My Little Pony Tales (1992) User Reviews

My favorite MLP episode.

[morphricky · 5/10 · 24 July 2012]

It's kinda strange how the darkest episode which features a lot of beasts, crumbling castles and dangers would be my favorite compared to the cuteness of the "MLP and Friends" episodes.

First of all, it needs to be mentioned that Tirac had the coolest voice ever in the Swedish dub from the eighties. So much more powerful and sinister than the, in comparison, measly American voice. On the other hand, they had a grown woman doing the voice for Megan in the dub, which always made me believe that Megan was an adult and not a child.

As for the episode, it starts out very nicely with the beautiful landscape of Dreamvalley. I always liked the animation style in this episode compared to "And friends", though the hair had less detail. The opening song is so pleasantly sung (especially in the original Swedish dub) and it's just such a nice feeling over all. Then quite fast, the episode takes a dark turn and they have to get to the Midnight Castle to rescue their friends.

I always liked this episode because it's not so dandy and perfect. There's a good mix of personalities among the ponies, some are brave, some are clumsy, some are scared, some like adventure... you can clearly tell the difference from the other, instead of everybody being equally good and brave. Especially Twilight who is scared, but has to be brave to help her friends. The personalities aren't as shallow as they were in "Friendship is Magic", these characters give a real heartwarming feeling. (Thankfully there's no character like Pinkie Pie in this episode)

I can't speak for the dialog in the original voice acting as I always watch this in Swedish, but I found it very good. It shows that there doesn't need to be excessive dialog to get a point across. Conversations are short and informative.

I also enjoyed all the songs featured in the episode. They don't feel like a commercial jingle composed in two minutes (ala "FIM") and are of good length as well.

Unfortunately this episode was re-dubbed for the DVD release and the new dubbing is unbearable because of a huge error. In the "Call upon the Seaponies" song, the translator has completely missed the point of the song and translated it to "Use your phone to call the sea-ponies." There are no phones underwater! How can someone do an error such as this? Did they use Google Translate?

I love this episode and I will continue watching it until the old cassette withers away and can no longer be played. I love this episode so much I can remember almost every line spoken. Very few movies and episodes do this for me.

Surprisingly good.

[WeirdRaptor · 7/10 · 29 November 2012]

In 1984, Hasbro worked with Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions to create a pair of half-hour TV specials based on their toy line. At this tentative stage, they were simply testing the waters to see if anyone would be willing to sit through a televised program starring the pastel-colored equines running through fields, playing, dancing, singing, and battling the force of Apocalyptic evil. Release April 14th, 1984, it aired in Prime Time.

An evil tyrant requires four ponies to transform into dragons to pull his chariot so that he can fly through the skies and rein in The Night That Never Ends and take over the world. So the ponies team up with a 10-12 year old girl named Megan Williams to stop him. Better than it sounds.

The story is solid, if a little clichéd. We've seen Evil Overords try to Take Over The Earth, and can only be stopped by a Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits with their Super-Special Items a million times before. Then again, it wasn't meant to be ground-breaking in any regard. It did what it was supposed it to well as a fun little fantasy-adventure.

It does have its flaws. A half-hour it held back a lot. As is it, the villain only gets a chance to shine a few times. The journey to his castle is also less than spectacular. It's literally an afternoon stroll away with hardly any obstacles along the way (the worse being completely accidental). Obtaining the Super-Special Item needed to defeat The Big Bad is literally just handed to the heroes because they didn't have enough time to crawl their way through a dungeon or temple to get it.

With that in mind, it certainly had its strengths which do outweigh its weaknesses. The special had atmosphere and the audience feels as though there is something at stake at all times. Its villain had a very commanding presence and the nastiness to back to it up. The henchman are also decently competent, which is a nice break from the norm.

The characters weren't deep, but their personalities are concisely written distinguishable. Firefly is a head-strong daredevil tomboy. Medley is reserved and cautious. Twilight is motherly and supportive. Bow-Tie is level-headed and takes charge. Applejack is awkward and clumsy. Amber wants to grow up quickly. Megan is inexperienced and unsure of herself, but sincere and brave. Spike is naive and excitable.

