Thomas & Friends: Season 6 (2002) in Retrospect - The Thomas Retrospective 

Gorden: "Peasant." Percy: "Yes I am pleasant! BEST LINE EVER LMAOOOO

"Peasant." "Yes I am pleasant!" Is probably the BEST interaction I have ever heard from anything. I never understood it as a kid and after hearing it again I was dying for a couple minutes and burned my hand on hot glue lol

I like how the episode “The Fogman” gives us a little glimpse into the engines’ worldview. After Sir Topham Hatt shows the engines the foghorn, Thomas asks what will become of Cyril. Sir Topham Hatt says he will be getting rest for the foreseeable future. It’s Thomas’s reply that stands out to me. He feels sorry for Cyril and adds that he’s been “scrapped.” Thomas doesn’t say “fired,” “canned,” or “made redundant.” He uses a word that makes sense to him given the situation. Engines can’t be fired from their job. They can be relieved of their duties or moved somewhere else but they can’t be fired. As far as they know, once something has outlived it’s usefulness, the next stage is scrapping. Thankfully, it all works out in the end for Cyril.

Can we all agree that the night time scene in this season were great?

"Peasant." "Yes, I am pleasant!" Line of the season, hands down.

I love how in the thumbnail Salty isn’t shocked at all at Thomas going super fast

I like to think that Mavis's growth came from saving Toby. She realized that silly little tricks can put somebody's life in danger, and to never have something like ever happen again, she needs to take her job seriously.

This season isn't my favorite per se, but it is where most of my nostalgia for the series lies. It was the season being heavily marketed back when I was just barely old enough to remember things. I love the addition of Salty, episodes like "Salty's Secret" and "Gordon Takes a Tumble" are some of my favorites in the show, and Alec Baldwin still does a great job as the narrator. Overall, not the best, but not the worst either.

If I can say one good thing about Edward the Very Useful Engine, it's that it has probably my favourite rendition of Edward's theme.

This may not a "Classic" season to some, but it's a classic in my heart.

Alec Baldwin really dropped the ball this season because he was going through a nasty divorce from Kim Basinger and the colossal bomb that was Magic Railroad

My man the unlucky tug, after his channel was terminated, he pressed on and rose up from the rubble with the passion of creativity still burning in his veins. This man is a legend. I'll be honest, i left this show after juorney beyond sodor and never intended on looking back. I had lost the magic of awdrys creation and the classic series. But this legend brought me back to the wonderful and magical island of sodor and its charecters with his return to youtube in 2020. I will forever thank him. Long live tug, the Fandom, the railway series, and Thomas the tank engine and friends, ❤

“The SpongeBob and Squidward of Thomas.” … Holy shit he’s right.

Season 6 just has some charm to it. I love the visuals, and the episodes are fun! The more "industrial" look isn't that bad in my opinion. Thomas and the Jet Engine is probably THE best episode of this season for me. Season 6 is fantastic

How did I never realise until now that Salty referenced the USS Maine blowing up? As a history buff, I find that hilarious such a reference made it in🤣

I honestly am very fond of Season 6. It hasn't aged that well, but I was really little when it came out and I vividly remember all the DVD, VHS and merchandise releases around that time. It's great to see you back up and running!

10:29 "Gordon is a very good express." He sure is.

This man knows how to stage a comeback. Tug, I'm so happy you didn't give up on RU-vid even though the platform gave you every reason to. Let's see how fast we can get you back to 250K 💪💪

18:05 hundreds of children's ears were bleeding on that day.

I always found Season 6 to be so fascinating and exciting. Kind of wished we got more episodes with characters like Oliver, Toad, Duck, Stepney and even Peter Sam and BoCo.

I grew up on season 6 specifically. Brings back a lot of great memories and nostalgia.

