Recommended Episodes for a first time G1 Viewer?

[Jorgito93]

Thanks so much Sunset for the link to uncut ramc! 

I didn't see anyone mention one of my favorites so far, "The Glass Princess" where the pig princess is shockingly powerful after she steals the pony magic.  I especially like the scene where the ponies are put through a conveyor-belt carwash-style ponywash and how shocked the poor ponies look while the Raptorians are brushing their hair and putting terrible makeup on them: so ironic as this is what happens to our little ponies in real life!  And their manes grow back in seconds, unlike our real life ponies, too bad!

This episode was kinda bland and boring for me except for Shady which is a character i love because i was totally like her in the past, and this scene which made me think hasbro knew the future (while being a great way to increase their sells because little girls will try this on their ponies thinking their hair will grow back).

[Chelsea7]

Does anyone know why the art style from the first episode differs so much from the rest of the episodes in the series?

 I love the way they draw the ponies in RAMC, and while I like the design of the ponies in other episodes, I wish they kept the old style for the entire series.

[Leave a Whisper]

Thanks so much Sunset for the link to uncut ramc! 

I didn't see anyone mention one of my favorites so far, "The Glass Princess" where the pig princess is shockingly powerful after she steals the pony magic.  I especially like the scene where the ponies are put through a conveyor-belt carwash-style ponywash and how shocked the poor ponies look while the Raptorians are brushing their hair and putting terrible makeup on them: so ironic as this is what happens to our little ponies in real life!  And their manes grow back in seconds, unlike our real life ponies, too bad!

Actually, Ponyfan and I did mention it. :p

Post Merge: April 28, 2016, 07:00:30 AM

Does anyone know why the art style from the first episode differs so much from the rest of the episodes in the series?

 I love the way they draw the ponies in RAMC, and while I like the design of the ponies in other episodes, I wish they kept the old style for the entire series.

From what I understand the people who animated Dungeons and Dragons did RAMC and then they switched to different animators for the rest.

[Al-1701]

Actually, it was a change in character designer.  RaMC was designed by Takashi from Dungeons & Dragons.  Different model designers were brought in afterward.

[LadyMoondancer]

I'm sure it was a different animation company as well.  Basically, a cheaper company.  MLP & Friends has very basic "everyone is viewed from the side 90% of the time" storyboarding, while RaMC has really high quality storyboarding / choreographing. 

Like, count how many "camera angles" they used just to show Firefly taking off with Megan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSyd21j1PpA

Angle 1 - Megan gets on and Firefly trots out of "camera view"
Angle 2 - Firefly galloping up the cliff (with a dynamic moving background of clouds to show motion--more extra expense)
Angle 3 - Straight-on view of Megan's D: face
Angle 4 - Firefly leaps off the cliff
Angle 5 - Firefly diving straight towards the camera
Angle 6 - Firefly recovers from her dive and swoops upward

So, that's six different backgrounds, some with movement behind the main characters, just to show a pegasus taking off.  You would neeever see something like that in MLP & Friends.  They would show Surprise (or whoever) from the side, Megan would get on, and Surprise would do that awkward "flapping straight up" thing that MLP & Friends pegasi do.

Just one of the reasons RaMC is my favorite piece of MLP animation.

[Al-1701]

Toei animated both specials, some of the movie, and some episodes of MLP & Friends.  AKOM handled the rest.  There were also different teams of animators at each studio.

Another issue was time.  The year Rescue at Midnight Castle was made; Hasbro's workload for Toei was one five-episode miniseries for G.I. Joe, 16 episodes of Transformers, and Rescue at Midnight Castle.  Compare that to 55 episodes of the Transformers, 49 of G.I. Joe, the Glo Friends Christmas special, Escape from Catrina, and the Super Sunday Block the following year.  Then full seasons of Transformers and G.I. Joe, four movies, 26 episodes of Jem and the Holograms, and 50 episodes of My Little Pony 'n Friends in 1986.  Less that needs to be animated, the more time and effort can go into the animation process.  Remember, every cell drawn by hand, aligned by hand, and photographed.  No computer assistance at all.

