Happy New Year, everypony! I hope to be slightly more active from now on than I have been of late. I'll ease myself into 2023 gently, though, with something I've probably posted before. (I can't actually remember...) Imagine you're set this challenge: pick one episode from each of the nine seasons of Friendship is Magic that you have particular affection for or just really like to watch. Rules:
- You have to pick something for every season
- Double episodes and "Best Gift Ever" are not eligible
- There's no restriction on focus characters
So, here's my list. Most of these are quite stable, I think.
S1: "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" – A fairly easy choice. Although S1 has some very solid episodes, this one stands out for packing a whole lot of lore and interest into 22 minutes without seeming rushed. And Fluttershy sings, too.
S2: "Hurricane Fluttershy" – Still my favourite episode of all 200-plus in FiM, largely for its wonderful portrayal of the friendship between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. An inspiration for my own headcanon on the subject.
S3: "Sleepless in Ponyville" – Slightly thinner pickings in this half-length season, but "Sleepless in Ponyville" would have graced any collection. Emotionally satisfying and introduces Luna's dreamwalking abilities.
S4: "Pinkie Pride" – Just beats out "Filli Vanilli" in a very close race. There's very little wrong with this episode and a whole lot right. The characters work, the songs work, the story works. One of my most rewatchable episodes.
S5: "Slice of Life" – Yes, it's a Marmite episode for the way it goes all-out to pander to the bronies, but I'm very firmly on the "love it" side of the ledger. I think "Amending Fences" is the best one-part episode of S5, but "Slice of Life" is the one I find the most fun. Once was enough. This was the once.
S6: "A Hearth's Warming Tail" – I have an almost limitless capacity for A Christmas Carol adaptations, and while not in the Muppets' class this is one of my favourites. It's also one of the show's most visually sumptuous episodes.
S7: "The Perfect Pear" – One of the hardest seasons to pick from, and a season where my choice isn't as stable as some others. But while I'm not in the "this is the Best Episode Ever" camp, this is touching and interesting. Good song, too.
S8: "What Lies Beneath" – S8 has a poor reputation, but even so this didn't win by default. However, it was much more coherent and character-driven than many of the season's episodes – even if Gallus was treated pretty unpleasantly by the Tree...
S9: "Frenemies" – A villains episode that's a whole lot of fun? Sign me up! Considering how long in the tooth FiM was by this time, it's notable how fresh and different this feels. Good song, great bickering dialogue, and even what we now know about "Grogar" doesn't really pull it down.
Happy New Year, Loganberry! Now get back to work! :P
ReplyDeleteOoh, I'd done something similar to this a couple of years back in one of my blog posts. The only difference was that (in order to be fair to Season Three) I split every other season into two sets of thirteen episodes, and then picked one from each half. The principle was the same, though.
"Double episodes... are not eligible"
You mean we can't pick entire two-parters? Rats! Otherwise, "The Cutie Map" would've been a shoe-in for Season Five. Oh well...
S1: "Sonic Rainboom" – Easily Rainbow's finest moment, and hands-down the peak of the Season One experience for me. It combines so much into one moment of heroism: awesome, funny, heartwarming, tension, and overall memorability. Plus the "stewards of the world" angle gets its best expression in the Cloudsdale Weather Factory, and I really like the others' supporting roles, especially Fluttershy's mini-arc as wannabe cheerleader.
S2: "Sisterhooves Social" – I really agree with your pick of "Hurricane Fluttershy"... but I'm going to be different and celebrate the Sweetie Belle-Rarity-Applejack-Apple Bloom dynamic. Slice-of-Life drama at its best, being used to deepen our understanding of the CMCs, in particular the fantastic love-hate frustrations and affections between Sweetie Belle and Rarity. Also, the Sisterhooves Social has personal relevance for me because of the headcanon it inspired.
S3: "Apple Family Reunion" – Again, I really agree with your Scootaloo pick, because Scootaloo. But I'm gonna be different again, just for the heck of it. I'm going for the quintessential Apple episode, complete with a credibly flawed-but-well-intentioned "Go Big or Go Home" workaholic version of Best Pony, a lovely intimate feeling throughout, and a damn "YEE-HAW!" of a song for the finisher.
