DVD Review: Santa's Little Engine

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

SANTA'S LITTLE ENGINE

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Paul Larson & Laura Beaumont 

Alan Hescott

Directed by

David Baas (Arc)

Greg Tiernan (Nitrogen) 

Produced by

Robert Anderson (Arc)

Ian McCue and Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Episodes

- Santa's Little Engine

- No Snow For Thomas

- The Frozen Turntable

- The Missing Christmas Decorations

- Snow Tracks

Special Features

- Sir Topham Hatt's Frosty Friend

- Guess Who?

Release Date

8/10/2013

Distributed by

HIT Entertainment/Lionsgate

Another exciting release for the American Thomas fans this year with another S17 DVD release with 'Railway Mischief' being the first in April this year. Plus with the positive reaction that S17 had been in June, with the first ten episodes of S17 aired in the UK, this DVD release of unseen Christmas episodes, minus one, of the new and improved series has made it very exciting to see. So are these stories good? Well then let's find out. 

EPISODES

First off, I don't know why they put 'Snow Tracks' on the DVD? They must be less amount of episodes focusing on either winter and Christmas and even though Mark Moraghan re-narrated the episode, there is no improvement on the episode either, the script is still there from 2010, as for the other episodes, I won't go into too much detail, as I'm awaiting the air dates for the UK so I can keep them in chronicle order, but the S17 episodes are great and recommendable to watch. All written and animated well and it's a great Christmas present for the young and old Thomas fan. 

SPECIAL FEATURES

The Mr. Perkins segments are very different now and very enjoyable too. Instead of him doing something for the Fat Controller or Sir Topham Hatt as he's known in America or something for the other engine drivers such as a magic show or treasure hunt, we see him on the mainland, a heritage railway in the UK, getting all warmed up as a signal man was getting some coal. Instead of the things he needs for a party, he sat down and is telling a story towards the young audience, the story is 'The Flying Kipper' with some newly made illustrations by Loarine Marshall, which recapture C. Reginald Dalby's work very well, along with Dalby's art work as well. It's great to see that Andrew Brenner, who also writes the Perkins segments, is bringing the Railway Series towards a brand new audience and as well as showing the illustrations, hope they stick with this in future DVDs. Another segment of his shows us him reading some mail, which is fan mail from the audience according to sources, one letter is about the history of Sodor, with footage from 'King of The Railway'. There are two activities from the Fat Controller and the Earl of Sodor, one, the Fat Controller's segment, has specially made footage of Percy and the other, the Earl of Sodor, is a quiz from S13 episodes, 'Toby's New Whistle' and 'Tickled Pink'. 

I should also note that at the beginning of the DVD menu, they have the Christmas theme from the Season three episode, 'Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure' as well. As with the games, it's pretty much for kids and it has a difficulty level, it looks as though it was made for the Apple products or various mobile products, but it's not bad really and the 'Guess Who?' puzzles are Rocky, the Fat Controller and Thomas.

OVERALL

With such good written episodes, minus one, this definitely a great DVD to have in your collection. The four episodes from S17 are great to watch and I will have more info on them as soon as the UK dates are set. The segments are fun and enjoyable and I highly recommend this DVD as a Christmas present this year. Well all we do now is await the next S17 DVD, 'The Thomas Way' in December. 

Rating: 4.5/5

S17 Ep.15: Bill or Ben?

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

BILL OR BEN?

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

David Baas

Produced by

Kallan Kagan (Arc)

Ian McCue & Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Air Date:

4/10/13

Plot:

Connor is a new engine on the Island of Sodor. When Bill and Ben met him for the first time, they decided to play a trick on him. They pretended that they were super fast when really it was Bill at the start of the race and Ben at the other. When Connor raced them again, he nearly had an accident! The Fat Controller was very cross and ordered Bill to be repainted so they can be told apart. However, the twins had one last trick up their funnels.

