ThomasNATION Reviews - Learn with Thomas (Season 2)
August 07, 2021
Not to sound like a broken record when saying this, but Thomas The Tank Engine sure does have a history behind him, doesn't he? Appearing in almost any form of media under the sun and when you realize it all started with a vicar reading made-up stories to his sick son. It's kind of amazing and last year was 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 and even though we thought the 'Learn With Thomas' mini-series had come to an end back in October, it's time that we move on to the final mini-series for the seventy-fifth anniversary in the form of a second season of 'Learn With Thomas' continuing the weekend premiere tradition while aimed at a much younger audience which I know is not gonna please the older fans...but considering that these videos are pretty much the only Thomas & Friends anything that we're gonna be getting for a while until the upcoming reboot 'All Engines Go' is released this fall, I personally think you all should be glad that you’re still getting some CG-animated content at all no matter when it’s released. Can an educational mini-series aimed at a much younger audience still make tracks to great destinations? Well, let's take a look at each of the shorts in this next episodic mini-series of web videos and find out...all aboard for a big adventure because it's time to 'Learn With Thomas'!
Before we get started, I just want to make something clear: this mini-series review will only be covering the episodic shorts and not the songs made from the shorts since there really isn't much to talk about with the songs other than the fact that they pretty much describe every single thing that happens in the shorts you've already seen while they play out with lyrics that feel like they still haven't ascended past 'Sesame Street' levels of intelligence in the eyes of many longtime fans of the franchise including myself. I know that Thomas The Tank Engine is a franchise made for kids, but I just don't see the point in making songs of the shorts that we've already seen because these incredibly childish songs which are honestly on the same level as those from the Baby Einsteins series not only fail in using the method of 'show, don't tell' for their audience young or old but in all honesty feel more like they're talking down to the kids rather than with them like any good piece of children's entertainment should. With that said, on with the show!
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THOMAS AND PERCY LEARN WHAT TO DO AFTER AN ACCIDENT
Accidents happen now and again just when you least expect. That's how the saying goes, right? And it looks like we've gotten ourselves into quite a predicament when it comes to the start of this second season as Thomas helps a worrisome Percy get over a past accident involving hitting a rock on the tracks and shows him how to handle any more in the future by telling an adult like Sir Topham Hatt to help him. Now don't get me wrong since I can understand the intentions and what the production team behind this short were going for in terms of telling an adult when we have an accident which is definitely something good for kids and even adults to learn in their lives, but...I don't know, the fact that they are treating this short that is supposed to be educational for children as if Percy broke a leg by hitting a rock and had to get to Sir Topham Hatt himself despite Thomas clearly being there with him to help feels wrong. If it was a light injury, then maybe I would understand...but breaking a leg, I don't know where to begin with this poorly represented way of showing how to handle an emergency since they skipped so many steps and it turns out that there are some people within the fandom who are actually certified in First Aid.
In fact if you need a further example of how this short was a poor representation of First Aid in what to do in an emergency, then allow me to share with you all a story from my own personal experiences involving First Aid: on a Halloween night in my middle school years, I was out trick-or-treating and I was coming back from a house after getting my candy but I didn't see the sewer grate in front of me on the sidewalk...and as I was coming onto the sidewalk, I tripped over the sewer grate and ended up separating the growth plate in my foot. When I got back to my grandmother's house to be checked over before I went home, no one could see anything wrong with my foot even though I felt a twinge of pain whenever I tried to walk on it...and that's where the trouble started as I spent all of the next day in middle school walking on a potentially broken foot with gym class only making it worse. It wasn't until school was over for the day that we finally went to get my foot checked out by medical professionals and because I had separated the growth plate in my foot, I spent two weeks of my classes wearing a cast and rolling around the halls in a wheelchair. Even though I'm not an expert in the medical field, I know first-hand that how the production team handled the very concept of First Aid treatment for an emergency in this short is as our favorite trio of big engines would say: disgraceful, disgusting and despicable.
