I always loved Brandon's narration. He's always been my personal favorite. He may have some inconsistent voices and some of them may not be great, but I still adore what he's given us. But I also appreciate the other narrators we had to offer.
Yes!! Michael Brandon definitely deserved to be recognized for what he done in Thomas and Friends and that’s coming from someone who grew up with his narration and sure he may not be perfect but he does at least give off some energy for the characters he voiced!!
I've always had a soft spot for Brandon and this video made me appreciate him more. He's not perfect, but you can tell he had a lot of fun voicing for Thomas. Really good video!
Thank you! Honest opinions finally about Brandon! He really isn’t that bad like ppl make him out to be. Sure, he’s not the greatest ever but he doesn’t deserved to be looked down upon
I feel like Brandon really does deserve a little more respect as his role in the series, as someone who grew up with the HiT era and some of the classic series narrated by the US narrators, I honestly felt Michael Brandon was on par with their performances but still unique as he provided a lot of energy into his own during a time of the show that was kinda balls off the walls and meandering.
I grew up with the HiT Era when i was little but even though I've experienced multiple narrators before, I have a soft spot for Michael Brandon's narrations cause I'm always enjoyed by it from the voices he does and his speech in general just makes it feel very "homemade-ish" and it feels very familiar even if you don't recognize him right away Despite what people say: It made me have alot of respect for the HiT Era and I'll always cherish his narrations from beginning to end
I’ve always loved Michael Brandon, he has a soft spot in my heart, as I grew up with the Thomas and the Jet Engine and Percy Saves The Day DVD’s as a toddler.
I'm gonna be real, I have a soft spot for Brandon. He may not be my favorite, but he did have good energy during his time on the series. Especially some of his voices (no wonder he still voiced characters after the transition to CGI). also i grew up with brandon
Michael Brandon will always be my favorite narrator and the voice of Diesel. I also agree that he doesn’t deserve to be hated and that by listening to his narration carefully, then you’ll see the difference of energy, tone, and character voices.
Interesting on him, I heard his voice during the 13-16 series and movies and he is great in it. For season 7-12, he is also good despite not really expose to it.
From what I've seen, while Brandon was never the strongest during the Hit Era (that would be Pierce Brosnan), he was miles ahead of Angelis when it came to the US dub from seasons 8-16, mainly for his energy (Angelis was so low on energy after season 7, especially during the Nitrogen Era)
You had no idea that I was waiting for a video like this because I always enjoyed Michael Brandon's narration so much during my younger years of watching the show! I see the enthusiasm Michael Brandon's performance and he deserves more credit as a consistent Thomas narrator. Just seeing the hate he gets just doesn't make sense to me when he did a better job of making the most boring era of Thomas be a little bit more tolerable to watch. Great job on this video!
Brandon does deserve more respect. His character voices are bad, but I do think his energy in the HiT Era does make it a bit more exciting. However, I am tired of the Baldwin hate that I’ve been seeing recently. Season 5 Baldwin is great. He has so much energy, his cartoony voices are goofy, yes, but they work because they’re in contrast with his more dramatic narration. I use his Henry voice from Season 5 in my series. Season 6 Baldwin, I like because while shit like Middle Engine and Twin Trouble exist, he has a voice that I enjoy listening to, and he does give Salty and Elizabeth good voices, not to mention STH.
Brandon is one narrator I’ve grown to liked, and have the most nostalgic with of watching the show during the PBS kids. He is inconsistent with his range of voices, but he has a certain charm to his narration that can be enjoyable for both ironic and unironic reasons. Also, yeah Brandon peak in the HIT era and is a millions times better than Angelis who sounded bored. Another thing, Brandon does better than Baldwin in most areas
He’s not as bad as other people say he is. I LOVE his enthusiasm and energy and I really like that he gave character voices. But I still hate some of his character voices (Skarloey, Rheneas, Oliver, etc.). That’s just my opinion. But I love his voice for Diesel. I just prefer Angelis TBH
Micheal Brandon is very underrated and did a great job narrating thomas and the voices are very good, Examples: Donald and Douglas, Fergus, Arthur, Salty, Toby, Duncan, Gordon, the list goes on.
While Michael Brandon isn't my preferred narrator as I got older, but I don't hate him either. In terms of his narrations in the HiT/Nitrogen eras, he has a lot of enthusiasm which I really appreciate more so than Michael Angelis. But when it comes to his character voices, it's just the voice direction that urks me. It's not his fault as someone who works with him told him to do a different voice change of a character and then in the next scene or episode he/she made him go back to doing that voice. His narrow-gauge voices (minus Duncan and Mighty Mac) turn off to listen to Angelis. But in some episodes he actually proves he can do more energy than his UK counterpart: all of Series 8, Hector the Horrid, Gordon's episodes, Thomas' Day Off, Percy & the Oil Painting Flour Power (though I'm not a fan of that ep), Big Strong Henry, Toy Shop, Flagpole, Cool Truckings, and Thomas & the Statue, just as a few examples. Even his re-narrations of No Sleep for Cranky and Red Balloon I really enjoy listening. So in the end, Michael Brandon is kinda overhated. He may be low on my narrator rank, but his energy shouldn't go undenied.
