When alot of people think of Thomas The Tank Engine nine times out of ten they think about the classic model seasons of the show. Yet not alot of them know that the show did carry on really all the way until just a few short years ago in CGI with it really being one of the CGI episodes that i'm going to be talking to you all about today and so then join me as I review the episode that sees Toby run into some trouble at the scrap yard with the episode in question being called simply just "The Truth About Toby" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when Toby runs out of coal at the scrap yard he has to try and convince passing engines o help him out. 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 about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good with thus episodes being as delightfully dumb and yet simple as you'd want it to be from this era of the show which was something that does work really well for this episode as this is an episode that doesn't really require a deep plot to make it work as something having a plot thats more simple and easy to follow along with is something that does make it work all the more better with this episodes plot really does a good job of just letting the characters be themselves something upon which the later CGI seasons did take great strides in doing and it is something that does work really well in this episode as the plot of this episode as simple as it is works just as well because of how simple that it is with this plot not really being a plot that would work if it was a super serious as that would make the plot be alot less fun an lot less entertaining then what it really should have been as sometimes being a fun plot is alot more important then being super serious as that would feel out of place with this episodes set up and while the show has done super serious and dark episodes in the past they've always had the set up that allowed for that to happen 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 and Keith Wickham as Edward , Henry , Gordon , James , Salty , Stafford and The Fat Controller. Also starring in this episode is Nigel Pilkington as Percy , Rob Rackstraw as Toby and Stanley , Teresa Gallagher as Emily , Annie and Clarabel , Rebecca O'Mara as Caitlin , Steven Kynman as Paxton , Maggie Ollerenshaw as Henrietta , Tim Whitnall as Reg and Mark Moraghan as The Narrator.
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 about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With all of this episodes actors turning in some really good performances which is something that does make alot of sense as alot of them have been playing these characters for decades at this point and therefor do have a good understanding of just who there version of these characters are in the first place with alot of them like for example Maggie Ollerenshaw having the perfect voice for there character with the best actor in the whole entire episode being Rob Rackstraw as not only does he have a fairly solid voice for Toby but he also gets to show of new sides to this character as all to often we see the brave ad sarcastic side of his character and yet we never really get to the more frustrated side of the character and that is something that Rob gets the chance to show us in this episode and it is something that does come through in his performance as you do sense that Toby is becoming frustrated with Reg with the fact that he does try and hold that back as Reg is just doing is job is something that make Toby all the more frustrated with him with the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode was just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and as 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.
For once I really cannot say just who it is that does the animation for this episode as there's no animation company listed anywhere online. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good as while CGI Thomas was in it's very early ears like season 12 early did have some very choppy looking animation to it by the time they got round to this season and Season 20 the show had started to have some actually good looking animation in it with this episode being a good example of that as you get to see the human characters doing things at the docks and you get to all of the characters look really good with the same thing even being true for the backgrounds as well as while this episode doesn't really allow for alot of interesting looking backgrounds due to the fact that it's mainly set at the scrap yard with there being very few locations but the episode does make up for this for giving some really unique looking camera shots like we get to see the camara placed sort of behind and at the side of Edward for a shot which looked really cool and is something that for obvious reasons the model seasons of Thomas just couldn't do and yet here in this episode we do get to see some really good looking shots all of which work well with the episodes already high bar of animation with the only thing that could have made this episodes animation even more better being if we got to see more stuff going on in the backgrounds which yes is a small thing but it's also something that makes the world that this show takes place in feel all the more real and lived in as well.
The big thing in this episode is that when Thomas , Annie , Clarabel , Henry and Edward all see Toby at the scrap yard they assume it's because of the fact that he's going to be scrapped. This is something that they are kind of right to assume as from there point of view that's exactly what it would look like however they then go spreading around the rumor that Toby is going to be scrapped when if just one of them had stopped to talk to either Toby or Reg The Crane to find out what was actually going on then that whole thing is something that could have very easily have been avoided and while it is understandable as to why that wasn't done in the episode as this is a kids show after all and nine times out of ten kids aren't care about logic there just going to care about the characters and that's really it and that's all well and good but at the same time tho this show did used to treat its kid audience with respect and not talk down to them but rather talk to them on a level and while this episode is great improved in that regard when compared to the earlier CGI episodes it still does make you wonder why the makers of this episode didn't bother to fix the issue of not having one of the characters just talk to Toby to find out what's going on as all of the characters do drive past in the episode and yet not one of them bothers to stop and find out what's going with this being something that very easily could have been explained just by having the characters either pulling passengers or being given a very important job to do by The Controller and that was just thought up in less then minuet and yet the makers of this show had go knows how long to come up with something that would make sense for the episode and yet they came up with nothing.
