Before I get into this week's review, we need to ask ourselves the following question: why did Thomas feel like it was going through an identity crisis for the past decade? Well, to try and find an answer, we have to go back to where this all started; that being when the seeds that would grow into "Big World, Big Adventures" were planted. For those who don't know, "Big World, Big Adventures" was essentially a rebrand of the Thomas & Friends franchise to make it "more marketable" and "of this generation", so to speak. Merchandise sales started drastically dropping in 2015, 2016 or so (maybe because the merch was terrible, but why are we splitting hairs?) and Mattel was seemingly hesitant to keep the television series going after Season 20 as confirmed by Ryan Hagan on Sodor Island Forums ages ago. "Journey Beyond Sodor" came out later that year after Season 20 wrapped up, and a part of me wonders if it was originally written as a series finale. It definitely has a sense of finality to it and some fans have theorized that they retrofitted it to include the new BWBA Era elements like the body gesturing in the eleventh hour after the rebrand was greenlit that year. Arc Productions, the series' animation studio at that time, was also facing bankruptcy issues that same year which obviously didn't help. I'm sure many of us would kill to know the full story of what went down in 2017, but who knows if we ever will.
We first caught wind of this rebrand via articles in 2017 right before "Journey Beyond Sodor" came out. It was met with a lot of criticism from fans, they didn't want to believe it was true. These changes sounded so insane that they couldn't possibly be real. Then, we saw the engines gesturing in "Journey Beyond Sodor" and I think that's when it started to dawn us which was then followed by Season 21 shortly after and...that one episode nearly every veteran fan hates yet I kind of enjoy (don't judge, we have our tastes) happened. Everything we feared started to become real instantaneously. But now that a decade has passed and with the new Railway Stories reboot now in full swing this year through both the merchandise and the "Really Helpful Engines" special, I find myself ruminating on the journey Thomas has taken during this time and I'd say it's time to now ask ourselves if things really were as bad as we made them out to be or if we just overreacted. Let's find out as we take a "Journey Beyond Sodor"!
JOURNEY BEYOND SODOR: Determined to prove his importance on Sodor, Thomas takes James’ trucks and sets off on a big adventure to the mainland. On the way he makes friends with the cheerful and helpful “Experimental Engines” but, after a wrong turn, finds himself lost in the steelworks. There, Thomas encounters two mysterious engines who instantly make him feel welcome, but who aren’t what they first seem. After Thomas fails to return, James sets off to the mainland but runs into trouble himself and it is up to Thomas and the Experimental Engines to save the day. Join Thomas in a tale of daring escapes, heroic rescues and discover that true friendship comes in all shapes and sizes.
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"Journey Beyond Sodor" was a movie that knew what it wanted to be since it was clearly based on a vision for an epic "prison break" type of story that the writers had. And for the most part, they followed through on it. For that, I do respect it. And interestingly enough, it's one of those movies from Thomas & Friends that I still feel pretty much the same about from the first time I watched it. 2017 True Blue and 2026 True Blue basically have the exact same mindset while watching it. It's essentially a capper to the Brenner era. And I have to admit, when viewed that way, I do have to say that I can see why they enjoy it a lot more like that. Because in a lot of ways, "Journey Beyond Sodor" really did feel like it was closing out the era, with the main characters all singing together at the end as well as the one shot in Thomas's solo song "I Want to Go Home" where every character in the show appears...except Duck, and the overall theme of wanting to go home and be with family.
But once you get into the fine print of Journey Beyond Sodor, you notice that it's actually a pretty likable movie. I really like the darker tone of this movie, as well as the score and how prominent a role that the Troublesome Trucks of all characters play in this. But undeniably, I think I agree with the fans that the best thing in the entire movie is James. Not only does he have a nice arc (hehehe see what I did there?) with Thomas, but he two best scenes in the movie are with him; those being of course when he's talking to the contempt mainland diesels who just want to get out of this and the scene of him breaking the fourth wall in the Steelworks. He is such an audience stand-in character here, and you can tell Brenner had a ton of fun writing for him.
But speaking of, the Experimental Engines unfortunately still don't really work for me as a concept. I'll be nice and say I get what they were coming from with them, that being "no matter what your handicap or disability is, there is always some way for you to be useful". But when you take into consideration that Hurricane is an experimental engine and works just fine, the message does get a little lost in transaltion. and it results in the Experimental Engines giving off vibes of The Logging Locos. Merlin was easily the MVP since he was the only newbie in the whole movie whose character was inspired by something in real life. I also do agree with the fandom that he was the one and only experimental that the movie really needed. His whole gimmick was that he was a good hider, so just have him be this engine that Thomas comes across on his travels, and he not only aids him and James in their escape but also come back to Sodor with them. There's some legit story potential here that I'm surprised they never cashed in on.
But speaking of the ending, I do agree with the fanbase that it is the worst part with how rushed it feels along with having a very mixed message. I think Frankie and Hurricane should've been punished for it since I think an ending where the villains get their just desserts and the heroes escape would have been so much more satisfying and appropriate in the eyes of the viewers for what is supposed to be a prison break adventure film. This sort of forced "quick, make the bad guy sympathetic because kids' movie" nonsense that the entertainment industry has loved pushing this past decade and are still continuing to do so to this day really brings it down. "Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure" had the cajones to show Sailor John getting arrested for his actions. They should have done something similar here if they really wanted to stick to the darker tone they set up. On top of that, I know that there is a whole army of people in the fandom who will never get used to the body gestures like those of the characters from the Cars franchise. This was the first movie to feature that, and those fans act like they either really go overboard with it in some scenes or that it's inconsistent with the engines sometimes acting as per normal and then bending almost sideways other times. And frankly, I know that fans wish the gesturing was done more tastefully and I do agree on that, but I never had too big an issue with it.
"Journey Beyond Sodor" is a movie that clearly got lost in the shuffle and sandwiched in the middle of the previous era and BWBA and it was pretty quickly forgotten about the next year. I guess we fans will never know the full story of exactly what went down during the production of this and "Big World, Big Adventures", but it makes "Journey Beyond Sodor" a bit of a weird enigma not just in terms of Thomas specials but also where the priorities for the franchise were at the time in Mattel's eyes. All of these gripes I have with it aside, I think "Journey Beyond Sodor" is a pretty underrated movie with a unique vision. While there are things in it that I don't like, but I still think that it's a fun ride. It was a totally new concept for a Thomas film, and I like that they tried some new things with it. It's not one that I go back to very often unless it's for new content ideas, but one thing is for certain and that's that this film sure started quite the journey for Thomas the Tank Engine in both the franchise and the fandom. Whether you choose to see the current state of the franchise following this movie as good or bad, that's entirely up to you yet I still plan on riding this train all the way to the end no matter what happens next and that's why I'm going to give "Journey Beyond Sodor" a rating of a 4/5. Also, just to give you an idea how pointless he is, I just went the entire review without talking about Beresford.
