S19 Ep.25: Goodbye Fat Controller + Season Overall

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

GOODBYE FAT CONTROLLER

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Story Idea by
Robin Gay

Directed by

TBA

Air Date:

24/01/16 - JPN

Plot:

Percy overheard from one of the workmen that they're going to clear out the Fat Controller's office and he thought as well as the other engines that the Fat Controller was going away for good. Or so they thought.

PRO:

- The care the engines have for the Fat Controller

- Some funny moments like James and his trucks

- Moral: Don't make a big deal over nothing

- Edward

CON:

- Nitpick: Why not just a smaller office at the station?

Although this is the 26th episode as one episode was a two parter and I made it as a whole review. So now we come to the final episode of the 19th season and to me this was a good closure to the season. To be honest I like this episode more than I do with 'The Truth About Toby'. Toby's episode is good but I don't like how they treat the engines with lack of common sense about an engine being scrapped, despite that the Fat Controller would never scrap one on his railway. In this episode you can see the concern for the engines about the Fat Controller leaving because they could be wondering about their future with a new controller. Many say Edward was out of character and while yes it wouldn't be him if he believes in any sort of rumour but it's different. 

Edward is an old engine and the Fat Controller respects him and sees the reliability in him as an engine. Imagine if the idea of the Fat Controller leaving was true and the new controller doesn't see the same view as TFC. It's good to see Edward going out of his comfort zone of him wise and with him making a mistake and it just shows that he's not on top of the world. The same applies to him in 'The Adventure Begins' when the Fat Controller scolded him for not following his orders by letting Thomas, an engine without any experience, taking his trucks. I hope we see more of that coming from the writers but don't make him in a pathetic sort of way. 

I love episodes that show the care the engines have for the Fat Controller. Despite being the man in charge he was always there for the engines and while he punishes them he never scraps them. That's what liberal parents and crazy low life conspiracy theorists need to understand before they rip the show apart. The message is clear in the episode and that was not making a big deal over nothing with Percy assuming that the Fat Controller is leaving and I think kids would understand that message well through this episode. 

Their's not much I can from the con part, though I might say they could've gotten a better office for the Fat Controller but it was there for comedic purposes but maybe instead of a shed why not just a smaller office? But that's just a nitpick. Shame that it will be blown up by Sailor John in the special that's to come after it!

Rating: 9/10

SEASON OVERALL

What can I say about Season 19? Well I like the season but I don't see it as the best, mostly in between S17 and 18. Some episodes are quite generic and some were not great as well. Some say it's in the style of S13-16 and to be honest I don't see it like that era. I can see some effort was put into the stories to try and tell, but some don't come out perfect, even though I don't believe in perfection as it's just a word and even if it were in that style (S13-16) there wouldn't be effort and lazy storytelling. But there is such thing as effort. There is still some good continuity from past episodes and some new things like Rocky having a personality. 

However some of the morals I believe are shoved down and some episodes have flaws like Philip's one as he comes out on top after racing Gordon and how he wasn't given a punishment for breaking the his promise towards the Fat Controller. I think the writer don't want to make him a harsh person as many parents have criticised his character. But if you're a father or mother of a child and they did something wrong then a punishment is in order. So this could be considered as pandering. 

I think one of my main criticisms of S19 is that it was set before 'Sodor's Legend of The Lost Treasure' and I was kind of hoping we see some build up for it. But nothing was there to help  build it up. There was a reference to Arelsbrugh by James in 'Best Engine Ever' and I don't know if that's suppose to be one but it doesn't feel like it as James never mentioned about the construction of the new branch line. Some say that Thomas' episodes could've been build up for it but they don't feel like they added to his cheekiness, maybe if there could've been episodes with that. There are examples of build up from a show that continues on towards the movie. Rugrats is one of them for two of their movies. They have episodes like 'The Family Tree' that built up for the first movie in 1998 and later on in 2000 with the three part TV special 'Acorn Nuts and Diapey Butts' that was built for their second movie. 

