Season 3: Bonus Review #3: “Thomas & Friends”: “Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure”

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 Review, Already in Progress-

Hello, I’m The Detective Librarian and some of you may have already remembered me doing a “Trailer Reminder” of today’s “Thomas” special, during my review of “Hero of the Rails” and mentioning it during my review of the last “Thomas” special I reviewed named “Day of the Diesels”. Well, I can assure you, it really was worth the wait and watch because of old characters coming back, great CGI animation from Arc Productions, three well-known celebrities joining the voice cast, having so much action, catchy songs, and having more characters and locations from “The Railway Series”. That way I can enjoy “Thomas & Friends” more, I will feel more happiness inside my heart. What is the special you may ask? It’s “Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure”, which recently came out on iTunes in the US on August 25, 2015, VUE Cinemas in the UK on July 17th, and will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the US on September 8th and in the UK on September 28th. I call this special “The Special with the Most Returning Characters, Locations, and Joining of Well-Known Celebrities” because of having Academy-Award Winning Actor, Eddie Redmayne be in the cast, along with Nathan Clarke, Sir John Hurt, and Jamie Campbell Bower.

So, let’s see if this special is worth having these three well-known celebrities and having all those returning characters. This is “Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure”.

So, the special starts off on Thomas’ branchline, where everybody’s favorite screen-stealing hog AKA Thomas the Tank Engine is happily huffing along his branchline with his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel, He sees Bertie the Bus and he (of course) decides to have a race with him, but he nearly has a collision course with Toby and Henrietta, but manages to dodge them, unscathed. As for Bertie, he spots Oliver the Excavator (our first returning character that isn’t Oliver the Great Western Engine) on the road and heading to work on a new branchline, as well as a cameo of the Rev. W. Awdry AKA The Thin Clergyman riding on a bike. After this, we get cool opening titles that go like this.:

After Thomas wins the race and stops at Ffarquhar Station, where Bertie sadly loses once again. He tells the news about the new branchline that’s being built from Arlesburgh to Harwick, before Thomas and his coaches chuff away. Annie and Clarabel get concerned that their branchline might close down, but Thomas is sure that their beloved branchline they’ve known for so long won’t get closed down, just because HE’S the Fat Man’s #1 AKA the #1 of the North Western Railway. Wow, what a way to foreshadow future events, Thomas, even for a title character that is a screen-stealer!!! Meanwhile, Marion the Steam-Shovel (the one voiced by Olivia Colman and first appeared in “Tale of the Brave”) comes across a forest, while she’s on her way to the construction yard of the new branchline. She describes it as an enchanted forest, until something zooms by her in gold dust (not Mr. Conductor’s gold dust from “Shining Time Station” and “Thomas and the Magic Railroad”). She shuts her eyes, until she bumps into Oliver the Great Western Engine and his breakvan, Toad, who are near the Arlesdale Small Railway and are collecting ballast from the Ballast Hopper.

The Small Railway Engines include Rex, Bert, and Mike from the “RWS”. Now, THIS IS, HONEST TO GOD EFFORT, FROM ANDREW BRENNER!!!! But, we don’t see Jock, Frank, Sigrid of Arlesdale, or Blister I & II, which are also from the “RWS”, which will (hopefully) appear some other time or in the next few seasons or years. Anyways, Oliver’s trucks are loaded with ballast and he and Toad take them to the new branchline, while Marion concludes that the Small Railway Engines are magic because of the way they zoomed by her earlier. Meanwhile, we see Duck (who is also helping out with the project) at the Construction Yards, where we see the return of Donald and Douglas, the Scottish Twins, who last appeared in Season 12.:

