S24 Ep.1: A New Arrival

Series 24 has come quite early for people in the UK, USA and Australia with it coming out in May. My guess because it's the 75th anniversary and that the first book came out on May 12th it was approriate to release this early compare to the usual September release like every year. Sadly this will be the final series to be animated by Jam Filled with Mattel looking for another animation studio to look after the show and the last series for a while as it would go on a hiatus, as stated by SiF. The future is in limbo at the moment and I will have my take about it later on in my overall post in the coming weeks. But despite that, two episodes from the 24th series had been shown earlier on YouTube via Netflix over in the United States and had felt promising. Would the rest be good too? Let's find out. But first:

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

A NEW ARRIVAL

Written by

Laura Beaumont & Paul Larson

Directed by

Joey So

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT/Mattel)

Tracy Blagdon (Jam Filled)

Plot

With a technology fair on Sodor, Thomas and the Steam Team tackle a flurry of tasks but can they complete their deliveries before the grand opening?

Air Date
1/05/20 - US
2/05/20 - AUS

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"And you better get used to see wonderful and strange things around here." is the quote that sums up what to expect in this year's two parter episode. It knows that it's going to be wild, chaotic and ridiculous but when you look at the idea of new inventions they are of course going to be strange and the idea of flying cars kinda fits well in the 50's-70's world of Thomas given that how back in the 1960's the idea of the world of tomorrow is something exciting, it gave me that very 60's vibe something that the likes of Walt Disney loved when it comes to the idea of the future. Heck there were expiremental flying cars back the 50's and 60's. 

Another thing that impressed me with the special was that while Thomas was worried about the idea of new technology, the other engines were actually excited about the idea of it all. Usually in the past we have the engines who fear about the idea of something new and that they would end up being scrapped. So it's something a bit fresh in my eyes. 

While Thomas was trying to find Rocky and Harvey after the accidents by Nia and Percy, I feel that the scene did kind of drag for a bit to fit within the time limit. Perhaps that could've gone to Baz, Bernie and Sonny and maybe give some back story on what they do, perhaps maybe a reason why Sonny was working with them in the first place since it added a bit of mystery. But I think what Paul and Laura were trying to show with that scene is Thomas proving to the Fat Controller that he is still useful despite of the new tech that was to be showcased.

For Ruth, I really like her personality. So warm, optomistic but can get worrying at times. I like how she's an inventor and since the show had an increase of female viewers over the years it's nice encouragement from Paul and Laura to showcase to young girls that you can be anything you want to be. You can be an inventor or scientist and you can love engines, something that I'm in favour for. It's just nice to see the show breaking some barriers. Plus I agree with her that steam engines are best inventions ever. Yeah, the jet engine scene was great. Loved the camera shots that Jam Filled had done and the music had really set in tone with the extreme and Rob Rackshaw's German accent for the inventor was great too adding to the comedic effect. But I'm very surprised that they didn't add a reference to 'Thomas the Jet Engine'. But then again we don't need a classic series reference for every little moment.

I also like that Kenji is a Shinkansen 0 Series bullet train, it really adds more to the 60's flair that the special gave given for the fact that his basis was built in 1964 and that it was a technological marvel back in its day, a time when western countries like Australia, the UK and the USA were running both steam and diesel still in their respective countries.

In the end, this was a nice series opener. 

Series Rating (So far):

A New Arrival - 7/10 

Overall Rating (So far):
7/10