Thomas & Friends (Andrew Brenner era, seasons 17-21)
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| Thomas & Friends (Andrew Brenner era, seasons 17-21) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Andrew Brenner, you are a really useful writer.
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From 2013 to 2017, the Thomas & Friends franchise massively redeemed itself in seasons 17-21 and 6 specials after experiencing seasonal rot during Seasons 9-16 (2005-2012). This era is referred to as "Andrew Brenner Era" or simply "Brenner Era" by fans.
Why These Series Are Really Useful
- This era is a huge improvement over series 9-16, with improved writing and storylines as well as bringing back the charm of the classic era (and even series 8 to an extent) and the RWS books. The last 3 episodes of series 20 were adapted from the books, and the tone of the series began feeling more down to earth once again.
- Return of classic and fan-favorite characters like Duck, Donald, Douglas, Oliver, Toad, Bill, Ben, Harvey, Jeremy, Jack, Terrence, Bulgy, and many others.
- While several of them returned in series 12, they were handled much better than in that season.
- In series 12, the returning classic characters were shoehorned into scenes seemingly just to satisfy fans with their presence, with little or no regard for those unfamiliar with them. The characters are formally reintroduced in this era, allowing newcomers a better understanding of who they are.
- The characters that reappear in series 12 are given minor roles, mostly telling the main character what to do, that could be given to practically any character. This era, however, fully takes advantage of their unique personalities and traits, such as Harvey being an engine with a crane, Bill and Ben teasing other engines as well as arguing with each other, and Duck trying to do things the "Great Western" way.
- "Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure" even pokes fun at the two Oliver characters, with Marion thinking Oliver the Great Western engine had himself transformed into an excavator!
- While several of them returned in series 12, they were handled much better than in that season.
- Andrew Brenner and his team of new writers (even including a few veterans) have a much better grasp on the source material than Sharon Miller and her team of writers did a lot of times.
- Gorgeous CGI animation that is a massive upgrade from the CGI animation during Season 12 and to a lesser extent S13-16 (though it is decent in S13-16, even if these seasons are disliked for very good reasons).
- While the animation in series 17-18 is still good, it got even better in series 19, with animation that could rival high-budget theatrical animated movies.
- Introduces new, better, and funny characters like Connor, Caitlin, Millie, Gator, Stephen, Skiff, and the list goes on!
- The new theme, which is an electro-pop remix of "Engine Roll Call" is catchy and memorable.
- Many of the characters who got flanderized during the Miller era have had their original personalities restored in this era, (except Diesel 10 of his original evilness despite that his being manipulative is very good) such as Henry in series 20, Thomas, Edward, Percy, Toby, and Emily in Season 17 and Rosie in Season 21 (However, since Rosie has no speaking role during series 17-20, it's possible that she could have redeemed herself sometimes then).
- There are some very funny episodes like "Pouty James", "Lost Property", and "Dowager Hatt's Busy Day".
- This era relies on anything to be entertaining, from hilarious jokes, to slapstick, to realism, to common logic, to even the show's old charm and its RWS glory.
- The introduction of characters from not just the Railway Series, but also inspired by other Awdry works relating to Sodor, such as the book, "The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways", such characters include Sir Robert Norramby, King Godred, and a "Coffee Pot" engine that book mentions, in the show named Glynn.
- Furthermore, the Arlesdale Railway and its engines, Mike, Rex, and Bert, make their TV series debut.
- Also actually refers to Sir Topham Hatt's railway by its official name, the North Western Railway.
- "The Adventure Begins" as a forty-five-minute special that adapted the first seven episodes of the Thomas television series, and also the first two Railway Series books remained very 100% true to Season 1, and the source material.
- There are tons of great episodes like in the classic era, such as:
- "Kevin's Cranky Friend (which started this era on a high note)
- "Wayward Winston"
- "Gordon Runs Dry"
- "Henry's Hero"
- "Luke's New Friend"
- "The Switch"
- "The Thomas Way"
- "Percy's Lucky Day"
- "Bill or Ben?"
