Ranking the Starlight Glimmer Episodes (From Worst to Best), Version 2 · 5:36pm Sep 14th, 2019
It's funny how much can change in the span of a season. Even in Season 8 a lot of people were still on the fence about Starlight Glimmer and weren't entirely sure if her inclusion was for the best. But now, in this final season, everyone's been dying for more of her when she's been noticeably absent (though on the positive side Spike has been making the most of it and getting perhaps his best season of all time). Her episodes still remain polarizing, as does her character, but I think many people (myself included) have come around to her. And now that we had two more episodes focused on her this season, her total number of episodes has been bumped up to 21. So what (if anything) really changed, and has her overall quality improved, declined, or stayed the same? Well, let's find out. Here's the first version, from March.
21. and 20. The Cutie Re-Mark Parts 1 and 2 (Part 2 is lower than Part 1) (Season 5, Episodes 25 and 26)
Why they stayed on the bottom: Ultimately, Starlight has come out of this troublesome redemption as a better character than when she started. So in the long run it looks like Hasbro's gamble paid off. But at the time it sure as heck didn't look that way. This two parter took away everything that had made Starlight a compelling and interesting villain in the premiere, and reduced to her motives to a petty revenge plot against just Twilight. That alone probably wouldn't have sunk her (we get a few hints of her manipulative skills when she convinces the bullies to not pick on Fluttershy), but plot armoring her to be a match for Twilight (even if you assume Twilight is caught off guard), and making her ignorant of what her own actions will cause definitely didn't do a good job of convincing us that she deserved to be reformed. And at the time, for all we knew, her backstory was a lie. It would take until Season 8 to officially fill in the gaps there.
19. Every Little Thing She Does (Season 6, Episode 21)
Why it moved down: At least Starlight did improve from here, she never again tried to use powerful spells or spell combinations on her friends. And when she did use magic as a shortcut, it either backfired on her or she immediately regretted it. Here though, Starlight doesn't look like a relateable character at all. We learn that she's been shirking her friendship studies (only later do we get a "Freudian Excuse" for it), see her foolishly try to combine five friendship problems into one just to impress Twilight, and the moment it doesn't work she tries to take the coward's way out by mind controlling her friends. At no point does she even briefly regret what she does, in fact she has to be flat out told why that's a bad idea. And her having to re-earn her friends' trust after such an action is just glossed over. Even Twilight doesn't stop to second guess her decision to take Starlight on as a student.
18. A Royal Problem (Season 7, Episode 10)
Why it moved down: Starlight did have a little bit of prior chemistry with Luna from "To Where and Back Again" but that was hardly enough to justify using her for an episode that fans had been clamoring for since day one of the show (a royal sisters episode). It really made it seem like Starlight was a writer's pet, a character who got special treatment just because of who she was. And her interactions with the princesses for most of this episode feel contrived, especially when she's told that going with her gut instinct was okay because it worked out in the end (even though it almost didn't). Season 7 did get better at handling Starlight, mostly in secondary roles than in lead roles. It would take a while before a Starlight centered episode could bring out the best of the character.
17. To Change a Changeling (Season 7, Episode 19 in production order/17 in airdate)
Why it moved down: This also made it seem like Starlight was getting special treatment by being the first pony (alongside Trixie) to visit the changeling hive after its reformation at the hooves of Thorax. But the thing is, Starlight and Trixie really didn't need to be in this episode's conflict, Thorax could've made more of an effort to reach out to Pharaynx and help him cope with the changes. What ultimately hurts Starlight here is her decision to lead the malwurf to the changeling hive, and then trying to get out of her guilt by attempting to persuade the whole hive to fix her mess. Again, Starlight is lucky her rash decision ultimately worked out for the better.
16. Road to Friendship (Season 8, Episode 19)
Why it moved up: It only really moves up by no longer being in the bottom five. To be fair, compared to all the times Trixie makes things worse for Starlight, the one time the roles are reversed Starlight actually apologizes and tries to right the wrong she did (somepony should be taking notes on this). But we still have to watch what's basically Starlight's biggest outing in the spotlight in Season 8, as we see her be a huge burden to Trixie and make a decision that even the episode admits wasn't hers to make. Trixie isn't completely blameless either, but this time we end up sympathizing with her because of what they show us (Trixie looks prepared for a life of traveling, probably because she's done it so often).
