Season 15 - Episode 19 Review: Tree Trouble

March 2011 saw the penultimate episode of Season 15 of Thomas & Friends...

...but before the review, the usual disclaimer:

The views below are entirely those of the author and not representative of the Sodor Island Forums as a whole.

On that note, it's time to get this review underway...

Is it tree-mendous, or shall we leaf it alone?

---

Tree Trouble

Writer: Sharon Miller

The steam engines compete against the diesels to find the best Christmas tree in Sodor. Can the trains transport the trees back to town in one piece?

Overall Impressions

Once again, we see a few new characters on Thomas & Friends. Sadly their introduction was limited to a few lines each, and a lot of traipsing about Sodor aimlessly. I am of course talking about Den and Dart, the "Victor and Kevin" of the Vicarstown Dieselworks, also making its first appearance.

Season 15 airing early has caused some problems with the episodes aired this season, not least the lack of proper introductions and the general feeling that the new characters are "friends with everyone" mostly because they exist...as opposed to having any actual characterization.

What has puzzled me most about Season 15 has been the severe lack of continuity with Day of the Diesels. If it were entirely the case that Season 15 follows on from the as yet to be released special, then you would think we'd see more of the characters and locations which appeared in that special. Instead, Misty Island has been pushed beyond reasonable limits, and the logging locos shoehorned into scripts not really suited for them.

That the first mention of the Dieselworks and the first speaking roles for the new diesel characters, has come in the nineteenth and penultimate episode of the season is nothing short of staggering.

What is perhaps even more staggering is a little known fact that was pointed out to me yesterday evening. I went back and watched the previous eighteen episodes over the course of last night and this morning. An incredible feat, given how poor the episodes are.

So let me ask this question.

How many signals - semaphore or otherwise - have you seen in this series?

How many signals have been seen and used to any kind of effect by the writers this season?

The same type of signal, in fact, that would have prevented Gordon and Thomas from being on the same line in the first place today, given that the signals and pointwork are rarely unconnected from one another in some form.

About two and a half minutes into the first episode of the season, Gordon & Ferdinand, a large signal box and gantry, with several single semaphore signal posts, are seen. These are not mentioned by name - simply as a "junction". This happens once more in that episode, and then the signals are seen sporadically in the background over the course of the next seventeen episodes. Less than one viewing an episode, in fact.

Signals are there to prevent exactly the type of incident that could have occurred in the episode today. Railway lines are split into sections, and only one train can be in a particular section at any one time. Signals help to keep trains in their separate sections and allow trains to run smoothly.

That we're missing a fundamental piece of the puzzle with regards the idea of a railway isn't a surprise, but that it could in fact have helped a great deal of the episodes this season towards a more enjoyable outcome is something which cannot be denied.

It must be said, so many of the episodes could have done with the use of signals - colour aspects of green and red in the fog could have helped infuriate Spencer and perhaps stimulate the dialogue a little more in Spencer the Grand. Signals would have played a very important role in Wonky Whistle (though arguably that episode should never have aired in the first place).

In today's episode, Gordon and Thomas would not have been allowed in the same section, and some education as to the importance of obeying signals could have played out. Instead, we get a very contrived piece of drama as Thomas and Diesel run over their Christmas trees.

Of course, one could ask why Gordon was thundering along the line to Misty Island in the first place, where there's little see or do there for paying passengers - let alone a wobbly bridge that wouldn't take Gordon's weight, let alone the coaches...!

Then of course we have the usual and still integral complaints of over alliterative, sing song rhyming and writing which takes on hilariously bad levels today with such gems as "Thomas huffed heavily", "Thomas huffed huffily", and my personal favourite of the day, "Bash, Dash and Ferdinand puffed puzzled", which is a rehash of a previous complaint about bad grammar earlier in the season.

Overall this episode continued the below even substandard writing of this season. The cracks (which are getting wider and wider) papered up rather flimsily with new locations and new characters, both of which felt extremely contrived and redundant throughout.

