All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.14 - Travels With Terence

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

TRAVELS WITH TERENCE

Written by

Amber Harris

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

16/03/24 - CAN

19/09/24 - US

Plot

Terence's tread breaks, and he and Thomas explore Sodor after his repairs.

While this wouldn't air in the US until September later this year, the episode was already broadcasted in March 2024 on Treehouse TV over in Canada. So unless you are a fan of AEG, spoilers ahead! 

As for the episode itself, I really don't get what they were trying to say here, Terence was energetic and was excited to see the rest of Sodor beyond the farm but he never learnt to calm down and contain his excitement so as not to break things and not to mention he kinda brushed off the things he had caused such as breaking Sandy's heart sculpture, the obstacle course and the platform at Knapford. Yes he felt bad but it only happened for a few seconds and he never thought of putting things right, which would've been one of the things I think that should've been placed in the script. 

Even Thomas should've told Terence about keeping his excitment toned down so not to wreck havoc. Could've been good to showcase his character development in this show, if he ever had any, when it comes to taking responsibility. Perhaps instead of Terence wrecking havoc why not have him be bored of the farm and yearning to see the rest of Sodor but he couldn't leave because he had stuff to do at the farm. Thomas saw this and took Terence away to show the Island and then we have Terence being all excited about seeing different places until maybe say Gordon came towards him and told Thomas that Terence must head back to the farm because the farmer needs him for urgent work. But Terence refuses to go back and runs away until he came to the farm and saw what needed to be done and realises that while seeing the Island was fun, he must knows his responsibility first. 

Sure there's no excuse for him to wreck havoc but it gives something for kids and his energy would still be there just more toned down. In the end, the actual episode was just not good.

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Fill-In Friend - 4/10

Cake It Easy - 1/10

The Can-Do Crew - 6/10

Pizza Picnic Problem - 3/10

Travels With Terence - 2/10

Overall Rating (So far):
44/140

---

So that is all of S3A and so far it was dissapointing. S2 wasn't great either but there were a few gems that I could think of that were quite nice despite the outcome of the show. S1 even at least had one episode that I'd liked as well which was the Thomas and Gordon episode 'The Super-Long Shortcut'. So far for S3, there was really no episode that I see as favourite, perhaps S3B might have some but like I said at the start of season review, I'm going in with very low expectations. The only episode that I will say was good was 'The Can-Do Crew' but even that is not a personal favourite of mine. 

I'm glad that this season, overall, is going to be 26 episodes long instead of 52, at least there won't be too many episodes left to review and sit through. All of S3B will be released once its released, since it's not airing on Cartoon Network's 'Cartoonito' in the US and who knows what the release date will be, depends if Mattel actually bothers to promote the new season or special, I was writing all these reviews back in April 2024 and at the time of writing this, S3 was barely promoted. Instagram is where I see it most because, at the time of writing this, they only made three posts during 2024. One was for a new single and the other two were for the app game 'Let's Roll'. Not a SINGLE word about S3 during when those three posts were made! In fact Netflix promoted S3 of the show when you click on the thumbnail but it was just a little tag that could be easily missed, I saw it when I was visiting America back in February. 

You think Mattel, a company that is trying to give Thomas better toy sales wouldn't give such little exposure to the show that would help them with toy sales! They're put all there money into this project and not doing anything to promote it.  

Not to mention there bad distribution of toys! If anyone from Mattel are reading this, perhaps there is a reason why Thomas is not doing well in toy sales? Its the exposure! It is bad! The toys that I've seen at my local chain stores that sell them such as Target, Big W, Kmart, there is hardly ANYTHING new in stock, that is also thanks to your POOR distribution. EXPOSURE is important to your brand, you bought the franchise because of its success and yet you're not doing a good job at it, who knows how much value you'd lost over the years with it since you went for the prize bull back in 2011/12. 

There was never anything wrong with the original series, it's your bad business decisions. Even though we're going to be celebrate the 80th anniversary next year, I have very low expectations that it'll be anything better compare to the 70th, at a time when Mattel did actually have success with the brand. 

If AEG fails, despite the many mentions of it being 'successful', perhaps its time to sell the franchise and see if anyone bothers to purchase it, I recommend Sony Creative Products in Japan. 

Expect more of S3 coming soon later this year.

