2015, the 70th anniversary year. We had 'The Adventure Begins' and 'Sodor's Legend of The Lost Treasure' and of course we had a new season of Thomas & Friends. However I seem to remember that S19 was not as beloved as the last two seasons were and now looking back years after its broadcast, is it really that bad? Let's find out, but first:
THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE
SERIES 19 (2015)
Written by
Andrew Brenner
Lee Pressman
Davey Moore
Helen Farrall
Mark Huckerby & Nick Olster
Becky Overton
Robin Gay (Story idea)
Directed by
Don Spencer
Dianna Basso
Co-Directed by
David Stoten
Produced by
Robert Anderson & Jennifer Hill (Arc Productions)
Ian McCue (HIT/Mattel)
Told by
Mark Moraghan
EPISODES
WHO'S GEOFFREY
Remember that ending where Thomas crashed into another lot of random bouncy balls outside of Henry's Tunnel and we all thought it made no sense? Well, it turns out that Lee Pressman, the writer of the episode
DIDN'T write that ending and I certaintly agree with him there because it was just the most random thing to execute, sure it was done in a comical way to showcase Thomas' lesson about owning up but why? I have a feeling that Pressman's original ending was Thomas making a mistake, maybe at the docks, again and owned up to that mistake. No random crash just Mark Moraghan just telling us the moral of the story with Thomas and that is it. As for the episode, I do like how the story has the 'circular tale' story style, like '
If You Give A Mouse A Cookie' book, how Thomas told a lie and then it grew into something bigger and bigger instead of getting away with his lie after his accident at the docks. I do kinda see this working in a Railway Series book by the Rev.W.Awdry with Thomas' character as he feels like that from the early days of the series. The moral that we should own up is something common but something we need though, although I don't understand why they had to make the message different in the US and UK dub? In the former they'd mentioned 'admitted it' and the latter is 'owned up', why? Yeah I know that I'm nitpicking here but for the former they do know the words 'owned up' since '
Oliver Owns Up' had aired their with that title. But in the end, this was a good season opener.
Rating:
9/10
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOBY
While I don't like the idea of the engines being worried about Toby being scrapped, considering that over the years the TV series conseptulised the Fat Controller as being a guy who never scraps a steam engine, despite the fact that in Awdry's source book '
Sodor: Its People, History & Railway' stated that he did scrap the coffee pot engines, the first Sir Topham Hatt. I feel that the episode was made in response to the insane criticism that Thomas usually gets like the Fat Controller being this Stalin like dictator and how if the engines aren't useful they will be scrapped, like in a facist country. It's dumb how these critics are really trying to make Thomas twisted and unlikeable. Heck they are engines not people in train suits, they are engines who work on a railway with human characteristics. I say that my favourite thing about this episode is Toby and Henrietta's relationship really feels like a husband and wife duo. While Toby is always annoyed with Henrietta's nagging, he does know that she was only trying to look out for him and I think that was sweet. Their was a bit of a three strike formula with Toby but I think it'd worked well here. Another good episode.
Rating:
9/10
LOST PROPERTY
A pretty simple story, inspectors come to the railway, things go wrong and Thomas puts it right. But their were some funny moments like the children, the Fat Controller really wanting the inspector's approval and I had a little chuckle at Thomas' face after hearing the word 'Initiative' for the first time. With Keith Wickham taking over the helm of the Fat Controller for both dubs, he really delivered a much more better performance for the Fat Controller unlike his robotic voice from seasons before, since he had to copy the lip syncing of Kerry Shale when he was the voice. There were some railway realism such as a stuck window, rebellious children, cows and lost property. But it was subtle and it wasn't the focus, something I think that some older Thomas fan seem to forget in the past few years since now realism, from what I seen, is about an Australian engine running in the outback heat or that African engines aren't broad gauge or whatever when those liberties were done to have a story or to have Thomas interacting with characters from that country, members of the general audience I believe would not really care for that stuff. Anyway, this was a nice episode.
