THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE
CLEO THE ROAD ENGINE
Laura Beaumont
& Paul Larson
& Paul Larson
Directed by
Ian Cherry
Produced by
Tracy Blagdon (Jam Filled)
Ian McCue (HIT/Mattel)
Plot
When Ruth's new car, Cleo, takes to the rails to race Thomas, she soon discovers why she is designed to stick to the roads.
Air Date
10/07/20 - AUS
When IMDB first revealed Cleo, I thought she was going to be a road steam engine hence the title but once Mattel revealed the character on the official website as a colouring in page, it turned out she was an original design by Ruth. Although I don't get how she is suppose to be like a steam engine? I guess it's the headlights looking like buffers, her grille looks a bit like a cowcatcher and her wheels look like steam engine wheels. While her basis does seem odd compare to the real life basis that the characters are based on, I think it's good that they'd made her as an original design since Ruth is an inventor. So it makes sense why she's not based on any actual car.
Anyway, the story gave me a 'Thomas & Bertie' vibe with Thomas and Cleo being cocky about whose the fastest, although I feel that the whole racing theme is getting overused now. It was fine back when they'd reintroduced it in 2013 because we hadn't seen it for so long but now I think it's being overdone, although this isn't a Thomas and Bertie story, the same can be applied to those two. I also think Ruth should've been a bit firm with Cleo about driving on a railway line since it's very dangerous, and you think after Thomas' encounter with Max and Monty in 'Mucking About' when it comes to road vehicles riding on rails that maybe Thomas would've done the same as well for Cleo. Sure Cleo is young and had no idea about the dangers of it all but she was carrying Ruth and would've cost her her life.
Probably one of the best moments from this episode is Thomas' cockiness. I don't when was the last we saw him acting like this in TV series, barring specials, but I think it had captured what he was like back in the early years of the classic series.
I this was an alright episode but I think with some tweaks maybe it could've been better. Oh yeah and Cleo's body turning around, yes it's ridiculous, yes it's unrealistic but I said this time and time again, the show was never ultra-realistic since the fifth season and yet some people are OK with Toby floating on a bridge despite him being a heavy steam tram and had berate fans who enjoy BWBA for these moments. Why does an overrated series like S5 get the free pass for every unrealistic moments but berate BWBA for doing the same idea?
Series Ratings (So far):
A New Arrival - 7/10
World of Tomorrow - 7/10
Thomas and the Royal Engine - 9/10
Emily's Best Friend - 7/10
Thomas' Fuzzy Friend - 8/10
The Great Little Railway Show - 9/10
Thomas and The Forest Engines - 5/10
Emily to the Rescue - 4/10
Shankar's Makeover - 8/10
Nia and The Unfriendly Elephant - 9/10
James the Super Engine - 7/10
Thomas' Not-So-Lucky Day - 7/10
Ace's Brave Jump - 5/10
Sonny's Second Chance - 9/10
Thomas and the Inventor's Workshop - 8/10
The Inventor's Spectacular Bridge - 9/10
Yong Bao and the Tiger - 10/10
Gordon and Rebecca, Coming Through! - 7/10
Kenji On The Rails Again - 7/10
Cleo The Road Engine - 6/10
Overall Rating (So far):
148/200