The animation for this special was actually pretty solid. It was nothing wowing, but it actually had some care put into. The ponies moved fairly realistically and they were designed to look a lot like actual ponies. A handful of inspired designs also help give the look of the special an edge as well.

The music and songs are fairly stock for the medium, but were by no means terrible. The songs were more memorable than the score though, and quite enjoyable. My picks from the songs would have to be "Dancing On Air" and "A Little Piece of Rainbow", sang by Sandy Duncan and Tony Randall respectively, because…Sandy Duncan and Tony Randall. Come on. Sandy Duncan and Tony Randall.

The voice acting was well done over as well, with standout performances from Sandy Duncan, Tony Randall, and Ron Taylor with the rest ranging from Really Good-to-Decent. I in particular took a liking to Bow-tie's voice.

Final Conclusion: It was good. Pretty stock in many cases, but some inspired writing, designs, and performances raised it just a notch above the standard norm of early-mid 80s TV animation. To this day, My Little Pony: Rescue at Midnight Castle remains a cult classic among fans of the franchise and fans of 80s animation in general and rightfully so. Give it try, if you haven't yet. I think this TV special just might surprise you.

Okay I admitted

[mandyj-25696 · 5/10 · 10 February 2018]

The show is a guilty pleasure of mine. The lessons are horrible, so are songs and story. The ponies act too human like, but that's just a nitpick.

I may be the only person here who LIKES this version.

[CrystalBlueSilver · 15 June 2004]

Okay, face it. Most of us got hooked on the ORIGINAL version of My Little Pony. Which, hey, I was one of them. But, since I have known this show almost as long, I still love it. Whoever it was who said "What ponies go to the mall?" I have a few words for you. First of all, cartoons sometimes evolve and change form, to keep some younger kids' interest. Yes, I love the original, but it could get boring going on quest after quest and running around in caves, caverns, etc, you name it. To make the ponies go to school and the mall puts a personal touch on the series, and makes it have situations that kids can relate to. Such as the episode where Melody was a total Primma Donna and trying to take all the credit in the school play. It teaches kids to share the limelight, and other things, but it also puts an element that kids can better relate to. Yes, sure, there are elements of the original that kids can relate to, but putting a modern spin on the show keeps it popular. Anyway, the rant aside, I adore this series.

Cute Nostalgia But Dated Content

[mystery-frog · 7/10 · 24 August 2023]

If you're looking for a children's program that focuses on personal development over romance/coupledom, you will want to skip some episodes. After a quick review, some episodes seem more like 7+ (I've discussed those below). The others are all about the ponies living a "normal" life with their friends and siblings.

One episode ("Lemonade Wars") shows Bon Bon going on a date with Ace, but he is just doing it to steal a secret recipe from her.

"Roll Around the Clock" is about Lancer and Bright Eyes liking each other but being too shy to ask the other out. Lancer's friends say "If you want something, you have to go get it!" referring to Bright Eyes, which seemed like weird wording, and she is referred to as a "sure thing," I guess because she's a nerd? Cringe. Lancer is encouraged to neg her in order to get her to go out with him, and Bright Eyes is dolled up by her friends, but ultimately they learn about just being themselves around who they like. Not a bad message, but seems too mature for really young girls and is very dated in execution.

In "Bon Bon's Diary," Teddy tries to blackmail and coerce Bon Bon into a date. She ultimately forgives him and decides to date him anyway. Ugh, no!

"Just for Kicks" is about Starlight having a crush on Ace, who is full of himself. He is a jerk to her, laughing when he covers her in mud and being really rough and dismissive with her during sports. Another pony hits him in the face with the ball after this. Ace also pouts when Starlight gets the winning point of a game, but then suddenly shows up at her job to hang out and acts sweet and admiring out of nowhere. It's kind of just a weird episode overall.

