When Mattel first bought HiT Entertainment in 2012 and gave Thomas The Tank Engine a new home, they saw potential in the franchise and knew that it was broken thus they hired a whole new production team from a new team of writers and animators to even a new narrator. It wouldn't be until a year that we saw the airing of Mattel's first-owned season, Season 17, which many fans claim was the franchise's return to form with the stories once again held up by the strength of the characters and their dialogue. While it wasn't a perfect season by any means, things only got better after that. But one episode in particular from this first season under their tenure that a lot of people don't seem to talk about is 'Percy's Lucky Day' which I think is one of the little green engine's best episodes as it not only tapped into Percy's accident-prone nature which was seen during the entirety of the Model Series but also presented its audience with one of the best and most mature morals that the original series ever gave with how you don't need lucky charms to do your job but rather just working hard and believing in yourself. While it's a shame that it got overshadowed by the fandom with the very next episode in the season which brought Bill and Ben back into the spotlight, I still find 'Percy's Lucky Day' one of Season 17's finest and also one of Percy's best episodes from the original series. But I know what you're thinking: "why am I mentioning 'Percy's Lucky Day' from practically a decade ago when I should be talking about 'Percy's Lucky Bell'"? Well, hold on tight 'cause this review is gonna be a very bumpy ride!
Remember what I said in my 'A Thomas Promise' review about looking at this reboot as its own standalone series and canon instead of a continuation of what came before and going into it completely blind? Well, this episode unfortunately is that one time so far in this reboot where I have to look at it in terms of the Thomas & Friends franchise as a whole and I think Carly and Percy took the words right out of my mouth, this episode was a trainwreck. I can see what this episode was trying to do in terms of its moral of being careful with other people's belongings as well as learning to trust your friends and I will admit that the song that Thomas sings both before and after he loses Percy's lucky bell are good since they remind me of those times in 'My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic' when some song reprises were done in a more somber tone compared to being happier earlier on in their respective episodes, but I'm sorry, even before we got to this point in the reboot, the fact that Percy has a lucky bell that he carries around with him all the time when he learned in the original series that he didn't need a lucky charm to do his job but rather work hard and believe in himself really feels like a giant middle finger to both longtime fans of the franchise and Percy's character development from the original series. Not only that, but the way that Percy is talking about making sure his lucky bell stays safe with Thomas on his delivery as if it's a Mogwai from the 'Gremlins' franchise or like an over-protective mother describing how to look after children is not only ridiculous but also kinda creepy in my opinion.
As Thomas said it best, 'I sure am feeling unlucky', because I can finally see where the fandom is coming from with their hatred towards this controversial reboot when it comes to this episode: despite having a good moral and song to accompany it, the fact that it spent so much time retconning continuity of the original series as well as having our first example of really over-the-top cartoony animation with Thomas' bad luck when leaving the mine makes this our real first dud in our series of reviews for 'All Engines Go'. I don't even have the right words for this anymore, Carly and Percy were right to call this misadventure a trainwreck and that is exactly why 'Percy's Lucky Bell' gets a rating of a 2 out of 5 - easily the worst of this lineup in my opinion, just praying that it doesn't get any worse than this...right?
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