ThomasNATION Reviews - Thomas' Magical Birthday Wishes
August 22, 2020
Thomas The Tank Engine sure does have a history behind him, doesn't he...appearing in almost any form of media you can imagine and when you realize it all started with a vicar reading made-up stories to his sick son. It's kind of amazing and this year is the seventy-fifth anniversary of 'Thomas & Friends', so the team at Mattel decided to go all out in making this celebration the biggest in the franchise's history from the annual twenty-episode season along with three half-hour specials to teaming up with Nitro Circus for an epic stunt for their series on Quibi to the releases of both a brand new story-time podcast as well as a special birthday album and not to mention the loads and loads of celebratory merchandise from books to toys for all ages...but one of their other plans to celebrate this special occasion in Thomas' seventy-five year history was the supplement of four all-new series of videos for YouTube starting with 'Thomas' Magical Birthday Wishes' consisting of fourteen two-minute shorts that started premiering at the start of May before concluding at the start of August while being released on a weekly basis over the weekends.
Now, the plot for each of the shorts in 'Thomas' Magical Birthday Wishes' is pretty simple: it's Thomas' birthday of which happens to apparently fall on a Tuesday in these shorts regarding the actual day of the seventy-fifth anniversary and he was given thirteen magical birthday wishes of which he uses one by one to help his friends while they set up a surprise birthday party without his knowledge...seems like a pretty basic idea and you'd think that this same writing formula for every short would bring back painful memories among a majority of the fandom regarding the overdone 'three strikes, you're out' formula that plagued the television series for nearly an entire decade, but let's take a look through all fourteen of these shorts to see whether or not this web series was a wish come true or a horrific nightmare to kick off our little blue tank engine's big celebration. All aboard for a big adventure 'cause this is 'Thomas' Magical Birthday Wishes'!
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THOMAS AND THE ANTS
The start of a brand new series where we see Thomas becoming as small as an ant to help Percy get his food delivery back from some hungry ants and...for a starting episode, this one actually wasn't that bad: while this does set up the basic plot structure as well as showcasing the animation of this series with the backgrounds being completely blank apart from a few trees here and there as well as the engines themselves and whatever problems that they face wherever they may be plus the rather interesting inclusion of Thomas himself being able to deform his shape in cartoonish stretching which is sure to have the hardcore fans of the community in an uproar, they managed to take a simple concept of helping a friend in need and turning into a fun adventure by getting to see the world through the eyes of some of the smallest creatures on the planet which was pretty much how both Pixar and DreamWorks got their inspiration for both 'Antz' and 'A Bug's Life'...you know what they say, little engines can do big things of which this saying from 'Thomas And The Magic Railroad' can sum up this story to believe regardless of your size.
As for our characters, it was kind of obvious that they were going to start this series off with Percy being our first engine that Thomas helps considering that the two of them are canonically best friends throughout the entirety of the television series...and while we're on the subject of Percy, I think we can all agree that Rob Rackstraw's voice for Percy was just awful...I'm not trying to bash this guy's performance since Rob is an incredibly talented actor who has done wonders for the series throughout these past five years and I can understand that there are times when certain actors have other commitments which can make it difficult for them to record for certain projects, but it sounds like Rob Rackstraw is trying to do his own take of Keith Wickham's Percy voice from when the television series first became CG-animated and it just doesn't sound right in my opinion...and that's another thing in regards to this series of videos: the limited casting because there are only four that actually voice the characters throughout this series in particular which ended up becoming a double-edged sword for many within the fandom with some of the actors doing great while others just fail miserably, but what you all have to remember is that we are currently dealing with a global pandemic meaning that everyone has had to work from home for the time being and not everyone can be available for certain projects like I said before, so I suggest that we can all try to be a bit more understanding and mindful about the lives of others for right now...but aside from the usual nitpicks that I've pointed out here, I have to say that I thought 'Thomas And The Ants' was an alright start to the series and I'm gonna give it a 3.5.
