DVD Review: A Day On Awdry's Railway

Back in June I said that 'Animal Adventures' was going to be my last DVD to review and then a few days later from the Talyllyn [Taly-k-yn] Railway's twitter page, this took me by surprise and to be honest this made me more excited compare to the DVDs that Mattel Creations had released this year. With it being the 110th birthday of the Rev.W.Awdry this year and the fact that the Talyllyn Railway has a special place within the Awdry family and the world of Thomas, a special DVD, by the railway, had been complied of his Ffarquhar layout, which is now proudly on display at the Narrow Gauge Museum at the Talyllyn Railway in Wales. So let's take a dive into it. But first:

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

A DAY ON AWDRY'S RAILWAY

Told by

The Rev.W.Awdry

Special Features

Awdry Interview

Release Date

17/08/21

Distrubited by

Rheilffordd Talyllyn Railway 

PRESENTATION

The main feature of the DVD is the 'Timetable sequence' made by the Rev.W.Awdry of Thomas' branch line, the MK.2 layout, which was made for exhibition purposes, which is a common thing in railway modelling for those who want to have an accurate working railway. The three sequences are a morning, afternoon and night sequence featuring the original models created by Awdry himself back in his lifetime. His Thomas model was exactly how it was created in 1948. The timetable, judging from the rare pictures shown in the presentation, was done around 1973. The Rev's timetable, written out by *Luci/Chara on twitter, can be found here via a link.

Their was some interesting subtle comedic moments within the sequence such as Mavis showing off Daisy with her work and Percy saying, although censored, some very colourful words about Mavis' shunting up at the quarry, and yes this is canon to the Railway Series, Percy swears! Their were other interesting things too such as the observation saloon coaches being used for enthusiast specials, which is hauled by Stepney in the DVD. However they are often pulled by Bloomer, an engine that Awdry created but is only seen in model form, who was the Fat Controller's contribution to the Stockton & Darlington Railway's 150th in 1975. 

Bloomer's basis is the LNWR 'Bloomer' class locomotive designed by

James McConnell in 1851. His backstory can be seen here.

Bloomer was mentioned in Awdry's 'History of Sodor' lecture about the 'Railways of Sodor' lecture that the Talyllyn Railway had hosted during their Awdry Extravaganza event that they'd held back in August 2021, which was presented by British Railway Historian, TV presenter and Railway Series fan, Tim Dunn. You can buy the lecture's live stream on the railway's website for about £5.00 and you can get the stuff that was shown at the lecture as well. That's about $6.90USD and $9.41AUD and it would be worth it if you're a Railway Series or Thomas fan and not only that but you will be helping out the railway, especially in the times of COVID-19. 

This happened to Skarloey, which happened to Talyllyn. He was placed on a haulage wagon

so that it could run on standard gauge rails.

I'd watched the lecture via live stream back in August and, while condense, it was amazing to hear so much of what Awdry had written such as Neil being saved from the cutter's torch, Bloomer and Skarloey running on standard gauge tracks in a haulage wagon when Neil was all worned out, yes Awdry had written that! Hopefully one day we see all of these lecture notes being compiled into one huge book, kind of like the Rev.W.Awdry and George Awdry's Sodor book from 1987. Their is so much more detail about Sodor and its railway that I would love to see.

Their was one akward bit and that was the sequence when Mavis took the milk van to collect her trucks in the third sequence, however Luke Ryan, a volunteer of the Talyllyn Railway and well-known Awdry expert, had stated that Mavis' sequence was written in the timetable however they didn't have the tape that include that. I was little preplexed by that but I'm glad that it's all cleared up and I would let it slide.

The whole presentation was well done and it was filmed really well with the angles and locations and it really gave such immersiveness that it feels like you are watching a real working railway with Awdry narrating it along with two other people, their names however aren't known but it's been said that they were friends of Awdry. That to me is the magic of model railways. They give you this creative little world that you're in control over. It is more fun when you don't have a timetable but I can see the fun in all that after watching this DVD. 

This DVD is worth the money and, as I said for the lecture, the money goes back into helping out the railway which has a close connection to the Awdry family and the Thomas world. Probably the best Thomas DVD that came out this year.