Pokemon even had build up for their first movie back in the late 90's with the episodes 'The Battle of the Badge' or as it's known in Japan, 'Tokiwa Gym! The Last Badge!' and 'Showdown at the Po-ké Corral' or as know in Japan, 'Rival Showdown! Okido Laboratory'. There could've been little references about it or mentions say from Duck and Oliver, I mean in 'Toad and The Whale' there could've been at least a reference that Oliver is delivering trucks of supplies for the site. There can be many little hints leading up towards the big picture. Hardcore fans of the show know that the series is set before the movie but you also got to think about the casual viewers, the kids growing that could be watching the show or young fans that could grow into hardcore fans. They might wonder where are the new characters from the 2015 special.

Another thing I might add is definitely the poor scheduling of these episodes for people in the UK. They played about four episodes in September and played the Christmas ones sometime in January, after Christmas! While Australia and Japan play the episode in December and the US got in it on DVD in October, which released in time for Christmas. I don't know why, but it's very unfair. But at least they played the rest around March 2016. It's understandable that some episodes were held back for exclusive tent-poled theme DVDs since they're focused on a specific theme, like 'Start Your Engines' or celebrations like Christmas. But holding the episodes back for no reason is really poor.

S19 has an amount of use for Thomas. Many fans have been wondering why he was in every episode. Some say it was for John Hasler to get used to him or because they want focus on him and his friends as much as possible as S20 might focus more on the newbies from last year's special. But the true reason was because it was the 70th anniversary. Sam Wilkinson wrote that on the now former 'Talk Thomas' Facebook page, which is a shame that he'd closed it, but if it's because fans were asking him many questions about S20 and 'The Great Race' then I can completely understand. However I think the 70th anniversary reason is not good. While 2015 was the mark of the books' 70th and that Thomas is the most popular of all the characters, it doesn't feel like he was put there for that as there was no rhyme or reason, I don't think they would mention the anniversary but I think it would've been better if we had other engines too to take the role from Edward to Oliver along with Diesel. I think that would add for the 70th anniversary idea since they are all Awdry's characters no matter what role they had, as long as it has purpose. 

Some roles for Thomas were good but were so pointless that it should've been given to another one. 'Salty All At Sea' is an example of that. But some of Thomas' role have purpose like him taking Mavis to the Dieselworks considering that the accident was on his branch line.

The season had also brought some voice actor changes and I understand some of the changes like Martin Sherman leaving because of pay dispute and Ben Small leaving because they want a more fresher voice for Thomas. But the move made for Ben Small made me realise how pointless it was for him considering that other voice actors like Keith Wickham and Kerry Shale have been replaced by their respective roles and yet they still voice on other characters. 

It could've made a lot more sense for HIT to have Ben Small stop voicing Thomas and have him still voicing Toby, Rheneas and Owen. Don't get me wrong I like John Hasler and I still think he did a great job at voicing Thomas and he did a good job at Toby, I know I said that it started to wane but it's not terrible. I look forward to see how he'll voice Rheneas and Owen but this is more going by HIT's decision making. But in the end I hope John Hasler keeps on voicing Thomas and have more characters to follow. 

But there are things I like about S19 is that we have episodes focusing on some characters that hadn't been seen on our screen for some years such as Stephen, Timothy, Den and Dart and Rocky, despite that S19 had a lack of a diverse cast. There episodes were good to watch and I do hope we see more characters having their time in the spotlight in the future. 

The animation from Arc Productions is brilliant each year. The shine that they've given to the engines was remarkable and realistic and I also love the cinematography such as the perspective shots like you see in 'Rocky Rescue' and the panning shot of Salty and Thomas crossing the suspension bridge. 

In the end, I don't consider S19 to be the best season of all but it was good, just a hit and miss season. I won't get too hyped for S20 as I think some fans need to understand that there's going to be some flaws along the way or it might not as what you will expect. But let's see what S20 can do and hope that it can be better!

