Saturday 23 December 2017

A Retrospective of Thomas & Friends DVD in 2017

As we are getting ready to end another year once again, let's take a look back the DVD reviews of Thomas & Friends that were released during the course of 2017. But first here's the warning:

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

TALES FROM THE RAILS
Review Date:
30/01/17

Looking back, not much to say but I still think the DVD had a good amount of episodes, even if some are duds from both seasons. 

Rating:
7/10

EXTRAORDINARY ENGINES
Review Date
6/03/17

 The Hugo episodes were a bit disappointing, I don't hate them but I think they could've been better. I get it that the first episode on this DVD, 'Engine of the Future' was suppose to be the don't jump to conclusion moral. But it feels plain in comparison to an episode like 'Harvey to the Rescue', the reason why that episode is better in my opinion is because Harvey proved his worth after the engines criticised him of being different and that was about his crane arm. Hugo didn't do anything to show his worth and never really had much purpose or a reason to be on Sodor. 

 The other episodes like 'The Missing Breakdown Train', while not bad, wasn't that great in my opinion. Not much happens in the episode until Daisy's derailment, it was average. 'Hugo and the Airship' could've been better too if the episode didn't feel like it was two seperate stories morphed into one as it felt like a mystery tale at first then Hugo suddenly have this ambition to fly. 'Three Steam Engines Gruff' by far is the worst episode coming from this DVD. The story could've worked with the classic personas of the three Ffarquhar engines or it could've worked with engines like Bill, Ben and Timothy. The latter could've been a much more better episode.

 However this DVD had some good episodes, 'Henry in the Dark' is one my favourites as Lee Pressman had turned the tables around for Henry. I still standby my opinion that Henry's scaredy engine persona was handled more better in S19 and 'The Adventure Begins', because one story had something relatable  for kids and the other worked considering that it was during Henry's early years. But prior to that, Henry's wimpy persona was truly awful and it was nice to see that change. 

 Skiff and the Mermaid was simple, nice and hilarious too, especially with the Fat Controller.

 The DVD doesn't beat the likes of 'Spills and Thrills' and 'Start Your Engines' and I felt this one was less thematic as some episodes aren't really focused on things that are extraordinary. I think it's because of Hugo? But I think his stories weren't really that extraordinary, maybe it would've been better if the Glynn stories were placed on this DVD too in the UK rather than another random DVD. I mean Glynn is a unique looking engine as well.
Rating:
7/10

 THE COMPLETE SERIES 18/DINOS AND DISCOVERIES

Review Date
5/07/17

 As usual the DVD showcases 26 episodes and an added bonus disc of 'Dinos and Discoveries'. The problem that the series collection dvds have is the lack of episode titles on the rear cover. Of course there wouldn't be enough room to showcase 26 episodes given the room on the rear. So I think the DVDs should be provided with a booklet with a list of 26 episodes and maybe HIT Entertainment and Mattel might add advertisements for their products and other DVDs within the Thomas & Friends brand. 

 Rating:
7/10

 TEAM UP WITH THOMAS
Review Date
24/08/17

 Looking back, the first three episodes of this DVD are pretty much the bad apples in my opinion. Buckled Tracks should've cut out Belle and Flynn as they weren't really needed, Mucking About has the moral about ignoring others despite that in real life they would pressure you more and more and Blown Away really felt like a repeat of Helen Farrall's previous work such as 'Toad and The Whale' and 'Slow Stephen'. 

 But despite that there are some good ones here too, despite 'Pouty James' and it was great seeing two classic songs been given the CGI series treatment. The editing feels a bit choppy but I loved them in the end. Although Mattel and HIT should work on better DVD titles and have them with the episode titles with the tag '& Other Stories' beneath it. 

