Friendship is Magic's Wall of Shame, Version 4 (Season 7) · 5:15am Nov 14th, 2017
There are some new episodes to add for Seasons 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6, as well as a bunch of episodes from Season 7. Here's Version 3, in case you want to see what Season 6 episodes have already been added (you can go from there to Version 2 to see the ones for Seasons 1-5). Like always, this list is the result of my personal opinion, and I mean no offense to anyone at Hasbro or DHX.
The Ticket Master, Written by Lauren Faust and Amy Keating Rogers (Season 1, Episode 3)
I hate to pick on what was basically the second pilot episode of the show, but it's so hard to really find much to like about a majority of our main characters here. Rainbow Dash in particular comes off as selfish and self centered, not helped by her boasting about getting the ticket when all her friends one by one say they don't want it if it means putting undo pressure on Twilight. It's not really a bad episode, but after the actual pilot showed a ton of potential, this was not putting the best foot forward for the show. Thankfully, "Applebuck Season" would show more of what the show could offer in a slice of life setting.
The Best Night Ever, Written by Amy Keating Rogers (Season 1, Episode 26)
Part of this episode's problem is that "Party of One" which came before it was so unexpectedly amazing, that anything that came after it was going to pale in comparison. Probably why it took until Season 7 to get something that tied into the finale at all in any season. But even putting that aside and assuming "Party of One" hadn't predated this episode, it just feels underwhelming, even though we've since had two more season finales like it in terms of not ending on a song. And considering this could've been the finale to the only season the show would get ("The Return of Harmony" was originally supposed to be that, then "Magical Mystery Cure"), it feels like more of an effort should've been made. But instead, the six stories just don't impress, aside from Fluttershy going crazy.
Season 1 Episodes Failed 2/26+11 previously failed last time=13/26 Episodes Failed
May the Best Pet Win, Written by Charlotte Fullerton (Season 2, Episode 7)
Considering episodes like "Tanks for the Memories" and "Secrets and Pies", this episode has sadly been dragged down as a result, despite boasting an incredible FlutterDash duet and the gem of a line: "And that is why you would never qualify to be my pet, Twilight." from Rainbow Dash. I just don't get what the writers think is sweet, funny, or heartwarming about Rainbow Dash being a bad pet owner and actively endangering her pet with her antics. And it makes her behavior here seem harsher in hindsight, even when the animals themselves are technically going through it all of their own free will. Maybe if the writers stopped having Rainbow Dash abuse Tank, this episode wouldn't have been on the list.
Sweet and Elite, Written by Meghan McCarthy (Season 2, Episode 9)
While this episode gave us Fancy Pants and the party cannon, plus Twilight's bad dancing, everything else about this episode just reeks of the typical "Rich City Snobs v.s. Rural Country Folks" plot that's been done to death. And there's the fact that Rarity gets off with no foreseeable consequences for lying to her friends. Yes, the episode treats her as in the wrong for lying, but the thing is, if she were truthful to her friends about her reasons for staying from the start, nothing about it would be selfish or wrong. Her friends would understand that Rarity wants to enhance her reputation in order to attract potential clients and keep her business afloat.
Season 2 Episodes Failed 2/26+8 previously failed last time=10/26 Episodes Failed
Season 3 Episodes Failed 4/13 (No new episodes failed this time)
Power Ponies, Written by Meghan McCarthy, Charlotte Fullerton, and Besty McGowen (Season 4, Episode 6)
Up until the last few episodes, Season 4 had a constant problem of always either ignoring Spike or just putting him into episodes to treat him as the butt monkey. And oddly enough, it was this episode that started the whole trend, the one that tried to argue he wasn't a sidekick, or useless, or just comedic relief. Whether it was using superhero cliches with little new substance (in what was supposed to be a parody of Silver Age superhero comics, but ended up being a poor spoof of them), or making Spike useful only by nerfing everyone else, this episode just didn't offer anything new.
Twilight Time, Written by Dave Polsky (Season 4, Episode 15)
Contrived is probably the best way to describe this episode. It's contrived to set the CMC up to fail at the worst possible moment and throw in a climax with tension, solely for the sake of needing to have one. Besides the obvious problem of Twilight not bothering to correct Pipsqueak when he gets the wrong idea about the CMC's relationship with Twilight, there's also the fact that she assumes that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon aren't there to learn, but when a whole group shows up the CMC are sharing their time with others. And there's the fact that it seems like the kids are being sorted into groups to learn, but nope, they're just there to watch the CMC as they somehow fail during the climax, but can do their skills just fine a short time later when Twilight believes they're not cherishing their time together because of what one pony said. And the episode itself never explains why Twilight started Twilight Time in the first place, the synopsis implied it was to help the CMC with homework, but it seems that idea got discarded at some point.