SPECIAL FEATURES

The DVD has one special feature which is an audio interview of the Rev.W.Awdry about the creation of Thomas and the Railway Series books, how he came up with the Island of Sodor and his model railway. He even added about how the carriages were always female and that Daisy was technically a coach. Although it's kinda strange since Mavis is a female engine and she isn't a coach. However the short interview was interesting and the rare never-before-seen pictures were interesting too of Awdry's railway modelling over the years. 

OVERALL

As I said before, this is the best Thomas DVD that came out this year. The other two while OK at best weren't really the best and although 'All Engines Go!' will be getting DVDs, especially in the US since their hadn't been a new release over their since 2019, however I won't be reviewing them and I hadn't planned on reviewing them since I don't want to waste my money on something that people, outside the fandom, are already hating on. I believe I heard that the Talyllyn are going to make more copies of these Awdry Railway DVDs, though I can't find the tweet that supported that.

I hope more copies are being made because I think Thomas fans will enjoy this DVD. It's simple but it had great charm and it's great to see that despite Mattel's Thomas reboot exisiting, a well known narrow gauge railway is keeping Awdry's legacy alive. 

Thier is more ways to enjoy everything Awdry. If you have twitter you can follow 'The Awdry Study' which would, at times, showcase some rarity once owned by Awdry or as I had mentioned earlier, you can buy the History of Sodor lecture on the railway's shop website. 

This would be my last DVD review and probably my last post for a while until December with my final retrospective post of the DVDs that I had reviewed during the year, despite it being three releases this year. I had fun reviewing these in the past nine years but sometimes all good things have to come to an end. I did say I might re-review the BWBA movie and the series that came alongside with it. But I just can't make any promise to do so. I might as well make a post in regards to the Marc Forster movie, whenever that comes out, since that would be worth something to review. 

Thank you so much for reading these past DVD reviews, even if you agree or disagree with the things I'd said I'm happy that you had taken your time to read them. I will keep this blog up though as I have no plans on closing it down. 

OVERALL RATING

10/10

DVD Review: Marvellous Machinery

I know I said once that I was waiting for Australia's release but since ABC went with 'A Colourful World' instead this year, I bought the UK copy back in September 2020. But here is my DVD review, but first: 

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

MARVELLOUS MACHINERY

Written by

Paul Larson & Laura Beaumont

Episodes

A New Arrival

World of Tomorrow

Sonny's Second Chance

Kenji On The Rails

Directed by

Joey So:

A New Arrival

World of Tomorrow

Directed by

Ian Cherry:

Sonny's Second Chance

Kenji On The Rails

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT/Mattel)

Tracy Blagdon (Jam Filled)

Special Features

Meet the Characters - Sonny

Song - How Does It Work

Release Date

28/09/20 - UK

Distributed by

HIT/Mattel Creations - UK

HIT/Mattel Creations/ABC Kids - AUS

EPISODES

One thing different about the DVD is that they had merged the episodes together to make it as a movie, and I seem to remember on a Village Cinema website in Australia earlier this year in March that there was going to be a screening of this special, this was before the COVID-19 epidemic was turned into a global pandemic. So maybe this is what we were going to get if there weren't any pandemic. I can tell that the editing felt a little awkward in some transitions, perhaps they could've extend some of the scenes to give it some better flow. The only transition that I find smooth was from the end of 'Sonny's Second Chance' and then onto 'Kenji on The Rails Again'. I also think it was a little odd to have Thomas say the title of the first part of the two parter special, they could've deleted that like they did with the other ones, perhaps maybe they forgot to edit it out but those are just nitpicks. However the way it was set kinda reminds me of the day of the movies from 2005-2018 where they had a full story and a song at the end.

Looking back at the two part special, I still liked it despite its over the topness. It was far more entertaining and a tad more memorable than 'Digs and Discoveries' & 'Steam Team to the Rescue', despite the use of the fear of replacement story, but it never really felt hammered down unlike some episodes. The stories were entertaining as well as its message that just because something better was made doesn't mean that the things in the past aren't useful. Plus I liked the retrofuturistic style they went with and it was a pretty common thing in the 60's, which is visually implied in the show. I understand that not many people like it because it wasn't what Awdry had envisioned but neither was S5, Magic Railroad etc. even if people have the nostalgia goggles for those things. I will say this in regards to the upcoming 25th season next year, I hope they do take Thomas to Japan, as implied by Hiro in Kenji's episode, but I find it to be a long shot. But the information about the new season is a bit scarce. To read more of my views, please click the links provided above. 

