SEASON 3 PREMIRE DISCUSSION THREAD

[Bon Bon]

Since Saturday, I've read several reviews in various places, and I even rewatched it yesterday with some people of the actual age demographic. (Younger siblings: making me less ashamed to be childish since 1998.) I've actually changed my mind about this episode. There were a lot of genuinely great moments, and Sombra, while boring, is a perfectly serviceable villain for the plot. My dislike of Sombra just shows how amazing NMM, Chrysalis, and Discord are, I guess. Anyway, here are my thoughts.

My top 10 (in no particular order):
- Staircase gravity reversal
- The Door (made me tear up when Twi hugged Spike)
- "Twilight's Test" reprise (I like it way better than the original)
- Pinkie screaming "I want a flugelhorn!!"
- Shining Armor catapulting his wife
- Little Rarijack moment at the end
- SO MUCH FORESHADOWING
- Everyone going crystal (they look so cool as crystal ponies, too bad it was only 5 seconds)
- Spike got a stained glass!! ;D
- Pinkie disguised as Fluttershy (I somehow missed this part the first go-round!)


My bottom 5:
- Boring town/library scenes (could have been replaced with Shining/Cadance/Twi cuteness, or Crystal Empire worldbuilding, or making Sombrero a tad more scary, or honestly almost anything)
- Boring villain
- RD acting like a b***** (Seriously, it was awful. Poor Fluttershy. Poor random passersby.)
- Lazy character writing in general
- All the crystal ponies had the same voice actors...

All in all, it was a solid episode, though in my opinion the weakest of the two-parters. It had way less plot holes than A Canterlot Wedding, but ACW wins IMO because Chrysalis, 'nuff said.

[alesand]

alesanddream.blogspot.com/2012/11/critique-of-mlpfim-sea3-ep1.html and alesand.tumblr.com/post/35435069744/critique-of-mlp-fim-sea-3-ep-1-2 Same critique, two different sites. Basically my opinions concerning the season 3 premiere episodes.

[Ganey, The Amazing]

www.equestriadaily.com/2012/11/the-crystal-empire-parts-1-and-2-theme.html#more

A great post of EQD about the premier. Pretty much sums up my opinion on the episodes.

[rainpony]

Just rewatched it, in higher quality this time
Well ,firstly :


It did me the same with Canterlot wedding, I liked it better the second time ^^
But really, though it is still not my fav, seriously, I think the season 3 will be at least 20% cooler, cant wait for the next episodes to come

[sarah]

I liked it! Twilight's quest for the heart was a little too neat though. But I guess all the premieres have played out similarly in that regard. But SUPER EXCITED about Twilight's next level of training and all the epicness hinted at related to it.

[Vaumer]

My opinion on King Sombrero changed a lot as I watched the episode for the first time. I thought he was great when he was up against Shining Armor and I loved the idea of him being an antagonist mostly just because of how the Crystal Ponies were still traumatized by him. Still, I wish they'd done more with him. And maybe used the fact that he was a shadow a bit more.

I'm not really bothered too much by things like his motivation and the lack of intervention of the Royal Sisters and EoH. I sort of explained it away in my head cannon, which I know isn't a great excuse. (Sombra didn't care WHAT the Crystal Ponies were slaving away at, his real goal was to have them feeling anger and fear to fuel his magic which is based on that. Celestia knew that Sombra wasn't that big of a threat and that if things got out of hand she and Luna could just step in and magic him away. That's why she was fine with letting Twilight and the gang handle it. She emphasized how it would be Twilight alone who did it so she could see if Twilight could solve an issue like this without relying on the EoH. Sombra wasn't only a test for Twilight, but one for Cadance too, to get her into the position of being able to take the role as the Crystal Queen.)

The Crystal Pony's voices were really irritating though. It was only once and a while that a line was well delivered. Ohgod "Behold, the Crystal Princess" killed me inside.

But I did like the episodes overall, I really did. And holy cow were there some stunning moments. At some parts I was just blown away by how great a job the visual team was doing.

Oh, and King Sombra totally knew about the Brony Health Group. That's why he installed so many stairs in the palace, so he could get his workout. Yup. Totally canon.