Episode Ratings:

Who's Geoffrey - 9/10

The Truth About Toby - 6.5/10

Lost Property - 9/10

Henry Spots Trouble - 7/10

Snow Place Like Home - 7/10

A Cranky Christmas - 6/10

Diesel's Ghostly Christmas - 9.5/10

Toad and The Whale - 9/10

Very Important Sheep - 9/10

The Beast of Sodor - 9/10

Salty All At Sea - 8/10

Den & Dart - 8/10

Helping Hiro - 6/10

Two Wheels Good - 7/10

Reds Vs. Blues - 6/10

Slow Stephen - 9/10

The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead - 5/10

Best Engine Ever - 10/10

Philip To The Rescue - 8/10
Wild Water Rescue - 4/10

No Help At All! - 8/10
The Other Side of the Mountain - 2/10
Thomas the Babysitter - 9/10
Rocky Rescue - 2/10
Goodbye Fat Controller - 9/10

Series Rating:

189/260

S19 Ep.24: Rocky Rescue

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

ROCKY RESCUE

Written by

Davey Moore

Directed by

TBA

Air Date

24/01/16 - JPN

Plot

Rocky has been derailed and all his friends come to help to get him back on track.

PRO:

- Rocky's persona

CON:

- Henry puffing away after an accident

- A bit of a missed opportunity for Judy and Jerome

- Incompetence from the team

The episode is a bad to me. The only good thing coming from this episode was Rocky actually having some personality. For years he was more of a plot device that just replaced the breakdown crane in the past so it's really fresh to see something like this in him. I like how he's calm, not boastful and happy to work in a team. However most of the episode have errors, particularly Henry. In 'Helping Hiro', the crash made him immovable but with Henry falling off the line, who knows at what speed, by being pushed by a boulder he was alright to go to the steamworks on his own. Not to mention that his tender was still off the rails after he was lifted back on the tracks, so continuity error there on Arc Productions' part. 

I think the episode would've been better if it were about Jerome and Judy, from 'The Adventure Begins', feeling neglected or replaced now that they have Rocky as there sole breakdown train and the engines think one is better and modern and in the end they were a backup for Rocky say that he got derailed or the work of a large derailment was too much for him to handle, they help out and the engines think that two cranes are better than one. Yeah it sort of contradicts 'Too Many Fire Engines' say on Belle and Flynn's side as Flynn understands that two is better than one. But the idea of being incompetent could work in that idea then that in this one.

One other thing I don't like is how one of the Fat Controller's engines, especially Thomas, always collect Rocky. Why not make Belle the engine to take Rocky to the crash site? Yes she is a fire fighting steam engine, but it would make sense of her being the engine to transport the crane quickly to the event. Yes Thomas is the main character of the show and kids should look up to him as the hero of the show but we had Percy taking Rocky in 'Wild Water Rescue' so why not Belle?

It feels immature of them (Belle, Flynn and Harold) to see who can help Rocky on their own that it feels like they are hammering the 'working together' moral and I think it was worse then 'No Help At All!'. You think after 10001 rescues they should learn that moral by now! Yes Harold was immature in the early years of the show but he had shown some growth over the years as a character. In my opinion this is one of my least favourite S19 episodes.

Rating: 2/10

Episode Ratings:

Who's Geoffrey - 9/10

The Truth About Toby - 6.5/10

Lost Property - 9/10

Henry Spots Trouble - 7/10

Snow Place Like Home - 7/10

A Cranky Christmas - 6/10

Diesel's Ghostly Christmas - 9.5/10

Toad and The Whale - 9/10

Very Important Sheep - 9/10

The Beast of Sodor - 9/10

Salty All At Sea - 8/10

Den & Dart - 8/10

Helping Hiro - 6/10

Two Wheels Good - 7/10

Reds Vs. Blues - 6/10

Slow Stephen - 9/10

The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead - 5/10

Best Engine Ever - 10/10

Philip To The Rescue - 8/10
Wild Water Rescue - 4/10

No Help At All! - 8/10
The Other Side of the Mountain - 2/10
Thomas the Babysitter - 9/10
Rocky Rescue - 2/10

Series Rating (So far):

180/250

S19 Ep.23: Thomas the Babysitter

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

THOMAS THE BABYSITTER

Written by

Helen Farrall 

Directed by

TBA

Produced by

Jennifer Hill (Arc)

Ian McCue (HIT)

Air Date

17/01/16 - JPN

Plot:

Thomas has to deal with a crying baby on board his train and tries to find a solution to the problem, which he did in the end.

