Season 5 Was The Most Important Season Yet And We Didn't Even Notice · 6:45pm Jan 3rd, 2016
My favorite season is Season 4, followed by 2 and then 5. Season 5 had a lot of hits and a lot of misses. However, I realized something - even when S5 missed, it was taking bigger shots than any previous season. And for this, it's perhaps the most important season of all so far.
Look at what happened in Season 5. We got Starlight Glimmer as a new villain unlike anything seen before. This wasn't some ancient sealed monster looking to take over Equestria, this was a normal pony with a dangerous world view and some powerful magic to enforce it. And now perhaps she'll be back in Season 6 as a 7th cast member. As I covered before, this is a huge gamble. But that's the story of Season 5 in a nutshell - gambling.
Beyond Starlight Glimmer, the Cutie Mark Crusaders got their cutie marks, Diamond Tiara is reformed, we got the return and reformation of Gilda, we left the borders of Equestria for the first time to visit Yakyakistan and Griffonstone, we had several episodes where Twilight took on official royal duties, we have a new setting with the Friendship Castle of Merchandising, Rarity opened a boutique in Canterlot (and possibly gave us a new supporting character with it), Rainbow performed in public with the Wonderbolts, and Cadance and Shining Armor are having a baby. Additionally, notice that for the first time, the season premiere and finale had no influence from Celestia or Luna. Continuing something I picked up on in Rainbow Rocks, Twilight is growing up and starting to deal with problems on her own without needing her wise mentor to guide her.
Not only have several of the characters evolved in sudden and important ways, but others have taken smaller, but important steps forward, and we got a lot of worldbuilding. It made me realize that, more than any previous season, Season 5 has really shaken up the status quo. Come Season 6 we'll be dealing with Mane 7, the Cutie Marked Crusaders, a nice Diamond Tiara, we'll probably welcome a new addition to the Sparkle family, and Rainbow and Rarity may have more episodes building on their careers. Things have really changed around Ponyville.
I say this is important because it shows FiM's writers are willing to do something they've struggled with in the past - evolve the show. A friend of mine (he's not on this site, if you were wondering) said of Season 4 "I don't care about serialized stories, just give me my funny ponies and I'm good." I must respectfully disagree. If you like the show only for its humor, that's fine. However, FiM has been going for five years now, going into six. The little kids that got into the show are growing out of its age bracket, the older kids that liked the show are going into high school, and we've seen the rise of many other children's cartoons that have gotten appreciation for being smart and mature.
If My Little Pony is to endure as a brand, it has to evolve. MLP will never be the next Legend of Korra, and it shouldn't be. But it could perhaps be the next Avatar, and why shouldn't it be? Why should we not want stronger and deeper stories, more developed and interesting characters, more memorable and creative ideas? Not to say that the series lacks for any of that now, but let's be honest - FiM is not anywhere close to Avatar in its current state. But would it be so bad if it tried to be? I say no. This isn't about catering to the bronies, it's about taking a show about cartoon ponies meant for little kids, looking at what other cartoons for kids are doing, and realizing now only can these little ponies be better than good, they can be and should be.
What if Season 6 had an overarcing villain that appeared throughout the season? What if Rainbow finally and officially joined the Wonderbolts? What if the cast had to go on an expedition somewhere and we left Ponyville behind for several episodes? What if, dare I say it, Sunset Shimmer returned? What if Chrysalis returned? What if one of the Mane Six got into a romance that lasted more than one episode? These things are all open doors now, doors that I don't think were seriously in consideration in season 4.
As many of us do, I think, the 2017 movie will probably end G4. But Hasbro is not so stupid as to let pony die, they'll strike while the iron is hot and we'll get G4.5 or G5 by 2018, at the latest. So my request now, for anyone in a suit as Hasbro or DHX that may stumble across this - keep going. I don't mean keep FiM going, I mean keep aiming higher. Your show is good, but it can be great, and you should try to make it so! I would love to see a G4.5 FiM sequel series that aims for a higher age bracket and, while still humorous, takes itself a bit more seriously and has deeper and more serialized stories. I know it's a pipe dream for now, but wouldn't it be wonderful?
The potential is there. The talent behind the animation is there. And I think the will on their behalf to try is there, too.
Let's not squander it.
