Best thomas and friends episodes

For 30 years, Thomas the Tank Engine had been entertaining children on TV screens around the world with stories that were based upon the Railway Series by the Rev.W.Awdry and Christopher Awdry, as well as stories from several writers from S5-present. To mark the 30th year of Thomas the Tank Engine's succession on the television screen, here are my top ten favourite episodes from the show, inspired by Chris Tomson's list. Most of my opinions have changed since writing S1-12 reviews between 2012-2013. But first:

THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND NOT FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FAN BASE

Honorable Mentions:

- Percy and the Calliope: I think I praised this episode mostly because of the rendition of the classic theme song that was played in the episode, but I don't consider it as one of the very best episodes but one of the good ones during the 'dark era' of the television series. It has a good moral about restoration and the characters were really played out, Percy and Diesel. 

- Not Now, Charlie: What's this, me honouring a Charlie episode? CALL THE PRESS! Yes I actually think this is the only good Charlie episode, thus far. We actually see the character doing work instead of playing about like a total twit and we see him getting his comeuppance in the end that despite joking about all the time, no one would take him seriously if there was something that he was serious about. A bit like 'The Boy who cried Wolf', a boy who played a trick on the villagers about a wolf because he was bored and when an actual wolf came, no one believed him. 

- Thomas and Gordon: It's a good episode and it was the story that started it all, but as Chris Tomson says in his blog, there are worthy episodes from series one, not that I'm saying I hate it. 

- Toad's Bright Idea: We see Gator once again, an excellent character from 'Tale of the Brave' on the Island during the special, first time such a concept was used in the television series. The characterisation of Toad and Gator were great together and it showcases why the lamps and brake vans are important to a train and engine. 

- Gordon Runs Dry: This episode has its faults, but even with them in it, it doesn't make it bad or unworthy to watch, most duded episodes from S17 can still be worth watching, even 'Steamie Stafford', seriously. Gordon's characterisation was absolutely well portrayed here by Andrew Brenner, including Thomas, James and Percy at the end. 

- Lady Hatt's Birthday Party: Well most people would know that I don't have a liking towards S5, but I do have to admit there are some good episodes coming out from that season and this is one of them. It's great that we see a human being portrayed here rather then the engines or vehicles that I think it was lacking until 'Santa's Little Engine'. The episode definitely shows how the Fat Controller cares about his wife's special day and dirty or clean he wants to be there, not giving one thought on his appearance. 

Henry's Forest: Yes I do know that Rev.W.Awdry has a disinterest in this episode, but to me it's an emotional one, not too emotional as the ending of Tale of The Brave, but you can see how much the forest means to Henry and you have the sympathy for him but turns out right in the end. It maybe unrealistic and I think more research could've been put in to make it more worthy, but I think they could've used the entire magazine story were Henry was understand why the trees need to fall down to be used for things, which is sad, but things were put into the right again. 

Old Reliable Edward: It's a modern classic and Edward with his original persona that we've seen since 'Cows', yes even the old can be sarcastic as well towards people, it's simple but it teaches kids that you should be thankful for the causes of others. 

Thomas the Jet Engine: While of course it's a bit silly and a bit over the top, it was fun and it does have a good moral that you think you're the fastest, but there are other things faster then you. 

Gordon and Spencer: What I love about this episode is the rivalry between two engines from the same company that made them, the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and as a railway enthusiast, you can really see that when the A4's were built to be the fast record breaking express engine and the A3, which is Flying Scotsman's basis, were a thing of the past at the time. Plus it has a good moral that you should listen to others.

THE LIST:

10. RESPECT FOR GORDON (2005)

While Season 9 in my opinion was the start of the series' weaker years, I think this episode is definitely worthy. It definitely shows kids that you can't demand respect but have it earned instead. Plus Gordon, Thomas and Percy were good characterisation in this episode, which has been ignored prior to S17 and 18. Gordon was being boastful and Thomas and Percy were being cheeky. 

9. TICKLED PINK (2010)

What I do like about this episode is the realism, the three strikes is still there though unfortunately. The use of an engine having an undercoat and that its one of the episodes that shows us what CGI can do that the models can't, I don't have any disrespect for the models, but the models do have limitations. 

8. BEST FRIENDS (2008)

I think this episode was a great way to end the 24 years of live action animation. I love the dynamic of Thomas and Percy's friendship together and you can feel sorry for the both of them. Percy was hurt that Thomas didn't tell he was taking the brass band, but Thomas didn't want to hurt his best friends' feeling. It's cliched, but done right.

7. DREAM ON (2007)

It has the usual moral about 'being yourself', but despite that I think this my most favourite episodes when it comes to that moral. You see Spencer bragging that he's he's better then Thomas in speed, looks and strength and you feel sorry for Thomas for failing but in the end, after learning his lesson he gets his reward in the end by taking the Duke and Duchess to the airport.

6. THOMAS' SHORTCUT (2013)

People regard this as a 'modern classic' and it shows. Andrew Brenner had brought back the friendly rivalry between Thomas and Bertie again when it comes to racing and had laid the whole 'steam vs. diesel' rivalry to rest and focused on other rivalry for the engines, such as road. The characterisation of Bertie and Annie and Clarabel were fantastic as well. Bertie being cocky and the coaches being like a mother and advise Thomas for moral support. Plus the comeuppance at the end shows us that life is not about taking shortcuts. 

5. THE FLYING KIPPER (1984)

The episode was directed beautifully with its atmosphere and setting and I do have to admit, the crash was amazingly well done, I'm usually against unneeded crashes, like in S5, but I like the crashes when its really needed and this episode is one of them. However I don't like how Henry's 'new shape' turned out, being a based upon a Black Five locomotive, his shape in the TVS is more like his old shape turned upside down. 

