This review will contain spoilers for those who have not seen the latest MLP episode.
The premise of this episode is that Pinkie finds her status as Ponyville's top party-thrower in jeopardy when a new pony, Cheese Sandwich, arrives in town to throw Rainbow Dash a party.
Let me say right now that Pinkie Pie is, to me, one of the things about this most recent season that has been consistently great to watch. Many writers in the past have portrayed her as being random for the sake of random, with many of her jokes and moments portraying her as a complete idiot. While there have been a few blips here and there this season, overall, Pinkie has proved to be a very good source of humour, and her presence always cheers me up even in episodes that I think are relatively lacklustre. In addition to that, her role as being the pony who throws parties has never really been addressed except in one other episode, which also happened to be one of my favourites, "Party of One" from season one. So I was looking forward to this story a great deal.
It seems strange when I think about it, that we haven't had this part of her character explored that much except in one other episode. Parties and throwing them have been said time and again to be a major part of her character, even going so far as to tell us that it was the driving force behind her getting her cutie mark. I suppose one could argue that they explored it so well back in season one that they didn't feel; the need to cover it again afterwards, and if that's the case then I'm willing to accept it, even though I personally think there are other angles that particular part of her personality could be taken.
The idea of Pinkie having a rival character of some sort is an interesting one. Out of all the main cast she's perhaps the one I'd least expect to have some sort of opposing number like this. We've seen it with other members of the main cast over the years, like Twilight being opposed by Trixie, Applejack by the Flim Flam brothers, Rainbow Dash by Lightning Dust and even Rarity earlier this season. Pinkie having a rival didn't make much sense to me, given her character. Pinkie driving motivation for doing what she does has always been to make others happy, with parties simply being one way in which she accomplishes this, so having someone new come along wasn't something I expected to be much of an issue for her.
However, the way the episode portrays her difficulty in seeing some other pony take her place was very well handled. For a character like Pinkie, whose prime motivation is in being the one to make others happy, seeing someone else come in and potentially be better at that would make anyone upset. Parties are a big part of her life, so it would make sense that she'd feel down throughout the episode when she considered that she might be second-rate compared to another. However, I really love the way that Pinkie is so dedicated to the happiness of others, that she'd actually be willing to step aside and give up her calling in life because she thinks her friends would be better if someone else did it. It speaks volumes about her, that she's willing to put herself aside for others.
And here's the part that will undoubtedly make the internet hate me, as it's time to discuss the new character, Cheese Sandwich, voiced by famed comedian, Weird Al Yankovic. As you can tell from the way I wrote that, I'm not much of a Weird Al fan. Now before people jump down my throat on this, let me clarify. I don't hate the guy, nor do I think he's a bad comedian. I've seen his work and I can understand fully why people like him. Even more so, I can understand why people would think he'd bee a good counter to Pinkie Pie. But, more often than not, I just can't find his stuff that amusing, nor the kind of delivery he makes. And that makes his presence in the episode difficult because I know he's trying to be funny and that many others will find him funny, but I just didn't.
On top of that, there's his celebrity status to worry about. In the past, I've credited this show for not resorting to using blatant references or famous names in it's casting in order to try and get attention. Having someone as famous as Weird Al just strikes me as a blatant attempt to get people to watch the show. Now I could be wrong. For all I know, he could be a massive MLP fan and wanted to be a part of it regardless of whether people paid him attention or not. And if that's true, then more power to him. But at the same time, I don't know that for certain, so as it stands, the decision to include him just seems like an attention-seeking gimmick.
Now some may be asking at this point why I didn't raise a similar concern with the casting of John De Lancie as Discord, given that actor also has fame attached to his name, and that's a legitimate point to raise against me. I have two reasons why I think it's fine with him. Firstly, De Lancie, though certainly famous, doesn't seem to be as famous as Yankovic. Secondly, and more importantly, De Lancie was a perfect fit for Discord's character given that he was so similar to the character of Q, also played by De Lancie, so casting him made sense. I cannot say the same for Weird Al as there was little about Cheese Sandwich that screamed "this character must be voiced by Weird Al", at least as far as I could see.
As for the character himself, I actually found myself liking Cheese Sandwich in spite of my lukewarm feelings on his voice actor. Unlike many other rival characters, he doesn't come across as being overly aggressive or threatening towards the character he's a rival of, in this case Pinkie. In fact, the only time he ever directly challenges her is when she calls for the competition between them. Up until then he just seemed content to do his job and let the ponies enjoy it. He came across as being a fairly reasonable character, with many qualities similar to Pinkie, and having the latter be the one who inspired him to be what he is does a great job of showing just how much Pinkie's actions have made the lot of others better.
