Episodes you enjoy more on the rewatch

>>28458721
Magical Mystery Cure

>>28458721
Ever try watching S1 episodes again? I'd imagine the longass length of time and the fact that it was still new has caused quite a few people to forget the flaws back then.

>>28458747
>implying S1 had flaws

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>>28458721
Family Appreciation Day

I always start it thinking it's going to be meh but then get blown away by the history and the connecting of the dots.

>>28458721
For some reason I just wasn't in the right mood to enjoy Hearth's Warming Eve in my first watch through it. A second time with a clearer head helped me like it a lot more.

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Another episode my autism prevented me from enjoying at the time was Wonderbolt Academy. I got hooked up on Spitfire's change in voice from The Best Night Ever and her generally bitchy attitude towards Dash, despite Dash saving her life in Sonic Rainboom. Again, it felt like the almighty Faust's S1 was being shat on too hard.

Since she's had a lot more lines with the "new" voice than the initial one, I've again gotten used to it and it doesn't bother me anymore. Her attitude towards Dash before the conclusion of the episode I'm willing to write off as not wishing to make her feel like she's getting any special treatment. This time around I actually thought Lightning Dust was an interesting antagonist, Dash meets Evil Dash, and now I'm pretty eager to see them meet up again.

>>28458721
Ticket Master, Stare Master, Show Stoppers, Lesson Zero, Sleepless in Ponyville, Castle Mane-ia.

I used to hate the one where the CMCs do a fucking hair metal rock opera when I was a teen but now I'm not a fucking loser and realize how great it is. And how great they are as characters generally

>>28458747
recently started to re watch the seasons, had to skip half episode 2 because it was just too much. that was the only hiccup though. still good

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I've always found Season one episodes to be perfect for background noise or just watching when bored. Not sure what it is about them.

>>28458947
>Stare Master
I always forget that Twilight was turned to fucking STONE in that episode. I mean...what was that like? Was she conscious? Did she feel the snails crawling across her? What if Fluttershy never found her?

She didn't even really belong in the ep, was just there to have Fluttershy summarize the lesson to her for a friendship letter.

>>28458993
>She didn't really belong in the ep
Faust had a boner for Twilight being in every episode. I'm not kidding, she's in every single S1 episode.
>>28458963
That's Show Stoppers

>>28458975
>not loving the first two episodes
>>28459019
Twilight is the mane character.

>>28458721
The recent Discord Spike episode. I can't stand stereotypes and making Spike and Big Mac basement nerds came off like lazy writing. Especially since if felt like the writers were just clearing up a fandom compliant about Spike not being included. But the antics and humor is winning me over so I'm not as bitter about the obvious stock purposes of the episode.

>>28459031
I'm not complaining, I know she's the mane, I'm just pointing it out. It's a bit bothersome since sometimes even a background pony would've worked just fine, but it's like they really really had to bring the protag for no good reason other than just being there.

>>28459046
What was the stereotype?
Mac's a farmer so him playing a board game wouldn't be a stereotype.
Spike hasn't really displayed anything that could be labeled as nerdish other than reading comics but he does a lot of other stuff too so saying he was a stereotype is kind of stretching it.

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>>28458993
>All of the townsponies wondering where Twilight is
>"Where's Twilight? Where did Twilight go?"
>The Mane 6 and Spike panicking and crying
>No one can find her
>After weeks they and Celestia have to officially accept that the Everfree must have swallowed her
>Funeral services, a headstone covered in flowers
>Meanwhile Twilight collects moss in the darkest dark
Oooooooh fuck I don't want to think about it anymore

>>28459031
Thing is she had to be there for the moral in literally every single episode. Show Stoppers was one of the glaring ones. Things she'd logically have no part in had her shoved in for the obligitory letter.

Speaking of old S1 problems, the lack of Luna. I know they ditched their original plans for her, but would it have been too much trouble to at least have her do a lil cameo at the Gala to thank one of the M6? She essentially ceased to exist until Luna Eclipsed.

