Three Steam Engines Gruff: ThomasNATION Review (by MrOliver1997 and Team)
December 31, 2016
Hi, there! This is MrOliver1997! This is my first review on ThomasNATION! You'll see me more soon! So, today, I'm here to review: "Three Steam Engines Gruff..."
Three Steam Engines Gruff is a really… Interesting... story. For those who need a reminder of the plot basically Thomas, Percy and Toby believe there is a Troll living under the watermill after seeing one of farmer McColl’s fences had been broken away and hearing a muffled noise;
After getting each other worked up over the noise they all cross over the Watermill at which point they discover the noise is actually that of a cow that had escaped out from the Field with the broken fence.
Many people claim that this story feels straight out of season 13-16 but I’d have to disagree. While it does not live up to a lot of the quality of Stories from the Brenner-era it isn’t "claw-your-eyes-out" frustrating. Instead, it just feels like it could be something more.
For example what if this story had been set at Halloween that way the engine’s behaviour could have been a bit more explainable or maybe it’s a story that Thomas is telling to a younger scared engine about the early days of his branch line when they were less experienced. This way the engines reactions (Especially Toby) wouldn’t have seemed so jarring.
On the topic of personalities, Thomas, and to an extent Percy seemed good. Not perfect. Toby was a step back unfortunately. Personally, I don’t find it as bad as some people claim it to be, though.
But the Best characterisation in the Episode comes from Gordon who is completely in character, claiming them to be silly and imaging it all. Henry comes in a close second as his fearful side is played very well as a joke in one of, if not the best part of the Episode
It was nice seeing Trevor there for his first speaking role since Season 9. Seeming as his render has been around since season 13 - it’s about time! But he didn’t need to be there. There is no explanation to what he was doing, not even so much as a ‘He was lending a hand’ - this isn’t so much of a flaw more confusing than anything. Perhaps he was actually written for Terrence but was swapped over as the Render actually existed? Despite not actually getting a close up he seems to be a good render and his voice sounds Excellent. The animation, overall, in this episode - especially the rain effects - all was brilliant. Kudos, Arc.
Overall this episode is Okay. I don’t hate it and wouldn’t complain if I had to watch it but it is far from perfect, it really needed a few more script re-writes to sort out the flaws (Partially Toby, Trevor just being there etc.) and I would rank it 3.5/5.
Rating: 3.5/5
The whole team gave this episode, average, above-average and some even a great review. The lowest being 3.5/5 and the highest being 4.6/5.
ThomasNATION Rating: 4.6/5
...That was great! See you soon, with another review (in another year!) So... Happy New Year, 2017!
About The Author: Oliver (MrOliver1997)
Happy New Year from #ThomasNATION!
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