Episodes that could have been bettet with the same premise, different cast?

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

Have you ever thought that certain episodes would have been worked better if the cast was different?

For me, It's Sounds of Silence. Applejack and Fluttershy could have changed to Starlight and Pinkie Pie and it would have worked even better. Starlight is very goal oriented and tries to be as efficient and fast as possible, but not so good at communication.  Applejack's stubbornness and pracricality is interesting, but this is better. Pinkie is very sympathetic and friendly, but she is easily distracted and her out-of-box thinking can be seen as meaningless. Fluttershy's slow paced problem solving and calm nature is against Applejack's, but not as efficient and clear as Pinkie and starlight. Imagine Pinkie meeting Autumn Blaze and sympathizing with her. (and an awesome duet song) Pinkie is lucky to be in Ponyville because if in other towns, she could have been ended up just like Autumn Blaze. Them two becoming best friends and then when they cone back and told that they shouldn't speak, the conflict would be more intense. As for Starlight, she could teach the Kirins about expressing their anger in a healthy way. Also she could tell that peace and harmony doesn't come from control and constraint, it should come from feiendship and a healthy community. What are your thoughts? Do you agree? Do you have an eoisode in mind?

Edited February 27, 2020 by Sepul-Coloratura

[Latecomer 438]

Well I think I've already mentioned that I think The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows would be better in the one who knew was actually Twilight, who has more personal stakes and already struggled with that sort of thing in Green isn't Your Colour.

As for other cases...well in the case of a supporting character substitution, I think Zecora's role in She Talks to Angel should have gone to Discord. And while retroactivlu I like all of them as a family, there was no reason Maud's role couldn't have initially gone to one of her sisters.

Oh, ,and the CMC should have had more of a role in the last couple of finales... maybe replace Grogar with Sombra, too, and stick Occelus into the... ugh... cheerleading episode just so she'll have one to her name.

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by Latecomer

[Dark Qiviut 22,160]

Rarity’s half of Spice Up Your Life. By telling Coriander Cumin and Saffron Masala to conform to societal standards and be as generic as possible, she violated her own integrity of standing out and having the courage of her conviction to stay true to her creative morale.

Instead of Rarity, Twilight would fit that role better. While Rarity has a rebellious streak, Twilight lives in her own bubble and is much more of a stickler to the rules and standards. It made sense for a Twilight to conform to the EEA’s standards and practices in order to keep her school running, and that logic applies here, too.

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

12 hours ago, Latecomer said:

Oh, ,and the CMC should have had more of a role in the last couple of finales... maybe replace Grogar with Sombra, too, and stick Occelus into the... ugh... cheerleading episode just so she'll have one to her name.

I think the three fillies that united earth ponies, unicorns, pegaus ponies at the finale should have been the CMC's. They represent the future generation and the audience is strongly attached to them, they are the result of the kingdom of friendship that we saw growing up.  I also thought that Scootaloo who has been transported up to Cloudsdale, trying to fly by jumping down the clouds and reach out to other ponies, then an adult pegasus (maybe Lightning Dust redeeming herself, maybe RD's parents, or Fluttershy's parents, or Zephyr Breeze or anyone) catching her might have been a good moment.

13 hours ago, Latecomer said:

Well I think I've alreadu mentioned that I think The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows would be better in the one who knew was atuallu Twilight, who has more personl stakes and alreadu struggled ith that sort of thing in Green isn't Your Colour.

I think it should have been Maud. Every crazy reactions of Pinkie is now replaced by Maud's face slowly and silently zooming in intensely.

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

13 hours ago, Latecomer said:

As for other cases...well in the case of a supporting character substitution, I think Zecora's role in She Talsk to Angel should have gone to Disocrd. And while retroactivlu I like all of them as a familu, there was no reason Maud's role couldn't have initially gone to one of her sisters.

Yeah, that makes more sense. Zecora wouldn't try such a radical treatment based on the magical power of the potion. She mostly fixes physical problems and when the problem is mental or spiritual, she deals with it mentally and spiritually.

