Trotting Through The Snow: Best Gift Ever

Hello & welcome back to Trotting Through The Snow.  Yesterday, we looked at the latest Hearth's Warming episode from MLP: FIM and I enjoyed it overall but we are actually gifted with the first MLP holiday special.  Let me explain this, we have looked at episodes centered around Hearth's Warming in the past including Hearth's Warming Eve, Hearthbreakers, A Hearth's Warming Tail, and The Hearth's Warming Club.

But there a few key differences between those four episodes and Best Gift Ever.  First, all these episodes were aired as a part of their respective seasons, season 2, season 5,  season six, and season eight.  Best Gift Ever was aired independently and not as a part of any season. As the special was aired after season eight had wrapped up.   Which is still strange scheduling as this aired Halloween weekend.  The second thing that helps sets this apart from those episodes is that those were all 22-minutes and this was a one-hour special that unlike the one-hour premieres and finales, this was not broken up into two parts.  The other thing that actually sets this apart from any Hearth's Warming story from this franchise is that it's the first Hearth's Warming story to focus on The Mane Six.  Hearth's Warming Eve starred the Mane Six but they were playing characters, Hearthbreakers was an AJ and Pinkie episode,  A Hearth's Warming Tail was A Christmas Carol, The Hearth's Warming Club was a way to learn more about the Student Six.  This even extends to the Holiday comics put out by IDW as the first one was an Equestria Girls comic that decided to some unforeseen reason tackled cyberbullying (Man, that is possibly the worst story from this franchise)   the second one was an anthology take with the characters redoing classic tales.  And last year's was the first holiday comic to have an actual story about letting people celebrate the holidays how they want.

So, all previous Hearth's Warming stories from this franchise have limited their focus onto a small group of characters or as a way of worldbuilding but this special gave time to each of The Mane Six.  Really, the closest we've gotten to this is the Christmas soundtrack, It's a Pony Kind of Christmas but that's a stretch.

Now, this is just some speculation but there have rumors that season nine will be the final season of Friendship is Magic and the staff may have wanted to allow The Mane Six to shine in this special and that makes quite a bit of sense. And along those lines, this special has a sense of finality to it.  With this rather long introduction outta the way, Oh, there is one more thing that sets this special apart from those Hearth's Warming episodes.   All four of those episodes still open with the traditional intro whereas Best Gift Ever opens with a title card letting you know the title of the special.

Something interesting to think about and I'm always happy to see characters I love in holiday specials as to me there is some extra special about seeing characters I love celebrating holidays. With this rather long introduction outta the way, let's look at the plot of this great special.


The Plot



Now unlike The Hearth's Warming Club,  this special does not use the anthology approach but considering that we are following seven mane characters, eight when Discord joins in,  the special takes the approach of separating each of the character's stories into little vignettes. So, along those lines,  I'll be breaking this down into focusing on each of the character's stories one-by-one instead of trying to go back and intersperse every little plot detail.  Also,  we have a new meme face from this special and we got a reference here to another beloved Hasbro franchise. Oh, and the return of Derpy.

 

Now, one more thing to mention considering that this special is rather packed,  my descriptions might not be as detailed as I usually am and that comes down to once again, a lot going on.  With that outta the way, let's look at what sets up this special.  Well, we open with a rather nice song number and Twily's friends see that she is having her traditional holiday meltdown. And that is when AJ comes up with the idea for them to do a Hearth's Warming Helper.  Which is the pony version of Secret Santa. Something that if you're reading on ME, we are familiar with.  So, the ponies and dragon write their names and then pull them out and that's how they determine who to get a gift for.  Twilight gets Pinkie,  Fluttershy gets Rainbow Dash, Dashie gets Flutters, Pinkie gets Twily, AJ has Spike and after some trading, Spike gets Rarity.  Which is special is interesting with Spike as it makes his storyline all about Spike trying to find a gift as perfect as Rarity is.   I say that this is interesting because this special aired after the eighth season and it had been ages since Spike's crush on Rarity was featured so prominently in a story focused around the dragon.  That's fascinating really.  Now,  the special does focus on something that I think a lot of people can relate to, trying to find the best gift for the friend that we think they'll love. I know that I've had that issue when shopping for family and friends around this time of year.


