THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANDOM
THE SIGHTS OF SODOR
Written by
Craig Carlisle
Directed by
Campbell Bryer
Produced by
Suzie Gallo
Air Date
19/08/23 - CAN
27/11/23 - USA
TBA - UK
28/08/23 - AUS
Plot
Sir Topham Hatt has placed a plaque on the top of Lookout Mountain, so that tourists can take in all of Sodor in just one "sight." But when the efficient tour falls flat, Thomas takes visitors to really SEE Sodor.
So basically the solution to the problem is to do the thing that was already established before in previous episodes, taking the passengers on Annie and Clarabel and show them the sites of Sodor. If this was a prequel that would make sense but it isn't since the flag from the Lookout Mountain special was in the episode. It's just another contradiction for the show. Why not make the episode that the Fat Controller had decide to scrap the original tour and go with the plaque instead on lookout mountain to save time but then people got bored and it gives the message that if it's not broken then don't fix it, which is something ironic for Mattel if they went with that since the original series wasn't in need of being canned in favor of this.
However that would at least make more sense and you could trim down the repetition of Thomas and Kana going up and down the mountain with passengers and maybe replace it with Thomas and Kana taking passengers to the actual sites and the Fat Controller was wondering why they were doing that and explained it all.
A pretty weak episode to conclude the second season.
SERIES OVERALL
While Season 2 was a slight improvement over the first season, honestly I have to say that overall it was an underwhelming dissapointment. While I have four episodes that I'd ranked high in comparison as well as them being personal favorites, the majority of the episodes from this season still suffer from problems during the 1st season such as bad puns, jokes and terrible story structures. I also hate how one note the characters are such as Nia always making a plan and then her original plan didn't go so well and have to make a new one or Thomas and Diesel being competitive and they end up with mishap or how Percy is the one character who comes up with the most uncreative, unfunny puns, seriously every episode or so has him making up a stupid pun! THEY ARE NOT FUNNY!! And with saying 'Get it? Because X means Y', explaining what it suppose to mean just shows it was never funny and instead of having the engines knowing that it's not funny you have them laughing at it in order to tell kids that it's funny. Plus keeping the characters the same, if you keep up with that over and over again I believe kids will be bored by the sameness of it all and that may result in low viewership and lack of interest in buying the toys.
I said it before but most modern kids show, at least to my knowledge, always rely on phrases, puns and catchphrases so likely kids would hear it from there toys and since Mattel are a toy company, I hate how they are marketing Thomas, I'll get to that soon. I'll always go back to Bluey as a kids show that doesn't rely on trends or stupid puns or catchphrases. To me it stands out more with stories based around on the element of play. There are episodes that also doesn't state the moral out loud, which sometimes this show fails to grasp at, it allows the audience to digest it, 'The Decider', one of my personal favorite episodes since I'm a fan of State of Origin and the NRL, showcases that it's a child's right to choose for themselves and that no matter what your parents will still love you. The moral wasn't forced down through song or through dailouge and yes as NSW supporter it's a little bit disheartening to see them being beaten by Queensland since the show was made by Queenslanders, I'm kidding here. Bluey at least treats its audience with respect to their level of intellect whereas AEG feels like that their audience doesn't have any and needs to state the moral full on.
However there was one positive when it comes to the characters and that was Bruno. I like that they'd added in a character who is autistic and didn't showcase him as a stereotype but I think elevate that perhaps the show, depends on how long it may run, should introduce Theo and showcase that even though they have that diagnoses they experience it differently. Perhaps make him an adult character because there really hasn't been much about adults who are on the spectrum, especially in kids shows, to my knowledge. Sadly though there are some people who literally think that Bruno is a stereotype on people with autism and most of those comments come from people who had never even seen AEG because it's time wasting, despite wasting time making a big problem out of something they don't understand and I think most of those people don't know what a stereotype is suppose to be.
One example I can give is Izzy Gomez from TUGS, a South American tramp steamer that is depicted with a sombrero, typical mexican moustache and a stereotypical accent with him being depicted as sleepy, lazy, a cheapskate and very willing to break maritime law.
While Izzy had showcased one bit of good, due to TUGS' incredibly short run, which was him clearing Sunshine's name in the first episode of the show, most of the time, which is basically 'Warrior' and 'Ghosts', we see him at his worst and he always gets his comuppance for it in the end.
Izzy Gomez is a textbook example of what a stereotype is whereas Bruno is not. He was made by the production team of the show along with organisations that is NOT 'Autism Speaks' who have been consulted on how Bruno should be shown as a character who is on the spectrum.
