WARNING: THE FOLLOWING YOU’RE ABOUT TO SEE MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!! TURN BACK (AND WATCH IT/THEM) NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE LATEST “THOMAS CREATOR COLLECTIVE” INSTALLMENT YET!!!!!!!!:
Anyways, please proceed…..
-We Now Join Our Regularly Scheduled Review (Special), Already in Progress-
PREVIOUSLY ON “THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN”:
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: *Waking Up from Consciousness*
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: BAH!!!! PINKIE PIE!!!!!! SPIKE!!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?!???!!?
SPIKE THE DRAGON: Well, Twilight and her friends and I were visiting Pinkie Pie’s family on the Pie Rock Farm. We noticed you by the river, unconscious, and I rescued you.
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Thank you, Spike.
SHINING ARMOR: *Regaining Consciousness* Ugh, what happened?….TED!!!
TED THE SCRIPT-PERSON: *Immediately Wakes Up* SHINING ARMOR!!!! WHERE ARE WE??!?!?!?!?! WHERE’S DETECTIVE!?!!??!!
SHINING ARMOR: I dunno and I hope he’s okay because I have a bad feeling about this place.
DR. VICK NEWTON: Well, well, well. If it isn’t The Detective Librarian’s former arch-rival/enemy, but now best friend and his other best friend, as well. Shining Armor: AKA “CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD” AND “PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE’S B.B.B.F.F.” Same to YOU, TED!!!!!
TED THE SCRIPT-PERSON: DR. NEWTON!!!! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!!?!?! I THOUGHT THAT WE WERE FRIENDS!!!!!!
THE REVIEW MASTER (COMPUTER/HOLOGRAM): Well, that’s because he works for me after I threatened him for all those years. It appears that he’s starting to grow on his new job in my organization: “The Hunters”. Isn’t that right, Vick?
DR. VICK NEWTON: Yes, it is. Sir. Now, I shall bring you to my newest project that I’ve been working on for all those years named “Project: 1984562” and you two are my first test subjects.
SHINING ARMOR: What?!?!?!?!! WHY?!??!?!!
DR. VICK NEWTON: Oh, you’ll see….ALL IN GOOD TIME…….*Eyes Start Flashing*
-Equestria, A Few Miles Away From The Pie Rock Farm, San Palomino Desert, 9:46 AM-
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: *Struggling to Survive Sandstorm* Dang it!!! I’ve been walking for three STRAIGHT HOURS!!!! THREE BUCKING HOURS!!!!!!!!! AND I STILL HAVEN’T FOUND SHINING OR TED, YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😡 I wonder where they are. I really hope they haven’t been captured by the Review Master or that FILTHY TRAITOR NAMED VICK NEWTON, WHO I THOUGHT WAS MY FRIENDLY DOCTOR TO BEGIN WITH!!!!!! I guess I was wrong….Wait, more like, we were ALL wrong!!!…… I wish I could find something to shelter myself and cure my thirst.– *Poof!!*
DISCORD: GUESS WHOOOOO?????? ;D
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Oh, hello, Discord.
DISCORD: It sure has been a while, my dear, Detective!!!! How have you been?
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Well, pretty bad because of how my friends and I have been separated…NOT IN YOUR WAY WHEN YOU BRAINWASHED/HYPNOTIZED THE MANE SIX TO BE THE OPPOSITE OF THEIR TRUE PERSONALITIES AND SPIRITS OF THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY, LIKE YOU DID IN YOUR FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE SEASON 2 PREMIERE EPISODE(S): “RETURN OF HARMONY”!!!!!!!! It’s because we’ve been trying to find the Review Master and a Bounty Hunter named Rango Yett to see if he’s still alive or not and if he’s after us. But, it turns out that Dr. Vick Newton is actually working for the Review Master throughout the entire time!!!!
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Look, I know that may seem silly or crazy. But, it’s true and I’ll explain later. But, right now, I need your help because I’m tired, thirsty, hungry, and even desperate for another review for my 120th Review Special on my blog!!!!!! Can you please help me find some shelter and other stuff I need?
DISCORD: Of course. YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND!!!! *Snaps Finger* *POOF!!!* *Hotel Pops Up*
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Alright!!!! Thanks, Discord. You sure are a great help, even if you are the Master of Chaos in Equestria and is one of the best characters on “MLP: FIM”!!!!!! 😀
DISCORD: Oh, no problem. We shall meet again because I have tea with Fluttershy at her cottage in Ponyville. Toodaloo!!!!! *Uses Magical Taxi To Drive Away*
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Thanks, again!!!!!! Now, it’s time for another review!!!!!
Hello, I’m The Detective Librarian and as usual, we’ve reached another great milestone on my blog: “120 REVIEWS”!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!
AUDIENCE: *Weak Applause*
Yeah, I know. It’s not 200 reviews or anything. But, anyways, to celebrate this achievement, today, we’re gonna be taking a look at the latest (not really) “Thomas Creator Collective” installment: “Racers on the Rails”!!! It was first uploaded on Youtube during the weeks of mid/late-March to Early April 2016, before we got the full version on April 15, 2016. Not only that, I’m in it!!!!!!!!!:
I’M NOT JOKING!! I’M ACTUALLY IN IT THIS TIME, EVEN THOUGH I’M NOT THAT ACTIVE ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL, AS I PLANNED IT TO BE!!!! As you can tell, this is pretty much of a preparation of the next “Thomas” special this year, “The Great Race”. But, without international engines in it and having it take place on the Mainland, just like in “Gordon’s Grand Adventure”. So, let’s see if this is another repeat of the other “TCC” installments, by taking a look at “Racers on the Rails”!!!!
So, the story opens with one of the Caledonian/Scottish twins, Douglas (who is Donald’s brother) racing against Spencer, the Duke and Duchess of Boxford’s private A4/engine from the Mainland, in a race hosted by the famous announcers from the “Thomas Showtime Videos” on the “T&F” Youtube channel, Stan and Nigel (played by DieselD199 & TrevorPalVA). After Spencer wins the race, we then cut to the main focus of the story, a race from Rolf’s Castle station, featuring Gordon the Big Engine and Diesel 10 (both voiced by, also, DD199). Stan and Nigel explain to the audience that Gordon and Diesel 10 are carrying Dynamometer cars/trucks (which look more like coaches rather than cars or trucks), which are trucks that scan an engine’s speed throughout the entire race. Well, at least they could be important to the story later on, if it’s necessary that is. Anyways, the race begins and as Gordon is getting ahead in 1st place, out of nowhere, Diesel 10 immediately blows mysterious green smoke from his engine and increases speed to catch up to Gordon, taking his place as 1st Place. *Ba Dum Tsh!* As it looks like Diesel 10 is about to win, he unexpectedly breaks down in the middle of the Main Line, while Gordon passes him and wins the race, much to D10’s dismay.
After the race ends, Gordon makes it back home to Tidmouth Sheds, where he is congratulated by the Steam Team for winning against Diesel 10. They begin to discuss on how Diesel 10 caught up to Gordon, before breaking down at the end of the finish line, leaving the title character himself (Thomas the Tank Engine, who is also played by DD199) his BFF, Percy the Small Engine (played by Enterprisingengine93), to think about how the whole race really happened. Meanwhile, we cut to the Vicarstown Dieselworks, where we see D10’s engine getting repaired, while being with the other diesels on Sodor (not the good ones, though, except for Paxton, who is also played by DD199). Devious Diesel, himself (played by Tines Sensahthe), scolds you-know-who for losing and causing major damage to his engine because it’s revealed that they’re using new fuel to increase D10’s speed, just as Paxton arrives with the Dynamometer cars. The story then cuts back to Thomas’ Branchline, where Thomas and his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel, begin discussing about the recent events during the race and how Diesel 10 could’ve gone faster than ever before. At Ffarqhuar Station, he asks Percy to help him investigate on what really happened, but Percy is busy delivering trucks of stone from the Quarry (possibly) and it’s up to Thomas himself to investigate on his own. He leaves Annie and Clarabel behind and goes back to Rolf’s Castle station, only to find that the Dynamometer cars have been stolen (by Paxton, obviously) and after Donald and Douglas tell Thomas about Paxton, he decides to go check at the Dieselworks to see if the Dynamometer cars are there.
He then overhears a conversation between Den and Dart, the two diesels in charge of the Dieselworks, about the fuel that D10 used for the race, leaving Thomas curious, before he finds the Dynamometer cars, conveniently placed on a siding right next to him. Then, Diesel catches him red-handed and orders Sidney (played by turtlesandthomas) and Dennis to chase after him on the Main Line and we partake in a chase sequence involving Thomas and the two diesel shunters, before James couples up behind Thomas and ends the chase scene by pushing back to Tidmouth Sheds to tell the Steam Team the news about the truth behind the race between Gordon and Diesel 10. Here comes my favorite part, I’M PLAYING AS THOMAS’ DRIVER, RIGHT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:
THIS CALLS FOR A PARTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, wait, that’s something Pinkie Pie would come up with. Err, I mean, LET’S GET BACK TO THE REVIEW!!!!!!! (Inspired by MOAB/DaWillstanator, Sort of) Thomas’ driver (played by ME) explains to the Steam Team that Gordon was actually losing to Diesel 10 and his speed was much higher than Gordon’s during the race. After Gordon brings up the peculiar green smoke from Diesel 10’s exhaust from earlier, Thomas realizes that the special fuel is the cause of Diesel 10’s speed and green smoke, just before Stafford the Electric Engine arrives with Stan and Nigel to make an announcement. They announce that there will be (ANOTHER) race in-store, but with Thomas as the leader for the team with Steamers and they’ll be racing against the Diesels, this time, before spreading the news to the Diesels at the Dieselworks and having (not Diesel 10 this time) Diesel as the leader of the Diesel Team. Our heroes realize that the Diesels could win with the fuel they were using, so it’s up to them to get the fuel before the race starts, by going to the Dieselworks, have the Scottish Twins distract Diesel 10 the same way Bill and Ben did in “The Diseasel” from Season 2 while Percy grabs the fuel called Torvinetto’s Fuel from D10 and Gordon to distract Den and Dart. We then have another chase sequence between Percy, the Scottish Twins, Diesel 10, and Arry and Bert on the Torvinetto’s Fuel trucks, before Diesel 10 uses Pinchy to grab one of the trucks.
Just then, Gordon arrives just in time and bumps Diesel 10 off the rails, leaving Percy to escape with the last two Fuel trucks/tankers and Donald and Douglas to push aside Arry and Bert, before they and Gordon escape back to Tidmouth Sheds, leaving a derailed Diesel 10 and the Fuel tanker behind. The next morning, the final race begins at Knapford Station and it’s this time split into five sections, one at Elsbridge Station, the other at Wellsworth, and I’m gonna take a guess that the other stations are Kellsthorpe and Maron Station. However, Sidney (who is supposed to be a part of the race in the mark with Percy at Wellsworth), being an absent-minded dunderhead who is a pretty enjoyable one-off character that will be used in Season 20 to get his own episode, ends up getting lost at the Sodor Animal Park and it looks like we need a replacement and–Eeyup, too late because the hyper and full-of-energy diesel boxcab named Philip (played by Mikester Paltoes) will have to be Sidney’s replacement. The first mark of the race starts off at Knapford between Thomas and Diesel, when Diesel (who is still using the fuel the other diesels used earlier) increases speed with the green smoke from the fuel that’s currently being used in the race and goes past Thomas, all the way to Wellsworth, where Philip takes over in Diesel’s position, before Thomas slowly finishes and allows Percy to take his place. They race up and down Gordon’s Hill, before they allow James and Den at Elsbridge (or Kellsthorpe) to take over on the race and since this is a racing story, we’ve gotta have some cliches here and there, such as Norman and the diesels cheating by setting traps on the other engines. That includes a barrel of oil on James, before we continue with the Scottish Twins and Arry and Bert, and even what looks like a flatbed full of crates with flour or mixing powder, or something.
After this, we finally make it to the last leg of the race with Gordon and Diesel 10 at Tidmouth Station. Diesel 10 tries to catch up with Gordon and attempts to use Pinchy to grab some logs from a conveniently placed flatbed with logs from Emily the Emerald Engine/Stirling Single, but fails and (of course) he breaks down from the Fuel he’s using, once again, leaving Gordon to cross the finish line at the Vicarstown Drawbridge and win the race. After Diesel 10 is brought back to Knapford, in-front of a surprised Sir Topham Hatt/The Fat Controller/President McFatFace (played by DieselD199), Henry shows Fatto the evidence that proves the diesels were using the Torvinetto’s Fuel and he immediately becomes disappointed when he reveals that the Fuel they were using is illegal. After Stan, Nigel, and Thomas congratulate the Steam Team for winning the race, the Diesels decide that the only way to never see Diesel 10 again is to banish him from the Dieselworks and find a new place to sleep on Sodor, leaving him all alone and the story finally ends. However, this is not the case in the compilation version because of the bonus scenes and what not.
So, that was “Racers on the Rails”…..Is it as good as the previous ones? Well, to be fair, it is pretty much of a repeat of the other “TCC” stories to be fair. I’m not trying to be too harsh on it, but, I can agree with fans on Twitter that it’s really time we have a different character as the main villain, BESIDES Diesel 10 for a change. Why not do one on Sailor John getting revenge on Thomas or something? Oh well, for me, the story felt a bit meh and it seemed the same as the other Collectives in the series. Although, the music is good, but, I think that this is probably the weakest “Thomas Creator Collective” yet. I’m sorry, but, I have nothing else to say this time, I wanted to like it. But, it was okay and it didn’t have that much potential. I really hope none of you guys are offended here, I’ll rate it a 5.5/10. Now that my 120th Review is finished, I should get back to my journey, here. I’m The Detective Librarian and toodles, folks!!!! 😉
-Dr. Vick Newton’s Secret Lair, Later That Day-
DR. VICK NEWTON: *Working On Project*
THE REVIEW MASTER (COMPUTER): Are you finished yet, Doctor?