THOMAS AND THE BALLOONS
Think of the happiest thing, it's the same as having wings...if that reference to Peter Pan was any clue as to who Thomas helps in this short, you'd be correct if you said Rebecca was our next engine which is understandable considering how popular she has become ever since she first became a part of the Steam Team a couple years back and thankfully Rachael Miller came back to do her voice for this short which made me feel good inside since nobody can voice Rebecca with her sunny personality like her in my opinion. But as for this short's story in particular, Rebecca (who for some odd reason has Raul's whistle in this short) loses her balloon for some unknown reason thus prompting Thomas to use his second wish to become as light as a balloon to help her out and...while the deforming and stretching of Thomas' body is more noticeable here which will anger a majority of the fandom again while Thomas is busy hunting down all of Rebecca's balloons along with the unexplained reason of how the engines are able to hold onto the balloons without their crews tying them onto each other, I actually enjoyed this short much more than the previous one not just because of Rebecca's inclusion in this series to properly feature all members of the current Steam Team but it is also the first to hint at the recurring trend for this series where Thomas gets excited about a potential birthday party yet the other engines try their hardest to keep it a secret of which I find was handled much better here than in Season 8's 'Don't Tell Thomas' and that is why it gets a 4.5.
TOO MANY THOMASES
To everyone who complains about there being too much of Thomas in the television series, your worst nightmares have finally come true here as we see Thomas using his third wish to help his friend Nia (thankfully voiced by Yvonne Grundy, her voice actress for the television series) set up a party tent that would take ten engines to put up by wishing that there were eight more of himself in order to assist when no other engines are around. Not only is it great to see the show staff include Nia as well in this web series to properly feature all of the current Steam Team members, but this concept of there being multiple Thomas clones is kind of a way for the show staff to poke fun at the common complaint that many in the fandom have in regards to the television series where Thomas himself appears in every episode. This has been a big controversy for a long time and I'm not sure I get it because personally I could care less...I really could, it's not that big of a deal because it should of course be a given at this point that Thomas is going to appear in every episode in some way. I went into the 'Small Railway Engines' episodes from Season 20 expecting to see Thomas worked in and his appearance in them didn't deviate from the episodes whatsoever yet some say his appearance ruined the episodes for them and to that I say 'really? Thomas' one minute appearances ruin these landmark episodes for you?'
I understand constructive criticism and everyone has a right to voice their opinion, but this is just a senseless battle that no one will ever win since this is obviously something the writers have no control over and I feel at this point twenty four seasons in that Thomas appearing in every episode shouldn't be something we even think about yet the fact that people still complain about it is incredibly tiresome and a waste of energy. Thomas is the main character of the show, his appearance is important, his name is in the title. I mean, the show is called 'Thomas & Friends', not 'Friends' (insert four claps here). I have stated before that I prefer when characters are used as characters and not tools and I'll probably sound like a hypocrite for when I say this but Thomas is a pretty damn big tool. While what I said before makes sense in context to side characters, Thomas is a different beast entirely and comparing him to the likes of a side character like Duck or Oliver is a pretty unfair comparison since the reasons for each existing at all are different entirely. I can excuse Thomas' appearances because he is the main character yet a lot of people say Thomas doesn't need to be there because he wasn't the main character in the books and there were long periods of time where Thomas just didn't appear and...yeah while that's true, books and television are completely different from each other and are very different viewing experiences. You need a main character on a television series, someone the intended audience can relate to and Thomas is just that...like I said, the Railway Series and the television series are two different entities. It's also completely obvious that this is a corporate mandated thing from Mattel since their focus groups probably said that we need more Thomas in these episodes because kids didn't like them since they couldn't recognize anyone else. Especially when we had a season where lots of episodes were focused on obscure side characters that kids of the general public are not familiar with whatsoever, Thomas' presence becomes even more necessary: with him there, it's more apparent to kids that these are all Thomas characters in the Thomas universe...wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah. This short's good, it's a solid 4.
THOMAS THE SUBMARINE
We already knew that the current Steam Team members were gonna be a part of this web series, but the fact that they also managed to include other key characters from throughout the television series whether they were from the model era or in the CG-animated series is actually a very pleasant surprise as to not have anyone in the fandom feel left out if they don't see their favorites getting to be a part of the fun...and speaking of key characters, let's talk about Rob Rackstraw's take on Cranky: granted his performance for Cranky The Crane does share a common problem with this series like at the start with Percy where some actors are only good for certain characters especially when you could've brought in Matt Wilkinson to perform since a thing you may notice with this series when you watch them in English is that the U.K. dub's cast does the voice-work for each of the videos, but his take on Cranky is actually a pretty interesting one since it kinda sounds like a British version of his American dub voice that Glenn Wrage performs in a gruff voice that still has a heart of gold to him which sums up Cranky's character in a nutshell thus I have to give Rob Rackstraw credit for doing a unique take despite his limitations in his performances.
