After the success of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends in 1984, a second season was in the works during 1985 and in 1986 it aired on UK television. The second season had a different edge then the first. There was more accidents, more thrills and spills and even Ringo Starr's narration had improved. There are more characters introduced like Donald and Douglas, Bill and Ben, Duck, Diesel, BoCo, Daisy etc. And even though more stories by the Rev.W.Awdry, there were some stories by Christopher Awdry, Rev.W.Awdry's oldest son and with that, this season had gone down as the best season in the entire show by fans and its my personal favourite season ever. Well, let's take a look now at the entire second season. But, the usual:
THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS
AND NOT FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FAN BASE
THOMAS, PERCY AND THE COAL
Originally Written by
Christopher Awdry
Adapted For Television by
Britt Allcroft, David Mitton & Robert Cardona
Air Date:
2/09/86
Plot:
Thomas is boasting that being blue is a proper colour for a really useful engine. But one day at the coal hopper in Tidmouth, Percy was loading up some coal trucks and later on, coal poured down on Thomas. Thomas thought that Percy had done it on purpose and was very cross. The next day, Percy was shunting some trucks at Tidmouth and was about to get some water, but the siding had some unsafe buffers and Percy fell down into the coal pit. That night, the two friends made up.
PRO:
- Seeing Tidmouth station for the first time.
- Ringo's narration sounds more enthusiastic then in the first season
CON:
- Why the hopper going on and off when Thomas was their?
- Tidmouth station is suppose to be the main station.
This is one of the episodes that is being speculated as the replacement for the 'lost episode' of 'The Missing Coach'. Plus this episode is from 'More About Thomas the Tank Engine' by Christopher Awdry, a book requested by Britt Allcroft so the stories could be adapted for the show and yet a story like 'Drip Tank' didn't make it to the screens, would be more better if they made this in a four parter episode because the two engines didn't make up their quarrel in one story. Plus, how the way the coal was poured down, did not even happen in the book. What happened was that a door on one of Percy's coal trucks was opened and coal dust flew down on Thomas. There was no coal hopper ever seen nor mentioned in that story.
But we get to see some new faces for the main characters and even some new locations. First off Tidmouth station. Even though its the actual main station in the Railway Series, it was still great to see it and the coal hopper, despite a painted building in the background, the coal hopper is built well and I do love how the way it was operated, it's nice seeing some industry in the background of Sodor. The narration of Ringo Starr was entertaining to hear. He sounds more enthusiastic and well into the stories of the second series. This episode has its flaws, it didn't really stick to the original, but it shows the meaning of friendship and not having the overused words of 'Thomas and Percy are best friends' going over and over and over and over again, which you'll never hear in an Awdry classic and its worth a watch.
Rating: 3/5