Rating:
8/10
HENRY SPOTS TROUBLE
This might be controversal, but I pretty much have come to terms that this the best Henry episode we had from this era, shocking yes but let me provide you with some context. In the past we had some episodes of Henry being a worrier over such things like the magic box episode and the Monster of Brendam episode in the past but those episodes were pretty much bad, I didn't pick the Health and Safety episode as an example because I felt Henry was in the right to be concerend about that, but it still doesn't make the episode good with its writing and all. Anyway, what I like about this episode is how something unknown can be something frightening, we all go through that at some point in our lives no matter how old we are and if you look at the episode in the perspective of Henry with the chicken poxs scare, he's an engine, not a human in a train suit so how would he know of it? I feel that while Henry's fright was a bit extreme, I think it was more natural because it was unknown to him and doesn't know much of the risks and won't know if engines can get it like humans. It also made me think that if they had done more episodes with this Henry and the situation he was in, perhaps Mattel might've kept him in the 'steam team' as it made him stand out and more relatable to kids.
As much as I like Henry, his persona was just all over the place in the past. After when he got his new shape in the Railway Series books and the first two seasons, he became more like Gordon and James put together and when the television show wained itself away from the books, he was given a pretty bland soft side and was then reverted back to his grumpy persona around S5 before he was given this persona. I wish that the production team had tried to balance his persona. Perhaps, if this works, you can have Henry being this arrogant engine thinking he never gets scared only to find out that secretly he is. Perhaps that could work, the ending kinda shows that since their are very different types of diseases. I understand that it sounds like Gordon still but with Gordon, he never had kept his scaredy side a secret to the others, he just gets scared naturally. But despite that, his scaredy persona, Henry, really makes him stand out among James and Gordon. It just should've been executed properly in the last few years. Say what you want but I like this episode, much better than 'Henry Gets The Express' and I'll explain that later in my S20 review.
Now after all that, the episode. I still it's great to watch the episode in the perspective of Henry being an engine but their was also that scene of the painter knocking over the can of red paint and their was no dialouge whatsoever in the scene, only the action was telling us visually and I thought it was a funny and clever way of telling that scene without the narrator telling us. I understand that where I come from this episode got banned because the episode says that chicken pox is nothing to be scared of. However I don't think the writers are trying to showcase an anti-vaxs message, and to those people I say; stop being stupid and listen to people who know better. I believe if parents are concerned that if their child think its nothing to be scared of, it's up to them to tell them that their is vaccinations to prevent kids from getting them and not just on TV. Plus children are smarter than we take them credit for, they do know their rights and wrongs. In the end, to me this is best Henry episode and I felt that the flack this episode got back in 2015 from older fans was unfair and this is coming from the guy who made this three years ago!
Rating:
10/10
A CRANKY CHRISTMAS
I remember saying that this episode was similar to '
Who's Geoffrey', what with Cranky dropping the crate is kind of similar to Thomas bashing into trucks causing Cranky to drop a crate of bouncy balls and then you have the character not owning up to it. But I think I can see why they would add it to have it as conflict for the episode so that Thomas can rush to and from the town hall in the ice, since most of the episode was about the dangers of ice, although I think the title could've been better since Cranky wasn't in the episode that much and since the episode's subject was about ice, maybe they could've gone with something like '
Icy Rails' or an '
Icy Christmas'. I also like the addition of sandboxes, showcasing to kids that sand is important in icy and snow, along with the salt. This wasn't a bad episode but not a great either. It's just good.
Rating:
7/10
SNOW PLACE LIKE HOME
I think this is the pinpoint of the characters starting to bounce, although just Kevin, and I remember alot of people being OK with it saying that it adds more body language to them. Then two years after this episode, it's now suddenly a bad thing. I won't digress here but I honestly never had a problem with the bouncing of the characters, sure it's unrealistic for them to do it since they are heavy machines but I said this time and time again, the show had never focused itself towards realism since the fifth season. At first I thought it was rather strange to see Kevin like that but over time it didn't bother me that much.
As for the episode, I quite like it what with Victor and Kevin's dynamic. Kevin being the excitable child that think snow is fun until he realises how dangerous it can be, and Victor the concerned parent who was trying to look out for Kevin's safety, it was nice. It tells kids about the dangers of snow, which is a good message to those who live in the northern countries. I will say, I still wish that the opening scene was dedicated to Emily and what happened while her piston rods broke instead of Percy and Henry being worried about the railway closing because that was never brought up again, then again I don't blame Lee Pressman for that because the writers were given what to write and flesh it all out.
