S08:E01+02 - School Daze

[Music Chart Fan 818]

13 hours ago, Truffles said:

Thinking about it some more, I guess I do have one complaint that goes a little above a minor level. I have having a hard time trying to figure out how Neighsay rose to acquire so much power without anyone complaining. I can't believe after who knows how many years, no teacher ever came to Celestia and told her how rigid the EEA rules were. Celestia mentions that she doesn't want to be a dictator (paraphrasing) but somehow Neighsay managed to do just that even though they are technically a board and should have a mix of attitudes.

I don't know what's up with the other members - did he surround himself with a bunch of yesponies so whatever he believes they go along with? They certainly seemed to agree with everything he said when Twilight and Spike were at the initial hearing. Doesn't Celestia worry about his control over all students of Equestria as being a dictatorship in itself?

I suppose as long as the schools keep churning out students with good grades and the crime rate remains relatively low (aside from the random monster attacks that seem to happen from time to time) maybe she figures the system is working? It does seem to be another indicator Celestia isn't as in touch with her subjects as she believes she is if she allowed this guy to grab so much power that he is capable of leading to a world war with his words.

I agree that, at least in theory, that should be how a board works; different members should bring different perspectives in order to challenge both the current way of doing things and suggestions for changing things. But, in practice, I can see the EEA falling prey to some combination of intimidation, groupthink, and status quo bias. As you suggest, if the system seems to be working well enough, then maybe the other board members don't see any need to reconsider the current model. Or perhaps even if some board members (or, e.g., school administrators or teachers) think that the current model could or should be changed, none of them wants to be the one person who sticks his/her neck out and rocks the boat.

Regarding Celestia, I suppose we don't necessarily know how big of a bureaucracy she's overseeing, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's large enough that Celestia never sees much about what's going on with the EEA (or other departments or agencies) other than a big-picture surface level. Maybe Chancellor Nayseigh is the one who reports to Celestia about how the EEA is doing, and if it's operating the way he likes it, then of course he would report that everything's fine.

4 hours ago, Truffles said:

Are they? One of the things that was not clear to me is whether this was a primary school or a college, or perhaps the equivalent of prep school. It's hard to tell with the non-pony characters, but Sandbar doesn't use a foal model and seems to be a young adult.

My impression, based on the structure of the school and the way that the School Six were acting, is that the School Six are the equivalent of high schoolers. The school seems to have pretty rigid schedule of shuffling from class to class, and there's an expectation that the students should be in class and that the school is responsible for overseeing them - from the Chancellor, from the guardians of the students, and from the School Six, who (rightly) think that they would get in trouble for skipping class and leaving the school grounds. All of those things are reminiscent of high school (or younger), rather than college, where class attendance often isn't mandatory and students can usually come and go from campus as they want.

Then the School Six are old enough to think about and plan to skip class, and old enough to believe that they could live out at the Castle of the Two Sisters on their own, even though they discovered that might not be the case. And that again seems like high-school-age behavior to me, although it could be a little younger than high-school-age, too.

I'll still have some questions about the Friendship School's mission, how it operates, and how the students are selected, which I'll try to write about in my big post later.

[LunaLover92 315]

This was a great start to season 8! (And as for Neighsay, his behavior towards non-ponies blew me out of the water!, I mean I'd never thought I'd see racism in mlp! #holycow, I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be the main villain of this season!)

 

Edited March 25, 2018 by LunaLover92

[MAIKUN 262]

Starlight WAS supposed to betray the Mane Six...I mean, she's STILL EVIL! Right?

[Prospekt 10,984]

41 minutes ago, MAIKUN said:

Starlight WAS supposed to betray the Mane Six...I mean, she's STILL EVIL! Right?

I feel like every time a two-parter comes around, the people who aren't so keen on Starlight often hope she turns evil again.

Give it up. She's not Discord who briefly reverted to his old ways when tempted by Tirek. She's truly reformed, and I think her actions have shown us that time and time again. Her little scene where she convinces Twilight to screw the rules and reopen the school might just be my favorite example of that.

2 hours ago, LunaLover92 said:

This was a great start to season 8! (And as for Neighsay, his behavior towards non-ponies blew me out of the water!, I mean I'd never thought I'd see racism in mlp! #holycow, I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be the main villain of this season!)