4. GONE FISHING (2013)

Excellent moral about how to deal with people making fun on how different you look, just slide it out of your mind and be proud for who you really are. I can understand the moral so well when it comes to people teasing you for being different and the characterisation of Harvey, Porter and Bill and Ben were spot on as well. Porter being the moral support and Bill and Ben with their cheekiness. 

3. DUCK AND THE SLIP COACHES (2014)

To be honest, I always find Duck to be overrated by his fans. Ever since 2004, this love for Duck came out of nowhere with comments saying 'i miss duk!' or 'i wan montageu bak!!', they're not really comments I've found but you'll noticed the bad spelling in many videos when it comes to that. But as time rolled by I sort of understand Duck's love, he stood up to the bigger engines in his debut episode, but despite that I don't consider him to be the best like Edward. But it's not about Duck that I gave this episode a top spot, it's because of how so much research was made to make this episode great. Slip Coaches were a common thing to see on the British mainline at various places to win passengers over from there rivals. It gives history and an educational experience about railways to young children that could turn them into young enthusiasts. 

2. EDWARD'S EXPLOIT (1986)

The episodes that fans love the most and it shows. Edward being the hero of the story was amazing with him not giving up despite his old age. He definitely shows that despite him being old, he never gives up on anything important. He put his passengers first before him. It was directed well and deserves to be classic to this day.

1. ESCAPE (1991)

Ever since childhood, I always thought of this episode. Despite that it didn't follow the original story, mostly the start of it all, it's still a worthy episode. You can sympathise with Oliver with his fear of being scrapped by the Other Railway, the end of a steam engines' life. It could've worked better, but the scene with Douglas was rescuing Oliver from scrap still gives that heroic and brave stance of the both of them. 

DONATE TO PRESERVE 

A PIECE OF 30 YEAR HISTORY

Right Ok So,

We’re almost at the end of the year now which means Thomas’ 75th anniversary is close to finishing.

While Our Favorite Blue Tank Engine hasn’t had the best 2020 between the Continuation of the disaster that is Big World! Big Adventures! & Mattel’s continuous attempts to turn the show into a clone of every generic, pandering & Derivative Kids Show currently airing.

But despite this Thomas & Friends is still my favorite cartoon and I still want to do everything I can to celebrate the franchise’s 75th anniversary.

So To Cap Off 2020 in terms of TTTE related posts it’s time for me to countdown my 10 Favorite & Most Hated Episodes From the show’s History.

Now normally it’s instinctive of me to do the worst list then the best list, but as a bit of a break from tradition I’m going to do the Best List first.

Do keep in mind as well that like always these are just my brutally honest opinions and if you disagree that’s absolutely fine & I would appreciate you lot leaving your own lists in the comments.

Okay So with all that being said here’s my list for D’Top 10 Best Episodes Of Thomas The Tank Engine.

10) What’s The Matter With Henry?

(Season 7 Episode 6)

Well this is certainly an odd choice, So while Season 7 gets a positive reception it doesn’t get quite as much praise as the rest of the classic series (Seasons 1-7) which to my understanding is mostly because Season 7 has a handful of episodes that have gotten a divisive reception from the fanbase.

But personally I think Season 7 is Brilliant and this to me is one of it’s biggest highlights.

To Start Henry is Portrayed fantastically here which is saying a lot since he’s my favorite character in the show (Yes I know I decided to use Gordon as my name & profile pic but....... just don’t bother asking me about this).

While Henry being sick is a plotline that was done a few times I think this episode handles Henry In a very solid way for a good few reasons those being:

-He still remains determined to get his work done which can be seen as quite admirable

-The Episode is actually somewhat subtle about Henry’s illness before revealing what it is (Which his illness comes from the fact that his tubes are leaking)

- And he doesn’t act like a complete Wimp unlike in many of the episodes that HIT produced. Because in addition to his determination as I previously mentioned he actually stands up for himself at one point when Thomas jokes about him not actually being sick.

It also helps that the other characters are handled very well too, Both Thomas & Percy work well as Troublemakers who do contribute to Henry breaking down but they do still have a sense Of guilt to them and I do buy that they didn’t actually think Henry was ill, plus they do get a suitable punishment for what they did to Henry when they’re sent to collect Henry’s trucks.

And as for Emily, this might be her best appearance to date, which is saying a lot as something you’ll notice when I do the worst list is that I Hate Emily.

But In here she’s really likable & she does contribute to helping Henry especially since she does tell the Fat Controller about Henry being ill.

Like I said I found Season 7 to be a very strong season & this is one of the episodes that proves the most how solid this season was.

9) It’s Good To Be Gordon

(Season 10 Episode 9)

This is an episode I won’t go on about for too long as I already did an entire post discussing why I love this episode so much so I would recommend you look at this to see my full thoughts.

But to sum it up The Bulk Of why I love this episode as much as I do comes from Gordon & Henry’s Portrayals.

Between The Episode showing a more Human side to Gordon with feeling genuinely guilty for taking Henry’s Welsh Coal & Henry’s Heroic Portrayal where he still tries his best to take his goods train to Knapford despite being sick much like ‘What’s The Matter With Henry’ the way the two Big engines are handled spectacularly.

Oh and BTW to anyone whose wondering about how i feel regarding Henry having to use Welsh Coal here, it really didn’t bother me, mostly because of how stellar ‘It’s Good To Be Gordon’ is.

8) The Flying Kipper

(Season 1 Episode 19)

The first of The obvious choices for this list as this episode is commonly sighted as one of the best episodes of the show, The Flying Kipper is truly the magnum Opus of the show’s First Season.

Serving as the Middle episode in the Henry trilogy from the First Season, it prices to be a perfect story for Henry’s character as we see him taking the flying Kipper (a load of trucks filled with fish) But ends up crashing into another goods train due to the points being frozen but he ends up getting his new body by the end.

