March 2011 saw the fifteenth 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...
For whom the bell tolls...!
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Big Belle
Writer: Sharon Miller
Belle attempts to befriend Toby when she discovers that they have something in common. However her bolshy behaviour overwhelms Toby.
Overall Impressions
I was actually rather excited today. You'll know if you've been on the Sodor Island Forums, and my blog, Copley Hill, that I've got a weak spot for British Railways steam. So when I discovered Belle was a British Railways Standard 4MT - lets just say I was looking forward to Belle's first appearance.
Is this a contradiction of last week's "new character shiny shiny" knee-jerk reaction I was talking about, last time? Perhaps slightly, but I will not be taken in by Belle's gleaming Prussian blue paintwork if the writing is not up to scratch.
So, onto the episode itself. In the first couple of scenes, we see Thomas and Percy running together on the same stretch of track, uncoupled, in close formation. Why? I've never been a fan of overplaying the trains on the show. Less is always more when it comes to railways, and having the two characters on the same track, in close proximity, is not only unrealistic (and in railway terms, dangerous), but it's overkill for a scene which also features a gigantic blue tank engine.
I was rather hoping the water cannons were not so Transformers-like that it ruined the clean looks of the prototype, but sadly they do, and its a shame. In fact, its bordering on criminal. 15 Standard 4MTs have survived the cutter's torch, and to introduce one as a character in the 15th season is an irony not lost on me.
The character design borders somewhere between Transformers and vulgar. Prussian blue and red can work extremely well, if used sparingly. The red wheels, lined blue, do not work on any level, and would have looked significantly better if they were blue, lined red. Subtle changes such as this, and the removal of the giant water cannons on the tanks, would have made the character an overall brighter character, and of course, more realistic.
I'm just not sure why it was felt a secondary engine, with water cannons in this manner, was needed as well as the road/rail fire engine, Flynn. Fire Engines - steam locomotives converted to carry hoses - have existed previously, but never in this form, and certainly not with the class 4MT. We don't have talking steam engines in Fireman Sam - must we have fire fighting steam engines in Thomas & Friends?
It is a great shame that one of Britain's most distinctive classes, which has proved itself a highly reliable and powerful performer in preservation, was treated to such a makeover for this series. A missed opportunity too, to actually relate a little of the history behind the railways, and provide some entertainment not in the Season 15 formula so far.
Today's story was just Happy Hiro retold all over again. Engine X takes Engine Y to three different locations to cheer them up/play with them/act as rescue engines/delete as appropriate, and then realizes their mistakes, and does whatever Engine Y actually wants to do, leading to the end of the episode where everyone is happy.
I must have marked the same episode no less than fourteen times previously this season, if we're going on the formula principle.
Every single episode has this three strikes formula which simply does not work.
I haven't even started on my full and sincere moans on how you have two engines playing on Gordon's Hill when it's meant to be an express route. In fact, I just wonder why we need such an exorbitant amount of focus on having to stop and do something three times.
One of the wonders of a railway line is the sights and sounds you can experience on a railway journey. Sodor's quite big, if you've ever seen its map in Wilbert and George Awdry's The Island of Sodor book.
If we compared it to the length of most preserved railway lines, the longest double track mainline - the Great Central Railway in Loughborough - at 17 miles long, when the "bridge the gap" appeal is completed, will be nearly 60 miles shorter than the fictional Sodor mainline (Tidmouth to Vicarstown).
The opportunity for perhaps putting into CGI many of the unseen locations in the series - such as Rolf's Castle, Kellsthorpe Road, Ballahoo, the long lamented Henry's Tunnel and similar, to provide visual interest, and scope for storylines whereby the actual act of travelling from one location to another by train, has been missed thus far.
Certainly, the earliest series relied on the act of travel or delivery of goods to entertain.
Over twenty-five years after the original series aired, the Sodor Island Forums did a poll to find out the most loved episode of the fourteen series to date. The winner, by a country mile, was The Flying Kipper, a case in point for my argument.
The regular fish train service was taken from the harbour, along the rails, through stations, tunnels, along embankments, and it was this journey, steadily building up to the crash scene, and initially sad - then triumphant finale, that made this episode so entertaining, so realistic, and more to the point - memorable for years to come.
Final Conclusions If I was a betting man, then I'd bet on Season 15 being quietly forgot in the next few years. It will be a major blip on the landscape of Thomas & Friends. It will be argued in the future by various fans and commentators alike, over its actual contribution to the series.
By far the biggest point of contention will be its writing. There's no doubt that Season 15 has set the standard in a visual sense once again. What can be done, is repeatedly being pushed by Greg Tiernan and Nitrogen, on a regular basis.
To them, we must pay our tributes. They have done phenomenal work for this series. The little additions here and there of Awdry-esque work, the return of several characters (here's looking at you, Trevor) delighting, and to be frank, proving once again that the CGI move was indeed a good one.
The models were wonderful things, and I loved them so. The glossy paintwork, the realistic fore and backgrounds, the beauty of the painted skylines, and the sheer majesty of the sets still to this day make me go all misty eyed, for a time long since passed.
But the models were looking their age. Thomas & Friends had long since entered the computer age, and was lagging behind its competitors. The CGI breathed new life into a brand that was quietly stagnating, and though we would get to this current point, the lowest I feel since the series began, at no point can we ever accuse Nitrogen of laziness of slopiness for their stunning visuals.
However, I can aim those points at the writing team for this season. I've never been more exasperated with the writing on any other television program. The rhyming and alliteration simply has not stopped throughout this season.
The worst one today was "puffed puzzled". It threw me for about ten minutes, but after ringing a friend and going through the OED online, the correct phrasing would be "Belle was puzzled, and puffed away", or "Belle puffed away, puzzled". "Puffed puzzled" is actually incorrect use of the term "puzzled".
If we are to persist with this ludicrous amount of alliteration and rhyming, then at the very least, could it be correct in regards to its grammar?
That today's episode was yet another example of the cut & paste nature of this season, with the three strikes rule and changing of characters and locations very obvious from the word go, one wonders how on earth this episode can be met with any favour.
It is therefore a great shame, that the handsome lines of the Standard 4MT class have been wasted on a character with about as much unique personality as the bell she carries on her boiler.
For whom the bell tolls, indeed. One wonders if such writing (that children and adults alike have suffered this season) won't eventually end with a distinct and firm change to the development of this series.
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! 2/10 - Stuck on You 3/10 - Big Belle
Total Season Score So Far: 38/150
Average Season Score So Far: 2.5/10
Quick Character Stats
Speaking Roles:
Belle, Thomas, Toby
Cameos:
Percy, Henrietta
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