G1 Media Retrospective: Escape From Catrina

[Wildshadow]

Guess I'll start first at I found this tape with the first one at Blockbuster where I was disappointed that what I saw wasn't what was on the cover but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Part of my headcannon is that Baby Surprise in this show grew up to be the Surprise in tv series =P

A few years ago someone had cels from the show for sale, I was only able to afford one with Catrina and Rep, but I don't have a picture of them and all the saved pictures from the auctions aren't uploaded to my photobucket.

I've been able to get two press kits from Catrina and I found both folders are different x.X so there goes me selling one ^-^""

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The second one I got had the first special information in it, but anyway here are examples of them:

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Firefly is on the back of the folder.

In one of the synopsis it says it was 'Baby Surprise' that gets napped by Catrina and not Moondancer

That's it so far, I'll add more later =D

[TJgamer]

I'd say this special is both better and worse than Rescue at Midnight Castle in different ways.
I like it more for its fleshed out antagonists and backstory, but on the other hand I feel like the ponies were of less importance than ever before.
Though I did enjoy Baby Moondancer's arc. It was cute.   

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Sparkler is such a mean middle school girl in this, I love it. The baby ponies are pretty cute in this special, too. It's funny that Baby Moondancer wears that chunky BABY necklace in the opening.
I agree that seeing the ponies we saw previously would have been nice, as it seemed strange for them to select Skydancer as the pegasus of transport but not include Starshine anywhere (or at least not call her out by name).
I like Catrina as a villain, she's cool. Can't say this special convinced me to have a soft spot for the bushwoolies, though.

[Sunset]

So here's a question.  Considering that, from all evidence, the babies are raised communally, how is it that all the other babies had costumes but baby Moondancer doesn't?

[Ponyfan]

I’ve wondered about that synopsis that says it was Baby Surprise Catrina captured instead of Baby Moondancer. Was it originally going to be Baby Surprise or is it just a mistake? Also there’s a picture of Medley on the back of the VHS box even though Medley doesn’t appear in it.

If you look closely there are lots of clothes in the nursery surrounding Baby Moondacer when she says she doesn’t have a costume. Maybe she couldn’t decide on one or one of the   other babies took the one she was going to wear.

I feel sorry for Baby Moondancer when Catrina is holding her over the Witchweed pit and threatening to drop her in since the ponies refuse to be her slaves. I’ve always thought it’s kind of silly that Catrina asks them if they’ll be her slaves. Of course the ponies are going to refuse. 

Ponyfan

[Lilja]

Those press kits have some really interesting artwork!

I’ve wondered about that synopsis that says it was Baby Surprise Catrina captured instead of Baby Moondancer. Was it originally going to be Baby Surprise or is it just a mistake? Also there’s a picture of Medley on the back of the VHS box even though Medley doesn’t appear in it.

If it had been Baby Surprise, that would have changed some of the situations since she is able to fly! 


Setting aside that there might originally have been a different plan for what the second special would be like, I think Escape out from Catrina is pretty good. I like that it's different from Rescue at Midnight Castle. But like the first special, there are a lot of "tropes" introduced here that will be reused several times in the movie and TV show:

*The villains (or guest characters) are way more developed than any of the ponies. This is why I like that first special didn't go too much into Tirek or Scorpan's backstory. Even if Megan was more of the main character in that, Firefly also played a big part. This one is almost completely Catrina and Rep's story. At least I found these two likeable, which can't be said of many other guest characters that took over the show during G1:s run.

*The one pony who is clumsy/awkward or otherwise a social outcast from the rest. Gets chastised by another pony and is sad. This plot point would be reused a lot, and never really done well. Even here with Sundance it feels pretty forced, but I can't help but find the scene between her and Megan kind of sweet. Maybe it's nostalgia.

*Bushwoolies. I don't think there was any need to bring these guys back after this special. But they did. A lot. Ah well, I don't remember them being too annoying. Just seemed like they played out their role after this.

About the cast change with the ponies... well, they gotta sell toys. It would've been less jarring if they didn't have Megan return, but since Hasbro made a doll of her she needed to be in there. At the very least they could have made Firefly the pegasus to bring her there instead of Skydancer, but nope they couldn't even give us that much. I also like to point out that Posey and Lickety Split get cloned during the final song, just so they can show off ALL the new pony wear for 1985!

The anti-drug message is nothing I thought of until recently, but it's really obvious when you think about it. It's even called the "Witch WEED potion". I guess it passed me by because Catrina is not the type of character you usually see in these stories. In most cases it's a younger person, who is unsure of themselves until they start taking drugs. Catrina is an adult (cat) woman, and we first get to know her as strong and confident, so it feels more like her real self than the meek, unconfident version (there's some obvious sexism in how this is shown as her ideal state). Also, does the potion actually make her evil or just powerful? If it just gives her powers I don't see anything wrong with taking it as long she doesn't use it to oppress.

[Ponyfan]

You're right Spike the dragon. If it had been Baby Surprise instead of Baby Moondancer Catrina and Rep would have had to do more (cage/tie her up) to make sure she couldn't get away instead of just maintaining a tight grip on her and also throwing her in the Witch Weed pit wouldn't have been much of an issue since Baby Surprise could just fly out of the pit.