The Episode in addition to handling Henry’s character very well the episode also looks beautiful, the episode does utilize a lot of sets used previously in Season 1 with the only new one being the docks that Henry takes the Kipper from, But the addition of Snow over all the sets & the night sky make it look visually stunning.

The Music Also falls into a similar category as the sets as it’s very similar to Henry’s Regular theme, But it still sounds amazing due to the effects and composition used.

So with Henry’s sympathetic Portrayal, the amazing sets & music & the very satisfying ending, this combines to make The Flying Kipper an episode very deserving of the praise it’s gotten.

7) Henry’s Hero

(Season 17 Episode 7)

Oh what? Did you think there would be no episodes from the CGI Series on this list? Well those of you who thought that would be the case were Wrong.

Because in addition to the fact Season 17 is one the show’s best seasons it’s best episode has cracked #7 on this list.

Henry’s Hero really stands out from most other episodes from the series in more ways than how good it is. It also stands out due to how the episode is written.

Both Henry & Hiro are Portrayed Brilliantly, The Episode truly brings out the best in both of the Big Engines.

With Henry he is shown to be scared in the first half but unlike a lot of episodes from the HiT seasons Henry is shown as being a big pussy, but rather he’s just concerned about the bad Coal that he & Hiro take on, But by the second half when Hiro delivers all the trucks they were delivering at the beginning Henry is then shown that he can still run with the bad Coal.

This then results in one of the best endings the series has ever seen as Hiro breaks down on Gordon’s Hill due to getting his firebox blocked, resulting in Henry having to push Both Hiro & the flatbeds To Brendam Docks Which really shows Henry at his most heroic.

The same can also be said about Hiro as he still remains determined to get the goods trains he & Henry were assigned to take up to Brendam Docks and shows Henry that He’s still able to run with the bad Coal... which does result in his firebox getting blocked but this is okay as it results in the superb climax where Henry pushes Him & The Flatbeds To Brendam.

So To summarize Henry’s Hero is truly the Best episode the entire CGI Series has ever given us and in my eyes it’s the best episode Both Henry & Hiro have got to date....... or did one of these two engines get a better episode?.......

6) Toad Stands By

(Season 4 Episode 20)

Another iconic episode from the show’s golden age, Toad Stands By manages to stand as one of the show’s best episodes as it’s a true masterclass in character development.

Serving as a direct follow up to ‘Oliver Owns Up’ From the Third Season, ‘Toad Stands By’ shows Oliver at his very best, starting off by showing how he’s now a laughing stock amongst the trucks but he manages to completely scare the Trucks by the end as he decides in order to stop the trucks from bullying him to Tear the Leader SC Ruffey to Fucking pieces.

Seeing Oliver do this is both satisfying and incredibly cool to watch as it shows just how ruthless He can be.

Oh & also since his name is in the title Toad also plays a big part as well as while he doesn’t say much in the episode he does manage to be handled just as well as Oliver especially since he was the one who came up with the plan to tear SC Ruffey to pieces.

There’s not much else to say here, Toad Stands By is another incredible episode from the show’s classic era.

5) Gordon and Spencer

(Season 7 Episode 23)

That’s right another episode from the 7th Season is on this list.

Similarly To How Henry’s Hero is the best episode Henry & Hiro have gotten, Gordon & Spencer is the best episode Both of the title characters have gotten.

To Start Gordon is handled perfectly, I do debate whether this or ‘It’s Good To Be Gordon’ is the Best Gordon has be handled in the series but he’s still brilliant here as the episode manages to capture his personality flawlessly as the self important & boastful Engine we all know & love While also showing a more concerned side when Spencer refuses to take on water which does show that Gordon is willing to look out for others including those he doesn’t like which really shows how well written of a character Gordon is.

The Episode also serves as the introduction of Spencer & he’s handled perfectly too, he does come off as snobbish & Rude But he dies get his comeuppance when he runs out of water on Gordon’s hill.

Like I said when talking about ‘What’s The Matter With Henry’ Season 7 is actually Brilliant and this episode proves to be the best episode of the whole season.

4) Rusty and the Boulder

(Season 5 Episode 25)

Considering the fact that it’s my favorite season of any Cartoon ever let alone of Thomas & Friends it was only a matter of time before Season 5 made it onto this list.

If There’s one thing that Rusty and the Boulder does masterfully it’s it’s tone, the whole episode is very unsettling, between the chilling music, the narration that Michael Angelis gives (Or Alec Baldwin for you American lot) & the Boulder Itself, The Episode is a masterclass is dark episodes.

Then There’s the climax which is one of the most thrilling & exciting in the series as while the Boulder going down hill could be seen as a bit unrealistic it still kept me on the edge in my seat, not to mention there’s some very high stakes as Rusty, Skarloey, Rheneas, Percy & there crews could’ve been killed.

There’s not much else to say, this episode is just excellent, much like the rest of Season 5.

3) Hector The Horrid

(Season 11 Episode 5)

This is another episode I discussed before as I talked about this one in the first part of my posts reviewing every episode of Season 11 so this is another I’m not going to go on about this one for too long as I would recommend you read my reviews of every episode of Season 11 to see my full thoughts.

But to summarize Hector himself is the best one off character in the show, it handles Thomas fantastically, the two morals are masterfully handled & how it develops Thomas & Hector is spectacular too.

If you’re still skeptical of the Newer seasons of TTTE....... well you’d be right to be that way as there’s lots of bad episodes from certain other seasons, But I would still very much recommend you lot watch this episode.

2) Escape

(Season 3 Episode 21)

Debatably the most beloved episode in the show’s history, Escape is another episode that proves how high the levels of quality were in the first 7 Seasons.

To Start much like ‘Rusty and the Boulder’ Escape masterfully pulls off it’s Dark time as unlike other episodes Escape focuses on Douglas trying to break Oliver out of a scrapyard.

The Episode masterfully pulls off its Dark tone as The scrapyard Itself has a very chilling & unsettling feel to it, plus this is one of the only episodes of the show that directly addresses being scrapped which for the engines means Death.

