The Final Retrospective of Thomas & Friends DVDs - 2021

 As we tick away to the new year of 2022, let's take alook back at the DVDs of Thomas & Friends. 
But first:

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

THE FINAL RETROSPECTIVE OF
THOMAS & FRIENDS DVDS - 2021

THE SUPER ENGINE

Review Date: 16/03/21

Score: 4/10

I still think there are some hit and miss episodes in this DVD, 'James the Super Engine' is still a nice episode but although S24, in my opinion, was the best of the BWBA series I think that episode just really didn't feel like a James episode. I think it would make more sense to make it a Percy episode given his persona whereas James would be more haughty and up himself trying to be a hero so he can have some attention. 'Ace's Brave Jump' is something I still hate due to him being chummy with Thomas despite the latter being more cross at him at the end of the movie. Yeah still not a great DVD but more on average scale. 

ANIMAL ADVENTURES

Review Date: 8/06/21

Score: 6/10

This DVD was a bit more better than 'Super Engine'. Not just because of 'The Great Little Railway Show', although that was a good episode. But their were good episodes on this release, yes Nia's episode about her and the elephant. I still love 'Thomas' Animal Friends' and I feel it was a nice metaphor for people, like myself, who enjoy BWBA. Thomas found something fun but the others made him look ridiculous due to their comments but the episode's moral is that you shouldn't listen what others are saying. If you enjoy it just enjoy and that would go for people who'd also enjoyed 'All Engines Go!' I hate it but I would never want to harass anyone who does as they see things differently subjectivley. If you do, those three words at the end of harass says something about you.   

A DAY ON AWDRY'S RAILWAY

Review Date: 13/09/21

Score: 10/10

Out of all the DVDs release this year, this one has to be the best one. It was a simple DVD presenting the timetable sequences of the Rev.W.Awdry's Ffarquhar layout that the Talyllyn Railway had preserved at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum. The camera work was great and it was lovely to hear the Rev.W.Awdry presenting the whole thing, with the addition of two other people, through rare archival audio recordings.  

OVERALL

And so that's it an end of an era now that the show had been rebooted into something generic and soulless. I understand that back in September, Mattel had announced that 'All Engines Go!' will be getting DVD releases, which started this month over in the US. Of course I won't be reviewing these nor will I even buy them. I'm sure Mattel aren't quivering in their boots when I say that since I'm just part of a tiny percentage compare to their bigger audience, although I doubt some of their general audience will like the reboot.

But it just makes me sad that since 2017 their hadn't been a DVD release for the US audience of the episodes from S21-24 and they were only exclusive to Nickelodeon and now Netflix. The only DVD that they'd released duing the BWBA era was the BWBA movie in 2019 and before and during that the only DVD releases that Paramount and Mattel gave were DVD compilations of movies and past episodic releases because they have a backlog of DVDs in the back even those some where model era episodes, which isn't bad BTW, but I thought Mattel's audience was more into the new stuff?

 I understand that more people have a Netflix account but what had stopped Mattel for releasing the latter part of the CGI series after they'd scrapped their stupid deal with Nickelodeon? It's just sad because the people who don't have a Netflix account or access to Nickelodeon had missed out on recent episodes and would have to look through YouTube to find the latest, sure you have S21-24 on the official YouTube channel but they have trimmed them down to make them abridged and have a lack of context that it doesn't hold the same experience as watching the episode in full. 

Sure there are full length episodes on YouTube but you then have YouTube's awful and highly flawed copyright bots blocking the video in certain countries because a particular company 'owns' them and I know that was towards the latter part of the CGI era, it happened to some episodes being blocked because they were 'owned' by the ABC in Australia, despite that they only broadcast the show. 

