TTTE Special: The Adventure Begins

Time to look back on the first special made to celebrate 70 years of Thomas. And I'm going to properly see if it still holds up when it first came out.

Special thanks to Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia for the image

10. The Adventure Begins.
Based on "The 3 Railway Engines" and "Thomas the Tank Engine" by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry.
Readapted by: Andrew Brenner.
Aired: US: 3 March 2015. UK: 27 July 2015. AUS: 4 November 2015.

A long time ago, there was a little railway known as The North Western. The engines working there are Edward, the smallest engine, who shunted trains for the bigger engines and Gordon, the biggest engine, who loves pulling the express; unfortunately, he sometimes has to pull trucks. One day, Gordon is pulling a goods train and informs Edward that a new engine will be arriving soon. Edward is very surprised and curious by this. Gordon goes on explaining how the last engine to arrive, who has wooden brake blocks, is too small. Suddenly the engine, James, pulls in front of them, protesting that he is not small and that there is nothing wrong with his wooden brakes.

Gordon continues on with his goods train, but when he reaches the big hill on the main line, the trucks hold him back and he refuses to try and make it to the top. His driver makes a phone call to Sir Topham Hatt, the railway's controller. Sir Topham Hatt sends Edward to give Gordon a push and together they make it to the top of the hill. But Gordon just continues on his way without even saying thank you to Edward.

Later, Edward is shunting when he hears a voice he has never heard before. He finds James talking to a tank engine with six small wheels, a short stumpy funnel, a short stumpy boiler and a short stumpy dome. Edward does not expect the new engine to be so small. The tank engine introduces himself as Thomas and the two tender engines welcome him to Sodor. Gordon arrives and scoffs at Thomas' claim that he is really useful for anything more than shunting coaches. As Gordon leaves, Sir Topham Hatt arrives and gives Thomas his orders to make himself useful and that Edward will show him what to do.

Thomas and Edward set to work shunting trains for the big engines. But all day long Thomas gets himself into trouble by bumping trucks and going onto the wrong tracks. Later, Thomas spies Gordon sleeping on a siding and wakes him up with a toot of his whistle, leaving Gordon very cross.

That night, Thomas arrives at Tidmouth Sheds and pulls into the berth beside Edward. He is excited about pulling trains soon, but Edward knows that he has to learn how to shunt properly first. Then a big green engine pulls into the sheds, wanting to get into his berth quickly before it rains. Edward tells Thomas about Henry and how much he does not like rain. Edward then tells the story of how Henry refused to leave a tunnel in case the rain spoiled his paint. After the passengers and even another engine could not get him out, the Fat Controller had a wall built in front of him and left him there. Edward begins to explain how Henry was allowed out after Gordon burst his safety valve outside the tunnel, but Gordon interrupts him, wanting to get to sleep.

The next day, Thomas is sent to the Sodor Steamworks to be painted into the colours Sir Topham Hatt likes to see on his railway - blue with red stripes. Thomas shows Edward his paint as well as his new number one. The other engines tell Thomas about the previous number one, who was a coffee pot engine. Edward has a train to pull so Thomas goes to fetch Gordon's express coaches, but he accidentally couples to two small coaches named Annie and Clarabel. Thomas kindly apologises, explaining how he is new. The coaches think he is a very sweet engine and Annie seems sure that he will go far one day.

Thomas spends all day working on his own, but it is hard work and he continues causing problems. Late in the afternoon, James pulls in with Annie and Clarabel and screeches to a stop next to Thomas, who notices a smoky smell. It is coming from James' wooden brakes, but James pretends not to notice. Thomas sees Henry taking on water and asks him why he has a fear of rain, explaining how it is just water, like he puts in his boiler and that he should not spend all day worrying. Henry claims that he is usually very happy, when it is sunny.

The next morning, Thomas' fire is slow to start, making him late to bring Gordon's coaches to the platform. Gordon is still grumpy that Thomas woke him up by whistling, so when Thomas brings him his coaches, Gordon makes a plan. As soon as he is coupled up, he quickly pulls away before the workmen have a chance to uncouple Thomas from the other end of the train. Thomas is forced to race along with the express as Gordon taunts him, all the way to Wellsworth. As soon as the train stops, an exhausted Thomas is uncoupled and he goes to a water tower for a drink; Gordon laughs and continues on his way.

Thomas is later shunting when he spots two very strange looking trucks on a siding. He wakes them up, causing them to panic, wondering what the emergency could be. Annie and Clarabel explain how they are Jerome and Judy, the breakdown train and the cranes are used to lift things back onto the tracks. James pulls in with a goods train, ready to take the coaches; Thomas notices the burning smell again, but once again James pretends that he has not seen any smoke, this time blowing the smoke away.

