Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure: the Review

WARNING: This post may contain major spoilers for Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure.

*Blows off dust* Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I haven't really used this blog for the past few years, however after seeing SLOTLT in cinemas I decided to make a review of the film. So, shall we begin?

Firstly, let's start with the story. It is excellently constructed and everything is tied up at the end of the film. There are many subplots, the main one being Marion thinking that the Arlesdale engines are magical and they turned Oliver (the engine) into Oliver (the excavator). I especially like how the Arlesdale engines have quite a major role in the story. Initially, I thought they would just be added for the fan-service, however they do appear to play quite a major role in the story. The build-up of the story to each event is something else I enjoyed. For example, the cracks in the ground near the start of the movie before Thomas falls down into the cavern or Thomas getting cockier and cockier before the big accident at Knapford. As well as this, SLOTLT features two musical numbers: 'Never Overlook a Little Engine' and 'We Make a Team Together'. To say the least, 'Never Overlook a Little Engine' is quite a different song (you'll know what I mean when you see it!) and, yes, it does feature Rex, Mike and Bert. 'We Make a Team Together' is quite catchy and I like the tune to it. Also, is it just me or do I hear a bit of the 'Really Useful Engine' instrumental in 'Never Overlook a Little Engine'?

Now onto the returnees. First up, Donald and Douglas. Their models appear to be quite underscaled - an issue also seen in Oliver (the engine). Their models are also extremely detailed and Arc have made them look a lot more like their prototype (the Caledonian Railway 812). Joe Mills' voice acting for them is excellent and their new whistles are quite nice too. I don't really mind their new whistles as they sound realistic, however I personally prefer their old whistles. They are also introduced with bagpipes playing in the background, which is a nice touch. Next up, Daisy. Daisy is very well modelled and it is nice to see her after so many years, however I believe that she is slightly overscale (similar to Duck and James). Another complaint I would make is that she only appears briefly at the end of the movie and only has one line of dialogue, so it is hard to comment on her voice. Alfie, Oliver, Max and Monty's models (I'm grouping all the Pack members into one) are well rendered by Arc too and are highly detailed as well as being reminiscent of how they originally looked in season 6 and the Jack and the Pack spinoff. My only complaint is with Max and Monty as they do not have any speaking roles.

Next, we progress onto the new characters for the TVS. Rex, Mike and Bert are the first ones I will be covering. They are well rendered and their size is represented very well. Some people have an issue with their wheels being the same colour as their bodies however I am not bothered by it as it is not too big of a change (no pun intended!). Ryan is the next new character. Although I didn't initially like his purple coat with GNR lettering as the Great Northern Railway originally used green, I have grown to love it as it stands out among the many green engines we've seen recently (Samson, Porter, Gator, etc.). His personality in the film is quite different to that advertised; whereas he is described in merchandise as being overconfident and dismissive, in the film he is quite friendly and helpful. Finally, Sailor John and Skiff. The portrayal of Skiff and his character development is quite nice to watch; he starts out as being obedient of Sailor John until he befriends Thomas, at which point he realises what John is doing is wrong and, eventaully, takes action against him. Sailor John is also quite a good villain, and is the first human villain in the series (I don't count P. T. Boomer as he was only in the director's cut of TATMR). After all he puts Skiff through, it is nice to see him get his commupance in the end.

There are three main new sets in the feature film: Arlesburgh Harbour, Arlesburgh Junction and the Construction Site. Out of all of these, my favourite has to be the Harbour. A lot of detail has been put into the Harbour and it is extremely expansive, hence why I shall be using it as Knapford Harbour in my series. Arlesburgh Junction is quite nice too, although I do think it could use a station building as there doesn't seem to be one at the moment. The Construction Site works quite nicely at the start of the film, however I do think it is a bit disappointing at the end that the only thing resembling a station is the little halt-like podium which the Fat Controller stands upon; maybe they could add a proper station instead? I also notice that Arc seem to be expanding sets a lot, which is exampled by the windmill at the start of the film. The prologue shows us that - after the windmill - the railway passes under a road bridge, which curves downwards to run parallel to the railway. After this there is a passing loop and then a road junction. They also seemed to do this with Bluff's Cove and the Fishing Village in Toad and the Whale.

In conclusion, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure is an amazing film and I hope you all get it once it is released on DVD, I know I will!

