''My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas'' is a 2005
animated
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
Christmas film
Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared in in literature and Christmas music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptatio ...
produced by
SD Entertainment
SD Entertainment is an American animation studio specialising in direct-to-DVD and theatrical movies for children. The "SD" in the initials of the company name stand for Sabella Dern, the respective last names of its founders: former MGM Animation ...
, and released on October 25, 2005 by
Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global.
The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...
. It marks the first film appearance of the
titular toy franchise since their
big-screen debut in 1986. The DVD includes a bonus episode, ''Dancing in the Clouds'', which is first released on video bundled with Star Catcher in 2004.
''A Very Minty Christmas'' was made available on hubworld.com (a successor of Hasbro's MonkeyBarTV website), alongside ''
My Little Pony: The Princess Promenade'' and ''
My Little Pony Crystal Princess: The Runaway Rainbow'' but were later removed from the site.
The popularity of ''
Friendship Is Magic
Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague.
In some cultures, the concept o ...
'' has increased demand for reissues of the original ''My Little Pony'' titles.
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...
has now begun to produce DVD reissues of some of these titles, including ''A Very Minty Christmas''.
The film made its television debut on
Playhouse Disney
Playhouse Disney was a brand of programming blocks and international cable and satellite television channels that were owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit (now Disney Branded Television) of The Walt Disney Company's Disney–ABC Televis ...
's Movie Time Monday on December 25, 2006, and on
Toon Disney
Toon Disney was an American multinational pay television channel owned by Disney Channels Worldwide, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. The channel's target audience was children ages 2–11, and children ages 6–13 during the Jetix ...
's Big Movie Show on December 29. It finally premiered on
Discovery Family
Discovery Family is an American cable television channel co-owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Hasbro Entertainment.
The channel was originally launched by Discovery Communications on October 7, 1996 as Discovery Kids, a spin-off of Discover ...
on December 13, 2014.
Plot
Minty accidentally breaks the "Here Comes Christmas Candy Cane", which apparently guides Santa Claus to Ponyville. To try to make up for doing this, Minty gives each pony one of her socks (she hangs them like stockings on the other ponies' fireplaces). When Pinkie Pie finds out what Minty has done, Minty states that the sock giving is a bad idea, and then decides she should go to the North Pole herself to set things right. Minty is terrible at balloon flying, so the chase is on to save her in the process of saving Christmas.
Songs
*"That's What I Love About Christmas"
*"Nothing Says Christmas Like a New Pair of Socks"
*"The Magic of Christmas"
*"That's What I Love About Christmas" (Reprise)
Characters
Major
*Minty (voiced by
Tabitha St. Germain
Tabitha St. Germain, formerly known as Paulina Gillis Germain and also known as Tabitha or Kitanou St. Germain, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is known for a variety of roles across many different shows. She has been actively doing voi ...
) is the main protagonist of the story, an earth pony with a
spring green
Spring green is a color that was traditionally considered to be on the yellow side of green, but in modern computer systems based on the RGB color model is halfway between cyan and green on the color wheel.
The modern spring green, when plott ...
body and a
hot pink
Pink colors are usually light or desaturated shades of reds, roses, and magentas which are created on computer and television screens using the RGB color model and in printing with the CMYK color model. As such, it is an arbitrary classificati ...
mane and tail. Her cutie mark is three swirled mint candies. Minty is described to be a green machine, who likes anything green. She also loves collecting socks, standing on her head, and playing checkers with Sweetberry. She is also a complete klutz, always tripping into things, crashing into some obstacles, and ending up breaking things.
*Pinkie Pie (voiced by
Janyse Jaud
Janyse Jaud (, born November 26, 1969) is a Canadian actress, musician and author. Her major voiceover roles include '' Hulk Versus'', '' My Little Pony'', ''Inuyasha'', ''Ed Edd n Eddy'', '' Batman: Black & White'', ''Baby Looney Tunes'', ''War ...
) is an earth pony with a
hot pink
Pink colors are usually light or desaturated shades of reds, roses, and magentas which are created on computer and television screens using the RGB color model and in printing with the CMYK color model. As such, it is an arbitrary classificati ...
body and a
light hot pink mane & tail. Her cutie mark is three balloons. Pinkie Pie is imaginative, friendly and fun-loving, sometimes taking the lead in some situations. She also loves planning big parties and anything pink, hence her name. Other than that, she also displays some sarcastic streak over certain things and likes to hang out with Minty, despite her being a klutz.
