Thomas The Tank Engine is finally back as years after the dreadful All Engines Go reboot fans got a glimmer of hope with the wonderful Wonder Of Sodor game. There is alot more hope to be had as there is a new Thomas special out and what's better is the fact that it was released onto Youtube and is the first special of a new Thomas series and so then join me as I review the special that sees the Thomas franchise come back in a big way with the special in question being called simply just "Really Helpful Engines" enjoy.
The plot of this special is Thomas wants to do a really big and important job for Sir Topham Hatt and goa to ask Gordon for advice. Now then interms of what I personally thought / 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 not really being one of the franchises better plots however tho in saying this this special plot is easily better then any of the plots in All Engines Go as it actually feels true to Thomas and isn't just there to talk down to kids and be a generic cartoon plot as there is some feel of thought put into this specials plot. However tho it is hard to call this specials plot good as all it is is an excuse t introduce the new show and that's fine but there still needs to be something special about the plot to make it feel worthy of being the plot of a special episode of the show rather this plot feels like it could have been the plot of an episode of the show as it serves the same basic function as a pilot episode and that's really it and while yes the plots in All Engines Go weren't that good the plots for there specials knew that they had to do something different from the main show to feel worthy of being the plot of a special and while of course it is far to early to tell on if this specials plot will be one of the better plots in this new show there does need to be alot of improvement as the plot does feel a bit to kid friendly even for Thomas however tho this plot does feel true to the Thomas franchise with alot of the characters acting how you think that they would with the plot itself still being a lot of fun to watch with the specials plot 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 special is Harry Sparkes as Thomas , Chris Woodworth as Henry and Django Bevan as Gordon. Also starring in this special is Oscar Elliott as Percy , Iliana Vargas Brock as Rosie , Elliott Garcia as Bruno , Nanak Phlora as Deepak , Gene Foad as Sir Topham Hatt , Rory Barnett as Farmer McColl and a Workman , Rowan Alltraine as Kid A , Greta Railton as Kid B ,Jenny Fitzpatrick as a Woman and Henry Golding as The Narrator.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / 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. You can tell that the actors in this special are doing there best which had to have been hard for them as alot of them are actual kids and it is that does help to make the acting truly standout as the characters that are meant to sound like kids like for example Thomas and Percy do sound exactly like how you think they would and while some characters like for example do have good voices like for example Gordon who does sound quite pompous which is true to his character Rosie on the other hand doesn't have a voice that fits her character as here she is given an Indian accent which makes no sense as Rosie is meant to be either British or American if the makers of this show wanted to have an Indian character in the show then why not keep Nia. With the best actor in the whole special being Harry Sparkes as Thomas as he does sound like what you think a more modern version of Thomas would sound like and while of course he's not going to match up with alot of the other actors who have played Thomas in CGI form for the first time playing the character he does sound really good and he does give the character a really youthful sounding voice that you could very easily see him becoming what this next generation think Thomas is meant to sound like like how those of us who great up in the eighties and nineties think that he should sound like Sir Ringo Starr or how other generations think that he should sound like the actor that was playing him when they grew up watching the show. With the acting that's in this special not really being helped by the act that this specials script isn't that good as it doesn't give any 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 goes harm 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 Brown Bag Films. Now then interms of what I personally thought / 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. With the specials animation being a huge step up interms of quality from what we got in All Engines Go as thee CGI used in this special does look really good with there being alot of thought and effort gone into the specials animation and it is something that does show as the special from a visual standpoint does look really good. However tho this special does the same thing that the last CGI Thomas special did and that's have the characters bounding everytime they talk and it once again gets to the point where it is distracting and isn't needed as it makes no sense for the trains to be bounding every single time they talk to each other but on the plus side tho the characters designs while they will make some die hard fans unhappy do look really good with Percy having more of a rounded face when compared to somebody like Gordon for example with even the characters having the same coloured eyes as there paintwork with Thomas having blu eyes and Henry having green eyes for example this is something that could make alot of the die hard fans unhappy as it is an unneeded change to designs that didn't really need to be changed in the first place but at the same time tho they are changes that work within the context of this special and this new show, however tho the constant bouncing when the characters talk is something that needed to be gone as it wasn't needed and it just looks ugly and with the makers of this special doin there best to try to recapture that classic Thomas look and feel then they should have gone the whole way and removed something that the fans of classic Thomas hate.
As was mentioned at the vert start of this review this special is the first piece of animated Thomas media since the release of the final All Engines Go special. With it quite frankly being great to get back to something that felt like true Thomas as while yes this special is bit to kid friendly or it's own good there enough good things in it that you do kind of forgive that aspect of the special where as with All Engines Go even tho it wasn't as kid friendly as this special is the fact that the makers of that show had the characters openly jumping from track to track and acting like anything other then engines it does go a great way to show you that Mattel are trying to recapture the fans that they lost when they put out All Engines Go. As while yes fair enough this special is never going to be as good as the great seasons of this show are there is still a clear attempt being made with this special and hopefully with the new show to make something that does feel as true to the spirit of Thomas then what we go in something like Sodor Sings Together for example as that special is the official finale to All Engines Go and yet it doesn't feel like it where as here with this special you do get the feeling that they are starting something new and it is something that does have the potential to work if they just avoid everything that they did in that show and stick with what worked in the original show and the original stories as it's all there in both the show and stories to make a great show. This is a special that quite frankly I can see just as much kids and adults liking it for totally different reasons as the kids will love it due to the fact that it does have these likable and quirky characters that to them will be brand new and the adults will love it because of the fact that it does feel like true Thomas and not just the version of the show that they grew up with but the franchise as a whole with this being something that All Engines Go seemed to scared to be as they sent more time on having the characters act like anything other then trains that are doing there work and spent more time with them goofing off and that's great for one episode but alot of All Engines Go was like that and that's not true to the Thomas franchise at all.
