TTTE S20 episode: Three Steam Engines Gruff

Now's the time to review a direct-to-DVD episode of Thomas, one that is yet to air in countries that speak English as their main language.


(Special thanks to Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia for the image)

3 Steam Engines Gruff.
Written by: Andrew Brenner.
Aired: Japan: 4 December 2016.

It's autumn on Sodor and Thomas meets Toby along his branch line, who says the trees look very spooky. Thomas is along the line further and notices a broken fence. He sees Trevor and tells him about it, and Trevor says he will tell Farmer McColl.
That night, Thomas tells the other engines about the fence, of which they all wonder what broke it in the first place. Percy is nervous as he sets out to pull the mail train. He is making his deliveries and comes across a bridge on the branch line, and all of a sudden, hears a moaning sound. Frightened he runs back to the Sheds to tell the others. He runs in so fast, that he rockets right into Henry, who rolls further into his berth. Gordon is not amused nor interested. Percy, however, is very apprehensive toward the sound he heard.
The next morning, Percy tells Toby and Thomas about it. Thomas assures him there is probably nothing to worry about. Toby, on the other hand, is baffled and scared by this, and is not looking forward to crossing the bridge on the way to the Quarry.
Later, Thomas is nearing the bridge and decelerates, puzzling Annie and Clarabel. Thomas tells them what he is up to, but suddenly, hears the moaning sound Percy told him about, hollers, and dashes away.
Thomas, Percy and Toby meet up at Ffarquhar, and discuss the sound they heard, and make an assumption. Percy, remembering the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, thinks it's a troll. Toby, agreeing, reminds the others about how the littlest goat survived by going across the bridge first and telling the troll to eat his bigger brothers. The engines are all very scared and do not want to be consumed by the "troll".
Toby claims first, and Percy second, leaving Thomas to go third. At the bridge, Toby, Henrietta and Percy hurridly cross, leaving Thomas on the other side. Slowly proceeding across, Thomas, Annie and Clarabel hear the noise and listen more carefully, and realise it's a cow. Toby and Percy are surprised too, and they fetch Jem Cole, Farmer McColl and Trevor to rescue the cow, who was the escapee from the broken fence. Thomas takes her back to Famer McColl's farm.

That night, Thomas, Percy and Toby tell the other engines about their adventure. Edward, Henry, Gordon and James laugh, but Toby and Percy are agitated and say it's not that funny. Thomas, not having any hard feelings, says it was a little "a-moosing."

Yep! This was the first episode since Henry and the Flagpole to have Trevor the Traction Engine speak. And might I say, this is so far the only time I prefer a character's US voice over their UK voice. Trevor's UK voice sounded rather strange. I prefer his US voice.

I mean, in the US dub, Trevor sounds like Chuck from Budgie the Little Helicopter despite that that character was voiced by Kerry Shale and that in the US, Trevor is being voiced by Christopher Ragland, and of course in the UK, Trevor is voiced by Nigel Pilkington. Funny thing is, both Christopher and Nigel are also the current voices for Percy in their respective dubs.

Now, on to this episode, might I say, despite Trevor's role, this episode was executed poorly. It portrays Toby as a wimp again, and even Percy and Thomas were wimps! And all because they thought the cow under the bridge past the watermill was a troll. Percy should've learned from his experience in Tale of the Brave and Thomas, Percy and the Dragon!

So, overall, this episode is proof that Andrew Brenner should just stick to adapting Railway Series stories from now on, and Helen Farrall should be head writer.

My rating: 1.5/10.


Season 20 scorecard:

8. Pouty James: 3/10.

12. Love Me Tender: 10/10.

13. The Railcar and the Coaches: 8.5/10.

18. 3 Steam Engines Gruff: 1.5/10.

24. Buckled Tracks & Bumpy Trucks: 8.5/10.
25: Tit for Tat: 10/10.

26. Mike's Whistle: 9.5/10.

27. Useful Railway: 9.5/10.

Season 20 rating so far: 8.4/10.

TTTE S20E13: The Railcar & the Coaches

Thought I'd review another episode of Season 20. This time, on our favourite diesel railcar who's finally returned this season.


