How Thomas and the Magic Railroad Derailed the Franchise
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- čas přidán 19. 11. 2021
- Our special guest takes a look at how one Americanized movie set the self-destructive path that everyone’s favorite steam engine took in the following years.
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Really awesome how this turned out!! It was a delight to work on this project, and share some good old Sodor history with the world!
As a Thomas fan, I thank you for not hating on the show like other CZcamsrs have done without seeing it
I used to love it as a kid, and it’ll always have a special place in my heart. Even if the show has gone downhill, I’ll always remember the good ol days.
@@mediamementosofficialLike that one time Stepney almost met a horrible, firey demise an- :D
@@mediamementosofficial No it didn’t, ya mook😒
@@anthonylucero6650 Wow. Mook. Haven’t heard they one in a while. Props for creativity! 👍
Fun Fact(s): Allcroft loved classic American railroad photography, particularly those from the final days of Norfolk and Western steam. Her favorite engine was the N&W's 4-8-0 "Mastodon," and, coincidentally, the Strasburg Railroad had just rebuilt one. This was how #475 got its starring role in the film. The "big city" station is Amtrak's station at Harrisburg, and the rest of the real-world train scenes were filmed on the Strasburg Railroad.
I don't think Shining Time Station itself is a bad thing necessarily. Yes, having it overpower Thomas in a "Thomas" film is a bit unfair and does ruin things a little bit, but I do believe that if done right this film could have been a success.
I don't think Shining Time Station got _enough_ focus in the movie. Only three of the show's characters return (Mr Conductor, Stacy Jones, and Billy Twofeathers), but only Stacy was played by her original actress, and she doesn't even get that much screentime! Where the hell was Schemer?! Why was George Carlin replaced by Alec Baldwin?! Where the hell was Schemer?! Where were J.B. King, Midge Smoodge, the Jukebox Band, or any of the other non-children characters?! And most importantly, where the hell was Schemer?!?!
@@otaking3582 He was replaced by Alec Baldwin because Carlin quit narrating after season 4. The narrator played Mr. Conductor in the original Shining Time Station show.
Other crossovers worked well.
I remember this movie as a kid, and now as an adult, this movie is a missed opportunity. If it weren't for the test audience, the movie would've been better.
Better maybe, but not that much better.
@@alexgomez6723 Nah, have you seen the leaked workprint? Somehow the director's cut had even less Thomas in it, you know, the best parts about the film and what people actually wanted from it.
@@bluepikman7851 Bruh, you are aware more Thomas does not automatically equal better film right?
@@alexgomez6723 Except the problem with this supposed Thomas film is that there's barely any Thomas in it. Nobody came to the theaters to watch sad mopey drama between human characters they don't even know about, they came to the theaters expecting the blue train they loved to go on an adventure, which he only does in like the last 15 minutes. Even as a kid, when I was obsessed with this film, I never found myself engaged with the human stuff, I always found it so boring and would wait until the Sodor bits.
This problem is only exaggerated when the actual Thomas stuff in it is so good and feels right at home in Classic Thomas. SLOTT shows that it's actually possible to create a good cinematic Thomas film that focuses on the engines.
I can guarantee you that if they made all the Thomas stuff the main focus, the film would've been received better both critically and financially.
TATMR is, in my opinion, fundamentally broken and the Director's Cut wouldn't have done it any favors, speaking from someone who has a bit of a soft spot for this film too. In fact, one of the complaints of investors and test audiences was that there wasn't enough Thomas in the film.
@@michaelbutler4398 I agree, don't get me wrong, Doug Lennox definitely is a good actor but his character is honestly pretty unnecessary, and just takes away more attention from the Sodor engines.
The ending nearly teared me up! 😔
You’re right about the over marketing of Thomas and all that, but while I grew up with a product, I am glad that I knew that Sodor was meant to be shown as a real place you could imagine yourself walking into, that I knew that the engines grew as characters and that they had real physical limitations! Now kids are gonna grow up with a Sodor that’s clearly there to distract them for 10 minutes with childish humour and brainless action scenes!! If Thomas just ended completely now, then I’d honestly not mind, because at this point, it’d be completely put out of it’s misery!
The fans will keep the original foundation of Thomas alive with out own series and content.
@@CassandraPantaristi And CGI style included.
This was really a movie that appealed to no one. Thomas fans didn't want the annoying humans, Shining Time Station fans didn't get enough of their favorite characters (seriously, where the hell was Schemer?!), and those who were fans of neither felt like it was just a generic kids movie.
It did not appealed to all of us
I actually hate it :D
This was acctuly the one movie that I loved of the tank engines.
I still sometimes go back and watch it. The ice cream always seemed like something that would taste absolutely amazing to me
Idk why
@@narwalace3823 because of its inevitable box office failure, TATMR did cause many shakeups in the Thomas The Tank Engine franchise.
To be honest, I didn’t think the human characters were annoying as a kid, I actually liked them, and preferred them over the original STS versions, despite the fact I never heard of Shining Time Station until I watched it on CZcams.
@@ThisChannelisonPerminantHiatus Fun Fact: The Nostalgia Critic was incredibly shocked that big names like Peter Fonda and Alec Baldwin were involved in the Thomas movie.
