Best/Worst Episodes All Time - THE MEGA POLL

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

All right, fillies and gentlecolts, you asked for it, and here it is!  Er... well... um... I guess you didn't ask for it... BUT IT'S HERE ANYWAY!!

THE MEGA POLL.  You know what to do.  Chop chop.

If you feel like making a post as well, I'd love to know what your top five/bottom five are.  Here's mine:

From most awesomest to least awesomest...

1. The Perfect Pear
2. The Mane Attraction
3. Amending Fences
4. Wonderbolt Academy
5. Shadow Play

And from least stinkerous to most stinkerous...

1. Newbie Dash
2. Princess Spike
3. Non-Compete Clause
4. Feeling Pinkie Keen (Just because of the letter)
5. Hard to Say Anything

And there you have it.

 

Mods, you would honor me greatly if you would consider pinning this.  I really, really want this to take off.  I want enough people to vote so that we can get enough data to start to see the fandom trends.  Thanks.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

My top 5

 

5. The Cutie-Remark

4. Wonderbolt Academy

3. Twilight's Kingdom

2. Sonic Rainboom

1. To Where And Back Again

Honorable Mentions: 

The End of The End

Sparkle's Seven

The Molt Down

My Top 5 worst

5. Spike At Your Service

4. Princess Spike

3. A Canterlot Wedding Part 1

2. The Parent Trap

1. Newbie Dash (The lesson made no sense and it's one of the most misleading episodes of MLP)

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,279]

Once Upon A Zeppelin is the top episode of top episodes in my book. I love everything about that one. The lesson that Twilight has is a really good one, it has a very "journey" feel to it as it goes from the start of the day to the end, and Star Tracker. Star. Tracker.

Runner ups would be:

• A Perfect Pear
• Pinkie Pride
• Crusaders of the Lost Mark
• The Parent Map
• Parental Glideance
• Scare Master
• The Saddle Row Review

As for the the bottom of low lows, Fame and Misfortune takes my version of that prize. An absolute atrocity of character and something that is so unpleasantly immature from the writers. I'm sure they had a good laugh or two, but their saltiness resulted in one of the worst episodes I have ever seen in any show.

Runner ups would be:

• Newbie Dash
• 28 Pranks Later
• Cart Before the Ponies
• A Royal Problem
• Flutter Brutter
• The Maud Couple
• The Cutie Map

[Here No Longer 5,270]

Best: Twilight's Kingdom (Runner-ups include: Amending Fences, The Perfect Pear, Lesson Zero, the Return of Harmony, and A Royal Problem)

As for honorable mentions: Somepony to Watch Over Me and Inspiration Manifestation.

Worst: Fake It 'Til You Make It (Runner-ups include: Hard to Say Anything, 2,4,6 Greeeat, Magical Mystery Cure, Spike at Your Service, The End in Friend)

Dishonorable mentions: Non-Compete Clause and One Bad Apple

Edited November 5, 2019 by Ayyngel Dust

[Megas 27,064]

Best - Sleepless In Ponyville. Among many things this was one episode i’ve wanted to see since I first started and it more than delivered

Worst - Newbie Dash. Because of course it is. It’s the opposite of Sleepless, it’s based on something I wanted to see, but it goes out of its way to ruin it. And now knowing how it was originally going to end makes me hate it more. Honestly there’s still worse episodes(Princess Spike and What About Discord for starters), but I hate this episode the most 

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

Best: The Perfect Pear. An absolutely flawless, emotional masterpiece that belongs somewhere in the TV Hall of Fame.

Worst: One Bad Apple. The song is fantastic. But the rest is offensive trash, especially the moral and implications.

[bigbertha 410]

Best: Lesson Zero

Worst: Parental Glideance

I've explained these choices many times already.

[PoisonClaw 8,153]

Best: Between Dark And Dawn. This has pretty much everything I've ever wanted in an episode.

Worst: Mysterious Mare Do Well. I've repeated myself about this episode a hundred times over, so I won't here.

[Thrond 3,257]

I have an incredibly hard time picking both categories; for the top spot, I actually have somewhere around 12 episodes that I think have a legitimate claim to being the all-time best episode of the show. I suppose my top 5 would look something like this:

1. Lesson Zero
2. Horse Play
3. A Hearth's Warming Tail
4. Rarity Investigates!
5. The Best Night Ever

But I could list those in any order and still consider that accurate, or even replace any one of them with, say, "The Last Roundup," or "Wonderbolts Academy," or "Pinkie Pride." 