Maybe Starlight would have done something like switching bodies to solve problems, but it has kinda already been done in A Royal Problem, and Discord is more personally closer to Fluttershy and as a result, also Angel. We need (should have gotten) more Discord-Fluttershy episodes.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Sepul-Coloratura

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

1 hour ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Rarity’s half of Spice Up Your Life. By telling Coriander Cumin and Saffron Masala to conform to societal standards and be as generic as possible, she violated her own integrity of standing out and having the courage of her conviction to stay true to her creative morale.

Instead of Rarity, Twilight would fit that role better. While Rarity has a rebellious streak, Twilight lives in her own bubble and is much more of a stickler to the rules and standards. It made sense for a Twilight to conform to the EEA’s standards and practices in order to keep her school running, and that logic applies here, too.

I think Applejack replacing Pinkie's role would have been worked too, because she doesn't care much about fancy stuff and three star restaurants.

I think the critic first not liking the restaurant trying too hard to be like others, and then giving it three stars when the restaurant does what it does good would have worked better. The critic was simply just a villain in the episode.

Rarity was wrong, Pinkie was right all along, and it's less interesting if someone is just right and someone is wrong the whole time.

Twilight would have worked well because she was from Canterlot, and she would have given more credit to the restaurant's rating system. She is also a bookworm and she didn't go out that much in Canterlot, so she would have an idea of a restaurant that is more strict and detached from reality.

Maybe it would have worked with two unicorns vs two earth ponies of the Mane Six.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Sepul-Coloratura

[Latecomer 438]

13 hours ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Rarity’s half of Spice Up Your Life. By telling Coriander Cumin and Saffron Masala to conform to societal standards and be as generic as possible, she violated her own integrity of standing out and having the courage of her conviction to stay true to her creative morale.

i think there's a difference between being true to your own vision and being true to someone else's - you believe in yours for a reason, after all. It's hypocritical, but i don't find Rarit incapable of hypocrisy. 

 

12 hours ago, Sepul-Coloratura said:

I think the three fillies that united earth ponies, unicorns, pegaus ponies at the finale should have been the CMC's. 

I think it should have been Maud. Every crazy reactions of Pinkie is now replaced by Maud's face slowly and silently zooming in intensely.

Concur with the first - not so much the second.

11 hours ago, Sepul-Coloratura said:

Yeah, that makes more sense. Zecora wouldn't try such a radical treatment based on the magical power of the potion.

. We need (should have gotten) more Discord-Fluttershy episodes.

I admit, I was mostly concerned with keeping such useful magic as body trading as hard as possible, but it's also true theu have, like, nothing after Discordant Harmony. 

[Dark Qiviut 22,160]

On 2/26/2020 at 1:39 AM, Sepul-Coloratura said:

For me, It's Sounds of Silence. Applejack and Fluttershy could have changed to Starlight and Pinkie Pie and it would have worked even better.

I disagree.

The Kirin are incredibly sensitive to their history, and for good reason. Their lost tempers burned down their whole village and are the cause for them to suppress their emotions in the first place. While Starlight grew a lot over the three seasons, she’s still very emotive and susceptible to losing her temper should she get frustrated. While Applejack’s honest, Starlight’s type of honesty is blunter and doesn’t have nearly the same level of tact as AJ’s, and that along with her occasional difficulty to communicate with others could create tension between her and the Kirin. Fluttershy fits that role better, because she’s way more empathetic, more connected to wildlife than her, and quicker to listen.

Like Pinkie, Autumn Blaze is a chatterbox. Plenty of the humor from SoS doesn’t come only from Autumn’s talkative nature, but AJ’s reactions to her, too. Pinkie and Autumn are each hyper characters, which could lessen the dimensionality of the jokes and interactions. Pinkie’s not great at being the “straight man” foil, while Applejack plays that role better. So when things do get serious, AJ’s confusion and annoyance from Autumn’s hyperactivity can switch without jarring the viewer. As Autumn shows a more vulnerable side, AJ shows who she is at her best: lending a hoof and using her own wisdom and version of honesty to help her.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Dark Qiviut

[Megas 27,052]

