My Little Pony (pilot episode)

"My Little Pony" is an children's television special originally aired in the United States on April 14, 1984.

It was followed in 1985 by another special, .

The two specials led to the continuing series "My Little Pony" in 1986, and were later syndicated as part of that series.

ynopsis

When several Little Ponies are transformed into monsters by the Power of Darkness, a young girl named Megan joins the fight to rescue them.

Alternate Titles

* On its original broadcast, the story was simply titled My Little Pony.
* The two parts of the repeat version were titled Rescue From Midnight Castle Part 1 and Escape From Midnight Castle Part 2. The 2005 US DVD release used 'Escape' on screen for both episodes and 'Rescue' on the packaging and DVD menu.
* In 1991, it was sold on VHS in the US as Firefly's Adventure, along with a Firefly toy.
* It was sold on VHS in the UK as My Little Pony in Dreamland
* The German translation was titled Abenteuer am Mitternachtsfluss - 'Adventure at Midnight River'.
* The French translation was titled La grande invasion du château de minuit - 'The Great Invasion of Midnight Castle'

Plot

The Little Ponies' lazy afternoon at Dream Castle is disturbed by the arrival of the Striadons, huge dragons commanded by the batlike Scorpan. The beasts capture Moondancer and Cotton Candy and takes them to Midnight Castle, a dark palace carved out of an island in the raging sea. Tirac, the minotaur-like lord of the castle, expresses disappointment and orders Scorpan to capture two more Ponies, for he needs four of them to pull his Chariot of Midnight. Scorpan's sidekick Spike, a baby dragon, rushes to his defense, but Scorpan, fearful of Tirac's wrath, silences his little friend, and carries him away after promising to organize another raid.

Meanwhile, a Pegasus Pony named Firefly makes a desperate flight for help, and ends up crash-landing in a well at a human ranch. A young girl named Megan rescues the Pony, and is amazed at her ability to speak. Firefly tells Megan she's just what the Little Ponies need, and invites her on a flight back to Dream Castle. Initially, Megan expresses apprehension, but Firefly assures her that her friends will be "dancing on air" upon her arrival (Song: "Dancing On Air").

True to her word, the Little Ponies rejoice upon Megan's arrival with Firefly, but their joy is short-lived. The Striadons return, capturing Bubbles, Ember, and Megan. Firefly performs her "double inside-out loop" flying technique to make Megan's captor release her. It works, but Megan falls from a dangerous height to the earth. Firefly, realizing her mistake, darts after Megan, but Scorpan upon his Striadon reaches her first. He catches her and drops her to the ground. "Leave this land," he snarls, "this battle is not yours." After the monsters leave, Megan angrily vows that she'll rescue the Little Ponies.

Back at Midnight Castle, Tirac dismisses Baby Ember as too small to be useful, and imprisons her with Spike. He then unleashes the Rainbow of Darkness on the other three Ponies, transforming them into hideous monsters. He orders Scorpan to capture one more pony, threatening to kill Spike if he fails.

Megan, Applejack, Bow-Tie, Twilight and Firefly journey to The Mushromp to seek the help of the Moochick, a magical if eccentric gnome, but on the way Applejack falls from a rickety bridge into a deep river. As Megan dives to rescue her, both are swept under the water into a giant clam shell. They are rescued by the Sea Ponies, the brightly-colored singing fish that dwell beneath the waters (Song: "Call Upon The Sea Ponies"). Upon their rescue, the Sea Ponies give Megan a charm to call upon them again should their assistance be required.

Arriving at the Mushromp, the Moochick reveals to Megan and the Little Ponies Tirac's dastardly plot to bring about the "Night That Never Ends" with his Rainbow of Darkness. He says that Tirac can only be defeated with a Rainbow of Light, and he turns his house upside down trying to find his "little piece of rainbow" (song: "A Little Piece of Rainbow.")His little rabbit, Habbit, throughout the song, tries to get his attention, and at the end, pulls out the locket containing the rainbow, and gives it to his master. The Moochick drapes it around Megan's neck, and tells them all to hurry on their way.

Upon their arrival to Midnight Castle, the Little Ponies realize they cannot cross the raging waters. But Megan quickly uses the Sea Ponies' charm to call for help. The Sea Ponies show Megan and the others a secret entrance to Midnight Castle, and they make their way to the throne room. Along the way, Applejack is captured, and Tirac transforms her with the Rainbow of Darkness. Scorpan shows his true colors by fighting the guards and taking the Ponies, Megan and Spike outside. Now that he has enough beasts to carry his Chariot of Darkness, Tirac plans to bring about something he calls The Night That Never Ends. Scorpan unsuccessfully attempts to seize the Rainbow of Darkness from Tirac. In the ensuing battle, Megan and Firefly succeed in knocking the Rainbow of Darkness from Tirac's hand, and the rest of Little Ponies fight to keep it from him, but he soon overpowers them and recovers it. "The power is mine!" he cries.

