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Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: Bekuno on April 08, 2018, 09:32:08 AM

Title: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Bekuno on April 08, 2018, 09:32:08 AM
Onto the next "movie"!

The End of Flutter Valley is a sequel of sorts to the My Little Pony Movie, but instead of being released as one long film it servers as a 10 part opener to the My Little Pony n' Friends TV Series. We revisit our Witchy villains, Hydia, Reeka, and Draggle, as they try to take over Flutter Valley.

These ten episodes aired in September of 1986, and has been released in a stand-alone format on DVD & VHS, and also included in the Shout Factory series DVD set.

Short Summary:
"The fate of Flutter Valley is at hand when the My Little Ponies try to save it from Queen Bumble and the evil witches of Volcano of Gloom."


Long Summary (courtesy of My Little Wiki):
Spoiler
Episode 1: Surprise is playing about and scares the other Ponies while out walking. Baby Cuddles jumps across the other ponies in fright and lands on Spike. Gusty tells Surprise to knock it off as they’re on there way to Flutter Valley and are already late for the celebration. Gusty blames Cupcake for their lateness as she had to bake a cake. The witches Hydia, Reeka and Draggle are watching them through a pool of water. They plan to ruin the flutter ponies’ celebration. Hydia sends her daughters out to stop the group making it to Flutter Valley. They use a spell on some Daisies, turning them into ropes to lassoes the ponies. They catch them ruining Cupcakes cake. The flutter Ponies had got worried when the group hadn’t shown and went out looking for them. They spot them with the witches and switch to utterflutter, a faster fluttering of there wings. Thanks to the pollen and the Flutter Ponies the group of Ponies get away while the witches worry about what Hydia will do to them. The witches decide to go to Flutter Valley too. At Flutter Valley Rosedust Queen of the Flutter Ponies, declares the day Sun Tuesday under a golden Sun Stone while the witches try to find another spell. The Bushwoolies hand Rosedust cakes she thanks them then Cupcake offers her Chocolate cake looking a bit ruin. Suddenly the earth shakes; the witches had use a land slide spell and the ponies run for covers. The Sun Stone looks like it’s about to fall.

Episode 2: The two witches think they have them when mud starts flying back up at them. It turns out Draggle had made a land pie as well, they run off and the ponies cheer. The Flutter Ponies Honeysuckle and Morning Glory argue whether to get revenge or not on the witches but Rosedust calms them down and the ponies tell the Flutter ponies they have to leave for home. The two witches get back to the volcano to a telling off from Hydia and she just can’t understand why they’re not evil enough. Hydia calls her family to her from out of paintings and they give her an idea to steal the Sun Stone and take over Flutter Valley. The girls go to find Bumble A big bumble bee, and her bees to help capture the Flutter Ponies and Sun Stone. Finding her the witches introduce them selves and convince Bumble she wants the Sun Stone off the Flutter Ponies who she hates and to help them. Spike watches for more witches when Surprise flies in warning the other ponies of creatures ahead. They find Furbobs friends of the Bushwoolies and they run over to say hello and introduce themselves. Where the Bushwoolies always agree the Furbobs never do. The Furbobs explain the Stonebacks are chasing them from everywhere they live. Just then the Stonebacks start eating the bridge they look like armoured armadillo with crocodile mouths.

Episode 3: The ponies are on the bridge calling for help, the bridge breaks and Fizzy makes a bubble with her horn that the Bushwoolies and Furbobs fall onto. Surprise saves Spike and Baby Cuddles dropping them face first in some mud. The others fall in some near by water. The Furbobs can’t remember why the StoneBacks hate them and Baby Cuddles has hurts her leg. They decide to go to Furbobia as it was closer then Paradise Estate. The daughter witches try a spell of a rainbow with Bumble and steal the Sun Stone, they succeed and the flutter ponies chase the bees into Bumbleland. Bumble asks Sting her guard to prepare the honeycomb. The Flutter Ponies’ spot the stone on the floor, as they swoop in to get it Sting drops the Honeycomb on them trapping them inside. Bumble gets Sting to place the stone to warm the land while the witches enjoy their new home making it dark and dirty. Still unable to find Furbobia the ponies carrying Baby Cuddles on a raft rest. They tell Baby Cuddles not to worry while wishful the Bushwoolie wishes for some apples that fall straight off the tree in front of them. Surprise pushes them on reminding them the sun will be setting soon and they run into more StoneBacks. Bumbles land is flourishing and she starts eating all the flowers while the Flutter Ponies argue again. Honeysuckle suggests a plan to blown down the wall and escape. They shift to utterflutter and Bumble covers them with honey to stop them suggesting they’ll be her slaves.

