The first two series are the golden age of the TVS. They play like slightly abridged audiobooks of The Railway Series with moving illustrations. Each story naturally follows on from the previous and we get to see the world grow and develop.
‘Moving illustrations’ is a very good way to describe the first series. Everything’s framed like a picture in a children’s storybook, but the subject of the image is in actual motion. This was done as an extremely clever way to turn a problem into an asset. During the first season, they were working out of a small repurposed room, not a proper studio. They simply did not have the room necessary for filming besides from fixed angles. Rather than try to include lots of camera movements anyway, they optimized each set for the static shooting angle. They focused the majority of fine details into the foreground, creating filming sets that didn’t necessarily look good from every angle, just from the one that they were filming from. This produced a ‘storybook illustration’ appearance that synergized with the story being told through narration and the colorful toylike design of the characters. When they got a proper studio for the second series, they were able to produce moving shots on sets with fine details everywhere, replacing the ‘moving storybook picture’ feeling of the first series with a more immersive, real-seeming one.
I see why Awdry and a lot of fans don't like it, but I will say that something about the way those stories are shot is just great! I really enjoy the James Trilogy stories more in the show than in TRS
Is it just me or does anyone else notice how much more Thomas there is in RU-vid now, with yourself (love the videos), unlucky tug, thomas1edward2henry3. Truly a lucky time for us all
Tbh these past few months with the series 5 outtakes, the concept art and TV Sodor map and the Awdry Extravaganza, it's been a fantastic time to be a Thomas fan
I love Thomas & Friends so much! It will forever be one of my all-time favorite shows. I watched it so much as a kid and I still enjoy it to this day. It's timeless!
Yeah I get what you mean. While I prefer Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure as a Christmas story, the ending of Series 1 when the engines we've met for the first time this series share their first Christmas together, it feels very wholesome.
I definitely prefer the US dub of the third episode because it’s less extreme. Like you, I can’t believe UK people thought Henry was left in the tunnel forever.
I guess the reason why ,,Henry and the Elefant “ wasn´t in season 1 was the episode ,,Tenders and Turntables “ because the run time was to for episode was to short also they scraped the story ,,Henry and the Elefant “ and the beginning of the story was in the episode ,,Tenders and Turntables “.
My top 5 episodes from series 1 are: 1. Thomas and the Breakdown Train 2. Thomas and the Trucks 3. Percy Runs Away 4. The Sad Story of Henry 5. Edward, Gordon and Henry Honourable mentions: Troublesome Trucks, Coal, The Flying Kipper, Toby and the Stout Gentleman The reason why Thomas and the Breakdown Train and Thomas and the Trucks are my two favourite episodes of the series is that we see the journey of how Thomas achieved his branch line, the moral to Thomas and the Trucks I think is told well because it gives the audience a lesson that you are not experienced in some elements of a job and I agree with the Fat Controller that Thomas does have a lot to learn when it comes to trucks, and in the following episodes Thomas sees James in trouble when the trucks are pushing leading Thomas to get the breakdown train to rescue James, this job opportunity leaded Thomas to be rewarded his branch line and his two coaches, what I’d say a happy ending to the episode. Percy Run Away not just because he’s my favourite character from the show overall, but I think it was a good first episode to have his own story and the story itself shows the risk that a runaway train could lead to a serious accident, and I felt scared for him when Gordon nearly crashed into him leading to the runaway. The Sad Story of Henry because this was a memorable episode to watch in my early childhood and I think it well written and adapted story followed by Edward, Gordon and Henry and it made sense to the show as well as the railway series. I like that episode cause it was a good follow up to Henry getting bricked into a tunnel and felt sorry for him, but in the next episode I felt happy when he was let out to help Edward and Gordon. Yes I may have gone on but that’s why I enjoyed the series 1 episodes the most growing up.
My opinion on favourite episodes has changed from series 1 since I made my comment on this video, so hear is my new top 5 and honourable mentions: Top 5 episodes 1. Thomas and the Trucks and Thomas and the Breakdown Train 2. Percy Runs Away 3. The Flying Kipper 4. Thomas and Bertie 5. The Sad Story of Henry and Edward Gordon and Henry Honourable mentions: Thomas and Gordon, James and the Coaches, Troublesome Trucks, James and the Express m, Tenders and Turntables, Coal, Toby and the Stout Gentleman, Off The Rails, Thomas’s Christmas Party.