Well, it looks like this special IS worth spending your money watching, instead of Sharon Miller-written crap! After Donald and Douglas’ (FINALLY) return, we then cut to the next scene, where Oliver the Excavator arrives at the construction of the new branchline, as well as seeing Jack the Front-Loader and the return of Alfie the Excavator (played by Nathan Clarke) and the official building of the branchline begins. Meanwhile, we cut to the next scene where Thomas is late for shunting some express coaches for Gordon the Big Engine, who is impatiently waiting at the platform, at Knapford Station, as well as making a reference to “The Big Engine Strike Trilogy”, when Gordon, Henry, and James went on strike because of them claiming that “Tender Engines Don’t Shunt”. 😉 After Gordon calls Thomas a “Silly Little Engine”, which makes Thomas to cheekily play a trick on Gordon to get back at him for calling him that insult. The trick involves Thomas pulling Gordon’s coaches out of the station, but things go awry when Thomas accidentally derails the coaches, causing a humongous mess!!!!! Back at the new branchline, we continue the subplot involving Marion’s silliness when she spots Oliver the Excavator and this scene is also funny because she thinks that the OTHER Oliver turned into an excavator (whom she believes is still magical) thanks to the wish Marion made earlier about being a digger/excavator. But, one of the tracks of the recently dug-cutting get unstable, which forces everyone to reroute the entire track into another line.

Back at Knapford, Fat Man inspects the damage over Thomas’ accident and (of course) is not pleased over the mess Thomas made and punishes him by having him to work on the new branchline, while he has a new tank engine, which is Eddie Redmayne’s character, called Ryan. And to answer your question, the voice Eddie Redmayne gives Ryan is not the same voice as he did as Balem from “Jupiter Ascending”, which was terrible, but humorous. Let’s take a look with Ryan’s and Balem’s voice, shall we?:

I’m not even joking, that’s how Eddie sounded in “Jupiter Ascending” and it really makes him sound like an emo, no offense. Anyways, Thomas arrives near the Small Railway and crossly tells Rex, Bert, and Mike about the whole situation and we get our first song of the special. Okay, folks, get ready for the biggest Disney and “Veggietales” knock-off (even though it’s enjoyable), you have EVER seen!:

So, after that song that looks like a Disney or “Veggietales” song and Thomas acted like he was tripping on ballast, Thomas takes the train full of ballast to the Construction Yard. There, he notices some flatbeds of rails and sleepers and idiotically decides to show everybody how useful he can be, by pulling the flatbeds to the construction area. The workman try to stop him, until Thomas destroys the danger signs, goes on the unstable track, falls down the track that creates a giant hole, and lands inside a cave. Inside the cave, he discovers an old pirate ship, while Ryan takes Annie and Clarabel out on Thomas’ branchline. Soon, Thomas is rescued by Rocky the Breakdown Crane and is scolded by Sir Topham Hatt AKA The Fat Controller once again and is sent to the Steamworks to be repaired, but doesn’t the chance to tell Fat Man about the pirate ship he just saw. However, a mysterious sailor named Sailor John (played by John Hurt, coincidence) and his boat named Skiff (voiced by Jamie Campbell Bower) are watching them in the ocean, while Skiff is spitting out water from the sea. Now, you can definitely tell that they’re the villains of the special and the Sailor John is MORE sinister than Diesel, Diesel 10, and other villains in the series.

Later, Thomas receives news from Edward at the Steamworks that Rocky just lifted the pirate ship out of the caverns, even though Thomas ACTUALLY FOUND IT FIRST!!!! Wow, Thomas is really being put down by Sir Topham Hatt in this special and believe me, there are going to be more harsh scenes from this guy, later. Everyone decides that just because there’s a pirate ship, that must mean that there’s–:

–Pirate treasure or something. The Marion subplot continues when Marion decides to wish that she could find the lost treasure from the Small Railway Engines. So, the Pirate Ship is held on display by Donald and Douglas, while Sailor John and Skiff AKA Jamie Campbell Bower are spying on the ship and the Scottish Twins themselves. That night, Henry the Green Engine is pulling the Flying Kipper (possibly), until he spots a white figure (which is actually Skiff, who is now a Railboat, and Sailor John) and gets frightened by it, which causes him to come to a complete stop at some buffers at a siding. He tells the other engines about his encounter the next morning at Brendam Docks, saying that it was a Ghost Ship, but no one believes him. However, Salty realizes that this may be connected to a legend of “The Lost Pirate” AKA the Ship and the Treasure’s backstory.

