My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Hub, Saturdays 1pm
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Caution: potential spoilers.

Okay, I suppose I should begin by saying I vaguely recall when I was a little kid, playing with My Little Ponies. I don't remember if I had some of my own, or if they all belonged to my sister, but most likely some were mine. Perhaps this plays some small part in explaining why I have never been a fan of gender stereotyping. I'm also fairly sure I used to have a My Little Pony sticker book, with plenty of cute puffy stickers in it. But of course, all this is many, many years ago. I don't recall ever seeing any My Little Pony cartoons, though. Anyway, doing a bit of research online, I see that this series is considered part of the fourth generation of the "My Little Pony" franchise of toys and animations (so if you see something about the show that says "G4," you shouldn't confuse that with the cable network by that name). There were, apparently two different animated series based on the G1 ponies, and various movies and specials which I suppose may have been based on any of the first three generations. I have no interest in seeing these, nor in even sorting out which were based on which generation of toys. But I'm getting into the G4 cartoon, because I've seen a couple of wicked cool and funny and cute commercials for the show, as well as some fanvids on YouTube. And also I've read a little bit about the fan community, which includes adults as well as children, and males as well as females. Anyway, fans of the show are called "bronies," a term which appears to be an amalgam of "bro" and "pony," although it applies to female fans as well as males (though perhaps it only applies adult fans). Some women may also call themselves "pegasisters," but apparently that is wrong. *shrug*

First of all, the show was developed by Lauren Faust, who it seems was involved in making The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, two shows which were pretty cool, and which also were popular with different demographics than just the target audience. (I definitely see lots of PPG influence on MLP.) Faust left her position as executive producer after season one, but remained a consulting producer in season two, though I think otherwise the staff was pretty much the same. And the show was still awesome. I don't think she'll be involved in season three, but I'm still greatly looking forward to it.

Um... and I should say that this show is so super kawaii and fun and crazy and sweet. Kind of like shojo anime. So it's not surprising I like it, since I like all kinds of anime. Also, I've read online that the show is seen as being part of a trend called "New Sincerity," as opposed to the popular cynicism and irony of a lot of modern culture, including animation. And I think that's nice, but at the same time, the show doesn't seem to be entirely irony-free. I think everyone involved is well aware of the inherent corniness, which allows the writers, animators, and voice actors to all just have fun with it, be pretty over the top and zany, which allows all manner of fans to enjoy it, too. It's pretty neat that the show can pull that off, while still delivering positive messages about friendship for kids to learn from. Most shows aimed at kids, especially if there's any kind of "message" aspect to them, will tend to be fairly insipid, from an adult perspective. So it's always nice to come across something that can entertain young and old alike. It's definitely impressive to see a successful melding of sincerity and irony. (Oh, I also read a comment made somewhere by a fan with Asperger's Syndrome that they learned more about friendship from this show than they had from like 30 years of life, or something. Which I can appreciate, personally, myself.)

Anyway... I've said an awful lot already without actually explaining the actual show, so I suppose I should get to that. It starts by telling us of a legend from like 1000 years before the show begins, about these two pony princesses. One, Celestia, was in charge of the sun rising each day, and her younger sister, Luna, was in charge of the moon rising each night. But Luna tried to make eternal night, and Celestia had to use the six "elements of harmony" to trap her in the moon. Now, 1000 years later, a pony named Twilight Sparkle is studying an ancient prophecy which says Luna (or as she's called, Nightmare Moon), is about to be freed and once again try to create eternal night. Twilight warns Princess Celestia (of whom she is a student), but Celestia just sends her to oversee the preparation for a celebration in Ponyville, also telling her to make friends instead of just studying all the time. (I should mention that the land in which the show is set is called Equestria, and Twilight is from the capital city of Canterlot.) Also, Twilight has an assistant: a baby dragon named Spike (at least he's referred to as a baby dragon, and he's small enough to be a baby, but it's hard for me to think of him as such, since he talks, reads, and seems reasonably intelligent; he also has a major crush on a pony named Rarity, but that's getting ahead of myself). Spike can magically deliver messages between Twilight and Celestia. Twilight, btw, is a unicorn pony (there are other types, including pegasus ponies and earth ponies). And she is skilled at magic.

Well, Twilight isn't interested in making friends, and when she does meet the various ponies of Ponyville, she thinks they're all crazy. Meanwhile, she just wants to get to the library where she'll be staying while she's in town, in hopes of finding information about the elements of harmony, which could be used to stop Nightmare Moon. But she doesn't actually get to do any studying, until Nightmare shows up at a party, after apparently getting rid of Celestia, or something. So Twilight and the five ponies she'd met would have to go searching for the elements, while Nightmare put a number of obstacles in their way.

