ThomasNATION Reviews - Shankar's Makeover
July 05, 2020
Although he can be serious and blunt while always going straight to the point, the wise and sympathetic Shankar can be counted on to carry it out if there is a way to set things right since he also takes no nonsense from slackers or showoffs as he is often scolding Thomas for his occasional lack of focus and Rajiv for his attitude. Shankar always enjoys a good laugh despite this though he prefers working alone and away from attention...which has unfortunately come to bite him on the brake van when a famous competition is about to begin on the Indian Railway as we begin the second half of Thomas' twenty-fourth season. Let's go go go on a big world adventure as we get in costume with 'Shankar's Makeover'!
SHANKAR'S MAKEOVER: Thomas pushes Shankar into entering the Fancy Costume Contest even though Shankar doesn't want the spotlight on him.
PROS
As many of you may remember from back in 2015 as part of the seventieth anniversary festivities in the 'Really Useful Around The World' web video series, Thomas actually did travel to India where he got to take part in the Black Beauty Contest where he dressed up alongside some interesting engines whose costumes he originally thought were unusual whether they wore water-spraying trunks or wings or even painted resembling the Bengal tiger...so not only is it great to see them not only expanding on this concept under a much more kid friendly name from a three minute long short to a seven minute long episode, but it was also a great opportunity to give Shankar some much needed character development by showing that he prefers not to be in the spotlight and just wanting his personal space to be really useful doing what he does best in the form of shunting trucks with his signature 'Shankar Shimmy'-in a way.
In fact, Shankar reminded me a lot of Fluttershy from the first four seasons of My Little Pony when it comes to a lack of confidence in themselves while not wanting to disappoint their friends after being encouraged to do things they really don't want to do like in the Season 1 episode 'Green Isn't Your Color' on top of the always classic case of stage fright at the thought of everyone staring at you on stage even if they do cheer for you in the end like in the Season 4 episode 'Filli Vanilli'.
While I know that there's gonna be several people in the fandom saying that Rajiv should've been the one to peer pressure Shankar into entering the Fancy Costume Contest instead of Thomas which really plays a part in what many think of his appearances in the television series ever since the initial HiT Entertainment takeover and I can totally understand why since I did an editorial on the subject last month especially seeing as Rajiv and Shankar have a great dynamic between them from throughout the past few seasons, using Thomas instead worked for the sake of the episode since it fit with his personality of being excited over something like dressing up for the contest even as far back as in the first season at being given the chance to pull Henry's train in his place.
CONS
N/A
With how often the international episodes of the series end up varying in quality depending on which country in the series that Thomas travels to whether in China or India or even recently with Brazil, I never imagined that an episode that we initially knew little to nothing about especially since it's set in another country which suffered the same problem of varying episode quality could be so relatable in its subject matter: while it's easy to see why some fans wouldn't like 'Shankar's Makeover' for using Thomas instead of Rajiv for a Shankar-centered episode, the amazing visuals especially on the different costumes of the engines as well as some much needed and relatable character development for Shankar were just what the episode needed to save itself from continuing the cycle of previous seasons and that is why it earns a rating of a 4 out of 5.
Final Score: 4/5
Final Score: 4/5
About the Author: True Blue
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