>>28458947
Sleepless in Ponyville was fantastic. I've softened a bit on the rest of S3 after some rewatches, but that episode remains the only truly great episode in the season. It's where Luna's super comfy theme first showed up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8pGZKYFVqI

>>28458747
It's funny, everyone else says that their first experience with season 1 was amazing, but when I first binge watched it in late 2011 I thought it was average at best. I enjoy it much more now than I did in those days. S2, on the other hand, I followed as it aired and still look back on as the best experience I ever had with pony.

On the subject of recent episodes, watching season 6 again gave me a greater appreciation for it. Especially Hearth's Warming Tail.

>>28459521
That episode deserves a place of special honor all to itself.

>>28458721
Hurricane Fluttershy, I remember thinking it was just RD pushing Fluttershy around and having her way with her, with some ham-fisted lesson about Fluttershy getting over her cowardliness. But there's a LOT of deeper meanings there, both on RD's and Fluttershy's part, as well as the interaction between them. It's actually become one of my favorite episodes in the first two seasons.
I guess RD isn't such a cunt, after all. At least not all the time.

>>28458747
I'm currently rewatching the show in it's entirety, I'm on S3 now, and I'd say S1 is flawed as fuck, I wanted to skip a lot of episodes but dedication made me stick through.
I consider myself a rational fedoramancer, and always saw the flaws in S1, but I never realized it was THIS flawed in comparison to later seasons.

>>28459629
Do you mind elaborating on the flaws?

>>28460074
Yes.

>>28459276
Luna just escaped from the moon (and her own bitter alter ego) after a thousand years. She needed some time to herself.

>>28460074

The most obvious at a casual glance, as well as the most objective one, would be animation quality.
Newer seasons simply use a lot more frames for their animation, with a lot more individual and unique frames, which in turn helps emphasize unique character. For example, S1 reuses the same running animation a lot for all the ponies, and discussion often happens in short portrait frames, with little more than the mouth moving, whereas newer seasons zoom out a bit and use the rest of the body to make expressions (pegasi using their wings to make an expression in particular, body language as a whole has greatly improved), and zoomed in facial portraits use unique faces occasionally labeled as "meme-faces", which some people hate but are still leagues above the same 3 mouthing expressions repeated over and over again.

A bit more subjective observation is that characters are very one-sided in older seasons.
For example in the latest episode, Fluttershy was shy and reluctant to speak, but still managed to get her point across and even come across as a bit smug, passive-aggressive even if you look deep enough. This sort of thing never happened in S1, and it makes sense that it never did, the characters were a lot simpler, a lot less developed back then. So in hindsight, comparing S1 behavior to S5 behavior, it often doesn't hold up and often comes across as simplistic and even cringeworthy. The comparative lack of facial animation emphasizes this.

Episodes tend to rely on the idiot ball far too often. Many episodes like Ticket Master, Applebuck Season, even Griffon the Brush-Off, and particularly Bridle Gossip (to just name just a few of the first few) would have been solved by a sensible discussion if any adults were involved, seeing it spread out across the entire season (or two) highlights that this really was just a show for little girls.

Twilight needlessly shoehorned into everything.
Running out of characters but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about

>>28458733
The mosts worst episode ever!

>>28459173
Just the whole works. Spike obsessing over setting the board no matter what's happening; not even knowing how to have fun in a livily town; misplace level of excitement and advertisement when talking about it; everyone's eye rolling about what Big Mac and Spike did along withTwilight's nervous reaction at the end despite her own habits.

You just see this nerdy D@D set up too often in shows. Spike and Big Mac's characters were interchangeable with others with their personalities bring nothing new to the table.

>>28460116
That doesn't really excuse at least some little cameo aside from the premiere. It was even more baffling that Luna didnt exist in Return of Harmony. I remember when the joke was Celestia imprisoning Luna in dungeons due to how she never popped up until S2E4.