- "The Missing Christmas Decorations"
- "Away From The Sea"
- "Gone Fishing"
- "The Smelly Kipper"
- "No More Mr. Nice Engine"
- "Old Reliable Edward"
- "Not So Slow Coaches"
- "Disappearing Diesels"
- "Toad's Adventure"
- "Duck and the Slip Coaches"
- "Thomas the Quarry Engine"
- "Thomas and the Emergency Cable"
- "Duncan and the Grumpy Passenger"
- "Missing Gator"
- "Toad's Bright Idea"
- "Last Train for Christmas"
- "Duncan the Humbug"
- "Emily Saves the World"
- "The Truth About Toby"
- "Lost Property"
- "A Cranky Christmas"
- "Snow Place Like Home"
- "Toad and the Whale"
- "Very Important Sheep"
- "Den and Dart"
- "Slow Stephen"
- "Reds vs. Blues"
- "Best Engine Ever"
- "Diesel's Ghostly Christmas"
- "No Help At All"
- "Goodbye Fat Controller" ("Goodbye Sir Topham Hatt" in the US)
- "Wild Water Rescue"
- "Sidney Sings"
- "Henry Gets the Express"
- "Diesel and the Ducklings"
- "Bradford the Brake Van"
- "Ryan and Daisy"
- "Pouty James"
- "Blown Away"
- "Letters to Santa"
- "Love Me Tender"
- "The Railcar and the Coaches"
- "Mucking About"
- "All in Vain"
- "Buckled Tracks and Bumpy Trucks" ("Buckled Tracks and Bumpy Cars" in the US)
- "Tit for Tat"
- "Useful Railway"
- "Skiff and the Mermaid"
- "Over the Hill"
- "Springtime for Diesel"
- "Dowager Hatt's Busy Day"
- "Runaway Engine"
- "P.A. Problems"
- "Cranky at the End of the Line"
- "New Crane on the Dock"
- "Unscheduled Stops"
- "The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor"
- "Terence Breaks the Ice"
- "Daisy's Perfect Christmas"
- "Confused Coaches" (Which ended this era on a high note)
- Some episodes reuse concepts from series 9-16 and execute them better.
- "Very Important Sheep" is considered to be "Wonky Whistle" done right, with Percy neglecting a hole in his van, and not having his brake van coupled in the former being more sensible as opposed to Thomas running off while in the middle of getting his whistle fixed in the latter.
- "The Thomas Way" is similarly "Up, Up, and Away" done right, not only due to a helicopter in the former being a more realistic load than the balloon in the latter but also because Harold's oversized proportions justify the need for an engine in the rear of a rather light load.
- With that said, these seasons are done right versions of said seasons.
- The voice acting is still good for both the US and UK dubs.
- More geographically accurate, acknowledging the island being set between England and the Isle of Man, and the engines crossing over a drawbridge to the British Mainland and back.
- Made its official BBC Children in Need video in November 2018.
- Mark Moraghan's narration is brilliantly soft, smooth, and calm, and sounds very similar to Michael Angelis in his prime.
- Good songs like "It's Christmas Time" "We Make a Team Together", "It's Halloween" "Set Friendship in Motion" etc.
- This era acknowledges that Henry's issues have been remedied and he no longer needs special coal.
- Clever and self-aware humor, as this era constantly makes jabs at the Miller era, like "Dowager Hatt's Busy Day" as an example of this.
- Creative scene transitions.
- Bill, Ben, and Timothy are the Logging Locos done right, Theo, Merlin, and Lexi can also be regarded as such.
- Redemption and development for characters that were badly introduced in the Miller era like Flynn, Belle, and (possibly) Charlie.
- Henrietta gained a face and a personality in this era from series 18 onwards and works well with Toby.
- Got out some new story concepts like a great railway show in England, the steelworks, Dowager Hatt being a railway controller for the day, a railway coffeepot engine, a brake van with a Welsh accent, etc.
- Big Mickey from the obscure 1980s series TUGS gains a face and finally speaks!
- The pop culture references are quite simple. For example: Thomas being described as "Santa's little engine" is a reference to The Simpsons' family dog, Santa's Little Helper.
- Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand were largely forgotten in this era, which is great because they were annoying characters. While everything involving Misty Island and the Logging Locos is technically still canon (after all, the Search and Rescue Center continued to be featured), they have not been seen or mentioned in the era apart from Thomas guessing if Daisy was going to the island in "The Way She Does It" and Ferdinand's very brief, difficult to spot cameo in "Signals Crossed", so whether or not they existed is up in the air.
- Less focus on Thomas, Seasons 17, 18, and 21 have episodes where Thomas does not appear at all, and even when he does appear in episodes not focused on him, his presence is minor and not overbearing.
