S21 Ep.9: New Crane on the Dock

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

NEW CRANE ON THE DOCK

Written by

Lee Pressman

Directed by
Dianna Basso

Produced by 

Micaela Winters

Plot

Cranky competes against Carly the new crane when she starts taking all his work.

Air Date

28/07/17 

PRO
- Big Mickey's reveal!
- Carly's persona
- The sea monsters had great voices 

CON
- N/A

Quite honestly, I'm not much of a follower of the idea of a Thomas/TUGS crossover as I use to be. I now see it would be quite hard to have one since it'll be focused only on one place and there wouldn't be much interaction and the two shows are vastly different, but of course I do love TUGS as its own series, a fantastic kids show with great writing and dialogue from David Mitton and his crew back in the late 80's, it has quality. But of course in today's episode it was quite a surprise to see a crane, who had been in the series since the third season 26 years ago, having a face for the first time! And what's even more amazing is the crane is named 'Big Mickey'! Quite a big surprise for older fans of course and it's a nice tribute to TUGS, Thomas' sister series, and I feel it was a nice tribute to the late-David Mitton's work and to the man himself. I think to the fans of the Thomas/TUGS crossover, this is close to a crossover between both shows. TUGS just didn't live on in the fanbase but now it lives on in the official show too! 

So now onto the episode itself, I liked it more than yesterday's episode. We get to see Carly in action and I do like her persona. She's bubbly and excitable and with her and Cranky together, they feel like a brother and sister duo. You have Carly being the new sibling and everyone was admiring her while Cranky is the jealous 'older sibling' and wants to get the attention as well. But in the end they need to work together, I know that's an overused moral but for a kids show it works for them.

Salty's story about the sea monsters was a good metaphor for the episode and they had great voices too and Ian McCue had provided some terrific voice acting with the little comedy.

The reveal of Big Mickey at the end of the episode was a funny, I love how it was over the top and big and then after all that build up he just said 'What?' but I also love how for the consistency that said that Big Mickey had been standing their all these years without uttering a word. How better it would be if Channel 5 didn't reveal the picture, everyone would be reacting differently! Oh yeah and the movement was in the episode too, I'm not all that annoyed with it honestly.

Episode Rating:

Springtime for Diesel - 8/10

A Most Singular Engine - 9/10

Dowager Hatt's Busy Day - 10/10

Stuck in Gear - 8/10

Runaway Engine - 9/10
PA Problems - 10/10
Hasty Hannah - 7/10
Cranky at the End of the Line - 5/10
New Crane on the Dock - 9/10

Series Rating (So Far):

75/90