What is this G1 cartoon?

[Rachel-Eyes]

I did not grow up during G1, as I was only born at the tail end of it. Because of this, I don't ever remember watching the cartoon at all, except for a movie we rented when I was about six. My brother got Space Ghost that night and I remember because my mom walked in the room, saw the highly detailed and frankly quite scary villains, and said "I thought you were watching My Little Pony first?" Brother and I simultaneously say "WE ARE!"

So it starts off in Ponyland and there's some evil person who doesn't like the niceness of all the ponies, so he like, sucks out their energy somehow and turns them into these ugly green things. So a group of ponies go out to find them and battle them in order to get their souls back. I remember half of the group was attacked and turned into the green things. Applejack had a huge part of the story, but I don't remember it... but what I do remember was that it was a poignant moment when she got her soul sucked out. "They. Got. APPLEJACK!" I think what happened was that she stayed behind, but when the others took too long, she went looking for them. The villain had a really creepy voice, I think it was kind of like Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget. Again, he was highly detailed, and sort of had an air about him similar to an anime villain. I don't remember what he looked like, but I do remember that he had goons. I think they were pig-faced.

I can't really remember much about it, sadly. I was only five or six when I saw it, so it was at least 17 years ago. I know it's not the Knight Shade one... my friend (with whom I love riffing cheap cartoons) sent it to me when I got into collecting MLP and I riffed it for her. It definitely isn't that one, with all of the shadow stealing.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Is this Firefly's Adventure or whatever?

[ButtonMasher]

That does sound like Firefly's Adventure/Rescue at Midnight Castle to me.

That's the only time I remember anything untoward happening to Applejack, at any rate.

[hilamb]

ButtonM is right, thats the only cartoon Applejack appears in. Heres a link to that EP.
http://www.kimsites.net/dreamvalley/specials.html
if its not that, maby this link will help. Heres all the cartoons of G1.
http://www.kimsites.net/dreamvalley/media_menu.html

[Dragonflitter]

*giggle* I like your childhood memory of Firefly's Adventure more than what actually happened in it! The soul sucking was actually transforming them into dragon-like creatures to pull the villain's charriot of darkness. Applejack totally did steal the show, I think it was the song number with the seaponies that did it!

[StarDragon]

Firefly's Adventure!! The best MLP cartoon ever made. <3 (there are dragons!! so awesome)

[Rachel-Eyes]

I looked it up last night and it did seem vaguely familiar to me... I seem to remember more ponies being turned into green things, and I remember the green things being smaller than dragons, and slimy I think. I also remember more ponies being turned than just four.

Buuuuut it was seventeen years ago. I've had late study nights, weird dreams, and alcohol on top of that. Plus I've watched stranger animation within that time frame as well. So I'm just going to chalk it up as Firefly's Adventure, because the castle looked rather familiar, as did Firefly's meeting with Megan. And the villain did look like a Space Ghost villain.

I must say, I was also a bit impressed with it as a piece of animation as well. It was actually animated pretty nicely, not with disappearing body parts like I've seen in the episodes that I've watched on Youtube, and the story pieced itself together quite nicely.

I'll see if I can get my brother to sit through it to see if he remembers it at all. (He has an aversion to anything brony, but we have joked that the Sea Pony song should be the next Rick Roll. So...)

[babystarz]

I must say, I was also a bit impressed with it as a piece of animation as well. It was actually animated pretty nicely, not with disappearing body parts like I've seen in the episodes that I've watched on Youtube, and the story pieced itself together quite nicely.

The movies always were much higher quality Some of the episodes are gems too, but a lot of them are really amateur in terms of art and screenplay writing, which is why early MLP animation has such a bad reputation. I just recently re-watched the Glass Princess and the Magic Coins. The Glass Princess is pretty terrible, lol! And the Magic Coins shows how sometimes the episodes were done very well. They had so many different people writing the scripts and doing the drawing that it was a mixed bag. I've considered reviewing all of the episodes so that I have a list of the great ones to recommend to people

[Rachel-Eyes]

Don't get me wrong, I say these things because I love animation, not because I hate it. Even the cheap stuff can be pretty good sometimes... but yeah, I just wasn't expecting it to be animated as well as it was, especially the parts near the castle.

I made a point to watch all of the MLP Tales episodes on Youtube because I just thought it was the cutest thing... maybe I'll watch some of the older ones too just because.

[Evening_Moonstone]

Definitely sounds like Firefly's Adventure/Rescue at Midnight Castle to me!  I agree that it was pretty intense and scary for a "little girls' cartoon".

There was a very entertaining review of this cartoon on the site X-Entertainment, where a guy (who never watched the girl cartoons as a kid) watches Firefly's Adventure for the first time.  He has a quote, "So while I thought My Little Pony was all about these little horses who wandered around a field of rainbows utilizing baby talk and having climactic action scenes involving 'The Search for a Hairbrush' or 'Apple Jack's Lost Diary,' I couldn't have been more off. This is a purely decadent and ominous land where demons come flying out of the sky and ponies fight for their lives."
His review is here if you're interested: http://www.x-entertainment.com/messages/591.html (may be some harsh language)

[Rachel-Eyes]

That's cool, Moonstone! I love internet reviewers. I'll be sure to check it out sometime tonight after class.

I know that Lindsay Ellis (the Nostalgia Chick) reviewed another MLP movie... it was the one with the witch sisters and the smooze. I won't link it for language (and an awesomely foul name for Sweet Stuff), but you can find it on thatguywiththeglasses.com if it interests anyone. It involves Nella creating a pony melodrama with her old ponies.

[Dragonflitter]

TGWTG and Nostalgia Chick are some of my fave online review bits. Her MLP review was hilarious!

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

TGWTG and Nostalgia Chick are some of my fave online review bits. Her MLP review was hilarious!

This. I love watching all of Doug and NChicks stuff.

Anyway, on topic. Definatly Rescue From Midnight Castle.

[ember86]

Firefly's Adventure!! The best MLP cartoon ever made. <3 (there are dragons!! so awesome)

Agreed! A few years ago I brought an VHS of it off eBay and watch it for the first time and just loved it! And who doesn't the love the mysterious pony who was never made! 

[mimitchi33]

That's Rescue at Midnight Castle!

There was a very entertaining review of this cartoon on the site X-Entertainment.

Funny. I go to that site all the time.