But The Episode is not all doom & gloom as there’s a really exciting sense of adventure to the episode & when Douglas rescues Oliver from the Scrapyard and there’s a lot of nail biting tension surrounding this sequence as well.

Then There’s Douglas, now when it comes to characters in TTTE Donald & Douglas (The Scottish Twins) have always been some of my favorite characters but this episode cemented Douglas as my favorite out of the two.

Because whereas ‘Donald’s Duck’ an episode that also came from the Third Season Of Thomas showed Donald’s more caring side, Escape shows Douglas’ Brave & Adventurous Side as despite his fear of death he still Helps Oliver to break out of the Scrapyard which is very exciting & could possibly be seen as very inspiring.

So with all of that being said considering how Brilliant Escape & all the other episodes on this list are what could possibly beat it out for the title of ‘The Best Thomas The Tank Engine Episode’.

Well we’ll get to that in just a bit but just before I do so I just want to clarify that I wanted to include Honorable Mentions but in reality considering how special this show is to me I could’ve put Half Of the show onto this list.

So With That Being said i’ll most likely do more Countdowns going over other brilliant episodes from the show’s history.

So with all that being said, Lads & Lasses, My Number 1 Favorite Episode Of Thomas The Tank Engine Is!!!!!!!..........

1!) Haunted Henry

(Season 5 Episode 11)

Now I will admit this episode is quite an unconventional choice for the best episode of the show as I don’t see this episode being talked about on lists for the best episodes of the show.

But in my eyes this episode is the best in the show’s history simply because it’s the one I enjoy the most & the episode I’ve watched the most.

The Thing it does best is tone as while episodes like ‘Escape’ & ‘Rusty and the Boulder’ have done Dark tones excellently this episode handles it the best out of every episode.

I’m not joking by the way, this episode genuinely leaves me both very unsettled but also very excited every time I watch it.

In addition this episode is the best looking in the show’s history as this episode presents sets that haven’t been used in the show before which look spectacular and the heavy use of fog makes the episode even more scary as it helps to make the episode’s mystery even better.

Which reminds me, The Episode’s mystery is very well written as while supernatural beings are things that generally don’t exist in Thomas, But the episode’s mystery is pulled off so well that I actually thought that there was a ghost at the abandoned station, because the use of fog, the creepy designs of thing like the Trees & the station itself & the addition of things like the fogman’s coat on a tree branch & the sudden appearances of things like an amber lamp, the gates miraculously closing & other elements help to make the mystery of the episode work masterfully.

Henry is also handled fantastically too, His more scared attitude in the episode is very understandable & sympathetic.

Also While I wont spoil the episode’s plot twist I will say it’s handled very well & the ending is very satisfying, also the crash is the best in the series.

So That concludes my list for the best TTTE Episode ms, I don’t expect much users to see this considering how my previous posts have turned out but I do appreciate whatever reception this post gets, see ya’s later.

10) Steamy Sodor: I know that this is a bit stupid but I like the Steamwords so any episode centered on it is either good or a guilty pleasure.  I prefer the UK version more because of the tone and energy that the voice actors for Victor and Spencer gave.

9) James Works It Out: This episode shows another character that needs more screen time; H.E.C.T.O.R.  His US voice is better in this one other than his debut episode; with the exception of him shouting "KEEP AWAY"!  That surprised me when I first heard that.  We need more friendlier freight cars like him to be introduced to the series; more of them means less trouble from the Troublesome Trucks.

8) Rusty and the Boulder: This episode is kind of like Thomas meets the intro to "Raiders of the Lost Ark".  The episode is filled with runaway thrills.

7) Thomas and the Billboard: The very first episode to use both models and CGI.  This is also the only episode to show all 8 members of the  steam team together with their CGI faces.

6) Thomas and the Runaway Car: Any episode focused on a runaway of any kind is definitely a must see (All the more to see season 5).  It is also the only episode where we see Rosie get angry.

5) Gordon Runs Dry: The first episode I ever saw with Andrew Brenner as the head writer; staying true to the original episodes, referencing them, and teaching us how a railroad really works (something the previous head writer didn't care about).  To me, this is the original Thomas coming back to life.

4) Wayward Winston: Thomas Comes To Breakfast + Busy Going Backwards + Thomas and the Runaway Car = BEST EPISODE OF SEASON 17!  This is Lee Pressman's best work!

3) Thomas and the Jet Engine: Just the name alone is amazing.  Seeing a train being jet-propelled down the rails is exciting to watch.

2) Bulgy: This is my Dad's favorite episode so this one is for him.  The main character is Duck, it's the first time a road vehicle is a bad guy, and Bulgy turns into a hen house in the end; that's his favorite part.

1) The Flying Kipper: It's not for the story, but for the atmosphere and background music.  This is like Star Wars; you can watch this with no dialogue and understand how the character (Henry) feels.

Blank:tdthomasfan725.deviantart.com/…

Thomas & Friends belong to Hit Entertainment

© 2015 - 2021 Peter-the-Gamer1992

Thomas & Friends (also known as Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and Thomas the Tank Engine) is a British children's television series. It is based on The Railway Series of books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher Awdry. It had it's first broadcast on the ITV network in 1984, and started airing in the United States through Shining Time Station on January 1989 until September 1st, 2020, when all of Season 24's regular length episodes were released in the US on Netflix. The series finished airing in airing order in the UK on January 20th, 2021. The last episode of the 1984-2020 series aired overall is Thomas' Animal Friends

This article will mainly be focusing on the first eight seasons and the eleventh season, for the Andrew Brenner era, see Seasons 17-21.

Plot

The series follows the adventures of Thomas, an anthropomorphised train, on the fictional Island of Sodor with fellow engines Edward, Gordon, Henry, James, Percy and Toby, along with many other anthropomorphised engines and vehicles. Thomas usually gets into trouble by doing jobs best left to bigger and more sensible engines, but never gives up on being a "Really Useful Engine". Many of the stories from the first four seasons are based on real-life events from Wilbert Awdry's personal experiences.