Episode 4: Bumble is still tipping honey in but Sting reminds her she doesn’t want to drown them. Morning Glory hadn’t got hit as much as the rest and escape out of a window in the honeycomb, she’s chased but makes it to freedom. Surprise is trying to distract the Stonebacks but it wasn’t working. The other ponies too try but nothing works till Buttons drops a lot of apples on them and they run for it finding the Furbobs home. They tell the furbobs about Baby Cuddles leg and the Furbobs call out “prepare the steamer”. Meanwhile Morning Glory is getting tired the honey on her wings is slowing her down and making her heavy. The bees find her and she has to fly again but they capture her and take her back to Bumbleland. Bumble is feeling rather full after too much nectar when the bees drop Morning Glory in front of her. She gets Sting to put Morning Glory into a cage just before she falls to sleep. Baby Cuddles is scared about what’s going to happen to her. The Bushwoolies reassure the ponies that the Furbobs won’t hurt her. During the song Baby cuddles is in a box and the Furbobs make her float on multi coloured steam when she lands she’s all better. The ponies decide to help with the Stoneback as they’ve helped them; they decide to go back to Flutter Valley to get the Flutter Ponies. The daughter witches are having second thoughts about leaving the volcano of doom their home but Hydia still insists on it.

Episode 5: Bumbleland is getting so hot a bee Pointer, burns his finger on a flower. He dips it in the only tiny ice patch left that had once covered the land. He wakes up Bumble and tells her about the Sun stone she ignores him and goes back to sleep. The Flutter Ponies notice it’s getting hotter, Morning Gory tries to change Sting’s mind to let her go and return the Sun Stone. She learns he can’t fly so she teaches him. She almost gets away but Sting remembers his job and locks her back up. The ponies make it back to Flutter Valley and find its awful now. They’re greeted by Hydia and her daughters. They brag about having Flutter Valley but the ponies fight them. The ponies then have to run from Ahgg but he drops a web on them trapping them. Back in Bumbleland the Sun Stone has coursed a fire, the whole kingdom burns while bees drop water all over it. The bees abandoned Bumbleland and Morning Glory points it out to Sting Bumbleland is burning.

Episode 6: Back with the Flutter Ponies the fire still rages but it’s melting the honeycomb. The Flutter Ponies are hoping it’ll melt enough for them to escape. Morning Glory is finally freed by Sting when he realises Bumble has left him and he knock the Sun Stone to the ground burning a hole in the floor. Morning Glory then explains to him Flutter Valley is finished without it. Bumble returns and tries to get Sting to lock Morning Glory back up but he refuse and claims the Flutter Ponies as his friends. So Bumble orders Pointer to take Sting prisoner too. Sting and Pointer fight in the air with Sting the winner before they fly away and the Flutter Ponies escape from the honeycomb on hoof only to be stopped by the bees. Hydia and co are still waiting for Flutter Valley to turn dark. The other ponies have been strung up in a tree, in a web net. Fizzy comes up with an idea and uses her bubble power on the Furbob while the ponies ask Ahgg to let him out so Ahgg can play with the Furbob. Ahgg does and the bubble pops letting the Furbob run off for help to Hydia’s dismay. Sting and Morning Glory work on how to save the Flutter Ponies and Sun Stone when a rainbow appears. Morning Glory explains Megan lives on the other side of the rainbow and is hoping she’ll help them so they fly along it. They make it to her house but can’t find her instead they find a bull.

Episode 7: The bull is still chasing after Sting and Morning Glory, Sting knocks himself out trying to escape. So Morning Glory tries to distract the bull while Megan rides in luckily in time to help. Megan fetches the red blanket off of her horse and flags the bull back into its stall. Morning Glory and Sting explain what’s going on and they set off for Ponyland. The witches try to turn the little ponies purple instead turn them selves purple so they have to go all the way home to wash it off. The furbob realises he doesn’t know where to go for help just when Morning Glory and co drop in to ask about the other ponies. Bumble has had to go back to the old ways of finding flowers. Having run out, she orders the Flutter Ponies to her and asks them to get the Sun Stone back. She makes them dig the hole bigger while Pointer tries a crane to lift it out. Honeysuckle makes an excuse she wants a drink before spitting it up in Pointers face and taking over the crane. She lifts up Bumble and puts her over the hole. Pointer tries to help Bumble by cutting the rope and dropping her chair into the hole while Bumble jumps off. The bees then go on the attack again after the Flutter Ponies. Bumble ends up tripping Honeysuckle into the hole.