DR. VICK NEWTON: Almost…….Here we go. “Project: 1984562” is finally completed. It also includes the minds of these two!!!!
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING YOU’RE ABOUT TO SEE MAY CONTAIN– Oh, forget it!!!
-We Now Join Our Regularly Scheduled Review, Already in Progress-
Hello, I’m The Detective Librarian and at last, I get to review the one thing that I’ve been waiting for, a long LONG time!!!!!
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: You mean, Season 6 of “MLP: FIM” this spring?
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: No, Ted!! Season 6 hasn’t even aired yet. Besides, I’m hyped up for it too, ya know? Especially with that CUTE, WITTLE, FLURRY HEART/SHINING ARMOR AND PRINCESS CADENCE’S (MI AMORE CADENZA’S) BABY ALICORN THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS AND DUMBO!!!!!!!! :’D :
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: Oh. Right. Sorry, continue.
Thank you. As I was saying, I’m going to review the one thing all you “Thomas” fans like me have been waiting for: Season 19 of “Thomas & Friends”!!! YES, I’M REVIEWING THE NINETEENTH SEASON OF ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHILDHOOD ICONS THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE THE INFAMOUS “ENGINE ROLL CALL”!!!! Just like Season 17 & 18, Season 19 starts off as a Walmart exclusive on DVD with “Whale of a Tale”, containing six episodes from this season on June 9, 2015. It then aired in the UK on Milkshake on September 21st of the same year, before reaching the US nearly a month later on October 13th on PBS Kids. Speaking of “Engine Roll Call”, this season contains a new “Engine Roll Call” and intro with a different tune, footage, and inclusion of everyone’s favorite Great Western Pannier, Montague AKA Duck!!!!!:
But, hey, at least it’s better than the usual crappy “Engine Roll Call”. But, I THINK THAT THE ORIGINAL OPENING FROM SEASONS 1-7 WOULD’VE BEEN, MUCH, MUCH BETTER THAN THIS!!!!! AGAIN, HERE’S THE TRUE AND ORIGINAL OPENING RIGHT NOW!!!!:
As you can tell, I LOVE the original “T&F” opening from Season 1-7/Classic Series, while I HATE, HATE the “Engine Roll Call”. But, I digress, just like The Unlucky Tug/TheUnluckyTug02’s review of Seasons 14 & 15 and SteamTeam3211’s review of Season 15, I’ll be listing the episodes from which they aired on TV or DVD and give them my personal opinions about it and my final score, before giving the season my official scoring results of what I think of it. With that said, let’s take a look!!!
#1.) “Who’s Geoffrey?”: In this season opener, Thomas causes an accident and Brendam Docks and tries to get himself out of trouble, by lying that a made-up engine named “Geoffrey” from the Mainland caused the accident. But, the lie gets out of control and now, everyone on Sodor believes that Geoffrey is real, when in reality, he isn’t!! As much as people love this episode itself, I think it’s a great start to this season because it was funny, well-written, and clever!!! I can agree with NewController01 that it would’ve been more funnier, if Geoffrey was an real engine and I think I read one comment about this episode that he or she depicted Geoffrey as Arthur (one of the many Classic Series characters who hasn’t returned in AGES) and I agree, even if Sodor Island 3D/Trainz Simulator depicted Geoffrey a different engine. Yeah, I know, a lot of you laughed at not two of my favorite parts of the episode, one of the best moments in “T&F” history: “The Accident at Brendam Docks” & “Thomas Pretending to Be Geoffrey”.:
Aside from that, since Martin T. Sherman (the former voice of Thomas and Percy in the US dub) left the show and Keith Wickham (Percy, James, STH/The Fat Controller, and other characters’ voices) dropped his role as Percy, we get to hear Percy’s new US and UK voice for the first time, which are Christopher Ragland in the US and Nigel Pilkington and I can honestly say, Chris does a pretty good job voicing Percy. But, Nigel does an okay job voicing him and it’s actually pretty good too. Here’s a comparison between those two and you’ll get what I mean!:
All in all, I love this episode!! It’s not only one of the best episodes in this season so far, this is one of the best “Thomas” episodes I’ve ever seen!! It was funny, well-written, and the animation’s improving too!!! I’d give it a 9.5/10!!!
#2.) “The Truth About Toby”: In this episode, Toby runs out of coal when delivering some empty cars/trucks to Cronk Scrapyards and is left stranded there. However, as Thomas, Edward, and other engines pass by, they accidentally start a rumor that Toby is going to be scrapped. For me, this episode was okay and it wasn’t really my taste. I know that there was a mixed reception for this episode, but, I’m on both sides because if Toby was really going to be sent for scrap, Sir Topham Hatt/President McFatFace would tell the other engines about it immediately and he would never scrap any of his engines that are “RESPONSIBLE, RELIABLE, AND ‘REALLY USEFUL'”!!!!!!! “USEFUL!!!!!” From the title of this episode, I would’ve expected Toby NOT being the REAL Toby back at his old tramway at East Anglia, before it was shut down and the harbor he used to work at with his classmates and the other engines know about the lesson of not spreading rumors by now, ESPECIALLY IN THE SEASON 5 EPISODE: “THOMAS AND THE RUMO(U)RS”!!!!
Aside from my rants about this episode, everything else was solid, especially Toby’s new UK voice. He’s now voiced by James and Stanley’s new US voice, “Rob Rackstraw”/Travis’ UK voice from “Bob the Builder”, while his original UK voice (Ben Small/Thomas and Rheneas’ old UK voicer). I think it sounds MUCH better than his old UK voice, but, his US voice (William Hope) could’ve been better and I think it’s high time we get a new US voice for Toby. Even if sounded more country/American, Toby’s UK voice is just perfect and here are clips from the episode to see what I’m saying, here!:
The other few good things about this episode is Stanley getting a speaking role again (except for a few seconds), Toby (FINALLY) going back to his old, caring, and wise personality, Toby and Henrietta’s interaction similar to “Tobias and the Half-Pariah”, and a few funny moments from this episode. Overall, this episode was average and it needed both some major and minor adjustments. I’d rate it a 5/10. Moving on to the next episode!
#3.) “Lost Property”: This time, some Railway Inspectors come to the Island of Sodor and Thomas has to take them and Fatto on Annie and Clarabel. But, they come across some dilemmas during the inspection of the North Western Railway, such as some bratty children, cows on the line, and a kid pulling the emergency cable on Annie (just like in Season 18). The first time I watched this episode, I thought it was okay, but now, I think it’s pretty good. I especially love the scenes with Fatty, when he plays with a ball on a string twice and every time he does it, he ends up getting two black eyes!!!! The first time I saw that scene, I laughed at that! But, the scene where Thomas picks up the bratty kids at Dryaw Station on his branchline would’ve been more funnier, if Fatto started beating the living crap outta them, like this!:
Nah, too violent. Anyways, I liked this episode because the shots were amazing, Arc’s animation has done it again, and the humor was funny as always! For a pretty good episode, I’ll give it a 7.5/10.
#4.) “Henry Spots Trouble”: And, of course, the bad episodes come in when we have Henry’s wussy-personality return! This time, when Henry sees Fatto’s grandchildren get chicken pox, Henry fears about getting it as well. Alright, I can seriously go on about how awful this episode was because I hate the fact that they still made Henry a coward, since Seasons 8-16, and– REALLY???!!!! HENRY’S AFRAID OF GETTING A HUMAN ILLNESS THAT CAN’T SPREAD TO ANY ENGINE OR SOME OTHER MEANS OF TRANSPORT??????!!!!!!! Andrew Brenner, if you’re reading this, for the last time, HENRY IS NOT A COWARD!!! HE IS A KIND AND MATURE ENGINE THAT SOMETIMES ACTS LIKE GORDON AND JAMES AND THE REASON WHY HE HID INSIDE HIS TUNNEL IN “THE SAD STORY OF HENRY”/”COME OUT, HENRY” WAS BECAUSE HE DIDN’T WANT TO GET HIS GREEN PAINT WITH RED-STRIPES SPOILED BY THE RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I JUST WISH THAT HENRY WAS NO LONGER A GIANT WUSS THAT IS LIKE FLUTTERSHY FROM “MLP: FIM”, EXCEPT THAT FLUTTERSHY’S A GREAT CHARACTER IN MY OPINION, EVEN IF SHE IS A COWARD AS WELL FOR A SHY SPIRIT OF KINDNESS OUT OF THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY AND THE MANE SIX!!!!!
…..*Deep Sigh* Sorry, it’s just that, I despise the fact that even if Andrew Brenner watched the classic TV series and read the “RWS”, he (the head writer himself) still made all the other writers do Sharon Miller’s way of writing the show, by still making Henry a giant worrier that worries about, every single thing he comes across. Although, there a few things I like about this episode, including the scene where Fatto accidentally rips his trousers and reveals the back of his underwear. It’s like that scene from one of the classic “Spongebob” episode, “Ripped Pants”, when Spongebob accidentally rips his pants and everyone at Goo Lagoon and his friends laugh at him, which, of course, is repeated many times, until the joke gets old. Well, yeah, I laughed at that too. All in all, I give this episode a 3.5/10, I really didn’t like it very much and it’s definitely one of this season’s worst!!
#5.) “A Cranky Christmas”: Now, it’s time for the show’s annual Christmas/Holiday-themed episodes, when Cranky the Crane accidentally drops a Christmas crate for Thomas to take to Town Hall, before Thomas does the same process on what Cranky did when he slips on the icy rails at the Town Hall. Now, for this season’s first Holiday-themed episode (unlike the dreaded “WINTER HOLIDAYS” for the sake of “Political Correctness”), I didn’t like this one too much. It just didn’t feel well-written for me, either, again, even there were a few I actually liked, I don’t have a lot to say about this episode. If Cranky was worried about breaking the cargo he accidentally dropped a crate at Brendam Docks, I bet the Dock Manager would let him know about it, ahead of time!! For a below average episode, I would give it a 3/10, it wasn’t that good.
#6.) “Snow Place Like Home”: In this pun-worthy title of something Carl Azuz from CNN Student News would come up with, we learn that Victor doesn’t like snow, but Kevin at the Sodor Steamworks foolishly decides to go and play in the snow. As you’d expect, things go awry, when Kevin gets caught in a pile of snow, beside the Steamworks, forcing Victor to go and look for him the snowstorm. Since this is the 3rd episode that focuses on Kevin (or as missoliverandblossom/DaWillstanator/William Grubb would say: “Sodor’s Own Jerry Lewis”) and the 2nd episode to have Victor the main character, it did have some faults, such as Kevin acting like a doofus as usual. But, it’s actually not bad. As usual, the animation’s fantastic and I do like how Victor got more character development. But, other than that, I again don’t have anything else to say about this episode, it’s a 5.5/10 for this one.
#7.) “The Beast of Sodor”: As you can tell, we get ANOTHER Henry-focused episode and it’s about Henry worried about “The Abominable Snowman”/”The Yeti”, while Spencer/The Duke and Duchess of Boxford’s private engine (who is stuck on Sodor because of the Vicarstown Drawbridge closing down due to snow) teases him about it. The first time I read about this episode, I honestly thought that it was gonna suck, like other newer Henry-episodes (not the older ones from Season 1-7). But, when I first watched it, I actually enjoyed it. The plot was good, the humor was amusing, especially the part where Fatto gets chased by a bull in a field (possibly Champion from Season 4 episode: “Bulls Eyes”) and how the dramatic cue from “Spongebob” is played four times in this episode, like this scene, for example!:
Gotta love “Spongebob” and their music/dramatic cues from “Ren and Stimpy”!!! Overall, despite Henry’s cowardness returning once again, I actually liked it and the humor was great as always. I’d give it a 7.5/10!!
#8?????) “Toad and the Whale”: As you can probably tell by the title, this episode is about Oliver the Great Western Engine’s brakevan, Toad. This time, Toad spots a whale stranded on the beach at Bluff’s Cove. He, Oliver, and the Sodor Search and Rescue Center work together to get the whale back into the ocean. Now, Toad has been getting a lot of screentime lately, ever since he and Oliver (officially) returned in Season 18 (not counting “Tale of the Brave”) and despite this is Toad’s 3rd episode focused on him, it was pretty good. Although, Oliver did act like an ignorant jerk towards Toad when Toad spotted the whale. Can you guess on how Oliver reacted? He thought that Toad was making a joke about it!!!!:
I’m not even joking, here!!!! Oliver thought that Toad was kidding about an ACTUAL WHALE THAT IS DRYING AND DYING AT THE SAME TIME ON BLUFF’S COVE BEACH, WHILE HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH DUCK!!!!!! 😡 I SHOULD BE PISSED OFF, I SHOULD BE BUCKING ANGRY THAT OLIVER IS AN IGNORANT IDIOT, INSTEAD OF BEING A HARD-WORKING ENGINE THAT HAS A HOT-TEMPER WHO ESCAPED FROM SCRAP BY DOUGLAS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, at least Toad singing “Beside the Seaside” from Season 18 was one way to pay Oliver back for telling Toad his lifestory on how they came to Sodor in the first place in their returning episode, “Toad’s Adventure” from Season 18, here!:
Despite my complaints, it’s still a pretty solid episode and I sure hope that in the next season, Oliver will get his own episode again, just like he did back in Seasons 3-7!! I give this episode a 7/10.
#9?????) “Wild Water Rescue”: In this episode, the Search and Rescue Center celebrates its 1,000th rescue and Percy’s been given the job to take the Mayor of Sodor to present the new SS&RC bell to celebrate this wonderful occasion. But, the Devious Diesel himself strikes again when he sets Percy on a wild goose chase to pick up the Mayor at the old quarry mine, while he picks up the Mayor instead, in order to get his picture taken in the newspaper. For me, this episode was pretty average and I felt like the title could’ve been better, I think it should be called “On the Front Page”, “Stealing the Spotlight, Like Thomas Would Do”, or “Special Attraction Part II: ‘How to Get Away with Fooling Someone With an Obvious Lie, While Getting To Do the Thing You Wanted to Do, MUWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!” Also, the plot might have nothing to do with the title of this episode. Although, I do like how Kerry Shale (the UK voice of Diesel) gets to be Diesel’s new US voice, while replacing Martin T. Sherman and I can say that Kerry Shale is MUCH better than Michael Brandon and Martin’s voice for our favorite black and sly BR Class 08 shunter!!! Also, the scene where Percy practices for his picture on the newspaper were really amusing and would definitely be perfect selfies!!!
