Hey! How ya doin'? Great, thanks for asking! Alright what was I here for? Oh right, the season 8 premiere! Wow, is it that time already? Time really flies! Looks like M. A. Larson is messing with time! XD Anyways, here is my review for School Daze!
Oh where to start? Where to start? Well, this takes place IMMEDIATELY right after the Movie! It would seem that the Cutie Map had the latest update as the Mane Six were gone to save Equestria from The Storm King! I thought it woulda been cool if the map updated right in front of them, but at least this starts so many new possibilities for the show! And Twilight's first idea was to open a school! Good idea, Twilight! Bring all the friendship problems to you instead of you going to them! It was really nice for her to go to Princess Celestia for advice, and the EEA was a nice touch! It seems like even Celestia has to follow EEA law, regardless of her leadership role! But we'll talk about the EEA in a bit. Now I thought part 1 felt kinda rushed in a way. It was just straight to the action of building the school! I mean that took no time at all! We coulda had a montage, at least. Things got messed up pretty quickly as well. But knowing the 22 minute, it's understandable! Things worked out for the best, it seems, because the school actually started a friendship between some of the students! Why? Well they all agree that the classes are boring! That's what got them to get along in the first place!
The Student Six! In order of appearances of how I rate them so far: Smolder, Gallus, Yona, Sandbar, Silver Stream, and Ocellus. Now I like every single one of them! They're all different, and they really seem like an awesome team with awesome chemistry! Smolder is like another Ember, and that's what makes her charming, and a potential friend for Spike! Gallus' sarcasm won me over for him for second place (his colors kinda match the Wonderbolts' uniforms)! Yona is just hilarious and is like a mini-Prince Rutherford which I find adorable! Sandbar? His voice and looks won me over for him, and he seems like a voice of reason in the group! Silver Steam, she's funny (like the stairs thing), but a bit annoying at times. Ocellus... well she's just another shy character. Don't we have alot of those already? I might warm up to her more later on! I like them all though, and they have a ton of potential! It would really make Equestria's relationship with the other lands stronger! This will really come in handy for the future, just in case there's a big war and Equestria would be in need of their allies! We noticed how the leaders can easily get angry with eachother in part 2, and Equestria is the middle ground to make sure they don't fight with eachother! It was really nice seeing how they all interacted with eachother! Is Grampa Gruff the leader of Griffonstone though? I doubt it! We still dunno who the leader of Griffonstone is yet, or the state of the kingdom! I understand the need for Seaspray in here though, cause Queen Novo's voice actress would probably be too expensive and is a one-time thing! I still wanna know what these leaders' relationships are with the students though. Cousins? Children? Grandchildren?
Now how about Chancellor Neighsay, the antagonist of the premiere along with the EEA? I think he makes a very good addition to the villain family of the series! Outta most of the villains in the series, he seems to be very realistic because he's not an all-powerful, all-magical villain that puts Equestria at great risk! He only puts the school at risk because of his title, his rules, and his ways! He uses what the Mane Six have failed to do when the students started breaking the rules, but quite frankly, he's just racist! Twilight is meant to make a school of friendship, but he thought it was a school to diplomatically defend Equestria from "threats". I do agree with that, but what he fails to understand is that dragons, yaks, changelings, griffins, and hippogriffs are allies with Equestria and hold no threat against them. But this is the main problem with today's society, especially with who's in office right now! So yunno what? I am so glad this story arc is here! It is well-needed for the series! These 2 episodes were only the beginning of it! The students and the school itself will be returning in multiple episodes in the season, and I got the feeling this is gonna be a super important season for the future of the series! I don't think this is the last of the chancellor either! He'll be back! I have some theories about it. Now about doing things by the book, didn't we do this already in multiple episodes of the series, like The Saddle Row Review? Also, if the Mane Six are teachers, what's going on with their regular jobs and their regular lives? Rarity is running 3 stores, and now she's a teacher; plus Rainbow Dash is a Wonderbolt and does the weather duties around Ponyville! Isn't this going to stress them out at all? Oh yeah, and Starlight's councilor role! Now what a good job for her to have! Especially after getting Twilight back on track, you know she's right for the job! :D What's Spike role in the school though? BTW, awesome choice of voice actor for the chancellor! :D
So in conclusion, after Shadow Play, it makes us wonder what happened to the Pillars, because the series introduces a new group of characters to the series, and now the show already has a bunch of new characters! Don't get me wrong, I'm ok with that! However, there are a ton of characters in the series that still lack development, like the Manehattan CMCs, Lightning Dust, and even the Pillars themselves! So I hope the developers would know what they're doing in tying up loose ends. I got what I really wanted in here though! Spike interacting with Ember and Thorax just like in Triple Threat! It was only for a second though, but I'm glad it happened! Spike and Thorax don't really interact as much as they should. I got the feeling this season is going to be among the best! Can't wait to see more! :D
