Thomas And Friends TV Series "Thomas And The Royal Engine" Review

Thomas The Tank Engine as a show had been going on since the eighties with it only ending in 2021 and while many do rightfully think that the last episode of season 24 was the shows final episode; The fact it that's not true as the last episode to be produced wasn't an episode of the show it really was a special made to celebrate the franchises seventy fifth anniversary and that's that very special that i'm going to be talking to you all about today and so then join me as I review the special that marked the end of the franchise with the special in question being called simply just "Thomas And The Royal Engine" enjoy.

The plot of this special is The Fat Controller and Thomas are invited to a special ceremony in London by none other then the then Queen of England herself. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty not that bad. With the specials plot being a decent plot that does do a good job of setting itself apart from when the last few series of the show were all about just by sticking to what worked in the show as while there is mention of Thomas going abroad in the special the special mainly focused on the UK setting. This is something that does work in the specials favor as that's what the fans of the show would want to see in Thomas episode and while yes it would have been nice if the plot did include characters from Thomas's adventures on the whole as this is meant to celebrate seventy five years of the franchise as a whole it's not something that was needed and while it does make from a marketing point of view for Thomas to be the centre of the plot given that it this special was meant to celebrate seventy five years since the release of the first book it would made just as much sense for Gordon , Henry and Edward to take centre stage with the specials plot admittedly being a bit on the thin side as there is nothing to the episodes plot that makes it worthy of being a full blown special in it's own right with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is John Hasler as Thomas , Keith Wickham as Henry and Gordon and Nigel Pilkington as Percy. Also starring in this episode is Teresa Gallagher as Emily , Rob Rackstraw as James , The Thin Clergyman and the Mainland Engine Cleaners , Rachael Miller as Rebecca and Prince Charles , Rosamund Pike as Duchess , Colin McFarlane as Bulgy and Beresford , Keith Wickham as The Fat Controller , Dowager Hatt , Thomas' Crew and the Mainland Stationmaster and Sharon Miller as Queen Elizabeth II.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty not that bad. All of the series regular actors do indeed do a really good job of voicing their characters for what would be the final time in the show with them all getting a small amount of time to show us just why they were good in the show to begin with and as is tradition with Thomas we do have a celebrity voicing a one off character with us having the delightful Rosamund Pike as Duchess with her doing a really good job in the episode as a whole. With the best actor in the whole entire episode being John Hasler as Thomas which granted might be something of a cliche thing to say as he is playing the main character of the show but it's also something that is true as he does get alot to do as the character outside of him of just spouting a few catchphrases with John having a good voice for Thomas as it does capture both his more youthful nature and how wise he is at the same time with this being something that wouldn't have worked if the character had a voice that made him sound to young with John even having some really good charm and charisma that really does shine through in his performance in this special. With the acting that's in this very special really being helped by the fact that the script for this special is just so good that all this specials actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very special. 

Doing the animation for this special is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Jam Filled Toronto. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty not that bad. The specials animation was quite frankly alot more better then what it really had any right to be as by all rights the animation in this special should have been really bad as the animation in season 24 was pretty bad but no infact it's actually alot more better then that as you can tell the makers of this special did put alot of thought and effort in to making the specials animation look as good as it could have been. As while yes the backgrounds do lack alot of detail which does make it hard to work out on if the characters are meant to be on the mainland or on Sodor but on the plus side the characters don't bounce as much when there talking this time around with the characters remaining still which is very pleasant to see and while this specials animation was never going to as good as the animation in a feature film would for the fact that it is a made for TV special there is alot more thought and effort gone into the animation then say something from Paw Patrol as you can see all of the love for the show that the animators have in each and every frame however tho the thing that lets down this specials animation is the fact that we don't get to see alot of different types of environments in the specials as alot of it is set in the country side which does get a bit boring to look at after a while and it would have given the animators the chance to show of more backgrounds if they did give us a more a variety of backgrounds it also would have helped if the specials animation had more of a chance to do some really creative things that show of just how good the animation is. 

As was mentioned at the start of this review whilst the series itself did technically end with season 24 this was the last special to be fully developed. Therefor this is the shows technical final episode as the series would be rebooted with that dreadful All Engines Go right after this special came out with it being weird that after thirty to forty years on the air that the show would come to an end as the Thomas TV series is just one of those shows that you think would never go away as the people that grew up watching it and liking could become fans of it and therefor write episodes for the show and thus inspiring the next generation of kids to do the exact same thing and yet someone possibly and Mattel decided that kids weren't enjoying this show when truth be told they weren't enjoying the bad stories that made up season 22 to 24. With this episode not even feeling like a finale episode as there's no sense of this is the end for the characters that you typically get when your watching the final episode of a show and heck not even all of the characters in the show show up for this special therefor they don't get that big send off moment that alot of the other characters in the special get which is something that makes you wonder if the the choice to cancel the show was made after this special was made as you know that the makers of the special would have gone out of there way to make it feel like a true finale if that was choice was made prior to the special being made but either way it was a bit sad to see this truly iconic show end knowing what comes after it isn't going to save the franchise but is rather going to do more harm to it then good, with the only way for Mattel to fix the mistakes that they made to be just to give us decent stories and that audience that you've lost would have come back as the show and the format wasn't broken.

