Best season?

[Unlikeable Pony 2,699]

So, question and poll here: How would you rank the seasons? Got multiple polls here to see how the seasons stack up against each other here

Kind of curious how everyone's views of the seasons stack up.

[cmarston1 5,960]

My all time favorite season would have to be season 4 as it has the most amount of episodes in it that I consider my all time favorites out of all the seasons.  Plus I found the whole rainbow key arch to be a nice way to add an ongoing narrative to the show and it managed to keep my interest pretty well. It had the best season premiere in Princess Twilight Sparkle and I feel like it really ended with a bang with Twilight's Kingdom. Following that season was the most fun that I have had with the show and was when my excitement and passion for it was at an all time high.

 

After that I go back and forth on the order of the other seasons.

Besides season one being my least favorite due it being the show's starting point and not having fully evolved into what it would later become,I find it hard to put the seasons in an order from best to worst as I like all of them 

Edited March 17, 2016 by cmarston1

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,934]

For me, it has to be a tie between 4 and 5. Each one had a fair share of amazing episodes with some awesome new characters, like Moondancer and Cheese Sandwich. Then of course each season has more of my favorite episodes than any other season as well. If season 4 had a slight edge, it would be the premiere and the finale, as both of those for season 5 left a bitter taste for me. 

[Chuckles4lyfe 441]

This was my order from best to worst:

1. Season 5 (narrowly beating out S4)
2. Season 4
3. Season 2
4. Season 3
5. Season 1

I think it's only natural that we rank the later seasons higher than the earlier ones. FIM really hit its stride starting with the 4th season and it's only gone uphill from there. If i'm on Netflix, i'm most likely going to re-watch an episode from S4 or S5 versus anything from the earlier seasons. It's not that I don't enjoy them as much per se; the show has just evolved so much from when it started back in 2010 and 2011. The stories are more complex, the characters more engaging, and the animation and music is just superb. MLP is like a fine wine, it gets better with age  . 

[ponylaces 1,870]

It used to be season 4, but now that season 5 has ended and it rocked, I can't decide which is my favorite season. Also, unlike many people, I slightly prefer season 3 over season 1. Even though season 3 was the transitional phase of the show and the episodes weren't the best, there were a handful of awesome episodes (including my favorite of the whole series, Sleepless in Ponyville). So yeah.

 

My list would go like this:

 

Season 5

Season 4

Season 2

Season 3

Season 1

[Unlikeable Pony 2,699]

To be honest, I can't really understand the S5 love. It comes across as a pretty "meh" season to me: not bad, but pretty middle of the road honestly apart from a few good episodes (like the cutie mark map and crusaders of the lost mark) it generally ran as a "decent but not great" season. Plus, its "Arc", for what it is, is a HUGE step down from Season 4's arc with the keys.


Season 4 is IMO the best: It had an intriguing arc, a good villain (tirek), a good starter and a good finisher 2 parter, and overall was a really enjoyable season. After that, S2 was really good, with a solid setup and feel, and the best two parter yet (Return of harmony). Its only real weakness is that it lacked an arc (which is forgiveable due to them trying to be pretty simple back then) and having a HORRIBLE showing for rainbow dash

After that, Season 5 as the middle of the road 3rd best, Season 1 as the fourth, and the Ungodly toilet level season three as the last place one.

[Luminance 2,187]

Season one- Was too bogged down for me especially with the E/I standard.

Season two- Was just a hair better than season 1.

Season three- What?

Season four- One word, Tirek.

Season five- Awesome!!!

[BastementSparkle 20,334]

Season 5 was without a doubt my favorite. Too many great episodes to count. The Cutie Map, Castle Sweet Castle, Slice of life, Make new friends but keep Discord, Amending Fences, Do Princesses dream of magic Sheep, Rarity Investigates, Crusaders of the Lost Mark, The cutie Re-mark, were all great episodes and some of my favorites. Even the "Worst" episodes still seemed pretty decent to me.

 

 Second place is a tough choice between season 2 and and season 4 for me, can't really decide between them. They're both really good still.

[Stormlight 1,371]

In order, from favorite to least favorite:

 

° Season 5

° Season 3

° Season 4

° Season 2

° Season 1

[Dark Qiviut 22,500]

My order of seasons, from best to worst, is as follows:

1. Season 5
2. Season 2
3. Season 1
4. Season 4
5. Season 3

Currently, I like season 3 more than four. But objectively, three is far worse than four. Of the thirteen episodes in the lineup, four of them (Crystal Empire, One Bad Apple, Spike at Your Service, Games Ponies Play) are terrible, the first two among the bottom-five, One Bad Apple far and away the worst of the show. Magical Mystery Cure, JfS, and Keep Calm are plain bad. Judging the writing itself, the pacing and editing were very sloppy, including Fluttershy's the beginning of Pinkie Pie's flanderization. MMC is the worst finale and bogged by pretty much every single main flaw that season, including contradicting continuity, really rushed pace, and opening up way too many unneeded questions than answers. DHX put too many eggs in one basket, and they failed to deliver.

[Roughshod 720]

From the best to worst and for reasons I've already explained elsewhere:

 

1) Season 2

2) Season 4

3) Season 5

4) Season 1

5) Season 3

 

And possibly, going from what I've seen...

 

6) Season 6 (Sixth for sixth.)

 

But we'll have to wait and see to confirm.

 

To be honest, I can't really understand the S5 love. It comes across as a pretty "meh" season to me: not bad, but pretty middle of the road honestly apart from a few good episodes (like the cutie mark map and crusaders of the lost mark) it generally ran as a "decent but not great" season. Plus, its "Arc", for what it is, is a HUGE step down from Season 4's arc with the keys.

