THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE
QUACKING QUANDARY
Peter Gaffney
Directed by
Campbell Bryer
Produced by
Suzie Gallo
Air Date
31/01/25 - UK
Plot
When Diesel hears a strange noise that sounds like a swamp monster, he gets too scared to pull deliveries through the area. Bruno and Percy must help conquer his fear.
You think maybe after four seasons and a few specials that maybe Diesel could at least have some character development after dealing with things he thought were monsters? This is one of the problems that I have with this iteration of Thomas. When you have a restricted cast there's never really much variety and its sad because we had two episodes so far this season where they use different characters instead of just using Thomas, Percy, Kana, Diesel, Carly, Sandy and Nia for the umpteenth time. Why not use Ashima? We never really see her getting scared of anything, sure it might end up being the same but at least they're using someone different and add some extra character to there personality.
I thought, at least, that Diesel might show a wee change with him not being scared but as soon as he reached the swamp with the troublesome trucks when he heard the noise the second time, since it had been four seasons, but that little bit of hope was gone because Diesel was once again hiding his fear.
Character development is never really much of a thing in this show? I know that the original series had its fair share of inconsistency from time to time but at least, at times, they kept it in tact for a bit. Look at Percy in S19, he was hardly the same character that he was before prior to Tale of the Brave in 2014 before they'd reused his scaredy persona from Journey Beyond Sodor in 2017. James had some development too in S20 until Apology Impossible came into existence in 2018. Henry had some development too in S19 and it showed in S20 until he'd moved from Tidmouth sheds and was no longer part of the main cast. The original series at least tried to be consistent but know that they would have to break them in order to make stories for that particular character or maybe they just forgot about it.
Here it just seems to be forgotten, its almost like the Miller/Barlow era where the characters learn their lesson in one episode and then forgot about it maybe the next episode or two. The show had some consistency but it's really rare to see that, I only know two episodes that had that from the top of my mind which were 'Thomas and Percy's Eggsellent Adventure' and 'Goodbye Ghost Scaring Machine' with Percy saying that he's 'grown up' and that the machine was from the episode 'Ghost Train' and both of those were from its first season!
I remember the storyboards for this episode were leaked online sometime in September last year and people were kind of freaked out that Diesel showcased his mechanical heart, which to me is a weird and some I find a bit uncomfortable with. They didn't really have to show it, you never saw Thomas in 'The Great Race' showing his heart when he and Ashima were singing in the movie about being yourself. Why not have Diesel blowing his smoke to create a heart? Anyway, the song is just another meh morally forced song and I think it would've worked for the ending instead of the middle of it all.
The only reason Percy was 'stuck' in the pond was just so Diesel can come and help get Percy out but it's also very unnecessary. You can at least have Percy cry for help while staying on the rails without the need of him falling into the swamp. Diesel would still at least try and show his bravery against the swamp monster! I also hate, and this is common in the show itself, how an engine gets stuck when they have the power to move by themselves. Percy had gotten 'stuck' but a few seconds after Diesel's attempt at saving him, Percy can turn 360 without any trouble at all. I know this seems like a nitpick but you can also have Percy talking to Diesel without the need of moving him. Sure it was done to give the final pay off of making Percy the swamp monster but you can still do it with him on the rails and its possible to do it with the cartoon logic that show has.
Overall, this was a terrible episode. A typical Diesel is scared of something episode without showing of his growth whatsoever with very pointless creative decisions alongside that could've been tweaked before being animated. You can show Diesel with his character growth and still have him being scared and trying to fight it. Why not showcase him trying to prove to everyone that he's not scared anymore instead of him acting all boastful and cool? Just show him that he had at least grown?
So far this was the worst episode of the show's fourth season.
Series Rating (So far):
Sheep Stampede - 6/10
The Berry Best - 3/10
Creepy Crawly Courage - 3/10
Windmill Woes - 2/10
Quacking Quandary - 1/10
Overall Rating (So far):
15/50