SPECIAL FEATURES

Honestly, the special features have become bare bones in the last few years. All we got were a song and a video about Sonny and that's it. You think with this being Ruth's first apperance in the special they added her video too along with Kenji? Heck Kenji had one episode to himself and it was apart of this special! Perhaps they'll be in a future release next year. I wish the special features have more variety like they were between 2013-2016. 

OVERALL

I think the DVD is worth it for kids who enjoy the fast pace nature and over the top actions, however I don't think it would be suitable for children on the autistic spectrum and I don't how they feel of the new changes to the show from 2018. Sadly I don't think Mattel would know either because they'd donated money to the infamous 'Autistic Speak' organisation where they treat autisum as a disease rather than spreading awareness, and to think they had a character from the show who had autistic traits. But I digress. We know now that this would be the last DVD for 2020 and it's strange that we hadn't got the S21 collection this year whereas the last few years we had them on DVD. I have a feeling that more people would rather stream them than buy a physical copy since kids would have the episodes already from the other releases, hence why they were released on Amazon Prime in the UK and US and Stan here in Australia this year instead. But I could be wrong and maybe we might get a release next year instead. We know certaintly that it isn't COVID delaying it since we had other DVDs released in this past year. 

OVERALL RATING

7/10

With 2020 finally coming to an end and with no new DVDs coming out until early next year, look out for my yearly retrospective post of the DVDs that were released in 2020 on December 31st. In the mean time, my S18 reviews are still in the works and I would bring more reviews between S19-21 soon after that.

DVD Review: Carnival Day!

After writing my blog post on 'The Royal Engine' back in May 2020, I said that would be my last DVD review for the time being and then two days later this was revealed by Steamteam3211 on twitter. Feels a bit funny to me. Anyway so here's the first episodic DVD release for the year 2020 and here are my views on the DVD itself, but first:

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

CARNIVAL DAY!

Written by

Davey Moore

Camille Ucan & Rose Johnson

Episodes

Batucada

Grudge Match

The Other Big Engine

Panicky Percy

Diesel Do Right

Rangers on the Rails

Directed by

Dianna Basso

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT/Mattel)

Tracy Blagdon (Jam Filled)

Special Features

Meet the Characters - Marcio and Marcia

Release Date

27/07/20 - UK

Distributed by

HIT/Mattel Creations - UK

EPISODES

I look back at these episode and my opinion on them when they were new are still held up. Although I am coming to terms that the international stories aren't too strong compare to what we had in the past. But I try not to do comparisons. It was interesting to learn something different when it comes to Brazillian culture and I still think 'Batucada' was a simple but enjoyable episode. I kind of forgot that the Brazillian episodes were actually good, not great. 

Although, I can't say the same about some Sodor episodes. I'm still in the middle when it comes to Percy's episode. I don't like but I certaintly don't hate it and I still don't like 'Diesel Do Right' and I wish the episode was more about Diesel being jealous of Rebecca being praised alot. But looking back at 'Rangers on the Rails', I can't say it was the best but looking at the other two Emily episodes we got the next season, Rangers wasn't too bad for an Emily story. I feel that it was lacking something else though. You can read more of my views about them by clicking the link above.

SPECIAL FEATURES

The only special features we got is the usual 'Meet the Characters' segment and that's it. I find it odd that it's about Marcio and Marcia despite the fact that the episode they were in, 'Thomas and the Forest Engines' was not added in as a bonus episode. Surely for the UK audience they might want to see who these characters are, right? To me they should've kept the characters segments that were in 'Steam Team To The Rescue' for this release instead. They were the central characters from the Brazil episode. This is the thing that I find sad about how low the Thomas DVDs are becoming, when it comes to special features. Seven years ago, which isn't really that long ago, we had intervals throughout the DVD with segments like Mr. Perkins' storytime, The Earl's Quiz, Calling All Engines etc. there were segements to look forward too and something that added more value and entertainment. I mean Mattel and HIT Entertainment had those Mr. Evans segments filmed for YouTube maybe give them a home release? It's just sad how barebones the special features are becoming, hopefully during the hiatus period Mattel and HIT overlook how to make the DVDs more interesting.

The only thing that made it different was that it was for 'Marvellous Machineary', despite that they weren't in the special at all and that the footage was specially made instead of using clips from the one S24 episode they'd appeared in. 