28 Pranks Later with Discord being the prankster instead of RD. As it is, especially coming after the blatant "fuck you" that was Newbie Dash, 28 Pranks Later was literally the last episode she needed, by that point the writers were just being jerks punishing the audience for liking the wrong character in their view(especially since this shit continued well to the end of the show). Meanwhile Discord regularly treats everyone like shit and deliberately makes situations worse and is either only given a slapped on the wrist for it or in some cases even rewarded for it, and is never reprimanded for his bullshit because the writers were to busy riding him hard

Edited February 27, 2020 by Megas

[Castle Bleck 19,163]

The Pony Of Shadows, not Sombra, as The Beginning Of The End's villain.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Anti-Villain

[Sparklefan1234 161,664]

I would've liked "What About Discord?" better if it didn't involve Discord being a jerk &

 

instead focused on the remane 5 having an awesome experience that 

 

Twilight Sparkle doesn't get to take part in due to her Princess duties taking up all of her time. 

Edited February 28, 2020 by Sparklefan1234

[Cagey 4,205]

On 2/26/2020 at 1:39 AM, Sepul-Coloratura said:

Have you ever thought that certain episodes would have been worked better if the cast was different?

For me, It's Sounds of Silence. Applejack and Fluttershy could have changed to Starlight and Pinkie Pie and it would have worked even better. Starlight is very goal oriented and tries to be as efficient and fast as possible, but not so good at communication.  Applejack's stubbornness and pracricality is interesting, but this is better. Pinkie is very sympathetic and friendly, but she is easily distracted and her out-of-box thinking can be seen as meaningless. Fluttershy's slow paced problem solving and calm nature is against Applejack's, but not as efficient and clear as Pinkie and starlight. Imagine Pinkie meeting Autumn Blaze and sympathizing with her. (and an awesome duet song) Pinkie is lucky to be in Ponyville because if in other towns, she could have been ended up just like Autumn Blaze. Them two becoming best friends and then when they cone back and told that they shouldn't speak, the conflict would be more intense. As for Starlight, she could teach the Kirins about expressing their anger in a healthy way. Also she could tell that peace and harmony doesn't come from control and constraint, it should come from feiendship and a healthy community. What are your thoughts? Do you agree? Do you have an eoisode in mind?

That’s the one episode that comes to mind whose selected cast makes the most sense to me, actually. Fluttershy and Applejack, while both moral ponies, are essentially moral opposites. Fluttershy puts kindness first and believes in the importance of not hurting feelings, not getting angry, and mincing words at the cost of honest and free dialogue. Applejack puts honesty above kindness; she believes one must tell the truth despite the possibility of offending others. You can’t have the best of both worlds in either worldview, but neither pony is entirely wrong. The difference between them is brought to light best in an episode like this, where free speech and peace are directly at odds. 

A Pinkie and Starlight episode would have been great, though. I just don’t think it would best fit this one. 

[Latecomer 438]

1 hour ago, Sparklefan1234 said:

I would've liked "What About Discord?" better if it didn't involve Discord being a jerk &

 

instead focused on the remane 5 having an awesome experience that 

 

Twilight Sparkle doesn't get to take part in due to her Princess duties taking up all of her time. 

I thought he seemed kind of unnecessary in it - glad to see I wasn't the only one.

[nightshroud96 116]

For me, it would be what if Spike was the one who assembles the rescue team in To Where And Back Again instead of getting captured.
I mean, HE was the one who befriended Thorax, but instead I felt like he got robbed here..

If it was important for Starlight's development, it wouldn't have killed the writers if they had him AND Starlight assemble the team and together encourage Thorax during the confrontation against Chrysalis.

Heck, have Luna be in the team too instead of just sending a warning to Starlight and apparently getting captured too somehow(if the changelings got the others due to them sleeping, then its iffy for Luna's case since she was flipping awake at night. Really.. the whole "everyone else gets nabbed by Chrysalis somehow" bit of that finale wasn't executed right at least..).

[Latecomer 438]

4 hours ago, nightshroud96 said:

For me, it would be what if Spike was the one who assembles the rescue team in To Where And Back Again instead of getting captured.
I mean, HE was the one who befriended Thorax, but instead I felt like he got robbed here..

