Season 16 - Episode 1 Review: Race to the Rescue

Simierski
May 14
9 min read

February 2012 saw the first episode of Season 16 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...

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Race to the Rescue

Writer: Sharon Miller

It's Flynn the Fire Engine's first day out on the road. He has had his wheels fixed by Victor. Now Flynn can roll on the roads as well as the tracks! But Flynn isn't happy.

Overall Impressions

So, the ultimate question: has Season 16 started the same way Season 15 finished last year?

Well yes, in short, the rhyming is back and dreadful, there's some extremely dubious and worrisome portions of the overall script, and once again you are left feeling like the writer who penned this episode has completely missed the point of the characters being utilized.

You could almost leave it at that. However, I will press on for completion's sake, but make it abundantly clear that it has all the hallmarks and problems of the previous season most assuredly.

In the first few seconds of the episode, there's a small problem with railway realism.

Thomas puffs past James on another track, and James follows Thomas straight onto the mainline. No stopping for signals (none in sight) and the points certainly don't change when James switches from one track to another. It's a minor point and brief enough when it occurs, but it still grates on the eyes of a railway enthusiast like myself.

This in such contrast to the beautiful animation and shots chosen for the opening scenes. I absolutely love the one of Gordon with the express passing under a bridge – that's railways as they should be shown, with a grandfather and his little girl waving to the train. There's never been any doubting the quality of the CGI in this series, and it is something of a sad point that this season will be Greg Tiernan and his team's last.

We have been assured there will be no dip in quality for the next season, which is a clear positive, but all the same we have enjoyed immensely our dialogue with Greg and Nitrogen studios, and once again I – and the rest of the staff – wish them all the best in the future.

Returning to the episode at hand, I'm not entirely sure why Thomas had to be at the steamworks – and why did Flynn ask Victor, when he'd be finished – when it is clearly the workmen, doing all of the fixing?

It was something of a gimmick in recent seasons that Victor is the “head of the steamworks”, and yes, we've had a few rare laughs with Kevin the crane and Victor's reactions; but at the same time the advent of the beautifully animated people which populate Sodor should really be doing the talking by now...

We return to the action to find Flynn worried about his wheels wobbling. It's called suspension. Road and railway vehicles tend to have it. Nothing keeps absolutely dead level in movement (except, apparently, Flynn).

What is particularly bothersome about this episode is the way the writer has forgot that Flynn is a fire truck, first and foremost. It is designed to run on roads, with running on rails as the afterthought.

We then change to a convenient location for Flynn to try out his road wheels for the first time in the series. It's so convenient it's unrealistic. Rail/road changeovers more than likely do take place in a siding off a mainline, but the sidings would be much longer than that, would have their own signal, and more than likely would still have buffers at the end but with the road level equal to the top of the railheads.

Then we get the wobble. Looking like a ship in a storm, Flynn goes all over the road, wobbling to and fro, and everywhere in between. It's brilliantly animated, but it's still a strange, unrealistic and totally over the top action shot that serves to make a mockery of the main purpose of a fire truck: to run at speed, on roads, in an emergency.

At which point Charlie turns up to have a laugh at Flynn, who decides he can now only use the rails.

This is probably the point where everyone should stop watching this episode. You know what is going to happen next. You can pretty much guess the rest of the storyline based on last seasons' Fiery Flynn. However, we will press on...

So, Charlie tells Flynn there is something he needs to find out at the Search and Rescue centre. Flynn, deciding he doesn't like bouncing around on the roads, will go by rail. He then arrives, where Rocky (on a turntable for some reason) tells him that the Fat Controller's shed is on fire.

Oh, and the fastest route is by road.

I said as much last season about Fiery Flynn, but my god. The two Flynn episodes really do hammer every last aspect of Fire Safety and the positives of the Fire Service out of life. Flynn as the fire engine, is portrayed constantly as “ready and steady” with a huge amount of spiel on why he's brave, and a REALLY red fire truck...but when push comes to shove, the episode storylines upend that idea and the result is a huge mess with a fair amount of fairly horrific sequences where there's a fire and Flynn for various reasons, can't or decides he can't, help.

So, we get to the end of the episode, and not only has Flynn decided he can't help characters like poor old Bertie the bus and Butch (neither of which were particularly urgent – and I would also argue that surely the FIRE is a priority for a FIRE TRUCK to deal with? Not playing Butch at his own game because he's broken down, or putting water into Bertie's radiator) along the way to the seemingly permanent fire at the Fat Controller's shed, but it is for entirely the wrong reason. “Sorry Butch, I can't help you right now, I'm on my way to put out a fire”. Priorities.

Forget the wheel wobble conundrum right this second. The fire should be the priority of the script, at all times. Fires are dangerous and destroy everything in their path. Therefore, the logical conclusion is that Flynn should be racing on his way to the fire first, to come and help Bertie and Butch later on and face his fear about roads later.

Then we get to the most unbelievable of unbelievable portions of the storyline.

Bear in mind, that Flynn has, from the rails, fought an enormous fire at the Dieselworks in last year's special, he has also from the rails covered Gordon and Sir Topham Hatt with water from a great distance, and he has also from a platform away managed to drench poor old Edward the Blue Engine in last year's finale.

