Yeah, I'm just scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point.
For the past five years, we've dedicated the month of October to reviewing the spooky episodes of Thomas and, truth be told, I think we've done all of them. There may be one or two in the future we can reserve, but right now, the well has run dry. This is why I also reviewed Helping Hiro earlier this month, which even I will admit is a stretch. As a result, this will be the first time I delve into the spin-off series, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company. But the question is, will it be the last? Well, let's begin.
Contrary to this episode's title, Kelly tells the pack a story about the One Eyed Truck, prompting some fresh pranks from Max and Monty. But when they're sent into the woods...well, you know how this story goes.
This story has been told time and time again where the leads hear a spooky tale about a mysterious, ghostly character, brush it off at first, but then hear a strange noise and assume it's said character, yada yada. This series has done this type of thing before, hell, even I've had a hand in it with Tenders of Terror. But what does make this episode work is the moments with Max and Monty playing pranks before they encounter the One Eyed Truck. Having them prank the others does set up the scene as the moment they get their comeuppance rather than them just seeing the ghost. It's not the most original spin, but it works.
However, the main problem is, like a lot of Jack and the Sodor Construction Company episodes, the title. Say you're someone who's never heard of the spinoff and you see the title "Percy's Scary Tale" - and then you watch it and Percy barely plays any role in the story - you'd feel ripped off, right? While this false advertising isn't "A Visit From Thomas" bad, it's still blatant how these titles are only here to coerce fans who only care about Thomas into watching it. As a result, I still think this should've had the original title, "Scaredy Scaredy" - that makes a lot more sense.
But ignoring that, this is still a fairly solid episode. Despite the generic story, it makes up for that with its execution. Is it an essential Halloween watch? Maybe not, but it's still a fun time if you ever find yourself binging Jack and the Sodor Construction Company, so I'm gonna give this a 3.5/5. But the question remains: what about next Halloween? If we've done all the Halloween episodes, what comes next? Well, we're still gonna keep up with the Halloween fanstories, but the reviews? Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Final Rating: 3.5/5