While this short may have had good intentions, it was terrible in execution and in representing First Aid for an emergency thus it has unfortunately earned itself a rating of a 2.5 out of 5.
THOMAS AND PERCY LEARN ABOUT RECYCLING
As Thomas The Tank Engine once said, 'if something is old or broken, you might want to throw it away...but often broken things can be repaired, recycled or reused'...and that's exactly what happened here in this week's short as even though Thomas and Percy have separated the trash bound for the waste dump from the recycling that they are delivering to Cranky The Crane at Brendam Docks, it turns out that they did not separate the recyclables thus the crane teaches the tank engines about different types of recyclables and how to separate them into different bins. Okay, just gonna say right off the bat that this is a massive improvement from last week's short as 'reducing waste and increasing recycling' was actually one of the Global Goals through Thomas The Tank Engine's partnership with the United Nations during the first season of the 'Big World, Big Adventures' rebrand and it turns out that separating recyclables is something that a lot of people including myself struggle with when it comes to different types of recyclables. Also, I'm not gonna lie when I say that Cranky The Crane does look pretty cool with a grabber attachment in place of his hook as it brought back nostalgic memories for me of an old online game from the Thomas The Tank Engine website's early days called 'Cranky At The Quarry' where you controlled Cranky's crane arm and grabber for loading Mavis' troublesome truck of rocks to take to Lady so that she could complete the fence around her garden as she moved back and forth.
But as much as an improvement as this recycling short was compared to last week's which disgraced the very concept of First Aid, I can't help but feel like there was a missed opportunity when it came to the character that teaches Thomas and Percy about recycling. While I can understand using Cranky The Crane here as these mini-series shorts are on a lower budget compared to the television series and thus had to really cut back on the cast, I personally think that Reg The Scrapyard Crane or maybe even Whiff and Scruff would've been a better fit for teaching the tank engines as well as the target demographic about the importance of recycling considering that Reg has been known for saving lots of things from being thrown away at the Scrapyard including making himself a Christmas tree for the holiday season out of whatever scrap he finds or collects from the engines as demonstrated in Season 18's 'The Perfect Gift' while seeing Whiff or Scruff in the spotlight not only would've been a great opportunity to see them again one last time but it also would've been great to see them demonstrate how not all trash is simply thrown away as recycling can also help protect the environment from being a new waste dump...but then again considering that we have a reduced voice cast and considering how opinionated the older fandom can be when it comes to vocal performances, I don't think the fans even want to hear Rob Rackstraw's performances for Reg or Whiff and Scruff thus it's understandable as to why they used Cranky The Crane once again for these mini-series shorts.
While it's true that this short may recycle its characters, it's without a much needed improvement to get this mini-series back on track again and that is why I'm giving it a rating of a 4.5 out of 5.
THOMAS AND PERCY LEARN ABOUT A MORNING ROUTINE
Well, we've already learned about bedtime routines to help us wind down after a busy day during the first season of 'Learn With Thomas'...so why don't we learn about morning routines to start off our day now in this second season as we see that Thomas and Percy feel very tired and sluggish after a long and busy day, so Sir Topham Hatt and James teach them the basics of having a morning routine. Unlike the 'Bedtime Routine' short where there was more of a variety in terms of its characters with having Emily alongside our two leading tank engines, this short unfortunately uses the same four characters that we saw at the start of this season: Thomas and Percy, Sir Topham Hatt and James thus you can imagine that I wasn't necessarily looking forward to seeing these characters being used again which was a problem that 'Thomas' Magical Birthday Wishes' and the first season of 'Learn With Thomas' faced. But much like the 'Bedtime Routine' short, I was surprised to discover that not only was this short an improvement from the season premiere but also how relatable the concept of a morning routine is for many people including myself.
