This review is being written on Christmas Day over here in the UK and well with Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends still being a big institution over here in the UK it made sense for me to review one of there Christmas specials. With there really being only one choice for this particular review as it does have an images that is for lack of a better word magical and it's that very image that made me want to review this episode and so then join me as I review the episode that is the only episode of the show to be purposefully written by Rev. W. Awdry with the episode is question being called simply just "Thomas's Christmas Party" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when Thomas gets the idea to through a Christmas party for a friend that once helped him and Toby out the rest of the engines get a party together. 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 really good with this episodes plot being the kind of plot that you'd want to see in a kids TV Christmas episode as it's just fun and charming with there not really being danger to the story as the characters have to just get a party together for this one person who has helped them out in the past and that's really it and that's all that's really needed for this plot to work as this isn't the kind of plot that requires you watch several other episodes just understand one line of dialog or one joke and while yes the plot of this episode is a bit on the thin side this is something that not only could be said for the rest of the shows episodes as well but is also something that does work well enough to this episodes advantage as the only thing that this episode really needs is a good premise and that's it and when the premise of the episode is this good it really doesn't matter then the plot of the episode is wafer thin as we the audience are already hooked on what's going on in the first place and with Christmas specials in general you don't really want a deep and thought provoking plot you just want something simple and really that's what the plot of this episode is it's simple in all of the best ways possible 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 of course Sir Ringo Star as The Narrator with Ringo being his usually quite happy and joyful self. Which is something that is a big off putting in other episodes but here it is something that does work due to the episodes setting with even the fact that the engines are describes as being happy around Christmas time being something that does work as well and while he doesn't give any of the characters any kind of accent like her would do in Series 2 of this show there is an effort made to make each characters voice stand out as when he's doing The Fat Controller for example he gives him a slight booming voice and when he voices Thomas his voice sounds more youthful it's when we get to the other engines that we start to have a problem as none of the other engines in this episode have very distinct voices to them which does mean that you have to pay attention to the episode alot more otherwise you'd be confused as to who is talking with this being a good example of where the CGI series trumps the model series as in the CGI series they have a full cast for the episodes where as here it is quite literally just the one person doing all of the voices and while that does have it's own unique charm to it as it does come across like he is reading us the audience a bedtime story it does also have it's drawbacks as well as it is something that does require The Narrator to put on different voices for the different characters as don't forget this shows main audience is little kids and there not going to be able to tell who is talking at any given moment and therefor giving the characters more distinct voices especially in this episode where there are alot of speaking characters would have gone a long way into making this episode alot more better then what it already is in the first place.
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. As even tho for alot of this shows history they only have one person doing all of the voices and telling us the episodes story much like there reading us a bedtime story that person in this case Sir Ringo Star do still have to put in an actual performance with that being something that is overlooked alot of the time by the more casual Thomas fan and yet it is something that he does do really well in this episode as he is by default the episodes best actor as if he himself doesn't believe that these characters are real then that is something that would show through in his performance and yet it's because of the fact that he does believe these characters to be real that he manages to turn in a performance that's as good as it is as while yes this episode is basically a Christmas special and those don't typically have that good acting in them here you can tell that Ringo is still trying to turn in a good performance this is despite the fact that he's not a trained actor and yet you can still tell that when a character is meant to be sad or happy that those emotions really do come through in his voice with the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is so good that all this episodes actor has to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out him naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Believe it or not this episode is actually written by Rev. W. Awdry as both show creator Britt Allcroft and show director David Mitton wrote the idea for the story they then took it Rev. W. Awdry to be written and published in the book of the same name. With this episode being the only episode of the show that he technically wrote an episode and you really can tell that it was written by him as it has that charm to it that you only find in The Railway Series books with the characters having an almost old fashioned way of talking to each other with the story being a sequel to another story called "Mrs. Kyndley's Christmas" which was published in the book "Toby The Tram Engine" with the characters feeling more like there book selfs then they do there TV selfs which s something that does make sense as this episode was written by the original author but at the same time tho when the story was being adapted to the series there should have been more of an effort to make the characters feel like how they are in the TV show and not how they are in the book as characters like Thomas and Gordon for example are vastly different in the books when compared to the TV show and yet you can tell that even tho this episode was only written to be nothing more then an episode of the show that there was still a great amount of love and detail put into it as while Awdry doesn't go into that much detail like he does in the books he still does make this railway feel like an actual railway which was something that he was always proud of doing as he was a train enthusiast and that amount of love and care for trains is something that did shine through in his books and it's something that does shine through in his writing for this episode.
As was just mentioned this episode is a sequel story which wouldn't be a bad thing were it not for the fact that the original story "Mrs. Kyndley's Christmas" never got adapted into an episode in this first series. Which is odd as both Toby and Thomas act like they are good friends with Mrs. Kyndley and yet as far as we the audience are aware there've never had any screen time together and as the original story never got adapted that does mean that the makers of this episode have to shoehorn in flashbacks to the events of that story just so that we the audience know who this character is and why alot of the engines like her so much when it would much more easier to just adapt the story in the first place and heck given it's title it very well could have been the episode that aired prior to this one and yet for one reason or another the makers of this episode didn't adapt it with it feeling like that this episode was an afterthought almost as if they decided at the last possible second to do a Christmas episode and so instead of doing a proper adaptation of a story that introduces a key character in this episode they instead just went straight to the sequel and while the shows kid audience most likely wouldn't have noticed that there's a new character that all of the engines seem to really like that's not really an excuse as kids are alot more smarter then what we give them credit for and when you have a show that's usually very good with it's continuity it makes no sense for them to suddenly do a sequel episode when they havn't even done the original episode in the first place and given that alot of the of the stories in "Toby The Tram Engine" were adapted for this first series it's weird that they would suddenly skip over a story in favor of doing it's sequel adventure.
