Season 17 Part 2/2 - First Impressions

So now that the second half of season 17 has been announced, I had to post my opinions, and what better place than here? So, let's get started!

1. 'The Lost Puff'
The plotline of this sounds good and bad in different areas. When I first started reading the plot, I thought "Oh no, Paxton is now essentially the new season 13-16 Thomas". While this may sound to be true, we have to remember this is written by Andrew Brenner. The same one who is introducing Bill and Ben later this season. The same one who wrote some of the 'adapted' season 3 stories. The one who is currently pleasing the fans to no end. Although in general the plotline sounds good, and Thomas' fire gets put out when he bumps into Toby, in comparison to season 15's his firebox was on fire. But anyway, yes, sounds to be a good episode.

2.'Too Many Fire Engines'
This is likely to be my least favorite episode this season. Sure, the railway board (see 'Harvey To The Rescue') are likely to return. But honestly, I've never taken to Flynn or Belle. I had thoughts that Charlie could turn into a good story involving him being an extremely cheeky engine, Sir Topham Hatt then shutting him up in the sheds to think about how he could be a really useful engine, which he eventually turns in to, albeit still quite a cheeky engine, but not to the extent he was before. But Belle & Flynn I've never seen as having much chance. But hopefully this episode will have some credibility.

3.'The Thomas Way'
This episode sounds quite good in Duck's portrayal, but Thomas' sounds unpromising. Duck is being quite 'in persona' by quoting his 'great western way or wrong way' line. That and this is also his first major role, after his anti-climactic 12 second appearance in 'Henry's Hero'. Thomas, however, seems to be reverted back to his stubborn Season 13 persona of 'I know everything', which is bad. However, bear in mind yet again this is written by Andrew Brenner, so, hopefully, it should be good. Also judging by the title, Thomas should be right this time.

4.'The Phantom Express'
Now this sounds like a good episode! It sounds like something right out of Season 6 with the whole 'James & Percy' thing, with James trying to trick Percy but then being scared by his own story. I would think of this episode like 'Jack Frost' from Season 6. I also like the general plotline and I'm looking forward to seeing the animation for Stephen and Percy falling into the moat. Overall, I think this should be a stunner.

5.'Percy's Lucky Day'
I haven't got much to say about this one. It seems like a classic episode, without too much action. I also like how Stephen and Percy are portrayed as being quite close friends in this season, with Stephen always being there when Percy needs advice or help. Also, Bill & Ben officially return!

6.'Bill or Ben'
Yay! An episode after their CGI introduction they now have an episode to themselves! Not surprising, them being Andrew Brenner's favorite characters. Anyway, Bill & Ben's trick sounds very like one from the earlier series, meaning Season 2, judged by fans as being the best season of Thomas so far. I also like the idea of Bill being repainted. Hopefully, he will be in green, as I would quite like to see him in this colour and at the same time it would be similar to their real-life counterparts, Alfred & Judy.

7.'No Snow For Thomas'
So, first episode centrally focusing on Thomas this season ('The Thomas Way' does not count as this revolves around both him and Duck). This sounds like a quite decent episode. One thing I noticed was that Thomas is now working on the mainline, his branchline assumingly having fallen to the 'Beeching axe', so now Thomas, Percy, Toby Daisy and Mavis now all work around the mainline. Anyway, I like how the episode harks back to 'Thomas & Terence' and 'Thomas, Emily and the Snowplough' with Thomas & Emily being together again in another snow episode, and Thomas not liking his snowplough, so hiding it.

8.'Frozen Turntable'
I like this episode's description, as Gordon is shown to be being pompous again by taking Percy's berth, but getting his comeuppance by being stuck there the next day and James taking the express instead of him.The engines going to different places also harks back to 'Calling All Engines', when Tidmouth Sheds was being rebuilt, so the engines had to go and sleep somewhere else.

9.'The Missing Christmas Decorations'
Diesel 10's first TVS episode and Sidney's first (hopefully) speaking role. I like the idea of Diesel 10 stealing the Christmas decorations, and Percy finding out. Makes me think of the TUGS episode 'Pirate', where the tugs go on watch to see who is stealing their barges. I also like the idea of Sidney receiving a present from an empathetical Percy, a deleted plot from 'Day of the Diesels'. Percy's persona also seems quite 'Percy-like'.

