Animation round up is here now as it’s the first one some of the airing dates may be a ,little spread out and not be a proper week but we can sort the out when I catch up and speed up production of these.
Edit I half finished this before going away for holiday and only after I got back managed to finish this so its way later then it was meant to be.
Lets start with the shows this week:
Guardians of the Galaxy season 1 episode 16 We Are the World Tree March 27th.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles season 4 episode 10 Trans-Dimensional Turtles. March 27th
My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic season 6 Episodes 1+2 “The Crystalling” parts one and two. March 26th
So that’s what were working with so far and I know a lot of people will have just said sod it I’m not hanging around for any Pony crap and while I understand please try to not let any preconceptions scare you off.
So to go easy on you lets begin with Guardians of the Galaxy or GoG for short.
It’s a mixed series which I have usually enjoyed but often seems to lose it self and wanders down annoying cartoon stereo-type filler crap. (baseball and cowboy episodes urgh) But this week it continues and possible ends the second arc of the series so far.
The first arc being the breadcrumb trail for the Cosmic Seed which was dragged on too long hence the annoying filler crap. And the second arc in the Spartax arc where the group s based in the Spartax empire with Peter being part of the royal family.
The episode is focused on the group (minis Peter) being banished from Spartax and a heist to enter Asgard and steal the Cosmic Seed. This is a nice pay off to Peter’s and the crews interactions with Emperor J’son (Peters father) and the over all politics between the galaxies superpowers namely Thor’s distrust of Spartax.
If this is the end of the second arc I am hopeful that the producers have learnt when to not drag something on too long and are ready to keep a meaningful pace to the overall story and are building up to a good ending for the season.
Next is The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Tmnt for short.
Ah pure fan service of the best kind. While technically a filler or breather episode it’s going to be high up on people best episode of the season list and it’s easy to see why.
Like a fair number of the fanbase my first experience of Tmnt was the 80’s cartoon and films. And this brought back all the memories of that series and how different it was.
Like Turtles Forever a 25th anniversary film this episode features three different incarnations of the Turtles the 2012 version the 1987 cartoon and very briefly the 1984 mirage Comic version.
Sadly no 2003 turtles but I believe there is some legal issues with syndication which prevented them from joining in. And honestly I feel it was for the best, as much as seeing all the Turtles together would be great in a single episode there is just not enough time. I mean the original 1984 comic turtles are hardly in it at all and most of the focus is on the interaction of the 1987 and 2012 versions.
This works as they have the most in common and the 1987 Turtles are given equal amounts of mockery for their childish antics and moments of badassness.
The episode also features some great character interactions between the 2012 turtles and Master Splinter (who is currently dead in the Turtles timeline but not in the current one due to time travel and oh look I’ve gone cross eyed.) Which had been build and hinted at with Leo’s obsession/coping mechanic of visiting hologram splinter too much. And the very quick flash of Leo imagining Shredder stabbing Splinter again really well done.
The only question this episode leaves me with is this.
Are the 1987 turtles dead now? Did Tiger-claw kill them on his way back from their dimension?
And finally the pony discussion.
I was very mixed with the ending of the last session. Mostly over Starlight Glimmer. The session opening deals with part of my original problem with her. Mainly that she was so infrequent and by now the role of Anti Twilight Sparkle/ Evil Twilight Sparkle is over used. ( with The Great and Powerful Trixie and sunset Shimmer both already for fill that role and having a redemption arc.) That she would just be mostly forgotten after her redemption.
This is not so as she has almost become a 6th ranger to the main cast or so it seems with how much screen time and development she got these two episodes.
That said I still dislike how she was somehow powerful and smart enough to counter everything Twilight could throw at her. Yet now seems weaker then when she was first shown.
I am coming around to her but she still feels like a poor man’s Sunset Shimmer.
Everything else worked great. Spike being a mentor and confidant to Starlight was wonderful, showing his own growth. Using the Crystal Empire was a great choice as that is where he shines the most. And helps Starlight not be too involved in the mane 6’s interactions but still in the core cast.
The Alicorn baby was predictable but fun non the less and the babies having uncontrollable powers idea was planted with the Cupcake twins so it worked well.
No song was an interesting choice as most session openings have some but it feel any songs would have just gotten in the way and eaten up time and development that was better served as it was.
The reunion between Starlight and Sunburst was again predictable but again nice and the flash backs showing that Sunburst had the knowledge but Starlight actually had much more power and once shown what to do could easily do much more then Sunburst could. This showed why sunburst went to unicorn school and not starlight. It also worked well in explaining some of how Starlight could do half the stuff she did last session. (with her modifying an already existing spell meaning she can’t or doesn’t have the confidence to do something new but can take what is already there and add to it)
More of that and I will warm up to Starlight more.
The other characters were given enough to do to be interesting but not enough to be epically note worthy. They all got a moment to shine so I don’t feel they were wasted but it really was a Starlight episode.
If the rest of the session plays out like I hope it should be a great one. The only problems I can see is if they either over play Starlight which detracts from the rest of the mane 6. Or they underutilise Starlight and she is only involved in the beginning and end like last session which as I said is a waste and makes the character cheap.
thegeekyenglishman 