Oh this episode is pre-… HOLY CRAP IS THAT WEIRD AL YANKOVIC?!
Yes… yes it is. Just like the fantastic John DeLancie playing Discord, Weird Al does a fantastic job playing Cheese Sandwich, the party pony which competes with Pinkie. I will say this, although this episode isn’t as technically beautiful as Bats! it is more impressive in other ways. Firstly, Pinkie isn’t flanderized beyond belief, which is a massive relief. Weird Al makes this episode stand out as well, because he pretty much plays himself as a pony… with wacky animation to boot.
Yes, the animation is once again splendid, and i will never stop praising it for it’s authenticity and elegance… as well as the laugh-out-loud funny facial expressions. The pacing was also great in this episode, exceeding the seasons previous attempts. It’s refreshing to have an obvious three-part episode, the first one setting up for the climax, and then the conclusion.
Also, we had Pinkie’s key get delivered, which was refreshingly more blatant, it seems like they are really hammering this in. What i also noticed, is that the lesson (in the Diary) was skipped, which was a nice change for the constant over-the-head bashing of some of these lessons.
Although this episode was definately character developing in some way, i couldn’t help but knock it for it’s lack of proper characterization in the first quarter, where the entire herd of ponyville-ians ditched Pinkie. Which would be sort of pushing it on it’s own, but the writers had to go the extra mile and literally have characters make fun of/belittle Pinkie right in front of her. Very cheap move…
But apart from that this episode was brilliant, in fact, it was SO much fun, that i can’t really knock it for these flaws I listed. It was enough entertainment and hilarity that for a kids show like this, I can let the incongruities slide for the amount of entertainment i received… which was a lot.
At the end of the day, the show is meant to entertain, it’s not some deep social satire, or deep character analysis, it’s an entertaining kids show. The fact that Weird Al offered to do this part should sing praises at it’s quality, as I doubt he’d be counting a massive paycheck from a small studio in Vancouver. Although he’s doing it for his kids, I think, it doesn’t make it any less entertaining. Props to him, and props to the show and it’s writers.
Grade: A
awkwardreviews 
I quite enjoyed your commentary, but I STILL CAN’T COMMENT ON YOUTUBE! (calms down) well, at least I can still comment here and on MLP forums.
Anyway, I enjoyed the whole episode. The number of songs took me by complete and joyous surprise! I enjoyed them all. In addition to the songs, my favorite moments were:
1. Bitchy Diamond Tiara actually giving Pinkie credit for planning her cute-ceañera way back in season 1.
2. Rainbow Dash mentioning her birthday was also the day she herself came to Ponyville
3. Pinkie Parties are SERIOUS BUSINESS to Pinkie
4. Pinkie making a Pinkie Promise with an actual cupcake in her eye.
5. Pinkie looking back at the photos of her past parties (and past episodes)
6.Everypony’s and Spike’s shocked reaction to Pinkie challenging Cheese to a Goof-Off followed by Applejack and Fluttershy having no idea what that is.
7.Twilight having a well-written rulebook on Goof-Off competitions and Spike lampshading her having a rulebook for everything.
8. During the Goof-off as Pinkie fed cupcakes to Rainbow, I was thinking “Take That, Dark Fanfic Cupcakes! Pinkie and Rainbow are best friends and Pie would never intend to harm Dashie” (you know what I mean, riiiiiiiiight?)
One thing that bothered me was that you were laughing so hard at the live-action moments of Boneless and Gummy that I was afraid you’d missed the part where Cheese started singing the lyrics to Pinkie’s “Smile, Smile, Smile” song from Season 2 and Pinkie called him out on it!.
Also, when I first saw the episode this morning on the Hub Network channel, I realized something: Rainbow was nervous about being the judge of the Goof-Off.for one simple reason: How can she still show her loyalty to Pinkie while not hurting the feelings of new-comer Cheese Sandwich? Especially after what happened at Rainbow Falls.
Final Topic: Yes, Your Rainbow Theory is most likely correct. Last week, I myself caught onto how the Rainbow eyes and Keys appeared in previous episodes and so posted on this topic: “Keys and Rainbow Items” on MLP Forums. Use this address and find my post near the bottom:
http://mlpforums.com/topic/85248-keys-and-rainbow-items/page-6
My screen name is WiiGuy and its avatar image is of a orange-mane unicorn in red and white clothing. You’ll see my evidence from Rarity Takes Manehatten and Rainbow Falls there. Although, the pattern on my post is slightly different for Pinkie. Compare how it happened to Rarity and Rainbow Dash to how it happened to Pinkie Pie. Bonus Clue: the pony’s name appears as part of the title! You can use the evidence to support your theory though of course I’m NOT the first to suspect and support the theory.
Three Keys and 12 episodes down, three Keys and 14 episodes remain. What will happen next? I look forward to your next review!
I have been waiting for this episode in a long time since a weird episode had been mentioned.