Well, here comes Sodor’s next big meme. Anyway, this episode was alright and could’ve been better, a 4.5/10.
#10????) “Very Important Sheep”: This episode is about “SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Or should I say, similarity to MOAB’s “Sheep” joke in his review of “Muddy Matters”, when Percy has to take some sheep to a funfair in Maithewaite Station. But, the sheep escape and cause chaos for Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel and on the Mainline. As you can tell, this episode is the third version of the ultimate worst “Thomas” episode yet, “WONKY WHISTLE”!!!!!!!! But, this time, Percy is in a hurry, rather than being a moron, like in Seasons 8-16!! Also, what really impressed me was Trevor the Traction Engine returning in CGI, except that he made a cameo in “Emily and Dash” from Season 15 and this episode, sadly. It would’ve been very fantastic, if Trevor got a speaking role in this episode, like he did in the past. Overall, this episode was a really good one and it really felt like “Wonky Whistle”, IF it was done correctly, that is with Percy as the main focus!! As soon as I give this episode an 8/10, let me make this quote from MOAB/DaWillstanator to move onto the next episode………………“SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
#11????) “Salty All at Sea”: Not to be confused with the Season 3 episode: “All at Sea”, when Salty has been chosen to work at the Mainland harbor, much to his horror. He lets his own imaginary fantasies get the better of him, when he races around the Island/the NWR to get away from going to the Mainland, instead of having to go to the Vicarstown Drawbridge, connecting to the Mainland. Oh my Luna, I absolutely don’t like this episode because of how Salty was portrayed in it!! I can agree with many of you that Salty being afraid of travelling on the ocean is one of the dumbest explanations I’ve ever heard in my entire life, compared to “The Middle”!! Because Salty afraid of travelling, instead of going to the Mainland through the you-know-what at you-know-where, REALLY??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is “Sharon Miller-Logic” if you ask me!!!!:
EXACTLY, RARITY!!!!! Besides, wouldn’t it make more sense, if Salty went to the Mainland by the Vicarstown Drawbridge???!!!! Still, I didn’t like this episode for Salty’s 3rd episode and you know what, NEITHER SHOULD YOU!!!! It’s a 2/10, it was just that awful!!!
#12????) “Den and Dart”: In this one, when Mavis has an accident at Ffarqhuar Quarry, Den and Dart, the Vicarstown Dieselworks diesels, are forced to work separately. I mean by having Den take Mavis’ place, until she is repaired, while Dart helps with Mavis’ repairs. I can say that this episode is actually very good with having an interesting characterization and plot, even if we’ve seen Den and Dart separate back in Season 16 (*UGH*). It’s actually quite similar to the episode from WildNorWester’s “Sodor: The Modern Years” (spin-off of “Sodor: The Early Years”) episode, “Separation Anxiety”, which involves Ben having to work on his own, when Bill has an accident at the Containment Yard and is taken away to be repaired. Also, the music when Den shunts the trucks with confidence was very good and imagine if it was heard in the classic episodes from Seasons 1-7!!!!:
It is, without a doubt, one of the best music pieces in the CGI series and the show itself, so far!!! All in all, I really love this episode and it’s one of my favorites out of the season thus far and I would give it a 9.5/10!!
#13????) “Helping Hiro”: When Thomas accidentally causes Hiro to have an accident, Thomas feels extremely guilty about it. He decides to help Hiro, by going to the same woods Hiro was found at in “Hero of the Rails” to find some of the lost engine parts that was used to restore him. The first time I saw this episode, I enjoyed it, but after seeing SamTheTrainFan’s thoughts on it on Twitter, I kind of changed my mind about it. It didn’t seem to go in any direction, really and had no moral or lesson, but I think the moral is that accidents happen and you should realize that it’s best to forgive yourself and move on with your life. But, here, it felt more or less of a sequel to “Hero of the Rails” and Thomas should know that the Sodor Steamworks has plenty of parts to repair Hiro. Other than, this episode wasn’t that good and needed some major rewriting!!! The score is a 3/10.
#14 & 15?????) “Diesel’s Ghostly Christmas” (Parts 1 & 2): This episode manages to be a (yet-another) “Thomas”-version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, by having Diesel play as Ebeneezer Scrooge when he refuses to be “helpful”. This causes Thomas and his friends pretend to be the “Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future”, in order to teach Diesel a lesson. Just like “Duncan the Humbug” from last season, this episode was a very fantastic adaptation of a really great Christmas classic “A Christmas Carol”!! I love the way how it’s set up, having it be a double-featured episode was a very splendid idea, it felt like an actual “MLP: FIM” episode, the animation was great as always, and I do love the part where Paxton as the Ghost of Christmas Present broke the fourth wall by saying to the audience:
PAXTON: “Then I must be good at pretending.”
Yep, gotta love Paxton and his young, adorable, kind, goofy, and naive personality for a BR Class 08 diesel like Diesel, Arry and Bert, Sidney, and Splatter and Dodge. Although, I would admit that Diesel kinda acted gullible over the other engines pretending to be ghosts and he would’ve recognized the other engines, if he heard their voices. It might be like “Ghost Train”/”Percy’s Ghostly Trick” from Season 2 and “Thomas, Percy, and the Dragon” from Season 3 all over again, where Thomas claimed that he was pretending to be scared, when Percy pulled that prank on Thomas about him pretending to be a ghost. But, aside from that, this episode was very well-done for another “Christmas Carol” adaptation in the “Thomas” franchise and it’s like cactus190706’s “Gordon’s Christmas Carol” from 2010 and MilkTankerMedia’s 2015 Christmas special: “Making Spirits Bright: A Sodor Christmas Carol”!! I’d give this (these) episode(s) a 9/10!!
#16????) “Best Engine Ever”: In this one, Emily wishes that she could be streamlined like Caitlin. Here’s the funny thing, when the Wooden Railway model of Emily’s streamlined version in her fantasy in this episode came up, it was pretty surprising to be fair. Even if I’m not a big Emily person because of how she replaced Duck, Oliver, and Donald & Douglas since Season 8 and her annoying personality, this episode is a good enough Emily episode. I really appreciate the fact that they expanded Emily and Caitlin’s personalities, instead of being (ya know) JUST ANOTHER TOY!!!!! As for the scene where Emily saves Caitlin at Ulfstead Castle was executed very well and needless to say, Emily is starting to be slightly likable, even if I’m still not an Emily fan. I would give this episode an 8/10!!
#17????) “Slow Stephen”: From the episode’s title, Stephen the Rocket proves to the other engines that being slow is good sometimes, when he helps prevent Gordon from crossing the unstable Sodor Suspension Bridge. This episode is not only much better than Stephen’s last episode, “The Afternoon Tea Express” from Season 17, it’s definitely one of the best ones yet, since Stephen’s one of my favorite characters!!! Also, the Suspension Bridge collapsing was so BUCKING excellent in CGI and is way more dramatic than it was in “Calling All Engines” and “The Great Snowstorm of Sodor”!!! No offense. This episode is an 8.5/10 for this one!!
#18????) “Two Wheels Good”: In this episode, after hearing the Thin Controller/Mr. Percival mentioning his bike being “Two Wheels Good”, Thomas, Spencer, and Bertie argue on which set of wheels are good, while they, along with Harold take the Duke and Duchess of Boxford to Lord Callan’s Castle. As you can tell from the plot, Lord Callan returns in CGI and I gotta say, it’s a really nice comeback and nice to see Lord Callan again after a long time of absence in the series (of course). But, his voice, Keith Wickham, is at the point when I realized that all fans were right that Keith is running out of voices for the characters he plays in the CGI series because Keith’s voice for Lord Callan sounds more like Skarloey, but with a Scottish accent. I think it’s time we add more celebrities, cast members, and guest stars in the show. Other than that, it’s a 9/10 for me.
#19????) “Reds VS. Blues”: Thomas and James compete against each other, when picking up football/soccer (in the US) fans and taking them to the Dryaw Football/Soccer field. But, this (of course) leads to disastrous results. For me, this episode was pretty good, even if it is predictable from beginning to end, I especially liked the part where Fatto kicked a football/soccer ball and accidentally caused it to break a window and the part when Percy breaks the fourth wall, by stealing the narrator’s line: “And then there was trouble!”:
Man, Fatto’s becoming from a strict, but a open-hearted controller of the NWR to a very funny comedian/clown. I would rate this episode a 7/10!
#20????) “The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead”: This episode introduces our new toy– Uh, I mean character: Philip (no, it’s not Phil Aardman from turtlesandthomas’ “Sudrian Conflict”), an energetic and child-like diesel boxcab (played by British actor, Rasmus Hardiker). His introductory episode focuses on him winning a race against Gordon, even though he had no idea that Gordon never raced him at all. This episode was a really good one and I like Philip as a character. Sure, he can get a bit annoying now and then and later, but, he’s actually a pretty cute character and it’s nice to see more diesels introduced in the show. But, ya gotta love his personality of him acting like a little kid and I can agree that many fans can relate to Philip when they were younger. But, not everyone’s a fan of Philip. Just look on how Philip tried to interact with Daisy in EE93’s “Enterprising Engines”.:
All in all, I rate this episode an 8/10 for another fun character from Andrew Brenner!!
#21????) “Philip to the Rescue”: As you can tell, Philip saves James (who is trying to prove that he’s not a showoff) from a nasty accident at the bridge/tunnel at the bottom of Gordon’s Hill. For Philip’s second episode, this episode is probably better than the last one and James’ accident was brilliantly animated. Also, I love the fact that they showed James’ driver telephoning Fatto for help, like in the older episodes. Well, at least Philip is better than other annoying and idiotic characters like Samson and Billy!! This episode is an 8.5/10.
#22????) “No Help at All”: At the China Clay Pits, Bill and Ben think Timothy the Oil-Burning engine is “No Help At All” and they decide to ask Fatto to send Timothy to Brendam Docks, during the events of “Salty All at Sea” and “Den and Dart”. As how much I love Bill and Ben, I actually love this episode for many good reasons!!! It’s a nice way to have an episode take place between two different episodes and it’s a very great concept. Also, we get a remastered version of the “Down By the Docks” song from Season 6 and even if it’s not as good as the original version, it’s still another great classic “T&F” song. Here’s a comparison between the original and this episode’s version of it!!:
It’s like “The Adventure Begins”, except that was a very great 70th Anniversary special from last year!!! Also, Marion’s goofy antics kick in again for this episode and I love the ending when she’s still working and (as usual), it’s very funny!!! Overall, great episode with a returning of Bill and Ben and a remastered version of another great classic “Thomas” song!! I’d rate it a 9/10!!!
#23????) “The Other Side of the World”– I mean, “The Other Side of the Mountain”: After Bertie the Bus teases Thomas about the other side of a mountain on Thomas’ branchline, Thomas is determined to figure out what’s on the other side of that mountain. You know, the mountain in this episode reminded me of the Culdee Fell Mountain Railway from the “RWS”, except that the Culdee Fell engines are the engines that we DEFINITELY need to see in the CGI and the TV series, as long as HIT tells the tale of Godred’s tragic crash correctly. This episode was a pretty good one and the crash was very unrealistic and it felt like “Toby Takes the Road” from the “RWS” all over again. But, the scene when Thomas dreams about him having wings like an airplane (reference to “Thomas and Bertie”/”Thomas and Bertie’s Great Race” from Season 1) felt like “Sticky Toffee Thomas” from Season 10, but without the goggles and helmet on his face and smokebox. Well, at least it isn’t *UGH* “JAY JAY THE BUCKING JET PLANE”!!!!!!!!!!!! Other than that, this episode was a good one and I’d give it an 8.5/10.
#24????) “Thomas the Babysitter”: In this episode, Thomas has to deal with an annoying baby and his mother on his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel. For me, this episode was great and adorable at the same time, it really reminded me of “MLP: FIM” episode: “Baby Cakes” from Season 2. Both of those episodes were really adorable and “Thomas the Babysitter” felt like an actual “RWS” story that the Rev. W. Awdry or Christopher Awdry would’ve come up with, years ago. Especially the scene when the workmen (Alfred) and his wife decide to name the baby “Thomas”, just like how the Baby Cakes’ first words were this!:
Now, anyone got a tissue. <:’) Anyways, it’s a 9.5/10 for such an ADORABLE, LITTLE EPISODE!!! <:’D
#25????) “Rocky Rescue”: In case you haven’t read the title, this episode is about Rocky, but NOT as the main character. It’s just the ENTIRE Search and Rescue Team because after Rocky lifts Henry back onto the rails at Ulfstead Castle, he ends up having his own accident when he derails on the Mainline. Instead of (ya know) having the OTHER Breakdown Train/Crane (including Jerome and Judy from “The Adventure Begins) from Seasons 1-9, the entire S&RC has to come and rescue him, but they learn that it’s best to work together–:
Okay, for me, this episode wasn’t that great and it felt like it would’ve been better, if it was written differently, like have Rocky’s accident be taken alternately. It would’ve been way better in my opinion. Still, I have nothing else to say for this episode and I’d rate it a 6.5/10, it could’ve been better.
