Has MLP:FiM experienced Seasonal Rot?

[Sunny Fox 5,950]

Seasonal rot isn't an all or nothing proposition. I would say Season 6 (and to a lesser extent, Season 3) are both examples of seasonal rot for FiM. The fact that the show has seemed to largely recover and brought its quality back up after those seasons doesn't really erase the fact that they were seasons of lower quality.

Is the show bad right now? Probably not, but since I haven't managed to get over Season 6, and thus haven't watched S7 and S8, I can't really judge for myself. It seems like the consensus is that FiM has managed to pull itself back up.

tl;dr - Has FiM experienced seasonal rot? Yes. It is going through a period of seasonal rot right now? Apparently not, but I don't know for myself.

[Chronicplane 58]

I personally don't think the show has declined, sure there are many duds (especially in the later seasons) but the writers have always been able to bring innovation and creativity with each season that keeps the series fresh. It certainly hasn't reached to the simpsons/family guy levels of seasonal rot.

[Ganondox 899]

1 hour ago, Sunny Fox said:

Seasonal rot isn't an all or nothing proposition. I would say Season 6 (and to a lesser extent, Season 3) are both examples of seasonal rot for FiM. The fact that the show has seemed to largely recover and brought its quality back up after those seasons doesn't really erase the fact that they were seasons of lower quality.

Is the show bad right now? Probably not, but since I haven't managed to get over Season 6, and thus haven't watched S7 and S8, I can't really judge for myself. It seems like the consensus is that FiM has managed to pull itself back up.

tl;dr - Has FiM experienced seasonal rot? Yes. It is going through a period of seasonal rot right now? Apparently not, but I don't know for myself.

Season 7 was REALLY good, Season 8 so far has been pretty mediocre. 

[Patty Thundersnow 4,163]

1 minute ago, Ganondox said:

Season 7 was REALLY good, Season 8 so far has been pretty mediocre. 

I wouldn't say that season 8 has been mediocre, but it's just not been that good. 

[Ganondox 899]

Just now, Pat 'The Blizzard' Thundersnow said:

I wouldn't say that season 8 has been mediocre, but it's just not been that good. 

That's what mediocre means. 

[Luminance 2,186]

It has overstayed it's welcome that's for sure. The show really turned down after the inclusion of Starlight Glimmer after Season 5 and the Cutie map becoming a mere plot device. The School of Friendship isn't going anywhere too and yet this was right off the momentum of the Movie, which itself is a best described as a mistake.

[LeafFerret 3,382]

Although I still have an interest in the show, I started losing interest in the show after that Tirek debacle and sadly for the show's lead character, Twilight, her prime years in the show are now behind her and she is not the pony that we once had know in the first 4 seasons. With the exception of the movie, which I think she did a great job on, she would be better suited being more of a mentor or minor character rather than being the show's lead character, the other main characters, I think they're doing fine with how they're going right now.

After the show's prime years (2010-14), the episodes had slowly declined after those years and I don't look forward to the episodes like I used to although I can still try.

10 minutes ago, Luminance said:

It has overstayed it's welcome that's for sure. The show really turned down after the inclusion of Starlight Glimmer after Season 5 and the Cutie map becoming a mere plot device. The School of Friendship isn't going anywhere too and yet this was right off the momentum of the Movie, which itself is a best described as a mistake.

I think they released the movie too late, if only they released it in place of Equestria Girls, it probably would've rated better as well.

[JMTV99 1,352]

Yeah. Yup, it has. The show should've ended years ago...

[Lone Traveler 91]

I would classify Seasons 1-4 as the golden era for the show, Season 5 as the transitional era, and Seasons 6-9 as the seasonal rot era. The show first started to decline once Twilight became the official princess of friendship due to the character's arcs largely being complete (especially for Twilight) and the show losing the charm and creativity it used to have. Dispite these issues making it not as good as the golden era seasons, Season 5 was still pretty good overall because it still had a lot of the old writers and some really good episodes. However, I think the show officially jumped the shark in the season 5 finale (it did nothing with it's fantastic concept and had the awful and rushed Starlight "redemption") and the show ranged from okay to mediocre for the rest of its run. Very few of the old writers where still there after Season 5, the show's charm was largely gone, the main characters became boring, and the show did a bad job incorporating Starlight and the Friendship School.

