G1 Media Retrospective: My Little Pony: The Movie

[Bekuno]

"Something bad is coming down, Have you heard the news?"

This week's discussion is a doozy, our first full-length My Little Pony film, My Little Pony: The Movie!
The movie was released theatrically in June of 1986. The now defunct studios Sunbow and Marvel Productions were responsible for it's production, and animation by Toei and AKOM!

As with most theatrical films, some guest star voice roles include Danny DeVito, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Rhea Perlman and Tony Randall.

The film was a flop in it's run, making less than $6 million and receiving poor reviews form critics.

Summary:

"The first day of Spring is on its way and the Little Ponies are preparing for it with a big festival. But all the fun may come to an end if the witch Hydia has her way! Can the Ponies defeat Hydia and her evil daughters, Reeka and Draggle? More importantly, can they save Ponyland from the witches’ concoction, the strange purple goo called Smooze, that s threatening to bury the whole town?"


(longer summary in the spoiler)

Spoiler

Our film opens with the arrival of spring and the ponies planning the Spring Festival, including Baby Lickety Split who is coming up with some creative dance moves. Meanwhile, our witchy villains are  watching them through a potion with disgust. Hydia believes her daughters are not living up to her evil standards, and send them to ruin the ponies festival.

We return to the festival to watch the baby ponies dance, and Baby Lickety Split gets ahead of herself with her dance moves, runing the performace and upsetting Buttons and the other baby ponies who berate her until she runs away in tears. Baby Lickety Split decides to run away though Spike does his best to stop her.

Reeka and Draggle have made it to Dream Valley, and are trying to figure out how to ruin the festival. Draggle uses a spell to shoot water from a water fall to drown out the festival, but are thwarted by seaponies. They wash out to the festival where they are called "cute", and leave, offended.

Baby Lickety Split attempts to fly over a cliff but, since she's an earth pony, plummets down with Spike in tow and gets stuck. The other ponies realize the two are missing and believe she may be with the Bushwoolies. 

Disappointed in her daughters' failure, Hydia decides to use the Smooze, a purple goo that previously destroyed Grundleland. First she needs the proper ingredients, and the witches are sent out once again. Baby Lickety Split and Spike try to get up the cliffside with little luck while the sisters explore the swamp for ingredients. Hydia begins prepping the Smooze recipe by throwing the ingredients into the volcano, creating the Smooze despite missing an ingredient. It flows down the volcano and into Dream Valley.

The other ponies pass right by Baby Lickety Split and Spike, unable to hear their cries over the waterfall. They meet up with the Bushwoolies, who are on their way to the Festival. Both parties are stopped when the Smooze rushes in. Magic Star takes the smoozed Gusty and all but one Bushwooly back to Dream Castle, leaving Shady and her Bushwooly companion to continue the search. The smooze has reached the trench where Baby Lickety Split and Spike are trapped, forcing them to retreat into the cave. Magic Star and the others reach Dream Valley just in time, ushering every creature and pony into Dream Castle.

North Star and Wind Whistler go to find Megan, who is with her siblings. They initially come only for the Rainbow of Light, but all three convince the ponies to let them aid in the fight.

Back at Dream Castle, the ponies are attemping to barricade against the Smooze, but it is too strong. The pegasi arrive with Megan and her siblings, and she unleashes the Rainbow of Light, which is eventually defeated after a battle. The Smooze is revealed to be weakened due to the sisters forgetting to get one specific ingredient. Megan, North Star, and Fizzy leave to seek out The Moochick while the sisters work together to get some Flume to strengthen The Smooze.

Megan and her pony companions reach Mr. Moochik, who reveals he has no more Rainbow for them, and instead sings about the types of homes the ponies can find now that Dream Castle has been smoozed. He creates Paradise Estate for them and informs them that the Flutter Ponies are the only ones who can take care of The Smooze.

Spike and Baby Lickety Split are trying to find a way out of the cave the Smooze trapped them in. They come across The Grundles, who convince them that, though they appear scary, they are quite good. Their kingdom has already been destroyed by The Smooze, and they offer to help the two.

