For the most part, I'd agree with you on the worst parts of each series with only one minor deviation. I genuinely liked Rusty to the Rescue and thought it was a perfect way to transition from the Narrow Gauge stories back to the main line but I do agree that the second half of Season 4 was too unfocused. For me, the worst part of Season 4 is the ending. Mind That Bike works well enough as a regular episode but there's at least two better episodes from that same season that would've worked better. Thomas and the Special Letter works the best as a Season 4 closer, or barring that, Thomas Meets The Queen/Paint Pots and Queens (the continuity errors aside)
Trouble With Mud is the worst Classic Thomas episode, it uses a concept so basic and so overused that it’s one of the reasons Season 3 isn’t my favorite, those moments like where Duck & Percy try not to be “tattletales” and that forced ending in Percy & James' fruitful day and I completely understand why you’re favorite is Season 3 but for me personally I just don’t like those strange childish moments
@@tre-engines That's totally fair yeah I can see why some would roll their eyes at those moments though I still personally enjoy them. And I can agree Trouble with Mud is definitely one of the lesser stories of Series 3, but at the very least it's not Thomas Gets Bumped.
@Thommann256 Productions You're welcome on that note. I can't say for sure if it'll be THE biggest review of my series so far, but I can say I will cover a lot
Season 4: This is Duke. He's a very old and wise engine that lived on his own little railway many years ago. He acts as a mentor to the younger engines on his line and after being abandoned for many years, he was eventually rediscovered. He is regarded as a hero among all the engines, even after all those years. Season 5: This is Bertram. Buy him. Roll credits.
@@graboid78 Actually Bertam was meant to be a brand-new tank engine character but they didn't have the budget for a new model. So they just took Duke's model and smudger's face.
The most common problem that I see in the Awdry seasons 1-4 is the story adaptations not being in chronological order as you had mentioned. I can’t wait to see your season 8 review.
My biggest problem with season 2 is how for the most part, the engines are blamed for the accidents when it’s not their fault. I know there’s other instances like Something In The Air, but it seems so apparent in season 2. It’s not Thomas’ fault he crashed into the stationmaster’s house. It’s not Percy’s fault he was pushed into the brakevan. Its not Donald’s fault he slid into the signal box.
@@Jtmissile It is realistic though. People do often get blamed for things outside of their control. I would also say that it is certainly in part Percy's fault that he crashed into a brake van as he should've known not to antagonize the trucks.
@@TheHistorySoldier True but it doesn't make it fairer for the one being accused, especially if it's the same character doing it over and over again. It's the same reason I think Better Late Than Never is the first bad episode of the show. If the trucks aren't satisfied with being pushed around, then that's their problem.
I always saw season 6’s grayish tint and scene color to represent winter. They already went out of the way to replace the intro with a snow variant, so why not go all the way?
I feel like 1 & 2 aged poorly in terms of picture quality. 3-5 look great for being from the 90's, and the Gullane era looks downright modern, even if the lighting isn't one's cup of tea.
I think if Alcroft was still in charge with Season 6 we might've had the characters we got from Season 5 expanded upon if not for Thomas and the Magic Railroad being a failure.
@Trains, Cats & Other Stories Seasons 1-5 never had a 1 year gap between them (Seasons 1 to 2 had 2 years, 2 to 3 had 6 years, 3-4 had 2-3 years, 4-5 had 2 years) and the decline in writing quality began in Season 6 where the 1 season/year quota took effect. Also they made new characters solely for the merchandise even though they did amount to something by fans but not officially and HIT also brought the rights in 2002 which made things worse so that’s why I believe Gullane was a bit sleazy.
@@jamessmithandgarrettsmith3623 That’s not to say that Series 6 and 7 are not factually Classic series seasons. Of course they’re factually Classic series seasons. But it was during that time where Thomas is about to transition into HiT Entertainment once they bought him out. And thus every season of Thomas had been produced every year since 2002. At least we don’t have to wait for like 3 or 5 years for another season to come out.
In Season 2's defense, they did get like a bigger layout tow work on. That must've been harder to keep track of everything because it was bigger and they were now doing more moving camera shots. Then in season 3 they got more used to it and improved. This defense sucks but I tried lol.
Nono it's good I totally see your point there. Going from filming Season 1 in basically a shed to a whole Studio for Season 2 must have been quite a new challenge for the team. It just doesn't make those technical goofs any less glaring when they do appear. Great defense there.
I'd also put budget and the style of the score for 2 other factors in the out of order stories. Eg I highly doubt Paint, Pots And Queens could have fit Season 1 with the 80's synth and production design. As much as I enjoy S1, I dont think the 80's synthesizers would fit exclusive music for the Queens entrance and they certainly couldn't create a queen Elizabeth figure and decorations if no one had the time to build a bunch of one off circus cars and elephant for Henry And The Elephant that early on.
Another thing to consider is that most of the problems around the edges of the picture would have been completely hidden on TVs of the time due to overscan. (ie, only about the middle 90% of the picture was actually visible).
6:07 Thanks to TheUnluckyTug, I like to think Percy went to work at the harbour during that time because of the hot sun damaging the rails on Thomas' Branchline in Thomas Gets Bumped.
@@Thomasmemoryscentral According to Wilbert Awdry, there were 80 engines working on the NWR. We just only ever saw stories about the ones who kept having accidents.
I can understand why Season 5 had one-off characters, I believe atleast half of them were just made as plot-devices and it wouldn’t make sense for the original Thomas crew to just make them for toys and another thing is that Magic Railroad came after it and once Season 6 came around they focused more on the main cast so I think that probably had something to do with it and in my opinion Season 5 is the only Season to not have a mediocre episode and every Season 5 episode is either good or Great in my opinion and I wouldn’t say it’s fast-paced all the time with episodes like Happy Ever After or Make Someone Happy or Sir Topham Hatt’s Holiday and a few others and Season 5 feels like Thomas more than any other Season after it and I disagree with your points with Season 5 but I respect your opinion!
Season 8 is where the show truly started to focus on the main cast known as “The Steam Team”. I mean, during Seasons 6 and 7, we’ve got some episodes focused on our favourite classic characters like Duck, Oliver, Bill, Ben, The Scottish Twins, and even Bulgy. Before all of them were pushed aside. While Season 5 is amazing in almost every regard, the only drawback that the season has is how they keep their characters for future seasons. Leaving only just Cranky, Arry & Bert and Dowager Hatt. Although some RWS purists can argue that it was the first season that doesn’t hit right for them, or to think that it was the build-up to Thomas’ downfall before Magic Railroad.
Yeah I saw about that in Unlucky Tug's Season 3 retrospective. On that note, I appreciate them trying to work around Daisy's absence and had Mavis happened before Diesel Does it Again, I'd be fine with it.
@@usualblokeluke Kind of funny Rick took issue with Daisy's design considering Britt and a lot of females worked on the show but she hadn't caused any concern over her face masks
When Series' 1-4 were produced, Britt Allcroft was producing the stories under a condition that they had to appear in printed form first, which imposed a restriction on creative freedom to be more flexible with the stories, which primarily - but not necessarily only - caused the restraints imposed on maintaining chronological order off all the stories and retconning some stories to have more action taking place and balancing out the gender ratio more. Then in Series 5, the prominent focus was on action and suspense, and emphasis on new characters kind of got pushed by the wayside as a result. Series 6 was a transitionary time for the series; a writing team had been introduced rather than just Allcroft and David Mitton drawing out stories between them as before so the writing style could go all over the place, and inevitably lightning techniques weren't figured out yet when determining the new order. Series 7 crossed the line between symbolising a farewell to the old order and going in with a new format, as indicated by the strong use of stock footage and some characters losing touch with established continuity. Regards, Samuel Farris.
About the presence of studio equipment in Season 1 & 2, you’re showing the remastered versions of the episode where they opened up more around the sides of the picture, exposing the studio equipment. If you look at the non-remastered versions, you don’t see these problems because they intended to crop it out in post, but whoever remastered it in 2004 unnecessarily exposed more picture and as a result showed the studio equipment and edge of sets.
Well in the case of Diesel, it was mainly down to the fact of the absence of Daisy, as TheUnluckyTug's video on season 3 and the Thomas wiki explains, It was Rick Siggelkow's idea to exclude the Thomas stories "Daisy" and "Percy's Predicament" from airing on Shining Time Station when he disapproved of Daisy's exaggerated feminine design.
Yeah I saw that video and on that note, I respect the team for trying to work around that hurdle. It was just the fact that Diesel was still lurking around on the island after the episode where he was sent away.
Considering Daisy atleast had a model already, it makes no sense. Diesel does it again should have been Diesel’s only appearance and maybe Tender Engines if they made that harbour and station set reworked to Barrow or Vicarstown for purpose of the story like Crovan’s Gate Set being reworked to S4 Scrapyards
I do know Season 7 had lots of stock footage because both of the Pack series' production, as well as HIT stepping in and wanting to quickly move to their vision of Thomas. I don't mind outdated stock footage when it is in opening scenes (Henry's old shape, Peter Sam's old funnel), but it does get egregious in some scenes. I do lament that S6 and some of S7 were never properly released on US TV at the time it was around though.
Using footage from The Flying Kipper at the start of Not So Hasty has such an easy fix! Just use the side shot of Henry puffing through the trees to the left. Very dark to cover up his old shape and runs long enough to transition into that new shot of James and Percy passing the ruined castle
In the unlucky tug season 3 of Thomas retrospective recently, he noted Fuji Television helped fund the production of that season but I'm curious if it meant half or all the production? Regardless,they didn't have enough money to finish Scotsman? At least Tender Engines gave us some funny intro scenes with James and Duck that showcase what the coal and water incidents were.
I'm happy someone pointed out the technical goofs about season 2. I love the grittiness of that season and the synth soundtrack. But the amount of goofs is alarming and honestly comes off as lazy and incompetent at times even tho I know the production crew had a lot of passion for the show. I mean, James' face falling off is just so wrong. Seeing his eye mechanism takes away the magic of the engines having faces.
