はじめましてトーマスシリーズ いつもなかよし ふたごのきかんし DVD Review

THESE ARE SOLEY UNDER MY 

OWN OPINIONS AND NOT FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FAN BASE

はじめましてトーマスシリーズ
いつもなかよし ふたごのきかんし

Episodes:

- Break Van

- The Deputation

- The Diseasel

- Donald's Duck 

- One Good Turn

- Heroes 

- Buffer Bother

- Bad Day at Castle Loch 

Yep, had enough money to buy another Japanese Thomas DVD, what can I say, I love watching these as they are worth the money. There are eight perfectly written episodes from the classical era with six episodes all being remastered from the first three seasons of the show. This is the same DVD as the one here in Australia, the 'My First Thomas' series to introduce the classic era of 'Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends' to the younger generation of Thomas fans, who are growing up with the new series. Sadly in the Australian version, of the DVD, the six episodes from the 1st to 3rd season are not remastered, instead they're VHS transfer. If Australian Thomas fans want the remastered footage, you can buy them on iTunes Australia only. 

The voice acting and narration of the Japanese actors are spot on and for english viewers, you can audio swap and have the narration of Ringo Starr and Michael Angelis with the restored footage, but the opening intro provides the japanese text. There are more DVDs of more characters, which are the same as the Australian release and are worth the money for the remastered episodes, something that HIT needs to make one day for the english viewers. There are compilation DVDs that have remastered episodes, but since that Japan has them and Australia, America (Series 1) and the UK has them on iTunes and/or DVD, why can't they release a complete collection of the remasters on DVD or Blu-Ray? It would be worth the money for many of the nostalgia fans. But this DVD is great and I highly recommend it. If you're a fan from the home country of the show, England, then you'll be happy to know that the DVD are in region two. 

Rating: 5/5

きかんしゃトーマス じょうきはディーゼルにまけないぞ!! DVD Review

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

きかんしゃトーマス じょうきはディーゼルにまけないぞ!!

Episodes:

- Pop Goes The Diesel

- Dirty Work

- Daisy 

- Diesel Does It Again 

- Mavis

- Bullseyes

- Bowled Out

- The World's Strongest Engine

Bonus Features:

- Trying To Do Things Better

- Diesel 10's Counterattack (Day of The Diesels) Trailer

I've been collecting Thomas DVDs from Japan for a while now and here is one of Japan's recent releases, its like 'Steamies Vs. Diesels' from the US and 'My First Thomas with Diesel' from Australia, only with episodes from the classic era and not really focusing on Diesel. The DVD features six selected episodes of the diesel engines from Season 2, 3, 4 and 6. Not many episodes in the UK, US and Australia have been released, restored, but many episodes on Japanese releases are restored and could almost turn into a series compilation DVD. 

Episodes like 'Bullseyes', 'Bowled Out' seem to be in their current state as what the english releases have with the film, but looking at the ones from the Season 4 DVD for the english viewers and the ones on this DVD, it looked spotless and not all grainy with some bad quality from VHS transfer. 


Leo Morimoto has a great voice with the narration, its a shame that he's not doing now, but their are other things getting in the way. The voice actors in this DVD shows great enthusiasm and with the face of the engine, they always put great emotion in with the Japanese language. Their are bonus features in this DVD, just some trailers and 'Trying To Do Things Better' in Japanese. However with the trailers, there is the trailer for the Japanese release of 'Day of The Diesels' (Diesel 10's Counterattack). With the releases HIT is making with the US and UK audience with four episodes and special features like games for kids and the 'Down at The Station' segments along with the Mr. Perkins segments, which I have to say are great to watch by the way. But this DVD as well as others are worth the money. Eight episodes with five all restored from the 1st - 3rd season.


Rating: 5/5 

Juinper Junction DVD Review

THESE ARE SOLEY MY OWN OPINIONS

AND NOT FROM ANYONE ELSE.

JUNIPER JUNCTION

Written and Created by

Peter Strange and Paul Rhodes 

'Juniper Junction', a DVD that both children and adults will love for many years. I bought the DVD from a seller from Amazon UK, I tried to buy one from the people from the production company last year but they don't ship to Australia. But since I managed to get a copy I can finally make a review about this wonderful little episode about the kings royal train. The episode is set around early 20th century (1914) and as the modern world is continuing to grow, Juniper Junction is still working. The king (George V) is out for his summer holiday on the royal train and the stationmaster must keep his clock 'London Time'. But unfortunetly, the clocks were 10 minutes early and the kings train stopped at Juniper Junction.

This little short shows off perfect model making a brilliant stop-motion animation and wonderfully made music along with brilliant Gauge 1 vintage model trains. It adds wonderful humor and certainly adds a great piece of nostalgia. It really reminded me about the golden age of 'Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'. So if you're fan of gauge 1 models, stop animation or animation all together? I recommend buying this DVD. For more information about Juniper Junction, click down below for the offcial website.