PRO:

- Moral: There's a solution to a problem

- Down to earth moment from Annie and Clarabel

- The time-lapse scene was amazing

CON:

- Toby or Percy could at least give a few ideas to stop the crying.

While I do love 'Toad and The Whale' and I still do, I love this episode more as it does depict on real life and I should know coming from personal experience. I remember travelling on a train and a baby was crying loudly that it was getting very annoying. But I love the pacing of this episode as nothing feels out of place, much better then what 'The Other Side of the Mountain' did. The episode has its simplicity and while some may think this episode is boring because of that, it's one of things that made me think fondly of Thomas' glory days as there was simple storytelling in the Reverend's books, particularly in its early years, 'Edward's Day Out' is one of them. It had conflict at the start of the story with Edward being teased as being old and not worthy but in the end he got his reward by coming out of his shed and taking a passenger train. The moral of the story is there's a solution to a problem and it shows, though only with Annie and Clarabel's singing not turning out great, but it turns out alright in the end with what the solution was and that was Thomas puffing along his line that it made the baby go to sleep because of the vibration of the track maybe. Although I think it would be made better if we have Toby or Percy giving ideas to stop the baby crying. Henrietta did by saying maybe singing a lullaby could work for the baby.

I didn't put this in my PRO or CON list but that little cameo of Stanley had made me wonder of his purpose on the railway and I think it would be great to see him working as a utility engine. A utility engine is an engine used for any work whenever its useful for it, more like a helping. Considering that he's (Stanley) everywhere for cameo appearance and that it should work along with Rosie. I don't see much between these two when it comes to starring roles but I like to see the writers shining on Rosie's persona as being a tomboy as the previous team had failed to that with her originally.

I like how Thomas came up with the idea that he would run non-stop between each station as that calms the baby down, Annie and Clarabel brought him back down to earth and tell him the problem that he could face. Definitely good that there is some common sense still working in the series, although it could've happened in previous episodes too this season.

One of my favourite things coming from Arc Productions is the time-lapse scene when Thomas was heading back to the big station on his return journey. It looks remarkable so well done to Arc Productions for creating such scene. In the end I love this episode. It's sweet, it has heart and it has a good moral. OK maybe a baby can't calm down on a train all the time but there can be a solution to a problem and it could be anything for a baby to stop crying.

Rating: 9/10

Episode Ratings:

Who's Geoffrey - 9/10

The Truth About Toby - 6.5/10

Lost Property - 9/10

Henry Spots Trouble - 7/10

Snow Place Like Home - 7/10

A Cranky Christmas - 6/10

Diesel's Ghostly Christmas - 9.5/10

Toad and The Whale - 9/10

Very Important Sheep - 9/10

The Beast of Sodor - 9/10

Salty All At Sea - 8/10

Den & Dart - 8/10

Helping Hiro - 6/10

Two Wheels Good - 7/10

Reds Vs. Blues - 6/10

Slow Stephen - 9/10

The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead - 5/10

Best Engine Ever - 10/10

Philip To The Rescue - 8/10
Wild Water Rescue - 4/10

No Help At All! - 8/10
The Other Side of the Mountain - 2/10
Thomas the Babysitter - 9/10

Series Rating (So far):

177/240

S19 Ep.22: The Other Side of the Mountain

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

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

TBA

Produced by

Jennifer Hill (Arc)

Ian McCue (HIT)

Air Date:

17/01/16 - JPN

Plot:

Road works were happening on Thomas' branch line and Bertie was diverted on the other side of the mountain and teased Thomas that there was something good. 

PRO:

- Nice to hear a tidbit of Bertie's original theme

- Bertie's cheeky persona is shown once again

- The sign did serve a good plot twist

- More things done with road vehicles

CON:

- This feels like a rehash of 'Thomas' Shortcut'

- The pacing feels a bit awkward

- The crash was over the top

- The purpose of the sign

- The last scene felt like filler

I'll be honest, I do say some bad episodes can be a bit watchable, 'Steamie Stafford' I can sit through since I can see little kids enjoying the episode as they do like making train noises along with the moral that being yourself is good, but I don't see it as one of the best episodes to enjoy. But to me this episode is...not great. One thing the whole plot just felt like a rehash of 'Thomas' Shortcut'. The episode shows Thomas wanting to know what Bertie is doing, Bertie tells him and Thomas wants in. Yes Bertie did taunt him about it but that also happened in probably Andrew Brenner's best script, 'Thomas' Shortcut'. I don't mind if there are stories based on older ones or have a similar plot as it has its own twist around to make it at least entertaining and unique. Whereas this just feels like the S17 episode all over again.