10.'Santa's Little Engine'
Not sounding like one of Season 17's best episodes, with a cheesy title and a quite cheesy plotline to go with. This is probably not likely to be one of the best episodes, with most episodes sounding better. However, this could be a good episode and probably will being written by Andrew Brenner.

Overall, the second half of Season 17 sounds quite promising, and I look forward to viewing and reviewing these episodes.

Thomas The Tank Engine : The WWII Movie

So, the WWII movie. With release dates continually shifting (ranging from late 2010 to October 2015) and the unsteady status of the movie, what will it be like? 

Well for starters, although only one poster has been released, we can already see that Thomas looks like a proper E2. That said, this photo was originally made by nitrogen, so Thomas may look different by the time the movie comes around. Although the wheels may be black I quite like this take on Thomas already. He even has rivets! One problem would be that, this being set in WWII, Thomas should technically be painted black. The LMS, LNER, SR and even the GWR painted all their locomotives black during this time, however navy blue could work for Thomas. Hopefully, all the other engines will have prototypically accurate shapes as well (e.g. Edward = Furness K2, Gordon = LNER A3 etc.)

Another feature of the movie is the new characters. It has been teased that a "very 'devious' diesel" will be introduced and that we can "look forward to some returns". First off, the 'devious' diesel. I really hope that this does not just mean 'diesel', as his prototype was not introduced until 1952, a long time after the end of the war. The statement 'devious diesel' instantly brings up the 'revolutionary' class 08 we all know. If anything, I hope he is an LMS prototype or even a maunsell diesel shunter. Secondly, the returning charcters. Hopefully this does not mean Duck. Or Oliver. Or Donald, Douglas Bill or Ben. Why? These characters did not arrive on Sodor until after the war. Not even Percy or Toby were there before the war. If anything, I hope they mean 'the red engine', or possibly even Duke or the Culdee Fell Railway!

Third off, the storyline. This storyline does seem like a sequel to the movie 'Thomas & the magic railroad'. Hopefully this is not the case. So far, all we have is that a pre-teen boy goes to Sodor (which hopefully means he was 'evacuated' there, not 'he got there via the magic railroad') and that there is a bonding experience between him & his father and a steam engine vs. diesel engine confrontation. Only 1/3 of that is Thomas-related. Hopefully by the time the movie is released more Thomas-related content is added. Or else this will turn out to be one of those awful 'family movies' which tries to aim the movie to be for the whole family, but fails miserably in the process. They also said it would be for 'older' people. Assumingly this means teenagers. The market for this is limited. The only people who I think would buy it would be older Thomas fans, or parents who assume that because it's got Thomas it must be totally safe for their children to watch even though it's rated pegi-13. Totally doesn't have Tidmouth station being blown to smithereens by Nazi warplanes. Although if people do tell their friends about how epic the movie is (if it actually is) people might take more notice of it, possibly even adding to the amount of Thomas fans, especially good because there is perfect timing here, as Andrew Brenner, the new head writer, is doing a superb job on it at the minute.

Finally, the merchandise. The film is said to be distributing merchandise for the 'older audience'. Assumingly this does not mean a TOMY Thomas with machine guns sticking out of his side-tanks. This hopefully means a super-detail version of the HORNBY Thomas based on his appearance in the film. This should also mean that Edward should get re-done, probably as a K2 this time, Henry, Gordon and James should also be re-done along with this, as well as any of the new characters. By 'super-detail' I mean still with the faces but with features like sprung buffers, safety valves, high prototypical accuracy and possibly even weathering! If that happened I would definatley buy them.

In conclusion, this movie had better be good for the amount of time we've been waiting and not just in graphics either. In every aspect. From storyline to merchandise. Hopefully, Shane Acker will make this movie a World War II based movie, not a TATMR2 movie as has currently been teased. I also hope that he does his research, and that the diesel was built during the 1930s and that only Sodor's nos 1-5 appear. I also feel that more posters/trailers should be produced. That way we will be kept interested in the current development of the movie.