The other episodes are all pretty innocent, with nothing to scare kids and little-to-no violence.

A Different Kind of Pony

[kitsy-2 · 8/10 · 23 August 2008]

This series is often a love/hate issue. For those looking for pure remake of the original series, they are disappointed, for those looking for something different they love it.

In short, this is actually an anthrophorphic series, very well done with the ponies having a developed culture, history, and social structure, mirroring humans in some ways, but different enough in others. Small details such as soccer teams wearing different color leg warmers to represent their team, or the transition from quadrupedal locomotion to bipedal and back make the series something special. Meny of the topics are to mature for then younger audience, dating, boy troubles, and a lot of the dialog often uses terms and such more suited to a young adult audience. But by far, the animation, as well as the story lines, are some of the best, the songs are OK, and for a 8-12 year old, the concepts and issues will mean more then random violence or slapstick humor of other cartoons.

How the MLP hype began

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 13 January 2017]

Lets be honest: Probably almost everybody has heard of "My Little Pony" until now, mostly because of the recent television show "Friendship is Magic", but probably not too many know that the tiny horses had their first screen appearance in the 1980s already, which means they are over 30 years old. This one here is a 22-minute television special and it shows us how it all started, namely with some of the ponies being caught by an evil monster lord who wants them to turn into beasts that can pull his chariot. And he is partially successful, but at the end of course it all gets reversed as if there is any show that is about happy endings, then it is "My Little Pony", even in an exaggerated way as other transformed creatures are also turned back and the ponies get help from an unexpected source. And an expected too as they have a little girl helping them. Two years later, the ponies got their own show and these 22 minute were used for this show as well. I thought it was all pretty decent. The characters are likable, the story is very innocent, even if the enemies do look scary. Of course, you should not expect realism here to be honest because one of these huge dragons could catch four ponies alone I am sure, but that's fine. It is all a fantasy world and movie of course, so I cannot criticize this really. What surprises me though is how many directors worked on such a short film. But it's not a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. i recommend seeing it, also to grown-ups.

Not a big hit for me.

[morphricky · 5/10 · 24 July 2012]

Having an all cast of teenage ponies obviously leads to a lot of annoying teenage drama with predictable plot stories about who loves who. Fortunately enough, there are episodes which doesn't focus on this at all. The Swedish dub has (too obviously) an all adult cast, so I can't speak for the original voices.

Some episodes are kind of good, I think the episode where Bon-Bon is acting like a drama-queen because she isn't getting attention had a good lesson on what is important when someone in the family is ill. Another good example is when Clover wins concert tickets which all the ponies want, but she can only choose one of her friends to go with her. These episodes all focus on relating to others.

An example of what is bad about this show is the episode where they are having one of the ponies dressing up as a princess. One of the other ponies moves the candy bowl away and tells her "A princess is supposed to be slim!" That sends a bad message to girls. Another bad thing is that most of the male characters are self-centered jerks. There's mainly three boys present in the series and only one of them is nice to the girls because he wants to. The other two are only nice because they want something from them and that is never addressed. Rather we see many of the girls try to win the affection of them by changing themselves to their liking.

Watchable, has some good morals, the characters had good personalities. I'm just not fond of the stereotypical teen drama. I prefer the older show which had elements of fantasy in it.

Not THAT bad!

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 26 April 2012]

In fact, I like My Little Pony Tales. I do just prefer My Little Pony and Friends, but this series is nothing to scorn at either in my view. I do miss Megan, who was always one of my favourites from My Little Pony, but I can see why she wasn't included. The ponies themselves don't have the most interesting personalities in the entire world, but they are still cute and likable. The animation is colourful and vibrant, the music is whimsical and mostly memorable(I personally liked it that there weren't many songs an episode) and the dialogue and story lines are sweet and gentle with good morals that don't feel too forced. The voice work is suitably dynamic, not overdone or overly-cutesy. All in all, I don't think My Little Pony Tales is that bad a show. 8/10 Bethany Cox.

