All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.17 - The Slowest Race in the World

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

THE SLOWEST RACE IN THE WORLD

Written by

Noelle Wright

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

18/05/24 - CAN

19/09/24 - US

Plot

Thomas, Kana and Diesel "race" to see who can go the slowest.

One positive I'm glad to see from this episode was that Bruno was in it and had some importance to the story like he did in the Pizza episode. But it is still a shame how underutilise he is during this season despite the big push that Mattel had made last season for him. So it's good to see him again. As for the episode I really don't know what they were going with? Throughout most of the episode Thomas, Kana and Diesel with Bruno were trying to slow down for the race but by the time they got to the climax to rescue Percy for being a runaway or else he could go off the rails, despite having the power to jump around, the message that they were saying 'it's good to go slow' despite the fact they never had a problem to the idea, that they thought of, to begin with!

Why not have Thomas and Kana liking the idea, not Diesel because he would drive the conflict, but later realise that it's more fun to go fast in a race because it's a challenge, making Diesel right. Perhaps Thomas and Kana realised that when they all came into Vicarstown together making it a tie. Maybe earlier in the episode have Diesel being frustrated that Kana always kept winning which would drive the conflict with him not liking the idea of a slow race and tries to go fast in places along the route but Thomas and Kana were preffering their way. 

Sure it would repetitive but it's better than this bland story in my opinion. Giving the characters some conflict can help drive the story in a much more interesting and entertaining way. The song was meh and it kind of spoils the outcome of the whole story as well but at the same time, they didn't need to add the song to begin with, thank god we didn't have it on repeat at the end. 

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Fill-In Friend - 4/10

Cake It Easy - 1/10

The Can-Do Crew - 6/10

Pizza Picnic Problem - 3/10

Travels With Terence - 2/10

Crab Crossing - 1/10

Driving Winston - 6/10

The Slowest Race in the World - 2/10

Overall Rating (So far):
53/170

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.16 - Driving Winston

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

DRIVING WINSTON

Written by

John Loy

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

11/05/24 - CAN

19/09/24 - US

Plot

Winston, Sir Topham Hatt's new track car, causes problems by not seeking assistance.

This might be a nitpick, but I don't understand why the Fat Controller was making such a fuss that he didn't have anyone to take him anywhere when he knew he was going to have Winston? Why not just have him to say 'No need to worry Thomas, for I already have someone else to takeover Emily for me.' and loe and behold we're introduced to Winston. It's a minor piece of criticism but it's just annoying, same as how he was telling Thomas that he would have to change his name because he lost his hat, why is that any time the show makes a joke they have to explain it? TFC saying that he would have to change his name is good enough and doesn't need to be explained especially to its audience. 

 While the episode was generic with the usual three strikes formula of Winston making mistakes and has the usual tell don't show of the episode's message because they think the audience needs to be told for some reason, it really wasn't too bad since Winston, I feel, had more character in this episode than what he had in the original series. While Winston has patiences and sensitivity but can be easily distracted in the original, his original persona didn't offer much for stories beyond S16-17 and was often used as a device for the Fat Controller to take him places away from the road.

Winston's AEG persona can be used for other stories, though more likely for the same type of stories that AEG had reused plenty of times such as racing or something or maybe perhaps he could do more than just driving around as TFC's chauffeur until he realises he's good enough as he is. That depends though if the production team at AEG are willing to focus on the other characters outside of Thomas, Percy, Kana and Diesel since they would rather restrictions instead of doing something new. Sure the original series had stories focused on Thomas and the Steam Team but at least tried to give other characters outside of that some time to shine, even though some like Duck, Bill, Ben etc. weren't given a care for the younger audience of the show.

It would be nice if AEG has variety for once.   

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Fill-In Friend - 4/10

Cake It Easy - 1/10

The Can-Do Crew - 6/10

Pizza Picnic Problem - 3/10

Travels With Terence - 2/10

Crab Crossing - 1/10

Driving Winston - 6/10

Overall Rating (So far):
51/160

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.15 - Crab Crossing

I'm back with more episode reviews for S3 of AEG which had finished its run in Canada back in late June and will be making its US run soon on Netflix next month. So after a dissapointing first half, will S3B be any better? I don't know but I'm not going to hold my breath here. Anyway it's just ten episodes to get through and then I'll be reviewing the 60min Christmas special when its released. But let's get on with the reviews, shall we? But first: 

THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

CRAB CROSSING

Written by

Peter Gaffney

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

11/05/24 - CAN

19/09/24 - US

Plot

Sandy and Carly learn how to construct better after an attempt to repair a sea wall fails.

Another example of AEG's consistency problem with Carly and Sandy coming up with the realisation that there are animals living on the Island as well, even though we already had an episode like that,and a really terrible one at that, in this season already called 'Duck, Duck Whoosh' and a whole song about that too. I don't know how fast the process is for TV production but surely someone would've noticed some of the similarities, right? Anyway, despite that, the episode was not good. Sure it was nice that Carly and Sandy were trying to help the crabs but that was basically it and most of it was done to fill in time and Thomas' runaway wagons just so Sandy and Carly can meet up with Darcy in the mine so she can escort them to the beach but it can also work without such need to fill in time. 

