As a man in his 20's that grew up on G.I. Joe and the like, My Little Pony has always been one thing to me: a series for little girls.
So imagine my surprise when an adult male friend starts glowing about the newest Pony series. Naturally, I found myself completely uninterested. It wasn't until I visited my friend one day while he watched the opening episode of season 2 that I noticed something of interest. The villain in this particular episode was voiced by actor John de Lancie, well known to Star Trek fans as the character Q. The character itself was quite clearly a homage to Q, something that piqued my interest as a Trek fan. My friend informed me that references such as this were common in the series, and the seeds of curiosity were planted in my mind. Some months later I finally decided to sit down and watch an episode as I caught it on TV. Afterwards, I stared at my television, conflicted. Had I actually just watched My Little Pony...and enjoyed it?
The answer was yes. The show uses rather stock personalities for the core cast, but brings them to life with such strong characterization that I couldn't help but like them. The narrative structure follows a standard slice-of-life format with equally standard plots, but still generally manages to be entertaining due to the characterization (and the occasional two-parters inject some much needed conflict and drama into the mix). The animation is quite appealing, being very clean and colorful yet maintaining a sense of depth (unlike a great many modern cartoons). The audio is also top notch, with an excellent voice cast and catchy music as well. If I had to voice some complaints, it would be with the sometimes overly drawn-out musical segments. The dialogue will also occasionally dip into the saccharine (again, though, we’re talking about a show aimed at little girls, so this is no surprise and more of a personal gripe) and the morals are occasionally a bit contrived.
In the end, I can honestly say this show surprised me. It comes during a time when the average children’s show could be considered nothing more than mindless schlock and manages to provide a feel-good and occasionally thought-provoking message without being condescending towards the audience. An above average cartoon for all ages and genders.
Surprisingly Enjoyable
As a man in his 20's that grew up on G.I. Joe and the like, My Little Pony has always been one thing to me: a series for little girls.
So imagine my surprise when an adult male friend starts glowing about the newest Pony series. Naturally, I found myself completely uninterested. It wasn't until I visited my friend one day while he watched the opening episode of season 2 that I noticed something of interest. The villain in this particular episode was voiced by actor John de Lancie
, well known to Star Trek fans as the character Q. The character itself was quite clearly a homage to Q, something that piqued my interest as a Trek fan. My friend informed me that references such as this were common in the series, and the seeds of curiosity were planted in my mind. Some months later I finally decided to sit down and watch an episode as I caught it on TV. Afterwards, I stared at my television, conflicted. Had I actually just watched My Little Pony...and enjoyed it?
The answer was yes. The show uses rather stock personalities for the core cast, but brings them to life with such strong characterization that I couldn't help but like them. The narrative structure follows a standard slice-of-life format with equally standard plots, but still generally manages to be entertaining due to the characterization (and the occasional two-parters inject some much needed conflict and drama into the mix). The animation is quite appealing, being very clean and colorful yet maintaining a sense of depth (unlike a great many modern cartoons). The audio is also top notch, with an excellent voice cast and catchy music as well. If I had to voice some complaints, it would be with the sometimes overly drawn-out musical segments. The dialogue will also occasionally dip into the saccharine (again, though, we’re talking about a show aimed at little girls, so this is no surprise and more of a personal gripe) and the morals are occasionally a bit contrived.
In the end, I can honestly say this show surprised me. It comes during a time when the average children’s show could be considered nothing more than mindless schlock and manages to provide a feel-good and occasionally thought-provoking message without being condescending towards the audience. An above average cartoon for all ages and genders.