THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE
ROSIE IS RED
Davey Moore
Directed by
Dianna Basso
Produced by
Micaela Winter
Air Date
12/09/18
Plot
After the engines tease Thomas that Rosie is his 'special friend', he acts meanly towards her.
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I remember after this episode had aired in Italy, some fans on the twittersphere were having a meltdown because there's an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine with the subject of romance in it and with that that means shipping. Now here's one thing, I'm not a Thomas shipper. I don't see how that can work as they are engines but I'm fine with people liking it. But it doesn't mean that they [the engines] care about each other deeply when it comes to there. Some fans say that this episode felt awkward because of its plot and that's their opinion. But to me it didn't feel awkward. Plus in the end, they did say that Thomas and Rosie 'Just friends' and that's that and that where I think the fan freakout is something that was over the top and uncalled for, a bit like how a year ago some were dreading the thought of the refresh of the series. But what's wrong with engines showing deep care for one another? Rev.W.Awdry had said in 'The Thomas the Tank Engine Man' documentary that his characters have human characteristics, so why can't feelings towards another character be among one of them? They have faces like humans and relatives like humans. They have emotions like sadness, anger, impatience, happiness etc. but strong feelings towards somebody, another human character trait, is something that goes way too far? Yet we have things like an engine loving their job or Thomas loving his coaches and branch line too. Sure they are engines but they have humanity in them as well.
Awdry also said that his characters are like children and so children can find romance to be a bit awkward at a very young age, and I think some of us in the older fanbase can relate to that as well when we were young. The teasing from the other engines (Gordon, Diesel, Bill and Ben) is something that kids have to deal with when it comes to the subject. If this is suppose to be Mattel's way of making Thomas more relative to kids today then Mattel did something right, that or Davey Moore had fulfilled Mattel's idea.
The rest of the episode was really good too. The pacing of the episode was nice and there was quite a nice variety of characters, heck even Edward was used quite well and yeah I like the moment between the two porters at Vicarstown. I quite like Percy saying that people should their love everyday and not just on one day, which is something that I often say. Not that the day is bad or anything but I just believe in that because we do that everyday to a loved one like maybe a girlfriend or boyfriend, a family member or even just a friend.
Many fans have been saying that this is not Awdry's vision. Well S5 goes against Awdry's vision, heck same can be said about S3, S4, S6 and the Brenner/McCue era with the likes of Lost Treasure, and some fans would go on defending it and same can be said about a certain flop of a film that focuses so much on magic and some mystical railroad and yet there are some fans of the movie that will defend it for the sake of nostalgia despite the awful plotholes. With S4 we have Stepney who works on the Bluebell Railway and in the books that was mentioned and in the TVS he was treated as a fictional character who works on the Fat Controller's railway with an episode that goes against 'Awdry's Vision'. Plus there's the infamous 'Henry's Forest' an episode that goes against Rule 55 that Awdry had stated and yet that episode is treated as some sort of holy grail because Rev.W.Awdry had a negative opinion about it. I'm sorry but that seems hypocritical to me.
Although I do like railway realism, and still do, I've learnt over the years that realism is not the main factor of the show's popularity, it's a part of it but not the sole reason why Thomas is so great in the first place. It's mostly about the characters and their personalities, the stories and the morals. Something that the show had been doing so well over the years. Yes Awdry had based his stories on real life events but they were used for morals for everyday life about impatiences, friendship, working together etc.
Some fans think that it's inappropriate and yet we had a special where Sailor John was threatening to kill Skiff and not to mention abusing him too and a special where a giant piece of harden clay was about to smash towards Percy. We had two episodes of two seperate engines escaping near death experiences, an engine being walled up in a tunnel, turning a steam engine into a generator etc. and yet this episode is deemed inappropriate? Kids know about romance for a long time, why do you think Disney is still around?
Awdry also said that his characters are like children and so children can find romance to be a bit awkward at a very young age, and I think some of us in the older fanbase can relate to that as well when we were young. The teasing from the other engines (Gordon, Diesel, Bill and Ben) is something that kids have to deal with when it comes to the subject. If this is suppose to be Mattel's way of making Thomas more relative to kids today then Mattel did something right, that or Davey Moore had fulfilled Mattel's idea.
The rest of the episode was really good too. The pacing of the episode was nice and there was quite a nice variety of characters, heck even Edward was used quite well and yeah I like the moment between the two porters at Vicarstown. I quite like Percy saying that people should their love everyday and not just on one day, which is something that I often say. Not that the day is bad or anything but I just believe in that because we do that everyday to a loved one like maybe a girlfriend or boyfriend, a family member or even just a friend.
Many fans have been saying that this is not Awdry's vision. Well S5 goes against Awdry's vision, heck same can be said about S3, S4, S6 and the Brenner/McCue era with the likes of Lost Treasure, and some fans would go on defending it and same can be said about a certain flop of a film that focuses so much on magic and some mystical railroad and yet there are some fans of the movie that will defend it for the sake of nostalgia despite the awful plotholes. With S4 we have Stepney who works on the Bluebell Railway and in the books that was mentioned and in the TVS he was treated as a fictional character who works on the Fat Controller's railway with an episode that goes against 'Awdry's Vision'. Plus there's the infamous 'Henry's Forest' an episode that goes against Rule 55 that Awdry had stated and yet that episode is treated as some sort of holy grail because Rev.W.Awdry had a negative opinion about it. I'm sorry but that seems hypocritical to me.
Although I do like railway realism, and still do, I've learnt over the years that realism is not the main factor of the show's popularity, it's a part of it but not the sole reason why Thomas is so great in the first place. It's mostly about the characters and their personalities, the stories and the morals. Something that the show had been doing so well over the years. Yes Awdry had based his stories on real life events but they were used for morals for everyday life about impatiences, friendship, working together etc.
Some fans think that it's inappropriate and yet we had a special where Sailor John was threatening to kill Skiff and not to mention abusing him too and a special where a giant piece of harden clay was about to smash towards Percy. We had two episodes of two seperate engines escaping near death experiences, an engine being walled up in a tunnel, turning a steam engine into a generator etc. and yet this episode is deemed inappropriate? Kids know about romance for a long time, why do you think Disney is still around?
We had moments in the show before that had romantic tones despite being quite subtle. In 'Hasty Hannah' there was that moment between Toby and Henrietta when they were reunited at the Steamworks and yet I don't recall the reaction, but vaguely it wasn't as big as this. Yet, the entire moment has that romantic tone. To me something like this wasn't done before in the series and I think it was a brave effort by Davey Moore to take the risk.
Episode Rating
Number One Engine - 8/10
Forever and Ever - 8.5/10
Thomas and the Dragon - 10/10
Confusion Without Delay - 10/10
Trusty Trunky - 6.5/10
What Rebecca Does - 9/10
Thomas Goes to Bollywood - 6/10
Samson and The Fireworks - 10/10
Runaway Truck - 7/10
Rosie Is Red - 10/10
Confusion Without Delay - 10/10
Trusty Trunky - 6.5/10
What Rebecca Does - 9/10
Thomas Goes to Bollywood - 6/10
Samson and The Fireworks - 10/10
Runaway Truck - 7/10
Rosie Is Red - 10/10
Series Rating (So far):
85/100
