Do you think that the show is better before or after Lauren?

[FlitterFlutter 1,583]

Hello everypony, I have a question for all of you.

The question is Do you think that the show has gotten better or worse now that Lauren Faust has gone? I know a lot of people really like her. But for me I think that the show is better without her I mean most of my favorite episodes are from after her (EX. maud pie, Bats, pinkie pride). I was just wandering what everyone else thought.

[Nulln 755]

I think both are good.  I'm loving season 4 though.

[Pastel 7,630]

She left after the season 1 right?

I think I prefer after she left, I prefer the seasons 2 and 4 to the season 1.

 

...But nah, there isn't a big difference before and after she left.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Blobulle

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

I think they are the same on quality. But the scale of the show has deffinatly changed. When Faust was at the helm, we had season finales that were just 6 ponies finding out that their expectations of how great this social event would be often to not come true. And then with McCarthy at the wheel, we get season finales were Twilight is flying around at mach 7 throwing hadukins at a giant goatman. So while the quality of the writing has remained, the show really has gone up in scale.

[Princess Derpy 672]

I honestly haven't noticed much of a chage.

[BastementSparkle 20,326]

I didn't even know she left until a bit after season 3. I didn't notice any change in the shows overall quality. Season 4 is my favorite, but I like all of them. It was a great show with Lauren and it continued to be great without her.

[Nulln 755]

I think it most has to do with experience.  She just started the show off.  The seasons after that they had experience in making the show, knowing what the fans liked, has a fanbase established so it was ok for them to try out new things and push the boundaries.  I think if she were still on the show, it might still be just as good.

[Megas 27,626]

The show's been fine, I haven't really felt much of a difference

[Fuzzy Bugs 89]

I've seriously loved Season 4, it is my favourite season. However, I don't think the show has changed much. It's still a great show.

[Thespian 78]

I would say the bronies have had more of an impact on the shows outcome rather than a change in writers/directors.

[RainbowMau 291]

I see no difference, of course I wonder if with her still in the show we'd had Equestria Girls and alicorn Twilight.

[Singe 2,111]

I would say before, because Spike was better in Season 1. He had more to his character with the partial sexist side than being a pony pleaser. Also the Mane 6 were more rougher around the edges and lost some of that after Season 1. Applejack being strict against the use of magic vs. hard work. Could have went somewhere with Applejack seeing Twilight as physically weak due to her over reliance on magic.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

I think it has been a little better, but not by a whole lot.

 

It is hard to judge though because...would the show have evolved differently under Faust? How can we answer that?

 

Regardless I am extremely happy with what we have.

[DryGuy84 (Inactive) 927]

I think it's about the same. Faust biggest weakness is the lack of subtlety while tackling an issue, she tends to push things in a unique way, but sometimes pushes too far. McCarthy, on the other hand, has a tendency to throw concepts out of left field. I think that most of them work, but they often make the characters feel a bit less like the driving force of the story. 

 

NOTE: I'm basing this on their time as show runners, not their individual episodes.

I think they are the same on quality. But the scale of the show has deffinatly changed. When Faust was at the helm, we had season finales that were just 6 ponies finding out that their expectations of how great this social event would be often to not come true. And then with McCarthy at the wheel, we get season finales were Twilight is flying around at mach 7 throwing hadukins at a giant goatman. So while the quality of the writing has remained, the show really has gone up in scale.

 

This too. Faust has a more mundane approach to the characters, McCarthy likes to make the stories she writes bombastic and dramatic.

[The Crimson Cross 7,532]

This is an intriguing question.

Indeed the show was good WITH Lauren Faust, but as MLP has grown it has naturally gotten better as the animators and script writers have developed the show. Arguably the current seasons are far superior, but had Faust been helping it may have contributed to the show greatly.

The developers seem to know what they are doing anyhow.

[dekutree64 713]

I dunno. I love the whole thing. I think it went exactly the best way it could have. Lauren's character and world design is what gave it the potential for greatness, the episode writing, animation and voice acting of the first season is what actualized greatness, and Meghan taking over has given us virtually unlimited greatness rather than the story coming to a bitter end after 3 seasons with the mane 6 all scattered and Celestia gone.

 

I just wish Lauren wasn't sad at the result

[Dark Lord Sauron 18]

Every show has it's ups and downs, regardless of who is leading the team. So, I'll say this.

 

I'll enjoy it as long as it doesn't become bull.

