On April 1st 1985, a year after its television debut, the first thirteen episodes of Series 1 were released on VHS in the UK. Ever since then many episodes had been released on three different formats from Betamax, VHS right up until the DVD and now on May 31st 2021, we are at the last home video release of 36 years of continuity. Is the DVD worth it? Let's find out, but first:
THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE
ANIMAL ADVENTURES
Episodes
Directed by
Ian Cherry
Dianna Basso
Produced by
Ian McCue (HIT/Mattel)
Tracy Blagdon (Jam Filled)
Special Features
N/A
Release Date
31/05/21 - UK
Distributed by
HIT/Mattel Creations - UK
EPISODES
I'm surprised that Mattel hadn't released 'Thomas and the Forest Engines' on any of BWBA's DVD releases, not even on S23's 'Carnival Day' DVD, heck it was themed after Brazil! But I honestly don't see that as a huge problem, not just because the episode was a bit meh, although I will give it credit for wiping out Bash, Dash and Ferdinand of the show's continuity since Thomas had said he had never seen engines like Marcia and Marcio before, thank you Davey Moore. But I digress. The reason why I don't see it as a huge deal is because we are now living in a world where people can stream these episodes on whatever streaming service they have or even YouTube. For us here in Australia, the episode will be on the ABC iview whenever the episode airs, until ABC stops airing repeats of S24 to make way for more shows as well as Stan whenever a series compilation comes out. In the UK and US it'll be on Netflix, until whenever Mattel ends their deal with them.
There are three good episodes coming out from this release and they were '
The Great Little Railway Show', '
Yong Bao and the Tiger' and '
Nia and the Unfriendly Elephant'. Great Little Railway may've not been Michael White's best, but I enjoyed it regardless with Percy's character. I love Percy's naivety about the idea of a railway show for little engines while the Fat Controller didn't provide much context behind it for Percy to comprehend plus it was a nice way as a little 'send off' to all of the little engines of the show, since Mattel are rebooting the show. It was a good episode with Percy's truest character as it reminded me of his character from '
Percy & the Signal'.
Nia and the Unfriendly Elephant was another good one because I like how Nia, visually, was overeger about the new elephant and how she thinks her past experience with the ones in Kenya would make it easy to get the elephant to be more comfortable. To me it's better than 'Nia's Bright Idea' as that episode wasn't really much about Nia overcoming any obstacle herself whereas Elephant does kinda show what she faces with and has to overcome it herself. It was interesting that the Fat Controller rewarded her with helping out of the animal park. If Mattel had decided to keep on going with the series instead of rebooting the show, maybe we could've had more episodes showcasing her working on Edward's branch line.
Yong Bao and the Tiger is still one of the best. There was nice character development towards Yong Bao, however I think maybe with more running space we could see more of his development but it was nice to see him getting more motivation from the tiger as in Chinese culture, the tiger embodies progress so it helped Yong Bao to become the engine he's known today. Plus the music and the art style were great too.
While I had enjoyed those episodes, I can't say they were above the standard of S17-21 but then again even I don't see those seasons as something great or perfect, they maybe better but even they share some flaws, I mean some fans don't like the dimensional character of Thomas since the writers had never really stuck with his progression and yet wanted the show to be back to that era. The other episodes such 'Thomas' Animal Friends', 'Emily's Best Friend' and 'Thomas' Fuzzy Friend' were OK in my book. Say what you want about Animal Friends but the episode was rather charming with Thomas enjoying something before being berated by the other engines for looking ridiculous, to be honest I feel that episode represent to people who actually like BWBA and saw it as something fun while other berate them for enjoying it, sadly their are people who are like that. These are the same kind of people who would berate someone for liking the Disney Star Wars sequels.
'Emily's Best Friend' is not a great episode but it was miles better than her mediocre rescue episode, for that episode it was more of a Christopher Awdry story, something happened to Emily because it did. In the Best Friend episode, Emily was sad that she doesn't have a 'best friend' like Thomas and Percy and it distracted her from her job of taking sand until she realises that in the end, she's surrounded by all her friends, it kinda gives the message that you have more than one best friend. Emily never really had a strong episode since S19 but it was nice that the production team had a go at her having stories one last time.
'Thomas' Fuzzy Friend' was another charming episode involving a dog and I still think it was wholesome in the end. If you're still upset by the idea of a dog peeing on James' wheels, don't forget to click the link in the episode review under the episode's list and see what video, that I had linked, that older fans had made when it comes to toilet humor. Can't have it both ways.
