Season 3: Review #10: “Thomas & Friends: “Day of the Diesels”

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING YOU’RE ABOUT TO SEE MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!!!!!! TURN BACK IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS SPECIAL YET!!!!!!!

-We Now Join Our Regularly Scheduled– Forget this, you get what I’m saying-

Hello, I’m The Detective Librarian and all of you may have remembered Diesel 10, the main antagonist of the infamous box-office bomb, “Thomas and the Magic Railroad”, the one BR Class 42 Warship diesel locomotive that is one of my favorite “Thomas” characters that has his claw nicknamed “Pinchy” on top of him. Even though he is unrealistic, he still is a cool villain diesel to this day. He returned in “Calling All Engines”, before making a cameo in “The Great Discovery”, and making a full-time return in the post-credits scene to the special that I previously reviewed, “Misty Island Rescue”.:

When our favorite villain diesel with Pinchy on his head returned, it foreshadowed the special that I’ll be reviewing today, “Day of the Diesels”. It first came out on DVD and Blu-Ray in the US on September 6, 2011, VUE Cinemas in the UK on September 17-18, 2011, before coming out on DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK on September 26, 2011. Please note that it came out in US theaters as well, but that’s not important, what’s most important is that the last special was awful and if this special, today, will be an improvement over the last special or not. Before we begin, here’s the funny thing, after Diesel 10’s return in “Misty Island Rescue”, someone named TTTEParody made fake leaked footage of “Day of the Diesels”, but made it seem too scary for kids, but I won’t show it because we all know that it’s F-A-K-E!!! Anyways, let’s see if this special is worth the pay-off, rather than “Misty Island Rescue” with Diesel 10 returning in this special. This is “Day of the Diesels”.

So, we start off this special with some more cool opening titles and like most of the new “Thomas” specials, the opening titles theme is a nice composition and it goes like this.:

Now that the opening credits are over, we officially begin the special with the Island of Sodor having (of course) a beautiful summers day, where the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the butterflies are flying, the children are playing, and our #1 hero, Thomas the Tank Engine himself (who likes to steal the spotlight), is huffing around the Island. However, Thomas goes through black smoke and we all know what that means: “IT’S A FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

AUDIENCE: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

SCRIPT PERSON: FIRE?! OMG!!!! EVACUATE THE OFFICE!!!!!!!! HIDE YOUR KIDS, STUFF, AND EVERY OTHER THINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Hey, hey, hey! Everyone, there’s no fire in my office. It’s only in this special!!

EVERYONE ELSE: OOOOOOOHHHH………

SCRIPT PERSON:…EVERYBODY RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!

EVERYBODY: AAAHHH–

(“Spongebob” Reference)

Anyways, the fire is at an old shed and by huge coincidence, Percy the Small Engine, Thomas’ best friend, is also at the scene of the fire, trying to help put out the fire and even the Fat Man AKA Sir Topham Hatt/The Fat Controller is there, also. As workmen and other humans try to put out the fire with buckets of water (instead of calling the Sodor Fire Department from Season 5), Thomas and Percy use hoses from their water tanks to spray the water to extinguish the fire ASAP, like in the Season 5 episode, “Thomas, Percy, and Old Slow Coach”. Just then, our heroes hear a whistle and bell that belongs to a new engine (of course) named Belle, a fire engine (get it) that is actually a purple tank engine with water cannons on her tanks. Now, you may think that that name and design is ridiculously obvious and completely unrealistic, but remember, it’s just Sharon Miller and HIT Entertainment’s logic and thank God for Andrew Brenner because of how better he is at being the head writer, instead of Sharon “Freaking” Miller!!! I’m surprised Disney didn’t do the same thing when they had Belle, when they were working on “Beauty and the Beast”. So, Belle uses her water cannons from her tanks to help put out the fire and Fat Man congratulates her for her brave efforts. However, Belle can’t move because she’s out of water and Thomas and Percy have to take her to the Sodor Steamworks to be repaired.

