Top Ten Worst Big World! Big Adventures! Episodes

Now that we’ve looked at the best BWBA has to offer, it is now time that we look at the worst. Remember in the best list when I said when these episodes get bad, they get really bad? Well, I was overexaggerating a little. When these ten episodes get bad, they could be considered Thomas and Friends at its absolute worst. I’m not gonna lie, watching all these episodes was really hard, but the show must go on regardless. After all, as I tell my colleagues at ThomasNATION, it’s fun to review something good, but it’s even more fun to review something bad. Before we begin, I mean no disrespect to the writers of these episodes, they’re all good people and they at least tried what they could with the materials given to them. And if by any chance you like these episodes, that’s okay and I’m glad you could find something in them that I couldn’t. So, let’s just get this over with.

NUMBER 10: Out of Site

Look, I know I said Michael White is the best writer on the show at the moment, but every good writer has at least one dud under his belt. The biggest problem with the episode is that Brenda is portrayed as a bit too unlikable. She seems perfectly okay with disrupting the progress on the new hospital to the point of hiding the building materials just so she can keep the ground nice and clean. I know the episode is about her learning that this way of thinking is wrong, and she does get called out for this, but throughout the episode, she never stops to consider that what’s she’s hiding away from the crew is important for construction, which is weird considering she’s a construction vehicle. This episode’s at the start of the list because it does have a decent enough moral about not letting cleanliness come before work. That, and Max and Monty’s subplot does supply some good humor. But regardless, this still makes for a weak episode.

 NUMBER 9: Thomas and the Forest Engines

I already posted a review on this episode before so I’ll keep this one brief. To summarise, the story is insanely predictable from start to finish, and Marcia and Marcio are just one-dimensional new characters that just reek of missed potential. Again, the best part of the episode was seeing Thomas go about the eucalyptus railway, and one positive note I forgot to mention beforehand is that the design of the eucalyptus railway itself is decently creative, especially with its tunnel of trees. If you want my full thoughts, read my review of it at the end of the list, but to summarise, the episode could’ve and should’ve been so much more.

NUMBER 8: Thomas in the Wild

This right here is an episode that wouldn’t feel out of place in the dark era of CGI Thomas (the first one, not the one it’s in right now). Why do I say this? Because this episode uses that era’s favorite storytelling formula: the three strike formula. Essentially, Thomas tries to find a giant panda, but fails a total of three times and eventually gets back to work and finds what he’s looking for. Now, to the episode’s credit, it doesn’t go down the same route as those episodes where Thomas intentionally diverges from his job to cause some mayhem. But it still fails to do anything new to the formula that’s creative or new. What I will give the episode credit for is that the way the formula is written isn’t cringeworthy or anything. Thomas isn’t written out of character and there are a couple of decent jokes. But overall, this is an episode that feels like it’s in the wrong era.

NUMBER 7: A New Arrival

I already made a double review of this episode, so I’ll keep it brief. There are a lot of problems with the episode, but the biggest one of all is that it is just so boring. The episode is essentially about Thomas being worried about the Steam Team being made obsolete, which is a decent idea, but the problem is that the episode moves at a snail’s pace and never picks up or makes use of that concept. If there is one positive note I forgot to mention in my previous review, it’s that outside of the opening, at least the episode doesn’t go too over-the-top with the inventing theme. If you want my full thoughts, feel free to read my review. But I will give this episode some credit, it could be much, much worse…

NUMBER 6: Thomas’ Not So Lucky Day

MrOliver already did a review on this episode, so I’ll briefly try and give my own viewpoint on this episode since he gave a more positive light on it. The main problem here is that the episode is extremely repetitive. Basically, Lorenzo teaches Thomas about a method of good luck, Thomas does something unlucky, rinse and repeat. Also, the episode ends surprisingly abruptly. Gina corrects Thomas on his perspective on luck and then the episode just…stops. To its credit, this could be used as a good way to teach kids about luck. There isn’t too much to talk about with the episode, it’s just a bland, repetitive episode.