PRO:
- The tint of autumn leaves
- Bill and Ben's blue coats
- The near miss with Connor and Henry 

CON:
- N/A

A second episode written by Andrew Brenner and this time about his favourite characters. This was a fine episode and I do enjoy greatly. Bill and Ben were given great amount of screen time and there was not much of Thomas in it as well. The animation of the autumn leaves are just fascinating to look at, the beautiful tints of the autumn leaves gives it such an autumn feeling. As of the twin's blue coats, they do look fine in it as well, but I prefer seeing them in green as a nice nod to their counterparts, but that is just me being a fan. I especially love the near miss that Connor had with Henry, it was tensed to see such a thing happening and it also shows a good moral to kids about the dangers of railway lines and that safety comes first. In the end, there was nothing bad about the episode and I do enjoy it. However if I might add about the blue paint, I don't think it'll be permanent, these are his favourite characters after all, Brenner, and he has such respect for the Railway Series books as well as Awdry's legacy. The episode is a nice watch and I recommend it.     

Rating: 4/5

S17 Ep.14:Percy's Lucky Day

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

PERCY'S LUCKY DAY

Written by
Davey Moore

Directed by

David Baas

Produced by

Kallan Kagan (Arc)

Ian McCue and Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Air Date:

3/10/13

Plot:

After a couple of mishaps with the mail and some cargo, Percy feels unlucky. Stephen gave him a lucky charm that regains his confidence. But Percy lost the lucky charm and had to reign confidence for helping Bill and Ben back on the tracks.

PRO:
- Bill and Ben were in character
- Moral: You don't need lucky charms all the time
- The green flag incident reminds me of 'The Wrong Road' 

CON:

- N/A

Another good episode by Davey Moore, when I first heard this episode my money was on Andrew Brenner as Bill and Ben are his favourite characters. Speaking of Bill and Ben, it was great seeing them in CGI for the first time, however it was strange at first seeing them with red wheels, but I tend not to make that a big deal as their basis, Alfred and Judy, have green wheels as well. The twins were in great character, the banter they had and their own arguing are really much like what they were from S2-S7 and there voices are great as well, the twins are voiced by Jonathan Broadbent with their respective Birmingham accents, which really there basis came from Stafford in the West Midlands in England and that it is where Birmingham is located as their admin HQ, though I thought they would be having cockney youth voices, but I think we have enough of those in the show to be honest. However there voices make them sound mature, but there trickish behaviour gets in the way. The episode has a nice moral that you don't need lucky charms to be lucky, you can always be lucky any day. The episode was good and I haven't seen a bad thing about it, though I have to say it was stupid to have Percy moving and yet there's a crew member in his cab getting all worried, but this problem have been mentioned many times and the crew's are now used as the engine's hands. But in conclusion it was a good episode and worth the watch. However some fans are now moaning about BoCo, no personal vendetta against that as I too would love to see BoCo return towards the series but I think right now we should be thankful for what we got right now. Well tomorrow we'll see the twins again in 'Bill or Ben?'

Rating: 4/5

S17 Ep.13:The Phantom Express

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

THE PHANTOM EXPRESS

Written by

Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson

Directed by

David Baas 

Produced by

Kallan Kagan (Arc)

Ian McCue and Haliam Jabbour (HIT)

Plot:

One night James tries to scare Percy by telling him that there's the ghost of Ulfstead Castle. Stephen reassures Percy that there's no such things as ghosts. But James sneaks up to them and tries to scare them both which ended up Percy and Stephen in the moat. James didn't know where they are and when he hears them whistling for help, James thought his story is real! 

PRO:
- The mist is rendered much better
- James' cheekiness returns
- The camera angles
- The mention of Stephen's crew jumping clear

CON:

- Percy's mail van disappeared

- Percy looks slightly off angled when he was at the castle

- Stephen should know what an owl sounds like

 

The episode was good and I do love episodes that are focused onto James and Percy, such as 'Percy, James and the Fruitful Day', and we haven't seen an episode like that since season three! However 'Jack Frost' came into mind when I saw this episode, I would say that was the last we see an episode with Percy and James, but Percy seems to be the main character then James, as he landed a secondary role in that episode. I do love how the mist is rendered now, it's, admittingly, better then what Nitrogen pulled as there fog or mist grows to be more thick. The mist was a bit thick as well in the episode, but you can see better. James' cheekiness had returned, it feels of course like 'No Joke For James' from the third season and the camera angles were great, especially that close up of Percy when hearing more of James' 'ghost' story.