*Rainbow Dash (voiced by
Venus Terzo
Venus Terzo is a Canadian actress who played Detective Angela Kosmo in ''Da Vinci's Inquest'' and its spinoff, ''Da Vinci's City Hall''. She was nominated in 2002 for the Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dra ...
) is an earth pony with a
sky blue
Sky blue is a shade of light blue comparable to that of a clear daytime sky. The term (as "sky blew") is attested from 1681. A 1585 translation of Nicolas de Nicolay's 1576 ''Les navigations, peregrinations et voyages faicts en la Turquie'' in ...
body and a
multicolored
Multicolor is a subtractive two-color motion picture process. Multicolor, introduced to the motion picture industry in 1929, was based on the earlier Prizma Color process, and was the forerunner of Cinecolor.
For a Multicolor film, a scen ...
mane and tail. She has a rainbow on the clouds as her cutie mark. Being the most mature of all the ponies, Rainbow Dash is stylish, and also caring. She herself sometimes cares about her friends more than her outside appearance, thought she can freak out on some occasions. She usually speaks with a
British accent
Spoken English shows great variation across regions where it is the predominant language. For example, the United Kingdom has the largest variation of accents of any country in the world, and therefore no single "British accent" exists. This ar ...
and always adds the word "darling" into her speeches.
*Star Catcher (voiced by
Lenore Zann
Lenore Zann (born November 22, 1959) is a Canadian actress and former politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Cumberland—Colchester in the House of Commons of Canada as a member of the Liberal Party. Before ...
) is a
pegasus
Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...
pony with a
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
body and a
sky blue
Sky blue is a shade of light blue comparable to that of a clear daytime sky. The term (as "sky blew") is attested from 1681. A 1585 translation of Nicolas de Nicolay's 1576 ''Les navigations, peregrinations et voyages faicts en la Turquie'' in ...
,
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
and
light hot pink mane and tail. Her cutie mark is a pink heart with glitter. Star Catcher resides in the secluded Butterfly Island during the events of ''Dancing in the Clouds'' until she met Skywishes. Described in Ponyville Legends to grant everyone's wish, Star Catcher loves to make friends with everyone she meets, especially to Skywishes.
*Thistle Whistle (voiced by
Tabitha St. Germain
Tabitha St. Germain, formerly known as Paulina Gillis Germain and also known as Tabitha or Kitanou St. Germain, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is known for a variety of roles across many different shows. She has been actively doing voi ...
) is a pegasus pony with a
turquoise blue body and a
bright pink and
sunshine yellow mane and tail. Her cutie mark is purple thistle flowers and a butterfly. Thistle Whistle is one of Star Catcher's close friends in Butterfly Island. Like her namesake, Thistle Whistle always whistles in her speeches.
Minor
*Sweetberry (voiced by
Kathleen Barr
Kathleen Barr is a Canadian voice actress. She is best known for voicing Marie Kanker and Kevin in ''Ed, Edd n Eddy'' and Trixie Lulamoon and Queen Chrysalis in '' My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic''. She also voiced Henri Richard Maurice Du ...
) is an earth pony with a
red-violet
Red-violet refers to a rich color of high medium saturation about 3/4 of the way between red and magenta, closer to magenta than to red. In American English, this color term is sometimes used in color theory as one of the purple colors—a non ...
body and a
violet
Violet may refer to:
Common meanings
* Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue
* One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly:
** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
Places United States
* Viol ...
,
spring green
Spring green is a color that was traditionally considered to be on the yellow side of green, but in modern computer systems based on the RGB color model is halfway between cyan and green on the color wheel.
The modern spring green, when plott ...
and
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
mane and tail. Her cutie mark is two strawberries and a white flower. Sweetberry is the owner of the Sweetberry Sweet Shoppe and, alongside Cotton Candy, works at the Cotton Candy Café. She likes to help each other out and also enjoys making sweet treats for her friends. Sweetberry is at times busy but very reliable.
*Cotton Candy (voiced by
Kelly Sheridan
Kelly Sheridan is a Canadian voice actress best known for being the voice for Barbie in the ''Barbie'' film series from 2001 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2015. She had also voiced in numerous animations and English-language dubs of Japanese animati ...