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>>28460132
You're right that the animation and expressions got "better" technically, byt prefer the S1 animation and episode feel, it felt quieter. The meme faces and over-expressions sometimes feel too over-the-top compared to the simple nature of S1. Same with the music, the background musuc comes off as more subtle, where as in later seasons sometimes it's just loud and too-cartoony. Comfy I suppose would be the word to use. Sometimes the current season feels like trying to jingle keys in front of a baby in fear of losing their attention if they're not wacky enough. The worst thing Nightmare Moon had to offer was eternal night, and the seasin didn't have to end with some nonsensical, over the top threat to the world that has been done to death in the series already. And that's still why BNE is the best finale.

>Episodes tend to rely on the idiot ball far too often.
>would have been solved by a sensible discussion if any adults were involved
I disagree with this. Not because it's untrue with S1, but the fact that they still do ut to this day doesn't make it a flaw of S1, more a flaw of the show. Notably, the recent episode, the zombie one, Cart Before the Ponies, all of them could have been fixed someone talked it out to someone else. But if they did that, there would be no episode. However, I do think this concept has been getting worse each season. Bridle Gossip was a lessom about not judging people in a kids' cartoon, Cart Before the Ponies was just stupid with most characters acting ridiculous.

And I shouldn't have to compare Applebuck Season to AJ's Day Off.

>>28460447
>The worst thing Nightmare Moon had to offer was eternal night, and the seasin didn't have to end with some nonsensical, over the top threat to the world that has been done to death in the series already.
It's probably safest to exclude premiers and finales, since they're in no way indicative of anything. The pilot has a lot of stuff that's later been retconned or glossed over (how magic works and looks, Big McIntosh, for example).
For example, Nightmare Moon threatened Equestria while Starlight threatened a small village, so if you use that scale and look to premiers/finales alone Nightmare Moon would be an extremely nonsensical, over the top threat.

>Not because it's untrue with S1, but the fact that they still do ut to this day doesn't make it a flaw of S1
Oh, sure, don't get me wrong, the show is far from perfect, and still make a lot of missteps today.
But are Applejack's Day Off or Cart before the Ponies anywhere even near top half episodes this season? Most ponybros (me included) put those two episodes as some of the worst this season. But compared to S1 episodes that relied on similar idiotballing, they're often not all that bad when viewed side by side.
And now, those kinds of episodes are the exception, back in S1, they were the rule.

>>28460447

Oh, and to sort of address the last bit of your post.
What was Swarm of the Century about? If not a stupid episode with most characters acting ridiculous?

>>28460508
>For example, Nightmare Moon threatened Equestria while Starlight threatened a small village, so if you use that scale and look to premiers/finales alone Nightmare Moon would be an extremely nonsensical, over the top threat.
I was actually going to follow up on that. Honestly Cutie Map (aside from Starlight who I just have my own set of issues with now, at the time she was good) is an example of a very good premier.

>Mane 6 are at least on the same level, none of the only focusing on Twilight crap
>Small threat, not a threat to the world
>Simple enough, yet still interesting conflict

In fact, that kind of got me optimistic for things, before the S5 finale felt like it took two steps back.

>anywhere even near top half episodes this season?
There just hasn't been anything this season that really stood out to me. Honestly the best in this season for me (Saddle Row) just feels like an average S1 episode, not really standing out much. Admittingly, I haven't seen everything this season, but I'm sure what I haven't seen won't greatly change my opinion.

I'm not a complete S1fag, my top 3 favorite episodes are from S5, S4, and S2. But if we're comparing season by season, I still believe S1 to be the best just because it feels more simplistic, where as currently it feels like it's trying hard to be relevant. If the show remained completely unchanged from S1, and was still going as it is today, I would say it would most certainly be stale. There's no way that could work, and I'd admit S2 was a step in the right direction. However, I just feel like with the way it's altered, it's starting to reach the point where it might be too different than what it was. Maybe stepping too far. So at the end of the day, I just find S1 to be more cute with it's simplicity, and if I was going to rewatch a whole season, I would pick that, as I feel like it has the best episode average, where as other seasons start to become a rollar coaster with good and bad episodes.