 

However there are some problems with the episode, as usual with Arc's animation. When Percy was telling Stephen about 'The Phantom Express' his mail van disappeared and then reappeared again later on when James pulled into the castle. Plus as Percy was at the castle, he looked angled slightly and of course, with Stephen's old age, you think he knows what an owl would sound like?! However in the end it was a good episode and I enjoyed it and it was great to air it at this time of the month as it's the Halloween month, though in my country we don't celebrate that much. Well tomorrow we witness the return of Bill and Ben in full CGI for the very first time.

Rating: 4/5

S17 Ep.12: The Thomas Way

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

THE THOMAS WAY

Written by

Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson 

Produced by

Kallan Kagan (Arc)

Ian McCue and Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Directed by

David Baas

Air Date:
1/10/13

Plot:

Harold the Helicopter broke down near Callan castle. Duck and Thomas are to take him to the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre to be repaired. Thomas decided to give Harold a tour around the island through an engine's perspective but Duck insist Thomas that there are two ways of doing things: 'The Great Western way or The Wrong way' 

PRO:
- The flashback
- Thomas and Duck were in character 
- No three strikes formula
- Moral: Not everything can go their own personal way

CON:
- Duck being turned around by Rocky
- 'The Great Western way or the Wrong Way' got annoying for a while

Well, we've seen Duck's comeback for ten seconds in 'Henry's Hero' and now we see him making a bigger role for the first time in CGI and for the first time since the fourth season really, 'Fish'. The flashback scene was great and it's also great that they've acknowledge Thomas' history with the use of Duck's season six model and the use of Paddington station in the background, Paddington is actually the London of the Great Western Railway, its headquarters. Nice to see that Andrew Brenner had kept his word of researching the Thomas wikia site and it was nice of the people who are behind the old photograph to have put Duck in the background of the GWR's main station, showcasing the character's roots and seeing some Britishness in the scene and it was a great bonus to see them mentioning Duck's real name, Montague. Thomas and Duck were in great character, Duck is very much like himself from Season 2, telling the engines 'The Great Western way or the Wrong Way', though I have to say it does get annoying at times, but it shows in the end that not everything can go your way, with the mistakes that Duck and Thomas had made on the way to the Search and Rescue centre. 

Plus there is no three strikes formula, the only mistake that the two engines made was taking Harold to Knapford station, the scene of them going through the narrow tunnel is like the final problem on their journey. However there is one con I have with the episode, that is Duck being turned around by Rocky, it would've made more sense if Duck rolled along backwards and Thomas and Harold looking out for him. Plus him saying 'The Great Western Way or the Wrong Way' got annoying for a while. In the end I did enjoy the episode and so far it's on my list of personal favourite S17 episodes.

Rating: 4/5

S17 Ep.11: The Lost Puff

Back in June 2013, the UK had first witnessed ten episodes of the new and improved Series 17. The episodes went on hiatus from June, as I believe it was done for it's autumn release that it was originally planned to do. Click the links below to see my opinions on the first ten episodes:

- Kevin's Cranky Friend
- Scruff's Makeover
- Wayward Winston
- Gordon Runs Dry
- Calm Down Caitlin 
- Steamie Stafford
- Henry's Hero
- Luke's New Friend
- The Switch 
- Not Now, Charlie

So let's us start of the next episodes with 'The Lost Puff', which made its debut in a Thomas & Friends magazine in the UK, please read the warning first:

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

THE LOST PUFF

Written by
Davey Moore

Directed by
David Baas

Produced by
Kallan Kagan (Arc)
Ian McCue & Halim Jabbour 

Air Date:
30/9/13

Plot:

The Fat Controller warns his engines to be careful over broken track. But Paxton the diesel doesn't listen to his instructions and thinks it's fun to go over some wobbly tracks. He persuaded Thomas to try it out but it end up wetting his firebox when he backed into Toby at the water tower. When Paxton overheard from Toby that Thomas 'lost his puff', he misunderstood for what he had said and went around to look for it. Victor explains the misunderstanding and Paxton learns that he should must listen carefully.