#26????): “Goodbye Fat Contoller” (“Goodbye Sir Topham Hatt”): In the (possible) season finale, Percy sees/overhears a bunch of workmen near Fatto’s office at Knapford Station. He worries that Fatto’s really going away forever and the other engines try to work hard in order to keep him from leaving permanently. But, as you’d expect, it’s all a major misunderstanding!!!! For an episode that had Percy act like a naive idiot again, it’s actually a very great one because it (once again) felt like a “RWS” story, the animation improves again, and the humor was great, too. Also, we get a really great musical recreation of the original theme for Sir Topham Hatt/The Fat Controller in his Season 1-2 and Season 5 theme!! But, during the montage when the other engines try to work hard and the Season 14 “Sir Topham Hatt” jazz song was playing, I would’ve preferred a recreation of the “Sir Topham Hatt” song from Season 5, like this!:
Oh well, the jazz version was more fitting anyway. Also, the scene when Fatto’s temporary office is at the shed really made me laugh and after seeing Ken Friedel’s video with the scene, while MOAB’s “T&F” Christmas Short #3 was playing, I can agree with him that those two scenes are very similar to one another.:
For the season finale, I’d rate this episode a 9.5/10! NOW, ONTO MY FINAL THOUGHTS FOR THIS SEASON!!!
Overall, is this season better than Season 18? Well, the answer is “YES”!! There were a lot of good episodes, nice references, funny jokes, and great recreations of original songs from the show!! Also, the animation from Arc Productions has improved BIG TIME!!!!! However, there are a few episodes that were unlikable or mediocre, including one of Henry’s episodes, “Salty All at Sea”, etc.. But, that doesn’t stop me from loving this season!!! It’s definitely an improvement over the last season!! Heck, the show itself is improving from the crappy writing we’ve gotten from Seasons 8-16, but I would’ve preferred more returning characters, but I’m happy over what we’ve gotten this time!!! This gives me my final score for Season 19 of “Thomas & Friends” a 9.5/10 for not only one of the best seasons in the CGI era, one of the best “T&F” seasons yet!!!!
Now that that’s settled, we’ll look forward to Season 20 this year and the next special this year, “The Great Race”!!! Let me know in the comments below on what your thoughts are on this season. As always, I’m The Detective Librarian and I’ll see you in my 110th Review Special next time for Rainbow Dash’s “Birthaversary”!!!! Toodles!!!! 😉
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING YOU’RE ABOUT TO SEE MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!! TURN BACK IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN– FORGET IT!!! HERE ARE THE VIDEOS OF THE “THOMAS CREATOR COLLECTIVE’S” FIRST INSTALLMENT THAT CAME OUT ON YOUTUBE MANY MONTHS AGO, LAST YEAR ON THE “T&F” YOUTUBE CHANNEL, AS WELL AS THE FULL VERSION OF IT WITH BONUS SCENES IN THE END!!!!!!!!!!!:
Anyways, please proceed!!!
-We Now Join Our Regularly Scheduled Review, Already in Progress-
PREVIOUSLY ON “THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN”:
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN:
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: Hey!! Earth to Detective!!! Uh–I mean, Equestria to Detective!!!!
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN:………..Why?…………Why should I forgive…HIM?!!….After all the things he did to Twilight…………… <:(
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: What? You mean, Shining Armor?
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN:….Ye–Yes. Ted………..I’ve been having these….VISIONS that Shining Armor will come and betray me. Was he really planning to stab us in the backs, or stab her and ME in the backs?
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: Come on, Detective. You shouldn’t take it personally, it was just because of Chrysalis’ disguise as Cadence brainwashing him during the events of “A Canterlot Wedding”.
DR. VICK NEWTON: Listen! Detective, I know that you still hold a grudge against him, but think about it. When have you ever given him a chance to forgive him?
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: I sort of forgave him in my review of “Equestria Girls”, but that still won’t make things easier between the both of us!
DR. VICK NEWTON: But, what if he really meant his apology? What if he really means well and committed the one sin in a state of anger and disappointment after being brainwashed by the impostor? I think the only cause of the rivalry between you and Shining was because of your anger on his mistake. Don’t ever forget that. Forgiveness is something that is needed at all times, even if you don’t want to, it’s best to forgive others, rather than think about yourself.
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Yes.. I do. I’m SO, SO sorry I held a grudge against you!! I want to be officially friends, instead of enemies or rivals anymore!!!! You really are one of the best friends I could ever have and I really mean that!!!! <:’) Again, I’m really sorry we kept fighting. If you’re really sorry, than I should forgive you and if I really mean that I’m “Sorry”, you should forgive me too.
SHINING ARMOR: Thank you, Detective and I forgive you. I’m sorry, too, I should’ve have been so harsh on Twily in the first place. Seeing how my actions affected you and her, that was one of the worst events I’ve ever experienced in my entire life.
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Thank you and I forgive you as well…..BFF or should I say B.B.B.F.F…..
BOTH DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN AND SHINING ARMOR:
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Now, let’s go home….ALL OF US!! It’s New Year’s Eve and it’s time to celebrate the end of 2015 and the beginning of a new year known as 2016. *Everyone Else Leaves*
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON:….. <:’)
DR. VICK NEWTON: *Enters A Mysterious Room* *Activates a Computer*
THE REVIEW MASTER (COMPUTER/HOLOGRAM): Hello, Newton. Happy New Years of 2016!!!
DR. VICK NEWTON: Same to you…Sir!! All will commence as you planned this year in 2016………
Hello, I’m The Detective Librarian and some of you may have remembered my review of “The Great Snowstorm of Sodor”/the 2nd installment of the “Thomas” Youtube channel series called the “Thomas Creator Collective”!! Well, I should’ve reviewed today’s installment first because this is the one installment that started the whole “Thomas Creator Collective”. In case you don’t know, the “TCC” is a series when the “T&F” Youtube Channel asked popular “Thomas”-fans with their own fan-series/films/projects like Enterprisingengine93 (creator of “Enterprising Engines”), Tines Sensahthe (well-known for making “Tobias and the Half-Pariah”), DieselD199 (made “TOMICA Thomas & Friends”), BrendenReis10 (made “T&F” remakes with Hornby and Bachmann models and is making “Thomas the Movie”), etc…. As you can tell, ALL of the popular “T&F” fans have been asked to make their own fan-series/story for the “T&F” Youtube channel to make two installments, the one I reviewed for X-mas and the first installment/today’s story, “Secrets of the Stolen Crown”!! It was first uploaded on November 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th, 2015, which would make it two-and-a-half months old. Now, keep in mind, this is supposed to be a sort-of-sequel to the latest “T&F” special, “Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure”, which take place after the events of the special. Is it as good as the special and is it a good kind-of-sequel? Well then, let’s dive in!!
So, the story starts off on the Mainline where everybody’s favorite blue E2 tank engine/screen-stealing puffball, Thomas (voiced by DieselD199), and his BFF, Percy the Small Engine (played by Enterprisingengine93), racing across the countryside to get to the Sodor Maritime Museum for a new exhibition and announcement, while the titles roll. As they get to the Maritime Museum, all the other engines (including Marion, Skiff the Railboat from “SLOTLT”, who is also played by EE93, and none other than Diesel 10, played by, also, DieselD199) are there, as well. Percy, however, is suspicious over Skiff, seeing as how he was forced by his former owner, Sailor John, who was also from “SLOTLT” to steal Captain Calles’ lost pirate treasure, until he helped stop him at Arlesburgh Harbor during the chase scene at the end of the special/film. Even if Thomas and Skiff are still friends, Percy still doesn’t trust him, but he and Thomas are also suspicious of Diesel 10 attending the ceremony at the Museum. However, it’s brushed aside when the Museum Curator continues his announcement when it’s revealed that during the events of the special, when Marion, the goofy steamshovel herself (played by Allison Philips/ToyTrains4U) discovered the Lost Treasure and dropped it on Thomas by accident, she noticed a writing on the bottom of the Treasure Chest. The writing, however, is actually a riddle that Captain Calles wrote that could lead to more lost treasure he stole, including a crown belonging to the King of England that was rumored to have been stolen by Calles, but it actually happened. He put the stolen valuables separately, just in case the Treasure Chest was found once more, like a sneaky pirate/dude who is a villain and knows how to cover his/her tracks, instead of being a doofus and letting our heroes/his or her enemy stop them without doing anything at all!!!!:
Thank you, Pinkie Pie!!! Anyways, you’re wondering about Captain Calles’ riddle. Well, here’s how it goes!:
“Who is the one who is hiding my treasure? That isn’t a question, it is the answer!! But, know that who is not who they seem! Their true source is hidden, if you know what I mean. Follow their waters to where they do fall and peer behind their watery wall. Then, shift the rocks to find your prize for behind one my lost treasure lies.”
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Hmph! Sounds more like a poem/rhyme to me! Unless, if Sharon Miller wrote this again because repetitive and ungodly annoying rhyming is her specialty!!!
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: Um, Detective? Aren’t most poems rhymes, like the Riddler from “Batman”?
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Well, yeah, that’s true! But, rhyming is SO EAR-RIPPING THAT IT MAKES YOU WANNA WATCH “THE MIDDLE”, THE REMAKE OF “HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS” MOVIE BY DR. SEUSS, AND THE INFAMOUS, “CAT IN THE HAT”, MOVIE WITH MIKE MYERS ADAPTATION THAT IS CONSIDERED “AWFUL”!!!! EVEN THE NOSTALGIA CRITIC DESPISES THIS FILM AND CONSIDERS IT ONE OF THE WORST MOVIES HE’S EVER REVIEWED AND I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY!!!!!!……*Sigh*, sorry. It’s just that, RHYMING BEING ADDED IN NEWER EPISODES FROM SOMETHING NOSTALGIC IN MY CHILDHOOD IS REALLY OUT-OF-PLACE, EVEN THE REV. W. AWDRY WOULD BE ROLLING OVER IN HIS GRAVE AGAIN AND IT MAKES IT FELL LIKE A DR. SEUSS BOOK!!!–
REV. W. AWDRY: “Rule 55!” YOU CAN’T DO IT!!!
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: As SkarloeyRailway01/The Engine Inspector would say, I’m sorry, but I had to!! It’s just for the sake of doing another joke that’s inspired by people I follow, used to, or look up to/watch!!
But, I digress, after the Curator tells everyone about the riddle, Diesel 10 sneaks out, while the Curator is still talking about how all the engines need to find the Treasure, blah, blah, blah! Thomas and Percy decide to follow him, which leads them straight to the Sodor/Vicarstown Dieselworks, where Diesel 10 is telling the other diesels about the whole thing, including Dart, Diesel (played by Tines Sensahthe), Arry, and Bert. It’s revealed that the diesels want to find the lost treasure/Lost Crown, in order to (you guessed it) prove that diesels are better than–:
–Steam engines!!!! Also, they want to get more diesel fuel that Sir Topham Hatt/The Fat Controller/Fatty refuses to buy for the other diesels! Wow, didn’t see that coming. 😐 Even I thought that his actions in “SLOTLT”and *Shivers* “Shed 17” were more harsh than this, as well as the infamous scene with Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle (“Sparkle Sparkle Sparkle”) in “A Canterlot Wedding” from “MLP: FIM”. But, THIS JUST TAKES THE MOTHERBUCKING CAKE!!! But, (Again), I digress, as Thomas and Percy try to get a head start for finding the Lost Crown before the diesels, Percy accidentally goes forwards, instead of backwards and bumps into some oil tankers/trucks. After this, Diesel 10 orders Arry and Bert to come and inspect the noise Percy accidentally made.
Before our heroes about to get caught, Thomas goes with the one and only perfect distraction a steam engine/locomotive can do in the “RWS”/TV series: “Blow Off Steam At Arry and Bert, Leaving Them Distracted, While Thomas and Percy Escape To Find the Crown Before the Diesels Do”!!! Well, at least that didn’t happen to James when he accidentally let off steam at Fatty’s new top hat in “James and the Bootlace”/”James Learns a Lesson” from Season 1 and in the “RWS”. Otherwise, the whole “Bootlace” incident would happen again. Anyway, as our heroes puff through the Countryside to find the Crown, they repeat the Riddle from earlier, which makes Percy realize that it could mean a waterfall, like the waterfall on Toby’s Branchline/a reference to HIT’s writing and Season 3. Along the way to the waterfall on the bridge in Toby’s Branchline, they encounter Skiff again, who claims to have solved the Riddle. Skiff tells our heroes that he believes that the Crown is at the River Who, a river that he and Sailor John once sailed before the events of “SLOTLT”. But, Percy, however, is not convinced and is still going with his theory that the Crown is at the waterfall on Toby’s Branchline.
During their journey, they encounter cameos of (wouldn’t you know it) Splatter and Dodge/Splodge from “Thomas and the Magic Railroad”. They might even be after the treasure and I just realized something, the events of “TATMR” are canon to the show!!! It looks like Youtuber named Thomas1Edward2Henry3’s theory about the events of “TATMR” taking place in an alternate universe, seeing as how they weren’t mentioned in episodes and movies/specials after it came out, were incorrect. No offense, though. But, (ONCE AGAIN), I digress, as Thomas, Percy, and Skiff arrive at the waterfall on you-know-who’s Branchline, their drivers check the waterfall for the crown, but to no avail. That means that they have to go inside the source of the River Who at Morgan’s Mine from “The Great Discovery”, when Thomas followed a runaway truck/freight car inside the Mine, unrealistically floated across the river, leaped over the waterfall, and landed in a field beside the line. As they go inside Morgan’s Mine, the trio go to the right side of the points leading to the Crown, while doing a musical interlude with the “Monsters Everywhere”/another Disney-esque song from “Tale of the Brave”. I have to admit, it was really funny because it’s very true about most kids’ movies unexpectedly going to a song like it’s some sort of musical, a Disney film, or something.
So, Thomas, Percy, and Skiff go in-front of the waterfall, where the Crown/Treasure is waiting as quickly as they could. But, as they continue remembering the Riddle, they spot Diesel 10 still struggling to find the Lost Treasure. He furiously uses his claw/Pinchy to smash through the rocks, which causes the rocks to open like a door, revealing the Lost Crown. Diesel 10 grabs the Crown and the chase is on between Diesel 10, Thomas, and his friends for getting the Lost Crown to the Museum, until he uses his horn loudly to start an avalanche/a rock slide to block our heroes and derail Percy. Percy apologizes to Skiff for doubting him, just because of the events of “SLOTLT” and he thought that Skiff was truly a thief. Of course, it’s now up to Thomas/the title character to save the day, by stopping Diesel 10 from getting away with the Crown, while leaving Percy stranded with Skiff to pursue after the villains.
