Saturday, 9 March 2019

S9 air date and second official trailer out

We have a second official trailer for the final season of Friendship is Magic, courtesy of Hasbro. This is if anything more spoilery than the first trailer so I very strongly advise you not to watch it if you don't want to know anything about the S9 premiere. Even if that's the case, though, you may want to come back to it in a month's time as it uses a brand new and (to me, anyway) very affecting piece of music.


One non-spoilery piece of news is that the show will resume on Saturday, 6th April. So we won't have to wait until Easter after all!

Beyond the page break, a few thoughts on the trailer. These will of course be full of spoilers.

Well, this is interesting! I'm not 100% convinced by Celestia and Luna here when they talk about retiring. Something about the way Celestia talks just seems a little off. It's also very noticeable that lines have been chopped – for example near the start with "you / and your friends" – possibly to avoid giving away too much. Sombra plays a big role as expected, but it does seem something else is going on. What? Who knows!

It's common knowledge that Lauren Faust originally intended that Twilight should take over from Celestia in some way – though of course many things have changed in canon since Faust left the show, not least the increase in the number of alicorns. I have wondered for a little while whether some of her ideas might be implemented during S9, and this trailer suggests that at least one of them might be.

The variation on the FiM theme that plays during the trailer is lovely. Some may think it a little overwrought, but I'll confess that it made my eyes mist over just a little, especially when combined with the "Farewell" captions. I'm seriously looking forward to S9, despite the edge of melancholy that will doubtless grow as the number of remaining episodes diminishes. I hope and trust that the staff have gone all-out for this last lap of the track.

Several people have remarked on the lack of Starlight in the trailer, but I'm not sure you should read too much into that. I do expect the Mane Six to be at the heart of things in S9 to an extent they haven't always been in recent years (which is going to require them to be written a bit better...) but I'm sure both Glimmy and the Young Six will play significant parts. The CMC too, though only Apple Bloom is shown in this preview.
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6 comments:

  1. Present Perfect9 March 2019 at 11:52

    I noticed that bit with Celestia's voice, too. Makes the whole thing look amateurish, but it's probably for reasons like you suggest.

    It's weird, I could tell they were really trying to go for the feels, like really trying, but I just had zero reaction to watching the trailer.

    Though, Smolder as Generosity? (From looking at screencaps.) Shouldn't she be genetically incapable of such a thing? Has she ever shown any traits that would make her fit the bill? Not that I care a lot, it just stood out. (Though talk about genetic incapability, Sandbar is magic...)

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    1. Logan10 March 2019 at 13:44

      To be fair, you're not exactly a committed show enthusiast these days, which might have something to do with the lack of feels you felt. :P

      I did wonder about the Elements thing, but we've seen in the past that they haven't always had exactly the same names. The Pillars had a slightly different set, and Celestia used another six terms when she spoke to Twilight in "Magical Mystery Cure".

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    2. Present Perfect10 March 2019 at 21:28

      Yeah, I'm really not. :(

      Heh, maybe Smolder will end up being Inspiration.

      I just wish they'd gone through with it at the end of S8. I mean, if you're gonna have a bad idea, you might as well see it through to the end.

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  2. iisaw10 March 2019 at 19:06

    "...you're not exactly a committed show enthusiast these days..."

    And Logan wins the Understatement of the Month award! XD

    I got a little misty-eyed myself, and I really appreciate that the writers seem to be wrapping up the whole series arc beginning from the first episode, rather than just waving a checkered flag with the last one.

    There are so many things that deserve a good denouement they can't possibly address them all even in a double episode.

    The elements? Yeah, they're magical forces that the ponies have tried to attach narrow, limiting labels to. With the pillars, I always thought that they should have gone with Perseverance rather than Strength, and Sacrifice rather than Beauty, but that's just trying to fit them in different pigeonholes... not really getting at their essence.

    Anyway, the trailer has given me high(er) hopes for the last season.

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    1. Present Perfect10 March 2019 at 21:38

      I actually just found my "we've seen five of six Pillars and what are they" post from S7, where I got like half of them. But Mistmane is the one that really does feel misaimed. Strength I could see over perseverance or determination, but that story was so about sacrifice, you dig?

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    2. iisaw11 March 2019 at 00:06

      Right there with you! Plus sacrifice and perseverance is something that anyone can achieve or aspire to. Beauty and strength are limited by one's genetics... and I kinda hate the "chosen one" trope.

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