A cost of 50,000 pounds per episode has the crew probably crunched for time and this is only their 1st season at Shepperton Studios so they have to adjust to more space and rationing their film
Season 1 - forgettable stories Season 2 - majority of production errors Season 3 - mixed up episode order Season 4 - stories adaptations out of order Season 5 - poorly established newbies Season 6 - poor model visuals and character inconsistencies Season 7 - tacky use of stock footage
Season 1: I will pretty much never get given by the fact I can barely even get bored of Season 1's first half (as in the first thirteen episodes of the show produced). However, I will say some of the shots placed in episodes end up looking out of place, especially in the episode, "Coal". This was quite evident the production crew were really getting their ways to find their footing. Season 2: It's pretty obvious the production behind that season is pretty rushed. Great batch of episodes made from 1986, but I never expected wonky eyes or notable mistakes made during production. Some good examples would be Percy maintaining his smiling face when being pushed by the freight cars when he should be having his wincing face in "Percy Takes the Plunge", Donald being derailed tender first in a close up shot of Percy in "Thomas Comes to Breakfast", the stationmaster's house being noticeably destroyed in "Thomas, Percy and the Coal", some bad editing (especially for its time), and once again, the wonky eyes on some of the engines. It's like looking at an animation cel where a character looks or goes off model through either animation errors or simple bad character drawing. Season 3: I believe with "Percy's Promise", it canonically takes place before the former from Season 2. Had they decided not to adapt "Percy's Promise" in Season 3 later. And I haven't noticed that "All at Sea" and "Diesel Does it Again" were meant to take place before "Donald's Duck" until you brought it up. But with Diesel being shown in the adaptation for "Mavis", I was glad they did that at the time knowing that if they had Daisy in Season 3, I would fear they would have reset her back to square one. But that was illogical reasoning on my part, so that I do apologize. I believe that can be blamed on Rick Sigglekow for removing Daisy from having her episodes be placed in Shining Time Station because of his executive decisioning to consider her a "sexist" stereotype, which is never the character Awdry even created her as such at all. That I still am pissed at Sigglekow over that, even after hearing about it last spring. Season 4: I'm actually grateful we even got them adapted after Seasons 1-3 anyway. So it's not worth complaining about. Even if "Henry and the Elephant" had some notable changes made unlike the original RWS story. It is better than nothing after all, shouldn't anyone agree regardless if the stories outside the Skarloey Railway are in random order? I don't really care about "Toad Stands By" taking place after Season 3's "Oliver Owns Up" because I do believe Mitton and Allcroft wanted to save that episode after that season because of the amount of episodes they were going for, as well as a few of Andrew Brenner's magazine stories they adapted for Season 3. But because Thomas is nowhere to be found in "Bulls Eyes", still don't get how that is even a problem here. Season 5: Bertram, I wish he did stick around after "Toby's Discovery." Thumper, I believe that was the point to have him be a one-off given he was meant to be a plot device anyway. Even for a really ridiculous, but daring story. And since when did Tiger Moth even come off as a character if it was a faceless aeroplane? I will admit that Old Slow Coach, out of the newbies that never appeared again, really should've made a comeback sooner or later, and could have been a popular character outside the main characters (yes, Nia and Rebecca included despite neither engine appearing in the first seven seasons) like Rosie, Whiff, Diesel 10, Cranky, 'Arry and Bert, Daisy, the Skarloey engines, etc. The same would apply with Derek. Shame neither of the two were seen again. Season 6: I know everyone has complained about the poor visuals given by the really crappy camera font made for this season. But, I think the worst parts of that season are the awful and rushed editing in "Middle Engine", the unnecessary choice of making 4:3 and 16:9 versions of episodes that have shots filmed in 4:3 to be cropped into 16:9, and Alec Baldwin's narrations for the US dub dropping in quality that it's just so sad to listen to. Though, I still like his narrations for "Elizabeth the Vintage Quarry Truck" and the Pack episodes. Some others, he was alright whilst most others, he sounded quite unenthusiastic and depressed that I feel sorry for the guy given how he had been going through a divorce with Km Basinger. That does not help this happened the exact same time Season 6 was released on TV in the UK, but on home media in the US. Season 7: Had they just used a deleted scene from say, "Thomas, Terence and the Snow" instead of using footage from "It's Only Snow" as "transition" footage in the episode, "Thomas and the Avalanche", there would be no such thing as the worst transition scene in the series.
I think it was understandable that they used a lot of previous seasons stock footage in Season 7 because they were also making the Jack and the Pack Series along with it.
OK, a little bit of a hot take here, but I don’t really understand why people have issues with the lighting in season four. I feel like the slightly darker lighting works in this case considering the fact that a lot of the Narrowgauge episodes had a more melancholic tone, so it just seem to work in that case. Although, it might just hit differently for me because of the fact that I am visually impaired and don’t see smaller details, so maybe that might invalidate my opinion for some people.
If season 1 is ranked low because of its uneventful first half, then I have the right to rank season 4 low for its unfocused second half. Just saying. My ranking would see season 4 5th, and season 1 first, again, my opinion.
Season 1: Pretty boring if you never read The Railway Series (those books were literally not available where I live) Season 2: A lot of brown in the sets and painfully obvious Goofs Season 3: Weird episode order Season 4: The second half should also have been about the Skarloey Railway, I cannot remember any episodes in the second half Season 5: There are some very forgettable episodes in this season Season 6: Ugly ass sets Season 7: So much stock footage
to be honest, I enjoyed every season of the classic seasons (1-7), but my worst thing is how Better Late Than Ever could've been so good, but for me, it was boring.
I’d say for Season 2, it would also definitely the placement and squishing of stories, cause man somethings you can absolutely tell didn’t get properly adapted.
There are no worst parts of Series 1-7. There are plenty of worsts parts of series 8-24. And the 2D reboot version. I'm sorry to tell you that nearly everything you said about this video are wrong.
Me The Worst Parts In Thomas & Friends Is The Ugly Visuals and The Lack Of A Cosistent Continuity Flow Form Series 6 Using Stock Footage From Series 7 Hands Down
The Narrow Gauge first half with little to break it up in-between and the questionable adaptations of the second half of Season 4 is why I find it so overrated.
Here are the weakest parts of each season.(I'm very positive for most things so it kinda hard to name out a negative) Season 1:Some story's dragged on and were not that memorable Season 2: I actually got no complaints of Season 2 minus the goofs also it my 2nd season so yeah. Season 3: The lighting wasn't my cup of tea and I'll never forgive season 3 for ruining tenders for henry Season 4: most of the standard gauge episodes were abit hit or miss and felt out of place also I don't like how mind that bike was the season 4 finale Season 5: the new narrow gauge models were not that good.(also I think the new characters were going to return but due to stuff happening behind the scenes they never return) Season 6: lighting sucks,the narrating in the US was a down grade same thing with the story's. Season 7: This is where most of the characters really started to go off character
While I definitely agree that Series 6 is the blandest of all the classic seasons, there's just something about S7 and forward that makes the show stick out visually and not in a good way, I wish I could describe it better. In terms of the classics, I'd probably put Series 7 in second place right behind 6 for worst looking season. (Not to totally diss on the HIT era though, those are the episodes I'd catch on TV every Sunday which was always a highlight of the week)
My biggest problem with series 3 + 4 is when they remove real life elements ( e.g. London isn't even named neither are the Books in Thomas & the Special Letter ) or changing engines backstories like Stepney instead of being the Mascot engine of the Real Life Bluebell Railway , now works on his own branch line on the other side of the Island. or in Tender Engines when Flying Scotsman isn't even named or seen or spoke , but also Gordon having relation to him , despite being the class as him. Biggest gripe with series 6 is how much "faker " and "toy-like" everything feels , ya know , the flat lighting , those really ugly matte finishes on the engines which make them look more like toys.
One issue I have with classic Thomas in the US, is that with the first two VHS releases, "Thomas Gets Tricked" and "James Learns a Lesson" they kept to a consistent episode order. But begining with the "Tenders and Turntables" VHS, they just stopped trying with consistency as the episode "Thomas Comes To Breakfast" which features Toby, plays before his debut episode on the very same tape.
Wow I didn't know they did that. Playing a series 2 episode before a series 1 episode sounds so weird Are the American VHS tapes known for messing up episode orders like this?
@@usualblokeluke For some reason, Ringo didnt have a US dub of Whistles And Sneezes they could slap on. It is probably the easiest episode he could redub for north america, say the one about Sir Topham, maybe redo Henry's sneeze as honestly the original take in the UK dub felt underwhelming and viola you've got a us dub that doesnt break continuity
@@usualblokeluke Unfortunately yes. Yes they are. At least for the first 3 seasons at least. The UK was significantly better at episode ordering for the most part.
@@usualblokeluke The only time that the UK had an issue with the episode ordering on VHS, are with the 1998 compilation release, "Biggest Party Video Ever", which Gondarth did a review of in his "Video Memories" series. Also Series 5 on VHS just had all episodes in a scattered order across all of it's VHS releases. But the only significant one, is 1999's "Rescues on the Railways". Mainly with it featuring "Cranky Bugs", after the previous two releases, "Spooks and Surprises", and "Happy Holidays" had episodes featuring Cranky.
I feel like season 3 at least for its original stories started being more obvious with the morals of friendship and it became repetitive. Like I was watching it all recently praising it to my friend and then when we got to season 3 it just felt it step down in maturity and charm.
What’s your favourite part of each classic season? For me: Season 1 - The fact that they made something great with a low budget Season 2 - Crashes, better modelwork, music and awesome sets Season 3 - Visuals and music Season 4 - Visuals Season 5 - The cinematography! My favourite Season! Season 6 - Angelis’ Naration Season 7 - The music (I love season 7 music, It’s not my favourite season when it comes to music (That spot goes to Season 5) it’s defintly)
My worst points of these wonderful seasons: Seasons 1-4: Some noticeable goofs (wonky eyes, wrong faces, etc.) Season 5: Some parts of the music being omitted in the UK dub. Season 6: Alec Baldwin’s unenthusiastic narration Season 7: Robert Hartshorne music being used instead of Mike and Junior.
For the earlier seasons,I agree with u about the continuity. In s2, I know the wanted Thomas stories bc it’s his show, but they could’ve stuck with the order of the stories from the rws to expand on the rest of the characters like s4 did with the narrow gauge while fitting Thomas is when they could. The music and sound effects of s1 and 2 can be a bit too intense for my liking… some of the faces were also jarring as well… s3 is the best looking classic season… s4, 5 and 6 would be so much better with some color correction. S7 had good visuals but the stock footage thing… they should've waited longer to produce and release this season bc it seemed very rushed. The previous seasons had at least a 2 year wait between seasons.
You sure you know what “production design” refers to? ‘Cause with series 6 it sounds more like you’re talking about the cinematography and color grading.
