Wonky Whistle (Thomas & Friends)
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| "Wonky Whistle" | ||||||||||||||||
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 Thomas' whistle isn't the only thing that's wonky.
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"Wonky Whistle" is the 17th episode of the 15th season of Thomas & Friends. It aired on March 23, 2011, in the UK and May 22, 2011, in the US.
Plot
Thomas' whistle is broken, so he goes to the Steamworks to have it repaired. However, he rushes off on delivery before it is properly fixed and soon finds that his new whistle has a worryingly wacky sound.
Why It's VERY Wonky
- In this episode, Thomas's character is at its lowest point, with his flanderization becoming more pronounced than ever.
- Similar to Rigby in Wall Buddy, he exhibits a level of impatience that surpasses anything previously seen in the series, in a manner that feels both forced and nonsensical. While his impatience has been evident in earlier episodes, it has never been portrayed to this extreme.
- He steams away from the Steamworks while the workmen are still repairing his whistle, potentially causing serious injuries or even fatalities.
- Then, Thomas departs from the station with a trailer for the animals headed to a country show. His premature departure appears as though he intentionally tried to yank a man's hand from the handle. Moreover, with the door open, there's a risk of the animals being physically injured.
- Despite Thomas's numerous mistakes in the episode, his driver and fireman do not intervene or attempt to rectify his actions, effectively treating them as nonexistent, as usual for this era.
- In this episode, Thomas seems particularly oblivious, as he ought to have noticed his malfunctioning whistle. Despite this, he disregards it entirely.
- Despite Thomas's history of facing consequences for his foolish actions, as is customary in Seasons 1-11 and 17-21, he seems to evade any repercussions, as he must rectify the chaos he has caused, a plot device necessary for his last-minute redemption. This aspect highlights the episode's extreme deficiency, especially when it becomes apparent that it is far too late for any remedy.
- The entire episode could have been prevented if Thomas had just waited for his whistle to be repaired. Furthermore, if he continued to experience issues, he should have returned directly to the Steamworks instead of causing chaos, since operating with a malfunctioning whistle is highly dangerous.
- As expected with your typical Seasons 8-16 episode, this episode has a load of unnecessary narration that points out the obvious, overly illogical, overly unrealistic, and nonsensical elements.
- But unlike Seasons 8-11 where the narration usage there makes sense, Seasons 12-16's usage of narration gets so annoying to listen to all the time with the narrator stating the obvious almost all the time.
- There are five noticeable plot holes in this episode that never give us any real specific reasons that do lead to only five questions:
- Since when did farms have duck races?
- Why was Thomas' whistle broken in the first place?
- Why was Thomas' whistle being repaired while his boiler was hot?
- Why did not all the animals leave the van at once when Thomas blows his "wonky whistle" while stopped at the bridge?
- Why did Thomas or his crew not realize he had a "wonky whistle" the first time he blew it?
- Bad narration from Michael Brandon, which is a surprise considering that he normally does a good job. Here, he sounds like he is shouting all the narration dialogue. Maybe he's probably had enough of the writing direction at this point because so.
- The writing quality in this episode is exceptionally poor, surpassing even the lowest points of Seasons 9-16.
- In the scene where Thomas halts at the level crossing to speak with Bertie's passengers about the country show, Rule 55 is violated.
- The infamous line: "I'm sure my whistle isn't wonky; I must race to Farmer McColl's!".
- See? There is no given reason why Thomas' whistle was broken, which makes the episode feel completely pointless if there wasn't any reason why Thomas' whistle was wonky other than it was broken.
- Thomas' "wonky whistle" sounds quite unrealistic, resembling a slide whistle more than anything else. Even a malfunctioning steam whistle shouldn't produce such a sound.
- The use of rhyming and alliteration has hit its zenith, with nearly every sentence in this episode featuring these elements.
- According to the Show Shredders' review of the episode, the episode has a total of 54 rhymes and alliterations, which just proves that the rhyming and alliteration have gotten way out of control.
- No clear moral whatsoever.
- The episode was broadcast prematurely in both the UK and the US, as Flynn's character was not scheduled to debut until "Day of the Diesels". This early airing not only spoiled the forthcoming 2011 film but also pressured Milkshake and PBS to release all the episodes simultaneously.
- There is too much stock footage used in the opening sequence of the episode and it's obviously noticeable.
- Speaking of the stock footage, none of the trains there have brake vans, which is dangerous, as brake vans are used to supplement brake force to a train.
Redeeming Qualities
- Impressive animation from Nitrogen Studios, and nice voice acting from both English dubs.
- We finally get to know Farmer McColl's sheepdog being named Katie.
- Michael Angelis does a great job narrating the UK dub, as usual.
- The concept of a story in which Thomas wreaks havoc with a faulty whistle has potential, as it aligns with something that The Railway Series and the show's first season might have executed much better. However, the unfortunate reality is that this episode was ultimately spoiled for the reasons stated above.
- It was later revisited in "Very Important Sheep" from Season 19, which turned out to be a significant improvement.
Reception
"Wonky Whistle" received universal criticism from both critics and fans alike. It is frequently regarded as the worst episode of the Sharon Miller era and one of the most unfavorable episodes of the original series in its entirety.
As of 2021, it has a rating of 1.8/10 on IMDb, ranking as the third lowest-rated episode of the series on the site, only surpassed by "Thomas Makes a Mistake" and "Lorenzo's Solo".
Video
Trivia
- In 2016, Neil Ben, the writer of the episode, issued an apology in the comments section of SkarloeyRailway01's review of this episode.
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