My bottom 5 is more clear, and looks something like this:

1. What About Discord?
2. Magical Mystery Cure
3. Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? 
4. The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well
5. Non-Compete Clause

But although I really do think "What About Discord?" is the episode of this show with the least merit, that also means it doesn't leave enough impact to offend - can something so forgettable really be the "worst"? Maybe. 

[RulesofRarity 489]

Best - Sisterhooves Social 

Worst- Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep

[Denim&Venöm 16,507]

In no particular order. 

The Worst: 

• The Mean Six
• Newbie Dash
• Yakity Sax
• The Mysterious Mare-Do Well
• 28 Pranks Later

The Best:

• The Perfect Pear
• The Hearthswarming Club
• Testing Testing 1,2,3
• Wonderbolts Academy
• The Parent Map

[KH7672 1,604]

My Top 5:

1. Crusaders of the Lost Mark

2. Road to Friendship

3. For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils

4. A Hearth's Warming Tail

5. Lesson Zero

My Bottom 5: (which for me wouldn't even mean hatred as I would watch any episode again in a heartbeat but definitely the least desirable ones to rewatch)

1. Fluttershy Leans In

2. Yakity Sax

3. Princess Spike

4. Sweet and Smoky

5. Dragon Quest

Edited October 16, 2019 by KH7672
Re-thought 4

[Prince Doopliss 2,350]

Top 5 Favorite Episode

1. Twilight's Kingdom (The Best finale that I saw before I stop watching the show after Amending Fences and Do Princesses Dream of Electric Sheep)

2. Magical Mystery Cure (Sure it was a musical, I still really enjoyed the episode for what it was. And I just have unpopular opinions.)

3. Sonic Rainboom (Despite some issues I had with RD, this still one my favorite episodes that focus on her.)

4. Simple Ways (Okay Tenderhooves wasn't that great of a character. But Honestly didn't matter as well I just enjoyed how Applejack and Rarity were in this episode.)
Rarity Take Manehatten (Well this is tied, because again I found this a ver nice Rarity episode. Again Suri Polomare wasn't that great of a character, but I still enjoyed thie episode for some reason. Maybe one day I get around re watching this episode.)

5. Sisterhooves Social (This Episode had really start to enjoy Rarity. I mean it was a nice touching episode having Rarity seeing how wrong she was to her sister

Honorable Mention(s): The Last Problem( While I enjoyed this episode more than Twilight's Kingdom, I admit I don't think it is worthy to consider to be part of my top 5.)

Sweet and Elite (Okay another episode that had me enjoy Rarity a lot. What else can I say. Also I did enjoy Fancy Pants as a character as well. So there is that as well.)

Magical Duel

A Friend in Deed

Top 5 Least Favorite Episodes
1. Power Ponies (I just didn't enjoy the superhero tropes in this episode all this much. I found it rather boring.)

2. Spike at Your Service/Games Ponies Play (I just don't really remember these episodes.)

3. Rainbow Falls

4. Its About Time (Just another episode I found dull.)

5. Just For Sidekicks (This episode bored me as well and just another episode for the writers to abuse Spike.) 

Dishonorable Mentions: 

Tanks For the Memories Princess Spike

 Dragonshy 

Daring Don't 

Testing 1, 2, 3 

Trade Ya!

 Boast Busters

Read It and Weep

(While I like Daring Do, it is unfortunate that two of my dishonorable mentions involve episodes with her .)

Edited October 16, 2019 by Prince Doopliss

[Rushing cash 824]

The show features a lot of amazing episodes and it isn't easy to pick a few episodes(usually when I try I end up with different results), although some episodes are kinda just exactly what I wanted so I am biased towards them.

