If there is one thing that many longtime fans who grew up watching the original television series will remember the most about Cranky himself as a character is that he is infamously known for being very overworked at times since he can work as hard as he can to the point of total exhaustion and yet the cargo just keeps on coming into the docks.  In times like this, it is often that Cranky tries to prove to the engines as well as Sir Topham Hatt that he can still be really useful even when a newcomer like Kevin back in Season 17's 'Kevin's Cranky Friend' or even Carly in Season 21's 'Cranky at the End of the Line" or "New Crane on the Dock' tries to offer him some help which always ends up causing even more confusion and delay.  But eventually, Cranky does come around to accept their help and even manages to make a new friend while also showing that under all that gruff beats a heart of gold.  So after reading the synopsis for this episode that has Cranky feeling very overworked at the docks yet again, I was expecting this to be another diet rehash from the original series to add to the reboot's ever-growing pile and...yeah, there are times when it feels that way but it doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy this episode.

Even if I've never been a fan of Riff and Jiff as far back as 'Race for the Sodor Cup' and while they seem to just show up out of nowhere like how Farona and Frederico did back in 'Off the Rails', at least they served a purpose to the story and that was to have their similar sounding names make Cranky mess up their deliveries while also seeing what other characters that are currently in the reboot which have 'iff' in their names they can use like Whiff who manages to gain an assistant of a pet at his recycling plant as well as Skiff who always got a chuckle out of me whenever he was on screen.  On top of that, the moral of how even grown-ups can make mistakes sometimes even when they don't want to admit it is actually a pretty good moral for kids to learn as well as it shows that nobody in life is ever perfect.  So while 'What's in a Name?' does bare some similarities to other stories about Cranky feeling overworked and needing help, at least this episode did something different to spice things up and that is certainly something worth remembering by as I am gonna be giving this episode a rating of a 3.5/5.

Final Rating: 3.5/5

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Something very exclusive to the original Thomas & Friends series is the dynamic between Thomas and James.  I mean, when you really think about it, Thomas and James barely interact in the Railway Series books since Thomas had already left the yard for his branch line for having rescued James by the time that the latter was an established character.  In the television series, James and Thomas pair up very well and it's easy to see why because these two are so similar.  When Thomas is actually in character, he's also a hothead and patient and not very bright and it makes me find episodes like Season 5's "James And The Trouble With Trees" and even later ones like Season 10's "Follow That Flour" or Season 9's "Thomas' New Trucks" actually quite enjoyable because you're basically just watching two hot-headed meatheads try to one-up each other which makes it funny to watch as a result.  Season 6's "James And The Red Balloon" is a pretty funny episode too because these two idiots actually somehow convince each other that a hot air balloon of all things could actually replace them.  It's a story that could only work with them.  Thomas and James really do bring out the worst in each other when they're paired up.  It's always a guaranteed fun time. The later model seasons loved playing with Thomas and James together.  And for how many different character dynamics and unique stories that he had during this period of the television series, it's easy to see why so many fans view the Model Series version of James as the definitive version of the guy.

But speaking of Thomas and James, let's take a look at one of those times in the later model seasons where they did butt heads and just brought out the worst in each other through their antics; that being "Thomas' New Trucks".  Now, there may have been a time when I had enjoyed this episode when I was younger.  In fact, I remember arranging however many green or blue colored TOMY seven-plank trucks I could find in order to recreate this episode with my trains.  But now as an adult and now that it's been twenty years since this episode first aired...

So overall, "Thomas' New Trucks" just ends up being an episode that's both really entertaining and yet really confusing at the same time.  It has its good moments, but the questionable moments will definitely make you scratch your head and ask "why are they doing this?" Then again, this is the HIT Era we're talking about here where any form of logic or common sense was usually thrown out the window.  So, while this episode did make a mess, it just manages to get out somewhat clean in the end and that's why I'm giving "Thomas' New Trucks" a rating of a 3/5.

Final Rating: 3/5

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Back in my Race to the Rescue review, I went on record saying that when I was a kid, I was hyped to see Flynn and Belle, and I was really excited for their episodes. Then I actually watched them and...man, they sucked. Even with Race to the Rescue, that one was so bad I have it listed as one of the worst CGI episodes of all time. But you know my thoughts on that one. How about Fiery Flynn? Can it make up for the sins of the Miller? Let's get into it.

Diesel accuses Flynn of being lazy, which he sets out to prove wrong when he learns that a blue engine is on fire. But in typical Sharon Miller fashion, he doesn't wait to hear who he is and goes around blindly spraying water on blue engines.

This is the worst kind of three strikes formula episode...a dumb one. So, we established that Flynn is spraying water on blue engines randomly. But he never checks to see if they're...you know...actually on fire. It takes effort to write something this dumb. Even the plot at the start of Diesel accusing Flynn of doing nothing, that never goes anywhere. Diesel doesn't even learn his lesson, which begs the question "why is it even here?". In fact, this episode cares so little about consistency that even the voices are wrong. Here, Rupert Degas voiced both Dart and Den. What happened there? They already had Keith Wickham in the recording booth. Did Degas read the wrong line and they just decided to roll with it? The only credit I'll give this writing is that they did a decent job setting up that Thomas would be the blue engine by having him talk to Hiro at the start of the episode.

...speaking of which, let's get into the meat of this. This is why the episode is so despised in the fandom. Thomas' firebox was on fire. His firebox...was on fire. This episode went through writing. Recording. Producing. Animating. Post-production. And several testing processes. And nobody questioned that line?! Because as I and many others have pointed out, a firebox is supposed to be on fire. That's what it does, it's not called a peanut butter-box. I know blowback is a real thing that can happen when a pipe bursts in an engine's boiler, but they never clarify that. In fact, Thomas seems totally fine when his firebox is put out. Like, yeah, his firebox was on fire. Also, the sky is blue, my tongue is in my mouth, and the commentary track for Cars 2 is very delusional.

But the question remains: is this episode worse than Race to the Rescue? In my eyes, no. This episode's conflict is arguably worse, but they actually give a reason as to why Flynn can't put out the fire when he realises his mistake. But Fiery Flynn is still a terrible, terrible episode. Dare I say it, it got a little worse on rewatch. Do I even need to explain why? Because if you've seen this episode, you get it. Its writing is atrocious, the characters stupid and the formula overused. Just do yourself a favor and skip this one and Race to the Rescue, you will get literally nothing by watching it except a migraine, and as such, I'm giving this a 1/5. "Fiery Flynn fudges it" indeed.

Final Rating: 1/5

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