Episodes that could have benefited from a re-write.

[Azureth 687]

What are some episodes that you think may have had a good premise, but really could have taken advantage of a re-write?

 

For me, two come to mind:

 

Rainbow Falls.

Top Bolt.

 

They really could have benefited from them.

[PacificGreen 1,163]

Princess Spike and The Cart Before the Ponies...both had interesting premises but were pretty poorly executed.

 

In the case of the former, there were a lot of characters taking less than reasonable actions, plus plenty of contrived coincidences.

 

In the case of the latter, RD, Rarity and AJ's obliviousness to their sisters' wants for their carts was kinda jarring.

 

In the case of both, it was mostly that the moral wasn't very well supported by what actually happened in the episode.

[Sunny Fox 5,952]

Amending Fences. Twilight realizing her aloof behaviour before coming to Ponyville might have had consequences for the ponies she knew there and wanting to make up for it is a good premise. Personally, I think they botched the execution. The central emotional conflict kind of falls apart when you realize that Moon Dancer never actually issued any recognizable invitation to Twiley. She heard about the party from a different pony entirely. Trying to tie in the scene from the pilot was a mistake. They should have gone the whole hog and added a flashback to Moon Dancer meeting Twi before the scene with the book and asking her to the party, and have Twilight accept. Then Twilight gets involved in the Elements book and it goes from there. This would justify her reaction to Twilight being a no show at the party later, since the invite was clear and there's the additional betrayal of a broken promise.

 

As it stands, Twilight can't reasonably be blamed for not attending a party she knew nothing about before an off-hand, third-party invite and one that she never promised to attend, so Moon Dancer isolating herself because of it is more difficult to sympathize with.

 

Plus, way less giggling from Minuette. That really grated. 

[Megas 27,765]

Newbie Dash - It does the complete opposite of what its supposed to do. Rainbow Dash finally achieves her goal of being a Wonderbolt, but instead of being a celebration of the character and her achievement, it spends its entire runtime mocking the character and treats her like absolute garbage. The episode should've never been allowed past editing 

Edited January 13, 2017 by Megas

[LeafFerret 3,382]

Most Rainbow Dash episodes, feels like I'm watching the same episode with a different theme and location.

 

The Gift of the Maud Pie, Just wish Pinkie was less obnoxious in this episode.

 

No Second Prances, this no doubt has to be Twilight's worst episode yet and her downfall was noticed here.

 

Applejack's Day Off, couldn't it be Twilight's day off instead, seeing Applejack having a day off doesn't seem that interesting to me.

 

Canterlot Boutique, the show went back to it's old self and was a mediocre episode at best.

[cmarston1 5,959]

The Cutie Re-Mark could have really benefited from either giving Starlight a completely different backstory, or adding much more details to the one she already had, to make her reformation feel a lot less forced.

[Bats 16]

I would Normally say the cutie re-mark, but its really hard to think of a way they could put the blame

on glimmy if they actually elaborated on her true backstory (getting mad about the way the world works with cutie mark), since she had a darn good point...even Flutters liked the results of her methods.

giving the real reason wouldn't make her look like a villian at all... it would make the mane 6 look bad for stoping her.

 

In that case, i'll go with Twilights Kingdom.

I really liked the episode, but the way it ended could use some work.

just using "rainbow powers" again is old, rushed and lazy... I wanted them to get some power boost from the box and fight Tirek 7v1 (discord + mane 6) in an epic battle for at least 5 minutes... make flutters a bat pony with enhanced speed and strength for example.

[Castle Bleck 19,379]

Rainbow Falls (just about everything) and The Cutie Re-Mark (Starlight's powers and backstory).

[PiratePony 8,476]

Hoofields and McColts. I am not a fan of that episode at all. 

[Denim&Venöm 19,280]

-Feeling Pinkie Keen. The moral that you should just take soemthign at face value, even if it doesn't make sense is a pretty bad one to teach kids. Curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge are integral to any childhood, and this episode contradicts that in a message based on blind faith. 

