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

[SparklingSquirrels 21,363]

I think it's about the same; I haven't really noticed a difference either like many others have already said. Season 2 is my favorite season, and I think Lauren was still working on the show at that point, just not at the helm of it.

[ShadowPirateX 600]

I really don't see any difference.

[Simon 4,557]

I have no preference.  To me, Lauren is more like the Gene Roddenberry of MLP.  It's not so much that what she did for the show is provide input on individual episodes, it's that she built a fantastic universe for the show that the writers and animators and other staff were able to create something fantastic within that Universe.  Whether she's still on the show or not, the show will always be shaped by the foundation that Lauren created for MLP, and even as it evolves and changes, it still would have never happened without Lauren's work and creativity.  So for me, whether Lauren is working on the show or not, she'll always be the reason that MLP:FiM happened and the reason that the show is something people of all ages and genders can enjoy, and it really makes no difference if she's working on the episodes anymore.

[Eloquence 2,076]

I think that season four, though it got off to a rocky start for me, turned out to be the show's best season (and I haven't even finished it yet), but I don't know how much that had to do with any presence or absence of Ms. Faust. I think that I like the current alicorn creation laws are better than what Lauren had in mind, because the ability for an alicorn to be made rather than born feels much less like a "deus ex machina" sort of situation to me. They were supposed to be the gods of their world, but I think flawed demigods are much more interesting. Besides, it makes the special attention given to Twilight by Celestia much more logical, and adds interest to the lore of Equestria.

[Kay Dreamer 884]

I just realised I never actually answered the actual question this thread posed, instead just rambling on about why S1 and 2 are different to S3 and 4 and why the showrunner is an important factor in determining overall direction. Which showrunner do I think was better? Lauren's or Meghan's?

 

Personally, while S3 was disappointing to me, S4 more than made up for it, and is in fact my favourite season by a very wide margin. The show is also poised to head in a very interesting direction indeed. So honestly, I'd actually say the show is better post-Lauren. But; it's still Lauren who gave us this world and these characters. So while I say I prefer the show now, that's keeping in mind we wouldn't have the show at all if not for Lauren's original vision.

[CosmicManta 2]

I'll have to say I do miss Season 1.

 

Season 3 is when I really noticed things getting bigger. There were a lot more magic related episodes with detailed plots, etc.

The intensity of the plots built until the finale, where Twilight transforms.

Enter Season 4. The new season started out bigger, partly because Twilight is now a princess and she has more problems to deal with. The 4th season, while still building up to a climax at the end, is still at a larger scale than the others. Now that we have seen Twilight deal with new problems, my hope is that the show will calm down a bit to where it was in Season 1 and 2.

 

I miss the smaller, less intricate conflicts of the earlier seasons and while I still appreciate the more detailed plot lines, I've found myself a bit homesick for when things were smaller, when Twilight was just a citizen and everypony knew everypony. Nowadays, you have all of the little fillies at the school crowding the restaurant where Twilight is trying to enjoy a meal at, everyone is amazed that the Cutie Mark Crusaders know Twilight, and she can't go about her normal life without somepony sticking their nose into whatever she's doing.

 

The other characters have changed as well. I've noticed that Pinkie Pie has gone from being quirky but lovable (Season 1) to being a little bit more on the quirky side, but still charming, to Season 3 where she's rather eccentric, and then to Season 4 where she's definitely closer to the crazy side ("Most of my dreams are about frosting! Creamy, creamy frosting....").

 

I didn't find out until later on that Lauren Faust was no longer writing for MLP:FiM (can't remember how I heard, doesn't matter) so these were just observations I made.

 

I'm not suggesting that the stories have declined in quality, but I will say that they've changed.

As far as animation and graphics go, it hasn't changed much. If anything it's gotten better over the years.

But one of the other things I've noticed are the songs.

 

Take a listen to the songs from season 1-4.

(seasons 1-3 and EG)

(season 4)

 

Notice how much the songs have changed over the course of those four seasons.

The first two seasons have songs in more of an indie style (that is to say, stuff that you could call pop that isn't so mainstream) with mandolin and guitar, orchestral music (usually in a style that differentiates it from the score)

whereas seasons 3-4 have more of a mainstream pop feel. I prefer the style of the first two seasons, as I'm more likely to listen to obscure indie bands than mainstream pop. That's just my opinion, and I'm one brony out of 20 million or so (1).

