S11 Ep.18: Thomas In Trouble

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

THOMAS IN TROUBLE

Written by

Wayne Jackman 

Directed by

Steve Asquith 

Air Date:

11/09/07

Plot:

Thomas was waiting for his final inspection at the repair yards. He was excited, he was going to take the school choir their concert. But trouble was made when he pretended to be repaired

PRO:

- Railway realism with Thomas being inspected

- The way Thomas was breaking down was a site. 

CON:

- I don't think steam engines produce black smoke if they're not repaired. 

The episode is another OK. I do like it how Thomas was being inspected before he's fit to start work and the way Thomas was breaking down was a site to look at, such as the black smoke, though I don't think steam engines produce that when they're breaking down for no reason, maybe due to bad quality coal? After all that has been explained in RWS story 'Out of Puff'. The episode is OK to me.

Rating: 3/5

S11 Ep.17: Thomas and The Runaway Car

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

THOMAS AND THE RUNAWAY CAR

Written by

Sharon Miller

Directed by

Steve Asquith 

Air Date:

11/09/07

Plot:

Thomas and Gordon decided race to the 'Sodor Show'. Gordon was taking the new bandstand and Thomas is to take the Fat Controller's new car. But trouble lay ahead for the new car. 

PRO:

- Arthur and Rosie's appearance

- Another nice modern day Thomas and Gordon 'rivalry' 

CON:

- N/A

The episode is good. Despite that I say character returns don't make the episode great, only the story, Arthur and Rosie's apperance were the good things about the episode. The story was nice, though the narrator constantly saying 'The runaway new hatt blue car' all the time. Just say 'the runaway car'. Plus, I do like the modern rivalry Thomas and Gordon have with each other, pretty much a friendly rivalry. 

Rating: 4/5

S11 Ep.16: Toby's Triumph

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

TOBY'S TRIUMPH

Written by

Abi Grant

Directed by

Steve Asquith 

Air Date:

10/09/07

Plot:

Toby is worried about taking Alicia Botti 

PRO:

- N/A

CON:

- Toby being worried

- Alicia Botti annoyed about Toby's appearance 

There can be good persona changes but also some horrible ones and this one is one of them. Toby was out of character in this episode, he never takes important passengers, that is true, but he should know by now how to slow down and not to worry about taking important passengers. Plus I hate how Alicia Botti's annoyed about Toby's appearance. If you watch 'Thomas, Percy and The Squeak', she thought Percy being dirty is a proper steam engine and yet we see her being annoyed about Toby's appearance. I know that the writer might not researched the series, but there were some veterans, around the time of the new series, from the beginning of the show that can help the writers out? 

All in all, the episode is horrible and they've chosen the wrong character too.

Rating: 1/5  

S11 Ep.15: Hide and Peep

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

HIDE AND PEEP

Written by

Simon Spencer

Directed by

Steve Asquith 

Air Date:

10/09/07

Plot:

A ship was delayed and so Thomas and Percy decided to play 'Hide and Peep'

PRO:

- Cranky having a good use to look out for ships and looking out for the two tank engines
- Rocky holding Percy

CON:
- Why can't they find other work then just playing about?

I'm not into the episode, but its OK. I do like how they used Cranky to look out for ships and how his persona has changed with him looking out for the two tank engines. I know that the series around S8-16 are focused to younger children and I respect that, minus S15 due to bad writing, but since that Thomas the Tank Engine is focused on realism since the beginning, it would be better if Thomas and Percy do other work before the ship comes in. But the episode is not bad it's OK. 

Rating: 3/5

DVD Review: 65th Anniversary of Thomas the Tank Engine!!

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

65TH ANNIVERSARY OF 

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE

Episodes

Thomas and Gordon

Edward and Gordon

Thomas and Bertie's Competition 

Percy Takes the Plunge

Written by

The Rev.W.Awdry (original)

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton (Adaptation)

Directed by

David Mitton 

Produced by

Britt Allcroft, David Mitton and Robert D.Cardona 

Distributed by

Sony Creative Products Inc. 

Release Date

29/10/10

In 2010, the world celebrated the 65th Anniversary of the Railway Series, or in the eyes of HIT Entertainment, Thomas the Tank Engine. While the UK, Australia and America witness the second CGI special 'Misty Island Rescue', despite it being a rhyming flop, with the wonderful and stunning animation from Nitrogen Studios, Japan celebrated the 65th anniversary with this DVD.