(Special thanks to Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia for the image)

479. The Railcar and the Coaches.

Written by: Davey Moore.
Aired: US: 15 December 2016. UK: 29 December 2016. AUS: 9 April 2017.

One winter day, the Fat Controller puts Thomas on quarry duty and asks Daisy to run his branch line in his absence. As few passengers are now travelling to Harwick, Daisy is delighted and sets off the following morning. Upon meeting Annie and Clarabel at the carriage shed, she tells them that they will not be needed, as the passengers will be travelling in her today. Thomas overhears Daisy making unkind comments to the coaches and warns her that she might need them. Daisy dismisses his claims, stating that she never needs to pull coaches and sets off to work, leaving Annie and Clarabel alone. The two attempt to pass the time by playing "I Spy," with little success.
Daisy goes about her work without fuss and her passengers are most impressed. That evening, she continues to be rude to Annie and Clarabel, calling them old-fashioned and out-of-date, since they cannot move on their own. The coaches are most offended by her rudeness as Daisy once again states that she will never pull coaches before leaving. However, Daisy had spoken too soon, as the Fat Controller asks her to take Annie and Clarabel the next day so that she can take more passengers.
Daisy reluctantly collects the coaches the next morning, although she refuses to apologise. Unbeknownst to her, however, Annie and Clarabel have made a plan to pay Daisy back for her rude comments. As they travel along the branch line, they pretend that they can hear something wrong with Daisy, including rattling and creaking noises. They remark on how terrible the "noise" is, state their surprise that the passengers have not complained and add that this noisy something is good for nothing but scrap. Unfortunately, their plan backfires: Daisy is so mortified that, at Maithwaite Station, she orders all of her passengers off and rushes away in panic to find out what the problem is, leaving Annie, Clarabel and the furious passengers stranded. Thomas passes by with his quarry trucks and decides to tell the Fat Controller that Daisy left her passengers behind. Annie and Clarabel cringe; they know what would happen if the Fat Controller finds out what they've been up to.
At Knapford Station, the Fat Controller and an engineer look over Daisy but are unable to find anything wrong with her. Daisy, still in a state, insists that Annie and Clarabel told her there was definitely something wrong, even if she cannot hear anything. This leads her to think that she is going deaf and she rushes off to the Dieselworks to see her fitter. Thomas arrives soon afterwards and the Fat Controller asks what his coaches said to Daisy. Although unsure, Thomas explains that she has been rude to them since arriving and has abandoned them at Maithwaite.
It is late at night when Thomas finally arrives to collect Annie and Clarabel. The Fat Controller is cross with the coaches, just as they predicted and immediately scolds them for their actions. He explains that Daisy's fitter has found nothing wrong with her at all and warns them that just because she was rude to them, that does not give them the right to be rude to her back. The coaches, sadly remarking that two wrongs do not make a right, apologise as Thomas takes them back to the carriage shed.
Annie and Clarabel decide to apologise to Daisy the next morning, but are surprised when Thomas arrives. He explains that Daisy has returned to the Harwick Branch Line and will not be taking them today. Annie and Clarabel are delighted to have Thomas back...until Thomas points out that he is still on quarry duty and that the Fat controller has assigned another engine to pull them in the meantime. Annie and Clarabel are horrified when they discover the "other engine" is Diesel.

Well, considering this was released to DVD before Ryan and Daisy and The Way She Does It aired on TV, I thought it fair to review this episode before those.

I have to say that this was a well done episode. A well done focus on Daisy, who'd been absent from an episode for like 20 years! Granted, she was in Calling All Engines!, but that's not the case.

Also, this episode has a nice moral to it. Annie and Clarabel told lies about Daisy all because she was being rude to them, only for Fat Controller to scold the 2 coaches just goes to show that 2 wrongs don't make a right.

And it was funny when the engine who was taking Annie and Clarabel at the end wasn't Thomas, Percy, Toby, Daisy or Mavis, but Diesel! He was all "Hello, ladies!", and he ended up laughing like Waluigi from the Mario series. Speaking of which, I wouldn't be surprised if Kerry is taking inspiration from Charles Martinet's voice for that meming chin man.


Now, back on subject. I'm giving away my overall opinion on this episode. While it wasn't the best Daisy episode so far, it was still a good one.

