Fiery Flynn (Thomas & Friends)

Fiery Flynn
"His firebox was on fire!"
Series: Thomas & Friends Part of Season: 15 Episode Number: 20 Air Date: March 28, 2011 (UK) June 5, 2011 (US) Writer: Sharon Miller Director: Greg Tiernan Previous episode: Tree Trouble Next episode: Race to the Rescue (Season 16)

"Fiery Flynn" is the twentieth episode in the fifteenth season of Thomas & Friends.

Plot

There's a blue engine on fire, but Flynn the Fire Engine races to the rescue before Rocky can tell him which blue engine it is.

Why It Fudges It Indeed

1. The main criticism with this episode is that this episode completely insults the intelligence of firefighters in the most distasteful way possible. See Reason #2 if you are curious.
   • It should be noted that the way this episode writes firefighters as incompetent, useless idiots through one character is not funny. In fact, it is insultingly and despicably unfunny. Worst of all, the episode itself never takes itself seriously, and we all thought CGI Fireman Sam was bad?
2. In this episode, Flynn is just as, if not even more idiotic than Thomas in the episode "Wonky Whistle" and his pure idiocy makes Patrick Star look and act like Albert Einstein in comparison, as he cannot tell if an engine is on fire or not. Not only that, but given by the fact this episode writes him as stupid and incompetent, and how his portrayal paints firefighters in a terrible light, he should not have joined the rescue team if you see how disgraceful this portrayal is to firefighters alike.
   • In fact, each time he says: "You're not on fire?" makes you want to do a facepalm or laugh at how bad this episode is.
3. Throughout the episode, there are some grammatical errors in this episode as well, such as: "All the engines like to be really helpful, as well as really useful" (Helpful and useful are the exact same thing!) and "But I'm wet through!"
4. Edward and Gordon did not serve any purpose to the story at all. They were just there because this episode wanted to use these two engines as talking test subjects in order for the three strikes formula to progress.
5. Speaking of the three strikes, this episode doesn't try to be funny with Flynn acting stupid. Flynn acting stupid is rather played for unfunny attempts at humour and that is it.
6. There are a chunk of really nonsensical plot holes present during the episode.
   • How does Rocky know that Thomas is on fire if the alarm just rang? We don't see anybody tell Rocky the emergency. The same thing happens when one of Mavis' trucks catches fire.
   • While Thomas is burning, Flynn tells the diesels to use buckets of water to turn off the fire, why didn't the drivers do that in the first place!?
   • How did Thomas' firebox explode in the first place?
   • On the same scene, the diesels get the credit while it was the drivers who turned off Thomas' fire.
7. What was even the point of Thomas and Flynn thanking the diesels and not the diesel's drivers? The drivers did all the work, not the diesels!
8. The episode tries too hard to make the diesels the "antagonists". Instead, Flynn comes off as a brainless, incompetent moron who screws everything up and can't take his job seriously like a dimwit, even though he is a fire engine!
9. The infamous scene where the narrator says: "His firebox was on fire!" For one thing, fireboxes ARE supposed to be on fire! Hence the name, how's the engine going to work then!? It would've made a lot more sense if they just said "His firebox was overheating!" since Thomas' firebox exploded.
10. Flynn doesn't even seem to take his job seriously, because while Thomas is on fire, he talks and does not shut up. A real firefighter would instantly spray water and not talk before doing so! And even when he realizes that the other blue engines are not on fire, he should instantly go with Thomas because again, THOMAS IS THE ONE WHO WAS ON FIRE!
11. It accidentally gives out a bad moral that you should not take your work seriously and act completely brain dead and stupid on your job.
12. This episode ended Season 15, an already awful season, on a lousy note.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The CGI animation by Nitrogen Studios is nice.
2. Good narration by both Michael Brandon and Michael Angelis, as usual.
3. There are two funny lines to come from this episode:
   • "Fiery Flynn fudges it!", as said by Den.
   • "You're not Fiery Flynn, you're Fumbling Flynn. Ha ha ha ha ha!", as said by Dart, which is that one very speaking line we can all agree with how poorly Flynn was written and portrayed in this episode.
4. Flynn redeems himself at the end of the episode by telling the diesels' drivers to pour water on Thomas and by saving Mavis. Even though he did, it's not saving the fact this does not excuse this episode.

Reception

• As of 2024, this episode holds the lowest rating of 1.9/10 on IMDB. Surpassing Wonky Whistle by one star in being one of the lowest rated episodes of Thomas & Friends. On top of that, The Sif Blogspot has a review of this episode which you can click to read.

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