Ponyfan

[Leave a Whisper]

I don't see her as meek just uncomfortable. What do you say to treating a bunch of people so horribly and who are willing to show you kindness afterwards? That's gotta be pretty awkward.

[Al-1701]

Also, the bravado we saw earlier was because of the drugs and the literal power rush they gave her.  Now she has to face the world without them.  Which is a scary proposition.

Again, it would be nice if they had kept her around going forward, but she ended up being a one-shot.  I guess we can assume she went on to find her confidence to be who she is even without the witchweed.

[Ponyfan]

I think the Withweed potion made Catrina evil along with the powers it gave her. When she has powered by  Witchweed Catrina focuses on ways to get more, even if it means turning innocent creatures in to her slaves.


Ponyfan

[Lilja]

I think the Withweed potion made Catrina evil along with the powers it gave her. When she has powered by  Witchweed Catrina focuses on ways to get more, even if it means turning innocent creatures in to her slaves.

That probably makes the most sense. Her desire for power becomes so strong that she loses sight of right and wrong as long as she can get her potion. So in the end it's not worth it, even if the powers are pretty awesome. That's also about right for a drug metaphor. Of course, I'd have much prefered if she had been able to stay powerful, but found a way to use it for good instead of evil. But that clearly wasn't the story they wanted to tell.

It's true we also don't get see a lot of what Catrina's like when she's good, but the little we do see implies she lacks any assertiveness. She's barely able to tell Rep he's standing on her dress. On the other hand, since this is a children's cartoon (with a limited run time) they had to find a way to make it clear her personality completely changed. Still, the implications are unfortunate. Especially with the song "The Good Old Days" having some late 1800s/early 1900s-vibes, and describing the good Catrina as a "cute cuddly kitten sitting on my knee".

Even with all that, I still like this special a lot. And even if a common complaint of mine is that the villains/guest characters get way too much screentime in the G1 cartoon, on the expense of the ponies, I really would have liked to see Catrina return. They could have expanded on her character and portray her in a more positive light.

[Wildshadow]

I read thru the papers again and it seems both folders have a paper naming Baby Surprise instead of Baby Moondancer...someone at the top messed up who they really animated to be pony napped when sending out the details to whoever was getting the press kits

forgot I had this photo, SO MUCH INFORMATION...

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[Al-1701]

Catrina returning would have been great.  However, since we saw yet another turnover of characters before the series began, she would seem of place.  Especially if she had her own arc.

It's the like the issue with giving Luna mental problems in Friendship is Magic.  A few hugs is not going to cure the more than a few blown fuses that drove her to torment herself with the Tantabus, but getting into the real process of helping her would require multiple episodes of covering a rather dour subject.

I guess there's always fan fiction where we could delve into her recovery and how she find how to have confidence and assertiveness without the witchweed potion.  As well as going back to seeing how it started.  I still think she started using witchweed because she was secretly envious of Rep and his shape shifting powers.

[LadyMoondancer]

The disappointing thing about Catrina's becoming unassertive when she became "good" was . . . it kind of makes me think she should keep taking witchweed.  It doesn't take over her personality completely because she's able to choose to blow up the witchweed machine at the very end, when she's all bulked up.  Maybe she'd be assertive but not evil if she took a lower dose?  We don't actually know that the potion is 'bad'.  It could be like Captain America's super-soldier serum.

The other thing that annoys me about her right at the end (besides her wavering voice) is that she needs reassurance from Rep that she's beautiful. Really?  "Hmm, could be awkward going to a party where I tried to enslave everyone, but anyway the most important thing is: am I hot?"  Catrina, I'm begging you, do the drugs.  Do all the drugs. 

Don't get me wrong, though, I do like this special.  It's my 2nd favorite (after RaMC).  I do wish Firefly was in it, though.  Her toy actually WAS sold this year (brought back from the previous year with new, curly hair) so I don't really get why she was excluded.  (Moondancer, Glory, Applejack, Bow-Tie, and Medley were also sold this year.)

Baby Moondancer was my favorite as a child so of course I'm happy to see her having a big role.  (Sidenote, wasn't it nice when G1 babies talked normally instead of in baby talk?  Enjoy it while you can . . .)

Posey sounds British?  Is it just me?  Not that she has a lot of lines . . .

Although I generally like the RaMC designs more than the EfC designs, I actually like the sea pony designs better in EfC.  They look a little more . . . natural. 

I don't even mind the "parade of costumes" at the end, even though it was blatantly tacked on to show off the Pony Wear and did nothing to further the plot.    At least it gave us that cute visual of the baby sea pony splashing Baby Surprise.  (And yes, I noticed some ponies got 'repeated' in order to show off all the outfits, lol!)

[Al-1701]

Well, her only other choice was to die in the every flushing pit.  Survival instinct kind of overrides all, including some addictions.  And what she was on the witchweed potion was not healthy.  A complete disregard for life is a little worse than getting the stage jitters.  Maybe a lower dose would work, but she also needs a better outlet for magic than lashing out at whatever offends her at the moment.

Again, she needed an arc of development to get what we want.  And that wasn't going to happen.  So, writers, get writing (I'm off MLP fics at the moment to concentrate on Futagohime).