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My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

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My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
File:My Little Pony Friendship is Magic logo.svg
GenreAdventure
Comedy
Fantasy
Developed byLauren Faust[1]
Directed byJayson Thiessen
Voices ofAshleigh Ball

Claire Corlett
Michelle Creber
Andrea Libman
Nicole Oliver
Madeleine Peters
Tabitha St. Germain
Tara Strong

Cathy Weseluck[1]
Theme music composerDaniel Ingram
ComposersDaniel Ingram
William Kevin Anderson
Country of originCanada
United States
No. of seasons1 (season 2 in production)[2][3]
No. of episodes52 (26 aired) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerLauren Faust
Running time22-23 minutes
Production companiesStudio B Productions
Hasbro Studios
Original release
NetworkThe Hub (USA)
ReleaseOctober 10, 2010 (2010-10-10) - present

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an American animated television series that began airing on the United States cable channel, The Hub, in the last quarter of 2010. This incarnation of the Hasbro toy was developed for television by Lauren Faust, who had previously worked on the Cartoon Network series The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends with their creator, her husband Craig McCracken. The show is produced by Studio B Productions, in association with Hasbro Studios.[4]

Story

Main article: List of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episodes

The series stars a unicorn pony named Twilight Sparkle, who is a pupil of Equestria's ruler Princess Celestia. Seeing the young pony buried in books, the princess sends her to Ponyville and gives her the task of making friends. Along with her assistant, a baby dragon named Spike, she becomes friends with the tomboyish Rainbow Dash, glamorous Rarity, hard-working Applejack, timid Fluttershy, and hyperactive Pinkie Pie. Together they explore the ins and outs of the town and solve various problems. Each episode usually ends with Twilight Sparkle reporting back to Celestia on some aspect of friendship that she has discovered in the process, either through her own experience or by watching the other ponies.

The six main characters are written as young adults with a maturity level in the 12-18 year old range,[5] but several episodes focus on the exploits of a much younger trio of pony characters called the "Cutie Mark Crusaders" who are trying to discover what their special talents may be (and thus gain the corresponding "cutie marks" on their flanks).

Characters

Main article: List of My Little Pony characters

The main protagonist of Friendship Is Magic is Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn pony with a light violet body and an indigo mane and tail with pink and purple streaks, and represents the element of Magic. She is Princess Celestia's dearest pupil and initially considers the pursuit of knowledge to be more important than socialization. In the pilot episode, Princess Celestia orders her to take a break from her studies and visit Ponyville to learn the importance of friendship. This proves to be the key to unlocking the "Elements of Harmony" and defeating Nightmare Moon. She decides to stay in Ponyville and study friendship with her mentor's blessings.[6] She is voiced by Tara Strong, and Rebecca Shoichet provides Twilight's singing voice.

She is accompanied by a baby dragon named Spike, who acts as her research assistant, workhorse, closet friend and messenger. He can send written messages to Princess Celestia by burning them with his magical fire breath, and receive her responses by coughing up the scrolls on which they are written. He is often sarcastic and laughs at others' misfortune, but is very supportive towards Twilight and also helpful toward others. He has a huge crush on Rarity, the beauty of the group, but she never seems to notice his passion for her. He is voiced by Cathy Weseluck.

The circle of friends that Twilight Sparkle meets in Ponyville consists of five ponies who appear with her in most episodes. They are:

