I'm just going to say it, Season 1 wasn't that good

[Buck Testa 5,503]

I am well aware that there are that subset of bronies whom herald the first season of MLP:Fim as this magnum opus that will never be topped by any other season, and that anything not penned by the hallowed Faust is heresy and must be shunned. I hear them time and time again railing on season five or four or whatever, saying how flawed and horrible it all is and how "it should be more like season one" "It should be like what Faust wanted" 

 

The problem with that is: Season one was BORING and Awkward. Yeah I said it. See unlike the season one people, I binged the entirety of what was available at the time for me (which was seasons 1-4 and equestria girls 1) to have something happy to look at for a bit, but it wasn't until season 2 that I actually got into the show. The first season, while it has its share of good episodes, has plenty of others that were just not that good.

 

SOME (not all) of the Examples include

Griffon the Brush off, which had to have an entire season five episode just to redeem the poorly written and executed Gilda 

 

Boast Busters; Which basically said Heckling was okay and made Trixie out to be a bad character when she REALLY wasn't 

 

Bridle Gossip: While it had some funny comedy bits, there was some REALLY uncomfortable undertones with how they dealt with Zecora, and the moral was seen from Space

 

Show Stoppers: Do I even NEED to explain why?

 

Feeling Pinkie Keen: The "Faith" episode that got so much heat 

 

Over a Barrel: Another one with some REALLY uncomfortable undertones and just characters being dumb instead of letting the situation handle itself 

 

Best Night Ever: I would pass it if it weren't for being a season finale, which was subsequently trumped by all other season finale's afterward 

 

 

The characterization in the first season was extremely juvenile as well. I would allow the "Its just a kid show" line if it weren't for the fact that the other seasons handled characterization BETTER than 1 did. Even 3, though it has its own set of flaws, did better in that department.

 

 

Then there is this "Faust Vision" nonsense. You know what Faust wanted?

That is what her original designs looked like. Fluttershy was an Earth pony, Pinkie was named Surprise and was a gaudy shade of yellow, Twilight's mane color and design was an eyesore, and Rainbow doesn't look anywhere near as eye catching as she is now. She also postulated things like Rainbow would not be a fit sister to Scootaloo, which is clearly false, and these design choices would of hampered a lot of the story arcs in the later seasons. Fluttershy as a pegasus that doesn't care for flying is way more interesting than just a shy earth pony, Pinkie whom defies physics and the 4th wall is way more entertaining than her just being a glaringly yellow Pegasus that hurts my eyes looking at it.

 

Season five has been great, its been bringing in new characters left and right and developing the existing ones by leaps and bounds, yet for every episode that moves the plot forward and makes the characters mature and grow there are always these people who point at the "good old days" and ruin every body's fun with their ranting. 

 

I'm not even saying I didn't like Season 1, I did quite a bit or I wouldn't of watched season 2, but I am not going to sit here and nod with the people who blindly praise it as the best thing since sliced bred, not when there are much better seasons that had followed after it. 

 

I know I cannot be the only one who feels this way. 

[Blackened 512]

I can see where you're coming from in this; this is probably one of my least favourite seasons of the show, but I still enjoyed it. It does have its fair share of boring moments though.

[baba_booey 4,299]

This. I've been rewatching the show, and man the first season hasn't aged well. Not exactly bad, but there are a lot of episodes that I find forgettable or just plain bad.

 

I also feel the animation isn't really good in the first season. It may just be me, but it seems to have that early "flash" look with many of the facial expressions and character movements. Not to mention all the moments where they copy and paste the same BG ponies in the same scene.

[Trixie Heartstrings 433]

I'm glad someone posted this. I liked season 1 back when I first watched it, but now it's my least favorite season. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it was bad, but I think after the first season they had better direction and a better understanding of what to do with the show and its characters.

[Blaze Bronson 343]

Season 5 is my favorite so far!
Is there really anyone who thinks it's bad? It has put out nearly only great episodes.

