Wonky Whistle (Thomas & Friends)

Wonky Whistle
Neil Ben, please fix this episode. This episode is clearly wonky!
Series: Thomas & Friends Part of Season: 15 Episode Number: 17 Air Date: March 23, 2011 (UK) May 22, 2011 (US) Writer: Neil Ben Director: Greg Tiernan Previous episode: "Kevin the Steamie" Next episode: "Percy the Snowman"

"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

1. This episode's plot idea of Thomas causing havoc with a wonky whistle could have worked as it is something The Railway Series and the show's first season could have managed it so much better. But the sad truth behind the concept is that this is an episode that ended up being completely ruined in favor of stupidity and nonsensical elements being thrown in order for the three strikes formula to progress the episode's story. It's actually very sad if you think about the terrible execution the episode suffered through.
2. Thomas is at his absolute worst in this episode as his oblivious flanderization has gone too far this time.
   • Similar to Rigby in Wall Buddy, he displays himself to be the most impatient that he has ever been in the entire series in the most forced and idiotic way imaginable. Sure, he was shown to be impatient in earlier episodes, but never like this.
   • He puffs away from the Steamworks while the workmen were still working on his whistle.
     • Not only could they have been hurt from falling off Thomas, but the way he swiftly heads off would imply that he is steamed up, and the workers could have been hurt by the hot boiler and steam, or even risk their life if the boiler were to fail..
   • That's not the only time we saw this in the episode, when Thomas leaves a station with a trailer for the animals to go to a random country show, his way of pulling away too soon looks as if he was purposefully trying to pull a man's hand off the handle. And because the door was opened, the animals can get physically hurt when the door is opened like that.
   • And even with all the stupid things Thomas does in this episode, his driver and fireman do absolutely nothing to stop Thomas or try to fix the things he has done.
   • Thomas is at his dumbest in this episode as he should have been able to hear his faulty whistle. Right? Yet, he completely ignores it.
   • Somehow Thomas doesn't get any consequences or repercussions for his actions after all the idiotic things he has ever done. This normally happens back in Seasons 1-7, and 17-21. But here, he has to go fix the mess that he already created because the whole story needs that to happen so Thomas can redeem himself at the very last minute! This is how outrageously awful this episode gets once you realize the fact that it's already way too late to fix anything at this point.
3. As expected with the 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.
4. There are two noticeable plot holes in this episode that never give us any real specific reasons that do lead to only two questions:
   • Since when did farms do duck races?
   • Why was Thomas' whistle broken in the first place?
5. 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 or something. Maybe he's probably had enough of the writing direction at this point because so.
6. The writing in this episode is flat-out abysmal, even for Seasons 8-16 standards.
7. Rule 55 was broken in the scene where Thomas stops at the level crossing to tell Bertie's passengers about the country show.
8. The line: "I'm sure my whistle isn't wonky, I must race to Farmer McColl!"
   • 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.
9. As usual in this era, Thomas' crew is nonexistent. They should have refused to let Thomas go, or actually, not even have him steamed up while his whistle is getting fixed.
10. Thomas's "wonky whistle" sounds very unrealistic, as it sounds more like a slide whistle than anything, which even if a steam whistle is broken, it shouldn't make that noise.
11. This episode can barely even make a sentence without rhyming.
    • 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.
12. No clear moral whatsoever.
13. This episode aired way too early in both the UK and the US because Flynn was not meant to appear until "Day of the Diesels". Let alone spoiling a then-upcoming 2011 film and rushing Milkshake and PBS to air all the episodes at once at this time.
14. 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

1. Impressive animation from Nitrogen Studios, and nice voice acting from both English dubs.
2. We finally get to know Farmer McColl's sheepdog being named Katie.
3. Michael Angelis does a great job narrating the UK dub, as usual.

Reception

Since its release in 2011, "Wonky Whistle" was universally panned by both critics and fans of the series. It is often considered to be the "worst episode of not only the Sharon Miller era but also one of the worst Thomas & Friends episodes throughout its 1984-2020 run."

As of 2021, it received a 1.8/10 on IMDb. Making it the third lowest-rated episode of the series on IMDb, second only to "Thomas Makes a Mistake" and "Lorenzo's Solo"

Trivia

• Neil Ben, the writer of this episode, apologized in 2013 after watching SkarloeyRailway01's review of the episode.

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