DVD Review: The Royal Engine

We've just celebrated the 75th anniversary on May 12th with the 75th anniversary episode 'Thomas & The Royal Engine' and now we have it on DVD. So here are my views on it, but first:

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

THE ROYAL ENGINE

Written by
Micheal White
Camille Ucan & Rose Johnson
Davey Moore
Beckey Overton

Episodes
Thomas & The Royal Engine
Heart of Gold
Crowning Around
Diesel Glows Away
Emily to the Rescue

Directed by
Joey So: 
Thomas & The Royal Engine

Dianna Basso:
Heart of Gold
Crowning Around
Diesel Glows Away
Emily to the Rescue

Produced by
Ian McCue (HIT/Mattel)
Tracy Blagdon (Jam Filled)

Special Features
Party Train - Music Video
Duchess - Meet the Characters

Release Date
4/05/20 - UK
10/06/20 - AUS

Distributed by
HIT/Mattel Creations - UK
HIT/Mattel/ABC Kids Australia - AUS

EPISODES

The episodes consist two S24 episodes and three S23 episodes. You can read my views of the episode titles above, 'Emily to The Rescue' will be out after its TV run. But I would point out some differences that the DVD gave. The Royal Engine special had cut out Prince Harry's message that was shown on television in the UK and Australia and on Netflix in the US. It really felt as a surprise to me but it kinda makes Thomas' narration less akward compare to what we got in broadcast version with Prince Harry 'narrating' it. The other surprise was that 'Engine Roll Call' had been replaced with 'The Steam Team Song' that was released in 2019. To be honest, the latter feels more like Engine Roll Call anyway so it really doesn't make any difference but it brings a nice change after years of hearing the former. Plus it feels more fresh compare to what we got in 2018 where the vocals changed from the chior that sung the song from S8-12 and then to additional kids that sang the verses for Nia and Rebecca. Plus it makes the song less dated compare to Roll Call when you have a lyric for Rebecca saying, 'She's new and lots of fun'. When she really isn't that new anymore compare to when she was in 2018. So I'm fine with the new addition, although I think they should find a way to edit it shorter instead of ending it abruptly. I also like the addition of 'Crowning Around' and 'Heart of Gold' since they both share the same theme as the DVD.

SPECIAL FEATURES

One thing that surprised me about 'Party Train' was that they got Sam Blewitt back to do the vocals and I'm so glad that it wasn't another Eggplant LF song, as I was expecting maybe more like a rap or pop styled song but it was a nice reggae vibe kind of song. The last time Sam sang for Thomas was back in 2015 for Lost Treasure and that was 'We Make A Team Together'. The song really gave me that vibe of what we got back then and I do like the new animation that Jam Filled had provided for the video and I also liked the diversity of some clips from past episodes and specials and the recreated JBS clip of Thomas puffing past the animals too. Hopefully whenever the hiatus ends we see more of Sam in upcoming songs.

We got another 'Meet the Characters' video which is pretty simple since it's all about Duchess and Thomas recounting his interaction with her from the 75th anniversary episode. Nothing bad and it adds a little touch to the whole themeing of the DVD.

OVERALL

I think the DVD was good despite the lack of special features but the two surprising additions like the cutting of Prince Harry's 75th anniversary message and 'The Steam Team Song' replacing 'Engine Roll Call' were something that makes it a bit unique, for the time being for the latter.

This might be my only DVD review for the time being, what with no new UK DVDs being revealed yet and more likely because of the COVID-19 pandemic that we're in right now. I know that were was suppose to be a 'Thomas & The Magic Railroad' Blu-Ray coming out from Shout! for its 20th anniversary, but had been pulled from its release schedule more likely due to the pandemic, but I won't be reviewing that whenever it comes out, because if you really want to see me bad mouthing it again for how terrible it was then you're more than welcomed to read my 2014 review of it. I know about the workprint leak too and condem the person responsible for uploading it for violating the wishes of the owner of the said tape and for former owner of Thomas, Britt Allcroft who wants it to be taken down. I will admit I had seen it but I will not be sharing it. Would I review it? Only time will tell and while I do not approve of there wishes being violated I will say truthfully that like George Lucas who'd wished he finds every copy of the infamous 'Star Wars Holiday Special' and smash it, once it's on the internet it's on the internet. It sucks and I'm sorry if this brings down some fans of the movie but it's hard to stop people from having a downloaded copy, unless, and from what I heard, Mattel's or Sony's lawyers do something about it.

I know that there are compilation DVDs from Universal, and one was released recently of the past movies for the 75th anniversary, but they are compilation DVDs. They add nothing new and I don't see that much value in having them when you can purchase the DVDs seperatley cheaper. Sure they add more space and there are parents out there who will give there kids a good amount of entertainment, but I much prefer getting them indivually seening as how there's more value in them.