My rating: 8.5/10.

Season 20 scorecard:

8. Pouty James: 3/10.

12. Love Me Tender: 10/10.

13. The Railcar and the Coaches: 8.5/10.

24. Buckled Tracks & Bumpy Trucks: 8.5/10.
25: Tit for Tat: 10/10.

26. Mike's Whistle: 9.5/10.

27. Useful Railway: 9.5/10.

Season 20 rating so far: 8.5/10.

TTTE S17E15: Bill or Ben?

Now I'm going to review another episode of Season 17.

(Special thanks to Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia for the episode image)

403. Bill or Ben?
Written by: Andrew Brenner.
Aired: UK: 4 October 2013. AUS: 1 November 2013. US: 18 March 2014.

One day, while puffing along the mainline, a big and fast engine Bill and Ben have never seen before pulls onto their track at a junction. Further along the line, Bill and Ben meet Thomas who tells them that the streamlined engine was Connor. The twins think that Connor must be full of himself, racing around and surprising other engines. Thomas tries to explain that Connor is friendly, but the twins aren't convinced.
Sometime later, the twins pass through Henry's tunnel when they get surprised by Connor again. Ben is still inside the tunnel as Connor passes and whistles hello to Bill. The twins decided to play a trick on the streamlined engine.
The next time Connor comes to Sodor, Bill is waiting for him. Bill challenges Connor to race, but the big streamlined engine does not think it would be fair to race against such a small tank engine. Eventually, Connor agrees and when the signal turns green, they both race off towards Ulfstead Castle. Bill is soon left far behind and Connor thinks he has won. Connor gets a massive shock when he pulls into Ulfstead Castle and sees Ben waiting at the platform. Connor falls for the twins plan and thinks it is Bill who has beaten him to the castle. Ben suggests that they have a rematch and race back to the bridge. Connor agrees and the race soon starts.
This time, Connor takes no chances and focuses solely on beating the little tank engine. He concentrates on the race so hard that he runs through a red signal and nearly causes a serious accident with Henry. Connor's relief is short-lived as the Fat Controller pulls up in Winston. He is very cross with Connor for missing the red signal. Just then, the twins both pull up and Connor realises that he was being tricked all along. The Fat Controller is not amused with Bill and Ben's antics and punishes them by ordering Bill to be repainted so that they cannot be confused so easily.
At the Sodor Steamworks, Bill tries to get out of being repainted but Victor has been warned in advance by the Fat Controller about the twins' tricky ways. Shortly, Bill has a brand new dark blue livery.
Back at the shunting yard, Ben laughs when he sees his twin. Bill is not happy; now that he doesn't look the same as his twin, it's no fun at all. Then, Ben has a crafty idea and heads off to the Steamworks himself. When he arrives, Victor is not there and Ben tells Kevin that he is Bill and has come to be repainted in accordance with Sir Topham Hatt's orders. Kevin is unsure as he thinks Bill was repainted the day before, but when Ben threatens to involve the Fat Controller, Kevin agrees to let Ben be repainted. Soon Ben has been painted the same colour as Bill. Victor arrives and is not happy, but there is nothing he can do; the job has already been done.
Bill and Ben, now both painted dark blue, are on their way again when they see Connor up ahead. The twins decide to play another trick on him. Bill challenges Connor to another race. Connor agrees, thinking aloud about his assurance that only one of the twins has been repainted. Connor thinks he will definitely win, but Bill is not so sure!

What a hilarious way to properly give Bill and Ben another episode since 2003! They'll always make me laugh, especially when they fooled Connor, who was full of himself! And there was even a wonderful lesson about signals! Engines must not pass through a red signal, especially with Connor having a near miss with Henry the Green Engine here! It also shows that tricks can have consequences, especially when Fat Controller ordered Bill to be repainted dark blue, though Bill tried to trick Victor into thinking he (Bill) was Ben.

Of course Bill and Ben looked lovely in blue, it would've been a nice tribute to their basis if they were painted green. Here are Alfred and Judy, their basis:

Though this episode feels a little unfinished, it's still a brilliant one!

My rating: 10/10.

