My Little Pony: The Next Generation

Now a show needs just as good of a world(s) as it does characters. If you're making a show (or a movie) that takes place in modern day earth like The Office or Parks and Rec. then you won’t really have to put a lot of creativity into that world because it’s, well, OUR WORLD. But then again you may have to make a more imaginative world if you’re writing a story that takes place in a post-apocalyptic future but god knows we enough of those!

A word you’ve probably heard relating to fictional worlds in TV and Movies is “Atmospherical”. What do people mean when they say this? Well a simple way of saying is that a world is atmospherical when you feel like you’re IN a world.

For this I’ll use an example that we’re probably all familiar with: Equestria. Think about all the places in Equestria, and better yet, think of the detail. Ponyville, Canterlot, The Crystal Empire, these are all places that have atmosphere.

And when I say they have atmosphere, I don’t mean they just have buildings, I mean they have buildings with color that fits with the world, and buildings with architecture that fits with the world. In other words, everything in a world is designed to play a role in shaping that world.

For example: Canterlot, from the outside, consists of buildings that seem to have a lot of curves and spirals, and it’s color pallet seems to be light shades of yellow, gold, and white. All colors that are associated with royalty, remember that because it’s going to be important later. The architecture (the way the buildings are designed) aren't that of the kind you would see from medieval times, but rather that of Arabian. Okay so the two aren't SPOT ON with each other, but there is some of it in the way that most of the structures are very curved and cylindrical and how the roofs of the buildings start of fat and then decrease a they go up (AKA Hershey's Kisses). Then again there still is a LITTLE bit of a medieval element there especially with the castle, but I also see influence from the Italian Renaissance.

Now just because that’s how I see it doesn’t mean that’s how you or the shows creators see it. The architecture of fictional worlds, like many things in art, can have multiple interpretations. The important thing is, is that the design of the world tells you what the tone and the mood of the world is.

If you’ve taken 7th grade language arts then you’ll know what these two words mean. But just for the fun of it, I’m going to talk about them anyway.

Tone is how the author, in this case, the show’s creator(s) feels about the subject, in this case, the world. And mood is how the reader, in this case, the viewer, feels about the subject (the world again).

Going back to Canterlot, the way it’s designed suggests that the tone and mood is along the lines of happy and peaceful. Remember when I talked about Canterlot’s color pallet? Well the the fact that the colors are very bright shades adds to the tone and mood we established earlier. But the actual COLORS chosen are there to establish the fact that it’s a place of royalty, and, surprise surprise, IT IS!

But if we we’re to make those colors darker, make the buildings a little (or a lot) more broken down, and maybe even change the weather to make the clouds darker and gloomier, that tone and mood from before would DRASTICALLY change (AKA Fallout Equestria).

And keep in mind that not ALL of Equestria looks like Canterlot, and that’s something that gives worlds atmosphere: variety. The Everfree Forest isn’t like Canterlot just like Texas isn’t like Oregon. The design of every single location in a world is tailored to driving home it’s tone, mood, and purpose. But, all the locations usually have a similar theme to create the world. And using the theme of the locations in Equestria, one could tell that it’s a world of Fantasy and Magic, and SURPRISE SURPRISE, you fill in the rest.

Another thing to keep in mind is that just because a world or location is mostly “empty” doesn’t mean it doesn’t have atmosphere. Because, believe it or not, the feeling of emptiness or loneliness is ALSO tone and mood. Just make sure you give it an appropriate color pallet and design.

Another way at looking at a world's atmosphere is by looking at the worlds in video games, a media where the world is more important than ever.

If you’ve ever read or watched a video game review, you’ve probably encountered the words “linear” and “non-linear”. In video game terms, linear means a game that has little to one pathway and non-linear means a game in which the player can explore multiple pathways that may or may not lead to different endings. (Now I just scratched the surface as to what linear and non-linear games are, there’s more to them, I just wanted to give you a basic idea).

Now, let’s apply linear and non-linear to a world in a TV Show. A linear world would probably be the basics things needed to make up a world and nothing more (e.g. civilization, wildlife, etc). But a non-linear world would be much more complicated and would have multiple things going on at once with all kinds of objects filling up every nook and cranny, making it feel like, a world! And while you can’t necessary explore it besides the places the characters explore, you still feel like you’re there.

I don’t know who said this quote but I agree with it: “The background is it’s own character, and it is just as important as the actual characters.”

What this quote means is that even though the background (or world) doesn’t move or speak like a character, it still IS one because it has traits and personalities (features) that you can identify. So in a way, worlds have their own emotions. One world will be happy, while the other is sad, metaphorically of course. And again, like characters, they aren’t always one emotion. The happy world can be sad sometimes and the sad world can be happy sometimes.

And if artists didn’t care about creating creating worlds with atmosphere, than concept artist and background artist wouldn’t be a thing.

Now I can’t really describe you the worlds that will be in TRA (The Rainbow Adventures) sense worlds are more of a visual thing. The reason why I could explain Canterlot is because, well, there’s already a visual of Canterlot. As I’m writing this I have another tab open with an image of Canterlot that I used for writing this chapter. Anyway, be on the lookout for the kind of worlds I create in the “Pilot Episode” chapter which is…. the next chapter? OH MY CELESTIA! IT IS!

Yes, you have finally made it. After all my ramblings and poorly written sex jokes, you made it to the actual episode. Now because FimFiction doesn’t allow scripts I’m going to write the episode like it’s any other Fan Fic. After the episode I’ll have a chapter that will wrap everything up in a hopefully, nice little bow.

And with that, I hope you enjoy the episode.