) is an earth pony with a
bright pink body and a
sky blue
Sky blue is a shade of light blue comparable to that of a clear daytime sky. The term (as "sky blew") is attested from 1681. A 1585 translation of Nicolas de Nicolay's 1576 ''Les navigations, peregrinations et voyages faicts en la Turquie'' in ...
,
light hot pink and
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
mane and tail. Her cutie mark is a cotton candy on a stick. The owner of the Cotton Candy Café, in where she serves ice cream and sundaes to her friends. She is also a storyteller, enjoying conversation.
*Sparkleworks (voiced by
Venus Terzo
Venus Terzo is a Canadian actress who played Detective Angela Kosmo in ''Da Vinci's Inquest'' and its spinoff, ''Da Vinci's City Hall''. She was nominated in 2002 for the Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dra ...
) is an earth pony with an
tangerine
The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in color. Its scientific name varies. It has been treated as a separate species under the name ''Citrus tangerina'' or ''Citrus'' × ''tangerina'', or treated as a variety of ''Citrus retic ...
body and a
bright pink mane and tail. Her cutie mark is a yellow, pink, blue and white fireworks. Sparkleworks is a Glitzy pony, who has a big imagination and can make each and every day an adventure. She is also found of glittery stuff and Razaroo explained that she coated Ponyville with glitter during her birthday.
*Sunny Daze (voiced by Adrienne Carter) is an earth pony with a
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
body and a
sunshine yellow,
bright pink,
tangerine
The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in color. Its scientific name varies. It has been treated as a separate species under the name ''Citrus tangerina'' or ''Citrus'' × ''tangerina'', or treated as a variety of ''Citrus retic ...
, and
violet
Violet may refer to:
Common meanings
* Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue
* One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly:
** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
Places United States
* Viol ...
mane and tail. Her cutie mark is an orange and pink smiling sun surrounded by purple clouds. Sunny Daze is a brave athletic pony, who usually loves outdoor activities and things with bright colors.
*Skywishes (voiced by
Saffron Henderson
Saffron Henderson (born September 25) is a Canadian voice actress and singer who often works with Ocean Productions in numerous anime dubs.
Career
Henderson tends to be cast as mature and flirtatious women, young boys and teenage girls, as wel ...
) is an earth pony with a
hot pink
Pink colors are usually light or desaturated shades of reds, roses, and magentas which are created on computer and television screens using the RGB color model and in printing with the CMYK color model. As such, it is an arbitrary classificati ...
body and a
bright pink and
violet
Violet may refer to:
Common meanings
* Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue
* One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly:
** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
Places United States
* Viol ...
mane and tail. Her cutie mark is a kite and a butterfly. Skywishes is one of Twinkle Twirl's students, who wished to be a ballerina and usually attends Twinkle Twirl's Dance Studio. She is rather scatterbrained, but usually likes to make special wishes. She met Star Catcher, a Pegasus pony, after she discovered the Rainbow Waterfall and Butterfly Island, and was once the only pony who knew the secret of the Pegasus Ponies.
''Dancing in the Clouds''
The DVD includes a second animated feature, ''Dancing in the Clouds''. It was originally issued on a VHS with a Pegasus pony toy, Star Catcher. Chronologically taking place after ''A Charming Birthday'' and before ''Friends are Never Far Away'', it shows Star Catcher's first encounter with Skywishes.
Media
Books
A comic adaption was published by
Tokyopop
Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed J ...
in 2005.
Reception
The special received positive reviews. Mike Long of DVDtalk stated that "The translation from toy to screen and back again seems to be the norm and the obligatory Christmas special is a staple of this phenomenon.
''My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas'' doesn't come close to matching the holiday magic of the classic Christmas specials, but some youngsters will love the bright colors and the gentle story of a pony who just wants to give her friends a merry Christmas."
See also
*
List of Christmas films
Many Christmas stories have been adapted to feature films and TV specials, and have been broadcast and repeated many times on television; since the popularization of home video in the 1980s, their many editions are sold and re-sold every year d ...
References
External links
*
{{My Little Pony
2005 direct-to-video films
2005 animated films
American Christmas films
American direct-to-video films
Animated Christmas films
Canadian Christmas films
Canadian direct-to-video films
American children's animated fantasy films
Canadian children's fantasy films
Canadian animated feature films
Canadian independent films
Direct-to-video animated films
Paramount Pictures animated films
Paramount Pictures direct-to-video films
Films scored by Mark Watters
English-language Canadian films
My Little Pony serials
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Animated films about horses
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