Now, let's look at the individual struggles that our mane seven characters go through.  Starting with Twily, she struggles to figure out what to get Pinkie but gets the idea of using her love of research and baking to make her, Chancellor Puddinghead's special pudding.  Which, not a bad idea but it consumes her and she forgets that Shining Armor, Cadence, and Flurry are coming for the holidays. And while she's not looking, a certain niece of the Princess of Friendship adds extra ingredients to the pudding and well, you can imagine how well that goes.

Yeah, I am looking at part of the climax this early on but I kinda want to as this is what Twilight's story leads to.  And that brings us to Pinkie as she is perhaps the most character in terms of story here as she goes to visit the Yaks during Snildar Fest to ask Prince Rutherford what is the Best Gift Ever.  Okay, I have to comment on this but if you recall when I looked at Rutherford and the Yaks' first appearance during Party with Pinkie, I hated the Yaks and hoped that never returned but through multiple appearances since then and having a young yak be one of the main characters of season eight, the show has gone a long way to show them to be more than the annoying brutes that they were in the first appearance they had.  It goes to show that you can't always look at first impressions and have to be willing to give people second chances.  This is a recurring theme that we see throughout the series whether it be with characters such as Sunset or Starlight or even Rutherford.  Now,  I want to include a riddle here because you see Rutherford sends Pinkie off to meet these really beautiful reindeer that evoke the spirit of the holiday that leave Pinkie with a riddle as they give her a gift for Twilight.

The best gift is more precious than gold, but it cannot be sold. When it breaks, it's not ended, for quickly it's mended.  It can never be bought yet is easily sought.

It's not explicitly stated in the special and doesn't need to be but I read these reindeer as being the Santas of Equestria.  I give you Aurora, Bori, and Alice.   I love a good pun name but part of what makes me think that these characters are the Santa stand-ins for the series is that Aurora knows ponies' past, and Alice knows their future and Bori just keeps them in check.  It's not a hundred percent but what they do is akin to Santa knowing when children are awake or sleeping.  It's nice to see things such as this as it makes me think of early in the show's run and the fanon character, Santa Hooves.  But I like that Equestria doesn't have a carbon copy Santa and instead did its own thing with these reindeer characters.   Also, they're much more likable than the IDW deer.

And Pinkie's present saves the day and that leads to what the best gift ever is.  It's friendship. D'aww.  Okay, let's look at Fluttershy and AJ's story.  Yay, they combined one, that makes my reviewing a bit easier.   The story of these two takes place at Rainbow Falls, I gotta say that I love seeing so many locations from the show's run being used and who should they run into but Flim and Flam selling an ugly doll, Holly The Hearth's Warmer. 

Now,  I might be reading into this but the name of that ugly doll made me think of one of the most despised things that has been become a new holiday tradition. 

I hate Elf on the Shelf and think that it is one of the creepiest things to pop up in terms of new holiday traditions. The whole idea of it is just so creepy and just seems to be twisting the themes and love of Santa into something more akin to Big Brother.

Huh, less the show and more the idea that George Orwell presented in his book.   Yes, Santa does have the standard Naughty & Nice list but Elf on the Shelf takes that idea too far in my opinion too far and what may seem like an innocent and fun idea to celebrate Christmas but the idea of an Elf spying on children and reporting back to Santa whether they've been good or bad goes against what I think Santa stands for.   I'm a Santa fan and you'd know if you read my Santa Spectacle I did on A Look at Disney a couple years back and to me,  what Elf on The Shelf is, goes against Santa Claus. 


And considering, Elf on The Shelf is something that cashes in on the holiday without understanding it, it'd make perfect sense that Flim & Flam would attempt to capitalize on the holiday. I mean, we saw with Windy the Windigo last year but this one feels a bit more shameless.

But in the end, through some bad acting from AJ and Fluttershy, they are able to convince the other ponies at Rainbow Falls to not buy the latest big-ticket item and actually think about what they want to get those that they love.  Let's move onto Spike,  he's trying to trade to get Rarity and then can't figure out what to get her and ends up gifting her with a song. Well, that was easy to cover.  Now, Miss Rarity has perhaps my favorite story as a hat that she had ordered had been shipped to the wrong location. And she goes there in hopes of getting the hat back so that she can give it to AJ but she sees how much the hat means to the young colt named Pistachio and that he has an eye for fashion.  He knows that the hat wasn't for him and the right thing to do is to give it back but Rarity lets him keep it and invites him to the Manehattan fashion show as her guest.