And I do know that the S21 collection DVD has yet to be announced but I think it's delayed because of the global pandemic we are in. But whenever that is announced and released I will surely be reviewing it as well as the 'Marvellous Machineary' DVD since it was advertised on this DVD. There is a Japanese DVD I'm getting in the mail so maybe I might review that, depends how I feel. I hadn't reviewed one since 2013.

OVERALL RATING:
7/10

Movie Reviews Revisited P.II - The Great Race (2016)

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

THE GREAT RACE (2016)

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

David Stoten

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT)

Robert Anderson (Arc)

Release Date

5/09/16 - UK

7/09/16 - AUS

13/09/16 - USA

Distributied by

HIT Entertainment

MY VIEWS

Honestly I have been hearing people saying that this should be a Gordon story instead and while I definetly agree with that it would've been interesting, I think the head honchos at HIT and Mattel would've wanted more of a Thomas story. So I thought, why not have both? You can still have Thomas' story as the main plot and Gordon's story to serve as the subplot. Both engines have insecurities like Gordon feeling belittled by his brother, Flying Scotsman, being better than him because of his speed record and famous history and Thomas is insecured because he wanted to go to the Great Railway Show but feels that shunting isn't good enough and two engines (Ashima and Gordon) are living his dream and he wants to find ways like the streamlining phase and the best decorated engine phase, after all Thomas had always had a competitive nature to himself. To do that they should've just cut out Diesel's plot, that didn't go anywhere plotwise and was only added in for the comedy aspect. I think you can still inject humor in the story here and there with Thomas and Gordon's story.

Plus with streamlined Gordon, I think the whole safety valve thing was a bit underwhelming since the story felt arupt and maybe have Gordon's streamline being a rush job because he wanted the workmen to hurry up and they didn't add all the nesscary parts to keep the casing stabled and once Gordon ran at top speed, the casing was falling apart but Gordon kept on trying, have him almost beating Eitenne, Spencer, Axel and Flying Scotsman only to be beaten by the french engine in the end. Gordon got cross that he lost and it's all because his streamlining fell off but then his brother told him that he had kept on trying and had almost beaten him and that he was just being himself. Plus it would've added a bit more depth to the brothership of him and Gordon, he maybe a bit concieted but he still cares more about his brother than a race. Which I felt was a huge missed opportunity in the actual film, while Scott, as I call him in my series, was concerned for Gordon after his boiler expoloded, he put his mind on the race once Axel raced past him. I think they should've shown him crossing the finish the line and everyone was shocked to see him going around the track again despite loosing to Eitenne. However they all saw him helping his brother out to cross the finish line to at least finish the race with some dignity. It would've given the message that despite the teasing Scott cares deeply for his brother in the end, I also see Scott not taking himself too seriously unlike Gordon.

I will add this with the whole streamlined Gordon thing, I remember back in 2016 people were saying that he should've been a A4 but that simply wouldn't work. If you look at an A4 with its smokebox door opened it would look akward and yeah you might say but it worked with Spencer, that's because his face is rectangular, which is the same as the front of an A4. It makes more sense on Mattel and HIT's part to give Gordon an America-esque shape since they have a circular front for his face.

I also think Thomas' self-sacrifice to give Ashima the winning glory in the shunting challenge did show good sportsmanship and I think he was rightly rewarded in the end for it, sure I once said it was bad because it could've been good to showcase that loosing isn't bad, but also showing good sportsmanship is a good message to bring to kids too, Thomas gave up his winning spot because he thinks it wouldn't be fair if Ashima lost due to a derailed conflat blocking her path. However maybe he shouldn't have gotten a trophy but maybe a medal? As for Ashima, I feel that while she was nice and her friendship towards Thomas was nice, she really was bland to be honest. I still think Vinnie was a rather pointless villian, he had no reason to be hard on Philip. I say to at least have a reason, maybe have Philip calling him out on cheating and while everyone praised him, he hated it because he was disqualified. Plus have Philip stand up for himself, he really didn't do any of that in the movie and was being a jerk towards Ashima, even after she'd helped him to get away from Vinnie. This movie had some problems, but really looking back after nearly five years it isn't that bad as some people make it out to be. I think some people should try and make their own minds up without being influenced by any user they consider as a 'big user'. I personally hope no one does the same thing with my reviews over the years because that wasn't my intention to do so and I think it's wrong of people to be influenced by someone else's opinions because you're not really thinking for youself. The movie had some problems, like the bridge jumping scene not having much purpose and it was a bit underwhelming, the Fat Controller not being this tough but fair character etc. In the end, the movie, while not the best, wasn't really that bad to be honest looking back. I think there are much better opportunities for it but what we got is what we got. Overall I think the songs were nice addition and very catchy.