 

Season 1 is kind of awkward, and most of the morals are very basic.

 

Personally I think season 4 is the weakest so far.

 

I can't actually remember much of season 1 and 2, but if my mind serves me right, season 2 was great, and 3 good.


Summed up in best to worst!
Season 5

Season 2
Season 3
Season 1

Season 4

 

I don't let the rose stained nostalgia glasses alter my opinion. Season 5 is absolutely fantastic this far! Pinkie Pie is written better than ever! 

Edited September 20, 2015 by Blaze Bronson

[Nuke87654 1,849]

I am well aware that there are that subset of bronies whom herald the first season of MLP:Fim as this magnum opus that will never be topped by any other season, and that anything not penned by the hallowed Faust is heresy and must be shunned. I hear them time and time again railing on season five or four or whatever, saying how flawed and horrible it all is and how "it should be more like season one" "It should be like what Faust wanted" 

 

The problem with that is: Season one was BORING and Awkward. Yeah I said it. See unlike the season one people, I binged the entirety of what was available at the time for me (which was seasons 1-4 and equestria girls 1) to have something happy to look at for a bit, but it wasn't until season 2 that I actually got into the show. The first season, while it has its share of good episodes, has plenty of others that were just not that good.

 

SOME (not all) of the Examples include

Griffon the Brush off, which had to have an entire season five episode just to redeem the poorly written and executed Gilda 

 

Boast Busters; Which basically said Heckling was okay and made Trixie out to be a bad character when she REALLY wasn't 

 

Bridle Gossip: While it had some funny comedy bits, there was some REALLY uncomfortable undertones with how they dealt with Zecora, and the moral was seen from Space

 

Show Stoppers: Do I even NEED to explain why?

 

Feeling Pinkie Keen: The "Faith" episode that got so much heat 

 

Over a Barrel: Another one with some REALLY uncomfortable undertones and just characters being dumb instead of letting the situation handle itself 

 

Best Night Ever: I would pass it if it weren't for being a season finale, which was subsequently trumped by all other season finale's afterward 

 

 

The characterization in the first season was extremely juvenile as well. I would allow the "Its just a kid show" line if it weren't for the fact that the other seasons handled characterization BETTER than 1 did. Even 3, though it has its own set of flaws, did better in that department.

 

 

Then there is this "Faust Vision" nonsense. You know what Faust wanted?

 

That is what her original designs looked like. Fluttershy was an Earth pony, Pinkie was named Surprise and was a gaudy shade of yellow, Twilight's mane color and design was an eyesore, and Rainbow doesn't look anywhere near as eye catching as she is now. She also postulated things like Rainbow would not be a fit sister to Scootaloo, which is clearly false, and these design choices would of hampered a lot of the story arcs in the later seasons. Fluttershy as a pegasus that doesn't care for flying is way more interesting than just a shy earth pony, Pinkie whom defies physics and the 4th wall is way more entertaining than her just being a glaringly yellow Pegasus that hurts my eyes looking at it.

 

Season five has been great, its been bringing in new characters left and right and developing the existing ones by leaps and bounds, yet for every episode that moves the plot forward and makes the characters mature and grow there are always these people who point at the "good old days" and ruin every body's fun with their ranting. 

 

I'm not even saying I didn't like Season 1, I did quite a bit or I wouldn't of watched season 2, but I am not going to sit here and nod with the people who blindly praise it as the best thing since sliced bred, not when there are much better seasons that had followed after it. 

 

I know I cannot be the only one who feels this way. 

 

Other than your point on Best Night Ever, I agree with your points.

 

I consider Best Night Ever not only the series's best season finale so far as it was more tightly written than the other more flawed but action packed episodes, but it also capped off probably the series's best arc in the Grand Galloping Gala arc.

 

I agree with you that Season 1 is not this great holy season of MLP as it had plenty of flaws and bad episodes that are still resonating in the series like how Showstoppers ruined the CMC's cutie mark arc before it even took off as you mentioned.