Decades before this story begins, the Lost Pirate AKA Captain Callas sailed across the Seven Seas, while attacking Merchant Ships (which looks a bit similar to the Marine or the Navy) and stealing valuables and treasures. The Navy and the Merchants attempted to get back the treasure and chased after the Lost Pirate, but the Lost Pirate hid inside a cavern with his ship, while the Navy and the Merchants couldn’t find him. He buried the treasure and put it in a hole, as well as drawing himself a map in order to find it once again. But, he never got the chance because one stormy night, he lost the treasure map when the wind blew it away into the night. Now, the Lost Pirate roams around Sodor, looking for his lost treasure. However, all the other engines are not convinced, except for Henry because of him claiming that he did see a “lost pirate” that night. Meanwhile, Thomas continues his work at the Construction Yard, while taking on bad coal and finding out that Ryan is now part of the project.

However, he still can’t go back to his branchline, yet because Percy’s now taking over it, like in “Trouble in the Shed” from Season 1. While we partake in more Marion filler, Thomas shows off black smoke and sparks from the bad coal he just took to the Small Railway Engines. That night, all the bad coal is removed from Thomas’ firebox, fresh coal is taken from a good coal hopper, and Thomas decides to sleep on a siding all by himself, even though Ryan offered him a place at the sheds. Later that night, Thomas is awoken by a boat figure and decides to follow it, which leads him to Skiff and Sailor John near the danger signs. Thomas nervously introduced himself to Sailor John and decides to help Sailor John and Skiff find the treasure, which remember, sounds like he’s partaking in stealing the treasure. Down at the cavern, Sailor John discovers the treasure map and comes back up, only to also discover that daylight is coming. He lies to Thomas that they forgot their shovel to find the treasure and they’ll continue their search tomorrow night.

But, the wind has died down, meaning that Skiff can’t go anywhere. Unless, if Thomas pushes Sailor John and Skiff, all the way to the ocean at Arlesburgh Harbor with Ryan noticing it, while he’s sleeping. Yep, I was right!! Later, Ryan asks Thomas about the other night, but Thomas lies to him that he didn’t see him pushing Skiff. This convinces Ryan that he’s only half-asleep and he was dreaming the whole time. However, unbeknownst to him, Ryan is taking on the bad coal, before he goes to Brendam Docks to collect some trucks, which will be important to the plot, and Thomas doesn’t warn him about. I guess it’s because Thomas still doesn’t trust Ryan AKA Eddie Redmayne and it happens.

Later, Ryan returns and he starts to have the same side-effects Thomas had when he took the bad coal, yesterday. Sparks start to fly out of his funnel and land into his trucks, causing them to have black smoke coming out. It turns that Ryan’s cars are full of D-Y-N-A-MITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:

Hurry, everypeoples!! ALL THE FANGIRLS WILL GO NUTS OVER EDDIE REDMAYNE’S CHARACTER NEARLY BEING KILLED, ONCE AGAIN, BUT THIS TIME IN A “THOMAS” SPECIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HURRY!!!! Now, they have to get rid of the burning dynamite before it explodes. Marion and the other diggers pop up and she puts in her shovel, tosses to Alfie, then to Oliver the Excavator, and to Jack, who puts it back in the trucks full of dynamite. Yep, it’s official, just like in the Season 19 episode, “Lost Property”, “Thomas & Friends” has turned officially into a cartoon! Thomas tries to get rid of the trucks of dynamite, by pushing them, but he pushes them towards Ryan (while Fat Man is watching by in his car).