I quite liked it.

[getarounditschool · 7/10 · 8 June 2016]

The characters can be forgettable (this applies to most of Generation 1, however). The story is a tad lacking, although more focused than some of the later attempts (I'm looking at you, The End Of Flutter Valley.) The songs are okay, though some are forgettable. The writing is.. okay. It certainly has it's moments, such as Megan's little turn of spirit from hopeless to hopeful in "Dancing on Air". All in all I'd say it's one of the better entries in the original 'N Friends era.

Do I have criticisms, though? Oh yes. The transfer from happiness to dark and cloudy near the start was rather jarring, the stratodons are never really explained very well, Tirek's appearance is... pretty bad, he was much better when he was covered in shadow, much more menacing. Spike can be a tad annoying at times (though I still like him), Scorpan being a transformed prince sort of comes out of nowhere at the end... but, for what it is, it's more solid than a lot of the other entries in the series.

It just is not my style.

[afonsobritofalves · 3/10 · 26 April 2019]

I respect those who enjoy this animated drawing (I know a lot of people who like it), but I do not like it. Of course, they even have decent quality for the female children's audience, but I do not recommend boys and the adult audience.

The better of the two My Little Pony TV specials

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 24 April 2012]

Although I did like Escape from Catrina, I found Rescue at Midnight Castle(aka My Little Pony or Firefly's Adventure) the better of the two. Most of the voice acting is great, especially that of Tirak, though I did prefer Applejack's voice later on. Charles Adler was good, but Spike was more adorable in later incarnations also. However, the animation is absolutely great, of the four My Little Pony movies/specials I've re-visited so far(the 1986 original movie, Escape from Catrina, End of Flutter Valley and this) this had the best animation, with beautiful colours to start with and the darker moments equally impressive. The songs are tuneful especially Megan and Firefly's, the writing is suspenseful and never going overboard with the schmaltz and cheesy slapstick and the story is always engaging with a dark tone. The characters are all likable, with Megan and Tirak(not the most interesting My Little Pony villain but the most threatening) the best and the ponies and sea-ponies both well-drawn and adorable. All in all, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox.

Not as bad as you think

[RAMChYLD · 17 July 2002]

Well, I'm not sure what some of the people here are complaining about, but I actually liked 'My Little Pony Tales'. I mean, if we can have aardvarks, raccoons, dragons and other animals going to school, why not ponies?

Also, the story-line here is more realistic then the those in the original 80's series. Gone are the mean and nasty, horrible warlords and witches who wants to conquer Pony Land. Instead, they now talk about down to earth everyday problems like pollution, practical jokes, cheating, and other stuff that we're all more familiar with. I actually liked the change. And on the bright side, we still get songs, although only one a story this time around. My only gripe is that the show lacks Megan - then again, putting humans into the show would ruin things.

Call me nutty, but I feel that this show is a major improvement over the 80's series.

Not A Good Cartoon

[jeremycrimsonfox · 9/10 · 14 February 2020]

I remember seeing this cartoon when it was syndicated on Disney Channel (back when that channel showed only old stuff instead of the overload of pre-teen comedies and the usual DCOMs they are known for today). But seeing this as an adult, this has to be the worst My Little Pony incarnation ever. One of the reasons is that some of the episodes are really mean-spirited and sometimes teach the target audience horrible morals (one episode, Shop Talk, is about Teddy getting bullied because Patch spreads a rumor he sleeps with a teddy bear. leading to a scene where Ace and Lancer are forced to stop when an embarrassing picture is taken of them dressed as babies, which constitutes blackmail). Also, the ponies are basically stereotypes, and while other MLP cartoons can have those, this show seems to have the worst of the lot. The main ponies are basically young teenage girls, while three males are there to sometimes serve as bullies. This series is not recommended for young children.

