All Engines Go! Reveiw - S2 Ep.24 - What's in a Name?

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

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Written by

John Loy

Directed by

Campbell Bryer

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

27/11/22 - CAN

27/02/23 - USA

19/05/23 - UK

28/02/23 - AUS

Plot

When Cranky gets overwhelmed on a busy and blustery day at Brendam Docks, he accidentally gets Riff and Jiff's names confused, sending them on opposite deliveries.

Riff and Jiff have to be the dumbest engines I've seen from this show. Surely they would know that chickens go to the farm and the tyres go to the recycling plant as well as the beach balls and light bulb. Yes I get it it was made for conflict but this way of doing that by Cranky mixing up their names is just making the characters look so dumb. You can still have Cranky mixing up their names due to how busy he was but still have Riff and Jiff going to their original places while questioning Cranky's mistake while they don't want to ask him because they saw him as a big crane and that he was busy it would give the moral that it's OK to tell someone bigger that they'd made a mistake. That could've been better outcome because it shows more to the twins than them being dumb engines, they can be nervous, worried or sensitive to other's feelings.

But no they're just dumb one note characters. This was another terrible episode and that Skiff gag is not funny! 

Series Rating:

Fast Friends - 1/10

Percy Disappear - 5/10

Ashima's Amazing Arrival - 3/10

Tri-and-a-Half-a-Lon - 3/10

Carly's Magnificant Magnet - 5/10

New Mail Engine In Town - 4/10

Hot Air Percy - 2/10

Carly's Screechy Squeak - 1/10

Shake, Rattle & Bruno - 8/10

Blackout - 2/10

Brand New Track - 5/10

Stink Monster - 3/10

Christmas Mountain - 7/10

Whiteout! - 4/10

Good as New - 4/10

More Than a Pretty Engine - 9/10

Snowplough Struttin' - 4/10

Thomas In Charge - 3/10

Kana Recharges - 3/10

The Big Skunk Funk - 3/10

Off The Rails - 1/10

Diesel's Dilemma - 5/10

Bring It On Beresford - 2/10

What's in a Name? - 1/10

Overall Rating (So far):

90/240

All Engines Go! Reveiw - S2 Ep.23 - Bring It On Beresford

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

BRING IT ON BERESFORD

Written by

Denise Downer

Directed by

Campbell Bryer

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

27/11/22 - CAN

20/02/23 - USA

18/05/23 - UK

27/02/23 - AUS

Plot

On Plant-A-Tree Day on Sodor, Thomas and Diesel both want to deliver the most impressive pine for the holiday, but they'll have to compete by delivering all the other trees first.

Why name an episode about a character who was never blamed for anything and was not in anyway the focal point of the episode? Heck even the original title, 'Bring it On Beresford', holds that question as well? It's kinda like those weird titles from the 'Thomas' Trusty Friends' DVD from 2006 where the title has to have either Thomas or Percy in them for the sake of identification despite them bearly being in the episode anyway. The title could've been something plain like 'Thomas, Diesel and the Big Tree' or something creative like 'Big Tree Big Problems' something at least that would make more sense!

This episode was mainly about Thomas and Diesel wanting to take the biggest tree and it's another Thomas and Diesel being competitive episode! We had a few of those already in S1! Could the writers at least try something different? Do they have to be competitive? Could the show have more money to add in different characters to at least freshen up the roster and add something different? The song was meh but it didn't need a random rap sequence. The episode was predictable since the Fat Controller told all the engines the moral of the story so we already know what the plot was going to be about. 

Series Rating:

Fast Friends - 1/10

Percy Disappear - 5/10

Ashima's Amazing Arrival - 3/10

Tri-and-a-Half-a-Lon - 3/10

Carly's Magnificant Magnet - 5/10

New Mail Engine In Town - 4/10

Hot Air Percy - 2/10

Carly's Screechy Squeak - 1/10

Shake, Rattle & Bruno - 8/10

Blackout - 2/10

Brand New Track - 5/10

Stink Monster - 3/10

Christmas Mountain - 7/10

Whiteout! - 4/10

Good as New - 4/10

More Than a Pretty Engine - 9/10

Snowplough Struttin' - 4/10

Thomas In Charge - 3/10

Kana Recharges - 3/10

The Big Skunk Funk - 3/10

Off The Rails - 1/10

Diesel's Dilemma - 5/10

Bring It On Beresford - 2/10

Overall Rating (So far):

89/230

All Engines Go! Reveiw - S2 Ep.22 - Diesel's Dilemma

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

DIESEL'S DILEMMA

Written by

Lexie Kahanovitz

Directed by

Campbell Bryer

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

23/10/22 - CAN

26/01/23 - USA

17/05/23 - UK

26/02/23 - AUS

Plot

When Diesel discovers that he doesn't JUST like to be known for his incredible strength, he finds an unlikely compatriot in Kenji -- who is tired of only being known for his swift speed. Diesel and Kenji decide that they are going to switch jobs for the day to show to the other engines that they're more than just their most obvious abilities. However, when both struggle in their reversed roles, Diesel and Kenji learn that it's not so bad being the strongest or the fastest... as long as you get to try new things every now and then!

