Episode review: S8E01&E02: "School Daze"

The Mare Who bucked convention and didn't play by the rules

After what's actually been a fairly short inter-season break, we're back with new episodes of Friendship is Magic. All the previews, the leaks and the 12 million animatics Discovery Family released ahead of time certainly got people talking, though there were mixed views as to how the season premiere itself would be received. There was a heavyweight writing partnership to start us off: Michael Vogel and Nicole Dubuc. My thoughts are after the break, as ever, but first:

Please do not mention anything from the S8 leaks in your comments. I don't want to be spoiled on future episodes! This applies all season. Thanks!

This was certainly a big change from what we've been used to. First: the movie is fully canon, end of story. So, let's move on to the creation of the School of Friendship, which to my English eye seems something like a free school. First, a complaint: why didn't Twilight or any of the friends she roped into being teachers even think of talking to Cheerilee about how to teach? I can't imagine how Cheerilee felt at being ignored, but it was certainly a disappointment to me.

I rather liked the new students, who are surely set to be recurring characters this season. My favourite was probably Ocellus the changeling with her iffy Rarity impression, though Silverstream the hippogriff was fun as well with her stair fixation and ability to revert to seapony form. (I also liked Seaspray, voiced nicely by British-born Christopher Gaze.) I can't listen to Sandbar without thinking of the Friendship is Witchcraft characterisation of Shining Armor. I mean, "Don't harsh Yona's love for her heritage"? Yeesh.

"Fruit flies like a banana—but it don't fly like an orange"

Yona is the name of a slug-eating hedgehog in Watership Down, so her name was slightly distracting. She's my favourite yak so far, though that's not hard. Gallus the griffon was a bit on the scratchy and aggravating side, but I think I'll warm to him eventually. Which leaves Smolder – and I just know I'm going to keep inserting an unwanted U in her name. I strongly suspect she'll end up being the fandom favourite, but we'll see.

The antagonist this time, Chancellor Neighsay, was a pretty unpleasant character, especially in his prejudice against non-ponies; this no-holds-barred acknowledgement of blatant racism wasn't something I remember seeing in FiM before. Mind you, we had "the world is filled with so many different creatures who know nothing about friendship" from Twilight herself! The Chancellor's portal magic was interesting, too – though possibly unbalancing given its apparent power.

Neighsay was right on the fact that the Mane Six were unqualified teachers, and as someone from a family of educators I found it irritating that this fact was brushed away so easily in what was a rather unsatisfactory resolution to the premiere. We'd been told earlier that Celestia couldn't ride roughhooved over the EEA, so how come Twilight is able to do just that at the end? It's probably necessary for setting up a story arc, but it's still awkward.

Seriously, though, can you imagine a war fought by that lot?

I really liked Starlight's job as the school's Guidance Counsellor – it shows how far she's come since her redemption. I liked her "tough love" approach to Twilight, which worked a lot better than the Mane Six's efforts. (Not forgetting Spike, who had a reasonable amount to do.) Another thing I liked was the show finally remembering that the Castle of the Two Sisters existed, though all that redecorating the ponies did in S4 seems to have long disappeared.

The songs were really a pair rather than two separate pieces, and I thought they worked fairly well without being classics. They're not up to "Flawless" from last season, though I didn't love that one at first, so maybe these will grow on me, too. The bit in the second song with the two Fluttershys was cute as all hay, though. I wasn't such a fan of the Pukwudgies. Okay, they're from real-world mythology, but they still didn't seem all that interesting.

Some bits and bobs: the first "20% cooler" reference in the show since the S1 original, though there was one in Rainbow Rocks. No more, please. The Mane Six were idiots during the cupcake scene. AJ's blackboard with non-apple fruit crossed out was hilarious. If you go to Rainbow's classes, you get to drink cider. Angel had some amusing mini-scenes. There was a very brief Derpy cameo. Oh, and very nearly a world war. Never mind.

Professional animators tend to make kids' scribbled drawings look too good

I seem to have done a fair amount of complaining here, but actually I quite enjoyed this premiere. It's going to be hard to tell how good this actually was until we've seen some more of its arc, but it was less jarring than I thought it might be. We still get cute colourful ponies (and other species) doing cute things, after all. I suspect the School will be this era of the show's Castle of Friendship in its own way. We shall see!

Best quote: Spike: "Who are you and what have you done with Twilight Sparkle?"

Yays

• A fun collection of new characters
• Starlight not relying on magic for once
• A solid pair of songs
• The animation is well up to snuff
• Didn't shy away from showing species prejudice

Neighs

• Twilight ignoring rules Celestia couldn't
• Cheerilee? Who's Cheerilee?
• The Mane Six's stupidity in the cupcake scene
• The Pukwudgies weren't very interesting

★★★