If it was important for Starlight's development, it wouldn't have killed the writers if they had him AND Starlight assemble the team and together encourage Thorax during the confrontation against Chrysalis.

Heck, have Luna be in the team too instead of just sending a warning to Starlight and apparently getting captured too somehow(if the changelings got the others due to them sleeping, then its iffy for Luna's case since she was flipping awake at night. Really.. the whole "everyone else gets nabbed by Chrysalis somehow" bit of that finale wasn't executed right at least..).

Spike is too supportive - look at him and Starlight in the season opener. And he's extra motivation for Thorax. And Luna would probably serve as a natural leader - you'd have to take her out early for Starlight to get an oppurtunitu.

[nightshroud96 116]

2 hours ago, Latecomer said:

Spike is too supportive - look at him and Starlight in the season opener. And he's extra motivation for Thorax. And Luna would probably serve as a natural leader - you'd have to take her out early for Starlight to get an oppurtunitu.

It depends on how the writers handle Spike(and well.. actually let him do stuff instead of making him "just support")
Also him being there would have motivate Thorax to help out anyway since Spike's friends are in danger, pretty much he will be more motivation for Thorax anyway(and eventually Chrysalis is going to do something about him for leaving the hive so he can't just keep running forever, he have to face the problem that is involved with the changelings sooner or later. Even if Chrysalis doesn't care enough to look for him, the other drones will most likely do something to him anyway if they do end up finding him during Chrysalis's attempts to take over everything.).
I am pretty sure Starlight would have an opportunity anyway even if Luna is acting as a natural leader, it just depends on how the writers handle it all.

Edited March 2, 2020 by nightshroud96

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

5 hours ago, nightshroud96 said:

It depends on how the writers handle Spike(and well.. actually let him do stuff instead of making him "just support")
Also him being there would have motivate Thorax to help out anyway since Spike's friends are in danger, pretty much he will be more motivation for Thorax anyway(and eventually Chrysalis is going to do something about him for leaving the hive so he can't just keep running forever, he have to face the problem that is involved with the changelings sooner or later. Even if Chrysalis doesn't care enough to look for him, the other drones will most likely do something to him anyway if they do end up finding him during Chrysalis's attempts to take over everything.).
I am pretty sure Starlight would have an opportunity anyway even if Luna is acting as a natural leader, it just depends on how the writers handle it all.

Just another thing, I think Thorax disguising as a pony not to fake ponies but to hide from other changelings might be kinda interesting.

12 hours ago, nightshroud96 said:

For me, it would be what if Spike was the one who assembles the rescue team in To Where And Back Again instead of getting captured.
I mean, HE was the one who befriended Thorax, but instead I felt like he got robbed here..

If it was important for Starlight's development, it wouldn't have killed the writers if they had him AND Starlight assemble the team and together encourage Thorax during the confrontation against Chrysalis.

Heck, have Luna be in the team too instead of just sending a warning to Starlight and apparently getting captured too somehow(if the changelings got the others due to them sleeping, then its iffy for Luna's case since she was flipping awake at night. Really.. the whole "everyone else gets nabbed by Chrysalis somehow" bit of that finale wasn't executed right at least..).

And the reason Starlight's finale episode seems worked less than Spike is because the audience is less closer to the character and we've seen much more Spike's friendship than Starlight's friendship with others, and "Starlight's-Character-Development", trying not to say such a common trope but still, wasn't enough for such story. I've said before it and I'll say it again, Starlight's character has been underdeveloped to the final moment of the very last episode.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Sepul-Coloratura

[Latecomer 438]

Stealing a suggestion i saw someone else make over on FimFiction - what if in A Bird in the Hoof, Flutter's co-lead was not Twilight (who you'd really think would know about Philomena/phoenixes in general) but rather Raritu, who is just as if not more prone to panic over angering royaltu?

[Thrond 3,257]

I don't know who you would replace her with, but the fact that Fluttershy turned out to be a naturally talented buckball player in "Buckball Season" never made much sense to me. 

Most of the time, though, I think the show picked the right characters for the story. Whether that story did those characters justice, or whether it was a story worth telling in the first place... those are other questions entirely. 

