My Little Pony (TV series)

My Little Pony was the first animated series in the long-lived My Little Pony franchise that lasted from 1986 to 1987 with a total of 65 episodes, making it the second longest running My Little Pony television series, second to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which was over three times the length of original series.

Indeed, the original cartoon has had a long and impactful legacy, but best not to forget that it was also really weird. Plotlines were far more fantastical then even Friendship is Magic, and rarely had any real continuity. Episodes tended to introduce strange new species, places, and magical objects on the fly with little to any rhyme or reason, giving the show a very 'off the wall' vibe that kept things fresh and always interesting.

Synopsis
As mentioned above, this show was odd. It can best be described as a highly episodic show, though most individual episodes were apart of a much longer television story, the longest of these, "The End of Flutter Valley" lasted for 10 episodes, while most episodes tended to last between 3-4, but varied considerably. As the shows theme song implies, the show was highly adventurous, with most episodes taking place in entirely different places, with a surprisingly varied plot structure with imaginative and creative stories.

Production
'My Little Pony was animated by two companies, AKOM and Toei Animation, and  companies respectively. The shows production itself was also handled by two different parties, Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions. The series was apart of a programming block called My Little Pony 'n Friends, which aired additional cartoons as the titular "friends" of My Little Pony, including The Glo-Friends, Moon Dreamers, and The Mister Potato Head Show. The main series began airing three months after My Little Pony: The Movie and two years after "Rescue at Midnight Castle", with the first episode airing on.

Characters
My Little Pony employed a large rotating cast of ensemble characters, though the most recurring of these was probably. Other recuring characters included Megan's siblings, and, and various ponies such as , Lofty, , and many more. Most episodes tended to include unique characters who only appeared in their respective stories, these usually took the forms of villains like King Charlatan,, and Somnambula (it should be noted that and Catrina technically didn't appear in the show, but in specials), but original heroic characters also appeared quite often, such as Scheherazade, Alonzo, and Garth.

Cast

 * Bettina Bush as Megan
 * Charlie Adler as
 * Susan Blu as Buttons, Paradise
 * Nancy Cartwright as, Baby Heart Throb, Baby Cuddles, Posey, Truly, Honeysuckle, Surf Rider
 * Jeannie Elias as Whizzer, Masquerade, Baby Lickety-Split, Magic Star, Sweet Stuff, Sun Shower
 * Ellen Gerstell as, Locket, Mimic, Scoops
 * Skip Hinnant as narrator
 * Keri Houlihan as Molly
 * Katie Leigh as Fizzy, Heart Throb, Lickety-Split, Ribbon, Baby Shady, Baby Gusty, Baby Tiddley-Winks, Water Lily
 * Sherry Lynn as Galaxy, Gingerbread, Cherries Jubilee, Baby Half-Note, Baby Ribbon, Baby Sundance
 * Scott Menville as Danny
 * Rob Paulson as Tex
 * Sarah Partridge as
 * Russi Taylor as Cupcake, Rosedust, Morning Glory
 * B. J. Ward as Surprise, North Star, Peach Blossom, Forget-Me-Not
 * Jill Wayne as Baby Lofty, Shady

Additional voices by Michael Bell, Joey Camen, Melanie Gaffin, Tress MacNeille, and Frank Welker

Broadcast history
My Little Pony was sold as syndication, and so it wasn't locked to a single network. Season 1 ran from September to November 1986 in almost continuous broadcast, seemingly only not airing on weekends. Season 2 only ran in September of the following year and reused material from the My Little Pony film series. Known networks it aired on was the Disney Channel and CBS, the former was used as the sources of DVD and VHS releases of the show.

In the 2020s, the show has moved to various streaming platforms, including VUDU, Amazon Instant Video, Tubi and Roku.