S18 Ep.5:Signals Crossed

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

SIGNALS CROSSED 

Written by

Mark Hukerby & Nick Olster

Directed by

David Stoten

Produced by

Robert Anderston (Arc)

Ian McCue (HIT)

Air Date:

29/08/14

Plot

Toby is always nervous when he has to go through Knapford Junction with the big gantry signal over the track. One day Toby waits nervously for his signal to change, but it stays on red. He waits and waits, holding up other engines, but the signal does not change. The Fat Controller is very cross until everybody finally realises the signal is broken.

PRO:

- The realism

- The interaction between Toby and Henrietta

- A moral lesson about railway signalling

- James' apology to Toby and Henrietta at the end

CON:

- Toby being out of character

- James and TFC thinks Toby isn't trust worthy

Despite that Toby being out of character, it's quite understandable why he's nervous. The junction is busy and Toby could be worried about maybe causing an accident, given the state of it. Compare that to 'Toby and the Whistling Woods', 'Toby's Discovery' and 'Toby and The Flood' where Toby is wimpy and nervous about sounds, ghosts and crossing a dam. I love the interaction between Toby and Henrietta, a good reason why she needs a face, despite that some fans have a vendetta against it despite that the Spiteful brake van had a face before. I will agree that the plot could've gone to another character maybe Rosie or Percy and I didn't like the fact that at the end, the Fat Controller and James think Toby's lying about the red signal, making him not trust worthy, the writer seem to handle Oliver and Toad's return very well compare to Toby. The realism was just fantastic with the engines rolling in and out of the station, like a real railway station and a signal failure was also funny to see as it can happen in real life on any railway around the world. Plus it has a good moral lesson about railway signalling, like a traffic light, it's unsafe to cross a red light. Plus James' apology was a bit comical and dry and the interaction between Toby and Henrietta have great interaction and chemistry, you can see Henrietta being faithful towards Toby and looking out for him like a mother or a wife.

Rating: 7.5/10

S18 Ep.4:Disappearing Diesels

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

DISAPPEARING DIESELS

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

David Stoten 

Produced by

Robert Anderson (Arc)

Hallim Jabbour and Ian McCue (HIT)

Air Date:

28/08/14

Plot

Devious Diesel and the other diesels were playing a trick on Paxton by hiding around the Dieselworks. However simple minded Paxton thought all of them had disappeared. 

PRO:
- No Steam Vs. Diesel rivalry plot
- Paxton's gullible mind
- Diesel's impression of Reg and funny lines
- Moral: Don't take jokes too far/Anyone can be a friend

CON:
- Kids standing on the level crossing gates
- 'What he means is...'

It's nice to see an episode focusing on the diesel engines and I'm glad it was not a steam vs. diesel rivalry plot, after all we had enough of those plots in my opinion. I love the line that 'give diesels a bad reputation' it implies that diesels are of course engines too, but some can be tricky and devious that it gives a bad reputation from the other engines, pretty much sums up the differences between Paxton and Diesel's personality. Diesel's the devious and trickster while Paxton is a nice but gullible one. The mind of Paxton is hilarious, one example is him misunderstanding Diesel's hiding place. People might think that Paxton can be quite goofy, but if you look back at Sharon Miller/Sam Barlow era of the series the way they made their characters 'goofy' is very childish and annoying (e.g - Charlie's jokes during that era) whereas Paxton's gullible mind is quite humorous. I love the impression of Diesel's Reg voice and the funny 'I'm a truck of sausages!' these little lines can give a little chuckle for both kids and parents. The episode had about two morals, don't take jokes too far otherwise people might misunderstand it and that anyone can be a friend and this whole episode showcasing that Paxton, a nice and simple engine, thinks of Diesel as a friend even though he (Diesel) teases him. However there are two con's I have for this episode and that is the children standing on the level crossing gates. The show may get some criticism from parents that it implies children it's OK to stand on level crossing gates, really it results into tragic accidents, if Andrew Brenner or any writer is reading this please make an episode about railway safety so that way Thomas & Friends might not get the 'bad image' card. Plus I don't like Dart saying 'What he means is..' lines, they're just too repetitive and annoying and I'm sure kids would know what Den is saying, but that could be part of his character trait (Dart). But in the end, despite the level crossing scene, it's a nice episode and I love it that it's focused on Paxton.

