Looking at MLP : FIM episodes by writer

[Scirel]

When compiling the information for this post, I realized simply how many great episodes this show has had, IMO. I've never seen this many genuinely classic episodes in the FIRST SEASON of any show.

It really feels like the writers know these charachters by heart already, and don`t need time to "get used" to them as I've seen with many other shows which show a noticable jump in quality in the second season.

Anyway, here's a good lsit to go by if you want to look at them this way as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...Magic_episodes

Lauren Faust:
Episodes: Friendship is Magic parts 1 and 2, co writer of The Ticket Master, Series Creator

Not really much to say here, since she's the show creator and presumably supervises all the episodes. I really love the mythology she's created and I really would love to see more of it, as well as the expanded version of Nightmare Moon's reign she originally wanted.

Amy Keating Rogers:
Episodes: co writer: "The Ticket Master" Writer: "Apple Buck Season" , "Bridle Gossip" , "Fall Weather Friends" , "A Dog and Pony Show"

I have to say she's probably my second favorite writer on the show, in that her episodes really delve into what I think separates FIM from all other shows aimed at its demographic, the level of thought put into the charachters. I think Applejack might be her favorite, as she starred in two of her episodes. Though she was able to treat rarity with the same level of thought in "A dog and Pony show." All in all, she's one of the writers who made the show the success it is with older fans.


Cindy Morrow:
Episodes: "Griffon the Brush-Off" , "Winter Wrap Up" , "The Show Stoppers" , "Owl's Well That Ends Well"

Cindy, Girl, what happened to you!? Your first two eps were freaking ICONIC. Show Stoppers was okay, pretty good, but this newest episode was really.. kinda mediocre. Hopefully it's just a one off thing because those first two she did were probably some of the most memorable episodes of the entire series! Winter Wrap Up had that great song and everyone loves all of the charachter exploration and potential future enemy in Gilda. Hopefully she just had a bad day with the owl thing.

Chris Savino:
Episodes: "Boast Busters" , "Stare Master"
Heh, now THESE are episodes written by a Brony. Tons of conflict with all the charachters playing off each other excellently and both ending with a face-off against a powerful mythological creature. Do more, man! ROCK ON.

Meghan McCarthy
Episodes: "Dragonshy" , "Call of the Cutie" , "Green Isn't Your Color"
It's unfair of me to judge her since Fluttershy is my favorite pony and she basically wrote two of the three episodes that explain why. CotC, while many see as less than others but still good, I think is a very good episode and introduced the world to Solid Applebloom. One of the best on the show. Great charachter interaction and development. More form her please!

Charlotte Fullerton
Episodes: "Look Before You Sleep" , "Suited for Success" , "A Bird in the Hoof"
I see she's a fan of Rarity, eh? She's my second fave tied with Twilight, so that's cool. Suited for Success is one of my top favorite episodes because it exemplified the show's greaters strength, charachter development. I'd say that Bird in the hoof is an above average episode, both due to Twilight overreacting, Fluttershy Being Fluttershy, and the "reborn" Philomena looking really cool. The episode itself could have been a bit better, but enjoyable overall. LBYS was fairly forgettable, but also fairly enjoyable, so I`d never shy away from her episodes.

M. A. Larson
Episodes: "Swarm of the Century" , "Sonic Rainboom" , "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"
Well, here we are. The man(woman?) that basically single-handedly made the FIM fandom what it is today. The Ponycraft2 video would have been impossible without SOTC, an already great episode for, once again, letting the charachters be themselves reacting to a situation is simply entertaining for this show. Then, he writes BOTH sonic rainboom episodes, which puts him into the category of writers like Lauren Faust and Chris Savino who take an already excellent cast and setting setup and try to make it as EPIC AS FREAKING POSSIBLE. His episodes pretty much made the show, in the minds of fans, an epic tale on the scale of one piece just WAITING to happen. I WANT to see Rainbow Dash become the best flier that ever lived, joining the wonderbolts. I WANT to see Rarity become Equestria's best fashion designer. i WANT to see Fluttershy come out of her shell while still being her loving self and make friends with all the animals. I WANT to see AppleJack's farm become a huge success and grow the world's best apples. I WANT to see Pinky Pie just be her random self along with the adventure and make everyone happy. and most of all, I FREAKING WANT to see Twilight Sparkle become the most powerful unicorn that ever lived, saving the world again and eventually surpass celesita herself. M.A. Larson, thank you.

