Opinion: Most of the show's worst episodes are in the first half (S1-4)

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

This may be a slightly controversial opinion, but I think that most of the worst episodes of Friendship is Magic are to be found in the first half. This isn't to say that those seasons are bad, because they're quite good, but most of the really bad episodes are found there. This also isn't to say that S5-S8 don't have awful episodes, because they do. However, they're more spread out and in less frequent.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree? If so, why?

[Here No Longer 5,276]

Out of my top ten worst that I posted recently in a thread, here's my count by season:

From season 1, none. From season 2, none. From season 3, three. From season 4, one. 

From season 5, none. From season 6, two. From season 7, one. From season 8, two.

 

So I have to respectfully disagree with that assessment. The only of the first four seasons with any episodes among my ten worst is Season 3, and the rest of them are in later seasons. I personally believe that Season 3 is filled with garbage, but it's not enough in my mind to sink the first four seasons considering I consider the rest of them fairly strong seasons (but I will say that I had issues with every finale in the first three seasons because frankly most of them were mediocre in my opinion). 

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by ~Dusky~
Power Ponies is a season 4 episode my bad.

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

16 minutes ago, ~Dusky~ said:

Out of my top ten worst that I posted recently in a thread, here's my count by season:

From season 1, none. From season 2, none. From season 3, three. From season 4, none. 

From season 5, one. From season 6, two. From season 7, one. From season 8, two.

 

So I have to respectfully disagree with that assessment. The only of the first four seasons with any episodes among my ten worst is Season 3, and the rest of them are in later seasons. I personally believe that Season 3 is filled with garbage, but it's not enough in my mind to sink the first four seasons considering I consider the rest of them fairly strong seasons (but I will say that I had issues with every finale in the first three seasons because frankly most of them were mediocre in my opinion). 

 

Well, here's my count by season: Season 1, Four. Season 2, Four. Season 3, Two. Season 4, Two. Season 5, Two. Season 6, Two. Season 7, *Maybe* One. Season 8, Two.

 

Edited November 10, 2018 by Theanimationfanatic

[Misty Shadow 7,863]

More of the show's less-than-stellar episodes are in the first half in my opinion. The second half has its share of mediocrity, I agree, but the second half also has more memorable episodes that I love and most of the few "bad episodes that everyone hates" it has, I find to be of at least decent quality. That's my perspective as someone who prefers the later episodes, so it is easy for me to see where you are coming from.

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

5 minutes ago, CloudMistDragon said:

More of the show's less-than-stellar episodes are in the first half in my opinion. The second half has its share of mediocrity, I agree, but the second half also has more memorable episodes that I love and most of the few "bad episodes that everyone hates" it has, I find to be of at least decent quality. That's my perspective as someone who prefers the later episodes, so it is easy for me to see where you are coming from.

They spent the first three seasons ironing out the kinks, figuring out what worked and what didn't, who the characters were, and how they should be written.

Come Season 4, they hit the ground running.

[Them's Seeing Ponies 282]

I'm in the minority regarding my assessment of the show's quality - whilst I agree that the show has changed in general tone and creative priorities over its run, I personally prefer the S1-4 run. I feel that the reason for the reduction in unanimously disliked episodes across the fandom since S4 can be pinned down to the ways in which they fail - a bad S1 episode often exudes a general feeling of sloppiness, whilst a bad S7 episode fails in more specific ways (and often attempts to cover up its shortcomings with smaller details to give an air of higher complexity and absolve its own structural flaws, which works in some circumstances and not in others), which can be easier to tolerate for some, but the more didactic and serious tone of S5-8 in general leads to a reduced sense of personal enjoyment (even at its heights, which are among the show's best) compared to the building of complexity from simpler themes (creating a subjectively more confident and charming atmosphere) during S1-2 (and 3-4 to a lesser extent). 

