Tit For Tat: ThomasNATION Review (by Dan and Team)

Its been so long, since we've posted. But, here's me, Dan for the review of one of the most greatest episodes, Tit for Tat. The story was originally written by Rev W Awdry, for the Railway Series book, "Small Railway Engines." It was announced recently that it would be adopted for the TV Series, as an episode in Season 20.

The episode, "Tit for Tat", adapted/written for television by Andrew Brenner, originally written by Rev W Awdry. The review:

This is by far my favourite of the two adaptations ("Tit for Tat" and "Mike's Whistle" premiered together on Canadian Television - both original adaptations) In case you are not familiar with the story, here’s synopsis: 



Two visitors (the Reverend Awdry and Reverend Teddy Boston) come to the Island of Sodor and spend the day on Thomas’s branch, he gets jealous that they take lots of pictures of Toby, but not any of him. They also call him, "a usual engine," which offends him. 



At the end of the day they take a picture of Thomas and he is satisfied with this, the two then go to the Arlesdale railway and meet Bert, who offers them a cab ride. The two gentlemen deny, for they wanted more pictures. 



Now, Everywhere Bert went, he saw the two men, he said "hello" to them, but they didn’t reply (as they were taking pictures.) Poor Bert thought they were ignoring him.



Later on he sees them in their car, but since it had been wet, there were muddy puddles on the road, and they were going so fast that they sprayed mud over Bert. 



Bert is angry about this, and pays them back when Teddy Boston was riding in his cab, he stops under a wet tree and and shoots steam into the air and water falls over the Teddy. 



The Small Controller is angry with Bert and sends him to his Shed, the visitors feel sorry for what happened to Bert, and offer to clean Bert to get the mud off him, Bert later tells Rex and Mike what happened, and he tells them that the men plan to write him into a book (Railway Series) and feature him in a TV program, Both Mike and Rex don’t believe him. 



As I said earlier, I LOVE this episode, it has all the charm of the railway series books, being an adaptation you’d expect that. Everything in it is brilliant. My favourite bit has to be at the end when Bert tells Rex and Mike that he’s going to be featured in a book and on TV with the line the narrator says “But it did happen, didn’t it!” 



Characters

Now onto the characters, I found everyone to be in perfect character here. I must be one of the few that like Thomas appearing a lot as he is my favourite engine along with James, he wasn’t forced in this story at all, and it was nice to see Thomas interacting with the Reverend Awdry. 

I also found the Small Engines to also be in character.



And it is extremely refreshing to see a really strict person like the Small Controller, is a very stern character, and a breath of fresh air.

Music
This section is going to be quite slim, as there is only one piece of music that stuck out in my mind, and that is the inclusion of ‘Never Overlook a Little Engine’, I hope this is the theme of the Small Engines, as this is a very good song. 



Animation
The animation in this episode was plainly outstanding. The render of the small railway, the hills, the nature... its breathtaking! Kudos to Arc!



Conclusion
I absoloutely love this episode! But is it just for the sake of nostalgia? Just for the sake of it being an original adaptation? 

This episode is an original adaptation taken straight from the railway series book, perhaps that is the only reason why it has received so much positive feedback... But this isn't at all true. The story is actually good. It flows, perfectly. And it has been delivered wonderfully.

All the points about this episode are only positive. Its just such a good episode!