This is so wrong, and yet so very right. I don't dare show it to my kids, though - there's a fair chance that they would force me to keep playing it for years to come...
Showing posts with label Thomas the Tank Engine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thomas the Tank Engine. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
The Terror At Brendam Docks
Secondborn, as I've mentioned before, has an ardent love for Thomas The Tank Engine, and for the Thomas and Friends videos and toys. He's even managed to infect his older brother. Granted, Firstborn doesn't have quite the same level of afición as Secondborn, but he will actually ask to watch Thomas DVDs.
And the Thomas DVDs are... strange. Or at least, some of them are; and there's an odd and intriguing progression in their development.
In other series - Transformers, say, just to pick an example - there's an established set of characters with an established set of qualities: skills, weaknesses, personalities, and looks. Periodically the series will undergo a reboot, and at that point the characters (and perhaps the entire setting) will be given new qualities, a new look and feel, and perhaps a new story dynamic.
Thomas and Friends, however, doesn't seem all that concerned with consistency. Insofar as there's an actual "reboot", it seems to come in the transition from the written stories to the television (and later movie) episodes. Even so, the early videos draw heavily from the stories. These are actually my favorites: they tend to be short and episodic, often with a little moral homily (but not too heavy-handed), and they're filmed entirely using model trains and tracks - no CGI. Even the people in them are just little wooden models. And they manage brilliantly using just those resources. They're also extremely consistent about the characters - their personalities, what they do, how they talk and interact.
A bit later in, you can see where the producers started cleaning some things up to make the show more appealing to American (and possibly just modern) audiences. The Fat Controller becomes "Sir Topham Hatt". Some of the more pronounced accents disappear. It's just a few little changes, and easy enough to ignore.
But you can also see where they started to run out of source material. The Rev W Awdry and his son Christopher only wrote so many stories. And the writers who produce the scripts for later episodes are very obviously not the same people; they aren't as obsessive about the details of railways, so you have some episodes where (I'm fairly sure, though I can't cite an example) engines who were previously confined to Narrow Gauge Tracks now freely roam about the standard-width rail lines. They also don't have the same feel for the characters and dialogue: Gordon, for example, is still presented as Proud and Strong (and occasionally a bit conceited), and he still pulls the Express; but the Gordon in the later episodes just doesn't sound like the Gordon in the earlier episodes.
Where it really gets interesting, though, is when you reach the feature-length movies. Because they're... different. Really different. Really, really, different. How different?
Well, despite the changes in the series across the years - and we're talking a couple of decades, here - the television episodes are consistently set on the island of Sodor. Sodor is a world unto itself, which happens to have sentient, anthropomorphic vehicles.
The first of the full-length Thomas movies, Thomas and the Magic Railroad, makes a rather radical departure in terms of both setting and story dynamic. Start with the "magic railroad" part - previously, Sodor has not had any sort of magic at all. Yes, the trains and other vehicles have faces and talk, but that's considered perfectly normal and natural. The movie introduces live-action actors, and makes Sodor into a magical other world accessible from our own - Wonderland, perhaps. Or maybe Narnia is a better comparison, since Sodor is also now threatened by the evil Diesel 10 - who was previously just a cranky, scary engine. (In the same vein, diesels and steam engines were frequently presented as rivals, but never as enemies. In fact, prior to this, the island of Sodor essentially lacked villains entirely.)
The next movie - I think; I'm a little shaky on the production sequence, here. Anyway... Calling All Engines ignores these developments entirely. It's done in the older style, with model trains, and focuses on the rivalry between the "steamies" and the diesel engines. Note, however, that there are no actual villains here; it's just a rivalry that turns into a series of pranks, which escalate until nobody can get anything done.
...And then we come to Misty Island Rescue - and we change genres again. If Thomas and the Magic Railroad is Thomas in Narnia, then Misty Island Rescue is Thomas on Treasure Island. Seriously; there's a point early in the film where Thomas is drifting on a raft at sea. He finally washes up on a beach, and his raft is perfectly aligned with a set of train tracks that run straight down the beach to the edge of the sea. This only makes any sort of sense at all once you realize that you're watching a boy's adventure story in which the boy has been replaced by a train. Even the soundtrack sounds like it's right out of Pirates of the Caribbean.