NWR1991

   

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.13 - Pizza Picnic Problem

  THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

PIZZA PICNIC PROBLEM

Written by

Sarah Eisenberg

Becky Wangberg

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

16/03/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

When a last-minute hitch puts a stop to the big kazoo concert, Thomas and his friends decide to hold a pizza picnic for everyone instead.

This is just a meh episode with a conflict that was resolved quickly. It really wasn't bad but it wasn't the best either. But one thing I do agree with from this episode is that Pineapple belongs on Pizza. It was also nice to see Bruno having a speaking role in the episode too as, so far, he was barely in this season, which is a shame too because he's the only character bareable to sit through and Mattel made a whole big deal about him back in 2022. I do know we have an episode of his coming up later this year and I do hope we get more of him soon because he is a really good character. 

All in all though, the episode was just not that good and also I think it's kinda stupid of the Fat Controller not realising that Reginald, the baker, could do the job alone. But then again some modern kids shows, the adults are sometimes depicted as useless idiots, *stares at Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig*. It's a shame too as the previous episode was, so far this season, the best one. I guess the message was about finding a new way, thanks to the song stating the obvivous. But I think the conflict was resolved too quickly. Perhaps have the engines trying to find different ways of cooking the pizza but fail until they thought of a giant pizza oven, like using their fireboxes.

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Fill-In Friend - 4/10

Cake It Easy - 1/10

The Can-Do Crew - 6/10

Pizza Picnic Problem - 3/10

Overall Rating (So far):
42/130

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.12 - The Can-Do Crew

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

THE CAN-DO CREW

Written by

Adam Lorenzo

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

9/03/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

The engines help keep the recycling plant going while Whiff runs errands, but they soon discover that taking over his work is not easy.

Who was in charge of the synopsis, they'd really misrepresent the episode because the whole thing got nothing to do with the engines taking over Whiff's work. It was all about the troublesome trucks being stupid and causing chaos. Honestly, the episode was not that bad. Not the greatest episode that I've seen so far this season but it was actually alright. The highlight for me was the character development that the trucks had gotten throughout this episode, though I think that won't last long considering how inconsistent the writing is for the show, and they weren't as annoying as they were previously. All in all it was not bad.

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Fill-In Friend - 4/10

Cake It Easy - 1/10

The Can-Do Crew - 6/10

Overall Rating (So far):
39/120

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.11 - Cake It Easy

  THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

CAKE IT EASY

Written by

Eva Konstantopoulos

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

9/03/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

Thomas and Diesel must take a batch of delicious treats to the Sodor Cake Festival, but their cargo doesn't travel well.

A very generic typical episode about being careful and its all thanks to the Thomas and Diesel's competitiveness storyline which, looking back from the last two seasons, is becoming overused thanks to this show's restriced casting that doesn't allowed anything to do with variety. The episode just has that samey feeling towards its and doesn't have anything that stands out amongst the other episodes and oh yes the song is basically just a generic song with the moral pushed down because the audience cannot digest it themselves despite watching the episode and getting the clear picture early on with some cheap puns on the side in order for us to laugh at, just your typical 'All Engines Go!' episode. 

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Fill-In Friend - 4/10

Cake It Easy - 1/10

Overall Rating (So far):
33/110

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.10 - Fill-In Friend

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

FILL-IN FRIEND

Written by

Eva Konstantopoulos

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

2/03/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

Thomas really misses Percy, so the engines come up with a fun plan to find him a new best friend until Percy returns from the mainland.

Honestly, they could've just taken the whole plot of 'Missing Gator' from S18. That episode had least less sensory overload compare to this episode. I'm not autistic but man some moments of the episode feels like you can't take in all the sounds what with the engines arguing who can be Thomas' fill in friend, the music and whistles etc. I get that it was suppose to do that but the S18 episode that I'd pointed out shows you can do it without pushing it to the max. For a show that introduced a character, Bruno, who is autistic and showed an example of sensory overload in the Mystery special back in 2022, this show sure had forgotten all about that.

The episode, while fine with it trying to go forth with the message about missing someone and listening to someone, I feel they could've just reused the S18 episode instead without the overload.  

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Fill-In Friend - 4/10

Overall Rating (So far):
32/100

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.9 - Percy's Little Problem

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

PERCY'S LITTLE PROBLEM

Written by

Noelle Wright

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

2/03/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

Percy starts leaking oil, but he's too nervous to ask for help; soon, the engine must decide between getting repairs and finishing his deliveries.

