I've noticed that, especially in Season 3, the quality of MLP episodes is decreasing. Take a look back at Season 1. Watch an episode or two again, and then watch a few episodes of Season 3. There's a big difference even though you may not have noticed right away. These new episodes feel different from what it used to be. Thing is, i never truly liked a season 3 episode in the same way i liked the season 1 episodes. For this reason i don't think i'll keep watching MLP after season 3 is over. It became a drag to keep watching...
I actually consider season 3 the best season yet. But I guess that is up to personal taste as it is clearly different than season 1.
Every season has episodes I don't like. (A Dog and Pony Show, Dragon Quest, Spike at Your Service.... hey, those are all Spike episodes!) However, the amount of episodes I do like outnumbers the ones I don't, and Season 3 has had some amazing episodes (One Bad Apple, Too Many Pinkie Pies, Just for Sidekicks). The writers have done a good job, and I'm looking forward to what Season 4 will bring.
I watch the new episodes because I can find the time to. So I will probably keep watching Season 4, assuming that I'll still be in touch with this fandom (this site and a couple of musicians are my final links to the brony fandom)
When rewatching season 2 there was something I noticed that season 3 lacked, but I can't say exactly. Still, I plan on watching until there are no more new episodes to watch.
I have always thought of Season 1 as my favourite season, and agree with you, Rarit E, that the show's becoming less... appealing these last few seasons. But ultimately, I don't know whether I'll keep watching- It depends how this season ends out... I'll give it a chance, and if I don't like, I don't watch.
Season 1 is overrated. I would suggest that the quality of the episodes haven't changed significantly, you've just grown accustomed to the show now and you're starting to see the flaws in it. The honeymoon period is over, so to speak.
I'll keep watching. Season has had a few good episode (too many Pinkie pies, Spike at your service) but overall quality has gone down. This is the only season with episodes that I truly dislike.
I'll keep watching, but I do think the overall quality has changed. There is something different. Maybe it's because of the lack of involvement from Lauren Faust. Season 3 she's had no part in, in season 2 she was involved somewhat, although not in the full leadership role she had in season 1. I look at it like this - If season 3 were the first season, would there be any bronies? There's been a spattering of letters to Celestia and some episodes have given us ambiguous lessons. What hooked the community in season 1? I can't say, but that spark of the earlier episodes seems to just not be there. Don't get me wrong, I like season 3 for the most part... But the bar was set so high I guess we just expected them to keep reaching it all the time; they didn't quite get there in my opinion. It makes me wonder if Lauren Faust was maybe pushed out. She's said she never wanted Twilight to become an Alicorn, but Hasbro will always want more and new toys. I can't help but feel that these changes have been forced on the writers by the corporation. I just hope they don't get bitter and do what Sam Raimi did with Venom in Spiderman 3 - write it poorly out of spite...
Hmm, weird, I actually really liked this season. Sleepless in Ponyville was one of my all time favorite episodes. So yeah I'll definitely keep watching. I didn't honestly think season 1 was THAT great, I think season 2 was the best yet, and season 3 is kinda in between. That's just my opinion though I guess.
I'm going to stay with the show, but I dunno... Hasbro's beginning to take over by changing story for the sake of selling products. If that gets out of hand, the show will become trash.
There's a part of me that wants to say that I'll stick it out with the show until it dies, going through the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all... but the other part of me is being realistic. If the show completely ruins the characters - and I hope it never comes to that - then I'll probably just let the new seasons drop, label them as heresy, and stay loyal to the first three seasons.
