Tag: Denny Lu

Super Recaps: My Little Pony season 7 (A Royal Problem)

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Hasbro

Episode directed by Denny Lu and Mike Myhre

We’re back with another episode of Friendship is Practical Magic!  For the most part, this season has been rather underwhelming when focusing on our core cast of characters that have had dozens of episodes dedicated to them already while episodes on not so ubiquitous ponies have been real highlights; not just of this season but of the series as well.  Clearly there needs to be a shake up if this series wants to keep being such a prominent fixture in western animation; maybe not as much as Adventure Time ended up doing, but the LEAST we can do is expand the world a bit more and maybe not touch base with Ponyville as often!  Hopefully they’re listening to my FANTASTIC advice because we have yet another episode that we’re focusing on characters that haven’t quite gotten their due in the series proper!  Will this be yet another successful gamble for the season that’s on a hot streak for these kinds of episodes?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with… oh…  oh wow!!  They’re getting back to the Cutie Map!!  YES!!  I’ve never been so happy to see this pointless MacGuffin!  After an interminable stretch of mediocre episodes stuck right in the middle of boring ol’ Ponville, this is the perfect excuse to get us out of this rut the season has found itself in and the series should REALLY utilize this plot device more!  Oh, and what’s this!?  The map is sending out Best Pony Starlight Glimmer to solve the problem of Other Best Ponies Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!  The only way this could get any better is if they send Trixie too!!  Wait, ARE THEY!?

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“Boy! This is gonna be GREAT!”     “Twilight? TWILIGHT!? STARLIGHT! I THINK SHE’S HAVING A STROKE”!

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Super Recaps: My Little Pony season 7 (Honest Apple)

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Hasbro

Episode directed by Denny Lu and Mike Myhre

We’re back with another episode of Next Top Equestria Model, and if that title didn’t make it clear enough we’ll be focusing on Rarity and her love of fashion once again!  Now Rarity is easily my favorite of the Mane 6 as her episodes tend to have a lot more range than anyone else’s and she’s a genuinely interesting character to watch with highlight such as Sisterhooves Social,  Sweet and Elite and of course the eponymous Rarity Investigates!  Will this be another great example of why Rarity is the best, or is this one we’ll want to bury away with other better off forgotten episodes like The Mysterious Mare Do Well or even Just for Sidekicks?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with Rarity and Spike handing out flyers for a fashion contest that the former will be hosting at the Carousel Boutique in an effort to give aspiring young fashion designers an avenue to express themselves as well as an invaluable networking opportunity!  With any good fashion contest though, you need a collection of colorful and sardonic judges to make it all come together and fortunately Rarity has such a group of characters in mind!  Hoity Toity will serve as our Tim Gunn, Photo Finish will be the wacky and unpredictable one that’ll generate the drama, and the anchor will be… Applejack!  Wait, WHAT!?

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Good thing she was passing by just as you made that announcement!

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Super Recaps: My Little Pony season 7 (Hard to Say Anything)

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Hasbro

Episode directed by Denny Lu and Mike Myhre

We’re back with another My Little Pony recap, and while I would normally start this off with a hilarious pun, I’m pretty sure the title is already a reference to a John Cusack movie so doing another play on words would be pretty redundant!  We’re two episodes down in another CMC cycle, neither of them being particular highlights of this season, leaving us with only this Apple Bloom episode before presumably moving on to something else!  Will this outshine the other two we’ve gotten so far and one of the CMC’s standout episodes, or will this end up just as ho-hum as everything else we’ve gotten from them this season?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with the CMC rummaging through some old costumes in the hopes of using them for future shenanigans and/or Cutie Mark Crusading jobs.  Supposedly these are from when they put on their concert all the way back in season one (The Show Stoppers), but I don’t remember them using any of these particular accessories.  Maybe these were the backup outfits just in case the audience wanted an encore.

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“I’ll be a scary clown, you can be the legendary pirate Anne Bonny,”     “And I’m Eugene Levy!”

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Super Recaps: My Little Pony season 7 (Parental Glideance)

~ Matt Vetrano ~ 1 Comment

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Hasbro

Episode directed by Denny Lu and Tim Stuby

We’re back with another episode of Scootaloo Explains It All, and while we won’t be breaking the forth wall this time around (I guess Pinkie Pie has the day off), we WILL be dealing with family problems as the one thing both her and her idol Rainbow Dash have in common is Absent Parent Syndrome!  All that’s about to come to ahead, at least for Rainbow Dash, in an episode that has been a REALLY long time coming, but can it POSSIBLY live up to the hype that has been generated over all this time!?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with Scootaloo doing the most Scootaloo thing imaginable (with the help of Applebloom and Sweetie Belle) by trying to launch herself straight to Cloudsdale using a makeshift slingshot.  Never mind that she’s snap her neck if she tried going THAT fast THAT quickly, there’s no way she’d have enough thrust to make it all the way to a city in the sky!  Then again, this is a land of magic horses, so maybe Newton’s Three Laws of Motion are more suggestions than outright rules.

