The Dark Ages of Thomas (by ThomasFan3000)
April 18, 2017
"The Dark Ages of Thomas." Talk about drama. Also talk about exaggeration. Or maybe not? ThomasNATION member, ThomasFan3000 takes a trip down arguably one of the worst patches of Thomas' TV history: Season 13 - 16. In his essay, of "The Dark Ages of Thomas" he talks about why it might have been, where the team went wrong, and why The "Brenner Era" was the biggest improvement in the show's history:
It has been forever and a half since we talked about these seasons, which were the worst of all in Thomas' TV history. With the transition to CGI being terrible for most fans, the quality of the stories that accompanied was the biggest let-down.
I, thankfully, wasn't on social media at the time when Season 13 emerged. I was about 10 years old when Hero of the Rails came out. My age at the time when these episodes premiered reveals another layer of the dark ages (we'll talk about that down the line.)
Certainly, Season 8 - 12 were not the best the show has seen, but this essay is about the worst seasons and so, we're going to concentrate on that part only: Seasons 13 through 16. [This article is about the TV episodes, not the specials... that's a topic for another time.]
I choose to pick up this essay at Season 13: where fans witnesses - for the first time - Thomas in CGIs on their TV screens, while before they had seen only in cinemas with Hero of the Rails. Certainly, they were critical of what would appear on their TV screens, after they'd seen Hero. They has witnessed CGI partially before in Season 12 - which was certainly not the most impressive. So, began the Season 13. Began the Dark Ages of Thomas.
Sharon Miller - a figure who is extremely infamous among Tankies - yes I used that, became the Creative producer for the series. Greg Tiernan, the director. Nitrogen's animation was certainly good, but the stories being told with it were quite poor. Episodes like "Buzzy Bees", "Creaky Cranky" and "The Lion of Sodor" abandoned Realism to the point where it was hard to believe if this was even adapted off the Railway Series. "Thomas & The Runaway Kite" - for me, - was pure torture [yes, that term.] To learn that the engine who was once written as one who wanted "to go out and see the world" was now chasing a kite around the island of Sodor, on rails - was exorbitantly painful. "Tickled Pink" was one of the most terrible ones. Why would James be like that? Why?
This season was meant to teach morals. But there too, it failed. Morals shoved in your faces, with mega-size scoops of unrealism. Moreover, stories began repeating themselves. The same three-strike formula and rhyming (that also made its way over to Seasons 14, 15 and 16) began in this season. Engines were - I'd like to take this opportunity to say - treated not as heavily-useful railway vehicles that could be transporting hundreds of passengers or tons of goods, but as mere people. Who were free all day, and could do small tasks all day. This certainly works with shows where the characters are actually little people, (such as Peppa Pig, or Dora The Explorer) but not when you're dealing with a railway that has its roots in the real world.
Season 14 sinked deeper. Another level was reached. "Charlie and Eddie" was a clear repetition of many previous stories - simply with characters switched. "Toby and The Whistling Woods" has its heart in the right place, and almost reached its goal with a good story, until the unrealism overweighed and well, literally ruined everything. "Pop Goes Thomas" was one more step in the 'unrealistic' direction - which by now was not surprising. At all. "Merry Winter Wish" was one more proof how the team had thrown Railway Realism out the window, from a helicopter, 5 million miles above the ground, into the deepest depths of the sea. Yes. "Being Percy"... well, Percy wasn't Percy in that episode. That's all I want to say. "Merry Misty Island" - ugh. Some episodes make me ask the team, "why?"
Sharon Miller was again the Creative Producer for this season. This season repeated and worsened all the mistakes its predecessor made. Episodes didn't seem to have any kind of variety at all. They were bland... All the same, over and over and over again. Thomas' quality deteriorated very badly.
But this didn't stop the franchise from making profits. We often forget that the success Thomas has achieved began during these dark ages. People didn't just go to cinemas because they'd seen the King of the Railway trailer. They went because their kids or they had seen the show since previous seasons. No doubt the newer seasons have only increased the show's earnings and popularity, but we should also keep in mind that those previous seasons didn't mean no views for Thomas. In fact, many people liked it, loved it. And this built up the show's success. The adult fans may have hated it, but the actual target audience didn't have the same reaction. They still watch it, and did before. They may have more favorites now than before, but the point is: They didn't hate the "dark ages."
The answer to "why" may be given by the fact that I too watched these episodes when I was little. So, why? Well, because when you're small, the railway realism doesn't matter too much. Thomas was smiling and happy - facing similar problems as I, helping me find my solutions. He also got to go around on bizzare adventures ("Runaway Kite" and "Merry Winter Wish") which were fascinating to me, as a kid. I enjoyed them. True, sometimes I too felt that some episodes were all crazy ("Thomas and the Crows") but the overall effect of the show on me was good - I liked it. I loved it. And herein lies the answer of Thomas' success during the "dark ages": kids don't know railway realism. They just want adventures and laughs, which the show delivered - and still does. The show now delivers better laughs and adventures, but those seasons did too, and that's why kids would equally like both.