The next morning, Henry is feeling ill, so Thomas thinks he might have a chance to take Henry's train. When Henry still does not come, the Fat Controller decides that Thomas is the only engine available. But Thomas is too excited to listen to Sir Topham's instructions and after hearing a guard's whistle on the other platform, he pulls away without his train; he hurries along thinking pulling a train is easy. He comes to a red signal where the signalman asks him where his coaches are. Thomas is shocked and very sad that he has left his train behind. He comes back to Knapford where all the passengers are complaining and finally does as he is told, but he still feels miserable.

That night, Gordon and James find the story of Thomas' train very amusing. But Edward feels sorry for Thomas and asks him if he would like to take his train of trucks in the morning; Thomas happily agrees.

The next day, Thomas can hardly contain his excitement. He and Edward make their way to the train of trucks, but Edward tries to warn Thomas about how much trouble the trucks can cause. Thomas feels confident and pulls away, but the trucks try to hold back. As he finally leaves, Edward calls out to Thomas to be careful.

Thomas makes his way along the line, with the trucks getting crosser and crosser. He comes to Gordon's Hill and struggles to make his way to the top. But as soon as they begin to run down the other side, the trucks see their chance. They push Thomas hard, causing him to run down the track at high speed. Thomas flies down the line until he is sent into a siding at Maron and finally comes to a stop in front of some buffers. The Fat Controller has seen all and orders Thomas and Edward to stay in the yard until Thomas knows as much about trucks as Edward.

Thomas and Edward are shunting when they notice a train at the platform without an engine. Thomas realises that it is raining and races back to the sheds, where he finds Henry. He once again tells Henry about how rain is just water like he puts in his boiler and Henry finally comes out into the rain, very happy.

Thomas begins to work hard, now that he knows he is not as clever as he first thought. But as he is talking to Edward, James rushes through the yard with a train of trucks, screaming and with black smoke coming from his brakes; the trucks are pushing him and Thomas bravely hurries after James.

Out on the main line, James begs the trucks to stop pushing him, but they take no notice. Thomas tells James to use his brakes, but they are already on fire, making them useless against the trucks. Thomas heads to the brake van and James' guard tries to couple him up so that Thomas can slow the train down. But before Thomas can be coupled up, James goes around a bend too fast, tipping onto his side and sliding along a field. The train falls off the track with him. Thomas is shocked and after seeing that the guard is okay, he tells James that he will get help.

Thomas heads into Knapford Yard and wakes up Jerome and Judy again, letting them know that this time there really is an emergency. The two cranes and the workmen are soon ready and Thomas sets off. The Fat Controller demands to know what Thomas is doing, but Thomas tells him that this is an emergency.

At the accident site, Thomas pushes the rest of James' trucks away while Jerome and Judy lift a very battered and dirty James back onto the tracks. The Fat Controller tells Thomas to take James to the Steamworks.

Later that night, at Tidmouth Sheds, the workmen and engines cheer for Thomas. Even Gordon is impressed. Sir Topham tells everyone how James will be fitted with proper brakes and given a new coat of paint and he is going to give Thomas his own branch line for being so brave; Thomas is delighted. Gordon asks the Fat Controller who will shunt the trucks and coaches while Thomas is away. Sir Topham tells him that until he can find another small tank engine, he might have to do it himself. Gordon is distraught at hearing this, but the other engines laugh.

A few days later, Thomas and Edward are in the yard when they see a red engine approaching. It is James in his new bright red paintwork and with new proper brakes. James asks Edward to fetch his coaches, but Annie and Clarabel tell him that they belong to Thomas now. He collects them and sets off on his way, but not forgetting to wake up Gordon first.

Thomas happily chuffs along the branch line with Annie and Clarabel. He pulls into Ffarquhar and is surprised to see a coffee pot engine on one of the sidings, covered in moss. The engine tells him to wear his number one with pride and as Thomas leaves, the engine introduces himself as Glynn. Thomas continues on his way, as happy as can be to be starting his new life on the Island of Sodor.

Animation:

Arc Productions started to outdo themselves here. Improving the animation to the point where it looks real, almost like they're using models again.

New characters:

Jerome and Judy: There we have it. The Breakdown Train has returned with 2 names. The male crane named Jerome and the female crane named Judy. Judy is voiced by Teresa Gallagher. You can tell since her voice is Mavis' with a Cockney accent. Jerome is voiced by Tim Whitnall. Jerome's persona and voice work since it might remind some of Mister Lazy from The Mister Men Show since both characters are the same colour, they are heavy sleepers, and are voiced by the same person. Judy's a heavy sleeper too.

