| "Slice of Life" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode | |||
 Equestrians from near and far at Cranky and Matilda's wedding ceremony. | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 5 Episode 9 | ||
| Directed by | Jim Miller | ||
| Written by | M.A. Larson | ||
| Editing by |
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| Original air date | June 13, 2015 (2015-06-13) | ||
| Running time | 22 minutes | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic(season 5) #Episodes | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Slice of Life" is the ninth episode of thefifth season of theanimated television seriesMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic as well as the 100th episode of the series overall, which was celebrated as a milestone episode byHasbro and its affiliates.[1][2][3][4] It was directed by Jim Miller, written byM.A. Larson and produced by Devon Cody. The episode aired on June 13, 2015 onDiscovery Family.
In the episode, Ponyville's citizens rush to prepare for a wedding betweendonkey couple Cranky Doodle and Matilda while theMane Six and intended wedding organizers—Twilight Sparkle,Applejack,Fluttershy,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash andRarity—are busy defending the town against a monster attack. The episode heavily features background and minor characters popularized by the show's adultfanbase, and was created to pay tribute to the fandom, whom Hasbro and the show's crew credited for the series' success.
On the day before their wedding, the betrotheddonkey coupleCranky Doodle and Matilda discover that the event has been misdated to that day on their invitations, which have already been delivered across Ponyville byMuffins. The couple's wedding plannerPinkie Pie is found busy fending off an attackingbugbear (a part-bear, part-bee monster) alongside her friendsTwilight Sparkle,Applejack,Fluttershy,Rainbow Dash andRarity. With the six mares occupied, the other citizens are left to prepare the wedding themselves, each caught in their own circumstances along the way:
The wedding proceeds without Twilight and her friends, whom Muffins accidentally locks out as they return from their victory against the bugbear.Mayor Mare presides over the wedding, honoring all the citizens who have played both big and small roles in enriching the couple's lives. Cranky and Matilda kiss, causing Hooves' fireworks to ignite in a vibrant display as a reaction to their love. As they watch the ceremony from outside, the episode ends with Twilight joyously embracing her friends and telling them how lucky they are to live in Ponyville.
According to Tom Cosgrove, the General Manager of Discovery Family, a series reaching 100 episodes is considered a "tremendous accomplishment".[5]Friendship Is Magic was not expected to reach this mark when the show started back in October 2010, according to Hasbro Studios executive director Brian Lenard, who had worked on the show from its inception.[6] Lenard attributed the show's success in part to the reaction of the older fanbase ofbronies, which allowed the show to grow organically with the interest of fans on other characters besides the main characters;[6] director Jim Miller similarly described the episode as a "love letter" to the fans for this reason.[7] According to the episode's writer,M.A. Larson, Hasbro proposed using the 100th episode to focus on background ponies, an idea which Miller initially argued against.[8] WriterAmy Keating Rogers was originally assigned to write the episode's screenplay, but due to scheduling issues, she exchanged episodes with Larson to write the previous episode "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone".[9]
The episode was first publicly discussed on aMy Little Pony panel at the 2014San Diego Comic-Con, where the crew mentioned the episode's focus on background and minor characters popularized by the show's fandom.[10][11]Meghan McCarthy said in a Q&A session atAustralia's 2015 PonyCon that the episode would not focus on the main characters, and that some featured characters' personalities would be based on fan interpretations, including "Doctor Whooves", whose name fans coined for his purported likeness toDavid Tennant's portrayal ofthe Doctor from the British television seriesDoctor Who.[12]
According to episode writerM.A. Larson, two working titles for the episode were "A Tour of Ponyville" and "A Tour of Equestria", and the episode originally featured Twilight Sparkle in a more prominent role prior to his involvement.[13] In Larson's initial drafts, the episode also featured several other supporting characters, includingFlash Sentry,Coco Pommel, and the royal guards, whose scenes had been cut for time.[13]
Phil Caesar and Krista Huot designed the inside of Doctor Hooves' house.[14] The music that played in DJ Pon-3's headphones was arranged fromDJ Snake andLil Jon's "Turn Down for What".[15] Kora Kosicka designed the bugbear.[16] Rebecca Dart and Phil Caesar designed DJ Pon-3 and Octavia Melody's house.[17] Electric cellistTina Guo performed Octavia's cello part during the episode's final sequence.[18]
During the episode, there is a split-second appearance of a group of people wearinghorse head masks; they are storyboard supervisor Timothy Packford (black horse mask), director Jim Miller (brown horse), storyboard artist Katrina Hadley (pink horse),Friendship Is Magic supervising director Jayson Thiessen (white unicorn), andRainbow Rocks co-director Ishi Rudell (zebra).[19]
"Slice of Life" aired on Discovery Family on June 13, 2015. The milestone episode was viewed by 431,000 viewers.[20] According to theNielsen household ratings, it was watched by approximately 0.22 percent of American households.[20]
Prior to the episode's release, Ella Anders of BSCKids, who praised the series' supporting and background cast, called the episode's premise "a great way to celebrate [the series' one-hundredth episode]". She also commented on the previews and fans' anticipation of the episode, saying that they "prove that Friendship is Magic is only growing stronger and gaining more popularity as season five marches on."[21] Daniel Alvarez ofUnleash the Fanboy gave the episode a perfect 10 out of 10 rating, calling it "one of the most heart-warming adventures" and "would have actually nicely served as a fine final episode to the series." Alvarez further commented by praising the entire episode overall.[22] Brian McNatt ofThis Is Infamous was more critical of the episode's references to the show's adult fanbase, saying, "As fun as it is for the members of the fandom it's aimed at, the bronies and their like, this episode must be hecka weird to the actual target audience of the show." Despite this, he considered the episode "a great experience", praising the episode's voice work and the musical duet between characters Octavia and "Vinyl Scratch" (DJ Pon-3).[23]
Sherilyn Connelly, the author ofPonyville Confidential, panned the episode, giving it an "F" rating, and wrote "To quote Miss Cheerilee inMy Little Pony: Equestria Girls: 'No. Just, no.'"[24] She wrote that the episode was "not good", and that while the focus on the background characters was a "solid concept", she wrote that "Slice of Life" did not feel like an episode ofFriendship Is Magic. Connelly lamented that the end result felt likefan fiction, and as someone who disliked fan fiction, found the episode "well-nigh unwatchable".[25]
"Slice of Life" was released on theMy Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Friends Across Equestria DVD, along with "Make New Friends but Keep Discord" (Season 5, Episode 7), "Amending Fences" (Season 5, Episode 12), "Made in Manehattan" (Season 5, Episode 16) and "The Mane Attraction" (Season 5, Episode 24), on March 1, 2016.[26] It was also released as part of the complete Season 5 DVD set.[27]