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“Fly like an eagle!!  Through the revolution!!”     “What did she say?”     “I don’t know.  She wants to buy a beagle?”

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Super Recaps: My Little Pony season 7 (Forever Filly)

~ Matt Vetrano ~ 1 Comment

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Hasbro

Episode directed by Denny Lu and Tim Stuby

We’re back with another episode of Pony Sister, Sister which means it’s a CMC episode!  Those always turn out great… right?  Okay, so maybe I’m a bit too cynical whenever Applejack, Scootaloo, and most prominently this time Sweetie Belle are a major focus of the episode, but it’s not like I don’t have my reasons for feeling that way!  Compared to the Mane6, their episodes tend to be a lot simpler and have far less of an impact which tend to make them feel like filler to pad out the season.  Still, they have managed to step up their game on a few occasions such as Crusaders of the Lost Mark and Appleoosa’s Most Wanted, so maybe they can pull it off again here; especially considering this is ALSO the first Rarity episode of the season as well!  Can the younger ponies show up their older counterparts with an episode that stands out in an already well regarded season, or are we just killing time for the better episodes to be finished?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with… um… hold on, it’ll come to me… her name is… okay, I’ve got nothing.  One moment!

…

Sassy Saddles!  Okay, the episode begins with Sassy Saddles (who we haven’t seen since Rarity Investigates) frantically running around the Canterlot Carousel Boutique in an effort to completely overhaul their inventory for the upcoming Spring Season.  All this worrying is for naught however as Rarity proves once again that she’s the HPIC (Head Pony In Charge) and has made all the necessary preparations and orders to ensure a smooth transition!  Three cheers for effective quarterly planning!!  But wait!  There is a disturbance in force (the Friendship force I guess) as Rarity suddenly becomes quite sullen despite handling her business like a boss.  Apparently she hasn’t spent enough time with Sweetie Belle recently which causes her to have a meltdown; probably less due to that one thing than the collection of stress she’s built up over the past few days finally bursting.

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“We need ice cream and ni-colt-las Sparks movies, FAST!  WHERE IS OUR COPY OF THE NOTE BUCK!?”

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Super Recaps: My Little Pony season 7 (Fluttershy Leans In)

~ Matt Vetrano ~ 1 Comment

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Hasbro

Episode directed by Denny Lu and Tim Stuby

We’re back with another episode of Unbreakable Fluttershy who hasn’t had a starring role since last season’s Viva Las Pegasus and has barely even shown up since this season began.  Fluttershy isn’t the easiest character to write for considering how much her defining characteristics can sometimes limit what she’s capable of doing, but in recent seasons they’ve managed to put out a few gems with her that complement what makes her unique in the cast.  Can they continue that going into season 7, or will this be remembered as a half-hearted piece of season filler?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with Angel Bunny (Fluttershy’s own Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne) doing some parkour in Fluttershy’s house (okay…) before it all ends the same way every parkour run inevitably does so; with the runner getting GREVIOUSLY (and hilariously) injured.  Oh I’m sure he’s fine!  He’ll be back to being an abusive jerk-wad in no time!

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“Did you… get… the shot?”     “I think so.”     “My work is done…”

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Super Recaps: My Little Pony season 7 (A Flurry of Emotions)

~ Matt Vetrano ~ 2 Comments

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Hasbro

Episode directed by Denny Lu and Tim Stuby

We’re back with another episode of Flurry Heart’s Day Out!  Oh yes, the little rascal who we’ve barely seen since her debut in season six and is cute to a weaponized degree!  Feels like a wasted opportunity if you ask me!  Well wait no longer, fans of all things cute and baby related, as the writers have heard your pleas and we now have another episode with the extremely marketable bundle of joy!  Does this episode bring the adorable goodness that we require along with an interesting story about being a good parental figure, or will Flurry Heart turn out to be just as uninteresting as poor Nicky Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with Twilight in her Doom Fortress talking to one of the nurses from the Ponyville Hospital about a possible appearance by the Princess to cheer up some foals who managed to get something called The Horsey Hives.  Technically hives are a symptom rather than the root cause of an illness and often caused by allergic reactions (meaning that the entire class must not only be allergic to the same thing but must have been exposed to it at the same time), but I guess they’re MAGIC hives and can be spread any number of ways.  Twilight is easily convinced to help out by delivering food, gifts, and reading materials, which of course spells DOOM for everyone as Murphy’s Law is just as stringent a rule in this world as gravity is; meaning something is gonna come RIGHT through those front doors and screw everything up!