[Jeric 46,836]

I can see your point, but I do have to dismiss the 'Faust Vision' part of the argument. I'll just post some images to highlight why and you can figure out the point I am trying to make. 

 

 

 

No one should ever be judged for rejected or unused concept art. 

[Megas 27,098]

 

Boast Busters; Which basically said Heckling was okay and made Trixie out to be a bad character when she REALLY wasn't 

Trixie pretty much lied about her accomplishments and gets off of belittling and humiliating others. I have absolutely no idea why this fandom is so hellbent on acting like Trixie is some poor, abused victim of some slandering attack on the Mane 6's part. She's just as guilty of her own downfall as the mane 6, Snips and Snails were. And don't give me that "but...but it's her job!" crap. I don't know about everyone's experience with Magicians have been like, but my experiences never involved attacking and humiliating their audiences, they never went anywhere beyond "check this shit out, mind blown or what?"

 

Boast Busters sucks, but not because of how it treats Trixie. It's sucks because it sucks

 

Bridle Gossip: While it had some funny comedy bits, there was some REALLY uncomfortable undertones with how they dealt with Zecora, and the moral was seen from Space

Racism was never intended to be seen in the episode, nor should it ever have been. This used to be a well liked episode until a certain "brony analyst" developed a massive hate-boner for it and saw something in the episode that in all honesty should never even been a thought. The only reason it seems like a racist episode was because bronies made it sound like one

 

The reality is that it's an episode is a classic "our neighbor is from X, and looks/acts weird, they might be evil, but in the end is a really fine person" plot that is used in kid's shows all the time, and because Zecora was a zebra they decided to go with common African imagery

 

 

 

Show Stoppers: Do I even NEED to explain why?

Kid characters acting silly. Not the best episode ever, but not an affront on humanity bronies act like it is

 

 

 

Best Night Ever: I would pass it if it weren't for being a season finale, which was subsequently trumped by all other season finale's afterward 

 

Heavily disagree with this. Sometimes the smaller and simpler things are the best things in life. There's probably a reason this episode is looked at much more fondly than all of the other finales in the show, which usually fall under scrutiny often for trying "too hard" too hard to be grand or "epic"

 

 

The characterization in the first season was extremely juvenile as well. I would allow the "Its just a kid show" line if it weren't for the fact that the other seasons handled characterization BETTER than 1 did. Even 3, though it has its own set of flaws, did better in that department. 

I'm not going to deny that the characterization in S1 was the weakest, but that's more of a result of the show building the world and characters after every season. It only makes sense for characters to grow and develop especially for a character driven show.

 

 

While I'm on the same boat that S1 is probably the weakest season, I think it's only natural that it is because it was what other seasons would set out and improve upon.

 

I get that Season wunners/Faust fanboys can be a huge pain in the ass, but I'm starting to feel like some people are beginning to hate S1 out of spite alone. Again, if you don't like S1 then that's fine, and while I agree that I don't like S1 as much as the other seasons like most people here do, I don't think most of these problems are anywhere near as big of issues as you say they are

Edited September 21, 2015 by Spyro the Dragon

[Glike 487]

There are people who consider Season 1 to the best? Huh, learn something new every day.

[Singe 2,109]

The Mane 6 had to be rough during Season 1, their friendship was going to paced for them to learn a new moral while developing a little. If done too fast, then there will be problems about character regression. Which occurs some now.

 

I wouldn't penalize Season 1 for Gilda and Trixie, because we may never know if there were plans to revisit them in a later season if the lead of the show didn't change.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Singe

[Once In A Blue Moon 894]

I broadly agree that the first season wasn't as good as the subsequent seasons (DISCLAIMER: I am only halfway through season 4, so I have yet to form an opinion on anything later) but I think that you're being a bit harsh on Faust. Whilst I don't think that all her work was brilliant (the second half of the Nightmare Moon episode was really quite shoddy in my opinion) I think that as a creative mind she did so much for MLP that makes it distinct (once the artists had sorted out the colour schemes.)