Season 17 scorecard:

15. Bill or Ben?: 10/10.

16. Too Many Fire Engines: 9.5/10.

19. The Missing Christmas Decorations: 10/10.

Season 17 so far: 9.7/10.

TTTE S20E12: Love Me Tender

Thought I'd review another Season 20 episode of Thomas and Friends. This time, about everyone's favourite Scottish twins.

(Special thanks to the Thomas Wikia for the image)

478. Love Me Tender.
Written by: Davey Moore.
Aired: US: 16 December 2016. UK: 28 December 2016. AUS: 10 April 2017.

Snow has come early to the Island of Sodor and Donald and Douglas are tasked with clearing the tracks. The twins have a coach coupled between their tenders, allowing them to clear the line in both directions. They stop at a junction to see which way they should go. Douglas suggests that they should clear the track up to Edward's Branch Line, but Donald doesn't think it's a good idea and decides that it is best to stick to the Main Line. Later, they arrive at a another junction. This time, Donald suggests that they should clear the tracks to the Search and Rescue Centre for the emergency vehicles, but Douglas thinks it is best for them to stick to the Main Line. Donald ignores his twin, creating tension between the two.
The twins clear the tracks to the Search and Rescue Centre. On their way back to the junction, they get stuck behind Toby, who is being slowed down by the snow due to Donald ignoring Douglas' earlier suggestion to clear the Main Line.
When they get to another junction, Donald asks Douglas whether he would prefer to stay on the Main Line or clear the line up to the castle. Douglas remains silent, believing that Donald will ignore him. The twins begin accusing each other of ignoring everything the other one says, so when the signal drops, they begin pulling in opposite directions. The coupling between Douglas and his tender breaks, and Donald leaves Douglas at the junction, taking the coach and Douglas' tender with him. Donald is aware that he has left Douglas behind, but not that he has taken all of his coal and water.
As Donald passes Thomas at Crovan's Gate, Thomas questions where Douglas is. Donald says he left Douglas back at the junction as he leaves the station. Thomas quietly notes to Annie and Clarabel that Donald has both his own tender and Douglas'.
Back at the junction, Toby passes Douglas, who tells Toby that he has fallen out with his twin. Toby offers Douglas' help, which Douglas politely refuses. Toby leaves with Douglas' crew. Douglas doesn't mind; his fire has not gone out, so he is able to melt the snow on him.
Donald is on the other side of the island when he meets Thomas again. Thomas tells Donald that he has both his own tender and Douglas' tender. Donald is horrified, realising this means his brother is stranded in the snow without any coal and water.
Douglas' fire has gone out, so the snow is piling up around him. Donald passes him at the junction, but does not see or hear him, so he continues to search for him. Meanwhile, Douglas' crew has joined Toby's crew for cocoa at Toby's shed. Donald arrives and asks Toby where Douglas is; Toby tells him that he is still at the junction where Donald left him. Because the snow is getting deeper, Donald rushes back to the junction with Douglas' crew to find his twin.

Donald finds Douglas in a deep snowdrift. The twins apologise to each other, but Donald has run out of water. However, he does have Douglas' tender, so Douglas allows Donald to use his water. Donald leaves his snowplough at the junction and shunts Douglas to the Steamworks, happy to be back with his twin again.

What a lovely way to give the Scottish twins, Donald and Douglas, an episode in over 13 years! Love those references to Twin Trouble and The Deputation at the beginning.

I would like to say how odd it was that Donald was calling Douglas "Doogie". Looks like Joe Mills is only voicing Oliver the Western Engine, Toad and Douglas now, since Rob Rackstraw is voicing Donald now, and I'd like to call this episode the moment where Rob Rackstraw has run out of voices. I mean, Rob's voice for Donald is just Toby's voice with a Scottish accent. Speaking of Toby, he had a wonderful role here even if he's not a main line engine.

And here's the small problem I have with this episode. It proves that HiT and Mattel are spoiling Thomas the Tank Engine, appearing in every episode of Seasons 19 and 20. Douglas said "We should stay on the main line and clear the line for Thomas!" For Thomas?! Why Thomas? Thomas is not a main line engine! He shouldn't even be working on the main line! Edward could've easily had this role instead of Thomas, even if he's not a main line engine either.

