DVD Review: Big Panic Island of Sodor

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

BIG PANIC ISLAND OF SODOR

Episodes

The Power of Wheat and Thomas 

Written by

Abi Grant

Directed by

Steve Asquith 

Produced by

Simon Spencer

Release Date

27/03/13

Distributor

Sony Creative Products Inc. 

Once again another creative DVD from Japan this time all about the accidents of the characters of the show through the classic series, new series and the DVD specials before the CGI switchover. I got to say I love the DVD cover they've made, not only for the rare pictures, but for how they're using characters that have accidents and with shock faces. While in America, Australia and the UK, most of the DVD covers nowadays show a smile face from the characters, I remember having 'Rescues on the Railway' and 'Spook and Surprises' on VHS as a kid and they have smile and shock face characters on the cover. Shame that they don't do that anymore, minus 'Muddy Matters' and 'Thomas in Charge' on some DVDs.

The DVD opens up with the S8-12 (if you live in the UK/AUS) intro and then a clip from 'Thomas and the Rainbow' of the little blue engine running over a telegraph pole. The music at the beginning, of Thomas' crash, kind of reminds me of Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell mixed with Robert Hartshorne and Ed Welch together. The DVD is opened up into sections, we first see a montage of crashes caused by the troublesome trucks, runaway engines is the second and a couple more related panics of the series, I can't recall what they're representing. 

It then finishes with an episode, from season nine, 'The Power of Wheat and Thomas', which is the Japanese title for 'Flour Power'. The episode's OK in my opinion but the story is not a strong one from a weak season of course. Overall I like this DVD and I think it's good to show us all the panics of the Island of Sodor. If only HIT Entertainment see this kind of DVD and create their own one for the english audience. It's entertaining for kids and I do know a few Thomas fans who enjoy the crash scenes of the show, the late David Mitton was the best of them all.

Rating: 4/5 

S11 Ep.6: Gordon and The Engineer

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

GORDON AND THE ENGINEER

Written by

Paul Larson

Directed by

Steve Asquith 

Air Date:

5/09/07

Plot:

All the points were broken and Gordon was the only engine running as he has to take the engineer to the signal box. But trouble came when Gordon took the wrong passenger!

PRO:

- Railway smart material

- No three strikes

CON:

- N/A

I will say this. This episode to me is one of my all time favourites. This episode has no three strikes and railway smart material, though are a few flaws here and there but without that there can't be a story. The story also reminds me of the annual story 'A Problem For The Twins', which you can see an adaptation of that, this episode, on jivio's YouTube channel. It was also nice seeing Donald and Douglas back into the series for this episode as well and not using any other engine from the 'Steam Team' or any of the pointless merchandising characters. But I do know that character returns don't make the episode great, but they aren't my main focus here of why I like this episode.

The main focus is that this episode has some railway realism and that's what makes Thomas the Tank Engine a popular show, the books (The Railway Series) was found of railway realism. I'm glad to call this episode a favourite and it's certainly worth a watch. 

Rating: 5/5

S11 Ep.5: Hector The Horrid

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

HECTOR THE HORRID

Written by

Simon Spencer

Directed by

Steve Asquith

Air Date:

5/09/07

Plot:

Bill and Ben delivered a new truck named Hector, he was aggresive and mean towards Thomas, Bill, Ben and Rosie. But in the end, Thomas realised why Hector is horrid.

PRO:
- Bill and Ben having a minor role
- Moral: Stand up to bullies and confront your fears

CON:
- N/A

The episode is good, despite that character returns can't make any episode stand out great, but it was nice that Bill and Ben had got a small role in the episode and the episode does stand out well with two good morals for Thomas and Hector, for Thomas it was standing up to bullies and for Hector is confronting your fears, as he was scared about being filled with coal. I find the episode good in my opinion. 

Rating: 4/5

DVD Review: Fellow Hiro Special Care

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

FELLOW HIRO SPECIAL CARE

Episodes:

The Biggest Present of All

Understanding Performance of Hiro

Written by 

Sharon Miller

Directed by

Greg Tiernan

Produced by

Nicole Stinn

Release Date

11/04/12

Hiro has always been a likeable character, minus him moping about how he missed his home Island in S15. But he is wise and helpful that I see him as one of Sharon Miller's best characters along with Luke, Stanley, Victor and Kevin. It's no surprise that Japan has become a popular character in Japan as of course his basis in the show is the JNR D51 locomotive. With that, a DVD was made by Sony telling us all about Hiro.

