Early Seasons vs. Newer Seasons?

[Batbrony 16,083]

Well it’s kind of a subjective question.  The early seasons have this raw freshness to them where the energy levels are just through the roof and you can tell the creators were still finding their footing and getting comfortable giving the show an identity.

The later seasons are more sure of their identity and, as a result, more comfortable addressing some very complex subjects.  The new additions they’ve made to the show in these seasons tend to last and broaden the size and scope of the show and its setting.  But at the same time, while the show is more polished these days, and that polish is very much appreciated, it is apparent in everything, from the show’s animation, music, even humor and character traits.  Its presence means that certain elements of the show feel more calculated and less raw than they used to, and there’s definitely something lost in the absence of that rawness.  I would personally argue that, aside from some rare gems, the music has even started sounding redundant, especially in Season 8, but it’s still very good all the same.

So all in all, I’d say that there are many things that you do get in the early seasons that you don’t get in the newer ones, and vice versa.  They’re all worth appreciating for their own reasons, and as for me, I’ve loved every minute of the ride so far (aside from “Hard To Say Anything,” that episode can burn in Hell ).

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,606]

8 minutes ago, Batbrony said:

I’ve loved every minute of the ride so far (aside from “Hard To Say Anything,” that episode can burn in Hell ).

What about THAT particular episode made you hate it so much, more so than the other stinkers?

[FirePuppy 739]

1 hour ago, Theanimationfanatic said:

I would disagree with this. There have been more than plenty of gems in Season 8 that portray the Mane 6 quite well.

Except for Pinkie Pie, at least. She hardly did anything! I hope Season 9 will be the biggest season for her, like Season 8 was for at least Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

[Batbrony 16,083]

30 minutes ago, Theanimationfanatic said:

What about THAT particular episode made you hate it so much, more so than the other stinkers?

The two key factors were (1) unlike my previously least liked episode, “MMMystery on the Friendship Express,” “Hard To Say Anything” had a major plot change in it that was a GOOD one mind you (i.e. Big Mac getting in a relationship), it was just handled very poorly, and (2) the characterization was so bad that new and old characters alike came off as painfully dumb, and some exhibited what could be described as sexual harassment or even attempted assault.  Yeah it’s a kids show, but that is REALLY not how you handle a kids episode of how to get in a romantic relationship.

[FirePuppy 739]

1 hour ago, Califorum said:

I hope season 9 will be the least of her to date.

What??? Certainly not! I want less Rarity and Rainbow than her; besides, Season 8 is already her weakest season so far. She just needs more better episodes.

The way you say that, it humiliates every Pinkie Pie fan out there.

Edited September 2, 2018 by FirePuppy

[FirePuppy 739]

Just now, Califorum said:

I want less mane 6 in general, as always.

Your thoughts don't bother me either way, and I'll bet neither does any of mine to anybrony. We don't have to trust each others' thoughts after all.

Edited September 2, 2018 by FirePuppy

[Plonkett 345]

7 hours ago, Conred said:

Recent season is just very bad beause Haber and Dubuc are very bad story editors. They ignore the details like new writers making Mane6 act inconsistent with earlier seasons. Discord is suddenly uncaring for Fluttershy or other kids, Pinkie Pie suddenly is selfish and care more about some music object than her friend or making them smile. Theres suddenly an adult mature dragon who is very short and barely bigger than Spike and entire lore about greedy dragons growing up is suddenly ignored and thrown out of a window. Starswirl is suddenly a naive senile old man and not a wise sage. Rarity and Dash suddenly realise that they shoudn't be friends or even be part of Element of Harmony. Twilight is suddenly less protective of Spike being influenced by some suspicious nasty predator dragon than she was protective of Starlight being influenced by Trixie. There is just pile on pile of inconsistencies and character flanderisation. It has nothing to do with earlier seasons. Season 5 and 7 was one of the greatest and it happened just one year and 3 years ago. That's because Larson and Songco/Lewis were great story editors who were invested in the story and characters. Josh Haber just treat it as another cartoon that will give him a paycheck.

Hopefully Season 9 will make up for it. To me, season 5 was the show's peak. This is what happens when you lose quality writers and replace them with incompetent ones.

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,606]

15 minutes ago, vgmaster9 said:

Hopefully Season 9 will make up for it. To me, season 5 was the show's peak. This is what happens when you lose quality writers and replace them with incompetent ones.

I would disagree with the assertion that Dubuc and Haber are incompetent writers. They're quite the opposite and are talented, they are, however, hit and miss.

[Lord Midnight Madness 1,544]

I like the older seasons the animation may not be as good as the new ones, but the older ones are what I started watching. I like the older episodes also because for some reason the story lines seem to be a little more in depth. I also like the newer episodes to but don't get me wrong the older ones are the best in my book.