Why These Seasons are Really Useful

1. The earlier episodes are very faithful to the original Railway Series books and are also fun to watch (e.g., "Thomas and Bertie", "Whistles and Sneezes", "A Close Shave" and "Edward's Exploit").
2. The idea of talking railway engines is a really cool idea, and feels realistic (as you can tell by The Railway Series).
3. A large variety of engines, such as:
   • Thomas the Tank Engine (of course)
   • Edward the Blue Engine
   • Gordon the Big Engine
   • Henry the Green Engine
   • James the Red Engine
   • Percy the Small Engine
   • Toby the Tram Engine
   • Duck the Great Western Engine
   • Diesel the Devious Engine
   • Donald and Douglas, the Twin Scottish Engines
   • Daisy the Diesel Railcar
   • BoCo the Diesel Engine
   • Oliver the Western Engine
   • Emily the Stirling Engine
   • Rosie the American Engine
   • Spencer the Silver Engine
4. The model work in the live-action model series is very well-done, with lots of attention to detail. The same can be said with the CGI models of the humans, vehicles, rolling stock and even the engines.
5. The Really Useful Around the World videos are pretty interesting and fun to watch.
6. Well-done narration, especially from Ringo Starr, George Carlin, Michael Angelis, Alec Baldwin (only in Season 5) and Michael Brandon (only in Seasons 7 & 11)
   • Ringo Starr (yes, that Ringo Starr) did a superb job of narrating the first two seasons for both the UK and US.
   • George Carlin is often ranked alongside Ringo as the best narrator of the Classic Era. His voices for Thomas, Percy, Bill, Ben, Gordon, James, Sir Topham Hatt, Donald, Douglas, Trevor, Duncan, Toad, Tom Tipper, Oliver, Boco, Edward, Duck, Daisy and Harold really show how talented and enthusiastic he is.
   • Michael Angelis is also a legend of his name as he has a ton of great voices such as Thomas, Percy, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Donald, Douglas, Diesel, Duck, Duncan and many others show how enthusiastic he is.
7. Likable and relatable title character protagonist (except in Seasons 12-16).
8. All of the theme songs are catchy.
9. Speaking of Shining Time Station, the US dub is actually pretty good (except in season six with Alec Baldwin's awful narration in that season).
10. The Japanese dub is just as great as the UK and US dubs. In fact, it was the first Thomas dub to individually voice the characters, predating Thomas and the Magic Railroad by 10 years.
11. The engines, rolling stock and road vehicles are based off of actual British railway engines, rolling stock and vehicles, and most of the episodes were based on real-life events.
    • "The Sad Story of Henry" was inspired by an incident in America where a steam engine couldn't get out of a tunnel.
    • "The Flying Kipper" was based off an accident at Abbots Ripton in Huntingdonshire in 1876
    • Donald's accident in "Break Van" is based off an accident where a railway engine crashed tender-first into a signal box.
    • "A Better View for Gordon" is based off the famous 1895 Gare Montparnasse train crash in Paris.
    • "Busy Going Backwards" is based off on a couple of "hair-raising" runaway trains in the Tondu Valleys that occurred during David Maidment's time as Area Manager in South Wales.
    • "Percy's Promise" is based off an event where an engine went through a flooded branch line with it's passenger train.
12. There are so many great episodes, such as:
    • "Thomas and Gordon" ("Thomas Gets Tricked" in the US")
    • "Percy's Promise"
    • "The Flying Kipper"
    • "Thomas and the Storyteller"
    • "Emily's New Route"
    • "Thomas Comes to Breakfast"
    • "Jack Jumps In"
    • "Percy's Chocolate Crunch"
    • "Henry's Forest" (though unfortunately, it wasn't well received by the Reverend W. Awdry)
    • "Rusty to the Rescue"
    • "Coal" ("Henry's Special Coal" in the US)
    • "Edward and Gordon" ("Edward Helps Out" in the US)
    • "Saved from Scrap"
    • "Thomas, Terence and the Snow" ("Terence the Tractor" in the US)
    • "Down the Mine"
    • "Thomas and the Special Letter"
    • "Edward's Exploit"
    • "Haunted Henry"
    • "Emily's New Coaches"
    • "Rusty and the Boulder"
    • "You Can Do It, Toby!" (depending on your view)
    • "Hector the Horrid!"
    • "Make Someone Happy"
    • "Duncan Gets Spooked"
    • "James Gets a New Coat"
    • "Three Cheers for Thomas" ("Hooray for Thomas" in the US)
    • "Gordon Takes a Tumble"
    • "Old Iron"
    • "Emily's Rubbish" ("Emily and the Garbage" in the US)
    • "Thomas and the Breakdown Train" ("Thomas saves the day" in the US)
    • "Gordon Takes Charge"
    • "Thomas the Jet Engine" ("Thomas and the Jet Engine" in the US)
    • "Special Funnel"
    • "Twin Trouble"
    • "Buzz, Buzz" ("James Goes Buzz, Buzz" in the US)
    • "Ghost Train" ("Percy's Ghostly Trick" in the US)
    • "Dream On"
    • "Thomas and Trevor" ("A New Friend for Thomas" in the US)
    • "Off the Rails" ("Gordon Takes a Dip" in the US)
    • "Thomas and Bertie" ("Thomas and Bertie's Great Race" in the US)
13. "The Great Discovery" was a great special that ended the model series on a high note.
14. The music and songs are well-done, such as:
    • "Thomas, You're the Leader!"
    • "James the Really Splendid Engine"
    • "Rules and Regulations"
    • "Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining"
    • "Percy's Seaside Trip"
    • "Come For the Ride"
    • "The Island Song"
    • "Night Train"
    • "Accidents Will Happen"
    • "The Snow Song"
    • "Winter Wonderland"
    • "Down by the Docks"
    • "The Red Balloon"
    • "The Engine Roll Call"
    • "That's What Friends Are For"
    • "He's a Really Useful Engine"
    • "Thomas's Anthem"
    • "Determination"
    • "Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover"
      • In fact, the Japanese dub even had it's own exclusive song, "I'm Thomas the Tank Engine!".
15. The crashes are absolutely epic and fun to watch.
16. It's not afraid to be mature and have dark themes.
    • One example of a dark episode is "Granpuff", where Duke tells the story of an engine named Smudger who misbehaved and often rolled off the rails before he got turned into a stationary generator because the manager wanted to make him "useful at last". If that's not bad enough, Duke then gets abandoned and buried alive in his shed by a landslide.
    • "Haunted Henry" was also a dark episode of the show because of the spooky atmosphere.
    • "Stepney Gets Lost" sees Stepney nearly get melted down until the Fat Controller saves him just in time.
17. Many good morals that kids can learn, such as:
    • "Be patient" ("Thomas' Train", "The Runaway Elephant", and other episodes that have to do with patience)
    • "Don't spread lies about other people" ("Dirty Work"; Season 2)
    • "Work together" (various episodes)
    • "Be who you are" ("Dream On")
    • "Always obey orders" ("Down the Mine" and "Percy Takes the Plunge")
    • "You can't always get what you want" ("Buffer Bother")
    • "Water is important for you" ("Gordon and Spencer")
    • "Brake vans are important for all trains" ("The Runaway Elephant")
    • "Help everyone in need" (various episodes)
    • "Size doesn't matter" ("Alfie Has Kittens")
    • "Boastfulness bites you back" ("Thomas, Percy, and the Coal")
18. These seasons had a handful of funny and comfortable episodes such as "Pop Goes The Diesel", "Donald's Duck", "Rock 'N' Roll", "Gallant Old Engine", "Cranky Bugs", "Something In The Air" and "One Good Turn"(depending on your view).
19. The dawn in "The Flying Kipper" is one of the series' best visuals.

