That One Little Girl's 'Pony' Cartoon that's Slowly Devouring the Internet

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Honestly, this finale should've been properly padded out and just made into a movie. It had all the right elements for one, and this show is seriously overdue for one (a *real* one), much like all the other series that have gotten one.

Hmmm, making the finale into a movie would have made it minimum twice as long, maybe, not sure it could have been stretched out that far, I could see 20 more minutes of stuff but 40?

[Relaxing Dragon]

Honestly, this finale should've been properly padded out and just made into a movie. It had all the right elements for one, and this show is seriously overdue for one (a *real* one), much like all the other series that have gotten one.

Hmmm, making the finale into a movie would have made it minimum twice as long, maybe, not sure it could have been stretched out that far, I could see 20 more minutes of stuff but 40?

They got away with Equestria Girls being barely over an hour, so I don't think they'd need a whole 40 minutes more. Toss in more bits with Discord (especially draw out his betrayal/re-betrayal/forgiveness), more bits of Twilight futzing with Alicorn magic (her raising the sun here was amusing, but felt like a weird little aside given the tone of the rest of the finale), generally more of the Pre-Tirek intro... yeah, I can totally see them getting up to an hour of material, if not a little more.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I forgot Equestria Girls was that short, so yeah, certainly possible to do that with the finale.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

In case anyone hasn't noticed yet, season 4 has been on Netflix since I think Friday. 

[Quirk]

While it was airing, I was unimpressed with season four and stopped watching after Superponies. But now that it's on Netflix, I decided to watch a few more. So glad I did. Rarity Takes Manehattan is probably one of my favorite episodes, with Rarity finally getting an episode about generosity. This story was waiting to be done since the start, since people taking advantage of you is the number one problem for generous people.

It pulled me out a pretty bad depression and reminded my why I loved this show in the first place. I've struggled lately with getting out of my own head and thinking of others, and this helped, as cheesy at that sounds. I'm sure the season will continue to be hit and miss, but if there are more like that one in there, it'll be worth it.

[Relaxing Dragon]

Honestly, S4 is tied with S2 as the best for me. There are plenty of low spots, sure (Daring Don't was a mistake, plain and simple, and It Ain't Easy Being Breezy never comes together well enough for those Fluttershy episodes I crave), but the highs are as good as the series can get, I say. Flight to the Finish for Scootaloo pathos, Pinkie Pride for the humor and musical aspects (ditto Pinkie Apple Pie, actually), and nearly all the episodes centering on the particular keys for the Mane 6. Good stuff all around, frankly.

And awesome that that episode got to you like that! I'm a big proponent for episode themes and ideas that sink in in real life (one of the main reasons I love Lesson Zero so much, for instance), and this show is good at pushing that when we get right down to it.

[Rainbow Dash]

I was not a fan of the opening and ending episodes for the series.  Meghan just isn't that good a writer.  She only writes for Twilight, and treats the other characters (especially Celestia and Luna) as obstacles in the way of her Twilight story.  It was very blatant this season, and thinking back, it's the same thing with her previous two-part episodes.  I really hope someone else is taking the opening and ending job for S5.

That said, I thought S4 was pretty good.  Few meh episodes (Daring Don't, Rainbow Falls), but was a pretty fun time.

S1 is still my favorite.  It was charming without trying to hard.

[Relaxing Dragon]

I'm not as hard on her for being Twilight-centric, mostly because, when the show gets down to the nitty-gritty of whatever kind of central story it's trying to tell, Twilight really *is* the main character. We all love all the characters, and we like episodes that are all about them, which the show still delivers in excess. But for Season Premier/Finale, I have no problem with them being Twilight-centric.

That said, I wouldn't mind a return to a single-episode Finale. They seem neater to me (I actually prefer the S3 finale to S4 for this reason among others).

I compare it to Cowboy Bebop, which was an ensemble most of the time, except for those five or so "main story" episodes that were all about Spike.

[LucasM]

I was not a fan of the opening and ending episodes for the series.  Meghan just isn't that good a writer.  She only writes for Twilight, and treats the other characters (especially Celestia and Luna) as obstacles in the way of her Twilight story.  It was very blatant this season, and thinking back, it's the same thing with her previous two-part episodes.  I really hope someone else is taking the opening and ending job for S5.