All in all, this episode was nice.
Rating:
8/10
THE BEAST OF SODOR
While I do like this episode with Henry being scared of the unknown, I think the story might've been a bit more better with Henry and Spencer looking for James, since they'd established him not being a Tidmouth sheds overnight and maybe you have Henry scoffing at the idea that the abominable snowman wasn't real, despite Spencer's claim, maybe the latter teases him that he maybe got James and goes after engines who don't believe in him, enough to scare Henry. I feel that this could've provide a balance to have his original persona and his scaredy persona in one piece. However what we got was something good and I will say the Fat Controller's comedic moments gave me a chuckle and at the time when this was new, it didn't feel overdone compare to what we get later on. Honestly Henry had the best episodes in this season and it's not because the production team at the time where bringing back his old persona, they'd executed his scaredy persona to be something better and they'd nailed it here with Henry being afraid of the unknown and that to me brings conflict for the big green engine. Such a shame that after rewatching this and Spots Trouble that the production team had pulled him out of the steam team, I believe they were ordered by Mattel as well since he and Edward, according to one fan, says they weren't marketable and I believe the production team agreed with the idea. I know '
The Flying Kipper' is celebrated as the best Herny episode amongst the older fandom but I believe the two S19 Henry episodes are probably more better because Kipper I believe was more praised by its visuals rather than story and character, and now I didn't write that to tell older fans off and be a 'Mattel shill', I also like Kipper but I feel that episode is a bit overrated.
Rating:
8/10
TOAD AND THE WHALE
I feel that the episode's message is '
There's no such thing as a bad idea.' Toad came up with an idea that seems out of the box and Oliver thought it was impossible. But when the idea was executed, it worked well. I wish though that Oliver had apologised to Toad about doubting him when it comes to saving the whale though. I would complain about Thomas fetching Rocky instead of Oliver, so for the latter you can show him still doubting the idea but like what Lee Pressman says, they don't have that much control. Thomas has to be in the episode no matter how annoying it gets, it happened ever since Britt Allcroft had more control of the show around S3. The episode itself however was a nice one and it was interesting to see Toad's caring side, especially when mammals. I remember some people saying they didn't like Oliver in the episode but honestly any engine can doubt someone's idea and I think the writers were trying to make something dynamic between the two, such a shame that we didn't have more episodes of these two and it's a bigger shame that after this we never got a sole Oliver episode. There's really not much else to say really but I do like this episode. It was nice and sweet and it tells us that a mammal's life is also precious.
Rating:
7/10
VERY IMPORTANT SHEEP
There is something so simple and calming about this episode and I love each and every minute of it. It had a nice message from Percy's story that we shouldn't rush about when we were late. If we're late then we are late and that's it, that's what I learnt when I was late for work once. Being late isn't a bad thing in the end but we shouldn't do it all the time though. The comedy with the animals gave me a good chuckle too. In the end it was a simple and enjoyable episode.
Rating:
9/10
SALTY ALL AT SEA
Another good story, though the title is a bit odd since it didn't quite fit with the premise of the story. Maybe it could've been called '
Salty's Imagination Goes Wild'. But that's just my opinion. I remember not many people liking the episode because of Porter's lack of dialouge, at the time he was bearly seen in episodes and he was only introduced in 2013, two years ago at the time when this season was new. It's sad to think now that six years after this episode debuted we will never have a Porter episode since this reboot would not likely have him to appear. At the time of writing this the 'S25' reboot trailer came out and I hate it, I won't be writing an editorial about it. But I digress, I believe the reason for Porter's lack of dialouge is the fact that Thomas has to appear in episodes, as Lee Pressman said in his interview that I had linked in the episode, and they have no control over that and Amazon parents had complained about Thomas not appearing in every episode, sadly. But despite that the episode was still good with the message that we can't let our imagination runaway at times. We need to control it. I will say one of my favourite shots from the episode was Thomas and Salty on the suspension bridge and how it was a neat transition for the two characters in one single shot, excellent by Arc Productions at the time.