Season 4 is IMO the best: It had an intriguing arc, a good villain (tirek), a good starter and a good finisher 2 parter, and overall was a really enjoyable season. After that, S2 was really good, with a solid setup and feel, and the best two parter yet (Return of harmony). Its only real weakness is that it lacked an arc (which is forgiveable due to them trying to be pretty simple back then) and having a HORRIBLE showing for rainbow dash

After that, Season 5 as the middle of the road 3rd best, Season 1 as the fourth, and the Ungodly toilet level season three as the last place one.

Alright, I can respect that. My view on the use of story arcs is pretty much the same. I wish the writers would employ more continuity and character consistency in the show, at least enough to connect the premiere and finale by more than just a single character.

 

Edit: The upcoming premiere is technically a continuation of Cadance's pregnancy that was announced in season 5. It's not often we get such strong cross-season references. So I'll give them that.

Edited March 17, 2016 by Roughshod

[PacificGreen 1,163]

I think season 4 was my favorite. It had the right balance of slice-of-life and adventure. It just felt kinda "homey"...I dunno, Season 4 kinda has a feel that's hard to put into words.

[Swifty 249]

S2 - Though i'm not very fond of the finale

S4 - Much Mane 6 interaction

S1 - The reason i even watch it, even though two other seasons are more entertaining

S3 - The time when animations started to be weird with weird faces, Pinkie becoming annoying, etc. Still an okay season

S5 - The season when FiM jumped the shark. The continuation of weird animations, bad pace, boring episodes, etc.

Edited March 18, 2016 by Swifty

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

My rankings:

 

• Season 4
• Season 5
• Season 2
• Season 3
• Season 1    

Season 4 I feel had some of the best episodes, did the story arc pretty good and had a memorable villain with an exciting finale. Season 5 is kind of like diet season 4. Where some elements carry over from season 4 but in a more slower, not as exciting way (Also season 4 handled the story arc better than season 5 due to having more of a connection between episodes besides just Starlight). However, season 5 was still able to deliver the great episodes and great character moments. Season 2 is that one that's kind of in the middle. It's got some great episodes in here that do great things like Hurricane Fluttershy, but it's also got my least favorite episodes like Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 and Baby Cakes. Season 3's only issue was it's length. It really needed 26 episodes to flow the season better because the flaws stick out more than other seasons, but it still had great episodes in there. Don't think I hate season one because I don't but it wasn't as consistent until about halfway through. That makes sense since the writers are new and are still experimenting.

[Fawkes The Phoenix 737]

S5 - Too many good episodes, some of the best of the whole show. It has my least favorite episode of the show though, but the rest was pretty amazing.

 

S3 - This season deserves more love! I don't find any episodes of this season bad, not even Spike At Your Service (It's more like meh to me), and it's really consistent. I also loved the finale.

 

S2 - I like it as much as season 3, but it lacks an arc, the finale wasn't so good, and some episodes were pretty bad. 

 

S4 - A good season, but really inconsistent, a lot of meh episodes, but also a lot of good and amazing ones.

 

S1 - It only started to be good until the second part, but some of those episodes had as much quality as season 2 and 3 episodes.

[Vinyl_ 12]

I'd say :

 

- Season 3

- Season 4

- Season 2

- Season 5

- Season 1

Edited March 17, 2016 by Vinyl_

[AtomicStone 724]

Season 5 by a distance for me. There are so many episodes that I enjoy in this season, amending fences being one of them. Hopefully the next season can keep the standard up from this!

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

My order is:

 

S5

S4

S2

S1

S3

 

Movie order is:

 

RR

FG

EG

[PrymeStriker 408]

S2 - Though i'm not very fond of the finale

S4 - Much Mane 6 interaction

S1 - The reason i even watch it, even though two other episodes are more entertaining

S3 - The time when animations started to be weird with weird faces, Pinkie becoming annoying, etc. Still an okay season

S5 - The season when FiM jumped the shark. The continuation of weird animations, bad pacing, boring episodes, etc.

 

This is literally place-for-place my ranking of the seasons. Good job.

[baba_booey 4,303]

1. Season 5

2. Season 4

3/4. Season 2

3/4. Season 3

5. Season 1

[Zamasu 20]

Season 4 > Season 5 = Season 2 > Season 1 > Season 3

[Unlikeable Pony 2,699]

Interesting thing to note: while S5 has the most "number 1" ratings, it also has a decent number of  "Number 5" ratings too, indicating its rather polarizing.

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

So for me S2 then S5, S4, S1 and finally S3.

 

Season 2 is my favorite because of the number of good/rememberable episodes and I feel it's the most tonally consistent out of all the seasons, that it doesn't try to be too big for itself, nevermind it has the best two-parter of any season thus far with Return of Harmony.

 

Seasons 4 and 5 are really tied for me. Season 5 has a lot more good episodes for me but also a lot more bad and it has the absolute worse ending of a season the show has ever had while Season 4 gave more consistently good episodes but not to many that stood out to me and many of the standout episode are just okay to me (like Flight to the Finish and Pinkie Pride). If anything the reason I think I put Season 5 just a bit higher is I remember a lot of the criticism people were throwing around at the very beginning of season 4, partially the first seven or so episodes and how the show kind of dropped the ball with the whole Princess Twilight thing.  

 

Season 1 is next and while it has a great many good episodes and helps build up this world, many others kind of feel weird and out of place, mostly due to them figuring out how things were going to work and growing pains

 

And finally season 3. This one suffers more from its episode length than anything else. The season has two of my favorite episodes but also two of my worst and then average it out across only 13 episodes and it doesn't shine all too well. If there were more episodes I don't think it would be as poorly ranked, though I suppose nothing could withstand the drama Twilcorn created.