I don't know if it counts but the other special thing they had was something not featured in the DVD but came with it and it was the 'Celebrating 75 years of Friendship' poster with all the characters old and new, including the Rev.W.Awdry, the miniature engines and Flying Scotsman. I think it was kind of nice that they'd added that in, although it would've been even more better if were in 'The Royal Engine' DVD given how that was released specially for the 75th back in May but beggars can't be choosers.  

OVERALL

Honestly, I kinda see this as an OK release. The Brazil episodes were good enough, entertainment wise, but the Sodor episodes weren't really the best ones from S23. I would recommend the idea of buying the episodes seperatley on iTunes instead, depending on what episode you find more enjoyable from this DVD. That's what I do when these release make their way to Australia. To me, I at least choose the Brazil episodes over Sodor. Anyway I hope after this release we see S21 getting a compliation release soon but the next DVD the UK will be getting is 'Marvellous Machineary' on September 6th, I probably might wait until that one is released in Australia, probably depending when ABC Australia releases it.  

OVERALL RATING

5/10

---

COMING SOON

MY CGI RE-REVIEW OF 

S17-21

DVD Review: Steam Team to the Rescue

Welcome to the new year and the newest decade of 2020. As we prepare for the 75th anniversary year of the Railway Series books, we got our first DVD from the UK of the 2019 Sodor special 'Steam Team to the Rescue'. So here are my views on the contents that this DVD provides. But first:

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

STEAM TEAM TO THE RESCUE

Episodes Written by

Davey Moore
Micheal White
Davey Moore
Becky Overton
Camille Ucan & Rose Johnson

Directed by

Joey So
Dianna Basso

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT/Mattel)

Tracy Blagdon (Jam Filled)

Special Features
Meet the Characters

Release Date

13/01/20

Distributed by

HIT/Mattel Creations 

EPISODES
Here are my views on the episodes 
that are featured in this DVD:

STEAM TEAM TO THE RESCUE
- FREE THE ROADS
- CHUCKLESOME TRUCKS
- GORDON GETS THE GIGGLES
- THOMAS MAKES A MISTAKE
- LAID BACK SHANE
- WISH YOU WERE HERE

SPECIAL FEATURES

Pretty basic features really, all they are are just the usual 'Meet the Characters' videos of the Brazillian engines. There were some info about the characters and as usual they were nice. But that was it really. You think maybe they might've added the song from the Steam Team special as well as a karaoke video but I guess for whatever they decided against it. 

OVERALL

In the end, the DVD was alright. The episodes are not too bad in my opinion but I find it a little sad that their special feature was lacking in variety. 

Rating: 6/10

DVD Review: A Colourful World

THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED BY THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

A COLOURFUL WORLD

Episodes

An Engine Of Many Colours
Hunt the Truck
Counting On Nia
Tiger Trouble
Thomas Goes to Bollywood
Thomas in the Wild
Thomas and the Dragon
The Water Wheel

Special Features
Thomas' Big World: Different Ways To See The World
Thomas' Big World: Still The Best Of Friends
Meet The Characters: Ashima
Meet The Characters: Noor Jehan
UN Stories: Life On Land
UN Stories: Gender Equality

Written by

Micheal White
Lee Pressman
Becky Overton
Davey Moore

Directed by

Dianna Basso

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT/Mattel)

Micaela Winter (HIT/Mattel)

Tracy Blagdon (Jam Filled)

Distributed by

HIT Entertainment/Mattel Creations (UK)

Release Date

29/07/19

Before we await for the upcoming two parter special 'Digs and Discoveries', the UK had finally been given the final S22 DVD of Thomas & Friends. Featuring two episodes from new writer and Thomas fan, Micheal White. So here are my views on 'A Colourful World'. 

EPISODES

The DVD consists three Sodor and China episodes and two India episodes. The first three were really good episodes and I still hold my opinion on them when the episodes debuted last year. 'An Engine of Many Colours' and 'Hunt The Truck' may have been written to the standard formula for the refreshed series, but how the way Micheal White handled them makes them the best episodes of the season in my opinion. The fantasy sequences really fit well into the story in James' episode they were dreams and in Bill and Ben's case it fits in well because it adds more to their worries. They were not just randomly placed to add as filler, they were massaged well into the story. 