But looking into the short itself involving Thomas using his fourth wish to help Cranky after he accidentally drops a crate into the ocean by becoming a submarine, this is where the animation of this series starts to truly work wonders because we not only get to see our first television series location make an appearance despite its limitations in the form of Brendam Docks but we also get some pretty great underwater animation showing sea life along with some adorable looking fish...and I've just gotta say this while I might get lynched by the fandom for doing so, but I absolutely love the design of Thomas The Submarine: yes it does look like something that is clearly made for selling toy purposes on Mattel's behalf yet the franchise is in desperate need of a submarine-esque character in the television series in my opinion and I applaud the team working behind the scenes for working against their limitations while having fun with their work especially since we had previously seen Nia as an underwater submarine in the first half of the 'Marvelous Machinery' two-part special and now we get to see what Thomas would look like as a submarine here with this short thus I feel like we are getting closer and closer towards a properly introduced submarine character in the series...if Theodore Tugboat can have two submarine characters, then I don't see why Thomas The Tank Engine can't do the same and that is why this short gets a 4.5.
SUPER BUBBLE THOMAS
How fitting that the fifth episode of this web series should feature the appearance of everyone's favorite splendid red engine of which is the first of two times in this series that Rob Rackstraw actually gets to voice a character that he already does for in the television series considering that he's now James for both English dubs as we see him struggling to get Knapford Station of which is great to see another iconic Sodor location in this series clean of mud without any soap thus prompting Thomas to use his fifth wish to be inside a soap bubble and...while not as creative as the previous short since we're mostly just watching Thomas bounce around inside the soap bubble of which is a concept that has been done before in countless other animated shows like 'Jimmy Neutron' especially with the famed 'bubble boy' joke with Carl Wheezer or in 'Phineas And Ferb' when our heroes spent one of their summer vacation days bouncing around the tri-state area in a giant bubble, it is still an interesting one that not only fits perfectly with James' personality of being the brightest and shiniest engine on the railway seeing as he always enjoys a good washdown whenever he gets dirty but also Thomas' slippery wish to be in a soap bubble is not only a nice nod to the 'Bubbling Boilers' 4-D special but I also found it humorous that the solution to Thomas' lack of driving control for the soap bubble was to basically go into a spin cycle...and for a short that has some good clean fun with a splendid red engine, it gets a 4.
THOMAS AND THE MONKEYS
Romance is in the air along with some real monkey business...and the fact that we get the appearance of our first non-Steam Team engine within this series of videos in the form of the popular fan favorite Rosie being voiced this time by Rachael Miller in place of Nicola Stapleton who actually does pretty well for her take on the character since it sounds like Rebecca as per usual with this series mixed in with Teresa Gallagher's voice for Rosie when she originally voiced for her in the CG-animated series as we see her struggling to get monkeys rounded up and sent back to the Sodor Animal Park which makes this the third Sodor location in a row to make an appearance in this series even if we only see the fence that surrounds the park when they run away from her every time that she tries to catch them thus giving Thomas an idea to use his sixth birthday wish and become invisible so that the monkeys can only see the floating banana on top of his lamp as he leads the way for the monkeys to return safely to the animal park to help out.
Of all the shorts that we had seen so far in this series of videos especially during the first half, this is certainly one that stands out among the rest not only for continuing the friendship story between Thomas and Rosie ever since she was first introduced back in Season 10's 'Thomas And The Birthday Mail' all the way up to her last official speaking appearance in an episode back in Season 22's 'Rosie Is Red' which was basically one big jab at the shippers among the fandom who loved to put Thomas and Rosie together for a romantic relationship when they agreed that they're happy just staying friends but the concept of Thomas becoming invisible is both a nice nod to his mainland friend Merlin who believed that he could become invisible based on his experimental design of three funnels but the animation for when Thomas officially becomes invisible is absolutely amazing and makes me wish that the team at Arc Productions/Jam Filled Toronto could've thought of doing this for some 'ghostly engines' back in Season 19's 'Diesel's Ghostly Christmas' instead of just the engines wearing costumes even though that was my favorite episode of said season...regardless, it looks like Merlin could learn a thing or two from his friend Thomas about the truly fine art of invisibility and for that earns this short a rating of a 4.5.