You know what I want to see? A recurring villain who is a pony, and who doesn't just show up once or twice. I feel like Neighsay has a lot of potential to be that kind of antagonist. He's like Principal Cinch, but even nastier and more believable. And he's a regular pony rather than some overpowered magical being (though he is powerful in his own right, I'll give him that).

Edited March 25, 2018 by Everyone

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

5 minutes ago, Everyone said:

I feel like every time a two-parter comes around, the people who aren't so keen on Starlight often hope she turns evil again.

Give it up. She's not Discord who briefly reverted to his old ways when tempted by Tirek. She's truly reformed, and I think her actions have shown us that time and time again. Her little scene where she convinces Twilight to screw the rules and reopen the school might just be my favorite example of that.

You know what I want to see? A recurring villain who is a pony, and who doesn't just show up once or twice. I feel like Neighsay has a lot of potential to be that kind of antagonist. He's like Principal Cinch, but even nastier and more believable. And he's a regular pony rather than some overpowered magical (though he is powerful in his own right, I'll give him that).

I am hoping Neighsay will be a reoccurring villain throughout season 8, he debut was great and he has potential. I don't believe he will be in the finale as the big bad, as I do believe he thought he was in the right and doesn't want harm to come to Equestria. 

[Pinky_Music 64]

On 3/24/2018 at 11:01 AM, Batbrony said:

Actually I just realized something... the bad guy isn't Twilight or even racism (well not entirely)... the bad guy is basically Equestrian Common Core and school administrations inability to create any flexibility in it for the sake of a better learning experience.  As the son of a teacher and coming from a teaching family, this greatly pleases and amuses me. 

I find your point very interesting. My aunt was a teacher (now retired), but I did find Neighsay VERY irritating and the fault is his for all the creatures leaving, but Twilight isn't totally blameless either. I'm very interested in how this continues on in the season.

I also found it interesting that Silverstream was able to change to a seapony without the presence of the pearl...

[Prospekt 10,984]

On 3/24/2018 at 10:01 AM, Batbrony said:

Actually I just realized something... the bad guy isn't Twilight or even racism (well not entirely)... the bad guy is basically Equestrian Common Core and school administrations inability to create any flexibility in it for the sake of a better learning experience.  As the son of a teacher and coming from a teaching family, this greatly pleases and amuses me. 

Ahhh, this!

I'm no teacher, but I certainly thought of the EEA guidelines as Equestria's version of Common Core as well. And it reminds me of certain grievances I've heard from teachers I had in high school. "By the book," doesn't necessarily equal effective... especially in this case, in which the school in question isn't even a traditional academic school. It's about the virtues of friendship; the Elements of Harmony are being taught, not magic, weather, or agriculture.

[Pinky_Music 64]

6 minutes ago, Everyone said:

Ahhh, this!

I'm no teacher, but I certainly thought of the EEA guidelines as Equestria's version of Common Core as well. And it reminds me of certain grievances I've heard from teachers I had in high school. "By the book," doesn't necessarily equal effective... especially in this case, in which the school in question isn't even a traditional academic school. It's about the virtues of friendship; the Elements of Harmony are being taught, not magic, weather, or agriculture.

I didn't make the connection until you mentioned it, but you're absolutely right, since what they're teaching is completely different from everything in the rulebook, the book should be amended to accomodate it.

I was just watching it again, and near the end it looked like they were playing something like quidditch (sp?).

Edited March 25, 2018 by Pinky_Music

[MAIKUN 262]

That Neighsay character is really awesome....right? Kinda sounds like the Brain straight from Animaniacs

[Prospekt 10,984]

Just now, MAIKUN said:

That Neighsay character is really awesome....right? Kinda sounds like the Brain straight from Animaniacs

It's the same voice actor, Maurice LeMarche.

[Ganondox 899]

8 hours ago, Truffles said:

Are they? One of the things that was not clear to me is whether this was a primary school or a college, or perhaps the equivalent of prep school. It's hard to tell with the non-pony characters, but Sandbar doesn't use a foal model and seems to be a young adult.

 

I was a bit surprised by this since she's stated disdain for traveling to the dragonlands in the past. Perhaps since meeting Ember she's had a change of heart?

Also the absolute non-reaction from Fluttershy to Ember means she doesn't seem to be afraid of them so much now. Or it's a continuity goof.

Yeah that seems to be stretching the lore the movie established. Maybe there will be some kind of explanation that they broke thenorb into small fragments and gave every hippogryph a piece so they could change at will?

