Like I did for my S1 review, I will be reviewing S2's special 'The Mystery of Lookout Mountain'. Sadly this special barely had much fanfare in comparison to the Sodor Cup movie. It had a UK release but only on milkshake and as a digital download but no DVD. It didn't get a cinema release until April 2023. Australia is the same, though we didn't get any cinema release. The United States however were to have a cinema release but was later cancelled for some reason and if they did it would've been the first time a Thomas movie had a screening their since King of the Railway in 2013. However it was released on DVD and on Netflix around April 2023. The distribution for the movie in those countries is such a mess.
But anyway let's see if this movie is worth it or not. But first:
THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANDOM
THE MYSTERY OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN
Written by
Craig Carlisle
Daniel Share-Storm
Directed by
Campbell Bryer
Produced by
Suzie Gallo
Release Date
8/10/22 - CAN (TV)
11/12/22 - UK (TV)
5/02/23 - AUS (TV)
4/04/23 - USA (DVD)
Plot
When cars go missing in the Mines, Thomas and Percy think they have the perfect adventure for the Biggest Adventure Club. But then they uncover that there was a similar problem at Lookout Mountain years ago. Thomas and his friends set out to solve the two-headed mystery. Their search takes them under waterfalls, into unknown tunnels, new Crystal Caverns and ultimately brings the kids face to face with a mythical Mine Monster!
MY VIEWS
The special opens up with Thomas and Percy making their way into the old mines. However Percy was scared, as usual, because Diesel said funny things had been happening in the old mine lately. As Thomas collected his load of old rails for Whiff's recycling plant, Percy was looking for his load of dirt for McColl's farm and thought the 'mine monster' took them. But they were actually behind Thomas. After that the engines began to echo around the mine for fun but then the mine started to shake which made one of Percy's dirt trucks roll away.
The whole event made Percy scared but Thomas decided to find the missing dirt truck so that Percy can finish his delivery. Then the shake came again and this time Thomas saw the second dirt truck rolling away. So Thomas and Percy made their way to get them while Percy was scared of the mine monster. Soon they came to three tunnels, Thomas chose the middle berth and Percy began to echo since it was better where they were. After Percy echoed a knock knock joke, they heard a mysterious voice responding.
Thomas called out a hello and the voice responded back instantly scaring them away from the three tunnels. Percy was more convinced that it was the mine monster but Thomas thinks that there might be a better explanation. But the rumble returned, a booming sound was heard and the dirt trucks came back. Now Percy was scared by the thought that maybe the mine monster likes the taste of engines better and so they raced out of the mine screaming. The whole opening sequence is better than the one in the Sodor cup movie. It's nice to see build up for a mystery and something for a special than just an extended episode.
At Whiff's recycling plant, the other engines and Bruno were watching Whiff's machine turning old scrap into something new. While they were enjoying it, the loudness was too much for Bruno as it is common to people with autism who are sensitive to sound. So he'd placed his steam headphones on which makes him feel relaxed. Just then Thomas and Percy came screaming into the building. Diesel wondered what was with them and Bruno told Percy that he was suppose to deliver the dirt to McColl's farm which stressed him out that Percy was not on schedule. But Bruno took deep breaths and was focusing on what was happening right now.
He then saw Percy's wheels shaking, then Thomas and Percy's frowny faces and Percy's erractic steam clouds which indicates to him that they were scared of something. This is a way for Bruno to understand the emotion, which is common in some people on the spectrum. These are such nice little touches to showcase Bruno's autism and so well done to the writers.
So Thomas and Percy began to explain the whole event they'd witnessed down in the mine. Nia and Diesel even mentioned that some funny things happened to them at the old mine such as Nia not finding her empty trucks and Diesel's disappering rail ties and also believe that it was a mine monster. But Bruno told him that there was no such thing but according to schedule the previous week, the same situation happened to Kana and James as well.
But before Percy could tell them more, a rattle can be heard but Bruno told them that it was a danger sign getting caught in the machine. It was a danger sign with a picture of a mountain and giant cross giving it the indication. All the engines were worried began to talk at once, which was too much for Bruno and placed his steam headphones on. Carly calmed everyone down and then said they should find someone who knows the real story behind the sign they'd found. A loud banging can be heard in the background.