Another layer of this: if I were a kid, I'd have liked Seasons 18 and 20 more than 19. Because the latter was particularly bland, especially so to a kid.
Now, back to assessing the dark ages, as a current fan:
Season 15: the worst of them all. Literally. The worst season possible. I'm sure the kids would've also hated it - I did when I was a kid. As I said before, I didn't like the unrealism of "Gordon and Ferdinand." This season crossed all boundaries. Two tender engines pulling a single flatbed. But that was just the beginning. It was followed by the likes of "Wonky Whistle" and "Up, Up and Away." I do not need to say more.
Sharon Miller was the headwriter for the season, and it showed. A writer Neil Ben, wrote one of the worst episodes of the show, "Wonky Whistle." It was in all sense, terrible.
Season 16 was next. A minor improvement was seen in these episodes. Some has more heart in them that previous episodes. But the season did not refrain using the three-strike formula, which was very well demonstrated in episodes like "Percy and the Calliope" - which was relatively a good episode, "Express Coming Through" - again an enjoyable episodes, with some flaws though. Other episodes that explicitly used the Three-strike formula were "Ho Ho Snowman" (ugh) and "Welcome Stafford."
The main benefit of this season was that - even though it used the three-strike formula so badly, but the episodes were more diverse. Some new stories were explored, such as "Percy and the Calliope," "Flash Bang Wallop," "Express Coming Through" and more. While these episodes were far from railway realism, and were repetitive, they didn't feel one hundred percent bland. And this was the improvement of the season. The worst of the season were "Thomas Toots The Crows" (how horrible!) and "Ho Ho Snowman."
And with that, we come to the end of the dark ages. Season 17 was the holy grail of improvement that the show terribly needed, for fans who'd lost all hope to be able to dive back in and witness the "rebirth of true Thomas." It was truly fascinating. Truly wonderful.
The main objective of this article was to remind fans of the worst times of the series, and also how thankful we should be of all we have right now. The Brenner team was truly the harbinger of a better era of Thomas.
ThomasNATION will soon be posting an essay called "Season 17: The Turning Point."
Moreover, was it because of the stories that Nitrogen's animation is so condemned? Surely its not better than Arc, but it wasn't all bad?
And with that, I end this article. A reminder of all Thomas' been through and how good the days are today ["Tit for Tat."]
Thank You for reading!
About the author:
ThomasFan3000 - Jainil Devani
Follow Me on Twitter: @ThomasFan3000
Subscribe To My YouTube Channel: ThomasFan3000
Follow ThomasNATION on Twitter!
ThomasNATION is on YouTube!
Take the Ultimate Thomas Fan Quiz, now!
Watch The Season 20 Awards!
Thanks for reading! ThomasNATION will be back soon with more exciting articles!
I, thankfully, wasn't on social media at the time when Season 13 emerged. I was about 10 years old when Hero of the Rails came out. My age at the time when these episodes premiered reveals another layer of the dark ages (we'll talk about that down the line.)
Certainly, Season 8 - 12 were not the best the show has seen, but this essay is about the worst seasons and so, we're going to concentrate on that part only: Seasons 13 through 16. [This article is about the TV episodes, not the specials... that's a topic for another time.]
I choose to pick up this essay at Season 13: where fans witnesses - for the first time - Thomas in CGIs on their TV screens, while before they had seen only in cinemas with Hero of the Rails. Certainly, they were critical of what would appear on their TV screens, after they'd seen Hero. They has witnessed CGI partially before in Season 12 - which was certainly not the most impressive. So, began the Season 13. Began the Dark Ages of Thomas.
This season was meant to teach morals. But there too, it failed. Morals shoved in your faces, with mega-size scoops of unrealism. Moreover, stories began repeating themselves. The same three-strike formula and rhyming (that also made its way over to Seasons 14, 15 and 16) began in this season. Engines were - I'd like to take this opportunity to say - treated not as heavily-useful railway vehicles that could be transporting hundreds of passengers or tons of goods, but as mere people. Who were free all day, and could do small tasks all day. This certainly works with shows where the characters are actually little people, (such as Peppa Pig, or Dora The Explorer) but not when you're dealing with a railway that has its roots in the real world.