Back to AEG. The worst character of the show is Tess. A one note grumpy crane who is basically a female version of Cranky like he was in S1A of the show. But what I hate about her is that the show does barely gives her responsibility. That one episode when she was covered in sand was all caused by her because she was rushing Nia and Nia was the one feeling bad about it. I thought with this show shoving down positive messages about friendship and such they might want to teach kids about the responsibilty of owning up and making a promise to be better. The original series showcased that moral, even though they're self contained episodes but they at least show some growth for the characters. Tess is a terrible character.
I've been hearing praise from some people about S2 of AEG and I kept an open mind, though I will admit when writing these blog posts and seeing what the episode was about beforehand I did have some doubts but sometimes it would end up being better than expected so I was glad to have been proven wrong on some occassions but most of the time it felt very underwhelming. I will say it's better than S1 by a slight margin but it still carries the baggage that S1 had. I like that they at least respect some of the lore of the Railway Series and that there had been some spirit of the original series lingering around in one or two episodes but that doesn't justify anything for this season.
I also have the feeling that the show is not doing too well, though I can't back it up with sources but from memory I barely recall the show being a top 10 hit on Netflix in the US like most other popular shows either they had licenesed or created themselves, before they decide to cancel them.
I don't know what S3 will bring but I'm not going to have high expectations of it.
This next part about Mattel's marketing and the future might be a bit of a ramble. But I want to at least talk about it:
With Mattel being a toy company they would obviously market the Thomas toys to make people to buy them for their kids but are they really? When I go to stores here in Australia I tend to see little to barely any at all, Kmart is pretty much the latter and they are terrible with their toy section, most of the time I would find boxes ripped opened and the toy been taken out. The best place for AEG Thomas merch is the NSW Rail Museum at Thirlmere but that could be a long trip for some just for Thomas toys depending on their location, though they could make the trip when they have Thomas days or even normal steam train running days during March - November, and their website isn't really up to date with the latest Thomas stock. But that is the best place to get them if you have a child who enjoys the latest iteration.
It's the same during my visits to the United States. Sometimes when I go to Target or Wal-Mart I barely see that much Thomas merch and usually I expect to find the latest because America being one of Thomas' big markets and Mattel being an American company you think they would have all the latest merch, right? Nope! It's just like what Railway Productions LLC's lawsuit said that Mattel had failed to live up on their promise for more inventory, that might be one of the sheer reasons the brand is on the decline again in terms of toy sales, as of writing this post Mattel's Q3 earnings showcase that sales are decling for Thomas and we've seen something like during the BWBA era. Though I have a feeling that with the rise of inflation, which makes material expensive and with that the product's prices go up, and the cost of living crisis that the world is going through would play a part in this too.
But I think the lack of good marketing, the ongoing broken promise of more inventory, the cost of living crisis and the lack of exposure to the show might've resulted in it, I'm no marketing guy to be honest but I tend to try and make some obersvations best I could. Heck when I was visiting The Virgina and Truckee Railroad near Carson City, NV back in June 2023, there was Thomas merch but not really the latest items. Either the railway had lost its license, since they had run Thomas days there prior to COVID or Mattel are failing to live up on their promise of inventory.
Since toy sales pretty much help the show's existence you think maybe they would give it a mention on every social media posts so they can inform people where to watch it? Looking at their instagram page they do mention AEG but only as a post and that's it, even Bluey does the same but when it comes certain things in the show, looking at their Facebook page, sometimes they provide a link to the episode that would lead you to its official website and you can click on the link on where to watch it. For me in Australia they showcase ABC's iview player or the ABC Kids website which would take you to their minisite but it would at least let you lead to a schedule if you want to see it on TV.
In comparison Mattel doesn't even bother to tell people where to watch AEG, nor provide a link because the official Thomas website is just Mattel's shop, seriously why? You think how in this day and age with social media networks like Facebook and Instagram being nothing but a big algorithm mess, you might want to say it a few times so people on those social media networks know where to see it. I would say twitter, I know it's called 'X' but since it was a stupid name change made by a guy who is a teenager in a 52 year old body, I decided to call it by its former name. But their twitter account, since I was writing this in October 2023, hadn't been updated since September 2022! That was when they were introducing Bruno for the first time! It feels like they want this to fail!