It's simple & sweet but I love it because it understands who Rarity is and shows her truly generous heart.  Now, our last story takes us to Discord and Dash as Dash bought a candle thinking that'd be perfect for Fluttershy but Discord says that's the type of gift that ponies buy when they don't know what to get.  That's when he tells her about an animal that Fluttershy doesn't have and they t, find and it's a Winterchilla but during sunrise, it turns into a Winterzilla and this is when we learn that Discord tricked Dash into bringing this animal to Fluttershy so, that she could be the hero.  That's it really except for Dash's story collides with Twily's story as the Winterzilla runs towards the castle and that's how Flutters is able to save the day. 

In all, this was a great special that celebrated the holiday and the characters.   Speaking of, let's move onto that.


Characters


Now,  I'm not going to break this down into individual characters as this review is already quite long but rather, I want to look at the characters collectively and say that all of their stories had a similar beat,  not that they were telling the same story over and over again six different times but more that it showed the best traits of these characters and why fans have come to love them during the show's run.


Songs


One More Day





This number has a bit of a frantic pace to it but it does a good job of setting up what the audience can expect from the special as it goes on.   And it's also a great way to see the citizens of Ponyville again.



The True Gift of Giving





As I mentioned in the introduction, this special had a feeling of finality as though, it knew that the show was coming to an end and the sense of finality really comes from this number. It's hard to explain as this song doesn't reflect on the journeys that these characters have taken but it seems to encapsulate the lessons that it wants to leave it's audience with and not just for the holidays. 




My Final Thoughts


What a great special!  That's all I can say here because I'm kinda running out of words but seriously, this special is wonderful and it shows why I love these characters so much.  Happy Hearth's Warming. 

Trotting Through The Snow: The Hearth's Warming Club

Ah, it’s that wonderful time of year again in Equestria. That time of year, when MLP airs it’s Hearth’s Warming episodes months before December. Yeah, Hearth’s warming isn’t exactly Christmas but it shares a lot of similarities with the earth holiday. And seriously, this episode that we are looking at was first aired in August of this year. Also, this episode uses a well-worn storytelling cliche from one of my least favorite ’80s movies.



I don’t like this beloved John Hughes movie and I’ll just leave it at that but many shows aimed at kids have used The Breakfast Club set-up to tell stories with their characters. One notable example that comes to mind is that the Disney Channel show, Lizzie McGuire did it’s own Breakfast Club episode.



Having said all that, was I able to look past the show using a Breakfast Club set-up to tell a story. Yes, because it did a couple of things that helped to make it stand out. First, it gave the story, a holiday backdrop which is something that we’ve not seen before and it also allowed the audience to learn more about the other cultures in the show and the Student Six. Obviously, there are spoilers abound but something that you need to know about this season eight episode is that it like the majority of season eight takes place at Twilight’s School of Friendship that welcomes creatures of all kind.







(Even if a racist pony voiced by Maurice LaMarche is against this) So, that makes this a fun and great way for the audience to learn more about these new characters. And in that sense, as you’ll see in the plot section, this episode has a bit of an anthology feel to it. With that outta the way, let’s begin.

The Plot

Concerning the anthological nature of this episode, I’m going to do something different. I’ll start and end with the wraparound but I’ll look at the holiday stories of the Student Six from favorite to least favorite save for the last one. Our episode opens as The Student Six is getting ready to leave school to go home and celebrate the holidays with their families. But things soon go awry as a prank is played on The Hearth’s Warming tree topper, the Fire of Friendship as someone pours some purple goop into the Fire of Friendship and makes a mess all over the student lounge.



I want to focus in on this for a brief moment as it does more to help establish traditions of the pony holiday. We’ve already learned about the Hearth’s Warming Dolls that are placed above the mantle/hearth of a fireplace much in the same way that humans that celebrate Christmas do the same with Stockings.



Now, the Fire of Friendship is clearly meant to be a stand-in for the Angel/Star going atop a tree. It’s small but I wanted ton brig this up because I find it interesting how the show takes things we know of our holidays and reworks them for the ponies. Though, it is not to be as one of the students messes with the Fire of Friendship and that causes the purple goop to cover the tree. And we see the Headmare in Twily come out as she tries to get the creatures to confess to doing it by having them close their eyes and raise whatever appendage they have for a hand. None of the students confess and if none of them own up while Twilight and Dashie grill them, they will not be allowed to go home for the holidays. So, we have our setup for why The Student Six are being held back. And that brings us to the anthological nature of the episode as while The Student Six are being held back, we learn of the holidays celebrated by the other creatures. So, let’s start looking at the various holidays as celebrated by The Student Six.