I know I sound like a broken record here when it comes to the redundant songs but it was redundant. Percy could easily just spoken some dialouge about whether he should take care of him or focus on his mail run. Why do they need songs in some episodes? Most of them so far this season are bland and forgettable and just worth skipping through. I don't know if any kid enjoy these songs but I doubt some would be enjoying them, but that's just me saying it. The songs during the show feel like they want to hammer down on what is going on or what the message of the story is because they think kids won't digest it and I'm not blaming the writers for it because they're doing a job, I would put it towards the higher ups at Mattel. 

It's not just the songs that state the obvivous with the moral of the story, the writing does it as well. Do we need the characters to state the moral to us when we'd already seen the episode for ourselves? I'm sure after the many oil leaks Percy had been having during the episode, kids have gotten the message about taking care of yourself, but oh no it needs to be stated because it needs too. It had been a habit during the original series too, though at least they never hammered it down like AEG.  

'The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor' is better at this as it had better build up to run the message home and although the Fat Controller had stated the moral of the story to James, it didn't feel as hammered down because it was stated once and not throughout the episode. 

I know Sandy saying she would fix the broken oil valve as long as Percy doesn't take too long to wait but why not have her fix it and then later the oil leak starts up again, I know she'd oiled up Percy later in the episode as temporary but that whole thing makes no sense. The former wouldn't make much different but it would at least be a bit more logical than whatever the episode was trying to do. 

This episode was not good. Plus the oil slip on Lookout Mountain, uneeded filler when by now most people would've gotten the message on what would happen when you don't care of yourself. You could at least have Percy staying in the shed, gotten bored and did his deliveries anyway until he realises what would happen when he doesn't take care of himself. 

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Overall Rating (So far):
28/90

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.8 - Choo-Choo Check In

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

CHOO-CHOO CHECK IN!

Written by

Leore Berris 

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

24/02/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

Everyone prepares for an upcoming carnival, including Thomas and Kana, who must work together on a last-minute mission to finish on time.

This episode was OK but in comparison with the last seven it was actually better. I do like its message that you should always conserve your energy but I think in order to increase the conflict why not have Thomas and Kana being in a rush and have them topping up on water and electricity but in a total rush until they were out of it and were not in the vincinity of a water tower and charging station. You can have either Diesel or James or Henry or Edward, if the people behind the show and Mattel are willing to give them a speaking role, to collect them and take them to their respective power source. That way it would bring the message of the story without the need of telling the audience of what the lesson is because Thomas and Kana telling each other, as shown in the episode, about what they've done doesn't really need telling because we, the audience, have seen it happening with out own eyes. 

I really don't have much quams with this episode, except for the hay pun at the start of the episode. It's a nitpick but AEG's puns have never been funny to me and when you explain the 'joke' it was never truly funny to begin with. 

At last we have an AEG episode that has a higher rating, might not be too high but higher than the last seven from this season so far. However this season so far 

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Overall Rating (So far):
25/80

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.7 - Duck Duck Whoosh!

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

DUCK DUCK WHOOSH!

Written by

Allan Neuwrith 

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

24/02/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

Kana wants to go extra fast, but Sodor's tracks are too twisty; to help, the engines lay some straight tracks that accidentally lead to a watery place.

Throughout the episode, all I kept saying was 'Build-A-Bridge!' literally a straight bridge that could go over the duck pond, clearly an easy win-win solution to the problem that Kana and the others were facing. Kana can go fast as ever and the pond will stay in tact with the animals. Yes it would be inconsistent but this is AEG, inconsistency is never a problem! I guess they want to push for an enviornmental episode but a bridge would not harm anyone! 

The rest of the episode was boring and the song is just worth skipping through.  

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Overall Rating (So far):
20/70

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.6 - Nia's Green Surprise

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

NIA'S GREEN SURPRISE

Written by

Jaya Ramdath

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

17/02/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

A floral delivery has the engines racing to take care of the unique plant.

You think with an engine from India that knows about the plant that Nia was given to in the mail that maybe she knows where it needs to placed and what it needs in order for it to grow? Why not have Ashima, who is suppose to be the adult character here, to teach the young engines about it maybe to give the message to read the instructions so you can understand more or listen to other people who had more experience with things instead of making her ignorant. Have the engines try to find things to make the plant grow until they realise when Ashima brought them the instructions they threw out.

The rest of the episode is just the usual standard, all the engines have to go on a wild goose chase for something with obstacles in the way contridicting things such as them having the power to jump off the rails and roll on the ground that was already established and then they get the item back in the most anti-climatic way possible. Nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing interesting. It was boring. 