Rating: 9/10

S18 Ep.3:Flatbeds of Fear

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

FLATBEDS OF FEAR

Written by

Paul Larson and Laura Beaumont 

Directed by

David Stoten

Produced by

Robert Anderson (Arc)

Ian McCue & Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Air Date

27/08/14

Plot

It was a foggy and windy on Sodor and as Thomas was delivering some pipes to the shunting yard so they can be taken to Vicarstown by Henry, a strange noise can be heard.

PRO:
- The fog
- Moral: Don't believe in tall tales
- The whistling sound in the UK dub

CON:
- N/A

A lot of people have been comparing this to 'Percy and the Monster of Brendam'. This episode is nowhere near any of that. When you look at the two episodes and compare, Percy's one is him going around the entire Island looking for the monster which is suppose to be situated at Brendam. Here the flatbeds of fear can be anywhere with no mention of a location anywhere in the story or visual. Plus how many complained about Henry's rhyming ('I don't want to hear the flatbeds of fear, I don't want to hear the flatbeds of fear'), I was not even annoyed by it. Rev.W.Awdry had brought in a rhyme for his story 'The Sad Story of Henry' in his first RWS book at the start and where's the complaint about that? Most of his books have some references to nursery rhymes ('Oh Dear! What can The Matter Be?' can be heard in 'Bertie's Chase'). The sound effect had changed too for the UK dub, but I think it's better that way, it gives a more spooky feeling. The episode is not the best, but it is better then what we've got from S13-16. Paul Larson and Laura Beaumont's writing are not as terrible as Sharon Miller's writing. They are more of a hit and miss writing team, some of there episodes are good (e.g - No More Mr. Nice Engine or The Afternoon Tea Express) and some episodes are not so good (e.g - Steamie Stafford). I don't hate this episode at all, it was good but it's nowhere great. However I do like the fog, it's more natural then how the way Nitrogen did it, being very thick. I believe the moral of the story is don't believe in tall tales, that's my guess. It was also nice to hear Emily's S8 theme again as well.

Rating: 6/10

S18 Ep.2:Not So Slow Coaches

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

NOT SO SLOW COACHES

Written by

Paul Larson & Laura Beaumont 

Directed by

David Stoten

Produced by

Robert Anderson (Arc)

Ian McCue and Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Air Date

26/08/14

Plot:

Thomas, being his usual cheeky self, was teasing Annie and Clarabel's patience about going fast and slow. But Thomas was late for the quarry and left Annie and Clarabel at the shunting yard. Caitlin was there as well as her coupling was loosing some bolts and have to go to the steam works and left her coaches there as well. When she returned, Charlie accidentally shunted the two coaches towards her train. 

PRO:

- Charlie actually doing work

- The funny lines from Annie and Clarabel

- The variety of angles at Dryaw station 

CON:

-Mavis saying 'trucks' in the UK dub

This episode reminds me of 'Thomas and Gordon'. Except Annie and Clarabel are the ones behind an express engine and they added Thomas to chase after them. Paul Larson and Laura Beaumont aren't the best writers but they seem to be good at episodes that involve some dramatic moments like Hiro and Diesel in 'No More Mr. Nice Engine'. I love it that they made Charlie do work like in the previous season, despite his jokes can be a bit tasteless in humour for some older fans. However the line from Mavis (Teresa Gallagher) sounds very unnatural when she says 'trucks' whereas in the US dub she says the line more naturally while the UK dub sounds a bit out of place. The lines from Annie and Clarabel added great humour as well, despite it being a dramatic moment for them and I love the more addition of angles over Dryaw station, which seems to add more trees since 'Thomas' Shortcut' had less. I hardly don't see anything wrong with this episode and I enjoyed it very much.

Rating: 9/10

S18 Ep.1:Old Reliable Edward

After the success of King of The Railway and Season 17 last year, fans are now wondering about the 18th season of Thomas & Friends. Season 17 had shown some changes in writing, characters and animation with the return of old classic characters like Duck, Bill, Ben and Harvey and better developed characters that were introduced in last year's DVD special and Porter, who was seen on DVD in the UK and US, 'Spills and Thrills' this year and on Australian and Japanese television last year. This year a new Wal*Mart exclusive DVD came out on April 8th known as 'Trouble on The Tracks' and with the titles of the selected episodes that were released, it has full potential with the return of old characters like Toad the Brake Van and with S18 airing, we see old characters like Oliver returning to our screens since 2008. So will Season 18 be better then the previous? Well let's find out. But first:

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

OLD RELIABLE EDWARD

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

David Stoten

Air Date:

25/08/14

Plot:

The bigger engines tease Edward for being old and unreliable, especially Gordon. But when Gordon sees some red trousers blowing by the tracks, he mistakes them for a red danger flag and stops, ending up stuck on Gordon's Hill. Edward has to come and give him a push, but Gordon does not even say thank you, so Thomas and Edward decide to teach him a lesson.