I do It was mainly that part of the production design that I had problems with in Series 6. The model work, set design, music and sound effects were all fine, but the ugly visuals I were what I mainly wanted to address as the worst part of Series 6
@@usualblokeluke Not to mention it has my least favourite large scale Topham Model. He and his bodyguards appear so offputting though I guess it fits the season's appearance
Some think tells me Gordon had a bad day in TTWT and when people have a bad sometimes they are angry .Probaly this was the reason for Gordon in first half of episode .Also Gordon was in the second the Gordon we love and know .
I think the only part I have a little nitpick is how season seven is somewhat of a transitional season, most notably in the episode The Old Bridge where Skarloeys persona changed for how we knew in the hit era.
My problems with the Classic Seasons are. Season 1:Ringo Starr's dull narration in the UK DUB. US was better Season 2:The Cancelled Episodes and The fact that they wanted more Thomas Stories. And the wonkey eyed faces. Season 3:The fact that half the season is Awdry Based stories and original stories which let the season down a little. Season 4:I don't really have a problem with this Season. It's my absolute favorite season of the show. Season 5:Kinda overrated I don't get why people say that this is there favorite season. There are a lot of episodes where they don't really make any since. Thomas and the rumors, Gordon and the Grelin And Snow. Season 6:Alec Baldwin's narration was a massive down grade from season 5. And the Ugly Sets down make it better. Season 7:The Messed up Washed out US DUB of this Seasons. The Stock footage was the worst out of any season. I like Robert Hartshorne's music but I prefer The original. At little Michael Brandon was kinda good. That's why I rank this Season as the worst of the classic Era.
I like the Original Music by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell and I like George Carlin, Nicola Stapleton, William Hope, Teresa Gallagher, Alec Baldwin and Michael Brandon versions of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Seasons 1-7 (1984-2003) in the Classic Series in the Full and the Wide Screens.
Another series 4 issue was many of the SKR episodes shown in a funny order, showing characters then introducing them in subsequent episodes. Was careless from the production crew really - all the had to do was a few episodes around
Season 5 is my favorite, but some dramatic elements scared me as a kid. Also, I've rewritten every season 5 story with my own characters, and a few changes. But before, here's the characters so things don't get confusing. Blankee - Thomas Chris - Percy Hatsune Miku - Rusty Eric - Gordon Len - Duncan Paul - Henry Sarah - James Billy - Duck Paige and Sage- Bill and Ben Ariana grande - Stepney Fred the Penguin - Toby Rick Rurpelson - Cranky Sebastian - George Dua Lipa - Sir Topham Hatt Meiko - Skarloey Jon Taffer- Oliver Secret Police - Harold Cecil - Edward Meep Meep - Caroline
Reusing a scene is sensible, makes the whole place seem real. Why would somewhere change every time you saw it? The trains run the same routes with the same other engines on them, so of course things repeat.
A valid point you've made there and I do understand it as a way to make the place seem real My problem is when those very shots affect the continuity of the show which Series 7 does a lot
I agree about the structure of season 4. Half the season is a very continuity-focused string of stories focusing on the narrow gauge engines, while the second half is just a complete grab-bag of stories. Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of the episodes in the latter half, but it's just a jarring switch going from Gallant Old Engine and the Stepney arc directly to Henry and The Elephant. On a side note, Train Stops Play is one of my favorite slice of life style episodes of the classic series. It's a cozy, fun story I think. Great video.
My biggest problems with each season of the 7 1 - Yeah some of the stories are kinda oversimplified (though it's still tied with season 3 as my favorite) 2 - The ugly color scheme. I'll even go as far as to say that season 6 looks better than this. 3-7 (UK) - Ringo Starr, one of the best Thomas narrators, got replaced with Michael Angelis, who is in my opinion the worst. I don't know what it is, I think it might be the combination of his voice combined with how he either tries TOO hard to act or doesn't try at ALL to act, which is why I stick with the US narration from seasons 3+. 3 (US) - While some episodes are vibrant and very nice-looking, it makes some of the ordinary-looking ones like Bulgy and Oliver Owns Up look kinda muddy in comparison. 4 (US) - The fact that it spends more time with the Narrow Gague engines than it does with the ones we've grown to love in the first 3 seasons 5 (US) - It s@#ts all over Rev Awdry's grave by using his death as "freedom to make whatever episodes they want". Though I might have misheard that. I heard that bit of info from this video on how Magic Railroad derailed the franchise 6 (US) - Yeah, Alec Baldwin doesn't try as hard as he did in season 5. I mean it's at least bearable, and I definitely prefer it over Angelis's narration, but I still wish he tried as hard. 7 (US) - The music took somewhat of a downgrade, especially Edward's theme, now it sounds like he's lagging behind.
But Luke wait! Classic Thomas is actually seasons 1-5 now! Nobody says the Classic series as seasons 1-7 anymore, that opinion is outdated. Also, nobody cares if seasons 6-7 still had the Classic series crew like David Mitton and shit. They just don’t have the same magic or style as they do in the first five seasons. Plus the fact that they’re made after Magic Railroad proves that they’re not proper Classic series seasons. They’re too new to be called Classic too because they’re made in the 2000’s, same with Magic Railroad.
Yeah some people do consider series 6-7 to be their own thing and I totally understand why You're happy to continue thinking of them like that I just personally consider them part of the classic era
@@usualblokeluke Shouldn’t Series 1-5 be the official Classic series now instead of Series 1-7? Since more and more Thomas fans were having the urge to have the Classic series to be reduced from seven seasons to five?
@@thecaledoniansleeper2648 In my eyes, if David Mitton directed it, Mike and Junior composed it and it featured the original intro and theme song, it's classic
Not really sure if I have any problems with the classic series. Um... I think these infamous episodes "Middle Engine", "What's the Matter With Henry?" and "Better Late Than Never" kinda suck. There's that.
As much as I love series 5, and I do believe a lot of it has held up rather well, I do believe its was the start of the decline of the show. It sowed a lot of seeds that the later seasons reaped. Over the top accidents, flanderized characters, newbies showing up for merchandise etc. I still think its like a C+/B- series, but to say its the best is a big stretch.
I’m curious, Luke, have you seen the original edits of the first 3 series? They are rather/somewhat different from the remastered versions you’d find today, usually down to specific shots used (be it alternate takes or outtakes), colour grading (S1 being more greener and S2 sometimes having a red filter), the obsolescence of “goofs” (such as the edge of the Viaduct set not being visible), and audio lining up (example being Toby going off to Tidmouth in “Ghost Train”) making for an overall tighter appearance and presentation. If you want a sort of cliff-notes version then this video is what I’d recommend ua-cam.com/video/k9GbRHj1bP8/v-deo.html. I say this because I feel like some of your criticism may have to do with the remastered versions specifically compared to what came out prior to 2012.
I have seen those alternate takes in the edits of the first 3 series yeah and while there are less goofs in those cuts, not all of those goofs are absent Plus the good parts of these series outway those problems anyway
@@usualblokeluke True, James’ face still needed adjustment, even on VHS. I look forward to seeing your Series 8 review, interesting to see what you thing, especially with recent discussions on the HiT era. Also, what do make of the aforementioned alternate colour grading in these original rushes? I haven’t seen much talk relating to them, with the most I’ve seen regarding the lighting within “The Flying Kipper”, so I wonder what you make of them.
@@tugboatanni8594 I've not really got anything to say on them to be honest. I'm still a guy learning the ins and outs of editing and colour grading is not something I have a ton of knowledge in
well... they didn't have enough money to create more footage for season 7 so they had to resort to stock clips and they were in the middle of selling the IP to HiT entertainment they just wanted to finish the season
All I have to say about these seasons are pretty nitpicky and don’t affect my overall opinion on them Season 1: I agree about the first half being slow and I actually find myself watching George Carlin’s narration for those first 12 or so episode mainly because I’ve heard Ringo Starr’s narration about 50 times and they are the ones I watched in my childhood. Season 2: It does indeed have some more production flaws and the more you pointed them out the more I noticed although it is still one of my favorite seasons and I love it. Season 3: I don’t like how some stories of the railway series were altered like having Diesel instead of Daisy in Mavis or how City of Tito and Flying Scotsman aren’t referred to by name and in the second half of Season 3 Michael Angelis’ narration sounds like it was filmed underwater and of course most infamously the US dub of Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure Season 4: While it is a good story Rusty to the Rescue did change Stepney’s backstory for the sake of giving Rusty the spotlight and it is illogical how Rusty got to the other railway when there are no narrow gauge rails leading to there. Season 5: While it is my absolute favorite Season it isn’t perfect and while enjoyable some of the supernatural stuff is pretty questionable Season 6: It has my most hated episode of the entire classic season Middle Engine and being the first Season to come after Magic Railroad it does feel a bit more childish compared to the first 5 Seasoms. But other than that I enjoy it way more than any of the HiT era seasons and even some of the Brenner ones. Season 7: Out of all the classic seasons this is my least favorite and while I still think it’s a good season for whatever reason the sound effects are quieter than they were in Seasons 4-6 and it does also have some bad episodes like What’s The Matter With Henry, Rheneas And The Roller Coaster and The Old Bridge although they aren’t as bad as the stinkers in Season 6.
Let's see if I can get my own thoughts and critiques of the first 7 series out here: Series 1 - the episodes really don't work too well in a vacuum; they need to be watched one after the other. Out of context, a lot gets missing if you're watching random episode to random episode, which the later series does better with in that regard. Series 2 - I used to really dislike how muddy brown the shots and scenery looked, but the restored episodes really helped in that regard. As for the content itself, I really don't know if I have much to complain about. Even the low-bar Chris Awdry stories I like a fair amount, given I had never seen them until I was introduced to the wonders of UA-cam back in 2008, when I was 13. So those hold a very special place in my heart, if only because they felt like "lost episodes" to me. Also there's barely any Series 2 footage in the music videos going forward, and I still don't know why. Series 3 - The original stories were very hit and miss, although there were some stand-outs (Henry's Forest is amazing and no one will convince me otherwise). Also, some of the attempts to isolate some of the episodes to not cause continuity snarls really doesn't sit well with me. Series 4 - Yeah, that back half feels really random, but my biggest issue is the order of the first five or so episodes - I don't really like how Duke's backstory is laid out and then we smash cut to the rest of the Skarloey railway with no mention of Duke afterwards. I would have spaced out Bulldog and You Can't Win to be after each Skarloey Railway miniarc, so to speak. Like, Bulldog would be after the "Old Faithful" arc and You Can't Win would be after "Rock and Roll" miniarc. That's just me, though! Series 5 - You hit it on the head, honestly. I like Season 5 a lot, but some of the more cinematic episodes feel like a major departure from what Thomas stood for imo. Like, compare a crash in Season 2 from a crash in Season 5. Pretty different, if you ask me. Series 6 - Percy takes up _way_ too much camera time, and I'm surprised no one has talked about it. He's the lead in, or co-lead in, more than half the series. It's insane, honestly, he got pushed in a BIG way. Also, I somewhat disagree with the visuals - sure they're not as good as they could be, but I'll always appreciate them to a degree. It's like the ugly duckling story, you know? Series 7 - this feels like a HiT lite series - characters are starting to get derailed (har har), stories are pretty safe and simple, and there isn't a lot that I want to come back to. I will give them credit for balancing out the characters better and giving more equal screentime to the Skarloey Railway as opposed to just shoving them in at the end. So that's my thoughts, I'm very late to the party.
