ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - Jitters and Japes
March 06, 2021
When Dowager Hatt was first introduced to the world of Thomas & Friends in the fifth season episode 'Gordon And The Gremlin', no one in the fandom would ever expect that she would end up becoming one of the best human characters to come out of the series when the live-action animation from our childhoods got switched for CGI where she has shown to be a 'no nonsense' thrill-seeker who could even rival her own son as controller of the railway if she wanted to...but that's a story for another day. Even when the series was in its darkest period for many fans, Dowager Hatt was always a joy to see on screen...and what better way to help her live life in the fast lane than by looking back at the time she visited the mysterious Misty Island with the help of our Number One Engine. Hold on tight, we're going full steam ahead for 'Jitters And Japes'!
JITTERS AND JAPES: Thomas takes Dowager Hatt on a slow tour of Misty Island, but the Dowager wants to have a more exciting trip.
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As we begin the episode, we get a brief little exposition about how Sir Topham Hatt is proud to be the head of the railway and his family while his mother Dowager Hatt (who is referred to by name for the first time in the American dub of the series) is very proud of her son and the engines are excited when she visits Sodor: looking past the fact that there was a portrait of Mr. Percival's daughter Pansy meant to represent Sir Topham Hatt's granddaughter Bridget, I have to laugh at them saying that 'Dowager Hatt is very proud of her son' because...if the later seasons where Sir Topham Hatt is made to look like a completely incompetent buffoon instead of the authoritative figure he once was are anything to go off of, then Dowager Hatt's stern behavior towards her son is totally warranted-it's no wonder she became controller for the day back in Season 21!
Afterwards, we see Thomas arriving at Knapford Station where Sir Topham Hatt gives him the job-oh sorry, I mean 'special special' because every single job on the Island Of Sodor in this era had to be a 'special special' for some reason-of taking his mother on a tour of Misty Island...because who wouldn't want to send their mother straight to what many fans consider Hell? While Thomas guarantees that she will have fun, Sir Topham Hatt warns him that Dowager Hatt is elderly leaving Thomas uncertain on what to do until he asks Toby who says that she would want to go slow and then rest to smile at the beautiful views: not only am I happy that they classified Toby as an old engine in this episode even though he was usually portrayed as a wimpy coward in this era, but it was great to see Thomas asking him for help and not acting like a complete know-it-all idiot throughout the episode...if they went that route, it would make the episode a lot more unbearable.
When Thomas arrives at Maithwaite to collect Dowager Hatt telling her that he has a plan to make their day special, she tells him that she has a few plans of her own for the tour which Thomas of course doesn't listen to and they begin their journey to Misty Island where the mist is down and maybe a little too thick (a problem with Nitrogen's animation during their tenure: fog and mist effects) which upsets Dowager Hatt yet Thomas does what he can to make their day special remembering what Toby had said about going slow and resting to see the sights...and it is here that we once again begin the overused 'three strikes, you're out' formula that plagued the series for the longest time: now I'm not saying that this writing formula is all bad since there have been times where it was used effectively and made for a good episode...but more often not, it made the bad episodes all the more insufferable and what caused a lot of fans to turn them off.
As the mist finally lifts and Thomas continues on with the tour, Dowager Hatt reaches her breaking point as she demands Thomas to stop and orders him to take her home to Sodor. Thomas tells her that he was only trying to be fun for her, but Dowager Hatt tells Thomas that she wanted as she says it: thrills and spills, jokes and japes, jitters and flitters...and Thomas not knowing what those are for some unexplainable reason agrees to the Dowager's orders deciding to go home the quickest way possible. Something interesting to note about this entire sequence is the performance of Keith Wickham as Dowager Hatt for both English dubs: in the U.K. dub of the episode, he makes Dowager Hatt sound like a bratty child having a temper tantrum over not getting what she wanted...as for the U.S. dub, he makes Dowager Hatt sound like a real authority figure who's treating Thomas like how a boss would talk with an employee for not realizing his or her mistakes until it was too late-it's like she's the Sir Topham Hatt we wish we had after the Classic Series! But which dub do I think is better...sorry to all the UK fans out there, but I have to go with the US version just for this scene alone: in a way, it's a lot like how the editing differences for the My Little Pony episode 'The Last Roundup' in the wake of the infamous Derpy Hooves controversy made the viewing experience worse than just leaving it as it was.
But as Thomas is making his way back to Sodor through the Hollow Tree Tunnel, he suddenly hears Dowager Hatt clapping and cheering thus realizing his mistake and giving him an idea to race faster and faster along the track across the Shake Shake Bridge and past Ol' Wheezy who throws logs all over the place...and yet despite everything that a majority of fans hate about Misty Island with it being a potential deathtrap coming out in full swing as we pretty much throw any form of railway safety measures out the window, Dowager Hatt is surprisingly content with her adventure as they finally come to a stop at the Sodor Search And Rescue Center where Sir Topham Hatt is waiting for them. Dowager Hatt tells her son that she's had the most fun ever, Sir Topham Hatt is pleased to hear and congratulates Thomas...and with that, our wild ride concludes.
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Oh boy, what an adventure...granted the constant rhyming and alliteration does make the episode as dull as Thomas' original idea for the tour of Misty Island, but the positives like Toby's contribution to the story as an 'older engine' and Dowager Hatt herself being so enjoyably funny surpass the negatives just enough for me to say that 'Jitters And Japes' is actually an okay episode, thus earning it a rating of a 3.5 out of 5.
Final Score: 3.5/5
About the Author: True Blue
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