The last entry in my list - that being a list of Thomas Movies That I Have Seen - is Blue Mountain Mystery. As the name suggests, we've changed genres yet again... Thomas has taken it upon himself to investigate a tragic incident that happened at the docks many years ago. (Also, several of the narrow gauge engines have mysteriously acquired what I think are meant to be Jamaican accents.)
Now, there are several other movies in there, which I haven't seen - Hero of the Rails and Day of the Diesels, at the very least - so this pattern where each new movie places Thomas in a new and different genre may not hold together as well as I think it does. But if that really is the pattern, then I have a suggestion for what I'd like to see them do next:
Thomas puffed happily along his branch line... 
Then there was trouble! 
Thomas puffed as hard as his pistons would push! 
The giant monster just kept coming! 
Oh, no! Will our friend Thomas manage to escape?
And the Thomas DVDs are... strange. Or at least, some of them are; and there's an odd and intriguing progression in their development.
In other series - Transformers, say, just to pick an example - there's an established set of characters with an established set of qualities: skills, weaknesses, personalities, and looks. Periodically the series will undergo a reboot, and at that point the characters (and perhaps the entire setting) will be given new qualities, a new look and feel, and perhaps a new story dynamic.
Thomas and Friends, however, doesn't seem all that concerned with consistency. Insofar as there's an actual "reboot", it seems to come in the transition from the written stories to the television (and later movie) episodes. Even so, the early videos draw heavily from the stories. These are actually my favorites: they tend to be short and episodic, often with a little moral homily (but not too heavy-handed), and they're filmed entirely using model trains and tracks - no CGI. Even the people in them are just little wooden models. And they manage brilliantly using just those resources. They're also extremely consistent about the characters - their personalities, what they do, how they talk and interact.
A bit later in, you can see where the producers started cleaning some things up to make the show more appealing to American (and possibly just modern) audiences. The Fat Controller becomes "Sir Topham Hatt". Some of the more pronounced accents disappear. It's just a few little changes, and easy enough to ignore.
But you can also see where they started to run out of source material. The Rev W Awdry and his son Christopher only wrote so many stories. And the writers who produce the scripts for later episodes are very obviously not the same people; they aren't as obsessive about the details of railways, so you have some episodes where (I'm fairly sure, though I can't cite an example) engines who were previously confined to Narrow Gauge Tracks now freely roam about the standard-width rail lines. They also don't have the same feel for the characters and dialogue: Gordon, for example, is still presented as Proud and Strong (and occasionally a bit conceited), and he still pulls the Express; but the Gordon in the later episodes just doesn't sound like the Gordon in the earlier episodes.
Where it really gets interesting, though, is when you reach the feature-length movies. Because they're... different. Really different. Really, really, different. How different?
Well, despite the changes in the series across the years - and we're talking a couple of decades, here - the television episodes are consistently set on the island of Sodor. Sodor is a world unto itself, which happens to have sentient, anthropomorphic vehicles.
The first of the full-length Thomas movies, Thomas and the Magic Railroad, makes a rather radical departure in terms of both setting and story dynamic. Start with the "magic railroad" part - previously, Sodor has not had any sort of magic at all. Yes, the trains and other vehicles have faces and talk, but that's considered perfectly normal and natural. The movie introduces live-action actors, and makes Sodor into a magical other world accessible from our own - Wonderland, perhaps. Or maybe Narnia is a better comparison, since Sodor is also now threatened by the evil Diesel 10 - who was previously just a cranky, scary engine. (In the same vein, diesels and steam engines were frequently presented as rivals, but never as enemies. In fact, prior to this, the island of Sodor essentially lacked villains entirely.)
The next movie - I think; I'm a little shaky on the production sequence, here. Anyway... Calling All Engines ignores these developments entirely. It's done in the older style, with model trains, and focuses on the rivalry between the "steamies" and the diesel engines. Note, however, that there are no actual villains here; it's just a rivalry that turns into a series of pranks, which escalate until nobody can get anything done.
...And then we come to Misty Island Rescue - and we change genres again. If Thomas and the Magic Railroad is Thomas in Narnia, then Misty Island Rescue is Thomas on Treasure Island. Seriously; there's a point early in the film where Thomas is drifting on a raft at sea. He finally washes up on a beach, and his raft is perfectly aligned with a set of train tracks that run straight down the beach to the edge of the sea. This only makes any sort of sense at all once you realize that you're watching a boy's adventure story in which the boy has been replaced by a train. Even the soundtrack sounds like it's right out of Pirates of the Caribbean.