It was Whiff whose experiment went haywire. He saw the serious faces of the engines and wondered what's up. Thomas decided that Whiff might know about the old sign. He did and told them that there used to be a mine under Lookout Mountain. This surprised the engines and Bruno wondered what made it so dangerous. Whiff told them that years ago there were tunnels under lookout mountain and all kinds of minerals were found. But the trouble was was that the mines were weak and the beams didn't support them. Eventually a new mine was opened the old tunnels were closed and forgotten. But then mysterious things stared to happen.
Percy wondered if it were noises and vanishing parts as Whiff confirmed it. The other engines were convinced that there was indeed a mine monster, except for Sandy and Bruno. So later on the biggest adventure club has a mystery to solve about missing deliveries. As they went down the line to find Kana, they began to worry that there might be two mine monsters, one at lookout mountain and the other at the old mine. Honestly I understand they were trying to build up the backstory and mystery but I think they'd focused way too much on dialouge here. While I was watching the movie I couldn't comprehend such mass of information and I think they could've at least add in flashbacks about the lookout mountain mine instead of just showing one scene through it all, it doesn't feel engaging enough.
They looked at Bruno's map and saw that the old mine and mountain are very close together and maybe are connected through tunnels underground. And so Thomas decided they should split up and search for clues. Nia, Kana, Carly and Diesel were to go to the old mines. However Diesel was still scared, even though he denied it but gave in. So after that they were called the 'Cave Crawlers'. Thomas, Percy, Bruno and Sandy called themselves 'The Lookout Mountaineers'. Then Kana showed up and was told of the mystery by Nia.
At the Maintenance Yard, all gear was in check and Percy's machine. However Bruno saw that everything was uneven. The crawlers had four members but the mountaineers had three, I don't know why they'd bothered with this. I mean it was very likely Bruno was coming with them anyway sure watching it from their perspective is the way to watch it but does he really think he was going to miss out on it? After that we got our first song, 'Biggest Adventure Ahead'. I know it was added in there to fill in time and TBH I prefer that since we already had a bunch of dialouge earlier from the monster to Diesel not being scared. But all the same the song was pretty bland.
After the song, Thomas, Percy, Sandy and Bruno arrived at Lookout Mountain. Meanwhile Percy struggled with the Biggest Adventure machine up the hill and after when he got to the top, the mountain started to vibrate scaring him again and it resulted the machine to roll away. But how did the supposed monster get there? So the four friends began searching and Percy realised that the machine he brought was gone. Meanwhile Diesel, Nia, Kana and Carly arrived at the old mines.
As they cross the mine, Diesel was still worried at the supposed monster. They arrived at the same location where Thomas and Percy were earlier in the movie. After Diesel and Carly were playing around with the echo, the mines started to vibrate again and with that Percy's dirt trucks rolled away again and then a yowling, which was new to us. This made Diesel scared but then he noticed the trucks were gone and so they went down the mine shaft to search for them, though Diesel was disagreeable but Carly took him down with her hook.
As they crossed the mine shaft they noticed some sand and other things, it is as if someone was digging. Then Diesel found, what he thinks was, the missing dirt trucks which were a huge pile of empties which scared them, though Carly believes that they were a bunch of broken carts and they went on their way again but then an empty cart came rolling towards Diesel and fell into the pile.
Kana then noticed some weird marks on the wall of a tunnel which made Diesel to believe that they were claw marks. But Nia thinks it looks like someone was digging and then they heard a voice. It was Troublesome Truck, that is literally the name of the trucks in this show. Such an unimaginative name for a single truck. It works in the context of a group. The truck was in the pile of empty mine carts because he was jokingly uncoupled from James the previous day and was later rolled down to the same area as them due to the rumbling of the mine and crashed into the pile of carts.
Nia wondered what he said 'Good question' earlier and that was because the area used to be a dead end but now it keeps going. Despite that the truck has the power to move by himself I think not having him move from there makes sense storywise to help progress the mystery but considering that the main characters knew about the mine shaft since we are given the impression that they're not new to Sodor, perhaps you could've had them knowing that the part of the mine was a dead end once. So while it still works with the truck it can still work without it.
