THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND NOT FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FAN BASE
FAULTY WHISTLES
Written by
Ross Hastings
Directed by
David Mitton
Air Date:
13/10/02
Plot:
Peter Sam lost his whistle as a low tree branch knocked it. This made Duncan boastful and was playing around with his whistle, which blew out into the sky and disappeared. So Headmaster Hastings played the organ as Duncan's whistle.
PRO:
- The episode could be loosely based off 'Mike's Whistle'
CON:
- Three strikes.
When I first saw this episode in 2002, it did remind me of 'Mike's Whistle' a lot. The episode was nice and it shows how whistles are important to an engine, something that the recent Thomas episodes are missing out on, hopefully they have an episode like this in S17. But there is one con and its not a huge one, but there were three strikes, but it's not as annoying as S13 - 16.
Rating: 4/5
OVERALL
Season six is just what Thomas the Tank Engine really is, simple stories, just like the first two seasons. Yes many people say S5 is great because of the stories and the dramatic accidents, but kids would love to see a simple story with some realistic morals. Sure there are episodes in this season that have off rail moments, but at least they are as not over the top as S5. I do hope that when S17 airs this year, the story lining would be at a scale of S6 and S7, but I can dream can I?
However, there is one con with the season and that is the models. In the first five seasons we see them with glossy paint work, like real steam locomotives, but from S6 - 12 they look like toys, despite that in the newer episodes around S11 - 12 that they were doing that. But the models look so bland without the glossy paint and it makes them more realistic with it.
The settings were nice, out of all the sets in this season, I love the slate mines, to me, it really gives me that welsh atmosphere. Despite the limit of four trucks.
The narration, as I said before, Alec Baldwin doesn't seem to have much enthusiasm in this season. He's a great actor, but just not the best storyteller. Michael Angelis on the other hand is filled with enthusiasm and great narration, I wish people know his acting more in the series.
The narration, as I said before, Alec Baldwin doesn't seem to have much enthusiasm in this season. He's a great actor, but just not the best storyteller. Michael Angelis on the other hand is filled with enthusiasm and great narration, I wish people know his acting more in the series.
Shame with the 'Jack and The Pack' series, here we see two episodes for the planned spin-off, which never happened until 2006 when more episodes were released on DVD. Those two episodes really show something that the younger audience would enjoy and they can look up to Jack as a role model.
But S6 would go down as my favourite post-Awdry era of the series. It shows simple stories with great morals.
OVERALL RATING:
94/100