Glynn: Yep, the Coffeepot engines have made it to the TV canon....well, at least 1. And this one is the number 1 engine. What makes him remind me of Skarloey is that he has the same voice as him, only with a weak South Welsh accent, they're both number 1, and they're the same colour. Plus, both are voiced by Keith Wickham.

Adaptations:

Edward and Gordon: This readaptation works well since it shows Gordon leaving Edward behind, refusing to thank him for helping up the hill.

The Sad Story of Henry: Only retold by Edward the Blue Engine, and in this readaptation, it was James who tried to get Henry out of the tunnel since that red engine in the original book looked like James, yet James was originally black in the books, and he's black in this readaptation.

Edward, Gordon and Henry: Edward the Blue Engine was about to tell the story until Gordon the Big Engine interrupted him. 

Thomas and Gordon: The first half of this adaptation was just Thomas waking Gordon up while still in his green livery. The 2nd half had Thomas having a hard time waking up, and Gordon moving with the express without the crew uncoupling Thomas. The difference between this and the original adaptation is that Gordon's train had 3 coaches in the old adaptation while in this one, he had 6.

Thomas' Train: The strange thing about this adaptation is that the train consisted of red branch line coaches instead of express coaches like the original story and the original adaptation.

Thomas and the Trucks: The difference between this adaptation and the old adaptation is the structuring of Maron. In the 1st season Maron was a straight station, while as of Season 6, it's curved. And it was a siding Thomas the Tank Engine bumped into. 

Thomas and the Breakdown Train: Now this is an adaptation with a twist! Thomas the Tank Engine trying to help James the Black Engine try to stop. And the deer pun. "Oh deer!" cries James the Black Engine. And not to mention Fat Controller acting like Ferdinand in a way. Saying "That's right!"

Changes to the engines.

James is painted black with red lining in this special, just to mirror the original books. And his brake pipes are facing upward again like in Seasons 1, 2 and 5.

Thomas the Tank Engine is painted teal with white lining and the number 70 on his bunker. Funny since there's a real LB&SCR tank engine that had this number. Poplar, an A1. And the livery makes sense since it's a Southern Railway green.

When Thomas got painted blue as we know him in, he even got back that red lining he had in the first 2 1/2 seasons of the TV series. Props to Sam Wilkinson for requesting this, though I could care less about that little detail. 

Songs:

Really Useful Engine: This was a very good remix of the 1993 version of the song, sung by Robert Hartshorne and some kids. Though it was lovely, I still prefer the 1993 version.

Troublesome Trucks: An interesting remix of the 2003 version, but with a twist to fit in with this special. It's funny, but I still prefer the 2003 version.

Final thoughts:

Does this special still hold up? Without a doubt, yes! It's the original Railway Series books with a twist and in CGi. And because of this, I feel, if the Reverend Wilbert Awdry was still alive to see this, he would love it since it follows his books, especially considering he kind of liked the first 2 seasons and disliked Seasons 3 and 4.

Fat Controller is voiced by Keith Wickham in the US dub in this special onward like in the UK dub. James is voiced by Rob Rackstraw in this special in the US dub, but his voice is Mister Fussy's with a watered down American accent, speaking of which, Rob Rackstraw now also voices James in the UK dub as of Season 21 and his voice is just like that of Scoop from Bob the Builder. 

Thomas is now voiced by Joseph May in the US dub and John Hasler in the UK dub. I say Thomas' current UK voice is just like Ben Small's Thomas voice.

This is where I feel Thomas' character really works. It even makes him feel more like his Seasons 1-8 self. I like that. Too bad it went down the drain in The Not-so Great Race. But that special shouldn't affect my views on Thomas as a character.

This is where I feel Henry's wimpy persona works. "Once an engine attached to a train was afraid of a few drops of rain." Strange how it took only Thomas the Tank Engine to help Henry overcome his fear of the rain, but I guess it works. 

However, I've been thinking more recently. While it was brilliant to incorporate the Coffeepots into the TV series, especially Glynn, I feel they could've gotten Ringo Starr or Michael Angelis to voice Glynn for this special, where he lets Thomas run the branch line and wear the number 1 with pride. Not only would it be more appealing to those who grew up with the classic series, it would also be a metaphor of the old generation passing the torch over to the new generation, like how they got Lily Tomlin to reprise her role as Valerie Frizzle in The Magic School Bus Rides Again. But no, just reuse Keith Wickham and have him voice Glynn, proving he'd run out of voices by this point.

But forget it, this is among the best specials of the franchise. If I had to choose between this and Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, I'll have to go with the latter, but only by a hair or so. This special is that good. While not as good as Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, it's still better than Journey Beyond Sodor. 

So overall, this was a brilliant way to celebrate 70 years of Thomas, and I feel the Rev. W. Awdry would approve of this special. Looking back, it's better than I remember.

My rating: 10/10.