Never think I’ve heard anyone saying the magic railroad derailed the franchise, so I’m curious to see this viewpoint.
It kind of did. Had it not been made, the series would probably be in a much better place.
@@TheBrickGuy7939 Then how would Diesel 10 exist? He's a great diesel villain with his evilness.
@@DavidBContentExtravaganza3967 He is, but the many letdown elements besides him in the movie ruined it.
@@TheBrickGuy7939 At least you like Diesel 10.
@@DavidBContentExtravaganza3967 As someone who loved Magic Railroad as a kid, I still can admit that it's a cinematic failure and that it's not canon to the realistic TV series. If I created a fan series with my own models (which I kinda want to do), it would be realistic and adapt most of the Railway Series books and stories (even with HiT era characters such as Rosie and Molly). I feel like they should have continued to be on track (no pun intended) on the Railway Series stories. The stories started off as bedtime stories sure, but the books evolved to being a love letter to steam locomotives and the era of steam in general. Honestly in my opinion, that's what the show should have stuck with.
The hijinks of Mattel in the BWBA era translates to: "steams engines and the era of steam are lame and we want Thomas to be anything except a train."
I hope this video can show non-Thomas fans why we love the show so thanks for uploading this!
This video explained the franchise downfall so well, I couldn’t say it any better.
Despite I like the original OG series and the magic railroad movie. The magic railroad needs to be either remade or a directors cut to produce.
Now that Mattel has the franchise it’s going to die again…
Perhaps so, though Diesel 10's villainy is spot on.
@@DavidBContentExtravaganza3967 agreed, maybe the original title would give out a hint?, the original title was "thomas and the rainbow railway" so maybe the magic railroad might have had ivolment with a rainbow?
Involvement*
What's even more interesting is Disney might buy Mattel.
Imagine if Thomas the Tank Engine Franchise becomes a disney property.
The Brenner era brings the franchise from it's downfall briefly though with good writing.
As a big fan of railways as well as a fan of Thomas, I also owned VHS tapes of real life railway footage taken on heritage lines in the 2nd half of the 20th century in the UK and enjoyed those tapes in a similar way as how I enjoyed the Thomas episodes. I felt like I was watching a real railway at work with all the smoke, industrial Britain-like real life sets that the models that I for a brief time thought were real trains and low camera angles to give me the illusion that these were real trains operating on real life railway lines. And one of those VHS' was a Great Western VHS that featured the basis' of several Thomas And Friends vehicle characters in operation. The basis' of Duck, Oliver and Toad were shown working in it and I quickly recognized that they were the same vehicles as those characters.
One of the charming aspects about this show unlike most other shows is that the stories would still be enjoyable to watch even if the vehicles were not sentient. It would still be fun to read a book about a train and a bus that had a race or how a runaway freight train swerved into a siding after almost colliding with a passenger train. That's part of the magic of Thomas, it takes something that is already interesting as it is but brings those things to life.
All this movie does is make me wonder what the 2014 canceled movie "The Adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine" would've been like.
Thomas was a series I grew up with. Being born in 2001, the classic series was nearing its end, so I mostly watched the HiT era (Seasons 8-11). But my grandparents had VHS’s of the classic seasons, and I loved the show.
Heck, my grandfather found a book containing all 26 of the Rev W Awdry’s Railway Series books in a skip and cleaned it up just for me because he knew I loved the series. The book is now in my possession since 2017.
Sadly, TATMR was indeed a failure and was the catalyst for Thomas’ derailment. But we do have the fandom that keeps the series going and make stuff that is either on par or even better than Wilbert’s stories.
I feel like the general premise of TATMR could still work without the need for "Shining Time Station" or magic buffers or gold dust. What if TATMR was instead more like a feature length version of "Escape"?
Yeah, make it be about the railway please. If it was primarily focused on Sodor it would have been great. See The Great Discovery. I actually like that movie for the most part and like the Great Waterton set and it has good action. Yeah, I am using a movie made in the HiT era as a positive example to follow.
If it was like a documentary styled thing with just Ringo Starr and Michael Angelis voicing the characters, it would've been cool to see David Mitton and Britt Alcroft go bigger with the deep shit that series 1 to 4 set up with the Railway Series stories.
And still has Diesel 10 planning to get rid of steam engines and take over Sodor. It can still work too, even in the TV show.
@@DavidBContentExtravaganza3967 Heck, why not *only* focus on the Diesel 10 trying to get rid of steam engines plotline? I found he was actually a pretty good and menacing villain in the film. But we have to deal with a load of other pointless crap around the scenes that focus on him.
@@TheBrickGuy7939 Perhaps that too. Thank you.
I was a bit too old for this movie but I watched it a lot with my little sister. Same with most of Thomas in general. I saw how over the years the show got weaker and weaker with worse writing, CG, and clearly just wanting to sell toys. Never knew it all started here. Even my sister gave up at age eight. Idk though maybe that’s the age you normally stop?
I bet if Wilbur Audrey were still alive he wouldn’t be happy about how the show has turned out now.
@@georgerobertson7010 Since he got furious when Henry broke railway regulations by stopping in the tracks in an early episode, I’ll bet he would’ve went insane.