PRO:
- 'Has buckled in the hot sun!' a nice possible reference to 'Thomas Gets Bumped'
- The duck
- Stephen's face
- The angles (e.g - Gordon goes under the bridge and Stephen and Paxton looking at the cloud)
- Moral: Paying attention to avoid silliness  

CON:
- The narrow gauge brake vans at Knapford
- Paxton's disappearing brake van
  

This is definitely one of Davey Moore's best written episodes yet. The buckled track reference reminded me of 'Thomas Gets Bumped', as the tracks in that episode suffered the same fate. The use of duck for comedic use was entertaining to see, the angles were fantastic such as Gordon running under the bridge:

Including the scene when Paxton was racing towards Ulfstead Castle, seems that there is a link on that bridge now that we've seen since 'Hero of The Rails' and with him and Stephen looking at the cloud. Stephen's face when he was confused by Paxton's words was priceless to look at as well. However in the end, the episode has a nice moral about paying attention so you can avoid any kind of silliness. But there are some problems with this episode and it's pretty much Arc's use of animation, notice the brake vans that are in a siding are narrow gauge and that after the panning shot, you can see that Paxton has no brake van but when he left, it was there! Arc really need to notice these flaws as they do look unrealistic towards a railway enthusiasts eye, as Thomas the Tank Engine is popular for its realistic charm since the dawn of the Railway Series books. Well, now that we see started with the second half S17, I'm really looking forward for tomorrow's episode, even if it has a certain GWR pannier tank engine in it with a bigger role, which I'm glad to see. 

Rating: 5/5

Movie Review: King of The Railway (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

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

THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS,
THANKS IN ADVANCE

KING OF THE RAILWAY 

Written by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

Rob Silvestri

Produced by

Kallan Kagan (Arc)

Ian McCue & Halim Jabbour (HIT)

Release Date:

 2/09/13 (UK)
  2/10/13 (AUS)
17/09/13 (US)

After the success with 'Blue Mountain Mystery' in the past year with its DVD sales and TV ratings in the UK and with fans and parents acclaiming the movie, thanks to Andrew Brenner's editing of the script despite some Miller moments, Thomas fans were left thinking of what will Andrew Brenner bring for the movie with new animation and of course new writing. Andrew Brenner has been well-known for creating Thomas stories and adapting episodes from the first and second series for the Marvel comic series between 1987-1992, his years with Marvel, with many of his stories making it as series three and five episodes of the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends series during the Britt Allcroft and David Mitton era. 'Henry's Forest' is the more notable one, albeit with the criticism of Rev.W.Awdry seeing how the episode ignored railway logic. However Brenner had won the hearts of many Thomas fans with his episode 'Gordon Runs Dry' which has been released in America back in April with the Wal*Mart exclusive DVD 'Railway Mischief' and it also has been broadcasted on UK television back in June. Before the episode was released, the two trailers for this movie came out back in January and March this year, most fans think that movie is another Sharon Miller script but after the episode was released in the two respective countries, there seem to be some positive atmosphere for the special. The animation had been criticised earlier this year saying that the animation looks 'cheap'. But looking at the movie in high quality, it seems that fans should not trust low quality videos on YouTube. So far, the DVD has proven to be a success in children's animation on Amazon UK as the number one best selling DVD, before its initial release.

The movie has been released first in Poland on television unexpectedly, it made its cinema debut in Australia and in the UK and made its debut in Los Angeles, USA and will be on television in the US on PBS Kids in October. The reason why I've published the review on September 18th instead of October is because I've seen the movie on Dailymotion with thanks going to good friend Chris Tomson. 

PLOT:

Thomas is over the moon when the Earl of Sodor chooses him and friends Percy and James to rebuild Ulfstead Castle. During their latest adventure, the Steam Team meets Millie, a bubbly French engine, and Stephen, an older steam locomotive with fascinating stories to tell. Meanwhile, Spencer and Gordon are stunned when they encounter two new engines, Connor and Caitlin, who are even faster than they are!  

But disaster strikes when Stephen goes missing. Will Thomas find Stephen in time for the Grand Opening of Ulfstead Castle, and what is it that lies buried deep in the mine under the Castle…?