S4: "Rarity Takes Manehattan" – OK, Logan, now we're just being difficult. :P But as all-out hilarious as "Pinkie Pride" is, I'm going to pick the one where Rarity gets pushed to breaking point by the smuggest chumly ever, where I admit my biases for New York in Ponyworld, where what goes around comes around, and where Coco is the most loveable beneficiary of this season's secret tests of character. Also, Rarity sings. It is always a good thing when Rarity sings: I nearly considered "Sweet and Elite" previously.
S5: "Rarity Investigates!" – Once more, I'm conceding your good taste ("Great wickering stallions!") while taking a random sidestep. Noir Rarity makes too much damn sense, the mystery is at least well-constructed with a strangely intimidating villain, and it's my pick for episode that's way more fun than it really needs to be.
But damn you for not letting me pick all of "The Cutie Map"!
Continued...
DeleteS6: "Gauntlet of Fire" – Finally, something we disagree on (couldn't care less about the Xmas Carol ep). This season, after so many shortfalls, at long, long last gave Spike the great episode he's long since deserved, with Ember and Torch as enjoyably tough-but-fair additions to the cast. The adventure story - draconic fun though it is, because dragons make every fantasy cooler - isn't dominated by the adventure aspect either, ultimately becoming - through Spike's determination - an affirmation of what the show's about.
S7: "Discordant Harmony" – "The Perfect Pear" is perfect, I know, but again: being different. Which is appropriately what this episode celebrates, and it's honestly the only time in the series where the Discord-Fluttershy dynamic worked for me. Plus, Discord's real estate in Nonsenseland reminds me of the old Mr Men books, specifically the weirder ones like Mr Silly and Little Miss Dotty. Add in John de Lancie and the animators having fun for twenty minutes, and it's just charming.
S8: "The Washouts" – Well, this just got tougher, and I'm tempted to talk about the Kirin ep. But this one definitely sticks out more in my memory. Take out the last couple of minutes, and this is a nuanced look at Scootaloo's maturing relationship with Rainbow Dash as they confront the fact that - gasp! - Scootaloo might be interested in other things besides Rainbow Dash. Lightning Dust comes back in impressive fashion, and as I may have mentioned before, the Washouts are effin' BOSS.
S9: "Frenemies" – OK, nuts to it. Seasons Eight and Nine are ones I generally avoid, and I haven't been bothered to see much of the latter either. But this was a fun enough standalone, exactly as you describe: the POV shift and the license our protagonists have for villainy elevate this to a rare gem. Moreso Tirek and Chrysalis, who get plenty of opportunities to show off throughout, and I like how the ending hints that they may be redeemable without straight-up pretending they're not villains anymore.
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You realize there were so many episodes a hair's breadth from being mentioned? :D Ask me tomorrow, and I could (mostly) draw up a completely different list.
"Discordant Harmony" is an episode I also rate highly. It was one of the reasons I found S7's choice difficult. I hadn't thought of the Mr Men comparison before, but I see just what you mean! :D
Deleteoh fun :D
ReplyDelete1: Party of One - This one's easy. I watched it over and over again back in the day! Granted, we had a lot fewer options to watch, but still.
2: Hurricane Fluttershy - C'mon, you can't not love this one. Though I found myself looking at Luna Eclipsed as well, surprisingly...
3: Magic Duel - In my head, I was thinking Apple Family Reunion, but as good as that episode is, I feel like this one's way more watchable. It's got everything! A return character, a crazed antagonist, magic, spectacle, body horror, and Zecora being Yoda. What more could you want?
4: Pinkie Pride - There aren't a whole lot of S4 episodes I'd actually want to watch again and again. But Weird Al Horse yes.
5: Amending Fences - No question. Give me sad lesbian horses all day!