The witches toss their acquired Flume into the Smooze so it can reach it's full potential. Back in Dream Valley, the ponies are excited to explore Paradise Estate. The celebration doesn't last, as the smooze is coming back with a vengeance. Shady continues to struggle to find Lickety Split. We cut back to the volcano where the sisters are told to seek out Ogg, bringing an offering of food.

Shady's distress is cut short when the smooze reaches her. Megan, Danny, Molly, Fizzy, Magic Star, and Wind Whistler seek out Flutter Valley, narrowly escaping threats such as The Smooze, evil trees, and a giant spider. They meet up with Shady and her Bushwooly along the way.

The Grundles, Spike, and Baby Lickety Split also have a run in with the smooze that they escape, though Spike gets a little of the goo on his tail. They land in a flower field near a well, and Baby Lickety Split sings into it. At first they believe the voice inside is an echo, but after it sings back they discover it's actually a Flutter pony, Morning Glory. She offers them help since they rescued her from the well, and they head for Flutter Valley. They reach Flutter Valley and meet Rosedust, who turns them down. Suddenly, Morning Glory arrives with Baby Lickety Split and the others, finally reuniting the groups. They beg Rosedust to assist them as The Smooze begins to reach Paradise Estate.

Hope seems all but lost as the Flutter Ponies and the others arrive, pushing back The Smooze with the gusts of magic from their wings. Dream Castle and Dream Valley  are freed from The Smooze as the witches are chased back to their volcano. The Grundles are offered Dream Castle as thanks for their help in keeping Lickety Split safe. The Flutter Ponies return home, the Rainbow returns to it's locket, and Megan and her siblings head home knowing Dream Valley is safe.

For now...

-----------------------------------



Songs:
* My Little Pony Opening Theme
* Evil Witch Like Me
* I'll Go It Alone
* I'll Do the Dirty Work
* Nothing Can Stop the Smooze
* There's Always Another Rainbow
* Home
* Grundles Good
* What Good Will Wishing Do?
* My Little Pony Closing Theme




Ponies: Gusty, North Star, Shady, Sweet Stuff, Gingerbread, Buttons, Lofty, Sundance, Magic Star, Fizzy, Wind Whistler, Ribbon, Paradise, Rosedust, Morning Glory, Baby Lickety Split, Baby Lofty, Baby Sundance, Baby Ribbon, assorted Seaponies.

Villians: Hydia, Reeka, Draggle

Other Characters: Spike, Bushwoolies, Mr. Moochik, The Grundles, The Grundle King

Humans: Megan, Molly, & Danny

[Leave a Whisper]

I love this movie. It's pretty, its got fun villains, its got action and a multi-eyed/armed/mouthed/handed version of The Blob It introduced a new race of ponies. And a new cast of them too.

[LadyMoondancer]

I begged and begged and BEGGED my parents to take me to this as a kid.  I knew about it from Fizzy's packaging, if I recall correctly.  It had a small mention of the movie printed on the backcard.  I also had a pamphlet advertising the movie, which either came with Fizzy or else Peach Blossom or Honeysuckle.  (But I think it was Fizzy.)

My parents (or more accurately my mom ) did take me to see the movie in the theater.  But, I gotta be honest, I didn't actually like it upon watching it.  I found it long and pretty boring.  I hated Megan, and this movie had A L-O-T of Megan.  Worse, it had Megan's two siblings.

The funny thing is that as an adult I find Megan more annoying than Danny or Molly.  But back then it was the opposite.

I am still unimpressed by the movie.  It was cheaply made (and in only six weeks . . . good planning there, guys), and it sure LOOKS cheap, and it annoys me because Hasbro sunk sooo much care and artistry into Transformers: The Movie.  I mean, TF The Movie tanked financially too, and is narratively messy, but it at least TRIED to be something great.  It had fantastic animation, it had a cool 80s rock soundtrack, and it respected its audience.  It had a villain that ate planets.   MLP got doofy witch "villains" who couldn't have found their own backsides with a map. They are my least favorite G1 villains, except maybe the Gizmonks and Garf.   What happened to the world plagued with demon-centaurs and murderous cat-ladies?

