Least Favorite Episode?

[Empress Pinkamena 41]

Well, it WAS my most hated episode. But a recent one eclipsed it.

 

Rainbow Falls.

 

Beyond Derpy's return, the griffons, and the visuals, I undoubtedly hate just about everything in this episode. Not only are the characters flanderized or out of character, but the plotline is contrived with a poorly written moral, out-of-character comedy, and constant info-dumping. The writing here is easily the dumbest that I've seen in an episode since Spike at Your Service. While I hated Just for Sidekicks because of Spike's awful characterization and unfulfilled expectations, I hate this one much more because it's factually TERRIBLE! I wrote an entire review tearing the episode apart here; be warned: I gave it no mercy.

Something cannot be factually terrible.  There is enough ammo within the episode for people to make positive reviews, which they have, by the way.  After all, people are going to disagree, and if you hit anything hard enough with a hammer, it will break.

[DryGuy84 (Inactive) 927]

'Owl's Well That Ends Well' is my least favorite. It made me cringe with the "hoo" jokes, portrayed the Mane 6 as petty when the Owl was treated the same way as Spike, and annoyed me with the conclusions Spike jumped to. I don't hate the episode, but I think it's the weakest in the entire series.

Edited February 6, 2014 by DryColt84

[ZukoIsBestPony 561]

Feeling Pinkie Keen

 

Why It Sucks:

 

LEAP OF FAITH??? Bitch you can teleport!

Plus that lesson had nothing to do with friendship, and by it's logic, just because you don't believe in the giant monster your brother says is living under your bed, doesn't mean it's not real. A better lesson would be something like 'being a good friend means respecting your friends beliefs'

Also, even tho the slapstick was funny, it was undeserved! Why do we like it when the cat gets hurt in Tom and Jerry? Cuz he's a jerk who's trying to kill the poor baby mouse! But what was Twilight's crime? She heard a ridiculous claim and then tried to test it. That's it. And what happened? She got really hurt. It was kinda cringe inducing because she didn't deserve it.

Whats more, pinkie knew Twilight was fallowing her, was constantly predicting pain that her friend was about to go threw, and she just let it happen. 'Yup an anvil's about to fall on her head! Great!' 'Oh, this ones gonna put her in a wheel chair! Fucking delightful!' Maybe she should, oh I don't know SAY SOMETHING!

It makes no since, is hard to watch, and has an awful take away value, that being: Don't question what people tell you, no matter what they say, how contradictory it is, or how unbelievably silly it sounds. Investigate no further because they are right. Use no critical thinking just accept the bullshit.

And oh boy the real world undertones. Ya, that. Alright dude who made this, you think being a 'skeptic' is bad. Good for you.

The good things about it

Now that's not to say there wasn't some good things about this episode, there was 1 good thing: insight to Twilight's chatterer. It showed how she can over react when she feels things are out of her control. Something we saw more of in lesson zero. It showed her brilliance and her need to make since of the world around her. It showed that when she doesn't understand something, she will pursue the truth until she finds it. And in the end, she found solid cause and effect proof to back up the validity of pinkie sense. Had she not so out-of-characterly  backed away from her research, she might have even discovered exactly why and how Pinkie sense works. Her Wanting to understand things will translate well into her future promotion into princesshood. Being a ruler who is logical and a good problem solver is extremely important. And her freak-out over lack of control gives her character some depth, and it sets up future story arks where she can focus on remaining cool in a bad situation, it really gives her something to grow from.

 

But the episode still sucked, thanks for reading.

[Empress Pinkamena 41]

Feeling Pinkie Keen

 

Why It Sucks:

 

LEAP OF FAITH??? Bitch you can teleport!

Plus that lesson had nothing to do with friendship, and by it's logic, just because you don't believe in the giant monster your brother says is living under your bed, doesn't mean it's not real. A better lesson would be something like 'being a good friend means respecting your friends beliefs'

Also, even tho the slapstick was funny, it was undeserved! Why do we like it when the cat gets hurt in Tom and Jerry? Cuz he's a jerk who's trying to kill the poor baby mouse! But what was Twilight's crime? She heard a ridiculous claim and then tried to test it. That's it. And what happened? She got really hurt. It was kinda cringe inducing because she didn't deserve it.

Whats more, pinkie knew Twilight was fallowing her, was constantly predicting pain that her friend was about to go threw, and she just let it happen. 'Yup an anvil's about to fall on her head! Great!' 'Oh, this ones gonna put her in a wheel chair! Fucking delightful!' Maybe she should, oh I don't know SAY SOMETHING!