@@itelyuwhut1590 I travel on trains and some of them stop with trees close by.
There's a thin silver lining to all this - Rev. Awdrey could be used as a renewable source of free energy if we stuck a bunch of magnets to him and wrapped a coil of wires around his casket. He's got to be spinning at tens of thousands of RPM in his grave.
I pretty much gave up on the show myself _because_ of Magic Railroad, but I still read the books up until my mid teens. You could always come back to the original stories with a new, more grown-up perspective and find all the things you might have paid little attention to when you were younger. It's no wonder The Railway Series has an adult fanbase, even when the entire rest of the franchise has pretty much turned into yet another throwaway children's cartoon at this point.
Britt Allcroft is like George Lucas. They both created something really magical like the first five seasons of Thomas & Friends and the original Star Wars trilogy. Then when George Lucas made the prequel trilogy and Britt Allcroft made Magic Railroad they both caused their franchises to go downhill. And then they sold their companies to evil corporations, Hit Entertainment and Disney.
Pretty good observation.
I said the same exact thing and it’s funny because I love both products that people from the late 90s and early 2000s hated
“That movie derailed the entire franchise and it caused confusion and delay!” said Sir Topham Hatt
A Thomas video? This is a pleasant surprise.
Hey Kyle! Dang talk about an insane production! I may have not watched my Thomas and Friends as a kid but as a fan of children's show/film history this was an awesome video! Great job!
Even today, I remember the strange magical surrealism the magic tunnel had. It still holds a place in my mind, even after all these years.
I bet if Thomas and the tragic film was better the show would never gone downhill in the first place
Are you actually saying that the creators of Thomas actually WAITED for its original creator to die and then proclaimed his death as their freedom to make whatever stories they want when season 5 came out?
I remember seeing the film via CZcams one night and I found it enjoyable to see. I also enjoyed the CGI series and showed a more expressive looks on the trains.
I respect your opinion about the Magic Railroad but it was part of my childhood in my heart even as a big Thomas fan when I was younger, I still enjoy the books, Model and CGI Series
I also like TATMR.
@@roberttreacy8271 Fun Fact: The Nostalgia Critic was incredibly shocked that big names like Peter Fonda and Alec Baldwin were involved in the Thomas movie.
Awdry was apparently very cross when Henry broke rul 55 because he was parked on the main line with out informing the next signal box. shouldn't the all the trouble start when the rights was brought by that toy Company
As someone who is a huge fan of the Thomas & Friends franchise, I loved this review. Magic Railroad was definitely not the best in the franchise, and I think a lot of that was because Thomas (or any of the Sodor engines for that matter) didn't have enough screen time in the film. I mean, Shining Time Station wasn't bad by any means, but I think they should've made two separate films, a Shining Time Station one and a Thomas one. It might have made things better, who knows?
Also, I agree that the classic era of the Thomas & Friends series (the first 7 seasons) was the best. However, I also like the other eras the series has had over the years, especially the 17th-21st seasons (known by a lot of fans as the "Brenner era", due to Andrew Brenner being the head writer for the series at the time) and even the 22nd-24th seasons (the "Big World! Big Adventures!" era; I think that era had lots of potential, but it was unfortunately cut short by Mattel due to it not being popular enough).
I will also say that I personally quite enjoy the new 2021 reboot of the series, Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go. Sure, it's not the same as the original series was (the original series was much, much better), but I think it has its own charm just like the original series does. It has fun, lovable characters, decent writing, and really good animation (provided by Nelvana, who also animated several other good shows). And as someone who likes cartoony shows like SpongeBob and The Fairly OddParents, I like the cartoony style All Engines Go has, too. Also, a bit of a fun fact that partly relates to this review: Neil Crone, who provided the voice for Gordon the big blue engine in Magic Railroad, also provides the voice of Gordon in All Engines Go.
Wrapping up this comment, I really enjoyed this review. You guys have been on a roll recently, with the VeggieTales Abridged retrospective last week, The Fairly OddParents earlier this week, and now Thomas & Friends this week. I can't wait to see what you review next at Media Mementos!
any legacy of a franchise is much more fragile from it's reputation than a new revamp that tries to do too much and throws out a niche audience property from England, just to copycat other existing brands. Mattel is the Electronics Art of television and they believe they can get away with misdeeds for their bitter priorities.
It's not just Thomas that is treated like drivel around 2018 now (but the little tank engine is disgraced after October 2021) but even Fireman Sam and Bob the Builder.
Google show the rate of the movie Thomas and the magic railroad. The rate is 1 star because it's kinda terrible
All fans: it's kinda terrible than reboot
Me: I rate the Thomas and the magic railroad 5 stars
funny how Britt made Thomas sucessful but also destroys it
the thing that really stands out in my mind when it comes to this movie is how it's sort of a self insert allegory for britt allcroft leaving the show, as lady is voiced by her and without lady the "magic" of the railroad/series is gone. lowkey a self insert thomas fanfiction movie everybody
Oh wow! I just flashed back to my childhood! This show was my favorite back then! I hand entire tote full of Thomas toys, the playset with the turntable and a play mat with rails going around Sodor!