Luckily, Ryan is switched onto a siding, while Thomas pushes the dynamite into the hole where the cavern is and we get a great, big, epic, outstanding, and awesome K-A-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!! Or in “Team Fortress 2”.:

Now that Thomas has saved the day again, everybody is pleased, except for Fat Man, who is furious! He scolds Thomas severely and sends him to his shed to stay there for the rest of the afternoon, but doesn’t listen to Thomas telling the truth! It’s even harsh than the events of “A Canterlot Wedding” from “MLP: FIM”!!:

Gee, Thomas. I feel very sorry for you for having Fat Man turn into a MAJOR JERK THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SPECIAL!!!! This is “Tale of the Brave” all over again, where James acted like a bully towards Percy when he constantly teased him and scared him, ALL THROUGHOUT THE SPECIAL!!! But, at least James learned his lesson when Percy saved him from a landslide at the Clay Pits and apologized in the end. Anyways, back with the story, Marion continues digging and discovers that she found the treasure! But, there’s no one here to be told by her, so Marion will have to wait until morning. That night, Thomas finds Skiff and Sailor John again and we get a montage of them trying to find the treasure, while the song “We Make a Team Together” is playing in the background, but to no avail.

Now, Sailor John realizes that someone has beaten them into finding the treasure, which is clearly OBVIOUS, ISN’T IT?!! Now, dawn is breaking out and that means that Skiff is going to remind John to get out quickly in a funny way.:

So, Sailor John and Skiff escape, without being noticed, while Marion shows her discover of the treasure to Thomas. The news later spreads to Sir Topham Hatt AKA the Fat Man, himself, who decides that (of course) it would be perfect for the Museum, while he sends Ryan to collect more dynamite and Thomas to collect construction waste to Whiff’s Waste Dump. Later that day, Thomas encounters John Hurt AKA Sailor John and Jamie Campbell Bower AKA Skiff again, who demands Thomas to know where the treasure is. As soon as Thomas tells Sailor John about the treasure being put in the Museum, as you’d expect, Sailor John is furious because it turns out that he WANTED the treasure for himself, instead of giving it to the Museum. Now, this is serious because Thomas pushes the Sea Duo out of the way and continues his job and stops at Knapford to overhear a phone conversation between Fat Man and the owner of the Museum about the treasure. However, the Museum looks like won’t accept the treasure, leaving Fat Man to keep it inside his safe (which sounds like a dumb idea because of an evil sailor/pirate with the voice of John Hurt stealing the treasure for himself, like most villains).

Later that evening, Ryan encounters Thomas again, who thanks him for saving him from the burning dynamite and apologizes for getting him into trouble for the third time in a row. However, Thomas explains to him that HE should be the apologizing one because of him not warning Ryan about the bad coal in the first place. Now, Thomas has to be on guard at Knapford Station, just in case Sailor John breaks in here and steals the treasure. Later that night, Thomas keeps a sharp eye on Knapford, while the EVIL Sailor John himself shows up, breaks into Fat Man’s office, and steals the treasure from his safe! See, I told you that was a dumb idea! Maybe handing it over to the Museum would’ve worked, after all! Now that Sailor John is escaping with the Treasure and Skiff, Thomas has to chase after him and stop him!

But, during the chase scene, Thomas discovers that John has stolen the Pirate Ship, too and it’s too birds with one stone! Meanwhile, Ryan puffs around, who can’t sleep and have his driver and fireman be brainless robots and wonder about what Thomas had said to him earlier, until he discovers Sailor John and Skiff, pushing the Pirate Ship, which alerts the Small Railway Engines, who are sleeping beside him. Rex, Bert, and Mike decide to use ballast trucks to stop the villains and the Ship from escaping, which causes them to lose power (“Never Overlook a Little Engine”). Now, it’s Ryan’s turn to play his part when a rope from the ship, somehow ties up on his left buffer and drags him along the line and into another set of buffers. This causes the ship to crash to the ground, leaving Skiff and Sailor John, alone. Now, I totally get it, now!