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Overall Rating (So far):
19/60

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.5 - Sandy's Fine Mess

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

SANDY'S FINE MESS

Written by

Adam Beechen

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

17/02/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

With her friends' help, Sandy discovers new uses for her treasured junk.

I like how Sandy comes off as a bit of hoarder when it comes to her stuff but the whole plotline of finding new uses for her stuff is almost the same from what we've seen in 'Something Broken, Someone Blue' when Thomas lost his friend Boxy after he'd accidently destroyed it. But was repurposed into something different in the end. Sandy has an emotional connection with her stuff that she would find useful for something later which is kinda like how Thomas loved Boxy as a playmate. 

Maybe instead of Sandy being a hoarder, you can have her collecting all the stuff until there was not enough space. Have her going through that denial that she has too much stuff until she realises and knew that most of the stuff she'd collected is basically nothing that's worth it. You could even use the part when they went to recycling plant to bring the story home of where you can take stuff you want to get rid of. 

While Sandy and Thomas had different encounters, the whole episode just feels the same and speaking of the recycling plant it was also strange seeing how Thomas and Sandy discovered that Whiff's recycling plant can repurpose things despite that last season we've seen them knowing it in things such as the Lookout Mountain special. While there are many different writers of the show, I wish that AEG has someone on the team that keeps its consistency in check to avoid contridictions. 

 Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Overall Rating (So far):
16/50

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.4 - Overcommitted

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

OVERCOMMITTED

Written by

Sarah Eisenberg

Becky Wangberg

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

10/02/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

Thomas tries to be in two places at once so he doesn't disappoint his friends.

This episode was boring with the whole character being overcommitted storyline that was already done in other kids shows in whatever situation. It's not bad to teach kids this sort of stuff but it just doesn't feel unique. Part of the original series' charm was its railway aspect. Despite the characters having human characteristics, they are suppose to be steam engines in the end. Machines whose primary purpose were to work. That's unique and you could try many different scenarios with it that could make it work logically. 

While this episode had Thomas making deliveries while trying to be with Kana I just close my eyes and see this with human characters that could be doing the same thing but maybe as truck drivers or as postman etc. doing the same thing with the same outcome like the episode. Perhaps to make it more railway unique is to have Thomas or anyother engine helping out with the other engines with passengers and trucks but also has to balance out their own work and realising that he was overworking himself until the Fat Controller found out about it. 

I know we had 'Thomas' Crazy Day' but even that episode, despite its railway nature, make the characters feel more like a human than an engine. 

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Overall Rating (So far):
12/40

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.3 - Abraca-Diesel

  THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

ABRACA-DIESEL

Written by

Peter Gaffeny

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

10/02/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

After his magic trick goes wrong, Diesel learns a greater power: friendship.

I think what could've been better for this episode to make it more engaging is if you let Diesel and Sandy have an argument that resulted in her 'disappearance'. Perhaps Sandy wanted to be the magician but Diesel refused because he wanted to do it which would result in Sandy tricking him and sneaking away to make Diesel look bad only for her to realise that she had been a 'bad friend' because she made Diesel worried and over something silly. You can also have Diesel to learn his lesson that he was also bad for not letting Sandy being the magician which results in them having them being not in right over their behaviour. However the end result for this episode lacks that. There was nothing that made me feel sorry for Diesel when Sandy was helping James and Carly. The episode was bad.

You had 'Letting off Steam' from the first season that showcased Thomas and Percy getting into an argument and there wasn't even a peep from anybody, to my knowledge, who were aghast at two best friends having an argument. It happens in real life for kids, are some of the writers afraid that it might be the case of bad influence or something? A story without any conflict between characters is just dry, bland and tasteless. 

The song is just the usual. A generic song with friendship slapped all over it that has little to do with whatever the episode was trying to say. Its lyrics are just so bland and the song was just not needed for the story. 

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overall Rating (So far):
10.5/30

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.2 - Bells are Ringing

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

BELLS ARE RINGING

Written by

Tracy Nicoletti 

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

3/02/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

Percy's lucky bell is missing, so he and Thomas try to solve the mystery of its disappearance.

I think they should've made Percy more angry here since his lucky bell meant so much to him. It might not fit with the vibe that is AEG but when it comes to the engines being depicted as kids, kids can get angry when something they value something as precious goes missing and get very emotional over it. Why not make Percy angry and falsely accusing the others for taking his bell away, or so he thought, until he realised his own mistake at the end of the episode. 

