Monday, 8 September 2014

Series 18: Duncan and the Grumpy Passenger

With another weekend over, series 18 returns for a third week with a narrow gauge episode: Duncan and the Grumpy Passenger!

We all knew it would come sooner or later. As you can already gather by the title, Duncan returns to the narrow gauge railway after a 6 year absence and, by extension, joins Oliver and Toad on the list of returnees for this series. But will his return be like old times or just a huge let down?


It seems Davey Moore has been put in charge of the narrow gauge episodes. That or it's sheer coincidence that he's written every episode they star in. I really wouldn't mind if it was the former, because he seems to understand them brilliantly well. In fact, I'd say this was Duncan's best performance since series 4!

The story seems like another slice of life fare, which I really don't mind at all. Duncan and the passenger play their roles brilliantly, and I actually hope the passenger appears again to cause more trouble for another engine. Maybe Sir Handel? I'd love his personality to revert to its series 4 state.

The thing I like the most about the story though is that it takes place on the Skarloey Railway, not the Blue Mountain Quarry. Don't get me wrong, the BMQ is fantastic, but that's only part of the whole narrow gauge network, and I'm glad the writers are remembering that.

Speaking of which, I'm so glad that the animators managed to create a set of Crovan's Gate. After 19 years, the standard gauge and narrow gauge lines are connected in the way the Awdrys envisioned. Well, almost. It's not exactly the same as the Railway Series version, but considering the best things of series 4 were the narrow gauge sets, I'm happy.

Duncan's persona was brilliant. It was great to hear him complaining again and, like I say, it culminates with his best performance since series 4 and a great moral: you can't please everyone all of the time. I also feel the Skarloey Railway feels more complete with his return. I'd like to see Duke again, but I'm not holding out much hope. Then again, there is a slim chance, considering Crovan's Gate returned here..!

I also liked how the works on the tracks were being carried out at night. It just feels like a more natural time to get it done, since it's a quieter period for the railway.

The comedy was fantastic here as well. Part of it came from the grumpy passenger, while part of it came from the Sodor newspaper. It feels like a slow news day every time it's featured!

The animation was stunning here, and the shot above is the best I've seen so far. New director, Don Spencer, helped to create a work of art here. The composition is astounding, and it feels like a painting or a real life photograph than an animated scene for a children's television show.

The only thing I can really comment on is Duncan's render. I love it, but I feel more detail could have been given to him. Compared to the other engines, he looks extremely... plain. When Nitrogen were building the other five narrow gauge engines (and the rolling stock), they took a trip to the UK for research, but they couldn't render Duncan as Douglas was being overhauled. Since then though, Douglas has been restored and has returned to regular service. I know it seems like extraneous effort for one locomotive, but considering Bill, Ben, Millie and Timothy, it would have felt like it was worth it. But I can't complain too much, as he does look fantastic regardless.

There are also a couple of nitpicks. The first of which being James pulling narrow gauge coaches. Since this is Don Spencer's first time in the director's chair, I'll let him off. But here's hoping it doesn't become a running goof. That said, I liked that James, Henry and Emily were passing through rather than Thomas (who was absent throughout!). It actually feels like the main line again, if you know what I mean.

Another goof was Skarloey's missing lamp. Why doesn't he have one? I'd have thought it would be unsafe to run at night without one.

That said, the voices were brilliant, especially Tom Stourton as Duncan. His Scottish accent was fantastic, while the other narrow gauge engines' voices seem to have improved immensely. Also, that grumpy passenger's mutterings were hilarious. The music was top notch too. I personally couldn't hear the remix of Duncan's theme, but it was still great, so I'm not complaining!

Fan Reaction




The Mad Controller's Corner

Final Thoughts

The narrow gauge crew feels complete, the Skarloey Railway itself is taking shape brilliantly and, while the story is about on par with the previous one, it just felt more entertaining in my opinion. Overall, I thought it was a great episode, and a fantastic way to bring Duncan back into the fold. I really can't wait to see "Moore" from Davey!
Episode Ratings

Series Rating (so far)
85/110
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Friday, 5 September 2014

Series 18: Thomas and the Emergency Cable

To end week two, we have the 10th episode of the series: Thomas and the Emergency Cable!

I was pretty excited about this episode when I first heard about it. I never really imagined that the show would include emergency cables or wheel flats. That said, I couldn't have imagined that the show would introduce slip coaches either and look how well that turned out. Yes, Duck and the Slip Coaches was the best episode I'd seen (up to that point), and it made me even more excited to see what they could do here. But could the team do a repeat performance and create another amazing episode?