This special is actually unique in that it actually made it's debut on Youtube which is something of a first of Thomas & Friends as usually the specials would appear first on TV or streaming. Yet here whilst there is a streaming and TV premiere due for the special with the special appearing on Netflix on September 30th and on TV sometime in October the fact that is appeared first on the official Thomas & Friends Youtube channel is something that could either be seen as being a good or a bad thing it's a good things as like it or not alot of kids these days especially the shows target audience are watching more Youtube then they are regular TV and therefor having the special appear on there first does make alot of sense as it'll mean that they'll have more of a chance to watch it. However it is also a bad thing as it now means that when the special does appear on both Netflix and on TV that kids won't have the same incentive to watch it as why should they when they can just load up Youtube and watch it and not have to worry about buffering time or he adverts coming in and interrupting the special this is in turn going to affect how the show does interms of TV ratings and how many people watch it as while yes alot of people have Netflix accounts but alot more people have access to Youtube this is something that the makers of this special had to know otherwise why would they do this kind of a release strategy for the special when having it air on TV is something that has worked well for the franchise for decades and if something is good it won't matter where the kids see it first as there going to be drawn to the fact that it's on TV bottom line being that it is an odd way to release a special that's meant to essentially be the first episode of a new show this way as now there is no way to know if the special was going to do good on either streaming or on TV as now it's been dropped somewhere where we alot more people can watch it for free.
There is one thing that really doesn't work in this special and that's the fact they feel the need to over explain who alot of the classic characters. Which fair enough is something that would have been done for the new fans and not really for the older fan but even if you watched All Engines Go you still going to know who these characters and heck they even give Henry the wrong job in this special as it's Percy's job to pull the mail train and not Henry's with them even making Henry the always afraid character that he was back in the earlier CGI seasons when anybody who has watched the classic show and the CGI era show will be able to tell you that whilst yes Henry can get scared sometimes there are more examples of him being a strong bada*s character who will do anything for his friends even if it means risking breaking himself down because of it. Look to be fair there is a chance that they could give Percy and Henry the correct jobs when the series starts of proper but you only get one chance to make a good first impression and this special didn't do that when they got Henry wrong ad heck just out of the model seasons of the show alone there are at the very least only two episodes when he was worried but there are more examples of him being cheeky and more examples of him being hot headed and being this strong engine bottom line being here if the makers of this special wanted to truly capture the spirit of the show and what made it so good in the first place then they should have gone all out, as having Henry start of the special being worried about something is something that could have worked if it played a part in the special but it doesn't it's literally in just the one scene near the start of the special and that's it with the special not giving Henry much of a chance to show of other aspects of his personality which is fine for the older fans as there going to know what else Henry is like but the young kids won't.
Now then this special has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly thirty minuets and thirty one seconds. This a fairly decent running time for the special to have as the special doesn't really have all that much to set up due to the fact that the characters and the world are that iconic that alot of people will know all about them in the first lace but at the same time tho it would have been nice if the special did take some time from there musical numbers and give it to setting up some things in regards to the specials plot and how these versions of the character differ from the versions that alot of us no and love in the first place with the special having more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. However tho the special really doesn't use it's running tome all that wisely as the special really doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot which to be fair is kind of expected but at the same time given the fact that this is a new version of the show you do want to start out the new show with your best foot forward and having a special that doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot with the message of Thomas feeling that he has to do everything on his own not really working as the plot doesn't give that idea enough time to breathe before they start to wrap it up with the makers of this special being more focused on giving Thomas musical numbers then they are in giving us a well developed plot. This is something that does also effect the special character development as outside of Thomas none of the specials characters get any kind of character development which is kind of understandable as he is the main character of the special but at the same time tho it would have been nice if say Percy or Gordon got some character development and even Thomas's character development doesn't feel earned as not enough time is spent on making it feel well thought out in the first place with the makers of this special being more focused on making sure that all of the engine characters bounce when they talk then they in giving the special some much needed characters 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 really does mean that I gave 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 not that bad. The specials comedy is decent as we do get scenes with Thomas being cheeky to Gordon which is always fun to see but at the same time that's about the only bit of comedy that we get in the episode with the episode feeling more like a drama alot of the time and while this is understandable as this is a special after all there did still need to be some more lighthearted moments with the characters in the special. With the best joke in the whole entire special being when Thomas is cheeky to Gordon just by annoying him as Thomas is trying to get Gordon to let him pull this big train which for some odd reason Gordon call an engine but that is something that only works due to the fact that it does feel true to Thomas's character in both the books and the show as he would be cheeky to other engines especially if they had something that he wanted and therefor having him be a bit cheeky to Gordon does make sense for his character this is something that doesn't make it all that funny tho but compared to the rest of the special that joke is funny with there being more stuff in this special and in that one scene with Thomas being cheeky to Gordon that little kids will find funny and is something that does make sense as the main target audience for this audience has always been and will always be little kids with the rest of the specials jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this is a decent start to Thomas & Friends: Railway Stories as it does show the potential that this new show does have not only in how it handles the characters but also in how good it could be where as compared with All Engines Go you knew right from frame one that hat show was going to be bad here tho there is still that hope that this could be a really good show 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 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 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 the official Thomas The Tank Engine fandom wiki page 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.