It's a bit of a meh episode to me but I don't think it was bad despite it being predictable for the outcome which was Diesel is strong but can at least try and do something new. I really don't have much else to say really. 

Series Rating:

Fast Friends - 1/10

Percy Disappear - 5/10

Ashima's Amazing Arrival - 3/10

Tri-and-a-Half-a-Lon - 3/10

Carly's Magnificant Magnet - 5/10

New Mail Engine In Town - 4/10

Hot Air Percy - 2/10

Carly's Screechy Squeak - 1/10

Shake, Rattle & Bruno - 8/10

Blackout - 2/10

Brand New Track - 5/10

Stink Monster - 3/10

Christmas Mountain - 7/10

Whiteout! - 4/10

Good as New - 4/10

More Than a Pretty Engine - 9/10

Snowplough Struttin' - 4/10

Thomas In Charge - 3/10

Kana Recharges - 3/10

The Big Skunk Funk - 3/10

Off The Rails - 1/10

Diesel's Dilemma - 5/10

Overall Rating (So far):

87/220

All Engines Go! Reveiw - S2 Ep.21 - Off The Rails

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

OFF THE RAILS

Written by

Peter Gaffney

Directed by

Campbell Bryer

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

23/10/22 - CAN

23/01/23 - USA

16/05/23 - UK

25/02/23 - AUS

Plot

Nia must get a huge earth ball from Whiff's Recycling Plant to Norramby Beach, but all the rail lines are blocked! When the bouncy ball rolls off Nia's flatcar and begins a wild odyssey across Sodor, she tries to control every bounce with all her friends' help. Nia learns to roll with the bounces and calls on an unlikely hero at sea to save the cargo!

Just want to point out, just because they used a title from the original series doesn't mean it's a rip-off. That's NOT how it works! 

So another Nia has a plan and has to create a new one because things for her were going wrong. It's the same plot as what we saw in Balloon Blunder and the Perfect Plan episode from S1, I don't if there are other episodes that showcase this plotline but if is this is what they're making Nia's character then it feels very unoriginal, shallow and boring. Even though her chasing the rubber globe ball segwayed into being her new plan it felt more like filler than development. 

I much prefer the S18 episode 'Emily Saves the World' which is similar to this episode but it predated AEG and back when Mattel were actually good at Thomas' exposure to the general public. Even though the runaway globe was silly it at least had purpose as Emily was trying to show off her exciting delivery to everyone else instead of concentrating of getting it from A to B and of course it led to trouble until she'd learnt her lesson, without the need of telling the audience. This episode could've been at least about that! 

The song in this episode was terrible as most of the songs at least are relevant to the episode, despite the different messaging it creates. The song though was more about the world having a mind of its own but not about trying to make a new plan, heck neither of the Nia episodes from this iteration of the show had a song about that! You think her making plans but not living up to it would've had a song by now, even though I'm not a fan of them as some are pointless additions to fill in time.

I also think the title of the episode could've been better maybe call it 'Save the World' or 'Nia's Global Blunder'. At least with those title they are at least on point whereas the original title feels like it could be anything. 

This is probably the worst Nia episode that I've seen coming from this show. An unoriginal plot and you think maybe they would try something new to at least make it more interesting for the general audience? Because if you repeat these similar storylines again, again and again chances are ratings will fall because children would not be interested and if ratings fall, interest may wean off and with that toy sales may go down and we've seen that since 2017 when the original series made its run. 