There is a part of this episode that is shall we say quite infamous as it does feature someone who was then a member of the royal family but not long after recording his opening for the episode would start to distance himself from his family. Look to be fair having a member of the royal family open the episode is a good way to start the episode of as it is about Thomas going to meet them but it is something that hasn't aged all that well given what happens in real life therefor it would have made more sense if they got someone who was still in the royal family to do the opening like maybe Charles of William or maybe even Kate to do it as they are still quite high up in the royal family or maybe one of the lesser known royals as it's not really something that would have required a more well known family member to do it in the first place. Another issue with the episode is that it spends so much time in building up London and yet we spend a a grand total of around two minuets there at the end of the episode with the rest of the episode bein spent on showing the characters going to London which does make you wonder why they chose to shout out London by name and have the characters go there as they could have had the royal party go to Sodor and nothing would need to be changed plot wise and yet by shifting the location to London and not really showing us alot of the location it does make that whole idea feel like the waste of a good idea as it would have been fun to see how the makers of this show interpret something like the London Underground for example or even showing The Fat Controller being driven to Buckingham Palace for his meeting with Thomas being carried by lorry which is something that would have allowed the makers of the episode to give us a few shots of the characters going around other famous London landmarks bottom line being there is alot that they could have done with the London location and yet they don't do it all for no good reason.

Duchess as a new character was pretty fun as she is basically just a female version of Spencer with the thing being that she is forgetful. With her always forgetting something which in the case of this special was forgetting to have her safety valve checked and yet she's also always in a rush and worrying about several different things at once which does make her kind of a fun character and one that if the show did indeed continue you could very easily see her coming back into the show on a semi-regular basis as there are stories that you could tell with her character that don't involve the royal family being there and yet the character only shows up about four times in the whole special this is something that does go to show you that the makers of tis special did know what they doing. As with just four scenes they manage to create a character that does leave an impression on us the audience and while OK fair enough she's not the best written character however this is something that could also be said for alot of the new characters in the latter episodes of the show with Rebecca being a very good example of this as the show barely used her after they set her up as a character and yet here wit Duchess they do have the basis of a good character and yet the character never really appears after this special when it would have been super fun to see her again even in All Engines Go which given how they did the characters on that show would have been where she might have fit in the best. The character is one that did have lots of potential in the show to be a really good character as while she doesn't get alot of screen time in this special the time that she does get does make you want to see her more and see what her interactions with say Gordon would be like or given the fact that she's a female more kinder version of Spencer why not show us what there interactions are like and with the new Thomas reboot coming out in a few weeks why not have or a version of her be apart of the cast for that show and show us more of what her personality is.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty two minuets and thirty six seconds. Which was a pretty solid running time for this special to have but at the same time tho this special really could have done with being alot longer then that just to make sure that all of the main characters from the show not only got there chance to say goodbye to the audience but also allow the characters more time in London as you very easily could have gotten this specials running time up to about thirty or forty minuets and with that added screen time it would have allowed for the plot to breathe alot more as with it's actual running time it does feel like that the special is just rushing from one plot point to the next with the special having more then enough plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet even with the episode being as long as it is it still doesn't use its running time all that wisely as while the specials plot is as well developed as it was ever going to be the plot still does feel underbaked with this mainly due to the fact that it is now the official series finale as the special does spend alot of time with just The Fat Controller and Thomas and not enough time on adding things to the plot that make it feel more developed with the makers oft his special being more focused on showing us alot of the countryside then it is in giving us a well developed plot. This is something that is also kind of true for the specials character development as while both The Fat Controller and Thomas don't really need any kind of character development due ton them having gotten it in the previous episodes of the show characters like Duchess and Beresford don't get any kind of character development and while it's understandable as to why Beresford doesn't get any as he's only in the one scene Duchess is meant to be a main character and yet she doesn't get any kind of character development with the makers of this special being more focused on giving us references to past episodes then they are in giving the characters some character development but I really will admit that this special really does have some really bad pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy special that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty really good. With alot of the comedy in this special being more cute then anything else which is by no means a bad things as that is the type of comedy that this show did do best be it Bulgy saying that the mail would have arrived n time if it had been delivered by bus which is very true to his character or Duchess being convinced that Thomas has her coaches bottom line being there are alot of cute and funny moments here in the special. With the best joke in the whole special being when The Fat Controller is getting dressed in the morning and he opens his wardrobe and we see that the only hats he has are the same ones that he wears everyday and yet to top it of even his new hat is just the same hat that joke it just a cute joke that whilst yes you can see it coming as other films and TV shows have done that exact same joke before now it is still a funny joke and it is sone that is oddly befitting for his character as we can imagine him just having rows and rows of the same top hat all over the place and therefor picturing him trying to choose one to wear not just for meeting the Queen but also just for going to work on a daily basis is a pretty funny idea in it's own right and seeing the Thomas team put there own stamp on that joke is something that does make the joke feel kind of new all over again with the rest of the specials jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall as a series finale this special isn't all that good as it doesn't wrap the show up at all but as an anniversary special then it does do it's job of reminding us all of why we fell n love with Thomas in the first place as the special does feel like a special that was written for the fans by the fans in my freaking pinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very special in this very review and a such tat really does mean that this very special really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . UK and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very special that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very special with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Wednesday: Woe Thyself Review

