Fearless Freddie (Thomas & Friends)

"Fearless Freddie"
"Fearless Freddie is back!" - Freddie
Series: Thomas & Friends Part of Season: 10 Episode Number: 11 Air Date: October 7, 2006 (UK) October 8, 2006 (US) Writer: Simon Nicholson Previous episode: "Seeing the Sights" Next episode: "Toby's New Shed"

"Fearless Freddie" is the eleventh episode of the tenth season of Thomas & Friends. It first aired in the October 7, 2006, in the UK and October 8, 2006, in the US.

Plot

An elderly narrow-gauge engine called Freddie challenges Rheneas and Skarloey to a race, but resorts to taking hidden shortcuts to secure a victory due to his advanced age.

Bad Qualities

1. The issue with this episode lies in its portrayal of Freddie as a familiar character, despite it being his introductory episode, with the narrator referring to him as an "old friend".
2. There is a puzzling plot inconsistency regarding Sir Handel and Freddie's acquaintance from years past, despite Freddie not appearing in Season 4 when Sir Handel was introduced, nor is he present in the Railway Series novels.
3. Freddie's introduction and backstory are minimal, only indicating a past acquaintance with Sir Handel. Fans have speculated that Freddie may have worked on the Mid-Sodor Railway, although this is not depicted onscreen. The lack of explanation in the episode could be attributed to the live-action HiT Entertainment era, particularly the Miller era, which is known for its continuity inconsistencies with previous seasons, possibly due to an oversight by the writers at the time.
4. In this episode, Thomas seems to have a minimal role, only appearing to deliver Freddie to the Transfer Yards. After this, he is not seen again, and his sole contribution to the episode is transporting Freddie from an unspecified railway on Sodor before disappearing from the narrative.
5. As usual in Seasons 9-12, Rheneas and Skarloey are depicted as overly energetic youngsters eager to race rather than work, despite being the oldest engines on the island.
   • Freddie refers to them as "young engines," although they may actually be older than he is. It's possible that Freddie is simply mistaken about their ages.
   • In fact, the episode appears to suggest that Freddie is older than Rheneas and Skarloey, which is likely false.
6. As per usual with Sharon Miller era episodes, it has some cringeworthy alliteration such as when the narrator describes Freddie as "Fast, fun and fearless".
7. There's one scene where Skarloey is mistakenly seen wearing Rheneas' laughing face, which makes him look uncanny.
8. Although Freddie learns his lesson at the end of the episode, Mr. Percival does not reprimand him for the racing incident, despite the dangers of racing on the railway. However, Mr. Percival might have reprimanded him off-screen, although it seems unlikely.
   • Indeed, Mr. Percival remains silent throughout this episode, and curiously, he does not appear again after a certain point, similar to Thomas, who also vanishes from the screen. This abrupt absence can indeed be quite jarring.
9. The events of the episode were literally spoiled in the Sodor's Special Places segment "The High Hills (Part 1)" that aired before this episode making it seem pointless to watch, not to mention it spoilt Freddie as a new character before properly being introduced. Thanks a lot to those television executives at HiT Entertainment.
10. Skarloey and Rheneas were not the best choices of characters to race against Freddie. If Peter Sam or Duncan and Sir Handel had been used instead, the episode might have been more successful. However, this episode falls into the trope of portraying Skarloey and Rheneas as naive children, which further diminishes its effectiveness.
    • The concept of the two oldest Sudrian engines as racing daredevils was flawed from inception. Notably, this marks the second portrayal of Skarloey as a daredevil, which is fortunately the last, whereas Rheneas experiences this characterization for the first and only occasion.

Good Qualities

1. The concept of an old narrow-gauge engine returning to the railway is intriguing. However, its execution falls short of the impactful reintroduction seen in Season 4, coming across as rather lackluster this time around.
2. True to form, the visuals and modeling from Seasons 8 through 12 are impressive.
3. Good narration from Michael Brandon in the US (apart from the voices he gives Skarloey and Rheneas) and Michael Angelis in the UK.
4. Michael Brandon gives a decent voice role for Freddie, though he would completely change his voice in Season 11. The same can be said about Michael Angelis, and him voicing Freddie with a Welsh accent after Season 11 was a very clever move considering the fact his basis is from Wales, which is a voice accent he never uses for Skarloey, Rheneas, Sir Handel, Duke, or Peter Sam since those five engines are
5. Freddie is a decent character, even though he didn't have the best introduction to start out to begin with.
6. Rheneas' crash scene is spectacular.
7. The episode gives off a good moral about how old people can't always be as fast as how they were in their youth. Another moral this episode teaches is "Sometimes having fear can be a good thing, as it sometimes allows you to make better decisions.

Trivia

• The US dubbed version of this episode was never made available on home media.
• This is Freddie's sole appearance in Season 10, with the exception of the learning segment "Up and Down the Hill."
• Certain segments of the footage are digitally accelerated during the engine race.

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