Episode 8: The Flutter ponies call out to see if Honeysuckle is ok but they hear no reply. Pointer puts the Flutter Ponies back to work while Megan tries to talk to Bumble. She tells Bumble she’s surrounded and twigs twitch all around them. Pointer knocks Megan; Sting goes to fight Pointer again while the Flutter Ponies try to escape again. This time Pointer wins and Bumble traps them all in another cage marching the Flutter Ponies back to work. The other ponies are trying to cheer up Draggle and they try to convince her to let them go. They offer Draggle pony magic before breaking out into song to show her. They trick Draggle into letting them go and tie her up but it isn’t long before the ponies are caught in another “fly” trap by the witches. Morning Glory is getting upset that there’s not much time left, Bumble runs out of flowers and Honeysuckle climbs out of the hole freeing Morning Glory and co. She tells them to get the flutter ponies to go down the hole and Bumble and her bees have a surprise coming. Honeysuckle’s brought the Stonebacks with her who attack Bumble. With the Flutter Ponies free Honeysuckle calls off the Stonebacks and escapes herself, Leaving Furbob at the top of the hole.

Episode 9: Bumble closes in on the Furbob but they pull him into the hole. The Ponies all start to fill in the hole. Bumble tries to go down the hole after them but gets stuck. Megan tries to convince the Furbob that the Stonebacks may want to just be friends with them but he has to check with the others first before he can agree. The Flutter ponies use utterflutter to cool off the Sun Stone and rush off with the stone to Flutter Valley. The Stonebacks dig them out and the Furbob goes with Sting to get the other Furbobs to help drive out the witches. Hydia is making Draggle run around carrying the spell book when she spots the Flutter Ponies. Hydia sends Ahgg to stop them after giving him a potion to stop him being tickled this time like they did in the first movie. Megan does try to tickle Ahgg but nothing happens.

Episode 10: Ahgg still has them trapped; Megan uses the Stonebacks to tunnel under Ahgg. The witches toast to their certain win. The furbobs and Bushwoolies turn up to help dig the tunnel under Ahgg. They make it to the other side and Ahgg falls over into his web. The witches run away as the Flutter Ponies realise the other ponies. They put the stone back just in time when Bumble turns up to steal it again. Sting gives Bumble some home truths and Rosedust offers that Bumble can come back any time to help herself so Bumble thanks them and leaves. The Sun Stone starts to restores the land and Morning Glory and Honeysuckle apologize to each other. Just when everything seemed fine a cloud turns up to block out the sun. It’s the witches trying one last attempt at claming Flutter Valley. The Flutter Ponies blow the cloud away and get the witches by blowing them away too. They then celebrate as the Valley gets back to normal.


Songs:
- Opening Theme
- From The Sun
- Oh, Family
- Dark and Dirty
- Nature's In Harmony
- Stretch Yourself
- How Can I Be A Hero?
- Pony Magic
- Imagine You Were Friends
- From The Sun (reprise)


Ponies: Surprise, Baby Cuddles, Gusty, Cupcake, Fizzy, Buttons

Flutterponies: Rosedust, Honeysuckle, Morning Glory, Peach Blossom, Forget-Me-Not, Lily

Humans: Megan

Villains: Hydia, Reeka, Draggle, Ahgg, Bumble, Stonebacks, Sting, Pointer

Other: Spike, The Bushwoolies, Furbobs
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Leave a Whisper on April 08, 2018, 10:28:32 AM
What is there to say aside from the fact that this episode drags on forever?

Seriously though, it was nice to get a more flutter centric episode. Episodes. It should have been its own movie.

I always felt sorry for poor Draggle. I understand the ponies reasons, but I felt for her just the same.

This is not one of my favorites and I advise everyone just coming into the series to save it for later, or watch it in manageable chunks.

I theorize that if you put the bushwoolies and furbobs together, things might actually get done.

The armadillo beasts were boring and the plot twist that they wanted friends was dumb.

Thou shalt not try to plunge potential friends off a cliff by eating the bridge they stand on. That's gotta be a rule somewhere right?
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Ponyfan on April 08, 2018, 12:18:11 PM
This is probably one of my least favorite episodes/stories.

The only part of this episode I really like are Morning Glory's interactions with Sting and the "Stretch Yourself to the Limit Song"

How did a sky full of flutter ponies turn in to just six at the begining of "End of Flutter Valley?"


I really like Morning Glory in MLP the movie, but some of her lines in "End of Flutter Valley" make me cringe espeically  "I'm sure the witches  didn't mean to harm us"  after the landslide and when Morning Glory is recaptured and brought to Bumble and says "I won't try to escape again"



Ponyfan
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Taffeta on April 08, 2018, 12:47:01 PM
I am afraid my opinion on this set of episodes can be summed up in one word.

Yuk.

That's it.

It goes on forever. And it's not a good forever.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Al-1701 on April 08, 2018, 12:48:28 PM
This episode was a zombie.  It was slow, reeked, and just Wouldn't DIE!

Not only was this episode bad, but it was crippling to the series.  The series was given 61 half-episodes, and 10 of them went into this disgrace.  It made such a bad first impression for the furbob's, the based on them was shelved.  A flutter pony-based playset was shelved.

And the biggest problem was nothing happened for TWO weeks.  In fact, The End of Fluttervalley was the longest My Little Pony story until My Little Pony the Movie [2017].  The witches cannot hold a story at all.  They couldn't hold the movie and they couldn't hold an episode that was even longer.  They literally spent the entire episode sitting around.

