My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – The Friendship Express (a J!-ENT Children’s DVD Review)

February 18, 2012 by Dennis Amith 

“My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic – The Friendship Express” features five episodes from season one and two, including the first two episodes introducing the main characters of the series.  As a parent, I definitely recommend this series for the young “My Little Pony” fans and yes, even the grownups who grew up with the original series and are young at heart.

Images courtesy of © 2012 Hasbro.  All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – The Friendship Express

TV SERIES AIR DATE: 2010-2011

DURATION: 5 Episodes (2 Hours)

DVD INFORMATION: 1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.0 Stereo

COMPANY: Shout! Kids/Hasbro Studios

RATED: NOT RATED

RELEASE DATE: February 28, 2012

Directed by Jayson Thiessen, James Wootton

Written by Lauren Faust, Amy Keating Rogers, Mitch Larson, Meghan McCarthy, Cindy Morrow, Charlotte Fullerton, Chris Savino, Dave Polsky, Merriwether Williams

Executive Producer: Chris Bartleman, Stephen Davis, Lauren Faust, Kirsten Newlands, Blair Peters, Sarah Wall, Beth Stevenson

Music by William Anderson

Art Direction: Ridd Sorensen

Featuring the voices of:

Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle

Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity

Ashleigh Ball as Applejack

Andrea Libman as Pinkie Pie

Cathy Weseluck as Pinkie Pie

Cathy Weseluck as Spike

Nicole Oliver as Princess Celestia

Michelle Creber as Apple Bloom

Shannon Chan-Kent as Pinkie Pie

Madeline Peters as Scootaloo

Peter New as Big Macintosh

Claire Corlett as Sweetie Belle

Brian Drummond as Mr. Cake

Richard Ian Cox as Snails

Brend Crichlow as Zecora

Lee Tockar as Snips

She may be the smartest unicorn in Equestria, but Twilight Sparkle gets an “incomplete” in friendship.  There’s more to life than learning magic, after all – so Princess Celestia sends her pupil to Ponyville, where she meets five special ponies who take her on exciting adventures and teach her the most powerful magic of all…the magic of friendship!

“My Little Pony”, the popular toy franchise from Hasbro that entertained young girls with a series and toys which lasted from 1983 through 1995.

Similar to Hasbro’s TV series marketed to boys, such as “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe”, many women grew up with the series, collected the toys and hoped for a new series for their children and the next generation of fans who are passionate for the new toyline.

In 2010, the fourth generation of “My Little Pony” was created, titled “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” which airs on The Hub and is set in Equestria.  This time around, the new series was designed by animator Lauren Faust, best known for her work on “The Powerpuff Girls” and “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends”.

And now, “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” receives its DVD debut with five episodes featuring the first two episodes, plus episodes from season one and two.

The series is set in Equestria which is led by Princess Celestia who has brought peace into the land. The history of Equestria was that two sisters were responsible in bringing sun and night to Equestria.  The older sister was in charge of the day, while the youngest was in charge of the night.

Because most of the ponies played during the day and slept through the night.   The younger sister began to resent her older sister and thus bring darkness over Equestria and became Nightmare Moon.  But the older sister was able to defeat her sister, with the “elements of harmony” and banish her to the moon.  Thus the older sister took on both roles and bring peace to Equestria.

The series focuses on the character of Twilight Sparkle, a pony who is more focused on her studies on magic, rather than socializing.  Concerned about Twilight Sparkle, the Princess has her smartest pupil (who has received an “incomplete” score on Friendship) go to Ponyville, where she will meet five ponies that will take her on different adventures but also to teach her the magic of friendship.

But for Twlight Sparkle, for some reason, she would rather read about the prophecy of the coming of Nightmare Moon and “The Elements of Harmony”.  Is the story true?  Or just a myth?   But what happens when Nightmare Moon returns and Princess Celestia begins to disappear?  Twilight Sparkle and her new friends must do all they can to defeat Nightmare Moon and bring peace back to Equestria.

The following episodes are included in this DVD:

• (EPISODE 1) Friendship is Magic, Part 1 (Mare in the Moon) – Twilight Sparkle tries to make friends with five fellow ponies, but what happens when the prophecy of the return of the Nightmare Moon comes true.
• (EPISODE 2) Friendship is Magic, Part 2 (Elements of Harmony) – Princess Celestia has gone missing and now Twilight Sparkle and her friends must find six magic stones known as the “Elements of Harmony” to defeat Nightmare Moon.
• (EPISODE 21) Over a Barrel – The ponies get caught in the middle of a dispute between a western town’s settler ponies and a native buffalo herd.
• (EPISODE 37) Hearth’s Warming Eve – A story of how Earth, Unicorn and Pegasus formed a unity despite their rivalry.
• (EPISODE 40) The Last Roundup – Applejack leaves for a rodeo and sends a letter to her friends that she is not coming back to Ponyville.  Why is that?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic – The Friendship Express” is presented in 1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and 2.0 Stereo.  The series features a colorful pallette with a lot of colors and character designs that will appeal to young girls.  There is some of that Lauren Faust style to the series but “Friendship is Magic” features solid, pastel colors, backgrounds and colors definitely separates itself from other children’s animated series out there.    Picture quality is good and dialogue and music is crystal clear.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – The Friendship Express” comes with the following special features:

• Pound Puppies – The Yipper Caper – (21:51) Featuring a bonus episode from the all new “Pound Puppies”.
• Sing-a-long – A singalong for “My Little Pony.
• Coloring Page – When the DVD is inserted to a PC or Mac, there is a printable coloring page in the DVD’s folder.
• Pony Profiles – Featuring profiles for the main characters of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”.

EXTRAS:

“My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – The Friendship Express” comes with a slipcover case.

Back in the ’80s, my sister was a big collector of “My Little Pony” and my familiarity with the series is more towards the hardcore collectors who try to find ever special edition of the toys in the US or internationally.

But as a father and myself growing up with Hasbro toys from the ’80s and seeing newer versions of the toys and animated series targeted for a new generation of children, for any parent who grew up with the toys or the original animated series, will no doubt enjoy this release, especially if they want to share it with their kids.

Although the franchise is targeted towards girls and most of the characters are all female (except Twilight Sparkle’s dragon friend), despite the cute characters, this series definitely has an edgier side and thus will appeal to both girls and boys.  And also, this DVD does include a bonus episode of “Pound Puppies”, so parents can easily look at this DVD as one to keep the children occupied at home or on commutes.

Before watching this series for this review, I was expecting something along the way of “Care Bears” or “Strawberry Shortcake” in terms of sugary sweet characters and storylines for children.  But once the opening begins with “Friendship is Magic” and the storyline between two sisters and one becoming evil, needless to say…I realized quickly that this series was nothing what I was expecting.  In fact, it was better!

There was a lot of thought by the writers to create a children’s series for girls, but also adding that dramatic element like boys have with their “Transformers: Prime” and “G.I. Joe” counterpart which are also aired on the Hub.

While the storyline is about Twilight Sparkle learning to have friends and work as a team, the five episodes featured on “The Friendship Express” was rather well-written and is safe for children, although the “Nightmare Moon” episodes may scare younger children under the age of  5.  But this show is safe, nothing for parents to worry about.

Overall, “My Little Pony” is a pretty good animated series for children.  And as a parent, I definitely recommend this series for the young “My Little Pony” fans and yes, even the grownups who grew up with the original series and are young at heart.