Season 6: Forgettable or unforgettable?

[heavens-champion 1,905]

Season 6 had a few problems, But one was the lack of memorable episodes. How many of you find it unforgettable, and how many of you find it so forgettable that you could skip it and watch Season 7.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Episode 5,6,7,8,9,11,12,13,16,18,20,21,25,26 are memorable to me, the rest are in forgetable category. (12 episodes of S6 are forgetable whether they are good or bad)

[Hierok 11,832]

Spoiler

Dungeons & Discords - The Times They Are A Changeling - No Second Prances - Top Bolt - Every Little Thing She Does - Flutter Brutter - The Saddle Row Review - To Where and Back Again, Part 2 - To Where and Back Again, Part 1

These are unforgettable, but the others didn't stood out that much.

Spoiler

 

On Your Marks - The Gift of Maud Pie - Applejack's "Day" Off - The Fault in Our Cutie Marks - Where the Appe Lies - The Cart Before the Ponies - Spice Up Your Life - Viva Las Pegasus - 28 Pranks Later

 

I already forgot about these.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,632]

I'd say season 5 was more forgettable, but season 6 had its fair share of blank-thought inducing episodes. Cart before the ponies, 28 Pranks Later, Applejack's Day Off, episodes like that are ones I nearly completely struck from my memory. Except for Carts because it was such a disappointment. I don't think I enjoyed season 6 quite as much as others did. The Times They Are A Changeling was easily the highlight for me and it set a major plot point forward for the future, so season 6 definitely has that at least.

I consider season 6 to be very middleground. Not completely forgettable but definitely not unforgettable.

[KH7672 1,604]

For me Season 6 took everything established in Season 5 and continued to expand and build off of it which is why it is one of my favorite seasons. So no it's not forgettable (then again no season really is for me).

[Photon Jet 5,491]

This season to me was unforgettable as we got to see Starlight Glimmer develop in great character. She became one of my favorite ponies after the season.

[cmarston1 5,959]

Some episodes were unforgettable such as Newbie Dash and Every Little Thing She Does, but I mean that in the worst possible way.

And than we get the most pointless episode of the entire show in Applejack's Day Off.

But there were episodes that I actually enjoyed from the season such as Flutter Brutter, Gauntlet of Fire, The Times They Are a Changeling, A Hearth's Warming Tail, The Saddle Row Review, Stranger than Fanfiction, and To Where and Back Again.

Outside of those episodes I just mentioned, I don't really think the season was all that great.

[FlareGun45 2,221]

I say unforgettable! That's the season that brought Spike towards the right track!

[Tacodidra 61,243]

I thought it was another great season. I would rank it slightly below the two seasons before it, though. I wouldn't call the season forgettable as a whole, especially as there were some important character introductions: the birth of Flurry Heart and the addition of Starlight as a semi-regular character. Starlight is quite a nice character (she somehow reminds me of Twilight at the start of the series), and I was delighted to see Trixie appear in several episodes.

I have to say that there were a few somewhat forgettable episodes, though. At its best (especially the first and last few episodes), the season was up there with the show in its prime. However, there was a set of episodes that didn't particularly appeal to me, this being episodes 7 to 11 (apart from "The Saddle Row Review" which was great). "Newbie Dash", "A Hearth's Warming Tail" and "Applejack's Day Off" weren't bad episodes but they didn't impress me apart from some good moments. As for "Flutter Brutter", I consider it better than the aforementioned three qualitywise, but I found it unpleasant to watch, both due to the annoying character of Zephyr Breeze and the miserable theme of the episode itself. Thankfully, the show really bounced back after these episodes, and I'm actually surprised I haven't found a single episode particularly bad even after watching 143 of them!

My favorite episode of the season was "Gauntlet of Fire", followed closely by "No Second Prances". These episodes had especially great, touching portrayals of the show's key theme: friendship. They were really well written, making me feel for the characters. Other episodes that stood out for me (for various reasons) included "The Gift of the Maud Pie", "The Saddle Row Review", "28 Pranks Later", "The Times They Are a Changeling", "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks", "Where the Apple Lies" and "To Where and Back Again".

