Over on UK of Equestria, we've been supplying our personal league tables of how all the Season Six episodes compare. I did this last year, and the format is very similar. Once again, we asked people to rank them from 1 to 24, with the premiere and the finale counting as one episode each. We had 18 respondents, one more than we got for the S5 poll. What you see here is based on the overall mean score.
I did the tier boundaries nearly the same way as last year, with a mean score of below five giving a five-star rating, then up to ten giving a four-star rating, and so on. An interesting contrast with S5 is that no S6 episode had a mean worse than 20; there were three last year. However, there was a big gap to the bottom two, so I decided it would be reasonable to give them one-star ratings. The two five-star episodes had no serious challengers at the top.
★★★★★
1. To Where and Back Again
2. The Saddle Row Review
★★★★
3. Top Bolt
4. Stranger Than Fan Fiction
5. A Hearth's Warming Tail
6. Every Little Thing She Does
★★★
7. The Times They Are a Changeling
8. Gauntlet of Fire
9. Newbie Dash
10. Buckball Season
11. No Second Prances
12. The Gift of the Maud Pie
13. The Fault in Our Cutie Marks
14. On Your Marks
15. Where the Apple Lies
16. Spice Up Your Life
17. Dungeons & Discords
★★
18. 28 Pranks Later
19. P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)
20. Flutter Brutter
21. Viva Las Pegasus
22. The Crystalling
★
23. Applejack's "Day" Off
24. The Cart Before the Ponies
Number of times each episode placed first
7: The Saddle Row Review
3: A Hearth's Warming Tail
3: To Where and Back Again
1: Applejack's "Day" Off
1: Gauntlet of Fire
1: Newbie Dash
1: Stranger Than Fan Fiction
1: Top Bolt
Number of times each episode placed last
3: 28 Pranks Later
3: Applejack's "Day" Off
3: A Hearth's Warming Tail
2: No Second Prances
2: Spice Up Your Life
2: The Cart Before the Ponies
1: Dungeons & Discords
1: The Gift of the Maud Pie
1: Newbie Dash
Most controversial (highest standard deviation)
1. A Hearth's Warming Tail
2. Flutter Brutter
3. The Times They Are a Changeling
Least controversial
1. To Where and Back Again
2. The Saddle Row Review
3. The Crystalling
A special mention here has to go to "A Hearth's Warming Tail", which produced a result like nothing I've ever seen before. Apart from one person who placed it 12th, every single voter had it either in their top eight or in their bottom five. Generally speaking, the people who hated it were the same people who didn't like A Christmas Carol itself for one reason or another; not one person liked Dickens' original but hated the ponified version.
The only thing all our voters agreed on was that they enjoyed "To Where and Back Again" – the season finale wasn't placed lower than eighth by a single voter, something which I'll admit surprised me a little given the controversy about the changeling reformation. Every other episode had at least one person who deviated substantially from the consensus: even "Applejack's 'Day' Off" and "The Cart Before the Ponies" had their fans.
It still bothers me that everyone loves Saddle Row Review and I don't and I can't figure out why they like it. :(
ReplyDeleteI placed it fifth; I like the unusual setup, "Sweep" and the general silliness. It may be one that depends a bit on the novelty value, though. After all, "Twilight's Kingdom" has fallen down most polls in recent times.
DeleteSaddle Row Review is overrrated, but it DESERVED it XD. Here are what this episode accomplised
Delete1. An Episode featuring Mane 6 get their own spotline and none of them feel OCC, checked.
2. Funny and Random moments, which are rare in modern MLP episodes.
3. Unusual format, which make this episode stand-out, like Lesson Zero, Slice of Life or Twilight Kingdom.
Oh Yes, they placed Cart Before the Ponies and Applejack Day Off in their RIGHT PLACE. Wait, What!? Flutter Brutter in "**" Rating? I am sad now... :C
ReplyDeleteHey, don't blame me -- I placed "Flutter Brutter" sixth! I was really disappointed it came in so low overall.
Delete