Well, that could explain why engines/locomotives in real life don’t have water cannons and are built to fight fires. So, Fat Man comes and decides that he needs more firefighters to come and aide Belle in preventing infernos. If that’s the case, then USE THE SODOR FIRE DEPARTMENT FROM SEASON 5 BECAUSE THEY HELPED PUT OUT TWO FIRES IN THE EPISODE, “THOMAS, PERCY, AND OLD SLOW COACH”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I MEAN, SERIOUSLY, HIT ENTERTAINMENT JUST HAD TO FORGET ALL ABOUT THE CLASSIC SERIES, UNTIL ANDREW BRENNER CAME AND DID EVERYTHING RIGHT AGAIN!!!!!!!!! But, I digress, Belle decides to ask Fat Man to come and bring in a firefighter/truck named Flynn to come to Sodor, even though we already knew him from Season 15, which took place after this special and aired before it came out for some reason. She explains that Flynn is fast, fearless, and is a hero, more like slow, brainless, and a complete moron because of what we just witnessed in Season 15 episode, “Fiery Flynn”, along with Season 16 premiere episode, “Race to the Rescue”!! So, Fat Man (of course) agrees to send Flynn to his Railway and help out, while he asks Thomas to send Belle around the Island and Percy to deliver the mail, which leaves Percy disappointed.

Later at Tidmouth Sheds, Belle arrives and Thomas starts his tour with her, leaving a disappointed Percy and the other engines of the Steam Team behind. Thomas takes Belle to Brendam Docks and Cranky the Crane begins to like Belle, while Percy tries to make an excuse to not pull the mail by saying that the packages in his mail vans are extremely heavy. But, Cranky refuses, leaving Percy to get back to his job, downhearted, even though Cranky is a crane at Brendam Docks that cannot move from his platform!!! However, unbeknownst to Percy and the others, Devious Diesel is spying on them. Belle’s tour continues at Knapford Station, while Percy is still feeling left out over Thomas spending time with Belle. Diesel pulls up beside him and says that Thomas is starting to appreciate Belle more than Percy, which causes Percy to be convinced by Diesel. Later, you-know-who arrives at the Steamworks along with Diesel and they see and hear Belle, Thomas, and Victor laughing, which is a sign that they’re having a private conversation.

Belle huffs out of the Steamworks and when she asks Diesel that if they have something that is like the Steamworks, we find out that the diesels have a repair yard that is similar to the Steamworks named the Dieselworks. Except that, it’s not as grand as the you-know-where, but Thomas explains that steam engines/steamies don’t go to the Dieselworks because it’s dark, dirty, and full of diesels because diesels can be devious. Uh, Thomas, didn’t you learn that saying stuff about the diesels is racist? Perhaps, you didn’t, more likely, even though you show respect towards friendly diesels such as Mavis, BoCo (even though he’s not returning yet), Rusty, Salty, Daisy, Paxton (who officially is introduced in this special, along with Norman and other characters that I’ll mention later), etc…. I bet HIT Entertainment decided to make Thomas become either a Diesel Nazi or a racist/Star-Billing Bastard!–

SCRIPT PERSON: HEY! THIS IS FOR KIDS! NOT ADULTS!! REMEMBER WHAT I SAID, DETECTIVE!!

THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Sorry, Script Person and everybody. But, I had to because many fans call Thomas that name because ever since Season 8, the title character has been stealing everybody’s screentime!!!

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE: It’s not my fault, you know! It’s because of the writers! You should know that by now!

THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: But, Thomas, I already blamed YOU, HIT ENTERTAINMENT, AND SHARON MILLER!!!!!!!!!!!!

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE: When will you ever learn?

Back with the story, Thomas and Belle leave the Steamworks to shunt some trucks/cars, while Percy continues his job with the mail. Diesel once again meets Percy at Wellsworth Station, where he’s continuing his mail run, and explains that he has a friend that would like to spend time and pay attention to him. As you’d expect, Percy the Small Engine AKA the Green Caterpillar with Red Stripes is convinced thanks to Diesel that Thomas and the other engines no longer wait or want Percy, while Diesel’s friends are looking forward to meeting him. Later at Brendam Docks, Percy is chosen to take Flynn’s hose to the Sodor Search and Rescue Center, instead of having the hose be delivered WITH him all the way to Sodor! Man, Sir Topham Hatt loves using his engines to deliver EVERYTHING in Sharon Miller’s era, before Andrew Brenner came and– Oh, forget it! So, Diesel pulls up beside Percy and explains that he told his friend at the Dieselworks about him and he would appreciate meeting Percy and he’d be a VERY special visitor at the Dieselworks. When Thomas and Belle show up, Percy asks to help him deliver the hose to the Rescue Center, but Thomas (of course) has to pick up children at Bluff’s Cove, along with Belle, leaving Percy (once again) disappointed.