Bad Qualities

1. Because Thomas is the titular character, he often takes up too much screen-time (most notably during seasons 13-16, and to a lesser extent, season 12). Fans either blame him, the writers or even both of them for this. Here's a video that pointed this out. Thankfully, this was toned down during seasons 17-21 and has been less of an issue. However, it started up again in seasons 22-24, but at least he had some cameos or was just the narrator instead of appearing in the physical episode. It got even worse when the All Engines Go! reboot was announced, which will be a total continuity reboot due to Mattel and Nelvana taking away so much story potential away for 2021.
2. The series' quality has gotten very fluctuant in more recent years, starting around 2004.
   • The series first began to go downhill during Season 8 (while still good, however), which became more apparent during Seasons 9 and 10 when Sharon Miller joined the writing team.
   • It temporarily improved in Season 11 before going downhill again during Seasons 9, 10, and 12-16 when Sharon Miller became head writer for the series. These seasons are known for being the worst seasons of the show.
   • The series improved once again during Seasons 17-21 when Andrew Brenner replaced Sharon Miller as head writer and when Sharon Miller went onto voice directing from that point on, thus he managed to recapture the charm of the classic era. After this, the series was hit with another major decline in quality during Seasons 22-24 (also known as "Big World! Big Adventures!"), which ended the original series on a sour note. Some fans say that these seasons are just as bad, if not worse than Seasons 12-16.
   • The 2D animated reboot, Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go!, has taken the quality of the Thomas franchise to new levels of low, WAY worse than Seasons 9, 10, 12-16 and 22-24. Mattel relied too much on cartoonish physics (which is jarring and out-of-place since the original series focused on realistic visuals most of the time), hired a team of writers and directors that understood little to actually nothing about Thomas at all (the latter are Nelvana, mind you), forced Thomas to be the main character of every episode, made engines now have fun rather than doing work, kicked out the British aspect and feel from the original, taked Sir Topham Hatt's role as railway director away just to treat him as an utter joke (let alone call him Fatty McGoofball from now on instead of what he is called), made Thomas act more childlike than in the original, made Gordon become a father figure to Thomas and even pushed humans to background characters. Said reboot makes all the aforementioned seasons look like masterpieces in comparison.
3. The good seasons even had some occasional bad episodes, such as:
4. Alec Baldwin's narration takes a huge nosedive in quality starting in Season 6. It becomes a lot more bland, boring and unenthusiastic. He also stopped doing his character voices from Season 5, like Henry, Duncan, Gordon, and especially Bill and Ben, and not even attempting a Scottish accent for Donald, Douglas and Duncan respectively. He still makes some good voices here and there, like Elizabeth, Byron and Salty, (and the foreman in Middle Engine of all episodes) but that's about it. The only Season 6 episodes that Alec does a good job narrating are "Elizabeth the Vintage Quarry Truck" (depending on your view), "Jack Jumps In" and "A Friend in Need", while the only voice that he kept consistent from Season 5 is Sir Topham Hatt.
   • With Duncan's case, no longer does he have a Scottish accent given by Baldwin in that season.
   • What's really sad to see and hear that happen is that the reason why he was sounding like this is probably because of his divorce with Kim Basinger, which that event happened the exact same year Season 6 was released in the UK.
5. Some characters have received a lot of negative feedback, like Billy, as he is an example of either being incredibly annoying, unlikable or given only one-dimensional traits.
6. Garnered controversy in 2003 when moral guardians said that the crashes could scare kids.
7. The good seasons aren't always perfect and have their share of hiccups, even some of the ones in the classic era.
   • The early seasons have tons of goofs and filming trouble.
   • Though not a particularly bad thing all the time, Season 5 has a bit of a darker and edgier tone than the first four seasons and has some episodes that can prove to be really scary for younger viewers that are the easily disturbed, like "Haunted Henry", "Duncan Gets Spooked", "Toby and the Flood", "Stepney Gets Lost" and "Rusty and the Boulder". While Alec Baldwin did a decent job in narrating, he had some terrible voices such as Gordon.
   • While Season 6 is great, it isn't perfect. This season suffers from awful downgraded narration from Alec Baldwin for the US dub of the series (as mentioned in BQ#5), a washed out camera font and overall weaker visuals in comparison to other seasons of the model era.
   • Season 7 is not bad at all either. But in the US and UK versions, they (HiT Entertainment) completely changed the music from Mike and Junior in place of famously, Robert Hartshorne and the theme song was also changed from the Classic intro to the Season 8 intro, which angered and disappointed fans, and that problem has not been fixed ever since.
   • Hell, HiT did not even bother changing the new music, opening and closing sequences back to the old music and opening and closing sequences when all of the first seven seasons were released on Amazon Prime in 2016 for the US, which is really lazy of them since they didn't do anything about the criticism they received from fans back then.
