The real problem with Josh Haber as story editor

[Sly 236]

Hey there. Today I wanted to share my thought on why I think Josh Haber is not good as story editor for MLP (or in general as I don't think he did that good of a job in the Skylanders series). Most of us agree that his operated in the S6 as story editor wasn't really that stellar and he really didn't valorize the Mane 6 in most of the season, but I think I know what the real problem is. Let's take Rob Renzetti, Meghan McCarthy, Mitch Larson, Kristine Songco and Joanna Lewis and let's take a look to their past experiences as writers before becoming story editors of MLP:

Renzetti: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0719952/?ref_=nv_sr_1

McCarthy: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2436273/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Larson: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1910191/

Songco and Lewis: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2995437/  (I'm putting only Songco's page because they almost did all their works together so their IMDB pages would be pretty much one the clone of the other).

As you can see, all these people worked for A LOT of serieses in past, and most of the very first ones on which they worked on, weren't that good (althought, Larson and McCarthy wrote a few Foster's home eps as their very first writing works, but whatever). It took very long for them to get where they are now as writers (which feels very natural for humans by the way you know). Now... let's take a look to Haber's past works...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2995437/

Haber's only past writing experiences before becoming the story editor of MLP S6 were just.... a pair of episodes in a crappy Duel Masters rip-off and the five MLP episodes he wrote in the previous two MLP seasons.... I think THAT'S the problem with Haber: he's unexperienced. The job of the story editor is very delicated as it gives complete freedom to him/her on the handling of the writing of a season, also as Jim Miller said in past, the story editor of as season has the task of HIRING ALL THE WRITERS OF THAT SEASON. It's an harder job than many peope think, and requires a lot of attention, responsability and experience.... that's why Haber is not good at that job: he's pretty much of a newbie in writing, he's not experienced enough to handle the writing of an entire series. At least least this is my point of view on the problem. I just don't understand why Hasbro would have gave the responsability of the head writing of the next season.... what do you think?

[Libra 11,691]

I think he should be given a second chance. Just because they screwed up in the past doesn't mean they'll screw up now, maybe he improved, we can't tell if hes good or not, let him run season 8.

[FlareGun45 2,221]

He's CO editor! That means he ain't doing it alone!

[KH7672 1,604]

If you want to judge his time as an editor it's time to really think what happened. Think about when production for Season 6 actually happened.

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2015/03/season-6-of-mlp-confirmed-in-new.html?m=1

It was announced back in early 2015. In other words when Season 5 was just beginning. What is the first thing that needs to happen when producing a new season? THE STORIES. Without them no voice actresses know what to say, no animation team knows what to animate around (this step being the longest part of production). So in other words Haber had to do his job probably before season 5 even ended (and Friendship Games premiere his Eq Girls movie), in other words before he could even respond to the public opinion on him. Don't believe this stuff is done so far in advance. There's a thread here about John De Lancie not thinking Discord was in season 7 (well we already know he was wrong).

https://mlpforums.com/topic/163237-no-discord-in-season-7/

That's because these actors record all their lines at one time so far in advanced they have no idea what season their recording for anymore. And these lines couldn't have been recorded without the story editor okaying their use by the writer.

I will agree there is valid criticism against him, he needs to be a little more assertive of an editor with these writers and push them to write at least a little riskier to give an episode a bigger payoff. And I know he cares about characterization but needs to enforce more of that mindset on the other writers who bring him these stories and all he did was okay them as long as nothing heinous was there (that's more of a theory on his mindset so don't take it as fact)

In the end all I'm saying is give him a chance to redeem himself, because as I've pointed out we've yet to actually experience anything MLP related by Haber after he would have received criticism at this point. This Season 7 finale should be the deciding factor for everyone. This will prove if Haber has listened or not.

Edited August 23, 2017 by KH7672

[Thrond 3,264]

Well, if he learned a bit more and has decided to assert himself slightly more, he still has a lot of potential as story editor. He knows more of what's involved now, having worked on two shows already, and if he's able to apply some of the skills which he repeatedly demonstrates in his own episodes and gives more notes on the scripts he's given, he could be a lot better in the role. Based on season 6, though, it'd probably be best if he had someone else editing anything story-intensive or lore-related. 

Still like season 6 way more than 5 or 7. 

Edited August 23, 2017 by AlexanderThrond

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

So far, Josh Haber is the still the least favorite story editor based on how people perceived S6, hearing him come back as story editor may make them less exciting for S8. Maybe another co-editor can help him, two heads better than one head, i guess. Still, i am glad that he return to write more episodes, hope it can match the quality of this season's episodes...

[LeafFerret 3,382]

The thing with Season 6 is it was somewhat different from other seasons, that was why I liked that more than other seasons, this season after all the hype about the premiere, it was not much different to previous seasons, the writers keep trying to promote Twilight as the main character when most of the time she is overshadowed by Starlight and other ponies and she more of a role similar to Celestia, despite this the writers are unwilling to hand the protagonist role to another pony or have Twilight step down from the protagonist role,  she is a shell of her old self.

[Steve Piranha 29,451]

Makes sense he has little experience, but I fear he'll be still rather inexperienced as story editor in S8. Good thing he'll have someone else who may help on where he's weak 

[Sly 236]

20 hours ago, KH7672 said:

 

In the end all I'm saying is give him a chance to redeem himself, because as I've pointed out we've yet to actually experience anything MLP related by Haber after he would have received criticism at this point. This Season 7 finale should be the deciding factor for everyone. This will prove if Haber has listened or not.

I'm sorry to contraddict you, but even in the eventuality the S7 finale will be amazing (which I think AND HOPE it will be) Haber wouldn't prove to having been improved since he left MLP, because first of all, he would be only a writer for it, and the finale also has another writer with him (Nicole Dubuc) and Songco and Lewis would still be the story editors. Haber is a good writer all in all, but he just can't do a good job by his own, so he needs some assistance in his works, that's why I liked all his S4 and 5 eps, but none of his S6 eps (except Stranger than FF, which was also written by Vogel by the way). A season finale handeld by three other hands other than his one wouldn't prove he would do a better job in the next seasons as story editor. 

Edited August 23, 2017 by Sly