The weird thing is that the two G1 specials and MLP the Movie AND Transformers the Movie were all written by the same guy, George Arthur Bloom.  Which suggests to me that it was the studio pushing the lame villains on MLP, not the writer.

Edit:  Also, the ponies spent half the movie moaning about how much they LOVE Dream Castle and Dream Castle is SO irreplaceable, and then they immediately give it away at the end of the movie.  Really, ponies?  REALLY?  I've got news for you, your magic house is shoddily made and will be falling apart in the space of a couple episodes of the show.

[Leave a Whisper]

I now want to see how the Transformers handle the Witches and their Smooze and how the ponies handle Unicron and his lackeys.

And yay! Peter Cullen was in both movies. He voiced Augh the Spider.

To be fair LM, a lot of shows back then had goofy villains. I mean Cobra Commamder, Serpentor, Murky and Lurky, Beastly and Shrieky.

[LadyMoondancer]

Human villains in TF usually suffered under the weight of their own hubris after trying to help the Decepticons.  Like Doctor Archeville who IIRC ended up blowing some limbs off or something?  And then needing robot limbs?  Or that guy who helped the Decepticons frame the Autobots for crimes because the 'Cons promised he could be in control of "three cities", and after the Autobots were gone the Decepticons enslaved the guy and made him perpetually turn a crank to generate electricity for three cities.

Since the witches' main motivation is to make things wet (dank), I imagine they would try to set up some scheme to make the Autobots rust, and then end up almost drowning themselves.  They would then be sent to jail.

Now the MLPs versus Unicron would be really something!  I think the MLPs could win.  Not with the Matrix of Leadership, though.  Something without fingerholes.  (Or with magic.)

[Leave a Whisper]

Human villains in TF usually suffered under the weight of their own hubris after trying to help the Decepticons.  Like Doctor Archeville who IIRC ended up blowing some limbs off or something?  And then needing robot limbs?  Or that guy who helped the Decepticons frame the Autobots for crimes because the 'Cons promised he could be in control of "three cities", and after the Autobots were gone the Decepticons enslaved the guy and made him perpetually turn a crank to generate electricity for three cities.

Since the witches' main motivation is to make things wet (dank), I imagine they would try to set up some scheme to make the Autobots rust, and then end up almost drowning themselves.  They would then be sent to jail.

Now the MLPs versus Unicron would be really something!  I think the MLPs could win.  Not with the Matrix of Leadership, though.  Something without fingerholes.  (Or with magic.)

I remember that. Crazy old coot. I think this'll do more then make autobots rust.  Would definitely lock em in place for a while.

Ponies vs. Unicron is a battle to tell for generations! May Majesty light their darkest hour.

[Al-1701]

This movie suffered from one catastrophic flaw (which led to other flaws).  A lack of focus.  It needed to be about something and someone.  The natural picks would be Wind Whistler and Fizzy (and this is not just my personal bias).  They were the headliners of the commercials of their respective lines and frankly had the most going for them personality wise.  If Hasbro was willing to admit they would be the stars and the movie would be their story with the others playing support, it would have gone a long way to making it an actual feature film.

Baby Lickety-Split was too irritating.  I know everyone is ready to jump on Buttons for yelling at her because she's just a kid, but what about the others?  They probably spent the entire winter practicing for the recital only to be humiliated in front of all their friends because Baby Lickety-Split refused to listen.  They put in the work, why shouldn't they have the right to tear into the one who didn't and made it all a waste of time.  At that point, I was ready for the witches to just snatch her and eat her.

Speaking of the witches, they just didn't cut it as villains.  After Tirac and Catrina, they were pathetic.  They could make as comedic foil villains, but this movie needed an upgrade from what came before to serve as the big bad.

In the end, moving to the big screen magnified the weaknesses in George Arthur Bloom's writing.  Concentrating too much on the villains and not enough on the ponies.  It could be forgiven in the specials where there seemed to be too much story for the time and the villains were at least interesting.  Here, they had all the time in the world and the villains were pathetic.