That said, I thought S4 was pretty good.  Few meh episodes (Daring Don't, Rainbow Falls), but was a pretty fun time.

S1 is still my favorite.  It was charming without trying to hard.

Yeah, I agree with that: even her closest friends were treated as appendages, not friendly equals.  They were merely vessels to hold onto an item, rather than actively using them together.  It does dampen my appreciation.

Funny enough, the parallel - or, rather, contrast - to Doc Savage comes to mind.  Doc might have had all the answers, but his five companions were allowed to 'do stuff' and contributed to - and were essential to - the ways that stories progressed (at least most of the time Dent was writing them; other writers, and later in the series not so much).  In these MLP stories (I had not been remembering episode writers, so didn't realize it was one writer at fault for this), the mane five friends could as easily be jewelry settings, rather than individuals who bring something to the table themselves.

[Doc Savage / MLP ?  Now that would be an unusual crossover!]

[LucasM]

I'm not as hard on her for being Twilight-centric, mostly because, when the show gets down to the nitty-gritty of whatever kind of central story it's trying to tell, Twilight really *is* the main character. We all love all the characters, and we like episodes that are all about them, which the show still delivers in excess. But for Season Premier/Finale, I have no problem with them being Twilight-centric.

That said, I wouldn't mind a return to a single-episode Finale. They seem neater to me (I actually prefer the S3 finale to S4 for this reason among others).

I compare it to Cowboy Bebop, which was an ensemble most of the time, except for those five or so "main story" episodes that were all about Spike.

But the point you make (in red) argues against the premise of the show: 'bring all these together and you get magic'.  If Twilight does everything, then it argues that, well, the rest of the personality characteristics that are supposed to be so vital, really aren't that important after all.

Well, with Cowboy BeBop, there were story arcs for most of the characters [e.g. Edward had a distinct start and end; Faye's debt/freedom/learning her history].  While Spike's story may have been the bookends for the series, when push came to shove on the series, they usually worked together, with each doing things only they could do, and at those points things went more smoothly.  Yes, Spike was the only end credits character, and yes, Twilight is clearly the central opening credits character, but it is when they are functioning in unison that things go more smoothly [e.g. meeting the adventure book writer].

At least that's how they feel to me.

[Quirk]

There have been several that clearly were not based around a lesson, for lack of a better word. These fell flat for me. It seems that without a point about life that they want to make, the episodes just have no heart. Superponies and Bats come to mind as being really unnecessary. Interestingly, Dave Polsky, who I've regarded as good for laughs and terrible for profundity, wrote Rarity Takes Manehattan. Perhaps he's starting to adapt better to the show (he's always felt like he's used to a different style of show).

[Relaxing Dragon]

Well, I thought the Superponies episode was good for Spike, in the sense of giving him a better sense of purpose. Except the the show undercuts it all by making him screw things up again and again in other episodes (It Ain't Easy Being Breezie is the worst offender), and then does the whole concept better in Equestria Games.

Anyway, with regards to Twilight, I do agree with what Lucas said about the whole point of the show being all the ponies coming together and Twilight learning from that (Magic of Friendship and all that jazz). And given that the bulk of every season is about just that, I think it's doing a good job going along with that thesis. But I also contend that all those lessons still revolve around Twilight being the primary figure, given both how she relates to whatever overarching plot is happening at the time and how absurdly overpowered she is as a magic user anyway. All those vital friendship lessons and interactions she'd had over the season come into play in the opener/finale. Without them, she wouldn't be there, and by extension that's the end of things. The show is still arguing that everything friendship-wise matters most, it's just showing condensed arguments as to why. Plus, all the magic she's pulling off still tends to relate to her friends being right there (especially in the S4 finale), so it's not like the others are totally absent or anything.

I should also say that I don't lean too heavily into the ideas I'm spouting above. My favorite part of every season is always the inbetween stuff rather than the "Big" episodes, and I'm a sucker for all the group dynamics anyway.

[The Lurker]

[Relaxing Dragon]

Well it's about time (even if 2017 is much too far away): http://www.avclub.com/article/my-little-pony-movie-coming-theaters-filled-kids-p-210702

[RoninFox]

Yeah, 2017 seems like a very long time, but at least it shows they're taking it seriously, and that they're not just going to crank out an extra long regular episode and call it a day.