THOMAS THE GIANT
Much like with James being the star of the fifth short for this web series, it seems perfectly fitting that the seventh installment should feature everyone's favorite steam tram and former Steam Team member Toby appropriately voiced by Rob Rackstraw in the second of his proper voice performances for this series along with his faithful coach Henrietta being voiced by Rachael Miller this time and doing a pretty good performance matching that of her television series voice actress Maggie Ollerenshaw while giving her that Rebecca sound in her voice as we see the poor coach looking for Toby after their coupling chain broke going over Gordon's Hill which makes this now four iconic Sodor locations in a row to make their appearance in this video series thus prompting Thomas to use his seventh wish to turn himself into a giant so that Toby can see him and reunite with Henrietta. I find it ironic how the first of these shorts involved Thomas wishing to become as small as an ant and now he's wishing to turn himself into a giant as we close out the first half of this series and...while not the most creative of ideas in this series since it's pretty much a reversal from the first short and nothing else, it is still pretty interesting seeing Thomas grow to gigantic size since it was at this point in the series where I finally had gotten inspiration to do my 'Dreaming With Percy' parody video based around the SpongeBob Squarepants episode 'Sleepy Time' which honestly sums up this entire video series in a nutshell and not to mention that this is the first short of the series where Thomas not only with multiple characters but also the fact that this is the first where he helps a former Steam Team member since I think the fandom can all agree that Mattel just doesn't like Toby for some odd reason plus the fact that Henrietta makes buffering noises from the classic model series when Thomas' loud and booming voice as a giant makes her shake...a simple story compared to others but a sweet one all the same, it gets a 4.
THOMAS THE HELICOPTER
The first of the video series to make an official YouTube Premiere and the first of two back-to-back videos that feature the Sodor Search And Rescue Center team members as we find Harold The Helicopter has broken down while making an important delivery to the mainland which really surprised me when it was mentioned since I didn't think that we'd actually get to see the mainland in this series before I remembered that we have been seeing more and more of it since the 2016 special 'The Great Race' all the way up until recently in the seventy-fifth anniversary special 'Thomas And The Royal Engine' thus prompting Thomas to use his eighth wish to become a helicopter after Harold informs him of the situation in a humorous way that reminded me of the 'what does a yellow light mean' sequence from the hit sitcom 'Taxi' featuring Christopher Lloyd of 'Back To The Future' fame that I even managed to turn into a parody video when the short first surfaced online and...even if the wish results end up becoming just a re-used animation model from the 'You Can Only Be You' song sequence albeit having the rotors in a different place compared to last time being mounted to Thomas' funnel rather than his dome and while the crate rescue once again questions how the engines are able to tie knots in things without the help of their crews, this short was actually a bit more creative than last time with its concept of Thomas wishing to be a helicopter albeit not used to its full potential and Rob Rackstraw's performance as Harold The Helicopter while not perfect was actually pretty good in capturing that heroic type of personality to his character although I question why Harold needed to use the bridge to cross over to the mainland when he could've just flown over-are they suggesting that he was gonna cross the bridge along the tracks?! Regardless of its flaws, this short gets a sky high rating of a 4.
THOMAS THE RESCUE ENGINE
This short in particular as the second half of our Sodor Search And Rescue Center double feature has a very interesting story behind it: it was meant to be released on its weekly Saturday schedule but was accidentally found unlisted on the official Thomas & Friends YouTube channel's playlist for this web series thus everyone in the fandom went ahead and watched it early before the team at Mattel caught on to this fact and made it private before properly releasing it on the right day and...while it does go against the moral of good things coming to those who wait since the fandom continuously lets the messages of the series fly completely over their heads because they're all too busy mapping out the world and busting a nut over fan favorite character like the Great Western trio or the Scottish Twins, I decided to properly wait until the short was officially released and man was the wait worth it in the end as we see Belle unable to reach a burning barn from the tracks as Flynn is fighting another fire at the bakery due to a seriously burnt cake thus prompting Thomas to use his ninth wish to become a rescue engine that can drive off the tracks.