The other stuff wasn't anymore interesting.  I didn't need to sit through prolonged conversations between Strawberry Shortcake and Zan the Wonder Twin.  I wanted the stonebacks to eat the furbobs.  Bumble and Pointer were fun in spurts but even they got boring.  And the ponies were trapped in a net for half the episode.  This is how you wanted to start your series?  Really?

And can we talk about how stupid the conclusion of the furbob/stoneback subplot was?  The stonebacks wanted to be their friends?  Really, Megan?  They tried to kill them.  I'm sorry, but if someone comes up and punches me in the face, the last thing I expect out of their mouths is "Do you wannabe friends?"

This episode was the worst possible way to start the series.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: LadyMoondancer on April 08, 2018, 12:52:21 PM
I feel like they could have cut the time for this one in half and not lost anything of note.

Someone on the MLP Movie thread mentioned they like Morning Glory better in the movie and I agree.  I like both her voice and personality better in the movie.  The flutter ponies I had as a kid were Honeysuckle, Forget-Me-Not, and Peach Blossom, and its weird seeing them in this because they're sooo different from how 'my' personalities were for them as a kid. (Like my Honeysuckle was stuck up, kind of the stereotypical appearance-obsessed shallow character.)

Anyway . . . here it's established that the flutter ponies are too small to carry humans, which I'm pretty sure is ignored later in the series.  But it was a nice little touch.

I do really enjoy the flutter pony song and the fact that they worship the sun.  I wish we'd spent more time learning about their customs and less on "we've been captured / escaped / we're captured again."

Here are some pictures of their "Stonehenge" thing:

Spoiler
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Then we have the Stonebacks.  Megan's all, "But how do you know they don't want to be FRAAAAAANDS?"  Well, let me tell you how, Megan.  Because your pony buddies were standing on a rope bridge and the Stonebacks came along and CHEWED THE ROPES THROUGH so the ponies almost fell to their deaths.  (LOL, cross posted with Al.)

Oh yeah . . . this also undid the witches' entire story arc in MLP The Movie.  Reeka and Draggle go through MLP The Movie trying to undermine the ponies because . . . their mom told them to.  It's not like they have any particular animosity towards the ponies (which is part of the reason they're such weak villains), they are just trying to please Hydia.  But at the end of the movie, when they're dumped in the volcano, they tell Hydia "This is all YOUR fault" and seem ready to rebel and form their own opinions instead of blindly following Hydia's orders.

Then "End of Flutter Valley" comes along and . . . they are right back to blindly following Hydia's instructions and being motivated by a desire to please her.  So much for character development.

Draggle kind of gets more development in this episode as Hydia's least favorite daughter and the family screw-up.  Unfortunately the main result of this is that I felt sorry for her when the ponies fooled her with their "Pony Magic" song, tricking her into entering the net while they ran away (except not ACTUALLY getting away because this episode hates allowing any kind of plot progression).   Are we really supposed to think "Wow, those ponies are kind of mean" while we watch their antics?  Aren't we supposed to be cheering for them?
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Ponyfan on April 08, 2018, 01:46:24 PM
I also feel sorry for Draggle when the ponies trick her. I think she really thought the ponies were being truthful with her and even though we’re supposed to be on the ponies side, it does seem a little mean of them to do that.

If I counted right there’s 12 captures/escapes in the storyline. I agree watching the poines escape only to be recaptured minutes later gets old fast and was most likely done to stretch the storyline in to ten episodes.


 The Stonebacks  wanting to be friends makes no sense. It might have worked if the Furbos ran away before the Stonebacks got close but after the Stonebacks chew through the bridge  ropes to make everyone fall, how are we supposed to believe that the Stonebacks wanted to be friends?

The Sun Stone looks different almost every time it’s shown and the animation in “Imagine that we’re friends” is terrible.


Ponyfan
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Taffeta on April 08, 2018, 02:59:11 PM
I had forgotten Draggle being duped over. It's remeniscent of that hypocritical idea that a hero character can do anything bad they like because they're the hero and therefore get away with it. Jem is full of such things, which is why I despise the character Jem, when you start to really examine her actions you can see she's a snob, a hypocrite and many other things besides. This is milder but on the same lines. Yes, the ponies have a reason to dislike the witch, but...is it ok for them to just trick her? Doesn't that undermine the message that two wrongs don't make a right?

I dunno.

I never thought much about the witches and their characters. They never much seemed to have characters :/

Agree on Honeysuckle's character, too. Cringe. But then I have some issues with characterisation of ponies in the animation in general...see posts about the movie ones. Not that I can really remember any of the pastel flutters having strong character roles in the comic.

