known.”

Clover meanwhile continues the Adorable Sparkle Dance (how she does it despite Tales and Equestria existing in completely different universes/time lines is beyond me).

Once the dance of the dorks is done with, everyone starts to congratulate Clover on winning, while heading out the door as they do so. And it's a really hollow sounding and looking sort of congratulations too.

Pretty soon only Sweetheart and Clover herself are left. Sweetheart then decides to break out her more well known catchphrase: I'm really truly happy for you Clover.”

Clover, however, can clearly see that her friends are upset from not winning the tickets. Sweetheart gives her friend a comforting pat on the back and explains that the others aren't upset, just disappointed that they didn't win is all. Having comforted her friend like a boss, Sweetheart then leaves as well (that door is just letting in all sorts of bugs I can tell), but not before playful mistaking the world lucky with the word later. Clover, now alone, remarks to herself how she guesses it's not easy being a good sport, even for friends (which is admittedly a very true little moral.)

Some time later, we see a dark green mail pony approach Clover's house (the address we learn is 5200) and after a short conversation with Clover, gives her the tickets and leaves. Clover, now having the tickets in hoof (It even comes with a letter from Dazzle herself, that even reads itself in her voice no less!), starts to think to herself on just which of her six friends should get the tickets, and thus we get our song for the episode: The choice I ought to make.

While it doesn't have the awesomeness of awesomeness that was Sweet Music from last episode, I still like it due to the nice imagery and because I do honestly sympathize with Clover a lot. Like Clover I too am a somewhat indecisive person at times so I know where this poor girl is coming from, also Lalainia Lindbjerg does have quite the sweet singing voice, especially for the last few lyrics of the song.

Some general points of interest about the song imagery:
Damn Clove, and I thought Sweetheart had a thing for hair bows (if the opening song is anything to go by). Also, go for yellow, looks better in your light pink mane than a pink bow would
Rabbits and Turtles in place of numbers, and I thought the idea of imaginary numbers was out there.

Ah, the age old fork in the road gag, been a while old friend.
HOLY PONY POOP, THAT'S A LOT OF ICE CREAM. I mean you'd need at least TWO Bon Bons to finish all that stuff off.

Whoa, that's a big TV, and is that... thinly veiled recoloring of the Muppet Babies I see (which changes for ‘Kermit; into regular green…), which implies that the regular Muppets are a thing, which implies that Sesame Street is a thing, which means that- and now I've gone derp eyed.

Also, it seems that abusing the multiscreen function of a tv will cause it to explode, good to know MLP Tales, thanks for that.

C-Clover, why are you imaging your friends dancing for your with feather thingies in their hooves that distantly remind me of Vegas show girls?

On a side note, I like how Clover's immediately conflicted about which of her friends to take, as oppose to them having to give her some sort of motivation for going and give her a reason to be conflicted (coughTicketMastercough).

Well it seems in spite of singing about it, Clover's still just as clueless about which of her five friends to take with her to the big concert. Later, at the corners of Faust Street and Zacherle Drive, we come to the familiar setting of the Rainbow Beauty Salon, aka the ice cream shop with the giant cone for a door. Is it called that in the show at any point? Don't think so, but I have to call it something other than 'that ice cream shop', so Rainbow Beauty Salon it is!

Yay Fanon!
Inside we see Starlight hard a work, making a strawberry shake which she then gives to Clover (no doubt either in an attempt to fatten her up or butter her up into giving her the other ticket).

Clover, being many things (forgetful for starters) but dumb not one of them, questions her friend's sudden generosity. Starlight admits that it's to make up for leaving as soon as she did after the raffle yesterday and that it wasn't nice of her to do so but Clover says that she doesn't have anything to apologize for. A few sips of her shake later and Clover asks if Starlight wants to go with her to the concert. But amazingly, Starlight refuses! Naw, just messin' with ya, she jumps at the chance and accepts almost instantly.

