ThomasNATION Movie Reviews - The Great Discovery
May 14, 2022
Hey all, JF here, and today I come with you with a pretty intriguing special.
The Great Discovery serves as the backdoor special to Season 12, and out of all the specials in the past and future, with the exception of Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure and maybe The Great Race and Big World! Big Adventures!, this is the one where they went all out the most, serving as a series finale...ish to the model era by bringing in a bunch of old and new characters, going into Sodor's history and even bringing in Pierce Brosnan to narrate the feature. But is this a good way to cap off the model era, or is this a bad way to welcome Stanley? Let's begin.
Sodor Day is on the horizon (which I think is a day celebrating the island's history, they never clarify) and Thomas is helping to prepare when he uncovers an old forgotten town from Sodor's past. But while restoration is underway, Thomas starts to worry that the new engine Stanley will replace him.
One of the best aspects of the film is what it adds to the world building. This is especially the case with the town of Great Waterton being established as an old mining town forgotten by time. It's a neat idea, even if I feel like it wasn't explored that much. A lot of the runtime is spent with the town being rebuilt and not enough is spent on exploring Great Waterton's history with Sodor. But then again, I'd argue that that's not the most important aspect, that being Thomas' development. Here, Thomas is portrayed as how he was in the earlier seasons, cheeky, mischievous and snarky, but not without his vulnerability.
Granted, this special kickstarted the "Thomas hates the new character" trope, which I've grown pretty sick of, but it's used well here since it's established that Stanley's a bigger and stronger engine than Thomas, so it's understandable why his fears of being replaced are justified, instead of a misunderstanding like with Ashima, or even nothing at all like with Nia. If I was to criticise one thing with the story, it's that while the beginning and ending are great, the middle with Thomas moping around does drag a little. Sure, it gets better when he goes into the mines, but in general, it feels like it goes on for longer than it should. But either way, the story is still enough to let the model series go out with a bang.
Unlike the following specials, where they introduce 3 or more new characters, this special only introduces one: Stanley. And while I like that they don't shoehorn a bunch of new characters that don't serve much narrative purpose, Stanley himself is kind of a blank slate. Not to say he's a bad character at all, if anything, he's one of my favorite new characters from the specials up there with Hiro and Skiff, but when you really look at it, what does he really have personality-wise?
As for the narration from Pierce Brosnan, I absolutely love what he did here. He tells the story as if he were reading a bedtime story to his kids, and this works wonders, since not only are his inflictions with certain characters really clever, but his voice in general is just really soothing and buttery, which is a nice change of pace from Michael Angelis and Michael Brandon.
Then you have the new sets, props and models they use, and I gotta say, they really outdid themselves. Not only is Great Waterton a...well, for a lack of a better term, great location selling the mining town aesthetic, but the mine Thomas gets lost in is a lot of fun, giving off a rollercoaster vibe with all the twists and turns he takes. But where the models shine is with the action scenes. Just the way these set pieces crumble beneath Thomas' wheels is really exciting, especially the collapsing bridge near the beginning.
So overall, The Great Discovery is a brilliant way to let the models go out. It may not explore its concept as much as it should, but with its fantastic additions to the world building, tense action and some of the best narration to come with the whole series, this is a must-watch for any fan of the model series. Plus, even fans of the animated series would have a good time with this. As for the rating, I've been thinking about this for a while, but I think I'm gonna give it a 4/5. And with that, goodnight, and always remember, WELCOME STANLEY.
Final Score: 4/5
About the Author: JF the LOLZOR
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