As someone born in 2000, Season 6 was probably the season I grew up with the most on DVD/VHS, sprinkling in Season 5 or 7 episodes on there as well. I loved it growing up, and still do to an extent. Season 6 to me is the Cartoonish season. The season's biggest flaw to me is its cartoonish nature. There are multiple instances of characters doing foolish things that you'd expect to see Yosemite Sam, Bugs Bunny, any of the Looney Tunes gang do, not Thomas The Tank Engine. Duncan going up the incline and acting like an idiot before flying and falling into a swamp, Diesel not putting 2+2 together when trying to pull the troublesome trucks and falling off the edge into a barge, Thomas flying down the tracks with a Jet Engine (entertaining and funny, but still cartoonish), Percy getting afraid of.... gnomes...., James dealing with a Red Balloon crashing down on him, Percy crashing into a chocolate factory, Gordon derailing and having a ridiculous minute long crash into a farm... Thomas for its first five seasons was a show that rode the line of realism, but things like the Jet Engine and Chocolate Factory crash were very unrealistic. With that said, Season 6 did at least have the heart and soul of Seasons 1-5, and that's mainly the reason I look back fondly on it.

Fun Fact: Michael Brandon surprisingly narrated No Sleep for Cranky, Gordon takes a tumble and A bad day for Harold and a little more.

The Jet Engine episode will always be my favourite season 6 episode. I will admit it was a bit unrealistic. But combining with how bizarre, thrilling and funny the episode was, it really did kept me engaged with the story. Also Michael Angelis really did gave his best. I genuinely love how energetic and enthusiastic he was in the episode, it really did sounded like he having so much fun with the story, this is why Angelis had always be my favourite Thomas narrator. While the jet engine episode really isn't a perfect episode, but still it was the one that stood out to me than most the season 6 episodes, and it never left my mind since.

This is the first of all Thomas seasons where fans do NOT unitedly agree that this is the one of the best, golden, untouchable seasons. The first 5 seasons are all on that list, but not Season 6. This is why I have been looking forward to this retrospective the most.

Ah Yes! Season Six! Nostalgic for some! Aged Poorly for Others! Responsible for introducing hands down one of the best Non-Awdry Characters ever created! Salty singlehandedly redeems the whole season for me and I still can't get enough of Salty's Pirate Voice!

I think the reason so many people are connected to this season is because its when the series really started going all out in terms of marketing thanks to the global popularity of the movie. DVDs, toys, that was when the marketing REALLY expanded itself and for a lot of people that era was their first exposure

Welcome back, Mr. Unlucky Tug! I missed all your retrospective videos of the entire Thomas series for quite some time and can finally revisit your peak work from the year prior. Sorry you’ve been falling behind on schedule, but I’m glad you’re able to make a comeback. So, here’s to an ongoing future of inspiring me as much as animation expert AniMat.

Despite the drop in quality and lack of real life influences, Season 6 in my opinion is still fairly decent enough to say that it's what modern Thomas & Friends should at least aspire to be.... minus the character flanderizations.

I can’t wait for season seven. I can’t wait for our Arthur talk

At least "Edward the Really Useful Engine" gave us one of my favourite RU-vid Poops. "The engines on the Island of Souos are good at being TRXN's playthings. Gordon is a good station demolition man. Percy is good at NOTHING. And when he's not pulling trucks, Edward is a good bastard." "Retired means taken out of service." "Why the fuck are you smiling you sadistic bastard." "Duck found a Muk while playing Pokémon Go."

"It's good to be back!" Said Edward Also, I realize that season 6 has lots of similarities to the Brenner era if you think about it. One is just with models and one is cgi

Season 6 is still an enjoyable season, but it's very much where Thomas truly became a kids show, instead of something serious that had lots of respect for itself and it's audience.

Narrator: After 1998, the people and engines on sodor couldn't stop having flashbacks

6:16: That shot of Salty makes just that one scene feel like it’s the other way ‘round. HERE, it feels like most of the picture is lost in the 4:3 full screen crop. Other than that, I can understand about the rest of the shots.

I’ll always have a soft spot for this season, as it was the first one I was watching as it was on TV, since Season 5 premiered a year after I was born. Season 2 is my favorite, but the Baldwin seasons I like a lot, too. His and Carlin’s voice will always be so soothing to me. Much Love, God Bless from Iowa, Tug!

