ThomasNATION Reviews - No Power, No Problem

August 27, 2022

Lots of the engines on the Island of Sodor are steam engines, they run on coal and water: they collect their coal from the coal hopper and they get water from the water tower. But steam engines aren't the only types of engines that ride the rails of Sodor since diesel engines get their power to make them go from running on diesel fuel and are driven by turning a lever in the cab. But there's also another type of power that engines can use since there are also modern electric trains who get their power from special cables high up above the tracks from a big arm on the roof of the engine called a pantograph that slides along the cable and collects the electricity. Trains like these are very long and very fast, they can carry a lot of passengers over very long distances - three different trains and three different types of power to make them go but no matter which type of engine that you prefer rather if it's steam or diesel or electric and even if the engines of the Island of Sodor aren't always able to get along due to their differences in power, each of them have one goal in common: to be really useful for the North Western Railway. But whenever there's a power shortage, it's always good to know that the engines have each other's backs and are willing to help out however they can, and it would seem that a recent power outage on Sodor is effecting Kana's ability to be really useful, so how will she be able to cope and will she be able to find a way to still be useful?

Now if you were to judge 'No Power, No Problem' just from its synopsis alone, you'd probably be thinking that this is just gonna be another rehash of Season 10's 'Thomas and the Shooting Star' but I'm happy to inform you all that this episode is anything but that: unlike in 'Thomas and the Shooting Star' where Thomas was so concerned over seeing a shooting star that he put aside delivering some engineers to repair the power station which in a way felt like it was rehashing Season 9's 'Thomas and the Rainbow' again, Thomas in this episode actually keeps his mind on the job throughout the entire episode which is something that many longtime fans including myself have been longing to see from our little blue tank engine's character development for years since the days of the Classic Series and he only ever stops in order to make sure that Kana is alright after she runs out of power while trying to lower Quickdraw Bridge for their journey while remembering what Gordon says earlier on in the episode about how everything is connected when it comes to electricity. I love how this is reinforced by the ways that the engines find ways to help fix problems all over the island during the outage without using electricity at first like when the crossing arms are stuck open for the engines to pass each other including Edward and Henry making a return from their controversial cameos in 'Dragon Run' and sadly not speaking again due to being reduced to background characters. But as we also see, even the most powerful of engines can get carried away with their potential like when Kana magically sparks the signal lights back on as well as turning the lights in the tunnel into a colorful light show for the passengers onboard Annie and Clarabel. We could be in for a shock if you know what I mean.


Well, it's no exaggeration to say that this episode, to quote Danny Zuko, "is elecrifyin'!". I'm happy to say that 'No Power, No Problem' brought Season 1 of this reboot to a close in a way that while not all that exciting or engaging like some longtime fans hope it would was still an enjoyably peaceful ride. In a time where mainstream animated shows would rather want to be constantly bombastic and fill every second with cartoon chaos like myself and many longtime fans are sure to be expecting from this controversial reboot (and what it mostly contains), this is one of those rare episodes that rather wants to take its time to let the characters live their lives and enjoy their environment and honestly I feel like that change of pace is more than welcome: you don't need loud gimmicks and make some fast-paced action type of adventure to be good, sometimes all you need is a little reminder to be like you're on the English countryside and enjoy the simpler things in life and maybe a ride on a little blue tank engine could be pretty cool too thus I'm gonna give 'No Power, No Problem' a rating of a 3.5 out of 5.

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