DVD Review: Santa's Little Engine

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

SANTA'S LITTLE ENGINE

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Paul Larson & Laura Beaumont 

Alan Hescott

Directed by

David Baas (Arc)

Greg Tiernan (Nitrogen) 

Produced by

Robert Anderson (Arc)

Ian McCue and Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Episodes

- Santa's Little Engine

- No Snow For Thomas

- The Frozen Turntable

- The Missing Christmas Decorations

- Snow Tracks

Special Features

- Sir Topham Hatt's Frosty Friend

- Guess Who?

Release Date

8/10/2013

Distributed by

HIT Entertainment/Lionsgate

Another exciting release for the American Thomas fans this year with another S17 DVD release with 'Railway Mischief' being the first in April this year. Plus with the positive reaction that S17 had been in June, with the first ten episodes of S17 aired in the UK, this DVD release of unseen Christmas episodes, minus one, of the new and improved series has made it very exciting to see. So are these stories good? Well then let's find out. 

EPISODES

First off, I don't know why they put 'Snow Tracks' on the DVD? They must be less amount of episodes focusing on either winter and Christmas and even though Mark Moraghan re-narrated the episode, there is no improvement on the episode either, the script is still there from 2010, as for the other episodes, I won't go into too much detail, as I'm awaiting the air dates for the UK so I can keep them in chronicle order, but the S17 episodes are great and recommendable to watch. All written and animated well and it's a great Christmas present for the young and old Thomas fan. 

SPECIAL FEATURES

The Mr. Perkins segments are very different now and very enjoyable too. Instead of him doing something for the Fat Controller or Sir Topham Hatt as he's known in America or something for the other engine drivers such as a magic show or treasure hunt, we see him on the mainland, a heritage railway in the UK, getting all warmed up as a signal man was getting some coal. Instead of the things he needs for a party, he sat down and is telling a story towards the young audience, the story is 'The Flying Kipper' with some newly made illustrations by Loarine Marshall, which recapture C. Reginald Dalby's work very well, along with Dalby's art work as well. It's great to see that Andrew Brenner, who also writes the Perkins segments, is bringing the Railway Series towards a brand new audience and as well as showing the illustrations, hope they stick with this in future DVDs. Another segment of his shows us him reading some mail, which is fan mail from the audience according to sources, one letter is about the history of Sodor, with footage from 'King of The Railway'. There are two activities from the Fat Controller and the Earl of Sodor, one, the Fat Controller's segment, has specially made footage of Percy and the other, the Earl of Sodor, is a quiz from S13 episodes, 'Toby's New Whistle' and 'Tickled Pink'. 

I should also note that at the beginning of the DVD menu, they have the Christmas theme from the Season three episode, 'Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure' as well. As with the games, it's pretty much for kids and it has a difficulty level, it looks as though it was made for the Apple products or various mobile products, but it's not bad really and the 'Guess Who?' puzzles are Rocky, the Fat Controller and Thomas.

OVERALL

With such good written episodes, minus one, this definitely a great DVD to have in your collection. The four episodes from S17 are great to watch and I will have more info on them as soon as the UK dates are set. The segments are fun and enjoyable and I highly recommend this DVD as a Christmas present this year. Well all we do now is await the next S17 DVD, 'The Thomas Way' in December. 

Rating: 4.5/5

S17 Ep.15: Bill or Ben?

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

BILL OR BEN?

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

David Baas

Produced by

Kallan Kagan (Arc)

Ian McCue & Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Air Date:

4/10/13

Plot:

Connor is a new engine on the Island of Sodor. When Bill and Ben met him for the first time, they decided to play a trick on him. They pretended that they were super fast when really it was Bill at the start of the race and Ben at the other. When Connor raced them again, he nearly had an accident! The Fat Controller was very cross and ordered Bill to be repainted so they can be told apart. However, the twins had one last trick up their funnels.

PRO:
- The tint of autumn leaves
- Bill and Ben's blue coats
- The near miss with Connor and Henry 

CON:
- N/A

A second episode written by Andrew Brenner and this time about his favourite characters. This was a fine episode and I do enjoy greatly. Bill and Ben were given great amount of screen time and there was not much of Thomas in it as well. The animation of the autumn leaves are just fascinating to look at, the beautiful tints of the autumn leaves gives it such an autumn feeling. As of the twin's blue coats, they do look fine in it as well, but I prefer seeing them in green as a nice nod to their counterparts, but that is just me being a fan. I especially love the near miss that Connor had with Henry, it was tensed to see such a thing happening and it also shows a good moral to kids about the dangers of railway lines and that safety comes first. In the end, there was nothing bad about the episode and I do enjoy it. However if I might add about the blue paint, I don't think it'll be permanent, these are his favourite characters after all, Brenner, and he has such respect for the Railway Series books as well as Awdry's legacy. The episode is a nice watch and I recommend it.     

Rating: 4/5

S17 Ep.14:Percy's Lucky Day

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

PERCY'S LUCKY DAY

Written by
Davey Moore

Directed by

David Baas

Produced by

Kallan Kagan (Arc)

Ian McCue and Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Air Date:

3/10/13

Plot:

After a couple of mishaps with the mail and some cargo, Percy feels unlucky. Stephen gave him a lucky charm that regains his confidence. But Percy lost the lucky charm and had to reign confidence for helping Bill and Ben back on the tracks.