Everyone knows who The Addams Family are be from their various TV shows to there various movies or even the original comic strips amongst many other things. There is however one thing that cannot be denied and that is the fact that the Wednesday TV show helped to really make the characters popular again this time for a more modern audience and it something that did work as the show is currently filming it's third season and well I thought that i'd take a look back at one of the more out there episodes from the shows second season and so then join me as I review the episode that might as well be called "Freaky Friday Goth Girl Edition" with the episode in question being called simply just "Woe Thyself" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is when Wednesday and Enid switch bodies after Enid interrupts a meeting that Wednesday is having the ghost of a dead professor with te duo having a few hours to put things right before they both die. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With the episodes plot for the most part being very much a filler plot with it really tying into the main plot towards the end the episode which to be frank isn't a bad thing as it does give us very much a calm before the storm episode. However tho this episode really could have been a bit more focused as plot wise the episode does seem to be all over the place as the episode has to juggle so many plots from the season which in this case does leave the main plot fighting for screen time and whilst yes this is very much a nothing plot that doesn't mean that it had to be left fighting for your attention as it should have been the main focus of the episode and not left feeling like an afterthought as when the episode does focus on the Wednesday and Enid plot that's when the episode gets to be more fun and that's exactly what an episode like this one needed to be it needed to be fun and yet for one reason or another the episode can't be that fun as when the episode does start to get more fun with its plot it cuts to another plot which is great for the seasons long story arc but it's not great for the episodes main plot with the plot of the episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is one of this shows executive producers Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams and Steve Buscemi as Principal Barry Dort. Also starring in this episode is Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair , Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin , Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay , Moosa Mostafa as Eugene Ottinger , Georgie Farmer as Ajax Petropolus , Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley Addams , Owen Painter as Slurp , Billie Piper as Isadora Capri , Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo as Sheriff Ritchie Santiago , Victor Dorobantu as Thing , Noah B. Taylor as Bruno Yuson , Evie Templeton as Agnes DeMille , Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams , Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams , Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems , Dame Joanna Lumley as Hester Frump , Christopher Lloyd as Professor Orloff , Frances O'Connor as Francoise Galpin , Star Wars star Joonas Suotamo as Lurch , Heather Matarazzo as Judi Stonehearst and Lady Gaga as Rosaline Rotwood.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The fact that we have good acting in this episode is something that really isn't all that surprising as this show does have good acting in all of it's episodes and the fact that it's managed to get an actual dame in Dame Joanna Lumley does speak to how good the acting is as she didn't have to do this show and yet she did it anyway with her turning in a good performance in this episode with the same thing being true for alot of this episodes actors as well as they all turn in a bunch of really good performances in this episode. With the best actor in the whole entire episode being Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair as both she and Jenna Ortega have a really tough job to do in this episode as they both have to play there regular characters but then they have to play each others characters whilst still making it apparent that it's there own characters and while Jenna does also pull this off quite easily Emma is clearly having the most fun with it as she makes the character of Wednesday still very much feel like Enid with her even doing an impression of the voice that Jenna uses for the character which was something that she didn't have to do and yet it's something that sells you on the fact that this is still Wednesday only no it's in Enid's body with her having alot of charm and charisma that really does shine through in this episode. With the acting that's in this episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

Doing the CGI for this episode really is the legends and the really greats that are currently over at Folks VFX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. While the series isn't really known for it's high quality CGI as The Hyde in season one looks so bad here in this episode the effects do look decent with the makers of the episode hiding both The Hyde and Enid's wolf firm mostly in shadows which does do a good job of hiding the effects and making it look all the more better. Yet the episode gives Isaac a really long obviously fake tongue when he's licking the jar of Professor Orloff and while the effects used to bring Professor Orloff to live look really good the effect on the tongue looks a little bit to fake as while there is no way that they could have done practically there could have been a bit more time spend on it to make it look better and while yes The Hyde itself does still look pretty bad in this episode the fact that it is mostly hidden away in shadows does make it more of a better effect as it does show that the makers of this episode had learnt from there mistakes last season where they have the creature be seen in well lit areas which does make the effect itself look really bad but here by hiding it a bit more it does mean that they can get away with making it look a little bit bad which is something that can't be said for the long tongue effect with this being ashame as the effect of Professor Orloff does look really good and heck one could even say that it's the best effect of the season.

The best way to describe this episode is it's essentially The Addams Family version of Freaky Friday as both this episode and that film do share a very similar set up where two characters switch bodies and have to put things right before a certain time with them both learning something that they didn't know about the other in the process. In the case of this episode Enid learns that the reason why Wednesday has been shutting her out all season is due to the fact that she's foreseen Enid being killed and Wednesday is actively trying to stop that from that happening and Wednesday learns that Enid fears being an alpha due to the fact that she thinks it will make her be all alone again something which Wednesday vows to not let happen. While yes the thing that Wednesday learns is a very basic thing for the character to learn it is something that does work for the character as the character had been cold to Enid all season long at this point something Agnes did take delight in reminding Enid all about, heck this is something that does work for these kinds of episodes as it then gives the characters the chance to literally walk a mile in each others shows and while we the audience don't get to learn anything new about either character because of it the fact that the characters get to find out things that they might not have found out otherwise is something that does prove that this type of episode could work, however tho with that being said it is odd that a show featuring The Addams Family would do a body swap episode as quite literally none of the shows and movies had done anything like this before as it's something that doesn't really work in the world of The Addams Family and while it does kind of work here due to how they have it happen it is still an odd thing to see in anything that's related to The Addams Family.