1. A royal problem- every thing about this episode is amazing, its just perfect. From the intro, twilight creepy but funny and cute ballerina musical box and her freak outs in the episode, starlight struggles, luna grumpiness, celestias character development, nightmare moon makes an appearence even if its not really real and of course daybreaker is such a fun villain it was so much fun watching this battle, the way daybreaker roasted her sister("so much Blake, we get it, you're sad, you can really use some sun!" is one of the greatest lines I have ever heard). Starlights nightmare was written perfectly it was so satisfying to watch(the pancakes that celly made saying what she told starlight, starlight falling into the flowers luna puts every night and her turning into the ballerina while twilight is yelling at her with the sun and moon in her eyes) and lunas nightmare was great too. Such a clever whriting. I watched this episode easily over 100 times, its too good.
2. The perfect pear
3. The beginning of the end- Best 2 parter ever.
4. Amending fances
5. Lesson zero

As for the worst episode, there are very few episodes I hate so:

1. Yakity sax- the less said the better
2. Spike in your service- I barely managed to watch this episode, and the next few times did not make it easier.
3. Not asking for trouble
4. Party pooped
5. The end in friend\ Non compete clause

I only hate the first 2, the rest I dislike but some parts I enjoy.

[Music Chart Fan 818]

I certainly don't think I'm qualified or able to make any "objective" judgement of what the best episodes of all time of the show are, so I'll just briefly go through some of what I think are my favorite episodes of the show. As a disclaimer, I think I'm more liable to like particular scenes, moments, and aspects of episodes in the show, rather than liking entire episodes from start to finish, per se. I'll probably have at least some qualms, skepticism, and/or certain things that I don't particularly like about essentially every episode of the show; I feel like that's just how my brain works. So when I mention episodes as being among my favorites, that doesn't necessarily mean that I like absolutely everything about those episodes. And as a corollary, not mentioning certain episodes among my favorites doesn't necessarily mean that there weren't ideas, scenes, or moments that I really liked in them. (And I'll tag @Truffles, in case he's interested in this.)

The Perfect Pear (Season 7, Episode 13) is a fairly obvious choice for a really good episode, for its compelling and emotionally impactful backstory of Bright Mac and Pear Butter (and how Granny Smith and Grand Pear are involved); the sincerity with which the Apple siblings want to find out about the story of their parents, and the sincerity with which the ponies who knew them want to tell that story; and the bittersweet but hopeful outcome of the episode, with Grand Pear's reconciliation and the Apple siblings' feeling more complete knowing about the story (and example) of their parents.

I also really like A Hearth's Warming Tail (Season 6, Episode 8). The episode is an entertaining total package, with the framing of telling a story about Snowfall, and the attendant songs, costumes, setpieces, and characters roleplaying as other characters. I do sympathize with Starlight's and Snowfall's sort of cynicism and lack of enthusiasm about the holiday, and I find it amusing to see others' reactions to Starlight's and Snowfall's attitudes. And this episode comes to a feel-good ending: Snowfall isn't necessarily portrayed as totally in the wrong, but, thanks to the earnest efforts of their friends (and, admittedly, some guilt-tripping), both Snowfall and Starlight come to see some value in the holiday, and both of them go to the Hearth's Warming Eve parties, participate in the festivities with their friends, and are happier for it.

Also, Twilight and Rainbow have been my two favorites of the Mane Six for as long as I can remember, so I particularly like episodes where the two of them work together and/or help each other out.

One of those episodes is Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3 (Season 4, Episode 21). Rainbow's antics and Twilight's reactions to them in the first part of the episode are funny and relatable. I particularly like Twilight's sincere concern for encouraging Rainbow not to give up on her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt. This episode also has a feel-good ending, where Twilight works together with the rest of the Mane Six and many residents of Ponyville to help Rainbow learn the Wonderbolts history, and Rainbow passes her test. I do find the method by which Rainbow supposedly learned this information not to make much sense, but it's still entertaining to see.

Another of those episodes is Top Bolt (Season 6, Episode 24). Again, Twilight and Rainbow play off of each other really well in this episode. Vapor Trail is a very cute and endearing character, and it's satisfying to see her realize that she wants to be a Wonderbolt for herself, not just for Sky Stinger. And it's heartwarming to see Twilight's and Rainbow's cheering up Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail, respectively; Sky's and Vapor's helping each other train; Sky's and Vapor's successful completion of the solo trials (including where we see both of their trails as they fly fast, which are pretty cool); and their making it into the Wonderbolts Academy.

And still another of those episodes is Read It And Weep (Season 2, Episode 16). I like that Twilight knows that Rainbow would like the Daring Do series, and encourages her to read it, and I like seeing Rainbow really relating to and getting more and more into the story. This was also the start of Daring Do on the show, and it was a simpler time, before Daring Do and her adventures were revealed to be real, which complicated things, even though I do like several aspects of later Daring Do episodes. The antics that Rainbow gets into in order to get back to reading the story are amusing. And, in another feel-good ending (do you see a pattern with episodes I like yet?), Rainbow admits to liking the Daring Do series, and Twilight gladly lets Rainbow borrow any of the Daring Do books in her collection.

