THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE
TRAVELS WITH TERENCE
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
44/140
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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