Rating: 5/5

Offical Wesbite

Purchase the DVD on Amazon UK

S15 Ep. 20: Fiery Flynn + Overall of Season 15

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

FIERY FLYNN

Written by Sharon Miller

Directed by Greg Tiernan 

Produced by Nicole Stinn 

Air Date:

26/3/11

Plot:

Flynn tries to impress the Diesels with his bravery with potentially disastrous results.

PRO:

- Diesel's devious laugh, I like it.

CON:

- Flynn looked unstable when he's on the rails

- How does Rocky know the emergencies?

- How stupid is Flynn, he's a fire engine, he should know what a fire is! 

- 'You're not on fire Edward/Gordon', talk about stating the oblivious.

'But I'm wet through!' did that sentence even make sense? 

- Why did Thomas and Flynn thank the Diesels? It was their drivers who did all the work.

'Thomas' firebox is on fire...?' yes we were all shocked by that scene, but, as what Chris (TP&T2) pointed out in his Series 15 review last year on his blog, a steam locomotive has a thing called a 'Fusible Plug'. It's a metal cylinder. Its a safety device that is against low water levels in a boiler. If it fails it can damage the boiler and would cause an explosion. Engines like 'Tornado' had a failed fusible plug during its time in preservation and have to be stopped so no damage can be caused. Here is what a modern fusible plug looks like:

But with this episode. I would rather let kids watch 'Fireman Sam' from the 1980's a character who knows how to fight fires. Flynn, he's so stupid in this episode, he's off to fight Thomas' fire but instead goes to Gordon and Edward first. There is a reason why he's called a Fire fighting engine. He fights fires, why did he and Belle save the Dieselworks from being on fire in 'Day of The Diesels'. I still don't know why Rocky is saying all of the emergencies instead of the boss of the rescue centre. The grammar is bad too with the Fat Controller saying 'But I'm wet through?', couldn't he say, 'But I'm wet!'. The one other thing, why did Thomas and Flynn thank the diesels for putting out his fire? When clearly its the workmen who did the job. The only thing I like about this episode is Diesel's laugh, but that did not save the episode for being a total disgrace to fire fighters right across the world. 

Rating: 1/5

OVERALL OF SEASON 15

What can I say, after seeing a total of 20 episodes these were just awfully written. There are bad morals, the three strikes and rhyming were overused and some parts of the episodes looked dangerous without being punished. There are no morals in episodes for example 'Wonky Whistle'. I'm so glad that this series aired before 'Day of The Diesels' came out on DVD and Blu-Ray. The plots are the same and basic like every other Thomas, so if you seen one you've seen them all. The CGI did wonders but was sadly wasted away from the awful story lines, I'm sad that Greg Tiernan decided to finish animating Thomas after this, as SiF had said that he stopped working on Thomas in late 2011, but it was his choice and he knows how the writing is not that well received by the fans. 

I don't know if people would buy the complete collection DVD around 2014 in the UK due to the episode's being badly written. Me, I only buy the CGI Thomas DVDs because of the animation. Their are some episodes that are good, but sadly this is the worst written series in Thomas history. 

Rating: 31/100

Well that's the end of my S13 - 15 episode reviews. I do hope you enjoy reading them. Be on the look out in the later part of 2012 as I will be reviewing Series 1 - 12, this might take from mid-2012 to early 2013, as I will be away to Ireland and England in August/September and I could be away from the internet. But their are more reviews coming up like my 'Juniper Junction' DVD review, even though its not Thomas, I still like to review it after seeing a short YouTube clip. In July, I will be doing a review on 'Blue Mountain Mystery', but like my 'Day of The Diesels' review that was on my DA page last year, their won't be any spoilers as their are many people who want to see the movie without knowing the plot and surprises, however there will be a movie review on all the Thomas movies that came from 2000 - 2011. I might as well meet up with a few YT friends during the premier of the movie in September, I'll be in London at the time then. 

Right now, I'll be on break before the Juniper Junction DVD arrives in the mail from Amazon. Thanks for reading! ;)

S15 Ep. 19: Tree Trouble

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

TREE TROUBLE

Written by Sharon Miller

Directed by Greg Tiernan 

Produced by Nicole Stinn

Air Date:

25/3/11

Plot:

The Diesel and Thomas compete to find the best Christmas tree for the Steamworks and Dieselworks.

PRO:

- Emily is not puffing steam from her safety valve

- Diesel has his season 2 horn again

- I like the little 'yeah' Diesel made.

CON:

- Why do we need an introduction of trees on Sodor?

- Why was Gordon taking the express to Misty Island?

- What was the point of Diesel reversing to his tree?

