Season 17

[seanrail]

not really fergusfan17.

'The Stephen Chief' is a good story for a few reasons

Because James Barrie who wrote Peter Pan, was Scottish, 'The Stephen Chief' will feature Donald & Douglas, The Scottish Twins, and possibly Duck, Oliver and Toad. The forest fire scene, inspired by the one in Bambi, will mean Belle and Flynn are also appearing.

The reason why i decided on 'The Stephen Chief' is i thought it is time The Fat Controller's grandchildren had a big role in an episode as they only had minor roles in the CGI series, notable 'Thomas and the Runaway Kite'.

as in real life, the red indians live in an american frontier landscape, Misty Island would make the most appropriate location for the episode.

the episode also has a moral that 'The only to overcome your fears is to face them'.

[Fergusfan17]

not really fergusfan17.

'The Stephen Chief' is a good story for a few reasons

Because James Barrie who wrote Peter Pan, was Scottish, 'The Stephen Chief' will also feature Donald & Douglas, The Scottish Twins, and possibly Duck, Oliver and Toad. The forest fire scene, inspired by the one in Bambi, will mean Belle and Flynn are also appearing.

The reason why i decided on 'The Stephen Chief' is i thought it is time The Fat Controller's grandchildren had a big role in an episode as they only had minor roles in the CGI series, notable 'Thomas and the Runaway Kite'.

the episode also has a moral that 'The only to overcome your fears is to face them'.

Maybe you could make it about the engine Stephen instead?

[seanrail]

not really fergusfan17.

'The Stephen Chief' is a good story for a few reasons

Because James Barrie who wrote Peter Pan, was Scottish, 'The Stephen Chief' will also feature Donald & Douglas, The Scottish Twins, and possibly Duck, Oliver and Toad. The forest fire scene, inspired by the one in Bambi, will mean Belle and Flynn are also appearing.

The reason why i decided on 'The Stephen Chief' is i thought it is time The Fat Controller's grandchildren had a big role in an episode as they only had minor roles in the CGI series, notable 'Thomas and the Runaway Kite'.

the episode also has a moral that 'The only to overcome your fears is to face them'.

Maybe you could make it about the engine Stephen instead?

having the forest fire scene in the castle in an episode with a native american theme would not look right. and replying to your suggestion of using Bill and Ben, having it in at the china clay works would not look right either as there is nothing other than the metal clay chutes to be set afire and the china clay would end up dousing the flames, anyway we have seen Bill and Ben enough in Season 17 and we have not seen the logging locos in Season 17 either. By contrast, fire can daily burn plants and trees, Misty Island is the best location, especially as we don't want to upset Henry again by having the forest in his forest, especially if it sets alight the tall pine tree.

[seanrail]

Well here are my thoughts on the Christmas episodes since now I have time to go through them:
Santa's Little Engine - A huge disappointment.  This episode started off pretty well, the humor with STH and Winston and the beginning went very well at the beginning but I found Winston to look really ridiculous as a sleigh.  From that point though I found the episode to be average, and then it went downhill from there... literally.  I know I shouldn't judge a show like Thomas for realism but can someone please explain to me how the sleigh landed perfectly on the rails?  On top of the branches landing so perfectly on Thomas' funnel?  And more importantly, Why was Winston being decorated as a sleigh was not approved by the Earl since he wanted something a little more suiting for the festival yet Thomas with antlers and a red nose pulling the sleigh was..?  That basically made the whole scene with Winston being decorated completely pointless.  The episode had it's minor funny moments, but for me I just thought it was a really ridiculous episode.  Definitely one of the weaker episodes this season.  2/10

No Snow for Thomas - There is no other way to put this episode other than it basically being a rewritten version of Thomas, Emily and the Snowplough.  The only differences was some minor changes to the plot and Emily's overall personality in the episode.  The episode does not win the originality award on my book, but I do give the episode credit for showing the safety of Thomas wearing a snowplough by just leaving him in the sheds.  That is of course before inevitably he gets stuck in the snow again.  I did like how they gave Emily the caring personality she had in season 7 as opposed to the bossy/sassy personality she was given from season 8 onward.  So while originality is weak I feel everything else was done pretty well.  What you see is what you get, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't watch this episode more than once.  One of the best Emily episodes we've gotten since season 11, but definitely not the strongest for her, or the season.  7/10

