Ahh!! I'd been looking for a revision date on the website version and totally missed the asterisks XP Good eye!
So it looks like the other ver Rhaegar has is right in-between these two, then?
Oh man I can't believe we actually have multiple versions of this sequence now.
These are the changes I noticed between versions:
Spoiler
(Page count refers to 1/3/84 revision, also I kept the dates in their original format, which I'm assuming is month-day-year, to avoid confusion...)
pages 1, 2 are missing from 1/9/84 version
page 4 - same as 1/9/84 but missing Twilight's v/o line
page 5 - missing third panel (which is lightly sketched into the revised ver)
page 16 - sixth panel was revised
pages 17, 18 are completely different
page 19 - all panels except sixth were revised
page 21 - sixth panel was revised
pages 22-25 are completely different
page 26 - bottom center (Simply signal SOS) panel was revised
page 27 - all panels except first were revised
page 28 is completely different
pages 29-31 are missing from 1/9/84 version
God these storyboard panels are beautiful. I love the unused shot of Twilight asking "weren't you afraid?".
Some interesting differences in the "Somnambula" boards:
Spoiler
(Part 1)
- the storyboards include Babies Cuddles, Lickety, Gusty and Heart Throb in the first shot too
- Page 3 isn't used in the final ep
- anyone got any idea what "N.D. Ponies" means? (On page 3)
- So Soft Twilight and Locket are in the boards, but not the final ep!
- the boards don't specify Somnambula's voice changing along with her appearance
- Probably a coincidence, but I'm amused by one of Score's first lines including the phrase "touchdown" when we now know that was his original name
- page 54 - Salty's line is cut down to just "Blow me down!" in the final ep. Page 55 and most of 56 didn't make it into the final.
- The Brothers' feathering is drawn differently in some panels compared to the final ep (two lines of fur instead of just one? looks like they're wearing little socks or something, lol)
- There's a cute background gag where Baby Sleepy Pie keeps falling asleep, this got cut in the final (it's not pointed out so possibly the animators just overlooked it?). Shame since this is her only appearance in the cartoon, it would've been nice for her to have SOME sort of personality trait.
- Somnambula's much prettier in the final ep! :P Conversely, I actually prefer Kiri's design from the boards (very Snow White-esque!)
- page 79/80 - the close-up of Kiri being crushed didn't make it into the final. The rest of this *technically* made it into the final ep, but the storyboards are a LOT clearer than the final ver - I never really got what was going on here before now. Guessing S&P found it too violent and asked for it to be toned down, but the final ver is just kind of confusing.
- Score's final line "I suddenly have a very bad feeling about this...!" was cut (at least it's not in the version of the ep I have...... most home video releases cut a few seconds out of the end of every ep to remove the "To Be Continued" so this might have been a casualty of that? don't have time to hunt down a copy without the TBC cut right now)
(Part 2)
- Pleasure Island the amusement park looks a bit less empty/abandoned in the boards
(speaking of Pinocchio, I *just* noticed the Monstro-esque building in the background of the final ep. Nice touch.)
- In the boards, the first pony the Big Brothers come across is Ribbon; in the final ep, it's Truly. I get why they changed it, since Truly's more relevant to the story (follows up from the end of part 1 better too), but Ribbon never really did anything in the show so it's sad to see we lost a moment with her here.
- "Clearly this is Heart Throb's personal romance theatre" (I just wanted to quote this lol. hey, is her Salome thing here a Sunset Boulevard ref?)
- Gingerbread has dialogue in the boards but not the final ep
- Score's line "This place is making all the Little Ponies - old!" cut in final
Rhaegar - Page 13 from the Somnambula Part 2 boards is a repeat from Part 1, was that intentional? :o
Re: Baby, It's Cold Outside - SO nice to finally get a confirmed spelling for the little duckling's name. I was never sure if it was meant to be "Sunny" or "Sonny" since both make sense.