This episode is the very definition of the calm before the storm episode as alot of this episode is very comedy focused and is very happy go lucky. While yes it does get more serious towards the end of the episode alot of the time it is just the characters trying to work out how to get out of this crazy situation and this is where the episode does shine as this show is usually very dark and vert bleak and while that is fitting for The Addams Family sometime you do want something that is a little bit more lighthearted whilst still getting all of the things that you'd come to expect from the show and this is something that this episode does do really well as we get both Wednesday and Enid getting into goofy situations whilst in each others bodies which is alot of fun to see as we get to see Wednesday as Enid breaking up with Enid's boyfriend because she knows that he's cheating on her but she can't do it in the way that Wednesday would she has to do it in the way that Enid would. The same thing is true with Enid as she has a few scenes with either Morticia or Morticia and the rest of The Addams Family with Enid being scared that she might be found out ad yet none of them suspect her for a second with Enid not being to able to tell anyone that she's not herself which in off itself does lead to some pretty funny moments during the dinner scene with Gomez punishing Pugsley by either putting him in an Iron Maiden or in the torture rack something which he happily accepts, this episode is filled to the brim with goofy moments like this and they oddly don't feel put of place in this kind of episode as this episode is meant to be a calm before the storm episode and therefor of course things are going to be alot more lighthearted and while given the fact that this episode six of an eight episode season and therefor the show should have been building more to the end of the season taking this little break away from the main plot of the season does work.

While this episode does mostly avoid the season long plot it does take the time to address this time as the episodes subplot. As we do get to see Tyler and his family go back to Willow Hill hospital so that Isaac can finish the experiment on his sister which we find out in Tyler's mother with those scenes being the only scenes in the entire episode where the season long plot gets addressed and that's great as we have had a few episodes in this season that put the season long plot as the main plot of the episode therefore it was great to see a more lighthearted plot take the main focus with it only tieing into the main plot of the season near the end of the episode when Agnes sneak off to Willow Hill with Tyler and his family with Wednesday and Enid having to come to her rescue and that's really it and that's all we needed to have for the main plot of the season. As it could have been pointless for the makers of this episode to include anything that would add to it this late in the game therefor having the season long plot take the backseat to a more goofy kind of plot is something that does work for the episode and while of course the episode would have worked just as well if the season long plot was the main focus as you could have had the bod swapping plot happen with any to character and it would would have worked out just the same having it happen with Enid and Wednesday does also make alot of sense but with this being said the episode would have been all the more better if the main plot with Tyler was the main focus point of the episode just due to where this episode falls in the seasons running order as if it was done much more earlier on in the season then having the more goofy plot take centre stage would have made sense but here at episode six of an eight episode season there did need to be more of a focus on the season long plot.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and nine minuets and sixteen seconds. Whilst this is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have this episode really didn't need to be all that long as there was nothing in the episodes plot that demanded that it be this long as you very easily could have had this episode come in at well under one hour just by cutting out alot of the pointless stuff in the episode that add nothing to either the episodes main plot or the season long plot and yet the episode does throw so many things at you all of which are filler scenes that it makes you wonder why the makers of this episode gave this episode a longer running with the episode having more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet with the episode having this long running time it still doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot and whilst this is still a really bad thing for this kind of episode tho the plot didn't really need to be all that well developed as all you needed to know was how Enid and Wednesday switched bodies in the first place and how long they have to switch back and that's really it and both of those things are thing that episode explains to us any way yet it is still more clear that the makers of this episode gave more thought and effort into the pointless filler scenes then they did in the episodes plot development. The same thing it could be argued is true for the episodes characters development as while both Wednesday and Enid do grow as characters as they both find out things that they other has been keeping a secret from them and they both learn from that none of the episodes other character do grow as characters and wile it could be could be argued that Tyler doesn't really need to grow as a character but given the fact that he is on of the main characters of the episodes side plot he or any member of his family should have started to grow as characters but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With this episode being alot more goofier with its setup then other episode it does make sense that there would be more of a focus on comedy then what there usually is as nine times out of ten this show focuses more on action and horror and while both of those are still present in the episode there is more of clearer lean towards comedy with alot of the main characters in the main plot of the episode getting a chance to be really funny be with Enid being really sarcastic as Wednesday or Wednesday herself being alot more fun and outgoing as Enid. With the best joke in the whole entire episode being the scene where Enid as Wednesday decides to get revenge for how Wednesday as written the character based in her in her book by dressing up in brightly coloured clothes and make up and going into the schools courtyard hugging and being friendly to every one whilst also dancing this was just a fun way to start of the episode as right away it lets you know that something is up with the character and yet they revisit the scene later on in the episode Enid then gets a reminder that Wednesday is quite literally allergic to color when she starts coming out in a rash which is just the cherry on top for that whole joke with the rest of the episodes jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.  