Well, this episode is my favourite as I do like the steam engine vs. diesel engine rivalry, but not with the 'Diesels can't be useful.' writing. But the things I don't like is the pointless introduction of the trees, why do we need an introduction of trees? Kids would know what a tree is already. During the episode, when the engines were taking the trees, Gordon was racing to Misty Island with express, why was he doing that? Is he taking some visitors there or is it there for decoration? And what was the point of Diesel reversing to his tree? You can see he already crushed his tree anyway. But I do like how Emily's safety valve was not puffing out steam like in other episodes during the CGI series and that Diesel has his second season horn sound instead of that American 'Bulldog Nose' diesel horn. For those people who aren't into railways, this is what the locomotive looks like:

And at the end, giving us the nice Christmas feeling towards the episode, I like the little 'yeah' that Diesel made, it sounds like he is agreeing with the narrator. This episode is OK and its a firm favourite of mine, despite the three strikes and rhyming. 

Rating: 3/5

S15 Ep. 18: Percy The Snowman

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

PERCY THE SNOWMAN

Written by Lizzie Ennever 

Directed by Greg Tiernan 

Produced by Nicole Stinn

Air Date:

24/3/11

Plot:

Thomas promises to take a depressed Percy to pick up the Fat Controller. But whilst Thomas is finishing his jobs, he only succeeds in covering Percy in snow.

PRO:

- Henry hauling a long tanker train

- Percy's face popping out of the snow brought a bit of Season 5 nostalgia

CON:

- Instead of Thomas puffing away to finish his jobs, why can't he go and get help for Percy?

- How come Thomas shoved the same snow near Percy when their is no snow falling down?

- Thomas should obviously know where Percy was, he shoved snow on him throughout this episode.

- 'They have never seen a snow engine before', what about Oliver?

- How come the snow never melted off Thomas' boiler and smokebox and Percy's wheels as well? 

At first, I thought how the snow was shoved away by Thomas was unrealistic, but if you watch the British Transport Film (BTF) 'Snow', you can see one clip were a bit of snow flew up. But how the way it landed on Percy was just confusing, there was less snow that Thomas was shoving and yet the drift was as thick as the snow you can see in 'Thomas, Terence and The Snow'. This episode is an improvement to the other episode, but it is still bad. I thought, why would Thomas go off to do his other jobs instead of getting help for Percy. Percy would finish his jobs and help out with the special, I guess if that happens there will be no plot. I don't why their was the same snow from before but their is no snow falling? That is highly illogical. 

How stupid is Thomas when he was finding Percy that he can't see as their is a giant snow drift next to him at the same place were Percy was, before he was covered in snow and throughout this whole episode, the snow on Thomas and Percy didn't even melt. A steam locomotive's boiler produce the heat for the water to evaporate and the coal to burn to produce steam and with the heat inside the engine, it should make the snow melt. And the last bit was this, 'They never seen a snow engine before?' I know that the writers might never knew about the classical era, but even if they're writing about a snow engine, they should do their research, the last time that the children have seen a snow engine before was this episode in the seventh season:

Which also didn't melt with the Oliver's heat.

There are only two positives, one is Henry having a long train on tanker wagons and the other is that Percy's face popping out with the snow brought some Season 5 nostalgia on 'Snow'. I think many people found this out already, if not, in 'Muddy Matters' everyone said that Emily has three coaches, yet in this episode, Emily had four coaches. You just have to see it at the beginning of the episode when Henry was puffing with some tanker wagons up on the bridge. But this episode is bad, younger kids will like it, but it is filled with illogical and unrealistic moments that make this episode unmemorable.

Rating: 1/5

S15 Ep. 17: Wonky Whistle

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

WONKY WHISTLE

Written by Neil Ben

Directed by Greg Tiernan

Produced by Nicole Stinn

Air Date:

23/3/11

Plot:

 Thomas rushes off before his whistle can be properly fixed and scares Farmer McColl's animals destined for the country fair.

PRO:

N/A

CON:

- Thomas puffing off with workmen on the top of boiler who can have serious injuries or worse!

- This episode goes to show how air headed this tank engine is, just puffing away with a vent van filled with animals that could easily get hurt with the door opened.
- What's the moral of this episode?

Why, why was this episode known to existence? Why did it get a DVD release on 'Up Up and Away'? Why on this earth did this get approved? Seriously what has this writer done to the great blue engine that we known and loved since the beginning as an air headed dimwit that children are to be looking up too? So many unanswered questions. There are so many flaws in this episode, why did Thomas just puff away with workmen on his boiler? They can seriously get hurt or worse! And puffing away with one vent with animals with the lock unlocked, the animals can get seriously hurt. If Thomas is to teach kids, then what is the moral of this episode? This episode could be more realistic, if its like 'Near Miss' from the 1991 annual, 'Old Iron' and 'The Runaway' put together and instead of a 'wonky' whistle, Thomas' whistle is not their and you have an episode called 'Whistling Runaways', which I wrote on my DA page late last year. All I know is that, this is a rarity for me as this episode is my most hated, I didn't even bother watching the episode. It should be deleted from the entire Thomas series and its history as this is the worst Thomas episode ever made. I honestly feel bad for Greg Tiernan for his wonderful animation being wasted away due to this episode's writing.

 Rating: 0/5