I should mention the other ponies, now. There's an earth pony named Applejack, who dresses and talks like a cowgirl. Her family runs an apple orchard (they all seem to be named after different foods made with apples, or apples themselves); or as I later learned, orchards around Equestria. (We'll occasionally see Applejack's older brother, Big Macintosh, her younger sister, Apple Bloom, and their grandmother, Granny Smith; the others from the first episode were just there for a reunion.) There's a pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash, who is adventurous and proud of being a very fast flier (her ultimate dream is to join a famous group of flying ponies called the Wonderbolts, who appear to be modeled after the Blue Angels). There's an earth pony named Pinkie Pie, who is like totally hyperactive and silly and sweet and ditzy and stuff (she's always singing and dancing and throwing parties, etc.) There's a pegasus pony named Fluttershy, who is very shy and soft-spoken around other ponies, but she seems pretty enthusiastic with other creatures like birds and bunnies and such (and she can get assertive, on rare occasions). And there's a unicorn pony named Rarity (the one I said Spike has a crush on), a fashion designer who wants to make everyone and everything beautiful (she's very elegant and obsessed with etiquette, and also a drama queen). Anyway, by the end of the second episode, Twilight Sparkle will realize that she herself, along with these other five ponies, represent the six elements of harmony. (I won't be more specific about that; you can check Wikipedia if you're interested, or preferably watch the show yourself.) Of course, they all save the day in the end, and Twilight learns to appreciate friendship, which she stays in Ponyville to learn more about, rather than returning to Canterlot. And at the end of every episode, she'll send a report to Princess Celestia, summarizing whatever lesson she's learned about friendship, in the episode. (Though occasionally she makes her report to Celestia in person.)

Anyway... like I said, it's a really fun, amusing, sweet, and super cute show, with lots of fun songs, and the ponies all have well-defined personalities (which seem well-coordinated with how each of the ponies look, especially Pinkie Pie, who is pretty much the personification of the color pink; sorry, I mean the ponification). I think Fluttershy is my favorite, with Pinkie a close second, and really, I adore all the ponies. And there are a number of other characters who become important to one degree or another, most notably three younger ponies. I already mentioned Applejack's little sister, Apple Bloom. Well, she becomes close friends with a unicorn pony named Sweetie Belle (Rarity's little sister), and a pegasus pony named Scootaloo (who doesn't seem to be related to the main characters, though she does idolize Rainbow Dash). I should explain that ponies all get their own unique little patterns on their flanks, at some point. These are called "cutie marks," and they are symbolic of a pony's personality or the kind of job they'll have. It's unpredictable exactly when a pony's cutie mark will first appear or what it will look like, but getting it is kind of comparable to entering puberty. Which is of course a common concern for human adolescents in any number of shows, movies, or books; so it's not surprising that getting a cutie mark is important to young ponies. And this becomes a plotline that runs through several episodes. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo are like the only three ponies in their class at school who haven't yet gotten theirs, so they start a club called the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Basically, the three of them spend a lot of time trying to force their cutie marks to appear by trying all kinds of different activities, as well as listening to the main characters tell stories about how they got their cutie marks when they were younger.

Of course, there are lots of interesting stories. The first two episodes were a single story, the whole "Nightmare Moon" thing I mentioned before. The third ep involved the ponies getting tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, an annual event in Canterlot, which they attend in the first season finale. (It's odd, because that's apparently the first time they went, but I thought they had gone immediately after the third episode.) There's also an episode that introduces a zebra named Zecora, who's like a shaman or something. And... I dunno. There are 26 episodes in the first season. Some of them have adventurous plots, or big events, but most of them are just sort of everyday type stuff. They're all incredibly funny and cute, though. (There are also occasional homages to completely unrelated works, such as "The Music Man.") Anyway, season 2 starts with a 2-episode story, like the first season. There's a villain called Discord who has to be defeated. We'll also see a bit more of Princess Luna this season. And some ponies besides Twilight will sometimes write to Celestia about friendship lessons they've learned. The season ends with another 2-part story, in which we learn that Twilight has a brother named Shining Armor, who is captain of the guard in Canterlot. He's marrying a mare named Princess Cadance, who used to be Twilight's favorite foalsitter, when she was little. However... Twilight soon comes to suspect something's not right about Cadance. I don't want to spoil the details, but it was a pretty amazing season finale.

Also, I seriously suggest you look for official commercials (There's a Pony For That; Equestria Girls), as well as fanvids, which are just as fun as the show itself (some of which include mashups with various other shows, movies, games, etc.; some of these things seem quite a good match for the show, while others are more surprising, like Doctor Who, for example). I should also say that from what I've read, the show has a pretty accommodating relationship with fans, which is refreshing. It seems to me like the companies behind a lot of entertainment do all they can to restrict fans from expressing their love, whereas the people behind this show clearly appreciate the fandom....