This’ll be hard for me to come up with this list of my own problems with the classic series. Series 1: While being the most important first impression series adaptation, some of the stories being just kind of existing stick out. Series 2: The goofs and Wonky Eye syndrome. Series 3: Hard to say, but the out of order continuity is the only slight problem. Series 4: I agree with the unfocused second half after the narrow gauge perfection. Series 5: I only find the reused shots watching back to be a problem. The new characters that just kind of gets only a select few moments didn’t really make me feel like nitpicking them. Series 6: I didn’t mind the visuals being more dull in your eyes. I didn’t really mind. My only complaint was some minor bits of characters “character” inconsistencies. For example, like with Edward talking down to Harvey and not having more of a wiser outlook on that moment. Series 7: Reused clips and stock footage are definitely what makes it not as great. However, the highs still makes series 7 better than I remember.
I am reviewing on a separate comment 5, 6 and 7 because UA-cam will probably not let me send such a long essay in one go. Anyway, I will continue to tell my thoughts: Season 5: My favourite Thomas season and it's no surprise why. This was the one I was actually most exposed to on VHS as a child, watching its episodes divided on 3 of them, one of which I owned, another I had borrowed from a library one summer in England at my grandparents and the other I watched at somebody's house. There was also a fourth VHS distributed which contained another 5 episodes from this series that I never watched. But boy oh boy, looking back at it, this truly was a great series to grow up with and marvel as you compare it to what came before and after it. Especially after. This was the true peak of the series for me and the last of its greatness. But with all that said, I do have to agree its nº1 flaw is the fact that it doesn't develop many of its new characters introduced besides Cranky. The rest are all one-off episode characters for the most part except Old Slow Coach who gets two notable appearances in the same season, and 'Arry and Bert would get one episode here but appear in later seasons though their future appearances would never compare with what could be the biggest villainous deed attempted by anyone in the series, beating the original devious Diesel by a mile. That said, I actually enjoy most of the new characters and what they do offer in this one series as something special pertaining to this one series and viewing it as the last great one. But that really depends on your perspective. I'm also surprised you didn't mention the Lorries in "Horrid Lorry". They were also memorable antagonists in my opinion and one of the most defining episodes of Season 5. However, the highlight of Season 5 amidst its epic production and cinematic scope, really is the development of the characters we all know and love from The Railway Series, getting all at least one outstanding episode and a new side to their characters which is similar to what Season 3 did with the original episodes outside the Railway Series as well as expanding a bit on the adaptations. For me it's just my favourite by virtually every aspect and measure. Season 6: Ok, so Season 6 I consider the start of the show's main downfall and I don't even bother with the CGI series though I know the quality got shaped up in the later seasons before the horrible downturn by Mattel. But I was still exposed to this season as a child through its magazine merchandise as well as Season 7 on 3 VHS tapes, two of which were of 6, also borrowed from the local library in England when I was 8 in 2005. And I remember finding them at most entertaining because I would watch anything as a child but I could feel they weren't as endearing as the episodes of the series I was used to watching before. The ugly look of Season 6 really is the main letdown especially if you're a child, you can just see it in its visuals, especially in contrast to 5. However, being exposed to many other Thomas material, especially The Railway Series Complete Collection by Awdry, I believe the worst thing of Season 6 onwards which would also apply to 7 from the ones I was exposed to and you go into great detail in your reviews, are the forced, obvious morals carried on many of the episodes to become a simple kids show right before Hit took over but at this point it was post-TATMR and Gullane Entertainment. Season 7: I pretty much have the same to say about this as well as Season 6 in terms of its morals though I only saw one VHS as a child and was pretty entertained by it, remembered it looking better than Season 6 after seeing S6 on other videos clearly and it contained the infamous episode "The Old Bridge", which I remember enjoying but looking back, not only does it write Skarloey completely out of character once knowing the series proper, but it really is made in a lackluster fashion in terms of storytelling while trying to be original. That said, S7 actually had a lot of Rheneas in it as well as a lot of the Narrow Gauge crew in general when his previous standout episode was only limited to "Gallant Old Engine" from Season 4. However, the cringiest episode I remember watching when looking back from this series was clearly "Fergus Breaks the Rules" being placed on the same pack as "Bill, Ben and Fergus". But it was mostly the designs of the new characters introduced here and in 6 which I enjoyed the most. As for all the archive footage you said being the worst part of this series and a dud for the series as a whole in every episode that contains reused shots from previous episodes, I personally don't have much of a problem with it as long as it doesn't harm the setting of the episode. Yes, it might be a lazy tactic but I actually like all the callbacks it does reminding you of previous episodes even if they may be from past seasons, not in flashbacks but in similar situations relating to certain characters with their expressions and going on a same line, riding to a similar accident or fate which reminds you of another episode. Most of which I remember noticing in many episodes of Season 1. Those are my thoughts on the bad bits of each season. Overall, good list and cheers!
Season 6 didn’t have many morals being spelt out loud as Season 7 did. I mean with Season 6, at least most of the episode morals were a bit subtle, and yeah, some of them do have morals that were spelt out loud in some episodes. But when you look at Season 7’s, it’s pretty obvious that the morals were spelt out loud and shoved down into kids’ throats. I rarely watched a single Season 7 episode that ever kept its message subtle compared to Season 6 and before.
Season 5 certainly didn't do justice with its one off characters, but a few returning characters made their final appearances in this season as well (Caroline and George, for example). The visuals of Season 6 do look bad compared to the previous season, but it could have been much worse. I'm guessing there was not much of a budget to film new scenes for Season 7, so they ended up using old footage to fill up the episodes. Continuity seems to be a major issue throughout the first few seasons.
Perfectly justified to reuse footage because of the way production worked, builidng and rebuilding sets, but not that often, and not from years ago. And def not flipped with a number. I know its cut out but the editor saw it and included it
My most minor Thomas classic season is S7 as I have never seen it as a kid and it lacks my motivation as every time I tried to watch it all over again but it doesn't make me satisfied. (If anyone has a favorite for s7 I'm Sorry.)
In re-watching Season 4 on Amazon and DVDs, I always see a blue lense in the top left corner in the picture. It is in at least 5 shots every episode and it drives me insane everytime I rewatch Season 4. Weird how its only that season I see a problem with the lense.(I still love Season 4 btw)
I think Series 6 had such poor visuals because the entire set had to be rebuilt after it had been dismantled and sent to Canada for the Magic Railroad. Once it was shipped back, a lot of the set and models were damaged. I wonder how much of it had to do with that.
The worst part about series 1-4 are the f*caked up story order Off the rails- series 1 Down the mine- series 1 Thomas meets the Queen- series 4 Percy’s promise- series 3 Percy takes the plunge- series 2 Thomas comes to breakfast- series 2 Daisy- series 2 Bulls eyes- series 4 Percy’s predicament- series 2
What do you think is the worst part of each classic series?
For the most part, I'd agree with you on the worst parts of each series with only one minor deviation.
I genuinely liked Rusty to the Rescue and thought it was a perfect way to transition from the Narrow Gauge stories back to the main line but I do agree that the second half of Season 4 was too unfocused. For me, the worst part of Season 4 is the ending. Mind That Bike works well enough as a regular episode but there's at least two better episodes from that same season that would've worked better.
Thomas and the Special Letter works the best as a Season 4 closer, or barring that, Thomas Meets The Queen/Paint Pots and Queens (the continuity errors aside)
Series 1 (1984)
Series 2 (1986)
Series 3 (1991)
Series 4 (1994)
Series 5 (1998)
Series 6 (2002)
Series 7 (2003)
Trouble With Mud is the worst Classic Thomas episode, it uses a concept so basic and so overused that it’s one of the reasons Season 3 isn’t my favorite, those moments like where Duck & Percy try not to be “tattletales” and that forced ending in Percy & James' fruitful day and I completely understand why you’re favorite is Season 3 but for me personally I just don’t like those strange childish moments
@@tre-engines That's totally fair yeah I can see why some would roll their eyes at those moments though I still personally enjoy them. And I can agree Trouble with Mud is definitely one of the lesser stories of Series 3, but at the very least it's not Thomas Gets Bumped.
@Thommann256 Productions You're welcome on that note. I can't say for sure if it'll be THE biggest review of my series so far, but I can say I will cover a lot
Season 4: This is Duke. He's a very old and wise engine that lived on his own little railway many years ago. He acts as a mentor to the younger engines on his line and after being abandoned for many years, he was eventually rediscovered. He is regarded as a hero among all the engines, even after all those years.
Season 5: This is Bertram. Buy him. Roll credits.
I wonder if Bertram was meant to be Duke making a return but then they thought "Hey! Let's make a new character to sell toys of!"
@@graboid78 Actually Bertam was meant to be a brand-new tank engine character but they didn't have the budget for a new model. So they just took Duke's model and smudger's face.
The most common problem that I see in the Awdry seasons 1-4 is the story adaptations not being in chronological order as you had mentioned. I can’t wait to see your season 8 review.
that’s more of a nitpick.
My biggest problem with season 2 is how for the most part, the engines are blamed for the accidents when it’s not their fault. I know there’s other instances like Something In The Air, but it seems so apparent in season 2. It’s not Thomas’ fault he crashed into the stationmaster’s house. It’s not Percy’s fault he was pushed into the brakevan. Its not Donald’s fault he slid into the signal box.
Hey that is Wilberts writing so the original author himself tends to have the common mistake of muddling his own works.
@@Thomasmemoryscentral
In which case, I don't think that's good writing.
@@Jtmissile It is realistic though. People do often get blamed for things outside of their control. I would also say that it is certainly in part Percy's fault that he crashed into a brake van as he should've known not to antagonize the trucks.