 Rating:
8/10

JOURNEY BEYOND SODOR
Review Date
4/10/17

 The special did miles better than what 'The Great Race' had done. The story is focused on one thing rather than a bunch of subplots. The songs are fun and catchy and the newbies are pretty interesting such as Lexie, Theo and Merlin. Three of these characters have a great dynamic and balance with Lexie and Theo's pessimistic attitude and Merlin's confident and positivity. The villains, Hurricane and Frankie are a breath of fresh air. Instead of being the typical bad guys, they were villains that need sympathy since they are the only two engines who work at the steelworks and no one else wants to work there. However they do have some flaws and I think one of them is Beresford. He was not terrible but he didn't really add much to the story especially his song 'Who's Thomas' felt unnecessary although it was quite catchy. There were some things such as the movement of the engines and I do have to admit it was awkward in some places but I see where it works such as in the songs and it was subtle when the engines have dialogue. Plus the who the favourite squabble from Thomas and James feels like it came out of nowhere too and there some consistency issues, especially with Percy feeling scared about going onto the mainland despite that we had a whole special dedicated to him about feel scared but be brave. It's not the best special but it is one of the good ones in my opinion.

However with the news of the new revamped series and that S21 is building up to it with 'A Shed for Edward', I feel now like this special is more like what S19 was. It was filler, it was just there. In the first Cranky episode of S21, Thomas had already been to the mainland despite that S21 was set before JBS. It was really confusing.

Rating:
8/10


 CHRISTMAS ON SODOR
Review Date
13/11/17

 For the first time we have a new Thomas DVD, that is outside of the movies and the tent pole releases, that are in sync with the UK and US. I will say that the episodes like 'Terence Breaks the Ice' is probably one of Lee Pressman's best stories as it feels like there is more story than comedy and the episode feels like something Christopher Awdry would write, like his annual story 'Terence Takes a Bath'. The other episodes are good too such as 'Confused Coaches', 'Emily in the Middle' and 'Daisy's Perfect Christmas'. I will say that 'The Big Freeze' could've been better with frozen water towers than the steam engines having a lack of coal, I pretty much hate that they stop working when they have no coal whereas they have more in their firebox to keep on steaming. But in the end it was a good episode still. 

Of course you have the three S20 episodes, 'Cautious Connor' was good despite some loss of potential and that it's story is not on par with the likes of Edward's or Rheneas'. But 'Tit for Tat' and 'All In Vain' still hold up as great! 

Rating:
8/10

 ---

 And so here we are, the end of 2017! I had this post released early instead of New Years Eve as I will be heading over to America once again to see my sister and her new family. So this will be my last post for the year. 

 So what will 2018 bring for Thomas and Friends? I don't know except for the new 'refreshed' series 'Big World! Big Adventure!'. I will be cautiously optimistic about it as the current production staff are still working on the little blue engine and I believe it might have some potential when it comes to the different railways.

 But whatever happens will happen and we'll be there to see it. So in the end:

 MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

 -NWR1991.
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Friday 22 December 2017

S21 Ep.18: Confused Coaches + Series Overall

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

CONFUSED COACHES
Written by
Helen Farrall

Directed by
Dianna Basso

Produced by
Micaela Winters

Plot
Spencer and Gordon upset their passengers when their competitive behavior gets extremely uncontrollable.

Air Date
22/12/17

 ---

This episode is a pretty standard Gordon VS. Spencer storyline. But I did find it entertaining with the dynamic between the two characters. The episode also gave me vibes of 'Wrong Road' with the two engines given the wrong coaches. I would've loved it if they had the signalman keeping signals down and points switched for Gordon and signals up for Spencer to complete that vibe. But how the way it came out in the end was good enough. But one of the things that intrigued me by this episode was the fact that this was set on New Years Eve, the first time that it was done in the show's history, not quite ground breaking but it amazed me none the less as I thought this was going to be set during the Christmas rush period. Like the stations are very busy and Thomas and Philip had shunted the wrong coaches due to the busyness of it all and gave the wrong coaches to the engines say Spencer taking Gordon's passengers to the mainland and Gordon stopping at stations with the Duke and Duchess. It wouldn't make much difference though.

