So here we are. The first entry within a lengthy journey into the animated world of MLP: FIM. Without wasting too much of your time, valued reader, I'm going to cut the small talk and just get to why you're probably here. So, allow me to get my serious face on and simply explain a few rules first. I am going to be giving a short description of each individual episode within the season, explain what I thought was good about it and what I believed was not. I will then proceed to give the episode a score from 1 to 10 depending on what I believed it's quality to be overall. After saying my piece on every single entry that Season 1 has to offer I will proceed to give a few closing opinions and impressions on the season as one, larger entity in it's own right. So, without any further ado, I present to you, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Season 1, reviewed!

 

 

1) Friendship is Magic: Part 1 - A good introductory episode. It establishes a world, our main protagonists and even a competent and thrilling story and antagonist. It IS a little repetitive at certain times, and the characters ARE rather flanderized versions of themselves, but in an introductory episode, I kind of appreciate that they need to be in multiple aspects. The humor was rather decent within the episode, with all of the characters bringing their unique quirks into the mix, and overall it was a good start. It wasn't a GREAT start but it will certainly do.

7/10 

2) Friendship is Magic: Part 2 - Sloppy execution, a bad exposition for a great deal of scenarios that ends up completely undermining the episode's admittedly epic climax. It felt very rushed with very little context being given to all of the respective problems which were thrown at the Mane 6. The humor is okay and the previously mentioned epic climax DOES help, but it's not quite enough to keep this episode from failing.

4/10

3) The Ticket Master - A very predictable plot with the Mane 6 being overly demanding and annoying, and while I do appreciate that that was largely intentional, it still comes across as rather grating and repetitive. Not to mention that it completely goes against the idea that the Mane 6 ALL deserve the extra ticket in their own right. However, the episode was decently funny for the most part, and other than the flaws I previously mentioned, there isn't much wrong with it.

4/10

4) Applebuck Season - A rather funny episode with an original plot and good execution. Seeing an exhausted Applejack cause utter havoc herself and her surroundings was just a comical experience overall. Too bad that the scenes with Applejack and Twilight talking were boring and repetitive. Oh, let's also try and keep regurgitating ponies out of our episodes as well. I DO NOT want to see regurgitating ponies.

6/10

5) Griffon the Brush-Off - Some great interaction between Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie that led to a lot of funny lines. The conflict was both interesting and seemed realistic, Pinkie reached a surprisingly mature frame of mind all by herself and Rainbow Dash ended up really living up to her element. Gilda isn't an original character in the slightest ( at least for now ) and her dialogue is rather cringey ( I don't care how " HIP " she's supposed to be), Twilight was slightly irritating when she was talking to Pinkie Pie ( although she did apologize by the end of the episode ) and the moral COULD have been worded a bit better but I still like this episode succeeds regardless of these flaws.

7/10

6) Boast Busters - A complete mess of an episode. Terribly unlikable characters ( and funnily enough, the only character to which I am NOT referring to is Trixie, the episode's apparent antagonist ), a bad execution of the respective ideas that the episode was attempting to convey to the audience and every joke falls flat on it's face. How about the next time I see a travelling performer, you know, DOING THEIR JOB, I come and attempt to show them up and get them exposed and kicked out of town?! No? Because that's what we humans like to call a dick move. No real redeeming factors. One of the worst episodes that the show has EVER put out there.

2/10

7) A truly epic story that lets Fluttershy take charge and get some great character development. Filled with humor, action and adventure. In fact, the only thing that puts me off this episode is Rainbow Dash's treatment and lack on sensitivity towards Fluttershy's capabilities. I know that it's mostly in character but I still think that she goes a little too far. Other than that, a great episode.

 8/10

8) Look before you Sleep - What more is there to say? Twilight acts like fu@king moron and Rarity and Applejack act like complete passive-aggressive children. Everyone is out of character and the humor completely flops. No, seriously, there is nothing more to say with this one.

3/10

9) Bridle Gossip - Okay, so the episode tries to tell us to not judge a book by it's cover. Despite the fact that the episode gives no Godforsaken reason NOT to judge a book by it's cover. Do you see the problem that we are running into here?! The poison joke is just over-the-top and contrived, even if it's effects are admittedly pretty hilarious. You also DON'T abandon your shrunken sister in arguably the most dangerous place in all of Equestria, no matter HOW young you are!