 

-Magical Mystery Cure. Even Larson admits that if he knew the show was continuing, that he wouldn't have made Twi a princess. So either skip that or come up with a better build to her ascension soem time later on. Perhaps make her a literal princess but not an Alicorn, and save that for later. Yes it all worked out for the better, but the execution was flawed. Also, the en ding being leaked turned any of the in the moment surprise into fan backlash. 

 

-Twilight's Kingdom. A better antagonist than plunder vines and a rehash of the first episodes would do this season opener some good.

 

-Daring Don't. Just didn't really see the purpose this episode served, and it clashed with the comic's story that Twi's mom Velvet actually authored the Daring Do books.  Having Dashie stalk Twi's mom in all manner of ways would've been loads more entertaining than this Indiana Jones rip off. 

 

-Rarity takes Manehatten. The moral was a bit contrived and made Rarity out to be unappreciative of her friends, when most people in her position would be justifiably upset. 

 

-Trade Ya. Why does this episode exist? 

 

-Somepony to watch over me. The concept was interesting, but the execution & moral were awful. Aj becoming a worry wort, mostly due to things she caused was OOC, and Applebloom being in the wrong for something AJ drove her to do were just wrong. 

 

-Equestria Games. I really do appreciate the moral this episode taught, but did it have to be so cringy, and did it need to sacrifice a multi episode buildup to the games themselves?

 

-Castle Sweet Castle. This could've done well to address the fan backlash over the new castle. Showing Twi's difficulty in adjusting and her being helped to find was to cope with it all could've been a healthy outlet for the fans. But instead it focused on every pony else as the treated the symptoms and not the problem. 

 

-Appleoosa's most wanted.The plot is just contrived and the moral feels like it's from a different episode. and the CMC get punished int he end for doing what wrong again? 

 

-The One where Pinkie Pie knows. I had high hopes for this one. In this, Pinkie should've learned the secret, but the audience doesn't doesn't knwo what that is, and neither do her friends. Then piece by piece, we get the big reveal, instead of it just being used as fodder to jump start the episode. 

 

 

Stuff like Rainbow Falls, & Rainbow Crash I also agree on. 

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Magical Mystery Cure: More like an un-write since Larson stated the script he turned in was heavily rewritten and alter, so instead of rewriting it, use the original version. 

 

Slice of Life: Just don't have the Mane 6 in there or have it set concurrently with The Cutie Map. 

 

The Cutie Re-Mark: Make Starlight more sympathetic from the get go with a better backstory and motivation instead of having one friend move away instantly trying to make us like a character we've been told to hate for the past 40 minutes plus all of the Cutie Map. And remove that awful ending montage, actually have her face consequences in Season 6. 

 

Every Little Thing She Does: DON'T USE MIND CONTROL. Have it be Starlight uses magic to try to do all the friendship things at once and wears herself out. Don't try to make us sympathetic to someone while other ponies are going through much worse things. If only Starlight suffers then she becomes more sympathetic instead of having the entire cast suffer but instead focus only on Starlight, the one that got off the lightest. 

 

To Where And Back Again: Have Celestia in place of Discord. Have a character who has never gotten a chance to shine be allowed to participate in the major events. Helps make up for reducing and diminishing the Mane cast if someone who's constantly being reduced and diminished has a chance to shine. And it would give Celestia a chance to help teach Starlight and help guide her, like being a grand teacher or something like that. 

[Aradon92 9]

I really disliked "The Times They Are a Changeling" and you can see why for yourselves in my most recent post. Be warned though it is a long read.

[MAIKUN 262]

Crusaders of the Lost Mark should HAVE ended with the CMC disbanding or going their own separate ways in the first place. Plus, The Crystalling Pt 2 should've end with Starlight going back to her evil ways by betraying Twilight and company

[Thrond 3,263]

Think I posted in a topic like this before, but I suppose I'll re-state my cases (at least those I remember) here:

 

Feeling Pinkie Keen - Not really sure what the writers were going for with that moral, so I'd say that it could serve to be reworded. 

 

Luna Eclipsed - The whole thing with Pinkie needs to be seriously reworked. She treated Luna like crap, so have her face some sort of consequences for that. 

