My Little Pony - Bumper Special (Animated) (DVD)

...Hasbro not only sold the My Little Pony toys, including Big Brother ponies aimed at boys, and Sea Ponies for the bath, but commissioned a series of cartoon shorts for the Disney Channel. These were called My Little Pony Tales, and ten of these are are present on this DVD.

The tales follow the characters of Ace, Bon Bon, Teddy, Bright Eyes, Clover, Lancer, Melody, Starlight, and Sweetheart as they learned about life, played games, and ...
...not terrible value, but unless your child is My Little Pony mad, not the most outstanding purchase of the year, though certainly not the worst. If giving as a gift, considering the quality and price, I would pair it with a My Little Pony toy pony.   ... more

In 1992, Hasbro not only sold the My Little Pony toys, including Big Brother ponies aimed at boys, and Sea Ponies for the bath, but commissioned a series of cartoon shorts for the Disney Channel. These were called My Little Pony Tales, and ten of these are are present on this DVD.

The tales follow the characters of Ace, Bon Bon, Teddy, Bright Eyes, Clover, Lancer, Melody, Starlight, and Sweetheart as they learned about life, played games, and explored friendship as well as dealing with the odd crush on a pony of the opposite sex. Subjects are sensitively dealt with, and the addition of the male ponies catches the interest of boys as well as girls. It is worth noting that in this series, Ponyville has become like any other modern town in the 90's, with humans merely replaced with ponies. No magic, no bad guys.

The quality of animation is typical 80's and early 90's mass production, with not a lot of detail and some continuity errors in the drawings here and there, but to no great loss of the viewing pleasure. Indeed, this is part of the charm of this DVD, as many of these stories and characters appear as they were drawn in a series of books for children in the same era. The stories' subjects appeal to a broad range of ages, which is appropriate given the U rating, but children 6-10 may better appreciate the stories relating to school, team sports, and crushes.

Included on the dvd are the following episodes from the series (they are not in series order):
1. Bons Bons Party aka Bon Bon's Diary
Bon Bon cheats on a maths test and writes about it in her diary. She loses it and worries because she discovers Teddy finds it and fears he might tell.

2. Just For Kicks
Starlight has a crush on Ace, who is a fabulous footbal player. he has eyes only for Melody. the ponies suggest she try out for the mixed footie team. Will she get the courage and catch his eye?

3. Slumber Party
Sweetheart has a sleepover. They have fun playing charades and get to have ice cream sundaes.

4.. Too Sick To Notice
Bon Bon is tired of the baby getting attention because she is sick. So Bon Bon pretends to be ill and learns a valuable lesson.

5. Battle Of The Bands
Melody and her friends have aband. Melody wants to be a famous singer, and a local Battle of the bands is happening. She has to babysit ehr little sisters though, unless she can find a responsible replacement.

6. ...And The Winner Is
Clover wins a pair of tickets to see her favorite band in concert. She is over the moon, but only one of her friends can go with her, and bad feelings erupt.

7. Stand By Me
The ponies settle a disagreement about who broke a music player by holding a mock court session in class, and learn about justice.

8. The Tea Party
The girls form a club and exclude boys generally. They learn a lesson on equality and fairness.

9. The Masquerade
The ponies go to a masquerade party and learn about self confidence.

10. Out of Luck
Clover finds a teapot, and blames it for getting her grounded, despite not having done her homework as asked.

What you get for your money

Yoy get a dvd with the episodes listed above, unremastered, and you get the brightly coloured case. That is all you get. No extras save the menu that allows you to PLAY ALL or select an episode. The colours are bright enough, and the sound clear. It is in English only, and subtitles are not available. With 110 minutes of running time this is not terrible value, but unless your child is My Little Pony mad, not the most outstanding purchase of the year, though certainly not the worst. If giving as a gift, considering the quality and price, I would pair it with a My Little Pony toy pony.  

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