ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - Thomas and the Emergency Cable
August 21, 2021
Thomas The Tank Engine is very proud of his branch line, he thinks it's the most important part of the whole railway of which his two coaches Annie and Clarabel agree with him. But much like how the Island Of Sodor can have hazards on the tracks at any time of the year, there can also be problems on Thomas' branch line as well which is why Annie and Clarabel have an emergency cable so that passengers can use it to sound an alarm and stop the train but only in an emergency. However on this fateful day on the railway, it would appear that someone on Thomas' train has caused confusion and delay for the wrong reason. Apparently there are brakes on the friendship train 'cause it's time we take a look at what happened with 'Thomas And The Emergency Cable'!
THOMAS AND THE EMERGENCY CABLE: One of Thomas' passengers pulls the emergency cable and damages Annie's wheel, so Clarabel is the only coach on the branch line.
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This is another of Andrew Brenner's 'small moments into big ideas' stories' and it was another solid episode for his line-up from the eighteenth season...it teaches children about what emergency brakes are while having a clear and simple message that it is strictly there for emergencies only as demonstrated by the bird watcher by getting overexcited by the sound of the woodpecker: not only that, but it develops the message even further by stating that a false emergency can lead to something bad which is what ended up happening to Annie as she developed a wheel flat as a result of the false emergency after being dragged with her brakes on although I really wish that the episode went a bit further in its message and told kids that they have to pay a fine for false emergencies like you do in real life railway situations. But wait, there's more since there was also another little message towards the end of how we shouldn't hold a grudge against something over a little mistake and if that person had learned their lesson and bettered themselves which is exactly what happened with Thomas getting his comeuppance after refusing to stop at Dryaw Station for the lady with the very big hat after seeing the bird watcher on the platform and being reminded of the false emergency that he caused.
But speaking of Thomas' interactions with the bird watcher as well as with the lady in the very big hat and Sir Topham Hatt, the human interaction between the engines and human is decent which I and many longtime fans of the series hoped that they kept it up in the future...but considering how the upcoming series reboot 'All Engines Go' is apparently devoid of all humans except for Sir Topham Hatt, looks like chances of ever seeing that again in the franchise are pretty much useless. However as great as this episode is, there is one gripe I have with this episode and that is Annie being the brake coach: as stated in 'Thomas And The Guard', 'Clarabel can take passengers, luggage and guard'...the latter is the one in the brake coach which is Clarabel and Annie would only have the brakes through a brake pipe connected to Thomas while all the equipment for Clarabel would be attached to her-not to mention that it was even in the description of the episode back when it first premiered back in 2014 that Clarabel was the one who suffered from the false emergence thus making the way that Annie was braking seem very illogical even with a railway consultant for the series.
But overall even with the problems I may have with the story in terms of not going all the way with the presentation of its moral as well as the show stafff getting their coaches confused (ha, Season 21 reference), that still didn't damage the interest I have with 'Thomas And The Emergency Cable' and it shows that you don't need escapades all the time in the series which ended up making this one of the best episodes of the eighteenth season and that is why I give it a rating of a 4.5 out of 5.
Final Rating: 4.5/5
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