HIT Entertainment and Andrew Brenner wants the new characters voiced by famous celebrities to play important roles to the story because it would be a shame to leave celebrities as characters not on one big of a note and be sold for more toys, as usual. Anyways, the chase continues down to Arlesburgh Harbor and Sailor John tries to stop Thomas, by using various tools and dynamite, but is easily foiled. But, as soon as they reach a set of points, the villains switch to the track that leads them to escape, but Thomas luckily stops them at a crossed-track and pushes them to the ocean. But, Thomas’ firebox burns out, due to the water, allowing Sailor John to getaway scot-free, but not for long because the treasure on Skiff is causing him to rock-and-roll across the waves, until a giant wave causes Skiff, Sailor John, and the treasure to fall to the bottom of the ocean. Luckily (again), Skiff and John aren’t dead, Skiff’s just floating on the ocean, while John’s on top of him. As morning comes, the police arrive on Captain and arrest Sailor John, while Thomas is lifted onto a flatbed by Rocky and expects Fat Man to be cross with him. But, Fat Man is pleased because Ryan told Fat Man about Thomas preventing Sailor John AKA Pirate John from escaping with the treasure.

But, he assures Thomas that his engines are more important than any treasure and Thomas is his “#1”! I’m gonna take that as an apology scene, even though it’s obvious that Fat Man apologized to him, off-screen. Anyways, the new branchline is finally completed and the grand opening ceremony is held with Marion realizing that Oliver didn’t turn into an excavator at all and there are actually two Olivers on Sodor. At the ceremony, Fat Man announces that Ryan will be the goods engine at the Harwick and Arlesburgh Branchline while, you guessed it, Daisy the Diesel Railcar is going to be the passenger engine there, even though she’s supposed to be on Thomas’ branchline. We end this special with many things!:

1.) Thomas cuts the ribbon, opening the branchline and he gets his branchline back.

2.) The test tour starts and we get cameos of Max and Monty in full CGI.

3.) Skiff now has his own “Railboat Tours” and gets a brand new paint job.

4.) The treasure is found by some divers and Captain.

5.) The branchline opens and Skiff and Thomas watch some fireworks at Arlesburgh Harbor, announcing the end of the special and the ending credits.

And that was….AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! In my opinion, I’d say that this special is a great special! The animation is great, the story was intriguing, the new characters played their part, Sailor John was a great villain was a mixture of P.T. Boomer, Alfred the Holden B12 from “Sodor: The Dark Times”, and Captain Ahab from “Moby Dick”, the songs were catchy, the soundtrack was good, the shots were incredible, and there were SO MANY RETURNS OF CLASSIC CHARACTERS AND SUCH!!!! However, one thing that bugged me was that Fat Man was a complete jerk to Thomas (I can understand he wants Thomas to change and learn his lesson), but I can accept his apology, since he cares about his hard-working engines, except for evil ones. Now, I really liked Ryan and the choice HIT made for having Eddie Redmayne play as him was a good choice and it suited him well, but he felt like sort-of a rewrite of Stanley from “The Great Discovery”. Speaking of, the plot felt like a “Thomas and the Magic Railroad” and “The Great Discovery” mix. But still, it was a nice change of pace to see the main antagonist get his comeuppance in the end, instead of being given a second chance because that has been overdone, SO MANY TIMES IN “THOMAS” SPECIALS!!!

The subplot involving Marion was okay, but her humor still cracks me up and she’s one of my new favorite characters in Andrew Brenner’s era. Overall, this special is definitely better than “Tale of the Brave”, even if “TOTB” was a good special but needed some changes, and it even was as good as “The Adventure Begins”, the previous special! I would highly recommend watching it and if you’re a fan of “Thomas & Friends”, Eddie Redmayne and other celebrities, or anything else, this special is for you. All in all, I give this special a 9.5/10 and it really was worth it for all those three celebrities, instead of having Peter Fonda, Mara Wilson, and Alec Baldwin be in “TATMR”! And that’s my review and as always, I’m The Detective Librarian and I’ll see you next time!! Adios, folks! 😉

-THE END-