So it's come to this: Ponies Vs. Simpsons

Now even though there will be a new episode tonight, I thought I'd take the chance to talk about this. If you don't know this already, I do indeed watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Damn you TGWTG forums!) and I've been keeping up with the show on a weekly basis. No I am not obsessed with the show and will never create fanfiction nor fanart of how Rainbow Dash is a lesbian or how Derpy Hooves teams up with Doctor Whooves etc. So, why do I bring this all up on a blog where I specialize in The Simpsons? Simple:

Now does this remind you of anything? What SHOULD come to mind is The Music Man seeing as it's a parody of "Ya Got Trouble". But what people immediately thought was the Monorail song.

And can you blame them, while The Music Man is a popular movie, Marge vs. the Monorail is fresher in our culture and is considered by many as one of if not the greatest episodes of The Simpsons. But really after this musical number is where the comparisons die in my opinion. While strangers do approach the town with a crazy concoction to sell to the citizens of said town. Lyle Lanley is there purely to scam the town by building a cheap monorail and pocketing the profits. Flim and Flam on the other hand are there with a device to supply the town with more cider since supply appears to be low while demand is high. Really the second half of MLP: FiM resembles the tale of John Henry and how he beat a steam powered hammer. The resemblance is actually rather uncanny

• Both involve old fashioned work tactics that are threatened by new technology
• Both go into competition about which method is better
• In the end, technology loses

But I've gotten off track, you're reading this to see how I feel about the comparison between these two. 

Song:

Beleive it or not, I'm going to give the edge to MLP: FiM for the reason that their song actually lasts more than a minute (EDIT: Also, the song is more interesting and memorable is why I gave the point. Not that the monorail song was uninteresting or forgettable). However, The Simpsons' version was not really a parody of the song itself rather than a parody of how the song affected the townspeople. The townspeople were easily influenced by a song and The Simpsons was making fun of that concept

Sorry, but this song IS more interesting

Villain:

Lyle Lanley by a mile. Lyle actually has a deceptive motivation, he wants to rob the people of their money. Flim and Flam on the other hand... their motivation still eludes me. They come to town promising to keep up the supply and even offer their machine to the Apple family in exchange for a sizable cut of the profits (And if this show weren't for kids, there would have been haggling involved). However when they say no, F&F decide to attempt to run the Apple family out of business as competition. Their motivation is money much like LL, but it seems more like business competition rather than bad intentions so they aren't strong villains.

Lyle knows where you live Marge

Harold Hill Stand-in:

Now this category is going based purely on who is more enjoyable. Just who is more fun to watch. And again, Lyle Lanley by a lot. Lyle is just so much fun to watch throughout this episode and he is my all time favorite Phil Hartman character. The F&F brothers are good as well, but Lyle Lanley stole that episode while the F&F brothers were just... there. Outside of the musical number, there was no one scene in my opinion where they just made a name for themselves. So point to the Simpsons

Who is that mysterious looking man from the 30's?

Just Desserts:

This category goes to which one had a better ending for the villain. Now the winner here goes to MLP: FiM for two reasons

1. They didn't wuss out on the competition and have the Apple family win because they are main characters
2. Despite the F&F brother's victory, they didn't earn it and the townsfolk let them know

Now, that's not to say that The Simpsons ending wasn't good, watching Lyle Lanley land in North Haverbrook thinking that he's won was priceless. Point to MLP: FiM 

They won, but at what cost?

The Episode itself:

Okay this is probably the most lopsided category I could choose her seeing as I called Marge Vs. The Monorail a consensus top episode. It's not like Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 (Try saying that 3 times fast) is anything to scoff at, but it's just hard to argue against the monorail. When people think of the monorail episode before The Music Man you know you've done something right. So of course point to the Simpsons

I AM VICTORIOUS!!!

Final Count:

Marge Vs. The Monorail: 3

Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000: 2

So yeah I do think that the monorail episode is better. But it's not like the cider episode is bad, it's pretty good. So yeah I might try this again, leave feedback (Mostly hate from Bronies) and I'll see you tomorrow.