TTTE S15E17: Wonky Whistle

Time for me to review another one of the best episodes of Thomas and Friends.

365. Wonky Whistle.

Written by: Neil Ben.

Aired: UK: 23 March 2011. US: 21 May 2011. AUS: 7 December 2011.

It is the day of the country show on Sodor and Thomas is at the Steamworks having his whistle replaced. Then the Fat Controller arrives to tell Thomas that he is to pick up Farmer McColl's animals and take them to the country show. He also tells Thomas to whistle to everyone and tell them about the show. Thomas is excited and tells Kevin to hurry up. The workmen soon fix the whistle, but it is wonky and are just about to straighten it, when Thomas speeds off. As he leaves, Thomas blows his whistle which makes a horrible noise. The noise startles Kevin, who rolls into a wall.
At McColl Farm, Thomas collects Farmer McColl's ducks, Katie the sheepdog, and his prize cow. Unfortunately, Thomas eagerly races off before the van's door is properly shut. Thomas decides to puff to the bridge; he is sure there will be a lot of people there that he can inform about the country show. Once there, Thomas tells them to visit the country show and blows his wonky whistle. This noise scares Katie, who leaps from the van and runs off. The people on the bridge call after Thomas, but he thinks they are waving hello. Thomas decides to visit Maithwaite station, but on the way he sees Bertie at a crossing. Thomas is sure his passengers will want to know about the show. He tells them all and then whistles, scaring the ducks out of the van. Bertie calls after Thomas, but Thomas thinks Bertie is tooting hello and carries on to Maithwaite station, where he blows his whistle once again. This time it frightens the prize cow, who runs out of the van and across the platform. The stationmaster shouts after Thomas, but once again, Thomas thinks he is calling hello.
Soon Thomas arrives at the country show. Thomas is surprised to see that there is no one at the show. But not as surprised as Farmer McColl when he opens Thomas' van. Thomas is upset, he was told to tell everyone about the show and to deliver the animals, but has done neither properly. Thomas blows his wonky whistle and scares some sheep, who run out of their pen. Farmer McColl waves and shouts at Thomas as he runs after the runaway sheep. Thomas concludes that his wonky whistle has scared the sheep and must have scared the other animals away too.
Thomas races to the Steamworks to have his whistle straightened and then chuffs to McColl Farm to collect the animals' favourite foods. First Thomas collects Katie the sheepdog, then the ducks, and finally the prize cow. Eventually, Thomas arrives back at the country show where Katie rounds up the runaway sheep. Then Thomas goes around the Island telling everyone about the country show again. Back at the showground, the country show is crowded with people. The Fat Controller is delighted and gives Thomas one last job: to declare the show open by blowing his whistle. The country show officially opened and everyone cheered - even Katie wagged her tail.


What can I say? This episode was super ultra brilliant! It shows how much of a genius Thomas was during the Nitrogen era! Those workers did try fixing his whistle, but he managed to go to the country show while they were on the ladder. Who cares about that? Those workers deserved to have been about to die!


That whistle did sound very realistic indeed. All whistles in real life make that slide whistle sound when wonky! Thomas sure was clever to have taken all of those animals in one van. It's too bad the moral of this episode was shot in the face by a later episode that sucked hard known as Very Important Sheep. Screw Helen Farrall for doing this episode wrong with that Season 19 atrocity! This episode rocked and that's final!

My rating: 1,000,000/10.

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In actuality, this episode was absolutely atrocious! Wonky whistles don't sound like that! They sound like a weak straight placed whistle! Thomas could have killed those workmen by running off like that! Was he deaf or something? Surely he could have heard Bertie the Bus telling him that his animals in the van were coming out of that van!

Just be thankful that Helen Farrall did a rewrite of this episode for Season 19, and done right too. I will admit, I never thought this was the worst to begin with. (I'm looking at you, Christmas Tree Express!) But it's up there somewhere.

My real rating: 0.5/10. (And that's being generous!)



Season 15 scorecard:

8. Up, Up and Away: 0.5/10.

17. Wonky Whistle: 0.5/10.

Season 15 so far: 0.5/10.