Rosedust is always the most annoying flutter though. She's annoying in the movie and annoying in the sequel. I never understood why she got to be Queen Flutter, to be honest. She doesn't seem to be very good at it.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Ponyfan on April 08, 2018, 05:44:28 PM
Another thing I don’t like is how they emphasis the my in “My Little Pony” when the Reeka and Draggle send the landslide. Rosedust yells “Run my little ponies! Fly away my little flutter ponies!” It just seems unnecessary to add the my and I don’t think they did it in the movie.

Ponyfan
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Shaz on April 09, 2018, 01:18:21 AM
Oh goodness I've only ever watched this once and, as others have said, it just goes on and on and on and then on a bit more.

I quite liked Morning Glory and Sting. But that's about it.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Al-1701 on April 09, 2018, 03:19:13 AM
I don't get people looking down on the ponies tricking Draggle to escape.  Draggle is an enemy dedicated to destroying their kind.  The fact she's bad at it is immaterial.  If a group kidnaps you and said they intend to kill your family and leave their dumbest member to guard you alone, are you really not going to try to use that to your advantage?
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: bright rabbit 1 on April 09, 2018, 03:24:26 AM
I watched this long episode 5 times as a child, and three times as an adult. I much rather listen to the songs than watch the episodes.

What's going to be the next episode of G1 My Little Pony that's going to be discussed?
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: LadyMoondancer on April 09, 2018, 05:47:34 AM
I don't have any moral objection to the ponies tricking Draggle, it's just that the way the episode(s) were constructed we spent a lot of time watching Draggle's problems, and they were easy to relate to.  (Who hasn't felt like a screw up before, or felt like someone in our life was impossible to please?)  Meanwhile the ponies are just kind of generically good, without a lot of depth.  The result is that it's easier to care about Draggle than our actual protagonists, at least for me.  (Like, it felt like she was at least going to have a story arc where she--once again--realized she shouldn't care about what Hydia thought and then teamed up with the ponies or set them free at a crucial moment or something.  Buuuut she didn't because what is the point of anything in End of Flutter Valley.)

Oh!  I almost forgot!  Say hello to the era of baby ponies no longer being able to speak in complete sentences.  Urrrrgh.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Ponyfan on April 09, 2018, 08:38:28 AM
I agree with Lady Moondancer. I understand why the ponies tricked Draggle but I still feel a little sorry for her because the ponies seem to be offering her their friendship/good magic if she turns good but Draggle ends up getting caught in the net and the ponies are running away laughing at her before being recaptured in the fly paper painting.

Draggle doesn’t seem completely bad which is why I think some of us sympathize with and her problems. It’s almost like she  could end up being the ponies friends and helping them like Lady Moondancer suggested.

I think there’s sort of a parallel between this scene  and Sting guarding Morning Glory. Morning Glory also tries to talk Sting into releasing her but instead of tricking him, she offers to teach him to fly. Morning Glory keeps her promise even though Sting throws her back in the cage immediately afterward fearing the consequences of being disloyal to Bumble.


I wish they’d kept going with the baby ponies being able to speak as well as the adults instead making them talk in those annoying “baby” sentences like “Leg don’t work no more” I’d even be okay with something like saying “Wanna” instead of “want” since they’re babies.





Ponyfan
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Taffeta on April 09, 2018, 08:54:57 AM
I don't get people looking down on the ponies tricking Draggle to escape.  Draggle is an enemy dedicated to destroying their kind.  The fact she's bad at it is immaterial.  If a group kidnaps you and said they intend to kill your family and leave their dumbest member to guard you alone, are you really not going to try to use that to your advantage?

I don't have a problem with them escaping.  But taking advantage of another character that has been presented to the audience as vulnerable and insecure makes the ponies come off badly. It's the delicate balance of what a good and a bad guy character can get away with.

But the whole episode series is terrible, so it's just another aspect of that for me.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Leave a Whisper on April 09, 2018, 09:39:04 AM
*sings* This is the ep that never-
*rest of arena*  :throw: :throw: :throw:
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Ponyfan on April 09, 2018, 10:01:28 AM
*sings* This is the ep that never-
*rest of arena*  :throw: :throw: :throw:

 :lol:

*sings with Leave a Whisper* It goes on and on my friends....


Ponyfan
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Leave a Whisper on April 09, 2018, 10:04:11 AM
*sings* This is the ep that never-
*rest of arena*  :throw: :throw: :throw:

 :lol:

*sings with Leave a Whisper* It goes on and on my friends....


Ponyfan

XD We need a force field.