Series Rating:

Fast Friends - 1/10

Percy Disappear - 5/10

Ashima's Amazing Arrival - 3/10

Tri-and-a-Half-a-Lon - 3/10

Carly's Magnificant Magnet - 5/10

New Mail Engine In Town - 4/10

Hot Air Percy - 2/10

Carly's Screechy Squeak - 1/10

Shake, Rattle & Bruno - 8/10

Blackout - 2/10

Brand New Track - 5/10

Stink Monster - 3/10

Christmas Mountain - 7/10

Whiteout! - 4/10

Good as New - 4/10

More Than a Pretty Engine - 9/10

Snowplough Struttin' - 4/10

Thomas In Charge - 3/10

Kana Recharges - 3/10

The Big Skunk Funk - 3/10

Off The Rails - 1/10

Overall Rating (So far):

80/210

All Engines Go! Reveiw - S2 Ep.20 - The Big Skunk Funk

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

THE BIG SKUNK FUNK

Written by

Tracy Nicoletti

Directed by

Campbell Bryer

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

13/11/22 - CAN

16/01/23 - USA

15/05/23 - UK

24/02/23 - AUS

Plot

Abuzz with excitement about the Sodor Flower Festival, Thomas is given the important task of transporting Sir Topham Hatt's prized roses to the event. On the way, Thomas' sweet-smelling journey takes a turn for the stinky when a skunk crosses the tracks and sprays the engine with the funkiest scent imaginable! Now, with the help of his friends, Thomas must find a way to get rid of the stench and get to the festival on time.

The episode started off with Thomas trying to be more delicate so why couldn't the whole episode be about that instead of about him being covered by skunk's smell? I mean sure it would just be a repetitive episode again, it's 'All Engines Go!' but why make that build up only to segway it to a skunk? Wouldn't there be other alternatives to build up to skunk? Perhaps have Thomas and Percy making their way to Knapford to collect their floral deliveries and then some skunks were strolling nearby the line and Thomas and Percy whistled to them to get them out of the way but the skunks thought they scaring them for fun and tried to spray on them but managed to avoid it. Then Thomas collects his delivery and then he got skunked by one of the skunks from earlier due to him slowing down because of the Fat Controller's roses, I know he's called Sir Topham Hatt in both dubs but I grew up with the former nickname, but that at least would have some set up that doesn't feel like there was a different story. 

For Thomas saying he would wait for Sandy's train wash to be finished why couldn't you have Thomas delivering the roses to Vicarstown and despite him being skunked, the roses were fine. So Thomas could learn to get the job done no matter what. Thomas stating that he would wait and then next minute the train was done just felt a bit jarring. Why couldn't Thomas going to trainwash be a reward for getting his work on time despite his smell. Give the moral 'Usefulness before cleanliness' that we had from S6! 

The episode was meh in the end.

Series Rating:

Fast Friends - 1/10

Percy Disappear - 5/10

Ashima's Amazing Arrival - 3/10

Tri-and-a-Half-a-Lon - 3/10

Carly's Magnificant Magnet - 5/10

New Mail Engine In Town - 4/10

Hot Air Percy - 2/10

Carly's Screechy Squeak - 1/10

Shake, Rattle & Bruno - 8/10

Blackout - 2/10

Brand New Track - 5/10

Stink Monster - 3/10

Christmas Mountain - 7/10

Whiteout! - 4/10

Good as New - 4/10

More Than a Pretty Engine - 9/10

Snowplough Struttin' - 4/10

Thomas In Charge - 3/10

Kana Recharges - 3/10

The Big Skunk Funk - 3/10

Overall Rating (So far):

79/200

All Engines Go! Reveiw - S2 Ep.19 - Kana Recharges

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

KANA RECHARGES

Written by

Aydera Walden

Directed by

Campbell Bryer

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

13/11/22 - CAN

9/01/23 - USA

12/05/23 - UK

23/02/23 - AUS

Plot

Tired and in need of relaxation, Kana decides to take a well-deserved break between deliveries. When she tells Thomas that she wants time all by herself, Thomas is worried that he and the other engines have done something to upset her. Determined to right their assumed wrongs, Thomas and friends follow Kana around the island to convince her to play with them -- the exact opposite of what she needs! When a big storm reaches Sodor, Kana teaches her friends about the value of spending time alone and "feeling the hush."

The Bluey episode 'Sheepdog' has much better approach to this. Chilli wanted to have 20 minutes to herself because she was with her kids, Bluey and Bingo, all day. However Bluey was worried about her mum and why she needs that amount of minutes and Bandit, to distract her, let her play sheepdog to get her mind off it. You could have that for Thomas and his friends with Kana and have Percy worried for her while Thomas, in respects to her privacy and space, tries to get Percy to play. You can showcase Percy's right to be concerned about her friend and having some anxiety from him like maybe Kana isn't his friend anymore but then Kana, after time for herself, all relaxed and happy again told Percy her reason. This would at least respect some continuity with the message about listening because it seems to be a contridiction despite the continuity that the episodes had. 