As much as I like the comedy of the Fat Controller, I have a feeling that they are overdoing it this season. In this episode it had him falling down and all and I understand it's cartoony and the young audience would find it funny but there needs to be a time that they have to slow it down and maybe showcase more of his authoritative behaviour or add someone else to be the comic relief, like maybe one of his bodyguards or the stationmaster? As I said before, Thomas is more than comedy and it's not good for his character here. It was fine in S19 and S20 because it was balanced but I feel like they haven't balanced it well this season. Heck, he showed his authority side to Gordon at Callan Castle in the end! Can't we see more of that, please?

I love Chris Renshaw's score of 'Auld Lang Syne' it was beautiful and warm given the atmosphere of the end and with Philip being scared of fireworks was pretty adorable as it make him like a little kid being scared of the loud bang and I was one of them when I was young. Although I think it would've been great if they had Donald and Douglas there singing the song as well considering that the song is part of Scottish heritage and that they are from Scotland. The episode is pretty standard and not much happens until the latter part, but it was fine in the end and a nice end to the season and a nice end to Helen Farrall's contribution to the show, her CV showcased nothing for Thomas during 2017 as that is when the new show would be in production. She was one fantastic writer and it's sad that she won't continue on with her excellent writing. She gave the show its simple slice of life feeling towards it and I am very grateful for her for doing that.

SERIES OVERALL

I will say that this season feels a little mixed. It's not that it was bad though. First off it's the continuity. This was suppose to be set before 'Journey Beyond Sodor' but as usual there was no build up but it feels so mixed up bizarrely. In 'Cranky at the End of the Line', Thomas and Edward went to the mainland to pick up Carly and yet in the special, Thomas went onto the mainland (in Mattel's case) for the first time and yet in the special it felt excited like he was on the mainland for the first time! How do these two connect in anyway if you have the series before movie idea? It just makes no sense! It makes me think that the movie was just filler and that S21 was just its own thing so they can get ready for 'Big World Big Adventure' next year.

I also feel like this series had focused more on comedy and while there can be some good out of it, I feel like that they were pushing it a bit too much especially by Lee Pressman as most episodes written by him had much comedy in it. Some of it's OK but I think some were trying hard to make things funny, such as the Fat Controller for example. It's like I said before, Thomas is more than comedy. But there are times were Lee Pressman focuses more on story and less on comedy and 'Terence Breaks the Ice' is a good example of it. The story was simple, there were some action and it feels like something that Christopher Awdry would write. It's not just Lee Pressman when it comes to comedy though, Helen Farrall, who is one of my favourite writers from the show and it's a shame she's not going to take part of the show next year, her CV didn't have any info on S22. But she had implemented some comedy too more on the Fat Controller slipping and bumping into things. It's not as much as Lee Pressman's way but the way she had done for the Fat Controller in 'Confused Coaches' was kind of showing that the slapstick humour was getting old and sometimes unnecessary for him and it's lacking the authoritative nature of him being a railway controller.

I know one of the big 'controversies' is Edward leaving the 'steam team' because he was not 'marketable enough' and that Henry will be leaving too next year. But over the months, I began thinking about Edward, this my opinion and as much as I love the old blue engine, I think he adds nothing new to the table. Now before anyone jumps to conclusions, I am not a huge fan of this idea as I do know that Edward is probably one of the most important characters in history of this brand, he was the first character to come into the Rev.W.Awdry's mind when he was entertaining Christopher while he was sick with measles. But the reason that I said that, the nothing add new to the table business is because most of Edward's stories are just him trying to prove his worth over being old.

I mean in the classic series it was fine because we were just getting to know them. But they've developed his character after that and it wasn't used again until I think by the time of the show's sixth season. The episode, 'Edward the Really Useful Engine' despite being one of my favourites was really the start of the repeatable 'proving his worth' plots for him. The same can be applied for 'Old Reliable Edward' and I considered that to be one of the best episodes for Edward in recent years. To me I think Edward works well as a secondary character more given his personality of being the old but wise engine giving advice to the other engines who are younger than him and with him and Philip being paired together, there is good story potential and character dynamic for the both of them!

