ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - Steady Eddie

While it is true that we did get Edward episodes in the HIT Era of Thomas & Friends, many fans don't even count these because his character is just completely and utterly wrong to the point where they don't even consider it Edward.  Many fans detest Edward in the HiT Era because he's usually always portrayed as old and pathetic and full of self-doubt of which you can all blame on the HIT Era Production Bible for that one.  "Edward the Great" is the only one that I and many others would call decent, but it still suffers from the fact everyone thinks Edward is a pathetic loser.  And then, you get ones like "Edward Strikes Out" where Edward just acts like a jerk for no reason. This isn't Edward, this is just James in Edward's clothing.  As far as I'm concerned, the only eras that get Edward correct are the Classics and the Brenner Era to an extent where he's aged, wise and experienced.

This is where I can understand the struggle that comes with writing for him.  Stories with lessons come from having a flawed protagonist that makes a mistake and learns from it and thus the audience as well.  If you wanna give Edward some character flaws, have at it, buy you can't write him as super flawed, because then he'd be out of character as per the HiT Era. So since it's in Edward's character to not make mistakes, he has very few stories. Some people might say that makes Edward a bland as well as half-baked and uninteresting character since there's not really that much to him on the surface, but I wholeheartedly disagree.  That is, unless you're the one who's stuck reviewing what is easily one of both Edward's worst episodes and also one of Edward's worst portrayals as we meet "Steady Eddie"!

STEADY EDDIE: Edward takes a brass water wheel on the scenic route to Great Waterton to show off to his friends, and as a result, loses it.

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Remember how I said that "Edward Strikes Out" was easily one of Edward's worst episodes simply because he was acting more like James than himself?  Well, this episode is the epitome of that. I really don't even know where to start with this one, this is sadly yet another of the small handful of episodes from the HIT Era that had ruined Edward's character.  Since when in all the years that we've known this old and wise engine does he care about being noticed for his oh so magnificent waterwheel?  Do not, I repeat, DO NOT go full James on us, Eddie!  Now, I think it has already been pointed out that the Season 22 episode "The Water Wheel" is yet a rehash of this episode once again but on some major doses of crack.  Heck, even the name "Steady Eddie" doesn't make any sense at all.  What kind of chicanery is this? Where did this nickname all of a sudden come from? And it isn't just Edward who got this treatment during the HIT Era, you've also got "Trusty Rusty" and "Excellent Emily".  What did any of these characters do to deserve these nicknames? Nothing...well, not to my knowledge, at least. I'm getting so sick and tired of all these episodes with poorly executed writing for old characters such as Edward.  Here's an idea, write them the way that they are supposed to be written. Simple.

Enough of this already, and I'm not just saying that about the model-CGI hybrid style which had potential to work for the future of the franchise had it been given more time to be used and had it been used for better writing than this ever will be. I can't even try to defend this one, and as such, it's a well-deserved 0.5/5.

Final Rating: 0.5/5

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