'Counting On Nia' is an episode I feel that would relate to actual immigrants when they enter into a new country and Nia not understanding numbers in english was also something that is new to me. I remember after watching the episode I researched about numbers in Africa and it turns out that they are written differently. I understand that not everyone likes Nia because she replaced Edward and she didn't have any episodes to flesh out, but I didn't like the criticism that she was getting and that was because some claimed that Nia was a 'Mary Sue'. A character who is absolutely perfect and bears no flaws not one bit, almost like Superman. To me her not understanding numbers in english is a bit of a flaw because she was new to Sodor and it resulted her to have an accident until Annie and Clarabel had helped her understanding numbers through animals, plants and all. It gives the message that there can be solutions to a problem. To me it makes me believe that Nia has story potential for things that can relate to an immigrant maybe have an episode dealing with home sickness or wanting to celebrate Christmas in the way she had celebrated in her own country and have one of the Sodor engines being angry that there traditions are being spoilt for someone else.

Another episode that I did like and I considered this to be the best of the China episodes and that was 'Thomas and the Dragon'. It feels like Davey Moore's 'Batucada' episode that he did for the Brazil as it combines both culture and story so well and 'Tiger Trouble' was probably the best India episode before 'Crowning Around' came along and took the top spot. The India episodes from S22 weren't the best lot of episodes despite that I think 'Trusty Trunky' and 'Thomas and The Monkey Palace' as OK but looking back, the conflict wasn't strong in those stories. However 'Tiger Trouble' had added much strong conflict dealing with animal hunters and a good moral on how we should protect animals from harm. Plus it gave Shankar a bit depth as a lover of animals. A bit like Henry and his love of nature.

'Thomas Goes To Bollywood' wasn't awful but a bit bad. I still believe that it was a huge loss for Rajiv to take the spotlight with his arrogant persona, thankfully 'Crowning Around' made up for that. The ending wasn't really good though as there was no real danger for the arrogant actor and everyone hailed Thomas as a hero. It could've been better if the truck of mattresses wasn't placed probably for the actor and Thomas had to act fast to save him from an accident.

'Thomas In The Wild' was OK but it was more educational and less on story. But the Panda's I say are adorable. However I can take that episode over any Miller/Barlow era story any day and the fantasy sequence gave me a good chuckle and it kind of make sense considering that Thomas would've never seen a Panda.

'The Water Wheel' however was just confusing, the story started off with Hong-Mei talking about how bamboo is important, then it was about Thomas chasing a water wheel and the moral was about how important water is. I said it before in my episode review and I'll say it here. The episode could've worked if it were focused on Hong-Mei with her competitive and one track mind behaviour. There was no rain happening for a while and it was a hot summers day, Hong-Mei was bored in her shed as she can't run and so went out of her shed despite the ban. After racing around she was running out of water and tries to find a water tower but all them are dried up because of the lack of rain. Luckily she found a water wheel made of bamboo and the people helped her by filling her water tank from the river. Hong-Mei was happy and learnt that saving water is important.

SPECIAL FEATURES

The special features are pretty much what you can find on the offical Thomas US YouTube channel. However these videos are UK dubbed so for some it is a first. The first video is about Thomas explaining about different ways to travel around the globe. A nice video for young kids to understand the difference of travel. The second is of course a way of explaining to kids about friends who may live far away but that you are still the best of friends no matter how far you really are. I think they should've placed this video on the Steam Team DVD when it was released in 2018 to give more kids the message about Edward and Henry's departure from the Steam Team. But despite that it is still a good message to kids. 

The next video is another 'Meet the Characters' and this time with Ashima. This video however was never released on the YouTube channel until June 26th 2019. It was first discovered through a user on twitter through an on-demand streaming website called 'Kabillion'. Why was this never released with the others officially, I don't know. The other is about Noor Jehan. These videos are a nice way to express about the characters and what they do, but they don't really justify the personalities of these characters. I hope the writers of the show give these two there time to shine and not make them static characters.

We also have the two UN goal videos that were released on the US channel a year ago. Since the refresh series was shown to the public, Mattel had announced that they've been working with the United Nations and explain about the goals through Thomas to young kids. I like these videos and I really don't see how teaching kids to respect everyone equally and to respect life on land as 'politically correct' or political considering that the some people of the world don't really show respect that much today to other people and animals.  

OVERALL

The DVD doesn't have the best of the episodes but I don't think they are not god awful to sit through. If you feel the same about these episode I recommend buying episodes separately on iTunes, that's what I do when Australia release DVDs here as they are the same as the UK's. But if you have kids that like these episodes, then this DVD could be for you. The special features are nice and I think they are goods for kids too.  