He catches up with Diesel 10, Arry, and Bert and we get one final chase scene, while recreation music of the “SLOTLT” chase scene is playing in the background. As Thomas pushes Diesel 10 so much, he causes Pinchy to release the Crown and land it on his bufferbeam, while using scrap, Arry, and Bert to stop him. But, of course, they fail, when Bert derails, Pinchy gets damaged on top of Diesel 10’s roof, and Arry is stopped by Gordon the Big Engine (played by also, DieselD199) with the Express on the Mainline. As Thomas realizes that Fatso is conveniently heading towards the Mainland, he orders the signalman from the nearest/convenient signalbox nearby to alert the other signalboxes, the Museum Curator, and Ryan at Knapford Station to alert the bridge-keeper raise the Vicarstown Drawbridge and stop Diesel 10 from escaping. This (of course) works, resulting in Diesel 10 to land in a barge full of sludge, just like in “TATMR”!!! See, I told that this was both a sequel to “SLOTLT” and “TATMR”, except that “TATMR” is bad, but can be a guilty pleasure once an a while for a “Thomas” film. Besides, that chase sequence was pretty awesome, but even these chase scenes could be as awesome as this!!:
But, enough rambling right now, let’s just cut to the ending! Thomas, Skiff, Percy, and Ryan are congratulated for not only finding the Lost Crown, stopping Diesel 10 from escaping with the Treasure. Although, Thomas and Percy still have unfinished work/jobs to do that they and the audience actually forgot about the ENTIRE TIME!!!! As for Diesel 10, well, he’s still in the barge full of sludge, like in “TATMR” and makes a reference to his final quote about “cruises”. And that’s pretty much the end, except if you’re watching the full version because the full version includes bonus scenes, including the diesels trying to find the Lost Crown, but end up with unexpected results, especially being in foreign places, randomly, and Percy pushing Skiff, like Thomas pushing Skiff and Sailor John in– Forget it, let’s just end it here.
And that was “Secrets of the Stolen Crown”. Does it stand out to be a great start to the “Thomas Creator Collective”, while “The Great Snowstorm of Sodor” being slightly superior to it? Well, I would say “Yes” on that. Even if the story is pretty predictable, I still really enjoyed it. I appreciate the way that the show is listening to us fans of the show we’ve known and loved from out childhood, while showing our own creations on Youtube as a fan-series or fan-film with some really talented and amazing fans! They include EE93, Tines Sensahthe, turtlesandthomas (the creator of “Sudrian Conflict”, which I just checked out), Calebtrain, DieselD199, etc… But, even though missoliverandblossom/DaWillstanator is moving on from his “T&F” channel and is a brony, like me, what if he was involved in the production? If he still had his “Thomas” channel, instead of his Brony channel, he would definitely continue making “Thomas”-related content and use his Hornby and Bachmann models, even if he is still using Microsoft Paint or not for the faces and their actions. Well, maybe not, seeing as how his content is NOT for kids, along with, trainboy7 and trainlover476/Joey Turner/DaJoestanator.
But, overall, I really enjoyed “Secrets of the Stolen Crown”, even if it was a predicable sequel to “SLOTLT” and “TATMR” with some funny moments, nice references, directing, acting, and good action, written by some very amazing “Thomas” fans that have some very great stuff to look at. I highly suggest you go check out EE93, DieselD199, turtlesandthomas, and Tines’ videos. But, remember, some of their videos may be inappropriate for younger audiences, such as language, action, intensity, and scary scenes! So, please view at your own discretion!!:
If you enjoy those channels, I highly suggest that you like, comment, and subscribe to them because they’re really talented fans who deserve great praise!! Now, let’s rate my final score for “Secrets of the Stolen Crown” a 7.5/10. But, I think that other “Thomas” fans like TheScotsmanReturns (the creator of his “Everything Wrong with ‘Thomas’ Special”/Parodies of CinemaSins’ “Everything Wrong with” Videos and his upcoming fan-film, “Rails to Salvation”) should be a part of the “Thomas Creator Collective”! But, I wonder when he’ll be asked to do that?……..But, I can speculate. I’m The Detective Librarian and I’ll see you next time for more reviews and posts!!! Ta, ta for now, folks!!!! 😉
Hello, I’m The Detective Librarian and some of you may have remembered my fan-art of a fan-character named “Red Knight” from “Enterprising Engines”, created by a Youtuber/Thomas-fan called Enterprisingengine93, as well as an audition for him on my Youtube channel. Well, here’s another fan-art that I was working on for a while and finished today! This time, it’s on the previous episode of his series called “Culdee Fell”. But, before I go into detail about this poster, I highly recommend you go and check out EE93’s videos. He’s a very talented guy with a really great fan-series that combines the TV series and “RWS” together with very impressive sets, locations, characters, acting, etc….. But, please be sure to watch the episodes in order to understand/catch up with the series because some events are mentioned from previous episodes of the series and may leave you confused by it. Also, the series may contain some content that may be disturbing for younger audiences, such as action, drama, intensity, and some language, so please view at your own discretion. So, enjoy!!
Anyways, here’s the poster itself. On the top, it includes Walter Richards/the Culdee Fell Mountain Railway Controller having a serious look on his face to the left, the Hitman working for the series’ main human antagonist named Sir Frederick Aura next to him, and a Shepherd with his cane and a mysterious, magical headlamp belonging to Proteus, the words “Enterprisingengine93 Presents” on the middle, and Culdee’s faithful coach, Catherine, next to him. In the middle, we have Culdee, Ernest on the left, and Patrick/Lord Harry/#6 on the left with his eye-patch that EE93 placed to not get the Wooden Railway models of Culdee and Patrick mixed up!:
Oh, shut up, Rainbow Dash!!! No offense, EE93!! <:D Anyways, the bottom includes the episode’s title, “Culdee Fell”, and one of the episode’s main locations of the Culdee Fell Mountain Railway, the Poll-ny-Chrink Bridge with the Shepherd on the top of the poster dangling to his doom with the staff holding onto the Bridge with Proteus’ magic lamp activating it’s magical powers and causing chaos. I know that I may have not done the best job at it, seeing as how I’m decent at drawing, but I’m pretty content of what I got overall. Be sure to see the episode the poster is based off of right now, if you haven’t and let me know in the comments below of what you think of it, the series, and the poster itself!!!!:
As always, I’m The Detective Librarian and stay tuned for more reviews on my blog and you’ve had an excellent start to the new year of 2016!!!! Toodles!!!! 😉
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING YOU’RE ABOUT TO SEE MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR PAULS VIDS’ WELL-KNOWN FAN-FILM/CREEPYPASTA, “SHED 17”!!! THE IMAGE CONTAINS IMAGES UNSUITABLE FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES, SAME WITH THE FILM!!!! BE SURE TO WATCH IT FIRST, BEFORE SEEING THIS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!!!!!!!
-We Now Join Our Regularly Scheduled Special/Post, Already in Progress-
Hello, I’m The Detective Librarian and today’s my latest special for Christmas!! This time, it’s focused on one of the most well-known “Thomas & Friends” Creepypastas, “Shed 17”, created by Pauls Vids on Youtube on October 6, 2015. Some of you may have remembered my review of it and here’s the link to see it and the video called “Shed 17”. But, remember, THIS FILM IS DISTURBING!!! IT CONTAINS LANGUAGE, DARK/FRIGHTENING IMAGES, BLOOD, AND SCENES INAPPROPRIATE FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES!!!!! SO, PLEASE VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!! Anyways, here they are now!:
Now, onto the actual special. Last year’s Christmas special on my blog was my own parody of “Twas the Night Before Christmas”, but this year is the “Twelve Days of Christmas” song, “Shed 17”-version. Here’s how it goes, for those of you who have seen it.:
LYRICS:
“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, ‘Thomas’ Skeletal Body Coming Out!!!!!'”
“On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, ‘Two Engines Squirting Blood Out’ and ‘Thomas’ Skeletal Body Coming Out!!!!!'”
“On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, ‘Three Engines Getting Scrapped’, ‘Two Engines Squirting Blood Out’, and ‘Thomas’ Skeletal Body Coming Out!!!!'”
“On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, ‘Four Engines Blowing Up’, ‘Three Engines Getting Scrapped’, ‘Two Engines Squirting Blood Out’, and ‘Thomas’ Skeletal Body Coming Out!!!!'”
“On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, ‘FIVE HELICOPTERS BLEEDING!!!!!!’ ‘Four Engines Blowing Up’, ‘Three Engines Getting Scrapped’, ‘Two Engines Squirting Blood Out’, and ‘Thomas’ Skeletal Body Coming Out!!!!'”
“On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, ‘Six Engines Burning’, ‘FIVE HELICOPTERS BLEEDING!!!!!!’ ‘Four Engines Blowing Up’, ‘Three Engines Getting Scrapped’, ‘Two Engines Squirting Blood Out’, and ‘Thomas’ Skeletal Body Coming Out!!!!'”
“On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, ‘Seven Faces Tilting’, ‘Six Engines Burning’, ‘FIVE HELICOPTERS BLEEDING!!!!!!’ ‘Four Engines Blowing Up’, ‘Three Engines Getting Scrapped’, ‘Two Engines Squirting Blood Out’, and ‘Thomas’ Skeletal Body Coming Out!!!!'”
“On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, ‘Eight Fat Men Cursing’,–
SIR TOPHAM HATT/THE FAT CONTROLLER: “OI!! GET OFF MY **CENSORED** PLATFORM!!!!!”
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: And that was my Christmas 2015 special, everybody or everypony!!!! Hope you all enjoyed it!!!!
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON:…..*Ewwww!!!* That was…DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!
SHINING ARMOR: YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN!!! I’VE SEEN THIS FAN-FILM BEFORE AND I THINK IT’S THE MOST HORRIFYING THING TO WATCH IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! MUCH MORE DISTURBING THAN MY TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE AT MY OWN WEDDING IN “A CANTERLOT WEDDING”, EXCEPT THAT WAS A GOOD EPISODE!!!!:
DISCORD: Well, at least I enjoyed it a LOT!!! After all, chaos is my kind-of thing!!! 😉
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Oh, come on, guys!!! I think you’re overreacting just a scotch. Even if it is disturbing and some parts puzzled me, I still enjoy watching it, even when I’m bored and to see other people react to it, like MrMPS in his “zMPS Watches: Shed 17” video, as well as other reviews of it, and “Skarloey Rheneas Watches Shed 17” with FluteGirl2406!!!
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: Trust me, Detective!!! You have NOT seen more disturbing things than this!!!!
DISCORD: Indeed, Ted!!! I think it’s time we watch the infamous “Star Wars Holiday Special”!! Care to watch it with me, guys!!!!
EVERYONE ELSE: NO!!!!!!!!!!!
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Besides, that special was one of the worst, pointless, and MOST bizarre things I’VE ever seen in my entire life, especially for “Star Wars”, one of the most well-known movie franchises ever made that has the critically acclaimed movie of the sequel trilogy, “The Force Awakens”!!!
SHINING ARMOR: Hey, Detective!!! I’VE got a challenge for you this X-mas/Decemberween!!! How about watch the “Star Wars Holiday Special” right now!!!
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: NO!!!! I’M OUTTA HERE TO SPEND SOME HOLIDAY-TIME SOMEWHERE ELSE, INSTEAD OF ARGUING WITH MY FRIENDS/RIVALS!!! *Leaves TDL’s Office*
SHINING ARMOR: HEY DETECTIVE!!!! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!!!! 😡
-MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE ON MY BLOG AND PEOPLE WHO ARE READING THIS!!!!!-
-Before I start this review, I do apologize I’m going out of order for reviewing the current “Thomas Creative Collector” series. But, it would only make sense to see the first one, “Secrets of the Stolen Crown”, first, before watching/seeing the actual version and the review of today’s series. I will be reviewing it sometime soon, probably next year after Christmas or the New Year’s Eve celebrations.-
Here they are now!:
***READ IT!!!!!****
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING YOU’RE ABOUT TO SEE MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!! TURN BACK IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THESE VIDEOS OF THIS SERIES FOR THE OFFICIAL “T&F” YOUTUBE ACCOUNT!!!!:
Anyways, proceed!
-We Now Join Our Regularly Scheduled Review, Already in Progress-
Hello, I’m The Detective Librarian and we’ve only got a few days left until “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” officially comes!! That’s right, “Christmas”/The Holidays/Decemberween!!!! So, are you ready for one more X-mas special review as a gift, before we move onto my upcoming Christmas special????!!!!
AUDIENCE: YES!!!!!
Okay, then, before we dive into today’s special, I’ll remind you about something called the “Thomas Creator Collective”. It’s a series that involves various fans of “Thomas & Friends”/”Thomas the Tank Engine” that have their own fan-series/make their own “Thomas” videos on Youtube be involved in making their own miniseries that takes place after the events of the latest special for this year, “Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure”, that features characters, such as Ryan and Skiff (played by Academy Award winner, Eddie Redmayne, and Jamie Campbell Bower), play an important role in the story. Except that the current US/UK voice cast for the CGI series are not involved in it. This time, it’s the fans themselves, including Enterprisingengine93 (creator of “Enterprising Engines”), DieselD199 (creator of “TOMICA Thomas & Friends”), Tines Sensahthe (composer and creator of fan-films like “Tobias and the Half-Pariah”), Calebtrain, etc…. That’s right, HIT Entertainment has asked the “T&F” Youtube account to ask various well-known fans of the show that have made their own fan-work have joined forces to create their own miniseries for younger audiences. The first one was “Secrets of the Stolen Crown” (which I’ll get around to later) and the latest version of this Christmas, “The Great Snowstorm of Sodor”.