I grew up with Season 6. Episodes like “Percy’s Chocolate Crunch” and “Gordon Takes A Tumble” were some of my favourites back then. Although I’m not the biggest season 6 fan, I do enjoy revisiting it from time to time, as there were a lot of great stories. Tug, psyched to see you’re moving forward with new content. Me, and I know many others will all be sticking around for the ride

I never noticed that they hardly ever used place names in "THE" classics until I watched this video when it came out. The only instance I can think of is that one scene in "Baa!".

23:44 Edward should have of had Thomas' role. Because he would never say that about a new addition to the railway since hes kind and friendly and would be willing to make Harvey feel welcome to Sodor and he would be proud of a crane engine helping out on Sodor.

This Season have some of the most beautiful music yet.

I disagree on Percy’s Chocolate Crunch being a meh episode, I love seeing pissed off Percy just like in Put Upon Percy Edit: the point about the writers making inconsistancies occur is also something that happened with Futurama after the movies era

32:03 Another reason why Percy's Choclate Crunch could be called the sum up is because of how much merch of it was made. I mean there's was a Trackmaster version, a Plarail version, a Trackmaster Revolution version, a Take Along, Wooden Railway. If some Season 6 episodes were made to sell toys, Percy's Chocolate Crunch is 100% one of them.

We need a video about Thomas's eyebrows. It looks like this is the season where it looks like they added the triangle eyebrows to all of Thomas's various facial expressions. I grew up with classic, regular eyebrows Thomas and I hate the triangles. I could picture the higher-ups thinking the triangle eyebrows are better for toys, backpacks, and other merchandise. An indepth video on Thomas eyebrows season by season would be greatly appreciated. 😋

Probably my most unpopular take is that Seasons 6 and 7 are my favorite seasons overall. Not the best seasons by any means, be it in a cinematography or character sense, but they just draw me in. Season 6 and its drab atmosphere reminds me of home. I live in Ireland it is quite desaturated and gray a lot. Season 7 has a laid back and quiet feeling to it, making it soothing to watch. They just make me feel at ease.

Season 6 was “technically” my first season. I was born in 1997 and I was too young to watch season 5 when it came out, but TATMR came out and that basically got me addicted to Thomas. Season 6 came out shortly after and I loved it as a kid. Nowadays as an adult, I have a distinct nostalgic fondness for it but as you said in your review, the cracks definitely show.

Yeah, I can agree with most of your criticisms here for season 6. Not a bad season imo, but not the best either. However, I personally love that they started referring to locations by name instead of generic titles. Yeah, maybe it was a corporate thing to sell toys, but it also just makes the world feel a lot more lived-in and tangible to me.

Being a 2005 kid and having seen thomas from season 6 onwards till 11 on tv, this has such a golden place in my heart. Seeing steam engines just talking and being so real was the best thing the kid version of me could ever witness. But if u ask me now, i would say the golden era was much better framed and stuff. Oh well, im 18 and i still at ramdom tkmes watch a random episode of thomas without hesitation ❤😂

Season 6 was THE favorite season for me of Thomas and Friends. From Devious Diesel’s “The World’s Strongest Engine” to Salty’s entrance in “Salty’s Secret” to “James and the Big Red Balloon” 🎈 to Donald and Douglass’ “Twin Trouble” and so on>>>

That scene from "Twin Trouble" at 14:34 gave me the idea for the "when you and the annoying kid in class are forced to work on a project/assignment together but want nothing to do with one another" meme. That's really the only highlight of that episode for me, aside from Douglas pulling Donald out of the ditch. I get it, friends and siblings are going to have arguments, spats, and splits that will make them want to work separately, only to realise that they work best together.

It’s great to have you back to back on track (haha) making original content again! The Jet Engine episode has to be my favorite from season 6 because it’s a fun “what if” scenario… even if the locomotives are really multiple hundreds of tons and it’s probably not likely a heavy steam engine could have been rocketed along the rails that quickly anyways.

