What are some aspects of the early seasons (1-3), that you DON’T miss?

[n1029 229]

We can wax nostalgic about them now but the show's periphery appeal was seriously hampered by the letters to Celestia. I imagine they were part of the e/i demands back when that was a thing and they made the show feel like a PBS cartoon. You really had to be willing to bear with the series to not be immediately turned off by how cloying they were. I was relieved when they tweaked the formula in season 2 and have since worked to incorporate their morals with much more subtlety.

I don't "miss" them per se but I wouldn't say I necessarily dislike the mane 6 and CMCs' more simplistic characterizations early on, because that's what makes their development all the more enjoyable to witness.

Edited December 16, 2017 by n1029

[ShootingStar159 2,157]

10 minutes ago, Kiryu-Chan said:

The Letters to Celestia, they were always a real hokey and condescending way to spell out morals of the episode. Also the “ei” restrictions, getting rid of that thing really helps bring out the show’ Full potential 

‘Ei’ restrictions?

[The MegaBrony 219]

The Elements of Harmony, for using an "I win" button in nine out of ten season premieres and finales got old really quickly.

[Dark Qiviut 22,526]

29 minutes ago, Kiryu-Chan said:

Also the “ei” restrictions, getting rid of that thing really helps bring out the show’ Full potential 

*headdesk* Forgot about the E/I rating!

I agree strongly. When Hasbro ditched it for FIM, the show got much looser and more creative in its stories.

18 minutes ago, ShootingStar159 said:

‘Ei’ restrictions?

In season 1, many of the stories (particularly the action) were toned down in favor of being primarily educational to comply with the Educational/Informative rating. Episodes like Daring Don't or Power Ponies would've violated the rating for its use of violence.

[ShootingStar159 2,157]

2 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

In season 1, many of the stories (particularly the action) were toned down in favor of being primarily educational to comply with the Educational/Informative rating. Episodes like Daring Don't or Power Ponies would've violated the rating for its use of violence.

Ah, thanks. 

[Dark Qiviut 22,526]

13 minutes ago, The MegaBrony said:

The Elements of Harmony, for using an "I win" button in nine out of ten season premieres and finales got old really quickly.

The EoH was also very authoritative. If any villain they faced didn't believe in the MoF, the EoH would make them really suffer their wrath. For characters like Sunset, reset their personalities completely. It wasn't a genuine healer or helper of Friendship. Shadow Play addressed this problem directly.

Nevertheless, Discord and Tirek easily deserved their fates.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Dark Qiviut

[n1029 229]

The mandated didactic streak of the first season is unfortunately forever going to be a repellant for potential new bronies. It really is most rewarding if you start watching from the beginning but a lot of people just aren't going to have the patience and tolerance for that.

[Steve Piranha 29,476]

Oh, you know what else I hardly miss? The early close to exclusive female population, empty Ponyville aside from the main characters (Party of One is one such example), shoehorned aesops, and..... Ponyville only episodes  

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

The heavy slapstick and comedy, 4-7 has a lot more of a major plot going on and feels more evolved, the comedy is still good but not overblown.

[KillerKingBakudan 702]

Snips and Snails being shoe-ins for Trixie episodes.

[Jordan D 149]

Spike's characterization and overall role in the first season is something I don't miss. His personality was always a little inconsistent, going from his personality that we know today to a more rough, dimwitted typical "boy character". His personality was a lot more refined by Season 2, though his solo episodes in Season 3 felt like a bit of  backpedal. His characterization in Season 4 and onwards is much better and consistent. His role in the first few seasons was also a little annoying. He was treated pretty badly by Twilight and her friends and rarely got time to shine. Even in his solo episodes, he was usually portrayed in the wrong. Outside of "A Dog in a Pony Show" and maybe "Pinkie Keen", he didn't really seem to get those cool, heroic moments until "Gauntlet of Fire", unless I'm missing something.

I didn't mind the CMC in the first few seasons much, but their episodes got repetitive after awhile. Especially because the show teased us with their actual talents all the time, which made it even more tedious. Other then that? Eh, not much. I really like unicorn Twilight and I might like her more then alicorn Twilight, but I like alicorn Twilight a lot too so I don't really miss it. 

[Truffles 2,033]

Bitchy Twilight. A little bit of her being sarcastic was good, but she went way overboard in almost every S1 episode. Making nasty comebacks to her new friends and Spike whenever things weren't going her way or whenever she was annoyed with them made me wonder why the show was even called "Friendship is Magic" in the first place.

[Macavity Wilko 208]

That cringe diary with all the force lessons; twilight being in every episode in order for her to learn/teach a new lesson and sending Celestial the letter.