Megan retaliates by releasing the Rainbow of Light - but it's tiny, and when Tirac unleashes his Rainbow of Darkness, it quickly disappears into its vast black counterpart. After a moment, though, color breaks through as the Rainbow of Light expands, destroying the Rainbow of Darkness and Tirac with it. Tirac's beasts are released from his spell, becoming butterflies, birds and Little Ponies once more and Scorpan turns back into a prince (who was turned into Scorpan after Tirac took over his kingdom.) - but Spike remains a baby dragon, as he's always been. The end credits portray Megan bidding the Ponies and Spike farewell as Firefly takes her home.

Characters

* Megan: A young American girl who lives on a ranch, which Firefly makes a chance landing in when seeking help against the Stratadons.
* The Sea Ponies: Seawinkle, Wavedancer and Sealight lead a massive troupe of brightly colored fish in an elaborate song and dance number. Oddly, all of the Sea Ponies have Applejack, Twilight, Medley, and Bubbles' colors.
* The Moochick: A powerful yet eccentric gnome who's unable to remember anything without the help of his rabbit, Habbit.
* Tirac: A horned, centuarlike creature who unleashes the Rainbow of Darkness on his enemies.
* The Stratadons: The army of dragons Tirac sends to capture the Little Ponies.
* Scorpan: A bat-like creature the size of a man who directs the Stratadons. He's eventually revealed to be a Prince transformed by Tirac's magic.
* Spike: A friendly pink baby dragon imprisoned in Midnight Castle. The ponies assume him to be transformed by Tirac, but the baby dragon is his natural form.

Repeat Version

When My Little Pony became a regular series, the pilot episode was re-edited into a two-part story and shown along with the new episodes. Part 1 ended with Megan diving into the water after Applejack, and Part 2 opened with their musical rescue by the Sea Ponies. Other changes included the replacement of the pilot's opening song and closing credits with versions that matched the new series, and the complete removal of the song 'A Little Piece of Rainbow'.

Voice Cast

*Sandy Duncan as Firefly
*Tony Randall as The Moochick
*Charles Adler as Spike
*Tammy Amerson as Megan
*Fran Brill
*Victor Caroli as Tirac
*Laura Dean
*Carol Goodheart
*Lani Groves
*Tolanda Brica Lee Lewis
*Lyn Lipton as Ember
*Ullanda McCullough
*Gerrianne Raphael
*Ron Taylor as Scorpan

Notes

* Twilight's ability to teleport herself by chanting 'I wish, I wish, I wish' is echoed in , where Fizzy uses her 'unicorn magic' to teleport across a river of Smooze. In the series, teleportation is an ability of all unicorns, and is known as 'winking in and out'. Twilight's 'I wish, I wish..." chant is imitated by the 2003 pony Skywishes, who has a habit of saying the same phrase when wishing.
* This special features a Little Pony who was never made available as a plastic toy, a white Earth Pony with pink/gold/yellow/green/purple mane and pink/blue/purple tail, and a rainbow over clouds as her symbol. Her name is believed to be First Born. She makes several appearances, always with Twinkles the Cat on her back, but remains non-speaking and unnamed. 2003 pony Rainbow Dash carries a strong resemblance to this pony. The only major difference is that Rainbow Dash's body is pale blue rather than white, otherwise hair colors and symbol almost perfectly match up.
* Applejack is believed by many to be a boy pony because of her name. However, in lore, UK comics, her backcard, and in the special itself, she is a "she." Although she is in fact intended to be a girl, in the end, it is all up to the pony's owner!
* Moondancer is drawn stripeless, yet the toy actually has a lavender unicorn stripe.
* None of the Little Ponies featured here, except for the nameless Sea Ponies(who also appear in Escape from Catrina), appeared in any subsequent My Little Pony serials, though Megan, Spike and the Moochick all became regulars in the continuing series.
* Ember is the only pony in the series' (and possibly the toys') history that does not carry a symbol on her hip.
* There are actually 4 different versions of Ember, the first baby pony, but the symboless purple-and-pink with blue eyes version shown here became the most famous one. She was available in the mail in 1983 under "Ember, My Beautiful Baby Pony." The other two versions available through the mail were all blue with green eyes and pink-and-purple with purple eyes. A fourth version, who was lavender with purple hair, purple eyes, and a white star symbol was available in a store-sold read-along set the year after.

DVD Releases

The two-part version of the episode is available on the following:
* USA (Region 1): Disc 4 of "My Little Pony: The Complete First Season"
* Germany (Region 2, German language): "Abenteuer am Mitternachtsfluss"
* Australia (Region 4): "The Prince and the Ponies & Rescue from Midnight Castle & Escape from Catrina"

External links

* [http://dreamvalley-mlp.com/songs_specials.html#mlp_special Song lyrics]
* [http://www.x-entertainment.com/messages/591.html Review by X-Entertainment] Contains strong coarse language.