ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - Hector the Horrid

June 29, 2024

 

Let me get right to the point. This episode was brilliant. First, let's talk about the story.  The episode starts off like any other.  Sir Topham Hatt has a special for Thomas while also reminding us that Thomas is very good at shunting trucks.  Same old, same old.  You'd think this carries on from there, right? Actually, no!  Only one minute in and we are introduced to our new character.  And from the look of him, he comes off as very intimidating.  This is only the beginning for when the tone of the story begins to change.  Starting off with a happy-go-lucky intro and then minutes after, we feel just as terrified as Thomas after Hector roars at him.  From there, we sort of feel this sense of uncomfortableness as Thomas does his work right up until Rosie comes to help him after. After Hector shouts at her, we still feel the intimidation.  But within a split-second, the tone changes again.  Now, we feel angry like Thomas for Hector treating everyone as poorly as he was.  It now becomes a one-on-one standoff between the two until Thomas finally puts Hector in his place.  And guess what?  The tone changes again!  The story then takes a small breather and there's Hector lying on his side completely sad and we see that he's not really a bad truck.  The story doesn't even mention directly if this action by Thomas was right or wrong.  Ultimately, I think that's the audience's decision.  No surprise, but after all of this, there's one more tone shift to give us that "everything is all right now" happy kind of ending.

That is a total of five different tone changes in a single Thomas episode, the most I've ever counted anyway, and I really have to give Simon Spencer a lot of credit here.  I think he knew exactly what he was doing when playing with all of these tone shifts throughout the course of the story.  This is one of the many reasons why this episode is so unique and stands out above many other HIT Era episodes.  I also have to mention the moral.  Some people might argue that this is just another typical "stand up to the bully" kind of story.  In my eyes, that's a very cheap way to look at this episode.  No, this is much deeper than that.  The moral here is that everyone has something in their life that drives them to be the person that they are whether it be the nicest person on Earth or the absolute worst kind of person.  In terms of life lessons, I think this is one of the biggest that Thomas has tried to teach.  And my gosh, it works so well!  I also really like how this story ends.  It doesn't end off with a typical "Sir Topham Hatt coming in and telling Thomas that he's a really useful engine".  I think that would have changed the flow of this story drastically.  This one line here is pretty much perfect: "They were very surprised to hear Thomas whistle "good luck", but the whistle wasn't for them. It was Thomas tooting to his new friend Hector the Not Horrid at All".

Now, let's talk about our two main characters Thomas and Hector. This is a very rare occurrence in the series where we see a character acting somewhat like an antagonist but becomes a protagonist by the end.  Most characters introduced in Thomas always come off as a bully type of character just because they can; i.e. Diesel, Bulgy, George, etc.  That's not the case with Hector.  He wasn't being a bully just for the sake of it.  He was driven that way because of his own fear of coal.  There are many people that go through this same tactic.  Some people could be hurting over whatever and all that harshness gets thrown out to others, leading everyone to believe they are a bad person when they're not in reality.  Well, at least for some.  Anyway, Hector felt like he had to become this horrid character so he could avoid his problem altogether.  Only after when we see Hector in his vulnerable spot do we feel sorry for him and are happy when he realizes that coal isn't as scary as he originally thought.  And I'm sorry to disappoint any U.K. fans out there, but Michael Brandon wins the spotlight here.  His line delivery is far more superior compared to Michael Angelis.  Now, I won't deny that Angelis is pretty solid in this story.  But the way Brandon voices Hector, he knew how to make him sound like a scary and intimidating character, so much to where that voice terrified some fans as kid.

But without a doubt, the ultimate best thing about this story is Thomas.  This episode not only showed us a pivotal point in Thomas' character arc, but it's one of Thomas' best episodes to date.  And for a HIT Era episode, that says quite a lot.  We've only seen Thomas like he has this superior authority figure over the trucks.  So, of course, we expect him to feel like shunting Hector would be a breeze.  When he tries to shunt Hector however for the first time and gets shouted at, we see Thomas in this vulnerable position and it's now Hector who has the authority over him.  This leads Thomas to question his confidence and ultimately stays away.  We can still see the fear in Thomas' eyes as soon as Rosie comes to help until she is then horrified by Hector shouting and takes off running.  Now, instead of continuing to be afraid, Thomas gains the courage to stand and fight.  Throughout every season, we've seen Thomas take any jabs or threats made to him with a grain of salt.  But what he won't take are the same tactics used on his friends.  And ultimately, that is why Thomas gets pissed off here.  So, after he finally puts Hector in his place, now Thomas once again has the upper hand.  He could have continued to belittle Hector for acting so poorly, but he doesn't.  Instead, he feels remorseful and has a heart to heart with Hector to find out what the problem is.  And when it's all finally explained, Thomas puts everything aside and is willing to help Hector get over his fear.  He even sympathizes with Hector about feeling scared to try something new.  But like a true friend, he shows Hector that coal isn't so bad.  And soon, the train is ready for both Edward and James.

To conclude, I think "Hector the Horrid" is a very well-written episode. It has a magnificent story, an excellent moral and awesome character development.  By far, one of the best hidden gems of Season 11 and definitely among the most underrated episodes in the HIT era.. I believe this episode rightfully deserves a perfect 5/5.

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