15. No Second Prances (Season 6, Episode 6)
Why it moved down: Starlight's first focus episode in Season 6 (not counting the premiere which showed her as part of the group) and for a solo outing she already feels a lot like a mary sue. She starts out already having gained the trust of the rest of the mane six, and already prone to using magic for every problem regardless of whether it's necessary. And they never stop reminding you about how she used to be evil. Her bond with Trixie, when they do focus on it, feels genuine enough (it does feel like they have things in common). But then Starlight loses a lot of points about whining about how Twilight doesn't trust her, as if she thinks trust is something that can be given. And even after knowing about the important dinner she decides to blow it off without either trying to talk Trixie into joining it, or informing Twilight. So that means Twilight ends up looking sympathetic when the episode wants her to be in the wrong. And from there Starlight just kind of devolves into a prop for Trixie and Twilight to bicker about, so at the end when Starlight gives Trixie a second chance it feels very abrupt (as does the way the episode ends).
14. All Bottled Up (Season 7, Episode 2)
Why it moved down: This episode basically tried to explain why Starlight is so insanely powerful, by tying her magic to her emotions. But they decide to make a very glaring mistake by using a red cloud to represent her anger and have her literally bottle it up, meaning everyone around her looks stupid for not noticing either of these things. And at no point does Starlight even try to talk to Trixie or get her point across. She just keeps letting her anger get bottled up as if she expects Trixie to be a mind reader (and with the way Trixie acts you can't assume she knows, Trixie needs to have ponies spell things out for her in order for her to take notice). Still, when Starlight's anger finally breaks free, we end up sympathizing with her because Trixie is so thickheaded and treating Starlight's friendship and the situation as a joke. Also, how exactly does Starlight know her emotions power her magic? Did she ever blow something up accidentally as a child when she got mad?
13. A Horse Shoe-In (Season 9, Episode 20)
Why it's in the bottom half: At least Starlight actually tries to talk to Trixie here, it's not really her fault that Trixie is so thickheaded and dense. What hurts Starlight is the fact that she doesn't ever disregard or disqualify Trixie even after Trixie demonstrates repeatedly how unqualified she is. And Starlight ends up feeling like a mouth piece for a writer who expects us to disregard everything we've been shown about the school since its inception. The biggest mistake though, is how Starlight is made out to be in the wrong for rightfully yelling at Trixie after her actions put the students' lives in danger (you know, the exact same thing Neighsay berated Twilight for in "School Daze"?). If someone does even one tenth of what Trixie does in this episode, they should NEVER be entrusted with a position of power!
12. A Matter of Principals (Season 8, Episode 14 in production order/15 in airdate)
Why it stayed the same: Starlight really doesn't do anything wrong here. Despite not being thrilled with the position of acting headmare, she proves to be competent at it and keeps things running more or less smoothly. Again, this episode treats her as in the wrong while the one actually doing wrong gets away with their behavior scot free! Why do the writers seem to think that what Starlight has with Trixie in other episodes and Discord in this episode is true friendship?! It isn't, it's straight up abuse! This episode even highlights the fact that Starlight and Discord are supposed to be friends. If it were Twilight, Discord's antics might at least make some sense (he always seems to enjoy messing with her). The only thing Starlight even remotely does wrong is blast Discord in front of the students, which even then is only because Discord outright provoked her for no good reason! I just hope that if we ever see Starlight in G5 running the school, they never show us stuff like this or try to make her look bad to try to "justify" Discord's behavior.
11. A Hearth's Warming Tail (Season 6, Episode 8)
Why it moved way down: As enjoyable as this episode is, you can't exactly call it a Starlight episode. Oh sure, at the beginning there's a good deal of focus on her not wanting to participate in the holiday, and at the end she ultimately decides to join in anyway. But aside from a brief moment of addressing how similar her motives were to Snowfall Frost's, the focus of this episode is largely on the story Twilight tells. It might have been great if they'd gone the route of A Muppet's Christmas Carol and opted to occasionally inject some commentary from the characters, or dwelt a bit more on why Starlight doesn't want to participate in Hearth's Warming Eve.
10. The Parent Map (Season 8, Episode 8)
Why it stayed the same: It really feels like this was a Starlight episode that added in Sunburst because it could. Firelight does go a long way towards explaining Starlight's behavior here. But the biggest problem is that they only just get into their relationships and the problems with it towards the third act of the episode. Before then it just drifts about aimlessly in a back and forth between Starlight's plot with Firelight and Sunburst's plot with Stellar Flare. I could understand Starlight getting called by the map, she really wouldn't go back to Sire's Hollow any other way. It just takes so long to actually get to the reason for her being called there, wasting its time on a plot that gets thrown away almost as quickly as it's introduced.