It's hard to say how much of the students' boredom was due to the EEA rulebook and how much of it was due to the Mane 6 being inexperienced as teachers and Twilight's insistence on following the guide to the letter. Hearing Cheerilee's thoughts on the EEA and how she manages to keep her students engaged would have been very enlightening, but I suspect she would have short-circuited the story.

Neighsay is qualified to head the board, to be sure. The issue I have is why there are no dissenting members there, effectively giving one pony complete control over the entire Equestrian education system.

The subject matter seen on the boards appears to be either highschool or college, the fact the teachers are referred to as professor suggests college, and the class schedule structure suggests highschool. I don't think it has an exact equivalent to our educational system, but the target age is late teenage. 

With Rarity, I'm guessing it's just because she has had the most experience in the dragon lands aside from Twilight, who is Twilight. Also, Ember is a small dragon, it's only the huge dragons seen in Season 1 that Fluttershy was terrified off, with good reason. 

I'm guessing Novo empowered the necklaces the hippogriffs all wear with limited power from the pearl so that they can transform. I don't think it was broken into fragments as it's implied Pinkie made the necklaces. 

That's the thing, the EEA guidelines can't be all bad because we've seen other schools in Equestria which presumably work under the same guidelines, and they work just fine. 

Well, we only saw the full board once, and I think there just wasn't controversy there, so the counciler just acted as a spokesman for the group opinions. Later on he had more leverage based on the fact he was the only board member to show up for the inspection. Such a system would obviously be prone to corruption, but they appear to trust him.

 

 

[Buttonmash1973 1,024]

deleted

Edited March 26, 2018 by Buttonmash1973

[gingerninja666 487]

I loved Yona. She was so goddamn cute.

[bwrosas 252]

16 hours ago, bwrosas said:

Spoiler

 

From what I've read from other's reactions, the Premiere was a 60/40 mixed bag.  And from what I can sense, is that This Neighsayer will have a connection with a certain S8 finale villain ,

Spoiler

Cozy Glow

, but that's just my opinion.  

But what I do take away from this, is this is possibly the "only " season that will feature the school.  Because if the l**ks showed us anything, that what started here with the introduction to the students, will come full circle with the S8 Finale 

Spoiler

"School Raze"

. 

But again that's just my opinion.  Have to wait and see, and remember this : 

Spoiler

After this 2 parter, you only have 8-9 School Related episodes to go in the season, and 15-16 Non-School Related Episodes to come.

 

So if the school thing ain't your cup of AppleCider, don't worry, you have 6 episodes before the next school related one.

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF4HpgW9MyU

 

[Pixel Dusk 207]

Loved it! great new characters, lots of species variation, makes fun of the school system, what on paper seems stupid and boring its turning out awesome!
and... not sure if spoiler but... 

Spoiler

The new intro (I think its starts next episode) is amazing! about time we got a new one  plus we got da whole royal fam! 

 

Really loving this so far! 

[DonMaguz 1,023]

Hello everyone.

Good season premiere. When I watched it for the first time yesterday it seemed too rushed, from movie continuity to friendship school to Celestia's guidance to EEA approval to mane 6 teachers to first day of school and the introduction of six new characters... I felt at the same time overwhelmed and relieved that this is NOT how they managed Shadow Play. Now that I saw it again, I was able to enjoy the first episode but my first impression was not good at all. The second episode was alright to me even at first watch, Twilight was great both at feeling depressed at the start and recovering from it after Starlight's amazing advice; the rest of the episode was ok giving a bit more flesh to the new characters and to establish their admiration towards the mane 6. I hated Chancellor Neighsay during my first watch and understood his actions on my second watch, acknowledging from the start what an awesome character he is.

There are two problems I had with the premiere, first one being the nonsensical amount of time that Twilight took from the mane 5, AJ and Rarity have almost no time off their jobs, Rainbow and Pinkie are also very busy with their own stuff and even Fluttershy would have problems taking care of the shelter and teaching at a new school. Then again... because of cartoon logic I will just accept it and move on from the issue.