 

[ggg-2 3,553]

On ‎12‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 9:20 PM, Prospekt said:

CMC being excitable little kids. It was cute for a couple of seasons, but then it got stale and I think the writers agreed so the fillies finally started to act more like tweens.

Children acting like children. .....My, how shocking.

[sweetolebob18 728]

Everyone complains about the CMC's quest for their marks being tedious.  But, now that they've got them they're basically useless. Plus, reforming Diamond made her & Silver Spoon useless as well. ICR one time DT & SS appeared since she reformed

I'd say that the biggest thing I DON'T miss is Dash's bragging. Another  is how useless & ineffectual Spike was  (Even now, it's pretty mixed but then he was almost totally lame)

[Thrond 3,265]

2 hours ago, sweetolebob18 said:

Everyone complains about the CMC's quest for their marks being tedious.  But, now that they've got them they're basically useless. Plus, reforming Diamond made her & Silver Spoon useless as well. ICR one time DT & SS appeared since she reformed

I genuinely think their post-Cutie Mark episodes have been significantly more diverse and interesting than the Cutie Mark-focused ones, although their best period was probably seasons 3-5 when the show was trying to branch them out. But even if they tend to be secondary to other characters in recent episodes, they're way more fresh and varied than the S1-2 episodes starring them. It's not really that event's fault that the writers haven't been branching out nearly as much as they should. 

Edited December 17, 2017 by AlexanderThrond

[Tacodidra 61,542]

5 hours ago, sweetolebob18 said:

Everyone complains about the CMC's quest for their marks being tedious.  But, now that they've got them they're basically useless. Plus, reforming Diamond made her & Silver Spoon useless as well. ICR one time DT & SS appeared since she reformed

It's worse than that: unless I've missed something, neither Diamond Tiara nor Silver Spoon has had a speaking role after "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", just a few background appearances. Just because they're no longer needed for the bully role doesn't mean they have nothing to offer.

As for the topic, I agree that some of the friendship lessons made the show feel more childish than it was. In most cases, I felt they did a good job integrating the lessons – at least Twilight learning friendship was an important part of the show so we didn't just have the characters getting preachy all of a sudden (like in some cartoons). My favorite letters were in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" (somehow they worded it so beautifully) and "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" (which almost counts as a self-parody). So I definitely don't consider them all bad, but I don't really miss them either.

As for other things that came to my mind, I wouldn't be sad if we never saw Prince Blueblood again (unless he is portrayed more positively). And I'm glad the generic end credits were replaced with episode-specific ones – it's nice to see who voiced all the side characters.

[Singe 2,111]

Bad Spike episodes.

WTF episodes where the Mane 6 skirt accountability.

Episodes where new characters are simply toss away to advance any of the Mane 6.

 

Edited December 18, 2017 by Singe

[Sovereign Leader Rarity 12,018]

The letters to Princess Celestia at the end of every episode. I get that the show started it's life as an educational one, but it was patronizing, unnecessary in a lot of episode's cases, and it wasted about a minute of every episode just hammering in a point that had already been established.

I'm all for teaching children morals and principles that may help them later in life, but I also believe in a certain degree of freedom, and letting people take/interpret something special from these teachings. Making a whole scene dedicated to giving only one take on what the episode has been all about and what should be taken from it is not only redundant, but it also goes against this idea, it's not subtle in the slightest and feels like worse story-telling in general for that reason.

That being said, I didn't find this feature THAT bad in Seasons 2 and 3 because it wasn't every episode and I suppose it was a serviceable method of showing tangible character development for each of the main protagonists when it was required. In Season 1 however, this feature, for want of a better word, sucked. With Twilight being the only one who had to write these earlier reports, it meant that she had to be needlessly shoe-horned into a great deal of episodes in which she served no other real purpose ("Fall Weather Friends" immediately comes to mind) then to be the one at the end who was apparently effected, even if the circumstances of the episodes had barely occurred or had any relevance to her. It was counter-intuitive from a writing perspective, and drastically improving on it in Seasons 2+3 and then eventually dropping the concept altogether, was a smart move in my opinion and one of the main reasons as to why I prefer the newer seasons to the older ones in general.

[Denim&Venöm 19,818]

The animation and voice quality. It took a while for DHX to get a full grasp on how to use flash puppetry. It wasn't bad per say, the improvement is gradual, but we don't get anything truly eye catching till S4. 

A few of the VAs didn't quite get into the groove of their characters till later on, namely Ashley Ball w/ AppleJack, Michelle Crieber w/ Applebloom and Tabetha St.Germane w/ Rarity.  Again they weren't bad, but their expanded range has produced a night and day difference. 

 

[TePineer 82]

I don't miss how the characters acted in season 1 at all. They felt more like kids rather than young adults, and it just felt weird that they acted like kids in their own episodes compared to some of the first CMC episodes, where they actually felt like grown-ups.