  • Applejack (voiced by Ashleigh Ball), an earth pony with an orange body and blonde mane and tail and a thick southern accent. She is very dependable and down-to-earth, but stubborn. She also comes from a large family of apple-name related members, spread all over Equestria, who tend apple orchards and run a group of apple businesses.[6] Her part in the Elements of Harmony is honesty.
  • Rainbow Dash (voiced by Ashleigh Ball), a pegasus pony with a sky-blue body and a rainbow-striped mane and tail. She is very brave and bold,[6] but also mischievous and proud, as well as sometimes being insensitive. She has great speed and works with the other pegasus ponies to move clouds around the sky and adjust the weather. In addition, she dreams of one day becoming a member of Equestria's aerial flight team, the Wonderbolts. Her part in the Elements of Harmony is loyalty.
  • Pinkie Pie (voiced by Andrea Libman, singing voice by Shannon Chan-Kent), an earth pony with a pink body and magenta mane and tail. She is an obsessive party planner who is very funny, talkative, and a bit air-headed. She also enjoys singing and playing pranks on other ponies, sometimes with help from Rainbow Dash, but does not play any on Fluttershy because of her sensitive nature. There is seldom a day without Pinkie's smile.[6] Her original name is later revealed to be 'Pinkamina Diane Pie'. Her part in the Elements of Harmony is laughter.
  • Fluttershy (voiced by Andrea Libman), a pegasus pony with a yellow body and a pink mane and tail. She is sweet, calm, timid, and often very shy around others, but can become forceful and assertive when pushed too far. Fluttershy has a great love for animals and is willing to help them at any cost.[6] It is revealed in the fifth episode that she is a year older than Pinkie Pie. Her part in the Elements of Harmony is kindness.
  • Rarity (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain, singing voice by Kazumi Evans), a unicorn pony with a white body and a royal purple mane and tail. She is very stylish and beautiful, takes great interest in fashion, and often tries to make herself the center of attention. She considers herself a lady and often acts sophisticated. She can also be very dramatic and at times distraught.[6] She dreams of becoming a designer for Princess Celestia and marrying Celestia's nephew. Her part in the Elements of Harmony is generosity.

Other recurring characters of note include Apple Bloom (voiced by Michelle Creber), Scootaloo (voiced by Madeleine Peters), and Sweetie Belle (Claire Corlett), three child ponies who have not yet gained the unique "cutie marks" that older ponies bear on their haunches. They befriended each other after being teased by their classmates and declared themselves to be the "Cutie Mark Crusaders," adventuring together in hopes of discovering their talents and prompting their cutie marks to develop. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are the younger sisters of Applejack and Rarity, respectively.

Princess Celestia (voiced by Nicole Oliver) herself appears with some frequency, but usually only as a brief cameo at the end of an episode to receive a report from Twilight Sparkle on what she has learned so far about friendship. Celestia's younger sister Luna (Tabitha St. Germain) has so far only appeared in the initial two-part pilot episode, but is set to appear in the second season.

Development

Lauren Faust, the creator and executive producer for My Little Pony Friendship is Magic

The series was first developed by Lauren Faust from her early artwork created in 2008. Several drawings of the 6 ponies from Generation 1 (Twilight, Applejack, Firefly, Surprise, Posey and Sparkler) first appeared on her Deviantart account, which became the basis for the six main characters of the series. After Hasbro picked her up as the Creative Steward for the Generation 4 Line, she deleted the drawings but fans had already saved them.[7]

First Season

During the 2010 Hasbro Toy Fair, the prototype toys for the Generation 4 line were revealed. Faust stated in her online journal that is a childhood dream come true, that they are teaser prototypes and she designed the characters for the upcoming animation series.[8] Applejack and Spike are the only Generation 1 characters to remain, due to Hasbro losing copyright on the other Generation 1 names.

The first season of the series was produced by Hasbro Productions, Studio B Productions in Canada and Top Draw Animation in the Philippines. Notable staff members working on the series alongside Faust herself were director Jayson Thiessen and writers Amy Keating Rogers, Cindy Morrow, Meghan McCarthy, Chris Savino, Charlotte Fullerton, M. A. Larson and Dave Polsky. The series' music was composed by William Kevin Anderson while the songs and the Opening theme song is composed by Daniel Ingram. It was first announced at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con, stating that it would air on new channel The Hub. Production was completed in 2010, with the premiere on October 10, 2010 and the 26th and final episode aired on May 6, 2011. Season 1 is scheduled to premiere in the UK on Boomerang on July 4, 2011.

