How to participate in the liveblog chat:
Option 1: Whenever you watch the episode, comment on this post as you watch with whatever responses you feel like posting!
Option 2: Go to http://webchat.freenode.net/. Enter a nickname, then for the Channels field enter ##rabbitcube, and finally fill in the Captcha and hit Connect! We'll be watching the episode and commenting there starting at just before 2:00 p.m. EST. After the chat, I will update this post with a log of the conversation.
Log is below the cut!
<@Sylocat> Appleloosa... they're going for continuity this season
<@Sylocat> Oh, of course, he'd start with a Western parody...
<CharlesM> Yes they are.
<@Sylocat> Wait, Pinkie Sense?
<CharlesM> Pinkie sense
<Froborr> Worse: Party Sense.
<@Sylocat> Yikes
<@Sylocat> Musical number...
<CharlesM> SONG!
<Froborr> The camera work this season has been much more dynamic.
<@Sylocat> Oh, look, Froborr's favorite writer is back
<@Sylocat> And Jayson Thiessen finally started writing?
<CharlesM> The cakes are back.
<@Sylocat> Hahah... even Diamond Tiara
<Froborr> Nah, Story credit could mean anything from "suggested the idea" to "wrote a plot outline."
<Froborr> Teleplay is the actual writing of the script.
<@Sylocat> I know. Still, it's the first time Thiessen's got a writing credit at all
<Froborr> True.
<@Sylocat> Uh oh... Rainbow Dash is under the spotlight
<@Sylocat> Hahah... remember that Winnie the Pooh episode where Rabbit said, "This is a party! Who said anything about fun?"
<Froborr> Anyway, Keating Rogers is decent at comedy and can handle Pinkie fairly well.
<@Sylocat> "Cheese Sandwich"
<Froborr> As long as she's not writing Rarity or Zecora, it'll probably be mostly okay.
<Froborr> How much you wanna bet Yankovich named his own pony?
<@Sylocat> I wonder if he helped write the songs
<Froborr> Wait, if her birthday is the anniversary of her moving to Ponyville, isn't EVERY birthday the anniversary?
<Froborr> Okay, he helped write this song.
<@Sylocat> You can't have Weird Al without an Accordion
<Froborr> Yep.
<@Sylocat> In fact, the sandwich in his cutie mark looks like an accordion
<Froborr> Hey, it does! Cute.
<@Sylocat> Yikes, if he breaks the 4th wall, he'll have Pinkie Pie's entire spell loadout
<Froborr> Terrible cheese puns?
<@Sylocat> Yikes, tasting her own tears
<Froborr> He must die.
<CharlesM> Awww, poor Pinkie
<Froborr> Uhoh, hair deflation.
<@Sylocat> Ah, Pinkie doesn't realize that Twilight's not abandoning her
<CharlesM> No, she really struggles with that doesn't she?
<@Sylocat> She never has really sorted that out
<@Sylocat> Ooh, rainbow reflections in the river... this is the episode where Pinkie gets her key to the box
<Froborr> Okay, the sad music is not workign well with the comedy "Pinkie fails at other jobs" montage.
<@Sylocat> I think it makes it sadder, actually... showing her trying to maintain comedy when she's losing it
<CharlesM> Party pictures: lots more continuity.
<Froborr> And now she has the silly outfit from "Dragonshy."
<Froborr> Or something close to it, anyway.
<@Sylocat> THIS MEANS WAR
<CharlesM> Evil eyes.
<Froborr> The animation is better this season to begin with, but it has a CLEAR bump on top of that during the musical numbers.
<Froborr> A "goof-off"
<Froborr> lol
<@Sylocat> HAHAH... a Goof-Off
<@Sylocat> Fezzes are cool
<CharlesM> Yes they are!
<@Sylocat> So, the Western imagery was foreshadowing
<mere_oblivion> This cheese has stood alone a long time--a YA-lit reference!
<CharlesM> I love Boneless- a parallel to Gummy.
<Froborr> Is it? I thought it was referencing "The Farmer in the Dell"
<@Sylocat> Rainbow Dash, you should know better than to ask that by now
<mere_oblivion> Both, Froborr!
<Froborr> ...but Rainbow loves competition...
<@Sylocat> INFINITY PLUS ONE
<@Sylocat> Yep, this is the episode where Pinkie gets her key
<Froborr> ...Okay, the bubble thing is awesome.
<Froborr> Wait, did they just...
<Froborr> ART SHIFT?
<CharlesM> Live action!
<@Sylocat> Okay, he DOES have Pinkie's full spell loadout!
<@Sylocat> It's battle of the reality-warpers!
<CharlesM> Rainbow eyes in the moment of realisation.
<Froborr> Yep, she's getting her key.
<@Sylocat> Solomon
<mere_oblivion> Any clues on why a seal (walrus?) showed up just then?
<Froborr> ...No idea. Maybe go back and look at that shot after the episode?
<@Sylocat> Calling it now: Boneless is Pinkie's key to the box
<@Sylocat> D'awww
<Froborr> Wow, how young is Cheese Sandwich?
<CharlesM> Ditzy Doo as a Filly
<CharlesM> ?
<@Sylocat> I wasn't expecting their pasts to be interlinked
<Froborr> If he was a blankflank foal when Pinkie Pie was already an adult?
<Froborr> Oh, okay, she had only just gotten her cutie mark.
<@Sylocat> Wait, it was a flashback to Pinkie's childhood
<@Sylocat> Oh, the shippers will have a field day with this
<@Sylocat> Wait, Rainbow isn't supposed to be in her own cake/present
<CharlesM> Hah, BOTH banners are up now. :)
<CharlesM> You called it.
<Froborr> Man, this had almost as many songs as the Season 3 finale.
<@Sylocat> The shimmering key
<Froborr> You called it Sylocat.
<@Sylocat> He has two of them
<@Sylocat> HAHAH
<Froborr> lol
<@Sylocat> Ooh, custom theme music
<Froborr> And of course we end with a pony polka.
<@Sylocat> I was waiting for the Polka
I think I've noticed the theme for the keys.
ReplyDeleteObviously the ponies pass the "test" when their eyes go rainbow-shimmery like that. But notice how all the keys themselves have been gifts from others?
The Mane Six have all demonstrated their own worthiness of the Elements (though they do need reminding of it from time to time). But they only get the keys when they demonstrate they can also inspire or instill those virtues in other ponies.
Which, given the mission statement of the show itself, is extra-important.
I really, really like this theory!
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