"Disgraceful, Disgusting, and Despicable" Qualities
- Not all the new characters are as good as some others introduced such as Ashima, Vinnie, and Gina. They are FAR from being terrible characters, though you might want to admit that Vinnie is pretty much the weakest character introduced in "The Great Race". Ashima is likable, but needs some fleshing as she did in "The Great Race". Gina however has some of the greatest development given.
- The reason why Vinnie is unlikable in "The Great Race" is because he acts like a complete jerk towards Philip, which he thankfully got his comeuppance during the last couple of minutes.
- The animation in series 17 and 18 isn't as good as that of series 19-21, which is understandable since Arc Productions had just taken over for the series, and some of the CGI models and sets were not completely intact when transferred from Nitrogen Studios, like Duncan, Duck, Oliver, Toad, etc.
- Henry still acts like a wuss and coward in Seasons 18-19, much like in Seasons 14-16, until Season 20, where the team managed to tone it down a bit. Though it was portrayed a bit better with more understandable reasons for Henry to be scared such as him being afraid of chicken pox, rain (as shown in the RWS and Classic Series), the so-called "beast" of Sodor, and even the flatbeds of fear (despite the latter turning out to be one of Salty's stories). The only seasons where this was absent were series 17, 20-21. This shows that the writing team knew this was hardly working for Henry in the first place.
- While not as bad as in series 13-16, Thomas appears in every episode of Seasons 19 and 20, the former coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the original books, and he speaks in every episode of that season, which makes some sense as long they did not make him the main role of every episode. He does not speak in every episode of Season 20, and some of his appearances in that season are extremely brief and minor, but still jarring to some fans nonetheless.
- These seasons aren't always perfect and have some hiccups:
- While series 17 is good, it's considered to be the weakest season of the Brenner era due to that season being left underdeveloped in some areas despite that it's just getting started.
- Series 21 has some jump-the-shark moments, like having the engines bounce when they move (though it's not as noticeable as in series 22-24) and Edward leaving Tidmouth Sheds and the Steam Team in "A Shed for Edward". However, the latter had a reason that makes sense since the reason why Edward left Tidmouth was because Wellsworth Sheds is part of Edward's Branch Line after all. But still, this was also because Tidmouth Sheds was used as a limiting factor for a core of main characters and not a roundhouse of sheds for all engines to visit. That itself makes exception episodes where non-Steam Team engines slept at Tidmouth Sheds. Philip in his first two debut episodes, Spencer in "The Beast of Sodor", and Duck in "Duck and the Slip Coaches".
- More characters are introduced in more non-British (or European) locomotive designs. This isn't necessarily a bad thing for Sodor, or the show in general for that matter, though engines like Connor and Caitlin, who regularly go onto the mainland (AKA, the UK), would in real life be too large for most railway tunnels in Britain, which are quite limited in size.
- There are still instances of fish, produce, and other perishables being carried in open wagons, but these instances are fewer and are greatly reduced throughout the era.
- From Seasons 21-24, Rob Rackstraw, who had voiced James in the US dub, would voice him in the UK as well. As such, some of his lines spoken with an American accent would mistakenly be used in the UK dub and vice versa, which is a little distracting.
- Some reintroduced characters have not made many appearances since returning, Donald and Douglas, in particular, appeared a total of 4 episodes following their return in "Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure", 2 each in series 20 and 21, one of the episodes in each season being merely a brief cameo, and were largely background characters in "The Great Race", "Journey Beyond Sodor", and "Big World! Big Adventures!" Their profiles on the official Thomas & Friends website still show their model forms!
- Characters like Lady, Molly, BoCo, Mighty Mac, Murdoch, Neville, Patrick, Byron, Kelly, Ned, Bertram, Arthur, Buster, Nelson, Dennis, Splatter, Dodge, Stepney, Duke, Hank, Hector, Flora, Thumper (even after the Classic era), Fearless Freddie, and a few others have not reappeared and never will since All Engines Go! was announced along with changes happening.
- While the drivers and firemen are more active in the series compared to series 11-16, there are still inconsistencies regarding them, with some characters seeming to not need them, and the engines doing some things that, realistically, a driver would have forbade them to attempt.
- In "The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor", James leaks brake fluid, which makes him unable to stop, and he crashes into the back of Tidmouth Sheds. Engines do not have hydraulic brakes, they use air, or in the case of British railways, vacuum brakes, which would leak air, that, in most cases, would cause the brakes to set.
