| Alt Name: | My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Magical Movie Night and My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Tales of Canterlot High |
| Director: | Ishi Rudell |
| Composer: | William Anderson |
| Language: | English |
| Num Episodes: | 3 |
| Runtime: | 22 minutes |
| Producer: | Angela Belyea |
| Network: | Discovery Family |
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (also known as My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Magical Movie Night on home media release and My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Tales of Canterlot High on Netflix)[1] is a trilogy of animated television specials based on Hasbro's toyline and media franchise of the same name, which in turn is a spin-off of the 2010 relaunch of the main My Little Pony toyline. As with prior installments in the Equestria Girls franchise, the specials follow the main characters from the television series , re-envisioned as humanoid teenagers attending high school.
Three 22-minute animated specials were produced by DHX Media's 2D animation studio in Vancouver, Canada for Hasbro Studios in the United States. After being announced in October 2016, they aired from June 24 to July 8, 2017, on Discovery Family (a joint venture between Discovery Communications and Hasbro).[2]
The specials follow the daily lives and adventures of Canterlot High School's top students – Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity – following the events of .[3]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate |
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The three specials aired in the United States from June 24 to July 8, 2017, on Discovery Family (a joint venture between Discovery Communications and Hasbro) as a part of the channel's "Summer Splash" seasonal event. The Summer 2017 music videos, also aired as a part of the event, share the same title sequence as the specials.
Prior to the U.S. broadcasts, the specials had a weekly release in Poland on Teletoon+ from May 14 through May 28, 2017.[4] [5] [6]
The three specials were released on a one-disc Region 1 DVD on August 8, 2017 by Shout! Factory under the title My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Magical Movie Night.[7] Under the title My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Tales of Canterlot High, the specials were also made available on the Netflix video streaming service on October 1, 2017.[1]
The Magical Movie Night compilation DVD release received mixed reviews, with criticism directed towards the DVD's lower visual and sound quality compared to previous films as well as the lack of extra content. Brett Nolan of NoReruns.net praised the DVD's presentation of the specials as a single film, saying it gave the specials "a much more cohesive and cinematic feel, lending itself beautifully to watching it straight through in one go."[8] Joe Corey of Inside Pulse gave the specials an overall score of 4 out of 5, including his daughter's input that she "wasn't bothered that this wasn't one narrative such as the previous four movies".[9] Classic Speedy of ToonZone (now Anime Superhero) called "Dance Magic" a "slight but fun story", while considering "Mirror Magic" to be the best of the three stories as a direct follow-up of the second special, and for its "unexpected" inclusion of Starlight Glimmer as a character.[10] Conversely, Francis Rizzo III of DVD Talk, while giving the story content three out of five stars, drew unfavorable comparisons to Friendship Is Magic as he felt it contrasted the previous films' "sense of identity built around music and a quasi-magical backstory", considering the specials to be "more like a standard earthbound teen cartoon that eventually remembers that there are superpowers involved come the third episode".[11]