While the season had its low points, the highlights easily eclipsed them. My current ranking for the seasons, from best to worst, is as follows: 1, 4, 5, 6, 2, 3.

[Thrond 3,263]

There's no season I consider to be forgettable. Maybe 4, because the status quo was starting to get slightly old by that point, but even it has a lot of really entertaining episodes. 6 has its forgettable moments, as do many seasons, but there's a lot of episodes I consider to be very memorable, some of which are among the show's best:

• "The Crystalling"
• "The Gift of the Maud Pie"
• "On Your Marks"
• "Newbie Dash"
• "A Hearth's Warming Tail"
• "The Saddle Row Review"
• "Flutter Brutter"
• "Stranger Than Fan Fiction"
• "The Times They Are a Changeling"
• "Dungeons & Discords"
• "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks"
• "Every Little Thing She Does"
• "Where the Apple Lies"
• "Top Bolt"
• "To Where and Back Again"

Not all of these are great, but they're all either great fun or at least interesting in some way. If you ask me, season 6 has a lot more going for it than season 7 does, so I definitely would not recommend skipping to the latter, because you're missing one of the show's more interesting and enjoyable batches of episodes for what I consider to be one of its worst. 

[heavens-champion 1,905]

17 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

There's no season I consider to be forgettable. Maybe 4, because the status quo was starting to get slightly old by that point, but even it has a lot of really entertaining episodes. 6 has its forgettable moments, as do many seasons, but there's a lot of episodes I consider to be very memorable, some of which are among the show's best:

• "The Crystalling"
• "The Gift of the Maud Pie"
• "On Your Marks"
• "Newbie Dash"
• "A Hearth's Warming Tail"
• "The Saddle Row Review"
• "Flutter Brutter"
• "Stranger Than Fan Fiction"
• "The Times They Are a Changeling"
• "Dungeons & Discords"
• "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks"
• "Every Little Thing She Does"
• "Where the Apple Lies"
• "Top Bolt"
• "To Where and Back Again"

Not all of these are great, but they're all either great fun or at least interesting in some way. If you ask me, season 6 has a lot more going for it than season 7 does, so I definitely would not recommend skipping to the latter, because you're missing one of the show's more interesting and enjoyable batches of episodes for what I consider to be one of its worst. 

I don't know. The Crystalling was pretty underwhelming, and To Where and Back Again.... technically I skipped that, and I think even if I didn't watch it and skipped to Celestial Advice, I could just take it for face value, and To Change A Changeling would give me a good idea of why the Changelings don't look creepy anymore.

Edited September 17, 2017 by heavens-champion

[CypherHoof 26,483]

I think S6 was OK, but not great. We get some significant development of Spike and the introduction of Ember (and her ascension), we get a where-are-they-now on Sunburst, we get to meet the curry ponies, Daring do (and quibble), Thorax, and also an episode where Discord's powers have limits, which is entertaining in its own special way. 

Starlight's redemption arc had a good solid start, but became a trainwreck partway though, and indeed on the whole, the character is handled badly (not least the way she is either the focus of the episode, or not present at all; it's good to see they are fixing that in S7) with the setup for the finale (with the royal ponies and mane six apparently captured without any fuss or difficulty, leaving Team Starlight to save the day) a horrible cludge, but indeed in keeping with the usual setup for the mane six saving the day...

I think S6 is much like S4 though; not forgettable, but you need to cherry-pick the gems out of the season, which makes it pale compared to the string of solid hits we seem to be getting in S7.

[Thrond 3,263]

1 hour ago, heavens-champion said:

I don't know. The Crystalling was pretty underwhelming, and To Where and Back Again.... technically I skipped that, and I think even if I didn't watch it and skipped to Celestial Advice, I could just take it for face value, and To Change A Changeling would give me a good idea of why the Changelings don't look creepy anymore.

I seem to be in the minority of adoring both season 6 two-parters, because they do a lot to flesh out and humanize Starlight, and both have plenty of great moments. 