But flaw aside, this further proves that tender engines do need tenders, and it was mighty fine way to have Donald and Douglas take the lead role. And this title was a clever reference to Elvis' song of the same title.

My rating: 10/10.

Season 20 scorecard:

8. Pouty James: 3/10.

12. Love Me Tender: 10/10.

24. Buckled Tracks & Bumpy Trucks: 8.5/10.
25: Tit for Tat: 10/10.

26. Mike's Whistle: 9.5/10.

27. Useful Railway: 9.5/10.

Season 20 rating so far: 8.5/10.

TTTE S16E11: Thomas and the Sounds of Sodor

Another episode of Thomas being reviewed. This is another episode that holds up as a wondrous episode!

379. Thomas and the Sounds of Sodor.

Written by: Gerard Foster.
Aired: AUS: 26 February 2012. UK: 5 March 2012. US: 14 April 2012.

The Fat Controller arrives at Tidmouth Sheds to give Thomas a special job. Thomas is to collect the Great Composer from Knapford and take him on a tour of the Island so that he can hear the sounds of Sodor. Thomas is pleased and steams off straight away. On the way to Knapford, Thomas stops to ponder what exactly are "the sounds of Sodor". As he is wondering, he hears birds, animals, and the sea. He decides that these peaceful sounds must be the sounds that the Fat Controller was talking about. Then Percy and Emily clatter down the line, pulling troublesome trucks. As they rattle past, Thomas notices that he cannot hear the peaceful sounds any more. Thomas worries that the Great Composer will not be able to hear the sounds of Sodor with his noisy engine friends clattering along the lines. He decides he will take the composer to places where there are no other engines.
Thomas soon arrives at Knapford where he introduces himself to the Great Composer, who says that he will write his tune as they puff along. First, Thomas takes the Great Composer into the Whistling Woods to hear the woodland waterfall. Then Gordon thunders up with the express. Thomas is annoyed as Gordon has ruined the peace so he races off to the Whispering Woods. The Great Composer listens to the rustling leaves and birdsong. Then Mavis clatters up pulling flatbeds of logs. The Great Composer is pleased, but Thomas is not; he thinks Mavis has disturbed the sounds of Sodor. Mavis explains that she is hauling logs because the quarry is closed, but Thomas is not interested and puffs off.
As Thomas rolls along, he wonders where he can take the Great Composer. Then he remembers that Mavis said the quarry is closed and decides to head there. At the quarry, James is sitting in a siding and watches Thomas enter. The Great Composer is confused, there are no sounds at all; the quarry is silent. James rolls up to Thomas, but Thomas ignores him and puffs away. James follows and Thomas explains that they must be quiet so that the composer can hear the sounds of Sodor. Thomas is too busy talking to James to notice a barrier ahead on the tracks. Thomas screeches to a sudden stop just in time, and the Great Composer's tune flies out of Annie's window and blows away. Thomas feels terrible, but is a little puzzled as to how the composer managed to write a tune despite the noise. The Great Composer tells Thomas that his engine friends sounded wonderful and Thomas realises that his friends are the sounds of Sodor. The composer is still worried; the concert starts soon, but he has no tune. Thomas has an idea and asks for James' help. Next Thomas and James race to the Whispering Woods where they get Mavis' help. The three engines race to Knapford where they enlist the help of Gordon, Percy, and Emily before heading to the Town Square.
At the Town Square, the Fat Controller is becoming concerned. The Great Composer assures Sir Topham Hatt that the special concert will be worth the wait. Thomas announces the concert which features the sounds of Sodor. The Great Composer conducts as Thomas, Percy, Gordon, Emily, James and Mavis roll back and forth blowing their whistles and honking their horns and bumping trucks. Accompanied by the Sodor Brass Band, the concert is a big success. Afterwards, the Great Composer says that he could not have done it without Thomas' help. Thomas, in turn, says that he could not have done it if it were not for his noisy friends.


Well, this episode was a nice one overall! The engines made the nicest sounds known to mankind! Well done, Thomas, running away from those engines and not listening to that composer! And good on you for not listening to Mavis when she said the quarry was closed! I know James was there despite that, but who cares? This episode was wonderful!

My rating: 100/10.