Edited October 15, 2021 by Lone Traveler
Typo

[Will Guide 21,360]

Not really it was just a simple roller coaster of ups and downs and to me it ended on a high note and that's good enough for me

[Megas 27,613]

Most definitely. The drop from S5 to S6 is pretty substantial(heck, S5’s finale was pretty dismal too). Whilst S7 showed signs of improvement, it never really stuck and just went down from there

[bigbertha 414]

Yes, but I define seasonal rot as if I don't like at least two seasons in a row. Like, I don't like season 5, but I like season 6 so I wouldn't consider season 5 to be the start of seasonal rot.

I'd say the rot started in season 7 and just got worse from there. 

[EpicEnergy 23,218]

I don't think so, the show had high quality episodes in all seasons in my opinion and only a few low-quality episodes.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Eh, personally, I found seasons 7, 8, and 9 to largely be great. Not every episode was grand, but extremely enjoyable!

[Splashee 28,563]

Pony Life was definitely rotten. It didn't even feel like a new season

 

No, FIM always felt new and fresh, for every new season until its end. Definitely not a The Simpsons issue for FIM.

[Dark Qiviut 22,393]

On 2018-08-09 at 1:14 PM, Dark Qiviut said:

If this question was asked after season 6, the answer would be a lot less clear. But today, I argue otherwise by firmly saying no, it hasn't. Even to this day, it still pumps up not just really good episodes, but great ones, too. The Hearth's Warming Club from last week is one of the best of the entire series.

In past seasons, there were many episodes that were really bad, especially season 6. However, since season 6, the quantity of bad episodes has declined sharply: five last year and only two so far this year. The overall consistency of good quality this season is currently in the middle of is the highest since the show began.

The answer since then is even clearer. No, FIM never underwent seasonal rot.

1. Throughout the run, FIM aired episodes that could've been shark-jumping. Each time, FIM got back on track. Princess Spike? Spike's direction improved. F&M? No FIM episode this bad was ever produced again.
2. The worst seasons of the show are okay. Yes, S6 was nowhere near the level of quality that FIM expected, but even then, some good to great episodes appeared. The seasons afterwards are much, much better.
3. Not only are S7-9 more consistent in quality compared to those before them. The consistency improved in each successive season. Hearth's Warming Club is fantastic, but more excellence awaited; Road to Friendship through Sounds of Silence later in S8 and Sparkle's Seven through Frenemies in Season 9 are FIM's best runs.

[phantompone1148 126]

Of course it hasn’t. Sure Seasons 6 and 8 may have had some really bad episodes but it had some decent ones to make up for them.

[Lone Traveler 91]

As I explained on this topic I made (would really appreciate if you guys vote on it if you have not already), I think the show went through pretty bad seasonal rot. I find Seasons 1-4 to be great, Season 5 to be just good, and Seasons 6-9 to range from mediocre to okay (tho 7 was pretty close to being good)

On 2021-11-21 at 2:56 AM, Lone Traveler said:

Something I find really cool about this fandom is how varied people's opinions on the show are. I personally think the show was amazing during its first half and mediocre for the rest of its run, but others think the opposite, some love the whole show, and some only like seasons 1 and 2! As shown in Stranger Than Fanfaction, people who like common things can still often enjoy very differing things about it leading to big disagreements. I really enjoyed reading the season ranking thread (https://mlpforums.com/topic/188400-rank-the-seasons/#comments) because I got to see the differing things people enjoyed about the show that lead to many of them ranking the seasons vastly different from me. I think it would be really interesting to divide the show up into more board eras to see what people prefer. Here is how I would personally divide up the show and what my thoughts are about each era. I'd love you guys to respond with how you would rank these eras!