Dave Polsky:
Episodes: "Feeling Pinkie Keen" , "Over a Barrel"
Well... hmmm... geez... Awkward.. I'll start by avoiding the elephant in the room and talk about over a barrel, which was fairly cool in expanding the show's mythology and had a lot of good individual moments. However, the scene at the end, I gotta say, was really awkward, with the conflict between settles and natives being represented by a pie fight, it just really didn`t sit quite right with me knowing the history of how things really went down in the west. Polsky's episodes seem to emphasize the show's weaknesses rather than its strengths, and unlike the other writers, who write the show as Mrs. Faust intended, for all ages to enjoy, I'd say his are the only two i`d say are written more for kids specifically given the subject matter. feeling Pinkie Keen, like OAB, is an episode I am ultimately torn on. We had two classic moments in the show, Derpy Hooves dropping anvils on twilight and Rapidash Twilight, as well as that badass hydra in this episode! Let me say I have no problem with "Pinkie Sense" existing in a world with dragons and Unicorns and magic being common. It's just, the way the episode was written didn`t sit well with me. Are we seriously supposed to take Pinkie Pie as an allegory for a religious figure? I don`t know. All I know is that FPK feels a lot like the family Guy episode in which the cast of Star Trek: TNG cameoed. The Star Trek cast scenes were great and funny, but they were put into an episode whose message just didn`t sit right with me.

[Tay the Cat]

feeling Pinkie Keen, like OAB, is an episode I am ultimately torn on. We had two classic moments in the show, Derpy Hooves dropping anvils on twilight and Rapidash Twilight, as well as that badass hydra in this episode! Let me say I have no problem with "Pinkie Sense" existing in a world with dragons and Unicorns and magic being common. It's just, the way the episode was written didn`t sit well with me. Are we seriously supposed to take Pinkie Pie as an allegory for a religious figure?

According to Lauren, it wasn't written that way, or at least, it wasn't the intention. She has expressed her displeasure over the whole thing, even.

[Mesousa]

Some fun facts about the writers:

Charlotte Fullerton started as a dub writer for Saban, writing an episode for Power Rangers, as well as writing two episodes from the second season of Digimon (one of them being the Christmas special).

Amy Keating Rogers wrote one episode of The Fairly Oddparents and My Life As A Teenage Robot. The latter isn't a surprise (since people like Savino and Renzetti were involved), but the former came quite a shock to me. As a side-not, Fullerton actually also wrote a segment for Fairly Oddparents once.

Most people mostly know Dave Polsky for being the executive producer of The Buzz of Maggie (a show I actually really liked), but he also was a co-writer of Scary Movie 2. Yep.

I have a prediction on this M. A. Larson girl/guy; it's Lauren Faust using a psesudonym. It makes sense, doesn't it? We should at least send Lauren an email about that

[GC13]

According to Lauren, it wasn't written that way, or at least, it wasn't the intention. She has expressed her displeasure over the whole thing, even.

Whether it was intended or not, Twilight was written as a Straw Scientist, wholly misrepresenting what science was about. Go on and find me a scientist that says "despite unassailable empirical proof that this exists I will not believe that it exists until I can explain it". All they had to do to remove this message from the episode would be to redirect Twilight's skepticism into a belief that Pinkie is pulling a prank on her rather than "I cannot explain it, ergo it does not exist".