Series 1 is in my opinion the most under appreciated season of the classic series as it’s very faithful to the adaptations of the railway series. A season that may be simplistic, but also brilliant! I always find this season, Dalby’s illustrations coming to life and I absolutely love it!
Aside from Percy's introductory episodes Trouble In The Shed and Percy Runs Away, his subsequent appearances as a side character in this series are few and brief. The story Percy And The Trousers/A Scarf For Percy featured in Henry's Railway Series book could at least been adapted (rather than waiting until Series 3), so that Percy had another episode in a central role and viewers had a little more depth into his personality. I understand that the story text's original length wouldn't stretch far enough to four and a half minutes, but I'm sure Allcroft and Mitton could still use material of their own to extend the plot, along with Awdry's permission.
First of all Luke, I have great memories of Season 1 of Thomas & Friends. I have grown with the UK, US and Latin Spanish dubs. When it first aired on Discovery Kids in Latin America, I felt happy and entusiast watching it. My Top 10 Episodes will be: 1. The Flying Kipper (Great story for the evolution of Henry) Runner-Up: Whistles and Sneezes (Two funny stories: Gordon's Whistle and Henry's Sneeze) 2. Thomas and the Breakdown Train (Best episode for Thomas' evolution) 3. Percy Runs Away (A great episode of a runaway taken very seriously with Percy and lots of nostalgia) 4. Toby and the Stout Gentleman (The best episode to introduce Toby the tram, inspired by a journey on a tram engine by the Reverend Awdry and his son Christopher) 5. Thomas and the Trucks (Great and mature lesson for Thomas and good background/theme music) 6. Down the Mine (The beginning of Thomas and Gordon's alliance) 7. Thomas, Terence and Snow (A good story with nice interactions with Thomas and Terence) 8. Thomas and Bertie (A slightly entertaining race between Thomas and Bertie) 9. Thomas and Gordon (A good introduction for Thomas and Gordon) 10. Dirty Objects ("James it's a splendid red engine", teased Toby. "And you never see his paint dirty".)
I don't know who does this better, you or the Unlucky Tug... I have my things with tug, I like his enthusiasm... Well, when it comes to the Hit Era... Ehhhhh.... He speaks about the history, characters and the episodes themselves, but here, you talk about the meanings of these stories, so now, when he talks about your channel, I just want to bounce back between your videos. Maybe watching your videos about the meanings and then Tug's video about the history about these episodes and the characters. I love this.
This was a good season to start the show. The first half really does let it down though. And Episodes like 1.Thomas and the Guard 2.Thoma's Train. But then you have Episodes like 1.The Flying Kipper 2.Thomas goes Fishing 3.Come out Henry 4.Edward,Henry and Gordon 5.Foolish Frieght Cars Are some of the best Episodes of the Season
"The law is the law and can't be changed" clearly is one moral that hasn't aged well, considering how out-dated, abusive or just downright idiotic some laws have been/are throughout history and the world at large.
Season 1 was a great start for the show. Even though it started in the Railway Series, I still think it was a good start, but it's not the best out of the classic series. They are some great episodes and even the narrator: Ringo Starr. Still Thomas & Friends started it from my childhood.
Season 1 is a perfect start to the series, really sets the bar for the next few seasons. My Top 5 5. Troublesome Trucks 4. Toby & the Stout Gentleman 3. Coal 2. Dirty Objects 1. The Flying Kipper Least Favorite: Thomas & the Guard
Nice Introducton to your review series, Luke. Good luck with the series 8 video, the Calling All Engines video, the series 9 video, the Jack & the Pack mini series video, and more. Agreed we all hate Big World Big Adventures, but you're doing well. Eight review upload, 27 more to go. Keep up the good work.
my top most favorite episodes from season 1 1 The Sad Story of Henry episode 3 UK Ringo Starr 2 Henry to the Rescue episode 4 US George Carlin 3 Tenders and Turntables episode 15 US George Carlin 4 Trouble in the Shed episode 16 US George Carlin 5 Percy Runs Away episode 17 US George Carlin 6 Toby and the Stout Gentleman episode 21 UK Ringo Starr 7 Thomas Breaks the Rules episode 22 US George Carlin Bestest season 1 episodes 8 Henry's Special Coal episode 18 US George Carlin 9 The Flying Kipper episode 19 US George Carlin
You’ve got a really good journey throughout the show’s run to analyse each season and movie in depth. As for BWBA, as much as I hate it, that will be reviewed sometime in a couple years in the future before wrapping up the show’s 37-year run, same with the specials like the Royal Engine.