Of all fourteen shorts in this web series, this one is easily my personal favorite: considering the fact that the special 'Day Of The Diesels' will be celebrating its tenth anniversary next year, it makes sense that at least one of Sodor's firefighters that were introduced in that movie should play a part in this series which ended up being Belle to which Rachael Miller actually does a pretty spot-on Belle impression to that of Teresa Gallagher's voice for her from the television series...and not only do we get another hint at the eventual surprise party that the engines are planning for Thomas throughout the series with Flynn being absent due to fighting another fire at the bakery due to a seriously burnt birthday cake of which Belle has to hide from Thomas as to not spoil the surprise, but I've just gotta say again that the design of Thomas once he wishes to become a rescue engine that can drive off tracks is absolutely amazing...again it may feel like something that is clearly made to sell toys like a lot of moments from the franchise are doing nowadays with their gimmicks, but this rescue engine design is right up there with Submarine Thomas as one of the most creative ideas in this series especially when making Thomas look like a mix of both Belle and Flynn with all of their features needed to help him fight fires despite being a steam engine whether it be Belle's water cannons or Flynn's road wheels to drive off tracks of which gave me the perfect opportunity to make a Fireman Sam parody considering that some of the actors for 'Thomas & Friends' originally came from Fireman Sam. But regardless on how you feel about it, 'Thomas The Rescue Engine' for me was the best of the shorts and gets a 4.5.
Of all fourteen shorts in this web series, this one is easily my personal favorite: considering the fact that the special 'Day Of The Diesels' will be celebrating its tenth anniversary next year, it makes sense that at least one of Sodor's firefighters that were introduced in that movie should play a part in this series which ended up being Belle to which Rachael Miller actually does a pretty spot-on Belle impression to that of Teresa Gallagher's voice for her from the television series...and not only do we get another hint at the eventual surprise party that the engines are planning for Thomas throughout the series with Flynn being absent due to fighting another fire at the bakery due to a seriously burnt birthday cake of which Belle has to hide from Thomas as to not spoil the surprise, but I've just gotta say again that the design of Thomas once he wishes to become a rescue engine that can drive off tracks is absolutely amazing...again it may feel like something that is clearly made to sell toys like a lot of moments from the franchise are doing nowadays with their gimmicks, but this rescue engine design is right up there with Submarine Thomas as one of the most creative ideas in this series especially when making Thomas look like a mix of both Belle and Flynn with all of their features needed to help him fight fires despite being a steam engine whether it be Belle's water cannons or Flynn's road wheels to drive off tracks of which gave me the perfect opportunity to make a Fireman Sam parody considering that some of the actors for 'Thomas & Friends' originally came from Fireman Sam. But regardless on how you feel about it, 'Thomas The Rescue Engine' for me was the best of the shorts and gets a 4.5.
THOMAS AND THE LIGHTHOUSE
Considering the fact that the highly praised special 'Sodor's Legend Of The Lost Treasure' is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, it would make sense to pay tribute to this defining moment in Thomas' seventy-five year history as well by bringing back everyone's favorite little rail-boat Skiff whose performance this time done by Rob Rackstraw while I know he's trying to emulate that of Jamie Campbell Bower's performance in the television comes off more like when your elders do weird and funny voices while reading their grandchildren stories or putting on a show for them to keep them entertained and in a way reminded me of the almost 'Charlie The Unicorn' type of voices that Bash and Dash were given during the Nitrogen Studios era of the television series for the U.K. dub...but what about the story itself especially considering how it shares its title with an episode from the eleventh season, well it turns out that the lighthouse has stopped working on a cloudy day and the ship Lucinda is heading towards the rocks thus Thomas uses his tenth wish to become as bright as a lighthouse to guide the ship on course again-hey, at least Thomas isn't breaking light bulbs like last time when he nearly put ships at sea in danger!
While I will admit that it is a bit disappointing that this particular short doesn't take place at Arlesburgh Harbor especially since Skiff himself is stationed there ever since he was made into a rail-tour boat after being sold to Captain Joe after the events of 'Sodor's Legend Of The Lost Treasure', I will admit that it is always nice to see him in the series every now and then since I never expected someone that I thought was just an overall dumb idea to be the most developed new character in his debut and on top of that just being an incredibly endearing little guy...and as for Thomas' birthday wish itself of becoming as bright as a lighthouse, while it may not be all that original since it comes off more like Thomas got radioactive poisoning like some superheroes do before getting their powers is still pretty interesting since it in a way kinda pokes fun at the 'light-up' or 'glow-in-the-dark' engines in the merchandise ranges at first before Thomas tries to get brighter and I think he may have ended up becoming as bright as the sun of which I had to quote a moment from 'The Fairly OddParents' when that happened: don't stare at me too long, you'll go blind...I was gonna make this into a parody yet I couldn't find the audio for the episode anywhere, oh well. Even so while 'Thomas And The Lighthhouse' is a bit dim in some places and while it may share names, it is a shining example of how creative the current team working behind the scenes are making Thomas' adventures and that is why it earns a rating of a 4.