[Sunset]

It's also worth noting that RMAC was originally just called "My Little Pony" and was billed as a special not as the pilot for a show.  It's quit possible that there were no plans for the other special, the movie, or the series till later.  It's possible that we might not have gotten any of the rest if the toy line hadn't gotten more and more popular.

As others have said, as the demand for more animation increased, Hasbro had to find a cheaper solution.

I agree though that the animation for RAMC is much nicer than later stuff.

[Ponyfan]

Some VHS copies of Rescue of at Midnight castle had animated footage of the Rainbow Pones.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRzsENtVjRM  Maybe they were planning to do another special featuring them but then decided to use other ponies? I agree the animation was better in RAMC.


Ponyfan

[northstar3184]

Some VHS copies of Rescue of at Midnight castle had animated footage of the Rainbow Pones.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRzsENtVjRM  Maybe they were planning to do another special featuring them but then decided to use other ponies? I agree the animation was better in RAMC.


Ponyfan

I started a thread about this awhile back and gained some interesting insight: http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,361798.msg1288913.html#msg1288913

[lostpony]

Thanks so much Sunset for the link to uncut ramc! 

I didn't see anyone mention one of my favorites so far, "The Glass Princess" where the pig princess is shockingly powerful after she steals the pony magic.  I especially like the scene where the ponies are put through a conveyor-belt carwash-style ponywash and how shocked the poor ponies look while the Raptorians are brushing their hair and putting terrible makeup on them: so ironic as this is what happens to our little ponies in real life!  And their manes grow back in seconds, unlike our real life ponies, too bad!

Actually, Ponyfan and I did mention it. :p

Oh if I didn't have something else to add I wouldn't burden this thread with a response.....but sorry about that, and thank you for pointing out that others DID mention Glass Princess....notice I said "I didn't see anyone mention" because if I didn't see it, it could certainly still be there....I am glad others liked it too!

So the instantly-regrowing pony hair scene is behind all the haircut ponies on eBay?  hahaha.  I wonder how many did get haircuts because of that scene, hm....when my mom was very little (long before my little pony) she cut off a lot of her favorite stuffed animal's hair and was very upset when she found out it doesn't grow back!

I notice that many of the favorite episodes people have mentioned are still ahead of me so I better get back to watching them up!  Thanks!

As for the ramc animation, all I know is it does look very different...more thorough yes, but also much darker, and I like both styles because while the regular show stuff is more limited it's also brighter in appearance (thought not necessarily brighter as to peril for our poor innocent little ponies! ).

[Deep Purple Crystal]

I'd definitely recommend 'Return of Tambelon' and RAMC. I'd also like to give special mention to 'The Magic Coins' here, as it is tuly a fantastic episode (as are 'Crunch the Rockdog' and 'The Golden Horseshoes' two I'd also like to mention).

'Mish Mash Melee' is a good one to start on though, due to its short length and strong characterizations.

[northstar3184]

Thanks so much Sunset for the link to uncut ramc! 

I didn't see anyone mention one of my favorites so far, "The Glass Princess" where the pig princess is shockingly powerful after she steals the pony magic.  I especially like the scene where the ponies are put through a conveyor-belt carwash-style ponywash and how shocked the poor ponies look while the Raptorians are brushing their hair and putting terrible makeup on them: so ironic as this is what happens to our little ponies in real life!  And their manes grow back in seconds, unlike our real life ponies, too bad!

When I was watching this episode a few days ago I found myself thinking, "If the Raptorians just want to cut off the ponies' hair, what's the purpose of giving Gusty a perm and putting makeup on all 3?" Of course I doubt I thought of that as a kid, but I wonder if any kids did.

[LadyMoondancer]

My favorite moment in The Magic Coins is

Spoiler

Sweet Stuff as a clown.

[Al-1701]

Yes.  Done to her by Heart Throb on accident no less.

Something that always stuck with me from "The Magic Coins" was where Galaxy poked the crystal cacti to get water.  For some reason, I found that awesome as a kid and still do now.

Speaking of Michael Reaves stories, I've been binging on Dungeons & Dragons and it seems like he recycled a lot of ideas he had from that show into My Little Pony.  Like the episode "City on the Edge of Midnight" involved an evil city similar to Tambelon that was stealing kids.

[Jorgito93]

Personnaly in this episode i love how they got the balls to

Spoiler

Show the seaponies half dead.