Edward had not been 'killed off' as some fans are led to believe. Mattel had confirmed that he and Henry will be featured heavily in the new series so they are still in the show it's just that they aren't going to be part of the main cast anymore and that's fine by me. Edward is out looking after Philip at Wellsworth sheds.

I can say the same with Henry. He had such great character development during the early years with him suffering illness due to his small firebox until he got his new shape. Afterwards he was just this grumpy side character with some traits of him being the friendly giant. I think why they went with the wimpy role during the Miller/Barlow era is to force him some new stories to give him the spotlight and then brought back the special coal stuff as well to make him have a flaw disregarding any continuity from the past! The problem for Henry is that he was forced to have these things onto him even though it had been resolved earlier for him as a character. But these are just my opinions not any actual fact.

The two new engines, Nia and Rebecca, have to prove their worth other than just being these girl characters and I'm willing to give them a chance even though some people are already writing off Nia as bland despite that we don't anything about her yet because the final product is not out yet. Plus I'm pleased that the offical Thomas website stated that Henry and Edward will be featured heavily but that could mean anything. They could have cameo roles or secondary roles and maybe a few episodes focused on them, I don't know what they would do but we would just have to wait. It's a shame though that Henry didn't have a farewell episode like Edward this season but I hope the production team give him a swan song for him in the new revamped series. I don't consider of calling BWBA a 'reboot' considering from the video of the new intro that was released a few months back, there are still things from this season that will carry on (e.g - Carly and Big Mickey). A 'reboot' is unplugging what the show use to be and restructure the whole thing from scratch and adding new things along the way to make it all new. Sort of like S8 but without some past traits like the overused 'steam vs diesel' cliche. The term 'reboot' is more of a buzzword nowadays.

One thing that sort of surprised me was that this season has to be the shortest season in Thomas history since S11-16 had 20 episodes each, that now makes them second shortest. This is all confirmed from Mattel via twitter:

But the one thing that did surprise me was that Mattel had cut down eight episodes of this season! SiF had confirmed this last week on twitter:
And if you look through more of the tweet, Rosie was going to have more than one episode! All because they want room for the development of 'Big World Big Adventure'. I'm not going to be attacking the new show as this is critically towards the higher-ups of Mattel. I feel like fans have been cheated by this because for years they've demanded for Rosie to return with a bigger role and have better characterisation and just having Mattel taking those years of waiting away by not showing more of her character progression feels so much of a let down. There could've been more with the three cranes, Bulgy and I bet Hugo. I remember earlier this year SiF had said there were more plans for Hugo and it's such a shame because we only got two episodes of his last season and they were not good in my opinion. I am annoyed by this move but I just got to take it as it is in the end. I hope with the Sodor portion of the new series we see those episodes having their share of the spotlight. But we just got to wait and see in the end. If not, well I think it's unfair for the hard work that the production team put into writing those episodes and Mattel should've just let S21 go at its own pace rather than abruptly cut it down. At least we know Rosie's job is being a station pilot at Vicarstown as shown in JBS, at least that is her job?

I'm also very sad that this would be Mark Moraghan's last season as narrator. He had such great enthusiasm when it comes to telling a story much more better than what Angelis did during his latter part as the storyteller. Mark had put great effort into his narration and he had that feeling of Ringo Starr, Johnny Morris and Michael Angelis combined. But a part of me is not really put off by the idea of no storyteller next season and I think its because it worked when the show was converted to CGI considering that things can be expressed more better when it comes to emotions. Show don't tell. When Brenner and McCue first started, the narration started to decrease most particularly around S19 and the characters were the ones telling you the story with their dialogue and with the wonderful voice acting and visuals.