As for the other characters, we get plenty of great moments from the rest of the main cast, even though only Rainbow has any real presence aside from Pinkie. Fluttershy's shock over the calling of a "goof-off" despite not knowing what it was is great, as was the fact that Twilight had a rulebook for such a thing. Rainbow Dash, though understandably caught up in Cheese's performance and declarations, probably should have realised earlier that Pinkie would have been bothered by this, or at the very least realised that having some stranger come in and take her job, knowing full well how much parties matter to her, would have been bad. However, despite that little nitpick, there wasn't anything about the other main characters that really bothered me.
We once again get a call back to the supposed story arc of this season with this episode. Pinkie's realisation of what she was doing during her challenge of Cheese brought out the rainbow tint in her eyes that other characters have been getting, and by the end, the gift given by Cheese also gained this rainbow glow. When I last brought this up, I mentioned that this could be mere coincidence, but now it seems official to me. These rainbow colours have to be tying into something important, which at this point means we have three down and three to go.
Time to talk about the humour now and, as you can probably tell, this episode's jokes and funny moments stem from both Pinkie Pie and Weird Al. This is a mixed blessing for me. As I've said before, I've never really been that into Al's particular brand of humour. That's not to say that he didn't have his moments here and there in the episode, because he did, but overall I wouldn't go clamouring for him to come back for a repeat performance. Fortunately, this episode was also focused on Pinkie Pie, and her moments more than made up for it. As I said earlier, she's been one of this season's consistently great things to watch, and that humour and energy carries through this entire episode, which is a big plus for me.
Onto the songs now and in this episode we have more than one to speak of, the first of which is given to us by Pinkie herself as well as the chorus of other Ponyville residents. This reminds me very much of her other big number, "Smile", back from season two, in that it's a very big and enjoyable song that really shows off this character's great voice. The addition of the chorus was a nice touch as I've always liked MLP songs that have that element to it. It really was impossible for me to not get wrapped up in just how happy all of the characters were when it was being sung, which is always a plus. The number also gets a reprise at the end of the episode that, although being a bit too "pop-song" for my liking, was nevertheless still a fun little number.
Our second song is a very bouncy number given by Cheese Sandwich, AKA, Weird Al. Given that he has a background in doing songs I suppose it was to be expected that he'd be asked to do a musical number at some point in the episode, and to his credit it's a very lively and energetic one to sing. Granted it might be free of a lot of the elements that Weird Al's fans might be used to, like satire of other works, but it still strikes me as a memorable number that, while not as good as other songs we've had recently, was nevertheless a fun one to listen to.
The third song is quite different from the first two in that, even though it carries many of the shades and tones of the first, starts out with a very sombre tone. Pinkie's singing voice actress really shows off her range here, going from a melancholy and downbeat-sounding voice, to a big and triumphant vocal performance that could well serve as being the most impressive singing Pinkie has done so far, and that's saying something. It also does a great job of showing just how much this character cares about bringing joy to others, looking over the times her parties have brought a smile to people, as well as giving several nods to past episodes. Overall, this was a very impressive number.
The fourth song takes place during the "goof-off" between Pinkie and Cheese, and thus features both of their voice actors in a sort of duet song. This song doesn't really hold up to the ones we've previously had in the episode as it felt just a tad too hectic for my liking. Oh sure, Pinkie's past numbers have often had a somewhat overly-energetic tone to them, but there's a balance for me, and this song went overboard in just how much things were happening, and how frequently. Though still entertaining, it was undoubtedly the weak link in terms of the episode's songs.
The fifth song is sung by Cheese Sandwich during the final few minutes of the episode, as he explains his position and why he became the pony that he is. This song I actually liked a little bit more than his first, and Weird Al does some much better vocal work here, making his character come across as less of a party-obsessed character than he initially appeared. Having him sing this more restrained song was much more pleasant to listen to, and it shows that he really is a great singer, despite my still not being overly enthralled by his character.
The moral of the story this weeks seems to be two separate lessons. Pinkie learns during her challenge with Cheese that a person should not let their own pride get in the way of what's best for those who are close to them, and that just because something would be great for you isn't necessarily going to be great for them. The second moral seems to be that just because something new might come along doesn't meant that those who are always with us are any less important. I really like both of these lessons as we've all had moments in our lives when we've let our pride cloud our judgement, or felt that some new thing on the block was better than what we already had. Kids especially need to learn these lessons, so I salute the episode for teaching them.
So, how did the episode fare overall? Honestly, I adored this episode. While it doesn't quite reach the levels of my all-time favourite Pinkie episode, "Party of One", it was nevertheless a very fun episode. Pinkie's character was used very well and it was impossible for me to not be endeared to her throughout, both during her low moments and her high ones. The guest character, despite my reservations, proved to be a fine addition that aided in Pinkie's growth as a character herself, and the many songs we got were great to listen to. This is very much a step up from the past few episodes I've seen and I truly do recommend this one. A fine return to form for the series.