PLOT

The DVD opens us with Thomas introducing us about Hiro and how he was found and so we start off at Edward's branch line which is, as mentioned by Sony, were Hiro's hiding place is situated:

The whole backstory of Hiro's discovery is of course shown through the 2009 DVD special 'Hero of The Rails'. While that we're given a special demonstration about how a steam engine works:

Then we're seen were the accident with Spencer falling down the muddy marsh was outside Wellsworth station:

After that we're shown the Sodor Steamworks and the works in Japan and then after that a tour of Hiro's popularity in Japan, here is the inside of the Thomas Land 3D theatre:

And then a Thomas themed hotel room at the theme park with pictures of Hiro, you can really see the popularity he has for his basis being from Japan:

OVERALL

The DVD is of course excellent and recommendable to any fan. I don't really speak or understand Japanese but you'll be visually amazed. The two episodes are still poor, but I believe the Japanese version might be a little better. With Hiro being the centric character in this DVD, you can see why he's popular, because of his basis being used in the series. I also love how that despite the inaccurate route in the series today, the Railway Series continuity is still strong in the country of Japan and you can see how they stick close to the books. With much amazement of how the Japanese fans have DVDs like this, I wonder if HIT Entertainment would ever do DVDs like this one day.

Rating: 5/5







S11 Ep.4: Dirty Work

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

DIRTY WORK

Written by

Wayne Jackman 

Directed by

Steve Asquith 

Air Date:

4/09/07

Plot:

James is to take the mayor to the festival of lights at scottish castle. While that, Thomas, Percy and Emily were to do goods work. While he was clean and decorated, James avoided being dirty and didn't help out with his friends with their heavy loads. But James realised that in the end.

PRO:

- James' persona does actually have some improvements

CON:

- N/A

Meh, the episode wasn't bad but not strong, James' persona does have some improvements of it and is acting more mature about helping the other three engines. But despite that, the story was uninteresting and not worth the entertainment

Rating: 2/5

S11 Ep.3: Dream On

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

DREAM ON

 Written by

Neil Richards

Directed by

Steve Asquith 

Air Date:

4/09/07

Plot:

Spencer arrived back on the Island once again with the Duke and Duchess and as usual, he began boasting about himself being fast, strong and looking splendid, which made Thomas cross. The next day, Thomas tries to be like Spencer, but three times he failed but after taking the Duke to the airport for important business, as Spencer was having boiler problems, Thomas learns to be himself.

PRO:
- Moral: Be yourself
- The coat of arms

CON:
-N/A

This is a favourite of mine, I loved this episode when I first saw it six years ago. The episode is entertaining and despite the three strikes, they are entertaining too. The moral of the episode has been used before about 'Being yourself' but it can work in a few episodes. I especially liked the coat of arms, though I wish they put it on Spencer's tender, it does look realistic, or on his running board, after all Princess Elizabeth wore the royal coat of arms on her's for the Queen's Diamond Jubliee last year. But like I said before, a man can dream. The episode is good and its worth the watch. 

Rating: 4/5

S11 Ep.2: Emily's Rubbish

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

EMILY'S RUBBISH

Written by

Wayne Jackman 

Directed by

Steve Asquith 

Air Date:

3/09/07

Plot:

Emily is to help a new engine named Whiff, who's smelly. The other engine teased Emily for working with another engine that is the smell of rubbish. Emily tried to get away from Whiff before any other engine would tease her, but there were trucks blocking the line that Spencer is travelling on and so Emily asked Whiff for help. 

PRO:

- Moral: It doesn't matter about appearances. 

CON:

- N/A

This episode had stirred up some fans of the Thomas fan base with the use of Aerolite's basis for Whiff. I understand why Aerolite is such a respectable engine to the Thomas fans who were turned to railway enthusiasts after watching the show since the start. Aerolite is well-known for hauling chief engineer trains during her working life. During her rebuild, the originality of the locomotive was destroyed with its side tanks and other parts removed. The locomotive is now preserved at the National Railway Museum in York, UK and yours truly got to see it last year, she is an elegant locomotive. I understand that such a beautiful locomotive was used for Whiff's basis, but I have no interest in argument but I do think they should've chosen another basis from the LNER who is of course a shunter, most preferably, one of my favourite LNER tank engines, the J50's. 

Aside from that, the episode is OK. I believe the moral is expressed through Whiff visually stating us it doesn't matter about his appearance and that it doesn't make him ashamed for who is. The episode could've worked better with Whiff himself and not with Emily. Despite that I say that character returns don't make an episode great, well, I still think of that for this episode, but it was nice to see the four making a brief return.

I don't watch this sometimes though but it's OK.

Rating: 3/5