It makes no since, is hard to watch, and has an awful take away value, that being: Don't question what people tell you, no matter what they say, how contradictory it is, or how unbelievably silly it sounds. Investigate no further because they are right. Use no critical thinking just accept the bullshit.

And oh boy the real world undertones. Ya, that. Alright dude who made this, you think being a 'skeptic' is bad. Good for you.

Actually, the writer, Dave Polsky, said it wasn't intended to be about skepticism being bad.  It was more supposed to be about trusting others and not denying what's in front of you.

Also...I don't know about you, but this is the first time I've heard of slapstick being "deserved".  A good amount of people sympathize with Tom, who's you know, trying to eat.  Hell Chuck Jones, the creator of Wile E. Coyote, said he wanted to make sure the audience sympathized with the coyote, and make him more "humiliated" than actually harmed by his failures.  And in a lot of cartoons, the characters being hurt did absolutely nothing, yet people laugh.  What matters is making them humiliated and be in pain, without it being to cringeworthy.

In this very show, the slapstick is almost never "deserved":

• Rainbow being launched by Applejack in Applebuck Season
• Twilight making a meditating Zecora fall in Swarm of the Century
• Spike being constantly bounced and thrown in Fall Weather Friends
• Twilight being scared and running into a tree, gets stung by bees, and sprayed by skunks, just for trying to help in Winter Wrap Up
• Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike crashing when Twilight tries ice skating in Winter Wrap Up
• Twilight and Fluttershy being thrown at a wall in Party of One
• Twilight having a can stuck on her face in Party of One
• Pinkie hitting a building in Party of One
• Twilight running into Tom in Return of Harmony
• Spike slapping Twilight when Zecora looks at him in Secret of My Excess
• Pinkie knocking Rarity off the wagon in The Last Roundup

And more.  None of these are really "deserved", yet people still laugh.  And in a way, Twilight did kinda deserve it for refusing to accept the Pinkie Sense as a possibility, being a horrible scientist when she tested Pinkie (Not bothering to make a controlled environment so she could trigger Pinkie Sense, only testing for a minute, not being worried about really testing it, having already decided "It's not possible" and trying to disprove it.), and acting quite condescending to her friend.  And most of the time, she wasn't even testing it, she was trying to disprove it, and prove Pinkie wrong.

Not to mention in that very episode Pinkie said it was for vague and immediate events.  Never in the entire episode was Pinkie able to predict what would fall, so she wouldn't know an anvil would fall on Twilight, just somethings gonna fall.

[Cyan Blue 946]

I forgot what this episode was called but it's the one where Rainbow dash chooses her pet.

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

My least favorite episode? Mysterious Musical Cancer. (Magical Mystery Cure)

 

Why? It had so much annoying musical with little plot, and switched the cutie marks of the Mane 6.

 

After that,

2. Both parts of the S3 premiere

3. Rainbow Falls

4. Power Ponies

5. Feeling Pinkie Keen (I'm sorry I disliked Twilly getting repetitively crushed)

6. Bats!

(I'm starting to wonder why I like S4...) Oh! Because it has some of the BEST too...

[Deae Rising Shine~ 54,667]

Well, of course I have episodes, that I not like much, but afterall, I don't have a least favourite episode^^

[ggg-2 3,552]

going to get a LOT of flak for this buuuuut......any episode with rarity as the central character...she's fine any other time but for some reason i just find her boring when the episode revolves around her

Edited February 6, 2014 by ggg-2

[Barbaloot 198]

A tie between Bats! and Friendship is Magic pt. 2.

 

Those are really the only two episodes of the show I would consider actually bad. I can still find a little teeny bit of enjoyability out of episodes like Owls Well that Ends Well or MMDW, but Bats! and Friendship is Magic pt. 2, can't stand them.

[BassBrony 33]

Definitely Spike at your Service 

 

Spike was my favorite character outside the mane 6. Until that episode just butchered his character traits to the point where it seems it's unfixable (I hope im wrong). He is now one of my most least liked characters

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

"Hearts and Hooves Day" is probably my least favorite episode. The episode itself, it's pretty in the middle of the road... until when Cheerilee and Big Mac drink that love potion. Sitting through them cooing over each other for ten minutes was like being tied down while the CIA pulls your teeth for information. It's meant to be like that, too. The writers wrote it to be painful to sit through on purpose. If you purpose make your writing absolutely unbearable to listen to, you've screwed up BAD.

[Ianpiersonjdavis 512]

There are only three episodes in the entire series that I utterly despise;

 

The Mysterious Mare Do Well for Dash's arrogance written to be higher than usual for plot convenience, the hypocrisy of the Mane Six praising their own attributes that they attributed to Mare Do Well and laughing in front of Dash's face to purposely upset her and having so little faith in their 'friend' that they didn't even TRY to talk to her about their concerns.

