In 1984, a television series premiered that would capture the imaginations of millions of children worldwide. What do I think of this first series of Thomas the Tank Engine? Watch and find out!
You may be wondering why I uploaded this again if you'd already seen it yesterday. There were some errors in the original video as well as a few things that I wasn't happy with, so I redid some parts. The main one was a glaring error regarding Thomas and the Breakdown Train. Sorry for the confusion! Also that solid minute of nothing at the very end was a weird editing flub. Enjoy!
It's very nostalgia, and it felt real. Today's Thomas will never live up to the classic because it's too dumb down and unrealistic. This is why so many Adult Thomas Fans recept the classics.
Season 1 is really charming, there are more engaging seasons and more beautiful seasons by far. But Series 1 is a very British telling of the life of some trains and what they get up to on a daily basis that you just don't see in today's media. It's well executed musically, tonally, and visually and it's paced well. Any shortcomings are easily to look past since it's value lies in telling small journeys from where the character is at the beginning of the episode, to where they are at the end. Which is always translated well to the screen. When I finish an episode, I'm more focused on the vibes from the characters and their experience rather than any flashy and dramatic BS that most kids shows rely on. It'll always have a place in my heart. Great review Robot, I hope you'll cover the other seasons too!
Season 1 (and Season 2) has a certain purity to it that is hard to put into words. Seasons 1 - 5 are brilliant but I grew up with S1 and S2 mainly (and S3 but didnt enjoy it as much as the first two) and Ringo as the narrator. I watched it primarily through Shining Time Station. Keep up the good work on these videos
The first seaseon set up the Island of Sodor very well, and it's very charming. Seasons 2-5 are more engaging, but they're still charming. Seasons 6 and 7 were close, but not quite the same. Season 8 onwards lost s lot of that charm due to shitty corporate decisions. Don't ask me to list examples because we'll be here all day.
@@ColtonRMagby I look back and I kind of regret the amount of tapes I had. As there were so many just repeat purchases, some episodes I had at least 3 times over.
2:42 11 episodes is where thomas is the focused character. 3:50 i couldn't agree more. Is where thomas and gordon reconcille in season 1 because in season 1 thomas and gordon hate each other. And in the pre-final episode they are now good friends. 3:53 from what i heard they only rescue the tender but the engine was lost. 17:47 well i didn't grew up watching the classic era i was a fan of the hit era as a kid when i first watch the show on discovery kids. However i did see the classic era episodes on youtube in 2009. The first episode i watch was trust thomas with the uk dub and the first song of the classic era i heard was accidents will happen. 18:02 i agree mattel doesn't give a shit about the show
I grew up with Season 1 of Thomas on two VHS tapes with one of them having the first 7 episodes and the other having another four episodes mixed with other seasons as well as a borrowed videotape which was also mixed as a compilation video containing episodes from Seasons 1-4. Then I read most of the Railways Series stories, all of which were adapted in Season 1 the first 8 books (mostly). While I didn't get to see all of the TV episodes, I did at least get to know all of the stories from S1 except the last though I also remember catching a glimpse of that once as a young child through another family's VHS. Because of my great exposure to the content of the humble beginning of the Thomas series, I naturally have a nostalgic attachment to Season 1 as I saw this more than the three later seasons as a child but I won't deny that after revisiting all of the classic series of Thomas several times, the later seasons are definitely better done and more engaging judging through adult lenses. Though it's kind of sad that in the fandom, S1 doesn't seem to have anybody or very rarely who might declare it as their n°1 favourite if they've seen all the classic series unlike 2-5 which always vary depending on who you talk to. I admit that while I have a special spot for S1 regarding nostalgia and Great Britain especially as my mother's from England and I grew up watching the British version of the show apart from a VHS from America which featured Ringo Starr because my Dad was American, it used to be my third favourite season until a year ago only behind 4 and 5 which I'll get to and are my favourites but now I would say it's in fourth place behind 2 in third place because that second season won me over after rewatching it several times without letting the nostalgia factor get in the way as I never saw those episodes to the same extent as Season 1. But I will say that Season 1, as well as being the quietest season to have the most calm atmosphere in moments where you just hear machinery and birds chirping without narration or music, might be the most autistic season as it definitely fits the most with the vibe of said demographic, myself included with Asperger's specifically and that's something I regard it highly for even though I may enjoy other seasons like the next fan better but S1 really did break with the mold of kids' series at the time and Awdry himself was satisfied with both this season and the next at least in relation to his works. Also, the characters that most get developed in this season because of the order of stories getting adapted which get shifted more to minor o secondary roles in the next season happen to be Gordon, Henry and James mostly the big engines but especially Henry. Thomas goes through a great arc in this season and is actually my favourite Thomas season of all the classic series along with Henry as he even has the most lead episodes in this season with 5 in total taken from two books. Toby's introduction is also really well done and I think the payoff at the end of "Thomas In Trouble" is satisfactory as for most of that episode we are focused on Thomas in trouble with the policeman where The Fat Controller has to intervene and we don't get any mention of Toby for two thirds of it to the point one might even forget about him if they've seen the previous episode just the first time other than the fact that a tram engine's parts are mentioned when the policeman interrogates Thomas for not having them and were established in Toby's intro story. I can understand the criticism of "Henry and the Elephant" not being included here and maybe "Paint Pots and Queens" also would have made it much more satisfactory granted they don't appear till three seasons later but I'm guessing they found the budget too basic and cheap to adapt with the props used in those two stories with their human and animal characters. Terence and Bertie are both awesome non-rail vehicle characters who may feature in only one episode each here but they are truly memorable in each one. Combining "Gordon's Whistle" and "Henry's Sneeze" in one episode I thought was ingenious as it's Henry standing up to bullies in both cases. Overall, a very very good intro season for one of the best British children's series of all time based on trains which made its mark in the US as well and made an even bigger mark overseas in Japan.
Some really good points there! A lot of them I agree with and probably should have included here especially the bit about Paint Pots and Queens. I think episodes airing in weird orders such as that and Percy Takes the Plunge may be worthy of a whole discussion video themselves! Fantastic write up