One thing that Chris Tomson pointed out in the review of this said episode is that Thomas 'likes' working on his branch line best. Maybe it could've been better if they've written that he loves his branch line and takes pride in it because he earned it because of what he did at the end of 'The Adventure Begins' by saving James and not thinking about himself and cares for his fellow steam engines. Here it seems like Thomas just likes working on it implying he has no passion for it.

The pacing for it just feels awkward in places that it makes the episode feel rushed, especially with Thomas confronting Bertie at the level crossing, I wouldn't mind if they use a three strikes formula to show that. It worked well in 'Thomas' Shortcut' as that episode shows Thomas crossing each track and ending up not as a shortcut. Besides the three strike formula had existed in the past and they work well...except from S13-16 

The crash, to be honest I found it as so bad that it's good when I first saw the episode and I don't mind that there's some unrealistic moments in the show as long as it gives a purpose and the crash does add one, but it was over the top and it felt like something out of Trainz, and this is coming from a Trainz user. What I think could've been better if it were an old piece of line, since we see so many of them on Sodor and yeah it's still repeating what 'Thomas' Shortcut'. By the way, has anyone noticed that Toby came out of nowhere when Thomas missed his signal? Yeah it's a cliched plot device (the old line idea) but it still works and more realistic and add more sense then the crash even if it means repeating the same plot that we've seen in S17. 

Though I will say the about the sign, it did serve for plot point and a bit of a funny plot twist. But as a nitpick the purpose of the sign didn't really add much for what it was advertising and I think it would've been better if it were promoting like maybe a salon or a travel agency. Plus the last scene with Thomas as an airplane was kind of funny but it felt like such filler to fill the episode time slot and it felt a bit pointless, they could at least add maybe Thomas all fixed up and puffing past the mountain learning his lesson. They did that for 'Helping Hiro', you didn't see Thomas thinking about flying past that curve.

Some say Annie and Clarabel were out of character in this episode and I didn't add in my pro and con because I can see it as 50/50. On one side I'm glad that we see them giggling and chuckling as it adds more depth into their character, but I can see that it's a bit out of character since they are always serious about Thomas' antics and try to bring him down to earth but if you keep them serious they wouldn't be interesting characters. I also like how the road vehicles are used. Instead of just racing they can bring more things like carrying engines to and from places whenever they have accidents far from the railway line and it feels like we're seeing something you see in the Railway Series book, 'Thomas and The Great Railway Show'.

While this episode can be enjoyed by some fans young and old with its action, it was not good and not the best of the season and probably Andrew Brenner's worst script to be honest. 

Rating: 2/10

Episode Ratings:

Who's Geoffrey - 9/10

The Truth About Toby - 6.5/10

Lost Property - 9/10

Henry Spots Trouble - 7/10

Snow Place Like Home - 7/10

A Cranky Christmas - 6/10

Diesel's Ghostly Christmas - 9.5/10

Toad and The Whale - 9/10

Very Important Sheep - 9/10

The Beast of Sodor - 9/10

Salty All At Sea - 8/10

Den & Dart - 8/10

Helping Hiro - 6/10

Two Wheels Good - 7/10

Reds Vs. Blues - 6/10

Slow Stephen - 9/10

The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead - 5/10

Best Engine Ever - 10/10

Philip To The Rescue - 8/10
Wild Water Rescue - 4/10

No Help At All! - 8/10
The Other Side of the Mountain - 2/10

Series Rating (So far):

162/230

S19 Ep.21: No Help At All!

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

NO HELP AT ALL!

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

TBA

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT)

Jennifer Hill (Arc)

Plot

Timothy was called to help Porter out at the docks. Earlier Bill and Ben were teasing him and playing around the china clay pits and thought he was no fun at all. But they soon realise there mistake.

Air Date

16/01/16 - JPN

PRO:

- 'Another engine sir! But you already have so many!'