The premise of this episode is that Pinkie finds her status as Ponyville's top party-thrower in jeopardy when a new pony, Cheese Sandwich, arrives in town to throw Rainbow Dash a party.
Let me say right now that Pinkie Pie is, to me, one of the things about this most recent season that has been consistently great to watch. Many writers in the past have portrayed her as being random for the sake of random, with many of her jokes and moments portraying her as a complete idiot. While there have been a few blips here and there this season, overall, Pinkie has proved to be a very good source of humour, and her presence always cheers me up even in episodes that I think are relatively lacklustre. In addition to that, her role as being the pony who throws parties has never really been addressed except in one other episode, which also happened to be one of my favourites, "Party of One" from season one. So I was looking forward to this story a great deal.
It seems strange when I think about it, that we haven't had this part of her character explored that much except in one other episode. Parties and throwing them have been said time and again to be a major part of her character, even going so far as to tell us that it was the driving force behind her getting her cutie mark. I suppose one could argue that they explored it so well back in season one that they didn't feel; the need to cover it again afterwards, and if that's the case then I'm willing to accept it, even though I personally think there are other angles that particular part of her personality could be taken.
The idea of Pinkie having a rival character of some sort is an interesting one. Out of all the main cast she's perhaps the one I'd least expect to have some sort of opposing number like this. We've seen it with other members of the main cast over the years, like Twilight being opposed by Trixie, Applejack by the Flim Flam brothers, Rainbow Dash by Lightning Dust and even Rarity earlier this season. Pinkie having a rival didn't make much sense to me, given her character. Pinkie driving motivation for doing what she does has always been to make others happy, with parties simply being one way in which she accomplishes this, so having someone new come along wasn't something I expected to be much of an issue for her.
However, the way the episode portrays her difficulty in seeing some other pony take her place was very well handled. For a character like Pinkie, whose prime motivation is in being the one to make others happy, seeing someone else come in and potentially be better at that would make anyone upset. Parties are a big part of her life, so it would make sense that she'd feel down throughout the episode when she considered that she might be second-rate compared to another. However, I really love the way that Pinkie is so dedicated to the happiness of others, that she'd actually be willing to step aside and give up her calling in life because she thinks her friends would be better if someone else did it. It speaks volumes about her, that she's willing to put herself aside for others.
And here's the part that will undoubtedly make the internet hate me, as it's time to discuss the new character, Cheese Sandwich, voiced by famed comedian, Weird Al Yankovic. As you can tell from the way I wrote that, I'm not much of a Weird Al fan. Now before people jump down my throat on this, let me clarify. I don't hate the guy, nor do I think he's a bad comedian. I've seen his work and I can understand fully why people like him. Even more so, I can understand why people would think he'd bee a good counter to Pinkie Pie. But, more often than not, I just can't find his stuff that amusing, nor the kind of delivery he makes. And that makes his presence in the episode difficult because I know he's trying to be funny and that many others will find him funny, but I just didn't.
On top of that, there's his celebrity status to worry about. In the past, I've credited this show for not resorting to using blatant references or famous names in it's casting in order to try and get attention. Having someone as famous as Weird Al just strikes me as a blatant attempt to get people to watch the show. Now I could be wrong. For all I know, he could be a massive MLP fan and wanted to be a part of it regardless of whether people paid him attention or not. And if that's true, then more power to him. But at the same time, I don't know that for certain, so as it stands, the decision to include him just seems like an attention-seeking gimmick.
Now some may be asking at this point why I didn't raise a similar concern with the casting of John De Lancie as Discord, given that actor also has fame attached to his name, and that's a legitimate point to raise against me. I have two reasons why I think it's fine with him. Firstly, De Lancie, though certainly famous, doesn't seem to be as famous as Yankovic. Secondly, and more importantly, De Lancie was a perfect fit for Discord's character given that he was so similar to the character of Q, also played by De Lancie, so casting him made sense. I cannot say the same for Weird Al as there was little about Cheese Sandwich that screamed "this character must be voiced by Weird Al", at least as far as I could see.
As for the character himself, I actually found myself liking Cheese Sandwich in spite of my lukewarm feelings on his voice actor. Unlike many other rival characters, he doesn't come across as being overly aggressive or threatening towards the character he's a rival of, in this case Pinkie. In fact, the only time he ever directly challenges her is when she calls for the competition between them. Up until then he just seemed content to do his job and let the ponies enjoy it. He came across as being a fairly reasonable character, with many qualities similar to Pinkie, and having the latter be the one who inspired him to be what he is does a great job of showing just how much Pinkie's actions have made the lot of others better.
