G1 Media Retrospective: Rescue At Midnight Castle

[Bekuno]

Hey pony folk! thanks for all your wonderful feedback! Lets kick off these G1 MLP Media discussions

Of course, we'll be starting with the very first MLP TV Special: Rescue at Midnight Castle

This special was originally titled as simply "My Little Pony" in 1984. It didn't gain it's current title, "Rescue at Midnight Castle" until 1986 when it was edited and thrown into the My Little Pony n' Friends TV series! It has also been released under the title's "Firefly's Adventure" and "My Little Pony in Dreamland". 

Summary:
The normally peaceful Dream Valley is raided by a creature named Scorpan and his Troadon's who have come to capture ponies to serve his master Tirek as creatures for his chariot. He manages to capture two ponies. A pony named Firefly runs to get help and finds it in a human girl named Megan, who is brought back to Dream Valley. Just as they arrive, another raid begins, as not enough ponies were captured the first time. Two more ponies are taken away, and Megan and a few others decide to find Tirek and rescue them.

They cross a rickety bridge, which Applejack falls through (and Megan goes after), but are rescued by a group of seaponies who bring them to shore and offer an item that will call on them if they need help again. The group continues to the house of Mr. Moochik, who explains that Tirek want's to cast an eternal darkness on the land by using his Rainbow of Darkness. He gives them a small piece of the Rainbow of Light to help them defeat Tirek.

The group arrives at Midnight Castle and cross the waters with the help of the seaponies. They are spotted by a guard, who warns Tirek. Scorpan runs to rescue the ponies and his dragon friend Spike, who Tirek has threatened to behead. Applejack is captured and transformed into a monster, but the others escape only for Tirek to burst from the castle on his chariot. Scorpan attempts to sabotage Tirek but fails. Luckily, Megan and Firefly have it covered! They steal the Rainbow of Darkness and keep it from the guards before Firefly accidentally drops it back into the hands of Tirek. Megan unleashes the Rainbow of Light, and though it is overpowered at first it quickly turns the darkness into a Rainbow. This Rainbow destroys Tirek and returns the transformed ponies to their real forms. Scorpan is revealed to have been a human prince, transformed by Tirek as well. Pony land has returned to peace, with some new friends as well.


This special had four songs. The My Little Pony theme, "Dancing on Air", "Call Upon the Seaponies", and "A Little Piece of Rainbow". The last song is cut from all versions except for the original in order to shorten the run time after it was edited into the MLPnF block.


Ponies Featured: Twilight, Ember, Glory, Bowtie, Medley, Firefly, Applejack, Moondancer, Bubbles, Cotton Candy, the mystery Rainbow pony, Seawinkle, Sealight, Wavedancer (and TJ!)

Other Characters: Scorpan, Spike, The Moochick, Habbit, Tireks' Guards, & Tirek

Humans: Megan


Share your thoughts, memories, trivia, or media about this special! I'll come back and add my thoughts later 

[Al-1701]

I think this could have stood to be a three or five episode miniseries.  That was it's one flaw, it had to move too quickly to really give everything proper justice.  However, the politics that led to its creation only allowed for one half-hour special.

Still, what we got was enjoyable in its 80's goodness.  Tirac was a beast who knew the importance of presence and subdued menace (unlike the roid ripoff FiM gave us).

Too bad we never at the Rainbow pony special.

When we get to the specials, will we be just covering a whole season or go by story?

[Sunset]

This was my favorite growing up and still is.  I remember after I started collecting as an adult (actually my late teens) I went to the local video rental place and asked if they still had that video with the intention of buying it.  I did eventually find it online.  I still have a vcr and pop it in every once and a while.  Ahhh, the nostalgia!  I really really hope that Basic Fun! takes the suggestion of releasing the uncut version on DVD.  I'm very concerned that one day my vcr will eat the tape.

[Leave a Whisper]

It's a good episode, I don't remember watching this on tv, but it was rented on tape for me, along with Escape From Catrina.

I do not think Tirek is a great villain. His voice is all he has going for him. As far as presence goes he's kinda eh. His threat level is so-so. He's totally a generic big bad. People often say he's a BA because he threatened to chop off Spike's head and act shocked by it. Well so did the Queen of Hearts and I found her more threatening then him as a child.