I think that the narrator worked well when the show was in its model format. The expressions are static and it works for the narrator to tell the audience how the character is feeling, since it was going for a picture book like feeling when the show started in 1984. I think the idea of Thomas telling the audience is a good idea considering we had those life lesson videos from the official website, DVD releases and on PBS Kids in the US. I do hope they let kids to digest the moral of the story though. I know that the storyteller is one of the key parts that makes Thomas great, but I think the show could work without one. I wish Mark all the very best and to give him thanks for entertaining Thomas fans young and old. I do understand that he said, via twitter months ago, he could be voicing a new character in the new series, I hope so.

It wouldn't just be Mark who would loose the storyteller role. Plenty of non-English narrators will loose their storyteller role too in favour of Thomas such as Jon Kabria from Japan. He had narrated the show when 'Calling All Engines!' debuted in Japan in 2008, three years after the release in the west. But I believe the Japanese fans might be use to Thomas talking to them as shown in their DVDs.

Speaking of voices, I love Colin McFarlane. He was superb as Bulgy with the gruff in his voice, it suits his character very well and it was so different to his Beresford voice in JBS, so distinct. Even Lucy Montgomery was a great new addition to the show as her voices are very different to each other for such characters like Carly and Hannah. But I do think the most disappointing voice was Terence. His voice is just Rex without the Southern english accent. You think with him being a tractor he could have the sound of a farmer, particularly like Johnny Morris' voice in RWS audio books.

Chris Renshaw's music was pretty good but not as good as last season. I feel like last season he can play different styles of music like rock, jazz etc. But this season it was mostly rock and while I like that compare to Robert Hartshorne's filler music, I like his work but I feel like his music was just placed there. Nothing felt thematic. There's got to be more styles of music for him? I mean 'Journey Beyond Sodor' didn't have just rock music it was orchestrated.

In the end this isn't as good as last season. It was clunky, strange and is very unfinished but it was still very good none the less. There were some enjoyable stories and plenty of big surprises along the way such as Big Mickey's face reveal and Bulgy's unexpected return, which I have to say I haven't felt that surprised since Harvey's return in 'Thomas' Shortcut' back in 2013. I do think we will see more episodes with characters like Bulgy next season as the ending to 'Unscheduled Stops' does seem to offer more. Rosie, despite her new colour, really didn't showcase her suppose to be persona. I hope we get more of her in the new series, hopefully next year as she was rather flat. The season isn't quite as good as S20 in my opinion as last season had some terrific stories whereas here it's more comedy focused.

I don't know which episode is the actual conclusion considering that most of these episodes would be out of production order because the episode order is different on the series compilation DVDs. But if 'A Shed for Edward' is, and most likely, the true ending then I can say it was a lovely end to the series and to an era.

So as we conclude S21, I hope 'Big World Big Adventures' offer more than what we were given so far from teasers and press releases. I hope the new characters offer more, unlike some who had written off Nia as a bad character despite that we hardly know anything about her other than being a strong female character, yeah they said that at Cannes, other than she's from Kenya! And that some recently had written off Rebecca now as a 'dumb blonde' stereotype for some reason despite the fact the small clip of her braking is based off the flaws of her actual basis. Look, I understand that no one likes change but it's no boogey man. Sometimes things change for better or worse to keep the show fresh and new instead of rinsing and repeating itself again otherwise it would get stagnant. Getting angry about these new changes and venting about it on social media, in a terrible way, won't solve anything in the end. A bit like Star Wars' fanbase hating some new stuff for some reason in 'The Last Jedi'. I suggest give the new series a try. It's not even out yet and see what the finish product is like. Writing it off based on what little info press releases are saying is not good enough in my opinion because there's so little about the show. We haven't seen the entire finished product yet and that won't happen until later next year. 
---

That wraps up all of S21! Be on the look out for the annual DVD retrospective post which will now come out on December 23rd 2017, which will be my last post for the year!