As for the other characters, we get plenty of great moments from the rest of the main cast, even though only Rainbow has any real presence aside from Pinkie. Fluttershy's shock over the calling of a "goof-off" despite not knowing what it was is great, as was the fact that Twilight had a rulebook for such a thing. Rainbow Dash, though understandably caught up in Cheese's performance and declarations, probably should have realised earlier that Pinkie would have been bothered by this, or at the very least realised that having some stranger come in and take her job, knowing full well how much parties matter to her, would have been bad. However, despite that little nitpick, there wasn't anything about the other main characters that really bothered me.
We once again get a call back to the supposed story arc of this season with this episode. Pinkie's realisation of what she was doing during her challenge of Cheese brought out the rainbow tint in her eyes that other characters have been getting, and by the end, the gift given by Cheese also gained this rainbow glow. When I last brought this up, I mentioned that this could be mere coincidence, but now it seems official to me. These rainbow colours have to be tying into something important, which at this point means we have three down and three to go.
Time to talk about the humour now and, as you can probably tell, this episode's jokes and funny moments stem from both Pinkie Pie and Weird Al. This is a mixed blessing for me. As I've said before, I've never really been that into Al's particular brand of humour. That's not to say that he didn't have his moments here and there in the episode, because he did, but overall I wouldn't go clamouring for him to come back for a repeat performance. Fortunately, this episode was also focused on Pinkie Pie, and her moments more than made up for it. As I said earlier, she's been one of this season's consistently great things to watch, and that humour and energy carries through this entire episode, which is a big plus for me.
Onto the songs now and in this episode we have more than one to speak of, the first of which is given to us by Pinkie herself as well as the chorus of other Ponyville residents. This reminds me very much of her other big number, "Smile", back from season two, in that it's a very big and enjoyable song that really shows off this character's great voice. The addition of the chorus was a nice touch as I've always liked MLP songs that have that element to it. It really was impossible for me to not get wrapped up in just how happy all of the characters were when it was being sung, which is always a plus. The number also gets a reprise at the end of the episode that, although being a bit too "pop-song" for my liking, was nevertheless still a fun little number.
Our second song is a very bouncy number given by Cheese Sandwich, AKA, Weird Al. Given that he has a background in doing songs I suppose it was to be expected that he'd be asked to do a musical number at some point in the episode, and to his credit it's a very lively and energetic one to sing. Granted it might be free of a lot of the elements that Weird Al's fans might be used to, like satire of other works, but it still strikes me as a memorable number that, while not as good as other songs we've had recently, was nevertheless a fun one to listen to.
The third song is quite different from the first two in that, even though it carries many of the shades and tones of the first, starts out with a very sombre tone. Pinkie's singing voice actress really shows off her range here, going from a melancholy and downbeat-sounding voice, to a big and triumphant vocal performance that could well serve as being the most impressive singing Pinkie has done so far, and that's saying something. It also does a great job of showing just how much this character cares about bringing joy to others, looking over the times her parties have brought a smile to people, as well as giving several nods to past episodes. Overall, this was a very impressive number.
The fourth song takes place during the "goof-off" between Pinkie and Cheese, and thus features both of their voice actors in a sort of duet song. This song doesn't really hold up to the ones we've previously had in the episode as it felt just a tad too hectic for my liking. Oh sure, Pinkie's past numbers have often had a somewhat overly-energetic tone to them, but there's a balance for me, and this song went overboard in just how much things were happening, and how frequently. Though still entertaining, it was undoubtedly the weak link in terms of the episode's songs.
The fifth song is sung by Cheese Sandwich during the final few minutes of the episode, as he explains his position and why he became the pony that he is. This song I actually liked a little bit more than his first, and Weird Al does some much better vocal work here, making his character come across as less of a party-obsessed character than he initially appeared. Having him sing this more restrained song was much more pleasant to listen to, and it shows that he really is a great singer, despite my still not being overly enthralled by his character.
The moral of the story this weeks seems to be two separate lessons. Pinkie learns during her challenge with Cheese that a person should not let their own pride get in the way of what's best for those who are close to them, and that just because something would be great for you isn't necessarily going to be great for them. The second moral seems to be that just because something new might come along doesn't meant that those who are always with us are any less important. I really like both of these lessons as we've all had moments in our lives when we've let our pride cloud our judgement, or felt that some new thing on the block was better than what we already had. Kids especially need to learn these lessons, so I salute the episode for teaching them.
So, how did the episode fare overall? Honestly, I adored this episode. While it doesn't quite reach the levels of my all-time favourite Pinkie episode, "Party of One", it was nevertheless a very fun episode. Pinkie's character was used very well and it was impossible for me to not be endeared to her throughout, both during her low moments and her high ones. The guest character, despite my reservations, proved to be a fine addition that aided in Pinkie's growth as a character herself, and the many songs we got were great to listen to. This is very much a step up from the past few episodes I've seen and I truly do recommend this one. A fine return to form for the series.
