And finally we have a Season Seven teaser clip!

That's right: we have an official S7 teaser trailer! Now, in the normal scheme of things, I do not consider things like this to count as spoilers – so please be warned! However, on this specific occasion, even the thumbnail is sufficiently spoilery that I'm placing the trailer link after the break. A single glimpse of it will tell you something about the premiere, though I won't say up here how important it is.

After the break, I will also be discussing some episode details released by Discovery Family – and those include not only the premiere's synopsis, but also a few significant details about other episodes. Read on if you dare!

 

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Well now... this isn't a conventional trailer, but what appears to be the opening minute and a half of Episode 1. There's a lot to take in. The heroes from the S6 finale are all there – wearing special pendants. The reformed changelings are present (and Thorax speaks). Discord most definitely is in S7. And Twilight tells us the Starlight Glimmer has graduated from her friendship studies.

Um... what? Now, unfashionably, I like Starlight. But I do somewhat agree with the charge that she's getting some things too easy. Her character is very powerful, without us ever really having seen how she got to that point. (We don't know how she set up Our Town, either.) And she also seems to be rushing through this. I don't see why, given that it doesn't affect toy marketability.

Still, enough of that for now. We also have a Discovery Family press release, which gives some details about the premiere. Here's the relevant section:

"In the back-to-back premiere episodes titled “Celestial Advice” and “All Bottled Up,” Twilight Sparkle agonizes over Starlight Glimmer’s future and receives some much-needed advice from her very own mentor – Princess Celestia. While the Mane 6 are on a friendship retreat, Starlight Glimmer loses Twilight Sparkle’s friendship map. Afraid her anger might get out of control, Starlight Glimmer casts a calming spell while the ponies search for the lost map. "

None of that was evident from the trailer, but it sounds a lot more interesting. For a start, this may be the first premiere in the show's history not to be a two-parter, as there's an apparent break of flow after "Princess Celestia". On which note, my optimism that "Celestial Advice" would be a full-on Tiasode looks to have been misplaced. Oh, how utterly surprising. :P

The second episode actually intrigues me more, since "Every Little Thing She Does" and this suggest that a continuing flaw of Starlight's may be a tendency to use magic to fix everything. Given Glimmy's magical OP-ness, it would be quite a relief to me if she was shown that there are some things she still really has to work at. ("How do I fit in without magic? I haven't got a clue!")

The aforementioned DF press release doesn't stop at the premiere(s). We also get the news that William Shatner and Felicia Day will "join the cast for a very special episode in late summer". Yes, I did note that phrasing. Wild and almost certainly wrong guess: they're going to play AJ's parents. If so, then the episode really might be about dealing with loss and bereavement.

We're also told we'll meet "Rainbow Dash's over-enthusiastic parents", which seems a bit clichéd, and that there will be "five brand-new original songs". Now, I am aware that Daniel Ingram has had a lot of work to do with the movie, but I can't help feeling that five songs in a full-length season is rather disappointing. It's easily the lowest of any season, including S1 which didn't get going until E11.

So, overall? A mixed bag. A lot is going to depend on how Starlight is handled. She really, really needs to have a more nuanced and interesting character than she's been given up to now. Give her a bit more depth and (dare I say it) shadow and I'll be happy. I do still have the old excitement about S7, and I hope what I see in the forthcoming season will maintain that.