Once more we cut to some time later, were we're shown the Coltenville public library (made of stone I might add, nice looking library all things told), Mrs. Hackney is going about doing her business while a triangle hip symbol pony walks by going off to do whatever the hell it is he's going to do.

We then get a close up of Clover between some bookshelves, only for Melody's face to pop up behind one of them in surprise! Melody, after beating around the bush a little bit, asks if she can have the ticket. Clover, being very kind hearted by nature, reasons that if anyone should be going, it should be Melody, what with the music and love of rock n roll and all that. Melody rushes off in joy, and one screen wipe later, we cut to both Sweetheart and Clover hanging out on a seesaw.

Sweetheart, being full of awesomeness, says that she doesn’t care about going to the music concert and when Clover brings up the fact that it's the motherflipping Cleveland Bays, that there are “more important things in life than the Cleveland Bays.” (like a BOSS!)

Clover is so impressed with Sweetheart's maturity that she insists on giving Sweetheart her own ticket, obviously forgetting both Melody and Starlight. Sweetheart is pleasantly delighted by this news (Oh gee oh gosh! This is really truly unexpected! Girl likes her rhyming, someone needs to make a Pony rap video having her face off against Fluttershy, I don't care if we have to track Lalainia Lindbjerg down and pay her a boat load of cash in the process, but it needs to be done.) I have to say that I really like this scene and I almost can't explain why, but I'll try my best (if only I had a crappy pony version of myself I could use while writing this thing, oh well...).

First off, I love that both Sweetheart and Clover are just hanging out doing something as nice and simple as playing on a seesaw. While I don't object to any of the adventure stuff that the Mane Six get involved with, there's just something about the simplicity of two friends just spending time on a playground that I just love.

Secondly, I freaking ADORE Sweetheart in scene and found her maturity and her refusal to buy into that boy band hip nonsense to be both surprising and refreshing (though admittedly I have a tendency to write very mature/adult kid characters so that may have something to do with it).

Thirdly, I can't help but like the fact that Clover was so impressed with Sweetheart's maturity/honesty that she just up and gave her ticket away to her. Shows that she appreciate good traits in friends.


Another screen wipe and we cut to the rest of the Coltenville six arguing over who exactly Clover has given the extra ticket too. Clover, being the most unluckiest and luckest pony in all of freaking Ponyland, of course just happens to approach the group and be noticed by them, with the five of them chasing after her the moment they lock eyes (and Clover didn't even bring any Pokemon with her either).

On aside, I want to talk a bit about the background music that plays during the chase sequence. I've always found how this one track in particular with it's use of xylophone, string instruments (I want to say violins), and flutes to be a charming little piece of music.

Anyway, Clover continues running from her clearly very annoyed and angry friends and soon opts for hiding under a nearby bench. Starlight and the others see right through her hiding place, with Starlight ordering Clover to come out from hiding. Clover makes a pretty lame excuse about looking for something under the wooden bench, but all the girl's yell at her to come out and explain herself.

Shame faced, Clover comes out of hiding and explains that because she couldn't decide which of her five friends to invite, she invited all of them. Bright Eyes remarks that while Clover's ghuester (I apologize, I can never seem to spell that word for the life of me), that doesn't change the fact that there are only two tickets available.

It's at this point that inspiration proceeds to bop Clover upside the head and we cut to later, were we see a fishbowl with scraps of paper in it. Clover apparently came up with the idea to hold another raffle, with her father being blindfolded in the process for fairness sake (Clove Dad: But I can't see a thing. Clove mom: That's the point dear. And no, I don't know how Clove dad is able to pick up a piece of paper with a hoof. I figure if these ponies are smart enough to invent tv and pc computers, they can pretty much write a check on the whole hoof thing. Sides, not like Fim hasn't pulled the same thing before (Oh hello boots clearly made for human beings).

Anywho, Clove dad draws the first name, and fittingly enough from a thematic point of view, it's Melody. Ole Melody is SO excited at the prospect of meeting her music idols that she nearly faints in the process. The second drawing is made and... It's CLOVER! Once again, young Clover does the dance of the happy dorks, only to stop shortly after. “I did it, I won again!... I didn't mean too.”