The last entry in my list - that being a list of Thomas Movies That I Have Seen - is Blue Mountain Mystery. As the name suggests, we've changed genres yet again... Thomas has taken it upon himself to investigate a tragic incident that happened at the docks many years ago. (Also, several of the narrow gauge engines have mysteriously acquired what I think are meant to be Jamaican accents.)
Now, there are several other movies in there, which I haven't seen - Hero of the Rails and Day of the Diesels, at the very least - so this pattern where each new movie places Thomas in a new and different genre may not hold together as well as I think it does. But if that really is the pattern, then I have a suggestion for what I'd like to see them do next:
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Sodor Railways Exposé
Welcome to the Island of Sodor, boys and girls. Nice place, isn't it? Really lovely. I'm Diesel, by the way. Pleased to meet you.
I know, I know. You don't want me. You want Thomas. Story of my life, kids. And you don't like me at all. You all think I'm the mean one. I'm the one who's always causing trouble for the Thomas and rest of the steamies. Let me tell you, kids, you don't know how it is. None of you have any idea what it's like around here.
Thomas? Thomas doesn't see it. He doesn't have to. Why should he worry? He's the Fat Controller's favorite. What? Oh, right, you're Americans - you call him Sir Topham Hatt. Well, around here he's the Fat Controller, the terror of every train that works his railway.
Oh, sure, he likes to look good in public. Presents himself as stern but fair, maybe a little gruff, but working hard to make sure everything gets done on time. It's all propaganda, boys and girls. He hired a PR firm about five years back, to promote the island and manage his public image, and that was the best they could do with him.
You want to know why I spend so much time trying to make the other engines look bad? Why I keep doing things to prove that I'm better and more useful? Why I try to get the others in trouble?
It's because I have to. It's the only way to be safe.
You have to understand, the Fat Controller runs this island. Nothing happens here unless he allows it. The Mayor? Just a figurehead. So are all the rest. Even the Vicar is in the Fat Controller's pocket. And if you don't go along with the Fat Controller's program, well... he makes sure there are consequences. Do you know that he once had a steamy bricked up in a tunnel?
For an engine, that's some serious Cask of Amontillado-type nightmare fuel. And that's not the worst of it. Nobody talks about what happens when you aren't a Really Useful Engine anymore, but we all know. If you're not Really Useful, you're scrap. If you can't be repaired, it's the Smelter's Yard for you.
So I'll do whatever it takes to make sure the Fat Controller knows just how Really Useful I am, how much better than all the other engines. I have to.
It's the only security I have.
I know, I know. You don't want me. You want Thomas. Story of my life, kids. And you don't like me at all. You all think I'm the mean one. I'm the one who's always causing trouble for the Thomas and rest of the steamies. Let me tell you, kids, you don't know how it is. None of you have any idea what it's like around here.
Thomas? Thomas doesn't see it. He doesn't have to. Why should he worry? He's the Fat Controller's favorite. What? Oh, right, you're Americans - you call him Sir Topham Hatt. Well, around here he's the Fat Controller, the terror of every train that works his railway.
Oh, sure, he likes to look good in public. Presents himself as stern but fair, maybe a little gruff, but working hard to make sure everything gets done on time. It's all propaganda, boys and girls. He hired a PR firm about five years back, to promote the island and manage his public image, and that was the best they could do with him.
You want to know why I spend so much time trying to make the other engines look bad? Why I keep doing things to prove that I'm better and more useful? Why I try to get the others in trouble?
It's because I have to. It's the only way to be safe.
You have to understand, the Fat Controller runs this island. Nothing happens here unless he allows it. The Mayor? Just a figurehead. So are all the rest. Even the Vicar is in the Fat Controller's pocket. And if you don't go along with the Fat Controller's program, well... he makes sure there are consequences. Do you know that he once had a steamy bricked up in a tunnel?
For an engine, that's some serious Cask of Amontillado-type nightmare fuel. And that's not the worst of it. Nobody talks about what happens when you aren't a Really Useful Engine anymore, but we all know. If you're not Really Useful, you're scrap. If you can't be repaired, it's the Smelter's Yard for you.
So I'll do whatever it takes to make sure the Fat Controller knows just how Really Useful I am, how much better than all the other engines. I have to.
It's the only security I have.
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