They had promoted 'The Great Bubbly Build' as a YouTube premiere a week before its release, but there was barely any exposure to the special. It was mentioned by Nelvana's parent company, Corus Entertainment, content line up back in June 2023, then remote silence from them or Mattel and then four months later, they were promoting it a week or so before its YouTube premiere. You think maybe there would be some build up like maybe by a month to at least get everyone noticed and ready. Heck barely any toys to promote it. What filled that remote silence was nothing to do with the special or the show just random memes focusing just the toys with no mention anywhere on where to watch their show! Not to mention Mattel barely promote DVDs and other merch, outside of toys, for the show to at least give it more exposure. Sure they are a toy brand but they are also an entertainment company and with many DVDs of the show being released in the United States, hardly any of them got any exposure. There are none on Instagram and I would check out Facebook but it would only take me to the very likely dead Australian/New Zealand official page, the last time that was updated was back in 2021!
In comparison to Mattel's other brand, Barbie, its Facebook page is promoting the movie's Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD release. Why buy a franchise when you're not giving it any love or attention like Barbie and Hot Wheels? Sure those two brands are well known but so is Thomas! You would find many people who had enjoyed the show as a kid, not the ones who think the original was dark, scary and have undertones of a dictatorship because they don't know they are suppose to be locomotives!
I remember when SiF said that there was a new marketing team back in the early 2020's, I was happy and hoping that Thomas would at least get better exposure from them. But looking at the state of this exposure, while they are doing it to suit the needs of a modern general audience, I hate how they are marketing Thomas more as a toy brand and less as a show. This makes me worried for the upcoming 80th anniversary next year. It would be another milestone year as Thomas would 20 years away to a century old and Mattel's marketing would be nothing more but bad memes and tik toks with hardly doing much service for the toys or the show.
Speaking of 2025, I hope for the 80th though that Mattel should celebrate both the past and future of Thomas. If they're trying to push the nostalgia side, as seen on some instagram posts, perhaps they should try and see how Thomas would do in the adult nostalgia market.
Perhaps release DVDs of the model era, heck one Mattel rep in the UK said that the models are still popular with kids of today so try and take the advantage. The best distributor for that in the US at least should be Shout! Factory that sell DVDs of classic kids shows as well as some current ones like Shaun the Sheep. I know they are on Prime but who knows one day they may be deleted from their service and Mattel constantly blocks classic Thomas content from YouTube, and they have legal right to do that, so if they see it as something profitable why not take that advantage? The United States hadn't had a series collection of Thomas episodes since 'The Early Years' in 2004.
You can also release the CGI episodes too, yes including the Miller/Barlow era. I'm not a big fan of S13-16 but they don't deserve to be shunned away and also for the completionists. In the UK you can distribute them through HIT/Mattel Creations. For the toys you can at least make toys based on the Railway Series, perhaps a Thomas wooden railway engine with a Railway Series style face. I saw a really good edit of one once on twitter. If Mattel are reading this they should do this since there are more Wooden Railway variants. Perhaps make a wooden railway toy of Awdry's Thomas model that he made for Christopher like the replica they did back in 2015 for the 70th.
I know this might be a bit of a ramble but I need to say something about it if anyone from Mattel bothers to read something from this little blog page.
I will be reviewing 'The Mystery of Lookout Mountain' and 'The Great Bubbly Build' that premiered on YouTube last year. I will review S3 when it finishes its run but I have very high doubts that it would be any better. Season 2 was a slight imporvement but it needs a lot more work to iron out but I doubt Mattel would do any of that.
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
Sheep Shenanigans - 4/10
Tunnel Troubles - 4/10
The Case of the Missing Crane - 1/10
Not-So-Secret Mission - 5/10
A Very Percy Valentine - 3/10
Valentine's Hearts - 2/10
Speedster Sandy - 7/10
For All the Marble - 9/10
Salty's Sea Shanty - 8/10
Retrieve the Kraken - 5/10
Rocket's Fall - 4/10
Details? What Details? - 3/10
Blue Engine Blues - 7/10
Hay Fort Frenzy - 4/10
Percy in the Middle - 1/10
Bad Luck Boxcar - 3/10
Not So Easy-Greasy - 2/10
It All Adds Up - 6/10
Bruno's Map Mishap - 6/10
Seeking a Safer Sodor - 3/10
A Cranky Goodbye - 5/10
Sameroo - 4/10
Thomas For A Day - 7/10
The Super Axle - 6/10
The Waiting Game - 5/10
All Wheels on Track - 5/10
Something Broken, Something Blue - 7/10
The Sights of Sodor - 3/10
Overall Rating:
219/530