Or a fakie catcher.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: tailrustedtealeaf on April 09, 2018, 10:16:05 AM
I'm glad to see that "boring" is the common opinion. This is such a disappointing episode to start off the series with, it made it hard for me to pick it up after suffering through around half of it. I don't remember that much about it save for the first episode or so.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Wildshadow on April 09, 2018, 10:43:42 AM
Oh man, I guess I'm the only one that enjoyed this one. I guess with Surprise and Spike being in it and the witches and such. I get what everyone hates about it but I still love the silly thing so much T.T

All the songs appear in my head when I think of it, and Morning Glory and Sting parts. I LOVE singing like Morning Glory and I annoy my mom when I start up the voice XD an old dog of ours LOVED when I used that voice on her ^-^

THE FURBOBS, I loved those crazy things! Wish the toys were made of them, which I'm one of the rare ones XD I loved that they didn't agree with each other like the bushwoolies, and how they healed Baby Cuddles with a song...

Yeah I know I only have this strong feeling about it because I watched it as a kid, all that nostalgic stuff going on =P

I was disappointed in some of the animation though but it was PONIES and that's all I cared about.

Oh and Morning Glory using 'calamity" and the fun looking up what it meant cause it was the first time I'd ever heard of that word.

AHGG BACK IN IT AS WELL. The "pony magic' song I loved as well, tricking Draggle, I enjoyed that cause it seemed so smart on their part to get away XD

UGH I enjoyed it so T.T NEED TO WATCH IT AGAIN! Been awhile watching the whole thing than just trying to sing Morning Glory's song, well both versions of that song and trying to mimic Sting's voice as well =D
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Lilja on April 09, 2018, 12:04:23 PM
I don't hate it as much as the movie, probably because I was younger when I first saw it and have more nostalgic feelings for it. I also think it's reasonable to have lower expectations for a TV animated series than for a big screen production. That said, this mini series is worse than the movie in every way. The creators seems to care even less about their work here, the writing is sloppy beyond belief.

As annoying as the grundles were, at least they served somewhat of a point to the narrative. What point do the furbobs and the stonebacks serve here, other than to draw out the run time? Isn't it enough to have ponies, flutter ponies, bushwoolies, witches and beepeople? Although they seem to want to pretend the main furbob is a very important character, and give him kind of an arc. And this time you can't blame celebrity voice acting. It just seems like they don't want to focus on the ponies.

On the plus side, there are a lot of unintentional hilarous moments in this. I love when Bumble is held over the hole by Honeysuckle, and she's so terrified even though she's shown to be able to fly. Or when Pointer pushes his stinger into Sting's butt, and they act like it's such a serious moment. :lol:

The ponies tricking Draggle in order to escape is one of the few things that does make sense, but it did also make them look a bit mean.

And can we talk about how stupid the conclusion of the furbob/stoneback subplot was?  The stonebacks wanted to be their friends?  Really, Megan?  They tried to kill them.  I'm sorry, but if someone comes up and punches me in the face, the last thing I expect out of their mouths is "Do you wannabe friends?"

To be fair, the stonebacks' attempted murder happens in part 2, and Megan's friendship song is in part 9. You can't expect the writer to remember that far back! xD

(Similar to Pointer's stinger, I think George Arthur Bloom pulled that resolution out of his butt)

Oh yeah . . . this also undid the witches' entire story arc in MLP The Movie.  Reeka and Draggle go through MLP The Movie trying to undermine the ponies because . . . their mom told them to.  It's not like they have any particular animosity towards the ponies (which is part of the reason they're such weak villains), they are just trying to please Hydia.  But at the end of the movie, when they're dumped in the volcano, they tell Hydia "This is all YOUR fault" and seem ready to rebel and form their own opinions instead of blindly following Hydia's orders.

This basically has the same ending too. With Reeka and Draggle deciding to defy Hydia by calling her mother. (they already beat that gag to death in the movie, and it was never funny) But you make a good point! As weak as the witches were, there was a slight hint of character developement there. Although, honestly I don't think the writer thought this through enough for it to be intentional. :P

THE FURBOBS, I loved those crazy things! Wish the toys were made of them, which I'm one of the rare ones XD I loved that they didn't agree with each other like the bushwoolies, and how they healed Baby Cuddles with a song...

TBH, I would be so there for Furbob figures! As a kid I would've loved to see more cartoon elements incorporated into the toyline. The Furbobs are more visually interesting designs than the Bushwoolies too (although one can argue they're kinda ugly).
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Ponyfan on April 09, 2018, 12:34:59 PM
I don't hate it as much as the movie, probably because I was younger when I first saw it and have more nostalgic feelings for it. I also think it's reasonable to have lower expectations for a TV animated series than for a big screen production. That said, this mini series is worse than the movie in every way. The creators seems to care even less about their work here, the writing is sloppy beyond belief.

As annoying as the grundles were, at least they served somewhat of a point to the narrative. What point do the furbobs and the stonebacks serve here, other than to draw out the run time? Isn't it enough to have ponies, flutter ponies, bushwoolies, witches and beepeople? Although they seem to want to pretend the main furbob is a very important character, and give him kind of an arc. And this time you can't blame celebrity voice acting. It just seems like they don't want to focus on the ponies.

