THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FAN BASE
TALES ON THE RAILS
Episodes
Very Important Sheep
Salty All at Sea
Den and Dart
Written by
Helen Farrel
Lee Pressman
Mark Olster and Nick Huckerby
Andrew Brenner
Special Features
- All You Need music video
- Fun with Driver Perkins
Release Date
10/11/15 - iTunes
24/11/15 - DVD
Distributed by
HIT/Universal
We now reach to the final Thomas DVD for 2015 with three S19 episodes alongside two S18 episodes.
EPISODES
I will keep my word for the three S19 episodes next month when ABC begins airing them in Australia. But of course there's the two S18 episodes. I think it'll be quite confusing and distracting for Thomas fans when it comes to the voices with all the changes that were made this year (e.g - The Fat Controller having his UK voice in the US dub and the new voices for characters such as Thomas, Percy and James.) But 'Duck and the Slip Coaches' is a great episode and 'Missing Gator' is a good episode too, you can see my views by clicking on the links of the two episodes.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The extra features from the DVD and iTunes release are a music video and two Mr. Perkins segments, although I find it strange that the two Perkins segments which were 'Brendam Docks' for the Postcards and 'Thomas' Train' from the story time segment were in there UK dubbing from the 'Railway Mischief' DVD that was released in the UK a few months ago. It's good though that the these segments aren't forgotten but Universal and HIT should at least know the extras are to be shown to the US audiences and it could be distracting but I don't think kids would mind.
The intervals though they were a tad disappointing. What was strange is that the Thomas and Gordon segments for 'Calling All Engines!' were released in 'Santa's Little Engine' in the US in 2013 and another segment, with no title for some reason, was more like 'Calling All Engines!' and 'Who's That Engine' morphed together with the Fat Controller's voice going on about Millie and the episode 'Luke's New Friend'. It's not bad but it's not an original thought in my opinion and I think it'll be better if they've had another 'Landmarks of Sodor' segment. However there is another CAE! segment with Stafford and Spencer and of course it'll be new for the US audience as it was only seen on the UK's 'Railway Mischief' before this release and the Earl's Quiz talks about 'Scruff's Makeover ' and 'Luke's New Friend'. So while the intervals in this DVD were not great, they're OK.
OVERALL
I think the DVD was alright, there were good selection of episodes despite some meh intervals. I had thought about these DVDs and decided to stop purchasing the US DVDs off Amazon and stick with the iTunes releases. The reason is because of the quality that Universal had been releasing this past year with the poor interlacing and this is the company that released very famous films like the Back to the Future series. So starting next year, I'll be reviewing new US releases when the iTunes release are out. Plus as an international buyer, it saves shipping costs as well but if I go to America on holiday I might buy one as a souvenir. In the end it's a good release but I think the intervals could've been better. Well here we are with the last Thomas DVD review for 2015. So what will we expect next year? Of course the themed DVD release for 2016, 'Start Your Engines!' I'll be honest I'm not all hyped up but I do hope the episodes are good, I'm looking forward to the Emily episode on the themed DVD release and of course the new special 'The Great Race' featuring 12 new characters from different countries, here's hoping for an Australian character.
Well be sure to look for more S19 episode reviews as ABC will be airing them next month. Also be on the lookout for the overall review of the DVDs that I've been reviewing during the year 2015 on December 31st.
Rating: 7/10
