S5 Ep.20: Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday

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

SIR TOPHAM HATT'S HOLIDAY

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton 

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date:

22/10/98

Plot:

The Fat Controller, Sir Topham Hatt is on holiday with his family. However, trouble gets in the way.

PRO:

- Percy pushing the river boat on a flatbed was funny.

- The mention of Lady Hatt being 'Wife' should be in today's episodes.

CON:

N/A

Another episode focused on the humans of Sodor. There should be more episodes like them and this is a firm favourite. The story is great, it focused on the Fat Controller and his family and I do like how they mention Lady Hatt as 'wife' as many of the recent Thomas episodes don't mention that anymore. I do like how Annie and Clarabel were turned out in the end, they look smart and good looking as coaches. The episode is great and is a favourite of mine. 

Rating: 5/5

S5 Ep.19 Happy Ever After

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

HAPPY EVER AFTER

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton 

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date:

20/10/98

Plot:

Percy is to find things for a good luck package for Mrs. Kyndley's daughter's wedding. 

PRO:

- N/A

CON:

- Why take the buffers? Maybe a foreman is waiting for them at a rail yard?

- Shouldn't 'Slow Coach' be a workmen hut?

- Wouldn't Mrs. Kyndley's daughter's lips would get burnt after kissing Percy.

The episode is not bad, but certainly mature for a Thomas episode. The story is OK, but it lack some railway realisim, sorry to be a nitpicker here on my con list. 

Rating: 2.5/5

S5 Ep.18: Oliver's Find

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

OLIVER'S FIND

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton 

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date:

17/10/98

Plot:

Oliver is longing for a nice run and after his accident with some trucks, the Fat Controller put him on the mail run. However, Oliver was late due to Harold having trouble and a lazy signalman. Oliver ran down an old branch line and crashed into a shed. Oliver was found and so was some old homes. 

PRO:

- N/A

CON:

- Since when Oliver became a shunter? He should be working on 'The Little Western'.
- Toad not used as his brake van during the mail run. 

- Their is no explanation of the two old homes, the station and the shed that the Fat Controller and Oliver found. 

This is just a bad episode, since when did Oliver become a shunter? He should be running 'The Little Western' with Duck. Plus, there was no explanation about the branch line? Did something happen their, those two homes? What are they, the Fat Controller's childhood home? The writing is OK, but how the way they treated Oliver is not OK. 

Rating: 2/5

S5 Ep.17 Thomas and The Rumours

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

THOMAS AND THE RUMOURS

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton 

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date:

15/10/98

Plot:

The engines were jumping to conclusions about Harold taking a special visitor instead of an engine. But it turns out it was something different. 

PRO:
- A great moral about jumping to conclusions.
- The crash was excellent. 

CON:
N/A

Although you can now see the engines going to a different line by themselves, here you see Gordon and his driver missing a signal, something that can really happen to an engine in real life. Like TUGS, the story has a great moral for children and that is 'jumping to conclusions', like the episode 'Sunshine' when the star fleet thought Sunshine was out of control and was blaming him for the trouble, but it turns out Zorran did it all to try and snag the ocean liner contract. Here, you have the engines thinking that Harold wanting to get rid of them, but it turns out that the gentlemen was finding a suitable ground from the air for the children's playground. 

 The episode is good and I do enjoy watching it.

Rating: 4/5

S5 Ep.16: Thomas, Percy and Old Slow Coach

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

THOMAS, PERCY AND OLD SLOW COACH

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date:

13/10/98

Plot:

Thomas and Percy found an old coach at the scrap yard. She was to be broken up. Meanwhile a workmen's hut was on fire and was destroyed. Thomas and Percy suggested the idea of using Old Slow Coach and the Fat Controller agreed. In the end, Slow coach enjoys her new life as a hut for the workmen.

PRO:

- Another episode with a perfect teaching moral about restoration.

CON:

- It can't take a day to restore an old coach.

As I was thinking about other episode with an engine saving something from scrap, I completely forgot about this episode. Haha, old age can get the better of you. But anyway, like 'Saved from Scrap', 'Escape' and 'Percy and The Calliope', this episode has a great teaching moral about restoration. You have Old Slow Coach who is to be broken up soon and is then used as a workmen's hut, though I do wonder why it took one day to restore a carriage? The episode is great and is certainly one of the best. 

Rating: 4/5

S5 Ep.14 Toby's Discovery

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

TOBY'S DISCOVERY

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton 

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date:

9/10/98

Plot:

Toby meets up an old engine dubbed as 'The Old Warrior'

PRO:

- The spooky atmosphere of the mine was fantastic

CON:

- Toby being a wimp

- Bertram using Duke's basis. 

Despite that I said many time that Toby was being the usual wimp in HIT's recent series, this is where I believe it first started. Compare this episode towards 'Ghost Train'. Sure in that episode, Toby is being a 'wimp', but he was only pretending so to fool Thomas. Here Toby is just plain scared when really he should be wise about not being scared. Plus there is Bertram, a pointless merchandising character, according to Britt Allcroft he was going to be a tank engine. But due to financing, the model was not made and so the character's model was a used Duke with Smudger's face. When I saw this episode when it was first aired in Australia many years ago, I was not fooled by the difference, my brother and I knew that it was Duke's model. It would be nice to see the original plans of the character, but I believe even that won't make him a great character. 

However, I do give credit to the scene when the mine was at night, it created a spooky atmosphere. The episode can scare little kids, it did to me though. But it's certainly not one of my favourites, the story is good, but Toby's personality was bad and possibly like any other fan of the show, Bertram is just a pointless character to have. 

Rating: 2/5

S5 Ep.15: Something In The Air

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

SOMETHING IN THE AIR

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date

11/10/98

Plot:

Henry ignores Thomas' warning about a dangerous line.

PRO:

- The fog effect 

CON:

- Henry derailing himself and still moves into the water

The episode is one of the bests, but like every other fan, I think 'The Flying Kipper' is jinxed. Every time in the RWS and TV series, there is always an accident with the train. Though I do have to say why on earth when Henry is derailed, he still travels through the water? That is just unrealistic. But I do have to say the fog effect is great as always when it comes to stories that are dark and I do like how Henry spits out the water at the end of his accident. I think after this, they stopped 'Flying Kipper' episodes because it can get to repetitive and the audience knows what will happen if a train called 'The Flying Kipper' is being used. Yes I know it was mentioned in 'Whiff's Wish' but there was no accident and maybe one day they should have an episode were Henry successfully took the train without any problem. The episode is good and it's certainly one of the season's best. 

 Rating: 4/5