The first installment came out earlier this month, December 4, 2015, while the next three chapters were uploaded the next few weeks, December 11 & 18. Now, keep in mind, this takes place after the events of the previous series of the “Thomas Creator Collective” because this series will include some references to it. So, let’s see how the fans will do a good job, two times in a row, for making something for the official “T&F” Youtube channel, instead of doing it for other fans, kids to an adult audience. Well, let’s dive right into “The Great Snowstorm of Sodor”!!!
So, the series starts off on the Island of Sodor in EE93’s filming style (as usual), where Arry and Bert, the two BR Class 08 Shunter diesels from the Smelter’s Yard, deliver some coal trucks/cars up Gordon’s Hill in the snowy environment, a few days before Christmas. But, as soon as they reach the top of Gordon’s Hill, the Troublesome Trucks (of course) have their chance to be up to their old mischievous ways by snapping the coupling connected to Bert and the trucks as the back engine and pushing Arry down the Hill. This causes the two diesel twins to derail and into the snow, before cutting off to DieselD199’s layout, where we see Knapford Station. There, everybody’s favorite vain, red #5 of the North Western Railway, James, (played by UpsideNow/Nathan Tiemeyer) meets up with (of course), the #1 blue title character himself, Thomas the Tank Engine, (played by DieselD199) and Ryan (voiced by Calebtrain/Caleb Richardson). Ryan, however, doesn’t like snow (just like Henry, when he had his accident with the Flying Kipper in Season 1), meaning that Ryan must have a reason for disliking snow, of course.:
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: YES!
So, the fat man controller of the NWR himself, Sir Topham Hatt/The Fat Controller, arrives and tells Thomas and Ryan to deliver the rest of the coal train Arry and Bert were delivering, before they had their accident at the bottom of Gordon’s Hill, earlier, to each station across the Island and on the Mainline, before an upcoming snowstorm hits later tonight, as well as deliver mail vans/trucks filled with Christmas mail and parcels from the Mainland and back to the Island. You know, Fatto, this is something Percy would do, since carrying the Mail is his favorite job on Sodor, even after the Mail Train’s first appearance in the Season 3 episode, “Thomas, Percy, and the Mail Train”/”Thomas, Percy, and the Post Train”, and it’s been that way since HIT took over and ruined (almost) everything, until Andrew Brenner came and corrected (nearly) the entire franchise from that point on!! Even though we have to have the #1 Blue Puffball involved, I think Percy should play an important role in it. But, I digress, as Thomas and a concerned Ryan huff away to fetch the coal trucks and make their deliveries, they come across a patch of snow on the line. Luckily, Thomas manages to go as fast as he could to push the snow aside, while Ryan nervously pushes the snow with his snowplow. Meanwhile, we see James get coupled on with a mail truck by Stafford (played by BrendenReis10) (please remember that James is also involved in delivering parcels for the Holidays as well), while he gets surprised to see Thomas and Ryan arrive and get coupled on to their mail trucks, as well. As they go on their journey to complete the Christmas mail, the stationmaster gets a phone call, telling him that the snowstorm is going to get worse than ever before.
He tries to stop and warn Thomas, Ryan, and James about the blizzard worsening, but it’s already too late because they already left for their journey ahead. As our heroes battle their way through the storm, an avalanche comes out of nowhere and nearly bury them alive. Also, I would like to point out that Thomas, James, and Ryan don’t have any brake vans behind them. I’m serious, just look at their trains behind them. No offence, EE93, but a brake van is supposed to keep an engine safe on the Mainline when going down hills or through runaways as extra brakes in case of an emergency. But (again), I digress, we then cut to Tidmouth Sheds (which I also forgot to point out earlier) for the second time, where Henry and Edward (played by Tardisrescue) are talking about the three engines’ absence in the blizzard, as well as make a reference to “Percy Takes the Plunge” from Season 2 (“Water’s Nothing to An Engine with Determination), before the power at Tidmouth Sheds go out, due to the storm.
Back with our heroes, as the blizzard continues, James somehow races ahead of Thomas and Ryan and mysteriously disappears in the storm. As Ryan derails in the snow and gets put back on the rails again, he and Thomas continue their journey through (that is not Henry’s Tunnel, likely) a tunnel, maybe Henry’s Tunnel, and their search for James. But, as soon as they get inside, the front of the tunnel gets blocked by a giant pile of snow, along with the back of the tunnel behind them, trapping our heroes. Ryan get so nervous that he reveals the reason why he doesn’t like snow so much, which would be interesting, seeing as how more merchandising characters like Ryan need to get more character development, just like in EE93’s series, “Enterprising Engines”. But, this could screw up the continuity issues of a project I may do sometime soon and I was thinking of doing, “1014: The Untold Story of Ryan”. So:
Sorry about that, EE93, I was only doing it to HIT Entertainment (of course). It turns out that years before Ryan comes to Sodor, Ryan used to work at a coal mine on the Mainland during the winter, only temporarily. Yes, Ryan the GNR N2 tank engine temporarily worked for a mine, instead for British Railways. One night, after the workmen went home, Ryan was sleeping on a siding, until an avalanche came and completely buried him for days. But, he was found again and dug out of the snow and has been afraid of the snow, ever since, meaning that Ryan has PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) over snow. Now, it’s up to Ryan to work with Thomas in order to conquer his fear of snow (while following Gator’s advice on being brave, like Percy did) by pushing the snow bank in-front of them as hard as they can. But, the snow falls on top of them, but they luckily survived it, but can’t get through safely.
Just then, the Scottish/Caledonian twins, Donald and Douglas arrive with their snowplows and (by making a reference to “Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree” from Season 2) clear away the snowdrift for Thomas and Ryan to go on unscathed. They later find James, derailed and stuck in the snow and rescue him to continue the story, before we get an alternate version of the “We Make a Team Together” song from “SLOTLT”, but with alternate lyrics.:
Despite most musical numbers kinda waste time, it’s still here to entertain the audience and it’s still a really good song. As the three engines deliver the last of the Christmas mail, they go towards the Sodor Suspension Bridge, where more trouble laid ahead for them. As soon as they cross the Suspension Bridge, it starts to collapse, however, they manage to escape, just before it falls with them entirely and into the ravine below. So much for collapsing in the dreaded special known as “Calling All Engines” and in the Season 19 episode, “Slow Stephen” (except that “Slow Stephen” was awesome), but I would’ve preferred the bridge almost derailing Thomas, Ryan, and James. But, (ONCE AGAIN), I digress, Thomas and his two friends deliver the final package for Christmas just as the sun rises, before heading back to Knapford Station. Ryan soon realizes that he was brave today, even if it was hard for him to, before Fatty shows up and congratulates our heroes for delivering the parcels on time for Christmas. He rewards them by being a part of the Christmas party at Knapford tonight.
During the party, all the engines hear the tale of Thomas, James, and Ryan’s adventure, while ending the series by singing “We Wish You A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”!!! As for the compilation/full version of the series, just like the previous series, we end the series with bonus scenes of the characters and include credits. So, we’ll call the special quits!
And that was “The Great Snowstorm of Sodor”. Is it as good as the “Secrets of the Stolen Crown”. Well, I would say “Yes”, but a little bit better. The plot was pretty good, the filming was really well done, the music was put together nicely (as always), and I do like how Ryan got more characterization. Although, some parts felt kinda forced, especially the part of where the Suspension Bridge collapsed (for the third time in the franchise). But, at least it didn’t have some pointless subplots, like “The Polar Express” movie did, along with “Thomas and the Magic Railroad”. Besides, “TATMR” and “The Polar Express” movie can both be a guilty pleasure and like the “Thomas” version of “The Room”, one of those movies that are so bad, it’s good, even though “TATMR” was still pretty bad.
Overall, this was a really good entry to the “Thomas Creator Collective”, where many talented “T&F” fans, like Enterprisingengine93, Tines Sensahthe, DieselD199, and even Calebtrain get together and help the show’s Youtube account create their own story. I would highly recommend you go check EE93, Tines, and DieselD199’s videos and fan-works out. But, remember, some of their videos contain images and language unsuitable for younger audiences, so please view at your own discretion!
Other than that, I would recommend seeing “Secrets of the Stolen Crown” first, before seeing this really good series with some really good things about it. Hope you keep up the good work, guys! 🙂 This gives me into giving this series an 8/10. Stay tuned for my Christmas 2015 special on my blog tomorrow on Christmas Eve, and as always, I’m The Detective Librarian and have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy Holidays everyone!!!! 🙂
-Now, before we start off today’s review, I would like to say is, “YES”, I have watched the current episodes of Season 19 of “Thomas & Friends” and so far, I think it’s going good. Although, there are a few bad or okay episodes so far, but some are enjoyable, like “Who’s Geoffrey”, which is one of my favorites so far. But, when this season ends with ALL the episodes being finished on either TV or DVD, I will share my official thoughts on it on my blog. Thank you and have a nice day and let’s get to the REAL review!-
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING YOU’RE ABOUT TO SEE MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!! TURN BACK IF YOU HAVEN’T– Whatever. If you haven’t seen this fan-film, please (DON’T) do so. But, remember, it contains some language, horrifying scenes for children, nightmare fuel, dark/grim scenes, and an unsettling atmosphere. If you don’t want to watch this film, it’s probably for the best and if you want to now what I mean, please read this review NO MATTER WHAT THE COST!!!!!:
Anyways, proceed!
-We Now Join Our Regularly Scheduled (“SPOOKY”) Review, Already in Progress-
PREVIOUSLY ON “THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN”:
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: But, at least it’s not as weird and freaky as the new fan-“Thomas & Friends”-film titled “Shed 17”!
RANDOM GIRL: HEY! Why not review THAT instead of this movie?!
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: NO! There’s NO way I’m reviewing a movie called “Shed 17”, even though the script says I’m doing it soon.
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN (THINKING): Maybe. 😐
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: Hey, Detective! Wanna review “Shed 17” right now?
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: NO!!! That sounds like some type-of knock-off of a sci-fi-horror movie. But, anyways, adios, amigos!!! 😉
LINK TO PREVIOUS REVIEW: https://detectivelibrarian.wordpress.com/2015/10/12/90th-review-specialseason-3-review-22-9-movie/
-Now, Onto the Actual Review-
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: *Knocking at Door* Hey, Detective! A new “Thomas & Friends” marathon of the classic episodes from Season 1-7 are on! Wanna come and watch it with me?…….Detective, are you there? *Slowly Opens Door*
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: *Lying on the Ground*
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: “The Detective Librarian”! Are you alright?
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN (INSANE): *Rising, While Having Insane Laughter* Hey, you! I need you all to do yourself a favor and GO!
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: Oh, no. Detective’s going psycho again over something he just witnessed. I better go and calm him down with a “MLP: FIM” character, like Twilight Sparkle (“Sparkle Sparkle Sparkle”). Come on, Detective. Wake up with your own Twilight.
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN (NORMAL): Eeee–Oh, hey Twilight “Sparkle Sparkle Sparkle” and Ted!
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: Detective. Are you okay–
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: *Puts Ted Against the Wall* I’M NOT OKAY!!! I HAVE JUST SEEN THE ABSOLUTE-MOST-TERRIFYING FAN-(“THOMAS”)FILM FOR HALLOWEEN OF ALL TIIIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: “Tobias and the Arcane Merchant”?
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Of course, not! It’s not only until 2017.
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. What’s it called?
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN:….It’s…Called…….”Shed 17″!!!……………….
Trust me, most of the “Thomas” fandom was as shocked as you are! ANOTHER “THOMAS” CREEPYPASTA THAT MAY SEEM SILLIER THAN THAT “TIMOTHY THE GHOST TRAIN”/”GHOST TRAIN” AKA “PERCY’S GHOSTLY TRICK” DELETED SCENE!!! BUT, IT ISN’T!!!!
TIMOTHY THE GHOST TRAIN: Not as scary as me?
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Sorry, Timothy. But, it IS scarier than YOU!!
TIMOTHY THE GHOST TRAIN: Awww… But I wanted to celebrate with all those people who believe in me, but, screw it! I’m going back to the Internet, where I belong. So, bye! *BAM!*
Anyways, this half-an-hour long film came out last week on October 6, 2015, just in time for Halloween, which is appropriate for the spooky/scary tone AKA the most horrifying holiday of the year, according to most people. Please note that this is no ordinary fan-film, it’s just a “mockumentary”/probably a documentary-parody and what makes it so scary??!!! SO TRAUMATIZING, SO DARK, SO…SO…..EEEVIILLLLL!!!! Okay, not really, but it’s still scary to watch for younger kids!! *Sigh* I’m sure all of you curious folks out there want to know. Since the audience from my review of “9” wanted this, let’s take a look at the “HORRIFYING HORRORS” of “Shed 17″…..Are you really sure that you want to turn back, this is the last chance!!….Okay…..
So, we start off this film with the logos of the creator of this fan-film (Pauls Vids), which makes it look like the video is still buffering, as well as images of the Island of Sodor on what it REALLY and currently is with unsettling music in the background and stock footage from the original opening titles of the show. Including an odd image at Ffarquhar Station, where we see the scrap remains of an American locomotive (for some reason, probably to make the tone more scarier), before we cut to the narrator of this “mockumentary” reveal to us that the tales of Thomas the #1 Tank Engine/Blue-Screen-Stealing-Hog are lies and the REAL truth behind the Island of Sodor/North Western Railway is no ordinary children’s story and it’s VERY horrifying. Gee, this might be “Sodor: The Dark Times” all over again, except without Trainz Simulator/Sodor Island 3D, like most “Thomas” fans on Youtube, almost. Except that it also shows that the Island of Sodor was once a detention center for Germans in England, due to the Nazis lead by Adolf Hitler during World War II. It’s told by one of the human character interviewed (like an actual documentary), a former Fireman of the engines on Sodor named Keith Hartley, who mentions another human character, a German professor named Vilham Gurter, who joined Hitler and his Nazis during the war because of an image shaking hands with Hitler. When the war broke out across Europe, he, his wife, and his four-year old son named Hans fled Germany and escaped to England, but was banned there, even though citizens were friendly towards him because they were going to give him another chance, I guess, before Hans grew up and left his family when he turned 18 and studied biology at his University.