6: A Hearth's Warming Tail - This was really hard. I mean, I really need the wiki's episode list at this point, but I also found myself hung up on a few episodes in this season. Much as I would happily take No Second Prances' sad lesbian horses, you can't go wrong with the music and pageantry in service of homage. :)
7: The Perfect Pear - Damn you, season 7, you actually had some good episodes! How dare you make me choose between sad straight horses and Daybreaker! Curses.
8: The Parent Map - I always forget what season this is in, but I knew it was gonna be my answer. The Mean 6 is close, but not close enough.
9: She Talks to Angel - Frenemies is definitely rewatchable, but also I hate the song. Give me body swap hilarity any day. :B
"Party of One" is interesting. When I was new to the fandom it wa mostly seen as a cast-iron classic, but it slipped back a bit after a few years. Maybe it's come back a little recently. "She Talks to Angel" is a lot of fun, as long as I ignore Fluttershy killing a bunch of carnivores by pushing them to go veggie... :P
DeleteOoh, this sounds like fun. Count me in! Though, Logan, Impossible Numbers: darn the pair of ya for snapping up quite a few of my top picks for most seasons! For the sake of diversity, I'm gonna make my main pick different where I can, noting if it would have otherwise been one you grabbed first.
ReplyDeleteIN's seasonal split is interesting, I may have to apply that some other time.
S1: "The Best Night Ever" (replacing "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" and "Sonic Rainboom") – More than any other season, I really need a rewatch here to reevaluate my rankings. For now, this subversive contradiction of Disney fairy tales split across six fast-paces subplots for the Mane 6, while not quite on the level of them getting their marks, is about as close as it gets. Toss in a song that seems to go on forever and end too soon, so immersive is it, and moments like "You're Going to LOVE ME!", and you have a great mix of the series' earnestness, respect for the little girls watching it, and usage of classical Cartoon Network-esque writing.
"Dragonshy", "Suited for Success", "Green Isn't Your Color", and "A Bird in the Hoof" were all close forerunners.
S2: "It's About Time" – (replacing both "Hurricane Fluttershy" and "Sisterhoods Social"). Darn you two; between snapping the best picks and two-parters being ruled out, this became quite trickier, with lots of great episodes wrestling for picks. This may well change, but this'll do for now. The character chemistry of Twilight, Spike and Pinkie here is the absolute best, and the offbeat contrivances keep it hilarious from start to finish. Plus Twilight-in-Solid-Snake getup. I remain a little uncertain there isn't a better pick, but you can't go wrong here. M.A. Larson more than made up for "Lesson Zero" here, anyway.
"Luna Eclipsed", "Sweet and Elite", "The Super Speedy Cider Squeeze 6000" and "Read It and Weep" were all close forerunners.
S3: "Wonderbolts Academy" (replacing "Sleepless in Ponyville") – Maybe a little controversial? The shorter season size and quite a few duds make this tricky, and I can see "Apple Family Reunion" winning out next time I rewatch this season. But outside of a soft middle scene of Pinkie going overboard, I wouldn't change much; what irritation I feel at the Wonderbolts comes largely from them not iterating on their faults here in later appearances, so I won't blame this episode for it. Great test of Rainbow's resolve, and Lightning Dust remains an excellent foil for her.
S4: "Pinkie Pride" – Truth be told, I think there are a few other episodes this season I enjoy watching a bit more, and that's probably down to the unrelenting energy of this episode making it one I don't always want to reach for. But this is still the top pick; "Weird Al" Yankovic remains the most inspired and best executed guest star in the whole show, and the way the episode is tooled around him musical style and uses songs for a fantastic Key episode for Pinkie makes it quite the poignant riot fest. And rarely has writer and episode being so well matched as Amy Keating Rogers here. S4 has a lot of episodes that are fine but I'd rarely choose to watch, but the top few are as excellent as any other season.
"Filly Vanilli", "Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3" and "Rarity Takes Manehattan" were all close forerunners.