I was about to leave a comment pointing out the Brenner era of the CGI series was pretty great but then the video acknowledged that. How I wish we still had that kind of quality instead of being stuck with BWBA and AEG. And how I wish my favorite character hadn't been written out of the show.
Bob Ross had a similar experience. There’s a documentary about it on Netflix
Really? I’ll have to look into that.
Once again, executive meddling tries to Americanize a UK franchise, but this actually caused the Thomas franchise to go downhill. The final cut left tons of plot holes and it nearly ruined Thomas' reputation, thereby causing her to sell Thomas and Tugs to HIT Entertainment. The rest as they say is history.
It is what started the decline, but I would argue that Thomas had the potential to bounce back had HiT not went into the simplified educational and learning segment nonsense format. Had HiT not meddled so much in Thomas, David Mitton would've stayed. He only left because he was restricted in regards to creative freedom. It could've had the potential to be great into the years leading to the time of Mitton's death in 2008.
@Michael Butler I haven't watched it myself. But I watched Unlucky Tugs review of it.
@Michael Butler I haven't watched much of the CGI era honestly.
@Michael Butler I know lol.
@Michael Butler Indeed.
Im a Thomas and Tugs fan and I really enjoy this video I was actually thinking It was one of those people would say Thomas the train and mock it but I see that before making this video I felt like you watched the whole season.
Wow! Your content is incredibly underrated!!! New subscriber!
Tatmr is really a hit or miss for me. I like some parts of it but some of it also strongly dislike. Either way this is a good video
Ehhhhhhhhhhhh, ditto
Let this video spread out to people who never saw Thomas the Tank Engine nor were even fans of it watch it so they could get a more clear understanding of what made Thomas so special in the first place.
I have heard that the HiT era changes were inspired by Allcroft's idea to bring Thomas back to U.S. television after STS got the axe and Fox Family dropped the franchise.
When I was younger I always preferred the stop motion show over the CGI one
Very well researched video, gives a good point of how tremendous this movie was
I had no idea Ringo Starr from the Beatles was originally going to be in this movie. That would’ve been really interesting.
I remember being kind of annoyed that the Mr Conductor in the movie didn't have a beard (even though I'd long outgrown the show lol)
the deleted scenes show a timer at the top that showed the runtime of the film. what's crazy is that the original cut of this movie was almost 2 AND A HALF HOURS long!
There was also meant to be a sequel to Magic Railroad in development but due to the financial failure of its predecessor, it never came to be. There was going to be another live action movie based on Thomas set in a WWll setting called “The Adventures of Thomas”. Which was focused on a father and son being separated during the war and then reunite on the Island of Sodor. In October 2020, Mattel announced that a new live action movie base on Thomas again with director World War Z and Christopher Robin “Marc Forster” in the director’s chair. The Adventures of Thomas primarily got canceled due to the lack of enthusiasm and constant postponements, not to mention the brand being purchased by Mattel with people theorising that it wasn’t the direction they wanted to take Thomas at the time. As for Marc Forster’s take on Thomas, I’m expecting to see his work to be released theatrically in 2023.
How this movie DERAILED the franchise. DERAIL. AS IN TRAINS. GET IT?????
Hehe ik
Also, John Barry (yes, the Oscar winning composer behind 'Dances With Wolves', 'The Lion in Winter' and many of the James Bond films) was supposed to do the film's score but got replaced during production. Also, one of the actors replaced for sounding "too old" was then UK narrator Michael Angelis.
The score was still pretty amazing, and yeah Jame’s voice got replaced
I grew up with Shining Time Station and Thomas & Friends I remember how excited I was when the movie came out
Although it's probably too late to turn the franchise around, maybe Marc Forester will take a better approach on a Thomas movie with more focus on Sodor as it was meant to be and hopefully the test audiences will accept darker plot elements to make it more than a kids movie. Who knows, maybe if a movie got a franchise into a pickle, maybe another could get it out. I think for this new movie, these are the lessons the production crew should learn from TATMR. As Gordon once said, "Ah well, we live and learn."
Sometimes Gordon feels just underrated as Edward sometimes. I do wish the TV series had more maturity stories about Gordon similar to Gordon the Big Engine and Enterprising Engines, where the matured character stayed unlike the good Gordon stories from the HiT era like Respect for Gordon and It's Good to Be Gordon. You should see the Unlucky Tug's video, czcams.com/video/jdVHD7OsUP0/video.html
@@kcore1427 No, I think Gordon's fine being pompous and boastful because that's who he is and we like it for years.
@@DavidBContentExtravaganza3967 that's not really a good reason
All of this makes me wonder: what's gonna happen to Thomas after All Engines Go?
Will Mattel do something even more drastic?
Will they revert back to CGI?
Will they sell Thomas to another company?
Or will they put the franchise out of its misery altogether?
@@johnthechoochooaddict796 I think if All Engines Go was canceled Mattel would consider selling the Thomas franchise to another company. Hopefully, it would be Hasbro. See czcams.com/video/LJ4HrCmfaPk/video.html
That real-life Knapford station photo at the outro is both blessed and cursed.
I guess here it goes to show that the push for perfectionism beats out the push for spectacle
At least Diesel 10 is a great villain in Thomas regardless.
