I recently had an epiphany regarding an issue that I have had regarding late stage developments in the show that probably also affects other episodes as well. And researching my hunch ended up verifying my suspicions.

It’s been an open secret for a while that newer writers on the staff of the show’s creators, the ones most responsible on what makes or breaks an episode, have been late arrivals with no prior knowledge of the product they were writing for and have never been required or even incentivized to view earlier episodes to bring them up to speed on what has happened previously in a series. This is referred to as Continuity Lockout and it usually refers to fans who lack common knowledge about something due to overlooking an event in the timeline of a story or being unaware of events in an adaptation that is still declared canon.

This is not supposed to apply to the people who actually make the damn thing, but that’s what I am discussing here today since it is an inevitability due to the involvement of a rotating cast of writers late in MLP FiM’s lifespan who have gone on record stating they never watched earlier episodes. This is a recipe for continuity snarls throughout the show. And I know I am repeating myself to some degree, but the standout example of an episode that completely disregards long running continuity for the sake of an episode’s plot is The Perfect Pear.

Anyone who’s been with FiM from the start are aware of Applejack’s strong interest in living a prim and proper lifestyle in her childhood that resulted in her leaving home for a time to move in with her aunt and uncle of the Orange family in Manehatten. An obvious play on the “comparing apples to oranges” idiom. Considering that she would likely not know them well had they been among the more distant relatives of the Apple family and, if we are to take The Perfect Pear at face value, if her father was the one who hailed from the Apple family, then it stands to suspect she was familiar with the fancy side of life from her mother marrying into the Apple family and putting a good word in with her sister/brother in Manehatten to look after their niece. Even Pear Butter’s coloration, her coat being a stark orange, almost looks like a Continuity Nod from the storyboard artists regarding the events of Applejack’s story from The Cutie Mark Chronicles. I cannot confirm exactly what kind of history the storyboard artists involved with this episode have with MLP FiM, but that’s the impression I get from her design.

The Perfect Pear was an episode that was critically acclaimed upon release. The only complaint most viewers had with it was the conflict being a parody of the cliched tired Romeo and Juliet dynamic. And I do see where they were coming from. But as someone who has been with G4 since pretty much the start, I went on record stating the episode is only good when examined in a vacuum completely disconnected from G4’s continuity.

What I did not know at the time was that my suspicions ended up being more on the nose than I could have expected. Because The Perfect Pear was literally written in a vacuum.

By this point, I’m not even angry. Just annoyed and disappointed.

Going back to the chronic lack of incentive for newer writers to familiarize themselves with older episodes, I went looking into the work history the two writers involved with this episode have with MlP FiM. And I found that their earliest contribution to the show was the Season 5 episode, Castle Sweet Castle. Notable for being the first episode FiMfiction’s own moderators openly mocked. Anyone here remember that post? The episode where “Everyone is an idiot”? Considering that many see Season 4 as the point where the general writing quality peaked, the fact that even the most generous fans noticed a gradual decline starting with Season 5 points to the rotation of new and unknowledgeable writers with no understanding of prior continuity playing a significant role in the show’s growing decrease in quality. And the writers who wrote The Perfect Pear jumped on the bandwagon at the start of said Season 5.

The writers who wrote The Perfect Pear did so after jumping onto the bandwagon at the point when the general consensus among the more hardline fans starting to notice some problems. This was not an act of intentional disregard to established continuity for the sake of a drama bomb episode. This was a result of benign negligence due to the two writers having no idea The Cutie Mark Chronicles even happened.

There’s also the elephant in the room regarding the conflict in the episode. The apples vs pears synopsis. It has been another open secret that the show runners are very much aware of the fanart scene among bronies and have repeatedly and consistently thrown in visual references to popular or trending memes in the fandom that were topical for the time. Examples being Spike’s white pimp hat in Secret of My Excess, Fluttershy wearing a tree disguise in Hurricane Fluttershy, Lyra and Bon Bon’s lesbian relationship, Doctor Hooves’ entirety, and a blink and you’ll miss background appearance of Slendermane in Pinkie Apple Pie. And is there anything more I need to say about Derpy Hooves being voiced and named? Not to mention Slice of Life, which is built entirely around acknowledging elements in the fandom. Considering that the infamous apples vs pears comic that started the meme, which has since dried up for the most part, was fairly popular at the time the episode came out, the writers likely discovered fanart on sites like Derpibooru and assumed it was what most fans wanted to see due to to its proliferation in the fandom and since they were running out of time to come up with an episode showing the only unrevealed set of Mane Six parents. Even if it did not make sense with prior canon. And while no one among the staff has confirmed said meme directly influenced or inspired the plot of The Perfect Pear, I also understand that no one in the know has openly denied it either.

In long running series that tells a continuous story with evolving characters like MLP FiM, continuity is not simply necessary. It is required. While it is too late to undo the damage brought on by the revolving door of ignorant temporary writers, this kind of practice of allowing newcomers in the staff to remain oblivious to the series canon needs to be phased out. For every type of artistic media.

While The Perfect Pear may be the most egregious example of a lore breaking episode that conflicts with canon going back several years, what other examples can you name that were the result of new writers who had no idea what came before? Besides Fluttershy relearning the same Aesop every other episode.

7589139
As lovely an episode as The Perfect Pear was, it did produce one heck of a continuity snarl. Where were they, for instance, in Where the Apple Lies?

7589139
That's an excellent observation about staff rotations, and something that is depressingly easy to solve by requiring new writers to watch the entire existing show before being allowed to write. Considering episodes are only about 20 minutes of actual content, you can watch a full season in an 8-hour work day. It wouldn't take long to get new writers spun up like that even after 9 seasons and a few movies, so there's no excuse for not requiring it. Granted they won't retain everything like the fans do, but combining that with a text document containing longer episode descriptions so they can rapidly find and re-watch key background for the episode they're currently writing will get you 99% of the way there. I would probably also combine that with a dedicated person (either someone who's been there from day 1 or a superfan) to arbitrate canon and dig into details as a final check on the episode, although that's getting to the point that the business people might complain about the expense even if the quality benefit is undoubtedly worth it.

The only minor thing I disagree with you on is when episode quality declined because season 4 was what drove me away from the show, especially the finale which was the final nail in the coffin for me. The key pillar of quality was Lauren Faust, and we saw problems cropping up as soon as she got the boot. I can't imagine her allowing disasters like Mare Do Well to air, and in hindsight the start of the decline is undoubtedly the first episode she didn't have meaningful input on, the season 2 finale.

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I was only saying what I had heard. I do not believe myself that season 4 was the zenith of consistent quality in the show.

Thank God The Venture Bros. doesn't have this problem.

I'm suffering memory problems. what continuity error does perfect pear create?

7590224

Most, if not all, writers who showed up after season 5 had no idea this episode existed. Or really pretty much any episode from this season.

These two look more similar than I remember too…