 

Magical Mystery Cure for horrible pacing, too much singing rather than any explanation for the confusing nature of the Cutie Mark swaps affecting the Mane Six, and two connected, yet feeling different plots poorly meshed together as one.

 

Rainbow Falls for Dash relying on two of the worst possible fliers to represent Ponyville-despite the fact that 'Bulk Biceps' could previously fly well enough to join the Wonderbolts Academy, Fluttershy being out of character for not having any issues with flying in front of a crowd, the entirety of the Wonderbolts minus Soaring being unlikable, backstabbing jerks which makes me question why Dash still wants to join them as they represent the complete opposite of her Element.

Edited February 6, 2014 by TimeLordRainbowDash

[Guest90210 3,568]

Hearts and Hooves Day, Games Ponies Play, and Boast Busters were some of the worst episodes I would say.

 

 

I don't see why everyone hates Spike at Your Service and Just for Sidekicks. I loved those episodes.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Rivendare

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

Something cannot be factually terrible.  There is enough ammo within the episode for people to make positive reviews, which they have, by the way.  After all, people are going to disagree, and if you hit anything hard enough with a hammer, it will break.

 

I have the urge to start using that figure-of-speech now because it describes what being over-critical is like perfectly.

 

I'm still going to have to do with Mare-Do-Well, because it flanderized Dash's ego problem from being a braggart in a lovable way, to being a borderline egomaniac to shoe-horn the moral in. No where else does she she display the ego problem she does here.    

[Castle Bleck 19,302]

My recent choice is Rainbow Falls.

I'd rather have a buffalo take a diarrhea dump in my ear, than watch that again.

Edited October 22, 2020 by Anti-Villain

[GrauWitz 1,010]

Pinkie Pride

 

I'd rather eat a roadkill skunk than watch that shit again! It pretty much PROVES that Pinkie NEEDS to be put in the asylum!

[Guest90210 3,568]

 

I'm still going to have to do with Mare-Do-Well, because it flanderized Dash's ego problem from being a braggart in a lovable way, to being a borderline egomaniac to shoe-horn the moral in. No where else does she she display the ego problem she does here.    

 

She has always acted like that. All they did was just stretch it a bit. Just like in, for example, Rarity Takes Manhattan where they made Rarity extra generous for sake of the episode, they made Rainbow Dash extra egotystical for Mare Do Well. And seriously, she got a FAN CLUB in that episode, of course she's going to get boastful over hearing about that. She's completely in character.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Rivendare

[Castle Bleck 19,302]

On 2/6/2014 at 11:29 AM, Anti-Villain said:

My recent choice is Rainbow Falls.

I'd rather have a buffalo take a diarrhea dump in my ear, than watch that again.

Spitfire: "This is your chance to fly with the winners!"

Me: "This is your chance to fly with the bucking s***!"

Edited October 22, 2020 by Anti-Villain

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

She has always acted like that. All they did was just stretch it a bit. Just like in, for example, Rarity Takes Manhattan where they made Rarity extra generous for sake of the episode, they made Rainbow Dash extra egotystical for Mare Do Well. And seriously, she got a FAN CLUB in that episode, of course she's going to get boastful over hearing about that. She's completely in character.

 

They did more than stretch a bit, they made her an unlikable narcissist to shoe-horn in the moral, the way the rest of the mane-six handled it was questionable as well.

 

It wasn't by any means bad and I don't hate it, but it was definitely a low point.  

[True Rarity 1,240]

No doubt the one with Cranky Doodle Donkey. It was rather... annoying.

[Guest90210 3,568]

They did more than stretch a bit, they made her an unlikable narcissist to shoe-horn in the moral, the way the rest of the mane-six handled it was questionable as well.

 

It wasn't by any means bad and I don't hate it, but it was definitely a low point.  

 

She's always been like that though. It isn't anything new. She's always talking about how "awesome" she is, about how she's the best, etc.

 

And I think the Mane 6 handled it fine. A lot of people say that the moral was bad and that they shouldn't have showed her up and instead tried to "talk it out" with Rainbow Dash...I disagree. Dash isn't a "talk it out" kind of pony. She isn't going to listen to that. The best thing to do is set an example and show her that she shouldn't be such a show off (while as a bonus helping other ponies) and that's what they did.

[Nuke87654 1,849]

My top 5 most hated episodes right now are.

 

5. Showstoppers: Not only was this a boring episode, but this episode pretty much ruined whatever intrigue we could've had with the CMC's cutie marks by showing what their talent is going to be in the first season. Thanks to that episode we're now waiting when they're finally going to give the CMCs their cutie marks 3 seasons later and counting.