S5: "Amending Fences" – You lot may have wanted to be contrarian. Not me, not this time – I stand by this being very nearly the best writing in the whole show, and it all just comes together so wonderfully, forcing Twilight to only to make up for being a horrible friend once, but to reexamine what she used to be like. And the way Moondancer's pain, hidden behind indifference at first, lashes out towards the end is too real. Spike has one of his best showcases in a while, and Minuette is a treasure. 'Nuff said. Like IN, "The Cutie Map" may well have taken this were it eligible, and "Rarity Investigates" is never not fun for one of the best genre pastiches the show ever did.
[Seasons 6-9 continued below]
[continued from Seasons 1-5 above]
DeleteS6: "Buckball Season" – As I'm still midway through rewatching this season, this may well change. In the episodes I've currently rewatched, only "Gauntlet of Fire" and "the Saddle Row Review" are true contenders. For now, I'll give it to this funky sports episode that is one of the few late seasons episodes that could have been an earlier episode with basically no changes (just mild softening of Fluttershy's character). It's fun in a low-key manner, and while the moral is predictable, it is unusual. Being the only real Pinkie/Fluttershy pairing also gives it a boost. Likely to change, but that's no sin.
S7: "Once Upon a Zepplin" (replacing "The Perfect Pear") – This was honestly the trickiest seasons to decide for, as without yet rewatching most of those, once you take out "The Perfect Pear", it's a scramble to find an honestly-great episode; most of them are too suffused with late-season writing traps/characters. So, again, likely to change. Right now, getting the Sparkle family together provides some new dynamics, even if some of it remains frankly incompatible with past seasons. I'm not overly fond of making Iron Will more of a direct antagonist than before, but he's still fun. Nerd Twi-Dad and Daredevil Twi-Mom are great too. More so, it's the rare depiction of a post-princess Twilight issue after Season 4 I can get behind. I do wish Spike was along, though; his casual dismissal and being okay with holding the fort doesn't fit either with my head canon or other Sparkle family canons in the show, both in earlier and later seasons. Oh well, can't win them all.
Right now, "Parental Gildance", "Honest Apple", "Discordant Harmony", "To Change a Changeling", "Marks and Recreation" and "Secrets and Pies" are other forerunners. Yeah, it's been long enough that I couldn't easily narrow this down.
S8: "Sounds of Silence" – Not nearly as amazing as many claim, frankly; between the rushed pacing and nonsensical world building, a lot of the writing is just "there". But the Kirin character designs, lore and song, plus Autumn Blaze and Rachel Bloom's portrayal of her, do make this episode. Basically, the highlights do outweigh the shortcomings more than enough, though it probably wouldn't crack the top quarter of any pre-S6 season.
"The Washouts" was a close forerunner, with "The Parent Map" not too far behind.
S9: "Going to Seed" (replacing "Frenemies") – A true sign of how things changed: this episode wouldn't have cracked the top half of any of the first five seasons. But compared to many across the run, it doesn't make AJ too stubborn or dumbed down too much, and the smaller scape and cast leads to halfway decent character chemistry. So, I'll take it.
Note that, once "Frenemies" is axed, "She Talks to Angel" and "The Big Mac Question" are the only other episodes all season that are even Decent, and both of them still have a rather major nagging point(s). Truly scavenging for table scraps here.
One other observation: Present Perfect might be letting his lesbian shipping goggles weigh in a bit on his choices/explanations. Maybe. Maybe not. More than I would, anyway.
I really liked "Buckball Season" first time round, so I'm hoping that stays the case when I get there -- which won't be that long now!
DeleteThis looks like a bit of fun :). Couldn’t get my Google account to work on here (as usual), but hopefully the name I put in manually works. Anyway, here are my picks:
ReplyDeleteSeason 1: The Best Night Ever
Season 2: Luna Eclipsed
Season 3: Sleepless in Ponyville
Season 4: Castle Mania
(Would have been ‘Princess Twilight Sparkle’ if double eps were allowed)
Season 5: Crusaders of the Lost Mark
Season 6: A Hearth’s Warming Tail
Season 7: A Royal Problem
Season 8: Road to Friendship
Season 9: Frenemies
If you know me then there probably aren’t any big surprises here. For an explanation on each, I’d refer you to the Marge Simpson meme “I just think they’re neat”. If you’re particularly curious about some then I could probably elaborate.