 

My guess here is that they're catering to the target audience: 5-9 year old girls. The majority of girls in this age range enjoy mainstream pop. I'm not saying that there aren't lots of little girls who enjoy obscure bands over mainstream music, and I'm not stereotyping. But with 7 billion people on this planet, a good deal of those people would be little girls and a good deal of those little girls would prefer mainstream pop.

 

No amount of hoping and wishing, on my part, will change the path of MLP. Either it will lean towards a bright and flashy future or it will settle back into a small, happy future not dissimilar to Seasons 1-2. I, an individual in a crowd of 7 billion cannot affect that. Whether or not we get what we're hoping for, we can still enjoy the show.

Edited June 8, 2014 by CosmicManta

[ColdGoldLazarus 8]

While I did vote for 'worse,' I wanted to clarify that I do not think the current show is bad by any means. (Honestly, I think there should be a few more options on the poll.) What it really comes down to is that Seasons 1 and 2 were a decidedly different show from Season 3 onwards, so comparing the two on equal ground is rather difficult. I refer to these two seperate eras as Fim and fiM, respectively, to highlight what I feel is the primary difference between the two.

 

For under Lauren Faust, the emphasis of the show was on friendship. Small scale conflicts, strong character interactions, (Especially in Season 1, which I feel nothing that has followed has come close to matching up to in that regard) and the occasional monster made their appearances. The Season 1 finale, my favorite episode of the show to date, was a relatively simple affair that examined the concepts of dreams and expectations, while gleefully smashing several fairy-tale tropes to dust in the process. The animation seems downright bland when compared to something from Season 4, and it's fairly clear both in the production and the writing that the team was still finding their legs.

Even Season 2 had these issues, yet though there were some things there I didn't like, (the shift away from Ensemble casts was my biggest gripe) It still had a pretty solid run of episodes, including It's About Time and A Canterlot Wedding, other favorites of mine.

 

Under Meghan McCarthy, the show's emphasis shifted over to the magic part of the title. What began in A Canterlot Wedding continued in Season 3, as the stakes rose, the scale grew, and the history of Equestria got more exploration. (As an aside, I find it amusing how Starswirl The Bearded was originally this super-obscure wizard... then two seasons later, there's a whole renaissance festival/traveling museum dedicated to him.) But this also meant that the small-town charm and focus on characters was marginalized further still. While I don't feel I can fairly criticize Season 3 given the circumstances surrounding it, I've noted issues across the past two seasons.

The Two-Parter adventures are almost too plot-driven, with characters either just being pulled along for the ride, or in the cases where their input is needed or even simply an option, they break character and/or make stupid decisions simply to make the plot develop in a certain direction. (This is particularly noticeable with Twilight's Kingdom, where everything was contrived to lead to her OMG SO EPICC!!!!!!!1!!! duel of brainless power with Tirek.) At the same time, the Slice-Of-Life episodes are imbued with a sense of purified mediocrity, and though I have several favorites, there are precisely two I can name off the top of my head where my praises didn't come packaged with several disclaimers or provisions.

 

I may be unhappy with the direction the show is going, and I may be utterly disgusted with the mess of a finale known as Twilight's Kingdom, (this from someone who quite liked Equestria Girls) but that doesn't mean I am disappointed enough to denounce Meghan on the spot or try to leave the fandom. The show is different, and the show certainly isn't as good, but it's still a decent show, and one I will continue to watch.

 

---

 

Whenever I think about the good old days of 2011, I suddenly feel like I'm some cranky old man yelling at you darn kids to get off my lawn.

Edited June 10, 2014 by ColdGoldLazarus

[Darker 1,352]

MLP was known as an innocent show for children. Now it's known as the maker of the so called "Cancer of the Internet". I don't think that, but MLP has gained a lot of hate via internet, and I don't like it, because they're insulting a harmless franchise, and that's because of the bronies.

[Rainboom Dash 1,056]

I find the recent seasons to be just as enjoyable as the early seasons, so I voted the same.

[[NULL] 907]

I don't think Lauren Faust leaving the show changed the quality of the writing. I don't think there was a point where the writing suddenly had a change in quality. I always thought the writing was gradually improving.

 

I didn't really like season 1 that much, but it's not because Lauren Faust was working on the show. I think it was a combination the EI rating, and some groan-inducing moments that made me wonder why the show was even popular to begin with. Thankfully in season 2, they removed the EI rating, and downplayed the cutseyness.