On the plus side, there are a lot of unintentional hilarous moments in this. I love when Bumble is held over the hole by Honeysuckle, and she's so terrified even though she's shown to be able to fly. Or when Pointer pushes his stinger into Sting's butt, and they act like it's such a serious moment. :lol:





Honeysuckle taking over the crane and holding Bumble over the hole is funny. And the way she and Pointer panic over her being dropped in the hole even though she can fly. There’s also an error with Sting telling Morning Glory he can’t fly but seconds before that he was flying. :lol:

I also find it amusing that the flutter ponies stop to say Hi to Honeysuckle before they fall down the Stoneback hole to escape the bees.



*sings* This is the ep that never-
*rest of arena*  :throw: :throw: :throw:

 :lol:

*sings with Leave a Whisper* It goes on and on my friends....


Ponyfan

XD We need a force field.

Or a fakie catcher.

:lol:
Ponyfan
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Lilja on April 09, 2018, 01:07:01 PM
I also find it amusing that the flutter ponies stop to say Hi to Honeysuckle before they fall down the Stoneback hole to escape the bees.

Yeah, that's a funny moment for sure! Especially with Honeysuckle calling out each of their names as they jump down. Feels like a toy advertising moment! :lol:

Another funny thing is how quick and easy it was to make Bumble turn good at the end. After all the time she spent being banished from flutter valley and all the trouble she went through to steal the sunstone, all Rosedust has to do is offer her to come back if she promises to be nice, and she's like "ok thanks bye!" within the span of 10 seconds. Goes along well with the "MAKES IT EASY!"-resolution of the Furbobs/Stonebacks conflict.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Al-1701 on April 09, 2018, 02:32:09 PM
I picture George Arthur Bloom writing this as a broken man sitting in darkened room in front of a TRASH 80 muttering "paycheck" to himself over and over.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Bekuno on April 09, 2018, 02:47:36 PM
I've legitimately only tried to watch this film once, and I gave up pretty early in  :lol: I still haven't seen it in full, but I'm glad there's a general consensus that it's not that great.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Leave a Whisper on April 09, 2018, 02:48:56 PM
I don't hate EoFV, I just can't stay interested enough to stick with it.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: dragonfly on April 09, 2018, 03:31:02 PM
Love flutter ponies and desperately wanted Rosebud as a kid but never cared for TEOFV. I'm much more of a Sonambula, Ghost of Paradise Estate and Bright Lights kinda girl.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Wildshadow on April 09, 2018, 03:33:27 PM
Sweet, I'm the odd one out D=
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Leave a Whisper on April 09, 2018, 03:34:03 PM
Love flutter ponies and desperately wanted Rosebud as a kid but never cared for TEOFV. I'm much more of a Sonambula, Ghost of Paradise Estate and Bright Lights kinda girl.

Me too.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: LadyMoondancer on April 09, 2018, 04:43:16 PM
I don't hate EoFV, I just can't stay interested enough to stick with it.

Yeah, same.  It's something I might have on in the background to half-watch while I clean or something, it's just not interesting enough to watch "for real."  But I don't actually hate it.  The only G1 episodes I can think of that I actually hate are the Cloud Castle one with GARF and the one with the Gizmonks.  (I also strongly dislike The Ice Cream Wars, but mostly because the human(?) characters are so ugly and unlikeable.)

Speaking of songs, what does everyone think of the songs in this episode?

My ratings:

From The Sun . . . A
Oh, Family . . . C-
Dark and Dirty . . . F
Nature's In Harmony . . . C-
Stretch Yourself . . . B+
How Can I Be A Hero? . . . F  (Pro-tip, don't ask a voice actor to sing if they can't sing.)
Pony Magic . . . B
Imagine You Were Friends . . . D-
From The Sun (reprise) . . . A
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Leave a Whisper on April 09, 2018, 05:06:56 PM
I like Cloud Castle, namely because Twilight and Locket totally rocked and I wish we'd seen more of them. Even if Garf and his...Garfiness brought it down a bit.. XD

The music? Umm...I watch it so little that I don't remember the songs.Honestly I think 90% of the songs across the MLP franchise are bleh anyway. I think Oh Family and Nature's in Harmony are the only one I vaguely remember.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Al-1701 on April 09, 2018, 05:45:19 PM
I thought the Ice Cream Wars characters were supposed to be elves.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Ponyfan on April 09, 2018, 07:18:32 PM
I don't like "Nature's in Harmony" I really like Stretch Yourself to the Limit" I'll have to listen to the other songs to see what I think.

There's one  episodes of this storyline  I can remember watching when it was original broadcast with one episode of My Little Pony and episode of one of Hasbro's other cartoons. I remember being sad when My Little Pony ended so quickly and Potato Head Kids started :lol: I'm pretty sure it was part of the scenes with Morning Glory locked in the cage and Sting guarding her.  I remember watching some of the other episodes on Disney channel but for some reason I remember Morning Glory and Sting followed by Potato Head Kids.


