Before I get into the review, I'm gonna say this right out of the gate; I don't bother with fan-made animations of MLP. There may be a few good ones here and there, but for the most part, I prefer to watch and review the actual canon show. It's a personal unwritten rule for me not to review fanmade works (unless I was directly addressing the creator of said work). Okay, that out of the way, let's listen to some Campfire Tales for this review.
Unless there's a two-part premiere or finale, MLP episodes are typically split into three acts. The first act is used to set up the plot, the second act features the rising tension, and the third act is supposed to be the climax or resolution. But this episode?
Whilst there is a cold open and a conflict right off the bat, the rest of the episode is spent telling a trilogy of self-contained myth stories, almost like the Treehouse of Horror episodes from The Simpsons. A roughly similar formula was used for older Disney Channel shows like Lilo and Stitch and The Emperor's New School; there's a shorter story taking up one whole act, and there's a longer story (but still short compared to the three-act formula) taking up two acts. Isn't it time MLP had an episode (or episodes) like the latter formula?
I'm getting sidetracked here; you want me to talk about the episode itself, and it's a really good one at that. I know continuity should be a standard for MLP by now, but it's still nice that it follows from Sleepless in Ponyville from four years previous. That said, Scootaloo felt... a bit too cowardly for my liking. Isn't she supposed to be confident despite not being able to fly?
All three stories were really good in their own right; Rockhoof's story appears to take from Greek mythology and has the theme about willpower and proving yourself to those who doubt who. Mistmane is influenced from Asian folklore and her theme is about beauty coming from within, something certain groups of people need to acknowledge...!
But the best of them, for me at least, was Flash Magnus. The Roman influence aside, the idea that one Pegasus is able to rescue his comrades and fight off against a horde of dragons all with the help of a shield that is resistant to fire is a story I find hard to resist myself. Seriously, is it any wonder that Rainbow Dash looks up to him? Oh, and is that Torch in the flashback?
The only other issue I have with the episode is that the bug bites on the Crusaders and their sisters (or sister figure, in Scoots' case) disappear fairly quickly, as do the bites Rainbow Dash suffered getting the campfire in the cave. Most likely this was done to avoid creeping out the audience when they're not focused on the lore stories.
Whilst there is a cold open and a conflict right off the bat, the rest of the episode is spent telling a trilogy of self-contained myth stories, almost like the Treehouse of Horror episodes from The Simpsons. A roughly similar formula was used for older Disney Channel shows like Lilo and Stitch and The Emperor's New School; there's a shorter story taking up one whole act, and there's a longer story (but still short compared to the three-act formula) taking up two acts. Isn't it time MLP had an episode (or episodes) like the latter formula?
I'm getting sidetracked here; you want me to talk about the episode itself, and it's a really good one at that. I know continuity should be a standard for MLP by now, but it's still nice that it follows from Sleepless in Ponyville from four years previous. That said, Scootaloo felt... a bit too cowardly for my liking. Isn't she supposed to be confident despite not being able to fly?
All three stories were really good in their own right; Rockhoof's story appears to take from Greek mythology and has the theme about willpower and proving yourself to those who doubt who. Mistmane is influenced from Asian folklore and her theme is about beauty coming from within, something certain groups of people need to acknowledge...!
But the best of them, for me at least, was Flash Magnus. The Roman influence aside, the idea that one Pegasus is able to rescue his comrades and fight off against a horde of dragons all with the help of a shield that is resistant to fire is a story I find hard to resist myself. Seriously, is it any wonder that Rainbow Dash looks up to him? Oh, and is that Torch in the flashback?
The only other issue I have with the episode is that the bug bites on the Crusaders and their sisters (or sister figure, in Scoots' case) disappear fairly quickly, as do the bites Rainbow Dash suffered getting the campfire in the cave. Most likely this was done to avoid creeping out the audience when they're not focused on the lore stories.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes, the best episodes are those that give us little to talk about, and Campfire Tales is definitely one of them. At first, it feels like just another episode, but, as we'll see later on, it was actually a build up (and a rather quiet one at that) to something much bigger...
Rating: 9 out of 10
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