To be honest, they didn't. But considering that Duck and the Slip Coaches has set a really high bar, it will be difficult for any episode to beat it. That being said, I still really enjoyed Thomas and the Emergency Cable, and it's another episode that wouldn't feel out of place in the Railway Series.

The description of the emergency cable was great; short, sweet and to the point. However, there is one slight issue I have with it, which I'll get to later.

Again, it's another slice of life story, but it isn't as exciting as those told in Duck in the Water or Thomas the Quarry Engine. On the first watch, I wasn't a fan of this more mundane tale, but after a couple more viewings, I really like it. It's stories like this that make you realise that not all of the escapades on Sodor are action packed. A few of these stories to break up the action are very much welcome in my book.

I loved the character interactions here as well. Again, things seemed to progress naturally and it was really nice to watch.

The human interaction was a breath of fresh air as well, although it was rather distracting hearing the guard's voice. It was basically the Fat Controller's with less of a hint of Yorkshire.

Another nice little surprise was seeing Annie with a wheel flat due to the sudden braking. It was nicely rendered by the animators and a brilliant addition by Andrew Brenner and railway consultant Sam Wilkinson. Speaking of which, I loved how Victor says there were no coach wheels in stock. It's a small throwaway line, but it's still great that they're keeping things real! (or, at least, as real as possible)

The birdwatcher was a pretty good character too, voiced brilliantly by Joe Mills. His Welsh accent is fantastic, and the scene where everyone stares at him was pretty funny. That said, it was a bit weird that they still described him as "the man with the binoculars" after he said he was a birdwatcher. And a name would have been nice for him, but I digress.

There were a couple more funny moments in this episode, too. Clarabel's reaction to the boys jumping on her seats was priceless, as was Annie's to being hoisted onto the flatbed by Rocky.

However, there are a couple of issues here. The first is Thomas only pulling Clarabel. I can understand him pulling her just after the wheel flat situation, but you'd have thought there would be a spare coach on standby for situations like this? You can't really run a branch line as busy as Thomas' with only one 4 wheel coach.

Second, it's explained very well what an emergency cable does, but it's never explained what happens when it's misused. You can't just apologise for disrupting a railway's operations and expect to get away with it, regardless of how "genuine" the apology seemed to be. I'm not saying the police should have been involved, but there should be some sort of protocol in place, maybe a small fine or working, unpaid, on the railway for a week.

Thomas also says "he doesn't have to stop [for the birdwatcher] if he doesn't want to". Here's the thing: there are two people in his cab who would disagree with that! Regardless of how Thomas felt, there should have been some involvement from his driver and fireman! I can respect the team for wanting the series to be as realistic as possible, but you can't pick and choose which parts should be.

All that said, the animation was brilliant as always (although, slight nitpick, Annie would probably need to be fastened down better than that!). The angles were great and the final shot looking through the binoculars was brilliant.

And, again, the voice artists were great as well, while the music was top notch, too. Robert Hartshorne has really upped his game this series, and it shows big time.

Fan Reaction





The Mad Controller's Corner

Final Thoughts

Out of all of Andrew Brenner's stories this series, this is my least favourite. That's not to say that it's bad in any way, it's more of a testament to how good he is as a writer. The story was OK and the conflict was great, but if there'd been a bit more done with the birdwatcher for pulling the cord than a simple "I'm sorry" and letting him off the hook, it would have been so much better.

Episode Ratings

Series Rating (so far)
77/100
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Thursday, 4 September 2014

Series 18: Thomas the Quarry Engine

The ninth episode of series 18 has aired, so here are my thoughts on Thomas the Quarry Engine!

After being absent for one episode and a short supporting role in another, Thomas returns to the main star position with Diesel and Mavis in tow. Thomas and Diesel have made some pretty good stories in the past, but can they do it again in the present?


Well, for the amount of time they're seen together, I'd say the chemistry is definitely still there. Their argument felt like classic Thomas the Tank Engine, especially when Diesel referred to diesels as "revolutionary" (it's rather ironic that one of the DVD extras this episode was featured on in the US had Mr Perkins read Pop Goes the Diesel). Although one thing bothered me: Thomas' branch line does have a diesel running on it: Daisy! I hope that this isn't a sign that she's been completely forgotten about... And while Diesel did refer to Thomas as a "steamie", I'll let it slide since it's the only utterance of the "word" so far this series.