That being said, my personal bottom 10 comprises the following:

1. Hard to Say Anything (season 7)

2. Non-Compete Clause (season 8)

3. Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? (season 5)

4. Rainbow Falls (season 4)

5. One Bad Apple (season 3)

6. What About Discord? (season 5)

7. The Show Stoppers (season 1)

8. Princess Spike (season 5) 

9. Honest Apple (season 7)

10. Owl's Well That Ends Well (season 1)

Judging from the above, S1-4 comprises 40% of my worst list, whilst seasons 5-8 comprise 60% (including my top three all-time worst). Considering what I said above, that may come off as contrary to my argument, but I should clarify that I feel the difference in the nature of the bad episodes (and the general level of enjoyment I garner) between each period of the show is what I was referring to - the show has never been incredibly consistent in quality regardless of the differences in general creative ambition, and this shows even in S1-4, which I consider to be more enjoyable than their successors. 

 

Edited November 10, 2018 by Them's Seeing Ponies

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

Funny, because Seasons 1,2, and 3 comprise of at least 60% of my least favorite episodes.

[bigbertha 414]

I completely disagree. In seasons 1-4 there are only 5 episodes that I would call awful or worse. In seasons 5-8, there are 18 episodes I would call awful or worse. My bottom 10 is 30% from seasons 1-4 and the rest are seasons 5 and 7.

[n1029 227]

The closest I came to leaving the series/fandom was halfway through season 4 after a period of promising synopses blandly executed, and I feared the show was drifting off as another generic girly cartoon. Since then, I feel like there's been a more concerted effort to maintain the show's subversive streak that's earned it its fans. There've definitely been lousy episodes since then, but none bad enough or string of them long enough to make me seriously consider leaving, and I feel like Jim Miller and the writers are always looking for ways to keep the fandom's attention from one episode to the next. The Best Gift Ever was a reminder of just how great the show can be when everyone is on the same page.

[Thrond 3,263]

To list the episodes which I have, or would on rewatch, rate under 50/100 on my scale: 

season 1: four (16%)

season 2: three (13%)

season 3: four (33%)

season 4: five (21%)

season 5: seven (29%)

season 6: four (17%)

season 7: nine (36%)

season 8: six (25%)

That's about accurate for my relative enjoyment of the seasons. Of 1-4, 3 is the anomaly with a higher percentage, while of 5-8, 6 is the anomaly with a lower percentage. So I don't agree with your opinion, but those numbers are my opinions and nobody else's. I think a big difference is that while I like many unpopular episodes from each season (i.e. "Dragon Quest" and "Newbie Dash"), I tend not to dislike the most popular episodes from seasons 1-3, whereas I hate episodes like "Amending Fences" and "Sounds of Silence" in the following seasons. Even season 4 starts to get problematic for me, frankly. 

Regarding my personal bottom 10, though, it'd probably be closer to 40/60, with the later seasons having a slight edge. Only seasons 4 and 6 have avoided having an episode I completely hate, and those would indeed be in the upper half of my season rankings. But that's not the only thing that affects how much I enjoy My Little Pony from year to year. 

Edited November 11, 2018 by AlexanderThrond

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

My least favourite episodes:

10.) The Mysterious Mare Do Well

9.) Rainbow Falls

8.) Princess Spike 

7.) Putting Your Hoof Down

6.) Ponyville Confidential

5.) Owl's Well That Ends Well

4.) Dragon Quest 

3.) Spike At Your Service 

2.) One Bad Apple 

1.) Newbie Dash 

 

I do like Season 2. But you'd be hard pressed to argue that it didn't have a lot of major stinkers.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Theanimationfanatic

[Goat-kun 2,527]

This is a controversial opinion: your opinions do not matter unless one can use them to understand the behavior of the entire fandom.

 

You like later seasons better? Why, you're still here. Of course there's a greater chance for you to have such an opinion. Now be a dear and go ask all the people who left about their reasons.