I didn't like Season 3 much, at all, the only episodes I can say I truly enjoyed watching were Sleepless in Ponyville and Keep Calm and Flutter On, although the ending for that episode left a bit of a bad after-taste from how rushed it was. The others seemed more like a chore to watch, especially Just For Sidekicks which was extremely pointless for a season that's only 13 episodes long. The premier was ok, but I got more entertainment from the laughs and jokes I had with friends afterwards about it than actually watching it. This season to me just seems like one long filler, they hinted at this huge story in the premier, then we've received nothing about it at all until the finale. So what's the point of the bit inbetween? In my opinion, the episodes in Season 3 are either the ones they decided to leave out of Season 2, or to satisfy the fan service bronies have been begging for. Trixie and AJ's song were incredibly rushed and forced, Discord was to an extent, but John De Lancie was brilliant as ever so I'll let that slide. If you didn't know it was Season 3, odds are you'd think the episodes were from earlier, when they hadn't reached full potential yet. The episodes only served to flesh out the time between the Crystal Empire and alicorn Twilight, whilst cleaning up the brony mess with one stone too. And why put the focus on those two episodes? Because that's where they'll introduce the new toys to spend your money on of course! The focus was on Spike and the CMC, the characters I really couldn't give less of a monkeys about, except maybe Scootaloo. As background support characters, absolutely, the CMC are good, but in stand-alone episodes? Spike got freaking two yet Rarity got none. In a show called My Little "Pony". Maybe the bar of Season 2 was high, but this was below even Season 1 standards, I expected better quality from fewer episodes, because they'd have more time to work on them. Even the animation's poorer. Remember the scene from the Iron Will episode where there's a blurred shot of Fluttershy turning to face a door? Amazing! None of that here. I fear with Hasbro taking more control, the animators will have no choice in what crap they have to write for, much like they felt pressured to pander to bronies, but hopefully with all the bronies' b****ing about what they want out of the way, they can focus on their own ideas again. Just don't expect me to buy an alicorn Twilight for 40 bucks anytime soon.... I'll watch, but they'd better pick up their game next season, this should be the forgotten season.
Beginning? This has been happening since the beginning. Hasbro wants something related to a new toy in the show, and the writers have to find a natural way to integrate it into the show.
Mhmm. I consider season 1 to be the best of the seasons, although it's hard to tell if that is due to novelty or actual quality. I've actually never watched any episodes twice (except for Sisterhooves Social, rewatched it once) so it's hard to say. I definitely feel that Season 3 has been lacking something, but I felt that way about s2 when it was airing as well and s2 had some really great episodes and overall I thought it turned out great. I plan on rewatching s1 and s2 sometime soon, then I'll be able to actually see how much the show has changed thus far, and whether it did indeed start going downhill. Either way, I'm going to stick with it until I decide it's no longer worth watching, but as of right now I have no plans for quitting MLP. ...unless this whole Twilight alicorn thing turns out horribly, then maybe. I don't see how that's any different from the first two seasons, MLP has only ever continued the main plot line in the premiers and finales of the seasons. Everything in between is usually just for laughs or character development. Actually this season had the reformation of Discord in the middle, which may actually be related to the main plot.
well, I guess if Twicorn will be permanent, I'll have to get use to it. As for as quality of season 3 so far, I liked it. However, I hope that Twicorn will be just temporary, or if permanent, that it will change her only physically, and nothing else. Although, they could even make story where twi gets back to unicorn as sudden as this (like as Chris became kid again in transition from Japanese Series 1 to Series 2 of Sonic X, but that included some wormholes, time and space travel etc). Also, some shows get bad then better tought the seasons, so I'll give season 4 a shot (like Top Gear was little boring trough season 16,17 and 18, but they kicked up their standards now with season 19)
Personally, I think that what is happening is that the animators are trying to include more quality and story to the episodes, but they just can't do that with the 22 minute window they have for the episodes. They were able to do fantastic with the season 3 opener, but with everything else, it was either a hit, or one big miss - most of the time being a big miss. It's like trying too hard to do some cool skateboard trick - it will either be really cool, or it will have a nasty wipeout. In the end, what I could see from the season 3 episodes is that they were trying hard to improve animation and plot - but the 22 minute window is just not enough to complete that. That, and they're constantly trying to satisfy both Hasbro, and the My Little Pony fandom - a giant hassle for any company to take on their own, and Hasbro is just not recognizing what they're causing to happen as a result of this. The storywriters are being given horrible content by Hasbro to work with, and we're going to get pretty much what the storywriters are able to do with what they are given - less quality content. In summary, I have some faith in the storywriters for the show - but that faith will be pretty much annihilated if this alicorn twilight change is permanent. It strays from Lauren Faust's original artistic concept of the show, and it will most likely change the plot of the show in season 4, most likely changing this show into something else. I'll watch the episode, see what happens, and give season 4 a chance whether the alicorn twilight is permanent or not... but we'll see how the quality of the show fares now. I'm very skeptical, but only slightly open to it.
