Monday 3 September 2018

Season 22: Number One Engine

Well, the time has come. After nearly a year of childish tantrums, racist, sexist meltdowns and cynical blog posts, Big World! Big Adventures! the series is upon us. With the movie not impressing me all that much, this season has a lot to prove. And starting with a world-based episode was a bold decision. But was it one that paid off?


In the biggest area, no. Not really. At least not this one.

Here’s the problem: they’ve made so many changes to the format (which I’ll talk about in a separate post), yet they’ve failed to fix the biggest problem the show had. It wasn’t that “Thomas never went anywhere”, it’s that the stories began to feel so similar to ones that have been told before. And this one feels incredibly similar to Thomas’ Shortcut.

However, in other areas, the new episode format helped significantly.

First of all, the main story clocks in at 7 minutes, like it did in series 8-12. So when they said “the stories would be faster paced”, what they meant is that they’d be shorter. That said, it works to their advantage. Since they have to be more focused with their storytelling, there doesn’t feel like there are any scenes that are wasted, nor do any feel that they drag. That is a big plus.

Second, I liked that the fantasy sequences actually showed us an insight into Thomas’ imagination, so we could enjoy his delusions as much as everyone else (and it was pretty funny that AnAn and Ling Yong were having none of it). It’s perfect “show, don’t tell” storytelling. Well, they do tell us as well, but that’s beside the point.

Third, Thomas as the narrator. I love Mark Moraghan’s work as narrator to death. He’s the best the show has had. But I completely get why they’d have Thomas take over. If this is his story, it’s only right that he tells it. The only problem with this is he could, potentially, be forced into situations where he doesn’t fit solely so his role as narrator fits. Maybe if the other characters narrate their stories as well (especially the Sodor based ones), this would work even better.

You’ll notice I’ve spent a lot of time focusing on the storytelling changes. That’s because... well, the story itself doesn’t give me much to talk about. It’s like I said before, it’s just Thomas’ Shortcut, only in China. The different setting just means that Thomas is overcome by his new surroundings.

The characters were... fine. But I don’t think that Thomas and Hong Mei click as well as Thomas and Bertie do. I feel that the tank engine and bus is more interesting since Bertie knows how to push Thomas’ buttons. Whereas Thomas only wants to race Hong Mei... because she’s number one on the railway he visits. He’s annoyed at a convenience in the visual character design rather than something she says or does.

That said, I do like Hong Mei as a character. She’s energetic, she’s fun, but she’s also a bit reckless. That’s all that can be said about her, but that’s also all that needs to be said. She suits her role well, and that’s great.

Also, An An and Lin Yong were brilliant. They’re like the opposite of Annie and Clarabel, encouraging Thomas to be careless so that he can get into trouble, like Ace only they’re constantly there to drive the story along.

And, as much as I dislike how much the story takes from a previous one, the theme of fair play and “friendship is better than competition” is fantastic. If this is how the UN ended up contributing to the show, I’m all in favour of them doing so for as long as the show continues. It’s just on the writers to not botch the themes completely..!

Final Thoughts
Overall, this episode is a mixed bag. The story itself blatantly unoriginal, but I feel that the characters and overall theme stop it from being truly bad. It’s just... weak, really.
Rating: Average (6/10)

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