@Michael Butler Me too if it weren't for Sam Barlow's writing in Calling All Engines and Sharon Miller's writing in Day of the Diesels which watered him down. Andrew Brenner would have returned that if Mattel didn't deemed Diesel 10 too scary after Season 17. He can share the main villain role with Diesel if we're lucky.
Too bad not everyone can treat Thomas and the Railway Series as children’s books for everyone to read like Dr. Suess or Roald Dahl. Especially if you bring it out to Americans, they wouldn’t care like they do with other children’s books because they don’t like trains.
Thomas was cherished by a good majority of the Autistic community in the US
Ok, my point of view, as someone who grew up with TATMR, is that Britt is the _true_ villain, since her idea of making Thomas "Magical"
"Once the Americans get the hold of it, everything will be vulgarized" -Wilbert Awdry, and sadly, it was...
I always found weird that Thomas was in a Magic Island, with flower phones and -marihuana- Gold Dust, and shit like that, but I liked the movie, as someone who is American (From Venezuela), I NEVER heard about Shining Time Station, and I legit thought that it was created specificly for the movie. It was a couple years ago, when I learned english that, Railway is used for British Lines, and Railroad is used for American Lines, that just shows how bad this interpretation was. I always liked Thomas for a reason, I grew up with both the CGI era and the Model Era, and I LOVED Thomas and Bertie's Great Race, and other classic episodes, I didn't actually understood why was Thomas in his film so different to the show's Thomas.
Basically, Britt's Vision of making a Thomas' film this way, was a bad decision, adding so much characters that nobody knows and are unrelated to Thomas, making them the main characters and Thomas appearing in only _11. Fucking. _*_Minutes._* Of the whole film, which is 110 hours long, and has his name on the title, going into an weird direction and destroying everything we already know and love, they didn't even add Edward, for fuck's sake! I would be honestly fine if there was at least one cameo of the TUGS like Mitton had planned already, the "New, Revolutionary, Biggest Experience of Thomas" concept was just... Lame, and Diesel'ish, if you know what I mean, ¿Why make the engines secondary characters? ¿Why make everyone be out of character? ¿Why take a film who is incredibly famous in Brittain, and make it straight American? Britt didn't stop and think about her choices, she just wanted to make Thomas marketable, he already was, but in a good way, and It was thanks to her that Thomas is not what it is...
Thomas nowadays is only alive with and by the fans, which are making own interpretations of this film, which are WAAAY better. Like, for example, TATMR Parody from MrConductorFan, as well as own interpretations of the film's characters, can't remember the username, but I remember someone once did a story of Lady, which she was trapped inside a mountain and had to be refueled or smth like that, how Thomas Creator Collective made Diesel 10 a fatherly figure for Phillip, as well as a long character arc, making him a hero, and how Turtle's ERTL made what I believe is THE BEST INTERPRETATION of Diesel 10, on, like, EVER: The encarnation of Time itself on an engine, which searches for engines to kill, unpredictable and murderous, but with a bit of Mercy, truly the best.
I would write TATMR as not Magic, but a combination of Thomas' specials, as well as a tribute to the fans: Magic Railroad not being Magic, but an Old, Abandoned Railway (Great Discovery) which has Burnett taking care of Lady, an old engine which is an important part of Sodor's Story, but was left on a siding to die, and Thomas being a good soul, asks his friends to help him fix her (Hero of the Rails), before Diesel 10 finds her, and make her time come (Turtle's ERTL). Perhaps with a Little bit of magic foreshadowing, specificly of someone you may or may not know (Da Te), but as a third, maybe fourth plane, not taking the spotlight of the realistic Thomas.
Thank you so much for reading this bible.
I question why did Britt go into this fantasy direction? Thomas was already marketable as a realistic railway franchise, there was no reason for Britt to make Thomas "a hero." What was she thinking? Wilbert Awdry would've been absolutely livid over Magic Railroad, and probably would've severed ties with Britt. I mean, Britt help bring Thomas to the screen and make the classic series what it was. Wilbert being the creator of Thomas, wouldn't have allowed her to make the show a fantasy. He wanted realism, and he made sure the series didn't diverge from that premise. Which is why he complained about Rule 55 being broken in season 3. So, Britt probably felt that she was being limited on what she wanted Thomas to really be which manifested itself in Magic Railroad.
@Michael Butler Same. I don't hate it, but the magic elements retcon everything Awdry built in terms of Thomas lore.
@Michael Butler Rule of magic in fiction, never explain where it comes from. It's not really magic if it has an origin does it?
@Michael Butler I don't know what Britt was thinking.
@Michael Butler Yeah, Britt flew too close to the sun with Magic Railroad. To be fair, she made the classic series what was. Many fans credit David Mitton, but not many I don't think see Britt in the same light. If it wasn't for Britt, then the TV series wouldn't exist. The TV show was the car, David Mitton was the steering wheel, and Britt was the engine. Unfortunately, the engine got too hot and quit.
This was my favorite movie as a kid, and I couldn't get enough of Thomas.
In hindsight, I have mixed thoughts on Britt Alcroft. I respect her for making the original show, but she basically ruined everything by missing the appeal of Thomas with the movie.