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These are my real views. This episode was completely dreadful! Thomas the Tank Engine should've just asked the composer what sounds he was listening to instead of just going around looking for a quiet place! Gee! And James the Red Engine was at the quarry because....reasons, despite Mavis saying it's closed. And surely the composer would've, oh I don't know, had his window closed if he wanted peace and quiet. It turns out he didn't want peace and quiet. Just wanted to listen to sounds for ideas of a composition.

So overall, this episode was a very bad one!

My real rating: 1/10.

Season 16 scorecard:

11. Thomas and the Sounds of Sodor: 1/10.

13. Sodor Surprise Day: 0/10.

20. The Christmas Tree Express: 0/10.

Season 16 rating so far: 0.3/10.

TTTE S15E06: James to the Rescue

Today, I am going to be reviewing what is considered by many to be the best episode of Thomas and Friends ever.

354. James to the Rescue.
Written by: Sharon Miller.
Aired: UK: 8 March 2011. US: 16 April 2011. AUS: 26 November 2011.

It is James' turn to be Sodor's rescue engine. At the Search and Rescue Centre, he eagerly awaits his "call to action." Then Toby trundles in. He is also the rescue engine for the day, which annoys James. He does not think that Toby qualifies as a rescue engine as he is merely a steam tram. Just then, the Search and Rescue Centre manager approaches with news that Gordon has derailed whilst crossing the Fenland. Toby and James race off to the rescue.
Soon they arrive at the Fenland Track and see that Gordon's bogey wheels are off the rails. James wants to pull Gordon back onto the track, but Toby does not think it is a good idea and suggests they fetch Rocky. James ignores the old steam tram and is coupled up to Gordon. He pulls with all his might, but he only succeeds in pulling Gordon's driving wheels off the rails. Toby suggests again that they should fetch Rocky, but James decides he will try pushing Gordon from the back. When they had travelled around Gordon, Toby suggests that they fetch Rocky once again, but James insists that he knows what to do. So James pushes Gordon, but only succeeds in cracking the bridge beneath Gordon. Now Toby is sure it is time to fetch Rocky, but James ignores him once again - he has a plan. He reverses and charges towards Gordon, but when they collide, James is sent flying into the muddy marsh too.

James now realises that it is time to fetch Rocky. Toby is happy to help and soon he and Thomas are racing back to the Fenland with Rocky. Soon James and Gordon are back on track and the red engine finally admits that he would like Toby's help. Together, the rescue engines rescue Charlie, bring Mavis and Diesel oil, and shunt Percy to the Steamworks. Later, James thanks the Fat Controller for sending Toby to help him and admits that he is the best rescue tram on Sodor.


What can I say? This episode was....brilliant! James attempting to rescue Gordon and ignoring Toby's advice about Rocky show the target audience just how to rescue anyone who is stuck like Gordon was. And might I say, the crash was awesome! There were loads of deaths, but who cares? This episode rocks and is up there with Fiery Flynn, Sodor Surprise Day and Wonky Whistle as among the best episodes ever!

My rating: 1,000,000/10.

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This is my real opinion. THIS EPISODE WAS ATROCIOUS! James was such an idiot not to listen to Toby the Tram Engine's advice! And he was so discriminative to him, just because "he's a steam tram!" And as for that crash in the image I chose for this review, look how dangerous it was! James' crew could've died by drowning in the fenlands!

This episode is on par with Fiery Flynn as the worst of Season 15!

My real rating: 0.5/10.

Season 15 scorecard:

6. James to the Rescue: 0.5/10.

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

17. Wonky Whistle: 0.5/10.
20. Fiery Flynn: 0.5/10.

Season 15 so far: 0.5/10.





My expectations of Thomas' future and my thoughts on the series right now

Alright. For sometime now, I've been thinking about talking about what Thomas' 20th season was like and what I hope for Thomas' future.

First of all, I would like to say that Season 20 has been such a brilliant season. All I will say is it was better than Seasons 17 and 19, but no better than Season 18. I mean sure Season 20 has a lot of brilliant episodes, but there were the occasional duds here and there, such as Pouty James (Which I'd just reviewed) and 3 Steam Engines Gruff (Which I'll review another day). All I will say is Hugo was an okay character, but I wish he was given a reason as to why he came to Sodor in the first place. Also, Bradford was a very interesting character and a nice reason to make Samson more likable.