@@TheHistorySoldier
True but it doesn't make it fairer for the one being accused, especially if it's the same character doing it over and over again. It's the same reason I think Better Late Than Never is the first bad episode of the show.
If the trucks aren't satisfied with being pushed around, then that's their problem.
Even if it wasn’t Thomas’ fault, he got a big head and the accident knocks him back down
I always saw season 6’s grayish tint and scene color to represent winter. They already went out of the way to replace the intro with a snow variant, so why not go all the way?
I feel like 1 & 2 aged poorly in terms of picture quality. 3-5 look great for being from the 90's, and the Gullane era looks downright modern, even if the lighting isn't one's cup of tea.
I think if Alcroft was still in charge with Season 6 we might've had the characters we got from Season 5 expanded upon if not for Thomas and the Magic Railroad being a failure.
Allcroft only got a smaller role as a creative consultant by the time Season 6 began and not sure if she could do much by then.
@@Thomasmemoryscentral Also Gullane was a bit sleazy and wanted a faster turnout for the show.
@Trains, Cats & Other Stories Seasons 1-5 never had a 1 year gap between them (Seasons 1 to 2 had 2 years, 2 to 3 had 6 years, 3-4 had 2-3 years, 4-5 had 2 years) and the decline in writing quality began in Season 6 where the 1 season/year quota took effect. Also they made new characters solely for the merchandise even though they did amount to something by fans but not officially and HIT also brought the rights in 2002 which made things worse so that’s why I believe Gullane was a bit sleazy.
@@jamessmithandgarrettsmith3623 That’s not to say that Series 6 and 7 are not factually Classic series seasons. Of course they’re factually Classic series seasons. But it was during that time where Thomas is about to transition into HiT Entertainment once they bought him out. And thus every season of Thomas had been produced every year since 2002. At least we don’t have to wait for like 3 or 5 years for another season to come out.
Man season 3 is really a masterpiece .
In Season 2's defense, they did get like a bigger layout tow work on. That must've been harder to keep track of everything because it was bigger and they were now doing more moving camera shots. Then in season 3 they got more used to it and improved.
This defense sucks but I tried lol.
Nono it's good I totally see your point there. Going from filming Season 1 in basically a shed to a whole Studio for Season 2 must have been quite a new challenge for the team. It just doesn't make those technical goofs any less glaring when they do appear. Great defense there.
I'd also put budget and the style of the score for 2 other factors in the out of order stories. Eg I highly doubt Paint, Pots And Queens could have fit Season 1 with the 80's synth and production design. As much as I enjoy S1, I dont think the 80's synthesizers would fit exclusive music for the Queens entrance and they certainly couldn't create a queen Elizabeth figure and decorations if no one had the time to build a bunch of one off circus cars and elephant for Henry And The Elephant that early on.
Another thing to consider is that most of the problems around the edges of the picture would have been completely hidden on TVs of the time due to overscan. (ie, only about the middle 90% of the picture was actually visible).
6:07 Thanks to TheUnluckyTug, I like to think Percy went to work at the harbour during that time because of the hot sun damaging the rails on Thomas' Branchline in Thomas Gets Bumped.
Could be the most logical since Topham cant have too many engines idling about
@@Thomasmemoryscentral According to Wilbert Awdry, there were 80 engines working on the NWR. We just only ever saw stories about the ones who kept having accidents.
@@Xalerdaneyeah that number seems way too tiny. all the other british railways railways had tens of thousands of engines in real life.
@@ThomasAndRandomRobloxGames The other British railways were operating over a far greater amount of track than the NWR.
@@Xalerdane oh yeah i didnt think about that. but then again why was it one of the big four (or actually five in this canon)
I can understand why Season 5 had one-off characters, I believe atleast half of them were just made as plot-devices and it wouldn’t make sense for the original Thomas crew to just make them for toys and another thing is that Magic Railroad came after it and once Season 6 came around they focused more on the main cast so I think that probably had something to do with it and in my opinion Season 5 is the only Season to not have a mediocre episode and every Season 5 episode is either good or Great in my opinion and I wouldn’t say it’s fast-paced all the time with episodes like Happy Ever After or Make Someone Happy or Sir Topham Hatt’s Holiday and a few others and Season 5 feels like Thomas more than any other Season after it and I disagree with your points with Season 5 but I respect your opinion!
Season 8 is where the show truly started to focus on the main cast known as “The Steam Team”. I mean, during Seasons 6 and 7, we’ve got some episodes focused on our favourite classic characters like Duck, Oliver, Bill, Ben, The Scottish Twins, and even Bulgy. Before all of them were pushed aside.
While Season 5 is amazing in almost every regard, the only drawback that the season has is how they keep their characters for future seasons. Leaving only just Cranky, Arry & Bert and Dowager Hatt. Although some RWS purists can argue that it was the first season that doesn’t hit right for them, or to think that it was the build-up to Thomas’ downfall before Magic Railroad.
Apparently the reason Diesel replaced Daisy in "Mavis" was cause Rick Siggelkow (Shining Time Station's co-creator) disapproved of her design.
Yeah I saw about that in Unlucky Tug's Season 3 retrospective. On that note, I appreciate them trying to work around Daisy's absence and had Mavis happened before Diesel Does it Again, I'd be fine with it.
@@usualblokeluke I'd been ok with that too
@@usualblokeluke Kind of funny Rick took issue with Daisy's design considering Britt and a lot of females worked on the show but she hadn't caused any concern over her face masks
@@Thomasmemoryscentral and that’s why politics began criticising the show for being "sexist".
@@joshuaW5621 you're not wrong
Based on Thomas’s face, he’s not going to like this video.
LOL!!!!!!!!
When Series' 1-4 were produced, Britt Allcroft was producing the stories under a condition that they had to appear in printed form first, which imposed a restriction on creative freedom to be more flexible with the stories, which primarily - but not necessarily only - caused the restraints imposed on maintaining chronological order off all the stories and retconning some stories to have more action taking place and balancing out the gender ratio more. Then in Series 5, the prominent focus was on action and suspense, and emphasis on new characters kind of got pushed by the wayside as a result. Series 6 was a transitionary time for the series; a writing team had been introduced rather than just Allcroft and David Mitton drawing out stories between them as before so the writing style could go all over the place, and inevitably lightning techniques weren't figured out yet when determining the new order. Series 7 crossed the line between symbolising a farewell to the old order and going in with a new format, as indicated by the strong use of stock footage and some characters losing touch with established continuity. Regards, Samuel Farris.
While not intentional, S7 is appreciated a bit more by me as a greatest hits and a fond farewell package
About the presence of studio equipment in Season 1 & 2, you’re showing the remastered versions of the episode where they opened up more around the sides of the picture, exposing the studio equipment. If you look at the non-remastered versions, you don’t see these problems because they intended to crop it out in post, but whoever remastered it in 2004 unnecessarily exposed more picture and as a result showed the studio equipment and edge of sets.
Man I wish Derek appeared again.
Well in the case of Diesel, it was mainly down to the fact of the absence of Daisy, as TheUnluckyTug's video on season 3 and the Thomas wiki explains, It was Rick Siggelkow's idea to exclude the Thomas stories "Daisy" and "Percy's Predicament" from airing on Shining Time Station when he disapproved of Daisy's exaggerated feminine design.
Yeah I saw that video and on that note, I respect the team for trying to work around that hurdle. It was just the fact that Diesel was still lurking around on the island after the episode where he was sent away.
Considering Daisy atleast had a model already, it makes no sense. Diesel does it again should have been Diesel’s only appearance and maybe Tender Engines if they made that harbour and station set reworked to Barrow or Vicarstown for purpose of the story like Crovan’s Gate Set being reworked to S4 Scrapyards
@@Joey15811television watchdogs never make sense
I do know Season 7 had lots of stock footage because both of the Pack series' production, as well as HIT stepping in and wanting to quickly move to their vision of Thomas. I don't mind outdated stock footage when it is in opening scenes (Henry's old shape, Peter Sam's old funnel), but it does get egregious in some scenes.
I do lament that S6 and some of S7 were never properly released on US TV at the time it was around though.
Using footage from The Flying Kipper at the start of Not So Hasty has such an easy fix!
Just use the side shot of Henry puffing through the trees to the left. Very dark to cover up his old shape and runs long enough to transition into that new shot of James and Percy passing the ruined castle
What ´s the worst part of season 3 ?
This season should have a bigger budget to finish TFS and for a great ending for Gordon ´s season 3 arc .
Finish TFS?
@@usualblokeluke The flying Scoatsman =TFS
@@masterpeter1913 Ohhhhh yeah that'd be great
In the unlucky tug season 3 of Thomas retrospective recently, he noted Fuji Television helped fund the production of that season but I'm curious if it meant half or all the production?
Regardless,they didn't have enough money to finish Scotsman? At least Tender Engines gave us some funny intro scenes with James and Duck that showcase what the coal and water incidents were.
Is this a rant or you say your least favorite epside ?
A recap of my issues with each of the classic series. Thought it'd be neat to put it in it's own video.
I'm happy someone pointed out the technical goofs about season 2. I love the grittiness of that season and the synth soundtrack. But the amount of goofs is alarming and honestly comes off as lazy and incompetent at times even tho I know the production crew had a lot of passion for the show. I mean, James' face falling off is just so wrong. Seeing his eye mechanism takes away the magic of the engines having faces.
A cost of 50,000 pounds per episode has the crew probably crunched for time and this is only their 1st season at Shepperton Studios so they have to adjust to more space and rationing their film
@@Thomasmemoryscentral That’s reasonable. Nevertheless, Season 2 was spectacular and had a lovely unique 80s vibe to it.
Season 1 - forgettable stories
Season 2 - majority of production errors
Season 3 - mixed up episode order
Season 4 - stories adaptations out of order
Season 5 - poorly established newbies
Season 6 - poor model visuals and character inconsistencies
Season 7 - tacky use of stock footage
Season 1: I will pretty much never get given by the fact I can barely even get bored of Season 1's first half (as in the first thirteen episodes of the show produced). However, I will say some of the shots placed in episodes end up looking out of place, especially in the episode, "Coal". This was quite evident the production crew were really getting their ways to find their footing.