Because the episode shows that, Thomas and the others have to be really stupid in not understanding Kana's wants and needs. Yes they are kids but kids are not that stupid and I doubt the writers had the idea that kids lack intelligence. Why not make the episode about the engines respecting boundries but keep your anxiety in check instead of acting stupid and not knowing what Kana, yes it's for conflict but as I said before Bluey's approach was much better than this episode. Though I will give the episode credit that Kana at least had some personality with her getting agitated and quick to anger whereas the first season she was nothing more but generic happy engine but the song was meh with its hammered down message.

Series Rating:

Fast Friends - 1/10

Percy Disappear - 5/10

Ashima's Amazing Arrival - 3/10

Tri-and-a-Half-a-Lon - 3/10

Carly's Magnificant Magnet - 5/10

New Mail Engine In Town - 4/10

Hot Air Percy - 2/10

Carly's Screechy Squeak - 1/10

Shake, Rattle & Bruno - 8/10

Blackout - 2/10

Brand New Track - 5/10

Stink Monster - 3/10

Christmas Mountain - 7/10

Whiteout! - 4/10

Good as New - 4/10

More Than a Pretty Engine - 9/10

Snowplough Struttin' - 4/10

Thomas In Charge - 3/10

Kana Recharges - 3/10

Overall Rating (So far):

76/190

All Engines Go! Reveiw - S2 Ep.18 - Thomas In Charge

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

THOMAS IN CHARGE

Written by

Andy Yerkes

Directed by

Campbell Bryer

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

6/11/22 - CAN

2/01/23 - USA

11/05/23 - UK

22/02/23 - AUS

Plot

When Gordon is given an all-day responsibility on the far side of Sodor, he recruits Thomas to be the temporary "Engine in Charge." Even though he advises Thomas about the importance of listening to his team, Thomas assigns tasks to Nia, Diesel, Percy, and Kana that do not match their strengths. With Sandy and Carly as backup, Thomas must fix his errors, use Gordon's advice, and make sure everyone's deliveries are complete before the end-of-day whistle!

A generic main character in charge episode where things go horribly wrong because they didn't listen or being too proud of themselves for having a high position. Why not have the episode where Thomas was nervous of being in charge because it was his first time but he didn't want to let his friends down because they want him to be in charge and I don't know why Gordon allowed the other engines to pick someone to be in charge of his duty when in past episodes Thomas had his share of mess ups, heck the previous episode showcased him not focusing on his work. 

Also, why did Thomas realise that Gordon meant Nia, Diesel, Percy and Kana were the ones he should listen to? I know this might be a nitpick but come on these are Thomas' friends he should know better. Why not go forth with Thomas being arrogant and make his friends take the deliveries they don't want to take? Sure it might not be likeable but Thomas is suppose to be a young kid and some young kids tend to act bossy or boastful. I don't think it would hurt because kids can learn in the end from the main character that it's not the right sort of behaviour.

It's a pretty meh and boring episode with a predictable and tired storyline.  

Series Rating:

Fast Friends - 1/10

Percy Disappear - 5/10

Ashima's Amazing Arrival - 3/10

Tri-and-a-Half-a-Lon - 3/10

Carly's Magnificant Magnet - 5/10

New Mail Engine In Town - 4/10

Hot Air Percy - 2/10

Carly's Screechy Squeak - 1/10

Shake, Rattle & Bruno - 8/10

Blackout - 2/10

Brand New Track - 5/10

Stink Monster - 3/10

Christmas Mountain - 7/10

Whiteout! - 4/10

Good as New - 4/10

More Than a Pretty Engine - 9/10

Snowplough Struttin' - 4/10

Thomas In Charge - 3/10

Overall Rating (So far):

73/180

All Engines Go! Reveiw - S2 Ep.17 - Snowplow Struttin'

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

SNOWPLOW STRUTTIN'

Written by

Nikki Lytton

Directed by

Campbell Bryer

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

6/11/22 - CAN

26/12/22 - USA

12/23 - UK

21/02/23 - AUS

Plot

Thomas is thrilled -- Sir Topham Hatt has given him a snowplow in preparation for a big storm on the way, and the Number One Engine is ready to show off his skills! But when he is assigned to guide Diesel and Percy on their deliveries in case of snow, Thomas learns that he needs to use his plow responsibly for his friends and their tasks!

I will say I much prefer 'Thomas, Terence and the Snow' when it comes to Thomas learning about responsibility because it shows why not being prepared can lead to trouble which was him being stuck in a snowdrift on his branch line and it also made him learn just how useful someone like Terence can be. This episode while not bad was just Thomas just messing around which led to him bumping into Diesel and other things. That is basically the whole episode, Thomas messes around a few times, caused trouble and tries to put things right, add in a song that states the moral of the story because the audience might not get such a simple message they could digest themselves, the end. 