I really liked the panning shot of the quarry at the start, and the fact it was recognised as "one of the oldest" is quite a nice touch. It's rather refreshing to hear about the age of locations rather than the characters.

And yes, I love Mavis' characterisation here, too. It's like no one can do any wrong with her. Even in the Sam Barlow era, she was the only character that had any real personality. I'm also really glad that she was given a large role here after being largely forgotten about in the last series.

I really enjoyed the transitions here, too. They felt a bit like The Switch's, only the ending came together much better; I think there could have been more to get out of Luke and Millie's scenario, but everything fit together perfectly well with the time frame they had to work with here.

I quite liked the Mavis and Diesel part of the story. It was a bit repetitive, but considering they're usually assigned to goods traffic, there isn't really too much you can do without it feeling a bit repetitive.

That being said, I did enjoy seeing the conflict between Mavis and Diesel grow, which made the slight repetitive nature bearable, in a similar way to Duck in the Water. It's really interesting seeing Diesel's devious side clash with Mavis' work ethic.

As for Thomas' scenario, I like that his impatience builds up throughout. Considering he has a branch line to run, it's understandable. Toby's appearance... confused me, though. Yes, I understand why he's there (again, nice Railway Series nod), but it's 11:15am. If he was taking them for lunch, it'd be more understandable, but not supper, which is usually after the evening meal. That's my only real issue, which is a shame considering Arc have been brilliant when portraying the passage of time in previous episodes.


And then there was the runaway scene, which felt a lot like Thomas and the Trucks, only here the brake van was incorporated to make the trucks' force feel even stronger. I really like that these little titbits are added, as it makes things feel more railway realistic.

The crash was pretty cool too. Although I'm not sure how Thomas got from the quarry to Maron in the space of a few shots. But, to be honest, that's not really important. What is interesting though is the driver looking out to see what had happened. If only they actually spoke... At this point, that would be the only thing that would make the series complete.

Another plus is that the main characters of the episode actually resolve what happened between themselves. Again, it feels like the dialogue is natural. I also noticed Diesel's manipulative lie, kind of like his persona from Dirty Work. It's understandable, since he's the antagonist, that he'd shirk responsibility for Mavis' absence in this way. Oh, and I've no idea where Mavis got those balloons, but they are hilarious.

The ending though was the icing on the cake. Allowing Mavis to go down to the docks felt like a similar resolution to the one from Toby's Tightrope, both of which suit the stories that were told brilliantly. And that song was fantastic. Giving Teresa Gallagher the chance to sing was a nice surprise, and the rest of the voices did a good job as well.

And the animation was superb as per usual. They really know how to film dramatic scenes like the ones seen here, and they do so in unique and interesting ways. The music was great too. The instrumental for I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside really added to its appeal and made it a lot catchier. And that piece at the start when they were showing off the quarry was amazing. It's possibly one of my favourites music cues from Robert Hartshorne so far.

Fan Reaction





The Mad Controller's Corner

Final Thoughts

I'd say this one was definitely up there with Andrew Brenner's best. I don't think it was as good as Gone Fishing, which felt more relatable to me, but it's definitely as good as Old Reliable Edward. The conflict was great, the characters played off each other really well and that runaway scene was a thing of beauty. Yeah, there were a couple of nitpicks, but they really don't take anything away from the rest of the episode.

Episode Ratings

Series Rating (so far)
70/90
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Wednesday, 3 September 2014

Series 18: Duck and the Slip Coaches

And the ninth episodes has come and gone, and here's my review of it: Duck and the Slip Coaches!

I must be honest, I was really looking forward to this episode. I had no idea what slip coaches were, but I was interested to see what would be done with them. And after seeing them in the Let's Be Brave music video, and seeing how well Duck and James gelled in Duck in the Water, I was even more excited. But the question is: was that excitement misplaced?


No, it wasn't. This episode exceeded my expectations and then some! Quite frankly, this story wouldn't feel out of place in the Railway Series, and it's by far the greatest episode of the television series that I've ever seen. Yes, something has finally knocked Edward's Exploit off its perch.

The set-up to the main conflict is brilliant. It feels like a real problem on a real railway is happening on screen. Something like this hasn't been seen since Thomas and Victoria, the Railway Series book back in 2007. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they took that concept and applied it on a grander scale.

