S19 Ep.5: Snow Place Like Home

After months and months and months of waiting, despite a few DVD releases in the US and some episodes airing in Japan with the UK dub, S19 is back on TV once more after a long...unexplained hiatus by Channel 5 in the UK, despite that they're still airing S13-16 Christmas/Winter holiday stories. But despite that, S19 had started its run in Australia and are airing the Christmas episodes during the Christmas week on ABC Australia. So here are more views on the S19 episodes. 

THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND NOT FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE 

SNOW PLACE LIKE HOME

Written by

Lee Pressman

Directed by 

Don Spencer

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT)

Jennifer Hill (Arc)

Plot:

The snow is causing all sorts of trouble to the engines and Emily's new piston rods are stranded at the depot. Victor hates snow but Kevin loves it until it had caused trouble.

Air Date:

21/12/15 - AUS

PRO:

- Kevin's body language

- Victor's determined attitude 

- Victor's parental attitude

CON:

- Kevin's US voice
- Victor being narrow gauge on standard gauge track
- Percy and Henry's purpose
- Emily's purpose would be given more reasoning

This was a nice episode and can be relatable to children and parents when it comes to the snow. Kevin is the bubbly and naive child while Victor is the strict parent not wanting someone he knows to get hurt. Victor may have been exaggerating his hatred of snow saying that he'll get Emily's new piston rods until all the snow had been melted but you get his hatred of the white stuff as it can be a very difficult thing. But I also love his determined attitude, snow or not he's looking for someone's safety and was determined to do it even if he hates the snow. The improved animation really worked well for Kevin's body language, he moves like something from a Pixar film so fluently. In the end it was a nice episode and telling kids about the bad side of snow, sort of like what the classic series did.

But there are a few flaws that I would pick out. Looking at the US dub of this episode, I'm never much a fan of Kevin's US voice as it sounds exactly like Henry's voice done by Kerry Shale. Granted I'm not a Kerry Shale fan minus his Gordon and James voice but some of his characters sound similar. Since that HIT Entertainment had been changing voice during the course of 2015, I think they should use Kevin's UK voice for the US dub as that has more charm and character to Kevin's character and basis. I was wondering, have the animators thought that Victor is, as always, a narrow gauge engine? Sure this issue had been an mess during the Barlow era, but you think they would know with the existence of 'Don't Bother Victor' and I'm talking about Victor interacting with Thomas over Kevin nearing the end of the episode. Victor was travelling up the same line as Thomas, like he did (Thomas) in the earlier part of the episode. Plus at the beginning of the episode, Henry and Percy's part adds no impact, sure it's an example that the engines don't like snow but if it were say it's them getting stuck in the snow along with Emily's piston rod broken, it would've given enough reason why she needs new ones, and it would add a much more better reason to show Kevin that snow can be dangerous.

Rating: 7/10

Episode Rating:

Who's Geoffrey - 9/10
The Truth About Toby - 6.5/10
Lost Property - 9/10
Henry Spots Trouble - 7/10
Snow Place Like Home - 7/10 

Series Rating (So far):
38.5/50