- A story in between another story

- Porter at least having a role

- Moral: Working together

- The Fat Controller's character being balanced out
- The rendition of 'Down by the Docks' 

CON:

- The moral felt shoved down

I do really enjoy this episode and it was great to see Timothy with a lead role again and not being neglected like a certain dockyard tank engine. As for Porter, his role maybe not big but at least it made some sense with his laid-back and good natured persona, but he still deserves an episode for himself as he has so much potential as a character! I especially loved the Fat Controller's character being balanced out in the episode as well as this season. In previous episode we see him as an authoritative figure while also as a person who admits he's not a good listener and makes mistakes as well. I also like how the story is set between another story, a very Railway Series vibe there. It's a very interesting move and definitely shows that the team behind the show care about continuity.

The moral, while I think had been used multiple times in the past, was alright but it feels very shoved down as they kept on repeating again for a while and I'm pretty sure the audience get the message. It happened before with 'Henry's Hero'. But I think one of the best lines comes from Thomas when he was talking about the idea of another engine and that the Fat Controller had so many. It makes me laugh since the show nowadays introduces a new engine every year, for whatever purpose, to sell toys for merchandising. Even though that kind of stuff happens, the team knows how to make them good despite maybe some set backs.

The rendition by Hartshore of 'Down by the Docks' was nice to hear as well and I do hope we hear more of rendition of classic songs, for me personally I would love to hear his version of 'The Island song'.

In the end the story is nice and well-paced, nothing felt out of place, rushed or bad. But as I said before the moral felt like it was shoved down and I think the audience will get the message.

Rating: 8/10

Episode Ratings:

Who's Geoffrey - 9/10

The Truth About Toby - 6.5/10

Lost Property - 9/10

Henry Spots Trouble - 7/10

Snow Place Like Home - 7/10

A Cranky Christmas - 6/10

Diesel's Ghostly Christmas - 9.5/10

Toad and The Whale - 9/10

Very Important Sheep - 9/10

The Beast of Sodor - 9/10

Salty All At Sea - 8/10

Den & Dart - 8/10

Helping Hiro - 6/10

Two Wheels Good - 7/10

Reds Vs. Blues - 6/10

Slow Stephen - 9/10

The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead - 5/10

Best Engine Ever - 10/10

Philip To The Rescue - 8/10
Wild Water Rescue - 4/10

No Help At All! - 8/10

Series Rating (So far):

160/220

S19 Ep.20: Wild Water Rescue

I've decided to review the remaining episodes of S19 since we don't know the date when they will be released in the western world. The writers, directors etc. will be credited until the episodes are all released later. So here's my usual: 

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

WILD WATER RESCUE

Written by

Becky Overton

Directed by

Don Spencer

Air Date
10/01/16 - JPN

Plot:
The Sodor Search and Rescue Centre is celebrating their 1000th rescue and to celebrate, the mayor is giving them a new alarm bell and Percy is to collect the mayor for the presentation and hope to be on the front of the Sodor Times. However Diesel wants to do it.

PRO:
- Percy's portrayal
- Diesel's character development

CON:
- There could've been better confrontation

1000 rescues? That does question about the safety of Sodor, kidding around. I think Percy's portrayal this season is great. Instead of the wimpy attitude that he had between S9-16 and not the absolute moron he was in 'Day of the Diesels' by making Thomas the bad guy for not giving him attention, despite that he never was trying to make Percy feel left out, BTW Thomas is not completely innocent in that movie too, but I digress. He pretty much left that wimpy side (Percy) behind since 'Tale of The Brave' and S18 and is now back into his naive, cheery and cheeky self that he once was in the past.

I love how the writers handle Diesel as well. We all know he's proud of being a modern diesel engine but you can see he feels bad but isn't game enough to admit it due to his devious behaviour. However I do think there should be better confrontation between Percy and Diesel by having Diesel wanting to be a hero rather than wanting to be in front of a newspaper by tricking Percy. Then Percy latter on knew that he was tricked when he reached the old quarry and falling into the flooded track. It could've brought a greater climax and more character development for Diesel and wants to make amends with Percy. 