Another Michael Brandon supporter. Is he George Carlin level? Not even close, but I love his enthusiasm for the series. For me, MB captures the "Storyteller reading stories to children" essence better than anyone apart from maybe Mark Moraghan, and I appreciate that above all others. The reason people hate him comes down to his voices, which is fair to a limit, but at the same time, look at Ringo Starr. People look back fondly on his tenure, and yet his character voices are practically nonexistent, so speaking as a Ringo Starr loyalist (especially for his music), if we can love Ringo despite his faults, I don't see why we can't do the same for Mike.
I will say, it’s nice to have Michael Brandon with the original music on one DVD, which is a nice combination. He definitely had a lot of great moments, and his enthusiasm does pay off in several cases, especially ad-libbed lines. If I was to narrate Thomas episodes myself, it would be a combination of every English narrator, Ringo Starr, George Carlin, Michael Angelis, Alec Baldwin, Michael Brandon, and Mark Moraghan, while trying to have my own unique take, because there’s so much that can be done, even today.
I've always personally enjoyed Michael Brandon's narration as he was the narrator I grew up with the most. Sure some of his voices for characters aren't perfect but you can tell that he was having fun with this show. Great video btw.
15:26 Alec Baldwin… oh poor Baldwin, Some people say he might be boring or wasn’t even trying at all, I disagree, i believe what was entirely true, Baldwin was relaxed and he had very great accents for the new characters, plus if he was still in his Series 5 roots, would you like to listen to Bill and Ben being Mickey Mouse for a whole
Yeah I agree Alec Baldwin wasn't that bad as a Thomas voice actor and one of the few people who really likes him in both seasons 5 and 6 and tmtmr but I really like he's storytelling in season 6 and if you ask me I think he better then in season 5 but that's me
Michael Brandon Is One Of My Favourite Narrator Since I Grew Up The US Dub With The Show Since The US Dub Also Aired In Canada. I Was Quite Sad When He Stepped Down As The US Narrator When The Show Reached It’s 17th Season And Replaced With Mark Moraghan From S17-21. No Offence To Mark Or Any Of The Other English Narrators, Ringo Star, George Carlin, Michael Angelis And Alec Baldwin, Their Also Good Narrators. But Michael Brandon Will Forever Be My Favourite Narrator. Edit: I Also Like The Little Mashup Of The Engine Roll Call And Join Us For A Bite At 18:20
Ramblings incoming, but TL;DR I agree, Michael Brandon is very over-hated. I definitely have a soft spot for Michael Brandon as well, seeing as I grew up while the show was in the HiT era. Something else I'd also argue is that Michael Brandon's voices aren't the issue; the writing and portrayal of many of the characters is. As an example, let's look at Skarloey, since he's definitely got one of Brandon's most infamous voices. Obviously, his portrayal in the HiT era was very VERY questionable, but in my opinion, Michael Brandon gave this version of Skarloey a very fitting voice. I mean Skarloey, the wise old badass, was effectively reduced to a pathetic, bumbling child, so what did Michael Brandon do? He gave him a whiny, nasally, childish voice. Is the voice annoying? Honestly, yeah. Yeah it is, but that's also partially due to the fact that in the HiT era, Skarloey himself was incredibly annoying. I'm sure if he had been written to be more in-character, Brandon would've given him a voice more befitting of that personality (possibly something more akin to the voice he gave to Sir Handel) because Brandon had the range to do that! I mean, I see plenty of praise for the voice he gave to Diesel, which is another voice that I find to be very fitting of the character. The only difference between HiT era Diesel and HiT era Skarloey is that Diesel was not botched as horrifically as Skarloey was from a writing standpoint, so his Diesel voice sounds more fitting and less jarring in general. The writing plays a huge part. I think Michael Brandon's range and energy are also both factors that made him a good narrator. Was his narration a bit over-the-top? For sure, but it was incredibly engaging, and I think that's important for a show like model-era Thomas, which was reliant on its narrator to convey the emotions of these characters who don't have animated faces that can just change on a whim to convey the most accurate emotions. It is also important to remember that the target audience of the show, especially the HiT era, was younger children. Keeping that in mind, I think that Michael Brandon did a great job narrating the show in a way that was engaging and entertaining to children; I mean, I sure enjoyed it when I was younger! Though Michael Brandon is not my preferred narrator nowadays, I can still appreciate what he did for the show, and I think there's a lot more nuance to his narration than simply, "oh, but the voices he did are annoying!"