Season 2: It's pretty obvious the production behind that season is pretty rushed. Great batch of episodes made from 1986, but I never expected wonky eyes or notable mistakes made during production. Some good examples would be Percy maintaining his smiling face when being pushed by the freight cars when he should be having his wincing face in "Percy Takes the Plunge", Donald being derailed tender first in a close up shot of Percy in "Thomas Comes to Breakfast", the stationmaster's house being noticeably destroyed in "Thomas, Percy and the Coal", some bad editing (especially for its time), and once again, the wonky eyes on some of the engines. It's like looking at an animation cel where a character looks or goes off model through either animation errors or simple bad character drawing.
Season 3: I believe with "Percy's Promise", it canonically takes place before the former from Season 2. Had they decided not to adapt "Percy's Promise" in Season 3 later. And I haven't noticed that "All at Sea" and "Diesel Does it Again" were meant to take place before "Donald's Duck" until you brought it up. But with Diesel being shown in the adaptation for "Mavis", I was glad they did that at the time knowing that if they had Daisy in Season 3, I would fear they would have reset her back to square one. But that was illogical reasoning on my part, so that I do apologize. I believe that can be blamed on Rick Sigglekow for removing Daisy from having her episodes be placed in Shining Time Station because of his executive decisioning to consider her a "sexist" stereotype, which is never the character Awdry even created her as such at all. That I still am pissed at Sigglekow over that, even after hearing about it last spring.
Season 4: I'm actually grateful we even got them adapted after Seasons 1-3 anyway. So it's not worth complaining about. Even if "Henry and the Elephant" had some notable changes made unlike the original RWS story. It is better than nothing after all, shouldn't anyone agree regardless if the stories outside the Skarloey Railway are in random order? I don't really care about "Toad Stands By" taking place after Season 3's "Oliver Owns Up" because I do believe Mitton and Allcroft wanted to save that episode after that season because of the amount of episodes they were going for, as well as a few of Andrew Brenner's magazine stories they adapted for Season 3. But because Thomas is nowhere to be found in "Bulls Eyes", still don't get how that is even a problem here.
Season 5: Bertram, I wish he did stick around after "Toby's Discovery." Thumper, I believe that was the point to have him be a one-off given he was meant to be a plot device anyway. Even for a really ridiculous, but daring story. And since when did Tiger Moth even come off as a character if it was a faceless aeroplane? I will admit that Old Slow Coach, out of the newbies that never appeared again, really should've made a comeback sooner or later, and could have been a popular character outside the main characters (yes, Nia and Rebecca included despite neither engine appearing in the first seven seasons) like Rosie, Whiff, Diesel 10, Cranky, 'Arry and Bert, Daisy, the Skarloey engines, etc. The same would apply with Derek. Shame neither of the two were seen again.
Season 6: I know everyone has complained about the poor visuals given by the really crappy camera font made for this season. But, I think the worst parts of that season are the awful and rushed editing in "Middle Engine", the unnecessary choice of making 4:3 and 16:9 versions of episodes that have shots filmed in 4:3 to be cropped into 16:9, and Alec Baldwin's narrations for the US dub dropping in quality that it's just so sad to listen to. Though, I still like his narrations for "Elizabeth the Vintage Quarry Truck" and the Pack episodes. Some others, he was alright whilst most others, he sounded quite unenthusiastic and depressed that I feel sorry for the guy given how he had been going through a divorce with Km Basinger. That does not help this happened the exact same time Season 6 was released on TV in the UK, but on home media in the US.
Season 7: Had they just used a deleted scene from say, "Thomas, Terence and the Snow" instead of using footage from "It's Only Snow" as "transition" footage in the episode, "Thomas and the Avalanche", there would be no such thing as the worst transition scene in the series.
Once you've reviewed most of the Hit series, could we get a video similar to this one, where you talk about the worst part of seasons 8 to 16?
But of course
I think it was understandable that they used a lot of previous seasons stock footage in Season 7 because they were also making the Jack and the Pack Series along with it.
After you finish your opinons on series 8-12, do this video again BUT flip it on its head and do the best things.
You forgot about Butch in S5
He may not have a major role, but he is always in the background helping out.
I think Butch was meant to be a merchandising character, like Thumper.
OK, a little bit of a hot take here, but I don’t really understand why people have issues with the lighting in season four. I feel like the slightly darker lighting works in this case considering the fact that a lot of the Narrowgauge episodes had a more melancholic tone, so it just seem to work in that case. Although, it might just hit differently for me because of the fact that I am visually impaired and don’t see smaller details, so maybe that might invalidate my opinion for some people.
If season 1 is ranked low because of its uneventful first half, then I have the right to rank season 4 low for its unfocused second half. Just saying. My ranking would see season 4 5th, and season 1 first, again, my opinion.
That's fair
I thought season one was boring as it just introduces characters to us
Season 1: Pretty boring if you never read The Railway Series (those books were literally not available where I live)
Season 2: A lot of brown in the sets and painfully obvious Goofs
Season 3: Weird episode order
Season 4: The second half should also have been about the Skarloey Railway, I cannot remember any episodes in the second half
Season 5: There are some very forgettable episodes in this season
Season 6: Ugly ass sets
Season 7: So much stock footage
to be honest, I enjoyed every season of the classic seasons (1-7), but my worst thing is how Better Late Than Ever could've been so good, but for me, it was boring.
I’d say for Season 2, it would also definitely the placement and squishing of stories, cause man somethings you can absolutely tell didn’t get properly adapted.
There are no worst parts of Series 1-7. There are plenty of worsts parts of series 8-24. And the 2D reboot version. I'm sorry to tell you that nearly everything you said about this video are wrong.
Me The Worst Parts In
Thomas & Friends
Is The Ugly Visuals and The Lack Of A Cosistent Continuity Flow Form Series 6
Using Stock Footage
From Series 7
Hands Down
The Narrow Gauge first half with little to break it up in-between and the questionable adaptations of the second half of Season 4 is why I find it so overrated.
Series 5 taking it self too seriously as an issue is something I have to disagree with.
That's totally fair 🙂
Here are the weakest parts of each season.(I'm very positive for most things so it kinda hard to name out a negative)
Season 1:Some story's dragged on and were not that memorable
Season 2: I actually got no complaints of Season 2 minus the goofs also it my 2nd season so yeah.
Season 3: The lighting wasn't my cup of tea and I'll never forgive season 3 for ruining tenders for henry
Season 4: most of the standard gauge episodes were abit hit or miss and felt out of place also I don't like how mind that bike was the season 4 finale
Season 5: the new narrow gauge models were not that good.(also I think the new characters were going to return but due to stuff happening behind the scenes they never return)
Season 6: lighting sucks,the narrating in the US was a down grade same thing with the story's.
Season 7: This is where most of the characters really started to go off character
While I definitely agree that Series 6 is the blandest of all the classic seasons, there's just something about S7 and forward that makes the show stick out visually and not in a good way, I wish I could describe it better. In terms of the classics, I'd probably put Series 7 in second place right behind 6 for worst looking season.
(Not to totally diss on the HIT era though, those are the episodes I'd catch on TV every Sunday which was always a highlight of the week)
You must upload that Calling All Engines review sometime this month.
I haven't had any time to work on any videos at all lol Waiting until my family and I move next week before I can start again
My biggest problem with series 3 + 4 is when they remove real life elements ( e.g. London isn't even named neither are the Books in Thomas & the Special Letter ) or changing engines backstories like Stepney instead of being the Mascot engine of the Real Life Bluebell Railway , now works on his own branch line on the other side of the Island. or in Tender Engines when Flying Scotsman isn't even named or seen or spoke , but also Gordon having relation to him , despite being the class as him. Biggest gripe with series 6 is how much "faker " and "toy-like" everything feels , ya know , the flat lighting , those really ugly matte finishes on the engines which make them look more like toys.
One issue I have with classic Thomas in the US, is that with the first two VHS releases, "Thomas Gets Tricked" and "James Learns a Lesson" they kept to a consistent episode order. But begining with the "Tenders and Turntables" VHS, they just stopped trying with consistency as the episode "Thomas Comes To Breakfast" which features Toby, plays before his debut episode on the very same tape.
Wow I didn't know they did that. Playing a series 2 episode before a series 1 episode sounds so weird
Are the American VHS tapes known for messing up episode orders like this?
@@usualblokeluke For some reason, Ringo didnt have a US dub of Whistles And Sneezes they could slap on.
It is probably the easiest episode he could redub for north america, say the one about Sir Topham, maybe redo Henry's sneeze as honestly the original take in the UK dub felt underwhelming and viola you've got a us dub that doesnt break continuity
@@usualblokeluke Unfortunately yes. Yes they are. At least for the first 3 seasons at least. The UK was significantly better at episode ordering for the most part.
@@usualblokeluke The only time that the UK had an issue with the episode ordering on VHS, are with the 1998 compilation release, "Biggest Party Video Ever", which Gondarth did a review of in his "Video Memories" series. Also Series 5 on VHS just had all episodes in a scattered order across all of it's VHS releases. But the only significant one, is 1999's "Rescues on the Railways". Mainly with it featuring "Cranky Bugs", after the previous two releases, "Spooks and Surprises", and "Happy Holidays" had episodes featuring Cranky.
I personally think that Duke was The worst part of the classic series altogether.
Obvious sarcasm is obvious
I feel like season 3 at least for its original stories started being more obvious with the morals of friendship and it became repetitive. Like I was watching it all recently praising it to my friend and then when we got to season 3 it just felt it step down in maturity and charm.
Series 6 would look better as a restored season if it had better visuals. So they won’t be looking so pale.
What’s your favourite part of each classic season?
For me:
Season 1 - The fact that they made something great with a low budget
Season 2 - Crashes, better modelwork, music and awesome sets
Season 3 - Visuals and music
Season 4 - Visuals
Season 5 - The cinematography! My favourite Season!
Season 6 - Angelis’ Naration
Season 7 - The music (I love season 7 music, It’s not my favourite season when it comes to music (That spot goes to Season 5) it’s defintly)
Seeing as you harted my question, can you also answear it?
My worst points of these wonderful seasons:
Seasons 1-4: Some noticeable goofs (wonky eyes, wrong faces, etc.)
Season 5: Some parts of the music being omitted in the UK dub.
Season 6: Alec Baldwin’s unenthusiastic narration
Season 7: Robert Hartshorne music being used instead of Mike and Junior.
Thomas has Dorito shaped eyebrows
8:39 some of these episodes might scare younger viewers
Thirteen new characters. Those other four being the horrid lorries and Butch.