[n1029 227]

^Your condescension is uncalled for. An opinion doesn't represent anything but the opiner's views. He's making a statement and inviting conversation about it. He's not expecting everyone to agree with it 

 

And there's no way of knowing if anyone who's left the fandom would like the later episodes better since they don't have an interest in watching them to judge

 

 

Edited November 11, 2018 by n1029

[bigbertha 414]

2 hours ago, Theanimationfanatic said:

 

I do like Season 2. But you'd be hard pressed to argue that it didn't have a lot of major stinkers.

I'd argue that its only major stinkers are Dragon Quest and maybe A Friend in Deed. I actually find Mysterious Mare Do Well to be great, I think Putting Your Hoof Down is okay, and Ponyville Confidential is in my top 10 of the show. After the show found its footing in season 1, season 2 took everything that worked about season 1 and improved it. The animation is the best it's ever been, the comedy is the best it's ever been, and every character is at their most interesting.

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

1 minute ago, bigbertha said:

I'd argue that its only major stinkers are Dragon Quest and maybe A Friend in Deed. I actually find Mysterious Mare Do Well to be great, I think Putting Your Hoof Down is okay, and Ponyville Confidential is in my top 10 of the show. After the show found its footing in season 1, season 2 took everything that worked about season 1 and improved it. The animation is the best it's ever been, the comedy is the best it's ever been, and every character is at their most interesting.

I believe that the animation progressively got better past Season 2 and looks damn amazing starting at Season 4. Season 2 did greatly improve on the foundation of Season 1, with darker themes, more mature storylines, and better writing. But what brings it down is that there are a number of truly awful episodes.

If you like the episode that I listed, then more power to you. As for me, I'd rather never watch any of them again.

[Goat-kun 2,527]

32 minutes ago, n1029 said:

^Your condescension is uncalled for. An opinion doesn't represent anything but the opiner's views. He's making a statement and inviting conversation about it. He's not expecting everyone to agree with it 

 

And there's no way of knowing if anyone who's left the fandom would like the later episodes better since they don't have an interest in watching them to judge

 

 

Then there is no point in having a conversation and the OP should have just written a blog. No one here even bothers to explain properly why they like the later seasons better. What is the purpose of this thread then? To create a circlejerk? We pit vague opinions against each other and the only measurement of validity seems to be the number of brohoofs. This is not the kind of mentality that can help a fandom survive.

 

The fandom didn't drop users in one day. The fandom didn't drop users in one episode. We can observe. Obstructed as it is, at least we still possess that ability. People get bored. Would you say that is a natural progression for an outstanding IP?

[ShootingStar159 2,156]

Hmmm... I’m not sure I would agree with this, and that’s coming from someone who thinks the 2nd half of the show is a huge improvement over the first. Seriously, I don’t know if even one episode of the first half would break my top ten, not becuase the early episodes are worse, but because I find much greater resonance and relatability from later episodes. 

Truthfully, the show became more complex, more drama and emotional driven in the second half, whereas the first half was much more simple Slice of life with much less continuity and significantly more self contained. And while the show was taking greater risks, with more drama and emotion, it was also having to deal with a shrinking pool of stories to draw from. Riskier storytelling and less material to work with leads to more duds.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

First half and latter half have their fair share of worst episodes. 

The first half:

Show Stopper. Unwatchable by my today standard. 

Spike At Your Service. The most infamous episode in mlp history.

Rainbow Fall. The giant mess. Even the fanservice cant save it,

Somepony to Watch Over Me. A classic worst AJ episode.

The latter half:

Princess Spike. Another reason to rethink why you become Spike's fan in the first place.

AJ Day Off. It's worse than Somepony.

Fluttershy Leans In. New standard of boring episode. (I'm very pissed at this episode during its airing)

Honest Apple. New record for AJ. She got 3 worst episodes.

Non-compete Clause. This ep could compete with other classic worst episode of the show.

The worst episodes of the first half  are too cringe-worthy but at least memorable. The latter half are dull and unmemorable. 