But there's only one problem a lot of us, including yours truly, are having with the series now. Not just the fact they're introducing a large number of engines in almost every special, of course after Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure introduced the Arlesdale engines, I hoped they'd only introduce Railway Series characters, but also, another problem with the series is a certain star-billing spoilt brat painted in a vibrant blue with a yellow number 1 painted on his panels. That's right. Thomas got unnecessary screen time throughout Season 20. I was hoping that Season 20 would have at least one episode where Thomas didn't appear at all! I was hoping it'd only happen in Season 19 since 2015 was the franchise's 70th anniversary. But no. They had to include him in every episode of Season 20!

Mattel is not the only one I blame because they want to make the franchise look cooler, but I'm blaming those soccermums who should just LIGHTEN THE HELL UP FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!! God!


Here are my hopes for Season 21 and the upcoming Journey Beyond Sodor. I read that they're introducing another American engine named Lexi. Really? Thomas is a British franchise for crying out loud! But then again, they are introducing British engines like Hurricane, Theo, Merlin and Frankie. Hopefully this special will turn out better than The Great Race, to which looking back, was just weak in a few places.

Let me explain another elephant in the room. Yes, I've heard about Rosie, and yes, I've checked out her red livery with NWR painted in yellow. At first I was a bit biased toward it, but looking at it now, it looks nice. Hopefully Season 21 will have a story explaining why Rosie got this livery.

Other things I hope for Season 21:

-Returning characters like Boco, Terence, Arthur and Duke. Because Season 20 didn't bring back any old characters, just those who returned in Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure.

-More Railway Series characters like Bear, 199 and the Mountain Engines. With Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure bringing in Mike, Rex, Bert and the Rev W. Awdry to TV as well as Season 20 bringing in Teddy Boston, I expect more Railway Series characters.

-More adaptations of The Railway Series like Mountain Engine, Bad Lookout and Super Rescue.


-Character development. No flanderising any classic characters.


-Don't introduce too many new standard gauge engines. Really? Has Sodor become a galaxy all of a sudden? You can still introduce some narrow gauge and small gauge engines since we still have too few of those.

And most of all:

-NO MORE SHOEHORNING THOMAS IN PLACES HE'S NOT NEEDED! Because Thomas' screen time in Season 20 was unnecessary. Not to mention Love Me Tender where Douglas said "We shood clear the lane for Thomas." Thomas?! HE'S NOT A MAIN LINE ENGINE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! He's a branch line engine!

And another thing, for all you soccermums out there, THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN! Life is precious! You should teach your children that life is precious and worth living instead of trying to make everything so sugar-coated!


Now, another thing I hope for in the future of Thomas. Don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way, but I hope that in a few years time, Thomas and Friends will come to an end. It's not that I don't like the series now, but it's been on for over 30 years now.

And if Thomas does come to an end, I hope it ends on a high note, like in the last Railway Series book unveiling the Thin Clergyman's bust, and the prince saying "There will never be anything like it anywhere." That was a decent way to end the books.

Even so, the franchise exists for money. Look, you can still keep the franchise alive with its legacy. Why do you think Thomas Land exists in Japan, UK and America? I mean in 2015, Phineas and Ferb ended, and the legacy of that show is still going on. Last year, Gravity Falls and Wander Over Yonder ended, and the legacies of those 2 shows are still continuing to this day, and a couple of months ago, Regular Show ended, and I can see the legacy of that continuing, sometime this year, Harvey Beaks will end, and its legacy will continue even when it does, and I read that next year, Adventure Time will be ending, and even when it does, its legacy will be going on. You see, lots of shows that have ended still have their legacies going on.

I mean Thomas has been going on for so long. I'm only saying it should end soon because it's been on for so long, who knows when it'll conclude? Also, lots of shows have reached their shelves, such as The Simpsons, Arthur, Pokémon, South Park, Spongebob Squarepants, and don't even start me on Family Guy! That show's been hell nowadays!

So those are my thoughts and hopes for Thomas' future. But when I said the show should end, don't take it the wrong way. Tell me what you think and hope for Thomas' future.