Rating:
9/10
DEN AND DART
I remember everyone criticising the title of this episode being 'too generic' when we had episode titles like '
Thomas and Gordon', '
Edward and Gordon', '
Percy and the Signal', '
Percy & Harold' etc. in the past. I mean the titles makes has more sense than '
Salty All At Sea'. I like the story but I feel that maybe the episode could've been a bit better. Den and Dart have always been working at the Dieselworks and its yards as well than anywhere else. Perhaps have the Dieselworks closed for some repairs and Den and Dart were sent to find other work for the time being. Let's say they were sent to the quarry and put trucks into the wrong places, which infuriates Mavis herself and perhaps you can Toby referencing that Mavis had once put trucks into the wrong places and that it had infuriated him too. It would show Mavis' growth as a character and teaching Den and Dart the same method that Mavis was taught under Toby. Perhaps they'd (Den and Dart) placed the trucks in the wrong sidings because they were flustered by the troublesome trucks trickery and the different layout of the yards. Perhaps to increase the conflict you have Den and Dart holding back the idea of help until they need to ask Mavis in the end. It would give the message that we shouldn't be frustrated with someone whose not as experienced as someone, like Mavis and the quarry, on Mavis' side of the story and for Den and Dart's side, we would be taught that it's OK to ask for help, even if you have some knowledge of what you're doing, Den and Dart shunting trucks. The episode was nice and all but I feel that Den's side of the story is alot more better whereas Dart's side was just their since he didn't go through anything apart from missing Den and that only lasted for a few minutes. It wasn't a bad story but I think it would've worked better if it were about working away from the Dieselworks.
Rating:
6/10
HELPING HIRO
I think looking back this episode, it wasn't too bad and I think it had aged well. Thomas being a bit of chatterbox I remember was a thing being criticised but I tend to see it as him looking up to Hiro. It also like a nice little sequel to '
Hero of The Rails' what with Thomas remembering the last time Hiro was broken and adding for nice continuity, the rails to Hiro's old hideout had given away after years of neglect. I honestly think this episode has been overhated. It wasn't the best of the best but it certainly wasn't the worst.
Rating:
7/10
SLOW STEPHEN
Honestly this is still a very good episode focusing on Stephen and I like how he's the 'old engine' but not in a way as an Edward clone where he was just a kind old mentor engine. Stephen never takes himself highly and is witty but he's out of place in the world of faster engines and the episode showcased that despite being something out of date, he is still useful and that was him saving Gordon from an accident and that he was lighter than Thomas when it came to the damaged bridge. I was kind of critical of Gordon's boasting, although that was a problem in the CGI era with him being a one-note character, but it works in this episode with him belittling Stephen for being slow since he was the one doubting Stephen earlier. I will say this about the music at the end, the Lost Treasure felt so out of place because the music has that sea shanty feeling to where the scene with Thomas, Stephen and the Fat Controller had no sea, unless you count the water so far away from the bridge. To me the problem with Hartshorne and his son's music is that they feel to generic and unmemorable, even though they had produced a far more better score ever since Ed Welch left the series. I will say Peter's best score will always be 'The Adventure Begins' because they took the most memorable music that was scored years before and made it their own way. But often at times the music feels like it was just their in the background to fill the void of nothing. Mike O'Donnell & Junior Campbell had made generic themes themselves during their time on the show but there was at least something a bit memorable about them. But that's just my own little nitpick.
Rating:
9/10
TWO WHEELS GOOD
Looking back at this episode, I think the episode was pretty simple and it feels like something out from Series 8, not that it's bad or anything but the simpleness really feels like a S8 story. I feel that the characters were nice, especially since it was focused on the humans and other vehicles other than the engines and the interaction between the Duke and Duchess was funny as well. But all in all it was a decent episode but I still don't see it as a great episode.