 

4. Mysterious Mare Do Well: While yes Rainbow Dash being exaggerated into an extreme egotist was annoying, but how the the other mane 6 tried to fix that by humiliating her and having the town turn against Rainbow Dash despite all the good deeds she had done enraged me of how hypocritical the mane 6 were and just how cynical the episode was.

 

3. Dragon Quest: This episode ruined the FIM dragons by making everyone that isn't pony raised like Spike is into complete assholes, but it also ruined whatever character development and background story we could've had with Spike. This episode was essentially the acclaimed Cutie Mark Chronicles gone wrong.

 

2. Rainbow Falls: One of the laziest written episodes on the show, a slew of flanderized characters for the sake of a poorly written plot and humor, and completely throwing out the character development Rainbow Dash had going because if we had say the Rainbow Dash from 'Wonderbolt's Academy' instead the episode would've been finished at the halfway mark. Unlike the other episodes, this one is tied up to a season long arc so you can't discount this episode as non-canon. Read the DQ's excellent roasting to know how bad this episode was.

 

1. Putting your hoof down: This episode ruined much of my opinion of Fluttershy as she became an even bigger villain than the supposed corrupted version from 'Return of Harmony' when she tried to be assertive and of how she uttered one of the most vicious insults in the show when she attacked both Pinkie Pie and Rarity, how Iron Will was portrayed as the villain when he did nothing to cause Fluttershy to behave as she did, and of how Fluttershy relatively gets away with it scot free despite insulting and attacking a good portion of the town populace. Ever since then, with the exception of one of the all time great episodes in 'Hurricane Fluttershy', her character hasn't been fixed from such a scathing demonization and the fact the writing staff seem content to introduce gags like Flutterhulk and Flutterbat seems that they really don't know what to do with her so far. I could be proven wrong in later episodes, but so far Fluttershy remains my least favorite of the mane 6 ever since that character appeared in my least favorite episode of the series.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Nuke87654

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

She's always been like that though. It isn't anything new. She's always talking about how "awesome" she is, about how she's the best, etc.

 

And I think the Mane 6 handled it fine. A lot of people say that the moral was bad and that they shouldn't have showed her up and instead tried to "talk it out" with Rainbow Dash...I disagree. Dash isn't a "talk it out" kind of pony. She isn't going to listen to that. The best thing to do is set an example and show her that she shouldn't be such a show off (while as a bonus helping other ponies) and that's what they did.

 

Watch it again, she acts so absurdly narcissistic that it borders on being a shallow parody of her. Her bragging goes goes from good-natured pride to being obnoxious. The issue with how they handled it is that they humiliated her. The plan wasn't bad, but the really mean-spirited way it was executed was bad.

 

Like I said, I don't hate it but it's definitely a low-point.     

[Megas 27,522]

If we counted the comics as episode, the Rainbow Dash Micro comic(I'm never gonna let this go), by comparison Mare Do-Well is a fucking masterpiece

 

For actual episodes though I'm still going with Mare Do Well and Mmmystery of the Friendship Express, both have an absurd amount of bullshit that I can't just forgive them for, despite a couple of moments worth noting, though on a positive note they can at least be salvageable 

Edited February 6, 2014 by Megas75

[Empress Pinkamena 41]

Pinkie Pride

 

I'd rather eat a roadkill skunk than watch that shit again! It pretty much PROVES that Pinkie NEEDS to be put in the asylum!

...How?

Pinkie was acting much, much better than she was in Party of One, being able to pick herself up.  Seriously, what did she do that proves she needs to be put into an asylum?  She was throwing a party for her friends birthday, then felt unloved after her friends left her for some guy they didn't even know, which has always been part of her character.  Unlike Party of One, she didn't start playing with inanimate objects, picked herself up, and when she accidently hurt one of her friends, she stopped what she was doing, and looked at her actions.  

So...please tell me how she needs to be put in a mental asylum.  Because...most of her actions in that episode were driven by her desire to make others happy, like throwing a party for Dash, hiding her feelings so they go have fun with Cheese, stopping the Goof Off when she accidently hurt one of her friends even when they didn't really care, and moving, giving up what she cared for, so she doesn't hurt them anymore and so they can have fun with the better party pony.  Her other actions were driven by loneliness, which has already been an established part of her character and is a very real human emotion.

So, how is her actions in that episode any worse than:

• Pinkie turning into Pinkamena when she merely thought her friends abandoned her.
• Fluttershy going on a rampage because some animals didn't love her.
• Twilight brainwashing ponies because she missed a deadline Celestia didn't even really set.
• Twilight wanting to stop time to stop a future disaster that obviously won't happen