Legit I keep forgetting they exist and I don't know why. They keep coming back to haunt me lol
For the earlier seasons,I agree with u about the continuity. In s2, I know the wanted Thomas stories bc it’s his show, but they could’ve stuck with the order of the stories from the rws to expand on the rest of the characters like s4 did with the narrow gauge while fitting Thomas is when they could. The music and sound effects of s1 and 2 can be a bit too intense for my liking… some of the faces were also jarring as well… s3 is the best looking classic season… s4, 5 and 6 would be so much better with some color correction. S7 had good visuals but the stock footage thing… they should've waited longer to produce and release this season bc it seemed very rushed. The previous seasons had at least a 2 year wait between seasons.
You sure you know what “production design” refers to? ‘Cause with series 6 it sounds more like you’re talking about the cinematography and color grading.
I do
It was mainly that part of the production design that I had problems with in Series 6. The model work, set design, music and sound effects were all fine, but the ugly visuals I were what I mainly wanted to address as the worst part of Series 6
@@usualblokeluke Not to mention it has my least favourite large scale Topham Model. He and his bodyguards appear so offputting though I guess it fits the season's appearance
What is the best part of each of the classic seasons in your opinion?
9:36 Makes sense you don't count that, the kids are literally like "Who's that?" They don't know who he is.
Butch the Breakdown Vehicle appears again still having no diologue. By series 15 he talks.
Butch the Tow truck (I think?) Is also present for a good chunk of the series.
I really wish I could go to the Awdry extravaganza.
Some think tells me Gordon had a bad day in TTWT and when people have a bad sometimes they are angry .Probaly this was the reason for Gordon in first half of episode .Also Gordon was in the second the Gordon we love and know .
I think the only part I have a little nitpick is how season seven is somewhat of a transitional season, most notably in the episode The Old Bridge where Skarloeys persona changed for how we knew in the hit era.
I agree, but we should count season six in that regard to.
My problems with the Classic Seasons are.
Season 1:Ringo Starr's dull narration in the UK DUB. US was better
Season 2:The Cancelled Episodes and The fact that they wanted more Thomas Stories. And the wonkey eyed faces.
Season 3:The fact that half the season is Awdry Based stories and original stories which let the season down a little.
Season 4:I don't really have a problem with this Season. It's my absolute favorite season of the show.
Season 5:Kinda overrated I don't get why people say that this is there favorite season. There are a lot of episodes where they don't really make any since.
Thomas and the rumors, Gordon and the Grelin And Snow.
Season 6:Alec Baldwin's narration was a massive down grade from season 5. And the Ugly Sets down make it better.
Season 7:The Messed up Washed out US DUB of this Seasons. The Stock footage was the worst out of any season. I like Robert Hartshorne's music but I prefer The original. At little Michael Brandon was kinda good. That's why I rank this Season as the worst of the classic Era.
I like the Original Music by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell and I like George Carlin, Nicola Stapleton, William Hope, Teresa Gallagher, Alec Baldwin and Michael Brandon versions of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Seasons 1-7 (1984-2003) in the Classic Series in the Full and the Wide Screens.
7:54 What retcon?
Retconing Stepney's origins and the bluebell railway in general
Don't be too harsh on series 8, Luke.
Another series 4 issue was many of the SKR episodes shown in a funny order, showing characters then introducing them in subsequent episodes. Was careless from the production crew really - all the had to do was a few episodes around
My biggest problem with the Classic series as a whole was continuity errors. As for each season it's mostly the same as what you said
To be fair to Series 7, the Pack spinoff was shot at the same time.
Where do you watch TTTE? Because since all seasons have been removed from UA-cam idk where to watch them yknow :/
I have saved episode uploads from before the Mattel UA-cam purge
It's either them or the DVD releases I use to watch the show
Season 5 is my favorite, but some dramatic elements scared me as a kid.
Also, I've rewritten every season 5 story with my own characters, and a few changes. But before, here's the characters so things don't get confusing.
Blankee - Thomas
Chris - Percy
Hatsune Miku - Rusty
Eric - Gordon
Len - Duncan
Paul - Henry
Sarah - James
Billy - Duck
Paige and Sage- Bill and Ben
Ariana grande - Stepney
Fred the Penguin - Toby
Rick Rurpelson - Cranky
Sebastian - George
Dua Lipa - Sir Topham Hatt
Meiko - Skarloey
Jon Taffer- Oliver
Secret Police - Harold
Cecil - Edward
Meep Meep - Caroline
Jesus I can't get over James' face not being placed right in season 2
That always stuck out to me as a kid and years later it made sense
Reusing a scene is sensible, makes the whole place seem real. Why would somewhere change every time you saw it? The trains run the same routes with the same other engines on them, so of course things repeat.
A valid point you've made there and I do understand it as a way to make the place seem real
My problem is when those very shots affect the continuity of the show which Series 7 does a lot
Can you do the worst model in series 8 & 9 the great discovery
I'll do the worst parts of Series 8 - 12 when I have reviewed them
I agree about the structure of season 4. Half the season is a very continuity-focused string of stories focusing on the narrow gauge engines, while the second half is just a complete grab-bag of stories. Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of the episodes in the latter half, but it's just a jarring switch going from Gallant Old Engine and the Stepney arc directly to Henry and The Elephant. On a side note, Train Stops Play is one of my favorite slice of life style episodes of the classic series. It's a cozy, fun story I think. Great video.
My biggest problems with each season of the 7
1 - Yeah some of the stories are kinda oversimplified (though it's still tied with season 3 as my favorite)
2 - The ugly color scheme. I'll even go as far as to say that season 6 looks better than this.
3-7 (UK) - Ringo Starr, one of the best Thomas narrators, got replaced with Michael Angelis, who is in my opinion the worst. I don't know what it is, I think it might be the combination of his voice combined with how he either tries TOO hard to act or doesn't try at ALL to act, which is why I stick with the US narration from seasons 3+.
3 (US) - While some episodes are vibrant and very nice-looking, it makes some of the ordinary-looking ones like Bulgy and Oliver Owns Up look kinda muddy in comparison.
4 (US) - The fact that it spends more time with the Narrow Gague engines than it does with the ones we've grown to love in the first 3 seasons
5 (US) - It s@#ts all over Rev Awdry's grave by using his death as "freedom to make whatever episodes they want". Though I might have misheard that. I heard that bit of info from this video on how Magic Railroad derailed the franchise
6 (US) - Yeah, Alec Baldwin doesn't try as hard as he did in season 5. I mean it's at least bearable, and I definitely prefer it over Angelis's narration, but I still wish he tried as hard.
7 (US) - The music took somewhat of a downgrade, especially Edward's theme, now it sounds like he's lagging behind.
No no no no no. I don't count that. You're funny.
Maybe watch the original masters of season 1-3
Accurate
4:04 I saw that a few months ago and it’s honestly kinda funny!
But Luke wait! Classic Thomas is actually seasons 1-5 now! Nobody says the Classic series as seasons 1-7 anymore, that opinion is outdated.
Also, nobody cares if seasons 6-7 still had the Classic series crew like David Mitton and shit. They just don’t have the same magic or style as they do in the first five seasons. Plus the fact that they’re made after Magic Railroad proves that they’re not proper Classic series seasons. They’re too new to be called Classic too because they’re made in the 2000’s, same with Magic Railroad.
Yeah some people do consider series 6-7 to be their own thing and I totally understand why
You're happy to continue thinking of them like that
I just personally consider them part of the classic era
@@usualblokeluke Shouldn’t Series 1-5 be the official Classic series now instead of Series 1-7? Since more and more Thomas fans were having the urge to have the Classic series to be reduced from seven seasons to five?
@@thecaledoniansleeper2648
In my eyes, if David Mitton directed it, Mike and Junior composed it and it featured the original intro and theme song, it's classic
Not really sure if I have any problems with the classic series. Um... I think these infamous episodes "Middle Engine", "What's the Matter With Henry?" and "Better Late Than Never" kinda suck. There's that.
I always thought the reused shots were okay.
Can't wait for Sharon Miller Era yes
As much as I love series 5, and I do believe a lot of it has held up rather well, I do believe its was the start of the decline of the show. It sowed a lot of seeds that the later seasons reaped. Over the top accidents, flanderized characters, newbies showing up for merchandise etc. I still think its like a C+/B- series, but to say its the best is a big stretch.
I’m curious, Luke, have you seen the original edits of the first 3 series? They are rather/somewhat different from the remastered versions you’d find today, usually down to specific shots used (be it alternate takes or outtakes), colour grading (S1 being more greener and S2 sometimes having a red filter), the obsolescence of “goofs” (such as the edge of the Viaduct set not being visible), and audio lining up (example being Toby going off to Tidmouth in “Ghost Train”) making for an overall tighter appearance and presentation. If you want a sort of cliff-notes version then this video is what I’d recommend ua-cam.com/video/k9GbRHj1bP8/v-deo.html. I say this because I feel like some of your criticism may have to do with the remastered versions specifically compared to what came out prior to 2012.
I have seen those alternate takes in the edits of the first 3 series yeah and while there are less goofs in those cuts, not all of those goofs are absent
Plus the good parts of these series outway those problems anyway
@@usualblokeluke True, James’ face still needed adjustment, even on VHS. I look forward to seeing your Series 8 review, interesting to see what you thing, especially with recent discussions on the HiT era. Also, what do make of the aforementioned alternate colour grading in these original rushes? I haven’t seen much talk relating to them, with the most I’ve seen regarding the lighting within “The Flying Kipper”, so I wonder what you make of them.
@@tugboatanni8594 I've not really got anything to say on them to be honest. I'm still a guy learning the ins and outs of editing and colour grading is not something I have a ton of knowledge in
well... they didn't have enough money to create more footage for season 7 so they had to resort to stock clips and they were in the middle of selling the IP to HiT entertainment
they just wanted to finish the season
My guess is that with series 7 there was way less of a budget
More so way less time to do everything
All I have to say about these seasons are pretty nitpicky and don’t affect my overall opinion on them
Season 1: I agree about the first half being slow and I actually find myself watching George Carlin’s narration for those first 12 or so episode mainly because I’ve heard Ringo Starr’s narration about 50 times and they are the ones I watched in my childhood.
Season 2: It does indeed have some more production flaws and the more you pointed them out the more I noticed although it is still one of my favorite seasons and I love it.
Season 3: I don’t like how some stories of the railway series were altered like having Diesel instead of Daisy in Mavis or how City of Tito and Flying Scotsman aren’t referred to by name and in the second half of Season 3 Michael Angelis’ narration sounds like it was filmed underwater and of course most infamously the US dub of Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure
Season 4: While it is a good story Rusty to the Rescue did change Stepney’s backstory for the sake of giving Rusty the spotlight and it is illogical how Rusty got to the other railway when there are no narrow gauge rails leading to there.