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“I’M THE BABY!!”     “And she’s YOU’RE problem now!!”

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Super Recaps: My Little Pony season 7 (All Bottled Up)

~ Matt Vetrano ~ 2 Comments

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Hasbro

Episode directed by Denny Lu and Tim Stuby

We’re back with another episode of I Love Trixie, starring MLP’s very own Lucy/Ethel besties Starlight Glimmer and THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!!  It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of any episode that puts these two together, and the fact that they are the subject of the season premiere’s second episode is certainly a good way to get me to overlook the fact that we’re starting the season off without a big two-parter to shake things up and start things off with a bang.  Does this turn out to be yet another wonderful use of the two best characters the series has going for it right now, or has this particular team up managed to run its course already?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with Trixie and Starlight in the kitchen of Twilight’s Doom Fortress where the former is getting some remedial lessons on magic.  I don’t know why she needs magic when she’s already a master of MAGIC!, but I guess THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE will not be outdone in ANY field of study.  At the very least, she’s still the master of adorable frustration which she proves to us once again after the fifth attempt to turn a pepper shaker into a teacup fails.

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“You put an anti-magic spell on this, didn’t you.  Yes Trixie.  I took the time to come up with a spell to nullify all magic and placed on a random object you JUST SO HAPPENED to try and turn into a teacup.  I absolutely did that.”     “AH HA!!  THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE IS TRULY THE MASTER OF DEDUCTION AS WELL!!”

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Super Recaps: My Little Pony season 7 (Celestial Advice)

~ Matt Vetrano ~ 3 Comments

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Hasbro

Episode directed by Denny Lu and Tim Stuby

We’re back with another episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and it feels like an ETERTINTY since I last said that!  Then again, the show has taken MUCH longer to start a new season in the past, particularly between seasons four and five when they were being switched over from The Hub to Discovery Family, but that doesn’t mean it was any easier to go without my weekly fix of Pony Magic!  Now the new season is actually doing something very different right off the bat as the show USUALLY starts off with a two-parter to open the season with yet decided to forgo that for the first time since the series began to instead have to separate episodes to start us off with.  Does a less bombastic opening salvo for the season still manage to bring the excitement needed to bring the fans back on board, or does this first episode drop the ball right off the bat?  Let’s find out!!

The episode picks up not too long after the events of the season 6 finale where everyone is getting ready for the award ceremony to honor Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Thorax, and Discord, for their brave efforts to thwart Queen Chrysalis’s latest scheme.  They didn’t CAPTURE her so she’s still out there probably scheming something else, but her power has at least been diminished since all the Changelings turned on her and became beautiful florescent colored bug horses for their troubles and installed Thorax as their new king.  Probably less to do with his role in overthrowing the monarch than the fact that he now has BAD ASS ANTLERS!

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“Luna.  You can stop now.  Even if you get it on, how is he ever gonna take it off?”     “THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT TOLD YOU TO USE VELCRO STRAPS!!  NOW LOOK WHERE WE ARE!!”

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Super Recaps: My Little Pony season 6 (To Where and Back Again) Season Six Finale!!

~ Matt Vetrano ~ 3 Comments

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Hasbro.

Episode directed by Denny Lu and Tim Stuby

We’re back for the last time this year as we’ve reached the end of My Little Pony’s sixth season!  It’s not always the best show out there as episodes like The Cart Before the Ponies or 28 Pranks Later have clearly proven, but it’s always deflating to get to the end of a season knowing that it’ll be quite some time before they pick things back up again; especially considering they just released the latest Equestria Girls movie instead of waiting a bit and using it to tide us over between now and season seven.  WHAT DO I HAVE LEFT!?  Oh wait, they’re still making the comics.  That should work!  Anyway, does this episode cap off the sixth season on a high note and leave us wanting more, or will we begging for it to be over as soon as possible?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins at Twilight’s Doom Fortress where the three primary residents, Twilight, Starlight, and the slave boy, are moving books into the basement because there’s not enough room left upstairs.  Wait, does her castle actually double as a library or is this her personal hoard?  I mean, it’s not like the small town of Ponyville was swimming in libraries BEFORE Tirek torched Golden Oaks to the ground, so you’d think Twilight AT LEAST owes that much to the city.  Oh I’m sorry, were Twilight and Starlight talking about friendship or something?  I wasn’t payment that much attention and neither was Spike for that matter who wanders off from the conversation to look out the window.  A wise move considering there’s something heading right for them at terminal velocity.

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“DON’T YOU DARE SMASH INTO THOSE BOOKS!”     “Oh I’m smashing those books!”     “DAMN IT!”

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