But the story overall is a bit plain and forgettable but it was alright and the episode was more character driven which of course makes it more interesting.

Rating: 4/10

Episode Ratings:

Who's Geoffrey - 9/10

The Truth About Toby - 6.5/10

Lost Property - 9/10

Henry Spots Trouble - 7/10

Snow Place Like Home - 7/10

A Cranky Christmas - 6/10

Diesel's Ghostly Christmas - 9.5/10

Toad and The Whale - 9/10

Very Important Sheep - 9/10

The Beast of Sodor - 9/10

Salty All At Sea - 8/10

Den & Dart - 8/10

Helping Hiro - 6/10

Two Wheels Good - 7/10

Reds Vs. Blues - 6/10

Slow Stephen - 9/10

The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead - 5/10

Best Engine Ever - 10/10

Philip To The Rescue - 8/10
Wild Water Rescue - 4/10

Series Rating (So far):

152/210

NWR Editorial: The Great Race Trailer

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

 

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

 

NWR EDITORIAL:

THE GREAT RACE TRAILER

 

 

We have seen the teaser trailer earlier in the year and now we finally get to see the official trailer of the upcoming special 'The Great Race'. The special is made with the theme of racing and of course 2016 being the year that Rio are hosting the Olympic games, which this special was made in mind of the upcoming world event.

 

 

 The trailer opens up at Brendam docks with Thomas and Salty seeing all the International engines arriving by ship for the railway show and yes I'm sure you all may have heard that this had sparked a lot of 'controversy' to the trashy Daily Fail site and other journalists, but I'll get to that later. I like how they added a new part of the docks for the sake of unloading the international engines, probably to save some time on the pacing of the story rather then having Cranky lifting all the engines out.

 

 

We see engines from such countries like North America, China, Brazil, France and even Australia! And we're introduced to Ashima, from India, who I believe will be the main focus of all the international engines as the voice of reason character for Thomas during the main story.

 

 

Then we see clips from the upcoming special of the race, parts of the story and one of the new songs. To be honest, I think it's good to see Thomas going down this road and trying new things to make the yearly specials so special. We had last year's special to thank that with the song 'Never Overlook a Little Engine'. and that it was part of the plotline. But of course I don't think there are films that outdo Disney, as they are the masters of animated musicals, at least in my opinion.

 

 

Although the trailer ended with Thomas jumping over the Vicarstown Bridge. I'll be honest, you don't see something like that in Awdry's stories but it's there for what was revealed in product descriptions which is him trying to stop Gordon because his safety valve. It's unrealistic yes but its there for the sake of showcasing the moment of helping a friend out as well as saving innocent bystanders from a boiler explosion and no they haven't implied it nor sugar coat it, Thomas had said in the BTS video that Gordon's boiler will blow up. It's bit like Thomas chasing James in 'The Adventure Begins'. Plus as for the bridge scene, we had Thomas chasing a pirate ship on a flatbed in last year's special and people like that special. But I do agree and understand what they are saying as it brings back memories of 'The Great Discovery' from the Barlow/Miller era.

 

 

 

As of the international characters, my main concern is how are they going to develop 13 new characters, most sources say 12, 14 and the trailer said 13 so I'm going by the trailer, within a 60 minute timeframe. They won't be in future episodes, according to Ian McCue so I think the international engines will have their moments from the information we're given from the press and products and the main focus happens to be around Ashima, Flying Scotsman and Vinnie. But of course this special is to promote these new characters for toys and that what these specials are for as well as say get kids into knowing more about these engines and their respective basis and get them to know of there country of origin. However I do understand why these international characters are one-off's. They're just like Logan and Sam for the Wooden Railway product line. They are one-off's with purpose.

 

 

 Now onto the 'controversy'. I'm sure everyone over the Easter week had seen Daily Fail's and many more articles on the special talking about the new characters and the all the commenters are loosing their minds that they think Thomas is ruined and going PC and that one person is going to leave the UK because of these new characters, seriously that's real, even though they won't leave due immigration and citizenship laws. I honestly don't see what's wrong with introducing characters that had come from all corners of the planet.

