ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - Race to the Rescue
June 11, 2022
Remember when everyone in the fandom was hyped for Day of the Diesels? I remember.
Back in 2011, I was really excited to see Day of the Diesels. I loved the idea of a steamie vs. diesel confrontation and the return of Diesel 10, but what really drew me in were the fire engines, Flynn and Belle. They were the coolest concepts to me and I felt that even if I didn't like the movie, those two would still be dope (it's a weird thought but keep in mind that I was 8). I especially got hyped at the notion of them getting solo episodes and...they sucked. They had nice premises but they ended up being both boring and as dumb as a pile of rocks. But those are stories for another day. What about Race to the Rescue? Was it the episode to redeem Flynn or is it just a big red failure on wheels? Let's begin.
Flynn decides to get his road wheels fixed up so he can put out fires on the road. There's one problem: his wheels keep wobbling as they roll. So, to be safe, he tries getting to a fire by rail, which ends up causing-ah, you know how this ends.
It's the same formula as the other Miller era episodes. It's just "conflict arises, main character tries to ignore it, rinse and repeat three times, Sir Topham Hatt scolds him, he feels terrible, he makes it right, everyone laughs, the end". It's the exact same as episodes before and after it, and it doesn't do anything to mix it up or make it even a bit interesting. It doesn't even do anything intriguing with the characters. While Flynn has a kind of interesting arc, he's just confined to whining about his wheels for eight minutes, Bertie and Butch are just there because they needed some characters for Flynn to interact with on the road, and as for Charlie, in the past episodes, he was a kooky jokester who loved making people laugh. Here, he's just kind of a jerk, as he appears just to mock Flynn for wobbling.
However, there is one moment here that really bugs me, and I mean fully breaks the episode. Flynn finally gets to the fire at Sir Topham Hatt's shed (by the way, when did Sir Topham Hatt get a shed?), but he gets scolded for being too late. Flynn tells the audience-I mean Sir Topham Hatt that he can't go on the road because he's worried that he'll wobble all over the place. This isn't that bad a scene until you realize...
...that the shed is still on fire.
At this moment, I was so close to yelling out "DUDE, JUST PUT OUT THE FIRE ALREADY!" I'd understand if it was too far away and he could only reach it on the road, but no, it looks like he could reach it from the rails, so there's no reason why he has to sit there and mope. He even goes back to go onto the roads, and only then does he put out the fire. Why? He was, like, right next to it!
Overall, Race to the Rescue is a lazy and messy episode with a generic and frustrating story and annoying characters that reach the point where I'd unironically watch Fiery Flynn over it. Yeah, that episode sucks as well, but at least it had a decent conflict and climax, even with the "firebox on fire" nonsense. If you need my recommendation, just stick to episodes like Too Many Fire Engines, because this is a terrible way to introduce Flynn's road gimmick, so it earns a 1/5.
Final Score: 1/5
About the Author: JF the LOLZOR
0 comments