The first two holidays I hope to look at share quite a few similarities as they’re either about establishing a holiday or re-establishing it. The first holiday takes us to the Changelings as told by young Ocellus. and we see how Twilight has provided them with material to celebrate Hearth’s Warming and it’s just adorable as they don’t exactly get what Twilight was suggesting as build a fire out of wood and just keep exchanging gifts in a circle. And when they sing carols, that’s what they do, they sing the word carol. Now yes, the Changelings took everything at face-value but consider that for so long, they were under the control of Chrysalis and knowing what we know about Chrissy, she would most likely not allow a holiday such as this that cherishes and celebrates love. So, The Changelings are discovering and developing their own take on a holiday that was shared with them by the Princess of Friendship.



So, this is sweet and helps set up how the Changelings are starting to celebrate this beloved holiday in their own way. Now, this brings us to the other fascinating holiday story as told by the cousin of my favorite character from the movie, Silverstream. Much like The Changelings, the Seaponies/Hippogriffs as we actually learn the name of their holiday and how since after the defeat of The Storm King, the holiday has gone from being a one-day affair to a three-day affair. That is something that one may not put much thought into but considering that the hippogriffs went underwater to hide from The Storm King for so long, some of the younger members of their culture may not know about their traditions. Something I appreciate is that the seaponies/hippogriffs celebrate on both land and sea as they celebrate on Mt. Aris and Seaquestira. It’s something small but I like how it shows how they both embrace both sides of their culture. Also, the name of their holiday has quite the impactful meaning. As the holiday is known as The Three Days of Freedom, consider that they limited it to only one day, when The Storm King was still active. One could be led to believe that they did this was done so that the celebration would not alert The Storm King or rather Tempest to where they were hiding but now that they’re safe, they can expand the holiday to be more fulfilling.





So, this is another fascinating look at how a culture is reclaiming a day or days that meant so much to them. The next two holidays I want to look at are less interesting but are still important to look at to understand the characters and their cultures. Starting with the Yaks, we hear from young Yona about their holiday and indeed, it involves a lot of smashing.





Huh, not quite. Yes, the yaks do celebrate their holiday known as Snilldar. Hmm, an interesting word there but yeah, while the holiday does involve a lot of smashing, it’s also a time for the yaks to come together and celebrate each other as a family as Yona mentions that this is the first time (last year) that she had her hair braided. So, yeah, while smashing is involved in the Yak holiday, it is used as a way to bring them together. Next up, we have the dragons and considering that one is an actual story, I’ll just link to this video that gives you the actual story as told by young Dragon, Smolder.



It’s neat but I dunno, doesn’t really have a holiday vibe to it. Now, we come to the lamest story and the show knows that as we come to Sandbar just telling a story of how his Hearth’s Warming doll almost fell in the fire but it didn’t. And that’s it.



The Student Six start arguing over who did the prank and that causes the one student I’ve yet to mention, Gallus from Griffonstone to lash out in guilt telling his friends that this is not what any of the holidays they celebrate are about and he admits that he was the one that did the prank. The other creatures ask don’t griffons have a holiday like this and this is when we learn of the Blue Moon Festival and that is the only time of year that griffons pretend to get along and spend time with their families. Well, except for Gallus as he does not have a family and he did the prank because he didn’t want to leave as he made friends at the school and going back home would make him feel lonely.



Gallus goes to confess but Twilight and Dash overhear and admit that they already knew and decides that unlike originally stated, Gallus doesn’t need extra friendship lessons. And The Student Six are invited to a holiday dinner hosted by Twilight.

In all, this was a fun little episode that explored these new characters and cultures in ways that we’ve not seen before.

My Final Thoughts

I’m forgoing characters as there isn’t a lot to say about the characters here as this episode is more about the cultures that inhabit the rest of the world that we’ve seen throughout

the show’s run. We aren’t done with MLP and the holidays just yet as right after season eight ended, we got a brand new holiday special focusing on the Mane Six. Join me next time as we look at…