Second Season

The show has been renewed for a second season and is currently in development, with Top Draw Animation be animating the second season.[9] During production, Lauren Faust officially stated that she stepped down from Executive Producer to Consulting Producer during season 2. Her involvement for the second season involves only story conception and scripts. She also has high hopes for the staff members, stating that "the gaps I have left are being filled by the same amazing artists, writers, and directors who brought you Season 1. I’m certain the show will be as entertaining as ever".[10]

Reception

The series received positive reviews from critics. Todd VanDerWerff of The Onion's A.V. Club favorably notes the show's "sheer and utter joyfulness" and lack of cynicism, which are unlike other shows that garnered a cult following of parents and twenty-somethings. He compliments the characters' stylized appearance, the stories' relative complexity for kids TV, and the solid jokes which make the show enjoyable to parents as well as their kids, and gives the series a B+.[11] Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media, an organization focusing on the parenting aspect of children's media, has given the show a rating of four out of five stars, emphasizing the show's messages of friendship, tolerance and respect, but advises parents to be wary of the "influence the characters might have on their kids' desires, since it's rooted in a well-known product line of books, toys, and just about everything in between."[12]

Internet following

Despite the target demographic of young girls, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has become an Internet phenomenon with many fans of the show being males from 15 to 35.[13] The response from the Internet is traced to cartoon and animation fans on the Internet board 4chan. In October 2010, shortly after the show's premiere, Cartoon Brew published an essay entitled "The End of the Creator-Driven Era in TV Animation", which criticized the brand-backed show and cited "today networks clearly prefer established properties over original ideas, and dislike dealing with individual artists who have a clear creative vision".[14] The members of the cartoon "/co/" board of 4chan, having not yet seen the show, considered the alarmist nature of the essay and began watching the show, and quickly warmed up to the series for plot, characters, and animation style. This reaction soon spread to the general forum, "/b/", of 4chan, where elements of the show quickly caught on as recurring jokes and memes on the site, and themselves spread as memes to other forums around the Internet.[15]

Since then, the fandom for the show has grown among a large number of forums and message boards. Fans of the shows have taken the name of "brony", portmanteau of the vernacular term "bro" and "pony"; though originally implied for male fans, the term has become gender-neutral in describing any older fans of the cartoon.[16] In a promotional ad prepared by the Hub for the show, using a parody of Katy Perry's "California Gurls" entitled "Equestria Girls", the lyrics acknowledge the word "brony" as part of its lexicon.[13] Sites like "Equestria Daily" and "Ponychan" have been created to share artwork, stories, and news about the show, receiving more than 100,000 visits a day,[17] and many artists use art sites like DeviantArt to display fanart based on the existing and new characters.[13] Numerous videos that incorporate footage from the show, including music videos, parodies and remakes of movie and video game trailers, and other mashups, are posted on a daily basis to YouTube.[13][18][19][20] In one case, a video made by a high school student named Stephen, using science to dissect some of the physical impossibilities on My Little Pony as part of a class presentation, was highlighted by several news outlets[21][22] and featured on Tosh.0.[13][23] Most of these fans are themselves surprised by their fondness for the show. Shaun, the operator of "Equestria Daily", stated that "Honestly, if someone were to have told me I’d be writing a pony blog seven months ago, I would have called them insane."[13] During a phone interview on NPR's comedy radio show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! in June 2011, former President Bill Clinton successfully answered three questions about Friendship is Magic, leading at least one journalist to jokingly refer to him as a brony.[24][25]

During the 2011 South by Southwest festival, Christopher Poole, the founder of 4chan, revealed the first instance of acknowledging the growing My Little Pony following on his community.[26] On March 20, 2011, it became more obvious when moot changed every board's header to show the words, "Once Upon a Pony" and "Everypony welcome.", which stirred a massive outrage from those in the community who became annoyed with the avid fans of the show.

Lauren Faust, the creator and executive producer for the show, has shown appreciation for the older fans of the show through her DeviantArt page.[27] Faust had not expected older people without children to watch the show, but stated that "The fact that they did and that they were open-minded and cool enough and secure in their masculinity enough to embrace it and love it and go online and talk about how much they love it — I’m kind of proud."[13] Faust and the creators have acknowledged some of the fan-created elements of the show and reflected it back into the show's animation. In the first episode, a background pegasus pony is shown in one scene with a cross-eyed stare, a likely result of an animator error. The 4chan boards quickly dubbed the character "Derpy Hooves". Faust responded to the fans, having initially intended the character to be named "Ditzy", but let the Derpy name stick, and since have kept the Derpy character with the cross-eyed look, and encorporating her into a slapstick sight-gag during one episode. As part of a relief effort for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, Faust auctioned several original drawings from the show along with a new sketch of Derpy Hooves, which sold for more than $2000 on eBay.[28] At the conclusion of Season One, one of the show's animators affirmed that Derpy would be a scripted background character within Season 2. Another pony character, sporting neon colors, wearing sunglasses and manning a DJ mixer for one episode, was given the stage name of "DJ P0N-3" by the fans,[29] which later was reused in the aforementioned "Equestria Girls " Hub ad.[30]

Home release

Currently, the only disc-based home release was bundled with promotional toys released in Europe and Brazil. They were bundled with the third episode in the series, The Ticket Master.[31] However, Hasbro confirmed on the official Facebook page for My Little Pony that there was an official DVD release in the works for the show.[32] More details have yet to be released.