Frozen Turntable - It was an average episode, a little boring, but not a bad one.  This episode had it's funny moments like Percy trying to get into the shed with Gordon already sleeping inside.  Past that nothing really struck me as anything particularly memorable about this episode.  Gordon was essentially a grump throughout the episode and finally had what was coming to him after making a selfish decision.  It's a rare message throughout the series nowadays to not be greedy and this episode displayed that moral very well, especially with the moment of Gordon being stuck in the sheds not able to come out.  So overall not a bad episode but at the same time I felt they could have done a little better with this one. 6/10

The Missing Christmas Decorations - I'll be honest, I was biased when I first heard that Diesel 10 was appearing in an episode, since I was used to seeing him as a movie/special only character.  So I would have never guessed he would appear in an episode, let alone a Christmas episode.  The episode itself was easily the best episode out of all the winter episodes this season.  Paxton once again said some of the best lines in the episode such as coming in during the confrontation asking "What's the occasion?" worked really well.  Plus I found Sidney to be humorous while hanging up at the Dieselworks waiting for his new wheels.  He's a character who I would love to see more development from.  To add to that, the chase scene with Diesel 10 and the steam team was done really well, but I think what I liked best about this episode was the moral.  The moral was talking about the spirit of Christmas being about giving and even being good to those were not good to you in the past.  It's basically one of those "love your enemies" moments, and with the Diesels giving the steam engines their decorations in return for giving Sidney new wheels really shows that moral even more.  Plus I really like how Percy was given a good role for this episode since it ties in with his role in Day of the Diesels.  Plus Diesel 10 calling Sidney "Twinkle toes" worked really well for this episode!  So not only was this episode the best out of the four, but probably out of the season as a whole.  10/10


So as a season overall I was pretty impressed with what I've seen.  A huge improvement over what we've gotten over the last five years as far as writing has gone from the season.  I won't say it's perfect but it is a huge step in the right direction.  I'm glad everyone liked my insights too and I'm looking forward to season 18.

Quite so, Chaz. the days of the Three-strikes are over and so it the Henry's special coal continuity contradicting and personality change on the nicer engines, notably Edward and Toby.

My suggestions for improving the story lines is some more action and a bit of drama.

now, what episode title suggestions should we have for Season 18 and its synopsis?

here are some of my suggestions

Sprang a Leak: Diesel teases Thomas about his leaky tank after Thomas' siderods snap and punctured his water tank, but leaks turn on Diesel when he springs an oil leak.

The Boat Train: a boat train called 'The Brendam Ferry' has started up to take passengers to Brendam Docks to catch the ocean liners. When Henry is chosen to take the train, Gordon will do anything to pull the train, but it becomes a sail against time when the ocean liner, RMS Cunard of Sodor, is due early. (note: RMS Cunard of Sodor is recycled from TUGS' 'The Duchess' model.)

The Stephen Chief (based on Walt Disney's Peter Pan and the fairy tale by James M. Barrie): When Peter Pan is the chosen pantomime at the town hall, Bridget Hatt wants to see the pantomime, but her brother Stephen Hatt is scared of the Red Indians in the pantomime for an apparently grizzly reason. Can he overcome his phobia before the pantomime and before Bash, Dash and Ferdinand find out and use it as an advantage for mischief, which can result in a potential fire on Misty island?

what do you think of my suggestions? feel free to give them the pros, cons and a rating out of 10.

No Bash...blabalablabla EVER AGAIN. They were the worst characters ever introduced to Thomas. What about Bill and Ben?
The story with the humans... Don't you think it should revolve more around trains? Just thinking.
8/10

away for The Stephen Chief, what do you think of sprang a leak and the boat train as far as pros, cons and a rating out of 10 for each?