Trade Ya!, Written by Scott Sonneborn (Season 4, Episode 19)
Okay, let's get the obvious out of the way first. That wasn't slavery, Fluttershy was still going to be treated as an individual and not a piece of property. But that was still an unfair term for the book seller to demand for the trade, and it should've been illegal for anyone to put value on an individual. But there's also the problem of Fluttershy allowing Rainbow Dash to take her for granted and not doing a thing to stand up for herself, on top of Rainbow Dash allowing things to get to the point where she ends up selling her childhood friend for the sake of a book. And the other two plots, what potential they had, is quickly ruined by their resolution. A shame too, because they had some pretty good comedy in them.
Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3, Written by Amy Keating Rogers (Season 4, Episode 22)
This episode is a victim of the reality of the American education system, and its emphasis on standardized tests even as higher education becomes more and more expensive, and all sorts of other activities are being curbed or even dropped entirely because of budgetry shortfalls (except for the sports programs, which allow students to risk their health for scholarships and a chance at professional teams either in college or national leagues). If you can't learn the Twilight way, the schools will still hold you back, and even the charter and private schools won't touch the students with special needs that get left behind by this system, because they have the luxury of picking and choosing who gets into their school systems, since they're privately funded. And the sad truth is, the only true way anyone learns for good, is the Applejack way. Teaching just for a test, quiz, or exam, only means most of the information leaves students once the test, quiz, or exam is over. And unfortunately, this episode potrays a rosier message for special needs students in public education than there's out there at the moment. If they're not lucky enough to have a sympathetic program that can teach on their level, they're not likely to turn out like Rainbow Dash does in this episode.
Season 4 Episodes Failed 3/26+6 previously failed last time=9/26 Episodes Failed
Tanks for the Memories, Written by Cindy Morrow (Season 5, Episode 5)
Aside from "I'll Fly", this episode doesn't offer much to justify any of what Rainbow Dash does, and using the argument of "What I'm Doing Is Wrong, I Know It's Wrong, But I'm Gonna Do It (Doing It) Anyway." is probably the least compelling argument you could use to justify something like eco terrorism! And there's the fact that Rainbow Dash gets away with this, on top of already endangering her pet. Heck, the very concept works against this episode's intended feelings, because using animal hybernation to try and be a metaphor for death, just leads to something so confusing and comedic that it's impossible to take it seriously. Even the crying scene goes from heartfelt to comedic when Rarity and Pinkie Pie join in just because someone else is or isn't crying.
Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? (Season 5, Episode 13)
Well, in some aspects, this episode tried to do the Nightmare Forces arc from the IDW comics better and kind of succeeded. But in other aspects, the existence of the Tantabus and Luna's reasons behind it really hurt this episode. It even kind of makes her messages to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hypocritical. "A Royal Problem" seems to confirm that Celestia indeed can't enter the dream realm anymore, and there's a bit of repettiveness about what the Tantabus will do. A shame too, because there are some things this episode does right, they just can't make up for what lies at the heart of the story.
Season 5 Episodes Failed 2/26+5 previously failed last time=7/26 Episodes Failed
Top Bolt, Written by Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco, Story by Meghan McCarthy, Joanna Lewis, and Kristine Songco (Season 6, Episode 24)
Sky Stinger is the prime example of how a badly written character can drag down an entire episode, and what happens when you try to give someone a back story that neither explains or excuses why they are who they are. Nothing about Sky Stinger's character or personality makes me want to root for him, everything about him just indicates that he's like someone took all the worst traits of Zephyr Breeze and Rainbow Dash, and made them into a character. It's even worse when I'm supposed to believe that somehow he's not aware of Vapor Trail helping him in broad daylight, when the more likely possibility is that he knows but he wants to drag Vapor Trail down with him to feel better about himself. And even if Sky Stinger was more likeable, and Angel Wings was something besides a poor man's Fluttershy, there's still the issue of Rainbow Dash being the butt monkey here. Not a single joke isn't made at her expense here.
Season 6 Episodes Failed 1/26+7 previously failed last time=8/26 Episodes Failed
All Bottled Up, Written by Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco (Season 7, Episode 2)
By now you should all know my thoughts on this episode. I've talked about how Trixie's entire redemption got called into question because of her behavior here, and how she's so bad you forget there's a relatively okay B plot with the mane six. But there's also the fact that Starlight never tries to even once talk to Trixie about how she's feeling, she just opts to bottle up her anger in the hopes that somehow Trixie will get a clue. And exactly what makes Starlight fit to judge Trixie for using magic to solve her problems, when Starlight herself is guilty of the same?
