Thoughts on Season Six · 2:58am Oct 16th, 2016
So you may have noticed that there haven't been any new episode reviews the last couple of weeks. Mostly this has been because I'm lazy. But on a less self-aggrandizing note, the UK has leaked the rest of the season already, so I figured it's about time to discuss this one in full. Plus, in light of Big Jim's outburst about "making shows for little girls," I figured it was time to address some things about this season.
Note that I will try to keep spoilers for the finale to a limit, but I am nursing a volcano of rage for the last three minutes of that one, so I may have to let a bit of it out. Just a heads up.
I'm going to cut to the chase: Season Six is the worst season since Season Three. It's not awful or anything, and there are still plenty of enjoyable episodes, but there's a sense of tiredness in the show by now. After six seasons (an eternity by kids' show standards), that's just unavoidable.
The season promised great doom with Flurry Heart, yet another Alicorn Princess created solely to sell toys. However, she was barely in the season - understandable, seeing as she's a baby and living far from the Mane 6. Instead, one of the season's biggest disappointments has become Starlight Glimmer. It honestly feels like DHX has no idea what to actually do with her or where to put her on the character importance scale. Is she a recurring redeemed villain, like Discord? Is she a supporting character like Spike and the CMC? Is the supposed to be part of the expanded Mane 7? No one knows because the season did so little with her.
Yes, Starlight's redemption was forced. I would have been happier if she had remained a fairly normal unicorn rather than being pumped up to godlike levels so she can rival Twilight's power. But now that she's a part of the show, they actually needed to do something interesting with her. The closest they got was her friendship with Trixie, but even that was bungled initially with an episode with faaar darker implications than the crew probably realized. And while it's nice to have an excuse for more Trixie, making Starlight rely on her as a crutch does little to actually make her likable.
The Starlight issue, however, belies another problem with this season. Pretty much the entire writing staff from the last five years has departed for other pastures, leaving us with a crop of new writers. None of these are particularly bad, but quite a few seemed to come from backgrounds far removed from MLP, and it plainly showed in how...standard many of the episodes were. They felt like someone's first attempts at working with these characters. "Applejack's Day Off" is a particularly bad offender, as it meanders around the same point of wasting time doing ineffective things for two-thirds of the episode while also making Applejack into an idiot so the plot can work. It's like the first draft of an episode somehow made it air.
However, this is a temporary issue. If the writers stick around, they can get a better understanding of the show and craft stronger episodes. Merriweather Williams had a bomb as her first episode, and she still managed to improve by the time her tenure on the show had come to an end. That being said, there's a good chance the writers won't stick around, and we'll have an entirely new crop coming in for next season. That doesn't even go into the potential resource competition with the movie.
All of this goes back to the fan reaction to the season, and Big Jim's comments. Fact is, Big Jim has been on Twitter for a long time, and if you ever wanted to develop a hatred for your fanbase, there is no better place to go than Twitter. 4Chan might be full of lunatics, Tumblr might be overly sensitive, and Reddit cannot be described with words, but the short character limit makes any comment on Twitter less nuanced and more forceful and direct. Throw in some legitimate assholes who do nothing but complain about the show's death if so much as a pixel is out of place, and you have to have a thick skin to get through it all. Jim...well, he probably had a thick skin, but it's been rubbed raw over the years of bullshit, so it's understandable when he finally exploded.
The claim that FiM is a "girl's show" has been met with the response that it's a show for all audiences. Some take it a step further and claim this philosophy is why the season was so poor in their eyes - something that carries the very unfortunate implication that girl shows are an automatically inferior type of entertainment. In reality, however, FiM really is aimed at little girls. The toys are marketed at little girls. The main lines of clothing, backpacks, and accessories are aimed at little girls. When the movie is released, the main audience will be little girls. The show is for them above all else. But people who aren't little girls still watch and enjoy the show because it is a good show. Good shows can escape their primary demographic and be embraced by anyone. Anyone remember the apparent reason Cartoon Network cancelled Young Justice? Because it was a show aimed at little boys, but the larger part of its audience was female. Same idea. Boys and girls often like the same things, even if they aren't explicitly gender-neutral.
So no, FiM being a "girl's show" is not an excuse for anything - it is just a fact of life for the show. Lauren Faust took what could have been a glorified toy commercial and laid the groundwork for a strong series, one that could be enjoyable to everyone while still being aimed at its intended audience.
As for Season Six, there are still things it did well. Like I said, many of the episodes were at least enjoyable - very few fell into the "terribad" range. The animation and voice work is as great as ever, and can still help lift up a weak script. Rainbow Dash finally became a Wonderbolt, Spike got a good episode that helped clear up the "all dragons are dicks" garbage from "Dragon Quest," the CMC found a new role after earning their marks last season, and Twilight continued to be an adorable bookhorse. They even found a way to bring Trixie back as a non-villain, and considering how she was far-and-away the best thing about the finale, that was a good decision. I'm not ready to give up on the show, either - Season Seven still has plenty of potential.
