Is Season Six Going to be the Last Season of MLP? · 11:24pm Nov 10th, 2015
When it comes to the continuation of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, you fit into two categories. Either you love the series and you want it to keep going forever, or you feel that the series has run its course, the writers are running out of ideas, and that the series should just up and end already. I am of the latter category. That isn’t to say that I still don’t love this series. I do.
I have only been a brony for three years (I became one right around the time that season three was set to air), but even I can tell when the writing in a show is beginning to dip. (After all, I’ve been writing for the past fourteen years.) This couldn’t be any more clearer than in season five.I feel as if the writers are running out of ideas, which could explain why season five contains so many episodes that are just dull in my opinion. They aren’t good or bad; they’re just dull, as in they’re not very entertaining. This could be an early warning sign that the writers are beginning to run out of ideas. Granted, this could be because the writing staff has brought in a few new writers. In fact, I’m sure that’s the reason. A guaranteed way to ruin your show is to bring in new writers. To me, the new writers are having trouble writing for the show, as seen in episodes like “Tanks for the Memories” and “The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows.” That’s understandable. After all, some of them have been on the show from the very beginning, but some of the new writers are still getting used to writing for the show.
With season six coming out in the near future, and the official feature film coming out in 2017, this begs the question as to whether or not the series will be wrapping up production soon. I, for one, am hoping so. I feel like the series has run its course. True, season five does seem to be tying up a lot of loose ends, from Rainbow Dash finally getting to fly with the Wonderbolts to Diamond Tiara putting her bullying past behind her and embracing friendship for a change. Are these tied up plot threads signs that the show will be ending soon? Probably not, but it would be nice. Further evidence of this can be found in episodes like “Canterlot Boutique” and “Crusaders of the Lost Mark”, where both Rarity and the Cutie Mark Crusaders have achieved their dreams, thus closing the book on their character arcs. This only leaves the remaining characters to wrap up their own character arcs, which may or may not happen in season six, and may be reserved for the film.
Some people are of the opinion that the show should keep going even after the film is released. Well, let me explain the problem with this philosophy. You see, I’m of the opinion that it is better to end your series on a high note than to have it keep going. Keeping it going will inevitably lead to it crashing and burning as a result. Yes, you could keep the show going based solely on the mythology that surrounds Equestria and its universe, but that only leaves itself open for a couple of story ideas.
SpongeBob SquarePants kept going after its first film was released over a decade ago, and it has been going ever since. As a result, the writing has been getting worse and worse with each new season. Similarly, shows like Family Guy and South Park have been airing new episodes ever since they first aired, and I would argue that the writing in both of these shows is worse than that of SpongeBob. You see what I’m saying here? By having a show overstay its welcome, you run the risk of alienating old fans and putting off new fans from watching the show. Again, shows like Family Guy are examples of this. Old fans find the show horrible in comparison to its first three seasons, and new fans can’t stand the offensive, gross-out humor. Having unlikable characters and a smug preachy message certainly does not help matters.
So with that being said, is season six going to be the last season for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic? I certainly hope so. The series was originally supposed to end as far back as the finale for season three, but the powers that be renewed it for a fourth season. This was to be expected, given how insanely popular the show is. For me, though, I’d say “Magical Mystery Cure” would have been an excellent way to end the series. It would have ended the series on a high note and would have given the fans a wealth of ideas for all new stories and fan animations.
I’m sure when Twilight became a princess, many of us wondered exactly what the writers were going to do with this new plot thread. Season five seems to have answered this by showing that it is Twilight’s responsibility to go around Equestria spreading the goodness of friendship, but this only opens itself up to a few possibilities, meaning that eventually the writers are going to run out of ideas. It’s unclear right now whether or not this storytelling device is going to be used in season six. We’ll have to see.