Princess Ponies: OMG the wand sheathes. Oh god that's adorable, they should've kept those!!! The final ep just has them awkwardly holding the wands in their mouths a lot (and talking clearly even despite this) - that's always bugged me but I figured, you know, what else could they do - but sheathes are such a clever workaround!
(comparisons, nitpicks, etc)
Spoiler
- the boards specify to reference "The Magic Coins" for the Crystal Desert, which isn't really obvious in the final ep
- in the boards, the princesses are introduced making "hat shapes in their own colours". in the final ep they're making magical versions of their symbols. I wonder why the change?
- cut dialogue:
Serena: Did you hurt yourself?
Tiffany: Well, not hurt, exactly... But it's just awful!
now this one shoulda been kept - I always said Serena was the most sensible of the princesses - it'd be nice to see that early on in the ep.
- Lilac: -a knowledge of every part of one's domain! Especially the growing things!
Second half of line is cut from final.
- page 16 - "Who should be queen?" is just said over a black screen (transition out of song) in the final. the transition is MUCH smoother in the boards but I guess they had to cut it for time?
The storyboards suggest that Washer was working off the idea that the "By Right, I Should Be Queen" song would have the Princess show off their talents in a talent contest-esque setting - the final sequence just has them wander around showing off. I like the final version, but the Princesses-on-stage setup is really cute too.
- Cut sequence (pages 17-19) where the Bushwoolies "vote" for should be the Queen. this explains Spike's "let's let the Bushwoolies decide!" line in the final ep!!! the final ep just cuts straight from that to Lavan, making Spike's line this kind of weird non-sequitur.
between this + the Ghost of P.E. cuts it's looking like eps getting trimmed down to accomodate the songs happened quite often? IIiinteresting.
- Lavan's name is spelt like that here, not "La-van" as one VHS tape spelt it. *nitpicky*
- I never noticed Spike + the Bushwoolies dipping their little feets in the fountain before! in part cuz it's not really animated very clearly. but omg, that's *adorable*.
- the Bushwoolies' dialogue in the first panel of page 3 was changed for the final (in the storyboards it follows on from the cut sequence from pgs 17-19)
- the boards actually _show_ the Lava Demons taking the magic wands out of the sheathes, as opposed to the final ep where there's just this awkward jumpcut where one sec the ponies have 'em in their mouths, and the next sec the demon's holding the wands
- Lavan vs Spike makes a LOT more sense in the boards. Spike isn't breathing fire *directly on* Lavan and there's a decent amount of space between Spike/the Bushwoolies and the Lava Demons when Lavan does his smokescreen thing to escape. I guess there was some sort of miscommunication cause the final ep has Lavan right in front of them for the whole bit.
- Last two panels of page 32 were cut
- Pages 34-37 cut entirely (apart from Serena's line on page 34, and Lavan/Sludge diag. on pg 37) - Princess ponies bickering again
- IMO storyboard!Lavan has a lot more character, design-wise. IDK exactly what it is but I feel like something got lost in the transition from design to final ep there.
- Page 40-41 - Cut exchange between Lavan/Sludge
- not sure if this was a conscious change or not, but Spike's "now what??" line is specified as him sounding fed-up in the boards (makes sense since the princesses bicker a LOT more here), which isn't really the case for the final ep
- I feel like the bit w/ Fizzy's horn exploding bubbles is clearer in the storyboards
- More cut dialogue on page 57
- Page 60's final panel is missing from the final ep but again, I suspect this WAS animated and it just fell victim to those damned To Be Continued cuts
overall, wow, a lot of little cuts but they make a BIG difference... this ep really suffered for it too. guessing they had budget issues or somesuch. It's fascinating and saddening to see what could've been and where they were limited by TV animation budget, etc restraints (I definitely think that's why Fizzy's bubble stream looks so weird in the final).
Also I have the digital audio for the MLP movie audition reel. This thing is a trip, hope to have it up soon.
*vibrates with excitement*