Well, at least “Tale of the Brave”, three specials from now, was a bit similar to this, but it had Gator AKA Gerald, a mountain engine that was voiced by Clive Mantle. Anyways, Percy goes to a fork in the track (not an actual fork, though) which leads to two lines. One leads to the Rescue Center, while the other goes to the Dieselworks. Percy starts to think about what Thomas and Diesel said about the Dieselworks, like the good and bad side tempting you in cartoons, but wants to get more attention from the diesels at the Dieselworks. So, he decides to go to the Dieselworks, which I forgot to mention is at Vicarstown. When he arrives, Percy goes through the rusty ruins of the old Vicarstown Dieselworks and encounters the one engine that was waiting for him, “Diesel 10”!! Now, I would expect Percy to just runaway because he’s encountered Diesel 10 before, but no!

Instead, he decides to accept Diesel 10’s offer to come inside the Dieselworks with him. Inside, Diesel, Arry and Bert, Norman (Dennis’ twin), Sidney (a forgetful diesel that is hanging on the hoist, until Season 17), and Paxton, and Diesel 10 surround Percy and welcome him. We also get introduced to the two diesels that run the Dieselworks named Den, a slow-thinking and runner of the works, and Dart, the one who helps Den and reads his mind, (played by Rupert Degas). Please note that when Den is about to say something (sometimes), Dart always goes, “What Den/he means to say is” what he’s about to say. It goes on for a couple of times, but, this was NEVER seen when they were seen in Season 15! So, why didn’t they do that in Season 15, because it would’ve spoiled the special for us!!! Also, we get a joke from Percy (because Dart likes jokes, so much) about what to call a train/engine that has a cold: “An a-choo choo train!”:

Or….:

Or…:

Of course, the diesels laugh and Percy suddenly remembers that he has to deliver Flynn’s hose to the Rescue Center. Luckily, Diesel 10 asks Dart to take the hose for Percy. But, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Percy because we’ve seen Diesel 10 before and it’s extremely unlikely that the events of “TATMR” were brought up, until Diesel 10 called Sidney “Twinkletoes” in Season 17.

DIESEL 10: Yeah, Twinkletoes!!!

(Reference to “Thomas and the Magic Railroad” and “The Missing Christmas Decorations”)

So, Percy decides to cheer up the diesels by asking Thomas to tell Fat Man to build a new Dieselworks. Diesel 10 agrees and we get a funny scene, where Diesel 10 is being smashed by his shed door, until he forces himself inside. Now, I would expect that to happen to people at a shopping mall or a grocery store, where they encounter automatic doors that open and close when he someone goes near the doors and then they close when that person leaves the door. Meanwhile, Flynn (also, played by Rupert Degas) arrives on Sodor and please note that he is a fire truck that runs on rails and roads. Gee, I’ve noticed that in every episode or special of the CGI series nowadays, they always have to focus on vehicles on rails, instead of roads. Later, Percy arrives at the Steamworks to discover that all the other engines (including Thomas) are there, seeing Flynn the new fire engine on the turntable and when Thomas comes closer to Flynn, Percy starts to feel left out again and he continues his loneliness when he sleeps all on his own at Tidmouth Sheds, that night. Wow, it looks like Thomas and the rest of the engines on the North Western Railway are starting to take WAY TOO MUCH ADVANTAGE ON FLYNN AND BELLE AND IT REALLY IS EXTREME LENGTHS INTO ABUSING THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH PERCY!!!

Early the next morning, Percy goes to the Dieselworks, once again and encounters the diesels again. He explains to Diesel 10 that he didn’t have enough time to tell Thomas about the Dieselworks, which causes him to be furious. When Dart pops up and hits the crane arm of the old Dieselworks crane nicknamed “Happy Hook” for the second time in a row, he complains that they need a new crane, which gives Percy the idea to bring Kevin the crane from the Steamworks to help the diesels. He decides to tell Thomas again, but he couldn’t find him at the Steamworks, but he does find Kevin there. Percy explains to Kevin about the diesel’s problem, much to Kevin’s shock, but is explained that if he is brought to the Dieselworks, he would be the diesels’ hero! Just then, Thomas arrives and tells Percy that Flynn’s hose has gone missing because when Victor told him to go to the Rescue Center to pick up the hose, it wasn’t there at all. Well, ISN’T IT OBVIOUS ON WHERE IT WENT?!?!