NUMBER 5: The Water Wheel

Where Thomas in the Wild felt like it was in the wrong era, this one feels like it’s in the wrong franchise, because this episode feels like a poor man’s Looney Tunes script. The way the water wheel hops around China feels way too goofy and silly, even by the show’s newer standards. I get that the point is that bamboo is extremely light, but the way the episode portrays it makes it was made out of graphene aerogel (look it up). The one good element of the episode was seeing the more obscure Chinese characters make a small cameo. I know that’s not anything major and adds very little to the episode if anything, but it was still decent seeing them make a short appearance nonetheless. But with that aside, this is an episode that would feel right at home in a Saturday morning cartoon rather than Thomas and Friends.

 NUMBER 4: Counting on Nia

It is now that we get into the really bad episodes that can be deemed near unwatchable. First off, this is a minor nitpick, but hear me out: what’s the reason for Nia pulling Annie and Clarabel? I’d understand if Thomas was busy elsewhere or if he was travelling the world, but they never give any reason for why Thomas is out of the question. Nia is only tasked with them because the narrative needed to happen. But then we get the content itself where Annie and Clarabel teach Nia how to count. I’ve heard a lot of people in the fandom accuse Big World! Big Adventures! of diluting the series of being “baby fodder”, and this is the episode that proves that they’re pretty much right. But to be fair, I get it, Nia has trouble reading the numbers themselves, and she even states that she can count just fine, but with that in mind, the way that the learning itself feels like it’s talking down to its audience. So in the end, Counting on Nia is probably the biggest example of how the show is being reduced to kiddy fodder.

NUMBER 3: World of Tomorrow

Again, I’ve already reviewed it, so I’ll keep it brief. For an episode that celebrates inventiveness, the episode is surprisingly unimaginative and again, makes very little use of the core storyline of the Steam Team’s fears of being replaced. The inventions themselves are unoriginal and even a bit boring, and the new characters, especially Kenji, feel underutilised. However, the best part of the episode and the special as a whole are the villains, they’re really entertaining and sometimes a bit threatening. But nonetheless, World of Tomorrow feels like the writers are scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas.

NUMBER 2: Thomas Makes a Mistake

The big problem with the episode is that Thomas is portrayed as a total buffoon. I know that his personality in these episodes has been a bit iffy to say the least, but here, it seems as though he was reduced of all brain cells, especially with how he has to mask his mistake. Another issue with the episode is that the story is just all over the place. It tends to dart all over the place with no rhyme or reason and it becomes hard to focus as a result. It never takes the time to soak in the events because they’re a bit desperate to move onto the next one. And lastly, the episode is just repetitive as hell, though not quite as much as Thomas’ Not-So-Lucky Day. Basically, Thomas screws up, tries to fix it, makes the problem worse and tries to fix that problem, rinse and repeat. So to conclude, this is one episode that is in itself a mistake.

Before going onto our Number 1, we have to go over our

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

Big World! Big Adventures! The Movie: I did want to put this on the list, but considering this is a movie rather than an episode, I swapped it out for Out of Site. Consider it Number 11 if you like.

Steam Team to the Rescue: Despite having plenty of good elements, this made for a pretty lame special.

Batucada: The idea is decent enough, but overall it doesn’t feel as fleshed out as it probably should be.

Ace’s Brave Jump: This isn’t necessarily a bad episode, it’s just rather mediocre, but this is an episode that should’ve been so much more.

Laid Back Shane: Y’know, for a title indicating that Shane is laid back, he sure seems unlikable in this one.

Number One Engine: This is actually a sort of honorable mention, since I did find this episode to be fine.

NUMBER 1: Panicky Percy

This episode is so bad, that I would place it among the worst episodes of Thomas as a whole. The biggest problem with the episode is that all the development Percy has gathered through the years, most notably his time with Gator, is entirely thrown out the window to make him overly paranoid where he could confuse kids sledding for an avalanche, especially when before this episode released we got a reminder that he can be brave through his Meet the Steam Team video and even Wish You Were Here. He also doesn’t seem to consider the fact that Thomas could be busy elsewhere when he sees Annie and Clarabel alone at the station, he just assumes he’s dangling to his death because the episode needed a conflict. It also makes the other characters in the episode seem really stupid since they just blindly assume that Thomas was in an avalanche without any solid evidence. The one minor positive thing I can say about the episode that raises it above the likes of Wonky Whistle and Up, Up and Away is that I at least got a small chuckle from the ending. But other than that, if you’re in need of a Percy fix, don’t even bother with this one.

And that concludes this list! If we forgot any episodes that could be among the worst of the lot, feel free to tell us. Toodle-oo for now!