 

It's About Time - Would probably not fix the episode, but that part at the end where the entire cold open is repeated is just completely unnecessary. 

 

The Crystal Empire - The whole "test" deal doesn't work. Get rid of it. 

 

Magical Mystery Cure - Really no way to make this one tolerable, but a rewrite would at least make it slightly less haphazard and potentially remove all the "destiny" garbage. Would need to completely change every single emotional beat for it to work, though. 

 

Princess Twilight Sparkle - Big time. Fixing this one would require the writers to hack away at it with a machete and remove all the extraneous nonsense. The episode would benefit from removing flashbacks and the Tree of Harmony in general, and there's a lot more bloat which could be trimmed in order to give more time to the thing that really matters: Twilight's new status, how her friends react to it, and how Twilight feels about that. As is, that's stifled in between a bunch of awkward jokes, unneeded action scenes, and random lore revelations. 

 

Bats! - If the point here is to consider alternative possibilities and not push those with anxiety problems, then the episode could have done a lot more to emphasize those ideas rather than making Applejack and friends sound like they're on a witch hunt. I don't really blame her for wanting to remove the bats, as they're pests and potentially a threat to her livelihood. The episode could have had more appreciation for that. 

 

Rainbow Falls - Big time. I don't think Rainbow Dash needing to choose between the Wonderbolts and her friends is a bad idea, but like "Princess Twilight Sparkle," this thing is filled with so many things which are bad ideas that it all but drowns the episode's noble intentions. There's the potential for a really good episode in there, but the script given is a mess. 

 

The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone - Would probably need to be completely altered, but if nothing else, they could at least make the griffon mythology somewhat coherent. Their society came to ruin because they lost their... pride? Okay? What does that even mean? Moreover, how has this utter state of ruin continued among a people who used to once have a functioning society? How has nobody here made friends before the ponies showed up? Do the writers not see how uncomfortable it is to have one culture "better" another by sharing their values? I feel that everything about that could be handled better. 

 

Amending Fences - Probably not enough running time to handle all of this, at the very least I'd like a little more detail about why Moondancer assumed that Twilight would ever be interested in going to her party. As said previously in this thread, Moondancer didn't even invite Twilight personally! Why is it Twilight's fault that she overreacted to something she ought to have accepted? I've never been able to connect to this episode because I never understood the answer to this question. 

 

Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? - Many of this episode's faults actually lay at the feet of everyone other than the writers, but the jokey nightmare sequences are pretty crap, and the final moral of the ending feels like it ignores the trauma which lead Luna to create the Tantibus in the first place. I feel like it'd be pretty difficult for Luna to simply "move on" so quickly, and while representing that guilt and trauma as a monster is an interesting idea, I feel like it lends itself to uncomfortable subtext when Luna has to "get over it" to defeat the monster. 

 

Canterlot Boutique - Also likely a running time issue, as the musical portion is pretty clearly the script being fitted down to 22 minutes, but I still feel like Rarity doesn't get enough of the blame for taking on all the work herself, and I don't think Sassy Saddles got enough credit for her factory model. Make a popular product, hire workers to mass-produce it, and profit. It's not so hard to see why Sassy would think that's a good idea, but it doesn't dig very far into her history of failed boutiques, and the core conflict feels a little too simplistic to me. 

 

Made in Manehattan - That futile scene of Applejack doing drudging work to put the stage back together needs to go. It wouldn't leave a particularly good episode, but at least I wouldn't be subjected to that brutally grim sequence. 

 

What About Discord? - It's unlikely, but maybe, just maybe, this could have been good if it could pick just one person to be in the wrong. Is Twilight just overreacting, or is Discord actively tormenting her? You can't have both, and Discord's antics come across as more bullying than teaching. I have no issue with that, as Discord being a jerk is why I like him, but the episode needs to decide who's in the wrong here. 

 

On Your Marks - Dunno if I can name specifics, but this could use a good deal more focus and some more specificity in its themes and character development. It's good that it continues the CMC storyline, but aside from the general idea of them moving apart and coming together to help others, it doesn't indicate a specific direction. 