The music is great, the atmosphere is good. It looks good. I like Megan and used to pretend to be her as a kid so nyah to all the naysayers.

:p

[Ponyfan]

Rescue from Midnight Castle is one of my favorites also. I used to watch it all the time at my grandparents house when I stayed with them and I was always disappointed that the reruns on the Disney channel always cut out "Little Piece of Rainbow" as it was my favorite song in the special. 

There's a lot of things that I didn't pick up as a child that I noticed as an adult. Even though Scorpan is forced to serve Tirac he still retains his free will. He decides to save Megan from falling and free Spike and Ember.

A lot of the ponies only get one or two lines during the episode. It's a little sad when you realize that Moondancer and Bubbles only got lines like "Oh! Help! and "Let us go!"  Cotton Candy got a few more lines than the rest of the captured ponies.

Also just before Applejack is captured you can see the guard's shadow on the wall.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login
 

Was Tirac going to leave Ember in the dungeon while the castle collasped on top  of her?

I still find Tirac a scary villian . He has the captured ponies chained so they can't run away from the Rainbow of Darkness. 


Ponyfan

[Bekuno]

Too bad we never at the Rainbow pony special.

When we get to the specials, will we be just covering a whole season or go by story?

Don't remind me of that suffering....

Did you mean the TV episodes? I plan to go by story, but by that point I'll be making two of these a week since it's a lot to cover!

[Safflower]

I love RaMC! I love the style it is animated in! I have always wondered why they switched styles between this and then the cartoon.

I just love the ponies being cute, especially the opening scene. The line "Danger is my life, Medley!" will forever be burned into my brain. Sometimes I just randomly think it lol.

The songs are awesome! Shoo bee do, shoop shoop bee do...

I really think Hasbro should have made a Rainbow of Light locket. They could have made a lot of money on that. I've been trying to make one but lockets are hard!

I find it funny how it was renamed soo many times.

Tirac or Tirek or Tirak or Tearak or whatever is a very scary villain, I agree. Megan is one of my favorite characters too!

Anyway, I really loved it. So much pony goodness

[brightberry]

As a kid, I was horrified when the ponies were turned to dragons.  I was inexperienced with shows that scary and had no idea if they would turn back.  I found the villain completed terrifying and thought the ponies and Megan were very brave.

It’s harder for me to judge as an adult because so many of the lines and songs from the show bring back all the feels.  Just like smelling a crayon.  It’s still my favorite cartoon of all time.

[Strawberry Swirl]

Still my favorite pony cartoon ever. Really wish they’d kept the art style for the following specials and cartoon series though! And that more characters returned, esp. Firefly.

[Shaz]

My all-time favourite pony cartoon! Also the first one I ever watched. The animation in this is so very pretty, I especially love the hooves and wings. Tirek is the classic MLP villain to me, the menace surrounding him is very effective. I think it was a mistake to bring him back in FiM: it's a very different show with a very different aesthetic, and couldn't do justice to his shadowy deep-voiced awesomeness. My gf had this episode on video as a child, and says Tirek scared the living daylights of her - so of course it was one of her favourite episodes! Being scared is fun when there's pastel ponies to save the day.

Other things I like about RaMC:
- Ember. She's cute.
- The opening where the ponies are playing and having fun, and Glory skidding about on roller-skates.
- All the songs! Even though the seapony song always gets stuck in my head.
- Applejack's response to nearly drowning: "That was fun!"
- Megan's outfit. Much better than that weird green thing she wears in MLP n Friends.
- Scorpan <3 Especially that moment when he throws away the door and frees Ember. But I've always been a bit disappointed that he turns into a boring old human prince at the end.
- The battle with the Power of Darkness versus Rainbow of Light.
- Anytime Tirek speaks. "BEHOLD THE POWER OF DARKNESS!"
- The way Midnight Castle and the guards turn into trees, butterflies etc at the end. I don't know why, I just find that a really satisfying conclusion. Like, Tirek was so evil he was able to take pretty things from nature and turn them into ugly, frightening things, but now he's gone the natural order can be restored.

Now I must stop rambling on!

