Tuesday 19 April 2016

S19 Ep.21: No Help At All!

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

NO HELP AT ALL!
Written by
Andrew Brenner

Directed by
TBA

Produced by
Ian McCue (HIT)
Jennifer Hill (Arc)

Plot
Timothy was called to help Porter out at the docks. Earlier Bill and Ben were teasing him and playing around the china clay pits and thought he was no fun at all. But they soon realise there mistake.

Air Date
16/01/16 - JPN

PRO:
- 'Another engine sir! But you already have so many!'
- A story in between another story
- Porter at least having a role
- Moral: Working together
- The Fat Controller's character being balanced out
- The rendition of 'Down by the Docks' 

CON:
- The moral felt shoved down

I do really enjoy this episode and it was great to see Timothy with a lead role again and not being neglected like a certain dockyard tank engine. As for Porter, his role maybe not big but at least it made some sense with his laid-back and good natured persona, but he still deserves an episode for himself as he has so much potential as a character! I especially loved the Fat Controller's character being balanced out in the episode as well as this season. In previous episode we see him as an authoritative figure while also as a person who admits he's not a good listener and makes mistakes as well. I also like how the story is set between another story, a very Railway Series vibe there. It's a very interesting move and definitely shows that the team behind the show care about continuity.

The moral, while I think had been used multiple times in the past, was alright but it feels very shoved down as they kept on repeating again for a while and I'm pretty sure the audience get the message. It happened before with 'Henry's Hero'. But I think one of the best lines comes from Thomas when he was talking about the idea of another engine and that the Fat Controller had so many. It makes me laugh since the show nowadays introduces a new engine every year, for whatever purpose, to sell toys for merchandising. Even though that kind of stuff happens, the team knows how to make them good despite maybe some set backs.

The rendition by Hartshore of 'Down by the Docks' was nice to hear as well and I do hope we hear more of rendition of classic songs, for me personally I would love to hear his version of 'The Island song'.

In the end the story is nice and well-paced, nothing felt out of place, rushed or bad. But as I said before the moral felt like it was shoved down and I think the audience will get the message.

Rating: 8/10


Episode Ratings:
Lost Property - 9/10
Helping Hiro - 6/10
Slow Stephen - 9/10
No Help At All! - 8/10

Series Rating (So far):
160/220