[Conred 274]

8 hours ago, Theanimationfanatic said:

I would disagree with this. There have been more than plenty of gems in Season 8 that portray the Mane 6 quite well.

And i would disagree with that statement. Mane6 and Discord was comepltely OOC in all episodes beside The Washouts and Break up Breakdown. The only good episodes are the one about Student6 and Starlight where mane6 dont play any greater role. This along with a very badly implemented school setting is the reason why S8 is the worst season of MLP to date

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,606]

38 minutes ago, Conred said:

And i would disagree with that statement. Mane6 and Discord was comepltely OOC in all episodes beside The Washouts and Break up Breakdown. The only good episodes are the one about Student6 and Starlight where mane6 dont play any greater role. This along with a very badly implemented school setting is the reason why S8 is the worst season of MLP to date

You make it seem like they were never written OOC in Seasons 1-3.

[Dark Qiviut 22,583]

43 minutes ago, Conred said:

And i would disagree with that statement. Mane6 and Discord was comepltely OOC in all episodes beside The Washouts and Break up Breakdown. The only good episodes are the one about Student6 and Starlight where mane6 dont play any greater role.

Strongly disagree with that. The Mane Eight had a lot of really good episodes throughout the season, aside from Washouts and Break Down. Off the top of my head:

1. Grannies Gone Wild
2. Horse Play
3. Molt Down
4. The Mean Six
5. Friendship U
6. A Rockhoof and a Hard Place
7. Sounds of Silence

Edited September 2, 2018 by Dark Qiviut

[Conred 274]

34 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Strongly disagree with that. The Mane Eight had a lot of really good episodes throughout the season, aside from Washouts and Break Down. Off the top of my head:

1. Grannies Gone Wild
2. Horse Play
3. Molt Down
4. The Mean Six
5. Friendship U
6. A Rockhoof and a Hard Place
7. Sounds of Silence

Grannies were mostly grannies episode while Dash was a nuisance as well as AJ

Horse Play was mostly a Celestia episode where Twilight is badly portrayed

Mold Down is an overall bad episode that is barely better than Princess Spike with only wing saving it from disaster

Mean Six is just overall Chrysalis episode where Mane6 are just clueless and nonpresent throughout the episode.

Friendship U has completely pointless and non helpfull Rarity and Twilight who is only solve the problem by FlimFlam incompetence

Rockhoof has Twilight being clueless and resolving to stoning the guy and being saved by Yona

Sound of Silence is the only good example but thats the episode that belong to Kirins

 

So overall this season even with its best attempt to promote mane6, fails at it with weak to horrible episodes.

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,606]

7 minutes ago, Conred said:

Grannies were mostly grannies episode while Dash was a nuisance as well as AJ

Horse Play was mostly a Celestia episode where Twilight is badly portrayed

Mold Down is an overall bad episode that is barely better than Princess Spike with only wing saving it from disaster

Mean Six is just overall Chrysalis episode where Mane6 are just clueless and nonpresent throughout the episode.

Friendship U has completely pointless and non helpfull Rarity and Twilight who is only solve the problem by FlimFlam incompetence

Rockhoof has Twilight being clueless and resolving to stoning the guy and being saved by Yona

Sound of Silence is the only good example but thats the episode that belong to Kirins

 

So overall this season even with its best attempt to promote mane6, fails at it with weak to horrible episodes.

Well, that's just.... your opinion, man.

Ah well, you can't please everyone.

 

[AlbaTross 1,586]

Well, the show has jumped the shark so many times it isn't the show it was when it started, and I don't really care anymore.  It's only been this season where I've really seen a huge decline in overall quality, and even then, episodes 21-23 of season 8 are somewhat of a return to form, or so I believe.  Sure, there have been some terrible episodes in seasons 6 and 7 too, but this season it's just been so rampant.  That said, I'm going to have to go with the newer seasons if those are our only choices.

On a related note, I don't think it's sufficient to just divide the show between pre-Twilicorn and post-Twilicorn seasons anymore.  The current show is not the same as it was in season 4 either, or in season 5.  Season 6 and 7 kind of remained consistent with one another, but they're a departure from previous seasons too, and this recent school development sets season 8 apart once again.  Maybe you could lump seasons 4 and 5 together in spite of their differences, but it's certainly not as simple anymore as having the season 3 finale being the only acknowledged point of change.

[Plonkett 345]

23 minutes ago, AlbaTross said:

Well, the show has jumped the shark so many times it isn't the show it was when it started, and I don't really care anymore.  It's only been this season where I've really seen a huge decline in overall quality, and even then, episodes 21-23 of season 8 are somewhat of a return to form, or so I believe.  Sure, there have been some terrible episodes in seasons 6 and 7 too, but this season it's just been so rampant.  That said, I'm going to have to go with the newer seasons if those are our only choices.