OVERALL:

Hands down, this has beaten the likes of 'Blue Mountain Mystery' and 'The Great Discovery' or any Thomas special that has been released since 2005. The story was written well, the new characters have great explanation as to why they're on the island (e.g - Mille being kept in her shed while the Earl was away and Connor and Caitlin coming to the island for time trails before the opening of the castle). I love the introduction of the pre-railway days, it shows that Andrew Brenner had really stuck with his promise of research from the TTTE Wikia. Jack had a nice comeback, it wasn't flashy or a big deal but nice. His new shape, I liked it and it makes him more realistic when I first saw the picture from the Polish dub back in July and to be honest it wasn't a huge problem for me, which in this fan base they see something new and it's out of their comfort zone and go on and blame HIT for it, which is a shame really. The new characters are likeable and, as I stated before, they had explanations of why they're on the island unlike in the Sharon Miller specials such as 'Day of The Diesels', Den and Dart were engines that Percy had never seen before but they have no explanation why they were never seen and the same would go for Belle, there was no reason why they've came to island in the first place and the same can be said for 'Thomas and The Magic Railroad', both in the official and directors cut for Splatter and Dodge.

People had criticised since the second trailer made its debut in America about the basis of Connor and Caitlin, as they are American locomotives on British rails. To be fair I do like to see some British locomotives in the series but when you look at Connor and Caitlin, they both have Irish accents and with Caitlin from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, there were many irish rail workers. I don't know much about Connor, but with his basis being from New York they have irish americans there as well. So its a nice little cultural twist for them. But in the end, Connor and Caitlin's basis had grew on to me and I think they looked rather splendid in their respective basis. Though if they were chosen a British kind of basis and with it being a medieval theme special, Connor should've been a GWR Castle class and Caitlin should've been a Princess class.

Stephen has been a likeable character with a nice sense of humour, more better then Charlie's 'jokes' and I especially love the history he has about himself such as 'The race', which is really the Rainhill trails, a competiton between many locomotives to build the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which plays a big part in British history and culture as it was part of the industrial revolution and it was the first passenger railway line in the world. With Millie her persona has been developed well, showcasing her to be hard working and excited and it was nice that it was shown more in the recently aired episode 'The Switch'.

Sir Robert Norramby is an excellent character that they've introduced, he has such great spirit and sense of humour that he reminds me of British actor Brain Blessed. The songs were OK though but I don't know why 'Working Together' was rehashed with different lines really. But 'It's Gonna Be A Great Day', the second version, is much more better then the original draft version considering that it is Sam Blewitt singing in his own voice rather then the help of auto-tune and the lyrics weren't too childish. But I'm surprised that the song is not focused on the special's title during the CGI period, sure there was 'Go Go Thomas', but they did sing about the movie. 'Searching Everywhere' is a nice song but it has its cliched lyrics about helping one another, which is a good for the target audience to learn and listen too. Plus I like the little jokes they put into the special such as "Don't tell me he needs special coal again?!" "No Gordon that was fixed years ago!" and the three engines one truck jib, a nice joke about the major errors in the Sharon Miller era of the series, as I heard on twitter that Andrew Brenner disliked Sharon Miller's writing and I heard that there were three, I don't know much of the third one really. The voice acting is great as well and it sounds better now with the vocabulary expanding for the characters in the story with the great voice direction of Sharon Miller, really she is! With the animation, it was nice and I think Arc had done a great job, I do love the mouth movement of the characters it's a bit more flexible and smooth and there has been some improvements from Nitrogen such as the gravel and grass, which seems to stand out more, however there were some errors with their animation with a narrow gauge engine hauling standard gauge trucks at the BMQ, I know the tracks are dual gauge, but it is unrealsitic. In the end, the movie stands out well as a DVD special rather then a one hour toy commercial to sell characters and play sets, bar 'Blue Mountain Mystery'. The characters had great development and it's good to see the original characters to have their original personas again such as Percy, James and Thomas. Andrew Brenner had done his homework and had kept his promise and if you ever see a title of a special or an episode and even though it may sound a bit bad (e.g - Monster of Sodor), think about Andrew Brenner, the man who is bringing Thomas & Friends back to his normal roots.

RATING:
5/5

KING OF THE RAILWAY IS AVAILABLE NOW 
IN THE UK AND US. 

IT'LL BE OUT IN AUSTRALIA ON OCTOBER 2ND

BUY IT NOW:
AMAZON US
AMAZON UK

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