But this season, in the end, was rather mediocre. Very few of its episodes stood out from the pack, and while it had some potentially cool ideas, the follow-through was rather lackluster. Here's hoping next season turns out better.
And now, I must eat my weight in chocolate pudding.
basically I stoped watching the show, mainly due to outright lazyness :P but the fault in our marks was the hight point of the seson for me (personly I found gabby adorable if just a wee bit grateing on the nearves).
Wow, I hadn't heard of Big Jim blowing his stack until now.
Though, yeah.. Twitter. The toxic aspects of any fandom get to everyone eventually, and Twitter is a good place to go to get distilled toxicity. (It's got other things to offer too, like any social media, but you are right about what the character limit does for asshole posts.)
I did finally cave, and watch the finale today. Actually really enjoyed it. Not in the least because it is the first episode of the season since the premier where I think Starlight was utilized fairly well. the ending though...weeeeeeell, let's just say I have mixed feelings.
Honestly... I forgot what "Applejack's Day Off" was even about. Then I watched it again and remembered why I wanted to forget about it.
I feel kind of weird asking this, but...who is Big Jim?
Man, I am not as involved with the larger Brony community as I perhaps should be.
I agree that the big problem Season Six has had is the very, very neophyte production team. Most of the top writers are gone for one reason or another. Jayson Thiesson, the chief animator, also left. The show has been basically starting all over again, which is a bad thing to happen just at the point where show fatigue is setting in with the audience and executive meddling (in the forms of Starlight Glimmer and Flurry Heart) is also rearing its ugly head.
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Jim Miller, the director and executive producer of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. As far as 'I want to speak to the man in charge' goes, he is it. Imagine if we Trekkies had an unfiltered line to J J Abrams after Star Trek: Into Darkness came out. This would give you some idea of the tidal wave of scorn, blame and hatred that must pour into his timeline after particularly controversial or mediocre episodes.
I refuse to believe this is true. Merriweather Williams was the worst thing to happen to the show (until the Fox Brothers!) and was completely irredeemable. Dave Polsky, on the other hand, actually did improve over the course of his tenure, so your point still stands.
I've seen the finale, so dare I ask why you hated the last three minutes so much?
You'd think a slew of new writers would lead to more experimental episodes, considering they wouldn't be as familiar with relying on formulas than the veterans. Mind you, I'm not sure how the writing process for MLP episodes works; Hasbro probably has very strict criteria that each teleplay must meet, assuming they're involved in that. But "The Saddle Row Review" is a great example of writers messing around with the narrative and making it work to create a pretty memorable episode.
It's a shame that we don't see the new writers taking more risks.
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I'm sorry, that episode was garbage.
I've always kinda disagreed with your hatred of Starlight, but that's just my opinion. I wasn't expecting her to grow on me like she did. I do think they made her a bit Mary-sue-ish with her rivaling twilight, but for some reason I still liked her by the end. I dunno.
This season in my view had some pretty bad episodes but also a few of my favorites. The daring do one with Patton Oswald I really liked and I rewatched the Saddle Row Review one quite a bit. But a lot of the others are pretty forgettable. After six seasons, I can't say I blame the writers for getting a bit exhausted.
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I don't hate Starlight, so much as I'm often frustrated with her episodes. I'd honestly like to see her more active in a supporting role from time to time, rather than just popping back into existence whenever she's the focus. Let's have Apple Bloom approach her when she's having a crisis over her Cutie Mark ruining her friendships. Let's have her be part of the epic zombie prank. Even just working her into background appearances now and then would go a long way to making her actually gel with the show, rather than feeling like something foisted on the creative team.
As for Starlight herself, she can be fun. She was excused way too easily for the brainwashing thing, but watching her spell fail hilariously was entertaining. She got a good showing in the premiere and finale as well, and I really like the dynamic she has with Spike. I just wish it was used more like how the show would often handle said dragon and the CMC, instead of just glossing over her like it often does.
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I disagree with you about that episode, but I respect your opinion.
And yes, Polsky did get better. I'm certain these new writers, if they stick around, will also improve. Some people just need a bit of time to adjust to FiM's style.
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Spoilering for those who haven't seen the finale yet. (I envy your strength.)
Mostly it was the rushed way the Changelings were reformed, as well as how glaring their new forms are. I also think Thorax's potential as a character was spent a bit too early. I'll go more into it once I do the actual review, when the episode is officially released.
4258584 Oh, yeah. My main problem with their new forms is the coloring. The basic outline is fine for me, but those garish colors? Blech!
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Some of them have even gotten better during the season. (Who wrote Top Bolt? I missed that both times.) I really hold out hope for everyone but the Fox Brothers. :B
...It's a girls show. That doesn't mean it's inferior... that just means he wants grown ass men to shut the hell up about it.
4258607 My problem with their new forms is that none of them are black.
maybe we'll have the mane six finally use the Elements after two whole seasons of not using them, and maybe have better villains? and maybe some dvelopment into why they're being sent all over equestria to help people with....rather random problems?
probably not, but one can hope.