What Hit Did Better than The Railway Series 

Hi everyone, UPDATE: I have uploaded a follow-up, HQ version, and a tutorial how I created the SFX at 13:18. Links to all three videos are in the description. Thank you so much for the support. It means the world to me. ❤

I never thought the HiT era was THAT bad. No it’s not perfect and it suffers when compared to the classic series but I think of it as nostalgic. I definitely see its flaws, but it did do a few good things here or there. Big world big adventures was when you can clearly tell that the charm of it has disappeared, and even more in All engines go.

In my opinion, Thomas' first dark age, the HiT Era was nowhere near as bad as his second, which started in late 2017 and is still going on to this day. Sure, the episodes became more formulaic and less grounded in realism, but nowhere near the point of the Big World! Big Adventures! era or the All Engines Go! spin-off. At the time, Thomas' show still had a comfortable home on PBS, the network that made Thomas a success in the US in the first place, since Thomas had previously aired on it as part of the Shining Time Station spin-off. The show also used scale train models for eleven and a half seasons. What I mean by that is Season 12 was when the show began making the transition to CGi, with it being used for the engines' faces, people, and animals. Season 13 was when the show was fully CGi. Also, Thomas had high-quality merchandise lines like Wooden Railway, Take-Along, and Trackmaster, which children and collectors couldn't get enough of even though they were everywhere at the time. Thomas' merchandise sales at the time were the reason why HiT made the wise choice to shelve Barney the Dinosaur in 2009 to focus more on their really useful engine. Nowadays, Thomas' merchandise has sadly decreased in both quality and quantity, and Mattel seems intent on sending Thomas to the scrapyard while simultaneously bringing Barney back from extinction.

As someone who was going through adolescence at the height of the HiT era and used it as an escape from the horrors of middle school. I will take HiT’s worst over the turds that Mattel is pushing out nowadays!

Whose here from the unlucky tugs video 👇

Another thing hit did better : introducing a number 7 narrow gauge engine and actually giving them a personality

To me, the HiT-Era (Along with TATMR) is overhated and underrated. Hector's arc is really cool!

This is why I’m planning a video about Dudley. The steam and diesel conflict needed to be fleshed out a little more in the Railway Series.

It's a shame no one has ever made a "Complete" History of James the Red Engine...

The unlucky tug sent me! Awesome video and channel mate!!!

Honestly, Chris’s RWS Books are the HIT Era before there was a HIT Era

18:49 James: *NOBODY IS SMARTER THAN MY SMART, RED PAINT!* 😂😂😂

To be fair, Christopher prolly coulda at LEAST fleshed out his characters some... if it weren't for those stupid execs pushing for "moar Tommy shunt other characters aside" and them rushing him. Kinda like how Wilbert was rushed into writing James' story. But yeah, you KNOW somethin's wrong with a RWS book or story when even Hit executes what the book was trying to.

You know that's something unexpected Hit did something better than the RWS? Well that's something you don't see everyday great video Sir

The Unlucky Tug sent me here

7:57 this literally made my week

Your humour is amazing

8:27 Why I come to see this video every day.

18:27-18:30 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 😂 I wouldn’t be surprised if HiT’s executives hired and appointed new employees randomly regardless of their skill level.

Great episode dude, you made me think of these later episodes in a new way

Tbh, this is just James arch and him being consistent through the show entirely

There was just so much could have happened in James and the Diesel Engines since the era was a bygone era for steam engines, but I guess Chris just really did not know how to write about conflict. I don’t even know why Fire Engine is even in that book. It's just so unrelated with diesels.

NOBODY IS SMARTER THAN MY SMART RED PAINT! Also, Hector is truly the 2nd best character in the Hit Era with my favorite being Stanley. Hector is actually in my top 10 favorite characters.

You know, I've only met your channel existence by the means of this video a couple of minutes ago, and you my good sir have made quite the impression on me so far. A real piece of good work if I say so myself; Gotta say, nice impression of Dr. Robotnik at 18:05 & 18:49 by the way.

I never thought I see the day that HIT did better with James’s prejudice arc then TRS ever could. It’s surprising that James’s arc would be done very well would be the this era which you wouldn’t expect to see, maybe I might watched these 2 episodes to see for myself

I actually recently rewatched series 12 and I actually really really liked this episode. At least a lot more than everything else around it

19:26 I don’t understand why he didn’t return in the CGI era, it’s a neat concept

0:12 Giggity.

Everyone thinks the HiT era is bad but that shit was my whole childhood its so nostalgic, for me the HiT era was really good. Only because I have nostalgia glasses on but still. Calling All Engines has to be one of my favorite movies because of all the fond memories I have of watching it while eating dinner and learning how steam engines and diesel engines work.

16:14 You could call him "Hector the Humbled".

This is genuinely the funniest thing i've seen in the Thomas fandom since TTTE YTP's i love this!

Someone please correct me, in a season 8 episode, 'James Goes Too Far' James receives a much better handling of his warming up to Diesels compared to James and the Diesel Engine. Did the respect for Diesels continue after that episode? Or was that one of the many lessons forgot by the characters?

8:59 got me laughing

My God, I Never Realised how Your Voice Sounded like the Narrator in that Show! Very Impressive!