PRO:

- Thomas and Edward's characterisation
- The mention of 'mixed traffic' and 'banker'
- Edward's branch line being mentioned
- The bantering
- Moral: Always say thank you

CON:

- N/A

This is defiantly a great episode as the season's opener. I love how Andrew Brenner had captured Edward's characterisation so well and the chemistry of Edward and Gordon as well, giving this episode such a classic flavour of 'Edward and Gordon'. Yes Gordon's mistake of red trousers over a danger signal doesn't sound good at first, but the animators at Arc Productions had disguised it so well that it looks like a danger signal. Now I understand some fans are saying that Edward is 'out of character' in this episode but looking at the episode, his sarcasm and teasing works. Gordon is boastful and didn't stop to say thank you to Edward, which will annoy many people who are like Edward and of course he deserves his comeuppance in the end (Gordon) with Thomas going on his line to slow him down, yes it's unrealistic, but it works well. Besides it happened in real life as well in the UK, staged or not, it still happened. Edward being in it works because he doesn't want to be taken for granted by Gordon, which brings us the moral 'Always say thank you.' I love it also how Thomas was handled in the episode, he's not shoehorned in as he too also have problems with Gordon in the past and his characterisation was handled so well with his cheeky manner.

It's also great how Andrew Brenner implemented the words 'mixed traffic' and 'banker', teaching kids at the target range about railways and plus the word 'banker' is much better then 'back engine.' I don't recall in any Thomas episode where they've mentioned Edward having a branch line, so of course this is a first to many, as I heard about his branch line from reading the Railway Series books. The bantering was great as well shining in on the characters. I love the episode, it's a great opener and it's already a firm favourite.

Rating: 10/10

WRW Review: Logan and the Big Blue Engines Book Pack

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

WOODEN RAILWAY REVIEW:

LOGAN AND THE BIG BLUE ENGINE BOOK PACK

On July 7th 2014, although really it was July 8th, HIT Entertainment and Mattel had revealed a brand new character named Logan on the official Thomas & Friends website as part of the improved wooden railway brand. However fans were wondering if Logan is a new character for the television series or if he's a merchandise only character, I can confirm that this book is not based on any upcoming episode, Logan will only be a merchandise only character. I have to say about the fans complaining about the newbie being an exclusive character for the merchandising, there are many Railway Series characters that weren't in the television series and are used in the wooden railway brand such as Flying Scostman and D199. If Mattel is reading this maybe they should consider on using the RWS characters for these 'Sodor Story Collection' sets? 

Logan pretty much has no personality though in the book, however the story is about patience and not to be fooled by appearances according to an activity sheet, the former, which is also provided in the book pack and the train set, which is the same title as the book along with a standard Gordon. The story is short, of course it's focused at a pre-school level which is good as children at the recommended age group will get into reading and also learn to read. 

The book contains everything that is provided in the train set, the Sodor Brass Band coach, two coal wagons, Logan, Gordon and pieces of track and buildings, however they should've add Edward as he's in the story too, what I'm glad to see what Mattel is doing with these sets is that they're not putting every set with a standard Thomas, unlike previous sets. I'm sure parents that bought a set was given each Thomas? However the turn track station is not featured in the book and the bubble trucks are exclusive items on the Thomas wooden railway website. 

I believe also that this stuff is also great for kids to act the stuff that comes from the book with the train set. The illustrations in the book have some errors, however they're OK. Some errors like Gordon's wheel arrangement which he's a 2-6-2 locomotive, in one page of the book he's a 2-6-4. They have used some CGI elements from the show, in the first page they've used Thomas, Percy, Edward and Gordon's model from the Nitrogen era and some workmen, though one was floating around. 

I am surprised since the reveal that Mattel, an American toy company, had chosen a British basis, usually when toy companies do toy trains it's usually a very Americanised locomotive with a cow catcher and 4-4-0 wheel arrangement, no offence to Americans though. 

Nowadays shows like Thomas & Friends are now considered as a brand and as SiF says in their blog about Logan, toy sales are the lifeblood of the franchise and I have to admit it's like that. However I'm glad that they're using this when it comes to one-off's instead of placing them in the series hoping that the popularity of the character goes well with toy sales (e.g-Billy, Dennis) new characters need to have personalities and reasons like in S17 and when it comes to characters like Logan I think it's better that kids can give any persona towards Logan. Incase if you're wondering where I got it from, I got mine from Totally Thomas via Amazon US as they do ship internationally, so credit goes to them. 