[heavens-champion 1,905]

20 minutes ago, AlexanderThrond said:

I seem to be in the minority of adoring both season 6 two-parters, because they do a lot to flesh out and humanize Starlight, and both have plenty of great moments. 

It's not Starlight getting fleshed out that's bad (If she's going to be in the show, she needs the development), it's that The Crystalling has terrible pacing, and To Where And Back Again doesn't address how everyone got captured. Call it nitpicking, But this kind of makes it difficult for me to rewatch season 6. If you're not going to show at least one of the characters getting captured (Luna getting captured was a dream), then you shouldn't have them get captured. And before you say anything, Canterlot Wedding doesn't count, because we didn't know Cadance was being impersonated until part 2. To Where and Back Again was just being sloppy with it, and it was taking forever to get to the reveal, like how the Crystalling took forever to get to the part where the Crystal Heart breaks.

Edited September 17, 2017 by heavens-champion

[Adderbane 121]

Out of all of the seasons, S6 probably has the highest number of episodes I went back and rewatched (some many times), thought S5 comes close.  It also has a lot of my favorite episodes (A Hearth's Warming Tail, Saddle Row Review, Stranger than Fan Fiction, No Second Prances, and others).  I wouldn't say it's forgettable.

On the other hand, I can understand why a lot of the episodes were hit-or-miss (I thought Newbie Dash was fantastic except for the bit where she impersonates her friends, but a lot of people dislike it), and some weren't very good.  But all seasons have a mix of good and bad, and I think S6 has a lot of good in it.

[CypherHoof 26,483]

25 minutes ago, heavens-champion said:

It's not Starlight getting fleshed out that's bad (If she's going to be in the show, she needs the development), it's that The Crystalling has terrible pacing, and To Where And Back Again doesn't address how everyone got captured. Call it nitpicking, But this kind of makes it difficult for me to rewatch season 6. If you're not going to show at least one of the characters getting captured (Luna getting captured was a dream), then you shouldn't have them get captured. And before you say anything, Canterlot Wedding doesn't count, because we didn't know Cadance was being impersonated until part 2. To Where and Back Again was just being sloppy with it, and it was taking forever to get to the reveal, like how the Crystalling took forever to get to the part where the Crystal Heart breaks.

I usually treat the Crystalling as a spike-and-starlight episode that had some other ponies around.

We get a good feel for how the episode is going to go in the setup, as Spike acts as Starlight's voice of reason while she is freaking out about friendship lessons.

We got to meet the adorable new foal (who, not unlike the Cakes' foals, are OP and dangerous) and get to see C+SA in "harried parents to a newborn" mode; this keeps the rest of the gang reasonably occupied while we see Starlight, with a somewhat boastful Spike again standing in as a mini-Twi, exchange obvious untruths with her former friend. Then we have the shattered Heart, which gives us the mcguffin for Starlight to call Sunburst on his claimed status, and finally have a heart to heart, confessional, whatever, and clear the air between them. Starlight then shows faith in Sunburst and vouches for him to the princesses, the episode wraps up, and ends with spike reminding Twi that Celestia had taken a hands-off approach to HER friendship training, and it hadn't worked out too badly.

I can see how, if you were looking at it as a Twi episode, it would suck though

[heavens-champion 1,905]

2 hours ago, CypherHoof said:

I usually treat the Crystalling as a spike-and-starlight episode that had some other ponies around.

We get a good feel for how the episode is going to go in the setup, as Spike acts as Starlight's voice of reason while she is freaking out about friendship lessons.

We got to meet the adorable new foal (who, not unlike the Cakes' foals, are OP and dangerous) and get to see C+SA in "harried parents to a newborn" mode; this keeps the rest of the gang reasonably occupied while we see Starlight, with a somewhat boastful Spike again standing in as a mini-Twi, exchange obvious untruths with her former friend. Then we have the shattered Heart, which gives us the mcguffin for Starlight to call Sunburst on his claimed status, and finally have a heart to heart, confessional, whatever, and clear the air between them. Starlight then shows faith in Sunburst and vouches for him to the princesses, the episode wraps up, and ends with spike reminding Twi that Celestia had taken a hands-off approach to HER friendship training, and it hadn't worked out too badly.