Season 6 definitely doesn’t hold a candle compared to Season 5, but I remember it having the best episodes that were marketed at the time I was little. I originally watched the show during the release of Seasons 11-13, so Seasons 6 & 7 were a shining beacon of quality and entertainment for me. Episodes such as Gordon Takes A Tumble will always have a soft spot in my heart.

Despite its flaws, Season Six will always hold a special place in my childhood. During its premiere in Australia, my parents recorded many of the episodes on VHS. As a result, it was the first Thomas series I was exposed to.

Finally, we can resume the Thomas Retrospective!!! Having been born in 2001, season 6 holds some fond memories for me (so does most of the model season but still).

The Unlucky Tug's original videos have made a grand return, and boy did they come back with a bang. Season 6 is kinda whatever in comparison to the previous season, but it did bring me some great memories with episodes like Scaredy Engines. Super happy to know that quite a few of your old videos are on this Drive archive, and I hope to see more added to it, as I know myself and other people have indeed saved the ones currently not on the Drive yet, like your favorite 10 episodes, thoughts on JBS, TAB, etc. I truly am excited for where this channel will lead to next.

I did remember having a dvd copy of Thomas and the Jet Engine and for reasons unclear I didn’t know that Alec Baldwin did the narrations. Mostly because I was attached to Michael Brandon’s narrations.

Season 6 was really where i was old enough to really remember alot of it. And for some reason as a kid and even today Percy’s Chocolate Crunch has always been my favorite episode of the entire series. Idk why i just always revert back to that episode when i think about this show

I have a lot of nostalgia for Season Six. It was the first new season that was coming out after I was born, so the US Season Six releases were my first "brand new" episodes of Thomas, and even to this day, I still love this season. It's probably my fourth favorite season of the show.

Honestly, I think another reason Baldwin wasn't trying nearly as hard this season compared to the fifth season was a mixture of Magic Railroad flopping as well as his divorce from Kim Basinger, which I think was going on at the time. I might be wrong, though!

I’m gonna call it right now, that the standout episode is Thomas and the jet engine

For me, Salty is right alongside Duck, Cranky, and Murdoch as characters who I have enjoyed ever since their introductions. And Salty being paired with Cranky just made both of them that much better. Looking forward to the Top 10 Hidden Gems video. I’m curious to see what you consider hidden gems.

The grand return! Glad these are continuing, Tug! You’re a saint for keeping so dedicated to all of these amazing projects! Hope all is well in your personal life and God Speed! Can’t wait to see what you have for us in the future, now that all the re-uploads are done…

The season that introduced me to Thomas!!! Man this brought back so many great memories. Easily one of my favorite seasons for that reason. Really great work Tug

I have huge nostalgia for this one, as this was the first new season I remember coming out when I was little.

Imagine someone who just discovered The Unlucky Tug and not knowing the situation. They'll wonder how you made so many high quality videos in a short amount of time 😂

Thanks to Season 6, we got a new season every year than before, where it was every 2-3 years. 😊❤😂❤

Man I remember watching the U.S. version when Alex Baldwin was narrating every episode from Season 5 and 6. Nostalgia goggles on

It’s really shitty that you lost your channel, I’m so glad that you didn’t give up the channel and continuing it by making a new channel, seriously, you put alotta effort in your videos and please never stop. Good job on this video man! - CTTE06 💙

Season 6 is my all time favourite Thomas Season.

And the MVP award, once again, goes to the green character

Season 6 was the most nostalgic for me since I was a young kid I had it on dvd since I am a gen z and I never saw the season 2-5 I rarely got 1 episode from random episodes in the season but season 6 was the one I got nostalgia from it season 6 is very special to me

I guess this explains why every new season took so long to make at first. People literally took the time and effort to make all of the episodes, and didn’t stress about deadlines like they did in future seasons.

Calling it now: The standout episode for Season 20 is Useful Railway.