OVERALL RATING
7/10

Thanks to everyone who had the time to read my new viewpoints, I know some of you out there may not agree with me what I say and I respect that. I'll be reviewing more Thomas items in the months to come so stay tuned!

Movie Reviews Revisited P.II - The Adventure Begins (2015)

I kept the review for May 12th because it's just right. This special was made with the 70th anniversary in mind back in 2015 and of course five years had passed and we are now here celebrating the 75th anniversary. Despite no sequal for this movie, I'm just very happy that something like this had happened. But is it as good as it was when it was released back in 2015? Let's find out. But first: 

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

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS (2015)

Originally Written by

The Rev.W.Awdry

Adapted by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

Don Spencer

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT)

Jennifer Hill (Arc)

Release Date

3/03/15 - USA

27/07/15 - UK

4/11/15 - AUS

Distributor

HIT Entertainment

MY VIEWS

It's hard to believe that this, I'm not overstating it here, masterpiece is now five years old and after rewatching it for this review, it still makes me amazed that the Thomas production team had nailed this, and I do say this rarely, perfectly! One thing I'm glad to see from this special was that while it was based on the works of the Rev.W.Awdry it tries to be its ownself by adding its own twists and turns to not make it as a replica of what we got before. I remember reading on twitter from a fan who had spoken to Sam Wilkinson at a Star Tugs Trust event that originally the special was a last minute idea and that it was going to be a combination of Awdry's and Allcroft's dialouge and I'm glad it wasn't because I had the first series already. To me having something that stands out is more important than trying to be something that was.

 I love the Thomas and Edward dynamic in this special. Edward feels like the teacher to Thomas and it was done well and this special also shows how much Edward works as a secondary character instead of trying to give him a lead role in an episode that would just be the same story over and over again. Edward was giving Thomas wise advice and confidence as well. It would be great to see him helping out other characters too. The two characters were brilliant and I remember after watching this for the first it gave me so much love for Edward. I also like that Edward was scolded by the Fat Controller too, shows that while Edward is wise he can make some mistakes.

I like Thomas in this special. He retains his Awdry persona by being cheeky to the big engines but they've also added some naivety and child like traits within him as well. Gordon was also brilliant too, his character feels very Awdry like with his arrogance and boastfulness same can be said about the Fat Controller's father figure character, brilliant! I will also say while Henry wasn't excatly Awdry like in this special, I actually like him more here than what he was originally. Henry was actually begin scared of the rain was actually stated in the books and even in the picture he looked sad and worried too. But of course Henry was arrogant and grumpy about the rain spoiling his green paint but I think his scaredy attitude here just makes him stand out more and even during the year this was released, 2015, the writers I think got his scaredy persona right like with him being overly worried about chicken pox or an abominable snowman because those are things he'd never encountered before as an engine. Sure that isn't the Henry we all know from the classic series or the books but over the years I did see more of Gordon and James in Henry's original persona and I still stand by that.

And yeah, he wasn't in his old shape too but here's the thing. What would they use for his old shape after the movie? Ever since the movie's debut we never saw any episode or movie regarding any flashback. We now have the fantasy sequences in BWBA but they would hardly be used for flashbacks, I mean sure there was that one from 'Chucklesome Trucks' but it still does kind of come off as rare and I think the animators would still use Henry's new shape regardless of accuracy and pandering to older fans, because I also think its familarisation towards kids and parents of the general public. If Henry was given any toy with his old shape, that little bit of detail would probably be overlooked and wouldn't generate any sales. The last time we saw Henry in his old shape was back in 1984 and while some kids do have access to the classic series through streaming platforms and digital downloads it would only be for a short brief moment. 

The music recreated by Peter Hartshorne was a fantastic recreation of Mike O'Donnell & Junior Campbell's music. Sure there are some fans who would want to have the actual originals in this special, although that would be bad because to be honest the music that were created by them in the 1980's, while amazing and brilliant, do come off as rather dated with the modern animation, I mean if you watch any video from the CGI era that has there music on top to make it as a classic series episode, which doesn't make the episode anymore like what we had in the past, you can see why. The songs were great too of course. The camera angles and animation by Arc Productions was superb too. I especially like the scene with Thomas working hard in the yard and you have the day transitioning itself from day until night, brilliant! I had been reading SiF's Simon Martin's view on the movie and despite that I understand and respect his word on this film, I will disagree on him of this being a reboot. I had stated that term has becoming a dead meaning nowadays because some old show that have been revived just so it continue its story after so many years leaving it as a cliffhanger (e.g - 'Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie') people still call it a reboot. I mean after this movie we still have references to past episodes as little easter eggs. The term has more meaning when something is an actual reboot, although some of them do turn out to be inferior versions of the original. I remember listening to ChrisTheXelent's, creator of 'Steam Locos In Profile' on YouTube, podcast review of the movie once a few years ago and he was saying that some older fans have concern about the continuity of the show and the purpose of the model era. While I understand there fear, there's this I always see when it comes to 'The Adventure Begins'. Look at all of the countless adaptations of Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol'. There had been countless and countless of adaptations of the Christmas classic through every form of media from film, television, various other books to stage plays and radio dramas, do you think people might've had some concern about the 'true' version? While that book had no continuity compare to Thomas, I just see it as another interpretation of Awdry's books. As the years passed since this special was released, we still had classic series references being made, even some being made as flashback like Terence and the ice. The classic series is still in tact and nothing has been disrupted.