- Some Character Developments are completely undone as the episodes go on for example:
- In "Springtime for Diesel" Diesel is shown to finally change his ways and act nicer but in the very next episode "A Most Singular Engine" he's back to being rude and devious.
- In "Tale of the Brave" and "Missing Gator" Percy is shown to learn how to be braver but in the episode "Three Steam Engines Gruff" his cowardly nature makes a comeback.
- In "Pouty James" and "All in Vain" James has moments where he learns to act nicer and more considerate but in "Journey Beyond Sodor" that is all completely undone as he goes back to being arrogant and boastful.
- Some characters (Mainly Gordon and James) have their main character traits much more exaggerated to the point where they rarely show redeemable moments. James acts much more cocky and boastful and Gordon just acts much more grumpy, boastful, and cynical which is disappointing because in the Classic Series (and yes even Seasons 9-16), they have shown moments where they can be likable and compassionate despite their flaws though that's a minor issue.
- Some occasional bad episodes, such as:
- "Steamie Stafford" (which started this era on a poor note in production order)
- "The Phantom Express"
- "Flatbeds of Fear"
- "Signals Crossed"
- "Samson At Your Service"
- "Samson Sent for Scrap"
- "Who's Geoffrey?" (which started Season 19 on a sour note)
- "Henry Spots Trouble"
- "The Beast of Sodor"
- "Salty All at Sea"
- "Helping Hiro"
- "Rocky Rescue"
- "The Other Side of the Mountain"
- "Saving Time"
- "The Way She Does It"
- "Three Steam Engines Gruff"
- "Engine of the Future"
- "Hugh and the Airship"
- "A Most Singular Engine"
- "Stuck in Gear"
- "Hasty Hannah"
- "Philip's Number"
- "A Shed for Edward" (which ended this era on a sad note in production order)
- "Emily in the Middle"
- Norman, Captain, Ashima, and Stanley haven't gotten spotlight episodes, due to the cancellation of the 1984-2020 series.
- The 1-hour special: "The Great Race" was the weakest 1-hour special of the show and the era. Despite having a pretty good story, the special can not decide how some of the characters should act because of its inconsistent tone.
- For example: Thomas acted a little out of character when he first met Ashima, especially when she unintentionally bumped into him.
- The special also has loads of filler in some parts you'd wish they could get to the point.
- The way the show is aired in the US can make it hard to watch for a lot of Americans.
- In 2017, the show was moved from PBS Kids, a channel that is available for free since it can be watched on its website to Nick Jr., a channel not as many people or parents will have for their kids. Though to be fair, Nickelodeon wasn't any better because the scheduling they gave Thomas was mostly terrible. Although they improved with the scheduling when newer episodes were released every two weeks starting in Seasons 22-23, it doesn't make up for Mattel's poor episode scheduling. To make matters worse, after 2019, the series stopped airing on Nick Jr. due to their partnership with Thomas & Friends ending. However, you can still watch this era on Amazon Prime Video or through unofficial uploads on YouTube (if you want to watch for free).
- Mattel also stopped releasing DVDs of the show in the US after 2017. Even before this, the show would air pretty early in the day on PBS Kids and would air on Nickelodeon later.
- Sadly, the show went downhill again with series 22-24 (also known as "Big World! Big Adventures!"), which ended the original series on a sour note. While the recently announced Marc Forster Thomas the Tank Engine film may have some hope of being good or spectacular (despite the story and release date not yet being announced), the recent reboot Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go is a different story and is even worse than series 22-24.
Trivia
- Andrew Brenner left the series in August 2018 after production of series 23 ended. However, as of December 25th, 2019, David Stoten has become the new head writer for the series starting with the two-part special, "Steam Team to the Rescue", even though series 24 came out in 2020, the same year The Railway Series celebrated its 75th anniversary of its books that started in 1945 during World War II (after World War II in Europe and the United Kingdom).
- The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has banned reruns of the nineteenth season episode, "Henry Spots Trouble", due to complaints about the episode presenting chicken pox "as a mild disease that is nothing to worry about" and conveyed an anti-vaccination message. Although the episode is banned on television, it was still released on the Australian "Whale of a Tale" DVD.
- Rachael Miller, the voice of Rebecca, is married to Christopher Ragland, Percy's American voice actor.
- Thomas is the only character throughout the series to be voiced by Joseph May in the US voice cast.
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