Spills and Thrills DVD Ep.5: Thomas' Shortcut

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

THOMAS' SHORTCUT

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

David Baas

Produced by

Robert Anderson (Arc)

Ian McCue & Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Air Date
19/10/13 - (AUS)

Plot

Thomas and Bertie love racing, but Thomas got annoyed that Bertie is winning all the time. When he discovered that Bertie has been rerouted and takes a shortcut, he decided to do the same as well! 

PRO:

- Reminiscent of 'Thomas and Bertie'
- Road vs. Rail rivalry
- Harvey's comeback 

- A good three strikes formula 

CON:

- N/A

I love this episode, it brings back the memories of 'Thomas and Bertie', such as the shots of Thomas at Dryaw station. Finally we also have a road vs. rail rivalry plot, much better then the overused Steam Vs. Diesel plot, even though there are good ones in the series. It was a surprise to see Harvey making a comeback and he looks amazing in CGI and his minor role is actually needed, unlike Duck's in 'Henry's Hero' as that role could've gone to anyone or Rocky, he maybe Sodor's only (or one of's) crane, but he was overused much between S13-16 when the show was converted into CGI. Plus there is a three strikes formula, even though there are people who despise this formula, I think it was used well, it doesn't feel repetitive nor annoying as the ones from the Sharon Miller era and it felt like it was needed for this episode. I'll call this one an all time favourite, it's just so good and it feels like an Andrew Brenner magazine story from the 80's or 90's.  

Rating: 5/5