Find it funny that PT Boomer was deemed "too scary" for kids, I remember diesel 10 still scared the crap out of me as a kid lol
Same here! Diesel 10's claw nearly made me shit myself as a kid. I covered my eyes when I knew a Diesel 10 scene was coming up. The part where he picked up the conductor (I forget his in-universe name) was particularly disturbing to me.
I grew up watching Shiny Time Station. It would be years before I found out this show was British.
Great video!
I thought this movie was just a fever dream. Thank you for telling me it was actually real
I remember as someone born in 05 who watched the classic seasons and the hit model seasons, even as like a 6-7 year old I picked up on how kiddy the show was getting with seasons 13 on. It made me stop watching because I thought Thomas was always that kiddy, and then I remembered, no it wasn't. People like to hate on seasons 8-11, but i personally really like them
P.T Boomer is Burnett Stone’s Rival, Not Diesel 10! Because of Boomer Being cut,
The Film attracted a lot of negative feedback by the critics! It wasn’t Allcroft’s
Fault, she was forced to do those bad changes, but it was really the test audiences who were responsible for making this film derail
the franchise!
Would've flopped regardless
i loved this movie so much as a kid
I loved Magic Railroad as a kid. I didn't get to see it in the theater, but we had the VHS (which I think we wore out).
Thomas and the Magic Railroad was the first officer of Egyptair flight 990 disengaging the autopilot. The Hit buyout and subsequently, seasons 8-12 was the first officer pushing the nose of Egyptair 990 down. The captain coming in and realizing that the first officer had disconnected power to the engines was seasons 13-16 where Sharon Miller was the head writer. The captain pulling up on his control column and the first officer pushing down on his control column were the movies during that same time period. The captain pulling the speedbrakes on the plane that made the plane climb was the Mattel buyout and the head writer becoming Andrew Brenner. All the stuff that was released while Brenner was head writer was the time when Egyptair flight 990 was climbing from it's initial dive. The choice to create BWBA because of poor toy marketing and sales was Egyptair 990 taking its second plunge. All Engines Go was the plane crashing into the Atlantic Ocean, killing everyone on board.
I remember watching Thomas in pbs and some DVDs when i was young. I would like to see them along with the old ones. Which should I start then skip and then start again. Great video
I hate the test audience and blame them for what happened to Thomas
Is no one going to talk about how the background music for this video features music from the Toy Story 2 video game? I thought that was kinda cool.
What were the music used in this video?
5:26
And then there was Arthur and Murdoch who were never seen or heard from again an- :D
I watched Shining Time Station as a kid. I honestly had no idea that it was meant as a platform for Thomas the Tank Engine. I just thought Thomas was one of the bits they did in the show, just like the other things. I've never seen the movie though.
I like when he said "rewind 76 years"
Honestly I wouldn’t completely blame TATMR as Thomas’ Fate theres more 2 it. Times were changing, Alec Baldwin lost interest, Britt’s vision may have been a lil misguided but all in all nothing lasts forever anyway.
If Britt stuck with Awdry's vision of realism rather than make Thomas into something he wasn't (a "hero" like character), then the series probably would've been great for many more years. That's my speculation. I loved Magic Railroad as a kid, but I question why did Britt go into this fantasy direction? I feel like had Wilbert Awdry lived to see Magic Railroad, he would've hated it and probably would've severed ties with Britt. He was already bitter about season 3 with the Rule 55 being broken, I can't imagine how he would've felt about Magic Railroad.
I genuinely don’t think it was this movie’s doing either. I think it would’ve went to CGI and then got a generic cartoon show eventually. Just look at SpongeBob or the Simpsons. Old shows always get worse
It's a shame how badly TATMR affected Thomas
Yeah, and I’m saying this as someone who likes TATMR.
@@roberttreacy8271I love this movie and it’s genuinely a shame it didn’t get more love
If they hadn’t changed this movie, my life would’ve gone in a different direction
People keep saying The Great Race is the movie that derailed the Thomas franchise just because the international engines appeared again in the BWBA era. NO, I STRONGLY DISAGREE! If anything derailed the franchise, IT WAS AND WILL ALWAYS BE THIS MOVIE! Think about it, Thomas' name in the title is what kids expected to see in the movie and all they got was 80% screentime of characters they never even heard of before. Adding to that, Lady, Diesel 10, Splatter, and Dodge are just mary sues and stereotypical Hollywood wannabe villains! It's no wonder this movie forced Britt to leave the company. Thomas and The Magic Railroad just shows how little Britt cared for the franchise she began! She's just as responsible for the downfall of the franchise as much as Mattel is! Call it nostalgic all you want but just admit it: Thomas and The Magic Railroad is the reason the franchise has never been the same. The reason we got the new series, the reason we got the Nitrogen era, the reason we got BWBA, and it's CERTAINLY the reason why we got All Engines Go in the first place! If Britt never even made this movie, the downfall would've never happened and the Thomas franchise would've had a much happier legacy.