Rating: 7/10

DVD Review: The Complete Series 20

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

THE COMPLETE SERIES 20

Written by

Lee Pressman

Andrew Brenner

Davey Moore

Helen Farrall

Tit for Tat, Mike's Whistle & 

Useful Railway 
Originally Written by

The Rev.W.Awdry

Directed by 

Dianna Basso 

Produced by

Robert Anderson (Arc Production)

Tracy Blagdon (Arc/Jam Filled)

Ian McCue (HIT/Mattel)

Episodes

Sidney Sings

Toby's New Friend

Henry Gets the Express

Diesel and the Ducklings

Bradford the Brakevan

Saving Time

Ryan & Daisy

Pouty James

Blown Away

The Way She Does It

Letters to Santa 

Love Me Tender

The Railcar and the Coaches

Mucking About

Cautious Connor

All in Vain

Buckled Tracks and Bumpy Trucks

Tit for Tat

Mike's Whistle

Useful Railway

Extraordinary Engines - BONUS DISC

Engine of the Future 

Henry in the Dark

The Missing Breakdown Train

Hugo and the Airship

Three Steam Engines Gruff

Skiff and the Mermaid

Release Date

27/05/19

Distributed by

HIT Entertainment/Mattel Creations

After the debut of S19, some fans weren't really hyped up for S20 after what we saw last season. However all that changed when this season aired in the UK in 2016. Lots of good and interesting episodes including three adaptations of the Small Railway Engines book and the last time Railway Series stories were adapted was from the fourth season! Now that three years had passed, does this series still hold up? Let's find out.

EPISODES

The first series collection DVD to be released after BWBA being brand new. To be honest it wasn't as strange to watch these episodes today after seeing the freshened up series. However you can see the difference in the pacing of the stories of course. Does the series still hold up though after three years? I believe so. I still have a love for these episodes and I'm still amazed that, at the time, 21 years later we finally have three more Railway Series adapted stories, something that I thought would never happen given that the show is more focused on original stories not from the books. I honestly don't believe that we'll see more of these happening within the new series that we have today and I personally don't see it as a huge loss and I'll explain that later in my overall section.

I still love 'Diesel and The Ducklings'. Diesel to me is a very complex character and the episode makes him more of a third dimensional character and honestly I liked that much more than him being just a villain. It gives the moral that it's OK to showcase your soft side no matter how rough and tough you look and quite honestly, we need an episode like that in today's world. However I do wish that Duck was the one blackmailing Diesel about his soft side as he and Diesel have a bad history together and for Duck his message would be that revenge can't be sweet, of course this is what lead me to write the quadrilogy for my NWR Tales series.  

I still stand by my opinion that I stated back in 2017 in my 'Team Up With Thomas' DVD review that the episode 'Blown Away' really isn't one of my favourites. Skiff to me was a bland character, he wasn't interesting in 'Sodor's Legend of The Lost Treasure' and he didn't have that much character progression. I know he stood up towards Sailor John for doing something wrong but it only lasted for like a few seconds. It's that one moment you see it but if you turn your head and focus on something you've missed it. He's not by all means a terrible character I just wish they've done more for him than being this naive little sail boat.

I'm not too much of a fan of 'Pouty James' as I feel that his character has been flanderised here. But I kind of have a bit of soft spot for it as I can see Brenner capturing the classic series feeling towards it after rewatching it for sometime. The same can be applied for 'Henry Gets The Express', despite that Henry didn't have much of a personality to shine here, it was still an enjoyable episode and I see this working in the classic series.

It's also strange that the two Glynn episode's weren't on this release despite the fact that they were released alongside two S20 DVDs and were placed within S20. There's really an unknown reason, maybe because they were placed within the S21 package? But it looks like we might have to wait until next year to find out.  All the episodes from this DVD looking back is very good in my opinion and I believe they still hold up in the test of time. It's not a perfect season as there are some dudded ones here and there.

BONUS DISC

The bonus DVD is pretty much a left over from probably some unsold copies of the 2017 tent pole DVD. There are still the DVD commercials for Thomas products like the now defunct 'Adventures' range and the 'My First Thomas' baby merchandise, not the Golden Bear toy range. I haven't seen the episodes from this DVD apart from 'Three Steam Engines Gruff' and I have a bit of a soft spot for it and I think it's the nostalgia that's talking as I do love the Thomas, Toby and Percy combo here. But looking outside from the rose coloured glasses of nostalgia, the episode is still a dud. To be honest this could've worked for the likes of Bill, Ben and Timothy. 