 

No Second Prances - Might have liked this a little if it offered a single sympathetic character. Celestia sort of counts but she's onscreen for only a couple seconds, and everyone else is unpleasant. Twilight is domineering, Starlight is borderline sociopathic, and Trixie is manipulative, and the episode fails to give any of this a fresh and interesting point. Would need a severe reworking to make any of this compelling. 

 

Newbie Dash - A little tightening and removing the impressions crap would make me like this episode a lot more. I struggle to think of a better ending than Dash's stunt at the end, but it feels beneath her even in such a panicked state. Maybe if she was given some sort of friend within the Wonderbolts, it could replace her increasingly desperate antics with merely coming clean eventually, but that brings with it the issue of filling 22 minutes, which could very well be why the impressions are there in the first place. Still, I wish the writers could have somehow cleaned this up a bit. 

 

Applejack's "Day" Off - Jokes. Some jokes is all I ask for. Specifically, jokes which aren't the horrible Rainbow Dash thing going on here. Just some meat on the bones of this episode. Furthermore, I think this episode would be better if it were a bit more about the fact that Applejack's stubborn insistence on fixing stuff ruined her day off with Rarity, but I guess that might not fit the moral at the end. 

 

Flutter Brutter - I'm starting to come around to the whole idea that I can feel happy for Zephyr turning himself around while still finding some of his actions a little unsavoury, but I wish that the episode either addressed his gross flirting and property damage or cut that stuff out entirely. Doesn't have much to do with his epiphany. 

 

The Cart Before the Ponies - Doesn't really represent most of its morals in the main story, so it could serve to do that better. Not entirely sure how to fix its other issues. 

 

28 Pranks Later - Seems pretty easy to me to make Dash a little more sensitive without compromising the moral, and having Rainbow make some effort to link the pranks to the ponies they're being pulled on, no matter how misguided her efforts may have been, would have both mitigated the issue of Rainbow's character regression and the slow, predictable nature of the zombie story. 

 

Buckball Season - Having Fluttershy so quickly become better at buckball than the ponies who actually have a passion for sports is something I struggle to wrap my head around. Would need that to be justified, or at least changed to something else. 

 

Every Little Thing She Does - Starlight gets off too easily for what she did. I don't necessarily think she should be punished, but the best way to fix this would be to have her come to a realization at some point that she did something horrible. If you can't do that, at least have Starlight's friends chew her out a little more, and have Twilight talk more about the fact that Starlight thought it was okay to mind control her friends. The episode should not have ignored the elephant in the room and tried to be about Starlight avoiding friendship lessons. I like that she's maintained the shaky moral code, but the show needs to actually do something with that if wants her character arc to be coherent. 

[Prospekt 11,020]

Applejack's "Day" Off is a lost cause and just needs to be burnt down with an entirely new plot built on top of the rubble.

 

Newbie Dash and Rainbow Falls both need major rewrites. Can't stand the Wonderbolts anymore because of those two episodes.

 

Equestria Games could've been an episode about the unity of Equestria or whatnot. Instead it's a "Spike screws up" episode, which unfortunately was typical of Spike episodes up until Season 6. Very little originality there.

Edited December 31, 2016 by Prospekt

[Thrond 3,263]

To Where And Back Again: Have Celestia in place of Discord. Have a character who has never gotten a chance to shine be allowed to participate in the major events. Helps make up for reducing and diminishing the Mane cast if someone who's constantly being reduced and diminished has a chance to shine. And it would give Celestia a chance to help teach Starlight and help guide her, like being a grand teacher or something like that. 

I don't think that would make sense in the context of the episode. The conceit of a ragtag band of misfits saving the big stars of Equestria is kinda compromised if you incorporate the most recognizable princess in Equestria into their team. 

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

I don't think that would make sense in the context of the episode. The conceit of a ragtag band of misfits saving the big stars of Equestria is kinda compromised if you incorporate the most recognizable princess in Equestria into their team. 