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Monday 18 December 2017

S21 Ep.17: Daisy's Perfect Christmas

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

DAISY'S PERFECT CHRISTMAS
Written by
Davey Moore

Directed by
Dianna Basso

Produced by 
Micaela Winters

Air Date
18/12/17

 Plot
Daisy is sad when Christmas doesn't go as planned.

---

We are given another Daisy episode by Davey Moore who still nailed her persona very well. The theme of the episode is pretty much about adding new things that are not in the traditional mindset and I see this working with Daisy rather well giving her haughty and diva personality. We all want to experience the same thing each year around Christmas all the time because it was fun and we had good memories of it. But sometimes things need to change to make it a bit better and fresher and not many people like that idea because they think it would be ruined forever.

One example in this episode is Daisy not liking the children singing different versions of Christmas carols as she enjoyed what she had experienced over the years and she complains about it because she's only thinking about her wants and needs. But the children don't mind the new changes because they love it in the end as they are more into the spirit of Christmas! It served and it delivered successfully to them. It's a good message too especially now that the show is having a new format next year ending the usual episode run. It was traditional but as Ryan puts it in this episode it's 'just different'. It'll be different and new but they, hopefully, will keep the spirit of what makes Thomas good still as it did before. Davey Moore's writing for these kind of messages feels like he knows about the fanbase or that it was big coincidence. The moral that he'd showcased here is good enough to be learnt by anyone whether they're a child or an adult.

I can relate to Daisy with her dislike of winter. Of course I live in Australia in the Southern Hemisphere so our seasons are different compare to the north as we have our winters between June-August. But anyway, one of things I love about winter is the NSW steam locomotive season as they run tours across the state until the late spring and another thing is the NRL, National Rugby League. I'm sure there might be some people living in the north of England who had heard that sport of course if they're reading this post. If you're in the US and know who Russell Crowe is, it's the sport that he loves. The NRL is different to the AFL though. It's always fun during winter to watch the game and of course the famous State of Origin where players from both NSW (New South Wales) & QLD (Queensland) rivals together every year to win the series. It's almost the equivalent of the NFL's Super Bowl.

I digress here, but the season of winter is not my favourite season. Of course I do like to have the warm heater on and snuggle in my bed in the night but when you go outside it's bleak and cold and damp at times. So I can relate to Daisy here when it comes to winter. Overall this episode was very good and I enjoyed it and it had a good message that traditions may have changed but it's the spirit that counts.
Episode Rating:
Stuck in Gear - 8/10
Series Rating (So far):
134/170
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Monday 11 December 2017

S21 Ep.16: Terence Breaks the Ice

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

TERENCE BREAKS THE ICE
Written by
Lee Pressman 

Directed by
Dianna Basso

Produced by 
Micaela Winters

Air Date
11/12/17

Plot
Terence takes a shortcut across a frozen lake 
while collecting Christmas trees for the holiday market.

Lee Pressman does have some stories this season that were up and down for me and after 'Philip's Number', I was starting to loose interest in his writing as he focuses more on comedy than story, it was fine at first with Dowager Hatt but with comedy being the main focus it was loosing some appeal, I understand it could be under Mattel's control but we don't know much about the facts to be honest. He had written, Lee Pressman, some episodes that were more story than comedy and of course they were 'Kevin's Cranky Friend', 'A Shed for Edward', despite some comedy, and 'Gordon and Spencer'.

With this episode, there was little bits of comedy but there was more story! Terence's comeback was a bit subtle and that is good not big not flashy just small and the flashback that was provided, 'Thomas, Terence and the Snow', was a good way to introduce the younger audience on who and what he is before, I can admit it is obvivously fan service but it works that way to get young kids to understand the history between the two despite that most of it was used to pan out the story as the plot was a bit thin and the setting had that very Season 1 feeling towards it with simple countryside and background and it was nice of Chris Renshaw to remake the little ditty of Thomas being stuck in the snow in the flashback.

I will say the voice for Terence was disappointing. To me he sounds like Rex but without his accent. Why not have his voice to be like a farmer from the west country? Considering he's a tractor that works on a farm as that would make sense.