I struggled to stay awake during the human parts. I just wanted to see Thomas and his friends doing realistic tasks on the railway!!! When are these sluggish new character scenes going to end!? Seriously, if this movie had only focused on Thomas and friends and evil diesels trying to scrap a new protagonist steam engine it would have been much better. No one cares about all this magic crap! Thomas and the other engines barely have any screentime at all.
@@TheBrickGuy7939 You’re right about that. Maybe if the movie had a plot similar to Hero of The Rails, it would’ve gotten a much better critical reception.
@@johnthechoochooaddict796 Or The Great Discovery. That one was well done in my opinion. And I don't actually think Diesel 10 is an awful villain. He was actually okay in the movie. But those upsides are dragged to the bottom of the seabed by the sluggish, boring and dragging things in the rest of the movie.
@@TheBrickGuy7939 That as well.
@Michael Butler But that potential went to waste.
How is it expensive to use real model trains and practical effects? You don't have to even animate the characters talking and it looks so much more charming. I really don't understand the switch in art style.
There’s a bit of misconception that CGI is “cheaper”, it isn’t that much cheaper than alternatives forms, but it’s the preferred style because it’s the “now”, if that makes sense, 2D and models are old fashioned in their eyes.
Missed opportunity to use the overworld music from The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks in this video
Not really
As a child, I only had the vhs tapes, so this film was simply bizarre. I had never heard of Shining Time Station until now.
And then there was Edward and he-
Wait... Edward... Edward?
...
Where'd he go?
...
Ah well, probably broke his siderod again...
The movie was a flop yes, but there are good things about it, and i don't think it completely derailed Thomas & Friends. While it financially dropped the quality TTTE as a whole, It gave a nice nostalgic memory, and imo, its better than some of what has been published after TATMR-Season7
Great work.
Since you mentioned Tugs, does anyone remember Salty's Lighthouse?
That was the show that was the Tugs equivalent to Shining Time Station.
Only difference is that Salty's Lighthouse was a cartoon.
Should Media Mementos make an episode about Salty's Lighthouse? Hopefully, it would be interesting.
Oh, goodness! Salty's Lighthouse is an underrated gem that is also overhated. It's like "All Engines Go" if it was made in the 90's and combined with "Shining Time Station", with Vancouver voice actors instead of Toronto ones.
He doesn't take requests, unfortunately. And even if he did, he wouldn't make videos on topics he's not an expert on.
What soundtrack at 13:18?
I wish I could send this to people and they actually watch it and they don't just say they did
Honestly the show should have ended in season 7.
You either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain.
Thomas & Friends is too popular to end which is why it continues for years. Besides, we like seeing the show in CGI too so good thing it continues after Season 7.
@@DavidBContentExtravaganza3967 popularity isn't everything, and CGI was not half as good as the original 7 series
Three Cheers For Thomas should’ve been a tv series finale movie for the Classic series.
You know the movie could have served as a pilot to shinning time and can have a double header train to carry the coaches up the hill.
I haven't watched Thomas since before CGI. But my son watched Thomas and Friends Big World Big Adventures and he loves it. Thomas is his favorite show
I was born in 1987 and Thomas was the first franchise, or at least one of the first, that I had a true passion for! Although I lost interest shortly after I turned 8 and found myself despising it in the late 90s-mid 2000s, due to some jerks I knew during that time, but throughout the 2010s, I learned from others that Thomas is NOT some "stupid toddler show" and that there's much more to it than meets the eye! All Engines Go is just another reminder of why I'm worried about the state of kids entertainment today! NOT ALL modern kids entertainment is bad, but for every Bluey, there's a Peppa Pig, and although she DID get into Bluey EVENTUALLY, my niece, who recently turned 2, RELIES ON Peppa Pig and Cocomelon! You've probably seen Caddicarus talk about the former and Saberspark talk about the latter. Peppa Pig and Cocomelon being as mass produced as they are worries me that today's kids may not grow up properly! Also, HOW THE FUCK is Peppa Pig STILL GOING after EIGHTEEN YEARS? That show's original fans are now most likely working their first jobs! My parents and brother don't seem to understand kids entertainment as well as I do. Last year in a WhatsApp discussion where I was explaining why Peppa Pig is bad, after either my brother or one of my parents gave me a response I didn't want, I warned them "If you want to get her into Thomas The Tank Engine, SHOW HER THE ORIGINAL SERIES, STAY AWAY FROM ALL ENGINES GO!", and the stuff they said in response proved that they do NOT understand why people are RIGHTFULLY dissing AEG! One time, at a later date, my Mom actually asked me "Have you ACTUALLY WATCHED All Engines Go"? I responded by telling her I DID watch t he leaked trailer and storyboards for 2 episodes, so I did have a respectable amount of intel on AEG by that point! As James A Williams said in his explanation video before he uploaded his BWBA movie review, children deserve better than what they're being given! I'm also worried about what big kids' entertainment has become! Not only are kids here in the UK largely reliant on Horrid Henry, one of my MOST HATED CARTOONS EVER (abysmal writing, abysmal voice acting, the badly behaved main character almost never gets his comeuppance), but on the gaming front, a lot of kids now only seem to want to play Fortnite! You know, that MOBA that's free to download but tries to scam you into making in-crap purchases? That game gets marketed to death! At a recent gaming afternoon