Perhaps you can have Thomas, Sandy and Carly trying to find ways to move the sea wall, yes it would be repetitive but hey it's better than adding pointless filler to eat up running time. Also while I know the episode's resolution is a crab crossing, I also think it's a bad solution since they placed the sea wall next to the beach to keep the waves away from the railway line. Why not build a tunnel through the sea wall underneath the sand instead of slabs of steel? Also why would Carly and Sandy want the crabs to come again? The whole point of the episode was to take them back to their habitat. I know these are nitpicks but they are very annoying little details that I want to point out. 

Also the song from reading the lyrics because I can't be bothered to sit through it, I feel it's ironic that they were trying to force down a message that we must build things for everyone but that messaging will be forgotten about in later episodes because consistency and character development aren't important. I don't believe that the crab crossing and the sea wall will be a permanent feature, hell the new engine wash from Bubbly Build wasn't featured in it despite that the events of the special had happened. Sure the wikia might say this was set before the special but that doesn't hold much weight since AEG has continuity but they are just bad at it, look at 'Sights of Sodor' for example from S2. 

The episode is bad, it's a rehash of the Kana duck episode but even worse and wouldn't hold any importance for character development since its whole message will just be forgotten about. 

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Fill-In Friend - 4/10

Cake It Easy - 1/10

The Can-Do Crew - 6/10

Pizza Picnic Problem - 3/10

Travels With Terence - 2/10

Crab Crossing - 1/10

Overall Rating (So far):
45/150

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.14 - Travels With Terence

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

TRAVELS WITH TERENCE

Written by

Amber Harris

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

16/03/24 - CAN

19/09/24 - US

Plot

Terence's tread breaks, and he and Thomas explore Sodor after his repairs.

While this wouldn't air in the US until September later this year, the episode was already broadcasted in March 2024 on Treehouse TV over in Canada. So unless you are a fan of AEG, spoilers ahead! 

As for the episode itself, I really don't get what they were trying to say here, Terence was energetic and was excited to see the rest of Sodor beyond the farm but he never learnt to calm down and contain his excitement so as not to break things and not to mention he kinda brushed off the things he had caused such as breaking Sandy's heart sculpture, the obstacle course and the platform at Knapford. Yes he felt bad but it only happened for a few seconds and he never thought of putting things right, which would've been one of the things I think that should've been placed in the script. 

Even Thomas should've told Terence about keeping his excitment toned down so not to wreck havoc. Could've been good to showcase his character development in this show, if he ever had any, when it comes to taking responsibility. Perhaps instead of Terence wrecking havoc why not have him be bored of the farm and yearning to see the rest of Sodor but he couldn't leave because he had stuff to do at the farm. Thomas saw this and took Terence away to show the Island and then we have Terence being all excited about seeing different places until maybe say Gordon came towards him and told Thomas that Terence must head back to the farm because the farmer needs him for urgent work. But Terence refuses to go back and runs away until he came to the farm and saw what needed to be done and realises that while seeing the Island was fun, he must knows his responsibility first. 

Sure there's no excuse for him to wreck havoc but it gives something for kids and his energy would still be there just more toned down. In the end, the actual episode was just not good.

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Fill-In Friend - 4/10

Cake It Easy - 1/10

The Can-Do Crew - 6/10

Pizza Picnic Problem - 3/10

Travels With Terence - 2/10

Overall Rating (So far):
44/140

---

So that is all of S3A and so far it was dissapointing. S2 wasn't great either but there were a few gems that I could think of that were quite nice despite the outcome of the show. S1 even at least had one episode that I'd liked as well which was the Thomas and Gordon episode 'The Super-Long Shortcut'. So far for S3, there was really no episode that I see as favourite, perhaps S3B might have some but like I said at the start of season review, I'm going in with very low expectations. The only episode that I will say was good was 'The Can-Do Crew' but even that is not a personal favourite of mine. 

I'm glad that this season, overall, is going to be 26 episodes long instead of 52, at least there won't be too many episodes left to review and sit through. All of S3B will be released once its released, since it's not airing on Cartoon Network's 'Cartoonito' in the US and who knows what the release date will be, depends if Mattel actually bothers to promote the new season or special, I was writing all these reviews back in April 2024 and at the time of writing this, S3 was barely promoted. Instagram is where I see it most because, at the time of writing this, they only made three posts during 2024. One was for a new single and the other two were for the app game 'Let's Roll'. Not a SINGLE word about S3 during when those three posts were made! In fact Netflix promoted S3 of the show when you click on the thumbnail but it was just a little tag that could be easily missed, I saw it when I was visiting America back in February. 