A Flurry of Emotions, Written by Sammie Crowley and Whitney Wetta (Season 7, Episode 3)
I suppose some concepts work better in fanfiction, than they do in the show, and this episode is one of those cases. Considering Twilight was established as having helped to raise Spike from birth, and her experience with the CMC (not to mention what was shown of her in "Baby Cakes"), there's just no way at that this point in the series you could reasonably write a story with her being a bad aunt for Flurry Heart without having to undo her growth. The Twilight I know would never think of taking a foal to visit sick children in the hospital with a contagious disease! And then there's the fact that there's not a whole lot of tension until Flurry Heart loses Whammy. Were it not for Shining Armor and Cadence, this episode would've been a dud.
Parental Glideance, Written by Josh Hamilton (Season 7, Episode 7)
You know it's sad when the IDW comics ended up including a pointless story during one of their two parters, which made Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles more sympathetic than in their actual show appearance here. I'm sorry to all those of you who never had supportive parents, but overly supportive parents are just as bad, and this episode is living proof of why that is. This episode expects me to side with them when Rainbow Dash chews them out for being so annoying, when we've previously had scene after scene showing how they're not only being that for Rainbow Dash, but for other Wonderbolts and even Wonderbolt fans. Yet Rainbow Dash is the one who needs to apologize?! Maybe if this episode had cut down on the pointless stuff after Scootaloo meets Rainbow Dash's parents (and the noise pollution) we could've had that "What it means to be brave" story that we got in the comics instead?
Honest Apple, Written by Kevin Lappin (Season 7, Episode 9)
The only thing good about this episode, is Rarity shredding that guitar. Everything else reeks of character assassination, and attempts at trying to justify bad writing decisions that don't actually make sense. Applejack judging a fashion contest alone should've been a non starter for this episode, but if it had to exist for some reason, there was no need to go this overboard with Applejack's flaws and make her say "Fashion is completely ridiculous!", let alone have Rarity do nothing to reign Applejack in and only bother to correct her on "Honest opinions" after she'd already aliennated the contestants, who quite frankly shouldn't have accepted Applejack's apology after she had to kidnap them to get them to come back! Photo Finish and Hoity Toity are okay, but they're just kind of there to somehow make Applejack be in the right.
Not Asking for Trouble, Written by May Chan (Season 7, Episode 11)
Until the very end, I think most people would've just passed this episode off as boring or okay and left it at that. But when the moral was about helping others without asking for or receiving permission, that just left people confused and ended up dragging this episode down. The moral itself is a very slippery slope that's been used throughout history to justify a lot of bad stuff, there's usually a reason why they say "You can't help someone who won't help themselves". And I don't care what kind of culture the Yaks have, Prince Rutherford is a terrible leader if he makes children starve because he's too stubborn to accept help from others! He has no right to make innocents suffer because of his own arrogance! If the adult yaks choose to follow him of their own free will, that's fine, but the children who don't know better don't deserve the same fate!
Fame and Misfortune, Script written by M. A. Larson, actual writer unknown (Season 7, Episode 14)
When Larson himself wasn't pleased with the script he wrote, no one in their right mind should've even thought to touch it without consulting him first. But apparently someone did, and decided to twist it into an attack on the fandom just because of a few bad eggs, and because other animated products have been doing this sort of critic call out trend. The only thing is, that's a bad trend to follow, and a show like this is the last place that you'd want to insult your fandom! Were it not for the Brony fandom's support, the show wouldn't be where it is today, and most fans didn't expect flawlessness, they simply expected the standard of quality that drew them into the show in the first place! What's even more sad is that some fans believe we deserved this kind of call out, for daring to be critical of the show in any way, regardless of how we phrased our arguements or how we expressed our criticism.
Triple Threat, Written by Josh Hamilton (Season 7, Episode 15)
So after Season 6 stopped treating Spike as a butt monkey all the time and set a new standard for his focus episodes, why did anyone think we wanted to see a return to the Spike episodes of seasons past here? Yes, I know they had Spike get called by the map here, but we could've gotten that bit of fanservice in ANY episode, or at ANY point this season, preferably when it was actually relevant or important for something other than making us realize what the problem was before Spike did. And even more disappointing is that they teased us with the idea of Thorax having trouble with a bunch of rouge changelings, but by the time of "To Change a Changeling" he's dealt with them all (except for his brother).
Campfire Tales, Written by Barry Safchik and Michael Platt (Season 7, Episode 16)
It doesn't seem like any effort was put into this episode, they just slapped together three first draft stories, added in a poor man's take on "Sleepless in Ponyville", and called it a day. Yes, I know it would've been hard to fit three stores into one 22 minute episode and have time for something else, but surely they could've at least tried "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You" showed that a minimalistic and simple concept for a story can work if you put your mind to it, but you need to have something happen that'll make the viewers interested. Also, I don't believe I really addressed this any of the previous times I talked about this episode, but they go way overboard with Scootaloo's fears here, she feels even more cowardly here than she was in "Sleepless in Ponyville", and there she had an actual reason to be scared out of her mind.