Overall whilst there are more better plot focused episodes in this second season of the show just interms of having a plot that knows full well that it's goofy and having all of the main actors be in on it those really are things that do make this episode alot of fun to watch in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Lego Star Wars: The Mandalorian Special SPOILER FILLED Review

Lego and Star Wars are things tat usually go together hand in hand with Lego telling stories that appeal more to kids and Star Wars being able to put together some cool sets that feel that they fit in with that world. Heck they've even produced some decent but not great specials together in recent years well now they've released another special and it might just be the most pointless one of the bunch and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FILLED review of the special that is quite literally just a retelling of the first three season of The Mandalorian with the special in question being called simply just "Lego Star Wars: The Mandalorian" enjoy.

The plot of this special is believing he is there to track down a bounty The Mandalorian and Grogu arrive on Tatooine where they find that there friends are throwing a surprise party just for them. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty OK at best. The specials plot for what it is isn't that bad but at the same time there are ither Lego Star Wars specials that do have better plots then this one with this specials plot feeling like it was meant to serve as a tie in for The Mandalorian And Grogu as the special is all about recapping key events from the show and really nothing more then that. The plot is outside of the recapped scenes is pretty thin at best with the special outside of what was described near the start of this review not really having a plot as while yes there are a few story scenes involving pirates they don't really come into play until near the end of the special which is far to little to late for that to happen with it feeling like that this special was made purely to sell kids on the idea of a mandalorian movie or any of The Mandalorian lego sets which is something that is also true for alot of the Lego sets but here it does feel like that it's getting in the way of the plot and while it is foolish to expect a good plot in a Lego Star Wars anything really you do however expect a plot that is at the vert least semi decent with the plot of this special not really being really rather entertaining and as well as not really being really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this special is Gavin Hammon as The Mandalorian , Amy Sedaris as Peli Motto and Bill Burr as Migs Mayfeld. Also starring in this special is David Pasquesi as Majordomo , Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan Kryze , Emily Swallow as The Armorer , Giancarlo Esposito as Moff Gideon , Matthew Wood as Bib Fortuna , Jawas and The Kowakian Monkey-Lizard , Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand , Nick Nolte as Kuiil , Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano , Taika Waititi as IG-11 and IG-12 , Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett , Timothy Olyphant as Cobb Vanth , André Sogliuzzo as Mythrol and Stormtroopers , Carl Lumbly as Greef Karga , David Acord as MA-13 , Eric Bauza as Luke Skywalker and EV-9D9 , Flula Borg as The Client , Marti Matulis as Vane , Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Carson Teva , Shelby Young as Anzellans and Jawas , Steve Blum as Stormtroopers and Zeb Orrelios and Trevor Devall as A Dark Trooper , Dorian Shard and A Pit Droid.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty OK at best. This specials acting was quite frankly alot more better then what it really had any right to be as like alot of these Lego Star Wars specials none of the specials actors had to turn in a good performance as let's be honest no one is going to watch these specials and yet alot of them did with the like of Eric Bauza being un recognizable as Luke Skywalker as he sounds so much like Mark Hamill that you'd assume that they just got him in to play the role again with the same thing also being true for Gavin Hammon who sounds so much like Pedro Pascal that you'd assume that they just got him back to voice the character. With the best actor in this special being Gavin Hammon as The Mandalorian as he does sound so much like Pedro Pascal that it does make you wonder why they didn't just get him to voice the character with Gavin doing enough to the voice to make it sound unique to him without doing so much that it's clear that it's not a different actor playing the role and while other actors in this special do get alot more characters to play Gavin only has the one and he plays him so well with him making the character more child friendly which given the fact that this is a kids special is something that does work for this special and it is something that does come through in his performance. With the acting that's in this special no really being helped by the fact that this specials script is just so bad as it gives none of this specials actors anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very special.

Doing the animation for this special is the legenda and the greats that are currently over at Atomic Cartoons. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty OK at best. The animation in this special was pretty decent but at the same time it did feel like a huge step down in quality when it comes to the animation that we would normally get in these lego specials as while granted the animation that we do normally get isn't the best you can still tell that there is alot of thought and effort put into it. Whereas here in this film whilst there is of course effort put into the animation it's lacking alot of thought with it being really choppy alot of the time as it lacks those extra few frames that alot of these Lego specials do have and this is something that does make the animation in this special feel more like an afterthought as there is nothing in this special from an animation stand point that makes the special stand out outside of the fact that all of the smoke and sand effects are rendered in a realistic looking 3D CGI which granted to does look good but at the same time it clashes with the fact that everything is meant to be Lego with all of the characters having these really stilted movements to them which in all fairness don't look that bad but but if they did have a few more frames of animation given to them then they could have made them look alot more smoother instead of making it look like there was a jump cut every few seconds.

SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For some reason this special just recaps alot of the key moments or the mandalorian not only from The Mandalorian TV show but also from The Book Of Boba Fett. Which is just weird as one of the many things that that show got made of was for feeling like the next season of The Mandalorian as very little of the Boba Fett show focused on Boba Fett himself and yet now we have a special that once again hits home the point that he was never the main character if his own show which is just stupid and granted the whole point of this special was to get kids caught up all of The Mandalorians adventures prior to The Mandalorian And Grogu but that doesn't mean that you had to include scenes from the show that helped to ruin a character that alot of die hard Star Wars loved. Heck the only good thing that this special really does with it being basically a clip how is the fact that it doesn't feature Lego versions of the Jack Black and Lizzo cameo from The Mandalorian season 3 as nobody needs to be reminded of that even being a thing and very the very fact that this is a clip show special does make the special feel pointless as we could just watch the actual episodes and get the same expirence only now we'd have have the added benefit of having context added to the scenes that are shown in this special and heck watching the actual episodes might be better as then we get to see the characters as they were originally meant to be and while there is a plus side of this special in that it is something that was purely made with little kids in mind and therefor of course the characters and the stories don't need to be as smart as they once where here by dumbing down the characters and still having it be a clip show special there basically dumbing down both The Mandalorian and The Book Of Boba Fett when that is something that they really didn't have to do.