Like many people including our featured characters for this short, I tend to feel slow and sluggish first thing in the morning as well and a morning routine always helps me to prepare for the day-in fact, my morning routine is actually very similar to that of Sir Topham Hatt's for humans and James' for engines that he shares with Thomas and Percy albeit I start off by getting nice and clean with a shower before brushing my teeth to feel fresh and bright for the day and then ending with a healthy breakfast of either cereal and milk or a cheesy egg and ham on toast for my boost of energy in the morning. But speaking of James, I have seen a lot of people in the online fandom getting all bent out of shape yet again over the fact that James says 'make your tummy nice and warm' when talking about how he fills his firebox with fresh coal to start off his morning routine as if Mattel is saying that the engines are actual human beings and not the metal machines that they're supposed to be. Okay, two things: 1) this fandom once again proves that they will look for any stupid reason whatsoever to get bent out of shape over anything they think doesn't fit in the Thomas & Friends universe...and 2) I'm sure that this little moment of phrasing problems in character dialogue wasn't intentional on the voice actors' or even Mattel's parts since I've always believed that a steam engine's boiler was the equivalent of a human being's tummy
While it may feature similar characters and while it may have caused this week's fandom outburst for no reason, I still think that this week's short was an improvement from the premiere and helped to keep the streak of good content on the right track for a rating of a 4 out of 5.
THOMAS AND PERCY ON THE FARM
Old McDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-Oh, dear god, this is gonna be one of those educational shorts, isn't it? I already thought that the short which kicked off the second season of this mini-series was particularly weak in how it was a disgrace to the very concept of First Aid and much like that short, I can understand the intentions behind this short in particular which features Thomas and Percy learning how to find different animals where they are normally seen on the farm...but within the first fifteen seconds of the short right when Percy shows Thomas how he can moo like a cow, it all went downhill by having this short also teach the target demographic of preschoolers about different sounds that farm animals make like mooing cows and oinking pigs and even a rooster that goes cock-a-doodle-doo which I know is gonna annoy several parents-geez, and I thought the constant steam engine sounds from 'Steamie Stafford' were annoying! Like I said, I do understand where the short is coming from with its intentions and I get that 'Thomas & Friends' is a series for preschoolers...but when you have to dumb down characters that have stood the test of time so much to the point where they don't think to check a barn first to see if any farm animals might be in there and are constantly annoying the older fanbase by making animal sounds non-stop, it just becomes really distracting and really does take you out of the viewing experience.
Because of this mindset however, there really isn't that much to talk about this short other than the great animation from WildBrain on the farm animals and the barn even if there are some animation goofs like Thomas' body and chassis clipping through his wheels...and I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but an interesting fun fact for all you Bronies and Pegasisters out there: WildBrain was also the animation studio behind the highly acclaimed series 'My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic' back when they were known as DHX Media, that is honestly something that I never knew about until the previous mini-series 'The Sodor Springtime Parade' but it's honestly pretty cool that Thomas The Tank Engine now officially has connections with My Little Pony through the same animation studio. Even so, it's honestly sad when I got more entertainment out of this short from making content about it whether it was custom reactions or a parody joke about fast-food chicken restaurants and that is why this short unfortunately gets a rating of a 2.5 out of 5. Possibly the weakest short in this second season so far, hoping we don't go lower than that.
"Every engine that I ever knew was at least a little different from the others...and some were very very different too even from their sisters and their brothers".
If those words sung by Ashima five years ago didn't teach you anything about being proud of who you are, then I don't know what will. But you know what, I've been noticing a pattern when it comes to this mini-series: whenever we have a short with an idea that is either weak or bad in its execution, it is usually followed up by a short that is much better overall...and after the previous short about farm animals that felt like a really annoying slog to get through, this week's short about diversity was a much needed improvement to help get this mini-series back on track again as we reach the midway mark for this second season where Thomas teaches Percy about how different others are and how their differences make them special. Now, you might be thinking 'uh, didn't you already do something like this about differences last season with different types of vehicles' and...yeah while that is true which does make this short not all that original, at least Percy didn't ruin this particular short immediately by stupidly calling Flynn The Fire Truck a tank engine and I'd happily take this short over that one any day even if there isn't all that much of a variety in terms of its cast like before.