He decided to start his own facility on the Island of Sodor called Sodor Research Ltd., which was a small lab located in Arlesburgh (on Duck’s Branchline, the Little Western, and one of the locations of the Arlesdale Small Railway) in 1962. Six years later, his wife got pregnant and had a baby named (you guessed it) Thomas and you can probably guess what’s going to happen to the human version of Thomas, later, since he’s been a cheeky Tank Engine/the last survivor of the LBSC E2 tank engines in England for decades in the “RWS” and the TV series, whose had his own branchline with his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel. While growing up, the young boy named Thomas watched the railways with interest and recorded them with his first camera and used it at platforms at various stations, but one reveals that Sir Topham Hatt/The Fat Controller/President Fatlord/Fatty is a jerk after yelling at Thomas to get off his platform. Wow, I first I thought that the way he treated Thomas in “Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure” was more harsh, but THIS JUST TAKES THE CAKE and I can assure you, he’s going to act evil, instead of a stern, but kind-fatherly-figure towards the engines of the NWR. Whoever knew that Fatty was such a harsh man for everybody’s favorite controller of Sodor? He even shows that when we learn that he shut down various branchlines and stations, while pushing the NWR away!:
Yes, I swear that I am NOT joking, here! STH is a greedy moron in this alternate-universe movie!!! But (AGAIN), I digress, we then see Thomas and his father (which doesn’t look like his father called Hans) rush towards the level crossing, while being recorded on camera by Thomas. However, he fails to read the warning signs and we get our first jumpscare, everybody: When Thomas looks right and left, he then gets run over by (what it looks like) a BR diesel. I have to admit, that made me jump when I first saw that scene, even in one of the reviews of this film, NickonAquaMagna (one of the people who reviewed this film) jumped back when he first saw it, as well.:
Anyways, Thomas’ body (which would already be torn to pieces by now) is taken to the Sodor Research and inside one of the sheds called “Shed 17”. There, he gets rebuild into the blue tank engine we know and love and it gets shown to people who were invited for a presentation for Thomas’ transfer to his steam engine body, coming out of the Shed 17. As you’d expect, many people are horrified over what they’re witnessing, including Keith Hartley, who goes next to the other side of the Shed to vomit. Really though, I laughed when I first saw it and it turns into a running gag when Keith gets interviewed at various news broadcasts when they bring up Thomas being his usual tank engine self and he (you know the picture) vomits, even though he doesn’t in the present. But, I have to agree with NickonAquaMagna that he eventually got over it. We learn that Thomas’ body is inside the tank engine body, along with his organs, muscles, and bones and humans who have been transferred to engines and vehicles (like Harold the Helicopter and Bertie the Bus) are not allowed to work on the North Western Railway. Why: Because if the engine begins to start operating, its organs would start to erupt from inside his body and cause him to die/burn to death, alive.
However, many rich people foolishly decided to be turned into engines and Fatty decided to accept the offer and have other humans be turned into engines, while using a substance called biofusion, which is part of the process of engine-transformation. After they (like doofuses) get turned into engines, things start to go awry when footage of the new engine experiments are shown, including James and Edward, failing. One of the videos was about Edward filming for the TV series, when he was whistling to children and causes blood to spew out and about one of the first diesel/fuel-powered engines being tested with unseen footage. No, it’s not the well-known Devious Diesel (AKA Jasper in MilkTankerMedia’s series and given different names in other fan-series/films), it’s just Mavis this time. As she gets fueled up, things begin to go well, until it takes a dark turn, when Mavis gets caught on fire, her internal organs get burned, and she dies, too late. Wow, and I thought that Mavis’ death in “Tobias and the Half-Pariah” was her only death, but this is more grimmer because of her soulless face when the fire spreads to her and the aftermath of her.
So, we partake in more footage of engines spewing their guts/blood out, when it turns out that the engines being displayed during the off-season are actually failed experiments that were either already dead or too ill to be in full operation. But, Thomas is one of the only engines that never had any problems while he was still in-service and Sodor Research began to sell their research to international countries will railways, even though they wanted to keep their work, secret. Even failed biofused engines were being displayed in public, leaving Hans shocked over what it could be: “Slave Labor” for engines that are actually humans inside their bodies. This leaves Vilham into committing suicide by shooting himself in the mouth and instead of actual blood coming out, we see what looks like sawdust from wood, which is what the humans were made out of, back when the series had the models. Well, at least it wasn’t over the top like Johnny’s (played by the writer and director, Tommy Wiseau) suicide from “The Room”, where he had a silly rampage and the usual bad acting, which lead into putting his life to an end by shooting himself in the mouth. But, let’s take a look at that scene and see how over-the-top it is, shall we?:
But, at least “The Room” is one of those movies that it’s so bad, it’s good! But (ONCE AGAIN), I digress, more footage/experiments are filmed, including Gordon the Big Engine (no surprise), when his boiler, his eyes (with blood coming out), and HIS ENTIRE BODY explodes. The other piece of footage is about Harold flying, but ending up spewing blood out and crashing to the ground, while getting killed as well, seeing as how his organ system is connected to his rotor-blades and if they spun around, vital organs would get drawn out and kill him, during the process. At this point, you might end up feeling very shocked by this, as much as I am about it or even feeling insulted by it. Remember, if kids were about to watch this, you HAVE TO STOP THEM ASAP, BEFORE THEY SUFFER THE SAME FATE TO THOSE WATCHED THIS MONSTROSITY!!!!!!!!!!! But wait, THERE’S MORE!!! JUST WHEN YOU THINK THAT THEY CAN’T POSSIBLY CREATE ANYMORE HORRORS TO THIS CREATION, THEY DECIDE TO TELL US ON WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ON THE EVENTS OF HENRY’S ACCIDENT WITH THE FLYING KIPPER IN THE SEASON 1 EPISODE AND THE “RWS” STORY, “THE FLYING KIPPER”!!!!!! Here’s how the REAL story of the Flying Kipper accident is told.
One night, when Keith unlocked the doors to Shed 17, Henry took a peek inside, reversed back outside, and confronted Fatty about it. He later warned Thomas about Shed 17, before you-know-who orders Henry to take the Flying Kipper from the docks and take it one winter’s night. But, remember when the points leading to a siding were frozen and it sent Henry to crash into a goods train, before being sent to Crewe to get rebuild to have a larger firebox and a new shape, so that he can’t use special coal, again? Well, it turns out in the REAL story that Fatty sabotaged the points, by freezing the points and placing a railway spike at the points and he never liked Henry and his cheerful personality (back when Britt Alcroft got the characters’ personalities right) and the goods train that Henry crashed into was actually a train of tankers, causing them to explode, and his crew freezing to death after jumping clear in the snow. He sends Henry to Crewe to (NOT BE REBUILT INTO A BLACK 5 LOCOMOTIVE) be scrapped, while screaming.:
Oh, thank GOD that we’re almost at the end. Okay. That night, even though his crew are already gone for the night, Thomas has already enough fuel/coal/steam in his firebox to brave his way through the Sodor Research Ltd. and to figure out what’s really behind Shed 17. As he goes inside, we FINALLY learn the big, real, disturbing, and shocking plottwist!!! It’s revealed that the current Thomas is not the boy who got run over, but is actually a clone and there were many attempts to create another Thomas, but failed, while the current Thomas had the human boy’s memories and DNA.:
That’s not the only horrifying thing in this film because we finally get to see what’s inside Shed 17 after all this time and (probably) one of the SCARIEST scenes in the entire flick!! When Thomas gets closer to the tank inside Shed 17, a skeleton hand bangs the glass window keeping him inside and Thomas gets so shocked by his real-failed self, his human body starts to come out, revealing his skeletal and organ body, while screaming VERY intimidating screams. See, I told you that it beat that “Timothy” creepypasta and even these scenes could be as disturbing as this!:
But, aside from that, this scene BEATS THEM ALL!!! We finally end this SCARY fan-film with the government investigating Sodor Research Ltd. and the Island, banning Biofusion (including Europe, after the Windscale Nuclear Flask Test in July 1984), Fatty vanishing without a trace, and Thomas going through twenty-three reconstruction surgeries. However, China is only country that allows biofused-engines, where prisoners are turned into engines, while being poked by an electric-stick thingy or a taser. Just when you think you’re allowed to turn off your computer and try to recover from this creepy misery, we gotta have a post-credits scene, where we see a cruise ship sinking to the bottom of the ocean, where the camera zooms into the cruise ship’s face. *DEEP SIGH*
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN:…………..I shall never show you this film again!…
I mean it, people. It’s scary, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HORRIFYING!! But, actually, it’s not bad. The plot was good, the acting is not bad, the suspense was carried out well, the humor was funny, and I really felt like that this is a twisted version of “Thomas” and the jumpscares are really hard to ignore, especially that “Skeleton-Engine” scene! Although, the animation is not that good and it could’ve been better and there are a few things wrong with the plot, like the big reveal about Thomas being a clone and I have to admit, it was a little weird to begin with. Seriously, what was that all about? Wouldn’t it make more sense to make a different version of Thomas, instead of doing those other tank engine clones?
But, it’s just my opinion. Overall, this film is a mixture of both scary and bizarre, I’m not saying that I don’t like or hate it or anything, I mean that it has some strange problems and explanations. I know a lot of people were traumatized when they first saw this and scared as well and they’re actually right. It may be so horrifying that you don’t want to show this to you kids (which I would do if I had kids) and make sure you show them the ONLY GOOD episodes of the show (including the Classic Series 1-7 and the revived version from Season 17 to onwards), especially Season 5, which had REALLY intense episodes. This leads me into putting my final score for “Shed 17” a 7.5/10 and let’s just hope that I don’t get forced into doing more scariness like this. I’m The Detective Librarian and I HAVE JUST SEEN THE ABSOLUTE SCARIEST FAN-“THOMAS-FILM/HALLOWEEN SPECIAL I HAVE EVER WITNESSED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!!!!
TED THE SCRIPT PERSON: Hey, Detective! Wanna play “Five Nights at Freddy’s” with me?
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! 😉
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!! 😉
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING YOU’RE ABOUT TO SEE MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!! TURN BACK IF– Forget it!
-We Now Join Our Regularly Scheduled Review Already in Progress-
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN:…………………..
RANDOM GUY IN THE AUDIENCE: *Ahem*
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN:…..Oh, hello, guys! I’m The Detective Librarian, here to say that the office is closed for reviews, today! Seriously, do yourself one favor and go! Just go, click on something else! Really, I’m serious, you don’t wanna stay here! You won’t survive it!
RANDOM GIRL IN THE AUDIENCE: Survive what, exactly?
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: The one “Thomas” special that is by-far one of the WORST ones ever made!
RANDOM BOY IN THE AUDIENCE: “Calling All Engines”?
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: NO! I already did that, last season! But, to review a bad “Thomas” special or episode is one of the many things to review. Why?: Because you can say many things to the characters acting out of character, having lack of realism, making one-off characters for the sake of another toy, annoying rhyming and overused jokes, making the same mistakes over and over again, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: NOT MAKING THE SHOW AS THE SHOW WE USED TO LOVE WHEN WE WERE YOUNGER WITH THE CLASSIC CHARACTERS, STORIES, AND LOCATIONS!! Along with turning the model series into CG(FREAKING)I!!! Even though Andrew Brenner has made the series go uphill again, I would still be angry at HIT Entertainment and Sharon Miller for making the series turn sloppy. With that said, “Misty Island Rescue”.
This special came out in US theaters in July 2010, before coming out in the US on DVD and Blu-Ray (for the first time) on September 7, 2010, and in the UK VUE Cinemas, October 2010, and on DVD that same month on October 11. Now, I call this special “The 2nd WORST ‘Thomas’ Special YET”, even though reviews of “Misty Island Rescue” were mixed. Some said it was good, some said it was bad, while others said it was okay. But, I’m not on the good or decent side of the reviews. Now, let’s see why this special is as bad as “Calling All Engines”, this is your last, one, and only chance to leave. Nope? Well then, let’s take a look! *Ugh*
So, we start off this special with some opening titles of Thomas going around Misty Island (one of the new locations of the special), while we hear music that sounds like the “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme. Which, I have to admit, is probably one of the only highlights of the special that I enjoyed the most. Here’s how it goes.:
Anyways, after we see this well-done opening sequence, we see the narrator (as usual) narrating the story with engines or friends being either old or new (unless if they’re evil, like Diesel 10, Diesel, even if he is a protagonist at times, Timothy the Ghost Train, Arry and Bert, etcetera), before we finally see one of the main focuses of the story. The REAL premise is that the engines of the Island of Sodor are busy building a new Search and Rescue Center for Sodor, which will be the new home for Harold the Helicopter, Rocky the Breakdown Crane, Captain (a new lifeboat), and other rescue vehicles that will be seen some other time. Even though we see Harold in Dryaw Airfield on Thomas’ branchline. Anyways, Harold is seen rescuing a climber and lands on the construction site of the Rescue Center and the Fat Man himself, Sir Topham Hatt AKA The Fat Controller, explains that the Rescue Center will be made out of a special kind of wood from trees called Jobi Wood. Jobi Wood comes from Hiro’s homeland in Japan, what are the freaking odds? We get a montage of the engines working hard two-and-fro, collecting supplies for the construction site to get the Rescue Center completed, with the narrator speaking (of course) in the background, as usual. However, at Brendam Docks, Fat Hatt tells his engines that whoever will be the most, you guessed it–:
“Really Useful Engine” will pull the flatbeds of Jobi Logs to the you-know-where. Even though everyone’s favorite sly and devious BR Class 08 shunter, Diesel, himself wants to pull the logs, Thomas believes that being the “Most Really Useful Engine” is actually a really useful steam engine, or “steamie”, if you will, and tells Diesel that he won’t be that, before huffing away to shunt some trucks of bricks in the Shunting Yards.:
Sorry, Blue Puffer who loves being a character who loves to steal the show, BUT, ARE YOU GOING TO SAY THE SAME THING TO OTHER DIESELS THAT ARE FRIENDLY IN THE “RWS” OR THE TV SERIES, LIKE BEAR, MAVIS, PAXTON, NORMAN, SIDNEY, PIP AND EMMA, DAISY, SALTY, DENNIS, ETC?!!! OTHER DIESELS WHO MIGHT HAVE OVERHEARD THAT QUOTE WOULD BE OFFENDED BY A LOVABLE TANK ENGINE THAT IS JUST BEING RACIST!!!!! I HATE TO DISAPPOINT YOU, BUT, ANDREW BRENNER IS BETTER THAN SHARON MILLER AND HE INTENDS TO BRING BACK OLD CHARACTERS THAT ARE EITHER STEAM OR DIESEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT!!! DIESELS AND STEAM ENGINES ARE USEFUL IN ANY TYPE OF WAY!!!! But, I digress, as you’d expect, Diesel decides to prove to Thomas that he’s just as “really useful” as all the other steam engines, by delivering the Jobi Wood to the construction site and prove to the Fat Man that he’s special. In other words, Diesel is stealing the Logs and taking them to the Rescue Center. Meanwhile, Thomas is shunting the bricks he was supposed to shunt, earlier, by biffing, bashing, and bumping them, while rhyming that makes our ears bleed to DEATH!!!!!