[SammyT]

I have a prediction on this M. A. Larson girl/guy; it's Lauren Faust using a pseudonym. It makes sense, doesn't it? We should at least send Lauren an email about that

That doesn't make sense to me. Why would Lauren use a pseudonym?

[nakak]

Hard to pick. They all had their strong points and weaknesses. Two of the Amy Keating Rogers episodes are my faves ("Fall Weather Friends" and "Applebuck Season").

I'll never understand why alot of people hate "Feeling Pinkie Keen". I actually think that's the funniest episode of the show so far, possibly because it's heavily reminiscent of the vintage 40s/50s cartoons (before the hydra part, at least), and if you know me you know I LOVE those stuff. Maybe the moral could've been better worded, but that still won't take my love of it.

Speaking of which...

Most people mostly know Dave Polsky for being the executive producer of The Buzz of Maggie (a show I actually really liked), but he also was a co-writer of Scary Movie 2. Yep.

Polsky was in alot of things, mostly writing materials for stand-up comedy. He was also a staff writer on the first season of "South Park". All that probably explains why the two episodes he wrote so far are more joke-heavy than the others.

[Desensitized]

No wonder the Owl episode felt a lot like 'Griffon the Brush-Off' only not as good.

On a consistency basis Amy Keating Rogers is the most up to par, but the rest seem to have their clear defined ups and downs.

Also not seeing the problem with 'Feelin Pinkie Keen', it probably could have been clearer in its message but it was funny so whatever.

[WitherWing]

Whether it was intended or not, Twilight was written as a Straw Scientist, wholly misrepresenting what science was about. Go on and find me a scientist that says "despite unassailable empirical proof that this exists I will not believe that it exists until I can explain it". All they had to do to remove this message from the episode would be to redirect Twilight's skepticism into a belief that Pinkie is pulling a prank on her rather than "I cannot explain it, ergo it does not exist".

I guess I assumed that it showed Twilight as a growing character. If she over-relies on only things she can understand, she'll be driven nuts by someone like Pinkie. "Just because you can't explain it doesn't mean it's not true" may be a pretty advanced lesson for kids, but it's not a bad one at all. I mean, it's a world where Cocktrice exist and baby dragons loudly belch up scrolls. There are already things she can accept that she doesn't understand -- this one is just more personal. Plus, they also did an episode where she was the last holdout against curses where her logic and skepticism were well-founded. Overall it's a balanced view.

Besides, the scene where she stops her speech and gets on a soapbox to discuss the fine points of magic is a great touch.

[Daxdiv]

Out of looking at all these writers and the episodes they have written, I would say that most of my favorite episodes comes from Amy Rogers, Chris Savino, Dave Polsky, and M.A. Larson. It's kind of hard for me to pick my favorite, Rogers, Savino and Polsky would be the top 3,

Also, I'm in the same boat in that I don't really have a problem with "Feelin Pinkie Keen." That's a personal favorite of mine, if only for having a story revolve around Pinkie Pie and her special ability to detect danger. Of course, I am biased due to Pinkie being my favorite of the cast and having some funny moments.

[Mesousa]

That doesn't make sense to me. Why would Lauren use a pseudonym?

Maybe a reference to an obscure author or something?

Seriously, someone should email her with that.

[Tay the Cat]

That doesn't make sense to me. Why would Lauren use a pseudonym?

The popular theory among the fanbase is that it's someone using an alt - not necessarily her, but someone.

This M.A. Larson person has never worked on anything before this.

[SammyT]

It's entirely possible that this M. A. Larson is just someone new. Everyone has to start somewhere.
Regardless it's great to see writers getting some proper recognition. And I really love so many episodes that I don't think I could choose a favorite writer.

[Darklordavaitor]

Is there any possibility that M. A. Larson is a pseudonym for Craig? He's not doing anything else that I know of, and it's likely that he wouldn't want to take too much glory away from his wife and is using an alias for the time being.