The second one is too close to the one from Honest Apple. Back then, Rarity planned a fashion contest inviting a non-fashion expert to be a judge, her problem was not inviting AJ, it was doing so without giving her a walkthrough of what she was about to do and what should she expect from both the contendants and the other judges. This time it was Twilight who kept information from the EEA and just assumed that everyone in Equestria (or at least the key people) were to know that the new school was to have non-pony students. This is a land where changelings have attacked their leaders twice, Yaks are barely known because of the difficult way to get to their land, Hippogriffs have just barely come out from their hideout, Griffons are well known grunts and Dragons are feared (mostly with good reasons to do so); all of them have become allies to ponykind but have done so at the highest level only, their leaders have come to an understanding with eachother and some of them have become friends from eachother but that fact alone doesn't mean that all creatures have become instant friends with ponies or viceversa. Twilight should have explained the council of the EEA about her approach to become closer to foreign creatures by allowing their students to learn the pony way, without doing so, Chancellor Neighsay was not only uninformed but completely unaware of Twilight's friendship approach, he knew how a school should run under the EEA but he had no idea what Twilight's school was about, he had understood that ponies were to learn about friendship and how to defend themselves from foreign threats, nothing more. Once again, a problem could have been avoided by sharing useful information to all the key people, and this time I felt that Twilight was actually a bit off her character as she is known to be great at planning projects and expressing her plan to key people (Dragonshy, Winter Wrap Up, Magic Duel, Fame and Misfortune, etc.).

Overall I found School Daze to be an OK season premiere, but it is still my least favorite season premiere in FiM.

P.S. The new characters are great and my favorite one is Yona.

Edited March 26, 2018 by DonMaguz
Changed a verb and tense to make sense.

[Music Chart Fan 818]

Overall, these episodes were okay. I agree with the (sort of implied) message that top-down, one-size-fits-all educational rules/curricula won't necessarily work for everyone, and that it's stifling and demoralizing to have to work under rules that are seemingly arbitrary, and which you yourself can see are ineffectual or even harmful. Consequently, I sympathize with the Mane Eight's decision to forget the EEA rules and just do what they believe is most effective, although I think they might have been rather naive in how they approached that. I find the School/Student Six to be likeable, for the most part; I'm not particularly a fan of the yaks' shtick, nor of Pinkie-style hyperactivity, but I'm okay with those being exhibited in the School/Student Six, at least for now. I still have some lingering questions about how the school is run and how the classes are going to go, but those might be addressed later in the season. I did feel like these episodes dragged in some places, and I thought Chancellor Neighsay's villainous behavior was depicted in a sort of ham-fisted way.

I've split this post into a few sections to discuss some of my observations more in-depth.

-----

In this section, I'll talk about some observations about the logistics of the Friendship School and how it's run.

First, I can't help wondering not just about how this new Friendship School was built, and over what period of time, but also who paid for it. Does Twilight have voluntary financial backers/investors? Did Twilight just take out a giant loan? Did Celestia appropriate government funds to build the school? I would expect that whoever supplied the funds to build the school would hold Twilight accountable for ensuring that the school is fulfilling its mission and that the investment to build it was prudent. So, if it was built, and is possibly being run with, government funds, then that would be even more reason for the government to hold the school to teaching by the EEA rules, if they believe that those are the proper way to run a school and thus have the school fulfill its government-funded purpose.

With that in mind, I'm a little puzzled that, both before and after the school is trying to follow the EEA rules, we see the Mane Six seeming to teach classes (or at least material) in their interests/jobs - such as spider anatomy, gems and dresses, and apples - that don't appear to have any connection to their Elements of Harmony. After the school isn't following the EEA rules anymore, this might make more sense - the goal might be just to have students do stuff together and learn about friendship that way. But I'm not sure what the justification is when the school was trying to follow the EEA rules. Was this subject matter part of the curriculum that Twilight submitted to the EEA?

When it comes to thinking about the potential issues with how the school is run, I can see at least a couple of different overall methods for running the school, with different implications for those potential issues. If the Friendship School is comparable to summer camp, essentially a voluntary enrichment activity for (at most) a few months, then many issues with the school wouldn't be as big of a deal. If students are safe and are getting enough value out of attending that it's worthwhile for more students to attend, and for the school to continue to be funded, then the school can probably get away with a lack of accreditation, inexperienced teachers, and seemingly off-topic classes. This could also make it more plausible for the Mane Six, most of whom already have jobs, to only be teaching at the school for a few weeks/months out of the year, rather than committing to full-time teaching positions. On the other hand, if the Friendship School is intended to be a year-round school, and a replacement for regular schooling, then a lack of accreditation, teachers without training in how to teach, and haphazard curriculum are much bigger issues.