saw this pop up at the side of another video thought i'd give it a look, and I like it, been a big thomas fan sin i was young despite everyone bullying me about it :( planning on watching the other videos of the other seasons after this one
I remember when I was 3 I believe was when I got my first Thomas video and then a neighbor had the first video. Anyway season one is a lovely ☺️ introduction to the island 🏝️ of Sodor and the engines who live there. I love that we get two two part episodes about Henry and the 3 part where the big engines go on strike 🪧. My top 🔝 5 favorites are; The Flying Kipper, Sad Story of Henry and Henry to the rescue, Down the mine, Toby the Tram engine, Terrence the Tractor. Also James learns a lesson and a proud day for James.
I'm right there with you. Being a huge fan of the Railways Series and the first 4 seasons of the show, it always really bothered me that they chose to adapt Henry and the Elephant, Leaves, and Paint Pots and Queens in later series. You don't get Gordon's arch and it makes absolutely no sense why Henry would go on strike in Trouble in the Shed without the incident of the elephant.
It's great that we can give constructive criticism to this show while still loving it isn't it. It may be miles better than what it is today, but it ain't flawless.
To be fair, the show was just getting off the ground and I dont think the crew could have afforded the budget for the elephant and all those circus freight cars let alone a model of the queen and all those decorations. Plus when you think more about it, would the elephant and the queen visiting stories have worked with the early S1 visuals?
@@Thomasmemoryscentral True a story of such a grand scale wouldn't really have worked as well in Series 1, but if that was the case, then I'd have picked some stories to adapt that don't mess with the continuity
Season 1 is very good season but not perfect .The set and the music are great and i think this season feels like a complete story .The characters are great my favorite character is James.This season has many great episode and the narration of George Carlin ,Ringo Star and Manfred Steffen .But this season some production goofs and i don ' t like Thomas Train . My Top 5 episode: 5.Henry to the resuce 4.Whistles and Sneezes 3.The Flying Kipper 2.Troublesome Trucks 1.James and the Express P.s Manfred Steffen was the german narroter of Thomas Rating of Season 1:9/10
MOHAMMED GEEDI: In my own personal opinion: Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James and Percy should meet six average teenage girls who are superheroes. #1: Thomas meets Diana Prince / Wonder Woman #2: Edward meets Zee Zatara / Zatanna #3: Henry meets Jessica Cruz / Green Lantern #4: Gordon meets Kara Danvers / Supergirl #5: James meets Barbara Gordon / Batgirl #6: Percy meets Karen Beecher / Bumblebee
Long time since I posted here, but I may as well give my thoughts on the earlier classic series. Series 1 was what I grew up with as a kid through books with audio tapes (with the Ringo Star narrations), CD games, merchandise, and of course the vhs episodes (mostly the George Carlin narration). This was my childhood that I hold with good memories as someone who grew up with Autism. I do agree with your thoughts on the safe and humble adaptations of the starting stories. I never even noticed the out of order episodes growing because the moments where they mentioned past episodes felt like “Oh yeah! I remember that moment!”. While there are the occasional hiccups and mistakes, for the start of a long lasting show as recognizable as Thomas, it was still great. To quote somebody else on RU-vid, “The first season of a show is the most important”. This first season delivered well on that first impression.
18:32 Funfact: For the Old Coaches, only one side was painted tan/dark green, the other side was painted in teak. That's why in some shots (like this one) the Brake Coach is facing the wrong way.
Some stories adapted into episodes still keep their original titles in the UK, but in the US, some story titles are not changed. Leaves has its title changed in both the US and the UK. The Trouble with Mud a great episode. Sure Gordon was out of character in the episode, but he was very helpful to James.
Your top 5 favorite episodes of season are “The sad story of Henry“ ,“Edward, Gordon and Henry“ , “Thomas and the trucks“ , “Percy runs away“ , “Toby and the stout gentleman“ , “Coal“ and „The flying kipper“ And what are your top 5 least favorite episodes of this season and why?
I wouldn't say I have a bottom 5 episodes list because a lot of the episodes in this series are just great But if I had to pick a least favourite episode, probably James and the coaches
A very unpoplare opinion : I prefer the orginal version for season 1 over restored version .The reason why I prefer orginal version for this season over the restored version was I think the peoples making the restored version were sometimes lazy sometimes we saw groofs in restored version the never happend in the orginal version (,,Thomas and Gordon " , ,,Coal") or making dumb cuts ( ,,The flying kipper " ).But I think the people making a way better job for season 2-3 or 2-5.