A different take on My Little Pony that I missed out on during my childhood

[Stompgal_87 · 8/10 · 10 August 2013]

I discovered this cartoon on YouTube three years ago after learning that it aired in the early 90s, which means that I could easily have seen it as a child but unfortunately missed out on it during that time. Because of this, it doesn't have the nostalgic appeal like the original MLP cartoons did, but it has its positive aspects nonetheless.

Further to the positive aspects of this show, it had a couple of the same elements as the original series such as brightly-coloured talking ponies, albeit their humanisation and the absence of wings and horns, with different personalities (e.g. the wise Starlight, the tomboyish Patch and the accident-prone Clover) and songs. The ponies here walk on all fours as well as on their hind legs and engage in activities that humans would partake in such as hanging out at the ice cream parlour and attending school. I liked the change of scenery in this series because it is more realistic than the fantastical surroundings in the original and the addition of male ponies is more than worthy. There are also some good life lessons in this series as well such as those involving teamwork (An Apple For Starlight), not lying to get more attention (Too Sick To Notice), not cheating in tests or reading people's secret diaries (Bon Bon's Diary) and not gossipping (Shop Talk). There also seems to be little to no mistakes in this series compared to the numerous goofs in the original.

I know I've focused solely on comparing and contrasting this show to the original series but I am now ready to give my final verdict. This incarnation of My Little Pony was worth watching due to having similar elements to the original and a change of scenery in spite of its lack of nostalgic appeal. 8/10.

An Nostalgic Pony Ride Into Your Nostalgic Heart And Soul.

[Cranman03 · 10/10 · 10 January 2022]

A classic in 1990s animation. I would considered this to be my favorite in the My Little Pony franchise, as well as my most favorite in my list of classic animated shows. It's theme, setting, music, and the main pony characters (Starlight, Sweetheart, Melody, Bright Eyes, Patch, Clover, and Bon-Bon, as well as Teddy, Ace, and Lancer) is what I find most it most appealing and enjoyable.

Good Children's Show

[iloveeggg · 31 March 2005]

This was my favorite show when I was 4-6 years old, I had all the pony toys and would watch them over and over again. I still have 2-3 taped episodes and they remind me of when I was that age. I cannot really critique the show since I am very biased because of it being associated so much with my childhood.

The ponies act like little girls, a lot older than it's target audience. It seems as good as the rest of children's shows.

I always liked the shy pony, Brighteyes.

It seems like the toy manufacturers are trying to bring the show back with marketing more pony toys.

My Little Pony in the 90's

[CoastieMouse · 13 December 2005]

I have two sisters, and grew up in the 80's, so I became quite familiar with My Little Pony. I saw "My Little Pony Tales" when it was broadcast on The Disney Channel. The writing wasn't that bad given the stories they were telling.

This version was a radical departure from the original. Where the original was set in a fantasy setting with magic, wizards, knights, dragons, etc., this version had no fantasy elements in it, except for talking ponies. It version was set in a more modern setting. It told stories centering around a group of adolescent ponies dealing with everyday issues, such as cheating on school tests, preventing an endangered species from becoming extinct due to the actions of developers, telling the boy or girl you like that you like him/her, etc. It did have the distinction of not being tied to a toy line like other cartoon series at the time. The characters were completely original. Each character had her own personality, quirks, and talents. Each character was explored and developed as the series went on. Where the original series was a fantasy adventure, with wizards, witches, demons, etc, trying to do acts of evil against the ponies, this series was more a social commentary, with the characters dealing with the same kind of issues that the viewers might deal with. Essentially these were morality tales.

Ponies are ponies are ponies..

[alicorn_83 · 4 August 2001]

I love My Little Pony, I really do. An 80's girl that's me:). But to see ponies act so much like humans really sickened me. I've always loved horses, and think ponies acting like ponies is what gave MLP alot of it's soul. There are many human shows with human kids. There is only one MLP, and it's soul and gentle grace runs on the backs of wild ponies with manes whiping in the wind *dreamfilled gaze*. I really enjoy watching My Little Pony 'N Friends more:).