PRO:
- Bill and Ben were in character
- Moral: You don't need lucky charms all the time
- The green flag incident reminds me of 'The Wrong Road' 

CON:

- N/A

Another good episode by Davey Moore, when I first heard this episode my money was on Andrew Brenner as Bill and Ben are his favourite characters. Speaking of Bill and Ben, it was great seeing them in CGI for the first time, however it was strange at first seeing them with red wheels, but I tend not to make that a big deal as their basis, Alfred and Judy, have green wheels as well. The twins were in great character, the banter they had and their own arguing are really much like what they were from S2-S7 and there voices are great as well, the twins are voiced by Jonathan Broadbent with their respective Birmingham accents, which really there basis came from Stafford in the West Midlands in England and that it is where Birmingham is located as their admin HQ, though I thought they would be having cockney youth voices, but I think we have enough of those in the show to be honest. However there voices make them sound mature, but there trickish behaviour gets in the way. The episode has a nice moral that you don't need lucky charms to be lucky, you can always be lucky any day. The episode was good and I haven't seen a bad thing about it, though I have to say it was stupid to have Percy moving and yet there's a crew member in his cab getting all worried, but this problem have been mentioned many times and the crew's are now used as the engine's hands. But in conclusion it was a good episode and worth the watch. However some fans are now moaning about BoCo, no personal vendetta against that as I too would love to see BoCo return towards the series but I think right now we should be thankful for what we got right now. Well tomorrow we'll see the twins again in 'Bill or Ben?'

Rating: 4/5

S17 Ep.13:The Phantom Express

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

THE PHANTOM EXPRESS

Written by

Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson

Directed by

David Baas 

Produced by

Kallan Kagan (Arc)

Ian McCue and Haliam Jabbour (HIT)

Plot:

One night James tries to scare Percy by telling him that there's the ghost of Ulfstead Castle. Stephen reassures Percy that there's no such things as ghosts. But James sneaks up to them and tries to scare them both which ended up Percy and Stephen in the moat. James didn't know where they are and when he hears them whistling for help, James thought his story is real! 

PRO:
- The mist is rendered much better
- James' cheekiness returns
- The camera angles
- The mention of Stephen's crew jumping clear

CON:

- Percy's mail van disappeared

- Percy looks slightly off angled when he was at the castle

- Stephen should know what an owl sounds like

 

The episode was good and I do love episodes that are focused onto James and Percy, such as 'Percy, James and the Fruitful Day', and we haven't seen an episode like that since season three! However 'Jack Frost' came into mind when I saw this episode, I would say that was the last we see an episode with Percy and James, but Percy seems to be the main character then James, as he landed a secondary role in that episode. I do love how the mist is rendered now, it's, admittingly, better then what Nitrogen pulled as there fog or mist grows to be more thick. The mist was a bit thick as well in the episode, but you can see better. James' cheekiness had returned, it feels of course like 'No Joke For James' from the third season and the camera angles were great, especially that close up of Percy when hearing more of James' 'ghost' story.

 

However there are some problems with the episode, as usual with Arc's animation. When Percy was telling Stephen about 'The Phantom Express' his mail van disappeared and then reappeared again later on when James pulled into the castle. Plus as Percy was at the castle, he looked angled slightly and of course, with Stephen's old age, you think he knows what an owl would sound like?! However in the end it was a good episode and I enjoyed it and it was great to air it at this time of the month as it's the Halloween month, though in my country we don't celebrate that much. Well tomorrow we witness the return of Bill and Ben in full CGI for the very first time.

Rating: 4/5

S17 Ep.12: The Thomas Way

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

THE THOMAS WAY

Written by

Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson 

Produced by

Kallan Kagan (Arc)

Ian McCue and Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Directed by

David Baas

Air Date:
1/10/13

Plot:

Harold the Helicopter broke down near Callan castle. Duck and Thomas are to take him to the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre to be repaired. Thomas decided to give Harold a tour around the island through an engine's perspective but Duck insist Thomas that there are two ways of doing things: 'The Great Western way or The Wrong way' 

PRO:
- The flashback
- Thomas and Duck were in character 
- No three strikes formula
- Moral: Not everything can go their own personal way

CON:
- Duck being turned around by Rocky
- 'The Great Western way or the Wrong Way' got annoying for a while

Well, we've seen Duck's comeback for ten seconds in 'Henry's Hero' and now we see him making a bigger role for the first time in CGI and for the first time since the fourth season really, 'Fish'. The flashback scene was great and it's also great that they've acknowledge Thomas' history with the use of Duck's season six model and the use of Paddington station in the background, Paddington is actually the London of the Great Western Railway, its headquarters. Nice to see that Andrew Brenner had kept his word of researching the Thomas wikia site and it was nice of the people who are behind the old photograph to have put Duck in the background of the GWR's main station, showcasing the character's roots and seeing some Britishness in the scene and it was a great bonus to see them mentioning Duck's real name, Montague. Thomas and Duck were in great character, Duck is very much like himself from Season 2, telling the engines 'The Great Western way or the Wrong Way', though I have to say it does get annoying at times, but it shows in the end that not everything can go your way, with the mistakes that Duck and Thomas had made on the way to the Search and Rescue centre. 

Plus there is no three strikes formula, the only mistake that the two engines made was taking Harold to Knapford station, the scene of them going through the narrow tunnel is like the final problem on their journey. However there is one con I have with the episode, that is Duck being turned around by Rocky, it would've made more sense if Duck rolled along backwards and Thomas and Harold looking out for him. Plus him saying 'The Great Western Way or the Wrong Way' got annoying for a while. In the end I did enjoy the episode and so far it's on my list of personal favourite S17 episodes.

Rating: 4/5