To be frank here this whole special feels like it was made in order to promote The Mandalorian And Grogu as there s no need for them to do a recap of any of the events in that show were it not for that fact. However even that doesn't really make that much sense as this special has only just came out and The Mandalorian And Grogu came out in May of this year which does make it a bit late to do a special that might have been used to promote a movie that ultimately bombed at the box office however tho there is also a chance that this special wasn't meant to be a tie for that movie which if that was the case then one has to wonder why they had the plot of this special being characters just telling and showing us things that we've known have happened to the characters in the first place there is always a chance that this was done to get more kids into watching the film and the shows which OK is a good idea but it is really worth putting forward all of this time and money into a special that will be forgotten about by tomorrow. There are sets for The Mandalorian therefor maybe like with the Lego Disney Princess and Lego Marvel specials maybe this one was done to help shift some of the Lego sets which OK is fair enough as alot of the shows in the eighties and nineties were also made with the idea of selling the toys but the but thing this special doesn't really do that as it doesn't make the sets look good and given the fact that alot of the Lego set sell for almost triple digits it does make you wonder just who this special was made for as while you do get adults who are still into Lego those that are still into it and have kids that are old enough to play with it are really small and no parent with kids is going to spend alot of money on a Lego set.

In something that was a surprising move is the fact that in a few of the flashbacks to scenes from season 1 and 2 of The Mandalorian it looks like we get a silent cameo from Cara Dune. Which given everything that Lucasfilm and Disney put Gina Carano through when they fired her is a shocking thing to see as while yes the character doesn't speak in her scenes with them even skipping over the episode where the two meet up for the first time it was still shocking to see what might be her character showing up and while there is a good chance that it's not her character the model that they use looks to much like her for it not to be her an while it would have been nice if it is her as her character did play a big role in the first few seasons of the show given just how petty that Disney is it wouldn't be surprising if they come out and say that its not her even tho it's clearly modelled after her. The specials villain Dorian Shard isn't that bad of a villain as he does serve his purpose of being a family friendly villain but the same time none of the clips that the show show us why he's after The Mandalorian in the first place as he tells us that he's after him because of the fact that The Mandalorian killed a member of his family but nothing in the special has shown us that that was the case when it really should have done as then it would have made feel like a more thought out villain instead of just being anther angry Star Wars villain and while the character does indeed get some good moments in the special with him always correcting people that say he's a plant creature with him always saying something that he's plant like but none of of those tell us who he is as a character and none of them give us a reason to want to boo him outside of the fact that he's the main villain of the special and that's it and that's not enough to give us a good villain.

Now then this special has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly forty five minuets and nine seconds. Which to be fair to this special is kind of the bogstanderd running time for alot of these Lego Star Wars specials however tho alot of the other special justify there running times buy having a better plots that demand the special be that long where as here as outside of all of the recapped scenes the special doesn't have enough plot to fully justify it being that long as you very easily could have cut this special down to thirty minuets and and not cut a single story scene in the special as the only thing that you'd have to cut down on is the pointless recap scenes and that's it with the this special not really having enough plot there to fully cover that amount of running time in the first place. With this special not even using it's running time all that wisely as the special really doesn't fully develop it's plot with the plot being about as bare bones as you can get with even the main villain of the special not even showing up until about twenty minuets into the special all because of the of the fact that the makers of this special put alot more thought and effort into giving the special alot of pointless flashback scenes then they did into giving it a well thought and well developed plot. This is something that dos also effect the characters character development as while The Mandalorian gets character development with him learning the exact same thing that he learnt in the first season of the show that bein to open up his heart and let people in and help it was handled so badly in this special ass nothing that they had shown in the specials story scenes had hinted that that was going to be the case in the place with none of the specials other characters getting kind of character development whatsoever with the makers of this special caring more about giving us pointless cameo characters they did about giving its characters some actual character development but I really will admit that this special really does have some really good pacing to it tho. 

So now then as this is a comedy that special really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy thats actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy thats actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty not that bad. With the specials comedy being alot of the typical comedy that we do find in Lego specials in that they'll reply a scene from something and then have a joke play over what was once a serious moment and that is something that does work for this special as there is alot of fun to be had in the world of Star Wars and even more so with The Mandalorian as a whole. With specials best joke being at the end of the episode one of The Mandalorian recap as during the fight against all of the other bad guys in that episode IG-11 does try to blow himself up with them taking it one step further in this episode by having him get upset at everything that he's done with him threatening to blow himself up over the tiniest thing with a fight that lasted minuets in the first episode now lasting hours as The Mandalorian has to stop him from blowing himself up all of the time and that is a good joke as it's making fun of something that happend in the actual episode but is doing so in a way that does feel respectful not only to the characters but the show as a whole with the one thing that the makers could have done to make it better being if they showed The Mandalorian getting angry which granted is somethin that they wouldn't have been able to do given the fact that he wears a helmet all the time but it is something that would have made that joke all the more funnier with the rest of the episodes jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall it really is hard to say if this special or The Mandalorian And Grogu is worst as while that film was painfully bad alot of the time this special is still pretty bad with the thing being that this special was of course made with little kids in mind and that is something that we all really need to take into account when watching it in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked abut all of the good an as well as all of the bad things that are in this very special in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very special really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post from the official Star Wars fandom wiki page ,IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very special that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very special with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall Film Review