Until, he hears Diesel’s horn that is now an American diesel horn sound (instead of his usual sound that sounds like this):
While also noticing Diesel stealing the Logs and trying to tell him to stop. But, Diesel continues his plan, forcing Thomas to go, chase after him, and stop him. We get a little exciting chase scene between Thomas and Diesel, until Diesel pushes his Logs near the edge of an unfinished steel bridge and a cliff. He tries to stop, but to no avail, causing the Logs to fall of the cliff and into the ocean below. It looks like that the sly shunting diesel is about to fall to his death (like Timothy the Ghost Train), but Thomas himself (of course) saves Diesel from falling off, safe and sound. That night at Tidmouth Sheds, Thomas tells the other engines about his incident with Diesel and how he saved him, while explaining that the Logs are now swept away into the ocean.
So, Fat Hatt arrives in his car and congratulates Thomas for helping Diesel and says that “he makes good decisions” and as a reward, Thomas will go the Mainland and visit THEIR Search and Rescue Center, there. Morning arrives and the engines come to Brendam Docks to say goodbye to Thomas, instead of using the bridge (now called the Vicarstown Bridge, that is a drawbridge) that borders Sodor and the Mainland, like in “The Railway Series”, and by HUGE COINCIDENCE, Spencer is ALSO going to the Mainland, too, just for the sake of continuing his work with the Duke and Duchess of Boxford. Just then, Salty, who returns in this special, the Dockyard Diesel arrives and is asked by you-know-who to tell him a story, before he gets loaded on the ship that he’s going to use to leave for the Mainland. Salty tells Thomas, Percy, and Edward about a mysterious, small island named Misty Island, that is not faraway, but is always covered in mist. However, no one can remember seeing or going to Misty Island, except for Edward because he claims that he’s been there a long time ago, probably (according to him) because the mist lifted. Also, there are rumors that strange engines live on the Island, who huff and puff in very bizarre ways and currently, no one has seen those engines.
One time, an engine was lost on Misty Island and he decided to use, just to clarify, what is like HIT’s version of an SOS, a “Smoke Signal”, which is when he huffed and chuffed, three times in a row, in order to call for help. It didn’t work the first time, but when he did it one more time, the mist lifted and he was rescued. After Diesel begrudgingly says “good-bye” and “good luck” to the title character, a workman tells Thomas some bad news: there’s no room for him on the boat, so he’ll have to wait for the next one. Then, Thomas spots a large raft with rails on it (which is pretty unsafe and not worth questioning) and decides to ride on it to get to the Mainland, even though the chains connected from it and into the boat are unstable, the workman (of course) reluctantly agrees to allow the #1 engine of the North Western Railway to ride on a dangerously, looking raft that would be unsafe for many engines, in real life. So, the ship leaves with Thomas on the raft and our hero sets sail for the Mainland. But, that night, things go awry out at sea, when the chain that is connected between the ship and the raft snaps, causing Thomas to drift away in the ocean.
The next morning, Thomas wakes up at a mysterious island with mist covering it. He wanders around the island and hears strange rattling and whistle noises, until he encounters three engines that he’s never met before. The engines are the Logging Locos, Bash and Dash, a pair of twins that finish each others sentences, and Ferdinand, an American Climax Class C logging engine that always says, “That’s Right”! They explain to Thomas that he’s on Misty Island and they played all sorts of games, like “Rattling Wheels” and “Whistling Whistles”, to the newcomer, even though he never actually played with them back. Well, that’s because Thomas just came here and he’s never been to Misty Island in his entire life! Look at him, isn’t it FREAKING obvious that the last surviving member of the E2 tank engine class has been to a weird, not-so whimsical island that has a bunch of trees and looks like something from an abandoned railway??!!! Hopefully, they won’t be so annoying, after all.
Anyways, Thomas decides NOT to play with the Logging Locos and rudely boasts about him coming from Sodor and finding his way out on his own, leaving the Logging Locos behind. All day, Thomas tries to find his way back, while doing more rhyming about him making good decisions and being brave and bold, but he couldn’t find a way back. Later that night, Fat Hatt is about to leave his trailer-office at the Rescue Center for the evening, until he receives the news about Thomas going missing. Meanwhile, Thomas continues his quest to go back to Sodor, but this time, he decides to ask the Logging Locos for help, while the rescue operation to find Thomas begins with Harold and Captain. After going through strange things in Misty Island, such as a Hallow Tree Tunnel, Thomas finds the Logging Locos in a logging station (that is the Misty Island Logging Station) and apologizes for being selfish, but the Logging Locos refuse to talk to you-know-who and continue their job of loading logs.
FERDINAND: That’s right!
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Get him out of my office for that!
Later, Thomas discovers that the logs and wood that is on Misty Island is actually Jobi Wood. He explains to the Logging Locos about the Sodor Search and Rescue Center and how they need Jobi Wood to build it, while Fat Hatt explains to the other engines on Sodor that he needs ALL of his engines to help out on the search party to find Thomas. Meanwhile, Thomas starts shunting with the Logging Locos, saying that “One biff, one bash, and there’s never a crash”, while Fat Man and Gordon go to the Waste Dump to see Whiff (a tank engine that helps with rubbish/garbage on Sodor, since Season 11) and tell him the news about the search party to find the #1 engine. Meanwhile, Thomas learns that the Logging Locos run on oil and wood (just like Timothy the Oil-Burning Engine from “Tale of the Brave”, not the Ghost Train, though), while we get more filler of Percy worrying about Thomas, while our heroes on Misty Island go on a bridge called the “Shake Shake Bridge”. Please note that the Shake Shake Bridge is basically a wobbly, unstable bridge that the Locos ride on to have fun and say “Shake, Shake, Make Me Quake, Make Me Quake, Until I Shake”!! If the Logging Locos WERE ON THE BRIDGE, I WOULD DEFINITELY CAUSE THE BRIDGE TO COLLAPSE WITH THE LOGGING LOCOS WITH THEM OR CUT IT IN HALF, WHILE SAYING THIS QUOTE FROM “INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM”!!!!!!!!:
Or…:
So, Thomas carefully and slowly crosses the Shake Shake Bridge, but luckily crosses it, unscathed. While we partake in more filler with Whiff and Fat Man seeing an old tunnel that leads to Misty Island and they used to collect garbage/rubbish from here (I’m not questioning it, why should you), while Thomas is introduced to one of the Misty Island Logging Cranes named Old Wheezy, that is actually a faceless crane that throws logs into the Logging Pond near the Shake Shake Bridge. Even the Logging Locos enjoy Old Wheezy, even though he would be dangerous to mankind and how could this get anymore annoying?! Unlike, THIS GAG THAT HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO 10 HOURS LONG!!!!:
Meanwhile, the search party still hasn’t found Thomas, yet; well then, probably try looking for Thomas at Misty Island that would be easy to find him and NOT BE TOO HARD TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SERIOUSLY, WE’VE BEEN FORCED TO WATCH THIS FOR AN HOUR AND THEY STILL HAVEN’T FOUND THOMAS YET??!!! IT’S CALLED COMMON KNOWLEDGE OR SENSE AND GIVING A CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT, I DIGRESS, Thomas spots ANOTHER crane named Hee-Haw that only runs on oil, which is why the Logging Locos never use it. Thomas (of course) uses Hee-Haw with the Logging Locos’ oil and it works, while we get more filler of Fat Man continuing his search for Thomas, along with Captain. Meanwhile, Thomas and the Logging Locos now have ALL the logs ready to take to Sodor, but Dash suggests using the abandoned tunnel that leads to Sodor, which we kinda found out earlier. Now, Thomas decides to use it, even though it’s dangerous, and because he’s an idiot, while doing more rhyming, which is his quote from earlier: “I make good decisions, that’s what I was–:
Thank you, Starlight Glimmer for preventing me from doing that quote, again. So, our heroes make it to the tunnel and the Logging Locos warn our #1 hero that they’re running low on oil and wood, but Thomas refuses to listen to the Locos because he’s an idiot. They make their way through the tunnel, until they reach a pile of rubble that is blocking their way. Then, more rocks and rubble block the exit, behind them, trapping them inside a cave-in. Now, Thomas has to make one last decision: they’ll push the rubble as hard as they can, until they escape. They do so, but it results the Logging Locos running out of wood and oil, meaning that they’re ALL stuck in the tunnel. Thomas, of course, realizes his terrible choices he’s made after all this time and learns from the Logging Locos that he can’t always be right all the time, but HIT Entertainment has to be right ALL THE TIME, WHEN MAKING THE CHARACTERS STICK TO THEIR TRUE PERSONALITIES, BRING BACK OLD CHARACTERS AND LOCATIONS, AND NOT HAVE REPETITIVE RHYMING THAT JUST KEEPS GOING, AND GOING, AND GOING, AND GOING, AND GOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
While we hear our heroes laugh again, the tunnel collapses some more, but it reveals a hole on top of them, giving Thomas the chance to use his Smoke Signals from earlier to call for help. He does it three times in a row (like Salty said), and it reveals Misty Island in-front of Sodor, Percy, and Salty. Percy gets Fat Man to come and see the Smoke Signals AKA the SOS and decide to use the Misty Island Tunnel to get here quicker and have Whiff lead the way. As Whiff and Percy go inside the tunnel, Fat Man decide to have Gordon, Edward, and James (instead of Gordon, Henry, and James) come along with him to Misty Island to find Thomas, by boat. Um, why not come with Whiff to go to the tunnel or stay on Sodor AT ALL?!
So, the Logging Locos tell Thomas about their pasts. They were too wacky at the Mainland, so they were sent away to Misty Island in disgrace, as a result. Even though we don’t care about you, Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand, just don’t tell us anything. You would understand. So, Percy and Whiff come across Thomas and the rest of our heroes on the other side of the rubble and Whiff decides to have him and Percy, charge at the rubble (which didn’t work for Thomas and the Logging Locos at first) and it surprisingly works at the first try. Wait, if Whiff and Percy were able to push the rubble out of the way, then, how come Thomas and the Logging Locos didn’t succeed in doing that earlier?! It’s never explained.
But, thank God we’re almost at the end, okay. So, Thomas, Whiff, Percy, and the Logging Locos make it to Sodor and meet Toby, Emily, and Henry, while Edward, James, Gordon, and Fat Man get lost on Misty Island. Harold tells the news to the other engines, which causes Thomas to make a good decision for once: which is go to Misty Island by boat to find his friends and controller, while the Logging Locos go to the Steamworks to get repaired and refueled by Victor and Kevin. At last, Thomas reunites with James, Fat Man, Gordon, and Edward and because Fat Man is SO joyed to see his #1 engine of the North Western Railway, he accidentally throws his top hat into the air and into the mist, never seen again. Well, at least Fat Man will find another hat, but he’ll never find “another Thomas”, like he said in the actual special. Back at Sodor, the Logging Locos meet Fat Man, the construction of the Rescue Center continues and is finally completed. We end this special with the Rescue Center finally being opened, along with the Misty Island Tunnel, while we get our last quote, before the ending credits song, which is the title of the special, “That’s Right!”:
Yep, screw this! I’m going to say this to Sharon Miller, this special, and the Logging Locos!!:
You may think that this special is FINALLY OVER after the “Misty Island Rescue” song! But no, we get another positive highlight of the special, which is a post-credits scene of Diesel 10 overseeing the engines laughing at the Rescue Center, while foreshadowing the next special, “Day of the Diesels”!:
Yep, Diesel 10’s comin’ back, baby!
And that was….AWFUL!!! Do I really have to go into great detail on why this special is bad? The plot was bland, the new characters suck as well as just more merchandising characters, it’s unrealistic, it makes no sense whatsoever, and MOST OF ALL, IT IS ANNOYING!!!!! UNGODLY ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!! Well, thank God that Andrew Brenner fixed EVERYTHING in “Blue Mountain Mystery” and Season 17, even though there are a few bugs that needed to be sorted out in the series. The only positive parts of the special that were charming were the opening theme, the music, and OF COURSE, DIESEL 10’S RETURN!!!!!
Overall, this special is one of the WORST “Thomas” specials of all time!! The plot is STILL made of crisco and it’s a terrible, terrible special!!! The only score I can give to this piece of crap is a 3.5/10! 😦 *Sigh* At least the Logging Locos don’t get seen in the next few specials, but get seen in Seasons 14-16. Anyways, I’m The Detective Librarian and if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to throw the DVD of this special in the trash, where it belongs!
FERDINAND: That’s RIGHT!!!!
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN:
FERDINAND: Oh, sorry.
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Thank you. So long, everybody.
The Detective Librarian 