Faust Era: Episodes 1-50 (All of Season 1, Season 2 minus Canterlot Wedding): This is the show in its purest and most simple form. Lauren Faust is directly involved, and the show focused on Twilight as a student learning about Friendship and Ponyville, and has solid introductions to the characters. It was a simple show about seeing these characters in a fun fantasy world interact and grow with each other while seeing interesting magical concepts and locations slowly explored along the way. It was focused on cute and funny character interactions above all else and never got overly complex or in depth with lore. Stuff relating to the kingdom of Equestria and major events for their world as a whole were only ever talked about in the Season 1 and 2 premieres. In my view this started the show off great, and its my 2nd favorite era of the show. Despite being about something as cheesy as the "magic of friendship" it always played its concept and morals 100% straight and was completely earnest. Yes, this did make it childish in a way and it took a bit to get used to. But once I let myself get into it it became a joy. It was extremely positive, wholesome, and genuine without an once of cynicism, while being very entertaining at the same time.

McCarthy Era: Episodes 51-91 (Canterlot Wedding, Season 3, Season 4): I consider Canterlot Wedding the start of this era because the introduction of Candace and Shining Armor represents a big addition to the lore of the show that represented the shift in the show's focus, along with greater world-building and action. Faust is now longer involved with the show with McCarthy as lead show-runner instead. The focus for Twilight shifted from her learning about the world as a student to her progression of becoming a princess in Season 3 and finding her true place as one in Season 4. Because of the focus having this much bigger scale, the lore of the show is more complex and focused. The tone of the show feels a little more mature than before. The animation is a lot better here in terms of quality, but also a little less cartoony and charming than before. Compared to the previous era it has most of the same writers, and is just as sharply focused on the main characters with progress being made for their growth and arcs. This character growth were more or less completed in Season 4 with the key episodes and finale. Despite the difference in tone from Seasons 1 and 2 already being apparent, it is still MUCH closer to the original style than in the later eras of the show. This is my personal favorite era of the show, because while it is a bit less charming and pure than the Faust era, I find the episode quality to be more consistent (more amazing episodes and less sub-par ones) and I LOVE how the show took so many interesting risks here while still having the great character development and humor I loved from Seasons 1 and 2. The praise I gave the Faust Era above applies just as heavily here. The show always has helped better my mood and deal with loneliness issues I have had. While I like plenty of other modern cartoons, none of them replicate the comfort Seasons 1-4 of MLP (along with part of S5 and scattered episodes in S6-S9) have always provided me.

Transitional Era: Episodes 92-115 (Season 5 minus Cutie Remark): Twilight is now the princess of Friendship and has her own castle. The character arcs and growth were generally wrapped up either in Season 4's key episodes or here in Canterlot Boutique in the case of Rarity and Lost Mark for the CMC. (I know Rainbow's Wonderbolt arc technically wasn't wrapped up until Season 6, but since that episode was so underwhelming in how it happened, and Rainbow's character progression in terms of her flaws did not move much after Season 4, I don't acknowledge it as such.) I debated on whether to consider this season as part of the McCarthy era or to give it it's own. Although Meghan McCarthy was still the head of the show and some of the old writers were still on (very few remained after this season), the ending of the S4 key arc and Twilight getting the castle represents such a big shift in the show's writing and quality that I have to separate it. Also, between Season 4 and 5 was also the largest hiatus in the show's history, and the HUB was replaced during this period.  The mane six character development was basically done at this point, so while a lot of the show's original charm is still here, it is waning and in my view the season got worse as it went.  Twilight is now especially a flat character (outside of Amending Fences obviously). Despite many great episodes, these flaws cause this era to be worse than the previous ones for me. I would consider it good but not great.