4/10

10) Swarm of the Century - A frantic, chaotic, bizarre and adorable episode, the unique plot and extremely quirky nature of the whole scenario makes the entire episode extremely humorous. This is one of Pinkie's best appearances, particuarly in the older seasons and the moral is approached in a brand new and some what left-field manner. Pinkie could have perhaps made her intentions a bit clearer but that's really it when it comes to complaints.

9/10

11) Winter Wrap Up - Decent humor, decent set-up, decent story, okay moral, AMAZING SONG. I dislike the scene where Applejack blew up at Twilight, but other then that nothing is outwardly wrong with the episode. The definitive definition of mediocrity.

5/10

12) Call of the Cutie - A surprisingly mature story within a realistic scenario. All of our protagonists are likable in their attempts to help Applebloom and the moral is really well executed considering the difficulties of writing an episode from a brand new viewpoint. It's just kind of sad that Diamond Tiara isn't a very interesting character ( for now ). Other then that, a great a episode. It's just unfortunate the show seems to have forgotten entirely about this episode's moral in future CMC episodes.

9/10

13) Fall Weather Friends - A funny episode ( mainly courtesy of Pinkie Pie and Spike) with a thrilling and action orientated, yet sensible conflict between Rainbow Dash and Applejack and the change of season gives the episode it's own unique feel, not to mention how nice it all looks with all of the shades of red, yellow and orange that are used for the forest leaves. If only they could fit Twilight in properly. And make her less irritating. The moral is classic, yet effectively done. Don't cheat kids. ( Just kidding, I cheat all the time. )

7/10

14) Suited for Success - A brilliantly well-executed approach into the personal struggle that an artist has between making everybody happy with their respective product and sticking to what they believe is right for them personally. The story is unique and the moral is really well executed. The Mane 6 are a little irritating with their demanding nature but that's honestly a nit-pick at this point in time, as it's just an overall great episode.

9/10

15) Feeling Pinkie Keen - Look, the episode is funny as hell. We all know that it is. But it still completely ignores logic ( and I know that's the point but it even ignores it's OWN logic and it feels way too much like an excuse to do anything that they want with the story ), has no sort of explanation for it's occurrences, brings up Pinkie-sense right out of thin air and may just have the most rancid moral in MLP history. Not to mention that the episode gets a little TOO trigger-happy with the Twilight annihilation at some points. Honestly though, she gets a freaking PIANO dropped on her head in one scene!

4/10

16) Sonic Rainboom - A fantastic conflict that shows an entirely new and relatable side to Rainbow Dash's character, has a brilliant conflict with a multitude of different elements coming into play during the story. The action is fast-paced and fantastic, the moral is done in a really interesting manner and the brand new setting ( Cloudsdale ) has some really interesting aesthetics and concepts ( particularly the factory, which had some really ingenious ideas in it. ) I wish that the bullies were slightly more interesting, but that's really all for negativity and, rust me, I LOVE being negative.

9/10

17) Stare Master - It was great seeing Fluttershy step up to the metaphorical plate and indulge in an endeavor that was completely new for her. The Everfree forest made for an interesting adventure for our protagonists and the episode was pretty funny. However, the CMC were really irritating at times, Twilight was shoehorned into the story for no Goddamn reason at all and the stare itself has certain...unpleasant implications. 

6/10

18) The Show Stoppers - I'm sure that one of the writers of the show ( Cindy Morrow, to be exact ) was sitting down at their desk doing meth and/or cocaine one day and thought to themselves "Hmmm, wouldn't it be great to create an episode which completely goes against the previous CMC episode, shows us an abundantly obvious solution to the group's entire purpose for ever being together in the first place and yet still expects the audience to watch the CMC be complete and utter idiots and try to find their talents, despite the fact that everyone watching already knows what their talents are and how they would/could/should be achieved". Yeah! That sounds like a great idea! ( Extreme sarcasm ) NO, it doesn't! it's a HORRIBLE idea! Don't even get me started on the song. And no, being intentionally bad does make the song good in any sort of capacity.

