My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic season 5 explained

Season Number:5
Bgcolour:
  1. 2998FF
Num Episodes:26
Network:Discovery Family
Episode List:List of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episodes

The fifth season of the animated television series , developed by Lauren Faust, originally aired on the Discovery Family channel in the United States. The series is based on Hasbro's My Little Pony line of toys and animated works and is often referred by collectors to be the fourth generation, or "G4", of the My Little Pony franchise. Season 5 of the series premiered on April 4, 2015 on Discovery Family, an American pay television channel partly owned by Hasbro, and concluded on November 28.

The show follows a pony named Twilight Sparkle as she learns about friendship in the town of Ponyville. Twilight continues to learn with her close friends Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Each represents a different face of friendship, and Twilight discovers herself to be a key part of the magical artifacts, the "Elements of Harmony". The ponies share adventures and help out other residents of Ponyville, while working out the troublesome moments in their own friendships.

Development

Concept

Teasers for the season were provided by the show staff at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, including episodes centered around Twilight coping with the loss of the original library, the entire Pie family, Princess Luna dealing with a nightmare, and a 100th special episode focusing on the background characters. The staff also showed a brief animatic video from the first planned episode, showing the ability of Twilight's castle[1] to direct the main characters to friendship problems around Equestria. Episodes showing more of the castle,[2] about the six main characters,[3] Pinkie Pie "breaking the fourth wall",[4] Rainbow Dash saying "woah woah woah",[5] and "confetti explosions"[6] were to be expected.

The show's fifth season[7] features Twilight continuing her journey of becoming a princess in Equestria with the help of her friends; they discover that her new castle includes a magical map that highlights troubles across Equestria for them to resolve. In the two-part premiere, they come across a town indicated on the map where all of its pony citizens have an equals sign as their cutie mark and odd, creepy smiles.[8]

On February 25, 2015, it was announced at Australia's 2015 PonyCon that the show would have a second Christmas-themed episode.[9] Another episode featured the Smooze, a gelatinous villain from the Generation 1 1986 film, My Little Pony: The Movie.[10]

Production

In an interview with World Screen, Stephen Davis announced that the series was going into its fifth season.[11] On May 7, 2014, the series was renewed for a fifth season consisting of 26 episodes,[12] with a tentative broadcast slated for April 4, 2015.[13]

On June 17, 2014, Business Wire released a press release confirming that it would premiere sometime in the fourth quarter of 2014, but it was later revised by Hasbro.[14] At BronyCon 2014, G.M. Berrow announced that she wrote an episode, which focused on Pinkie Pie.[15]

Promotion

From November 17 to December 22, 2014, the official My Little Pony YouTube channel released six weekly teaser trailers for the upcoming fifth season, each featuring one of the Mane Six as well as giving a premiere date on early 2015.[16] Some scenes from "The Cutie Map" were teased in Rainbow Dash's and Rarity's recap videos for the season 5 teasers.[17] [18]

On January 19, 2015, a new trailer was released at PoNYCon in Brooklyn on February 16 by Friendship Is Magic season four directors Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller;[19] on that day, Thiessen and Miller shared some concept art of various characters and settings for this season,[20] as well as a trailer[21] that was originally planned to premiere at the convention[22] was shown.

On March 5, 2015, Entertainment Weekly released another trailer revealing a new villain with commentary on the fifth season from Hasbro's executive director Brian Lenard and co-executive producer Meghan McCarthy.[10]

Under the approval of Discovery Family and Hasbro, BABSCon showed the entire two-part season five premiere commercial-free on the same day as it premiered on the United States on April 4, 2015.[23]

On April 7, 2015, Tina Guo revealed via Instagram that the one-hundredth episode involved Octavia [Melody] having an Electric Cello Dubstep situation and that the episode would on June 13, 2015.[24]

On April 27, 2015, writer Amy Keating Rogers revealed via Twitter that she left the Friendship Is Magic writing staff due to her new full-time job as a writer at Disney.[25] She also confirmed that she had written four episodes for this season,[26] including The Mane Attraction, which featured a character voiced by Broadway actress Lena Hall.[27]

On July 9, 2015, Hasbro corrected via Twitter that the season's second half would premiere sometime later in 2015,[28] not the sixth season as previously announced.[29] A month later, on August 11, 2015, it was revealed by Zap2it that the season's second half would premiere on September 12, 2015.[30]

At the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con, it was revealed that Starlight Glimmer would return in the two-part Season 5 finale.[31]

International broadcast

The fifth season premiered in mid-2015 on Treehouse TV in Canada and debuted on November 2, 2015 on Boomerang in Australia.[32] [33]

Cast

Main

Recurring

Minor

Single role

Multiple roles

Guest stars

Single role

Episodes

See also: List of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episodes.