If only Mattel had given the non-Netflix and Nickelodeon customers access as well instead of focusing on people who do have more. As Britt Allcroft said back in 2015: 

"I didn't want families to need a lot of money to have to access Thomas, and it's something that me and my daughter talk a lot about with Mumfie, that just came back on.  Well, you can get it on Amazon Prime or Netflix, but what about the children who have very little?  How do they get to see it?"  - Britt Allcroft (2015)

If anyone from Mattel are reading this, if you're releasing AEG on DVD since you're really that confident that people would love it, how about be fair and release all of S21-24 as well for the parents and children who enjoy the CGI era considering that you are trying to balance the two worlds of Thomas out from this promo. It only seems fair considering that you are also releasing Wooden Railway again with the CGI designs while releasing AEG products as die-cast and Motorised.

So what of the blogsite? Now that I won't be reviewing anymore DVDs, although I did hear that 'The Thomas the Tank Engine Man' will have another DVD release, according to the director so maybe that might be on cards. Anyway despite that their wouldn't be any review on a potential series compilation DVD from the UK since I had already reviewed S17-21. Although I have high doubts that they would be released on that format. 

 I said this in my JBS review back in August, I might review the BWBA movie and see how well it lives up. But don't expect a post from me that much for a while but maybe I could do a review on some occassions. I don't really have a desire to review things such as books or toys and all though. 

Well I hope everyone have had a good Christmas and I wish you all a safe and happy new year!

- NWR1991. 

DVD Review: Animal Adventures

On April 1st 1985, a year after its television debut, the first thirteen episodes of Series 1 were released on VHS in the UK. Ever since then many episodes had been released on three different formats from Betamax, VHS right up until the DVD and now on May 31st 2021, we are at the last home video release of 36 years of continuity. Is the DVD worth it? Let's find out, but first: 

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

ANIMAL ADVENTURES

Episodes

Thomas' Animal Friends

Emily's Best Friend

Thomas' Fuzzy Friend

The Great Little Railway Show

Nia and the Unfriendly Elephant

Thomas' Not-So-Lucky Day

Yong Bao and the Tiger

Gordon and Rebecca, Coming Through!

Cleo the Road Engine

Directed by

Ian Cherry

Dianna Basso

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT/Mattel)

Tracy Blagdon (Jam Filled)

Special Features

N/A

Release Date

31/05/21 - UK

Distributed by

HIT/Mattel Creations - UK

EPISODES

I'm surprised that Mattel hadn't released 'Thomas and the Forest Engines' on any of BWBA's DVD releases, not even on S23's 'Carnival Day' DVD, heck it was themed after Brazil! But I honestly don't see that as a huge problem, not just because the episode was a bit meh, although I will give it credit for wiping out Bash, Dash and Ferdinand of the show's continuity since Thomas had said he had never seen engines like Marcia and Marcio before, thank you Davey Moore. But I digress. The reason why I don't see it as a huge deal is because we are now living in a world where people can stream these episodes on whatever streaming service they have or even YouTube. For us here in Australia, the episode will be on the ABC iview whenever the episode airs, until ABC stops airing repeats of S24 to make way for more shows as well as Stan whenever a series compilation comes out. In the UK and US it'll be on Netflix, until whenever Mattel ends their deal with them.

There are three good episodes coming out from this release and they were 'The Great Little Railway Show', 'Yong Bao and the Tiger' and 'Nia and the Unfriendly Elephant'. Great Little Railway may've not been Michael White's best, but I enjoyed it regardless with Percy's character. I love Percy's naivety about the idea of a railway show for little engines while the Fat Controller didn't provide much context behind it for Percy to comprehend plus it was a nice way as a little 'send off' to all of the little engines of the show, since Mattel are rebooting the show. It was a good episode with Percy's truest character as it reminded me of his character from 'Percy & the Signal'.

Nia and the Unfriendly Elephant was another good one because I like how Nia, visually, was overeger about the new elephant and how she thinks her past experience with the ones in Kenya would make it easy to get the elephant to be more comfortable. To me it's better than 'Nia's Bright Idea' as that episode wasn't really much about Nia overcoming any obstacle herself whereas Elephant does kinda show what she faces with and has to overcome it herself. It was interesting that the Fat Controller rewarded her with helping out of the animal park. If Mattel had decided to keep on going with the series instead of rebooting the show, maybe we could've had more episodes showcasing her working on Edward's branch line. 