Also, what was the decision process for which students are attending the school, particularly the ones that are other species? It doesn't appear that the students themselves volunteered, since some of them start off not wanting to be there. And it also at least appears that this isn't intended to be a remedial school, where people who are causing the most trouble or getting along least with everyone else are sent to "reform". So are they all relatives of the leaders of their societies, perhaps in line to become the leaders themselves one day? Were they judged to have the most potential talent for learning about friendship, or for being able to teach it to their respective societies upon returning from school? Then, of course, there are also all the pony students at the school. How did they come to be attending? Are the pony students all there voluntarily?

-----

Next, in this section, I'll talk about the Mane Eight's displeasure with following the EEA rules and the implications of attempting not to follow them.

We see over the course of the first song that following the EEA rules seems to be stifling the Mane Six in their attempts to teach, and is (at least in part) leading to bored and disengaged students who don't seem to be learning about friendship. Starlight suggests that the teachers try something new, and later asks Twilight if following the book is going to work. And Fluttershy questions following the EEA guidelines even if they aren't working. But while I certainly sympathize with not wanting to follow seemingly arbitrary and ineffectual dictates issued by some distant authority (government or otherwise), it looks as though they don't really have a choice in the matter. The EEA appears to be a government agency, and Celestia says that they "oversee every school in Equestria". So it seems like they would need to get their school accredited just in order to continue operating it. And I think that's borne out in Chancellor Neighsay's reaction on Friends and Family Day. Chancellor Neighsay doesn't just say "Oh well, best of luck getting teachers/students/financial backing without accreditation"; he shuts the school down under his own authority. So I don't blame Twilight for trying to follow the EEA rulebook even as doing so seems to be contributing to bored and disengaged students and a lack of actual learning.

This also ties in to the problem I see with Starlight's whole pep talk about how this school is important and how Twilight should ignore the EEA and just write her own rules. Even if Starlight and Twilight think that operating this Friendship School is worth standing up for, the fact is that Chancellor Neighsay, acting as the head of a government agency, shut the school down. And openly defying the dictates of a government agency, particularly when the head of that agency believes that he is acting to protect Equestria, can have serious consequences. What do Starlight, Twilight, and the rest think will happen if/when Chancellor Neighsay discovers that they're running their school in direct defiance of his having shut the school down? He could presumably order guards to physically prevent the teachers and students from meeting, have the Mane Eight thrown in jail, or, if he goes off the deep end, even personally attack the Mane Eight or the non-pony students. Are the Mane Eight prepared to handle those outcomes? I certainly sympathize with civil disobedience of unjust laws or government regulations or whatever, but people who do that have to be ready to deal with the reaction to it.

Despite this, however, neither Starlight, nor Twilight, nor any of the rest of the Mane Six bring up this issue. The first mention is when Spike brings up "two small problems", one of which is that the school is still unaccredited. Following that, Twilight says that she'll take care of the lack of accreditation if the rest of the Mane Six round up the students. But what exactly did Twilight do about that? We later see her sitting in the throne room with Celestia and Luna as the leaders of the other societies of species confront them. So was Twilight trying to convince Celestia to get Chancellor Neighsay to back down? Would Celestia be willing and/or able to do that? Would Chancellor Neighsay be so convinced that he's right that he would refuse to back down, and would have to be fought and arrested? I can imagine a negative spin that could be put on that: "Princess Celestia fires/arrests head of EEA so favored student Princess Twilight Sparkle doesn't have to follow the same rules for her school as everybody else".

And besides the problems with ignoring the dictates of a government agency, there are other potential issues with the Friendship School not being accredited. Will the financial backers of the school be okay with it not being accredited? Will the school attract enough students if their parents/guardians see that the school isn't accredited? Will any degrees or certification from the school not mean much, if anything, if the school is unaccredited? So, again, I don't see this situation being quite as simple as "forget the EEA and forget accreditation, we'll just do what we want to do".

Of course, near the end of these episodes, Chancellor Neighsay just sort of ends up leaving in a huff, and everyone else goes along with the school being reopened. But again, if Chancellor Neighsay is on a power trip and/or he's convinced that his shutting the school down was to protect Equestria, then I wouldn't expect him to just shrug his shoulders and say "oh well" to the school being opened again. So I don't think the Mane Eight are in the clear yet, and I don't think that Starlight should be taking a victory lap near the end of these episodes just yet.