 

 

 

postulated things like Rainbow would not be a fit sister to Scootaloo, which is clearly false

 

 

That is probably one of the best examples of what I liked: consider Rainbow Dash in season one - brash, arrogant, headstrong and so on. Is she a good role model for Scootaloo? Absolutely not. Imagine if, before RD went through the (very good) character development episodes we had an episode (or a theme running through several episodes) of her being a surrogate older sister to Scootaloo which shows how awful she is at it. There is a hint of that in 'Owl's Well That Ends Well' where RD comments that she would like "Someone who to do whatever I told them," at which point Scootaloo volunteers and RD has her dispose of an apple core for her. RD is clearly abusing the fact that Scootaloo hero-worships her, and an episode where Scootaloo realises this could have some huge character development for both of them. Then follow this with RD becoming more mature and eventually trying again and... maybe still being bad at it, but better than before. Likewise I could see a more daring show confronting the Spike and Rarity issue (some of what she does really is child abuse - specifically manipulating him with his affection for her), and I think Faust might have been leading up to that.

 

There was a lot in season one that was never really used to its full potential, and if it had been then I think season one might have been the best simply because it did so much groundwork for subsequent seasons and they followed so naturally from it. They kind of did anyway, if not how Faust intended, and I think that they are better, but not through any serious fault of season one.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Once In A Blue Moon

[Buck Testa 5,503]

I can see your point, but I do have to dismiss the 'Faust Vision' part of the argument. I'll just post some images to highlight why and you can figure out the point I am trying to make. 

 

 

 

No one should ever be judged for rejected or unused concept art. 

Quick question though, did he change that design by choice, or because the people he was working with asked him to alter it? You only need to look at the Jar Jar Binks Trilogy to see that Lucas doesn't always have the best ideas for the franchise even though he is the one that came up with it. He got that too, which is why he sold it for a TON of money to Disney. 

[Jeric 46,836]

It was an organic thing. Like the evolution of MLP. Original concepts tend to change, and show runners often change their own mind as the series progresses.

 

I had hoped to make RD's mom G1 Firefly.

The fan created concept art isn't entirely accurate anyway.

[Buck Testa 5,503]

 

 

Trixie pretty much lied about her accomplishments and gets off of belittling and humiliating others. I have absolutely no idea why this fandom is so hellbent on acting like Trixie is some poor, abused victim of some slandering attack on the Mane 6's part. She's just as guilty of her own downfall as the mane 6, Snips and Snails were. And don't give me that "but...but it's her job!" crap. I don't know about everyone's experience with Magicians have been like, but my experiences never involved attacking and humiliating their audiences, they never went anywhere beyond "check this shit out, mind blown or what?"

 

They were heckling her and trying to upstage her on her own show, of course she had to get control of the situation, its how she makes her living. You have a certain amount of arrogance to do that kind of stuff anyway, 

 

 

 

While I'm on the same boat that S1 is probably the weakest season, I think it's only natural that it is because it was what other seasons would set out and improve upon.   I get that Season wunners/Faust fanboys can be a huge pain in the ass, but I'm starting to feel like some people are beginning to hate S1 out of spite alone. Again, if you don't like S1 then that's fine, and while I agree that I don't like S1 as much as the other seasons like most people here do, I don't think most of these problems are anywhere near as big of issues as you say they are

 

Again I'm not saying I HATE season one, but my point is that it wasn't anywhere near as perfect as folks try to make it out to be, something you and I agree on. 

[[NULL] 906]

Well to be fair, I don't think the original designs would've ruined the story arcs. They would probably just end up being slightly different than what we have now. And while I don't hate the original designs, I do agree that Season 1 was the weakest season. I mostly blame the EI rating.