Then they heard the howling again and with that the four engines made their way through the tunnel, with Diesel being scared and trying to get away from it but Carly, once again, coupled up to him with her hook and went on their. We return to Lookout Mountain and they were still looking for Percy's machine. Percy then explained what he was doing which sent Bruno to become overwhelmed and we see from his perspective of the situation.
Thomas saw that Bruno was not looking too good and took him to a quiet place while Bruno placed his steam headphones on to keep him calm. The place was the waterfall which made him feel much better. Then Bruno spotted some old railway tracks, I do hate it that they kept some of the American terminology in the UK dub, I know it's a small issue but just hearing it in a dub that had different terms just feels off.
Bruno then believes that the machine might've gone under the waterfall and so the three engines and brake van went underneath to find more tracks, some fossils and a slide. But some of the tracks are in a rough shape and Thomas saw a tunnel that could lead deep into the mountain and so they went forth after another rumble. Then we got our second song, 'A Whole New Place'. A bit of a meh song to me. After the song, both characters had reached a spot of trouble, the cave crawlers rolled down a steep bridge while the lookout mountineers reached a broken track and luckily stopped in time and backed up to some points.
Sandy switched the points and left one of her tools behind as a marker to help them find a way out. Then we get another rumble, I get it that it was a reminder of why they were there for us but I think the audience might've gotten the point by now since we have 27 minutes to go. After crossing over the points they came to a slop and raced down on it which segwayed back to Kana, Nia, Carly and Diesel to the crystal cave and so we have some pointless filler with a rock rolling back on forth on a see saw bridge to give us a lame pun, they were being rocked by a rock, get it? GET IT? Because this show LOVES to tell us the punchline of the joke, even though it was done visually.
Diesel saved them and then Percy's machine came towards them, how for the life of me it managed to get into the mine on its own despite having no life whatsoever is beyond me, and then Nia came to the conclusion that the mines and the mountains are connected. So Kana was to take the machine but then the see saw bridge turned and made them roll down again, following through more crystals and became runaways. Even though Nia said they couldn't brake because they would get burned they could at least use them to add for more dramatic event. Then we return to Thomas and the others who were still running down the slope from earlier.
After their runaway they came to a new part of the mines that had multiple tunnels and a turntable. They heard some screaming and they saw Percy's machine passing by. Meanwhile Diesel, Kana, Nia and Carly were still racing down with Carly catching something from above to slow them down which didn't work for all them and they're reunited again, except for Carly, but they said couldn't stop because they didn't have a brake van. THEY LITERALLY HAVE BRAKES THEMSELVES! Yes I know they said they would be burnt out but if they use a brake van then wouldn't that too have its brakes burnt out? So what difference would it make? That could've easily been erased to avoid contradiction
Carly came out of the tunnel all well and good and when they all came to the realisation that both the line and lookout mountain are connected, Percy's machine can be heard and the engines all went their seperate ways leaving Bruno behind, some friends they are, and we are given a Scooby-Doo chase which is basically just filler until Bruno told them that they were just chasing echoes. Plus I do think the scene might be a bit over stimulating with the noises and dialouge all mixed in together.
After Sandy bumping a rock, it caused more rocks to fall and bringing out the lights. Then Percy later came up with an idea to find his machine with its light and so they turned off their lights in order to spot it but Diesel doesn't think it was a good idea but proclaims once again not to be scared, I get it it's for comedy but it seems this special is bad at least giving Diesel some growth as a character!
After waiting they saw that the light was coming from the tunnel behind Thomas and Percy and they went on their way and found it in a new tunnel that had just been digged. Then they heard a drilling sound, then a bang and then some more dirt trucks rolling into a pile. Then cracks can be seen and are revealed, to us, Darcy!
Yes it was Darcy the whole time, I will say it was at least clever to keep her a secret though I remember before this special came out, Amazon listed a toy pack that had her in it to promote the special, and that was its ONLY promotional tie-in. However the engines all thought it was the mine monster and ran away and the chase was on but Darcy just wants make friends since it was hard for her. Thomas wanted them to stick together but he spun the turntable too hard which resulted in the other engines being turned to other mine tunnels.