So, in this episode, he is somehow unable to simply fire up the water cannons from a comparable distance away from the shed, on the rails, to put out the fire in the shed. Not to mention a thirty second “woe is me” speech which puts last year's Fiery Flynn in the shade.

So, then he turns back, goes onto the road, and races back to the same location to put the fire out...and the difference is about a scale metre between one side of the fence and the other.

What is this going to teach toddlers about fire engines? That they're unreliable and unable to help anyway? Any confidence toddlers and young children will have in our fire services, worldwide, hinges to some extent on the children's characters which influence them most. So, this sort of exasperating nonsense from the world's number 1 children's brand is alarming and fairly distressing for someone like me, who wants and does support the series in various ways, but cannot condone the writing at its worst.

Last year I said that I felt the good people who write for Fireman Sam might be jumping up and down in exasperation at these sorts of episodes. I stand by that.

Flynn worrying more about the perception of himself to other people, than about the emergencies going on is wrong, purely and simply. With regard to children's television, I would like to think that there is a duty of care to the children and to their parents to educate responsibly whilst entertaining. Thomas & Friends has in previous years managed this with some aplomb, so it's galling in some respects to see the well voiced concerns of last year start again in this season.

But – and there is a but – thankfully, this batch of episodes may yet be the end of this particular writing format. We will have a new head writer, a new writing team, and from some discussion at length with a few contacts, a new way forward in terms of writing episodes. All positives to take away, so the general gist, for me, is to grin and bear it, and look forward to Season 17.

I don't think it can come soon enough, with the severely warped storylines in terms of morals, logic and a few fairly inexcusable and dangerous scenarios presented.

Thoughts From SiF Members

Ryan (Admin):

I liked the fact that the setup for the episode was markedly different from the usual fare, and I found the removal of one of the usual three strikes to accommodate Flynn’s clumsy attempt to use his new wheels was somewhat refreshing.

However, it makes me wonder if the premise could have been turned around a little, instead of Charlie teasing Flynn and reinforcing his fear of being teased, perhaps Flynn could have had a minor accident, which in turn could have caused him to worry about the safety of other road users, and how a more serious incident could affect his response to a real emergency. Instead, he chooses to focus upon how Charlie makes fun of him...

The character’s attitude to fire safety here is questionable too. Flynn is meant to be a fire-fighter, yet he spends more time taking the long way around to save his own dignity than finding the best means of reaching those in need. The character should be pushed forward more as a positive role model, one who is brave, encouraging and selfless – here (and in previous episode, Fiery Flynn too), he’s more concerned about what people think of him rather than rescuing anyone.

Old Square Wheels (Mod):

I just don’t care for Flynn; a fire engine as a lead is so far removed from what Thomas is about, and with how few fires they’ve had in 15 seasons, I really can’t see the longevity of the character. This episode really fits into the same bill; I don’t despise it, but it’s just Fiery Flynn rehashed, and I just don’t care for either of them.

Like its predecessor though, the episode once again suffers from mixed morals; far from racing to an emergency, Flynn doesn’t listen to clear instructions, stops to talk to Butch and Bertie, and the Fat Controller scolds Flynn and in turn seems to be delaying the rescue operation of his own shed. An episode lacking in script clarity!

Christopher (Mod):

First off, while there was no rhyming at all, the Alliteration was "Always Appearing All the Time Tirelessly". It felt very distracting to what could have been a more adventurous episode, as was the repeated and clumsy phrase "Big Red Wobble On Wheels".

Talking of which, the animation for Flynn wobbling wasn't as bad as others had made it out to be; as always, the animation was the gleaming jewel in another run-of-the-mill(er) episode. On the other hand, as with the Shake Shake Bridge, there seems to be a difference between what the script writers dictate and what the Powers That Be ask Nitrogen to animate in the hope - as with the rhymes and repetition - that that's what children would like to see. So it's clear how realism is sorely needed again for this series.

Story-wise, had this been Flynn's first time on the rails than the roads, it would have made more sense for a road vehicle to experience a new way to travel. Also, some more food for thought, there could have been various other delays to hold Flynn up that he never would have come across when on the roads - the level crossing is a nice example, but other things like waiting for trains to clear sections, unable to "overtake", possibly sent on the wrong line...

And then there's Charlie. Always teasing, always joking, rarely does he ever receive some sort of karma, apart from being knocked off the rails in "Surprise, Surprise". Why couldn't Flynn have got his own back at him for laughing? Like squirting him with water, which would have "evened the score".

But far and beyond, along with mixed morals and dangerous acts, there is too much emphasis of "Illustrated Radio". Talking down to the audience of who stopped, what "flickered and flared", who chuckled, who "perilously popped a piston"...and Flynn was talking....long time....when stating his latest fowl-up, 5 seconds after TFC strictly told him to get on with it!

In all, while the small focus on the road characters was nice, there could have been far more interesting, and logical, ways to execute this type of storyline.

Final Conclusions There's no doubt in my mind that this episode is essentially last Season's Fiery Flynn, both in content and overall theme. The only change is to the characters involved and the manner of the situations.

As such, this episode just continued the problems of last season. The storyline perpetrated some fairly dangerous scenarios and warped thinking in terms of the way the events unfolded.

Parents, I would avoid this episode. Put the latest Fireman Sam on instead (also from the HiT Entertainment stable and well recommended by me). Thomas & Friends just doesn't do fire safety as well as the hero next door.