In the end, the special was brilliant, it had aged very well like fine and despite no sequel to it, it still amazing that we had something like this done and it's still fitting for the 75th and any anniversary year in future. While I would love to see a sequel, and given how the show now has two 20 minute specials, I think it can work with the Railway Series. If you are a parent and your child is starting to like Thomas, I highly recommend it. It's on Stan here in Australia for streaming, even on buy it or rent on YouTube and Google Play too, it's still availble on DVD and digital download too.

OVERALL RATING

10/10

Movie Reviews Revisited P.II - Tale Of The Brave (2014)

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

TALE OF THE BRAVE (2014)

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

Rob Silvestri

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT)

Robert Anderson & Brian Lynch (Arc)

Release Date

1/09/14 - UK

16/09/14- US

1/10/14 - AUS

Distributed by

HIT Entertainment

MY VIEWS

Honestly, this was a major improvement compare to 'King of the Railway' because there was focus on the narrative. Sure there were subplots but they all feel connected compare to the 2013 special, Thomas was curiorus about the mysterious footprint, Percy was scared by the idea of a monster and James was trying to hide his scaredy side to make himself look bigger. I will say Percy being the scaredy engine does seem to be a big depature to how the way Awdry made him but to be honest, the lead role for him feels like something for him. Percy, in the classic series, has traits similar to Thomas (cheeky, arrogant and boastful) but he had some traits that are different and they are his naiveness and scaredy trait. This is the same engine that once believed in 'backing signals', this is the same engine who got scared of a paper dragon, naughty gnomes etc in the non-Awdry stories. It seems right for him to take the lead, Percy was being naive about the idea of a monster and was scared by the idea too. Plus a role like this can be really relatable among younger kids who go through that phase of things in the dark looking scarey by the weird shape of shadows. Heck even adults can get scared of things sometimes and its natural.

I do like how Thomas was handeled in this special particulary with Percy. After Percy had dealt with James' 'scrap monster', he (Thomas) wants to believe him but he had his own doubts and Thomas has the right to have some of it because the moment he saw during that thunderstorm was just a blink of the eye and he doesn't know if it was real or if he was seeing things. Percy really didn't need to be angry with him but of course he doesn't how Thomas was thinking. I also, if I digress here, remember talking to someone years ago about the idea of the footprints, they said that it was super obvivous what it is, BUT do the characters in the film know? Had they ever seen a dinosuar before? Yes we know about Christopher Awdry's book about Thomas and the dinosuar but hardly any of his books get acknowledgement at all compare to his father's and his stand alone books from the 90's aren't canon since they were never referenced in any of his Railway Series books. When we see a movie, we don't watch through our presepective we're suppose to see it through the character's prespective. So the idea of Thomas not knowing what those footprints are makes a so much sense in them making it a mystery.

With James, I like how he was the bully to Percy, but he only did it out of fun for himself. This is James that I see from the classic series and he was like this with the likes of Edward, Gordon and the other engines with his teasing. However he learnt, although visually, that he can be scared himself and they do say that all bullies are cowards from the inside. Percy is very opened about being a coward and very vulnerable as shown in the movie and of course James sees that as an opportunity to bully him but of course he's a coward on the inside and didn't want to show it.

As with Gator, I do like the wisdom and advise he gave to Percy. But yeah why was he on Sodor? I mean sure Connor and Caitlin were on Sodor because they were on time trials but Gator was here because he was. After reading SiF's viewpoint on the movie from 2014, his reason for storytelling purposes was to be a strange looking engine that looks unusual and uncanny compare to the other engines that we normally see on Sodor. A bit like a monster. His fear of height was intriguing but we also learn from him that we have to brave even though we are scared and it's hard for somebody to get over something fearful too but we mustn't let fear enslave us in the end. Clive Mantle's voice was nice, soothing and clam.

Marion and neither Timothy had anything major to play in the film but there characters shine like Marion's talkative attitude and Timothy's gullibility. I will say Oliva Colman really shined with Marion and I can tell she was having lots of fun voicing her. She really had brought alot of warmth to her too and it amazes me on how far she had come since voicing Marion, I mean sure she had a successful acting career before Thomas but she's now an acamedy award winner now and that is something. I would love to see her again in the show. I think the only character that could've been cut and introduce later would've been Reg. He was there and that was it. I will also point out, Cranky's scene of stopping the ship was still tensed and sure while it's unrealistic, the show had never been focused with reality for quite sometime. I think I had just come to the point with it being the new norm. I also remembered someone saying they should've referenced 'Cranky Bugs' despite some complain about 'fan service' because they'd referened 'Up, Up and Away', how this is that fan service when the older fanbase despise it I will never know. But to me it wouldn't be useful and would feel shoehorned in just to please some older fans.