 

 

Thomas the Tank Engine is well-known all over the world and is loved by children in countries like America, Japan, Australia, China etc. so it makes sense that they do that. It teaches children that there is a big world out there and it's filled with different things. Diversity is not wrong to teach children. Thomas is not loosing his Britishness at all in the end. There is still a UK narrator, with characters based on British locomotives, set on an Island in the British coast with a UK dub still going on since Ringo Starr took the microphone. Some people have shown concern about stereotypes and I find that to be a bit worrying too. But we had Hiro in the 2009 special and he turned out to be one of good characters from the era known as the Barlow/Miller era. Plus speaking of Hiro, we had him introduced back in 2009 and there were no articles bashing about him being from a different country and he was no Japanese stereotype.

 

 

 

While I am happy that there's going to be an Australian engine, Shane, I don't know much about him and I don't think he'll have a big part of the story, although I do believe he was named after the cricketer, a sport that I'm not a big fan of. But the other international engine I'm looking forward to see is of course this one:

 

 

 Yes finally after 25 years since his tenders appeared in 'Tender Engines', we finally see the Flying Scotsman in all his much deserved glory for the first time in Thomas & Friends, I remember writing in 2012 that I'm glad that he wasn't in the series, but that was at a time where we were going through one of the worst eras of the series and now that we have a new team for three years now, with respect to the history of the brand, I don't think we'll see Flying Scotsman as a Sodor engine, however my opinions had changed since reviewing the episodes and I consider them as out of date now, I digress but I don't know if you can call him a returning character? I think it's very fitting to see Flying Scotsman in a special to focus about racing. After all his real life counterpart ran non-stop between London to Edinburgh in 1928 and between Parkes to Broken Hill in Australia in 1989. Plus it's good to see that he's appearing the same year the real one had just returned to service after a ten year overhaul by the National Railway Museum.

 

 

 I don't know what time period this special is set in, although all specials and episodes are very minimal on the timeline. But since people are saying the 1960's, it's rather hard to see 4472 in the guise that he is in the trailer as in reality, the real one was in BR Brunswick or bottle green livery, although if you've seen the BTS video, we see three 08 class shunters in the background with the same livery as EWS, a private railway company, so you could say the 1990's - 2000's maybe? But to me though I think it's to make Flying Scotsman stand out between the likes of Gordon and Henry for the sake of merchandising. If you remove the smoke deflectors you'll most like get a green Gordon and people might mistake him as that. Sure in the past there had been merchandise of Flying Scotsman, mostly the Wooden Railway toy, but to be honest, he wasn't known that much in the past as a past character. Looking at him in the trailer, I think we might see more scenes between him and Gordon.

 

 

Yes Gordon is racing with the streamlined shape, I hope though that it's there to teach kids the moral 'Be yourself' as it serves a purpose for Gordon that he doesn't have to race with a streamline casing, even though from the info we were given, the Fat Controller was the one who thought it would look good on him. But who knows? The streamlined shape however had sparked a bit of criticism from fans and while yes you'll never see something like this in the Railway Series books, the streamlined shape doesn't look that bad in my opinion, especially in the form of a toy, except for Trackmaster. I believe that yes it won't be permanent and we had stuff like this before. Remember Bill and Ben were painted blue in 'Bill or Ben?' but later on they are back in their yellow paint. It's there for Mattel to make for the cool factor I believe to sell toys.

 

 

 

As for the songs, well we know four songs from a Behind the Scenes video of the movie and we know that Thomas is going to sing about wanting to be streamlined, Diesel's song from the trailer and Ashima's song that was mentioned in the wooden railway yearbook and the song that is at the end of the BTS video. I have a feeling that Starlight Express, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, had some part in this and ironically years before the show came to exist by Britt Allcroft, Webber was going to make an animated musical based on the Railway Series books.

 

 

So in conclusion, I don't know how this special will end up to be but looking at the trailer and the BTS video on the official YouTube page, it got me interested. I love the concept of having a Railway Show in style of the Olympic Games rather then just being race and bringing a diverse group of engines. However there could be some flaws in it too and we should expect that.

 

THE GREAT RACE

PREMIERS IN UK CINEMAS IN MAY 2016! 

 

COMING SOON ON DVD IN

AUTUMN 2016

 

TRAILER CAN BE VIEWED HERE