Series Rating:

Fast Friends - 1/10

Percy Disappear - 5/10

Ashima's Amazing Arrival - 3/10

Tri-and-a-Half-a-Lon - 3/10

Carly's Magnificant Magnet - 5/10

New Mail Engine In Town - 4/10

Hot Air Percy - 2/10

Carly's Screechy Squeak - 1/10

Shake, Rattle & Bruno - 8/10

Blackout - 2/10

Brand New Track - 5/10

Stink Monster - 3/10

Christmas Mountain - 7/10

Whiteout! - 4/10

Good as New - 4/10

More Than a Pretty Engine - 9/10

Snowplough Struttin' - 4/10

Overall Rating (So far):

70/170

All Engines Go! Reveiw - S2 Ep.16 - More Than a Pretty Engine

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

MORE THAN A PRETTY ENGINE

Written by

Jaya Ramdath

Directed by

Campbell Bryer

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

30/10/22 - CAN

19/12/22 - USA

10/05/23 - UK

20/02/23 - AUS

Plot

Ashima discovers that she has to prove to the others that she's more than meets the eye.

I think this what an Ashima episode would be like had the CGI series had stayed with the special before series idea when Lost Treasure did it the other way in 2015. Ashima wasn't great ever since her appearance in 'The Great Race', a nice side character to help motivate Thomas to being himself but not great as a character on her own and BWBA didn't elevate her much further thanks to most of the episode focusing on Thomas and for Mattel cutting it short. I feel that the production team behind AEG tend to look back at previous content or at the previous team's series bible once Nelvana took over the ropes and try to make something better for the characters they never got a chance to grow before. 

Ashima was great in the episode with her strong willed personality and determination. I definetly see this episode working in the original series but I wish the episode didn't state the moral because clearly we got the message when Ashima got cross with Thomas and the others thinking that she can't do the work due to being a pretty engine, it feels a littler hammering. Plus Diesel's comment on the boulder always chasing them got me a chuckle. One of the very rare times where a joke from AEG is actually funny and is not a very bad, forceable pun from Percy. 

This is also one of the rare times where I give an AEG episode a top mark.

Series Rating:

Fast Friends - 1/10

Percy Disappear - 5/10

Ashima's Amazing Arrival - 3/10

Tri-and-a-Half-a-Lon - 3/10

Carly's Magnificant Magnet - 5/10

New Mail Engine In Town - 4/10

Hot Air Percy - 2/10

Carly's Screechy Squeak - 1/10

Shake, Rattle & Bruno - 8/10

Blackout - 2/10

Brand New Track - 5/10

Stink Monster - 3/10

Christmas Mountain - 7/10

Whiteout! - 4/10

Good as New - 4/10

More Than a Pretty Engine - 9/10

Overall Rating (So far):

66/160

All Engines Go! Reveiw - S2 Ep.15 - Good as New

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

GOOD AS NEW

Written by

Susan Kim

Directed by

Campbell Bryer

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

30/10/22 - CAN

12/12/22 - USA

9/05/23 - UK

19/02/23 - AUS

Plot

While out on a delivery to Whiff's Recycling Plant with his beloved buddy Boxy in tow, Thomas realises that his pal is on his last crooked axle.

Why not have the episode about Thomas accepting the fact that Boxy is ancient and that he has to accept it that would have to be scrapped. It could've been a alluded to the death of a family pet or the passing of a family relative or friend. Children, sadly, experience that concept of life and may not understand it at a young age unless they see it through something at their level and understand Thomas' feelings. I know that this idea might be a bit dark especially towards a kids show. But kids shows do tend to talk about it, the 'Bluey' episode 'Copycat' where they found a budgie and after taking it to the vet it died. But Bluey came to terms with it through play, by the way watch the show it's really good even if you don't have kids, so you can find a way with Thomas coming to terms of Boxy's parting and the child might understand the concept of death, mourning and coming to terms without fearing the child about it all.

The idea of Boxy being repaired and reused is fine but it could've been better with the way that I'd written earlier and besides we already had an episode with that theme and it was better and that was 'School of Duck'.  

Series Rating:

Fast Friends - 1/10

Percy Disappear - 5/10

Ashima's Amazing Arrival - 3/10

Tri-and-a-Half-a-Lon - 3/10

Carly's Magnificant Magnet - 5/10

New Mail Engine In Town - 4/10

Hot Air Percy - 2/10

Carly's Screechy Squeak - 1/10

Shake, Rattle & Bruno - 8/10

Blackout - 2/10

Brand New Track - 5/10

Stink Monster - 3/10

Christmas Mountain - 7/10

Whiteout! - 4/10

Good as New - 4/10

Overall Rating (So far):

57/150