I also love the perfect characterisation. They made a James and Duck episode work again, and it still felt fresh and new. I can believe that James would take the credit for the slip coaches idea, and the "I know all about..." argument here felt a lot more believable than it ever did during the "dark ages", since James is taking some rolling stock he's never used before.

And the flashback. Oh, the flashback! It actually feels like we're watching Duck in the olden days, rather than watching widescreen footage with a few effects plastered on it to make it feel "old". It's a fantastic way to show the audience how things worked back in the day.

I also love this little touch of the movable steps. I've been to heritage railways and the National Railway Museum and they do exist, so a fantastic piece of research done there.

This scene was brilliant as well. When was the last time we heard that passengers thought the NWR was a "Bad Railway"? These classic references make the show feel so much closer to its roots. Oh yeah, and that "walk of shame" was really well handled.

Shots like these (and the one of Duck at the top) are utterly joyous. I kept thinking of the Railway Series illustrations of James and the Express while watching them, and I loved it.

But the one thing I do have to talk about is the stunning designs of the slip coaches. They look perfect, and so much better than the other bogie coaches that have been seen in the CGI era. I hope that this signals to the animators that they can rebuild the express coaches (and similar) from the bottom up to make them look as grand as these. And they got the coupling system right, as well!
My only real nitpick though (and this is extremely nitpicky) is that slips don't uncouple from locomotives. The rest of the animation though is fantastic as always. A bit choppy when people get off the train, but still brilliant

The voice acting was tremendous as well. Keith Wickham was, like the last two episodes, the stand out performer as James, delivering his lines in such a humorous way. I also liked the voices for the slip coaches. I almost couldn't recognise who voiced them considering Jonathan Broadbent's voice for Bill and Ben is completely different to the first coach and Rebecca O'Mara's Irish tones were non-existent for the second. It just shows the wide range the vocal talent this show has, and I personally hope this isn't the last we see, or hear, of the "slippies".

All that said, I have to talk about Emily's treatment here. Yes, they probably did it as a joke against the fans who support the "Emily replaced Duck" theory, but the joke is too mean spirited to work. It just treats Emily as though she's a "bad engine" for no good reason, and it's really unfair on her considering she had a brilliant role in Tale of the Brave and she was shown to be working as hard as everyone else at the start of this episode. After 10 years of being accepted by the other Steam Team members, you can't just make her look like an outcast now, especially because, as I said, she doesn't deserve it.

OK, the first time was probably an accident, but the second time was just too cruel. She could see how much fun everyone else was having with Duck, which made her look unnaturally jealous. They could have had the Fat Controller tell her that Duck needed the berth, but no. This is fan service done in one of the worst ways, and it just gives those "journalists" who scream "sexism" against the show ammo. And this time, it's legitimate ammo, and that's partly why I'm angry with these scenes. The show does not deserve to be hounded by the press, but it doesn't help with scenes such as these.

My other problem though isn't the joke, it's the fact that Emily was in the episode at all. She could have been cut out completely and it would have stayed the same, or it may have been even better. Personally, with my non-critic head on (for this paragraph), I think they did it to make people who thought Emily replaced Duck feel guilty, and if that's the case, they did the job really well - or, at least, I hope they did. But it still feels extremely harsh on her, and I hope to God this is just a one off.

Fan Reaction





The Mad Controller's Corner

Final Thoughts

With Signals Crossed, I was a bit indifferent about Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler as writers due to some poor scripting choices on their part. Toad's Adventure proved that they were good writers, but this one proved that they are great, and their first episode was probably just a hiccup. Duck and the Slip Coaches, minus the (combined) 10 second Emily shots, is what a Thomas and Friends episode should be, and all others in the future should aspire to be.

It doesn't make you feel emotional like Edward's Exploit, and it doesn't have a relatable moral like Gone Fishing. But it does now feel like I'm watching a children's show that knows its stuff about railway operations. And for me (and, I imagine, many other fans), that's all I ever really wanted.

Thank you, team McCue and Brenner for restoring my faith in this show, and thank you Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler for writing this 8 minute 45 second piece of sheer bliss.

Episode Ratings
Old Reliable Edward: 9/10
Not So Slow Coaches: 7/10
Flatbeds of Fear: 6/10
Disappearing Diesels: 9/10
Signals Crossed: 5/10
Toad's Adventure: 8/10
Duck in the Water: 7/10
Duck and the Slip Coaches: 10/10

Series Rating (so far)
61/80
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