I MEAN, I DIDN’T TRUST DIESEL 10 AT THE VERY BEGINNING BECAUSE OF HIM BEING A BAD GUY IN THE PREVIOUS SPECIALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO, WHY WOULD PERCY TRUST A DIESEL WITH A CLAW ON TOP OF HIM THAT WOULD LOOK MENACING AND BE SO DIABOLICAL?!!!!!!!!! Okay, so, Percy has to find the hose, now that it has gone missing and when he searches all around the Island (including the Sodor Search and Rescue Center), he couldn’t find it anywhere. That night, he puffs back to Tidmouth Sheds to discover (BIG FREAKING SHOCK) that Flynn is at his berth at Tidmouth Sheds (just like when Stanley was at Thomas’ berth in “The Great Discovery”). Please note that Flynn asked Thomas if he could sleep here (instead of sleeping at the Rescue Center), until Percy returned. Now, Percy (as you’d imagine) is upset over it and decides to go to the Steamworks to sneakily pick up Kevin (without being caught by Victor) and take him to the Dieselworks. While Kevin begins his work at the Dieselworks, Percy tells Diesel 10 that he is still unable to tell Thomas about the current situation.

Because of this, Diesel 10 has to have Percy bring Thomas to the Dieselworks to get his “full-attention” if you will. 😉 After we have another scene with Diesel 10 VS. His Messed-Up Shed, Percy and Kevin stay at the Dieselworks for the night. The next morning, Percy arrives at Knapford Station to find Stanley, Toby, Emily, and Henry there and explains to them and Thomas about his new diesel friends. The engines are shocked (as you’d expect), and Gordon rushes in and explains to them about Kevin’s disappearance at the Steamworks. Now, Percy has to tell Victor about the entire thing, while Kevin has fun with Happy Hook at the Dieselworks, along with Diesel 10 asking Kevin to get back to work with cleaning the place up. Meanwhile, Percy tells Victor and the other engines at the Steamworks about the Steamworks’ duplicate, the Dieselworks, which causes Victor to tell Fat Man about this. Percy rushes to the Dieselworks to tell Diesel 10 about Thomas going to the you-know-where, while Victor going to tell Fat Man about the current situation.

This is good news for the diesels because they’re going to take over the Steamworks and have Percy lead the armada of the diesels, while Thomas and Kevin stay here and later on join the diesels, when Fat Man pays attention to them. Well, speak of the devil because Thomas shows up and is welcomed and Den and Dart are going to “take care of him/them”. 😉 Soon, Percy and the army of the diesels march towards the Steamworks, while Den and Dart lead Thomas and Kevin into the backshed. However, when they arrive, the diesels begin to not pay attention to Percy and cause havoc at the Steamworks and most of all, Thomas and Kevin are now being held captive as well.:

Okay, not really, Rainbow Dash because we already knew that Diesel 10 was untrustworthy in the VERY BEGINNING!! And Percy, you should’ve probably thought back through before trusting diesels that are OBVIOUSLY EVIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It can either be common sense, Sharon Miller’s writing, HIT Entertainment, or a similarity to “The Lion King”!……

THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: “Long Live the King, Mufasa!!!” HAHAHA!!!

(Sort-of like a Nostalgia Critic Joke)

So, Percy realizes that he was tricked the whole time and he has to save Thomas. He arrives at the Dieselworks (instead of the backshed because that’s where Thomas and Kevin are being held captive) and discovers that there’s a fire because earlier, Diesel 10’s claw/Pinchy snapped together so hard that it caused sparks, which were enough to create a fire. He races to the Search and Rescue Center to tell Belle and Flynn the news (even though Flynn still doesn’t have his hose) and it’s discovered that Dart NEVER delivered the hose in the very beginning and it was another trick from Diesel 10! Even Rocky and Thomas pointed that out! THANK YOU, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!!!! Besides, Thomas seemed to act like “Captain Obvious” because we already knew that the diesels would be the villains AHEAD OF TIME!!!! Anyways, Percy, Belle, and Flynn race to the burning Dieselworks and find Thomas and Kevin trapped in the backshed being guarded by Den and Dart.

