ThomasNATION Reviews - A Light Delivery
July 01, 2023
If you were to ask any longtime fan of Thomas what their thoughts were on the Brenaissance period of the original television series as a whole, they would more often than not tell you that Season 19's 'Who's Geoffrey?' is a very divisive episode among everyone in the fandom (then again, which episode isn't divisive among fans?). You have those who love the episode for how they turned a simple story that's been done numerous times before into a possible prequel to the 2015 full-length special 'Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure', those who are split down the middle where they like and dislike certain elements about it and those who absolutely hate it due to how unbelievably stupid Thomas' behavior is for the entire episode to where you're just waiting for him to be called out for his actions. Where do I stand on my views of 'Who's Geoffrey?', I would say I'm among the group of fans who are honestly split on it. I can understand why the episode has its fans since there were definitely some highlights like Thomas' 'impression' of Geoffrey in the U.S. dub reminding me of Pee-Wee Herman puppeteering Kermit the Frog as well as the story and its moral of honesty being something we can all relate to, but I also see why some people don't like the episode as well mainly in regards to Thomas' portrayal since he knows by now that lying is never the right solution. I get that people like to view the Railway Series, Model Series and CGI Series as their own canons, but can we at least have some consistency when it comes to writing these characters?
But with that said as much as many longtime fans of Thomas the Tank Engine wish that All Engines Go was a lie so that the original series can continue, the truth is that's unfortunately never going to happen unless a miracle happens at some point in the future, and we have to keep on puffing throughout the duration of this reboot's tenure. And since this is an episode that teaches its viewers about honesty, does this one shine brighter than the others or have we found another dim bulb this early into the season? The answer to that is...well, here's the thing.
While it doesn't shine brighter than some of the other episodes we've seen in this season so far like 'The Tiger Train' or 'The Super-Long Shortcut' (and trust me, we'll get to that one), I'd say its true brightness comes from its heart found within. While it's true that the plot points regarding Thomas breaking one of his lights and missing the Sodor Festival of Lights as a result of making things right from his mistake feels similar to Season 11's 'Thomas and the Lighthouse' and you could argue that this trend of Thomas and Diesel trying to outdo each other is starting to get repetitive in the reboot, I'll admit that the song 'The Number One Engine' is one of the reboot's better songs and seeing our team of engines working together to help Thomas in taking all of the flatbeds back home as well as putting on their own festival of lights from Lookout Mountain due to missing most of the show was a truly heartwarming moment.
So all in all, while it doesn't shine super brightly due to its reused storyline and moral, 'A Light Delivery' still has enough power in itself to make it another shining episode among everything we've seen so far in All Engines Go and that's why I'm giving it a rating of a 3.5 out of 5.
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