Final Rating: 9.5/10

Tale Of The Brave - Culdee

 

So, "Tale of the brave". Sloped boilered engine. Culdee, anyone? It doesn't seem like coincidence that Andrew Brenner is now head-writer, the CFR was mentioned in BMM and that the engine mentioned has a "sloped boiler". It seems likely that the Culdee Fell Railway will now be introduced into the TVS! I couldn't find any standard-gauge sloped boilered engines and I can't really think of any other explanation as to why a sloped-boilered engine would come to Sodor. What would happen if it was introduced, though?

I think that if it was introduced that Culdee's smokebox would be coloured black. Just something I thought seemed likely. Also, I think that the other engines (e.g. Eric, Patrick etc.) would be painted different colours. Why? Just think about the Skarloey Railway. When they were introduced in season 4 the engines had different colours to differentiate eachother, as some of them would look similar to kids watching (e.g. Sir Handel/Skarloey/Peter Sam, Rheneas/Duncan). The Culdee Fell would be even harder to differentiate as their designs are only of 2 types, shared between 8 engines.

That said, however, although Culdee and Lord Harry would be most likely to be introduced, some of the others may not as they were only very minor characters, the only engines having stories centering around themselves being Godred, Lord Harry and Culdee. That said, however, some dialogue would need the other engines to work and the engines also have had personalities given to them via magazine stories and annuals/other books. I have also compiled a list of what colours I think they would be in below:

1. Godred - Red

2. Ernest   - Light Blue

3. Wilfred - Yellow

4. Culdee  - Purple

5. Shane   - Green

6. Patrick - Purple

7. Alaric - Dark Blue

8. Eric    - Orange

In conclusion, as stated above, I think that the Culdee Fell is likely to appear in "Tale of the brave". The Culdee Fell engines seem likely to appear in the above colours and I hope to see them soon.

Season 17 - Bill Or Ben?

Pros:

-Bill & Ben's new liveries

-Bill & Ben's tricks

-Characters being in personality

Cons:

-Shoehorning Thomas in

-Characters in the incorrect places 

Final episode of season 17 part 2 week 1! This episode was quite good, but had a few glaring flaws in it. Here is the review:

Firstly, Bill & Ben's new liveries, although (probably) not permanent, looked smart on them. The shade of blue suits them well, as does the yellow lining! I had expected it to be green as a reference to their real-life counterparts (Alfred & Judy) but the blue looks good on them too. Even if this shade was just a marketing scheme, I would honestly get models of the twins in this shade!

Secondly, Bill & Ben's tricks were quite nice too. They seemed like their earlier ones from season 2, I even expected a remastered version of 'the diseasel' (the music, not the episode) to appear when Bill & Ben tricked Connor. Their trick on Kevin at the end was quite funny too!

Final positive, the characters were all in personality. Sir Topham Hatt scolding the twins and being concerned about safety, Connor being concerned about a race with Bill being unfair due to his speed, Kevin being gullible to Ben's trick and Bill & Ben playing tricks on the other engines.

Now onto the cons. Firstly, the scene with Thomas felt shoehorned in. It could've been another engine, Edward particularly as I feel that the scene would fit him quite well.

Last point, the incorrect placing of characters. It seems as though Connor was either on the branchline (which he would've been too heavy for even if he was British. Yes I am suggesting he is already too heavy for Sodor anyway. I don't care if the animators shrunk him, big American engines don't go on British railways, it's common sense) or Bill and Ben being on the mainline, when they belong on Edward's branchline.

Overall, this episode wasn't perfect, but it was still better than what we've endured for the past 8 seasons.

Rating: 3.5/5

Season 17 - Percy's Lucky Day

Pros:

-Bill & Ben's in-persona return

-Opening sequence

-'Wrong road' reference at the start

Cons:

-N/A

So, now onto episode 14 of series 17! Now featuring Bill & Ben! How was it?

Firstly, Bill & Ben's return. When I first heard of the episode, I thought that Bill & Ben would only appear briefly at the end (at that accident-prone place called 'Bluff's Cove junction'). However, they appeared earlier, and in fact were given a secondary plot! Bill and Ben's personalities remain quite the same, arguing with each other in a comical way (unlike a certain two other 0-4-0 twins). Their wheels becoming red isn't such a problem, a reasonable explanation being that they went for an overhaul and the workmen had run out of black paint, so had to paint their wheels red.

The second great thing about the episode was the opening sequence. The addition of the 4-leaved clover was very significant to the episode, giving an idea of the theme.