I do understand that the structure of the story have been a bit all over the place but I managed to follow the story despite that.In the end, this special is great. I loved it back in 2014 and I still think it holds up. I find it a bit weird to hear Ben Small after years hearing John Hasler and while I think Hasler has done a bit better than Small, Ben had done good work into bringing Thomas' voice to life over the years, although I think HIT and Mattel could've let him stayed on as the other characters he was voicing but he wouldn't have done much given how the character he had voiced don't have much episodes or roles as they use to.

OVERALL RATING
9/10

Movie Reviews Revisited P.II - King Of The Railway (2013)

As stated back in December 2019, I'm looking back at the movies again, but only between the 2013-2016 specials because I don't want to sit through the likes of Misty Island or Day of the Diesels again, those are still terrible to watch. So I'm focusing on the Brenner/McCue era of the Thomas specials. The reason why I won't be reviewing movies like 'Journey Beyond Sodor' and 'Big World Big Adventures' is because I still hold my views on them since they were new and also they are too young in my eyes to look back at yet, maybe in another few years when the time is right. 

So let's start off with the start of the Brenner/McCue era with 'King of the Railway'. Had the movie stand with the test of time? Let's find out. But first:

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

KING OF THE RAILWAY (2013)

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

Rob Silvestri

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT)

Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Brian Lynch (Arc)

Release Date

2/09/13 - UK

17/09/13 - USA

2/10/13 - AUS

Distributed by

HIT Entertainment

MY VIEWS

Looking back, I feel that this movie doesn't know what to focus on storywise. One part was the mystery behind all of the whole grand plan that the Earl was keeping under wraps, then we have Thomas, Percy and James working together at the castle and then Stephen wanting to be useful by finding a job and Gordon and Spencer trying to prove who was the fastest until Connor and Caitlin showed up, which by the way felt arupt when that concluded their subplot and nothing was resolved for them entirely. I mean even though the Miller/Barlow era has its tremendous faults, the movies had focus on the narrative from start to finish, don't get me wrong I still find them terrible, except for 'Hero of The Rails', even if it was more of an extended episode. I think if they had the idea at the time, this could've been more better as four episodes for the TV series. I will also point out that I think the 'climax' of Thomas and Stephen nearly falling off the bridge really didn't serve anything and it was shoehorned in to fill up space to make ends meet. I think if they had focused on one story, maybe it could've been about Thomas, James and Percy wanting to find King Godred's golden crown for the Earl before he arrives home so they can surprise him. However, James acts all arrogant and boastful that he can find the crown himself without the pair of tank engines slowing him down. Perhaps Stephen could fit into the story by having him sent to the Steamworks by the Earl while he was on his world expedition and maybe James made fun of him for being old and thinks that he would be even slower to find the crown and James ends up being trapped in the mine. It's not much but I think it would work with the moral about teamwork. If any fan made writers are out there wanting to use that outline you're welcomed to use it and you can have the freedom to change it up if you think what would work better.

The characteristation of the engines were really good. I especially like Percy in this one because his personality feels very Awdry like with his cheekiness and boastfulness but mixed with his sweet nature. Sure he would not be like that in the next movie but I'll talk about that another time. Brenner had really nailed them well, especially with the likes of Gordon, Spencer, Thomas, James etc. However, outside from Stephen, the new characters I feel were just there. Sure they had there reason but they were unneeded because they added nothing and this isn't the first movie that had done that in this era. Stephen however was a pretty good character. A wise old engine with a good sense of humor feeling like something Rev.W.Awdry would've done in the books. I also like that they had added in some Sodor history in the movie too based upon of the history that Rev.W.Awdry and his brother George had developed back in the mid-1980's.

This movie was good but I think they should've done more work on the plot by focusing on one story. As for the animation, looking back at Arc's first try, it did look a little pale compare to Arc's next films until 2016. The lighting was bright but the action and movement of the engines were more fluid.

