Spike at Your Service
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| "Spike at Your Service" | |
|---|---|
| My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 9 |
| Directed by |
|
| Story by | Dave Polsky |
| Teleplay by | Merriwether Williams |
| Produced by |
|
| Original air date | December 29, 2012 |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Spike at Your Service" is the ninth episode of the third season of animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic as well as the sixty-first overall.
Plot[edit]
 | This article needs an improved plot summary. (November 2021) |
When Applejack saves Spike from a timberwolf attack in the Everfree Forest, he insists on helping her around the farm in order to repay a life debt that is customary to dragons in their "Dragon Code". His efforts only make trouble for her and the other ponies, and they set up a fake timberwolf attack for Spike so that he can save Applejack from, thus making him feel satisfied with his debt. Their ruse draws a pack of real timberwolves, which Applejack easily crushes, but the pieces form into a single giant beast and she gets caught in a rockslide. Spike causes the timberwolf to fall apart by throwing a rock down its throat, and frees Applejack. Afterwards, Applejack convinces Spike to give up his debt.
Background[edit]
"Spike at Your Service" was directed by James Wootton, with Jayson Thiessen supervising, and written by Merriwether Williams, based on a story by Dave Polsky.[1] According to Polsky, though Spike is shown to know very little about being a dragon in "Dragon Quest", the Dragon Code "[k]inda felt ... credible he'd taken initiative to learn about his dragon heritage since".[2] In the first treatment, Spike owed Rarity a life debt. Because Rarity was so cruel to Spike, it was changed to Applejack.[3][better source needed] The Timberwolves are dogs made of wood. According to Mary Jane Begin, author of My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria, their threateningness mostly comes from their size, machine-like structure, and sharp geometric shapes.[4] They were modelled and animated by layout supervisor John Cantlie;[5] instead of the planned Flash animation, the wolves were animated using Autodesk Maya.[6]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
The episode aired on December 29, 2012, on The Hub.[7] It was viewed by 432,000 people and garnered double-digit year-to-year delivery gains in all demographics except kids aged 2–11 and 6–11, which gained one-digit gains.[8] Daniel Alvarez of Unleash the Fanboy gave "Spike at Your Service" three and a half out of five stars, calling it "[n]ot great and perhaps the weakest episode of the season, but enjoyable nonetheless".[9]
Home media[edit]
The episode has been released as part of the Friendship Is Magic season three collections, in Region 1 by Shout! Factory and Region 4 by Madman Entertainment.[10][11]
References[edit]
- ^ "Spike at Your Service". My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Season 3. Episode 9. December 29, 2012. The Hub.
- ^ Polsky, Dave [@DavePolsky] (December 31, 2012). "@Brian_Lay Can see your point, Brian. Kinda felt it credible he'd taken initiative to learn about his dragon heritage since, but good point" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ CouchCrusader (February 22, 2013). "Panel Writeup: The Writer's Room". Equestria Daily. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
- ^ Begin, Mary Jane (October 13, 2015). My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria. Abrams Books. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-419-71577-8.
- ^ Thiessen, Jayson [@goldenrusset] (December 31, 2012). "@StandbyPlease thanks. One of our layout supervisors, John Cantlie, modelled and animated them himself. saved doing it in flash" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Thiessen, Jayson [@goldenrusset] (December 31, 2012). "@YupTDO @standbyplease he just went ahead and did it on his own. We planned to do it in flash but he thought they would look better in Maya" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Busis, Hillary (December 28, 2012). "'My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic': Exclusive clip and art". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
- ^ "The Hub Wraps 2012 with Fifth Consecutive Quarter of Year-Over-Year Audience Growth Across Key Demos" (Press release). Hasbro. January 3, 2013. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
- ^ Alvarez, Daniel (December 29, 2012). "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic 'Spike at Your Service' Review". Unleash The Fanboy. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
- ^ "My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Season Three". Shout! Factory. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
- ^ "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season 3 Collection". Madman Entertainment. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