[Minty_Magic]

Rescue at Midnight Castle is such a well thought out piece of pony media, it has all the elements that people like about FiM (adventure, menacing villains, interesting characters) but everything in RAMC just feels a little more subtle and nuanced. In my opinion it's nearly the perfect blend of cute ponies and serious adventure without feeling too over the top.
Like others have said, it's really a shame the art style never really got used beyond this special. Escape from Catrina is kinda close, but everything after that is so blobby and not as elegant looking. It has it's charm too, but it I think RAMC has the most professional looking animation for My Little Pony. I have a couple animation cels from tales since they're super common, but I would DIE to own a cell from RAMC! 
The songs in this special are pretty adorable too! I'm sure they had to work on a pretty restrained budget but really nothing shows it! Call Upon the Seaponies is a masterpiece of music that can't be topped It's hard not to be in a good mood after listening to it!

[Ponyfan]

 Tirac makes it very clear that he is willing to do anything to accomplish his goals and if someone gets in his way or doesn't succeed in the task he's given them, he will simply have them or someone they care about executed and move on. He also enjoys forcing innocent bystanders watch him transfrom his captives.  I also love how the animators took the time to have each pony react differently to the Rainbow of Darkness.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


I find it amusing that Moondancer lays down and covers her eyes with her hooves.


Quite a while ago someone posted some storyboards from Rescue from Midnight Castle and there was supposed to be a scene after Megan and Applejack were in the water where Firefly and the rest of the ponies followed the air bubbles they were making before Applejack and Megan got stuck in the clamshell. It always looked to me like Applejack and Megan both sank straight down from the bridge


The only thing that I think could have made Rescue from  Midnight Castle even better would have been more background on Scorpan and Spike. Where was Scorpan's kingdom, how long had Scorpan been forced to serve Tirek etc.. Also an explanation why Spike suddenly decided to stay in Dream Valley with the ponies instead of returning with prince Scorpan to his former home.


Ponyfan

[Strawberry Swirl]

The only thing that I think could have made Rescue from  Midnight Castle even better would have been more background on Scorpan and Spike. Where was Scorpan's kingdom, how long had Scorpan been forced to serve Tirek etc.. Also an explanation why Spike suddenly decided to stay in Dream Valley with the ponies instead of returning with prince Scorpan to his former home.

That, and Majesty. Whatever happened to her? I've heard of people bringing up the possibility of her being killed, though I wonder if she was just less important in the US than in the UK comics, where she's in pretty much every single issue there is.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

The art style, as everyone else has said, it part of what makes this a standout piece of media. It also works as a nice introduction to Spike. I'm surprised that they didn't make toys of the villains!
Firefly's "hello" when she gets lifted from the well is my favorite line. She's such a fun character in this!
Call Upon the Seaponies is the best song, but Dancing on Air has a charm to it that I can't think of being present in modern day television or movie musicals.
I wish we had this as the story for the movie, it feels more thought out.

[Khoufu]

I rented this ALLLL the time on VHS as a kid in the early 00s. The VHS was the only mlp cartoon I knew of at the time, so had a hard time finding a copy of it online after the rental shop closed in 2005. I called it the mlp movie, and knew it had dragons. I got a bootleg dvd on ebay that had the dragons on the back, g2 art on the menu, and the ending credits got cut off early, but it was MLP The Movie, not Midnight Castle. I still haven't found a hard copy of it, just on youtube.

The Sea Pony song is my favourite song of alp MLP, mainly because it's so catchy.

I love how the plot suggests that kidnapping is ok for a good cause. Megan is taken by surprise and abducted against her will. During Firefly's flight, Megan is convinced she can help, but she said next to useless against the dragons. Seriously, what was Megan actually useful for, besides having fingers to open the Rainbow of Light?

Also, it seemed to be too scary for girls and too cute for boys, but that's why I loved it as a kid.

As a kid, I had Firefly and my sister had Medley, which seemed fitting.

That, and Majesty. Whatever happened to her? I've heard of people bringing up the possibility of her being killed, though I wonder if she was just less important in the US than in the UK comics, where she's in pretty much every single issue there is.

As a kid in the US, when I heard that Majesty came within the castle, I thought it was such a random choice, if not for her name. She seemed rather unimportant in the show.