The three engines confront Den and Dart and demand them to know where Flynn’s hose is. Dart reveals that the hose is at the garbage/rubbish at the back. While Flynn and Belle go and find the hose off-screen, Percy forces Den and Dart to release Thomas and Kevin and they do so when they realize that the Dieselworks is burning to the ground. We then witness Belle and Flynn put out the fire at the Dieselworks, until the fire is out. Then, our heroes decide to form a rebellion to stop the diesels from taking over the Steamworks, by telling the Steam Team to join them in stopping them. Our heroes arrive at the Steamworks and we get another confrontation between the Steam Team and the Diesel Gang. Thomas and Percy explain to Diesel 10 that they can help the diesels get a new Dieselworks, by telling Fat Man of course and speak of the devil (again) because he arrives in his car, along with Victor, who are having angry looks on their faces.

Fat Man scolds Diesel 10 severely about the messes he caused and as punishment, Diesel 10 will have to fix the damage he caused. But, Thomas, Percy, and Kevin explain to him that the diesels wanted a new Dieselworks at the very beginning and why Diesel 10 has been misbehaving and it’s surprising because the Fat Man has been planning to build a new Dieselworks to begin with. Instead of sending Diesel 10 away in disgrace (which should’ve been better), Fat Man gives him another chance. After this, the steam engines and diesels work together in restoring the Dieselworks to its former glory, until the Dieselworks is completed. Fat Man congratulates his engines and says that they’re ever “forgotten” and he’s proud of them all. But, what about the OTHER ENGINES THAT HAVEN’T RETURNED UNTIL SEASON 17, 18, 19, AND OTHER CGI SPECIALS LIKE DUCK, OLIVER, TOAD, DAISY, DONALD AND DOUGLAS, BILL AND BEN, HARVEY, BOCO, AND OTHER CHARACTERS WHO HAVEN’T AND HAVE RETURNED????!!!!! Anyways, we end this special with Thomas and Percy restoring their friendship and show that they feel special when they’re with each other and having the “Day of the Diesels” song play during the ending credits.

And that was “Day of the Diesels” and all I gotta say is that I wasn’t satisfied with the ending. This special is a mixture of good and bad. The bad things include the plotholes, the rhyming (even though there’s less rhyming in this special), etc.. While the good things about it are the intro, the soundtrack, etc.. However, I would’ve PREFERRED the diesels taking over Sodor (like in most fan “Thomas” movies), which would’ve been better than having the diesels taking over the Steamworks just because they need a new Dieselworks. Besides, really?

Why wouldn’t the diesels take over Sodor, rather than take over the Steamworks?! I mean, what’s next, the road vehicles taking over Tidmouth Sheds or the trucks trying to dominate the Railway? Overall, this special is average and most of the middle section of the special is complete filler and it was sort-of similar to “Misty Island Rescue” (except that that special was bad in all levels). Well, at least “Blue Mountain Mystery”, the special after that was a major step-up from the previous specials and it made the series go back into its former glory, again. The new characters are okay, but I’m not too pleased with Belle because of her design and Flynn being an idiot, the “Day of the Diesels” song (however) is meh, and the plot was less than average and it got boring about halfway through. All in all, this special deserves a 4.5/10 for me, it wasn’t that good. Also, I’ve almost covered on all the “Thomas” specials/movies, yaay!!!

However, we have the next special that came out in UK and Australian theaters to deal with. It will be “Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure” and I can assure you, it will be worth watching, even though (I have to agree with ToonKriticY2K, that) it’s just another “Thomas” special. But, it will have John Hurt as Sailor John, Eddie Redmayne as Ryan, and Jamie Campbell Bower as Skiff. That’s not all because the Arlesdale Small Railway Engines (except for Jock and Frank), Rex, Bert, and Mike, will be appearing in it, along with Donald and Douglas, Alfie, Oliver the Excavator, Daisy, and Arleburgh Harbor return in CGI!!! AWESOME!! In the meantime, here are some sneak peaks to “SLOTLT” in order to prepare for the hype train!:

Please let me know in the comments below of what you think of “SLOTLT” and if you saw it in theaters, let me know of what you think of it. As always, I’m The Detective Librarian and I’ll see you all next time! Adios, amigos!! 😉

-THE END-