Believe it or it's been TWO years since we last got an American direct to DVD DC animated movie with the last ones being released being Watchmen Chapters 1 and 2. Believe it or not its actually been longer then that since we last got an American direct to the DVD Batman movie as the last one of those came out THREE years ago and while we did get Aztec Batman that's a Spanish film not an American one and well now we have a new direct to DVD DC film and well you all just know that  had to check this film out the very chance that I got and so then join me as i review the film that is the first of a three part story with the film in question being called simply just "Batman Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when Arkham Asylum is blown up and every criminal escapes Batman and Robin have to round up every one of them whilst also working out who blew it up and to what end. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. To be frank here whilst this films plot is indeed really good as the plot of the film is one that is really fun to watch and is one that could very easily please alot of people due to the fact that it does feel like a plot that would be done in Batman: The Animated Series. However tho it should be noted that the films plot is rather thin and while this is something that does make alot of sense as the film is telling one story across three films there should have been more of an effort into giving us a more tighter and a more focused plot as alot of the time it is hard to make out just what the main plot of this even meant to be alot of the time as while sure we have the basic premise of Batman and Robin trying to recapture all of these past villains and that is a good premise to have but that's not enough to carry the plot for a movie and while this film does have the excuse of there being two other parts to be released hopefully this year there should have been an effort to give alot of the films plot some focus and not spend alot of time on scenes that might add something to either parts 2 or 3 but add nothing to the plot of this film as a whole with the plot of this films also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Inhumans star Anson Mount as Bruce Wayne / Batman and Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Brand New Day star Michael Mando as Bane. Also starring in this film is Orange Is The New Black star Pablo Schreiber as Jean-Paul Valley / Azrael ,  Jack Giffin as Tim Drake / Robin , Bruce Boxleitner as Commissioner Gordon , Late Night With The Devil star David Dastmalchian as Edward Nygma / The Riddler and James Bond Jr. star Simon Templeman as Alfred Pennyworth.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. The fact that this films acting is as good as it is in the first place really isn't all that shocking due to the fact that the film does have alot of really good actors in it and granted all of these actors that well known with perhaps the most well know at the very least to main stream audiences being David Dastmalchian and that's really it but even so if you've seen these actors in anything then you'll know how good tat they can be and all of them really do bring it in this film. With the best actor in this film being Michael Mando as Bane as he does get more of a chance to show off just good he is at being evil more so then what he does in any of the Spider-Man films that he's in and he really does nail it as this character so much so that you actively look forward to seeing him on screen as as an actor he is just a force of nature as this character so much so that I really would be happy if he became the official voice actor for this character as he is just so good to watch in this film with him having this natural nact for being evil that really does shine through in his performance in this film. With the acting that's in this very film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will com out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality f the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the animation for this film is the legend and the really greats that really are currently over at Studio Mir. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. To be frank it was both shocking and at the same time not all that shocking to find out that we have some really good animation in this film as direct to DVD DC animated films do typically have some really good looking animation in them but it was still shocking as alot of the more recent films had animation that whilst it was still really good was also quite lackluster and to be frank uninspired. Yet here with this film you can tell that there was a lot of genuine thought and effort put into this films animation with the animation at times looking like the comic books brought to life only with there own unique touch with the thing that helps to make the animation in this film be as good as it is being the fact the characters d have these really cool looking designs to them with Batman looking like how he did in the nineties only now he's got a cape that at times has spikes that look like bats and while he does look a bit to muscular that was also true for the comic books as well with it being made clear as day that the makers of this film are taking inspiration for the comic books, with the thing that does let the films animation down being the fact that the characters do have a lot of shadows on them which is something that does always look off putting as it takes your eye away from where it should be that being the film as now your looking at something that's hideous to look at.

This film is based on the thirst part of the Knightfall arc with the entire arc being published between April 1993 and August 1994. With the arc itself being one of the more famous comic book arc that Batman has been in due to the fact that in part one of that arc we do see Batman getting his back broken by Bane something which we had never seen before then and might not have seen since then as that moment is so iconic that there is no way to do it again without drawing comparisons to how it was done in this comic book arc with it even forcing Batman to grow as a character as now he has to learn to trust someone else something which due to the fact that he had just lost Jason Todd he wasn't able to do due to the fact that he was scared of loosing not just another Robin but another friend. While it is hard to say if this film is a good representation of the first part of the Knightfall arc what can be said is that just by going off of a very qu9ick read from the books Wikipedia page it does seem as if this film is just covering up until the part where Batman does get his back broken as there are more things that does happen in the first book that isn't in this film which is quite fair enough as these films don't typically last all that long but if your going to be doing three films in the first place and have all three films adapt each of three parts of the arc then why not adapt all of it as you have more then enough room to do so and it's something that the die hard comic book fans would love to see as the whole point of doing films based on these comic books is to give us the same stories but done in animation. Granted alot of what happens in the rest of book 1 might not have work in a film format which is a fair case to make but then why not just find away around that and only adapt the parts from book 1 that would work in a film format.

