ThomasNATION Reviews - Thomas Blasts Off
September 11, 2021
Well, I think it's safe to say that this new chapter of Thomas The Tank Engine's seventy-five year plus history has already gone off the rails before it even started to make an impression: while the pilot episode 'A Thomas Promise' has some nice background animation and music orchestrations to accompany it, that doesn't save it from an unoriginal rehash of a story as well as character animation that goes against Mattel's words and characters that either offer nothing new to what we already know or don't even get a proper introduction to the series...but much like any new television series animated or not that's just starting out, it takes time for great art to truly blossom from nothing and maybe the same thing can happen with 'All Engines Go'-after all, we're not all perfect on our first try especially when you're a product of a company run by idiots! So with that trainwreck of a pilot episode behind us, let's see if we can get this reboot back on track again with our next episode of the series as we prepare to go out of this world as 'Thomas Blasts Off'!
THOMAS BLASTS OFF: Thomas and the team have to build a rocket ship, they all carry very large pieces except for Thomas who is unhappy with pulling a small part so he helps all of his friends with their bigger jobs however this part turns out to be the most important
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So I'm not gonna lie and I cannot believe I'm saying this in regards to this reboot, but this episode actually does start off better than the previous one did with Thomas telling his friends at Tidmouth Sheds about a big rocket launch happening at Brendam Docks and inviting all of them to come watch with him...but as they arrive at Knapford Station to see the rocket for themselves and discover that the rocket is all in pieces, Gordon explains to the little engines that it didn't fall apart but rather because it's too big to bring to the launch site all put together which you would've expected in an episode from the Sharon Miller era of the original television series while also explaining that it's a big job and it could use some extra engines. Before we move on with the plot, can I just say how much I love Gordon's portrayal in this reboot: Gordon himself may actually be one of my favorite things about this highly controversial reboot since his portrayal so far 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...no longer is he the big grumpy engine who can't accept change that he became in the CG-animated years of the original series, THIS is the Gordon that I and many fans in the community want to see when it comes to this franchise and it feels so great to have him back!
So as the engines prepare to collect their different parts of the rocket to deliver to Brendam Docks, Thomas in his true fashion is so excited about the job that he wants to deliver everything but he is quickly brought back down to earth when he sees what parts his friends deliver: Gordon delivers the nose cone, Nia delivers the shell, Kana (who still hasn't gotten a proper introduction) yet delivers the booster, Percy takes the satellite and Diesel takes the wings which leaves Thomas with the rocket's battery who makes the remark that he has delivered a bajillion batteries before...even though we never saw him deliver any batteries in the original series before, so where did this suddenly come from? But trouble is already brewing not only in the form of a thunderstorm which threatens to cancel the launch but Thomas abandoning his important delivery to help his friends with their work and...remember how 'A Thomas Promise' was a rehash of the twelfth season episode 'Don't Go Back'? Well, we have another example of the reboot taking concepts of the original series and doing them all over again with what feels like no effort put in as 'Thomas Blasts Off' is basically a rehash of Season 10's 'Percy And The Funfair'. However considering that the moral of 'all jobs are important' is something that we saw numerous of times throughout the original series in numerous upon numerous of episodes, I am willing to let it slide for this time here in the reboot as there have been both good and bad examples of this in the original series and plus because my late uncle worked with the space shuttles of NASA before he passed thus this seemed like an episode he would love to watch with me if he was still alive.
But while we're on the subject of space missions, seeing Thomas turning his helping of his friends with their jobs into intergalactic adventures of his own really helped make the viewing experience of this episode a lot more enjoyable despite its predictable story and moral especially considering that the smaller engines are now voiced by kid actors which might even help inspire the next generation of kids who like Thomas The Tank Engine to want to pursue careers in space travel as well as studying in the field of science...and considering that the launch site for the rocket launch is over at Brendam Docks, this gives me an opportunity to talk about another great character portrayal in this reboot and that is none other than Cranky The Crane himself: while this is only his first appearance in this reboot, I have to admit that it feels pretty cool seeing him in how he was originally portrayed in the series with his high and mighty attitude which can annoy the other engines although I have to wonder if there will come a point in this reboot where we see that under all that gruff beats a heart of gold just like how Cranky was portrayed in the CG-animated years of the original series. But with the rain coming closer towards cancelling the launch after finally helping all of his friends, Thomas finally manages to deliver the rocket's battery after a bit of cartoony nonsense and the rocket launch of course goes off without a hitch...and as much as many longtime fans wished that the rocket malfunctioned and blew everyone up, Thomas delivers the 'moral of the day': sadly because of this much like the Brenner and 'Big World, Big Adventures' eras of the original series, there's nothing left for the audience to really think about...no grander scope or interesting perspectives, they just wrap everything up and everyone is always happy-more times than not, episodes end with the characters all laughing! Once you notice it, you'll never unnotice it...but does that make this episode ultimately bad, not necessarily!
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While 'A Thomas Promise' felt like a failed launch mission when it comes to this reboot, 'Thomas Blasts Off' despite its flaws was actually an okay watch: sure the story is another rehash of the original series and the cartoony character animation is still a bit distracting but thanks to its unique concept of turning a rocket delivery into an intergalactic adventure as well as having much better character portrayals this time compared to what we saw previously, it just manages to get off the ground and into orbit. To sum up: good, not great but getting there and that is why 'Thomas Blasts Off' gets a rating of a 2.5 out of 5. Will our next set of reboot episodes be able to go to infinity and beyond? We'll have to wait and see 'cause it's all engines go!
Final Rating: 2.5/5
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