You think Mattel, a company that is trying to give Thomas better toy sales wouldn't give such little exposure to the show that would help them with toy sales! They're put all there money into this project and not doing anything to promote it.  

Not to mention there bad distribution of toys! If anyone from Mattel are reading this, perhaps there is a reason why Thomas is not doing well in toy sales? Its the exposure! It is bad! The toys that I've seen at my local chain stores that sell them such as Target, Big W, Kmart, there is hardly ANYTHING new in stock, that is also thanks to your POOR distribution. EXPOSURE is important to your brand, you bought the franchise because of its success and yet you're not doing a good job at it, who knows how much value you'd lost over the years with it since you went for the prize bull back in 2011/12. 

There was never anything wrong with the original series, it's your bad business decisions. Even though we're going to be celebrate the 80th anniversary next year, I have very low expectations that it'll be anything better compare to the 70th, at a time when Mattel did actually have success with the brand. 

If AEG fails, despite the many mentions of it being 'successful', perhaps its time to sell the franchise and see if anyone bothers to purchase it, I recommend Sony Creative Products in Japan. 

Expect more of S3 coming soon later this year.

NWR1991

   

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.13 - Pizza Picnic Problem

  THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

PIZZA PICNIC PROBLEM

Written by

Sarah Eisenberg

Becky Wangberg

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

16/03/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

When a last-minute hitch puts a stop to the big kazoo concert, Thomas and his friends decide to hold a pizza picnic for everyone instead.

This is just a meh episode with a conflict that was resolved quickly. It really wasn't bad but it wasn't the best either. But one thing I do agree with from this episode is that Pineapple belongs on Pizza. It was also nice to see Bruno having a speaking role in the episode too as, so far, he was barely in this season, which is a shame too because he's the only character bareable to sit through and Mattel made a whole big deal about him back in 2022. I do know we have an episode of his coming up later this year and I do hope we get more of him soon because he is a really good character. 

All in all though, the episode was just not that good and also I think it's kinda stupid of the Fat Controller not realising that Reginald, the baker, could do the job alone. But then again some modern kids shows, the adults are sometimes depicted as useless idiots, *stares at Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig*. It's a shame too as the previous episode was, so far this season, the best one. I guess the message was about finding a new way, thanks to the song stating the obvivous. But I think the conflict was resolved too quickly. Perhaps have the engines trying to find different ways of cooking the pizza but fail until they thought of a giant pizza oven, like using their fireboxes.

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Fill-In Friend - 4/10

Cake It Easy - 1/10

The Can-Do Crew - 6/10

Pizza Picnic Problem - 3/10

Overall Rating (So far):
42/130

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.12 - The Can-Do Crew

 THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

THE CAN-DO CREW

Written by

Adam Lorenzo

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

9/03/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

The engines help keep the recycling plant going while Whiff runs errands, but they soon discover that taking over his work is not easy.

Who was in charge of the synopsis, they'd really misrepresent the episode because the whole thing got nothing to do with the engines taking over Whiff's work. It was all about the troublesome trucks being stupid and causing chaos. Honestly, the episode was not that bad. Not the greatest episode that I've seen so far this season but it was actually alright. The highlight for me was the character development that the trucks had gotten throughout this episode, though I think that won't last long considering how inconsistent the writing is for the show, and they weren't as annoying as they were previously. All in all it was not bad.

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Fill-In Friend - 4/10

Cake It Easy - 1/10

The Can-Do Crew - 6/10

Overall Rating (So far):
39/120

All Engines Go! Review - S3 Ep.11 - Cake It Easy

  THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

CAKE IT EASY

Written by

Eva Konstantopoulos

Directed by

Campbell Bryer 

Produced by

Suzie Gallo

Air Date

9/03/24 - CAN

7/03/24 - US

Plot

Thomas and Diesel must take a batch of delicious treats to the Sodor Cake Festival, but their cargo doesn't travel well.

A very generic typical episode about being careful and its all thanks to the Thomas and Diesel's competitiveness storyline which, looking back from the last two seasons, is becoming overused thanks to this show's restriced casting that doesn't allowed anything to do with variety. The episode just has that samey feeling towards its and doesn't have anything that stands out amongst the other episodes and oh yes the song is basically just a generic song with the moral pushed down because the audience cannot digest it themselves despite watching the episode and getting the clear picture early on with some cheap puns on the side in order for us to laugh at, just your typical 'All Engines Go!' episode. 

Series Rating:

What's the Buzz - 4.5/10

Bells are Ringing - 4/10

Abraca-Diesel - 2/10

Overcommitted - 2.5/10

Sandy's Fine Mess - 4/10

Nia's Green Surprise - 3/10

Duck Duck Whoosh! - 1/10

Choo-Choo Check In - 5/10

Percy's Little Problem - 3/10

Fill-In Friend - 4/10

Cake It Easy - 1/10

Overall Rating (So far):
33/110