S5 Ep.13: Stepney Gets Lost

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

STEPNEY GETS LOST

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton 

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date:

7/10/98

Plot:

Stepney is to help with Mavis and Toby at the Quarry. Later that night, Stepney got lost in fog and ended up being at the scrapyard run by two diesels, 'Arry and Bert. But thanks to the Fat Controller, Stepney was saved. 

PRO:
- The scrap yard does have some spooky atmosphere

CON:
- Stepney being treated like he is from the Fat Controller's railway.
- How does the Fat Controller know that Stepney was at the scrap yard?

I'm not amused by how the way Stepney is treated in Season 5, 6 and 12. This is why I'm glad that Flying Scotsman is not in the series. Here, it seems that Stepney is now treated like one of the Fat Controller's engine since there was no mention of 'The Bluebell Railway', when really we all know he's a preserved steam locomotive and should be treated like that. However, the scrapyard has a terrific spooky atmosphere and looks like the bounds of hell for the steam engines. Though 'Arry and Bert do look great in weathered condition, they would've been Allcroft's one-off's. The story is OK, but it would've gone better with another engine aside from Stepney. Even though the scrap yard has a terrific spooky atmosphere, kids from the target range will get scared by the visual detail of that scene.

Rating: 2.5/5

S5 Ep.12: Double Teething Troubles

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

DOUBLE TEETHING TROUBLES

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton 

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date:

5/10/98

Plot:

A new diesel came to the Island to help with Bill and Ben. However he has teething troubles with his cooling system due to him being new. The next day he arrived and was helping with a line of trucks with the two tank engine, however he overheated again. But the twins puffed away with the trucks along with the diesel. In the end, the twins, along with BoCo and Duck talked about teething troubles all night long.

PRO:

- Derek's basis has actually have teething troubles.

- Bill and Ben bashing into each other provided some comedic atmosphere.

CON:

- Derek being a one-off character.

The episode is OK, but the episode would be more better for Diesel himself, which by the way was never in the season. Here Derek is their for the merchandise, with Cranky and 'Arry and Bert, at the time if they were Allcroft's one-offs. But unlike HIT's pointless one-off's, there is some background towards this character. Derek's basis has teething troubles with their cooling systems when they were new, the BR Class 17. But it's just a shame that Derek is never mentioned until the merchandising came out with his name and yet we never see him again, I guess he wasn't that popular? 

But I do think a scene with BoCo at Gordon's Hill would be great as he would be telling Derek that he had teething troubles before and that the Fat Controller fixed the problem. The story is OK, but it would be more better to have a character like BoCo or Diesel to help out. 

Rating: 3/5

S5 Ep.11: Haunted Henry

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

HAUNTED HENRY

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton 

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date:

3/10/98

Plot:

Edward warned Henry that whenever an owl hoots a mist rolls in and a legend saying that their is a ghost too. But as they travelled down an old line, their was a warning from a strange figure about a viaduct. No one knows who warned them. As the viaduct was repaired, they took the goods again. But as the trucks were scared, they landed off a cliff. It turns out the so called 'ghost' was an old fog man and in the end, his station was reopened. 

PRO:

- The story

CON: 

- Despite that Henry is using a signal code, but he was using 'light engine' instead of 'General Goods'.

Many people might say that this episode scared them when they were young. Well, I wasn't, I was never scared of any Thomas episode that has a bit of a halloween or haunted kind of storyline, minus one. This is in fact another favourite episode of mine. The only thing I love about the episode is the story. The story has a bit of drama and a great accident. Though a bit of railway realism nitpick, sorry everyone :P, it was great that they used a signal coded lamp, but what they used for Henry on his second round trip to the old line was 'Light engine', which is just one lamp on his right side of his running board when really he should be using 'General goods' which is one lamp on the top of his smoke box and on the right of his running board.

But really, this is a favorite of mine and the whole story line is just the best thing about this episode.

Rating: 4/5

S5 Ep.10: Toby & The Flood

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

TOBY & THE FLOOD

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton 

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date:

28/9/98

Plot:

With the wet weather, Toby began to inspect the dam. It was breaking up and as it broke, it send Toby down the flood waters on an old bridge. They near a waterfall, but thanks to Percy and Harold they saved Toby.

PRO:
N/A

CON:
- How unrealistic of Toby to be on the top of the dam and the broken bridge?
- The ending of Toby being brave is just confusing.

The episode is dramatic with the storyline, but it's also unrealistic and I believe you know why. But the episode's ending is just confusing. They said that Toby is brave, yet, he didn't even do anything that is brave. Percy and Harold were the ones doing all the work. But the episode is dramatic and is OK, but has its flaws. 

Rating: 3.5/5

S5 Ep.9: Put Upon Percy

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

PUT UPON PERCY

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton 

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date:

24/9/98

Plot:

Percy was feeling 'put upon' with too much work, but the other engines were unsympathetic towards it. However one day, Percy had an accident at a coal mine.

PRO:

- The interior of the mine shaft was great.