Starlight Era: Episodes 116-169 (Cutie Remark, Season 6, Season 7): Cutie Remark starts this era for its massive shift to the status quo in adding Starlight as a main character, and from this point the writers from the early seasons are almost entirely gone. I personally find Season 6 boring because the charm of the earlier seasons is almost entirely gone, the plots are generally uninteresting, and the main characters are flat. The season did an awful job incorporating Starlight because it barely showed her development or positive interactions with other characters. Thankfully the finale was really good and redeemed Starlight in my view, and there were a handful of great episodes. Season 7 was a clear improvement over 6 for having more creative ideas, less boring episodes, and for good secondary character development, but it still is lacking the humor and charm for me to really enjoy a lot of its episodes.

Friendship School Era: Episodes 170-223 (Season 8, Season 9): School Daze starts this era by introducing the School of Friendship and the Student Six. I find Season 8 mediocre in the exact same ways as Season 6. The Student Six were charming and had great potential, but since they only had a few episodes and very limited interactions with the mane six not much could be done with them. Season 9 was a bit better for having some really amazing episodes and for a satisfying conclusion in The Last Problem (as disappointing as The Ending of the End was). Its a shame the characters were still flat, the show still lacked the charm it used to have, it had a lot of meh/bad episodes, and that the Student 6 were not further developed at all. 

My personal ranking of these would be:

1: McCarthy Era (Great)

2: Faust Era (Great)

3: Transitional Era (Good)

4: Friendship School Era (Meh): My love for Sparkle's Seven and Best Gift Ever was basically the tie breaker between this and the Starlight Era, those episodes feature the characters wonderfully and really feel like early season episodes.

5: Starlight Era (Meh)

(For reference, I would rank the seasons from favorite to least: 4, 3, 2, 1, 5, 7, 9, 8, 6)

 

[Megas 27,613]

I’d definitely say it went through some pretty bad rot with S6-9. As much as I liked S7 it’s sandwiched between the show’s lowest points 

Edited January 20, 2022 by Megas

[bubbleteapony 584]

I wouldn't say it ever went through season rot, but the show definitely had its dips in quality. At least writing-wise (the animation improved with every season, which I always enjoyed). I actually completely stopped watching the series from seasons 5-7, save for a couple special ones. Then when I started keeping up a bit more in season 8, for the first time in the history of watching the show, I actually thought a couple episodes were bad. That's purely opinion though

I think the main issue was that the Mane 6 were kind of having to re-learn friendship lessons, or failing to remember old ones (cough, Non-Compete Clause). Friendship is an incredibly complex subject, but there are only so many lessons to give in a children's show. To fix this, it seems like they started focusing more on the student 6, but then we were left with the issue of the Mane 6 being literal friendship teachers and STILL failing to remember their own lessons or not act childish and endanger their own students (again, Non-Compete Clause).

In the end, I think the show ended on a high note. There definitely would've been a struggle if they'd continued for a couple more seasons, and you could tell it was slipping a bit by season 7-8 (that doesn't mean they were bad seasons, just that there wasn't a clear "goal" for the characters to actually be striving for by then).

[Orchid_Fiore 200]

Yes, the latest seasons have a lot of shark jumps. 

[phantompone1148 126]

I wouldn’t say the show went through seasonal rot really. It just fell into obscurity overtime. People have simply moved on to other things.

I have a feeling that if the show ended at Season 4/5,  then it would’ve had a much stronger, longer lasting legacy.

[Totally Nyx 36,025]

I'm not sure "rot" is the right word, since it wasn't really a slow decay. It started dropping in quality after season 5 or so, with some great episodes still appearing here and there, but it just dropped dead in season 7. 100 to zero in one episode as the writers gave up. Or I suppose more like 70 to zero.

[Sasoriman 136]

To me, it's like: If more than half of the episodes in a given season rank from middling to low in enjoyability, in this case, 8 superb episodes out of 18 of the 26 total, then the season is rotten. This way, seasonal rot where it exists isn't so all or nothing. 

In season 9's case, you have a host of funny/memorable moments in episodes that are otherwise not worth watching the episodes themselves for. In fact, the ratio of good to meh episodes is 4:26.

[Zay-Neel 60]

is this a forum of the the episodes that weren't that good in FIM??

if it is season 8 wasn't the best