Well put. I can count on one hand the number of animated programs that grew up with its fanbase (Legend of Korra, Dragonballz) giving its old fans something new while enticing new fans to sign up. One of the reasons fanficiton exists is because fans want to explore different concepts, relations, events, and possibilities. There is still so much more I want to see before the series eventual end. For starters, I want the creators to focus on origins. Not just Celestia and Luna, but Twilight, RD, and Fluttershy and all the other ponies. We get only glimpses of their pasts and families, but I would still like to see where they came from.
For the record, I'm not keen ant all on the Mane 7. To add such titular character so late in the series (season five of all times) is ludicrous to me. Starlight won't have the same amount of time to evolve as characters like Discord or Sunset Shimmer. I hope she stays in the Equalist Village and only makes a few cameos.
Yyyyeah...we kinda did.
I think in terms of a sustaining force, My Little Pony has already surpassed Avatar the Last Airbender (Korra doesn’t hold a flame to either its predacossor or MLP in that regard). In terms of story telling I prefer the episodes that lean more twoards Ducktales or even Loony Tunes. I would rather see stellar single episodes from this franchise than a less than stellar seasonal arc.
I agree with you a lot on this. Personally, I am hoping that we see a Lightning Dust redemption and/or reformation episode in this coming season. If Gilda gets one, so should LD
Well said. Here's hoping they continue the forward momentum in Season 6.
I feel like "Legend of Korra" gets too much hate, it unfortunately came out at a time when Nick didn't care about quality, they only wanted cheap comedic stories with no sense of actual character, and everything else had to compete for their attention. "Legend of Korra" took some chances, and with Korra you can feel how hard the writers must've felt while working on the show, knowing it would ineviatbly be compared to its predecessor. As it stands, it was pretty good, but could've been even better if Nick hadn't kept ignoring it.
3662743 I actually like Korra better than Avatar, it had more complex moral issues, a more interesting world, and more interesting characters. Avatar's story and characters were pretty stock, very well executed, but stock.
I only say Pony should aim to be Avatar and not Korra because Korra was aimed at the older kid and teenager bracket, with older protagonists, darker art style, and more complex themes. Avatar can be appreciated by adults, but is definitely much more kid-friendly than Korra. Pony should not stray too far from it's roots - it should remain kid-friendly, just develop itself out of the niche audience that, let's be honest, bronies are.
3662770 That makes sense. I wouldn't want the show to completely abandon being for kids, that's part of what made it so appealing in the first place.
3662770 Eh... if I had to choose between new series that were more like Avatar the Last Airbender and My Little Pony or Legend of Korra, I would choose the first two. I will agree that Korra was shafted by the network, but the writers also did the same thing by going off the rails with their own complex story telling that they couldn’t handle.
3662796 They could handle it, though. A big factor in Korra's storytelling was that Nick kept jerking them around. They initially were told they had one season, hence why Season 1 was so self-contained and ended with such finality. Then they were told to do another season, so they had to backtrack on the finality for purposes of drawing more story out. Then they were finally told "two more and that's it," and thus Seasons 3 and 4 were more tightly plotted with a stronger story connection between them.
3662858 Even within the self contained Season 1 or the time given for Season 3 and 4, the writing an execution of ideas in Legend of Korra was subpar compared to Avatar: the Last Airbender. Just taking season 1 into account, the benders versus non-benders was nothing new. The normal versus special people has been done so many times in other stories. Justice League Unlimited and The Incredibles did it better, and plot is the corner stone of the X-men comics. Frankly, it made the Avatar universe less unique because in the Last Airbender being a bender didn’t make person extra special unless they were the Avatar. Mike and Bryan tried to force an issue where there wasn’t one, and they never actually shows enough that non-benders versus benders was a thing outside of Noatak/Amon and Tarrlok’s propaganda. The story line ends up not being an issue at all because of Gommu, the homeless man that Korra encounters at various points, says that the homeless benders and non-benders were in the crap together.
Likewise Season 5 of My Little Pony tried new stuff, but it has been stories that have been done in other shows and stories before that. I mean episodes like “Amending Fences” and "Rarity Investigates!” deserve nothing but praise, Amending Fences is one of the best episodes in the series. Then there is "Crusaders of the Lost Mark”, which had some great songs but tied to an especially generic story line. I mean seriously, every other bully on television, cartoon or other wise, is that way because they had a bad parent. I can’t praise the writers for trying something new, when it isn’t actually new.
It doesn't seem like the 2017 movie will end the series, considering the license has been extended to 2018