Worst season opener in MLP

[Plonkett 345]

Which of MLP's season openers do you think is the worst that the show's ever had?

[AtomicStone 724]

Definitely the Season 1 opener for me, no doubts.

[Philomena1009 22]

I can't really say... they are all good in their own way.

[Stasis 39]

The Crystal Empire. That was just complete shit.

[baba_booey 4,303]

Probably The Crystal Empire. The fact that Celestia uses defending The Crystal Empire a "test" is just really off-putting, which is made worse since Twilight didn't even know anything about The Crystal Empire. Not to mention, Sombra's character is as bland as unflavored ramen. It's definitely a "wat" episode for me.

Edited March 26, 2016 by SuperALPHYSBrony

[darkshy 68]

The Cutie Map- communism really???

It just seemed boring and kinda irrelevant 

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Either The Crystal Empire or The Crystalling. Either way having stuff set in the Crystal Empire brings things down a notch in my book

[frecklesareblooming 225]

The Crystalling. I know the other openers aren't perfect, but this one just...didn't stick out to me. It was actually kind of boring.

[AlbaTross 1,586]

The Crystal Empire does not fare well in my book as I can't decide between The Crystal Empire and The Crystalling. That's not to say I dislike either of them, per se. I think it's just a testament to the quality of season premiers. Unfortunately, The Crystal Empire is little more than a rehash of the season 2 finale, but without some of its stronger points IMHO. As for The Crystalling, I think it starts off a little slow, and it just lacks the wow factor of other season premiers.

 

Of course, there are things I like about both arcs. I shared my complete thoughts on The Crystalling in the official thread, so feel free to read my long post, assuming you can even find it amongst all the other posts. As for The Crystal Empire, it has high stakes, introduces the titular empire, and King Sombra is kind of cool. Plus, there's a valuable lesson in there about not being afraid to delegate tasks when necessary. If I were to write an in depth summary of my thoughts, I could fill a similarly large post to the one I wrote today about the latest opener. So, yeah, both are at the bottom for me, but I think that says more about how good season premiers tend to be than the shortcomings of these two arcs.

[Pastel 7,630]

Princess Twilight Sparkle is my least favorite: forgettable, no new character... It wasn't bad, but weak compared to the others.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

I was going to say "The crystaling" simply due to it being fresh in my mind and pretty mediocre. But then I stopped, thought for a second and was like "Wait, WTF am I doing? I think the Crystal empire is the worst episode in the entire SERIES" XD

 

Anyways, while today's episode was pretty mediocre, its WAY better than TCE.
Like alphys says, Horrible plot, with celestia putting the fate of an entire NATION at state just to "test" twilight is beyond shit. That makes Celestia seem HORRIFICALLY negligent, especially when Luna's like "I'm going" and she gets held back by celestia.

 

Not to mention it has the other five blatantly kicked under a rug to do a twilight sparkle power hour episode..... and yeah, just bad episode overall.

[Odd Ball 231]

I was going to say "The crystaling" simply due to it being fresh in my mind and pretty mediocre. But then I stopped, thought for a second and was like "Wait, WTF am I doing? I think the Crystal empire is the worst episode in the entire SERIES" XD

 

 

Anyways, while today's episode was pretty mediocre, its WAY better than TCE.

Like alphys says, Horrible plot, with celestia putting the fate of an entire NATION at state just to "test" twilight is beyond shit. That makes Celestia seem HORRIFICALLY negligent, especially when Luna's like "I'm going" and she gets held back by celestia.

 

Not to mention it has the other five blatantly kicked under a rug to do a twilight sparkle power hour episode..... and yeah, just bad episode overall.

Sadly, Twilight's friends are usually kicked under the rug in most of the two parters.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Sadly, Twilight's friends are usually kicked under the rug in most of the two parters.

Doesn't mean I have to like it

 

larson and faust seemed like the only people to "get" not doing this... the cutie mark map was glorious.

[Jeric 46,854]

Friendship is Magic (part 2). I loved the first half.

 

1. Return of Harmony

2. Cutie Map

3. Princess Twilight Sparkle

4. Crystal Empire

5. Crystaling

6. Friendship is Magic

 

Honestly 3-6 are just about neck and neck for me though.

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,303]

Planning to watch the season six premiere tomorrow, but I still feel pretty confident in saying that "Princess Twilight Sparkle" is my least favorite season premiere.  That thing was all over the place.  "Let's do this together!"  Followed by, "On second thought: You shouldn't be here."  Which led to, "On second, second thought: We should have done this together."  Which ultimately resulted in, "We're glad you're here even though you were bested by plants (which kind of justified the first second thought we originally had)."  WHAT THE F***?! xD  Not to mention that two alicorn princesses were kidnapped and held hostage by plants (plants are dangerous, apparently).  That premiere wasn't fair to ANYpony.

 

And "The Crystal Empire," in contrast to what a number of people are saying, is probably my favorite season premiere.  I don't care how loose or questionable anyone thinks the premise was; I actually enjoyed it (and mostly ignored the whole "test" business).  I have a tendency not to enjoy the premieres or finales near as much as the stuff between, but "The Crystal Empire" still comes the closest to feeling like something different and refreshing.

[snowflame 189]

Was going to vote for The Crystalling since while I did not dislike it it was kind of similar to The Crystal Empire and a bit too undramatic for my taste.

 

But then remembered how akward Friendship is Magic, expecially the second part, was.

[AmberDust 1,118]

I think the pilot should be left out of this. ^^" They were just starting out at that point, so it obviously isn't gonna be perfect, especially in terms of character continuity.

 

I voted for the Crystalling. It was just....uninteresting. Not predicable, exactly, but it broke my suspension of disbelief to the point where I just didn't really care what happened. That being said, "The Crystal Empire" isn't really fresh in my mind. It seems to be getting a lot of hate here, but I don't really remember disliking it. Maybe I ought to watch it again.

[Magus7091 3]

Well, I would vote for princess twilight sparkle but I'm not allowed to vote.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

I kinda have to say Season 3. Although it opened up a new part of Equestria...there just seemed to be loopholes everywhere...

[The Crystal Maiden 221]

I don't think any of the season openers are BAD as such. They're all good in their own way. But honestly the weakest opener is probably either the pilot episodes or The Crystalling. They're great openers, but the others stand out more.

[Dark Qiviut 22,444]

The Crystal Empire, and it ain't even close. The fact that Twilight's next stage in her studies — that being her ascension to alicornhood — was hinged on Celestia playing games with thousands of lives and the script treating it as a good thing is absolutely repulsive under all circumstances. Twilight's mini-arc that season was slaughtered before it started.

[VengefulStrudel 1,495]

While I like all of them, my least favorite is Princess Twilight Sparkle. It doesn't have that feeling of epicness or urgency the others do (or most of the others, at least). That, and I don't find spikey vines to be a cool antagonist. Even the snowstorm is better.

[Magic Note 2,748]

My guess would probably be the first season's premiere, followed by Princess Twilight Sparkle. They weren't bad episodes but I felt they were a bit awkward compared to the other episodes they were in.

[ponylover1957 2]

The crystaling was without a doubt, the worst premier the show has had. While it was in of itself, a mediocre episode, it didn't introduce any of the themes of the season (ie "explore equestria") And completely fucking stomped on any good developed interaction between glimmer and sunburst. Overall just a waste of an episode, and it didn't even give us a single good villain or new waifu.

[bronywhocodes 218]

friendship is magic.

 

it's just kind of. meh. not the best way to start your brony-dom.