And just like that, the king is back on track. Ha, back on track. cause train pun.

This season had some of my favorite Thomas episodes. Thomas and the Jet Engine, A friend in need, Worlds Strongest engine. These were some of the first Thomas episodes I watched through RU-vid and have fond memories of

You know, Tug? You did make a good point about how the models in season 6 going forwards looked kinda toy like. Me personally I notice that as well. I mean the lack of metal like shining on the engines kinda explains it all.

Of the post-movie seasons, Season 6 was definitely my favorite. It was the closest to being like the classic seasons before the movie.

1:26 - don't know if it was just me, but I couldn't help but have a smile on my face listening to the music in this part of the video. Sounded like the pvz theme :)

Fitting that Percy, No 6, gets the MVP spot in Season 6

It's fitting that Percy got the MVP award in season 6, because Percy is number 6.

I respect fans’ opinions of Season 6 being the first “black sheep” season of Thomas. But for me as someone who was born in 2002, Season 6 is a special season in my heart. Keep in mind, it wasn’t *the* first season I was introduced to, i have 2 older brothers that were born in the 90’s so my early introductions to Thomas were the VHS tapes they grew up including Thomas Comes To Breakfast and Thomas’ Trackside Tunes and a couple others sprinkled in between like 10 Years of Thomas and Best of Percy, and i have seen the rest of the video tapes and DVD’s each year as i grew up as a toddler into a kid. And Season 6 was also part of those DVDs and Videos, as well as the following seasons. Season 9 was probably the season where I started losing interest in buying new DVDs and was more interested in the videos and DVDs with Ringo Starr, George Carlin and Alec Baldwin. So yeah, I’m probably gonna defend Season 6 more than most. It’s possible that i might be blinded by my nostalgia, but it still feels like classic Thomas to me. And the color palette the characters had in Magic Railroad feels like it was carried over into Season 6 and 7, which I actually like more than most

Hot take: I like Season 6 as much if not a bit more so than Season 5. It’s a bit more grounded (jet engine not withstanding), Angelis gave his all, the newbies are all memorable and delightfully Awdryesque (see the Pack or Salty), and nothing in it is forgettable. Sure, Season 5 had higher and more consistent highs and this one had lower lows, but this feels a bit more in line with the first four seasons.

20:22 Duck and James look like they have seen better days.

My favourite moment in the entire classic series from MA *DONT CALL ME DIRTY PERCY*

So Percy misspeaking and not understanding words is certainly a downgrade, but seriously, Percy 'mishearing' Peasant as Pleasant feels quite true to his original character

"filming began in 2001 September" My brain only thinking of 9/11 from September, 2001

Season 6 is personally one of my soft spot seasons. I have a small liking for it despite its flaws. To be honest I don't like the stories all that much, but the style is something I really love, and would want to use for a fanmade train series. I know people don't like the style all that much, but I have a little liking to it. It makes it feel charming in its own way. The music is alright and probably the same level as the other seasons before it. I don't have much to say on the OST of season 6. I would describe season 6 as "neat" because that's all it feels to me. It feels "neat." It's not my personal favorite if it's by story, but by visuals and style, I think it looks pretty neat. I know this was Tug's retrospective on season 6, but I just wanted to put my own opinion of it.

Great to see these videos coming, Tug! And it's great to see The Thomas Retrospective episodes continuing on as per usual. Keep up the content you always do, bro!

39:45 holy shit WTLNetwork! Anyone whose watched his YTPs back will know how much of a 🐐 he is.