Yong Bao and the Tiger is still one of the best. There was nice character development towards Yong Bao, however I think maybe with more running space we could see more of his development but it was nice to see him getting more motivation from the tiger as in Chinese culture, the tiger embodies progress so it helped Yong Bao to become the engine he's known today. Plus the music and the art style were great too.  

While I had enjoyed those episodes, I can't say they were above the standard of S17-21 but then again even I don't see those seasons as something great or perfect, they maybe better but even they share some flaws, I mean some fans don't like the dimensional character of Thomas since the writers had never really stuck with his progression and yet wanted the show to be back to that era. The other episodes such 'Thomas' Animal Friends', 'Emily's Best Friend' and 'Thomas' Fuzzy Friend' were OK in my book. Say what you want about Animal Friends but the episode was rather charming with Thomas enjoying something before being berated by the other engines for looking ridiculous, to be honest I feel that episode represent to people who actually like BWBA and saw it as something fun while other berate them for enjoying it, sadly their are people who are like that. These are the same kind of people who would berate someone for liking the Disney Star Wars sequels. 

'Emily's Best Friend' is not a great episode but it was miles better than her mediocre rescue episode, for that episode it was more of a Christopher Awdry story, something happened to Emily because it did. In the Best Friend episode, Emily was sad that she doesn't have a 'best friend' like Thomas and Percy and it distracted her from her job of taking sand until she realises that in the end, she's surrounded by all her friends, it kinda gives the message that you have more than one best friend. Emily never really had a strong episode since S19 but it was nice that the production team had a go at her having stories one last time. 

'Thomas' Fuzzy Friend' was another charming episode involving a dog and I still think it was wholesome in the end. If you're still upset by the idea of a dog peeing on James' wheels, don't forget to click the link in the episode review under the episode's list and see what video, that I had linked, that older fans had made when it comes to toilet humor. Can't have it both ways.

'Gordon and Rebecca Coming Through' had a nice message about being different but maybe it could've been better if it were about Rebecca wanting to be more like Gordon. Perhaps her trains were late because she took her time rather than being fast like Gordon but after being too much like Gordon she learns that she's different to him and there is no shame in that.'Cleo the Road Engine' was another good episode but I still wish Ruth was a bit more firmer with Cleo and her reckless driving, since she can move on her own. 

SPECIAL FEATURES

I don't think the UK ever had a Thomas DVD with no special features in the more recent years. But to be honest I'm not surprised. I mean they had used up all of the 'Meet the Characters' segment from 'Marvellous Machineary' so what else can they show? I believe they could've released the storytime segments that are on Amazon Prime and YouTube that starred Mark Moraghan but probably people at HIT and Mattel in the UK probably said, 'They're on their so they can watch it their.' and just can't be bothered, yet they would release the recent character videos on their YouTube channel so what is stopping them for doing the same to the ones on YouTube to DVD? 

I will say this, the special features had become more and more dull. They use to be exciting from 2013-15 as we had variety such as the storytime segments, the calling all engine sequence with various characters, the Earl's Quiz or Who's that Engine. The special features now just sucked. 

OVERALL

I honestly think the DVD isn't that bad in my opinion, the episodes weren't too bad but they aren't the best of the best in my opinion. If there's a particular episode you'd enjoyed like, for the older fandom, Yong Bao or the Great Little Railway Show, I prefer to buy them on iTunes. There's not much else I can say about the DVD now, since it just had episodes and lacked special features. 