[Kay Dreamer 884]

Faust was the lead writer of Season 1, and had a smaller role in Season 2. It was Hasbro insisting on the addition of Princess Cadence as a new Alicorn Princess which drove her to leave, as it fundamentally changed her entire mythos of the show. (Something I completely understand. I'd hate to have created a world only to have someone else come along and uproot how that world is supposed to work.) I personally think Season 1 was better, though Season 2 had some high points as well.

 

Season 3 was the first season where Lauren had no input at all, and is widely considered the roughest of all the seasons. Probably a combination of factors there; a short season, even more executive meddling and a lack of direction. It's very apparent the writers were trying to find their feet without Faust. If the season had been a proper length, and the events in Magical Mystery Cure been given more foreshadowing, I think it would have been a better season. At least it gave us Crystal Ponies.

 

Season 4 has been my favourite by a huge margin. It looks like after a shaky Season 3, our writers began pushing the show into a focused direction, with an obvious long-term goal in mind of how they want it to look and feel. McCarthy seems to have a great vision for the show, one with a great deal of flamboyance. It's actually going back to the roots of what Faust wanted; that finale felt like how 'The Elements of Harmony' did all the way back at the beginning. Faust had originally imagined the show to be equal parts Slice Of Life and Adventure, but Hasbro pushed for the Slice Of Life to be the focus instead. (Subscribing to the usual 'little girls don't like action' garbage.) We seem to be headed toward a more even split, which is extremely exciting for both adult fans, as well as retaining the little fans who are now three years older than they were when they first started watching.

[ThePreciseClimber 97]

Season 3 was the first season where Lauren had no input at all, and is widely considered the roughest of all the seasons. Probably a combination of factors there; a short season, even more executive meddling and a lack of direction. It's very apparent the writers were trying to find their feet without Faust. If the season had been a proper length, and the events in Magical Mystery Cure been given more foreshadowing, I think it would have been a better season. At least it gave us Crystal Ponies.

 

You're kidding, right? Season 3 was the first time I felt the storylines were actually going somewhere. 

[Pastel 7,630]

Season 3 was the first season where Lauren had no input at all, and is widely considered the roughest of all the seasons. Probably a combination of factors there; a short season, even more executive meddling and a lack of direction. It's very apparent the writers were trying to find their feet without Faust. If the season had been a proper length, and the events in Magical Mystery Cure been given more foreshadowing, I think it would have been a better season. At least it gave us Crystal Ponies.

 

I think this has nothing to do with Faust's leaving.

[Kay Dreamer 884]

@@ThePreciseClimber, 

Nah, I just wasn't feeling Season 3. There were a few good episodes of course, but overall it felt... haphazard. I don't dislike it; it gave us the Crystal Empire and Princess Twilight, both things I love. But it's still my least favourite overall.

 

By "lack of direction" I'm not only referring to plot lines. The show as a whole didn't seem entirely certain where it was going, leaving fans confused and unsure after the finale. Compare this season, which was clearly plotted, and had a finale with has left no doubt as to how the stories will be evolving in the future.

 

As I said, if they'd had a longer season to work with I think those problems would be less obvious. But as it stands, I think Season 3 had significant new elements which were foisted onto the writers by overzealous executives, who didn't give those writers enough space to incorporate them properly.

 

@@Blobulle,

The departure of Faust is just one of the elements I listed there. Nevertheless, I personally think it would have had a significant impact. Losing the original visionary behind the world you're working with will change the vibe of a work, be it music, art, movies or television.

[ThePreciseClimber 97]

The show as a whole didn't seem entirely certain where it was going, leaving fans confused and unsure after the finale. Compare this season, which was clearly plotted, and had a finale with has left no doubt as to how the stories will be evolving in the future.

 

Clearly the creators knew where it was going since they made S4 afterwards. Princess TS was written way before MMC aired and McCarthy herself said she considered PTS as parts 2&3 of a 3-parter.

The FANS were not entirely sure where it was going and, quite frankly, their complaints were based on nothing more than mere conjecture.

It seems it always comes down to big bad Hasbro and their "corporate mandate". Yeah, the entire show is one large corporate mandate. Hasbro needed it to promote toys. That's never a good argument.

[Kay Dreamer 884]

@@ThePreciseClimber, 

I still think MMC would have been better as a two parter. It needed more foreshadowing, and a larger scope.