To Change a Changeling, Written by Kevin Lappin (Season 7, Episode 19)
Here's a little writing tip, when you have your characters in universe admitting that something isn't actually sweet when you're trying to go for sweet, that's a sign that you need to re-consider what you're trying to imply. Pharaynx's backstory just establishes to me that he was a bully back then, and he's a bully now, he just never wanted anyone else picking on his brother. And somehow that's supposed to be okay because that's just what family does? No, that's never an acceptable excuse! And neither is it acceptable when you've got someone who's shown to be a toxic influence to all around him (or her)! But Starlight and especially Trixie are also extremely unlikeable here, I just don't get how anyone could think we'd sympathize with Starlight putting the hive in danger and trying to get them to fix her mistake, or Trixie boasting about herself and disregarding Starlight as if she can just treat her however she wants and get away with it.
Secrets and Pies, Written by Josh Hamilton (Season 7, Episode 23)
Well, Pinkie Pie isn't entirely blameless for the events of this episode, because she continues to put Rainbow Dash on the spot and constantly makes pies all the time for the slightest of reasons. But that doesn't mean Rainbow Dash is at all excused from tossing away Pinkie's pies knowing full well how much effort her friend puts into them, not even under the excuse of not wanting to hurt her friend's feelings. It gets to the point where, rather than just tell the truth, Rainbow Dash ends up gaslighting Pinkie (when she should be aware of how easily Pinkie can become insecure and paranoid), on top of poisoning her pet and the class pet, among other things, just to keep up the act. And on top of all that, the episode dares to disregard its own moral for the sake of an unfunny joke, after a disgusting resolution. Now who in their right mind thought this was something you could expand upon with the IDW comics? Even assuming this episode knew what it was doing, why would anyone want to see more of why Rainbow Dash doesn't like pies?
Season 7 Episodes Failed 10/26
Total Episodes Failed 61/169
And there you have it. Come back tomorrow, when we'll rank the Pillars/Legend Six from least to most favorite.
While I can't make a list like this myself, since I feel like there ARE no bad episodes of the show at all (even the weakest episodes have enough good qualities to them that there's still only ever been ONE episode that I think ends up being "okay" instead of "good" or better), here are the ones that have been added that I disagree with the most:
Best Night Ever: I just found the episode immensely entertaining. And Fluttershy's freakout at the end alone made the episode worth it.
Tanks for the Memories: At the time it aired, it was my favorite Rainbow Dash episode. And it's still my third favorite of hers, behind only Newbie Dash and Parental Glideance. It's the first time we ever saw her break down like that, and I found it very feels heavy. And the fact that Dash doesn't get punished for her actions doesn't bother me, since nopony else actually saw her, and she ended up punished enough by the episode itself by accidentally causing winter to come sooner than it would have.
Top Bolt: Still my favorite single parter map episode from seasons 5 and 6. Twilight and Dash worked off each other great, and Sky Stinger x Vapor Trail, at least at the end of the episode, is one of my many OTP's.
And every single episode from season 7. I just can't help but love them all so much. Even the admittedly weaker ones of the season (Not Asking For Trouble, Honest Apple, Fluttershy Leans In, and Discordant Harmony) are way better than the weaker episodes from the other seasons.
And I know this is true for me because my bottom ten episodes of the series still has not changed since Lost Treasure of Griffonstone. Over two complete seasons worth of episodes have come and gone since the last time I found an episode weak enough to put in my bottom ten of the series.
Why do you make such a pessimistic list anyway? Because I certain that there are Bronies who adore the episodes you listed.
I think you are underestimating the episodes of season 1 episodes 9&15. They have some great hidden morals in them.
In bridle gossip Twilight only had a flip flop because of peer pressure. The others kept saying she's evil. And when Apple Bloom went off it causes doubt. And doubt breaks will. So they kept pushing the issue. Here is a way to put your perpestive in to Twilight's view.
Imagine you are listening to several friends talk about an episode that was bad but you liked it. They keep bringing up points that you can see where they are coming from and they know they got to you and kept pushing the issue and over time you start to hate that episode.
It is the same situation that Twilight had to deal with. So since Twilight is knew to friendship she doesn't know when she should stand up for her morals.
Feeling pinkie keen is a great episode true the moral is a little off but Twilight going a little crazy is in character for her. It conflicts with her belief. Here is a better WHY to write the moral:
There are somethings that can't be explained but you don't have to believe in them or even accept them. Just accept others might accept it is the truth.