Dude I LOVE these retrospective videos! I didn’t care for them on the original channel but after watching them, these are AWESOME! I’m excited to watch the premiere of the first new video since the channel deletion :DD

One more dishonorable mention is the twin trouble episode because Donald and Douglas are portrayed more like Bill and Ben especially when the narrator says they always work together at the Start of the episode when they've clearly had their own solo appearances in the earlier series.

i don't know if this was intentional, but i love the fact that you put the title theme of one of the best anti-capitalist video games of the last decade as background music for the section where you talked about thomas dumbing itself down for a lower common denominator and generally becoming more...corporate

I’m definitely glad you’re still around and most of your work has been saved. Your absolutely one of my favorite creators on RU-vid and you have articulated into words & video what I’ve always felt about Thomas and friends. So thank you 😊 Also glad that this is not the end but merely a continuation. See you later 👋 & good luck 🍀👍

Season 6 is brilliant and is the last great season

Can we all agree that the winter/Christmas episodes in here were great!? 😊 The Snowy sets STILL looked beautiful and STILL felt magical. 😊

Fun fact: Micheal Brandon re-narrated Season 6 for only 6 episodes replacing Alec Baldwins narrations for PBS kids

Any one else here have the daylights scared out of them from a certain owl from a certain song as a kid? Its always season 5 that is hailed as the scariest but people seem to forget season 6 had it's moments too.

I like how Season 6 created this one meme. "DON'T CALL ME DIRTY PERCY!"

One fact about me and ttte season 6, When I was a kid I barely watched my ttte season 6 DVD. It was called Percy's Chocolate Crunch. There was a very good reason and the only reason why I stopped rewatching season 6 when I was a kid. (sigh) There was one episode in the Percy's Chocolate Crunch DVD Called Thomas Percy and The squeak, When Thomas was picking up Alicia and the was a mice in Annie just standing there and Alicia scream at the top her lungs and her mouth was animated, It was that at that moment I was so traumatized, And right after that Gordon made a funny line but I did not think that was funny, I was still a child at that time so I barely watched season 6 so I only watch the episodes on season 6 on RU-vid or remakes. And that was a reason why I Never really watched season 6 when I was a kid. But now that I'm much older, I don't have to worry about watching my DVDs just to see the episodes. But I definitely do not want to rewatch Thomas Percy and squeak it just gives me bad Deja vu's. I do have One Of each good and bad thing about this season. I'll start with a good, Henry and James stayed the most consistent of their character in this season. Even though Henry did not have much to do in season 6 he still remain accurate and for James even in good or bad episodes he still remained consistent with his character. Now onto the bad, I'm not sure if anyone notices at all but the color of the eyes for all of the characters are very similar to their skin. I don't know if the crew was having problems with their eyes or working in a room with no lighting but I just very dislike how the color of the eyes are very similar to the faces. In the two past seasons this wasn't a problem because all of the engines’ eyes were white while their skin remains Gray. But in this season and probably The next season the problem just still stands there, It's just like a Tomy Toy but is just so jarring. Has anyone even think or even imagine what people look like with tan eye color than regular white In a kids show?? I know It's just one little detail that doesn't really matter but to me I just couldn't help but feel jarring about it. And also, About Jack in the pack. it's okay I mean I'm technically not interested as I used to be now so it's good, It's just I'm not totally interested of Jack in the pack so it's okay. And also about salty, he may not be my favorite character but I can definitely see why it's many other Fan favorite character. A little fun fact that I Realize right now about salty, he is actually quite the consistent character to be handled. Not the most like James but one of quite the consistent characters. But he does prove himself to be very Stern to James so that's a Quite Surprising from salty but it is a plus. And one last thing, Gordon has red lining on his tender, Not on the sides but at the front of the tender. I did not notice this when I was a child but now that I noticed it and it's such a bizarre choice. Is it for the The cold load or the water for his tender cuz if that's the case then the fireman will hit the thing and say “ARG MY HEAD!” Only for the driver to say “Be careful where you're going” Only because the firemen did not pay close attention to the thing. And that's my long speech of everything I had to say about season 6.

Micheal angelis killed this season for narration. Best narrator out the entire franchise!

I know I keep saying this, but Season 6 is my favourite Thomas season. Unpopular opinion, I know, but I have a lot of fond nostalgic memories of this season. It was the first season I watched completely as a kid, thanks to The Complete Sixth Series DVD. It also contains my all-time favourite Thomas episode: Thomas the Jet Engine.