Another one of our new series as suggested by all of you over here, is the episode rewatch! Each Saturday we will cover an oldschool episode, and give a bit of history on how people reacted when it first aired, 10 interesting scenes, and what our general idea on it is now. There is a lot of history in the brony fandom, and it all started with the episodes.
Feel free to join us in the comments, and tell your friends! Maybe we can get some community stuff going each Saturday while waiting for new episodes.
Below the break, I hit up Friendship is Magic Episode 1. Get that, plus a stream link!
10 Scenes and "General" Reaction
AND THUS IT BEGINS. Way back in October 2010, many of us were linked to this by friends, or ran into it randomly in places that usually don't have cute cartoon equines. We questioned why we would even give a "My Little Pony" cartoon a chance. In fact, I didn't actually make it through all of episode one out of a mix of embarassment, and fear that I was actually liking it.
Hitting that X at about the 15 minute mark, I didn't return until until about a week later.
I should probably note, that each of these initial reactions were different for everyone. This is just a general idea of what we saw among our newly pony loving peers back in the earliest days of the show!
I never would have guessed that every single one of these ponies would eventually be fleshed out by a massive fandom filled with ravenous pony fans in the coming years.
Applejack early on was... Applejack. You either loved her or just didn't really care all that much. I was in that second category. Living in Arizona all my life, the cowgirl thing tends to get pretty old.
I and many other's first reaction at seeing the rainbow maned, androgynous tomboy pony - LESBIAN?!Lauren Faust was saddened early on that people immediately flocked to that conclusion. But can you blame us? No one was angry that she was basically the ultimate stereotype, but we definitely called it out when we saw it! Poor Dashie still can't seem to escape that stigma to this day. Her sexuality is still a mystery after all!
It was rare to find a fan of Rarity before she really got fleshed out later in the season. In a show that was seemingly going against the girly fashion grain that has plagued childrens TV for the past 40 something years, she sure did go straight for the throat in becoming the embodiment of it in her initial appearance.
I think it was Suited For Success when she finally became more than barbie doll with hooves in the eyes of the fan base at large.
This little atomic ball of cute was one of the main reasons I turned the first episode off before completing it. Nothing made me feel that ping of "oh god I'm loving this and I need to stop" more than Fluttershy going maximum moe right off the bat. I'm pretty sure she was one of the driving forces behind converting many a normal individual into a full on brony.
It didn't take much for a huge faction of beginning fans to fall in love with her. Flutters was the ultimate kryptonite.
I'm not going to lie, Pinkie Pie was right down at the bottom on my list of favorite ponies in the beginning. The high pitched squealy voice was killing me. This may or may not have been due to my use of headphones out of fear of anyone hearing what I was watching.
She still drives me a little nuts. One of the few episodes I have never rewatched was the one with her babysitting the cakes. The crying baby combo was TOO MUCH!
This was about the point where I just stopped caring. If I like it I like it. That's a freakin manticore right there, and Flutterbutter just flew in and cuted it to death. Take my man card. I don't even need it anymore. I have embraced poni~ The headphones came out, cause whatever! LET EVERYONE KNOW! Until...
My newfound love was quickly stressed to it's maximum when Pinkie Pie BROKE INTO SONG. I was literally just coming to terms with this and ponk decided to take it WAY past my comfort point. I quickly fumbled for my speaker volume control as she giggled at the ghosty for all the world to hear.
Too bad I had it stuck in my head for the next week...
"Did this show really just drop a gay sea serpent?" I thought as I suddenly felt a fleeting something for Rarity. I never would have guessed he'd be named by a bad Google caption.
I said 10 images, and I'm sticking to it! I could go on forever about the pilot, but lets end it at this pony right here. Everyone and their mother was loony for Luna. Her completely absence from the rest of the season was something we decided to make up for by taking the helm on a completely fan built personality until a year later when she finally appeared again. Sad Luna, Silly Luna, goth Luna, you name it, and we had it.
The end of the episode had me, begrudgingly, wanting more. Way more. Like, all I could think about was MORE. MORE PONY MORE!
Now go relive it:
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Episode 1... by Jonny_Manz
Overall, the plot (I laugh at this word's evolution thanks to pony) behind the first episode had mixed reactions. It was simple, solved very easily, and generally wasn't anywhere near as good as this series would eventually actually get. It does a good job at introducing the world and characters though, with the limited time it has to draw everyone in.
Looking back, I feel like there isn't much else the show could have started on that would have done it better. I sometimes point people toward Lesson Zero as their first for that SHOCK factor of a cartoon with such a massive stigma being so awesome, but there is no doubt that the pilot worked just as well as getting people connected to the characters, world, and quality of the animation.