Imagine that it was Halloween on Sodor and the twins love to play spooky tricks on the engines, especially Timothy. The twins made up a story about the three billy goats gruff to easily scare Timothy and one night there was a strange sound at the clay pits. Timothy told the twins who were shocked to hear that there is such a thing. The three engines heard the sound again realising that it was Trevor helping out Marion delivering some loose rock from a storm. This may sound similar to my Halloween story in 2018, of course the idea from that episode did come from SiF's blog review of 'Three Steam Engines Gruff'. 

I'm still not a fan of Hugo. I felt his debut episode was rather flat. He was never given a reason to be on Sodor and compare his episode to 'Harvey to the Rescue'. In Harvey's episode, the engines criticised him for being different because he has a crane on top of his boiler however after Percy had an accident he proved his worth by rescuing him and the other engines found him useful because of it. In Hugo's episode, he was being put down upon because of the constant fear that the steam engines on Sodor might be replaced by him but because Percy saw how they were putting him down they cheer for him. It would've been better if Andrew Brenner had gone for Hugo trying prove his worth, in my opinion he could've worked alongside Daisy and she sees him as a threat to her, it could've been unique as we have a diesel fearing to be replaced by another diesel. Just like Salty fearing that Porter might replaced him in 'Away From the Sea' in S17. I remember hearing from SiF that there were going to be more plans for Hugo but I think with the production of BWBA being green lit and with that S21 had to be cut short, he was probably given the chop. However if Thomas goes to Germany in BWBA, perhaps he might interact with him there. 

Another episode that I didn't find as entertaining is 'The Missing Breakdown Train'. It was nice to see Judy and Jerome again but the entire episode was almost nothing. It was two cranes wanting to be moved again and that's it not much else until Daisy fell off the line. I think a much better approach should be the two cranes wishing to be used for an emergency but Rocky was doing all the rescue work. But when Daisy had her accident, Thomas was to fetch Rocky but he was busy elsewhere and the only cranes were Judy and Jerome. After rescuing the search and rescue centre vehicles congratulated them and the Fat Controller made them members of the team. It would give off the message that two are better than one. Plus when it comes to the running time you can see why they made it shorter now. 8 3/4 minutes for such a minimal story relies so much on filler to fill in the time and I think this episode could maybe work within the new time limit. Honestly this was probably the weakest tent-pole release in my opinion. Not much of the episodes were interesting and the only one that was good was 'Henry In The Dark'.

OVERALL

Season 20 still holds up in my opinion but it's not a perfect season. There some good stories and there are some duds. I love the Railway Series adaptations that Brenner had brought in, but with the idea of them working in the series now, I don't see it as a huge loss. It's great that more of the Rev.W.Awdry's stories had been placed in the TV series canon but with the shorter running time and the fantasy sequences eating most of it up, I see it as impossible. But why isn't it a huge loss? If you look around on the internet you will find many fan made productions of the non-adapted stories in any form (Wood, Hornby, Bachmann, Trainz etc.) it may not be the TV series but it's the best of what we got. Plus when you look at the official YouTube channel, the Railway Series stories are still being told by Mark Moraghan's character, Mr. Evans, which was 'Thomas and the Guard'. I don't know how many shorts there are but I hope there are more to come.

RATING: 6.5/10

DVD Review: Monkey Trouble!

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

MONKEY TROUBLE!

Written by

Becky Overton

Tim Bain

Lee Pressman

Andrew Brenner

Episodes

- Thomas and The Monkey Palace

- Cyclone Thomas

- Banjo and The Bushfire

- Samson and the Fireworks

- School of Duck

- Rosie is Red

- Seeing Is Believing 

- Apology Impossible

-Thomas' Animal Ark

Special Features

Karaoke Music Video

Meet the Characters

Thomas' Great Big World Shorts

Release Date

8/04/19 - UK

5/06/19 - AUS

Distributed by

Mattel Creations (UK)

ABC Kids (AUS)

Here is our first Thomas & Friends DVD for the year 2019 for the UK. There had been some worry for the future of physical media, particularly for the North American audience as Thomas is shown exclusively on Nick Jr despite a deal made between Mattel and the streaming services (Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime) a year ago. The UK had some worry as well, since the last Thomas DVD released was in September 2018. But of course all that was settled when this was shown on Amazon UK and with the Thomas DVDs selling well over, Mattel wouldn't give up on releasing more to Thomas' native homeland. So here are my views on the recent release. 