So because we're running out of run time, we cut to the concert in all it's late 80s, early 90s glory.

We see a black car pull up to the red carpeted event and two ponies walk out, one of which is not only wearing a bow tie, but has one for their hip symbol as well. The 11th doctor would totally think that guy was coolsville.

We then get a close up shot of Melody, who is clearly enjoying herself, while poor Clover is not and-Wait. Are those copies of Clover, Patch, and possible Melody I see in the crowd. Holy scrap they are. This can mean only one thing everyone.

CODE BLUE, CODE BLUE! THE CHANGLINGS AND ZYGONS HAVE TEAMED UP AND INVADED PONYLAND! SOMEONE GET THE 7TH DOCTOR, ACE (the explosive expect, not the god of the new world with a fondness for potato chips.), CADENCE AND SHINING ARMOR HERE STAT!

Right, so while all of time, space, and the barrier between separate universes is weakened to summon the help needed to deal with these horrifying threats, Melody asks Clover why she isn't as excited to be at the concert as she is. Clover remarks that she feels bad about leaving the others behind, Melody agrees, remarking that they “do the neatest stuff together” and for whatever reason has the hoof to the side of her head, I think it's suppose to mimic hiding your face in shame with one hand but it's hard to tell. Also, the BGM gets really 80s for a brief moment here.

So back at... a house (don't get me wrong, it's a nice two story deal with a garage and everything but I'm not sure who's house it's suppose to be. I THINK it's suppose to be Clover's, but the mailbox is in the wrong place and I don't think I see those two big flower bushes from earlier with the mailpony when she first got the tickets, so who the hell knows whose house this is? You know, whatever flaws G3 might have had, and it has it's fair share I won't deny that, at least I could tell which home belong to which character, same with Fim.) we have the ever cheery Dazzle (seriously, I don't think the pony multiverse would survive if Equestria Cheerilee and Dazzle met one another) announce that it's a few minutes to show time and asks if the crowd is excited. The background ponies let out a big cheer that they are, which prompts Dazzle to ask the same question of all the little ponies at home, at which the Coltenville four cry out in unison.

The doorbell rings a moment later, and Bright Eyes (it this her house or is she just volunteering as a guest?) and is surprised to see both Clover and Melody standing outside the door. I love Bright Eye's shocked expression when she opens the door, it amuses me so. I also love how Melody trots inside with an almost Rarity like air about her, but I digress. Both Clove and Mel head into the living room, where Clover drops a box on the floor the first chance she gets. In fairness, if I had to hold a pizza box with one hoof and walk with just three others, chances are I'd drop the damn thing first chance I got as well (seriously animators, what the heck did you DO to Clover's poor hoof?).

Both girls explained that they missed their friends, so they sold their tickets and got pizza, instead opting to share the concert on a tv screen with friends as oppose to just the two of them getting to experience the awesomeness of the Bays live.

The pizza is being passed around to the others,while Dazzle finally introduces the Bays, and we hear that cheesy rock tune from the beginning of the episode. there's something about that guitar pony that however vaguely reminds me of Bill and Ted's air guitar.

Patch asks if Clover still thinks she's luck, and Clover, wrapping her arms around both Patch and Bon Bon, says that having friends like them makes her “the luckiest little pony in the world.” the episode ends with all six friends snacking on Piza as they bask in the TV's bright glow.

And that's And the Winner is... So what do I think of it? Easily a 9 out of ten, all of the Coltenville mane six might not have as nice a moments as Sweetheart's maturity, but that alone plus Clover's lovable well meaning ineptitude makes this episode a real joy to watch, at least for me.

Next time we get into somewhat “controversial” territory, as both Kayte Kuch and Sheryl Scarborough take a sort of Polansy-Merriweather Williams sort of role next time as Sweetheart learns to Stand by me (the me in this case being Teddy).


Bonus content time!

