Twilight panics when she can't find a lesson about friendship for her weekly letter to the princess.Twilight panics when she can't find a lesson about friendship for her weekly letter to the princess.Twilight panics when she can't find a lesson about friendship for her weekly letter to the princess.
- Twilight Sparkle
- (voice)
- Applejack
- (voice)
- …
- Pinkie Pie
- (voice)
- …
- Rarity
- (voice)
- …
- Spike
- (voice)
- …
- Apple Bloom
- (voice)
- Scootaloo
- (voice)
- Sweetie Belle
- (voice)
- (as Claire Corlett)
- Big Macintosh
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- Writers
- Lauren Faust
- Meghan McCarthy
- Bonnie Zacherle(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaTwilight seems to have gotten much better at teleporting. In previous episodes, teleporting only once seemed to exhaust her, but she teleports several times in this episode without showing any signs of fatigue.
- GoofsTwilight Sparkle's hair is neat in the wide shot of her and Celestia in the library with Spike looking on. In the tight shot, her hair is unkempt.
- Quotes
Twilight Sparkle: I can't believe I wasted all that time. I should have just come here first. Fluttershy always has some fear she's trying to get over.
[Twilight arrives at Fluttershy's home to find her apparently wrestling a bear]
Twilight Sparkle: Fluttershy?
[Fluttershy continues to beat up the bear, and snap his neck]
Twilight Sparkle: How could this be happening? Of all the days she had to stop being such a scaredy-pony, she had to pick today! What am I going to do?
[she leaves]
Fluttershy: [coming to a stop, Fluttershy begins to massage the bear's shoulders] You really should have come to me sooner. You were carrying so much tension in that shoulder.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Animated Atrocities: Top 25 Most Disturbing Cartoon Episodes (2014)
"Lesson Zero" is a long way from a step down. The complete opposite in fact and actually thought it was even better than "The Return of Harmony", having all of that two parter's strengths and improving in quality while not having an ending that disappointed. "Lesson Zero" also stood out as being the best episode in a long time for two of the show's characters, Twilight Sparkle (essential considering that it is a generally Twilight-centric episode) and Spike.
For one thing, "Lesson Zero" is a great looking episode, always have really liked the animation for 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' but one could see in "The Return of Harmony" and here that the quality had advanced by quite a bit. While the colours positively pop out at you, the drawing expressive and the backgrounds are rich in detail and nuance, it's the facial expressions that really steal the show here in "Lesson Zero". Being a great mix of funny and disturbing, which actually turned out to be a great mix and never came over as too goofy or too scary. The music is a mix of lush, lively, haunting and funky, while the theme song has yet to grate on me.
Also found "Lesson Zero" to be a masterpiece when it comes to the writing and the characterisations, and there are some very memorable parts that showcase all of the Mane-6 better than quite a number of episodes from the still solid in general (though not without its missteps) Season 1. The mix of humour, tension and pathos are brilliantly done, a mix that has not been this seamlessly executed, not saying that some of the best of Season 1 and "The Return of Harmony" didn't have that (they did) but in this case it was quite special, in a while. The dialogue is hilarious, tense and touching, balanced beautifully together and executed just as beautifully individually. The story is always compelling and filled to the brim with energy, didn't find the ending contrived at all.
The characterisation here is spot on, where nobody is out of character or annoying and everybody has time to shine with full impact. One does feel for Twilight, who is brilliantly showcased here and never is there a bland or annoying moment, anything mean-spirited or anything out of character. And it was so great to have more of Spike and for him to be somewhat of the voice of reason in one particular bit instead of the jerk that he was in the disappointing "Owl's Well that Ends Well" (one of the two worst episodes of Season 1 along with "Over a Barrel"). The other characters also shine, with one of the highlights being Fluttershy's fight scene, exciting and disturbing in a way not seen to this extent in previous episodes. Pinkie Pie and Twilight seeming to compete for who can act craziest the most, which was entertaining, while Applejack and Rarity are very funny. Big Mac has a pretty hilarious moment as well. The voice acting is terrific, top honours going to Tara Strong in her best voice work of the show up to this point.
Overall, brilliant. 10/10
- TheLittleSongbird
- Nov 18, 2019
Details
- Runtime23 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1080i (HDTV)
- 480i (SDTV)