 

I'm aware of the fact the primary purpose of My Little Pony is marketing. Hasbro had the show created to sell merchandise, plain and simple. For the most part, they've given the writers a great deal of freedom, which has resulted in a quality cartoon. But Season 3 was a case of too much, too little space, and not at the best time. (Having just lost Faust.) I also wonder to what extent the Equestria Girls movie pulled resources from FiM. A lower budget or time constraints would exacerbate any problems. It was the only season where I actually noticed executive meddling. That's a good thing, in a way; it indicates that Hasbro don't meddle all that often, or when they have previously, they've provided the showrunners with ample resources, time and freedom to make the meddled-with elements believable. That last part is vital to maintaining a quality show.

[TeaCrumpet 27]

@@ThePreciseClimber, 

I still think MMC would have been better as a two parter. It needed more foreshadowing, and a larger scope.

 

I agree with this completely. Personally S3 issue is that since it was short the writer should have focused on the end they wanted to bring about and not all the somewhat needed filler it gave us. Sadly S3 to me became more of a 2.5 season with MMC more like the prelude to S4 since except for TCE and MMC the episode in-between would have sat nicely in S2 without much fuss.   

 

As for the quality of the show, I think comparing S1 & 2 with S3 & 4 is like comparing apples and kumquats. While both still fruits they both look, feel and taste very different.

 

S1 & 2 were insulate slice of life seasons with little goals and heavy focus on character development of the girls personalities as well as them forging their new friendship through day to day trails and a few large adventures thrown into the mix for fun endings. With the exception for RtH, all of the other large endings had little impact on them except for plot device reason such as FiM giving them there powers. CW had more impact on the new character and the eventual TCE episode then the episode alone within the shows canon (comics not being counted here), and honestly BNE hasn’t been reference yet, so I can’t really count it having any impact on the overall show with the girls sadly.

 

 S3 & 4 Were far more about trying new ideas and expanding the MLP world and canon as well as seeing where they could push the idea of a slice of life show about candy colored ponies about friendship. A lot more adventure was thrown into these seasons and the attempts were made in seeing how an overarching story plot would work with additional story plots that were far more mature then S1 & 2 ever tried to have. These ideas have been met with various successes, however no one can blame the crew for not attempting to evolve the show into something that can last far longer than the slice of life style of seasons 1 & 2.

 

With the additional fact that Lauran had wanted the show to have a more adventure feel to it, and the simple fact that S4 overall has made good on their basic promise of giving us an explanation of what Twilight is to be the princess of, what will happen with her friends and a bit about alicorns and more world building, I think we can say that S4 did live up to what it said it would.

 

Overall the show has not lessened in quality, if anything it has gotten better with the amount of work all of the team (voice, animation, music, writers, etc…) has put into it. While Lauren’s mark on the show is something important to remember, I think people really need to put into perspective the fact that Lauren was only one member of a larger team, who frankly has a lot of the same people from day one, still working on the show. Also for the episodes that she wrote, fandom wise these eps are rarely in the top anything when it comes to remembering the fan favorites or best episode. In fact, the 3 she has done tend to show up in the least favorite of a lot count downs.   

 

As others have said Lauran is great with ideas, but is heavy handed with execution and moral writing. While Meghan has issues reigning in her ideas to fit the time allotted to her, she has a firm understanding of where the show needs to go and is still one of the best writers with some of the major top episode under her belt. I really think people need to just except that Meghan hasn’t ruined the show and simply the show needed to change in order for more stories to be told and at this point it is far more about personal taste then the overall quality of the show that is being put into question.

[FlitterFlutter 1,583]

@@ThePreciseClimber, 

I still think MMC would have been better as a two parter. It needed more foreshadowing, and a larger scope.

 

I'm aware of the fact the primary purpose of My Little Pony is marketing. Hasbro had the show created to sell merchandise, plain and simple. For the most part, they've given the writers a great deal of freedom, which has resulted in a quality cartoon. But Season 3 was a case of too much, too little space, and not at the best time. (Having just lost Faust.) I also wonder to what extent the Equestria Girls movie pulled resources from FiM. A lower budget or time constraints would exacerbate any problems. It was the only season where I actually noticed executive meddling. That's a good thing, in a way; it indicates that Hasbro don't meddle all that often, or when they have previously, they've provided the showrunners with ample resources, time and freedom to make the meddled-with elements believable. That last part is vital to maintaining a quality show.

I believe that the main reason season 3 was bad ( or not as good) was the Equestria Girls movie. I believe that pulled a lot of the resources. That and the fact that Lauren had just left and you where asking for a disaster.