I don’t think G5 will be that similar to the season 9 of MLP:FiM. One of the major problems in that show was that their stories felt kinda random, out of nowhere and nonsensical, which explains why some people didn’t like season 9.
I think G5 will be more organized and more planned to avoid this issue. The team would plan better their team structure and established project goals so the G5 can be more consistent.
MLP:FiM had a big problem, and is that it was stuck in a scenario that forces itself to attempt things it wasn’t particularly strong at.
Totally agree, and is something I’ve been partial to in one form or another since I started FiM. Originally it was uh, how many friendship lessons could they possibly teach before running out of ideas? Back in August of 2011 after watching season one, I seriously wondered if they could have enough material for another season, let alone eight more that would eventuate. Granted, season two ended up sucking, but not for the reasons I originally presumed; and they got around what I originally thought would be the biggest millstone in Lesson Zero. The show finally got over its severe case of Mass-Effect-2-itis in season four, but it was always an issue even then, just one much less prevalent due to an injection of ontological inertia.
The biggest flaws with g4, as you mentioned, are to do with how the characters and episodes were structured, and how once some of those structures changed (ontological inertia outside the two-parters and the friendship lessons), things became a little flimsy. It led to a situation where because of how the characters were structured within the show, their goals, development, and progression could be all over the place; especially when combined with the slice-of-life format and 26-episode seasons. I can very much understand why Josh Haber would want to retire the mane six and focus on Starlight and her friends (if the rumours from the unpopular opinion time thread is to be believed), even if I disagree with that particular solution.
G5 seems to have taken those lessons onboard, and structured itself towards something quite ontological from the start, and also seems to want the characters to be less pigeonholed and to grow and develop organically, rather than have set Doylist goals for them to achieve down the road.
To be fair to Lauren and the team behind g4, I don’t think any of them thought the show would go the distance it ended up going, and is why its structured the way it is. I’m pretty sure that if had they known they would have over 200 episodes to play with, things would’ve been structured differently. G4 very much succeeded in spite of itself, not because of itself.
If she is, then it doesn’t feel like it, since a character like her makes a hell of a lot of sense given the audience for the show.
Yes, I do “remember the feeling when you first started watching G4 and became engrossed in the show and fandom? That feeling of wonder and curiosity?” Y’know what else I remember fellow Ponibooru expat? How much season two sucked, and how an awful lot of people said that the show was permanently ruined when Faust left! I remember DerpyGate, Merriweather Williams, another alicorn princess, and Twilight’s brother. After that I remember Twilicorn, Equestria Girls, et cetera et cetera et cetera. The idea g4 was this amazing gem of a show is epically laughable to me, since I remember the dramas going all the way back to season two, and if we’re going by that ledger, then MLP hasn’t been good since 2011, 2012 if you accept season two, 2013 if you accept season three, et cetera. I’m not even a purist, and I accept all of g4 (even if I didn’t particularly care for season two), and accept g5, so it’s not like I’m super-welded to the idea that g4 was the bee’s knees.