[NO SPOILER, LEAK-FREE] Season 8 Discussion and Speculation: Discovery Family airings

@Frustration in Excelsis
 
Same.

@rdibp  

@gingerninja666  

 
Don’t forget “Horse Play”.  

Star Swirl is probably extremely familiar with the signs of ponies losing their magical ability, because he lived through a time period in which every day pretty much guaranteed something like that happening. He’s probably forgotten more about magic draining than most ponies in Equestria will ever know.

Best Gift Ever is set to air 8 hours early in the UK so heads up

@EotD  
Of course it does.

@EotD  

A bit disappointing because it suggests that this is apparently just going to be an issue from now on, but still, better a few hours than having it show up a week or month before Discovery Family gets it.

@EotD  
You mean 8 hours early on the same day as the US?

@rdibp  
Yes

@EotD  
Well that’s not so bad I guess.

@rdibp  

 
And me.

I watched Father Know’s Beast.
 
Bleh.
 
Consider Sludge my least favorite new character of the season. I know that dragons are assholes by nature and they can barely help themselves, but emotionally manipulating a child for your own personal gain? Quite frankly, I’d practically consider that Spikeabuse. It was also way too convenient that Twilight and the rest believed his story without much question, because I most certainly would have been demanding a lot more answers than they than they did. Even if he couldn’t answer how Spike’s egg wound up in the possession of ponies, they surely could have had him answer how he knew where Spike was, and how he was sure that Spike was his son.
 
It really didn’t make the slightest bit of sense for Spike to be so enamored with Sludge, certainly not to the point where he would say to Twilight’s face, “Maybe you just don’t like that I have a real parent now”, which was unquestionably the coldest and cruelest thing he’s ever said to her, especially with such little provocation. Because what did Sludge even teach him? That he can’t live in a castle, but must still remain lazy and self-serving? As if Spike didn’t know that dragons don’t normally live in castles, or that they only look out for themselves. Hell, Spike even displays lazy and self-serving behavior on occasion, so Sludge really wasn’t instilling him with any useful information about being a dragon, nor was he even remotely interested in being a “real parent.” And I love how apathetically Spike reacted when the truth finally came out. I guess it’s a good thing that Spike wasn’t all that upset about it, but given how he utterly emotionally eviscerated Twilight in defense of him, I would have at least liked for him to shed a single tear, even just in realization of how utterly wrong and naive he was.
 
Also, since when exactly does Spike need flying lessons? Because if I recall correctly, he was an ace flyer pretty much instantly. This definitely reminds me of how Twilight struggled to fly right after we saw her flying well at the end of MMC, only it makes even less sense with Spike given how we not only saw him fly way more expertly than Twilight did her first time, but it also flies in the face (I made a pun! ;P) of the proposed explanation for his expert flight skills, which is that it was instinctual for him. And it’s also kind of ridiculous that they play up the notion Spike is feeling out of touch with his own kind, given that we’ve already had an episode addressing that a long time ago, and how he now has Ember and Smolder to fill that void. If anything, Spike should be feeling more at peace about himself than he’s ever been.
 
Honestly, fuck this episode. This was really a delicate and heavy-handed plot for the show, and I don’t think it was respected as much as it should have been.

@Spinny  

 
At least this one got an explanation. Spike can fly just fine but struggles with more advanced maneuvers because a dragon’s wings aren’t like a pony’s and he’s been taking lessons from ponies.

@Dustcan  

 
I feel like a lot of people missed that bit with Twilight teaching Spike maneuvers that can only be done with pony wings. They just saw Spike not being able to fly well for a bit, and just instantly shout, “Consistency error!”.
 
I also don’t count that bit at the end of MMC with Twilight flying as actual canon, more as just a way to transitionally end the episode.

@rdibp  

 
Nah, you can still count it. I could pick up an instrument, play, and sound like a virtuoso one day, and later on sound like a joke. Practice makes better, but the way up still has peaks and valleys.

The fact that people complained about Spike having difficulty flying in Father Knows Beast and the whole “dragons don’t use pillows” thing is just stupid in itself.

@ILoveMyoozik  
I interpret that “Dragons don’t use pillows” line as Smolder trying to sound tough in front of Spike.

@rdibp  
Maybe, but I thought it was just that dragon since he said he was uncomfortable sleeping on rocks while the others I assume are fine with it.

@ILoveMyoozik
 
Hey, just because they don’t have pillows don’t mean they don’t want them.

@Mildgyth  
That’s why I said “I assume”

So the Best Gift Ever will NOT be airing early in the UK

So… who liked the special?
 
I know I did.

@Background Pony #47B3
 
I liked it too.
 
Rarity was nice, Discord was entertaining (and still a great manipulator by appealing to Rainbow Dash’s ego), Shining Armor had good moments after not appearing all season, just a great special overall.

(reposting for this thread)
 
Best Gift Ever is a fabulous episode. There is so much to like: the conflict was believable, the plot moved along at a steady pace, not too slow, not too rushed, the songs were great, so many fandom nods, so many references, every bit of writing respects character development to date, and they must have pulled out every background character and winterized them for this episode.
 
It’s in my top 5, I think.
 
It’s a shame that there are so many older episodes that would have benefitted from the hourlong timeslot like BGE does.
 
As for lack of Starlight, Sunburst, and Trixie, and the student six, well, they got plenty of screentime and development in season 8. BGE is more of a “back to basics” episode, a love note to fans of older seasons.

I didn’t watch Best Gift Ever because I didn’t know where it was airing. I checked Discovery Family and all they had today was 4 episode repeats.

@Nightweaver20xx  
It aired at 1 pm EST today

@Background Pony #47B3  
I did too