So I just saw Growing Pains.
I was working on this post about Star Trek, and how the experience of watching the premier of TNG reminded me very strongly of watching ANG. I think Star Trek analogies are going to be very useful when looking at G5. So far, Make Your Mark is what I would imagine a direct-to-DVD barbie show would be like, except it just happens to have interesting ideas, with characters and a setting that I’m invested in. There’s a term for the point where a show gets noticeably better, that has its origins in Star Trek: TNG. It’s oddly fitting that this term is “Growing The Beard”. G4 had “the spice”, but needed to actually do something with it. G5 is actually doing things, but it needs “the spice”.
One of the things that annoyed me about G4 was how The Mane Six struggled to evolve beyond what was initially established about them. At the start of ANG, Hitch is in a position of comfort and control, and there’s no reason for him to want things to change. After The Movie, things have changed, he’s no longer in control, and has to adapt. This is something he has in common with Pipp, where the image they project is broken down.
There are some weird timeline inconsistencies. It doesn’t make sense for this episode and “Neigh Fever” to have both happened.
The editing is remarkably good. I really like how they’ll end a scene with something, then they’ll cut to something similar in a different scene.
All the way back in Season Two, people thought that Rainbow Dash wearing sunglasses was a “Deal With It” reference, so it’s funny to me that this episode contains the actual “Deal With It” sunglasses.
I feel like people should preface spoilered text with what episode they’re talking about.