Looking back at the 65th anniversary, it was better then what the 60th anniversary had offered in 2005, especially in the UK with the infamous 60th anniversary celebrations at the Hatfield House. 'Calling All Engines', despite it being good with a fantastic moral about being different, was more of an extended Thomas episode with a waste of learning segments and the Railway Series books were lesser known at the time, without them being republished for the anniversary and the Awdry's battling on with Egmont and HIT, minus the 60th annivesary edition of 'Thomas the Tank Engine', albeit being published in 1946 and not 1945. Five years later, the 65th Anniversary actually showed a lot more marketing and merchandising for the show, a second republished Railway Series book of the second RWS book of the famous blue engine, an attempt at Hamleys toy shop in the UK for the longest cake train and the RWS books being slowly getting to be recognised to the world again through the promotional items. 

In Japan, a special DVD came out in October that year, 2010. It contains four episodes from the first and second season of the series with some RWS stories in it to compare the differences between the RWS story and the TV episode, albeit in Japanese. There is a little snippet on the engines that didn't make it to the TV series such as the Culdee fell mountain engines and the Arelsdale Miniature Railway engines. The DVD is recommendable to older fans of the series who love both the books and TV series and to people who understand Japanese. It's also good for younger fans too to show them the original Thomas. Tis a shame that HIT Entertainment hadn't come up with a DVD like this three years ago instead of releasing 'The Best of Thomas', which was just a DVD containing every episode that's not focus to Thomas. Though you never know, maybe they might make a DVD like this in time for the 70th anniversary of the Railway Series.

 Rating: 4/5

S11 Ep.14: Edward and the Mail

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

EDWARD AND THE MAIL

Written by

Paul Larson 

Directed by

Steve Asquith 

Air Date:

9/09/07

Plot:

Percy is at the repair yards and so Edward is to take the mail. But Edward had never taken the mail before and he didn't know who to deliver too.

PRO:

- Edward hasn't taken the mail before and that's half the good thing of the story.

CON:

- Edward should know how to take the mail

- The driver could easily help out with Edward's delivery problem. 

The episode is OK, though I didn't bother watching the episode, but I know about the episode off by heart. I do like it how they chose Edward in the first part of the story. In the books and TV series, we never see him pulling the mail once, but despite that, it was stupid that they said Edward doesn't know where to deliver the mail. You think that being on the railway for many years, Edward should know about the mail route by now and even though that the writers at the time are more focus on fantasy then reality, since that Thomas the Tank Engine in the books and the early TV series focus on realism on the railways, the driver could easily help out with Edward's delivery problem. 

I don't mind the episode, it is not horrible, but it needed some tweaking. 

Rating: 3/5

DVD Review: Thomas the Tank Engine Character Encyclopaedia

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

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE

CHARACTER ENCYCLOPAEDIA

Episodes:

Boulder Rock (Rusty and The Boulder)

Written and Produced by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton 

Directed by

David Mitton 

Special Features:
N/A

Distributed by

Sony Creative Products Inc. 

Release Date:

17/02/2010

Thomas the Tank Engine is no stranger to the people of Japan. With its success with its marketing in that country, the show has a big following and has its own fan site called 'Puff Puff Thomas', which is on the links box on the right side of the page. I've reviewed many of their DVDs and they're very different comparing to other countries like Australia, America and even the United Kingdom. They have their DVDs containing episodes, with four coming out in July this year from both the classic series and CGI series. But they also have DVDs containing special programmes such as like the popularity of Thomas in Japan and as well as Hiro's popularity in Japan and one DVD containing about the engines and routes of the Island of Sodor. In this review, I take a look at, one of my favourites so far, the 'Thomas the Tank Engine Character Encyclopaedia':

The DVD opens up with Harold the Helicopter, using footage from the classic and new series of the show, flying around the Island of Sodor telling us the many different things and facts about the characters of the show. The one thing that amazed me about the DVD is the use of pictures showing us the differences of a tank engine and tender engine and for the narrow gauge engines, the differences of gauges of the NG engines, TFC's engines and the railway gauge in Japan. In some scenes of the classic episodes, you can still hear some of the sound effects that were put in the episode, even though the new series music was over it, so you can't use it for video projects on YouTube unfortunately. 

To end the DVD, we're given a bonus episode which was 'Rusty and The Boulder' which is 'Boulder Rock', the Japanese title of the show. I still find that episode to be unrealistic with the boulder running around on flat surface, on a viaduct that can easily break with its weight, going up a hill towards a shed that was blown up for no reason whatsoever. But there are some ditties in the episode that can be only heard on the American and Japanese version of the episode that didn't make it to the final cut of the UK version. 

All I can say is that the DVD is interesting to watch, it teaches kids about the differences about tank engines and tender engines as well diesels, vehicles, rolling stock and people. If you speak or understand the Japanese language, I recommend watching it.  I still find the Japanese releases to be the most creative and so far, the DVD is certainly a favourite of mine. 

Rating: 5/5