Yeah I too prefer the raw VHS versions of the episodes Only reason I used the restored versions here was so my video quality would look nicer... despite me fucking up the rendering process and thus making the frame rate terrible 😂
Percy Runs Away and Oliver Owns Up are very similar episodes. A new character’s second appearance, first spotlight episode, and only spotlight episode in their debut season.
Weirdly in the Railway Series timeline Thomas’s Christmas Party took place between Down the Mine and Paint Pots and Queens. So wouldn’t that imply that Thomas shouldn’t be on his branch line?
Thomas asks Sir Topham Hatt if Gordon can pull coaches again at the end of "The Trouble With Mud", but Thomas does not ask him that in the middle of "Paint Pots And Queens". Instead in that scene of the season 4 episode, it's only Gordon asking Sir Topham Hatt if Thomas can have his branch line again.
16:53 Yeah I personally think Thomas is the weakest of the first 7 characters, to me him and Percy are a bit lower then the other 5 but Percy I think is still better. I mean he is still a character I like a lot, just not as much as the others.
Also there's what I call the hand of God moments IE the hand at elsbridge-thomas and the trucks The hand pushing hergy into the brake van- flying kipper The hand pushing james into the tar wagons -dirty objects this one's debated and the footage was cropped in tighter in later re-releases but it's there etc etc etc lol
Here's how I rewrote the beginning of "The Trouble With Mud". One morning, Thomas was being cleaned when Gordon arrived. Mud had blown all over his smart blue paint. "Hello Gordon," called Thomas. "You look as if you had a mud bath. Be a sensible engine and have a shower instead." "There's no mud on me," snorted Gordon. "And I haven't time to dawdle over my appearance like fussy tank engines do.
Dirty Objects: Wouldn't say it's one of my favourite episodes but it's a good old fashion Awdry style story with a memorable crash Off the Rails: An accurate retelling of the books story that while it was the unfortunate major beginning of stories being left out for other series, Gordon is greatly in character and the accident is iconic
My top five Season 1 episodes. #5 Dirty Objects. #4 Thomas and the Trucks. #3 Percy Runs Away. #2 Toby and the Stout Gentleman. Honorable mentions: Thomas and Gordon/ Edward and Gordon/ Edward, Gordon and Henry/ Thomas’Train/ Thomas and the Breakdown Train/ James and the Coaches/ Troublesome Trucks/ James and the Express/ Thomas Goes Fishing/ Thomas, Terence and the Snow/ Thomas and Bertie/ Tenders and Turntables/ Whistles and Sneezes/ Thomas in Trouble/ Off the Rails/ Down the Mine. #1 The Flying Kipper.
I think you misunderstood "The Trouble With Mud", because in my opinion, Gordon doesn't know that he's all covered in mud. When Sir Topham Hatt says "Goodness gracious", Gordon realizes he can't pull the train because he finds out that he's dirty.
My bottom five Season 1 episodes. #5 Coal. #4 Trouble in the Shed. #3 The Sad Story of Henry. #2 Thomas and the Guard. #1 Thomas’ Christmas Party. None of them are bad episodes, just very weak.
Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Season 1 (1984) Thomas Gets Tricked (1984) Edward Helps Out (1984) Come Out Henry (1984) Henry to the Rescue (1984) A Big Day for Thomas (1984) Thomas and the Freight Cars (1984) Thomas Saves the Day (1984) James Learns a Lesson (1984) James and the Freight Cars (1984) A Proud Day for James (1984) Thomas and the Conductor (1984) Thomas Goes Fishing (1984) Thomas, Terence and the Snow (1984) Thomas, Bertie and the Great Race (1984) The Tenders and the Turntables (1984) Trouble in the Shed (1984) Percy Runs Away (1984) Henry's Special Coal (1984) Henry and the Flying Kipper (1984) Whistles and Sneezes (1984) Toby the Tram Engine (1984) Thomas Breaks the Rules (1984) James in a Mess of Dirty Objects (1984) Gordon Takes Off the Rails (1984) Down the Mine (1984) Thomas's Christmas Party (1984) Narrator George Carlin Voices George Carlin Nicola Stapleton William Hope Music score by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell
