Reviews

Opinions and reviews concerning various pieces of franchise media, as media in and of itself.

The Great Race Did Not Have to Be A Terrible Movie

Before we begin: I have taken the liberty of addressing Gordon as 'Gordon' in all forms of tense throughout this essay. Technically this is incorrect, if one is to treat his rechristening as 'Shooting Star' as a serious event- as his character seems to imply. However, the movie and the continuity at large does not, especially as he goes back to 'Gordon' by the end of this movie and never brings the event up again. As a result I have chosen to keep it consistent for clarity's sake in this instance, large wealth of personal feelings on the matter aside.

Thomas and Friends movies are not very good. They all bring something new to the table- new ideas, characters, lore- and are rarely ever boring, but never are they very good. Even taking into account that HiT and Mattel insist that this body of work is solely for preschoolers- and, erroneously, that that must mean no real effort need to be expended- they have no internal or external character, setting or lore consistency, terrible pacing, and general low quality in the structure of their scripts. With that being said, I am of the opinion that most of these movies are- or perhaps, would be- salvageable with enough proper care, especially after seeing how Mattel's rivaling company truly stepped up and set the bar with their newest talking-machines-from-yesteryear movie. Which is, as might be expected, somewhat frustrating- and none are more frustrating in this way then The Great Race.

The Great Race is the twelfth of the fourteen Thomas and Friends movies, taking place near the end of the first CGI continuity era, and just before the 'Big World, Big Adventures' reboot. In short, it features Thomas and few of the other engines travelling to England to participate in an international railway show-competition hybrid event as Sodor's representatives. However, the actual event is not the focus of the special, rather, it is on stealth-showcasing most of the new trains that would go on to become characters in the Big World era. Now, I am not going to get into the Big World era. We all know what a terrible (and somehow unbearably racist, which this series from 1945 had avoided until then) nightmare Mattel created. It was bad, and everyone knows it was bad. Gutting that intention and all those characters alone from this movie would not be enough to save it. But, it would be enough to give room enough to do so.

The first, and biggest issue with this movie, is that it does not care about the worldbuilding established in the Railway Series. Sure, the whole show itself hasn't cared since the end of season four, but it will never not be worth bringing up- especially when the writers intentionally pick and choose what they want from it for big productions like these. Case in point being, Flying Scotsman.

This movie marks the character's first appearance in the television show, after playing a small but integral role in the books as Gordon's last surviving sibling. He and Gordon have a complicated relationship. It's clear they still love each other on some level, as Flying Scotsman was willing to come support Gordon in person when he became incredibly depressed after finding out how few of their family made it post-Dieselization. But they're also fairly hostile towards each other for that same reason. Flying Scotsman looks down on his older brother, who- to him at least- has done nothing of note in his life, and especially nothing to warrant his luck in still being here. He calls him 'little' as in 'weaker' brother, often enough- and it is implied this is both where Gordon gets his habit in calling Thomas and Edward the exact same, and his borderline self-injurious obsession with breaking speed records. Gordon wants nothing more than to prove himself superior, and while that never happens, it is clear in their shared exploits that they are equals. Pulling the Express everyday is an achievement worth living for, even if neither of them could ever admit it.

Now, The Great Race plays pretty loose with why and how the two ended up this way. It acknowledges that they're relatives, but tries incredibly hard to dance around any and everything that has to even remotely do with why they don't get along, and as a result, makes Flying Scotsman look far too cruel for no real reason. He still calls Gordon 'little brother', he still constantly insults him, but there's no depth to their banter. When Gordon gets his streamlining overhaul and rechristening, Flying Scotsman completely blows it off, repeatedly even- even though this ties back immediately and neatly into their family trauma. Gordon getting overhauled by itself is a drastic and concerning move- on a material level, there's nobody left to cannibalize for parts should something go terribly wrong, and on an emotional level, he is giving up his old name, body and some degree of his general identity- much less one that is purely motivated by his undying desire to finally show up his brother. Yet, this movie acts as though it's of absolutely no consequence. The setup is ideal for these characters to have some kind of arc, growth-motivated or otherwise, and nothing comes of it.

This is especially confusing because, something does happen later. Gordon does suffer an accident and pops his boiler. Which is, absolutely not treated properly or accurately as the near-lethal accident that it would be, in any way shape or form. This is something that the series has been plagued with ever since it first transitioned to television, sure, but it's still a huge problem with the weight and tone. This could've been a big moment between Gordon and Scotsman, finally coming close to losing each other after everything else- something to parallel not only the events present in 'Enterprising Engines' but perhaps Gordon's early retirement in the Railway Series continuity in general, and we get. Nothing of the sort. It's not a big deal and Scotsman- and the animators- acts as though it's no worse than a scrape, and the movie just continues right along.

