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