ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - O The Indignity
August 10, 2024
So, many of us remember the episode "The Green Controller" from the drawn-out Season 10 of the original Thomas & Friends series where Percy was controller for the day after Sir Topham Hatt loses his voice yet manages to end up giving his friends all the wrong jobs. Well, aside from the fact that "Busy Bee James" is memorable for the reason that it only existed for the reason of new merchandise on store shelves which I admittingly own a motorized version of him via the gift of a "train garden" Christmas tree from a friend of our family that we met at the Kennedy Krieger Festival Of Trees, the other thing that this bad episode was notable for is that it was the one that kicked off Gordon's iconic catchphrase "oh, the indignity". While it's true that he did say the line back in "Calling All Engines" when he had to sleep under a tent, this episode was where it all started to where I know that there are some adult fans who would take it upon themselves to make an entire compilation of all the times that Gordon said those words in order to turn it into a drinking game among their friends which is something that I don't recommend at all. But as if Gordon saying those words constantly wasn't enough, they actually made an entire episode named after his catchphrase. What's next, we're going to dedicate an entire episode to Fred's meme of a catchphrase from SpongeBob SquarePants?
...oh wait. But for now, let's look at an episode that only succeeds in making us sympathize with Gordon and say "O The Indignity"!
O THE INDIGNITY: Gordon is put in charge of Whiff's Waste Dump on "Clean Sodor Day".
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Phew! Something stinks around here, and I'm pretty sure that it's not the mounds of garbage that is littered around Whiff's Waste Dump! I'm serious when I say that the only thing good about this episode is seeing Whiff pulling the express which is a rare site to see in the original television series at this point in the series until the events of Season 16's "Express Coming Through" where Thomas struggled to pull the express in Awdry knows how long. Heck, it even makes for a nice real-world connection to Whiff's real-life counterpart Aerolite as that engine's role on the railway was to haul the North Eastern Railway's chief mechanical engineer in a saloon coach. A very prestigious job for an engine in my opinion, and yet the character designers looked at this and thought garbage engine. I don't know why or if it was meant to be some sort of inside joke as I think that some sort of industrial engine would have been way more appropriate for this. Now, it'd be one thing if this strange choice in his character design was intentional and was worked into Whiff's character somehow. For example, he may have thought doing prestigious inspection work was boring and never suited him thus he found out later in his life that he enjoyed doing manual labor where he could get his buffers dirty or something. It'd be a twist on the "riches to rags" type of arc or something, an anti-Cinderella if you will. But you do have to remember that this is the Hit Era of course. So, of course they would never bother to write anything that clever. No one needs a backstories here. These characters are only just here to sell toys. They're only here for, like, one episode before they disappear into the shadow realm, you know?
Now, anyone who knows me knows that I do actually like the concept of Whiff as this really outgoing and nerdy engine who is tasked with the most undesirable of jobs ever in the form of collecting garbage. But he doesn't get discouraged by the remarks of the other engines for his appearance and smell, and genuinely loves the work he does yet he's just a little hard to be around. He's an outcast character and doesn't fall into the same trappings of "oh, I'm depressed because everyone hates me because of my job" kind of trope. No, he's really happy doing what he does and that enthusiasm he maintains in the face of ridicule is very admirable and refreshing. However, if you were to take character biases out of the equation and review this episode for what it is, then you're going to be sorely disappointed as all the rest of the episode is junk itself. First off, why did Whiff introduce himself to Gordon now when the big blue engine had been introduced to him in his debut in Season 11's "Emily's Rubbish"? Second, it's the fact that Scruff's bufferbeam is broken yet they call it a scruncher. Weird. That being said however, wow, Scruff had only been on Sodor for a day by this point and had already broken something, ha.
Third, why was Gordon in charge of Whiff's Waste Dump? Don't you think that there could have been a more suitable engine like Percy or Thomas or Diesel or even Bill or Ben if they had been in the series at this point. Or hey, even Whiff and Gordon could've worked together at the Waste Dump if he wasn't staying at the Steamworks with Scruff. Heck, that could have very well been an interesting character pairing to see in the series and something that could've blossomed into another friendship for Gordon. And finally, this episode's "three strikes" formula by this point in the series is as repetitive and formulaic and boring as it has ever been with Gordon constantly going "I'm fastest and best and pull the express". We get it, Gordon, damn! Let's just throw this piece of garbage away by giving "O The Indignity" a rating of a 1.5/5.
Final Rating: 1.5/5
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