So with this being the final S24 DVD and the final DVD ending 36 years of continuity, I would rather be thanking the people behind the scenes instead of bad mouthing how Mattel had handeled the brand for the umpteenth time. To start off, I would like to give thanks to:

- The animators at Arc/Jam Filled Productions: Thank you for the beautiful animation and art style and continuing the world of Thomas in CGI format. There may have been some hiccups with it all at times but it didn't stop them for creating such wonderful sets and characters that still live up to this day.

- The writing team: Such as Davey Moore, Micheal White, Beckey Overton, Helen Farrall, David Stoten, Lee Pressman etc. who had created such wonderful, creative and memorable stories and bringing more life to the Rev.W.Awdry's, Britt Allcroft's and David Mitton's characters. Such great stories from 2013-2020 and I wish you all the best on the other shows you're working on. 

- Andrew Brenner: Thank you for your dedication towards Thomas and your passion for it had made the show better compare to the last few years it was in from the production team that you'd replaced. Good luck on your other projects.

and finally, the biggest credit goes to...

IAN MCCUE

 I don't know how people feel about him in recent years with BWBA, but I think he had worked hard to try and bring the balance between the older fans and the target audience. He put so much passion into many Thomas episodes and came up with episode ideas with Andrew Brenner and David Stoten. He'd treated Thomas' legacy with such great respect. He may've had a few scuffle with some older fans when it came to the likes of 'fan service' being a major criticism from some, despite some going nuts over something like Big Mickey. But he had been respectful to the older fans and listen to their word on what works and what doesn't in episodes. 

Plus one fan had suggested and idea for a special in style of the ones from S23-24 and although he had denied the idea, he wanted the idea to be used as a fan made project: 

Funny you should mention this - in March 2019, I had a phone chat with Ian McCue discussing about an idea for special episodes (in the style of D&D, TRE etc) with Toby as the main character and a RETURNEE. While it got rejected, Ian encouraged me to make it into a fan-project.

— Elliot Killick-Ward (@ElliotKW) March 11, 2021

Well, truth to be told, Ian loved the story idea and didn't really want it going to waste, so he believes it would make make a good fan-made story. One thing that got him surprised to start off with was the fact I tried to get Flora back into the series.https://t.co/rgjUTNEnkv

— Elliot Killick-Ward (@ElliotKW) March 11, 2021

Although some of his ideas won't go down well with some older fans, he has respect for them and their creative output. I believe Ian McCue is still working for Mattel, since Fireman Sam is pretty much around still, although I don't know for how long since it isn't as successful in the scale of Thomas, heck the whole reason Mattel bought HIT was just because of Thomas, the other brands were just a freebie. I know that the 'Storytime' Podcast is on its second series. So a part of the Thomas series for 36 years is still going, although for how long? 

I wish everyone above all the best and thank you for your contribution to the world of Thomas the Tank Engine & his friends. Although I'm not a fan of 'S25', I will say this, it exists now and there's nothing we can do about it. No one from the general public is going care about the top 10 or 11 episodes or going to care about the lore, history and heritage of Thomas, sadly.  To the general public, Thomas is just another kids show for them.

Sure you can badmouth about 'S25' but if people enjoy it when it comes out later this year, just let them enjoy it. All the old stuff will still be there in the years to come regardless if the new show is a success or not and even if you ever have kids and they enjoy it maybe just let them be themselves. Showcase them the old stuff but if they are more interested in the new show and what it has to offer, just let them be themselves.

With this being the last DVD of the original series and very likely that Mattel would be more focused of releasing future Thomas episodes entierly on Netflix only, since that is future of home entertainment, I think I'm done with reviewing DVDs and I'm kinda glad as they were becoming a bit more of a chore instead of something as fun. This blog will still be up but don't expect many posts from me from time to time, the 'Journey Beyond Sodor' re-review will be happening still and don't expect a retrospective post of the DVDs from this year since there were only two released this year.