3/10

19) A Dog and Pony Show - We get to see Rarity be an amazingly strong protagonist and completely take charge of a difficult situation. The location is brand new and interesting and the episode is hilarious. The scenes with the rest of the Mane 6 ( and Spike ) ARE made a little redundant at times but it's more than worth it to see Rarity as a completely kickass heroine ( and no, I'm not going to give it a superior score over other episodes JUST because Rarity is the main focus of it, I'm not THAT corrupt ).

9/10

20) Green Isn't Your Color - A great story ( despite the fact that it takes some obvious cues from Suited for Success ) and conflict between two characters that have very good chemistry together ( in my eyes at least ). A really intriguing and realistic set up and situation with, for the most part excellent exposition and execution. The humor of Rarity and Fluttershy trying as hard as they possibly can to pretend to be okay with their respective new positions was both funny and drove the plot along nicely. My only problem is with Twilight. WHY on Earth is she in this episode? Both she and her role do nothing but hold back the episode from being amazing. At least our ACTUAL protagonists came to the conclusion/resolution on their own in the end.

7/10

21) Over a Barrel - A...peculiar episode to say the least. A brand new setting, a large variety of brand new faces. I found it's humor to be slapstick and funny, not to mention fitting the scenario in which it was utilised in a really comfortable fashion. The plot was beyond bizarre for the period in the show's running but I really enjoyed it. Both of the respective sides in the argument have reasonable reasons for supporting their causes, making the whole situation feel more realistic and less contrived. Pinkie Pie IS particularly irksome in the episode and the ending is kind of anti-climactic but would have to argue that the unique layout, strong moral and cartoonish comedy more than balance these problems out.

8/10

22) A Bird in the Hoof - Why...........? Bad gross-out ( and I don't mean that it's too disgusting, I mean that it's just poorly done ), Twilight is forced into episode's plot ( again! ) for no good reason other than, and I'm almost directly quoting the episode here, "She was just stopping by" and as for the ending...wow! A complete middle finger to the audience telling them that all everything that Fluttershy went through was all just a joke ( just a prank BRO )! And Celestia couldn't have mentioned the solution to the situation because...lemons. I don't care if she was in a hurry, all she had to do was utter on Goddamn word for crying out loud! I'm done with this one. Moving on.

3/10

23) The Cutie Mark Chronicles - Come on, we all know that I'm going to rate this episode favorably. VERY favorably in fact. A fantastic moral, amazing story-telling, great humor ( and from the CMC of all ponies ) and a great contribution/insight into the past lives of our protagonists and the show's lore in general. In terms of flaws...ummm...maybe the ending is slightly contrived? Maybe? But that barely feels like it's worth mentioning. One of show's best episodes.

10/10

24) Owl's Well That Ends Well - And Cindy Morrow strikes again! For the second time in a row. Jealousy is only unreasonable when the reason behind that jealousy is unreasonable, which this episode doesn't even bother to attempt to address. The Mane 6 have known Spike for how long now? Over a year? ( All of her life in Twilight's case. ) With that in mind, WHY ON EARTH DO THEY TREAT A PERSON THAT THEY HAVE LITERALLY ONLY KNOWN FOR A DAY THE SAME AS THEY TREAT HIM??!! It's not jealousy, it's blatant bullshit. Owlowiscious is an irritating Mary Sue and Twilight's scolding of Spike make me want to undertake in smashing my head against a brick wall. Any sort of moral is COMPLETELY crippled in it's effectiveness by this severe problem. This episode's only saving grace was the scene where Spike dressed up in a top-hat and cape and went around acting like a Saturday-morning cartoon bad guy. I will happily admit that that part made me laugh. Other than that though, this episode is terrible.

3/10

25) Party of One - A complete oddity of an episode. And I love it. The humor is peculiar, I'll admit it may not be for everyone. But, to me, it was just plain funny. The story, yes, you knew where it was going and what it was doing all the time but, honestly, I don't care as the episode does such a good job at keeping the conflict entertaining. Pinkie Pie is strange and it is amazing. My one tiny gripe is the moral ( or at least part of how it it's phrased ). It's important to never assume the worst of your friends, yes, but it also seems unrealistic to always assume the best. Apart then that however, the episode is excellent.