Ponyfan
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Al-1701 on April 10, 2018, 02:14:04 AM
Yeah, Hasbro's grand strategy backfired.  They wanted to use My Little Ponies' popularity to elevate these lesser brands.  Instead, those who did tune in for the ponies would get up and leave once they were done.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Wildshadow on April 10, 2018, 12:43:11 PM
OOOOHHH I REMEMBER SOMETHING MORE TO SAY!

I had this recorded on TV when I was at school, where my mind kept telling me my young sister did it for me but maybe she just reminded my dad to record it XD So some how we had the whole thing on one tape, I think anyway, haven't seen it in AGES T.T (I've got to find my old tapes!) and the commercials were AMAZING. I still have lot of them in my head! And luckily the Disney Channel played them because the very last episode taped from the 80's tv, when it ends with the reprised version of From The Sun, it starts 'From the sun comes light, from the sun comes....' and it cuts off into 'Little Love A-Bye Babies needs your tender loving care! Little Love a-bye Babies have a tiny world of love to share! Their rocking horse can really rock! Their little ducks, adorable! Tuck frilly things in wooden drawers and every day you'll love them more!' and so on XD  IT WAS THE BEST ERROR!

I found a tape of it at Half Priced Books in the late 90's with Dancing Butterflies from the TAF commercial on the cover.


THE SONGS!

- Opening Theme:

I like this one and the MLP 'n Friends opening 'Follow, follow My Little Pony, My Little Pony and friends!'

- From The Sun - YES

- Oh, Family - YES

- Dark and Dirty -  could have been better T.T

- Nature's In Harmony - YES

- Stretch Yourself

I SING THIS AS CLOSE TO HER VOICE AS POSSIBLE. I LOVE singing this song! and saying the lines before and after it XD

- Stretch Yourself (reprise)

SAME AS ABOVE! besides the repeating the lines, though I do a lot of repeating dialog when I watch the episodes =P


- How Can I Be A Hero? - YES!!! I love when non singing people try to sing, it made me feel one with them cause I LOVE singing though I'm sure I sound HORRIBLE XD


- Pony Magic - YES! all the voices I tried to mimic in this XD I wanted pony magic so badly =P


- Imagine You Were Friends - YES! Cute, silly animation and it's what I wish would happen for me cause I didn't have good friends D=


- From The Sun (reprise) - YES! and see above for more information of the memory I have from the song =P



LOVED Surprise in this and Spike! Love the scene before the bridge!

Buttons: "Spike?? What ARE you doing??"

Spike: "I'm on a witch watch."

Baby Cuddles: "What's a Witch Watch?"

Spike: "I'm watching for witches, you never know when they might attack!"



I'm still the only one that enjoys this episode it looks like XD
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: Taffeta on April 10, 2018, 03:09:05 PM
I like Cloud Castle, namely because Twilight and Locket totally rocked and I wish we'd seen more of them. Even if Garf and his...Garfiness brought it down a bit.. XD

The music? Umm...I watch it so little that I don't remember the songs.Honestly I think 90% of the songs across the MLP franchise are bleh anyway. I think Oh Family and Nature's in Harmony are the only one I vaguely remember.

I am looking forward to the Cloud Castle discussion JUST to see LM go off on a long rant about Garf xD.

I'm also looking forward to Ice Cream Wars coming up because along with Revolt of PE that was the seminal pony animation of my childhood and I can still horrify my mother (who had to watch it with me over and over) by imitating the appalling fake scots accent.
Title: Re: G1 Media Retrospective: The End of Flutter Valley
Post by: TJgamer on April 13, 2018, 04:58:32 AM
This was my introduction to G1.   :blush:

Just to clarify, this was before FiM aired (I think maybe around 2008 or 2009). I still clearly remember my eldest sister visiting our house and brought with her the season 1 DVD set for My Little Pony 'n Friends. Now I wasn't watching it and was just off doing my own thing until Part 3 was playing. At that point, I sorta sat off to the side of the room, curious about what was going on. To add some context, the only My Little Pony related media I was familiar with at the time was G3 (particularly "A Charming Birthday" and "Dancing in the Clouds" on VHS). So seeing things like the Flutter Ponies trapped in a melting honeycomb, the witches trashing their homeland, and even that there are multiple parts really grabbed my attention. I wasn't used to seeing these cartoon ponies in such peril. I was hooked ever since, and that partially played into what drew me to FiM in the first place.

Now while I do have a soft spot for this episode arc, I will not deny that it is another one of the weakest links in this show. It's way too long for its own good, the animation is very poor, and the ponies are mostly useless. Not to mention the resolution to the conflict was pathetically easy.

Regardless, it's still a guilty pleasure for me.
Plus I like the witches songs in this much more than I do The Movie's.
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