-----

Finally, here are the rest of my miscellaneous observations, in approximate chronological order:

I think that the movie references at the beginning of the first episode are clunky, and especially if viewers aren't aware of or haven't seen the movie (which we can't assume that everybody did), then they wouldn't be following them at all. It's a nice idea, but it just didn't seem to be executed very well. I suppose the concept of seaponies/hippogriffs might have to be introduced, since they've only been seen in the movie up to this point, but then the intro dialogue doesn't really do that, beyond Pinkie's one line about making seashell necklaces for all of them.

Pinkie asks how many friendship quests they would need to go on before they have to expand the throne room, but I don't know, how big is the world beyond Equestria, anyway? Do Equestrians themselves even know?

Twilight says that "the world is full of so many different creatures who know nothing about friendship". That seems like a pretty strong statement. The world is FULL of creatures who know NOTHING about friendship? It seems a little uncomfortable and condescending for Twilight to say that and to talk about how the Mane Eight are "gonna teach them all about friendship", as though Twilight and company will magnanimously deign to teach all the inferior creatures about the obviously superior pony society values of friendship.

Twilight's question about what time school should start calls to mind articles I've read about research suggesting that most schools start too early for most kids'/teens' biological sleep rhythms, and that students often aren't learning in the early classes of the school day as a result.

Of course, Twilight is firing off all of these questions about how to run the school to Celestia and not even giving Celestia a chance to respond.

Chancellor Neighsay flipped through Twilight's entire thick curriculum book in a matter of a couple of seconds. Does he have some magical ability to read and absorb information at an ultra-high rate? Did he issue preliminary approval while only planning to actually read through the curriculum later? The Chancellor's suggestion that Twilight's school is "for ponies to learn how to protect themselves" suggests that he hadn't actually absorbed what Twilight's curriculum is, since it seems like that's pretty clearly not what Twilight is intending to do.

The rest of the Mane Six are understandably unsure about being teachers, and Twilight responds that "everything about this school just feels right". I think I would want a little more assurance than that.

I've never liked this show's use of words like "everypony" when words like "everyone" and "everybody" already exist, are as easy or easier to say, and are more inclusive. But now apparently we're going to have characters saying "every...creature" instead of just using already existing and more serviceable words.

Applejack says she can't believe that fights are breaking out when the students are supposed to be learning about friendship. But how long is this learning process expected to be? Should we expect that the students won't fight or have disagreements just because they're in classes (supposedly) about friendship?

If the teachers are all supposed to be following EEA rules, then wouldn't an impromptu field trip off of school grounds, supposedly led by Rarity, not be following the rules? Wouldn't that require, say, parent/guardian permission, safety precautions, justification of the learning value of the trip, etc.? But Fluttershy doesn't question the field trip, even though I would think that all of them would be especially wanting to follow the rules on their day of evaluation by the Chancellor. Did Fluttershy not think that that might be an EEA rules violation? Were the Mane Six other than Twilight not aware that the school was being evaluated that day? Was the Chancellor just not expected to arrive until later?

Rarity is certain that the rest of the Mane Six can win over the other societies of species and convince them to send their students back with the Mane Six's "charm and style". But it took Princess Celestia's assistance to convince all of them to send students in the first place, and that was without an incident like the one with Chancellor Neighsay. So I wouldn't be convinced that that task will be so easy.

Seaspray says that the students left notes saying that they ran away together, and then he says that "the students couldn't have done this by themselves". But why not? I wouldn't think it's that hard to run away and hide somewhere.

Seaspray asks Silverstream to show him those "stair" things. But when did the hippogriffs turn into seaponies and go into hiding? Has Seaspray also spent his whole life living as a seapony? Does he just not remember having seen or used stairs as a hippogriff previously?

Finally, it's funny that Twilight sings about how "some things you just can't teach with books", right after we saw that she wrote a rulebook for her school that was even bigger than the EEA rulebook.

[YoshiAngemon 223]

To be fair, their Human World Counterparts from Equestria Girls ARE Still High School Students at Canterlot High. The only ones who seems to qualify are Principal Celestia, Vice Principal Luna, and Principal Cadence of Crystal Prep.

[Brainstorm 4,092]

Since Tempest is mentioned in the show, think she might appear as well? Just a thought.

[Sovereign Leader Rarity 12,000]

A very strong start to the season in my opinion.

I love how it directly correlates to the movie (which I was previously afraid would be forgotten about), I enjoyed the new ground which it trod, and how the characters were presented for the most part. Neighsay was particularly enjoyable to watch, and as was the new conundrum regarding equality which he brought alongside him.

I'm excited to see what else this season has in store for us later down the road.