OVERALL RATING

6/10

Classic Series Review Revisited - Series 7 (2003)

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

SERIES 7 (2003)

Written by

Jam Page

Paul Larson

Brain Trueman

Robyn Charteris

George Tarry

James Mason

David Mitton

Jenny McDade

Polly Churchill

Robin Kingsland

Lee Pressman

EPISODES

EMILY'S NEW COACHES

Honestly I think the story could've been better. I think they should've expanded on Thomas thinking that the new coaches were for him and he was wondering why and he saw Emily taking his ones, assuming his coaches were given to Emily instead. Thomas was cross and told the other engines that she was a thief. Then it turns out it was Thomas' ignorance that was the problem because the coaches were for Emily. But I think they wanted a reason to give Emily her new coaches. For that idea, maybe the episode could've gone as a two parter. Episode one is about Emily assuming that Annie and Clarabel were just random coaches and didn't ask permission, which annoyed Thomas and then episode two would be about Emily redeeming herself to Thomas. In the end, the episode was alright but it wasn't a strong opener in my opinion.

Rating: 4/10

PERCY GETS IT RIGHT

I think they should've gone with Gordon getting stuck in the mud instead of Thomas, perhaps the message that we should listen would've been better if they have gone with him instead. With Thomas it just felt mandated because he's the star of the show. I was going to add about the Fat Controller ignoring Percy but I think the intention was to showcase that he's not at all perfect and should've listened to one of his engines. Anyway, the episode was alright but could've been better. 

Rating: 4/10 

BILL, BEN AND FERGUS

I feel that Fergus was introduced just to give Bill and Ben something to work with. While I understand that Fergus' persona is him being fussy about the rulebook and a goody two shoes with a big heart. The plot feels like your generic 'Bill and Ben causing trouble' story.

Rating: 3/10 

THE OLD BRIDGE

I look back at this episode and realise that probably had given this episode too much flak. Yes, Skarloey is an old and wise engine but he can be immune from being scared about anything. We never saw him dealing with an old bridge before so I think this episode is nice to give him some traits and it showcases that he's an engine with some flaws too rather than being the one dimensional wise old engine.

Rating: 7/10

EDWARD'S BRASS BAND

Honestly, it's nice to see Edward with an episode that is not him proving his own worth to someone like Gordon or James but despite that, this episode didn't bring out anything new towards him. There was conflict but it was not done by him and nor he deserves. I think it was trying to show that things can go south but he was repaired and rewarded in the end as if that message doesn't even matter. To me this is another mandated Edward episode. It's good that they thought outside the box but sadly there was nothing new and you can see why writers would rather stick with Edward dealing with him being old or proving his own worth at times over the years before they replaced him with Nia in 2017. Please don't take my word about Edward as if I'm sort of a Mattel 'shill' or a 'bootlicker', honestly, unlike some people. Not every decision they make is great or flawless and I like Edward and Henry, but if you like to have characters who are out there proving there worth to a superior or having to deal with an illness over and over and over again to the point they are flanderised or having episodes where there characters are tarnished for good for those who enjoy them back when they were kids then there'll be problems. The two work well as secondary characters in my opinion, as they were in some Railway Series stories. They can't hold an episode to themselves.

Rating: 3/10

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HENRY?

One thing I'll say, I like that they add Emily in the show more but her original persona is kind of like of how fans reacted to with Nia's persona when she was first introduced and honestly I'm glad that they had changed up her persona in S8 to give her more conflict, say what you want about S8 but at least they weren't afraid to try something different. While it was nice to see Emily being this big sister type character, she feels very one dimensional and take a look at her right now, she hardly has any episode, though are some upcoming ones this year and we had one back in 2019 but with that nice persona it doesn't make her interesting. OK I digress, as with the episode. I feel that this is another mandated episode for the sake of giving Henry an episode and it's quite odd to go back with him being sick only that they resolved it quickly this time rather then being for a whole series until nearing its end. I remember hearing a few months ago on twitter, one person pointed out everyone else ignored Henry's illness but there's one problem, they had done that back in series 1. I'm not saying that the person was wrong, there are people in the world who do that sadly. But the idea of Henry being ill for this episode just feels forced and unoriginal and adds nothing new for Henry and we would see this again further down the track during the 'new series' era. 

Rating: 2/10

JAMES AND THE QUEEN OF SODOR

This was your typical James is a splendid engine story, not the best episode I've seen but it was decent. I think maybe they should've made James dirty when he crashed into the pipe of sludge just to add some conflict and a message that you can't keep clean all the time, although as of writing this, it feels strange to say that since we have to keep clean because of COVID-19, wash your hands thoroughly. 

Rating: 6/10

THE REFRESHMENT LADY'S TEA SHOP

I do like this episode and it's also good that we have an episode that gives the message that we need to think outside of the box and that there are solutions to some problems. I also like how they paired up Peter Sam with the refreshment lady again after three seasons and the episode fits with his kind hearted side of his persona. 