DVD release

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Season Five
Set detailsSpecial features
  • 26 episodes
  • 4-disc set
  • aspect ratio
  • Subtitles: English
  • 2015 San Diego Comic Con Panel
  • Sing-Alongs ("In Our Town", "I'll Fly", "We'll Make Our Mark", and "Friends Are Always There for You")
Release dates
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Notes and References

  1. TheBiggestJim. 466379132511993857. [Official name of Twilight's new castle in Season 5 confirmation]. 2014-05-13. 2014-05-16. Miller. Jim.
  2. goldenrusset. 556871636411232256. @platypusbrony we will see more of the new castle revealed.... 2015-01-18. 2014-01-19. Thiessen. Jayson.
  3. goldenrusset. 556870597805096961. @platypusbrony there will be episodes.... 2015-01-18. 2014-01-19. Thiessen. Jayson.
  4. goldenrusset. 556872170887204866. @platypusbrony Pinkie Pie will break the 4th wall. 2015-01-18. 2014-01-19. Thiessen. Jayson.
  5. goldenrusset. 556872002594930689. @platypusbrony Rainbow Dash will say "woah woah woah". 2015-01-18. 2014-01-19. Thiessen. Jayson.
  6. goldenrusset. 556906470185250816. @platypusbrony maybe some confetti explosions.... 2015-01-18. 2014-01-19. Thiessen. Jayson.
  7. The Hub Network Renews 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' for a Fifth Season. Los Angeles, CA. Discovery, Inc.. 2014-05-07. 2019-10-23.
  8. Web site: 'My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic' Season 5 Exclusive Trailer: 'Fighting a Horrific Monster Would Be Super-Awesome'. Breanne. Heldman. 2015-02-11. 2015-02-11. Yahoo!. Verizon Media.
  9. Web site: More Season 5 Reveals, Including Episode 100 Information and Maud Pie. Sethisto. Equestria Daily. 2015-02-25. 2015-02-25.
  10. Web site: Watch the trailer for the latest season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Megan. Daley. 2015-03-05. 2015-03-05. Entertainment Weekly.
  11. Web site: Q&A with Hasbro's Stephen Davis. WorldScreen.com. 2014-01-10. 2014-01-10. Carugati. Anna.
  12. Web site: 'My Little Pony Friendship is Magic' to Return for Fifth Season. Variety. 2014-05-07. 2014-05-07. Andrea. Seikaly.
  13. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Gallops Into Action With All-New Adventures Beginning April 4. Silver Spring, MD; Los Angeles, CA. Discovery, Inc.. 2015-03-05. 2015-03-05. PR Newswire.
  14. Hasbro Revolutionizing Branded Play and Lifestyle Experiences Through Rich Storytelling Across All Entertainment Platforms. Las Vegas, NV. Hasbro. 2014-06-17. 2019-10-24. Business Wire.
  15. Web site: G.M. Berrow's Episode In Season 5 To Be A Pinkie Pie episode. Gameleon. Equestria Daily. 2014-08-23. 2014-08-23.
  16. My Little Pony Season 5 Teaser (Spring 2015) - Twilight Sparkle Recap. YouTube. 2014-11-17. 2014-11-17.
  17. My Little Pony Season 5 Teaser (Spring 2015) - Rainbow Dash Recap. YouTube. 2014-12-15. 2014-12-15.
  18. My Little Pony Season 5 Teaser (Spring 2015) - Rarity Recap. YouTube. 2014-12-22. 2014-12-22.
  19. Web site: PonyCon 2015 To Premiere New Season 5 Trailer With MLP Directors!. Equestria Daily. Calpain. 2015-01-19. 2015-01-20.
  20. Web site: Season 5 Concept Art at PonyCon Appears! New Characters and More Revealed!. Calpain. Equestria Daily. 2015-02-16. 2015-02-16.
  21. MLP: Friendship is Magic - EXCLUSIVE Season 5 Trailer. YouTube. 2015-02-11. 2015-02-11.
  22. TheBiggestJim. 567380078569324545. ['Friendship is Magic' Season 5 trailer early leak confirmation]. 2015-02-16. 2015-02-16. Miller. Jim.
  23. Web site: Discovery Family and Hasbro Approve Commercial Free Season Five Premiere At BABSCon!. Sethisto. Equestria Daily. 2015-03-16. 2015-03-16.
  24. Web site: [Info on Episode 100; premiere date confirmation]]. https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/1Kazj5D-RB . 2021-12-24 . limited. Instagram. 2015-04-07. 2015-04-07. Guo. Tina.
  25. KeatingRogers. 592827503380692992. [Info about Amy Keating Rogers leaving the show confirmation]. 2015-04-27. 2015-04-27. Rogers. Amy.
  26. KeatingRogers. 593038784444248065. [Info about Rogers and the unreleased scripts confirmation]. 2015-04-27. 2015-04-27. Rogers. Amy.
  27. KeatingRogers. 526859466033987585. [Lena Hall episode writing credit confirmation]. 2014-10-27. 2014-10-27. Rogers. Amy.
  28. Hasbro. 619201901691842560. ["Friendship Is Magic" Season 5 - Second Half release confirmation]. Hasbro. Hasbro. 2015-07-09. 2015-07-09.
  29. Hasbro. 618903923445764096. ["Friendship Is Magic" Season 6 erroneous release confirmation]. Hasbro. Hasbro. 2015-07-08. 2015-07-08.
  30. Web site: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - Season 5 Episode Guide. Zap2It. 2020-02-27.
  31. Web site: SDCC - Pony Panel Major News Points (15+ Updates). Sethisto. Equestria Daily. 2015-07-10. 2015-07-10.
  32. Boomerang November 2015 Highlights. Eckfactor. Turner International Australia Pty Ltd. October 11, 2015.
  33. Corus Kids June/July 2015 Highlights. May 25, 2015. Toronto, ON. Corus Entertainment Inc.. October 11, 2015. October 23, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211023105957/https://www.corusent.com/news/corus-kids-junejuly-2015-highlights/. dead.
  34. Web site: My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Season Five. Amazon.com. 2016-04-06. 2016-04-06.