To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rainbow Roadtrip.

I spent half of it trying to figure out who the villain was going to be before realizing there wasn’t going to be one.  
Then I realized that’s probably the message that the world needs right now.

@Awkward Segway  
not when the show is episodic and most of the episodes are not for an arc

@northern haste  
If there’s a certain number of episodes that are required for a season, then a filler episode would be an episode that’s made simply for the sake of meeting that number of episodes.

@Awkward Segway  
Not when the show isn’t story arc based

@northern haste  
It does if there’s a certain number of episodes that they need to have in a season.

@rannius  
filler doesn’t apply to a show that is episodic. the show is not story arc based. The map only told the characters where to go for an episode

@northern haste  
If you think that hairsplitting entertainment terms will erase filler episodes from existence and retroactively make Rainbow Roadtrip a good movie, then sure.

@rannius  
The map wasn’t even an arc it was a plot device

@LaszlVFX  
No, I’m quite certain that filler episodes can be objectively determined, you just have to be willing to accept that they exist.
 
@northern haste  
So it’s not an arc if it goes beyond a single season? That doesn’t make any sense.  
Besides that, most episodes in fact are part of an arc, maybe that was just to subtle for you.

@rannius  
The map was not the arc of season 8.  
And again most episodes are not for an arc

@rannius  
The whole filler episodes or episodes that have no purpose are subjective point of views. Some see them as filler to fill up a season and some actually considers them as actual episodes with either meaningful messages or just episodes which cover up some hidden background stories.

@northern haste  
Sounds of Silence was a map episode.
 
Besides that, by my logic filler episodes are the ones without any purpose or lasting impact. The Point of No Return comes to mind.

@rannius  
Again only a few episodes are supposed to be towards an arc.  
By your logic sound of silence is filler

@northern haste  
It literally is, every season has an arc. People just like to mix up filler with SoL to deflect criticism from the show.

@Kiryu-Chan  
Definitely

@AutobotsMAD!  

 
This special was a lot better at being Pony than whatever the hell S9 was

To be honest I enjoyed it more than season 9 plus kerfuffle was a bonus.

It introduced the delightful Kerfuffle.

@rannius  
It’s not a story arc driven show.  
Only a handful of episodes are supposed to be a part of a seasonal ark

Watched ponies for 9 years. 9 seasons.  
NEVER fell asleep.  
Not even ONCE.
 
Then THIS aired.

@northern haste  
I’m sure you have an explanation for that claim.

@rannius  
filler doesn’t apply to this show

@LaszlVFX  
What a strawman. I haven’t seen a single person who’s criticized the special say that it should have had a villain.
 
The issue with it is that almost nothing happens. There’s no plot progression for most of the special. Things need to happen for a story to be engaging. So for most of the special (when nothing is actually happening), it’s not engaging.
 
They didn’t need several different examples of what the issue was with the town when one example plus the backstory of the rainbow generator would have been sufficient to get the point across. Having more than that was just a waste of time.
 
When watching reactions to the special on youtube, I played the videos at double speed. I found it much more tolerable that way.

Rainbow Roadtrip was a feature-length movie with the plot of a filler episode.