OVERALL RATING

6/10

DVD Review: The Super Engine

Welcome to the year 2021 and while Mattel are awaiting to release the upcoming reboot Thomas series, there are some DVDs with episodes from the 24th season to be released during the year. I know I said I won't be reviewing the new reboot since it sounds terrible, it still is, and it strips away everything about Thomas, so much for Mattel 'caring' about Thomas' DNA and heritage, although Nelvana Studios are the blame as well given how they were given the creative freedom to see what new thing Mattel would want. Mattel at least held them back a bit when it comes to desigining the engines, but with what they approved, they aren't getting off that easy. I might be reviewing it whenever it comes out, I know I won't be kind to it though.

 But I digress, I will be reviewing the S24 DVDs before I give this blog a hiatus maybe until the Marc Forster movie comes out in future. So let's start off the year with 'The Super Engine', but first: 

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

THE SUPER ENGINE

Written by

David Stoten

Camille Ucan & Rose Johnson

Becky Overton

Episodes

James the Super Engine

Shankar's Makeover

Ace's Brave Jump

Thomas and the Inventor's Workshop

The Inventor's Spetacular Bridge

Nia's Bright Idea

Cleo's First Snow

Directed by

Diana Basso

Ian Cherry

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT/Mattel)

Tracy Blagdon (Jam Filled)

Special Features

Meet the Characters - Cleo

Release Date

15/02/21 - UK

07/04/21 - AUS

Distrubted by

HIT/Mattel Creations - UK

HIT/Mattel Creations/ABC Kids - AUS

EPISODES

The episodes consist of eight episodes from the 24th season and sadly the last season of Thomas of the past 36 years. I will say some episodes are a hit and miss, 'James the Super Engine' was a nice episode but it didn't feel too much like a James episode. In the episode, James just want to be a superhero because he wants to help, but I feel something like that could be done for the likes of Percy given his sweet and naive nature. I still think if it were more of a James story, it would be for him to get attention or to be rewarded with a comic book of his own, since something like that fits his character and maybe perhaps he would learn that being hero means you should helps others for sake of kindness not just getting attention for the sake of it and should be earned a reward not be given a reward for nothing. 

I still don't like 'Ace's Brave Jump' and it's all because Thomas being chummy with Ace despite that the latter has been terrible to Thomas during 'Big World Big Adventures: The Movie'. Sure we shouldn't be holding a grudge but the episode literally showed them seeing each other for the first time since! It just ruins the continuity of it all and you think maybe their could've been an episode where Ace wants to fix his friendship with Thomas, considering how Ace had reacted to Thomas wanting to find Nia so he could apologise. Maybe have it set on Sodor since Nia lives their. I still see the episode as OK with Ace learning not to fear wild animals but the one annoying thing was that for some reason, Thomas and Ace were still friends, desipte that they hadn't seen each other since the events of Big World. 

'Nia's Bright Idea' was an average episode and I understand Nia is suppose to be a positive female role model for kids to look up too. But I wish she went through some conflict when it came to Harold's predicament. Like maybe she tries use to the lighthouse at Harwick but because the weather was so thick, Harold wouldn't have the hope to see it. Have Nia go through a time where her clever ideas weren't so clever at all and maybe have other engines making up better idea that work differently. It wouldn't make Nia weak and pathetic, far from that! It would make her more connectable with the auidence. We all think we have good idea but maybe not all the time. I wish Mattel had given Ian McCue another chance with BWBA but instead they were impulsive because the show was not driving toy sales. Yes they are a captalist organistation but it doesn't negate that they were really impulsive with Thomas in order to make money, take a look at the reboot that was announced late last year and look at the sales figures of the Thomas toys from their 4th quarter last year with sales finally going UP! 