EPISODES

The DVD consists eight episodes from the 22nd series featuring Australia and India from the international side of the series and five episodes from the Sodor side. I'll start off with the dudded episodes first and the first one is 'Apology Impossible'. I hate this episode and I think it had so many opportunities to make Philip grow as a character. We saw him standing up to a bigger engine for the first time and he is still acting all wimpy and not doing anything towards James like why not have him, Thomas, Paxton and Rebecca helping him pushing James away from the bridge. Plus I still do think Gordon would've been a better option rather than James. Another episode that is a dud is from Australia called 'Banjo and The Bushfire'. I still think the title was pointless and while the story wasn't bad it really wasn't good. I mean the episode could've been about why fire and wildlife don't mix and how that can harm the animals and their homes. Tamika's sole appearance is nothing but barebones here and I hope with S23 coming soon and for a fact that Australia will be in it next season, we see her in it again. Her and the other international engines need better treatment in my opinion when it comes to development. 

Now onwards to the other episodes. I honestly don't see anything bad from the Monkey Palace episode it was not a perfect episode but it's better than the other India episodes barring 'Tiger Trouble'. The same can be said about 'Cyclone Thomas' too, while not perfect with Thomas not being told that he shouldn't be playing doctor as it is a serious job but it had a good message about wanting to help in anyway.

I do think 'School of Duck', 'Rosie Is Red', 'Seeing Is Believing' and 'Thomas' Animal Ark' were the best episodes among on the DVD. My views on these episode are still the same as when I first watched them so please follow the link that is highlighted on the episode title.

SPECIAL FEATURES

The music video of the new theme song is pretty much that. What I think they should've done was rather than using the theme song, they should've used the extended version that can be downloaded on iTunes or streamed on Spotify and use clips from various seasons and the BWBA movie. Kids would love it but I think it would've been better if there was more. 

There are also the 'Thomas' Great Big World' segments. One was focused on the animals of the world and the other was about the new steam team. Not really anything special but it was a nice and informative for kids and I think the current steam team videos with the updated rivets and detail on the main characters are much better compare to the one here. Not a big fan of the jokey stuff in the videos either but I've heard worse (*stares at 'The Great Model Railway Challenge' hosts and there uninspiring puns*)

Then you have the 'Meet the Characters' videos and as usual just about the international characters that were on the DVD such as Tamika, Shankar and Rajiv. I will say the scene of Rajiv and the Bollywood actor at the station would've been much a better Bollywood episode. 

OVERALL

How 'Thomas Goes To Bollywood' SHOULD'VE been.

While the DVD has a couple of duds, it wasn't that bad in my opinion. There are some good episodes to watch through and while the special features aren't that great in my opinion they were fine and harmless. Personally I buy a handful of episodes that I've enjoyed and have them on my phone and while I do like buying a physical DVD, I do see the benefits of downloading and streaming, but it has its own limits too with some content deleted when there licensing is up. It's nice to see that physical media is still going strong in the UK as well as Australia but with the way things are going on in the US, I think it might be because there is no US distributor right now. Take a look at iTunes US for Thomas content. All of the DVD length videos are gone including the classic series and yearly specials and the only ones left are S16-20. The only place is Amazon Prime and even they aren't releasing new content to their streaming service. 

I believe that Paramount might do the job considering that Viacom and Nickelodeon got exclusive rights to be the merchandise agents and that Paramount are owned by Viacom as well. There hasn't been a DVD released there since 2017 and there are parents on Facebook are frustrated right now with the lack of it. To me this damaging of the show's popularity in the US with the new series being exclusive to one channel that parents have to buy and with the lack of newer content means not much money for Mattel/HIT Entertainment and the only way for parents to find the new Thomas content is through YouTube recordings from the people who do have the subscription. Something that Mattel/HIT as a business would not love. If anyone from Mattel/HIT are reading this PLEASE do something about it for everyone, this is poor customer service.

Rating: 6.5/10

Monkey Trouble is out now at UK shops and will be released in Australia on June 5th