Poll MLP:FIM S8E01 & 02 - "School Daze" - Grading & Discussion

[Amaris]

Episode Name: "School Daze"
Air Date: March 24th, 2018

Summary: Twilight Sparkle decides to open a School of Friendship when the Cutie Map grows bigger to reflect the world beyond Equestria, but must fight to save her school, and her students, from being shut down by the Equine Educational Association.


Ruminations: Season 8 premiere! It snuck up on me so fast I didn't realize it was happening until today, and only then thanks to @Peach Wookiee for letting me know!
So, to get to the story, Twilight opens a school of friendship. I've read fanfics like this before. Some of us figured this was only a matter of time anyway. So it should be interesting to see how this turns out!

 

[Amaris]

This was a sweet episode, where we get introduced to a lot of interesting new characters. Also, the school is pretty cool, which means it will be a playset. *cough*BUY OUR TOYS!*cough*

Fun story, and it felt great to see Twilight and co. again after the film (which is acknowledged). I gave it a solid "A."

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Solid A for me as well. I'm actually impressed that the show touched on racism...or is it speciesism here? I have a feeling that we'll be seeing Neighsay again.
It was fun seeing the other races of Equus post-movie. Seeing the cousin of Princess Skystar made me laugh.

 

[Amaris]

Solid A for me as well. I'm actually impressed that the show touched on racism...or is it speciesism here? I have a feeling that we'll be seeing Neighsay again.
It was fun seeing the other races of Equus post-movie. Seeing the cousin of Princess Skystar made me laugh.

It would be speciesism.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

It would be speciesism.

Thank you, Amaris. I have to wonder if Neighsay is representative of a lot of unicorns who still believe that they are the superior Equestrian species. If this show were darker, I wonder if they'd have a pony version of Nazis...

 

[Amaris]

Thank you, Amaris. I have to wonder if Neighsay is representative of a lot of unicorns who still believe that they are the superior Equestrian species. If this show were darker, I wonder if they'd have a pony version of Nazis...

Possibly. Unicorn elitism is clearly a thing in the MLP universe.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I've been bingeing through all of the seasons in the past few months, and finally reached season 8. Maybe it's just because I've watched the seasons back-to-back, but I felt there was a marked decline in quality with this episode. It felt like the show got new writers this season, was that the case? Not that it's the most realistic show to begin with, but there were some big plot holes in this episode, and the mane 6 have become complete caricatures.

I am really not on board with the school of friendship idea. It feels like a gimmick to introduce new characters that little kids will prefer more than the mane 6. If the choice is to move toward MLP being more exclusively a children's show, that's okay with me, it's just a little sad that the little things that made MLP so great seem to be slowly disappearing. I actually thought that season 7 had been an improvement over season 6, so I was sad to see the decline.