While I will admit that it is a bit disappointing that this particular short doesn't take place at Arlesburgh Harbor especially since Skiff himself is stationed there ever since he was made into a rail-tour boat after being sold to Captain Joe after the events of 'Sodor's Legend Of The Lost Treasure', I will admit that it is always nice to see him in the series every now and then since I never expected someone that I thought was just an overall dumb idea to be the most developed new character in his debut and on top of that just being an incredibly endearing little guy...and as for Thomas' birthday wish itself of becoming as bright as a lighthouse, while it may not be all that original since it comes off more like Thomas got radioactive poisoning like some superheroes do before getting their powers is still pretty interesting since it in a way kinda pokes fun at the 'light-up' or 'glow-in-the-dark' engines in the merchandise ranges at first before Thomas tries to get brighter and I think he may have ended up becoming as bright as the sun of which I had to quote a moment from 'The Fairly OddParents' when that happened: don't stare at me too long, you'll go blind...I was gonna make this into a parody yet I couldn't find the audio for the episode anywhere, oh well. Even so while 'Thomas And The Lighthhouse' is a bit dim in some places and while it may share names, it is a shining example of how creative the current team working behind the scenes are making Thomas' adventures and that is why it earns a rating of a 4.
THOMAS FULL SPEED AHEAD
Insert 'Sonic The Hedgehog joke here. Even though we were more than likely not getting all of the former Steam Team all appearing in this web series considering Mattel's push for more gender equality in the franchise hence why Nia and Rebecca are now a part of the main cast, but I think it is good that we at least got to see Toby and Henrietta appear a few episodes back to acknowledge their involvement with the series in the past while also giving one of the original veterans his time to shine in the form of Gordon voiced actually pretty well by Rob Rackstraw combining both his U.K. and U.S. dub voices together who gets woken up by Thomas in a very welcomed nod to the Railway Series story and television series pilot of the same name 'Thomas And Gordon'...and as we can see, breaking down seems to be another recurring trend in this series as we find that Gordon has broken down too who is also running way behind schedule with an express full of passengers needing to get to their destination thus Thomas uses his eleventh wish to give himself super speed of which despite not being the most original idea for a wish considering how it's one of the most popular forms of superpowers from all of the comic books that many of the fandom have more than likely read in their lives was soon made into plenty of online memes in regards to speedy characters such as The Flash or Sonic the Hedgehog like I said before or if you're someone like me who was making continuity nods from throughout the series whether it was Thomas' encounters with a jet engine like what we saw previously in the 'Marvelous Machinery' two-parter to keep with the CG-animated series or paying tribute to one of the most iconic of songs from the television series in recent years simply known as 'Streamlining' from the special 'The Great Race'-heck, even Percy gets to make another appearance in this series as an extra engine to be an obstacle for Thomas to get by when he's speeding with the express of which I can only imagine what the passengers inside the coaches were feeling going along the tracks at super speed and potentially getting some whiplash along the way...but as we're about to see with the next short, some returning appearances work better than others yet that's not gonna stop me from giving 'Thomas Full Speed Ahead' which ended up becoming a short that was over before it even started in my opinion a rating of a 4: may not be all that fast, but it was still a fun thrill ride all the same.
THOMAS THE RUBBER BAND
Remember how I said that Thomas having the power to deform his body with cartoonish stretching was something that would anger a majority of the fandom and especially the Awdry worshippers, well what we have here is the epitome of that. I mean, this short...THIS short...I don't even know where to start with how much of a nightmare-fueled trainwreck this short in particular was after all of the success that we've had in this series up until now, but I guess we can at least go over some of the positives before we get into the huge red flag when it comes to this short: after we got a brief human appearance during Harold The Helicopter's short with the mechanic coming to fix him at the end, it's great that Sir Topham Hatt got to be a part of these videos considering how much of an important key character he is as the controller of the railway who makes sure that his engines always run right on time without confusion and delay especially since Rob Rackstraw actually did an alright job performing our favorite railway controller and it was great to see Knapford Station again in this series considering that Sir Topham Hatt's office is directly based at Knapford Station as established in the television series...but it all goes downhill when it comes to the overall concept itself: after a brief explanation of the conflict by Sir Topham Hatt about James whose return in these shorts is made much more obvious than Percy was last time racing out of control and about to crash into Knapford Station and immediately after Sir Topham Hatt's idea of a wall for James to run into is denied causing him to give up, Thomas uses his twelfth wish to become elastic as a rubber band in order to cushion James and stop him.