One YouTuber even ran a poll to see how people felt about the show ever since Lauren Faust left. Some people said that it had gotten better. Others said that it’d gotten worse. And some people had even said that it had pretty much stayed the same. Me? I’m of the opinion that the show got better after Faust left. If you compare seasons three, four, and five to seasons one and two, you will definitely notice a change in direction. The show certainly does have a different feel to it since Faust left.
Naturally, the question of whether or not the show will be ending soon brings about the question of the brony community. What is going to happen to the brony community once the show ends? Is the community going to shrivel up and die, or is it going to keep going for a few more years? I’m not particularly worried about the former. The brony community is a thriving community full of people of diverse backgrounds and cultures. If the brony community is anything like that of Star Wars or Doctor Who, then I’m confident that the brony community will still be alive and well within the years to come, long after the show ends. There will still be conventions to attend, fanfics to read, and fan animations to look up on YouTube. I mean, look at the fandoms for Kim Possible or Avatar: The Last Airbender. People are still to this day writing fanfics about these characters and their many adventures because those shows left a huge impact on people.
What about me, you ask? I’ll probably stick around here for a few more years. After all, there are still plenty of story ideas that I have stored up in my noodle.
I honestly think it's a bit early to close the books on Rarity and Rainbow Dash's character arcs. Rarity still hasn't gained a major foothold in Canterlot, and Rainbow Dash is still technically a reserve, not a full time Wonderbolt. Twilight has largely remained the same character she was prior to being an alicorn, except for the rare occasion where they try to make use of her title. At this point, I say the writers need to give Twilight a bigger role in the show, show us what being a princess really means, and what sort of responsibilites she has to take on now that she has a title and a castle.
I am more afraid that they are throwing away a lot of material. Many episodes this season could have been much longer.
I don't think at all they are running out of ideas.
Bringing in new writers isn't a bad thing per sé.
Pokémon also is very old but it's still very popular.
I'm with the former, I want MLP to keep going for a very long time.
3534451 I think it depends on the overall quality of said writers. Some writers have been able to successfully shake off bad direction from terrible comedys, such as Nick Confalone, whereas others such as Neal Deadsu have consistently written badly.
3534472
I didn't completely understand you but I get your point.
The highest rated episode of this season (though not my favorite) was also made by a relatively new writer.
one thing I do wonder now: what do writers actually do?
3534441 What I find funny is the fact that I thought those answers were going to get answered either back in season four or in this season, but, you're right, the writers really haven't done anything with this "alicorn Twilight" thing. While Rarity and Rainbow Dash haven't exactly achieved their dreams per se, they are indeed very close to achieving them.
3534482
What episode was that? And I do agree with you. I'm sitting here wondering, "The fist half of the season was really good, but the second half is really dull. What happened?" I do agree that bringing in new writers isn't exactly a bad thing, but it can really damage your series. That's probably why the second half of this season has been so poor in terms of entertainment value. None of them (aside from 'Princess Spike" and "What About Discord?") haven't been particularly bad, but they have been very dull.
3534472 Give them a chance. Not everything a writer writes is going to be gold. You're going to have your off days. For an example, see the Powerpuff Girls episode "Equal Fights," which was penned by none other than Lauren Faust. I do hope that Neal returns in season six, if only to prove to the naysayers that he has what it takes to write for the show. Look at what happened with writers like Merriwether Williams or Scott Sonnenberg. They wrote some pretty good episodes.
3534557
'make new friends but keep Discord'.
I really loved many of the episodes.
3534564 That episode was just okay. I think the former half of season five was really good. The latter half is just dull as a bag of hammers. If it weren't for the "Where's Starlight Glimmer" game that the animators have been throwing in a lot of the episodes, I'd say, "Screw this! I'm done!" I hope to God that the season finale makes up for the mediocre second half of this season.
3534571
It is the highest rated episode of season 5. That's all I said. Also I think it did give a boost to the fandom.
I still disagree with you over that the second half is bad.
