ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - The Magic Lamp
October 19, 2024
Do not be fooled by its commonplace appearance. Like so many things, it is not what is outside, but what is inside that counts. This is no ordinary lamp! It once changed the course of a young engine's life. A young engine who liked this lamp was more than what he seemed...a diamond in the rough. Perhaps you would like to hear the tale? It begins on a dark night...where an incline breaks, and a legend is shared about "The Magic Lamp". Let's take a look...
THE MAGIC LAMP: Peter Sam is told a story about a magical engine named Proteus and his magic lamp. He thinks the lamp is silly, but notices strange things during his evening job.
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Whether you are a longtime veteran or a newcomer to the Thomas fandom, I think we can all collectively agree that Thomas and the Magic Railroad's biggest detriment was...well, the magic. Think about it - Thomas is a series that for years has been revered for its realism. This is why it stood the test of time for nearly eighty years and why so many of us still like it all these years after childhood. The stories inspired by real events that happened in the real world are the ones we all remember the most. An engine running off the turntable into a ditch doesn't seem outlandish because it actually happened. An engine and a steamroller facing off and causing a collision didn't seem unrealistic because it actually happened. An engine nearly running off a cliff, an engine falling into a mine shaft, an engine crashing through a station wall, an engine trekking through a flooded track, engines being put onto scrap lines - you get the idea. Sodor seemed like a real place. Then came along Magic Railroad that told us that the engines are alive because of some magic engine living in a parallel dimension and Sodor is some magical land separate from the real world that you can only get to using gold dust and how the engines all can just now drive themselves and don't actually need people to operate them and people can be put in the craziest of scenarios and not get hurt and how apparently animals and plants have the ability to talk to the engines. See what I mean? While "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" thankfully doesn't seem to be canon since Season 6 chose to ignore the movie completely like nothing happened, the movie kinda tainted the reputatuin the show. And it wasn't the last time they'd pull this, if what we know about The Adventures of Thomas is correct.
So, you might be wondering "what could be worse than one magical engine that doomed the franchise's future and its reputation with the general public"? Two magical engines, because of course there has to be more! Now, I may have enjoyed this episode back when I first saw it on the "Tales From The Tracks" DVD. But looking back on it after many years, it shouldn't be to anybody's surprise that my thoughts on "The Magic Lamp" have changed drastically since then. While I do like that Skarloey is the one who tells this story to the engines as it does feel like a return to form for him as the wise and old leader of the team, I don't like the fact that this is a Peter Sam story. For him to be the critical one of the little engines, this doesn't make any sense to me. Normally, Peter Sam would be fully interested to hear such a story considering that he was excited to hear about how Rheneas saved the railway back in Season 4's "Gallant Old Engine". But the fact that he just instantly turns the other cheek is so not like him. If anything, I could see this role being more suitable for Duncan because he's had experiences with these types of stories. I mean, he shot down Rusty in the beginning of "Duncan Gets Spooked" with the ghost of the little engine, he would never be this quick to believe in a magic story. And of course, this is our typical "three strikes, you're out" formula that came into being during this season and would only get worse and worse until the Brenner Era began. But interestingly enough, these aren't nearly as annoying yet they're still kind of goofy. I guess the other thing that I have to criticize here is the writing style. You can definitely tell that this is a Miller Era episode courtesy of the annoying rhyming which I'm sick of hearing two to three times.
And finally, the one aspect that I've complained about numerous times is the concept of Proteus. To me, this character isn't interesting at all, his design is lazy since it's just Sir Handel's basis but painted yellow which probably explains how Sir Handel came back in the following season, and I'm not buying the fact that Proteus was a real engine regardless of what Season 12's Mountain Marvel tries to say. You could give me every reason why he does what he does and my response to you would be "I don't believe you". And with the narration aside, this is one of the very few times where I'm not really digging the voice acting here from Michael Brandon. Apart from maybe two voices, I really don't like how the rest of the voices sound here, especially Peter Sam with his Southern accent. The more you look into it, there's just nothing redeemable and nothing can change my mind about "The Magic Lamp" unless you count the fact that this was the final episode to feature Peter Sam's original Small Scale model prop before being bought by the fandom's very own OGThomasFan which was actually publicly unveiled last year back at the premiere of "An Unlikely Fandom". But even then, that's not exactly the highest praise to give to an episode that did nothing but remind us all to be careful what we wish for and that is why I'm giving "The Magic Lamp" a rating of a 1.5/5.
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