9/10

26) The Best Night Ever - There's really not much to say about this one. I love the story, I love the change of setting, I love how it feels like a season finale, I love how it continues of off a previously established story arc and completes it successfully, I love the humor ( crazed Fluttershy ) and I LOVE the song. Not going to bother bringing up any flaws here, they're too small to matter.

10/10

 

 

 

So, there's Season 1. Be aware that I judged these episodes as critically as I could possibly could judge them. All personal preferences were kept out of what I had to say on each episodes. Also be aware that my opinions are NOT fact, nor should they be interpretation or misconstrued as such. Make your own opinion for yourself. This is just here to give the ten or so people reading this some brief insight into what I think of Season 1 as a whole. These ideas will also be applied in parts of this lengthy and figurative ( I'm not crazy, I'm not actually going to run a LITERAL marathon with running and stuff ) marathon. With that out of the way, how did the Season fare as a whole? Pretty well, especially considering that it was the first. Characters were well established into the the ( sadly ) imaginative realm of the show quickly and, for the most part, seamlessly, we as fans got taught the basic principles of the show really fluently and almost every episode had a great moral to tell in it's own right. I'm not going pretend like it's all happy smiles and rainbow kittens, as the season definitely had it's fair share of failures, with ten out of twenty-six of it's episodes achieving a score lower than a five out of 10 respectively. A common complaint here was Ms. Twilight Sparkle herself and her unnecessary, yet repeated appearances in situations that she did not need to be present in. I understand WHY they did it, she is the main character and all, and she DOES need to witness the scenario to write about the lesson learnt out of it at the end of the episode but it's more HOW they did it. As in it wasn't subtle in the slightest. And what's anomalous to me is that there WERE some episodes that understood the need to take the spotlight off of Twilight for the overall strength of the story in general. So why couldn't all of the episodes achieve this? Oh well, at least they remedied this error in the show's later Seasons. This Season in particular is the most difficult to critique in a coherent manner due to the fact that it was an establishing season, and I feel like this is one of the season's biggest weak points, as I felt that there were times when the show put establishing what would later become the norm in seasons down the metaphorical road in favor of taking risks and therefore making them less interesting/unpredictable as a result. It played itself too safe at times, and I would have loved to have seen some more diversity among the episodes as a whole. Whenever someone brings this season into discussion, that's just what I think of it. The establishing season. It wasn't until Season 2 where the show would truly feel comfortable in it's own skin for me, which is immediately evidenced by the Season 2 two-part opening. There were also moments were it felt like the show as only going over it's moral at the end of the episode because it HAD to, and it felt either shoehorned in or rushed and that's why I feel that a few of the morals came across as the way that they did ( a prime example being the completely incoherent moral of Feeling Pinkie Keen ), and I was honestly glad to see the writers trust the audience a little more to find the message for themselves in later seasons. However, despite all of this, I still find myself enjoying Season 1 in general, even if it is a little hard to back to at some points. A humble, but certainly impressive beginning for the glory of Friendship is Magic.

That is why my overall rating for Season 1 is...

 

165/260 or  6/10

Please be aware that these scores are how good they are for the show that they are in as opposed to perhaps what I believe them to be overall. A 5/10 here may be a 9/10 in modern Family Guy ( God I despise that show ) for example, and also be aware that the second score is an average/estimate and is NOT exact. With that cleared up, that dear readers is MLP:FIM Season 1. Thank you so much for the 10 of you who took the time to take a look at this, and if you have a difference opinion pleases feel free to comment ( although please try and do it respectfully ). Next stop - Season 2, many people's favorite season of the show. Will I agree with them? Stop by on June 1st ( fuc@ing bullshi@ buddy ) for answers. Thank you again, this is Rarity the Supreme, and have an...adequate day! ( What, just because you read my blog, it doesn't mean that we're going to be all cotton-candy clouds and sunshine serenades! )

 

 

 

P.S. I've been trying to write this for two days straight now, but my Ipad kept crashing on me. I just switched over to a laptop and everything worked out a lot smoother for me. So, if you were expecting it on Easter there's your explanation, although I still am sorry and I greatly thank and appreciate your patience. It's eight in the morning and I haven't gotten any sleep, so ummmm....I'm sorry for any possible spelling or grammar errors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Rarity for life. 

( No,I'm not going to spell it Rarity4Life, I'm not a child. I have standards for fu@k's sake. )