Rating: 8/10

THE SPOTLESS RECORD

I honestly think this would've worked better with James since he and Arthur share something in common. They both like to keep clean. Plus this could've served as a sequel to 'James & The Queen of Sodor' if they had gone with that idea, have James feeling very annoyed that there was an engine being better than him at being clean and the other engines were praising him as well and not giving James any sort of attention. It's much better than Thomas because his, according to the Wikia, jealously towards Arthur was just out of nowhere and he was just a complete jerk for no reason. I mean that was in character in this era but with what he was in the first series there was a reason why he was like towards Terence. He was different and thought he was funny looking with his caterpillar tracks. That was until he realised that he was useful in the end. As for the episode was good though and Arthur's character was decent too. In the end, the episode was good but it could've been better.

Rating: 7/10

TOBY'S WINDMILL

I think this episode showcased that we should help those in times of need. There's really not much else to say then that this episode was decent.

Rating: 8/10

BAD DAY AT CASTLE LOCH

They should've reworked the script because this episode had wasted away its potential to become a better story. Donald and Douglas do play jokes and I think they should've gone with one of the twins playing a joke on one another to see who is more brave when they go to Lord Callan's castle. It the episode feels like they went with this 'We have a scottish castle episode who should be the characters? I know Donald and Douglas.' I feel like they went with that idea because their are scottish twins. It's good that they added some scottish culture in but I wish they did more with the twins. 

Rating: 3/10

RHENEAS AND THE ROLLER COASTER

Reading in the triva section of the episode on the Thomas wikia, the original idea was to have Peter Sam doing the tour and that he wanted the tour to be over and done with. But perhaps instead of Peter Sam or Rheneas since they'd developed the script, why not Duncan or if he were in this series, Sir Handel? Both characters seem to fit perfectly for that role and the original idea seems to be much more better compare to this. Honestly writing for the narrow gauge engines isn't easy, that's why you don't see much of them in my series. From my experience I feel that in order to have conflict with them it works with Sir Handel and Duncan mostly and maybe with Peter Sam and whenever I have idea that could work for them, I usually groan because I get tired writing stories for them. Rheneas is a good character but with personality he doesn't have an episode that would make him lead. I know I had mentioned about 'thinking outside of the box' but even so it's hard to think what could work for him outside of his persona. Sure he wants to make something memorable for the school kids but maybe have Rheneas go around the railway and he thinks he had done nothing special but it turns out he did and that was kids knowing more about the places and sites because history can be fun and exciting in the end, yeah a bit of cliche but it could work without the whole roller coaster business.

Rating: 3/10

SALTY'S STORMY TALE

Honestly this episode could've been improved. While I think Thomas and Percy's teasing scene is a good way for kids to learn not to hurt anyone's feelings, since this world is full of some who don't consider that, I feel what they should've done was have Thomas and Percy bored of Salty's stories because they were the same and sometimes very unbelievable which hurts Salty and then the storm happened. It would give the message that there's always something new. I think the episode was alright but not great.

Rating: 4/10

SNOW ENGINE

I think this episode was nice and it was good to see an expansion on Oliver's character but then again this could've gone to any character to be honest. But yeah it was nice and some nice development from Oliver when it comes to snow. 

Rating: 7/10

SOMETHING FISHY

This episode was alright. Nice to see more of Arthur and seeing him having an interest in something. But I feel that the episode was just there. I think maybe they could've introduce another character just for this episode and have him rivaling up on Arthur into getting his own line to make him feel important and he got it because maybe he had sabotaged Arthur's work or something. I feel like that every episode from this series that I've reviewed there's going to be ways that I think would work much better. I don't hate this episode but I think it could've been better.

Rating: 4/10

THE RUNAWAY ELEPHANT

I think this episode was quite good with its message that we should be safe then sorry. Plus it shows the importance of brake vans too on a railway, yeah and we all know what happened in the next series onwards of course. But aside from that this was still a decent episode

Rating: 8/10

PEACE AND QUIET

I honestly find it a bit confusing that we have an engine who wants peace and quiet when really he's an engine that makes noise. But I think with the episode it shows that there are worse noises out there. But yeah I don't have much of a problem with this episode apart from Murdoch's character.

Rating: 7/10

FERGUS BREAKS THE RULES

I think it could've been better that if it were Diesel who was to find Fergus. It would be a punishment for tricking him to make Fergus leave the cement works. Plus there is one little annoying nitpick, that camera zoom to the Fat Controller at the end of the episode. What was that? It was there what was it there for? The story was OK though.

Rating: 5/10 

BULGY RIDES AGAIN

Not much to say for this episode. It was nice to see Bulgy again, before his 14 year come back. But taking away his hatred of the railway kind of made him uninteresting in this episode that trait at least made him interesting. It was alright but not great.

Rating: 4/10

HAROLD AND THE FLYING HORSE

I think the story could've been about Harold going to take part of the fair giving rides to children. But was called to do some rescue operations, one of them being rescuing pegasus. He would be upset by this and would miss out but it would give the message that we all have to make sacrifices in the end. The story was nice and all and Percy's ignorance about flying horses was funny to say the least. 

