March 2011 saw saw the thirteenth episode of Season 15 of Thomas & Friends...
...but before the review, the usual disclaimer:
The views below are entirely those of the author and not representative of the Sodor Island Forums as a whole.
On that note, it's time to get this review underway...
You wait thirteen episodes for a good one, and a bus comes along instead!!!
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Stop That Bus!
Writer: Sharon Miller
Thomas feels sorry for Bertie so takes him a tour. Bertie then realizes he needs to go and collect a group of people and cannot be late.
Overall Impressions
Unlike many of the Youtube and SiFers today, who felt this episode was a step in the right direction, I felt there was further cause for concern with regards the writing in the series.
There were certainly some good, and funny bits. The animating of the human characters was on exceptional form today (particularly when Dowager Hatt & Friends climbed into Thomas' cab), and Bertie himself looks exquisite. I've been waiting for his return with much anticipation, and both his animation, and voice acting, were of the highest standards and more.
But - and there is, a "but" - this episode was Happy Hiro revisited, with an additional Shake-Shake bridge reintroduction (spoke too soon in my Happy Hiro review on this particular bridge's demise!) adding little to the episode.
It goes a little like this:
Bertie/Hiro is unhappy. Thomas wants to make Bertie/Hiro happy. Thomas takes Bertie/Hiro on tour of various locations around the island/Misty Island. Bertie/Hiro get upset, Thomas realizes his mistake and then makes amends.
And everyone is happy at the end.
Except me. I'm not happy. Far from happy. The potential for this to be a well written, well constructed episode is there. The characters (bar the Misty Island Trio) are well chosen. The subject matter - Bertie wanting to see the sights from the rails - a good idea. The voice acting was fabulous today, and the animation matched it in spades.
Then the whole thing comes crashing down with the writing format. It never changes.
Predictability is the name of the game. The same alliteration, the same rhyming, admittedly less sing-song today, but there was more reused and rehashed dialogue ("Jitters and japes!"), and - I truly despair - the "get-out-of-writer's-jail-clause" of the imaginary loop line on Misty Island, avoiding Bertie as the obstruction on the Shake-Shake bridge.
Which, by the way, if continuity has any relevance, means the Fat Controller's hand pump cart shouldn't have been able to get to the logging station either...? Unless he was already on the island, for reasons hitherto unknown to the audience, Thomas and Bertie.
I could lie, and say I enjoyed the episode. I could tell you it's a step in the right direction. I could make a big hoo-hah about the series debut of Den & Dart (seen at the start, crossing the bridge Bertie tootles under). I could wax lyrical about the show returning to its roots by using older, Awdry characters such as Bertie and Harold.
But I can't, because to be frank, the above sentiments are irrelevant. The writing is still sub standard, there are too many basic problems at the level of the plot being ignored, and the style contrasts with the incredible, almost photo-realistic CGI that it makes the whole thing rather contrived.
I was looking forward to this episode immensely. There were scenes which made me chuckle.
Every scene with Dowager Hatt in it is hilarious - her voice actor, Keith Wickham, steals every scene he's in. He was by far the best part of this episode today, so Keith, if you're reading - thank you, sincerely. You personally are a credit to the series, with your enthusiastic portrayal of your characters.
However, all of that enthusiasm gets lost in what is a very tired and very tested format, with a completely predictable story in which nothing much happens, and we end up feeling like we've been here before.
Which we have. Twelve times before, in fact.
Final Conclusions The end of this season can't come quickly enough for me. It is absolutely heart wrenching to watch this series and remember the likes of Bertie's Chase - a supremely good Bertie orientated episode - or the original, Thomas & Bertie. These are episodes that acknowledged the differing jobs of the trains to the buses, and how they complement each other on an island that relys on its transport network.
Do you remember Bertie's music? I do. The fun loving, yet urgent tune which gave Bertie's Chase that thrill factor. Making sure the passengers (who, after all, in the Thomas the Tank Engine universe, are the most important thing in it) get their train, related so much to real life then and even now, that it made even the most mundane task exciting.
I've said for years that the best thing to do to the Thomas & Friends franchise would be to reboot it. Start at Genesis. Thomas & Gordon, in CGI, and remake the original stories with the separate voice actors, extraordinary CGI (and if he's willing, get Ringo Starr to rekindle his passion for storytelling).
Why? Because you'd have those original, exciting, and educational stories to show the road ahead for future writers in this series. Not only that, the ability to go back and make the stories which never made it to air (for example, The Missing Coach), introduce all of those wonderful Awdry characters which never made it (the Mountain Railway locos, Bear, Flying Scotsman).
The incredible potential to give today's generation the stories of yesteryear, and to make them relevant and watchable again is truly there.
The problem is now clear to me. The moment of truth for Thomas & Friends. New characters have papered over the cracks for so many seasons now, we forgot what was most important about the series.
It was about the human and machine characters interacting in an almost true to life world, carrying out roles and tasks from real life, which educated as well as entertained the children who watch it.
Watching today's episode brought it all back home to me. Bertie's return wasn't a turning point; it was more of the same. The same problems, the same story, the same cut and paste dialogue and characters.
The series does need to go back to its roots more than ever. But now I wonder if the series needs to go back - all the way back - to its Genesis so it continues to have a viable future.
Individual Episode Score: 2/10 - Gordon and Ferdinand 4/10 - Toby and Bash 3/10 - Emily and Bash 5/10 - Edward The Hero 1/10 - James to the Rescue 2/10 - Happy Hiro 1/10 - Up, Up and Away! 3/10 - Henry's Happy Coal 2/10 - Let It Snow 2/10 - Surprise, Surprise 4/10 - Spencer the Grand 3/10 - Stop That Bus!
Total Season Score So Far: 33/130
Average Season Score So Far: 2.5/10
Quick Character Stats
Speaking Roles:
Thomas, Bertie, Ferdinand, Bash, Dash, The Fat Controller, Dowager Hatt, Harold
Cameos:
Den & Dart, Percy, Victor, Cranky
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