9. and 8. The Crystalling Parts 1 and 2 (Season 6, Episode 1 and 2)
Why they stayed the same: Nothing has really changed. Starlight actually was the least controversial thing about this whole two parter, and whenever they do focus on her plot with Sunburst it actually shows her to be a fairly good character (it does seem like at times they hadn't quite pinned down what to do with her. I'm not sure how much stock to put into the early animatics and script that didn't show her). Even so, it's a little bit jarring to just gloss over her reformation and have her fully accepted into the group. It might not have hurt to get a few flashback episodes or moments showing her earning the mane six's trust. And I'm disappointed that this was the most we ever got of her and Spike interacting, the two of them work so well together that you'd think they would've been paired up more often.
7. and 6. To Where and Back Again (Season 6, Episode 25 and 26)
Why they stayed the same: This two parter at the least wasn't afraid to let Starlight to fail. It's more the fault of not getting to see her for most of Season 6 that this two parter feels kind of lacking. It's a little understandable why they don't dwell too much on her fear of going back to her old village, and I like the brief amount of focus they give her on not wanting to be a leader. But of the characters used here, the only one Starlight has any prior history with is Trixie. She did see Thorax but she never interacted with him, and we never got to see her and Discord together prior to this two parter. I still suspect that originally, they were going to reform Chrysalis but decided against it in part because of the backlash against Starlight's redemption the season prior. And it's a shame they didn't dwell on this failure at all, they just sort of glossed over it and even Chrysalis seems to have gone back to targeting Twilight.
5. Uncommon Bond (Season 7, Episode 24)
Why it moved down: It's really only moving down to make room for a new episode that has yet to be added. Otherwise everything I've said before pretty much still stands. At times it does sort of feel like the other characters are shilling Starlight, but it doesn't feel as jarring or direct as some of the other examples she was getting throughout Season 6 and even to an extent Season 7. I feel like this was the point where the last bits of the old Starlight burned away. Think about it, it's the last time she ever attempted to use magic as a shortcut to fixing a problem. She was immediately called out for it and undid it. And since then she has never attempted to use magic as a way to solve a friendship problem of any sort. Also, filly Starlight is adorable with those pigtails in her mane.
4. and 3. The Cutie Map a.k.a Cutie Markless Parts 1 and 2 (Season 5, Episodes 1 and 2)
Why they moved down: As far as major antagonists go, Starlight Glimmer remains probably the most effective, at least for her initial appearance (like King Sombra she ended up doing worse the second time around). Rather than try to top the likes of Tirek and the Dazzlings, the writers instead decided to tone it down and have a more subtle threat. A threat more on the mane six's level, which is what made Starlight so effective here. She doesn't embody any of the usual trappings for two parter villains and leaves nothing to chance. There are hints early on that she's not as sweet and innocent as she wants us to believe, but even then she's careful not to give away her true intentions or motives. And unlike the other villains, when she is exposed she doesn't just quietly slip away or immediately get into a fight. However, Starlight does at times take a back seat to the villagers. Even then though, they serve as an example of the corruptive and toxic influence that Starlight has over them. I do think it would've been nice to have a few hints that Starlight was a troubled soul, though it's possible that they originally just intended her to be a one and done antagonist (considering the change in writing and editing staff that occurred during Season 5).
2. Rock Solid Friendship (Season 7, Episode 4)
Why it moved down: I still greatly enjoy this episode for what it did for Starlight's character. They were able to put her into the kind of supporting role that she had never gotten throughout Season 6. She didn't immediately hit it off with Maud, but they spent the episode showing her slowly connecting with Maud over shared interests. They took time to make it feel genuine, which is what we were denied with Starlight's interactions with the mane six. Heck, it was surprising for them to reveal that Starlight and Maud had unknowingly crossed paths before, and get hints that perhaps Maud has a dark side (we never do know how she found out about that stone Starlight used). It's kind of easy to forget that this was also a Pinkie Pie episode, especially since the best moments occurred whenever Pinkie wasn't present. Ultimately though, a newcomer ended up dethroning this episode from the top spot.
1. Student Counsel (Season 9, Episode 11)
Why it's on the top: It truly feels like Starlight turned the corner here, that she'd truly come out of her experiences as a better pony. She was not only a good fit for the role of guidance counselor, but she was insanely dedicated to it. At the same time though, she was juggling obligations with her friends. But when her help was needed she was perfectly willing to drop it at all and go to look for Silverstream. Considering how rocky Starlight focused episodes tended to be, it was nice to have one focused on her that played to her strengths. One that didn't see her using magic as a shortcut, see her be the butt monkey, or see her cross a line. So ultimately, it takes the top spot as Starlight's best outing. And it mostly makes up for her absences throughout Season 9.