Before this short even premiered when all we had to work with was a thumbnail image presented via the premiere set on the Russian 'Thomas & Friends' YouTube channel, seeing Thomas stretched out in full form like this caused the fandom to go into a massive uproar since it had gotten to the point where many said that we may have reached an all new low for the Thomas & Friends franchise and I completely understand that this is a 'magical birthday wish' series made for kids where any form of realism is tossed out the window but...I'm sorry, this idea of flexibility may work for characters like Casey Jr. from the Disney animated film 'Dumbo' or even SpongeBob SquarePants but this is something that should never have been suggested for the world of Thomas The Tank Engine, and it was pretty pointless to bring James back into this web series considering he had already had his time to shine previously when Thomas wished he was inside a soap bubble to clean Knapford Station. I get that these shorts aren't part of the show's canon, but seeing Thomas jumping on and off the tracks a la 'Chuggington' style and stretch himself out like a rubber band in order to cushion James to the point where his side-rods are literally clipping through his frames while being an opportunity for the fandom to make jokes about the length of Thomas' real life basis was pure nightmare fuel for someone like me who has loved Thomas The Tank Engine ever since he was young especially since Thomas would've technically snapped in half in reality when James ran into him. Like I said, I completely understand that this is a magical series for kids where the rules of realism don't apply here but...it's gotta be magical wishes that make sense, guys! It's sad when the only thing I enjoyed about 'Thomas The Rubber Band' had nothing to do with the short itself but rather the content that spawned on my YouTube channel from it including a parody of Elastigirl from 'The Incredibles' (link below) which to its credit for the lineup that Thomas has had so far in this web series with the successful episodes and only now for it to have one that wasn't a hit, that's pretty impressive but I think most people can clearly see why it wasn't a hit since it was an idea that was clearly doomed from the start and for that despite the positives unfortunately gets a rating of a 2.5. At least the real freaky stuff is over...right?
Before this short even premiered when all we had to work with was a thumbnail image presented via the premiere set on the Russian 'Thomas & Friends' YouTube channel, seeing Thomas stretched out in full form like this caused the fandom to go into a massive uproar since it had gotten to the point where many said that we may have reached an all new low for the Thomas & Friends franchise and I completely understand that this is a 'magical birthday wish' series made for kids where any form of realism is tossed out the window but...I'm sorry, this idea of flexibility may work for characters like Casey Jr. from the Disney animated film 'Dumbo' or even SpongeBob SquarePants but this is something that should never have been suggested for the world of Thomas The Tank Engine, and it was pretty pointless to bring James back into this web series considering he had already had his time to shine previously when Thomas wished he was inside a soap bubble to clean Knapford Station. I get that these shorts aren't part of the show's canon, but seeing Thomas jumping on and off the tracks a la 'Chuggington' style and stretch himself out like a rubber band in order to cushion James to the point where his side-rods are literally clipping through his frames while being an opportunity for the fandom to make jokes about the length of Thomas' real life basis was pure nightmare fuel for someone like me who has loved Thomas The Tank Engine ever since he was young especially since Thomas would've technically snapped in half in reality when James ran into him. Like I said, I completely understand that this is a magical series for kids where the rules of realism don't apply here but...it's gotta be magical wishes that make sense, guys! It's sad when the only thing I enjoyed about 'Thomas The Rubber Band' had nothing to do with the short itself but rather the content that spawned on my YouTube channel from it including a parody of Elastigirl from 'The Incredibles' (link below) which to its credit for the lineup that Thomas has had so far in this web series with the successful episodes and only now for it to have one that wasn't a hit, that's pretty impressive but I think most people can clearly see why it wasn't a hit since it was an idea that was clearly doomed from the start and for that despite the positives unfortunately gets a rating of a 2.5. At least the real freaky stuff is over...right?