On a related note, I don't think it's sufficient to just divide the show between pre-Twilicorn and post-Twilicorn seasons anymore.  The current show is not the same as it was in season 4 either, or in season 5.  Season 6 and 7 kind of remained consistent with one another, but they're a departure from previous seasons too, and this recent school development sets season 8 apart once again.  Maybe you could lump seasons 4 and 5 together in spite of their differences, but it's certainly not as simple anymore as having the season 3 finale being the only acknowledged point of change.

To be perfectly honest, the only reason the current show is different from seasons 4 and 5 is because it has a completely different (and less experienced) writing staff. So yeah, I'd call this thread "Early Seasons vs Mid Seasons vs Late Seasons".

[EpicEnergy 23,245]

The newer seasons have a lot more problems in its narrative aspect than the early seasons. Regardless, my personal preference leans strongly toward loving the newer seasons far better.

[Dethde 20]

To me, aside from season 8 both have been great, just that the fact that inexperienced writers without a proper understanding of the characters are being put to write episodes, which spoil the episode's value.

[Conred 274]

8 hours ago, Theanimationfanatic said:

Well, that's just.... your opinion, man.

Ah well, you can't please everyone.

 

This season can't really please the majority of fans. The fact that Bronycon doesnt get enough attentands is because this season wasn't worth being part of the fandom. The fans need to wake up and oppose McCarthy and Hasbro from hiring Haber and Dubuc for G5. Or the show is dead on arrival.

[Thrond 3,271]

It might clarify my opinion on the show a little if I explained that I often don't enjoy the show's takes on more complex subject matter. I often find myself wondering why I'm not watching another show which handles those topics better. Early on, I liked the show because it was able to get a lot of surprising depth out of fairly simple stories, and grew somewhat less interested in the show once it began trying to make that depth more overt and ambitious. 

Also, as a side note, it seems like I'm gonna have to ignore a lot of posts here until season 8 has caught up in North America. I guess that's just how forums are. 

[Ganondox 899]

Considering we’re in Season 8 now and 4 is half of 8 I’d divide the early season as 1-4 and later seasons as 5-8. In that case I definitely prefer the latter half, 3 and 4 were the weakest seasons, and recently 1 and 2 have been outshined with some spectacular episodes. 

[The Nth Doctor 664]

On 9/1/2018 at 1:42 PM, Theanimationfanatic said:

I feel that the newer seasons handle the Mane 6 quite well after Season 4, see:

"The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone"

"The Mane Attraction"

"Top Bolt"

"The Gauntlet of Fire"

"Stranger Than Fanfiction"

"The Times They Are A Changeling"

"Parental Glideance" 

"Molt Down"

and

"The Washouts"  (upcoming) just to name a few.

Those are just a few examples. While characterization can be inconsistent, I still maintain that the staff is doing a good job with the main characters overall.

Agreed, and if we didn't have 50+ other episodes where they're unrecognizable, all would be well

Alas, consistent writing and characterization in a kids show is a pipe dream

At least we have fanfiction, with all its flaws

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,606]

9 hours ago, The Nth Doctor said:

Agreed, and if we didn't have 50+ other episodes where they're unrecognizable, all would be well

Alas, consistent writing and characterization in a kids show is a pipe dream

At least we have fanfiction, with all its flaws

I assume you also mean 50+ episodes from Seasons 1-3, right? Because there are plenty of examples of poor characterization there as well. 

Don't act like this is anything new.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

One of the problems with recent seasons is writers come and go that cause many inconsistencies, I bet some of them didn't even watch the old seasons or just don't get the characters. Recently, I don't care how good the synopsis is but as long as it was written by veteran writers, or some writers that I am familiar with, I will be less skeptical. Some amazing episodes were written by some random writers who might never appear again, caught me by surprises but I haven't trust them yet until I saw their 2nd episode. 

Some episodes of season 8 are written by some new writers and they are all great (beside Non-compete Clause) proved me wrong again. I don't know whether the show is changed or I am being more skeptical over time, or both.

 

1 hour ago, Theanimationfanatic said:

I assume you also mean 50+ episodes from Seasons 1-3, right? Because there are plenty of examples of poor characterization there as well. 

Don't act like this is anything new.

Spike at Your Service still be the 'classic' bad episode until today. 

 

[Phosphor 11,538]

For a while, I had preferred the earlier seasons because I found the change in writers to be noticeable in the show. Also, I might have been a little more biased towards Season 1 since I still love the first 2 episodes. Those converted me to a fan of the show. But now, I like them all. Even Season 8 is looking good to me.