MLP: A New Generation (2021) · 1:59am Sep 25th, 2021
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Any of my fellow bronies and pegasisters still come here? I know it's been a while. MLP:FIM ended last year, and now we have a new generation of ponies on the way. The movie prequel to the series, "MLP: A New Generation," was released today on Netflix.
If you haven't seen or heard of it:
My Little Pony: A New Generation is a 2021 computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Cullen and José Ucha, co-directed by Mark Fattibene with Cecil Kramer and Peter Lewis as producers, and written by Gillian Berrow and Tim Sullivan from a story by Cullen, Ucha and Sullivan. Based on Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise, the film marks the start of the fifth incarnation of the franchise, which is set in the same universe as the previous generation's, a first for the franchise.
A New Generation is set many years after the events of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, in a magic-less era where the story of Twilight Sparkle and her friends has become a mare legend, and the three pony kinds – earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns - have grown apart, living separated from one another in paranoia and mistrust.[3] The film follows Sunny Starscout, an earth pony who, after meeting the unicorn Izzy Moonbow, embarks on a quest to reunite all pony kinds and restore magic to the land.[4]
Movie Trailer:
[MEDIA=youtube]J2I5HtYlwrQ[/MEDIA]
Now, for those of you who have, are you going to watch it? Have you watched it?
I have already watched it.
WARNING: There may be spoilers after this point for anyone who hasn't seen the movie and wishes to discuss it.
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Firstly, I love the animation style. This is brought to us by Boulder Media Ltd., an animation house in Dublin, Ireland. The look and feel of the film is top notch. It seems Hasbro has gone all out to give us a really fun, engaging story with all of the proper touches we want in a fantasy film about magical ponies.
Sunny Starscout, our earth pony protagonist.
Izzy Moonbow, our unicorn friend.
Hitch Trailblazer, the Sheriff of Maretime Bay, the earth pony settlement.
Pipp Petals, a pegasus princess of Zephyr Heights, the pegasus city, and social media influencer.
Zipp Storm, the second princess of Zephyr Heights who would much rather be flying.
There are plenty of other characters we get to meet, but these 5 are how we start our journey, and I just feel they meshed so well together. Watching them, I kind of felt they all exhibited some of the traits of the original Mane 6 from MLP: FIM. For example, Sunny has the questioning curiosity of Twilight, along with Applejack's honesty, Izzy is very much pronkish and random like Pinkie Pie, Hitch has Fluttershy's ability to soothe animals who fall in love with him, Pipp is Rarity's fashion and socialite status on fleek, and Zipp definitely possesses Rainbow Dash's competitive, stubborn nature.
I mean, they may not have meant it that way, but I picked up on it. The locations were neat, I like how Maretime Bay was laid back and rural, Zephyr Heights was modern and technologically advanced, and Bridlewood was mystical and quiet. Each one seemed to fit the personalities of its ponies.
I like how some of what I expected to happen didn't happen, I *love* the self-awareness of some of the ponies, and even the movie itself pokes at some tropes, the music was terrific, with Izzy's song "Fit Right" being my favorite of them all.
I think this film is a great start to what I hope is a wonderful series (slated to start October of 2022), and I am so willing to see where they go with this generation.
Also, lots of crying moments, anyone else see it and have crying moments? Wistful moments? Just me? Yeah, well done on the part of everyone: the voice actors, the writers, the animators, everyone involved did a bang up job, IMO.
I saw the movie a couple of months ago. And truth be told, I'm so incredibly conflicted about it.
On one hand, I really, really, really want to like this. Because it's MLP and this is the only progression we will get. It's either this or nothing, which doesn't leave much choice. I agree that the animation style is beautiful and it looks like a higher budget and yes, the voice actors did a fantastic job.
That being said.
I saw these parallels in characterization as well and I was a lot less enthusiastic about them. For reasons both unknown and probably plentiful, they decided against continuing G4. Fair enough, nine seasons is a lot. But I had wished for something new - and this isn't. Due to these parallels, they make it incredibly hard not to compare G5 to G4. And with all its history, nostalgia and carefully crafted good-will, G5 just doesn't stand a chance. This comparison was inevitably rigged from the get-go. Of course I'm not saying that they should have avoided any similarities at all cost, but they've been so... blatant about it.