 I thought it might be fun to try a hand or hoof of 'Power Pony'fying the Coltenvillie Mane Six. Introducing, the West Coast Power Ponies!



Starlight would be Madame Meteor, the leader of the group with powers based off of the nine planets (this being the 90s Pluto is still a planet thank you very much). Think a heroic version of the Planet Master



Bright Eyes would be a blend of Dr. Strange and Swamp thing, think of a sort of environmental sorceress, by the name of Natural Curse.



Patch would Adventure Ho!, the normal badass of the group and would basically be a sort of mix between Ironman and Batman, an inventor pony that knows kung fu with a bunch of crazy gadgets for just about every situation.



Sweetheart would basically be like a more productive and active version of Mai-Ti from Captain Planet (or if you will, Consular Troi from Star Trek) by the name of Captain Compassion, with mind and emotion manipulation powers.



Clover would be a blend of Gambit and Scarlet Witch, she would have powers similar to SW, but a sort of Casino/gambling theme in terms of her costume. She'd go by the name of Black Kitty (because all the good cat names have been taken, THANKS DC AND MARVEL!).



Bon Bon would be a magical girl bend of a baker (she's able to summon forth sweet based attacks) and a sumo wrestler (her fat appearance hides a very powerful frame underneath) and would pretty much act as the heavy hitter of the group. Can't think of a good name for her sadly, though her uniform would be a combo of an apron and a mawshi (sumo belt, and yes I am weird why do you ask?).



Melody would be the Musical Mistress, basically a good version of the Music meister with Black Canary's sonic scream thing, her costume would make her look like either a member of Jem and the Holograms, or a member of the grunge scene.



Lancer would basically be a knock off of Green Arrow, by the name of the Sapphire Shaft and would otherwise have the same personality as his normal self.



Ace, would be Booster Gold at least in terms of comic counterpart and would also be a normal badass. Think a less rich, less long term planning of doom version of Ozymandias from Watchmen.



Teddy would be Bloodhoof, aka every early 90s superhero ever (but mostly Spawn, save for a whole lot less angsting and having a youtube reviewer having to be stuck in an ironic hell dedicated to it). Came back from the depths of heck to be with Sweetheart once more after getting killed in an alien invasion sort of deal.

[darkabomination]

Yay another review! THey're always pretty entertaining and evocative, nice work as usual.

I also appreciate the very detailed imagery, I'm visually impaired so can't see the episodes now. So it really helps.

[bobdude]

Mar 22, 2014 16:00:55 GMT -8 darkabomination said:

Yay another review! THey're always pretty entertaining and evocative, nice work as usual.

I also appreciate the very detailed imagery, I'm visually impaired so can't see the episodes now. So it really helps.

Glad you liked it, though really sorry to hear about your eyesight issue. 

[darkabomination]

Thanks.

eh, I deal with it as best I can. Though I'd be lying if I said I don't wish I could see Tales again or get to watch the great visuals in g4. Or the comics, or fanart.

[darkabomination]

I got to thinking of a possible Elements list for Tales. It's a little shaky, but here goes:
Magic: clover.
Loyalty: Melody.
Kindness: Sweetheart.
Laughter: Patch.
Generosity: Starlight.
Honesty: Brighteyes.

[Bright Glow]

My 4 favourite chzaracters are from the show are:

Teddy, Sweetheart, Patch and guess who? (look a my name)

Even the show was cancelled afther 1 season I can't help but it really cought me especially two things:
1.) Teddy and Sweetheart's relation ship
2.) the mysteries around Patch (how she could see the ghost od Squire afther she told his legend to her friends or how is that Bright Glow and the Glowing Magical Ponies appeared for her?)

Well I could imagine a story about those mysteries.

The othe thing I find intresting is there were shipping for thze cartoon. I mean Patch, Clover, Bon Bon had even Melody had got a boyfriend in the fandom. Ok I say this from those few sites I found when I discovered the MLp pony fandom 7 years ago. Too bad the most of them is alredy disappeared since han especially since Yahoo shot down geocities.