Wednesday 24 December 2014

S18 Ep.18:Last Train for Christmas

THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FAN BASE

LAST TRAIN FOR CHRISTMAS
Written by
Andrew Brenner

Directed by
Don Spencer

Produced by
Robert Anderson (Arc)
Ian McCue (HIT)

Air Date
24/12/14 - UK & AUS

Plot
It's Christmas Eve and a lot of passengers are coming home to Sodor for the holiday. Connor can't carry all the passengers who are trying to get on his train. He promises to come back and pick them up, but the snow keeps falling and the engines are struggling to keep the tracks clear. It becomes a race against time, and the engines have to work together to clear the tracks and get the passengers home in time for Christmas.

PRO:
- Moral: Be home for Christmas/Christmas is effort
- The heartwarming storyline
- Definitely captures the Sodor Railway 

CON:
- Crovans Gate being the mainland station


Definitely one of Andrew Brenner's best episodes, yet. For those wondering about the Christmas is effort moral, if you've seen Doug Walker's message at the end about what Christmas means to him, as the Nostalgia Critic, then I suggest watching his review on 'The Christmas Tree' from last year. Christmas is effort, people put the effort into that kindness and sharing and I kept that message with me ever since 2013 and this episode clearly shows the value of that moral as we see Connor putting effort into getting the people home and as well as the engines putting the effort to clear the tracks for Connor at the end. The storyline is very heartwarming and strong and the scene with the father hugging his daughter on the platform actually gave me a smile. Plus I love the determination that Thomas has, that is excellent characterisation for the main character. The episode also gives out what the North Western Railway is, or Sodor Railway as it's called in the TV series, that it serves the public whatever the weather, like all railways in the real world.

Though it's not a big deal to me, but I do hope Arc Productions make a mainland station rather then reuse Crovans Gate station, but I don't mind it really. The render of the station looks good enough to be a station on the mainland.

Rating: 10/10