The best word that can be used to describe this episode is magical as that's exactly what it is and that's exactly what this Christmas special needed to be. As while it doesn't have the typical Christmas message that all kids Christmas specials seem to have this one does fully embrace the Christmas season and isn't afraid of being this cheesy and sickly sweet episode and to be fair that's exactly what a Christmas special should be especially when it's aimed at little kids as all they want to do is see there favorite characters being kind to one another during the festive season and to see them spread some goodwill and that's it and that's exactly what we get in this episode with the episode billed filled to the brim with snow and Christmas cheer and while that make alot of people's inner Grinch come out to play it is something that does make this episode feel unique as all of the other episodes in this very first series were all busy on trying to tell this one season long story arc with the trains getting used to each other and all of the changes that are happening in their lives and yet in this episode all of that gets put aside for something more fun and light hearted which is exactly the kind of thing that you want to see in a Christmas special and while yes this episode could have done with having a character who is set against Christmas at first but then over the course of the episodes comes round to the idea of the holiday that's also something that really isn't needed in this episode as Thomas the main character of the episode is already fully on board with the holiday and is just there to do something that's genuinely nice for someone that he cares for and at the end of the day dont we all want to something that's genuinely nice for someone at Christmas time.
Whilst this first series of the show wasn't all that known for doing alot of cool camera moves with them mostly having a static camera. There was one shot in this episode that did stand out and that's when we first see the other other engines in the shed and the camera slowly starts to pan over the set with it landing firmly infront of the other engines that is a shot that that's not in the rest of the first series and yet it's hard to see why it is a really cool shot and one that does make this episode stand out even more due to the fact that you can tell that the makers of this episode are willing to try and do new things with the camera instead of sticking with what they know for a fact works which is something that they very easily could have done given the fact that this episode was produced alongside the rest of the first series and yet the fact that they not only pulled of a really complicated camera move to do on a model set but also made it look good does show that there is some willingness to be creative and to try new and different things in this episode when that's not something that they really needed to do in this episode as this is the episode that would have been on to shut up the little kids while the mums and dads go off and do other things and yet its the fact that they did do something that's this creative that makes it stand out with it being something that does make you wonder just how managed to pull it off in the first place as this was made during the model era of the show and therefor they wouldn't have been able to go into a computer and animated the camera that way rather they would have had to have worked it out themselves and thank the heavens that they did as while this first series wasn't known for having alot of creative camera moves this is one that does prove that this team could do a verity of camera moves when there pushed to do so.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly five minuets and thirty five seconds. Which is pretty much the exact grand total running time for the alot of this shows very early episodes as well and to be fair this episode really does have the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place and while the episode not really using it's time all that wisely to fully develop would usually and quiet rightly be seen as being a bad thing here tho due to the fact that the plot of the episode is that simple in the first place it really doesn't need any kind of plot development as this is after all a show that's made for little kids and while it would have been nice for this episode to have some kind of plot development in it its not really something that's all that needed as the plot of the episode works just fine without it with the plot of the episode being charming enough and magical enough in the first place that it does make you forget that the plot of the episode is as simple as it is with the same thing also being true for the episodes characters as well as not only are they simple enough to not really need that much character development in the first place alot of the episodes main characters got there character development over the course of the first series so it would be pointless to give them more character development in this episode but at the same time tho it is something that would bog this episode down and stop it from being as enjoyable as it is as the episode would have to shoehorn in character development when this is a story that really doesn't doesn't need it 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 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 alot of this episodes comedy stemming from the fact that Thomas is just being cheeky to his coaches and that's really it and that's all it needed to be as that's true to Thomas's character as he is the kind of character that would make a quick joke to his friends with that being his character arc in the first series with the best joke in the whole episode being when Annie and Clarabel say that they always feel full at Christmas time and Thomas just asks them where there festive spirit which granted isn't a laugh out loud funny joke but at the same time doesn't need to be it just needs to be cute and that's exactly what it is it's a cute joke that will make little kids and adults smile with that also being the case for alot of this episodes jokes as well and that is all that they needed to be as the main focus of the episode is getting across that it's Christmas time and in getting us to a wonderfully magical image with the engines at the end of the episode at the shed with Christmas lights all around them and each engines having a Christmas hat on them whilst being surrounded by Christmas trees and to be fair if that's the ending image then the episode has already succeeded as a Christmas special and while it would have helped the episode if the episode did have more funny jokes in it the jokes that the episode does gave do work really well for the episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this magical episode does exactly what it sets it to do and that's make you feel warm and fuzzy inside with the episode being one that's fun to watch with this episode giving us all of the things that we love in Thomas & Friends with the only difference being that this episode is filled to the brim with Christmas cheer and that's really it and that all that it really needed to have to be a good episode 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 a 7.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very 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 episode that I used in this very review 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 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 are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.