Basically it was just more filler to add in time as it was nothing more but the engines running away, screaming being scared etc. this wouldn't have gone on for too long since we were at least having a moment where Nia was making a realisation that Darcy was not a mine monster. But Darcy thought that there really was a mine monster and ran away giving us more filler.
Although Nia tried to explain we are given more filler with Thomas and Bruno explaining to us that it was a good idea of Sandy living markers behind, why do they need to tell us when we would know for ourselves after digesting the idea! They ran and ran and ran up the mountain and we are now outside lookout mountain but Darcy was up there before them and everyone realised that they made a mistake and Bruno explained that she was a mine drill and for some reason Thomas had heard of her before because she's famous herself, do they have to add that in? I know she was a mystery but perhaps they could at least given a hint about her being lost or something, at least her fame would make some sense.
After many introductions to her we are then revealed that she was the one who had heard Thomas and Percy earlier in the movie and she finally get to hear the knock-knock joke and loe and behold it's another bad joke from Percy that we have to think was funny. Darcy explained everything that had happened and then we are given our final song, HOORAY!!, called 'Job to Do' basically a love song about loving a job but short and meh to fill in time.
So with Thomas and his friends making their way to find something to support the tunnel beams, because Darcy said the tunnels she'd been digging couldn't hold, they made their way with Percy finally taking the dirt to Farmer McColl and the Fat Controller and Emily being reunited with Darcy and Thomas and Bruno told them the whole and with Bruno say he remembered it well, I say I don't because most times when thinking back to an AEG script they are instantly forgettable most of the time.
After being introduced to Whiff, the thing that would help support the tunnels were steel beams in his workshop, which Whiff had plenty in stock. And so they deliver them to the mines, with the Troublesome Truck who was stuck earlier.
And in the end, in honour of the adventure, a flag was presented on lookout mountain.
THE END!
OVERALL
This special was better than the Sodor cup movie, MILES BETTER! This movie at least has an interesting story with some build up over a mystery while the Sodor cup movie feels like an extended episode. But I also feel that the mountain special could've at least have a subplot to take a break from the main story and see how the other characters were getting on, maybe something relevant to the main story that would connect. Yes the character splitting up may look like that but it was still part of one big plot. Perhaps you could at least have Darcy digging around the mines trying to find her way out while hearing all the noise from the main characters or maybe have some of the other engines worrying about the main character's disappearance and of course have to make as much deliveries as possible, may not be relevant to the main story but it would be nice to have a breather once in a while and not having to suffer burnout. Having the special focused on one plot was just ALOT to take in.
You might say having Darcy being revealed would ruin the mystery for us but you should be watching the movie in the perspective of the characters. Sure we would know its Darcy but do the main characters know, no! It would've been nice to see that and seeing her being developed as a character, because that's what this movie lacked.
Speaking of Darcy, I think it would've been better if the story was more about her disappearence being a myth or legend, say that she got lost in the mines and that her ghost still lingers on. It won't change much of the story but at least it could give Darcy's 'fame' some more sense instead of just being mentioned out of nowhere in the end.
As I had mentioned earlier, the movies has the lack of character development, particulary between the likes of Percy and Diesel being scared. I get it they were done more as a running gag but the whole had overstayed its welcome like we get that they are scared but thumping it down is not going to make see that it's a funny gag but more as an annoying one. It just would've been nice to see Diesel and Percy actually having some growth for once in this show, Percy had some growth in that so-called Goodbye episode towards his machine.
Some parts of the movie had some filler like the main characters running down or up a hill fast and screaming was just grating to sit through and really annoying. I get the situation but they should at least tone it down. Perhaps instead of screaming all the way to the top we could at least have them see Darcy in the tunnels and realised that she wasn't a monster. But now they were lost and she knew the pathway by the back of her drill and leads them out. It would be much better than the constant screaming.
From watching this special I think they should stick with the half-hour format like they did with 'The Great Bubbly Build', that'll be coming tomorrow, at least those are shorter and can at least hold one plot whereas a 60min special needs so many things to fill in, which this special had filler with chase scenes, gags etc.
But despite these setbacks, I still think it was fine but it could've been better.
OVERALL RATING
5/10