>>28460518
Swarm of the Century was another idiot ball, but I still felt it was more entertaining due to the way the characters behaved. Notably, Twilight, who in recent seasons never gets to hold the idiot ball, and as a result makes her start to stand out like a Sue with no faults.

In both Swarm of the Century and similarly Bird in Hoof, you both have Twilight freaking out about things, and the day isn't saved by her getting to fix everything by herself. In fact, in both cases she made things worse. I'd liken that more to character flaws, something which rarely comes in recent seasons.

The idiot ball kind of got passed all around Season 1, all over the place. Felt level. Now it kind of feels like the idiot ball might just be sinking in on certain character traits, and avoiding others. I'd rather what you see in S1 than what happens now.

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>>28458880
A christmas episode in May might have had something to do with it. And I used to think October counted as unacceptable christmas creep.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes when I saw it was going to be A Christmas Carol episode on top of being aired in May. In the end, though, I think it turned out pretty well. I liked the Victorian spins on the character designs, and all the songs are top tier.

I did chuckle a bit at how even storytime Glimmer can't help but trigger the apocalypse. It does seem to be her special talent.

>>28460447
>>28460508
>all of them could have been fixed if they talked it out to someone else
I'm always bothered when people use this line of reasoning. If it were that simple than our world would be a heck of a better place.

In many of these the characters simply don't believe they're wrong: do you honesty think you could of told Applejack back in Applebuck Season NOT to give it 110 percent at this critrical harvest time when her brother had got injured and the farm's future, which she would one day own, fell on her shoulders? Convince her to stop helping her friends beforehand so she could just focus on herself? Then beg those same friends for favors when AJ had already given her word? Even with AJ's Day Off that people like to complain about, just work on a school paper for while and you run into the same issue of over thinking things. It's not until you take a break and step back that you see problems you missed.

Everyone has different ideas how the world should work. Simply talking isn't enough. Actions and showing is better.

>>28461819
>do you honesty think you could of told Applejack back in Applebuck Season NOT to give it 110 percent at this critrical harvest time when her brother had got injured and the farm's future
Told her?
Yes, because I know she's got five good friends more than willing to lend her a helping hoof.
>Convince her to stop helping her friends beforehand so she could just focus on herself?
>Then beg those same friends for favors when AJ had already given her word?
Convince her?
Now that's where things start to fall apart.

I could tell, and convince, a sane adult that she can't do the work of two people on her own, especially not when we're talking high-season farm-work meaning 12+ hours workdays.
But I can't convince someone holding the idiot ball. Like AJ in that episode. There's no reasoning with someone who's been forced to abandon all reason for the sake of a plot worthy of a kid's show.

>>28458721
Hearth's warming tale for reasons talked about in >>28461764

When Hearth's Warming Eve first came out it was a "christmas episode", but that it made sense to the universe and the entire episode was lore and world building; the episode proper had nothing to do with trees and present giving or anything,just good old history.
But in both Hearthbreakers and Tale that little bit of magic is gone and it's hard to look past the fact that "it's just Christmas but with ponies".
Then in Tale we also get "it's a Christmas Carol episode", and when I was hoping to at least get some nice interactions out of it, all I got was song after song.

It's an alright adaptation though, and the songs work well enough. On repeat listens I found myself actually enjoying Pinkie's Present, Goodbye to the holidays, and Luna's song.
How the episode is enjoyed fits with its theme; its a fucking Christmas special, and like other specials it's kind of this feel good mush that's more an acessory to the enoyment than the main piece.
Not being something that any sane person would put on holiday time with any one else,this episode is enjoyed by simply letting back and listening to some songs while watching some nice visuals.

>>28458721