This tone permeates through all other major points in the movie. Each of the returning characters have a similar set up that, in isolation, makes sense, but doesn't do anything with them in it.

Henry gets picked for the competition as well, and is entered into the strength contest- as the largest and strongest freight engine on the island, there is no better pick. But, Henry's also, famously, chronically ill- unlike all the other engines competing. There was no guarantee that he'd be able to showcase himself when the day came, and in fact, the movie tells us that he came in dead last. Ultimately, this is perfectly fine, but it happens offscreen between Gordon and Thomas' plots, and after that point, we don't hear from Henry again for the rest of the movie. We don't get anything about how he feels about the loss, or if he feels like he was well enough to compete despite his wishing badly to be there- the latter of which would've meshed nicely with Gordon's impromptu operation- we, again, just move right on with the rest of the events.

The third of which is a 'best-in-show'-style beauty competition. Now, such an event makes little sense in a railway show to begin with, especially since the viewers are given no information on what is actually being judged in lieu of matters such as body-to-breed conformation or coloration, or literally anything else. Still, James and Emily getting paired up as Sodor's entries is interesting. The two have always been quite proud of their appearances and uniqueness as a 'splendid red' experimental 28 and the last Sterling Single on planet earth, 'big wheels' and all. It would've been nice to see them bond over this shared aspect, especially since they don't normally interact at all- and especially since they also both end up losing. Emily has never been in a situation like this before, but we know James takes any evaluation of his appearance extremely personally. This has the potential to be just as bad a blow to his self esteem as Hatt threatening to repaint him blue, and that alone was enough to send him to tears and have nightmares years after the fact. It would've been nice for James to finally have someone to talk to about this sort of thing that would, to some extent, understand, if not just go all out and have Emily take it just as severely. The show itself likes to joke that they haven't done anything notable with Emily since she became a main character so often, and this was a perfect chance to actually showcase some depth to her character and have her form a decent bond with somebody- since they're too scared to follow up on 'Emily and the Special Coaches'.

Speaking of, Diesel also has his own bit in this movie, however small it may be. Ultimately, it's nothing more than a gag used to hurry the plot along- and shove a song in here for the companion album- but there was some potential. He should have been Hatt's original pick for the shunting competition, just as he wanted. Much like Henry, he is canonically the most qualified engine for the contest- as he holds the island's title for shunting the most trucks ever recorded in a single day. No tricks or traps involved, it should've just been him through his own merits- and then, he should've been rejected on the organizer's part. Hatt should've sent his paperwork in and been disqualified on account of Diesel lacking the necessary record information, like, a name and licensed serial number- and then, Thomas should've been picked to go in his place. Have him go as the flag-bearer instead, if you want, just something that doesn't take focus away from the big event at hand.

If the movie is going to have this consistent thread of loss and none of the engines succeeding at the things they think they're good at, then it has to hurt in some way. Even if and when they inevitably pick themselves back up, it has to have some concrete bearing on them as feeling characters. I noted in the beginning that Gordon and his brother were out of tone and character within the context of the greater established universe, but Thomas manages to be out of tone and character within not only the greater universe, but also the television show in and of itself.

Thomas is a character that is uncomfortable with his body. He knows he's abnormally short and stumpy for an E2, among many other various abnormalities in his design. We've seen him display bouts of anger and disgust whenever this gets brought up- even on accident from unknowing parties- to the point of working himself to injury on at least one occasion as a form of protest. This is an aspect of this character that the show has devoted multiple episodes to messing around with, while never coming to a resolution of any kind, and it is once again on full display here.

Thomas spends the first half of the movie trying desperately to figure out a way to better himself to the point where he believes he would be considerable for the various competitions. He tries to work out a way to get himself streamlined, he tries to get himself a new paintjob at the Steamworks to showcase himself in a flattering way, and so on- and each time he tries, it gives Hatt the inspiration to instead pick someone more obviously well-suited for the task, which depresses Thomas in kind. (We even get a song about it, vaguely. The song in question is quite poorly written in almost its entirety, save for Thomas' stanza riffing on his introductory paragraph from Season One. But even that isn't acknowledged as anything important.) Now- like everything else- this doesn't go anywhere. After a massive accident involving Diesel, Paxton, Den and Dart, and Norman, Thomas just kind of forgets about his troubles, instead ending up as the shunting competition entry ultimately just because Percy didn't want to go- even though he was still fairly injured at the time. (There's also a bit about him having to bring Gordon his safety valve, because he failed his post-op spot check, but that is not how any of that works even remotely, and it ultimately doesn't matter except to make the accident Gordon's fault, which is nonsensical, so...) All of this, just to end up losing, as with all the others.

