If you were to ask any longtime fan of Thomas the Tank Engine what their thoughts were on the 'Big World, Big Adventures' rebrand of the original television series as a whole, they would more often than not tell you that the objectively biggest problem with the rebrand and the thing I think most fans agree is the least enticing aspect about it is that the international episodes have to exist because of how former series producer Ian McCue pitched the rebrand to Mattel since they wanted to literally take Thomas to the countries in the show they wanted to expand the brand in. Fleshing out the international cast would help too, but the problem is none of these characters feel like they were inspired since they feel like they were invented out of obligation just to give Thomas someone to talk to and the overwhelming majority of them are so one-note and forgettable. They actually did an episode with Yong Bao at the tail-end of Season 24 called "Yong Bao and the Tiger", and I honestly find that to be the season's best episode, but even at that, it did feel like too little, too late, as just like anything in life, with every beginning comes an ending as well. And now that Yong Bao's first official visit to the Island of Sodor that started this season off on a high note has come to an end as he prepares to go back to his home in China, just what was the greatest gift that we will remember about this episode?
The answer to that question is...quite a lot, actually. Rather it be the beginning of Sir Topham Hatt's farewell speech being a reference to Abraham Lincoln's iconic Gettysburg Address, the fact that this episode is the first in general for all of 'Thomas & Friends' history where Yong Bao interacts with Sir Topham Hatt or even the 'A Gift To Remember' song which oddly sounds like this franchise's version of Ludwig van Beethoven's ninth symphony 'Ode to Joy', there was just so much about this episode that makes it worth remembering in my opinion, even if the plot does feel similar to Season 13's "The Biggest Present of All" and Season 24's "Kenji on the Rails Again" which are among some of my favorite episodes not just from the CGI Series of Thomas, but also among my favorite episodes from the entirety of the original series as a whole.
But even then as you would expect, similarity issues don't bother me as long as they can do something new and improve on its concept and I'm so happy to say that 'Something To Remember' did just that in order to make it something to remember-pun intended-not just from this season of All Engines Go, but also from the entirety of this reboot thus I am proud to give 'Something To Remember' a rating of an 4/5. Farewell, Yong Bao, and as always, go get 'em, tiger!
