ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead
March 05, 2022
Philip is a little diesel boxcab engine with a big personality: he is a comic character and a bit of a class clown, he is also very eager and full of enthusiasm and he has an innocent but very overblown sense of his own capabilities. Philip can be very funny, but some of the bigger engines have very little patience for the little boxcab and find him annoying. Philip is strong, fast and likes to hurry about and can constantly boast about it but Philip's confidence is as big if not bigger than anyone else's and he is always willing to try and definitely believes in himself. His actions and attitude soon won him many new friends on Sodor especially Thomas and Percy, but Gordon and James find his bragging a little hard to accept. And as we kick off this triple feature of racing themed reviews this month, we're going to look back at where it all began for our cheeky little diesel boxcab as we start our engines and remember the tale of 'The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead'!
THE LITTLE ENGINE WHO RACED AHEAD: A new diesel boxcab named Philip arrives and while loving to race, he thinks he's racing Gordon when the big engine in actuality never took part.
I'm going to say this, I honestly love Phillip more than Samson, but that doesn't mean I hate Samson since I find him as a great character with his headstrong behaviour but his character is not really an original one either as he can come off as say Gordon or James or even Oliver with being arrogant and overconfident yet I think it was rather clever to have a tank engine being more of a showoff about being strong then another tender engine. With Philip, I love his enthusiasm and overexcited behavior since he feels like that little child that wants attention but in a cute and fun way: some say he can come as quite annoying and to be honest, that was my first impression on him when the episodes aired in Japan. But while I was watching the episode for the first time, I can see the relatable side in him that kids would find entertaining although I don't like how he comes out on top on Gordon. Some say he's a clone of Thomas, but his overexcited and energetic attitude stood out more than him being cheeky which for Thomas stood out more for him: sure he was like that in 'The Adventure Begins', but the seventieth anniversary special made him cheeky and sometimes naĆÆve and that stood out for him in the special. The energetic side is there in the special, but it didn't show too much plus it's great to see that Knapford Station has a station pilot again since Duck. Whether or not Philip stayed as a station pilot, we'd have to see...
Now as for my thoughts on his debut episode, everyone had been wondering since Season 19 came out mostly on television in Japan where Andrew Brenner was since many fans had speculated that Brenner could've been busy writing for the 2015 special as well as 'The Adventure Begins' while Season 19 was in production. I can't say for sure if that was the case since I don't know what really happened behind the scenes, but I'm glad that he was still providing us with episodes and I was wondering if he were to introduce Philip as he always writes for the DVD exclusive newbies' debut. To many fans though, they didn't find this episode great, and while I have already expressed my views on Philip as a character, but it was pretty much the ending with Philip saying he promises Sir Topham Hatt that he won't race around again but did it anyway and got away with it: maybe it would've been better if say after Gordon returned with the express on the same day as Philip's arrival, Philip challenges him and Sir Topham Hatt told him off later and then tell him the moral that he needs to obey the rules plus Philip should've been punished for irritating Gordon a lot too. It's not a terrible episode, but not a strong one for a lot of people but I have to give credit to Brenner that instead of making Philip feel down for not being fast, he still stays happy and confident that he thinks he's fast but he could've given him his comeuppance but we would have to wait and see if that worked for him in 'The Great Race' although it was early thus I'm going to give 'The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead' a 3.5 out of 5.
Final Rating: 3.5/5
About the Author: True Blue
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