ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - A Shed for Edward

I think it's safe to say we all remember where we were when they announced they were booting Edward, as well as Henry, off the main cast. When they announced this in 2017, it took the fandom by storm, and not in a good way. For those who are unaware, to say the fans were outraged is a massive understatement. Edward was one of the most important characters in the franchise, literally the character who started it all, and they're throwing him out? As for me, I'm still not completely over that change, especially considering how little he was used after that. But then we have today's subject: A Shed for Edward. Does it give Edward the sendoff he deserves? Let's begin.

Following the events of the previous episode, The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor, Tidmouth Sheds is a wreck and Edward needs a place to stay. Philip offers to let him bunk out at his shed, but his constant chattering keeps the wise old engine awake all night, meaning he has to go out and find someplace else.

One complaint I have about this episode is that it follows a pretty lame formula: Edward finds a place to sleep, he’s kept awake by the noise, he tries again, rinse and repeat. While they try to mix it up a little each time in clever ways, this just leaves the episode feeling repetitive and predictable. By the time we get to the montage of Edward finding different places to sleep, you can already guess that Edward's gonna be really tired the next morning, he's gonna get into an accident and Philip learns his lesson. I will say, however, is that they did at least answer one question I had about the series: if the drivers are controlling the engines, can they just sleep while the driver does all the work? And this episode basically says they can.