This film does carry on the trend of them adapting the comic book as multi-part films which in all fairness is a really good way of giving the comics in a new format. However this film does end suffering thanks to that approach as for a long portion of the films running time there is nothing of interest happening as all we are seeing is Batman work himself into the ground as he spends two nights without sleep chasing every single criminal that escaped from Arkham which is fine for a scene or two as that gets across the state of mind that Batman is in right now but the film barely does anything with it and while the film doesn't really set up all that much for the other two films it doesn't also pay off anything that it sets up in this film either. This is kind of double edges sword when it comes to doing films in more then one part as of course you want to give your audience a reason to come back and watch part 2 but you also want to make part 1 feel as close to a complete film as it possibly could be and in some ways this film does that as you do get the iconic moment in this film that will force Batman to change as a character but due to the fact that we only see Batman acting out twice in the film and don't really get any hints of him loosing his edge at any other point in the film only when it's for other characters to call it out which does make the idea of Batman starting to loose it feel wasted as of course with the comic book they can and did do more of that by showing Batman getting weaker and weaker with every passing issue this is of course something that you really can't do with a film this is despite the fact that the idea of Batman going nights without rest without sleeping and without food and water is a good idea and it is a good way to show us that much like with GCPD in this film Batman is spreading himself far to thin and does need to take a step back.

This films main villain is of course Bane with the character looking like he just stepped right out of the comic books. Heck even how the character is presented in this film is so good as unlike in Batman & Robin this version of the character is always the smartest person in a room full of villains with him having this inner strength and desire to survive something that was tought to him by his mother and it is something that we see him use in the film as he refuses to let his captures from when he was a kid get the better of them and stays alive for years just to spite them and when he gets injected with the venom he lasts longer then anyone else that has taken it and with this ne found power he goes nuts killing everyone. The character is also quite smart as without first meeting either Bruce Wayne or Batman he deduces that the two of them are one in the same and because of that he is able to draw out Batman and his allies alot more easily with him letting Batman weaken himself for Bane which is such a smart move and it is something that does make this character be one of the more easier characters to adapt for a film or whatever as this is a character that you can use as this unstoppable force of nature and yet there's only been ne film live action film thus far that has gotten this part right about the character that being The Dark Knight Rises, with the villains plan in this film being to fix Gotham by removing all of the things that he deems to be wrong with it and given the fact that Batman doesn't kill anyone he's deemed as being one of the things that's wrong with Gotham as according to Bane he's allowed it to get into the state that it's in with this being plan that whilst yes it is a simple plan but it's also one thats affective due to how simple it is.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and eighteen minuets and thirty seven seconds. This was kind of running time that to be frank I wasn't expecting this film to have as alot of the direct to DVD DC animated films usually run for around about one hour and ten minuets and this film is almost ten minuets longer then that and it really didn't need to be as you very easily could have cut down ALOT of the pointless Bane origin story at the tart of the film to just it's bare essentials as we didn't need to see his mother giving birth to him and then showing her being put in jail as that's just pointless filler that would have been better of being left out of the film with the film having more then enough plot thee to really cover that amount of running time. The film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely due to the fact that the film really doesn't take the time to fully develop what little plot that it ha this is something that this film really should have done or layed the groundworks for the other two films to do and yet this film does neither one and therefor should the other films develop the plot it would feel out of place as the groundwork hadn't been layed this is something that could easily have been done just by cutting down on the pointless flashback origin for Bane and using the time freed up from that to add things to the films plot with it being made clear as day that the makers of this film put alot more thought and effort into showing us Bane's full origin story then they did into giving the plot some actual plot development. The same thing is also kind of true for the films character development as while it is understandable as to why the characters in this film don't et any character development and they do lay the groundworks for Batman to get the same character development that he always gets it would have been really nice to see one of the smaller known characters get some character development in this film with the makers of this film instead putting more thought and effort into showing us alot villain cameos then they di into giving its characters some character development but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With there being alot of good looking action scenes in this film all of which are helped by the fact that the animation in this film does help to sell you on the action as the animation makes all of the kicks and punches land harder and it makes all of the action cool to watch with the film giving us alot of cool moments with really all of the heroes and villains in this film with them all getting a time to shine which was a nice touch. With the best action scene in the whole entire film being of course the fight between Batman and Bane at the end of the film as we get to see a weakened Batman who has several injuries at this point in the film struggle to even land a decent hit on Bane with Bane just beating the heck out of him and destroying huge parts of Wayne Manor with Bane even destroying a huge part of the Batcave and while that moment would have been better save for part 2 it was still effective in this film as it does lead to the most iconic moment in recent Batman history as Bane taunts a near death Batman and lifts him up into the back his back over his knee with that whole action serving to show us the audience just how strong that this version of Bane is and how easily he could and in this case does break Batman with the rest of the films action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall whilst this film really is the first American direct to DVD DC animated film since Watchmen Chapters 1 and 2 this film does show that when it comes down to it DC really does still know how to make a really good animated direct to DVD film as while this film isn't as good as other solo Batman films it's also alot more better then what it really had any right to be in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in his very review from Amazon . Co . Uk , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.