But speaking of the characters aside from the returning appearances of characters like Harold The Helicopter and Cranky The Crane along with Sir Topham Hatt, Toby actually makes a return to these mini-series videos again since last year with his two appearances in 'Thomas' Magical Birthday Wishes' and I'm not gonna lie that it is always cool to see the Ffarquhar Branch Line trio together on screen even if the original television series came to an end...and I feel silly for mentioning this but considering how they went about showing how different Toby is from Thomas and Percy by comparing the shape of their faces instead of the fact that he is a steam tram, I don't know how or why they still try to push Toby as a main character since Mattel obviously doesn't like him and yet Toby is somehow still a part of the Engine Roll Call-'well, let's say he's square', my bunker! However much like the short where Thomas and Percy learn about recycling through Cranky The Crane, I feel like there was a huge missed opportunity when it comes to this short since I think having Thomas and Percy learn about diversity from someone like Harvey The Crane Engine would've been perfect-I mean, this is an engine who was teased for being different than everyone else but soon learned that 'different is what makes you special' but I know that a number of adult fans in the online community probably wouldn't want to hear Rob Rackstraw voice Harvey considering our limited cast, so it's easy to see why he only voiced Percy for this.
While not the most original and while there is a missed opportunity for characters like what we saw earlier, this short was still an improvement from last week and gets a rating of a 4 out of 5.
THOMAS AND PERCY LEARN ABOUT THE WEATHER
To quote a certain song from the series, 'every day's a special day on Sodor, changing as the seasons come and go'. I know that the weather changes fast here in the States (especially in Florida where I'll be moving to with my family this fall), but I think I've seen stranger things happen on the Island Of Sodor in recent years as it has been demonstrated yet again in this week's short as Gordon teaches Thomas and Percy about the different types of weather each season brings and how to prepare for each weather during each season whether it be the colorful flowers of spring or the hot and sunny summer or the beautiful autumn colors of the leaves on the trees to the snowy and cold winter. First of all, it's great to see Gordon having a bigger role again in these mini-series videos since 'Thomas' Magical Birthday Wishes' especially since he hardly had anything to do in 'The Sodor Springtime Parade' and wasn't even in the first season of 'Learn With Thomas' thus it's pretty cool that we got to have our big blue express engine in the spotlight again regardless of Rob Rackstraw's voice performance in our limited cast for these web videos which like I said in my 'Magical Birthday Wishes' review was actually pretty good. Not only that, but having Gordon teaching Thomas and Percy about change not only shows a massive improvement on his part from how he reacted to change when Edward and Henry moved out of Tidmouth Sheds but it really harkens back to his Classic Series persona of being the senior member of the main fleet as well as using his superior strength and years of experienced wisdom to help smaller engines out of trouble...THIS is the Gordon that I and many fans in the community want to see when it comes to this franchise!
Now I've already mentioned during the first season of 'Learn With Thomas' that I love how the animation style for this mini-series reminded me almost of a model railway which harkens back to the early days of the television series, but having a different part of the railway set during a different season of the year every time you go through a tunnel while certainly one of the more weird ideas that I've seen in regards to this franchise in recent years is one that I actually find very creative as it not only gives us a chance to see what could've been a potential autumn or winter-themed mini-series if the original television series had continued past the twenty-fourth season on top of bringing back the springtime landscapes again from our previous mini-series 'The Sodor Springtime Parade' but it also opens the possibility up for model railway enthusiasts to possibly make a layout of their own in the future that is divided into the four seasons of the year since I can't recall ever seeing one in all my years of visiting different layouts. Even though I already know what the different seasons of the year and the weather that comes with it are when it comes to this mini-series, I actually enjoyed getting to see how they are represented in this new animation style for the franchise and I look forward to the endless amount of creativity that will come not only from the fandom but also from the world of trains and railroading in general.
Between having our big blue express engine back to his former glory again and getting to see beautiful landscapes during the four seasons in a new animation style, this might actually be one of the best shorts to come out of not only this second season of 'Learn With Thomas' but maybe even the entirety of this mini-series as a whole and that is why it earns a rating of a 4.5 out of 5.