In addition to that, I feel less connection with the songs. Again, that might be due to a skewed perspective: nine seasons of G4 have a lot of songs and I'm not exactly a fan of every single one of them. But I can sing along to most of them. And quite a few of those made me feel something. The G5-songs, so far, have two qualities: They are catchy, and they are entertaining. Neither helps them stay in my mind or win me over. And goodness gracious, I thought Pinkie's rap was a little cringey, but Izzy's? Oof.
To be honest, though - the songs are a minor gripe at best. The character parallels irk me, yes, but even those don't bother me quite as much as my main issue so far:
The world building.
Aside from the 'LuLZ, doesn't matter'-slap to the face that is implied by reverting to tribalism despite all of Twilight's efforts, they need to address so much at this point. As far as we know, Celestia and Luna aren't mortal, right? So... they just watched from their nice retirement home and shrugged? What about Discord? The 'guests' of Tartarus? What about the diplomatic endeavors that had led to alliances with changelings, dragons, hippogryphs, griffons, kirin and so many more? What about the Windigos?
They decided to soft-reboot by setting it in the 'distant (?)' future. But with that, they decided to both keep and destroy everything that came before. And that just feels like an unnecessary gut punch. One that doesn't exactly earn them any favors with me. It feels disrespectful towards G4's legacy. And to even want to give G5 a fighting chance at this point, they need to address what happened, and why.
I hope they have a plan. I really hope this wasn't just a shortsighted decision made in hopes of fans 'not overthinking' it. (Because at this point, they really should know better.) So far, I've seen fans come up with some incredible theories as to what happened. I quite like the involvement of the memory stone. But no theory I've seen so far explains everything. And I don't understand why the writers chose to give G5 such a rough start. It almost feels like they wrote themselves into a corner from the very start, and that makes me quite apprehensive of what is to come.
As I initially said: I want this to work out. I want to like this.
But good god, do they make that hard.
5644548
I get where you're coming from, and the decision to push us further into the future from the G4 timeline does hurt a bit. The lesson I see from doing this, and showing the reversion to tribalism, is that every step we take forward is a step we can lose, that if we're not vigilant, if we don't work to maintain that progress, it can all be undone with enough fear and doubt.
As for Celestia and Luna, I don't know if it was ever said they were wholly mortal, or even if they live forever. From what I've gathered, they do live a very long time, but nothing that canonically says they would be alive at this point, though if they are, it's entirely possible they have been rendered inert by some outside factor, since the Sun and Moon appear to be functioning without the intervention of magic.
There just isn't enough detail to work with at the moment, which I figure the series will expand upon and hopefully give us good reasons as to *why* we are where we are at this point in time. They're certainly pointing us toward a mystery, and one that G4 fans like ourselves will absolutely watch with eagerness, if for no other reason than to find out the answer to the riddle.
So I get your hesitation. I'm going into it with a bit more positivity and optimism, sure, but I do have some concerns also. I'm hoping they're addressed as faithfully as possible.
5644636
While I agree with that sentiment, it does reinforce my point: It hurts seeing that. After so much has been done, after so much has been overcome and achieved... it was all for naught. History is just repeating itself.
True. Though I have to say, we see that ponies that age look the part - Granny Smith being a prime example. We see Celestia battling her sister a thousand years prior and she does not look like she aged a day in G4. I'm just more inclined to believe the 'somehow incapacitated'-version than them wasting away by age.
That is - if they have answers to provide. But yes, there's... a lot of open questions remaining.
I'm not exactly the most positive person around. Due to that, I usually try to keep my thoughts to myself, so that I don't spoil other people's fun. But it's nice to have a civil discussion from time to time. Despite my... concerns, I stand by my initial statement: I fear a lot, but I do so hope it works out. I want this to work out.
We shall see.