3 part premieres/finales

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

I have been thinking that Shadow Play could have felt much smoother and better if it was a 3 parter. Now obviously that would be the case, it would probably be so with all the two part episodes. I am curious though, if you could make any of the current 2 part episodes into a 3 parter, which one would it be and what would you change or add to make that extra 22 minutes fit.

For me, I will do Shadow Play. It would open the same way, and continue the same way until they discover that Ponehenge is at the base of foal mountain. The rest of the episode would be them journeying to Ponehenge, while on the way Sunburst is reading a more detailed version of their battle(s) with the Pony of Shadows, this plays out similar to the legends sequences we saw in previous episodes. We see the mane6, Starlight, SPike, and Sunburst traveling and talking but with occasional changes to show the pillars battling the pony of shadows as he brings ruin to the land. It would end with Starswirl saying how he has one final plan, but it would require a dire sacrifice. Just as that ends we see them finally find Ponehenge, and every thing goes exactly how it did in the episode, they walk around Ponehenge, point out the runes, we see the holograms of the PoS being banished, and part 1 ends with Twilight saying "Starswirl and the other Pillars sacrificed themselves to save Equestria"

So with part 1 over we now have a good understanding of the Pillars and a more firm grasp of how much of a threat the Pony of Shadows was. So with Part 2, everything goes about the same, except instead the parts where the mane 6 find their artifacts are all longer, at least a few minutes each, 2-5, no ridiculous 30 second parts like Pinkie Pies, basically make the mane 6 finding their artifacts about as long as the RD/Spike one. It goes as normal from there with the Pony of Shadows being freed and Twilight going "OH NO" "To be continued"

Part 3 would go exactly the same as part 2 did in the version we got.

 

So that is how I would have made Shadow Play a 3 parter and I think it would have greatly improved the story, don't get me wrong, I love Shadow Play but it was pretty rushed in some parts. This way we get to see more of the pillars and more importantly, more of the Pony of Shadows so when we find out how Stygian changed in part 3, it would feel more impactful.

But that is just Shadow Play, I hope you find my changes good, but I am more curious to see what you would add or change if one of your favorite two parters suddenly got an extra 22 minutes of time.

[FlareGun45 2,221]

Having a 3-part finale would be pretty awesome sometime soon!

[Jeric 46,880]

If a third episode is just an excuse for exposition, not really interested. That said, The Cutie Re-Mark could have added an episode to explore one or two additional alternate realities, and add more substance to Starlight's motivation. 

[ShootingStar159 2,157]

The Cutie Remark is the only two-parter I can think would be benefited with a third part. There are others that could have had more to them, but that doesn’t mean they needed it.

Not that I’m against the idea showing up in the future.

Edited December 8, 2017 by ShootingStar159

[Thrond 3,271]

Two come to mind. 

First, "The Return of Harmony," which I would give a proper third act which isn't told primarily in montage. To be honest, I'm not sure entirely how that would go like - perhaps simply longer action scenes revolving around the mane six and/or Discord, and a brief joke-y scene which explains why Celestia sent the friendship lessons. If I were writing, I'd say she has some sort of scrying orb, and began panicking as soon as she realized the mane six were falling right into Discord's traps. All that might be a little unsubstantial, but it'd aid the pacing and still be a lot of fun.

The other is "The Cutie Re-Mark," where I'd only really use the extra episode to extend the time spent in the bad futures. It'd probably kill the pacing a lot, but it could be a lot of fun, and maybe it'd make the serious tone of these scenes feel less shallow and unsatisfying. 

In general, though, I think the two-parter plots are too straightforward to benefit from the full hour-and-a-half treatment. At that point, I'd like to make like "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and throw in a bunch of quirky twists. Plus, a lot of the two-parters have exactly as much time as they need, but just distribute it poorly; "Shadow Play," for instance, wastes its entire first half on collecting MacGuffins, which is easily the most fun part of that episode but is completely unnecessary. If we had gotten more of the mane six, not to mention more humour, in the actual substantial part of the episode, it might have been at least a little less of a slog for me. 

[Hierok 11,833]

I really hope the series final will be a 4 parter, and for the episodes... I think season 3 had to be 26 episodes in the first place. Return of harmony, Cutie remark and Shadowplay could have been 3 parters.