Here is the one point at which the international aspect could still come into play, and not bog down the entire movie. Now, in the movie proper, there's a sideplot between Philip- who tagged along as the flagbearer- and Vinnie, one of the American engines. The conflict is extremely short-lived and has no bearing on the rest of the story, except to stall the shunting competition and give Thomas something to do- that is, rescue Philip from Vinnie- that costs him the competition without it being at all due to lack of skill. The perplexing thing is, the franchise already has an American engine in Hank, who was the crux of one of Thomas' previous dysphoric bouts- and could therefore provide some of that much needed continuity, if not time and space to reflect on how Thomas' tendency to run around, trying to prove himself as more than he is didn't work before, and isn't working now, for either him or his friends. Perhaps, it could instead end with Thomas bringing home the sole win for the island, as we do know that shunting is, in fact, something he does well, even if he isn't the all-time best at it. Or at least, if he must also lose, some form of acceptance in that. Something that either rewards or validates his struggles without curing him of his feelings. Something to complete the recurring theme in any way other than dropping it cold- because the movie does just immediately end after Thomas' loss with no connecting or resolving thought for anybody.

Now, the changes I've suggested here would not make The Great Race a perfect movie. There are parts of its premise that're still pretty out-there and inconsistent with the world Sodor is supposed to be a part of at that point in the timeline- namely that the Age of Steam is completely over. But, I do believe that it could make it an enjoyable movie, and one that could capture the character-driven spirit of the books to some degree.

Wonders Of Sodor: We are So Back (On Track, Even)

Before we begin: This review is being made for Wonders of Sodor in its debut form. The developers have already clarified that they plan on expanding the game with more characters and places in the future, and as such, some of the goodwill towards this game is in part due to those future updates as opposed to the current material product. It is an investment in a game with a planned-lifespan and direction similar to something like Hello Kitty Island Adventure- and therefore could charitably be labeled as 'unfinished' in its current, initial year of existence.

One of the more unexpected announcements during last year's 80th anniversary was that of a new Thomas and Friends videogame, Wonders of Sodor. In the past, the only videogames this franchise has officially been a part of were ancient plug-and-play computer tie-ins and obscure educational games- not the greatest repertoire. But Wonders of Sodor promised to change all that. It was to be a fully realized train simulator and free-roaming adventure game hybrid, something that catered to the older fan-community and, most importantly, something that acknowledged and embraced the Railway Series books again as a recognized part of its existence. Now, several months later, the game has released, and I am happy to say that, for me at least, it is pretty much everything it promised to be.

Wonders of Sodor's gameplay is split between four different modes; Story, Timetable, Adventure and the Shunting Challenge. Of the four, the Story and Adventure modes offer the bulk of the game's 'new content', while Timetable and the Shunting Challenge offer diverse situations for the more simulator-centric aspects. In all four modes, you play as the engine-of-your-choice's driver, piloting them around as you'd expect and getting out every once in a while to deal with the ongoings of the island.

Now, story mode allows the player to go through twelve different character-driven scenarios on the island of Sodor, with five being retellings of classic Railway Series events, and the remaining seven being wholly original. Mark Moraghan reprises his role as series narrator here, and acts as the voices for all of the characters for the first time- as the show had long since transitioned to a traditional, full voice-acting cast by the time of his initial run. This, along with the limited style of animation used on the engines' faces, gives the game a sort of Alcroft-era model-series style treatment, and returns a bit of the clunky charm that was lost after those early years. I will also say, I am very happy that Emily, James and Diesel get to keep their proper accents- with James finally getting his back after decades of being without. That was a very nice touch.

The gameplay loop is fairly simple, revolving around acceleration, breaks and general timekeeping- there is no water or coal, or diesel fuel, management to be had, and no special precautions or steps to be used in the starting or stopping process. In addition, the physics and weight are employed rudimentaryly. Personally, I am fine with this, as it allows more focus on the stories and world at hand, but I do agree with more avid rail-sim fans in that a more 'advanced' toggleable setting would also be welcome for the enjoyment factor it would bring to them. That, and, even I found myself a bit confused when Diesel and James could climb hillsides with relative ease- superfan immersion in a delicate thing.

