Were the writers of MLP: FIM inspired by Moon Dreamers?

[ManaMinori 4,149]

I can't help but see a lot of subtle and not-so subtle references to the 1980's children cartoon (which aired after My Little Pony n' Friends), Moon Dreamers, which Hasbro also endorsed- in the recent MLP: Friendship is Magic series. Some references I see (just brushing up on the show in its Wiki page, and having watched the first episode and the last two-parter episodes of the series) are the Ursa Major and Ursa Minor appearing in Moon dreamers, and the two star bears appearing in MLP: FIM.


Princess Celestia, who in MLP- has a job to raise the sun (and the moon, while Luna is banished) and care for an entire kingdom seems to have been inspired by (and perhaps serve as the polar opposite to) the Moon Dreamers character, Celeste, who fulfills her job to bring night to the earth so that dreams can be sent out (sound like a certain other pony who does this exact job?) While Galaxia, Celeste's magical space dragon, could've been what inspired Discord.

[Jeric 46,884]

I don't have anything to say to your theory, but I just saw that Tress MacNeille did VA on that show.

 

Tress MacNeille was all over my bucking childhood and to this day is my fav VA, even beating out Mel Blanc and Tara Strong.

[ManaMinori 4,149]

I don't have anything to say to your theory, but I just saw that Tress MacNeille did VA on that show.

 

Tress MacNeille was all over my bucking childhood and to this day is my fav VA, even beating out Mel Blanc and Tara Strong.

And, I don't really have anything to say to your post. I don't really keep track of VA's. ):

[SasQ 1,380]

Ooh, "Moon Dreamers"... I vaguely remember that cartoon, but I remember that I liked it. So if you have any links where I can watch it or download the episodes, can you post them here or at least send me a PM? I'd like to watch it again.

 

As to the inspirations, not necessarily from "Moon Dreamers" some of them are very direct. To the point of ripping off the whole scenes and settings. Here's a notorious example from "Samurai Jack":

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dPgTNucpRI

 

Seems suspiciously familiar, doesn't it? The shape of the mountain, cave entrance shots, the color of the dragon, its position relative to the main hero, the smoke coming down to a nearby village, and even the village seems very Ponyville-like (especially with that huge windmill). Oh yeah, that's "Dragonshy"...

 

Now look at this one, again from "Samurai Jack":

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYKV6BdeWp8

 

The black thorny vines with blue flowers... Hmm... Discord's vines in "Princess Twilight Sparkle"? ;-J

The scene at 0:50 with the blue flower could inspire the appearance of Harmony Box. And the Spirit of Spring is very similar to Princess Celestia (especially the hair).

When Hasbro does it, it's "inspiration". But when ordinary people do such things, they got lawsuits... ;-/

[ManaMinori 4,149]

Ooh, "Moon Dreamers"... I vaguely remember that cartoon, but I remember that I liked it. So if you have any links where I can watch it or download the episodes, can you post them here or at least send me a PM? I'd like to watch it again.

 

As to the inspirations, not necessarily from "Moon Dreamers" some of them are very direct. To the point of ripping off the whole scenes and settings. Here's a notorious example from "Samurai Jack":

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dPgTNucpRI

 

Seems suspiciously familiar, doesn't it? The shape of the mountain, cave entrance shots, the color of the dragon, its position relative to the main hero, the smoke coming down to a nearby village, and even the village seems very Ponyville-like (especially with that huge windmill). Oh yeah, that's "Dragonshy"...

 

Now look at this one, again from "Samurai Jack":

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYKV6BdeWp8

 

The black thorny vines with blue flowers... Hmm... Discord's vines in "Princess Twilight Sparkle"? ;-J

The scene at 0:50 with the blue flower could inspire the appearance of Harmony Box. And the Spirit of Spring is very similar to Princess Celestia (especially the hair).

When Hasbro does it, it's "inspiration". But when ordinary people do such things, they got lawsuits... ;-/

There's episodes hanging around Youtube, actually. Easy to find in the search.

I actually forgot t omention that around episode 16 and 16, there's even more crazy inspiration, seems like, from this show what wound up in MLP- such as the star horse, Andromeda falls into a place where monsters and bad guys are, and turns into a Nightmare when a boy in there doesn't appreciate Andromeda for what she is. (sound familiar?)

The Samurai Jack inspirations are dead-on to some of the episodes that you names O_O

[Red Cedar 1,408]

Don't know about Moondreamers (only watched it once) but I looked through the list of episodes of the original MLP series and there are two episodes which bear a striking resemblance to episodes of FiM. One shows Spike joining a band of other dragons, only to find out they're bullies. The other shows four ponies being forced by magic to live each others' lives.

[Fhaolan 4,494]

Did you know that one of the character designers for Samurai Jack also did development art for MLP? Paul Rudish. There are others as well, but his name floats to the top.

 

You have to realize, there's only so many people working in this field. Nearly any animated show that actually made it to TV from the 80's onward is going to have someone who have done some work on MLP as well. It's not an infinite pool of talent so that every show is independent from every other show.

[ManaMinori 4,149]

Don't know about Moondreamers (only watched it once) but I looked through the list of episodes of the original MLP series and there are two episodes which bear a striking resemblance to episodes of FiM. One shows Spike joining a band of other dragons, only to find out they're bullies. The other shows four ponies being forced by magic to live each others' lives.

yeah, I know that there's been carry over episodes from older MLp gens. Not that I particularly mind. They make for good remakes.