   • Season 8 is pretty good and has a handful of good episodes and is the best season of HiT model era (with Season 11 being counted as one, too), but it does have some inconsistencies, Emily has become flanderised after a season where she was introduced, few bad episodes, and continuity errors, like the infamous plot hole regarding Henry being bad at pulling the express and is claimed to have marked the start of the first downfall. Other problems could be the fact that numerous side characters from previous seasons such as Duck, BoCo, Oliver, Bill, Ben, Donald and Douglas are either nowhere to be seen or only make small cameo appearances.
   • While Season 11 is an improvement over Seasons 9 and 10, it still has some of the same problems as said seasons, like the infamously three strikes formula being used, though to a lesser extent. In fact, this usage was nowhere nearly as bad as next seasons's usage.
8. Sometimes, the continuity contradicts itself kind of like SpongeBob in a way. "Rusty Saves the Day" and "Henry and the Wishing Tree" are the worst offenders for different and obvious reasons.
9. There are visual errors here and there, too:
   • An example is that whether or not the engines can actually control themselves without their driver or firemen is very inconsistent. Many people have thought that since the trains were alive, they could move on their own. In episodes like "Daisy", they seem to be able to move without them, but other episodes such as "Thomas Comes to Breakfast" and "Old Iron" make it clear that engines do need drivers.
     • This inconsistency worsens starting from season 8 onwards, as the engine crews are seen less often in the cabs, and "The Great Discovery" has several instances where Thomas goes into areas that a driver would not have allowed him to, and has at least one accident the driver and fireman would have been injured in. However, throughout seasons 12-16, the engine drivers and firemen are seen more regularly in the engines' cabs, but are strangely silent, and are doing little more than making the engines move and other actions for the engines without question.
       • In the 2021 reboot, as announced from the SiF blog post, the engines will now move without their crews to run them.
   • Geographic inaccuracy error: In some episodes of the US version of the series, the term "railroad" is used to refer the North Western Railway as a railroad, despite Sodor's railways being geographically British. This happened one time in the UK dub of "Elizabeth the Vintage Lorry", with The Fat Controller saying Elizabeth is the "grandest lorry in the whole railroad", which is again geographically inaccurate because a railroad is an American term for a railway. This is thankfully fixed in Baldwin's narration, when Sir Topham Hatt calls Elizabeth "the grandest truck in the whole railway".
10. Though unintentionally most of the time, some episodes in the good seasons can teach kids bad morals, such as:
    • "It's okay to disobey orders" ("Don't Be Silly, Billy").
    • "It's okay if bullies pick on people other than you" ("Middle Engine").
11. "Calling All Engines!" was not a well received special.
12. Depending on your view, Sir Topham Hatt can be unlikable in some episodes. Mainly due to the fact that he gets cross with his engines for accidents that were not there own fault.
13. Some of the newer characters had missed opportunities of being given an episode of their own as the main role like Stanley. This is a shame because some of these characters are either interesting or really needed some major or more development than before. But these missed opportunities are focused on the characters introduced from Seasons 8-11 (with the exception of Rosie, Whiff, Rocky, Fearless Freddie; until Season 12, etc.). Even when HiT does use them, they are either pushed to the side or be given one episode and be left alone to become toys on a shelf years later.

Reception

Seasons 1-7 (1984-2003 [UK], 1989-2004 [US]) were met with positive reception and are often to be the best of the series by critics and fans of the Railway Series, who praised the series for it's writing, humor, characters and early episodes' connection to the Railway Series books and the original stories. Specifically, Seasons 2, 4 and 5 were highly acclaimed by fans. Despite that, certain episodes such as "Middle Engine", "Rusty Saves The Day" and "What's the Matter With Henry" were negatively received by fans.

Seasons 8 (2004) received mixed reception with criticism primarily with HiT Entertainment's decision to dumb down the series for very young audiences and others including inconsistencies, minor flanderization of some characters (though nowhere near as bad as Seasons 12-16 and mostly depends on the episode), inaccuracies and some bad episodes. There were still solid fan favorites such as "Thomas to the Rescue", "James Gets a New Coat", "Halloween", "Edward the Great", "Squeak, Rattle, and Roll", "Don't Tell Thomas", "Emily's New Route", "You Can Do It, Toby", and "Thomas and the Fireworks Display", but there were a couple stinkers such as "Emily's Adventure" and "Thomas Gets it Right" as examples.

Seasons 9 and 10 (2005-2006) were generally disliked by fans and critics for its bad writing, more flanderization, bad morals and plenty of bad episodes like "Edward Strikes Out". These seasons are also infamous for the introduction of Sharon Miller as script editor. She was the main criticism of the series as she was completely criticised by the fans because of her responsibility on why the series dropped from quality in season nine, she was criticized for the same story elements repeated in almost every episode.