On 2/27/2020 at 11:14 AM, Latecomer said:

i think there's a difference between being true to your own vision and being true to someone else's - you believe in yours for a reason, after all. It's hypocritical, but i don't find Rarit incapable of hypocrisy. 

My interpretation was always that Rarity simply didn't think it was possible to succeed as a Canterlot restaurant without conforming to Zesty Gourmand's tastes. Consider that she had never even considered eating at a place like the Tasty Treat before, and that Coriander only asked for her to improve the restaurant's business. It's not an unreasonable decision to make considering those facts. 

On 3/2/2020 at 7:56 AM, nightshroud96 said:

For me, it would be what if Spike was the one who assembles the rescue team in To Where And Back Again instead of getting captured.
I mean, HE was the one who befriended Thorax, but instead I felt like he got robbed here..

 If it was important for Starlight's development, it wouldn't have killed the writers if they had him AND Starlight assemble the team and together encourage Thorax during the confrontation against Chrysalis.

Heck, have Luna be in the team too instead of just sending a warning to Starlight and apparently getting captured too somehow(if the changelings got the others due to them sleeping, then its iffy for Luna's case since she was flipping awake at night. Really.. the whole "everyone else gets nabbed by Chrysalis somehow" bit of that finale wasn't executed right at least..).

I think the very fact that he befriended Thorax is why he couldn't be part of the rescue team. Both of his episodes that season had him doing something big and heroic, whereas that finale was about the day being saved by people who were not heroes up to that point. Luna did have the "reformed villain" thing going for her, but her status in Equestrian society is too high for her to be an underdog in this context. Starlight had saved the day in the premiere, but she is the lead character in this episode so she gets a pass. 

 

[Goat-kun 2,496]

Not just single episodes though. Let's start with my all time favorite:

 

Switch Starlight for Cozy Glow in S05. Introduce some throwaway "Time of Day" "Sparkly Stuff" unicorn as the baddie leader of a friendship commune-tuned-cult and Cozy as one of the "victims". The baddie gets rekt and thrown into Fake Tartarus while Cozy gets invited to become Twilight's student for her "contributions" in the saving of the town.

 

We later learn that the baddie is Cozy's henchpony whose mission was to get into contact with Lord Tirek. This and that happens, Cozy becomes an alicorn, and we actually get a fight between her and Twilight that is not lame and full of not-really-tragic past exposition. Weakened Tirek gets released, yet the henchpony flips, and Cozy is barely defeated. However, it was all according to keikaku and the main villains both manage to escape.

 

We can then start S06 with Dastardly Duo kicking Scorpan off his throne and becoming leaders of monsters, but that's wishful thinking for another time.

 

Plot Twist: Henchpony's name is Sunburst and he becomes Twilight's study partner

[nightshroud96 116]

On 3/8/2020 at 2:45 PM, AlexanderThrond said:

 

I think the very fact that he befriended Thorax is why he couldn't be part of the rescue team. Both of his episodes that season had him doing something big and heroic, whereas that finale was about the day being saved by people who were not heroes up to that point. Luna did have the "reformed villain" thing going for her, but her status in Equestrian society is too high for her to be an underdog in this context. Starlight had saved the day in the premiere, but she is the lead character in this episode so she gets a pass. 

 

The thing is Spike didn't get to be a big hero in any of the finales iirc.
Really, it looked like things were turning around for Spike with how season 6 was handling him but it fell flat on its face with how he got shafted in the finale like that.

As for Luna, she(nor Celestia) didn't really get to be a big hero much in any of the finales(specifically ones where a major crisis is happening) either(with either getting captured or unable to be involved somehow).
And technically she is an underdog in a way due to how she's the little sister and how often she's basically in Celestia's shadow in a way(and ruled nowhere near as long as Celestia did due to missing 1000 years. Who knows what Celestia did in those 1000 years with threats, its gotta be Luna's turn to pick up the burden there in a way.)
Now that I think about it, this could have been Luna's chance to redeem herself for that issue the season 2 finale did with apparently she freaking slept through when the changelings attacked the wedding(and Celestia was in danger big time. Her freaking sister got defeated and yet Luna slept through the whole thing).