You know what I really like? Trains. Trains are just so cool, man. I mean, come on, do you really need an explanation? These giant, massive, powerful metal beasts which are literally given life through fire and flames, they really are forces to be reckoned with. You know what else is really cool? Fish...hear me out, this all connects. If you were to ask any longtime fan of Thomas what they consider one of the greatest episodes of the original series, may I direct you to Season 4's 'Fish'? And the reason for why many fans feel this way can be summed up with its stunning visuals. From the nighttime shots of Henry gliding past the lighthouse to the bird's eye view of the wooded tracks with the mist creeping through the trees and that cozy purple light. These wonderland visuals do not cease to dazzle. The visuals are also exceptional in this episode for how they portray the trains themselves. The engines in Thomas were never treated as toys, they were respected by the filmmakers as working metal machines and that's present in this episode from the abundance of low angle shots and slowed down steam effects to make them seem bigger than they really were. It's also another one of those rare episodes that takes place entirely at night which are always standouts.
Seeing as fish have given us both some of the best and some of the worst in terms of stories from the original Thomas & Friends series, I was curious in seeing how fish would play a part in this particular story from All Engines Go and for a story that I thought was gonna sink faster than The Titanic upon hitting an iceberg of predictability just from the premise alone, I am just as surprised as you longtime fans of Thomas The Tank Engine will be when I say say that this fish story actually went swimmingly...see what I did there? When I first read the synopsis, I had thought that Thomas and Kana were gonna be the ones to mess up their deliveries by going too fast and learn a lesson about going slow from Percy and Nia which I feel would've made the story way too predictable in my opinion on top of feeling like character development would've once again been thrown out the window with Kana having to once again learn the same lesson about slowing down. But to my surprise, it wasn't Kana who had to learn to slow down but rather it was Nia of all characters who still seems to be struggling with learning how to change her 'perfect plans' to make sure her deliveries are done on time. Heck, Kana actually recalls how she and Thomas won the Sodor Cup back in 'Race for the Sodor Cup' by knowing how to control their speed on the tracks depending on what cargo they were carrying as a way of teaching Nia about how she's more than just being the fastest engine on Sodor and how it's better to be safe and smart. What's this, have I gone insane or are we seeing actual character growth in 'All Engines Go'? I think I may have Stockholm.
While Nia may or may not learn to stop making up 'perfect plans' for her deliveries and while the song 'Fast to Go Slow' is just a copy of 'When I Go Fast' from Race for the Sodor Cup to the point where I'd love to see a mashup or remix of the two songs by the fandom, 'Fast Friends' sure made quite a splash in the eyes of this longtime fan of Thomas The Tank Engine with the amount of hidden treasures to be found in this catch of the day and that is why I'm giving this episode a rating of a 3.5/5.