As for the stories themselves, I have a few mixed feelings. I do actually enjoy that they're all cute, slice-of-life-type ones. I think, for a celebratory game such as this, that was absolutely the right move, and I hope going forwards, Dovetail can keep that 'let's come and vibe with Thomas' kind of ball rolling. As a big fan of Diesel, I was very happy with 'Branching Out' in particular, especially since it felt like a nice nod-slash-follow-up to his final appearance in the Railway Series. With that being said, the stories aren't all the same length. There's one two-parter, and most are of a decent size, but 'Leaves' is notably missing some plotbeats from its adaptation, and Emily's starring role is similarly quite short. It's not a dealbreaker-and to be completely fair I suspect Mattel to be purely at fault for this, as this is consistent with issues in the main series regarding Emily's treatment and certain adaptations- but it is of note.

Truthfully, I haven't played a lot of Timetable mode at this moment, and only a little bit more than that out of the Shunting Challenge. I would like to going forwards, of course, but the experience of simply running an entire set timetable from morning until night is not, quite as appealing to me as going through stories or adventuring on my own. I feel as though this would be a dream come true for those more invested in the- for lack of a better word- business side of the NWR, though, and I do hope that such fans get a lot more out of it than I.

Adventure mode, however, is where this game shines the most. In this mode, you can explore the island of Sodor to your heart's content- or at least, currently, all across the mainline and Thomas' branchline- on either foot or rails. What makes this special, is that this version of Sodor is a scaled down version- about 1/6th of the size- of the original Railway Series incarnation, with all of the appropriate landmarks, geology, towns and, of course, railway lines. (Easter eggs to some Railway Series events are also present, and while I haven't found them all just yet- I think- I made the worst sound out loud when I found Class 40's chewed-up hat. That was nice!) There are also some small additions from the model and CGI eras' takes, but nothing disruptive or majorly altering- making this the first time the original island has ever been represented as anything more than a map in the extended lorebooks and speeches. When I say all, I do mean all- even the smallest of details has been noticed, respected and represented in this game, from very noticeable things like the true gradient of Gordon's Hill, all the way down to the proper names on each and every signal box. All of which would not have been possible without the input and cooperation of the Talyllyn Railway, as they host historians and artifacts on all things Awdry.

As nice as simply enjoying the home of Blorbo is, there's also a bit to actually do in this mode too, in the form of collectable challenges to complete. There's paintings and posters of various engines to collect for the art display at Knapford, as well as the hats' of a certain old magic conductor. Which is a movie I didn't think would ever be acknowledged in something so devoted to the older fanbase, not that I personally mind- it's kind of cute, even. In addition, all 26 of the original Railway Series books are hidden about the island, all in places relevant to each book in some way or another- which put a huge smile on my face. I hope the second collection can eventually make its way into the game as well in a future update, but as it stands, it's quite nice as is. It's not exactly a replayable experience at any rate, however, which I can see being less of a plus to those less obsessed than I. Still, the only real complaints I have here, are both already noted by the developers as additions for the first post-release update. The first being the lack of background music over pure ambient sounds, and the second being the lack of an ability to control the expressions the engines make in this mode. Anything else is purely taste oriented, and more nitpicks with the architecture and era the game is supposedly set in, versus, anything anyone has real issue with.

I would be remiss to not take a moment to also appreciate the modelwork for the engines themselves, as it's clear just as much work went into them as did the world. This is especially apparent in the cabs, as every engine has their cab modeled after their closest surviving relative in the 'real' world- Gordon's is based on Flying Scotsman, Emily's is Sterling Single No. 1, James' is the Ribble Steam Class 27, Percy's is Trojan, and Diesel's is a Class 08- with, of course, the exception of Thomas, for obvious reasons. (I believe Thomas' cab is that of one of the surviving Jintys but I am not able to confirm this at the time of writing.) It's a very nice touch that helps bring a bit of sorely-needed realism back into the world, especially after the art direction in the last two television show outings. On that note, the rivet-work has also become refined. It's now scaled down to a much more believable size and number, and are no longer applied stylistically- instead more closely reflecting the bodywork of proper engines. A lot of the odd, late-CGI era proportion issues have been smoothened out in the making of this game, in fact, which is very much appreciated.

All in all, the game excels at being a truly feel-good game for fans of this franchise, and is one I would soundly recommend.