My third and final point on this episode is the 'wrong road' reference at the start. Percy being confused about the man waving the green handkerchief is not too dissimilar to the Gordon and the lady in the floppy green hat in that episode. One improvement would be some interaction from the driver/fireman, similarly to how 'wrong road' was handled.

Overall this was another season 17 success and quite a good episode overall, also featuring the new Bill & Ben, who seem to have caught a case of mad red-wheel disease.

Rating: 5/5

Porter The Saddle-Tank Engine: First Impressions

Here is Porter, the new saddle-tank engine at Brendam docks. Bit early for this, don't you think? Anyways, Porter: what do I think of him? Quite good, actually.

Although his basis looks like it may be American it could easily be British. It kinda looks like an industrialized J52, although I do also think it looks a bit like the Foxfield railway's 'Florence No.2'. Thing is though, his cab looks like it could be made of wood, a bit like the saddle-tank engine from 'Rails of War'.

The livery is suiting. The dark green fits well, and the sides look as though they have nameplates, and maybe even 'NWR' lettering (although these could just be pipes).

Some say he is the dark green engine from the 'Troublesome trucks' pop-up book, some say he has a giesel funnel. All we know is he is called 'Porter'! (And that he is a saddle-tank engine with outside cylinders and he is an upcoming character)

Season 17 - The Phantom Express

Pros:

-Mention of driver/fireman

-James tricking Percy

-Stephen's quotes

-Ending

Cons:

-James' punishment

-Incorrect terminology

So, 13th episode in, first CGI series ghost episode and 3rd episode in a row of which's title begins with 'the'. This one was quite a good episode, couldn't think of much to say earlier but now I have watched it again, so have more of an idea of what to put! So, let's begin!

First point is the mention of Stephen's 'driver and fireman', characters who have been neglected for so long, acting only as the engine's hands. Yayz for the return of the driver/fireman!

Second up is James' tricking Percy. This reminds me of season 6, specifically the episode 'Jack frost'.

Third is Stephen's quotes once he and Percy fall into the moat. They are quite funny. Stephen's quotes are usually the best.

I also liked the ending. This also reminded me of season 6, especially 'Jack frost' and 'James & the queen of Sodor'.

One con is James' punishment. Surely making him take Percy's mail train would hurt Percy more than James. They should've had him do something different, like being relegated to goods trains for the rest of the month.

Another con would be the title. It is incorrect as for what James is talking about, which is an engine. Maybe if he talked about a passenger train which derailed or the title was 'the phantom engine' this would be correct. Maybe have the 'phantom engine' as an explanation as to why the red engine is absent from the series?

Overall, this is a good, season 6-esque episode and I like it quite a lot.

Rating: 4/5

Season 17 - The Thomas Way

Pros:

-Duck's backstory

-Duck acting in personality

-Thomas' trick

Cons:

-Point switching errors

-Loading gauge errors 

Now, here is Duck's first proper CGI episode, and it was a great (western) one (It's ironic that I heard the radio talking about First Great Western trains being late)! But this episode didn't come without it's flaws. Here's what I like/dislike about this episode.

First positive, Duck's backstory. This was unexpected! Duck's backstory was great! This was the first time since season 2! And the image and mention of Duck working at Paddington was awesome! It even had his season 6 model in it!

Second point is that Duck was acting in-personality, talking about doing things "the great-western way, or the wrong way". This worked very well in my opinion. One thing that could've been added would be Thomas mentioning that Duck wanted to see things from the water, similarly to how Harold wants to see things from the tracks.

The third pro is Thomas' trick. It seems very Thomas-like and similar to something that could've happened in the earlier seasons.

Now on to the negatives. The first one was the point-switching. When Thomas goes to Knapford no signalman is seen to switch the points. A bit of interaction with the signalman would've been nice. I also noticed some 'wrong-roading' at the end with Duck & Thomas.

The second is the loading gauge errors. Although it is mentioned and this is the reason why Thomas is needed, Harold being transported via rail like this is heavy on the unrealism. There could've been 2 alternative solutions to this:

a. Harold has his blades and floaters dismantled to make travel safer or

b. Thomas & Duck need to double head a long goods train.

Overall, the episode had it's strong points and it's weak points, some of it good, some of it bad. Also notice that the Misty Island tunnel is boarded up, a sign of the end for Misty Island?

Rating: 4/5