Season 14 sinked deeper. Another level was reached. "Charlie and Eddie" was a clear repetition of many previous stories - simply with characters switched. "Toby and The Whistling Woods" has its heart in the right place, and almost reached its goal with a good story, until the unrealism overweighed and well, literally ruined everything. "Pop Goes Thomas" was one more step in the 'unrealistic' direction - which by now was not surprising. At all. "Merry Winter Wish" was one more proof how the team had thrown Railway Realism out the window, from a helicopter, 5 million miles above the ground, into the deepest depths of the sea. Yes. "Being Percy"... well, Percy wasn't Percy in that episode. That's all I want to say. "Merry Misty Island" - ugh. Some episodes make me ask the team, "why?"
Sharon Miller was again the Creative Producer for this season. This season repeated and worsened all the mistakes its predecessor made. Episodes didn't seem to have any kind of variety at all. They were bland... All the same, over and over and over again. Thomas' quality deteriorated very badly.
But this didn't stop the franchise from making profits. We often forget that the success Thomas has achieved began during these dark ages. People didn't just go to cinemas because they'd seen the King of the Railway trailer. They went because their kids or they had seen the show since previous seasons. No doubt the newer seasons have only increased the show's earnings and popularity, but we should also keep in mind that those previous seasons didn't mean no views for Thomas. In fact, many people liked it, loved it. And this built up the show's success. The adult fans may have hated it, but the actual target audience didn't have the same reaction. They still watch it, and did before. They may have more favorites now than before, but the point is: They didn't hate the "dark ages."
The answer to "why" may be given by the fact that I too watched these episodes when I was little. So, why? Well, because when you're small, the railway realism doesn't matter too much. Thomas was smiling and happy - facing similar problems as I, helping me find my solutions. He also got to go around on bizzare adventures ("Runaway Kite" and "Merry Winter Wish") which were fascinating to me, as a kid. I enjoyed them. True, sometimes I too felt that some episodes were all crazy ("Thomas and the Crows") but the overall effect of the show on me was good - I liked it. I loved it. And herein lies the answer of Thomas' success during the "dark ages": kids don't know railway realism. They just want adventures and laughs, which the show delivered - and still does. The show now delivers better laughs and adventures, but those seasons did too, and that's why kids would equally like both.
Another layer of this: if I were a kid, I'd have liked Seasons 18 and 20 more than 19. Because the latter was particularly bland, especially so to a kid.
Now, back to assessing the dark ages, as a current fan:
Season 15: the worst of them all. Literally. The worst season possible. I'm sure the kids would've also hated it - I did when I was a kid. As I said before, I didn't like the unrealism of "Gordon and Ferdinand." This season crossed all boundaries. Two tender engines pulling a single flatbed. But that was just the beginning. It was followed by the likes of "Wonky Whistle" and "Up, Up and Away." I do not need to say more.
Sharon Miller was the headwriter for the season, and it showed. A writer Neil Ben, wrote one of the worst episodes of the show, "Wonky Whistle." It was in all sense, terrible.
Season 16 was next. A minor improvement was seen in these episodes. Some has more heart in them that previous episodes. But the season did not refrain using the three-strike formula, which was very well demonstrated in episodes like "Percy and the Calliope" - which was relatively a good episode, "Express Coming Through" - again an enjoyable episodes, with some flaws though. Other episodes that explicitly used the Three-strike formula were "Ho Ho Snowman" (ugh) and "Welcome Stafford."
The main benefit of this season was that - even though it used the three-strike formula so badly, but the episodes were more diverse. Some new stories were explored, such as "Percy and the Calliope," "Flash Bang Wallop," "Express Coming Through" and more. While these episodes were far from railway realism, and were repetitive, they didn't feel one hundred percent bland. And this was the improvement of the season. The worst of the season were "Thomas Toots The Crows" (how horrible!) and "Ho Ho Snowman."
And with that, we come to the end of the dark ages. Season 17 was the holy grail of improvement that the show terribly needed, for fans who'd lost all hope to be able to dive back in and witness the "rebirth of true Thomas." It was truly fascinating. Truly wonderful.
The main objective of this article was to remind fans of the worst times of the series, and also how thankful we should be of all we have right now. The Brenner team was truly the harbinger of a better era of Thomas.
ThomasNATION will soon be posting an essay called "Season 17: The Turning Point."
Moreover, was it because of the stories that Nitrogen's animation is so condemned? Surely its not better than Arc, but it wasn't all bad?
And with that, I end this article. A reminder of all Thomas' been through and how good the days are today ["Tit for Tat."]
● ● ●
Thank You for reading!
About the author:
ThomasFan3000 - Jainil Devani
Follow Me on Twitter: @ThomasFan3000
Subscribe To My YouTube Channel: ThomasFan3000
Follow ThomasNATION on Twitter!
ThomasNATION is on YouTube!
Take the Ultimate Thomas Fan Quiz, now!
Watch The Season 20 Awards!
Thanks for reading! ThomasNATION will be back soon with more exciting articles!
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