ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - Thomas Goes Fishing
July 29, 2023
Anyone who's ever known Thomas the Tank Engine knows that he can be described as being a cheeky engine who is often getting into scrapes usually by being over-eager to do things best left to bigger and more sensible engines. But clouds never last long in Thomas' life and he is soon bustling about again, playing his part in the yard and on his very own branch line of which he is extremely proud. He loves teasing the others, especially the bigger engines such as Gordon and on occasion brags about his superiority but is always brought down to earth in due course by anyone willing to correct him especially Sir Topham Hatt and his two coaches Annie and Clarabel. A friend to all engines and a popular member of Sir Topham Hatt's railway, Thomas is Number One and does his best every day to live up to that through helping his friends and those that he cares about. He lives to be a Really Useful Engine and encourages everyone else to do the same, but it looks like Thomas could end up sleeping with the fishes when it's a sunny old day and he's on his way for trouble as "Thomas Goes Fishing"!
THOMAS GOES FISHING: Thomas wants to go fishing, but he learns the hard way when he takes on river water
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Whether you're a longtime veteran or an aspiring newcomer to the Thomas the Tank Engine fandom, I think it goes without saying that "Tank Engine Thomas Again" is where ranking Wilbert Awdry's books starts to become difficult. I enjoy all of his books, so trying to place them in an order is a bit of a struggle. With that said, I think that "Tank Engine Thomas Again" is a fun Thomas-centric book with four stories that I do really like. There is no real structure to this one, it's just four random stories about what Thomas does on his branch line and they're all fun and charming. The whole point of this book is to give the audience an idea of what life on Thomas's Branch Line is like and show some more of that part of the world. Nothing too extraordinary or stand-out, just a simple as well as nice and cute book showing Thomas in the next stage of his life. It's fun looking back on this one knowing just how much Thomas' Branch Line changed over the series. It gained so many characters over the years from Toby and Percy to Daisy and Mavis. It's neat looking back at a time when Thomas was the only engine on it. Nothing bad about this book at all, but since it doesn't really do anything all that exceptional, I'm placing it in the bottom half of my list.
But speaking of "Tank Engine Thomas Again", who could ever forget the day that our number one engine wanted to go fishing along the river bridge and got more than what he wished for when some fish gave him quite a pain in his boiler after having to take on river water? So, how does the episodic adaptation of the story in the original television series hold up after nearly forty years? Well, for starters, I know what you're thinking in regards to this being the very episode that the "O Face" YouTube meme was born and you'd be right in saying that it is still just as funny and iconic in today's age as it was back then. If this story were being told in a Hit Era kind of way, people would more than likely hate this episode if Thomas was acting like an air-headed idiot. But thankfully, it's not and it's way more entertaining. On top of that, Thomas actually learn his lesson in this episode instead of learning his lesson and later on forgetting about it in the next episode. There was nothing wrong with this episode, it was perfectly adapted and the work on the holes in the buckets was top notch. This episode, I could watch again and again yet there is one flaw and that is the safety valve since all steam engines have a safety valve on top near the whistle. If a safety valve released inside the cab, it would be a problem for the crew in the cab.
But even at that, it's just a minor nitpick for those looking for realism in a world of talking trains since it doesn't take away the fact that "Thomas Goes Fishing" is worth watching again and again. It goes to show you that classic Thomas is worth watching thus I'm proud to give "Thomas Goes Fishing" a rating of a perfect 5/5.
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