Final Conclusions If you are delivering a children's show based on nursery rhymes, then you would of course expect a degree of rhyming in the narration. However Thomas & Friends is not based on nursery rhymes, nor is it a fairytale land. It is fictional, but it is also based and steeped in British history. A degree of relation with reality has always been apparent, and no more so than in its dialogue.

The alliteration which has been overused to extreme levels this season, is extremely unnatural and unlikely in everyday speech. Alliteration was used most significantly in poetry, history tells us, and is particularly noticeable in Old English and most of the Germanic languages.

In terms of names, it can be very important. Think on this. Would Edward the Blue Engine & Friends have sounded as memorable as Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends? Of course not.

The hard "t-uh" sound in "Thomas" is reinforced in "tank", and that is why to this day, it is Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends that is the name most remembered by the world's media, not the current brand name, Thomas & Friends. Alliteration is a powerful tool for creating a memorable catchphrase or brand name. The reinforcement of the same or similar sounds sticks in the mind.

So it is an amusing irony that HiT Entertainment's latest episodes have pushed the levels of alliterative dialogue to levels which are agreed by speech therapists worldwide as unacceptable and inappropriate for children to learn from, whilst having previously dropped the one piece of alliteration that makes their brand stand out from the rest.

The biggest problem with alliteration is that it is unnatural in everyday speech. Nobody speaks with repeated vowel or consonant sounds every few words. Good speaking habits start in childhood, and, normally, bad habits are inherited from the adults around the child, and that it is exposed to on a regular basis.

Please note that this is different from that taught in schools - alliteration can indeed be a tool for good when teaching children different words beginning with the same letter. This is Phonemic Awareness, and it is very important for the development of a child's vocabulary and understanding of languages. Indeed, early literacy programs do focus on alliteration quite strongly, as a tool for developing the understanding of words, their structure and sounds.

Letter sound relationships in childhood are essential to the development of young children, and agreeably alliteration has its place. However, learning how to speak naturally in everyday speech is incredibly important, and using unnatural amounts of alliteration causes problems later on for the development of speech in children.

Therefore one would expect a certain amount of restraint to be applied when writing a children's program, and on other television shows, there is.

Sesame Street was the one I used to go to as my example of a series that got the development of children through education down to a "T". It was specifically designed to that end, involving different sections throughout the program to focus on different parts of a young child's education. It has changed its format regularly over the forty years it has been airing, but its aims and goals remain the same as it has always been.

The contrast between the former, and Thomas & Friends, could not be more stark. Both multi-million franchises which have stood the test of time up until now. Both featuring bright, vibrant worlds and both aimed at the same demographic of children worldwide.

Yet, despite the similar copious amounts of merchandise and television specials and episodes put out, only one of these two shows is sticking firmly to its roots, and to its goals. I wonder which one it is...!

Today's episode was just another example of why the constant rhyming and alliteration have to be cut entirely from Thomas & Friends. This series was not set up to educate in the same way that Sesame Street has continued to.

So why HiT Entertainment - or its writing team - feels the need to enforce the alliteration to such extreme levels, when other (arguably more educational) shows use it sparingly, is a mystery. It is one that will need to be solved soon, as the warning signs are flashing, and the alarm bells ringing for the future of Thomas & Friends.

Individual Episode Score: 2/10 - Gordon and Ferdinand 4/10 - Toby and Bash 3/10 - Emily and Bash 5/10 - Edward The Hero 1/10 - James to the Rescue 2/10 - Happy Hiro 1/10 - Up, Up and Away! 3/10 - Henry's Happy Coal 2/10 - Let It Snow 2/10 - Surprise, Surprise 4/10 - Spencer the Grand 3/10 - Stop That Bus! 2/10 - Stuck on You 3/10 - Big Belle 1/10 - Kevin the Steamie 1/10 - Wonky Whistle 5/10 - Percy the Snowman 3/10 - Tree Trouble

Total Season Score So Far: 48/190

Average Season Score So Far: 2.5/10

Quick Character Stats

Speaking Roles:

Thomas, Percy, Diesel, Den, Dart, Dash, Bash,

Ferdinand, Gordon, The Fat Controller, Dowager Hatt

Cameos:

Toby, James, Emily, Flynn, Henry, Victor, Mavis, Salty