Rating: 7/10
REDS VS. BLUES
While I'm not interested in football, although out here in Australia we call it soccer because we have football here in the likes of the AFL. Rugby and Rugby Leauge, I'm more of a fan of the latter. But it's nice to see something that is so British in Thomas, since soccer is big over their. I will say the montage of Thomas and James being competitive did get a bit tiresome but it did serve something good for the story with them going through actual consequence of not working together as a team. Although, while I do like the addition of Barrow having a soccer team, I wish the show had actually made Dryaw go up against another local Sodor team instead of having one team specially for Sodor, I see that working for something like a world cup, although I think Sudrians would be representing England, since Sodor is a British isle. I mean you don't see the Isle of Man taking part of the world cup. It was a decent story and Percy's fourth wall joke was a bit funny too.
Rating: 7/10
BEST ENGINE EVER
I loved this episode when it came out in Japan back in 2016 and I still love it. In this day and age, we live in a world where some people tried to be like a Kardashian where good looks means everything. But we should be proud of who and what we are and don't need to be someone we're not. Although I wish they had added things for Emily like her being a premier express engine back in her day, although I don't think the production team wanted her to be 'old' because they want them to be relevant to the younger audience. But would add more to her random breakdown, say that she tried to pull the express but broke down because she pushed herself too hard. Heck if they did at the time, add Pip and Emma into the episode and you got yourself an old vs new story. It's a shame that after this episode, Emily barely got anymore episodes to herself as a character and although I like her character here I also would've liked to see her bossy self from S8 again, but that won't happen what with the reboot and all. But this despite that, Emily's lead role truly went out with a bang.
Rating: 9/10
THE LITTLE ENGINE WHO RACED AHEAD
I think Philip had recieved so much hate for no reason. Sure I can see he can be annoying but has anyone been around an actual child? They do act quite like Philip, bubbly, excitable, confident and maybe some ignorance and that they want to show off to their bigger peers and he was like that to Gordon. Although I do wish Philip had been punished by the Fat Controller after breaking his promise. He was an interesting character that was introduced in the Brenner/McCue era and his debut episode was something to look back after years of him being around. A nice introduction with a great character.
Rating: 9/10
PHILIP TO THE RESCUE
Honestly, I don't know why Brenner had made this a James story instead of using Gordon again like Philip's debut episode. It makes sense with Gordon since he was the one Philip had interacted with first but with James, his hatred of Philip it just came out of nowhere for no rhyme or reason. I believe with Gordon you could have the big blue engine seeing Philip as a caring engine who looks out for his fellow engine and their well being plus if they had done it for 'The Great Race', maybe have Gordon going up against someone like Vinnie for bullying Philip, or maybe have Philip standing up for himself. Gordon could still find him annoying but knows that Philip has a good heart in the end.
Rating: 5/10
DIESEL'S GHOSTLY CHRISTMAS
I still find it funny that the official series finally made their own version of 'A Christmas Carol' and that it happened three years, at the time, after I had done my own one with Diesel as the main character. I think one of the interesting things about this episode is that it was a two parter episode on TV and a whole episode within itself on DVD, digital downloads and streaming. We never had a two parter episode for a long time that are connected. Sure there was the so-called Logging Locos trilogy from S15 but they don't feel too connected to me. I will say that the idea of developing the characters to be better kinda works when the series is more as a one-off instead of being an on going show because if you mature a character too much they won't come off as interesting, an example of that would be Ash Ketchum from 'Pokemon: XY&Z', he was an exteremley bland character. So the idea that Diesel not lasting to be this cheerful and happy character is something predictable and plus I think they'd established that idea as fact in 'Diesel and the Ducklings' when he said it's hard to be nice. I always tend to see characters returning to their flaws since it's hard to kill off and over time we slowly become better, that's my opinion. On its own, the episode was clever with the way Diesel was learning to be helpful, especially at Christmas, and he had to learn it the hard with the idea of ghosts haunting him, him being derailed in the same spot as Paxton and Thomas not helping him. Plus some of the comedy was worth chuckling like Paxton breaking the fourth wall and Rocky looking at the camera feeling off by Diesel's sudden transformation. It was a good episode in the end.
