As Yahtzee said, once you've gone to space, you can't get much bigger.

OOC: For fucks sakes, coming up with a reason for why he's at the academy in the first place is hard. D:

edited 17th Dec '12 5:45:17 PM by OrionAurora

It puts a limit on the series, basically. If each sequel must be bigger than the last then there becomes a point where you simply can't get any bigger, and then you have to stop or risk floudnering out stupidly. Meanwhile if you keep things on roughly the same scale, then you can go on effectively forever, as long as the creativity holds out.

Sorry, I wasn't sure if you had yet

edited 17th Dec '12 5:46:46 PM by kegisak

I don't think Serial Escalation would do MLP:FIM any favors.

For whatever reason, I've never been able to take the "epic" adventures as seriously as the ponies' personal struggles. "Return of Harmony": I cared less about the fact that Discord was wreaking havoc on Ponyville, and more about the fact that he was screwing with the minds of the Mane Cast. "The Crystal Empire": I was less worried about the fate of the Crystal Empire, and more worried about whether or not Twilight would figure out the nature of Celestia's test and pass it. And so on.

Yeah, the main issue with Serial Escalation is that once you start it the show has to constantly attempt to top itself, and eventually it'll hit a point where it can't raise the stakes any higher without breaking the setting. Which is fine if it's a oneshot thing or something with a determined length, but when you have a show that's going to be in production as long as it's popular (probably), it's usually best to stick to a set level so you don't risk hitting that point.

Also this. The shows' adventure episodes are always fun, but the characters interaction is (for me at least) by far the most interesting and well done aspect of the show. I'd much rather have them face off with a lesser but very character-oriented threat rather than having them fight a sentient nebula or whatever, even if it is epic. Epicness is all well and good, but it's no substitute for characterization. And MLP is a show that's doesn't exactly run off of Rule Of Cool, either.

edited 17th Dec '12 5:51:25 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Also, it quickly becomes silly and unbeleivable.

@Kegi: OOC: Don't worry about. I guess to give you guys something to lol about, my first reasoning was that Orion, after Luna had her show in her first Nightmare Night, wanted to be apart of Luna's pegasus team. After all, his job is nocturnal, he gets to be with Luna, and can learn a great deal of space. ...But then I realized 2 things; first that job is probably more selective than the Wonderbolt team, and second, there's also Aqua Marine (aka, Orion's mare friend) and she probably wouldn't be to happy about that.

A creative writer can even take a smaller threat and make it feel like a bigger threat. Compare Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The villain in Begins was the head of an international terrorist organization with agents planted in every level of Gotham's infrastructure. Their plan almost destroyed Gotham City in a single night. The villain in Knight was a crazy clown with only a fraction of the resources the League of Shadows had, and it took days or weeks of killings before he incited the chaos the League did. Nevertheless, the Joker felt like a much bigger threat than Ra's al Ghul did, because Joker was able to screw with Batman's head and hit him where it hurt.

But sometimes is considered good thing by some people, there is even trope for that Beyond Impossible

I'm fan of that but I still like Rule of Cool so I prefer epicnes and adventure episodes.

OOC: -Facehoof- Why didn't I think of this? Doctor Hooves or Time Turner or whatever. Orion and Hooves had their timely wimey adventures. So... after his adventures, Orion wanted to become more physically enhanced should the Doctor ever need him? I'm not a Doctor Who watcher, so I forget about that aspect of Orion's fannon.

edited 17th Dec '12 6:03:17 PM by OrionAurora

But Beyond the Impossible is unsustainable.

Gurren Lagann would like to have a word with you.

it's unsustainable if you don't have a firm endpoint in mind. Something that you know wil be THE crowning moment of HOLY FUCK!!! which you just can't top and will end the story on. If you keep trying to go forever it does become to much

Not if you kick reason to the curb.

(Damn ninjas!)

edited 17th Dec '12 6:07:04 PM by KylerThatch

I'm dittoing Meta and JT re: epic vs. character. The thing I like most about this show is that it isn't some kind of epic save the world shounen explosion. I'm here for the character interaction.

That show is example why I dont like that trope.

edited 17th Dec '12 6:07:36 PM by DeathCloud

Yo.

I wouldn't mind something involving a great, planetary (or even a universal) threat but only for the show finale and only if the episode was given more time to show the personal reaction of the characters (if that makes sense).

Personally, I enjoy the Mane 6 facing a great monster or on going on a quest but as JT said, I like the interactions between characters too.

Take the last episode involving Rainbow Dash's personal battle. Made me a happy dinosaur (and it wasn't just due to the "shipping" bits).

I'd be fine if they take Serial Escalation gradually. I'm just hoping that they would stop thinking in terms of "all of Equestria" and start thinking in terms of "the entire world", since I'm starting to get a little annoyed at whenever they mention "all of Equestria". Whenever they do that, I always think to myself "Why not the entire world?"

For the part about not being able to go bigger, I think that if they save a universe or galaxy-level threat for the Grand Finale, that would be fine. At that point, they don't have to do anything "bigger", just do something "different".

Sometimes it fails even if you do have a definite endpoint. The first Pirates Of The Carribean movie was great, but the sequels just got silly. Three person swordfight inside a rolling wheel, really now? How about a giant fight on a boat in the middle of a whirlpool for the entire future of piracy?

Why, exactly?

Gurren Lagann is one of the most epically over-top awesome show I ever seen.

edited 17th Dec '12 6:14:43 PM by DavidtheMouse14

-Bucks Colin of the computer- I'll explain why I was at the academy when I feel it's appropriate.

Because opinions and preferences.

Still say the very end should be the mane 6 splitting up, moving away, following heir own lives and dreams, Twi back to Canterlot, taking on official duties as Celestia personal aide, Dashie to join the wonderbolts, Rarity to another big city becoming a famous designer, and yet making clear that despite the fact they no long see each other all the time, they are still bound by friendship, still think about each other, meet up when they can.

Really that would be the PERFECT Aesop to end the series on, that even though friends may be forced to move apart by life, true friendship is a bond that is stronger then that, that can never be broken.

@ Stroy that's becuase they DIDN'T have an endpoint, they never though it would be hat big a hit, and scrambled trying to one up it.

edited 17th Dec '12 6:16:39 PM by Seraphem

Respecting peoples opinions? On the Internet?

It's actually extremely likely.

edited 17th Dec '12 6:19:03 PM by KalloonWhite

I would like that to be the finale, too. But a Grand Finale (as in Finale to all the adventure stories) would be good if they raise the threat to the entire galaxy or universe.