It’s literal years since I sat down and watched an episode outside group watch-alongs, and I almost feel like a bit of a fraud weighing in at this point, my connection with the show growing ever fainter.
I used the wiki episode list for this, and there’s titles in there I honestly can’t remember!
"Crusaders of the Lost Mark" is a lovely episode to watch, and even now I feel a surge of Bulk Biceps "YEEAHHH!" when the CMC get their marks. I'm actually surprised you're the only commenter to pick it.
DeleteOk, so here are my choices. I've decided that repeats are perfectly ok, since there's only a finite number of episodes to choose from:
ReplyDeleteS1: The Cutie Mark Chronicles
S2: Sweet and Elite
S3: Magical Mystery Cure
S4: Filli Vanilli
S5: Amending Fences
S6: A Hearth's Warming Tale
S7: The Perfect Pear
S8: Sounds of Silence
S9: Frenemies
Most of these choices are self explanatory. "Sweet and Elite" makes the cut for its razor sharp focus on Rarity's character, and the series of choices she makes that seem reasonable at each step while leading her somewhere unreasonable. ("It's About Time", for it's really well thought through and precise use of a time travel plot, was a close second here.)
"Magical Mystery Cure" is my pick for Season 3 purely because of the songs which are ridiculously catchy, and the main reason why I've watched that episode as many times as I have. Plus, I don't care how contrived it is, I still get a bit teary thinking about Celestia's Ballad and the wing reveal scene. That made a powerful impact on me on first watching.
Season 4's Filli Vanilli is my favourite episode of the show of all time. I adore seeing how happy Fluttershy is singing throughout the episode, and it's a joy to see her doing something for herself rather than for others.
Season 6 onwards the standouts stand out rather more strongly due to the lack of contenders, which is a shame, but that's just what happened. Although I do wonder what people's reaction would have been had I picked "The Last Problem" for Season 9. The future skip forward and final song means I remember it much more clearly than most of that season.
It would certainly have been fun if you had picked "The Last Problem"! I have come across people who like the episode as a whole, not just the concept or the last few minutes.
DeleteThis is surprisingly difficult, and while thinking about my list, I realized there is a common element in a lot of my choices: subversion of expectations. I really love when it seems obvious where a story is heading and then takes a sudden (and entertaining) left turn!
ReplyDeleteSeason 1: The Best Night Ever
Highlights were Fluttershy losing her s#!t and the urgent, whispered, "Run!" from Celestia. Also a shoutout to cyclops pony.
Season 2: Luna Eclipsed
Do I need to say more than Cloak of Bats? Again, helping Luna to readjust could have been done in a plodding, pedestrian way but this? Chef's kiss!
Season 3: Magic Duel
Trixie in maximum insane c#%t mode is just sublime! No Friendship Laser solution? Time for the short con! I love it when characters outthink their enemies.
Season 4: Castle Mania
Implied lore is something I adore. Lots of good gags here. I really wish they hadn't abandoned the castle (again!) for the crystal treehouse.
Season 5: Amending Fences
Maybe the best of the series, let alone the season. A real, complex problem that Twilight can't magic away… plus Minuette!
Season 6: Gauntlet of Fire
Good Spike episodes are far too few.
Season 7: The Perfect Pear
Another realistic piece with real heart to it. I swear, the dancing "together" shot still makes me mist up.
Season 8: Road to Friendship
This one is miraculous; it made me sympathize with Trixie! Fun premise, fun song. It probably helps that my dad was a huge fan of the Hope/Crosby road pictures and I got to stay up late and watch them with him whenever they were on TV. Nostalgia counts for a lot, I guess.
Season 9: Frenemies
Speaking of maximum c#%ts… IMHO, this is the best Chrysalis outing since her debut. One of the few S9 episodes I would gladly rewatch anytime.
I wonder what it says about (you, me, the show, anyone) that none of your S1-S4 picks were remotely close to making it for me, but all of the S5-S9 picks were.
Delete