ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - Reds vs. Blues
January 21, 2023 
Something very exclusive to the original Thomas & Friends series in terms of how James was portrayed compared to his portrayal in The Railway Series is Thomas and James' dynamic. I mean, think about it: Thomas and James barely interact in the books since Thomas left for his branch line because he rescued James and by the time James was an established character, Thomas had already left the yard. In the original television series, James and Thomas pair up very well and it's because they are so similar. When Thomas actually is in character, he's also a impatient hothead impatient who's not very bright. As a result of this, I find episodes like 'James and the Trouble with Trees' and even later ones like 'Follow That Flour' or 'Thomas' New Trucks' actually quite enjoyable because you're basically just watching two hot-headed jackasses try to one-up each other and they're funny. 'James and the Red Balloon' is a pretty funny episode too because these two idiots actually somehow convince each other a hot air balloon of all things could actually replace them and it's a story that could only work with them. Thomas and James bring out the worst in each other when they're paired up, it's always a guaranteed fun time. And with soccer - or for our British friends, football - season almost upon us, what better episode to review as we head up the competition by seeing who's best when it's 'Reds vs. Blues'!
REDS VS. BLUES: Thomas and James compete with each other to see who can get to Dryaw first.
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Now for those who don't remember, I actually did a RiffTrax-style commentary of this episode for my 'Thomas the Riffed Engine & Friends' series back in 2016 for my channel's third anniversary and this was actually one of the first few episodes I reviewed for my 'Totally Thomas Reviews' series (although I am now regretting those days when I was uber positive on almost every single new episode of the series when doing reviews). So, for this time around now that almost ten years have gone by since we first saw this episode, let's see how things have changed since then, even if I'm not interested in soccer. But with that mind, it's nice to see something that is so British in Thomas since soccer is big over there.
With that said however, I think this story would be better if it were a Gordon and James rivalry episode. Thomas' role does work for a character like Gordon in terms of being fast and better due to his ego. But of course, the stadium is at Dryaw and that's on Thomas' Branch Line of which it's nice to see the stadium again by the way since its appearance in the Jack and the Pack spin-off series episode 'Thomas and the Moles'. But even at that, you could've used the stadium and place it somewhere near the main line for the purpose of Gordon and James. Despite that, the use of Thomas and James definitely shows the friendly rivalry between the two even if the music montage of the two engines being competitive did get a bit tiresome, yet it did serve something good for the story with them going through actual consequences of not working together as a team.
But again, with that said however, I do wish that they hadn't written in that the people of Sodor wear blue for their football team and cheer at Thomas simply because he's blue. I understand though that kids might not understand their colors and I know that it's a show that is aimed towards pre-schoolers, but I'm pretty sure most kids watching know their colors. I don't know, maybe it would've been better if the introduction was written a little better. While I do like the idea of Barrow having a soccer team, I wish they actually had Dryaw go up against another local Sodor team instead of having one team for Sodor since I see that working for something like a World Cup although I think Sudrians would be representing England since Sodor is a British isle - I mean, you don't see the Isle of Man taking part of the World Cup.
However, I do like its moral of how it's best to work together than competing against each other and Percy's fourth wall joke was a bit funny too. In the end, 'Reds vs. Blues' is a simple and good as well as understandable episode but yet I don't think I can bring myself to say that it's one of the greatest episodes like I did years ago back when I first started doing reviews and that is why I'm giving 'Reds vs. Blues' a rating of a 4 out of 5.
Final Rating: 4/5
About the Author: True Blue
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