Rating: 7/10
THOMAS THE BABYSITTER
I will say this, I adore this episode very much. It was simple and slice of life and it really encaptures that feel of Thomas. The story is like something from Christopher Awdry, honestly I don't see his Railway Series books as great, but he had created some few gems like '
Percy & The Brake Van' and '
Donald & The Breakaway' in the annuals. I remember not many people liking the episode when it was first broadcasted in Japan in 2015 saying that it was boring and not enough action and I really don't understand it all. Sure Thomas had action before but Thomas had always have this sort of simplicity that it was well known for since the Railway Series. Many parents had said that it was a relaxing show compare to all the zaniness of the others, though sadly Mattel doesn't realise that. There was conflict in the episode where they were trying to calm the baby down and it turns out that Thomas chuffing along his branch line was what keeps it calm and there was confliction on Thomas choosing to take his passenegers to each station or run non-stop to keep the baby calm. It was a simple episode with so much heart and Helen Farrall had really capture the simple things of Thomas. I also feel that this story would work in '
Tank Engine Thomas Again'.
Rating: 10/10
ROCKY RESCUE
Five years had passed since this episode aired in Japan back in 2016 and I still feel this episode could've been much more better if Judy and Jerome were involved to give the moral that two are better than one. Have Judy and Jerome feeling useless because Rocky does all the rescue work and is maybe stronger than them. However when Rocky got derailed, Judy and Jerome came to his rescue, maybe have them being underconfident about the whole situation. The actual episode itself is still meh and I hate how the rescue team act like children when in the past they were serious about their work since they are Sodor's rescuse service. Plus the whole message about teamwork I felt was a bit rammed down throughout the latter part of the episode and I believe kids would get the message from the dialouge and all. Not a personal favourite of mine when I first saw it and still not a favourite today. But I will say Captain's false alarms were a bit funny to say the least and Rocky has some personality with him being the more level headed character and I can see that's why having the rescue team acting like kids but it doesn't excuse the inconsitency of the characters in the past. I mean we had Belle telling Flynn in S17 about the fires and how they must be taken out quick fast.
Rating: 2/10
THE OTHERSIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN
Basically, this episode is '
Thomas' Shortcut' but with an even bigger crash that was just too over the top. I will say the best thing coming from the episode was the dynamic between Thomas and Bertie. Both are friendly rivals that have some banter towards each other and it felt like something from Awdry's books. But the whole episode is bascially like the shortcut episode from S17. Bertie gets rerouted, Thomas is jealous, tells the others, accident and then they reconcil, the end. The crash was just even bigger to just get Thomas to the otherside of the mountain. It was interesting though to see Thomas standing up to Bertie, although it wouldn't be the first time since we had him being like that in their race episode from S1 and it gives the message that you can't believe everything you friends say. The winged Thomas sequence was basically filler, my best bet that this was an expirement to see if kids like the idea of Thomas' fantasy sequence that we will get in BWBA. I mean the show, BWBA, was in production at that point. Sure it was a nice throwback to Bertie's dialouge that he had to grow wings to beat Thomas over the hill. I'm still half and half with this episode. It's not bad in some places but I kinda wish the episode was a bit more original.
Rating: 4/10
NO HELP AT ALL
I still liked the idea of how this episode was set within multiple other episodes from this season (
Best Engine Ever, Den & Dart and Salty All At Sea) it was something that we'd never seen before in Thomas. For the latter it was quite clever to give Timothy a reason to be down at the docks helping out instead of us popping over leaving his own work behind, which might be out of character for him. Speaking of Timothy, I personally like his growth in this episode. Instead of being naive towards them he'd kept his wits about them knowing that they are trouble. I also like how relevant Bill and Ben's plot line was with them causing a mess at the clay pits and not taking personal responsibility for the mess they'd caused until they were called out on it, much like people who hate the words 'cancel culture'.
It was also nice to see Porter getting a spot in the limelight but with the upcoming reboot it just seems wasteful that the production team hadn't done anything with him. His biography stated that he's a perfectionist and that could work as an episode in my opinion. He's a good character and it's such a shame to see what a waste he became.
In the end, the episode was really good.