The rest of the episode was good and it feels like something that Christopher Awdry would write, like his 'Terence Takes a Bath' annual story which has some similarities of this episode. It was simple and it was nice, despite the plot being a bit thin, with a nice moral that it's better to be sensible to be safe. There was a nice balance between story and comedy and it was probably the best story by Lee Pressman since Dowager Hatt's episode this season!
Episode Rating:
Stuck in Gear - 8/10
Series Rating (So Far):
131/160


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Wednesday 6 December 2017

S21 Ep.15: Emily in The Middle

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

EMILY IN THE MIDDLE
Written by
Davey Moore

Directed by
Dianna Basso

Produced by 
Micaela Winters

Air Date
6/12/17

Plot 
Donald and Douglas were called to Brendam Docks to deliver a very long load of steel pipes to Vicarstown, but began arguing of who is to push from behind. As Thomas was leaving, he met Emily, who was on her way to help the twins with the load. He warns her about the twins notorious behavior of arguing with each other, of which she replies that she will be fine with.

 ---
As much as I like Donald and Douglas in the series, I hope we don't get episodes of just them bickering to each other. We already have a set of twins with that mindset and they are Bill and Ben. The Scottish twins have more than just the brothers that bicker trope they care about each other when things go wrong for each other. Take a look at 'Break Van' when we were first introduced to the character, Donald was cross with the brake van because he causing some trouble with Douglas and his train which could've resulted him to seperate from his brother, as the Fat Controller had only ordered one of them.

Why not have an episode of say Spencer or anyone else saying rude and hurtful remarks about one of them and they stand up for them and play tricks on them? They even have that trope of not being messed with and it shows on one page in the story 'The Missing Coach' where Gordon and Henry were making fun of them because of there whistles, you implement that trope in the idea that I showcased earlier. The episode has some similarity to 'Love Me Tender' from S20 except it didn't have much heart in it. This episode tried but it did flourish.

But there are some good things from this episode and that is Emily she had brought her sisterly/motherly persona into the episode and I think it did make the episode a little better. The subtle humour with Toby gave me a bit of chuckle but I still think the episode feels just like last year's episode. It's not bad but could've been better.



Episode Rating:
Stuck in Gear - 8/10
Series Rating (So Far):
122/150
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Friday 1 December 2017

S21 Ep.14: The Big Freeze

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

 S21 returns with the usual Christmas episodes that were released on DVD in the US in October and the UK in November. So let's get right into:

THE BIG FREEZE
Written by
Helen Farrall 

Directed by
Dianna Basso

Produced by
Micaela Winters

Plot
When a big freeze hits Sodor, Diesel finally proves himself to be a hero.

Air Date
1/12/17
I never really liked how that an engine without coal means they can't steam anymore considering they have more they could burn in their firebox. Wouldn't it make more sense to have them run out of water? Yes it was cliched in the 7th season but it was more realistic as it can cause some major damage to the boiler's wall and crown stays. This episode wouldn't make much difference if it you put the idea of water tower's being frozen though but I would prefer it. But how would Diesel prove to be a hero? Easy, keep the railway running. Maybe have the steam engines like maybe Gordon and James think they are superior early in the episode until all the water towers were frozen across the Island.

When the diesel arrived to save the day, you have to admit that there is a serve lack of bigger diesels and this episode could've had the potential for bringing back BoCo as he would provided bigger power than three diesel shunters pulling the express. Although I think it was great seeing a triple header again I think since 'King of the Railway'.

This isn't really the blame on the production team and the writers but the way the 'Christmas on Sodor' DVD puts this as a Diesel episode, it was pretty poor wording. Fans think this was the final chapter in this story arc of Diesel's episodes from the start of S21 but Diesel really didn't fulfill the role until the final few minutes and there was little character growth. This episode is good but I think it could've been a bit better.
Episode Rating:
Stuck in Gear - 8/10
Series Rating (So Far):
116/130
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