To be frank Reg was bit annoying in this episode as it felt like he was doing everything that he could do to stop Toby from getting help. As while yes he was just doing his job and really nothing more then that he was also not doing all that much to actually help Toby out as he was being very noisy when he was picking things up with his crane and had a bunch of scrap covering where Toby was so passing engines couldn't see him if they wanted to and while having an annoying character is something that can work if it's apart of the story just look at Phillip in the episode "A Shed For Edward" as a prime example of that but the characters did always know when to stop being annoying and start being helpful just look at Toby in the two episodes he did with Mavis back in season 3 where he actually gave her good advice on how to travel past a certain in the line where as here Reg just felt like he was being annoying just so the plot can happen which isn't fun to see as there was no way in heck that he couldn't have yelled out to quite literally any of the engines that pass him and Toby and as for there help as he could see the engines coming and the engine could quite literally hear and see him with even Edward yelling hello to him and yet he does nothing to help out his friend with it feeling like that this episodes Davey Moore was just stuck and couldn't come up with a good way to include this character and have them be apart of the story and so then he just had Reg essentially not do anything except for get on Toby's last nerve and that's really it which isn't enough of a reason to justify him being in the episode ads while yes it does give Toby someone to talk to in the episode it also makes you wonder why he doesn't get help for Toby the first chance that he can.
Seeing Toby's more frustrated side was something that was refreshing to see as for alot of the CGI series we only see the side of him that's two old with his old sarcastic side and his brave side very rarely if ever coming out. Yet in this episode we get to see a side of him that was fun to see with that being him just constantly getting frustrated with Reg something which is fun to see as Toby doesn't really come across as the kind of character who would get frustrated with someone as if anything that would be someone like Percy or Gordon for example as they very quick t anger if you say or do something that might upset but Toby never really gets annoyed with anyone with really the only time that Toby might get annoyed with someone being in the season 20 episode "Toby's New Friend" where Phillip follows him around thinking that Toby is just like him with the fact that he does get frustrated in this episode being something that does make you wonder why we've never really seen this side of him as we know he can be brave and sarcastic but seeing him get frustrated with someone is something that would allow for more fun and funny scenes with different characters as now we have a whole other side to his personality that could be used for some really good stories and could be used for some really good character interactions as well like it would be interesting to see him get frustrated with characters like Gordon or Emily as it's in there nature to have these big egos something which could quite easily clash with Toby's more down to earth way of doing things just like it would be interesting to see someone calm him down a bit when he gets a bit to frustrated like why not have Trevor The Tractor have a chat with him like he did with Thomas back when they first met or why not have him talk with Bertie as both of those characters can calm other engines down quite easily.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly eight minuets and forty six seconds. This is something that's pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show with the show actually getting more screen time over the years with this episode having the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time and yet in saying this tho this episode really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the episode really doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot as the episode is more focused on having things happen for non reason then it is on fully developing it's plot as there's no reason why Toby couldn't get his coal and there's no reason why he or Reg couldn't yell out of the other engines and there's no reason why those engines couldn't just stop and talk to him all of which are things that could have been talked about and made more clear if the plot of the episode was more developed with this even affecting the episodes character development as while it could be argued that the characters get there development in other episodes which would be a fair point to make as all of this episodes characters do appear in other episodes of the show and therefor they don't really need to have character development in every single episode it still would have been nice for the characters to get some sort of character development as then it would have shown that the characters are more then willing to grow with the extra running time that alot of these episodes did have and yet for one reason or another the makers of this episode chose not to give the characters any form of character development 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 not that bad. With the episode having some decent jokes in like Toby forgetting to go and get his side plates mended at the end of the episode to even him forgetting to get coal something which could be argued is a joke with even alot of the scenes that Toby has with Reg having some decently funny jokes in them with the best joke in the episode being when Reg lifts up a car to wave to catch the attention of other engines only for him to drop it and end scaring Henry away because of it something which does work as Henry is meant to be the character that is more often then not the one that's most afraid of anything and everything with it also showing just how smart that Reg is as it's him that comes up with the idea to wave something colorful to catch the other engines attention it's just not something that does work out all that well for all involved with alot of this episodes bein g cute and funny jokes that will make little kids smile which given that this is aimed at little kids is something that does make sense as all of the episodes jokes do have to appeal to them and to be fair that's where this episode does shine as they will find all of the jokes in this episode to be really funny it's just that it would have helped the episode out quite alot if the episode did have some more outwardly funny moments in it as Reg can be a really funny character when he's given funny things to say and do in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this is a decent episode that does give us a new side to Toby with it showing us that the makers of this show are more then willing to create good stories with this show again something which we do see quite alot more in the CGI era of this show with this episode being a prime example pf that 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 thigs 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 6.5 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.