New Generation, AKA how to get old fans invested in new works

Been a while, I know, but I want to talk about the "MLP A New Generation" movie. I saw it on Netflix, and I liked it.

I'm not a big fan of 3D animation, since 2D can have so much more variety and creativity in style and tone. Meanwhile, 3D tends to all just look like generic Pixar/Disney/Dreamworks sameness, but with this movie, I found myself looking past the animation style for a large majority of the runtime.

I think the reason for this is the incredibly smart move of what the writers did in the first five minutes of the story. Straight away, the movie opens in high quality 2D animation, with the heroes and friends we've all come to know and love. The generation 4 mane six are all there, and they're sharing a lovely moment together. This is the anchoring point for the audience.

Then comes the transition, from 2D to 3D, while at the same time letting us know that time has progressed far beyond where we last left our FIM cast. Historical figures have passed into legends and then into fairy tales, and society has changed for the worse. What was once a friendship utopia for all has since fallen into a world of propagandized fear separating the different types of ponies. Now the audience sees just how far we've fallen from what we previously had.

For a split second here, I thought to myself, "Oh hell, they're crapping on everything FIM built up over nine seasons," but that's not it. The writers are investing the audience into the current world by building off of the previous seasons of FIM. We all know how this world was in gen-4, and now, many many years later, we go back to a world that has faltered and failed. It really did feel like everything Twilight and her friends fought for had amounted to nothing in the long run, and that made my heart ache. This is where the writers remind the audience just how much the world of Equestria meant to us, and in doing so, they also ask the question of if we want to see it that way again.

This set up is important, but equally important is the main character. The story follows a character who - like the audience - desperately believes that we can get back to where we once were. From a young age, she was raised on stories of friendship and adventure, and these stories have become ingrained in her, just as they have with us as we watched the FIM series down through the years. She reflects our hopes that friendship and unity can be restored to this world we've all come to love. These are the stakes we are given, that the world we knew can be restored, and she is the character we're rooting for to do it.

For new watchers, this won't have a lot of meaning, but for the veteran audience, this immediately puts us on the main character's side, with an investment that she succeeds. All of this happened within the first five minutes, and I've got to respect the writing team for this feat they've pulled off. Granted, it's not going to hit with everyone, but I think it will land with enough people that it will win over a healthy chunk of fans, especially those who were in doubt about Gen-5. It certainly worked for me.