ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - Thomas and the Special Letter
March 22, 2025
Please, can I meet you? My friends say they would like to meet you too. You could come to my house for tea, but my mommy says there aren't any railway tracks to my house. Can you come to the station instead? Thank you very much."
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Ah, "Thomas and the Special Letter", the one-hundredth episode of the original series (by UK broadcast order) and the episode that the late Britt Allcroft says partially inspired her to create "Thomas and the Magic Railroad". Heck, it was even the episode that they went behind the scenes for in the Bookmark documentary "The Thomas the Tank Engine Man"! That's how iconic this episode is for both kids and adults who grew up watching it, and I'm not just talking about the fact that there's also merchandise of the episode as well ranging from Take-Along play scenes to puzzles. I mean, wow, what a great episode to celebrate what was at the time the fiftieth anniversary of the Railway Series and the one-hundredth episode of the television series.
Now, this is personally one of my favorite episodes, so my thoughts on it are obviously going to be biased. But then again, I have yet to find a single person in this fandom who doesn't like this episode. What's so great about it is that it's focused on all of the standard gauge engines who had been introduced in the series at the time and the setting looked fantastic along with the accident even if this is the only appearance of Thomas' Ramp in the entire series. While true that the engines were to line up with each other in the Railway Series book version, I think that they could've based it off the National Railway Museum's Great Hall which I've actually gotten to see in person during my U.K. vacation back in 2010. Just remove the viewing platform that the two locomotive crew members were on, and you're all done! If they have adapted "Thomas and the Great Railway Show", then they could've kept the shed for the museum hall for Thomas being on display.
With that said, is this a perfect episode? Well...almost. Even the best eras of Thomas weren't perfect. Aside from the accident being amazingly filmed, there are a few flaws. In the Railway Series version, Thomas was only smashed into some buffers as there was not a brick wall never seen nor heard. Also, it's a shame that we never get to see Pug or Jinty as Thomas characters as I think that they would've been great instead of not using the engines that Sir Topham Hatt already owns. On top of that, why only have engines like Donald and Douglas or Oliver or BoCo do the engines' work when there's an entire island of engines and other vehicles that can take on everything? And finally, there is also one scene in the Railway Series version where Thomas was being told off by Sir Topham Hatt for being careless just before they leave for England and I think that it should've been include as it would've shown kids what reckless accidents can do before important days especially when this was the last big accident that Thomas had before he had become the mature and respectable leader that he was in the very next season. But truth be told, that's pretty much who Thomas has always been as much as there are some people who don't want to admit it. Don't get me wrong, the episode is great, yet I can't help but think that they should've adapted it closely towards the story.
But regardless, "Thomas and the Special Letter" is still a classic and a great way to celebrate two big milestones in the brand's history which is why I'm giving it a rating of a 4.5/5. Because after all, isn't it wonderful what happiness a letter can bring?
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