[YoshiAngemon 223]

5 hours ago, Brainstorm said:

Since Tempest is mentioned in the show, think she might appear as well? Just a thought.

Don't B-B-Bet on it! She's voiced by a celebrity, which is why Queen Novo isn't appearing, either.

[ImpctR 155]

Back to season commenting and as usual, not carelessly long.It didn't feel a long time since the end of Season 7 or the time that passed felt quicker.

 

After the strong Season 7 finale that I recently watched thinking we would immediately see some continuity right after, as this is what happens when starting a new season, it was a completely new story unrelated to the past seasons. However, knowing that I mostly like episodes like Twilight's Kingdom, The Cutie-Remark, To Where And Back Again and Shadow Play, being true fantasy and adventure kind of episodes, this two-part start of Season 8 is not my thing. That is not to say the writers did wrong, I myself like creating something new after repeating the same plot or type over and over. Just saying that for not being my type, I do not have much to say but there are interesting things happening that make me comment. So I give it 4/5 because of plot. Writers are some with richer writing background as I see. 

The initial dialog suggests the Cutie map showing the villains they have dealt with or friendship quests completed and there are mention of names we have not heard before. Just curious who 'Tempest' is? (now I see since I opened wikia for some things, it's missed if not watched the movie).

 

How did this school and area just get there ? background / summary?

Next, there was no suggestion that a school of Friendship would be started from past seasons, or I do not have such recollection. In Part 1, we see the school already built and not a single idea who built it (I can imagine it was AJ and she brought some other worker ponies like how we saw in some past seasons constructing a place) and how it was built - apparently Twilight and Starlight used magic and all ponies worked there to make it the way it is. I do not remember we did not see much space behind Twilight's Castle and now the world opens up for a whole area to build the school upon. No issues with it, it is just that I do not look forward to SONGS (but I do not mind them) and instead of having a song for a bunch of mins, some 1-2 mins story could be given about how the place was founded and the school established. I would expect a quick showing of the way e.g Fluttershy's animal Sanctuary was established.

This is Twi's castle on the left and then there's all that lakes and waterfall and hills that were not present in past backgrounds of her castle.

Nice interior, good job by the artists of how this college looks like.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

The message in the episode for viewers

The episode wants to teach about diversity, tolerance between races (literally) and getting together regardless of that. These are values that as non-American I also share because I think the unification is the future of humanity and through this episode such message is given.

 

The races and interesting gatherings

 

Spoiler

 

Now, the very nice parts to see in this episode was all the creature races in one places and their interaction. i see that there are plot holes if you have not watched The Movie. We already know the Griffins with Grandpa Gruff, Thorax and changelings, Ember and dragons, Prince Rutherford and yaks... but my I must have not heard well 'hyppogryph' a creature I know along with Satyr only from the Warcraft world, till the end I was wondering if I was seeing a pegasus, alicorn, griffin or what was that - the daughter of the two noble.. Hyppogriffs (Sea ponies)? Hyppogryphs  are like griffins and more other bird than eagle head, I did not get the connection with being underwater and sea ponies if they are having wings and transform into mermaids/mermaidpony? .

Good for introducing so many new characters, all the fillies. Typically I am not interested in the fillies and plots surrounding them (that's when the episodes start feeling like not for anyone because they are made for the young audiences especially if the fillies are in the spotlight of an episode)  but that's a whole lot of directions with all these young dragons, griffins, female yak and hyppogriff. Still more interested in the worlds they come from.

 

It was nice seeing again the Castle of the two sisters from Castle-mania episode.

 

The plot of the ep and its future

Ok nice to see inter-racial friendship but it is the introduction of all these new worlds that makes the two parts interesting than the locking of the school because some arse chancellor decided so. Plot-wise not much I care about, unless we see these new 6 friends (Gallus, Smolder (hello Orange head Spike!), Silverstream (I quickly start liking her and her look so much cooler than pegasi and griffins like so upgraded over them!), Yona, Ocellus and Sandbar)   having adventures and helping the others in future episodes. 

Edited March 26, 2018 by ImpctR

[Rhythm Red 6,484]

Hello, everypony- err... everycreature (shudders)- err... everyONE! And welcome, to RHYTHM RED'S RADTASTICAL REVIEWS!!! On this blog, I'll be talking about what I like and dislike about the newest episodes of MLP. And now that I'm finally all caught up, I'm going to give my late (but hopefully great ) review of episodes 1 and 2 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Season 8!