And there you have it, come back tomorrow when we'll update the rankings for the Trixie Episodes.
My ranking:
1. The Parent Map
2. Student Counsel
3. Road to Friendship
4. A Horse Shoe-In
5. Matter of Principals
6. A Royal Problem
7. Uncommon Bond
8. To Where and Back Again
9. No Second Prances
10. All Bottled Up
11. Every Little Thing She Does
12. To Change a Changeling
13. A Hearth’s Warming Tail
14. Cutie Re-Mark
15. Cutie Map
16. The Crystalling
I don't really consider Rock Solid Friendship a Starlight episode, but rather a Pinkie episode featuring her.
Though if I were to count it, it would definitely be in my top 5
Which is why I still hate the writers for doing that. -_-
Interesting... Sadly, for me, most Starlight episodes were ones I could not physically see. So, based on audio-only, I have a different feel on her episodes. In particular "Student Counsel" which, to me, was just awful. However there could have been visual aspects to it that really allowed for me to see it as more than just a 'Trixie gets fussy and Starlight shirks her work to appease Trixie' episode. Sure Silver stream was extremely needy but Starlight could have simply took one solid moment with Silver Stream to explain that she had other obligations but would help her with whatever she needed upon her return from break.
The 'anger cloud' was red? Golly! Now that changes things up for me. I always thought it was just a standard storm cloud. I actually wrote a story based on her emotional magic called "Glimmer & glow" which, for the time, was my way of explaining why Cozy glow was the way she is.
Starlight, to me, is a good representative of those of us who are socially awkward as a result of having traumatic life events, taking the wrong path as a result of them, and trying to make good on so many years of going in the wrong direction. I empathize with her as I constantly go in-and-out of situations that my emotions confuse me due to the way the world around seems to constantly throw wrenches in my works. (The most recent one is one I don't even know if I have a true right to feel as I do but I am getting so tired of nobody seeming to care about making companies accountable to ADA requirements. Disability is largely a result of something not allowing you to do a particular action. The more technology is not friendly to my screen reading software the less I can do and, consequentially, the more useless I 'feel' and can become.)
You are right in Spike and Starlight having some great chemistry. They should have paired up more often. Maybe Starlight would've grown a bit more from Spike's innocence along with faithful dedication to always being his absolute best while respecting, when he didn't get too distracted as younger children do, by his own desires.
Overall a great write-up that makes me think deeper on my Glim-Glam.
As someone who jumped onboard the fandom sometime shortly after the rough cuts of those Season 8 episodes leaked, it’s kinda strange looking back at all of these divisive characters/plot points. I literally cannot bring myself to be mad about Starlight or most of the other divisive Season 1-7 events (Twilicorn, the changedlings, etc.) because they’ve been there for my entire run with the fandom. Their presence has always been an incontrovertible truth, so to speak.
I think that might help explain why, out of all of these Starlight episodes, I only find one-and-a-half of them particularly “bad” or “frustrating”.
:)
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The biggest problem with Starlight Glimmer as a whole, at least in my opinion, is that the show staff tries way too hard to make her as popular as Sunset Shimmer in an effort to compensate not having the latter in the main series. If you were to ask me what I'd personally consider the quintessential "Shilling Starlight Glimmer" story, I would go with Mirror Magic.
5124743 Yeah, and I think that was kind of a turning point for her. From that point onward she started stepping back from the spotlight and largely getting reduced roles. Even in "Shadow Play" she wasn't the one to ultimately save the day or even directly contribute to many aspects of the plot. Season 8 did good with her reduced role, even if they overcompensated in places by making her the butt monkey. I think now in her final season, the writers have finally pinned down her role and it feels like she has managed to grow into her own character instead of just the show's substitute for Sunset Shimmer.
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You make a fair point. Overall, Starlight can be a good character, or at the very least tolerable, when the show isn't going out of its way to glorify her.
The only time I didn’t like Starlight was in Every Little Thing She Does, but even then she is still likable, she had no intentions of keeping the Mane 5 mind controlled(her ‘Everypony will probably thank me’ line confirms this), she probably would’ve freed them after the lessons were complete, she still looks bad, but she at least realized what she did wrong.(Cough Trixie Cough)