12:54-12:56 I see Rosie as Thomas's sister while Emily is his missus. Blame Amy Rose for my passive hatred of her (Rosie just feels like an engine version of her) while AaronCottrell97 gave me a better path to enjoying her as a character

im glad somebody agr4ees with me because james works it out is my favorite episode in the hit era just for the fact that james and a truck have a story sometimes i wonder if hector can work in classic stories

Yeah I almost think that Crossed Lines could have been first, and Old Stuck Up second with your outrage towards it, or that they could have removed the line stating James liking Bear and BoCo replacing it with him just about tolerating Bear and BoCo but under protest. I do think Fire Engine would have not been a black sheep in the book if Henry and James were swapped, the coaches be swapped for slow goods, and Edward would be swapped for BoCo or Bear. Finally, maybe Deep Freeze could’ve had the works diesel swapped for again BoCo or Bear depending on who didn’t get swapped for Edward in Fire Engine. The end of the story would be a long and detailed confronting by BoCo and Bear to James about why he just can’t let his prejudice go and you can probably guess where it is going to go, so I will stop there.

Bro should have made this a typical "thanks for watching" troll

If James' Prejudice Towards Diesels Was Going To Be Resolved In The Book. The Works Diesel Could Have Been Mentioned By Bear, Boco, Or Henry A Few Times Implying That He's Helping Out The Railway Like Bringing Supplies From The Mainland. James Is A Little Unsure At First Say After Old Stuck Up Was The Third Book Or Something And Then In Deep Freeze James' Prejudice Dies Out Completely. but to see hit write a character arc like so and not just make hector for merchandise?...good god someone at the writing staff should have been given more creative freedom! And LOL At 8:26, 12:04, 13:06, 17:50

4:20 I love that part lol

0:33 although the correction is more real i love the yellow tint of s11

Maybe Old Stuck Up is the same diesel as in Bowled Out as they're the same class...

9:00 Da Docta turns into Keith Wickham James voice

I happen to like season 12 and the cgi era. I wish they would’ve kept the formula for season 12, which combined animated people and faces with the model series, making it much more alive and real. I like the cgi series (mainly the adventure begins) because it actually took into account the workers who did the work of coupling engines to trains.

I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it. I REALLY love this video

8:59 I see whatcha did there 😏 James playing Old Stuck Up, eh?

I like it when people bring up hidden gems in the HIT era. Nothing is purely good or purely bad and it’s good to remember that. Otherwise great things like Hector the Horrid get overlooked just because of the era they are in.

0:30 Yo, Thats Me!

This was the first video of yours I’ve watched and man oh man… what a great way to start

I like your toad impression 12:04

I thought James' exceptions in his prejudices against diesels was clear; there may be one or two he doesn't hate (see BoCo and Bear), but he still overall has prejudice against diesels and it's not until him having to be rescued by one (even though it may be a shame that it wasn't one that had already appeared in the books) that leads to him completely dropping the matter. I also actually rather liked James and the Diesel Engines but it is rather interesting that HiT decided to take something that The Railway Series tried to do and improved on it. I also think that the TV series' adaptions of The Flying Kipper, Percy and the Trousers (A Scarf for Percy) and Henry and the Elephant were better than the Railway Series stories that they were based on.

4:20 could u translate that?

7:30 Put yah' anchor laddie! That's what he |propably| said

Ok genuine question where in this video is a bit of music from monster musume used as I can’t find it

Hector the horrid is my favorite.

I will be honest, I grew up with the Hit era, and the classic era. There were some episodes that were better than most episodes in the Hit era.

Remember to keep comments respectful and to follow our Community Guidelines

James likes Boco and bear but he dosent trust the other diesels

I wonder what the James book would’ve been like if it wasn’t rushed

You know this is good. When The Unlucky Tug shouted this out

I love your rage XD All that aside. Very well said!

I used to have a CD that includes 4 HiT shows in it I always skip the others to the Thomas part and the episode I saw many times is Thomas and the inflatable snowman and nevvel the new engine (forgot the episode name) yes it was repetitive but I enjoyed it

Hector was brilliant. Only HiT era character I still like

Hey this video was made on my 11th birthday

21:24 It’s a better story arc than whatever the heck was going on in The Angry Birds Movie 2

Rusty on the gauge line-

My immediate response is absolutely nothing, but I'm a person who likes to hear people how!

4:11 prejudice makes more sense then racism anyway... they're trains. not all prejudice is based on race in the human world either, class, faith, disabilities... you're using the right word is what I'm saying

After you said “but it’s real, it’s exists, and it’s called…” like right after an advertisement for raid shadow legends played

I like the hit era of Thomas

0:47 *H O M P H*

0:28 what's the song?

And wasn’t Rusty narrow gauge?

7:25 How

13:26 LOLLLLL

I’m Not Even Sure If The HiT Era Is Even Canon. Since I Don’t Think Any Of The Events Of The Classic Series Were Even Mentioned In The HiT Era.

8:52 I haven’t read the book but by the looks of things, it seems that James in this book has a bad arc.

8:32 to 9:13

Where’s that puking scene from?

4:20 - What did you say?

Real question is what didn't they do better

I’d rather have more era than all engines go.

12:54 - 12:58 crazy bro

8:18 I NEVER REALIZED!!! 8:52 LOOOOLLLLLL

Amazing

11:27 Sums up why Brandon is better than anglis in the HIT ERA

cam here form tug

I swear am I the only one who likes the HiT music? ;-;

In my opinion, the hit era season 8-11 is average in my opinion

Hi

Wow

BoORING MUSIC?????? First off Determination Second Navigation Third Strength Fourth Ode To Fifth Thomas's Hit Theme And 6th Thomas YOUR THE LEADER!!!!!!!

18:27 What language is that?

Hit also made toys and the rail way series did not therefore hit is better and the railway series ruined thomas

Thomas should've gone super saiyan

Wack

It's no good railway series. You Can't Win

Wow