You can tell this was a movie made by two studios.  The parts animated by Toei is head and shoulders above the lion's share of the movie animated by AKOM.  You can really see it in the few segments with the ponies animated by Toei where the twinkle eyed ponies had beautiful gems in their eyes that actually twinkled.  Compared to AKOM who drew two concentric circles and colored in the space between them.  If only they were willing to give Toei the time and money needed to animated the movie completely.

To add insult to injury, we would get a cinematic plot in the series.  It's called The Return of Tambelon.  It had everything this movie desperately needed (except good animation but we can get into that when we get to that story arc).

[Bekuno]

This was my very first introduction to G1 MLP...

I rented it from Netflix back when Netflix was young and still did by-mail deliveries. The only My Little Pony I'd known was the G3 I grew up with.

I don't remember much about my first viewing, but I didn't completely despise it. You know what did happen? I got The Smooze song stuck in my head the rest of my life. 

This is certainly not a favorite, the viewing I had today while writing this post was probably only my 3rd or 4th time watching it. Really, my favorite and most watched G1 related media pieces are Rescue at Midnight Castle and the Tales series.

[Wildshadow]

I have so much to say about the movie!!$@%@#@^% but hard to sit down and type it all out cause I'm just that crazy about it....

I guess I'm the only one that loved the Witches Yeah they could have been better but all the stuff around them and just the thought of what their circle of life is away from the ponies. Like I feel like I had dreamt as a kid that they some how had connections with the witches and such from the Smurfs o.O I guess just that feeling has carried me into still enjoying the witches like I do. I LOVE Hydia's song and all the darkness hidden between the lines of the lyrics and I LOVE the animation through out that whole song, like the end when Draggle swirls around and the flashing of magic lightening... just GAH!!!! #$^$&%$#$% -MIND EXPLODES-

Um..... ANYWAY, I didn't see it in theaters like I wanted, I know I got the sticker book and had stickers for it (I loved the smell of those stickers x.X  ) but we probably rented it before I watched it on the Disney Channel and then rented it in the early 90's from a video rental place called Showtime. I was so sad as a kid when I watched it on tv and I felt like it wasn't long enough

I loved the Phlume and Ahgg and DANNY. SPIKE. I love all the songs in it too T.T Man the bulling I had at school, when I would sing Licketysplit's song I felt like I wish I could run away from the hell I had in school =P

I have lots of merch from the movie poster, stickers, press kit, button/pin....

I'm manic...

I'm going to get Charlie Adler's signature tomorrow! YAY SPIKE!!

I'll have more about other things in the movie later....

[Leave a Whisper]

Eh, its one of my favorites. And the first piece of G1 media I showed to my daughter and young cousins. Hydia, Reeka and Draggle have something ol Tirek doesn't. Personality and screentime. They also have some great lines and three fun songs. I like Nothing Can Stop the Smooze, Dirty Work and to a lesser extent Evil Like Me.

I fail to see why they're ragged on for being goofballs when, as mentioned before, kids shows are full of goofy villains, even today. And for a girl's toon, they did very well. They unleashed a magical, semi-sentient tsunami of instantly hardening goop that, implied, devastated the land and was something you definitely did not want to get caught in. If that crap swept you up in it, you'd be crushed and/or suffocate.

Care Bear's No Heart wasn't particularly threatening, especially with Bumbling henchman, Beastly and spoiled brat Shrieky.

Cobra Commander was a tantrum throwing maniac.

Doofensmirtz is hilarious and likeable.

It's a very rare cartoon villain that's actually hateable and legitimately threatening. They're not all going to be Unicron, or Fire Lord Ozai or Shan Yu.

I fail to see how there was a lack of focus Al. They introduced the ponies and villains, unleashed the Smooze, try to find Baby Lickety-Split and Spike, had to gather reinforcements and bring them back. Sent the villains packing. All diverging plot points got resolved. Sounds pretty focused to me.