References

  1. ^ a b "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic". IMDB. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  2. ^ "The Hub Upfront 2011". March 24, 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-30.
  3. ^ Top Draw Animation production list (http://topdrawanimation.com/production.htm)
  4. ^ "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic". bcdb.com, March 23, 2011
  5. ^ Lauren Faust (Dec 5, 2010). "Comment on MY LITTLE PONY PREMEIRE--WATCH IT NOW!".
  6. ^ a b c d e f "MY LITTLE PONY - Meet The Ponies". Hasbro. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  7. ^ deviantART: fyre-flye's Journal: Galaxy Girls, My Little Pony and 2010
  8. ^ deviantART: fyre-flye's Journal: MLP News- TOY FAIR PICS!!!
  9. ^ Top Draw Animation :: Production :: Philippines
  10. ^ deviantART: fyre-flye's Journal: THANK YOU!!!
  11. ^ Todd VanDerWerff (April 29, 2011). "My Little Pony Friendship is Magic". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2011-04-30.
  12. ^ Emily Ashby (January 30, 2011). "My Little Pony Friendship is Magic - Television Review". Common Sense Media. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Watchcutter, Angela (2011-06-09). "My Little Pony Corrals Unlikely Fanboys Known as 'Bronies'". Wired. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  14. ^ Amid (2010-10-19). "The End of the Creator-Driven Era in TV Animation". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  15. ^ Dennis, Scott (2011-03-10). "Ponies overachieving, from feminism to 4chan". The Daily Barometer. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  16. ^ Constantine von Hoffman (May 31, 2011). "My Little Pony: the Hip New Trend Among the Geekerati". BNET.
  17. ^ Gibson, Megan (2011-06-10). "The Newest Internet Bro Craze: 'My Little Pony'". Time. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  18. ^ John Funk (May 9, 2011). "In the Grim Darkness of the Future, There Are Only Ponies". The Escapist.
  19. ^ Morgan, Matt (2011-04-21). "T-Shirt Addict: Gaming and Memes Go Hand in Hand". Wired. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  20. ^ MacFarland, Kevin (2011-05-12). "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is the new trailer mashup meme champion". A.V. Club. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
  21. ^ GrrlScientist (2011-06-02). "Physical impossibilities in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  22. ^ Doctorow, Cory (2011-05-25). "Impossible physics: Why My Little Pony can't really fly". Boing Boing. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  23. ^ Carly Hallam (May 26, 2011). "Do You Have Ten Minutes To Watch A Physics Presentation On 'My Little Pony'?".
  24. ^ Gibson, Megan (2011-06-27). "Guess Who's A Fan? Former President Bill Clinton is a 'Brony'". Time. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  25. ^ Saenz, Arlette (2011-06-25). "President Bill Clinton Plays 'Not My Job' on Radio Quiz Show". ABC. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  26. ^ "Christopher Poole (moot) At SXSW Live (Ponies mentioned)". Equestria Daily. March 13, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
  27. ^ DeviantArt: fyre-flye's Journal: THANK YOU!!!
  28. ^ DeviantArt: fyre-flye's Journal: buy original MLP art and help Japan
  29. ^ Equestria Daily - "Poll Results: What is the DJ Pony's Name?"
  30. ^ von Hoffman, Constantine (2011-05-31). "My Little Pony: the Hip, New Trend Among the Geekerati". Retrieved 2011-05-31. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |publiser= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
  31. ^ "My Little Pony News: "The Ticket Master" DVD". March 30, 2011.
  32. ^ "My Little Pony Official Facebook Page: Reply to Jenna Maire Flint Bakula". June 16, 2011.

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