Rating: 8/10
GOODBYE FAT CONTROLLER
I remember some people having a problem with Edward's character in the episode how he was not very level headed and jumped to the conclusion of the idea that the Fat Controller was 'leaving'. But I came up with something that might get some justification on why I think Edward had the right to be worried. Edward knows the Fat Controller will always look out for him despite being an old engine and he sees him as really useful. However the idea of someone coming in to take his place is worrying because they have different ideas than their predecessor and one of those ideas can be him being scrapped in favor of something more useful than him. That's why I think Edward was in the right to be worried. You have to look at the episode in the character's prespective not ours. We know what the outcome will be in the end since it's not the same show without the same characters but do they know? No.
I do think though the episode could at least have one engine not believing in the story about the Fat Controller leaving, maybe have it from the likes of Toby, since he didn't have any part of it and maybe have him referencing the events of 'The Truth About Toby' about jumping to conclusions. It would make it full circle. But despite that, the episode was good and although I think the Fat Controller's office should've been the one that we've seen in 'Duck Takes Charge', I think having it to end on a comedic moment works, even though nothing was built up from it. Perhaps have the Fat Controller looking forward to his temporary office throughtout the episode and then build it up to that.
Some flaws but the episode was still good none the less.
Rating: 8/10
WILD WATER RESCUE
Percy has always been depicted as this naive young tank engine but you think with the production team giving nods to the past think they would give Percy some suspicion with things coming from Diesel. Maybe have Diesel taking him to the old quarry to show him that the mayor was 'there'. Then pushed him into the pond and told him that he will get his photo taken for the newspaper, adding frustration to Percy. It could've been better conflict in my opinion and maybe add more to Diesel feeling bad about tricking Percy after he was told to move back for the rescue vehicles. I mean Percy not being cross and more naive seems odd to see IMO.
I also think Overton made Diesel far too dumb for him to go into the water. He didn't say that he was irresistable to water or anything just went in not realising that his generator can make him fail in the water, I understand that it was made for conflict but perhaps maybe have Diesel feeling very guilty and wants to rescue Percy but his mind was so focused on that that he didn't see the giant puddle ahead. This might be a nitpick as well but I hate how all the rescue vehicle have to come together for one rescue when for the likes of Diesel and Percy, all they need is Rocky to lift and Harold to search. Butch, Belle and Flynn were pretty redundant. It made sense in Rocky's episode since they were all needed to lift him. It just irks me seeing that.
This episode is really not my favourite but it was bad or awful. I just wish it was better.
Rating: 4/10
OVERALL
Looking back at S19, you see such a huge transitional change when you compare it over the last two seasons. The lighting and shading was brilliant with the shine of the engines adding such high quality to the picture, the various camera angles that you would never see in the model era nor when the show was animated by Nitrogen Studios back in the early 2010's, with the latter they were repetitive with their camera angles because they want it familiar to when the show was done with the models. The show had decreased the use of the storyteller and only have him here and there so that they can have the visuals telling the story. So I can see why everyone has been saying that this season feels more expiremental since the production team and the animaton team at Arc Productions at the time were trying out new ways to make the season a bit more different and special.
I remember that this season was the 'series before special' and at the time I thought it was rather interesting to use that idea but after seeing it done before 2018, the idea really fell flat and caused much disruption. Basing on some reviews on Thomas DVDs in America back in 2016, parents were a bit miffed that characters from Lost Treasure were shown a year after they were introduced and I believe they were looking forward to the characters from 'The Great Race' at the time since that was released prior to S20. But apart from the confusion it brought to the general public. There was no build up from the 19th series to the 2015 special. We haven't got any references to the new branch line or anything. In the end it was good that they'd revert it back in 2018.
I honestly think S19 was a major improvement over what we got from S17-18. This series felt very different compare to the last two. The last two had that HIT/Miller/Barlow era feeling towards it for some reason, without the lazy writing. I remember some people had criticised it and compared to the likes of Miller/Barlow, which I find pretty unfair. It's not perfect but the Miller/Barlow era was just bad with nothing redeeming.
Looking back, S19 is much more stellar series compare to S17-18 IMO despite the low rating. The stories just feel more entertaining to me despite a few hiccups. Look out for my S20 reviews, whenever that it is.
OVERALL RATING
186/250