The problem is that Celestia hasn't done anything from the audience perceptive. It's a case of tell vs show. The show tells us she is important but never shows it so she very well qualifies as misfit due to her lack of use and usefulness in prior episodes.  Secondly while you may lose the misfits feel a bit, the entire thing is that magic is no longer an option so you can literally stick anyone in there and still have the same effect and plot for the story, relatively speaking. And then with Celestia you have the mentor teaching the new student moment potentially allowing a much deeper connection of Starlight to Twilight. 

And like I said, having the mane cast worfed so utterly bad is very much mitigated by having the Queen of worf actually be useful and do something and would have made up for it in strides. 

[Ganondorf8 11,370]

I can only think of one episode that could do with a re-write, and that would be "The Equestria Games". While I still see it as one of my personal favourite episodes in the entire show's run, I do wish it could have focused more on the actual games instead of focusing on things on the side. Maybe the games should have been given two or three episodes with which to cover everything. That would have allowed the subplot to get its focus without having to compromise the games directly.

[Thrond 3,263]

The problem is that Celestia hasn't done anything from the audience perceptive. It's a case of tell vs show. The show tells us she is important but never shows it so she very well qualifies as misfit due to her lack of use and usefulness in prior episodes.  Secondly while you may lose the misfits feel a bit, the entire thing is that magic is no longer an option so you can literally stick anyone in there and still have the same effect and plot for the story, relatively speaking. And then with Celestia you have the mentor teaching the new student moment potentially allowing a much deeper connection of Starlight to Twilight. 

And like I said, having the mane cast worfed so utterly bad is very much mitigated by having the Queen of worf actually be useful and do something and would have made up for it in strides. 

I mean, I suppose, but it still becomes a very different story if that's the case, and of course you would have a very, very different dynamic by putting someone of that stature in the group. Plus, I can't say I'm entirely sure how *only* Celestia would be able to escape without it seeming just as contrived as the mane six and royals being captured. 

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

I mean, I suppose, but it still becomes a very different story if that's the case, and of course you would have a very, very different dynamic by putting someone of that stature in the group. Plus, I can't say I'm entirely sure how *only* Celestia would be able to escape without it seeming just as contrived as the mane six and royals being captured. 

You use that to explain just how the Mane 6 and royals were captured. By having Celestia escape and tell us how she did, you fill in both plot holes. I mean it could be as simple as "I was awake when the kidnapping happened and I kicked their asses" or heck even "Luna bought me time to escape" or something like that.  And really IMO the only change in dynamic would be less snark in the first 3 minutes of part 2 and that probably be about it. 

[PoisonClaw 8,166]

Swarm of The Century could have used a rewrite. All you need to change is have Pinkie actually try to warn the others about the Parasprite threat rather than being cryptic for no reason.

 

Both Spike at Your Service and Princess Spike could use a few tweaks, if only to keep Spike as the competent individual he usually is rather than and idiot for the sake of come.

 

Finally, Newbie Dash needs to be scrapped and rewritten entirely. Don't make Dash an idiot and don't make the Wonderbolts total unlike jerks.

[Lil Pip 775]

I like approaching theoreticals either humorously or objectively. But because its so subjective and people can misunderstand episodes then I say that um, people should focus on making the misunderstood episodes better delivered so they do not get misunderstood.

 

But some people dislike episodes that explore negative emotions regardless of if its realistic for the characters or not. 

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

None of them, since any episode that was rewritten would then just have an entirely different reason to be hated by the fans. There is really no such a thing as "fixing" anything since their is no consensus on what is actually wrong or even if anything was wrong to begin with. I mean I would rewrite the hell out of Flutter Brudder to make Zephyr far less obnoxious and more likable as a character, but then everyone who likes the episode as it is would be outraged to change what they really loved about it and probably just find him a dull and pointless character anyway..

 

That being said, I think a couple of episodes could have used tweaking to tell their stories better. (Yes I am being a hypocrite and doing this anyway)

 

The Cart before the Ponies - Why couldn't the CMC just trade partners? Applejack & Sweetie Belle, RD & Apple Bloom, Rarity & Scoots. They could have explored the dynamics between these pairs as well as kept some of the original idea behind the episode but come to a conclusion in a much better way and skipped that whole wreck part which to me just felt wasteful.