for people with learning disabilities, I was enjoying some 90s classics on the gaming cafe's PlayStation Classic when some kid asked me "Want to play Fortnite?", so I joined him over where the PS5s are and it didn't take me long to learn just how limited that game is! While my brother, who never cared about kid's entertainment as much as I do, seems to be just fine with his daughter/my niece relying on low quality shit like Peppa Pig and Cocomelon, if I ever have (a) kid(s) of my own, I will be VERY careful what movies/music/TV shows/games/books/toys I give them! However, a few hours after my niece was born 2 years ago, my Mom told me that if I were to have kids in the future, I would NOT be able to raise them in a "1980s bubble"! I don't want to wrap any kids I have in cotton wool, but I do still feel they deserve better than mass produced shit like Peppa Pig, Cocomelon and Horrid Henry! It saddens me that those awful shows are so easily available when a lot of the better stuff out there, like Chip and Potato, Alva's World and Hilda is not so well known and not so easy to find! Going back to Thomas & Friends: if Mattel are so incompetent as to bring us shit like BWBA and AEG, I would rather independent UK broadcaster Channel 4 re-enter the kids TV scene and as part of doing so, flat out buy Thomas & Friends from Mattel! I doubt AEG is doing well, I have yet to see a kid play with an AEG toy, so it may be best if Thomas had a COMPLETE change of hands! If I were made Thomas' new owner, I'd start by putting the original 5 seasons back on TV (not those 2010s remasters with extra goofs, the original cuts! I'd source the footage from foreign master tapes, playing the English soundtrack over those, if I had to!) while getting to work on a whole new reboot! I'd be as true to the RWS and first 5 TV seasons as possible (I'd have to introduce female engines, like Molly and Emily, sooner, but still), give it as much quality assurance as possible, maybe even see if Adam Hills of The Last Leg fame would like to be the new storyteller, maybe even see if Bluezoo would like to animate! (The stop-motion-CGI animation they use for Pip and Posy would be a good fit for a Postman Pat reboot, and the faster animation they use for The Adventures of Paddington would be a good fit for a new Tintin movie!)
Thomas and Friends is a franchise with roots to be proud of and if in the right hands, it can do amazing things! We loved the pre-2000s seasons because they weren't like other kids shows! You can't just assume your kid(s) will watch just about anything, you need to be more careful what you show them, make sure the shows you give them are ones he, she or they will remember fondly! Of course your kid(s) will eventually come across shit, but over time, he or she will learn to tell the gems and shit apart and gain a better idea of what makes good and bad entertainment for any age group! I hope one day we get a proper renaissance of kids entertainment across the board!
I feel that you would slaughter a room full of younglings with no hesitation
As a fan of magic railroad I can agree that there flaws but there is still a lot of good stuff. And it's now up to us thomas fans to keep the true spirit of thomas alive.
over the years since the tv series got off the ground in the UK a lot of people has complained about the lack of female engines the most recent one being in 2011 i believe.
it sounds like that Lady wasn't largely created to respond to the complaints made in the 1980s or 90s
> series takes different turn after original creator dies
i know its not the most unlikely thing ever but that gives me spongebob flashbacks, granted the effects were a bit different.
Me wondering what would've happened if Awdry was alive and saw this film
If I want these living trains in Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends becoming fully CGI, or partly CGI (the trains would be real life miniature models, only the faces are completely CGI), the CGI would be use for changing expressions for living trains, there would be no mouth movements for talking.
I like the characters from thomas & the magic railroad
Thomas’ downfall still would’ve happened it’s just that TATMR sped up the process.
Soooo S6 and S7 are no longer Classic seasons anymore right?
They are.
They could also be called "Post-TATMR" or "Gullane Seasons"
@@trainboy140 Then why do they still have the classic series music, sound effects, 35mm camera and the 4 and a half minute format in it?
Then how do you explain that the Thomas franchise still chugged strongly until the final seasons wherein Mattel meddled with everything.
Because it didn’t stay strong at all
Yeah it was a big part of my childhood
Yes it did chug strong in quality
Until bwba
@@tyrannosaurusallen3703 that’s not true because if it was it wouldn’t have been huge parts of all our childhoods
Because of it's popularity. Isn't that oblivious?
Everyone has that one movie that’s widely panned, but you have such a soft spot for. For me TATMR is that movie. It has its issues for sure, but I can’t bring myself to hate it. I will admit I may be a bit biased by nostalgia, but still, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was a decent movie.
It makes sense that they switch to a younger audience and cgi because of how drastic the toys changed, Mattel switched the toys from metal cars on wooden track to everything being a cheaper plastic, to say it was a quality downgrade is the understatement of the year, they basically took a toy for 3-5 year olds and made them for babies, who cares about the show
Sad that this video was posted on 11.20.2021. It missing the facts of the new Thomas cartoon in the north America. Cough, Canada on treehouse tv titled Thomas & Friends All Engines Go, Original release: September 13, 2021
Honestly, if we had it, we wouldn’t have included it because it’s not relevant to the thesis.
I loved the classic show soo much and i loved this movie i think i just really loved diesel 10
I was so worried that you would Bass Thomas when you said you didn't know it well thank God you didn't