3534571 I think Season 5's second half is doing fairly well, but the last two episodes have really thrown it off the rails. "Scare Master" and "What About Discord?" really sunk the hype building from "Brotherhooves Social" and "Crusaders of The Lost Mark". I know that those episodes are going to be hard to top, but it feels like neither Nastha or Neal were really trying their hardest. Berrow, and Confalone did pretty good, considering the though act they had to follow.
I suspect Dr. Wolf was onto something when he believed the second half of Season 5 was going to originally air later in October, but then everything got pushed up because of the show's fifth anniversary. And I suspect that the transition from Larson back to Meghan as story editior really hurt, and I find it odd that Meghan took time off despite Josh Haber writing "Friendship Games" instead of her. I thought the whole reason why Meghan was not credited as story editior in the first half of this season was specifically because she was focusing on "Friendship Games"? Or did she just decide to take a break to focus on writing for the upcoming movie?
3534585 That's totally fine. I'm hoping the rest of the season is good. I'm looking forward to episode 24 for the song alone.
3534639 Wasn't Natahsa Levinger the one who wrote the godawful "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies?" And I do agree that "Brotherhooves Social" was highly entertaining. Yes, "Scare Master' did backpedal on Fluttershy's development, but it was at least a fun episode, and it was really cool to see Flutterbat again.
Regarding story editors, I've always been a little confused by that. For starters, what exactly does a story editor do? How does it work? Does a story editor work on just one episode or is it for the whole season? McCarthy taking over as story editor could explain why the latter half of season five has been so mediocre. I find McCarthy to be a decent writer, but she seems to really struggle with anything that exceeds past twenty-two minutes, as seen in episodes like "Princess Twilight Sparkle." This is why I'm kind of approaching the film with caution. If it's being written by McCarthy, then I'm sure it's going to be riddled with plot holes, as a lot of her work tends to do whenever she tries to write a plot that goes past twenty-two minutes. "Equestria Girls' was particularly bad because there was a lot of stuff that did not get explained. In any case, I am looking forward to the film and I will be walking in the theater completely oblivious as to what to expect, so I'm going to be avoiding any and all spoilers in hopes that this will heighten my experience and expectations with the film.
3534585 I agree, Season 4's second half was a lot rockier. Season 4's second half started off with "Filli Vanilli" and we all know how THAT turned out. "Twilight Time" was filler, and "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" was medicore, then there was "Somepony To Watch Over Me" and the less said about that, the better. It took "Maud Pie" for the second half of Season 4 to produce an episode without any glaring problems, and that five episodes in.
Compared to that, Season 4 kicked off the second half a bit better with "Canterlot Boutique". Was it flawless? Absolutely not, but it was definitely a better start than "Filli Vanilli".
3534805 Really, the only problem that I had with "Filli Vanilli" was Pinkie Pie's behavior, and I know that a lot of people like to get on Applejack's case about how she was overprotective, but to me, that was in-character for her, if you're going by her behavior in "Bridle Gossip," where she tried everything to keep Apple Bloom away from Zecora. But, i can see why people have a problem with "Somepony to Watch Over Me." It was as if one of the writers have a diaper fetish or something and was using the episode as a means of living out their fantasy or something.
3534833 Speaking as someone with said fetish (though not to an extreme extent) I still personally don't like the episode because Applejack's behavior lacks any sort of justifcation, even with the dead parents angle. I don't even think it would've made for a good diaper fic, unless you slapped on the alternative universe tag, and even then that's debateable.
Spongebob Squarepants actually had an episode involving Squidward in a diaper, and having to be taken care of like an actual baby. Needless to say, it was really disturbing and uncomfortable. And I'm surprised the moral guardians weren't up in arms about it, that's the kind of thing you'd expect people to not want their kids to be exposed to.
3534859 I agree. They're perfectly okay with Patrick Star being retarded and Mordecai and Rigby swearing, but they declare Derpy Hooves to be offensive to the mentally handicapped.
3534917 And that doesn't even begin to account for the numerous other offenses Spongebob and Family Guy have committed.
3534919 Which is why even when it's at its worst, MLP still isn't as bad as either one of them.