Finally, since Twilight and Rainbow are two of my favorite characters, honorable mention goes to episodes that showcase some of the best qualities of either of them, including episodes like Hurricane Fluttershy (Season 2, Episode 22), Sleepless In Ponyville (Season 3, Episode 6) and Luna Eclipsed (Season 2, Episode 4), among others.

[Sunny Fox 5,929]

Worst episode: Daring Don't. Terrible showing for Rainbow Dash, and Daring's actions made little to no sense. The second half was slightly better, but not enough to compensate. It's not alone on my lowest tier list, but it certainly is the one that first came to mind. Dishonorable mentions: Trade Ya!, Princess Spike, Somepony to Watch over Me. *Cough*Amending Fences*Cough* 

Best episode: A two-parter takes this spot for me... Return of Harmony. Introduced a really interesting villain in Discord, a threat dire enough to make Princess Celestia the Unflappable take him entirely seriously, Fluttershy trolling the Prince of Trolls just by being nice, candy cotton clouds that produce chocolate rain, you guys, CHOCOLATE RAIN!... And of course, Tom the Diamond... this episode had it all. Honorable mentions: Every Rarity-focused episode. All of them. Fite me, m8.

[Hulvlan01cl 6]

Best of the best 

1. "Return of harmony." I'm just obsessed with villain Discord and elements of chaos. 

2. "Amending fences." It's just great. I personally think it completes Twilight story arc PERFECTLY, and also Moondancer is cute

3. "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" I'm just obsessed with Luna y'all. Her abilities to see all people dreams is awesome. And message is also great.

4. "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone" It's simple, but awesome. Completes Gilda story arc.

5. "Wonderbolts Academy". It shows what loyalty really is. A pity they added happy end.

. 

Edited November 7, 2019 by Hulvlan01cl

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

Only 34 votes?  C'mon, everypony!  This thing needs more votes!  I wanna see at least a thousand!  Everypony get your flank in here and vote!

[Splashee 28,537]

Come on people, we can do this. Let's take that Non-Compete Clause all the way to hell!

[Megas 27,064]

3 hours ago, Super Splashee said:

Come on people, we can do this. Let's take that Non-Compete Clause all the way to hell!

It's a pretty crap episode but there's a good handful of others I'd take it over

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

Moar.  MOAR.  MOAR!!!!  We need more votes!  We need everypony from far and wide to get in and here and vote!  I wanna see enough votes to get some proper statistics going!

[Landi 597]

Top five best:

1. Hurricane Fluttershy (My absolute favorite episode. It was a great character-building moment for both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Along with that, it gave a lot of focus to pegasi.)
2. Sonic Rainboom (Was such a fun episode. Not only was it exciting, but it gave us a lot of pegasus worldbuilding!)
3. Top Bolt (This was a great episode with great characters. Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger are fun characters with a great dynamic.)
4. Wonderbolts Academy (This is the episode that really showed how cool the Wonderbolts were. Along with that was a great plot filled with a ton of RD character-building.)
5. Keep Calm and Flutter On (This episode showed amazing development for Fluttershy! Plus, it's the episode where Discord was reformed.)

A few honorable mentions: Dragonshy, Return of Harmony, Twilight's Kingdom

Now, I don't exactly know my five least favorite, but School Days is definitely up there. It was a terrible premier, and it introduced the horrid School of Friendship. Along with introducing that, it was just slow-paced and boring. I hated pretty much all of it (although it was satisfying to see the school of friendship locked up for a little bit). The big thing that makes this episode stand out from other terrible episodes is that the changes made in it negatively affected the rest of the show. It was just a disaster in my opinion.

[Splashee 28,537]

Quote

Non-Compete Clause 0%

 

Yeah, you stay there 

[Tom Gallagher 33,521]

Ooh, I cannot pick!! 

[Solar Power 235]

Best Episode - Crusaders of the Lost Mark. Twenty two minutes of utter joy from beginning to end.

Worst Episode - The Mysterious Mare Do Well. The kind of storyline I'd expect in a lesser cartoon series.