THOMAS THE ELEPHANT
Now it's obvious that they were gonna wrap up the birthday wishes with Emily to close out the current Steam Team members and Rachael Miller actually does a pretty spot-on impression of Teresa Gallagher's voice for the character in the television series ever since it first went full CG-animated, but much like last time quickly goes downhill with the conflict of this short where Emily has lost a baby elephant delivery and wants to make sure it's safe thus Thomas uses his last magical birthday wish to turn into an elephant thus giving the fandom more nightmare fuel to turn into one of the biggest memes of the year for the entire franchise. Now, I know that Thomas himself has transformed into stranger things before in the franchise even before this short even came out like the Eiffel Tower in France or The Sphinx in Egypt as part of the promotional video made to celebrate Thomas' official debut in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade back in 2014 as well as kicking off the YouTube World Tour in 2015...but it's not the elephant body that disturbs me when Thomas makes his wish to become an elephant to help Emily, it's the fact that Thomas still has his smokebox-shaped head and facial features apart from the trunk while his funnel is meant to be a little fez to wear on top of his head and it's like I said the previous magical birthday wish with Thomas wishing to be elastic as a rubber band: I completely understand that this is a magical series for kids where the rules of realism don't apply here but...it's gotta be magical wishes that make sense. While I won't deny that the design of the baby elephant itself was adorable and Rachael Miller did an amazing Emily impression for this short, those alone don't save 'Thomas The Elephant' from being a waste of a wish for this series and for that earns itself a 2.5...what else can you say but this iconic quote from the Shrek franchise: five shillings for the possessed toy, take him away!
THOMAS AND THE BIRTHDAY SURPRISE
Well, this has certainly been an eventful series of web videos...and after those last two nightmare-fueled disasters of magical birthday wishes, I think we've earned a nice and relaxing conclusion to this special celebration of the little blue tank engine and we actually get just that as we see Thomas wishing a birthday party after helping all of his friends but unfortunately to no avail after two tries as he soon discovers that he has used up all of his magical birthday wishes to help his friends leaving him feeling very upset but what he doesn't know is that everyone who he has helped (except Cranky and Skiff) have already prepared a party to thank Thomas for helping them. Remember how I said that 'Thomas The Rescue Engine' was my favorite of the magical birthday wishes themselves, well this may actually be my favorite video of the entire series altogether not only because we get to see just about everyone from throughout this web series all come together for a big celebration thanking Thomas for going out of his way to help them in their time of need but it also plays a part in the fantastic moral of how you don't need magical birthday wishes in order to be a true friend but rather putting the needs of others before thinking about yourself which can form friendships that will last forever which reminded me a lot of the SpongeBob SquarePants episode 'Best Day Ever' when SpongeBob's plans for the best day ever went awry when helping his friends with their various problems thus his friends went out of their way to thank SpongeBob for helping them by giving him a stage production of what was going to be his perfect day. As Hiro said it best in Season 13's 'The Biggest Present Of All', 'being with my friends is the biggest present of all and the most special present from Sodor...there is nothing more special'...and that perfectly sums up 'Thomas And The Birthday Surprise' since sometimes the best memories with your best friends are made by enjoying the simple things in life and that is why this finale of 'Thomas' Magical Birthday Wishes' gets a 4.5.
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While the tracks may have been bumpy towards the end of this web series, the adventures of 'Thomas' Magical Birthday Wishes' were a lot of fun: they're a great way to fill in the void while the television series isn't in broadcast with new episodes but also a good way to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary and it's just good that we have something to keep us entertained in the meantime especially during the lockdown caused by the global pandemic. What I particularly like about these shorts is that gold dust plays a little bit of a role and I don't know if this was intentional or not, but we see Thomas in the midst of a lot of gold dust whenever he transforms into whatever he's about to become and I'd like to think that it is a nod to the franchise's first and only theatrical release 'Thomas And The Magic Railroad' which happened to celebrate its twentieth anniversary this week...but nevertheless, they're also good to keep children entertained while being something that families when children have seen too many of the same episodes over and over constantly and for that earns 'Thomas' Magical Birthday Wishes' a rating of an overall 4/5. With that said, I'm True Blue signing off saying these words...sparkle sparkle sparkle!
Final Score: 4/5
About the Author: True Blue
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