Season 5: While it is my absolute favorite Season it isn’t perfect and while enjoyable some of the supernatural stuff is pretty questionable
Season 6: It has my most hated episode of the entire classic season Middle Engine and being the first Season to come after Magic Railroad it does feel a bit more childish compared to the first 5 Seasoms. But other than that I enjoy it way more than any of the HiT era seasons and even some of the Brenner ones.
Season 7: Out of all the classic seasons this is my least favorite and while I still think it’s a good season for whatever reason the sound effects are quieter than they were in Seasons 4-6 and it does also have some bad episodes like What’s The Matter With Henry, Rheneas And The Roller Coaster and The Old Bridge although they aren’t as bad as the stinkers in Season 6.
Let's see if I can get my own thoughts and critiques of the first 7 series out here:
Series 1 - the episodes really don't work too well in a vacuum; they need to be watched one after the other. Out of context, a lot gets missing if you're watching random episode to random episode, which the later series does better with in that regard.
Series 2 - I used to really dislike how muddy brown the shots and scenery looked, but the restored episodes really helped in that regard. As for the content itself, I really don't know if I have much to complain about. Even the low-bar Chris Awdry stories I like a fair amount, given I had never seen them until I was introduced to the wonders of UA-cam back in 2008, when I was 13. So those hold a very special place in my heart, if only because they felt like "lost episodes" to me. Also there's barely any Series 2 footage in the music videos going forward, and I still don't know why.
Series 3 - The original stories were very hit and miss, although there were some stand-outs (Henry's Forest is amazing and no one will convince me otherwise). Also, some of the attempts to isolate some of the episodes to not cause continuity snarls really doesn't sit well with me.
Series 4 - Yeah, that back half feels really random, but my biggest issue is the order of the first five or so episodes - I don't really like how Duke's backstory is laid out and then we smash cut to the rest of the Skarloey railway with no mention of Duke afterwards. I would have spaced out Bulldog and You Can't Win to be after each Skarloey Railway miniarc, so to speak. Like, Bulldog would be after the "Old Faithful" arc and You Can't Win would be after "Rock and Roll" miniarc. That's just me, though!
Series 5 - You hit it on the head, honestly. I like Season 5 a lot, but some of the more cinematic episodes feel like a major departure from what Thomas stood for imo. Like, compare a crash in Season 2 from a crash in Season 5. Pretty different, if you ask me.
Series 6 - Percy takes up _way_ too much camera time, and I'm surprised no one has talked about it. He's the lead in, or co-lead in, more than half the series. It's insane, honestly, he got pushed in a BIG way. Also, I somewhat disagree with the visuals - sure they're not as good as they could be, but I'll always appreciate them to a degree. It's like the ugly duckling story, you know?
Series 7 - this feels like a HiT lite series - characters are starting to get derailed (har har), stories are pretty safe and simple, and there isn't a lot that I want to come back to. I will give them credit for balancing out the characters better and giving more equal screentime to the Skarloey Railway as opposed to just shoving them in at the end.
So that's my thoughts, I'm very late to the party.
9:45 technically since '95
This’ll be hard for me to come up with this list of my own problems with the classic series.
Series 1: While being the most important first impression series adaptation, some of the stories being just kind of existing stick out.
Series 2: The goofs and Wonky Eye syndrome.
Series 3: Hard to say, but the out of order continuity is the only slight problem.
Series 4: I agree with the unfocused second half after the narrow gauge perfection.
Series 5: I only find the reused shots watching back to be a problem. The new characters that just kind of gets only a select few moments didn’t really make me feel like nitpicking them.
Series 6: I didn’t mind the visuals being more dull in your eyes. I didn’t really mind. My only complaint was some minor bits of characters “character” inconsistencies. For example, like with Edward talking down to Harvey and not having more of a wiser outlook on that moment.
Series 7: Reused clips and stock footage are definitely what makes it not as great. However, the highs still makes series 7 better than I remember.
I think the classic series is the only Thomas era that’s perfect, just like most Thomas fans.
I am reviewing on a separate comment 5, 6 and 7 because UA-cam will probably not let me send such a long essay in one go. Anyway, I will continue to tell my thoughts:
Season 5: My favourite Thomas season and it's no surprise why. This was the one I was actually most exposed to on VHS as a child, watching its episodes divided on 3 of them, one of which I owned, another I had borrowed from a library one summer in England at my grandparents and the other I watched at somebody's house. There was also a fourth VHS distributed which contained another 5 episodes from this series that I never watched. But boy oh boy, looking back at it, this truly was a great series to grow up with and marvel as you compare it to what came before and after it. Especially after. This was the true peak of the series for me and the last of its greatness. But with all that said, I do have to agree its nº1 flaw is the fact that it doesn't develop many of its new characters introduced besides Cranky. The rest are all one-off episode characters for the most part except Old Slow Coach who gets two notable appearances in the same season, and 'Arry and Bert would get one episode here but appear in later seasons though their future appearances would never compare with what could be the biggest villainous deed attempted by anyone in the series, beating the original devious Diesel by a mile. That said, I actually enjoy most of the new characters and what they do offer in this one series as something special pertaining to this one series and viewing it as the last great one. But that really depends on your perspective. I'm also surprised you didn't mention the Lorries in "Horrid Lorry". They were also memorable antagonists in my opinion and one of the most defining episodes of Season 5. However, the highlight of Season 5 amidst its epic production and cinematic scope, really is the development of the characters we all know and love from The Railway Series, getting all at least one outstanding episode and a new side to their characters which is similar to what Season 3 did with the original episodes outside the Railway Series as well as expanding a bit on the adaptations. For me it's just my favourite by virtually every aspect and measure.
Season 6: Ok, so Season 6 I consider the start of the show's main downfall and I don't even bother with the CGI series though I know the quality got shaped up in the later seasons before the horrible downturn by Mattel. But I was still exposed to this season as a child through its magazine merchandise as well as Season 7 on 3 VHS tapes, two of which were of 6, also borrowed from the local library in England when I was 8 in 2005. And I remember finding them at most entertaining because I would watch anything as a child but I could feel they weren't as endearing as the episodes of the series I was used to watching before. The ugly look of Season 6 really is the main letdown especially if you're a child, you can just see it in its visuals, especially in contrast to 5. However, being exposed to many other Thomas material, especially The Railway Series Complete Collection by Awdry, I believe the worst thing of Season 6 onwards which would also apply to 7 from the ones I was exposed to and you go into great detail in your reviews, are the forced, obvious morals carried on many of the episodes to become a simple kids show right before Hit took over but at this point it was post-TATMR and Gullane Entertainment.
Season 7: I pretty much have the same to say about this as well as Season 6 in terms of its morals though I only saw one VHS as a child and was pretty entertained by it, remembered it looking better than Season 6 after seeing S6 on other videos clearly and it contained the infamous episode "The Old Bridge", which I remember enjoying but looking back, not only does it write Skarloey completely out of character once knowing the series proper, but it really is made in a lackluster fashion in terms of storytelling while trying to be original. That said, S7 actually had a lot of Rheneas in it as well as a lot of the Narrow Gauge crew in general when his previous standout episode was only limited to "Gallant Old Engine" from Season 4. However, the cringiest episode I remember watching when looking back from this series was clearly "Fergus Breaks the Rules" being placed on the same pack as "Bill, Ben and Fergus". But it was mostly the designs of the new characters introduced here and in 6 which I enjoyed the most. As for all the archive footage you said being the worst part of this series and a dud for the series as a whole in every episode that contains reused shots from previous episodes, I personally don't have much of a problem with it as long as it doesn't harm the setting of the episode. Yes, it might be a lazy tactic but I actually like all the callbacks it does reminding you of previous episodes even if they may be from past seasons, not in flashbacks but in similar situations relating to certain characters with their expressions and going on a same line, riding to a similar accident or fate which reminds you of another episode. Most of which I remember noticing in many episodes of Season 1.
Those are my thoughts on the bad bits of each season. Overall, good list and cheers!
Season 6 didn’t have many morals being spelt out loud as Season 7 did. I mean with Season 6, at least most of the episode morals were a bit subtle, and yeah, some of them do have morals that were spelt out loud in some episodes. But when you look at Season 7’s, it’s pretty obvious that the morals were spelt out loud and shoved down into kids’ throats. I rarely watched a single Season 7 episode that ever kept its message subtle compared to Season 6 and before.
What a long comment!
Season 5 certainly didn't do justice with its one off characters, but a few returning characters made their final appearances in this season as well (Caroline and George, for example).
The visuals of Season 6 do look bad compared to the previous season, but it could have been much worse.
I'm guessing there was not much of a budget to film new scenes for Season 7, so they ended up using old footage to fill up the episodes.
Continuity seems to be a major issue throughout the first few seasons.
11:13
That is exactly what I meant in the Season 6 review
Perfectly justified to reuse footage because of the way production worked, builidng and rebuilding sets, but not that often, and not from years ago. And def not flipped with a number. I know its cut out but the editor saw it and included it
My main problem with season 4 is the lighting it’s way too dark almost like everything is happening at sundown.
My most minor Thomas classic season is S7 as I have never seen it as a kid and it lacks my motivation as every time I tried to watch it all over again but it doesn't make me satisfied. (If anyone has a favorite for s7 I'm Sorry.)
I prefer the fullscreen
Usual Bloke Luke: premiers video in 2 days.
My impatient ass: I want my video now!
Jokes aside I can’t wait, see you at the stream.
In re-watching Season 4 on Amazon and DVDs, I always see a blue lense in the top left corner in the picture. It is in at least 5 shots every episode and it drives me insane everytime I rewatch Season 4. Weird how its only that season I see a problem with the lense.(I still love Season 4 btw)
I think Series 6 had such poor visuals because the entire set had to be rebuilt after it had been dismantled and sent to Canada for the Magic Railroad. Once it was shipped back, a lot of the set and models were damaged. I wonder how much of it had to do with that.
The worst part about series 1-4 are the f*caked up story order
Off the rails- series 1
Down the mine- series 1
Thomas meets the Queen- series 4
Percy’s promise- series 3
Percy takes the plunge- series 2
Thomas comes to breakfast- series 2
Daisy- series 2
Bulls eyes- series 4
Percy’s predicament- series 2