They should show characters that kids are suppose to look up too with flaws which helps them to grow and learn, that's what made the original series of Thomas very popular in the first place. The episode itself is another alright but not great story and I wish they did it better.

 

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Overall Rating (So far):
8.5/20

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.1 - What's the Buzz

 Season 3 of AEG made its debut back in February 2024 in Canada, home of Nelvana, the production house where 'All Engines Go!' is animated. There is really not much to go off from for the show's third season except for the fact that it is now 26 episodes long like the original series and that to sign the season off we will be having a 60min special based around on Christmas, a major first for the franchise, called 'The Christmas Letter Express' written by Rick Suvalle who hadn't written an episode since the show's first episode back in 2021. But I'm not looking forward to it as after watching the last two 60 minute specials and seeing how they turned out, I feel it'll be another very long exhausting special with unmemorable songs to fill in time and I believe there would be not much marketing behind it from Mattel's side until it's close to its release date. But that special is another post for another day.

Season 2 of AEG was a slight improvement to its first season but overall, the former, like the latter, was very underwhelming in my opinion. Sure all my reviews is not going to bring the original series back but that was never the point to begin with. It is basically trying to look at these episode without a non-biased lens and see why they are either good or bad and what could've been better storywise and maybe someone from either Mattel or the writing staff might find these but I'm just a guy with a small blogsite. 

Recently, I've seen people trying to use the excuse that the show is 'just made for kids' and that excuse just feels like a total brush off to shut people up who are very critical of this series. People have been very critcal about BWBA and the rest of the original series over the years, including the books, that it just feels hypocritical and also just because it is a kids show doesn't mean that quality was put into it. Ever wonder why Bluey is so popular not just with kids but to adults as well who either have kids of their own or who are grandparents, aunts, uncles? And it's not just adults but teenagers as well!

One of the best things about Bluey is that it has some stories that deal with tough subjects that the older audience can understand but with total nuance towards children. The episode where Chillie's sister can't have children because she was infertile is one episode I can think of from the top of my head that has that and explain it to a child in a way they could understand which was Bluey wanting the onesie that Bingo was wearing. It was a beautiful and emotional episode, especially for adults who are actually going through with it. The only AEG episode that has that was the episode from S2 with Boxy being turned into something different. But the rest of the series, to me, AEG, was generic, loud, morally forced and comedically forced dribble, to an extent.

However berating people who are fans of the iteration of Thomas is something that I condem because at the end of the day people have different tastes and see things differently unlike maybe a majority and we must respect their individuality. Sure I might not agree with what they say but I won't go as far as berating their intelligence, unlike some people on this crazy, very broken, chatoic world known as the internet. And I have more sympathy for fans of AEG because as someone who actually enjoys BWBA, despite its problems, I understand the annoyance of being belittled by some who have a complete meltdowns over someone liking something that they don't.  

But enough rambling, maybe Season 3 might be better but I'm starting off this season with extremely low expectations. But thankfully it's 26 episodes rather than 52, but still split in half. So here are my views of S3A, but first:

THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

WHAT'S THE BUZZ

Written by

John Loy

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

3/02/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

When bees settle on Thomas' funnel, he seeks a better home for them.

Surprisingly, after seeing two mediocre and dissapointing season openers, this one was actually alright. Not bad or great, just average. It feels almost like an episode that could work in the original series, I know we had 'Buzzy Bees' back in 2010 and after watching the latter for the first time in years, while reviewing this episode to see if the plots are similar, which thankfully is not because this episode was much better with its pacing and unlike the 2010 episode it had more of a story instead of a formula, despite the three strikes formula in this episode. 

The song however is just, you guessed it, another bland forgettable song which is about not giving up. The messages these songs tell us are what's not bad. What's bad about them is that I feel they don't allow the audience to digest the message themselves because it feels like they need to telling them what it is. Kids are more smarter than you think and society should never underestimate them. 

 This episode was just moderate but not very memorable, like any episode of AEG. It's a moderate start to S3A but expectations are still very low.

And despite me mentioning 'Buzzy Bees', no it doesn't mean I'll be re-reviewing S13-16 anytime in the future. After sitting through that episode to see if the plots are similar, they had never aged well.    

Series Rating:
What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Overall Rating (So far):
4.5/10