 

 

 

[ShadowPhoenix 153]

Wow, you people are harsh.

My least favourite episode of the show is either Dragon Quest or Spike At Your Service but I still like them both.

I’ve never understood the attitude of actively hating or declaring a piece of media, particularly this show where genuine effort and concern were invested, to be completely unwatchable and not deserving a rewatch simply because it doesn’t meet one’s value system, personal standards of quality control, or whatever they feel at that moment. There are limitations imposed by the parent company unto the show staff in terms of direction or necessary product placement integration, and I to this day, am impressed by the quality of the show we even have.

You should not expect earth-shattering or novel character growth every episode. The metric has been watered down by overuse because of so many self-professed online reviewers, video essayists and commentators oh-so clearly learned or adept in the art of content creation, who think all nuance can be reduced to a few lines of text. As much as the show staff have accommodated us, or tried to increase the appeal of MLP, we are not the primary audience. Of course, this is not to say that we cannot take issue or dislike episodes, but constructivism is not terming the content as "garbage", when it clearly isn't and could be leagues worse. Critiquing behind a screen is too easy.

But yeah, we are past most of the worst episodes. In the last three seasons, Non-Compete Clause did turn my head a little but mostly because it didn't wow me like the rest of Season 8. Princess Spike was the episode before that to get that reaction but I still liked those aforementioned episodes and honestly, not are they not the dumpster-fires people make them out to be, but I enjoyed them more than a number of episodes in the first half.

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

1 hour ago, ShadowPhoenix said:

Wow, you people are harsh.

My least favourite episode of the show is either Dragon Quest or Spike At Your Service but I still like them both.

I’ve never understood the attitude of actively hating or declaring a piece of media, particularly this show where genuine effort and concern were invested, to be completely unwatchable and not deserving a rewatch simply because it doesn’t meet one’s value system, personal standards of quality control, or whatever they feel at that moment. There are limitations imposed by the parent company unto the show staff in terms of direction or necessary product placement integration, and I to this day, am impressed by the quality of the show we even have.

You should not expect earth-shattering or novel character growth every episode. The metric has been watered down by overuse because of so many self-professed online reviewers, video essayists and commentators oh-so clearly learned or adept in the art of content creation, who think all nuance can be reduced to a few lines of text. As much as the show staff have accommodated us, or tried to increase the appeal of MLP, we are not the primary audience. Of course, this is not to say that we cannot take issue or dislike episodes, but constructivism is not terming the content as "garbage", when it clearly isn't and could be leagues worse. Critiquing behind a screen is too easy.

But yeah, we are past most of the worst episodes. In the last three seasons, Non-Compete Clause did turn my head a little but mostly because it didn't wow me like the rest of Season 8. Princess Spike was the episode before that to get that reaction but I still liked those aforementioned episodes and honestly, not are they not the dumpster-fires people make them out to be, but I enjoyed them more than a number of episodes in the first half.

Louder for the people the back, please.

[Megas 27,622]

Nah, they both have their share of bad episodes, but I feel the second half of the show has most of the episodes that actively try to piss me off

[AJ2489 2,855]

Theres no episode I hate/ really dislike but there are some I enjoy more than others, naturally. 

Though I feel the earlier seasons where worse than the latter season primarily due to how bold the show got in the later seasons i.e developing the world outside of ponyville to places like Yakyakistan, the land of the Hippogryphs etc 

[Kadeda 178]

I pretty much agree but i will Illiterate that  i don't think there are any bad episodes... just episode that are worse than others.

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

On 11/22/2018 at 10:36 AM, Kadeda said:

I pretty much agree but i will Illiterate that  i don't think there are any bad episodes... just episode that are worse than others.

You can't think of at least one episode that you don't like or rubbed you the wrong way?

[Kadeda 178]

4 hours ago, Theanimationfanatic said:

You can't think of at least one episode that you don't like or rubbed you the wrong way?

The worst episode I recently watched imo is non complete clause... but it still had stuff i really like.