'Gordon and Rebecca Coming Through' had a nice message about being different but maybe it could've been better if it were about Rebecca wanting to be more like Gordon. Perhaps her trains were late because she took her time rather than being fast like Gordon but after being too much like Gordon she learns that she's different to him and there is no shame in that.'Cleo the Road Engine' was another good episode but I still wish Ruth was a bit more firmer with Cleo and her reckless driving, since she can move on her own.
SPECIAL FEATURES
I don't think the UK ever had a Thomas DVD with no special features in the more recent years. But to be honest I'm not surprised. I mean they had used up all of the 'Meet the Characters' segment from 'Marvellous Machineary' so what else can they show? I believe they could've released the storytime segments that are on Amazon Prime and YouTube that starred Mark Moraghan but probably people at HIT and Mattel in the UK probably said, 'They're on their so they can watch it their.' and just can't be bothered, yet they would release the recent character videos on their YouTube channel so what is stopping them for doing the same to the ones on YouTube to DVD?
I will say this, the special features had become more and more dull. They use to be exciting from 2013-15 as we had variety such as the storytime segments, the calling all engine sequence with various characters, the Earl's Quiz or Who's that Engine. The special features now just sucked.
OVERALL
I honestly think the DVD isn't that bad in my opinion, the episodes weren't too bad but they aren't the best of the best in my opinion. If there's a particular episode you'd enjoyed like, for the older fandom, Yong Bao or the Great Little Railway Show, I prefer to buy them on iTunes. There's not much else I can say about the DVD now, since it just had episodes and lacked special features.
So with this being the final S24 DVD and the final DVD ending 36 years of continuity, I would rather be thanking the people behind the scenes instead of bad mouthing how Mattel had handeled the brand for the umpteenth time. To start off, I would like to give thanks to:
- The animators at Arc/Jam Filled Productions: Thank you for the beautiful animation and art style and continuing the world of Thomas in CGI format. There may have been some hiccups with it all at times but it didn't stop them for creating such wonderful sets and characters that still live up to this day.
- The writing team: Such as Davey Moore, Micheal White, Beckey Overton, Helen Farrall, David Stoten, Lee Pressman etc. who had created such wonderful, creative and memorable stories and bringing more life to the Rev.W.Awdry's, Britt Allcroft's and David Mitton's characters. Such great stories from 2013-2020 and I wish you all the best on the other shows you're working on.
- Andrew Brenner: Thank you for your dedication towards Thomas and your passion for it had made the show better compare to the last few years it was in from the production team that you'd replaced. Good luck on your other projects.
and finally, the biggest credit goes to...
IAN MCCUE
I don't know how people feel about him in recent years with BWBA, but I think he had worked hard to try and bring the balance between the older fans and the target audience. He put so much passion into many Thomas episodes and came up with episode ideas with Andrew Brenner and David Stoten. He'd treated Thomas' legacy with such great respect. He may've had a few scuffle with some older fans when it came to the likes of 'fan service' being a major criticism from some, despite some going nuts over something like Big Mickey. But he had been respectful to the older fans and listen to their word on what works and what doesn't in episodes.
Plus one fan had suggested and idea for a special in style of the ones from S23-24 and although he had denied the idea, he wanted the idea to be used as a fan made project:
Although some of his ideas won't go down well with some older fans, he has respect for them and their creative output. I believe Ian McCue is still working for Mattel, since Fireman Sam is pretty much around still, although I don't know for how long since it isn't as successful in the scale of Thomas, heck the whole reason Mattel bought HIT was just because of Thomas, the other brands were just a freebie. I know that the 'Storytime' Podcast is on its second series. So a part of the Thomas series for 36 years is still going, although for how long?
I wish everyone above all the best and thank you for your contribution to the world of Thomas the Tank Engine & his friends. Although I'm not a fan of 'S25', I will say this, it exists now and there's nothing we can do about it. No one from the general public is going care about the top 10 or 11 episodes or going to care about the lore, history and heritage of Thomas, sadly. To the general public, Thomas is just another kids show for them.
Sure you can badmouth about 'S25' but if people enjoy it when it comes out later this year, just let them enjoy it. All the old stuff will still be there in the years to come regardless if the new show is a success or not and even if you ever have kids and they enjoy it maybe just let them be themselves. Showcase them the old stuff but if they are more interested in the new show and what it has to offer, just let them be themselves.
With this being the last DVD of the original series and very likely that Mattel would be more focused of releasing future Thomas episodes entierly on Netflix only, since that is future of home entertainment, I think I'm done with reviewing DVDs and I'm kinda glad as they were becoming a bit more of a chore instead of something as fun. This blog will still be up but don't expect many posts from me from time to time, the 'Journey Beyond Sodor' re-review will be happening still and don't expect a retrospective post of the DVDs from this year since there were only two released this year.
OVERALL RATING
6/10