 

Newbie Dash - I don't have the hate for this episode some do... but I do agree it makes a joke of RD. She spent 5 seasons buildings up to this, that includes skill, bravado and more importantly... confidence. And suddenly it is gone and she becomes a clumsy, mewling mess basically begging for their favor and compliments? I am OK with her making mistakes and looking for their support, as well as the Wonderbolts teasing her and calling her out on those mistakes, but RD has been through far worse and should easily have not only been able to handle the pressure, but surpass those expectations.

 

Applejack's Day Off - Applejack is stubborn not stupid. Of all the Mane 6 in fact she is the MOST likely to see such simple little things and correct them as she goes. It would have made more sense to just have her be legitimately over worked due to Big mac and the rest being away for a while or something, or perhaps in the middle of a large rush or some other completely logical reason, instead of her spending hours doing something that would make even Derpy go "Wut?"

 

The Cutie Re-Mark - The ending... overall I like the episode and I don't mind the reformation... but I felt it was just poorly done. Maybe spend a little less of the episode time traveling and spend a little more time giving attention to Starlight's reformation and her acceptance by the others. I did not mind the song.. so they could keep that, but just leading up to could be better. 

 

Read it and Weep & Daring Don't - I have several issues with these that would take too much to explain.. needless to say I love Daring Do as a character and an idea.. and yet do not like her in the show. The whole idea of it just boggles me in so many ways it is ridiculous. The could have fixed the issue by either not putting Daring Do in Read it and Weep (make it some other named Pony who is similar), or by creating a new pony similar to Daring for Daring Don't. This is the only episode I have ever taken the time to actually rewrite myself because of some of my issues with it. I do love Daring Do, but just would have handled her very differently.

 

Every Little Thing She Does - Just as with Newbie Dash I don't have the hate for this episode some do.. but I do think it is a wreck. I mean everyone is going to come over with their own incredibly detailed ideas and activities and expect Starlight to spend equal time WITH ALL of them doing each of those activities in an afternoon? Couldn't they have all gotten together to plan one big activity with her they could all do together... or I dunno.. take turns over a couple days? I would panic to if I was told I had to do scrap booking, cooking, sewing, playing with random animals and trying to actually find someplace to relax with someone all in a short amount of time. I would not mind control anyone, but I would probably demand a board game or something. It honestly annoys me no one ever points this out and just calls Starlight out only for the whole problem when pretty much all 7 of them screwed it up from the beginning equally.

 

To Where and back Again -  I honestly feel this one needs three episodes. The first one should have dealt with Starlight and Trixie going to her old town... they could have had some random adventure and cleaned all of those issues up right then and there... then in the second episode, with all the Starlight + Trixie + Old village part squared away, they could have given more time explaining how Chrysalis really captured everyone. Starlight and Trixie would have returned to the changelings, Starlight would be more confident, and we could have gotten the story moving along much better overall and had a much more overly satisfying plot. I did like the finale... I just felt it was too rushed and that cause me problems. Also, the whole Changelings turn good bugged (no pun intended) the hell out of me. I am all for them switching sides, but they should have just had thorax change for now... and the rest in S7 or something after some time.

[Thrond 3,263]

You use that to explain just how the Mane 6 and royals were captured. By having Celestia escape and tell us how she did, you fill in both plot holes. I mean it could be as simple as "I was awake when the kidnapping happened and I kicked their asses" or heck even "Luna bought me time to escape" or something like that.  And really IMO the only change in dynamic would be less snark in the first 3 minutes of part 2 and that probably be about it. 

Well, it is an idea, but I'm still not convinced it would fully fit what the episodes were going for. We might not see Princess Celestia doing great feats that often, but she's still, y'know, Princess Celestia. 

[PonyMage 228]

No Second Prances. I love this episode to death but some of the dialogue feels like it was never rewritten past the initial script, where everything said was written just to drive the story forward.