Rating: 8/10

THE GRAND OPENING

While I was watching the episode, I thought the Fat Controller was being ungrateful to Skarloey for being late despite that he was working hard. But I think after seeing it in full, he was grateful to see him after his balloon incident with his wife. So a blessing in disguise. I was thinking this should've been another Fat Controller shenanigans episode but it might've become a retread of 'Lady Hatt's Birthday Party'. I think the overall episode was good. 

Rating: 8/10

BEST DRESSED ENGINE

The maypole scene was just useless filler in my opinion since it adds nothing to the story. You could've added a scene of Thomas delivering the decorations to the sheds that were for the dress up competition. But the episode itself was good and it shows that dressing up can be fun no matter what, like cosplaying. 

Rating: 8/10

GORDON AND SPENCER

To me out of all the new characters that were introduced in this series, Spencer was probably the most interesting character and this episode is probably the best of the this series alone. On the surface it's pretty much a Gordon is jealous of Spencer episode but after listening to an audio book about Flying Scotsman, they had mentioned that the A4's took over the major expresses on the LNER (e.g - The Flying Scotsman service) and the A3's, the engines that Gordon is based on, were left to do secondary trains. So the whole rivalry between them feels a lot more deeper. To me this almost feels like something out from the Railway Series. Yeah, the running out of water stuff that Spencer faced is probably the easist reason for him to learn his lesson, but honestly it didn't bother me.

Rating: 10/10

NOT SO HASTY PUDDINGS

The episode was nice and its message is that everyone can be reliable was nice too. It's pretty much that to be honest.

Rating: 8/10

TRUSTY RUSTY

So this is where the whole 'no coal makes engine stop' thing started. To be honest, this little thing was annoying and I'm glad that they had started to acknowledge that it is water, when it runs out, that stops an engine from running in the current series. I also think Duncan's insult towards Rusty was just stupid, sure it's a way to make Duncan learn later on but it just sounds more like a petty insult. Perhaps what they should've done was to have Duncan feel stubborn saying that he crossed that bridge plenty of times and didn't see anything wrong with it. In the end, the episode was average. It had a good message that we should obey the signs and don't doubt about dangerous situations. 

Rating: 5/10

THREE CHEERS FOR THOMAS

The episode almost feels like 'Thomas and Bertie' with the race sequence but the entire episode itself gave me a Christopher Awdry feeling towards it. Like in the style of those one shot story books that he wrote back in 1990's like 'Thomas and the Dinosuar' and 'Thomas and the Tiger'. But I also like how Thomas was putting the children and their medals first instead of the race, shows how much Thomas has grown and I feel like it was a great episode to serve the end of the classic series era as well. It was started with Thomas episode and it ended with one too. So yeah another great episode on par with 'Gordon and Spencer' from the series.

Rating: 10/10

OVERALL

I'll be honest, despite some good episodes, this series did feel really weak and it had some traits that would lead into the 'new series' era like no coal makes the engine stop, lack of brake vans, Henry's illness, the too nice personas from some engines etc. I also feel that some of the stories had so much more potential then what they really were and while the new characters have the best designs some have the weakest personalities. Emily in this series was nice of course but that was it and it made her bland and uninteresting. I'll be honest, with the way HIT made her as a bossy engine I think that was a great move because it made her not perfect and with a serious flaw. She is sort of like that nowadays, her S7 persona, in the show and she barely had many episodes despite being part of the 'steam team'.

Fergus I think is the weakest newbie of them all. I understand that he didn't comeback post-S7 because his model was broken by the rockslide in the second episode, but it would be great to expand him. I feel that he was more of a prop then a character. But now with the show being CGI for well over a decade, Fergus could make a comeback in the series. Sam Wilkinson, wheather you love him or hate him, works for the show and could give reference material, like photographs, to whoever will be animating the show, since Jam Filled aren't animating the show anymore. I feel there is potential in him for more stories, perhaps he would be great with Bradford.

I will say the sets and everything was a bit more better than what S6 had done and with the narration, I think Micheal Angelis had toned down the enthusiasm way too much and it was more gentle and soft spoken and I feel that they told him not to shout like he had previously. One other thing that annoyed me was the sound effects, I feel that they were all turned down for no reason. You couldn't hear much of the whistles, chuffing noises etc.

 S7 was nice but did feel weak storywise.

OVERALL RATING
154/260

And that is it, I definetly had alot of opinion changes years after my first reviews. Will I delete my 2012-13 posts? Not really. I want to keep them up because I want to show people how far I came reviewing these episodes. Well next thing I'll be reviewing soon is 'The Royal Engine' DVD and then later on I'll be reviewing the specials (KOTR-TGR). Will I revisit the Jack and the Pack episodes? Maybe one day in the future but not right now. Thanks for reading these reviews and I'll be seeing you real soon.

- NWR1991.