Let's get right into it!

 

So first things first, I love the way the episode starts. Move references EVERYWHERE. That's awesome to see. I'm glad they're treating the movie as show canon. Next, we dive right into the friendship school idea, which, as many of you know, is something I wasn't all too thrilled about. However, I've decided to keep an open mind about it, so I could give the new season a fair shot. And boy, was I pleasantly surprised!

First off, the song was great! Funny lyrics, the story was told quite well, and the alternating vocals were fun to listen to. Not anything incredible, but I still liked it!

Now, on to perhaps the biggest positive for me: I LOVE the new characters! They're all immediately likable, and their interactions were both hilarious and realistic! I TOTALLY get them when they were talking about how bored they were. As of right now, my personal favorites are Sandbar, Ocellus, and Yona. If you take my personality, and copy it onto a pony, you get Sandbar. He's literally me in pony form. Well, technically, that's my OC, but you get the point. I like Ocellus for being a cute lil changeling version of Fluttershy (which was an awesome idea!), and Yona is insanely funny.  

I could rant about the students all day, but we have other things to get to, right? Which brings us to the episode's main villain, Chancellor Neighsay. I think the way he was used in this episode was PERFECT. MLP just talked about racism. Racism is definitely a huge topic in our current day and age, and I think it's a great idea that our little show is finally mentioning it. I definitely want to see more of Neighsay in future episodes, as he has a lot of potential as a villain. He kinda reminds me of pre-reformation Starlight. He's just a simple unicorn, but he has a messed up mindset. Everyday villains like him could make a bigger impact than big baddies like Tirek or the Pony of Shadows!

Let's move on to the part I was most nervous about: the idea of a school in MLP. This is one of the reasons why I dislike EQG. To me, school is an overused, boring, and terrible setting for a cartoon. But MLP did it again. They made the impossible possible. This school idea has me very, very excited. It's not some boring ol' high school. It's a FRIENDSHIP SCHOOL! And they're not teaching boring school subjects. They're teaching relevant lessons revolving around their elements! That's awesome! I'm also really looking forward to seeing Starlight in the counselor role. That's got a lot of potential to be great.  

Part two opens with a crying Twilight Sparkle (and when ponies cry, I cry ). She's sad because she believed she failed as princess of friendship. I can relate to that feeling of failure.

After Starlight helped motivate her again, she sent the rest of the mane six to find the students, who are all missing! But wait- there's more! They're missing TOGETHER! They don't want to stop being friends, despite all their differences!

After the mane six, Starlight, and Spike rescue them from those little hedgehog things, they immediately go back to the school to open it back up. After convincing all the guardians (except that stubborn old gryphon) to let them stay at the school, the seal is broken, and the school reopened, though Neighsay didn't like that. He left via portal, and class was officially put back in session. After another great song, the episode ends on a happy note with a picture of the teachers and students together.

 

That's a lot of positive stuff! But what about the negatives?

While I love that the show is finally talking about racism, I think it's a very tricky subject. The people making the episodes will have to be very careful not to say anything that could be taken the wrong way. Heck, even mentioning it in this blog makes me uncomfortable! However, if this subject is properly addressed, then it could be huge. I'm sure it will be handled well.   

I HATE the term 'everycreature'. It sounds terrible. I much prefer 'everypony', though I completely understand why they aren't using it, given the show isn't all about ponies anymore. Still though, why couldn't they just say 'everyONE'? It means the same thing, and sounds sooooo much better. Though it's still not as fun to say as 'everypony'. I know that's just my opinion, but the word 'everycreature' is going to take a lot of getting used to. 

 

Overall, this episode was pretty good, though! I'd give it a 7/10! Good songs, GREAT new characters, and an interesting new storyline, but overall, it's nothing all that special, in my opinion. There have been much better episodes in MLP.

 

Well, that's all I really have to say, I'll catch all you crazy ponies later, in the next RHYTHM RED'S RADTASTICAL REVIEWS!!!   

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

Perhaps they could acquire the services of other veteran voice artists in the future after procuring Maurice LaMarche.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

Quick thoughts on MLP season 8 opener. I LOVE the concept of the school for MLP. I just didn't like how it became a plot about racism with the pony from EEA since ponies have other creatures around them all the time so it didn't make sense, and it was predictable in the racism aspect. I tend not to like MLP eps that try to comment on racism as much. Good episode otherwise. Better review may be posted next week.