[Ponyfan]

I watch MLP the movie sometimes, but not very often. I’m sure I watched it more growing up. A few years ago I bought the Shout Factory DVD.

Watching as an adult I think Buttons was too harsh on Baby Lickety Split. Yes, Baby Lickety Split ruined the dance and caused the other baby ponies to mess up but did the other adult ponies expect a flawless performance? I can understand why the other baby ponies would be upset with her though. I feel sorry for Spike. During “I’ll Go It Alone!” Baby Lickety steps on his tail and even places most of her weight on it while poor Spike squirms.  Baby Lickety Split also causes Spike to fall off the cliff when she tries to fly. I do think Baby Lickety acts selfish and self -centered during these scenes.
I always get a kick out of half the animals helping  Baby Lickety Split pack and the other half unpacking while she sings.


Why does Megan have the Rainbow of Light if she gave it to Baby Moondancer at the end of Escape from Catrina?

I like Morning Glory and the wishing well scene and how Morning Glory convinces Rosedust to help the Dream Valley ponies.

I do enjoy “Nothing Can Stop the Smooze” “What Good Will Wishing Do?” and “Home” Even as a child I wasn’t a big fan of “Always Another Rainbow” or  the  grumpy snoozed ponies.


Ponyfan

[Shatyr]

And yay! Peter Cullen was in both movies. He voiced Augh the Spider.

He also voiced one of the Grundles! That's right, folks. Watch My Little Pony The Movie, hear Peter Cullen sing.

My fondest wish is to have the opening sequence of this movie done in the RaMC style. It was really well done, but the pony designs were a step backwards. More basic geometric shapes compared to RaMC and EfC.

I didn't realize there were two animation studios working on this picture. That actually explains some of the differences I noticed from time to time, often with the eyes. Flutter Valley and all the connected flower areas are some of my favorite. I still hear Fizzy in my head when I smell a nice floral scent, "Smells so sweet".

I will mention my confusion over going through that first flower area, then the barren cavern where Augh was waiting. Where did the flowers go? They ran back into a cave, but there was still no sign of flowers. And how were cattails growing in a cave? Don't they grow in open, watery areas? Y'know, with regular sunlight?

I'm of mixed opinions on Lickety-Split's arc. She "inspired" me to try running away from home twice (Mom didn't even realize, since I made it down to the other side of the apartment complex before realizing I didn't want to miss dinner). However, it's really obvious that she messed up. I mean, Spike even warned her she would mess up everyone else. She's stubborn to the point of potentially hurting herself and Spike. She only really starts turning around once Spike's tail gets smoozed and she realizes it really wouldn't have happened if not for her.

I'm probably reading too much into it, seeing how it's a child's movie from 32 years ago, but I can't help but notice that the major change happens after she helps rescue Morning Glory. She felt sorry for herself because her actions had brought Smooze upon them, but she started looking for ways to help after having had helped someone.

Ugh, can't quite find the way to explain it.

Lickety-Split was self-centered and proud, as we all are, until she helped someone and realized that helping felt better than being selfish. Does that make sense or am I really overthinking this? Curse those AP courses. Decades later and I'm still analyzing everything to death.

[Leave a Whisper]

I didn't know he voiced one of the grundles? :3

Glad dinner brought you back.

[Shatyr]

I didn't know he voiced one of the grundles? :3

Glad dinner brought you back.

Me too! I mentioned it to Mom last year, and she said she had no idea. I had packed up my "most precious" belongings in a toy suitcase, then marched my 8 year old self out of the townhouse and down the apartment complex. Then right back up the hill to unpack before dinner. Pulled that off twice before the toy suitcase fell apart. That was the last time I left home before graduating college.

I believe he voices the bigger Grundle, but he's definitely credited as a Grundle in the movie. I think he's the one who yells, "Hey, wait for Grundle!" Not many lines, but still. Frank Welker did one of the other Grundles and a Bushwoolie. Wonder if they remember that at all.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

I do really wish more time was spent on the ponies. I don't care too much for the witches, and overall the movie does feel pretty weak.
I wish I could love it lots but I just...can't get past the plot skipping all over the place.