I honestly think 'The Inventor's Spetacular Bridge' is a good episode not the best however, and yes I find an automatic moving bridge far more believable than that stupid shake shake bridge from that island inhabited by Bill and Ben-lite and country bumpkin climax engine. Call me a shill or a bootlicker all you want, it won't make you any better of a person when it comes to name calling, but I would take that over the latter. Plus Toby's fear of the old bridge is kind of justifiable since he had to take the risk by going over it to get to Farmer McColl's farm in a snow storm with a vet to check on the lambs. I like Ruth but I remember people saying that all her inventions always work so well in the end with no fault or damage and while I do understand that, I believe since the 24th seasoan had been hinting a 25th season with Hiro telling Thomas he should make a trip to Japan, sadly Mattel robbed us that idea since Thomas is massive over their and had treated Thomas far more respect with its legacy, I believe we might've gotten an episode of Ruth's inventions screwing up if BWBA still went ahead. But we'll never have that unfortunetly because Mattel.

'Cleo's First Snow' was a charming episode and it has new meaning to me when it comes to its message that we should enjoy it while it lasts. With Mattel now rebooting Thomas in 2021, the show that had 36 years of continuity from 1984-2020 is no more. Everything from the show's roots, history and even to its nationality is now gone and is nothing more than a generic cartoon for Cartoon Network and knowing how the latter treats their animated shows that aren't in the same scale of popularity as 'Teen Titans Go', they do get canned no matter how many seasons their are or how many people love it. I know it's for a pre-school block that they are introducing but Thomas will have some competition and when it comes to the show's humor, I wouldn't be surprised if their are too many fourth wall jokes. Anyway, I digress, the episode really feels like a metaphor, at the time it was on TV for the first time, the show was on a 'hiatus' and we have no idea about its future until this reboot. Plus the ending showcase we can ejoy the things we like as much as we can, like us with all the episodes of Thomas from before and the Railway Series stories. It will always be their for us to enjoy and it still exists. Cleo was an interesting character and love how they made her into this very young character and how Ruth was more like a mother to her car. It was a nice charming episode.

The best episode I think out of this DVD goes to 'Shankar's Makeover'. It was nice seeing more of Shankar's personality with him prefering to be behind the scenes rather than being in the spotlight and we had something like in Thomas before. Thomas' peer pressure I think works for his current character since he gets excited over anything fun and you can tell he didn't mean no harm, he just wants Shankar to be all part of the fun without realising his feelings first. I wish it was done Rajiv but I think the latter would kinda be more forceful than being blissfully ignorant. Like Rajiv would know Shankar would not like but he wants him to be part of it anyway just to show him that it's not silly. 

Click the links in the list above to see my opinions about the episodes.  

SPECIAL FEATURES

Honestly, I hate how barebones the special features had become. Ever since 2017, the special feature had been scaling down and they hadn't released anything good, special features wise since. Then by the time BWBA came out, what we got were these character videos that explain about the new characters. When it first started it worked since the show took a new turn but they were becoming more like, 'here's the character that you just saw earlier in the movie/episode'. I wish Mattel had released the 'Mr. Evans storytime' videos that were released on YouTube back in 2019. We hadn't had those since the last Mr. Perkins storytime video was released on 'Whale of a Tale & Other Sodor Adventures' back in 2016 as Wal*Mart exclusive.

Sure they are on Amazon Prime but only in the UK. It just seems lazy and ignorant of Mattel for not having a balance on how to release things for everyone. Not everyone has a streaming service and not everyone has cable. 

In short, the special feature is just Cleo's 'Meet the Characters' video and that is it. It's not bad but it just feels like Mattel are just putting these out their now with the reboot coming later this year and to me that is sad.

OVERALL

The DVD is a mixed bag to me. Some episodes were just on level of OK-average with Shankar's being the only good one. I recommend just getting an episode either on its own from iTunes, depends on which one you enjoy the most. Saves money instead of buying the DVD itself. The special features are becoming more dull with no variety and I don't know what we'll have on the next S24 DVD since all the characters shown for 'Marvellous Machineary' has one, unless Baz and Bernie has one like Ruth, but I kinda doubt it since they were only theives whereas the Meet the Charcter videos showcase what was maverllous about them.

OVERALL RATING

4/10