When people think of Thomas & Friends they very rarely if ever think of stories that don't feature Thomas. This is understandable as he is the title character afterall and is on all of the DVD covers therefor it is nice to see an episode of the first season where Thomas basically just has a cameo in the episode and it's that very episode that i'm going to be talking to you al about today and so then join me as I review the episode that sees Percy avoid being a crash with the episode in question being called simply just "Percy Runs Away" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is after Gordon , James and Henry are finally let out of the sheds for causing trouble they meet the engine that has been doing there jobs for them a green tank engine called Percy and him and Gordon have to do all they can to avoid having a major accident. 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. While it could be argued that the plot of this episode was reused for the plot of the episode "Percy And The Signal" as they are very similar interms of the plot this episode does get a bit of leeway as it did the plot first. However tho with being said this episode plot still isn't that good as it is a rather thin episode with the episodes plot being so thin at times that it was hard to work out just what the main plot of the episode was even meant to be in the first place as for a long time it does feel like that the episode doesn't have a plot with it only being in the final few moments where something close to a plot does start to show up this is something that would be fine if it was a two part episode as then you could argue that the story is telling a much more bigger plot but it's not if anything it serves as an epilogue to the previous two episodes therefor there still should have been some amount of plot left to tell even if it's something as basic as Gordon learning to become with friends with Percy which yes granted is a basic plot but given the fact that this is at the start of the sow it is something that would work for the plot of an episode 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 naturally Sir Ringo Starr with him being just as delightfully charming as he always is. With him being able to make what is on paper a really a dull story seem to be all the more exciting due to the fact that he does have alot of enthusiasm not only for the characters but the stories as a whole with this being something that will always make him a joy to listen to in this show as it's something that will always make the narrator come across all the more better and make there love for the stories they are telling feel more real. As kids will always be able to tell when something feels off even if they don't know it it will just be something that stands to them and with Ringo you never really get that feeling as he always does come across as someone who does have a genuine love for these characters which is something that is not to be forgotten about as while Thomas has already attracted people who have love for the stories some of the time that love doesn't always come through whereas here with Ringo it does with it being something that does help to make you buy into him as the narrator as the narrator of these stories should have this love and passion for the franchise and it's characters as they are the ones telling the story in the first place and if they don't believe in the stories to begin with then why should we as the audience end up buying into them at all, yes this is casting 101 but it is something that should be gotten right right from the get go and it is something that the makers of this episode did get right when they cast Sir Ringo Starr in the show so much so that he even reprised the role of the narrator in America something hasn't been since.
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. This is something that really isn't all that surprising as this show has always had some good acting when it comes to it's episodes and this episode is of course no exception to this with Sir Ringo doing the best that he can do and while he doesn't elevate the material he was never going to given the fact that he was never a trained actor and there for his acting in any of these episodes was never going to be as good as the acting that we would get from the other narrators. With the best actor in this episode of course being Sir Ringo Starr with him being a really good narrator in this episode as he does have a sense of warmth and charm about him that des make him the right fit for this episode and while of course his acting would get slightly better the more that he's on the show given that the fact that was only the first first series of the show the acting in this episode was about as good as it was ever going to be and while yes it would have helped the episode out alot if they did get an actor to serve as narrator Ringo is really good in this episode with his natural warmth and charm coming through in his performance in this episode. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so god that al this episodes actors really has to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of him naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
When talking about these early model era episodes one of the things that very rarely gets talked about is the actual models themselves. With the models themselves looking really good in this episode as while they are just the basic models for this season the episode does get a lot of range out of them by having them do simple things like having a bunch of trains pass Percy as he makes fun of them which does make the Sodor feel more busy and packed or even things like having Percy drive backwards at the end of the episode which is something that would have been hard for them to do when this episode was being made and yet it is something that does look really good in the episode itself and while there isn't really a scene that shows of the models in any way what we do get to see them do does look really good in the episode itself Even going back to making Sodor look more busy this is a very small thing to have in the episode but given the fact that the show didn't have that many character at his point in time it is something that does help o make the railway feel more like an actual railways where there are things going on all the time so much so that it would be easy to believe that Henry is having his own adventure taking place during the events of this episode as realistically that is something that could happen and while the later model season would have better models the ones in this episode and this season as a whole do work really well and while there other models look better then these ones do the fact that the models in this episode look as good as they do is something that does prove that they have stood the test of time, the only downside being the fact that these are smaller scale models and therefor some of the time they do look like toys granted it's not as bad as the models in the Down The Mine pilot but you can still tell that the team are still trying to find there feet when it comes to the models.
This is one of the early episodes where Thomas basically doesn't do any thing in the episode as he is only in the episode for a short seconds before going off to work on his branchline with Edward. Heck he doesn't even get a line of dialog in the episode yet you don't really miss him either as Percy is still a fun character and while his essentially just a green version of Thomas that s something that does work for him as a character as of course he would be this cheeky little engine that is rude to all of the bigger engines as he is still new on the Island and is therefor still learning about how things work there therefor it does make sense that he would be cheeky still to the bigger engines as the only time he has really seen them was then they refused to leave the sheds. The issue with this is the fact that he is basically just a green version of Thomas and this is where the CGI version of Percy does trump the model era version of him as the CGI Percy does have more of his own personality to the point where you can easily distinguish between him and Thomas where as here in this episode whilst it is understandable that he and Percy are just the same characters there is really nothing to separate the two characters, therefor we the audience don't really miss Thomas when he's not in this episode due to the fact that we essentially have a different colored version of him in the episode but it would have helped the episode out a little bit if the makers of this episode did take the time to give Percy more of a fleshed out Personality as yes he is meant to be the youngest engine on the Island therefor having him act cheeky does make sense in this regard but if he was showen to be a little more wiser as don't forget he has been working with Edward who as we know from this episode does give advice then it would have made sense for Percy as a character to act a little bit more wise as well.