Rating: 7/10

MORE SODOR AND STORY COLLECTION ARE ON SALE NOW AT 20 EXCLUSIVE STORES ACROSS THE US AND ON THE THOMAS WOODEN RAILWAY WEBSITE

Book Review: Thomas & Friends Story Time Collection

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

THOMAS & FRIENDS STORY TIME COLLECTION

Stories:

-Little Engines Can Do Big Things

- The Special Delivery

- Down at The Docks

- Thomas and the Naughty Diesel

- The Monster Under the Shed

- Lost at Sea

- Thomas Gets a Snowplough

- Danger at the Dieselworks

- Calling All Engines

- Diesel 10 Means Trouble

- Thomas-suraus Rex

- The Lost Crown of Sodor

- Risky Rails

Illustrations

Tommy Stubbs

Richard Courtney

Coatimundi Studios

Release Date

22/07/14

MY VIEWS

I'm not a big collector when it comes to the books from Random House, I do have some books published by them and they have fantastic illustrations by Tommy Stubbs. But this has to be the best book that Random House has released this year. There are thirteen books that have been published since 2000, amazing that Random House went through there archives and republished there previous books for a young audience to enjoy. 

I remember when they've released the Magic Railroad books back in 2000 here in Australia and two of those were of course 'Little Engines Can Do Big Things' and 'Diesel 10 Means Trouble', there were other Random House books released in Australia when I was younger, particularly the photo books such as 'Trouble for Thomas and Other Stories'. I was on Amazon US for 'Diesel 10 Means Trouble' and was met by harsh criticisms about Diesel 10 from parents plus the word 'hate' being a harsh word. These reviews date back from 2005-2013 so these parents wouldn't even know about 'Thomas and the Magic Railroad', despite a pathetic children's movie, they would only know that Diesel 10 was from 'Calling All Engines!', pretty much at the time when some of the writers of the series had changed the characterisation of the engines. I understand that everyone has an opinion and I respect that, but most of these criticisms contain such amount of flaws that weren't well researched. First off, the book was published in the year 2000 in promotion of 'Thomas and The Magic Railroad' and Diesel 10 was a very different character back then, a Hollywood style villain. Other villains like Scar from 'The Lion King' shows that characterisation as well, although done in a proper manner. Plus this was an adaptation of the movie so the story is suppose to be short, if you don't understand it watch the movie, most likely on the internet. As of the word 'hate' being strong there are more harsher words out there that kids shouldn't hear and sometimes those words can come from the parents themselves so don't blame a book if your children hear any harsh words, I think children should not be wrapped in wool all the time, there are lots of things out there that children should not know but there comes a time were you have to let them understand that realistic side of the world. I will say the book is an OK adaptation of the movie, despite its ridiculousness,  the illustrations are wonderful and recreated the character design so well, plus there were some stuff from the original script. Instead of D10 'coming back' to find Lady, he was a new engine that was sent to help the other engines. Plus the claw was to come out from his roof, which maybe ridiculous, but it makes for realistic sense. 

Some of the books are short adaptations from the DVD specials (Calling All Engines!, King of The Railway, Day of The Diesels and Blue Mountain Mystery) though I have to say the illustration of Sodor from CAE! looks more like a bland and lack of effort Trainz route and I understand that 'Thomas and the Evil Diesel' has unrealistic illustrations too, and it does. The only update they did for the book was the cover, that was revealed on Amazon back in late 2013. I would't mind of Random House gets Timothy Stubbs to recreate the entire book to fit with todays audience, however I prefer the Christopher Awdry book, which was the adaptation. The criticism I have when it comes to the CGI adaptations is that in books like BMM and KOTR, it shows characters like TFC and Sir Robert in their CGI appearance, respectively, and the people of Sodor in the Tommy Stubbs illustrations, it seems very out of place in my opinion. 

I understand that some of the younger fans think of Stepney as one of the Fat Controller's engines, when in reality and in the Railway Series books, he's owned and maintained by the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, England. Which is why I hate how they called him 'the oldest engine on Sodor'. 'Thomas-suras Rex' didn't tarnish his characterisation, but I wish Random House at the time researched before making the book. It could've gone to a different character such as Oliver. Plus I have to say the Gordon and James criticising Stepney is pretty much out of there character as they have great respect towards Stepney in the television series and Railway Series books. 

I will say in the end, it's a great book and for fans who may have grown up with some of these stories. It brings back some nostalgic memories. 

Rating: 7/10