 

Lauren Faust didn't write many episodes. What she did do was set up the show's world and characters. To my knowledge, she oversaw the direction of the show, until the end of season 2.

 

Sadly, she wasn't allowed to do whatever she wanted with the show. It's a shame, really. Her ideas sounded pretty good.

 

Thanks Hasbro.

[Bucky McGillyCuddy 956]

If I was given the power to return Lauren Faust to the head of story I'd do it without a second though. Meghan McCarthy is cool but Lauren did the hard work of breathing new life into the series so I don't think it's fair that she gets cast aside after the first season.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

The writing quality has pretty much stayed the same throughout the run. Lauren Faust I do respect for establishing the characters and the universe they're in but it don't find her that good of a writer, mainly because she seems to lack subtlty. The only real differences in show running is there is slightly more corporate meddling which I can give or take. I heard someone on YouTube say Lauren Faust is like the George Lucas of animation where you can say this stuff but you can't write it.

[Jeric 46,866]

The show is just fine without Lauren. You see, she was an amazing idea person. Themes, concepts, symbolism, story ideas, characterization, etc. However, her only writing credit on the show was the pilot - and part two was ok. Just ok.

 

So yeah ... she is like George Lucas ... good producer ... good story teller ... but not the best script writer.

 

 

I have no preference. To me, Lauren is more like the Gene Roddenberry of MLP. I

 

Also an apt description.

[Gernia 691]

I thought the writing improved noticeably since when she left.

 

Season 1 is my least favorite due to the fact there are some awkward moments throughout that one. Season 2 got better before she left, and it kept improving from then on. Season 3 was alright with me, but there were some strange elements here and there, like it being shortened and the finale coming across as rushed (though I still enjoyed it, even more so than the Season 1 finale). Season 4 is my absolute favorite right now, where even episodes with odd premises are still executed well with no real awkward moments that I can think of - for the time being.

 

I just can't say I'm in love with Faust's writing, honestly.

 

The writing quality has pretty much stayed the same throughout the run. Lauren Faust I do respect for establishing the characters and the universe they're in but it don't find her that good of a writer, mainly because she seems to lack subtlty. The only real differences in show running is there is slightly more corporate meddling which I can give or take. I heard someone on YouTube say Lauren Faust is like the George Lucas of animation where you can say this stuff but you can't write it.

 

I believe you're talking about Bhaalspawn, who reviewed "Over a Barrel" with Josh Scorcher.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

I thought the writing improved noticeably since when she left.

 

Season 1 is my least favorite due to the fact there are some awkward moments throughout that one. Season 2 got better before she left, and it kept improving from then on. Season 3 was alright with me, but there were some strange elements here and there, like it being shortened and the finale coming across as rushed (though I still enjoyed it, even more so than the Season 1 finale). Season 4 is my absolute favorite right now, where even episodes with odd premises are still executed well with no real awkward moments that I can think of - for the time being.

 

I just can't say I'm in love with Faust's writing, honestly.

 

 

I believe you're talking about Bhaalspawn, who reviewed "Over a Barrel" with Josh Scorcher.

Actually I was talking about Jerry Peet.

[Gernia 691]

Actually I was talking about Jerry Peet.

 

That's the same person. He goes by both Bhaalspawn and Jerry Peet.

[Andaasonsan 3,205]

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.)

Can you provide a source where she says this?

[Kay Dreamer 884]

@@Andaasonsan,

 

...Sort of. I did a little more digging, and I'm slightly inaccurate on the Cadence thing; apparently it's deeper than just Cadence. (Who wasn't supposed to be an Alicorn in Faust's eyes, but she'd made the decision to leave long before that.)

 

 

Looking at the snippet below, I'm assuming there was quite a bit of executive meddling collaring her and getting in the way of her artistic vision for the show. As she said, "Various circumstances with the production made it increasingly impossible for me to keep up the level of personal creative involvement and control that I had at the start of the series." It's commonly thought that she wanted the show to follow a more 'adventure-like' slant than a slice of life one; something we may finally see come to fruition in Season 5, I hope. (Better late than never.) Beyond that, just having the 'higher ups' meddling in the plots and themes of something you're creating which is quite personal to you would be painful, and it's no surprise she left.