- The accident was greatly filmed

- Ten trucks hauled by Percy at the docks

CON:

- N/A

The episode is great! The interior of the mine shaft is great, I love the lighting and the length of it, though I do believe in one scene you can see a light. The whole avalanche and how the barrier was breaking was amazing as well along with the dramatic music by Mike 'O Donnell & Junior Campbell.

In the recent episodes of Thomas, you see an engine bashing about four and three trucks about at the shunting yard. But in this episode, when Percy was shunting trucks, you see him shunting about ten variety of trucks. Something that is rare for a tank engine to haul nowadays. No flaws are done in the episode it was great. Though I would say this, younger Thomas fans might find this scary, it did to me when I was little, but older Thomas fans will enjoy. 

Rating: 5/5

S5 Ep.8: Baa!

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

BAA!

Written by

Britt Allcroft and David Mitton

Directed by

David Mitton 

Air Date:

22/9/98

Plot:

It was the 'best dressed station' competition on Sodor and Percy is to take fruit and vegetables to display at Maithwate station. However, the display was all trashed, Percy, his crew and the passengers  thought it was the ram. But it turns out it was three little boys, taken care by the ram. Maithwate won the prize and in the end the ram ate the Fat Controller's hat.

PRO:

- N/A 

CON:
- A wild ram wouldn't accept food from a strange human.

The episode is OK, but I don't think a human being would go up to a ram and give them cabbage leaves. Ram's can be very protective when they see a human for the first time. The episode is OK to watch but its certainly not a strong one.

Rating: 3/5

DVD Review: きかんしゃトーマスに挑戦！ きみはどれだけ知っているかな？ ～ソドー島の謎をあばけ！

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

きかんしゃトーマスに挑戦！ きみはどれだけ知っているかな？ ～ソドー島の謎をあばけ！~

(Thomas the Tank Engine Challenge! Do you know how much you? Uncover the mystery of the island - Sodor! ~)

Release Date:

4/10/12

Thomas & The Treasure

Written by

Marc Seal 

Directed by

Steve Asquith

Distributed by

Sony Creative Productions Inc. 

Another Japanese DVD for 2012. I find Japan to be the most creative people when it comes to their Thomas DVDs. Unlike here in Australia, America and the UK, we have the CGI DVDs with four, five or six episodes of badly written stories with no value for money. In Japan, when you see their content, they have CGI DVDs, but they mostly release DVDs filled with classic episodes from the early years right up until 2008, with the classic episodes being in their respective remastered state, I've been buying a few before the UK had released the Series 1 - 3 compilation DVDs. 

The DVD shows us many things on the Island of Sodor like the main line, Thomas' branch line, Edward's branch line, the Little Western and so on. Including the Culdee Fell Mountain Railway, which was never featured in the television series before, maybe one day Andrew Brenner might fit them in the series one day? But hey, a man can dream can he? They showed the Sodor Island map but not HIT's version's like in the opening segments but in its Railway Series form, with some added locations from the new series. 

Great Waterton is located near the Skarloey Railway and the Sodor Airport is located near Kellsthorphe Road, much like the one on the 'Standard Gauge and Narrow Gauge' video on the 'Blue Mountain Mystery' DVD. One thing, I'm glad they showed Duck's line, good to know that they haven't forgotten him or any of the classic characters. That's another thing I like about Japan, no matter what with the new Thomas series showing characters being bombarded into the series to sell toys and playsets, they never forget the Awdry characters such as Duck, the Culdee Fell engines and more. 

The DVD is filled with some great photographs by Terry Permane, who've worked on the show as 'Director of Photography' between 1984-2008 and his pictures were used for Thomas tie-in products such as books, magazines, video and DVD covers etc. making him one of the longest Thomas crew members when the show was in model form. There was some rare pictures too like from 'One Good Turn' we see Ben scowling at Bill on the turntable, either that might be a deleted scene or just a promo shot:

With engines like Spencer, they showed a picture of Mallard. I believe they were talking about Spencer and his respective basis, the A4's and they showed Arthur showing where he came from with his letters 'L.M.S' on the side tanks. The DVD comes with a bonus episode, 'Thomas and The Treasure' narrated by Jon Kabria along with various voice actors. The episode sounds nice in the Japanese language despite the three strikes formula. 

I've enjoyed this DVD very much. It shows all the lines across the Island of Sodor including one that was not featured in the television series and only in the books. It's one of the best creative DVDs that I've laid my eyes on and I wish HIT does something like these for their audiences in Australia, America and the UK instead of the four episodes of the CGI series DVDs. If you're interested in buying DVDs from Japan, I recommend buying from Amazon JP, though I only get it through express delivery and it gets hefty with the price, I heard from various Thomas users, that you can get them on FromJapan, which what I used to get the TUGS merchandise from Yahoo! Japan. They are another great site to get your Japanese goods from. However, if you're wondering about the region codes, they're in Region 2 so you might want to check your DVD region and I suggest getting a region free DVD player for your computer. But some might not play all regions, don't know why :P 

Rating: 5/5

Click Here To Buy The DVD