The Jack and the Construction Crew miniseries (2006) (which came after Season 9 and before Season 10) was praised for it's 13 episode run, and the chances for Mrs. Jenny's construction crew to get a chance to shine.

Season 11 (2007) received mixed to positive reception and much like Season 8, it received a lot more stronger reception. Praise went to the better writing, visuals, narration and well received episodes such as "Dream On" and "Hector the Horrid". Though criticism did get directed to episodes such as the three infamous episodes such as "Don't Be Silly Billy", "Edward and the Mail", and "Skarloey Storms Through".

Seasons 9, 10 and 12-16 (2005-2006 & 2008-2012) were critically panned by fans and critics for their lack of realism, major flanderization of characters, bad morals and plenty of bad episodes like "Wonky Whistle", which is often considered to be one of the worst episodes of the series alongside "Fiery Flynn". These seasons are also known as the "Sharon Miller Era". There were a few episodes met with critical praise, but not many due to the state the show was in at the time. However, Season 16 is considered by many fans to be a slight improvement over the previous 3 seasons from Nitrogen and some fans still root for Season 12, as it is the final season of the model era.

Seasons 17-21 (2013-2017) received positive reception, due to having the same charm as the first seven seasons of the show (and to some extent, Seasons 8 and 11), redeeming the characters who used to be flanderized and the better writing, along with improved animation and great voice acting in the UK and US.

Really Useful Around the World (2015-2016; a short lived YouTube miniseries spin-off) was met with positive feedback for the idea of Thomas traveling around the world, learning different cultures, and going to different non-Sudrian places. This concept carried onto the Big World! Big Adventures! era from 2018-2020.

Great Race Friends Near and Far (2016-2017; another short lived YouTube miniseries spin-off) was met with good reception for giving the engines introduced in "The Great Race" to shine, including Etinee, Ashima, Rajiv, and Frieda.

Seasons 22-24 (2018-2021) , also known as Big World! Big Adventures!, was met with very negative reception from fans and critics. The main criticism directed on those seasons was the removal of Toby, Edward and Henry from the main cast because three engines live in different sheds (though Edward and Henry moved out of Tidmouth for respective reasons), not to mention the additions of Nia and Rebecca weren't best managed.

The 2D animated reboot Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go! was met with universally negative backlash from fans of the original series even before it's 2021 release; primary criticisms were aimed at Nelvana's involvement with the reboot, its new character designs and extreme lack of realism, particularly the fact that the characters can now deform their shape cartoonishly. The characters were also criticized for bearing personalities that bear little resemblance to the source material. Some unfavorably compared it to shows such as Teen Titans Go!, Pony Life, and Thundercats Roar, with many parents complaining that even their children did not enjoy it. Britt Allcroft (the TV series' creator) and Veronica Chambers (daughter of Wilbert Awdry) also disapproved of the new show and spoke out against it, Allcroft sympathized with upset fans in a Facebook post and stated "there is nothing she can do".

Trivia

• It first aired on PBS as a segment on Shining Time Station. It then premiered on PBS in 2004 as a standalone program, airing on the channel until 2017. The show then aired on Nickelodeon (and later Nick Jr.) until 2020.
• The Three Railway Engines, the first book of the Railway Series was published on George Carlin's eighth birthday in 1945.
• George Carlin was the preferred choice for the narrator of the US dub by Kenn Viselman, the head of marketing for the franchise.
• According to Britt Allcroft, she chose Ringo Starr as the narrator of the UK dub after hearing his voice on television and thought children would relate to him. At first, Allcroft denied that he was chosen because of his Beatles fame, since she was not a fan of the band at the time.
  • Ringo accepted the job of narrator after reading all of the Railway Series books released at that time. He also recorded narration for the Ladybird audio books.
  • Ringo Starr recorded the narration for the first season in eight days. That includes re-doing four episodes due to the tone of his voice.
  • After Ringo left the show in 1989/1990 (both British and American versions) to continue and focus more on his music career, he stated in an interview that Thomas will always have a special place in his heart and he is proud to be a part of Thomas' world.
• On the BBC game show Pointless, when asked who took over narrating the UK version of the series from Starr in 1991, four out of the one-hundred people remembered that it was Michael Angelis.
• The show is extremely popular in Japan due to trains being one of the most common ways to travel in the aforementioned country and many of the show's merchandise is exclusive to the Japanese market. In fact, Fuji TV, a popular Japanese TV network which aired the program, helped co-produce the show's third season and it even got three crossovers with a Japanese children's program named Ponkickies.
• Alec Baldwin is the last narrator to play Mr. Conductor.
  • Alec Baldwin is also the first narrator to not narrate any Railway Series story adaptations.
• While Carlin usually insulted most of the shows he worked on, he usually spoke very fondly of both Shining Time Station and Thomas and Friends, even in some of his stand-up comedy routines. In an interview on "TV Legends" conducted shortly before his death in 2008, he explained that he signed on to both shows so that people could see a gentler side of him.
  • In technicality, George Carlin was the first official American Thomas narrator after Ringo Starr's narrations were done.
• Due to different societal norms in the United States, the Fat Controller is always referred to by his real name, "Sir Topham Hatt".
• Season 23 was the last season of the original 1984-2020 series to air in the US due to Mattel and Nickelodeon's broadcasting deal ending on December 31st, 2019 in favor of streaming the episodes on Netflix, which started on March 15th, 2020. Season 24 was the only season of the original series to stream all of it's episodes in the United States.
• Season 12 is the last season to use the train models and the first season to use CGI.
• Season 24 is the final season to use CGI animation, and the final season of the original Thomas series overall before the release of All Engines Go!
• In 2020, a second theatrical Thomas & Friends movie was announced and would be directed by Marc Forster, who also did Christopher Robin in 2018. The release date is not known to be confirmed yet, and neither is the plot for the second theatrical Thomas movie.

Loading comments...

Image details