THOMAS AND PERCY LEARN ABOUT GOOD MANNERS
'Oh, how I wish to be good...if only some kind heroes would show me the path to decency'. Clearly Diesel is gonna fake his way through this friendship lesson just like he did in high school as in this week's short, Thomas uses Diesel cutting in front of Percy and taking his truck-I mean, 'cargo car'-as an opportunity to teach Diesel about the importance of good manners. Right off the bat, it's pretty cool that we get to see Diesel again in these mini-series videos ever since he appeared in 'Thomas And Percy Teach Diesel To Share' back during the first season of 'Learn With Thomas' and...while I can understand the common complaint that Rob Rackstraw's voice for Diesel reminds long time fans within the community of his voice of Spud The Scarecrow from 'Bob The Builder', you can tell that he's at least trying to emulate that of Kerry Shale even if it isn't entirely perfect. But at the same time while it's cool to see Diesel again, he is also the main problem that I have with this short in particular since Diesel has become an incredibly annoying character as of the CGI seasons: when he was first introduced, he was very devious and maniacal as a 'pulls the strings behind the curtains' type of character-the type of guy that would flip any situation in his favor and win it if he put his mind to it. But as the show went on, he just turned into a brute being reduced to nothing but a selfish bully who picks on others just for the sake of it...he is a shell of his former self. I don't particularly like modern day Diesel: I think an episode with him can be very entertaining when he's paired with a good character foil like Paxton but Diesel himself, I don't like since I find him incredibly one-dimensional. Whenever he screws up and is subsequently forgiven, it never feels earned because we know he hasn't changed and he never will...he never progresses, to think that it took Daisy The Diesel Railcar herself who is a character that was arguably just as rude and selfish as Diesel himself nowadays to give him the kick in the pants he needed to start changing his ways in 'Springtime For Diesel' and it speaks volumes about how far she has grown as a character - man, I love that episode.
Outside of Diesel's controversial appearance, I actually think having a short that teaches kids as well as a number of fans within the community about the importance of good manners is actually not a bad idea since not only do we get a lesson about patience at the start among Thomas and Percy as they wait at Knapford Station for James to bring them their trucks of which I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that it looks like Thomas and Percy will both have an extremely light load with only one truck for each of them to carry but also the importance of taking turns when Diesel enters the scene by cutting in front of Percy taking his truck on top of learning to wait your turn to talk which is something that I sometimes still struggle with such as when Diesel interrupts Thomas mid-sentence when he is teaching Diesel about taking turns. Again, I had to laugh at the expression on Thomas' face when he is teaching Diesel about waiting his turn to talk since it looks like he is just straight-up done with Diesel being his usual self and just wants to get this friendship lesson over with much like a majority of the older fans in the audience who have shown time and time again to ignore all of the life lessons that these characters have taught them and not show good manners to anyone who they consider beneath them thus making them appear as Salty said it best during the Classic Series 'too big for their buffers'. So while it was great to see Diesel again presumably for the last time in the CG-animated adventures of Thomas The Tank Engine before the launch of 'All Engines Go' this fall and while I do like the concept of teaching good manners, it's debatable whether or not Diesel was the best fit for this short in particular...but even so, this short was still a pretty good one and I'm gonna give it a rating of a 3.5 out of 5.
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While the tracks may have been much bumpier with the second season of this mini-series and while it is true that this series is clearly made for a much younger audience much like the first season was, the adventures of 'Learn With Thomas' were still 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. They're also good to keep children entertained while being something that families can put on when children have seen too many of the same episodes over and over constantly and for that earns this second season of 'Learn With Thomas' a rating of a 3.5 out of 5...but as for the overall mini-series itself with both seasons combined, 'Learn With Thomas' gets an overall rating of a 4 out of 5. With that said, I'm True Blue signing off and I only have one thing to say considering what the future of Thomas holds...get ready, 'All Engines Go'-I'm comin' your way!
Final Rating: 4/5
About the Author: True Blue
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