I can see how, if you were looking at it as a Twi episode, it would suck though

Why CypherHoof. Are you assuming that I'm overly obsessed with Twilight? I'm crushed.

Well... maybe Twilight's lack of importance might have been a little disturbed. I was under emotional distress at the time.

But the pacing is still off.

P.S. are you stalking me?

Edited September 17, 2017 by heavens-champion

[Thrond 3,263]

2 hours ago, heavens-champion said:

It's not Starlight getting fleshed out that's bad (If she's going to be in the show, she needs the development), it's that The Crystalling has terrible pacing, and To Where And Back Again doesn't address how everyone got captured. Call it nitpicking, But this kind of makes it difficult for me to rewatch season 6. If you're not going to show at least one of the characters getting captured (Luna getting captured was a dream), then you shouldn't have them get captured. And before you say anything, Canterlot Wedding doesn't count, because we didn't know Cadance was being impersonated until part 2. To Where and Back Again was just being sloppy with it, and it was taking forever to get to the reveal, like how the Crystalling took forever to get to the part where the Crystal Heart breaks.

I can't really defend the mane six+princesses being kidnapped offscreen, and mostly like the episode in spite of that, but I do think leaving the "how" to our imagination has the benefit of not being a contrivance. It's kind of a distracting plot shortcut, and it's not the only one in that episode, but for me the characters more than make up for that. 

And what you're complaining about in "The Crystalling" is part of why I like it, because all that time before the heart shattering sets up the characterization and themes of the episode. I honestly think people are complaining about what it isn't instead of what it is. 

[heavens-champion 1,905]

Just now, AlexanderThrond said:

I can't really defend the mane six+princesses being kidnapped offscreen, and mostly like the episode in spite of that, but I do think leaving the "how" to our imagination has the benefit of not being a contrivance. It's kind of a distracting plot shortcut, and it's not the only one in that episode, but for me the characters more than make up for that. 

 

It's not that distracting. All Chrysalis would have had to do was gloat about tricking them into coming to a party that's actually an ambush, or something like that.

[Thrond 3,263]

2 hours ago, heavens-champion said:

It's not that distracting. All Chrysalis would have had to do was gloat about tricking them into coming to a party that's actually an ambush, or something like that.

I mean, that's basically what I assume happened, so it wouldn't have changed much for me. I mean that the absence of an explanation is slightly distracting, though I'm a little more bothered by Discord's power being nullified and Luna somehow being captured from the dream realm. 

[heavens-champion 1,905]

7 minutes ago, AlexanderThrond said:

I mean, that's basically what I assume happened, so it wouldn't have changed much for me. I mean that the absence of an explanation is slightly distracting, though I'm a little more bothered by Discord's power being nullified and Luna somehow being captured from the dream realm. 

I don't know what to say about Discord, but I think the part with Luna being captured in the dream realm was more of a representation of the throne's power taking effect on her.

[Thrond 3,263]

8 minutes ago, heavens-champion said:

I don't know what to say about Discord, but I think the part with Luna being captured in the dream realm was more of a representation of the throne's power taking effect on her.

I suppose that makes sense. Neither issue really bothers me that much, but taking away Discord's power is kinda a buzzkill. Still find the episode fun despite that. 

[heavens-champion 1,905]

10 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

I suppose that makes sense. Neither issue really bothers me that much, but taking away Discord's power is kinda a buzzkill. Still find the episode fun despite that. 

If you like it, I will not stop you.. I'd be labelled as a sociopath if I did.

Edited September 18, 2017 by heavens-champion

[Megas 27,715]

Unforgettable in the worst way. S6 had some of the lowest lows in the entire show that I hope the writers never forget so they make sure to never stoop to that level again

Edited October 28, 2017 by Kiryu-Chan

[EpicEnergy 23,220]

I remember some things in season 6, so I think that it's not forgettable but not unforgettable either; rather, I think it's a mixture of the two with some details and aspects being forgettable and some that are memorable.