I'll say this, Michael Brandon is at least more tolerable than Alec Baldwin was. Given that he actually bothered to give Duncan, Donald, and Douglas Scottish accents. But he still can't hold a candle to Ringo Starr, George Carlin, or Michael Angelis (Seasons 3-7).
The reason Michael Brandon is my least favorite is simply because to me his narration feels either out of place or like it's done in a way that feels very heavy-handed, like he's talking down to the audience. Pretty sure that's the voice direction and not Brandon himself, but it certainly doesn't help that he narrated an of the show where most of the stories were dumbed down. While he may have his moments I feel his narration drags on. Ngl his narration coupled with the poor story quality stopped my interest in the show for a while. I haven't watched the UK dubs of Series 13-16 but just given that CGI Angelis clip I'm pretty sure with him they'd actually be bearable. Baldwin meanwhile is above him due to the fact he only really had one bad season, because unlike Brandon who had 8, Baldwin only had two. And the fact that Brandon's narration was consistent for those eight seasons makes it all run together. At least Baldwin has variety, for better or worse, that makes it interesting to watch regardless of quality.
In my honest opinion, Michael Brandon isn’t my worst Thomas narrator, but more so average despite a few flaws with some of his character voices. And that statement about the narration from Pippa Peg was really hilarious and still gets me every time! LOL
I always loved Micheal Brandon’s narration, and never understood why people hated on him, sure he’s not perfect, neither are any of the other narrators
As an American, I grew up with the HIT Era and Michael Brandon as the narrator. I’m super nostalgic for the years it was on PBS Kids. IMO Pierce Brosnan was the worst narrator. To this day I still wonder why Brandon left the show…
WELL, AS IT JUST SO HAPPENS, SOME OF THE WELL-KNOWN THOMAS & FRIENDS MOVIES FEATURED IN MY OWN OFFICIAL MOVIE COLLECTION ALONGSIDE THE SHOW'S OWN OFFICIAL CLASSIC ERA'S COMPLETE 7TH SEASON ALONGSIDE THE SHOW'S OWN OFFICIAL COMPLETE FULL CGI ANIMATION ERA'S COMPLETE 16TH SEASON CERTAINLY HAPPEN TO ACTUALLY USE MICHAEL BRANDON'S NARRATION!! TAKE MISTY ISLAND RESCUE FOR INSTANCE!!! In other words for another awesomely excellently excellent well-known fact, I've absolutely got tons of respect towards Michael Brandon!!!!!
I also Michael Brandon is underrated I think people's views of him are just tainted by the fact that many of the stories he's narrating are bad or worse When he's narrating Season 7 or a HiT era gem he actually sounds quite good I actually think he's better than George Carlin who I think is overrated
I cant fully enjoy him due to his voices genuinely making my ears feel uncomfortable, but I do admire his range. The diesel voice doesn't hurt my ears. It's very good.
There are even some edited versions of episodes like "Gordon Takes a Tumble", which Brandon also narrated. But instead of Harshorne's music, it's replaced with the original Season 6 score. With that setup, I believe that is the best way to watch "Gordon Takes a Tumble". You have the original score and the energy of Michael Brandon along with his little adlibs. Here's the video for those who are curious. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--pMi-CP4OI8.html
While I'm not a fan of Brandon's narrations at all. This was a well put together video and it had some good points While I find Brandon... just too annoying for my taste, I do understand why people like him. Great job with the video
You know what? I think that Michael Bradon does need to be reconised since I think that he was one of the amazing Narrators for "Thomas The Tank Engine" ever AND he's also the greatest actor that I have ever seen!
Yeah, some of the voices Brandon gave to certain characters were weird and he had a tendency to overact in season 7 and the season six episodes HiT redubbed, but I don’t think he was an outright terrible narrator by any means.
Tbh, I mostly grew up with Brandon hit era episodes: I can very much agree with the list here, though Brandon and Angelis in hit era: it’s a newfound debate to me. With this video I’m in favor of Brandon though.
Eh AB is better in both seasons 5 and 6 then MB but don't get me wrong MB is but and know some people are to heat me for saying but I think AB is better than both MA conbone but that's just my opinion but every since some people back in the 2010s said that they don't like him for some stupid reason so am going to defend AB season 6 story telling and that's about it
I have always liked Brandon's narrations while yea his voices can be bad at times I don't really care because I am having a fun time with his narrations not say that angelis is bad but by season 9 I just get board with is narrations and imo make the HiT era less enjoyable Brandon imo also just fits this era better given where the show was going at that time.
Well you're not wrong about the region preference, there are lots of people that like narrators simply because they're from the same country as them. I'll tell you what though. My 2nd favorite narrator is Mark Moraghan. Only George was better than him.