Edited September 20, 2015 by SpaceOnion

[Goat-kun 2,500]

Well, yeah, Faust does have her faults, all creative minds do. Most will never overcome them. Most won’t suffer cause of that. But every show needs some time to mature like wine or cheese, so to blame all shortcomings of the early days on Faust alone is kinda unfair, especially since Celie and Luna are still better depicted in IDW (Gabe forgive me for saying this!), Spike is still treated like a banana peel, worldbuilding is still random and half-assed as always, and we only now get to see some diversity and consistency in background characters. Playing slowcoach on them development milestones is not her fault. It’s probably not even all on the current writer gang. I blame it on the show’s main purpose and the laxity it brings to its storytelling.

 

P.S: Trixie is a weak sauce egomaniac that should seriously reevaluate her approach towards stage performance, pony interactions, and life in general.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Goat-kun

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,712]

Though I do have sense of nostalgia when watching season 1, being that it was also time when I first became Brony, I do believe that show generally improved as seasons progressed as characters developed and show covered more complicated morals.

 

Question of "what one episode would you choose to show non-Bronies that would best show appeal in the show" or something like that is something that is/was fairly often asked; I don't know what episode I personally would choose but I don't think it would be season 1 episode.

 

However, one thing remained constant for many: Spike episodes still tend to be subpar.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Luna the Great

[RivkaBobble 110]

The reason why Pinkie was not named Surprise is interesting:

Pinkie was meant to be a pegasus looking something like this:

 

She was based off of this G1 pony, also named Surprise:

 

But somewhere in development, Lauren Faust lost the license for Surprise and based it off of G3's Pinkie Pie:

[frecklesareblooming 225]

I agree. While season one is not terrible, it's just...okay. Not very many memorable episodes. I fully believe that the show has improved since the first season, not gotten worse. And I will thank the heavens every day that those character designs did not become concrete.

Edited September 20, 2015 by twilythebookworm

[Floofie 799]

*sees original twilight design*

 

MY EYES!

 

Seriously, that design looks like a really bad OC.

 

Anyway, I agree with you. I think Season 1 is definitely not the best season. This is coming from a brony who watched the seasons completely out of order (5 -> 4 -> 1 -> 2) so I don't have the nostalgia bias that some bronies have. I'm not saying that Season 1 is bad (Feeling Pinkie Keen is one of my favorite episodes), I'm just saying it's not the perfect season that some people thnk it is.

[Singe 2,109]

 

That line still holds water.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Singe

[Venomous 18,814]

I really didn't like season 1

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,329]

Yeah I do feel season 1 doesn't age well. It feels like it was trying to mostly establish itself while trying to find it's identity at the same time. We get a lot of writing that falls under the typical, "kids show" dialogue complete with utter corniness. I really feel the later seasons really pushed more boundaries and set stakes higher than season 1. It makes sense, the first season of a show tends to be the most simple due to the writers trying to adjust to writing the characters.

 

I however, disagree with you on Best Night Ever. I do like how, unlike the high stakes plots we get in season finales today, this one feels more like a simple breather episode. It kind of works with what I said earlier. I do see why the later seasons do have higher stakes since they build off the other seasons.

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Well going to the first dissenting opinion here, but Season 1 still holds up. The Best Night Ever still stands in my eyes as the best finale the show has ever had.  Are there flaws? Fuck yeah there are, but there are ones in season 5 as well.  For instants season 5 is becoming too gimmicky overall, and that it's becoming too aware of itself, nevermind that it feels like it doesn't want to focus on the core cast anymore at times.  

That is not to say I haven't enjoyed season 5 but it lacks some of the charm that was present in the season 1.  The shows still as good as ever in my eyes, it's just simply changed. If you like season 5 more than season 1 that's fine, but don't go around saying season 1 was shit and then go looking for acknowledgement. 

[PacificGreen 1,163]

I think Season 1 and Season 3 were my least favorite, but only because I liked the other seasons, and because Season 3 had fewer episodes. Season 1 was definitely much more slice-of-life-y than recent season, with the characters for the most part staying in Ponyville, so it was a bit less action-packed and "boring" in that regard.

 

I think Season 4 is my favorite season so far, possibly because it's the first season that aired after I got into the show.