Henry Spots Trouble (Thomas & Friends)

Henry Spots Trouble
This episode is more trouble than it's worth.
Series: Thomas & Friends Part of Season: 19 Episode Number: 4 Air Date: June 9th 2015 (US, Direct-to-Video) September 24th 2015 (UK) October 14th 2015 (US, TV) Writer: Davey Moore Director: Don Spencer Previous episode: Lost Property Next episode: A Cranky Christmas

Henry Spots Trouble is the fourth episode of the nineteenth series.

Plot

After seeing Sir Topham Hatt's children get chickenpox Henry worries he'll get chickenpox too.

Why This Episode Is Trouble

1. Henry is out of character throughout the episode as he does nothing but worry about getting chickenpox.
2. It has the 3 strikes formula showing 3 engines getting covered in spots and getting Henry scared.
3. Henry should know better that steam engines can't get chickenpox since they are machines and are not venerable to germs and diseases.
4. The scene where Henry runs away backwards with an entire passenger train endangering their lives and almost hitting James passing the other way.
5. The scene with Sir Topham Hatt ripping his paints exposing his underpants is really out of place and inappropriate for Thomas & Friends. This type of lowbrow humor would work for shows like SpongeBob or Fairly OddParents since they are TV-Y7 but Thomas & Friends is TV-Y thus making it more eyebrow raising.
6. It's completely illogically for Henry to think that Thomas and Paxton got chickenpox since they're spots aren't even red since Thomas got covered in mud and Paxton got covered in soot.
7. Plothole: When Diesel blasts Paxton in the face with fumes how does his face just get spots and why isn't his entire face covered in soot?
8. When Henry screams after seeing Gordon with paint spots it is really irradiating and unfunny. (Especially in the US dub since Kerry Shale's voice is higher pitched than Keith Wickmam's)
9. This episode treats Chickenpox as if it's not a big deal and that only children can get it when people could still get it if they are older which resulted in this episode getting banned in Australia thus making it the only Thomas episode to date to ever get banned.
10. Even though Henry gets over his fear of Chickenpox in the end he becomes afraid of measles after Paxton makes a joke about it thus undoing Henry's development!
11. Characters like Thomas, Paxton and Gordon are used purely as plot devices in order to trigger Henry's fear.
12. Henry never gets in trouble for endangering his passenger train nor does Diesel get his comeuppance in this episode for covering Paxton in soot.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Despite being out of place Sir Topham Hatt ripping his pants is a nice reference to the SpongeBob episode "Ripped Pants"
2. All the characters (Except for Henry and Diesel, though the latter is meant to be unlikeable) are still likable in the episode and think more logically than Henry does.
3. Even though it's completely ridiculous, it is a little bit understandable why Henry is afraid of chickenpox since he's never seen it before.
4. The Remix of Henry's sad theme that plays sounds good.
5. Despite Henry sounding annoying when he screams the voice acting is still well done.
6. Some funny moments like the painter accidently spilling paint on the tracks which is what gets Gordon covered in paint.

Reception

This is one of the most poorly received episodes of the Brenner era scoring a 5.1/10 on IMDb for it's portrayal of Henry and Unlucky Tug in particular also pointing it out for portraying Henry as a coward.

Trivia

This episode was banned in Australia due to how it was handled in the episode making seem as if it conveys an anti-vaccination message though it can still be watched on DVD. This is the only Thomas episode to ever get banned.

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