What was Lauren Faust original vision for mlp?

[Tilgoreth 1,915]

I've been curious as to what she originally wanted the show to be about. All I've found is that she said she couldn't do what she wanted with the show. But not what she wanted to do. Does anyone know? Or is it just speculation?

[sweetolebob18 724]

Well, 2 things I've heard is that she wanted to make it clearer that AJ's parents were dead.  Plus, she wanted Scootaloo to be crippled & unable to fly. (AFAIK, she is like Fluttershy, just a late bloomer). Hasbro nixed both on the grounds it would be too rough for little kids.

 

Now that I think about it, I've also heard they made Celestia a princess (the Disney influence.  Princess = nice, Queen = evil) & wouldn't let them use Luna the 1st season -too scary & morally ambiguous

[Marimo 555]

 

 

I've been curious as to what she originally wanted the show to be about.

What the show is about is a bit broad. It still basically is about what she wanted. Something with themes about friendship, with multiple females with differing personalities, and about 1/3 adventure stories and 2/3 slice of life per season, though she noted there was more slice of life than she originally planned due to the writers not being as used to adventure stories and because adventure stories require more new art assets, since it would involve going to new places and meeting new characters and creatures.

 

What she wanted to do in the show would probably require more specific directions for stories.

[Tilgoreth 1,915]

Well, 2 things I've heard is that she wanted to make it clearer that AJ's parents were dead.  Plus, she wanted Scootaloo to be crippled & unable to fly. (AFAIK, she is like Fluttershy, just a late bloomer). Hasbro nixed both on the grounds it would be too rough for little kids.

 

Now that I think about it, I've also heard they made Celestia a princess (the Disney influence.  Princess = nice, Queen = evil) & wouldn't let them use Luna the 1st season -too scary & morally ambiguous

Those ideas could be worked in to a kids show. Maybe not mlp though. The tone of the show just wouldn't fit. But just look at Legend Of Korra. Complex themes can be presented in a kids show in an understandable way. But Mlp has a very different tone then Korra.

What the show is about is a bit broad. It still basically is about what she wanted. Something with themes about friendship, with multiple females with differing personalities, and about 1/3 adventure stories and 2/3 slice of life per season, though she noted there was more slice of life than she originally planned due to the writers not being as used to adventure stories and because adventure stories require more new art assets, since it would involve going to new places and meeting new characters and creatures.

 

What she wanted to do in the show would probably require more specific directions for stories.

So more character development and less filler episodes? Or stories that had broader over arcing plots? Like the season premieres and season finales would be less self contained? Sorry but I can't find where she said specifically what she wanted to do.

[Marimo 555]

 

 

So more character development and less filler episodes? Or stories that had broader over arcing plots? Like the season premieres and season finales would be less self contained? Sorry but I can't find where she said specifically what she wanted to do.

She mentioned the adventure/SoL ratio in a post-season 1 interview that you can find on EqD. And it's not exactly character development vs filler (which I think doesn't count for this show since adventure or slice of life, characters are going to grow), it's just the things like what stakes the episode sets up, the tone, the setting, and what genre each individual episode would best fit.

 

I think she might've mentioned considering a more long-term storyline for Trixie and her rivalry with Twilight in the Elements of Harmony guidebook, but other than that and having some plans for some character end goals in the Bronies documentary, I don't think she's elaborated more on making longer story arcs.

[cmarston1 5,951]

I think she mentioned something about wanting the whole Nightmare Moon incident to be a season long arc for the first season, but had to change things around.

If I do recall, she mentioned wantin the show to be more adventure focused.

[chaosprincess 1,064]

Lauren Faust wanted the mane 6 to be generation 1 ponies, but Hasbro did not have the rights to them at that time so they had to change them Twilight was going to be generation 1 Twilight, Rarity was going to be Gen 1 Sparkler, Pinkie Pie was going to be gen 1 Surprise who was a pegasus, Rainbow Dash was going to be gen 1 Firefly and Fluttershy was going to be gen 1 Posey who was an earth pony, Celestia was going to be generation 1 Majesty who was a unicorn, she wanted Luna to be named Selena instead of Luna, but Hasbro did not like the name so she became Luna instead.

[FlareGun45 2,221]

Well, 2 things I've heard is that she wanted to make it clearer that AJ's parents were dead.  Plus, she wanted Scootaloo to be crippled & unable to fly. (AFAIK, she is like Fluttershy, just a late bloomer). Hasbro nixed both on the grounds it would be too rough for little kids.

 

Now that I think about it, I've also heard they made Celestia a princess (the Disney influence.  Princess = nice, Queen = evil) & wouldn't let them use Luna the 1st season -too scary & morally ambiguous

 

Hope she would've made an episode that featured another flightless pegasus right along side Scootaloo in a future episode, cause that's what Scoots needs right now! To not be the only one!

[Tilgoreth 1,915]

She mentioned the adventure/SoL ratio in a post-season 1 interview that you can find on EqD. And it's not exactly character development vs filler (which I think doesn't count for this show since adventure or slice of life, characters are going to grow), it's just the things like what stakes the episode sets up, the tone, the setting, and what genre each individual episode would best fit.

 

I think she might've mentioned considering a more long-term storyline for Trixie and her rivalry with Twilight in the Elements of Harmony guidebook, but other than that and having some plans for some character end goals in the Bronies documentary, I don't think she's elaborated more on making longer story arcs.

I feel like this show still has a lot of filler. Episodes that don't reveal more about the characters but are just their for fun. Whereas in a show like Steven Universe even filler episodes will reveal more about the lore or have some character development.