Whilst we don't really get to see Thomas and Percy forming there friendship in this episode which is something that they really could have done we do get to see Percy form a friendship with Gordon. Which was quite frankly refreshing to see as normally we never see Gordon forming a bond with someone this quickly even with Thomas it took them nearly the entire first season for them to become friends and yet here with Percy they are friends by the ed of the episode this is something that might have been helped by the fact that we never actually see Percy tease Gordon in this episode was us only seeing him tease Henry but when all is said an done the friendship between Percy and Gordon is one that did have potential to be a really good addition to the show. With both of the characters being good hard working engines who aren't afraid to sand up for what they believe in and they both are prone to getting upset easily and yet for one reason or another the makers of this show just straight up forget that they are meant to be friends with them putting more effort into pushing the Thomas and Percy friendship which is something that does work but given the fact that they are essentially the same character it makes his friendship with Gordon be all the more interesting as there you never really know what it is that your going to get with the fact that this episode did end with them being friends does say that the makers of this episode did at the very least show an interest in showing them as friends and that bond is something that could have worked and it could have led to some funny interaction later on in the series run and heck they even could have had Gordon act more as mentor to Percy whilst still very much being his friend whereas with Thomas whilst there friendship is good it feel like that its lacking that extra something to make it interesting.
Speaking of Gordon he was used really well in the episode as while he does kind of play a big part in the episodes plot he's not in it all that much. With him only appearing at the start and the end of the episode and yet all of the time that he appears in the episode it doesn't detract from Percy as rather it is something that does make sense as the opening scene is just him , Henry and James vowing to get back to work and that's it and at the end it's him that nearly crashes into Percy after Percy forgets to let the signalman know he's there and again it's him that help Percy out of the bank of earth at the end all of these scenes are scenes that you can't get rid as they all have something to do with the plot where as alot of the stuff with Percy and Edward and Percy making fun of Henry are pointless things. This is a great to use Gordon as he is this bigger then life character who thinks he's really important and therefor having him be the one to help Percy out not once but twice is something that does show you that he can be a big softy when he wants to be and while that ide of the character should never get played up as it is a more less entertaining aide of him it is still a key part of who he is as a character and having hm show that side of himself to Percy is something that does make sense, heck this episode could even have worked as a Percy an Gordon episode as the only thing that you'd need to do to make it work is have more scenes with Gordon in it doing his normal and this case favorite job pulling the express and have the rest of the episode play out the way that it does normally and while it does make sense for the episode to focus more o Percy as he is a new character at this point having be teamed up with a more established character would work just as well with both of the characters having some really fine chemistry together in this episode.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly five minuets and thirty two seconds. This is pretty much the perfect running time for an episode like this one to have as there's not really all that much to this episode outside of it's basic premise and therefor giving the episode even just five more minuets which is something that they would have done in later seasons of the show would ultimately do alot more harm to the story then it would good as this is a plot that does work best in the early season five minuet format as it does allow the plot to just get in and get out which is the kind of thing that this plot is really good at doing with the episode having not really enough plot there cover that amount of running time in the first place. With the episode not even using it's current running time all that wisely due to the fact that the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot with there not really being much of a plot in the first place as alot of the early scenes in the episode do feel like filler scenes ass none of them effect the episodes plot in a major with the makers of the episode being more bothered about forcing Thomas into the episode then they are about giving the plot some much needed development. The same thing is also true for the characters developed altho this is a bit more understandable as you could argue that Percy will get his development in other episodes and that Gordon has just got his character development which is something that does make sense as while granted not every episode of this show does need to give them character development it still would have made the episode all the more better if they did get some small amount of character with the makers of this episode being alot more focused of hinting at a friendship between Gordon and Percy then they are about giving either character some 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 really good. With the best word that could be used to describe this episodes comedy being cute as that's exactly what it is and for a show like this and for an episode like this that is not a bad thing to be and to be fair to this episode that's all it needed to be as it didn't need to have alot of laugh out loud moments in it it just needed Percy to act his more usually cheeky self and it would have worked just find. With the best joke in the episode being when Percy teases Henry as that is something that this character would do he would make fu of other engines not in a mean way but in a fun and cheeky kind of way and seeing Henry just drive off speechless and what's just happened is something hat does also feel true to his character he is the kind of character who is going to take alot of time to think of a comeback for Percy and odds are he would have spent all day doing exactly that and while having an engine being cheeky to another engine is nothing new for this show it does help that it's another engine and not just Thomas being cheeky with the fact that the episode does know to stop being funny and when to ramp up the action is something that does work as the episode doesn't undercut the tension with a joke something which the later model season would do with the episodes joke even working because of the fact that it does feel like a character driven wit the rest of the episodes jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions / at least.
Overall whilst there other better episodes of this first season out there for an episode that is essentially a nothing episode this episode does turn out to be a pretty fun episode albeit one that does have it's fair share of faults that even die hard Thomas fans will find hard to ignore 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 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 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for here 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 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.