Season 16 - Episode 4: Percy & The Monster of Brendam

February 2012 saw the fourth 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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Percy & The Monster of Brendam

Writer: Sharon Miller

On the Island of Sodor, the fog is beginning to swirl into Brendam Docks. Percy is there, waiting for cargo and listening to one of Salty's tales!

Overall Thoughts

I just wonder why we have such a clear and pointless template to episodes. Variety goes out of the window in favour of scripts which seem (are?) manufactured rather than written. After the surprisingly good episode yesterday, today's episode – which in its concept had some potential – returns straight to the normal trend of bland, repetitive, and downright broken.

The thing which struck me most about this episode was the clear writer's folly at the start of the episode. If the monster is in Brendam, and it is known as the “monster of Brendam” - why would it be found anywhere else? This is never explained and the “monster” is the direct cause of three separate incidents. Two of which are “accidents” in the fog.

In previous series of Thomas & Friends, we've seen the issue of Fog dealt with in an extremely positive manner. Fogmen, detonators, and caution when approaching fog have all been seen previously. The railway realism and recognition of railway safety, and common sense, have all been aired in some excellent examples of children's television.

None of them, however, have appeared in the CGI era. I think I can safely say that there is no one single episode of seasons 13-16 that could be labeled as both educative, child friendly, railway realistic and entertaining in one package, and I would wager there's no episode which fully manages any of the above either.

At the end of this season's reviews, I will be writing a small piece on why the “Miller Era” has failed to live up to expectations, and to what extent I – as a writer, fan, and guardian think should be the best step forward.

Of course, I'm not in the industry, nor a professional, just an ordinary chap with a love of the railways and writing children's literature, so I'm by no means the authority on such matters. Take it with a pinch of salt, of course.

Returning to the episode at hand, I must emphasize – as I no doubt will the rest of the season – my delight at the number of, and clear variety of, brakevans this season. Greg Tiernan and Nitrogen Studios clearly picked up on this over the last few years, and whilst I'm sure my overbearing pleas for brakevans recently have been heard loud and clear, I want to relay my thanks, because it does wonders for the look of the series.

A small minor note, however. Oil tankers when arranged into a train, with a steam locomotive leading, should have two barrier wagons between the locomotive and the first oil wagon, and a barrier wagon between the brake van and the lastmost tanker. The “barrier wagon” can be a standard four wheeled vent van. This became standard practise in the steam era, mainly for preventing sparks from locomotive's chimneys setting fire to the oil tankers. It's a minor and very nitpicky point, and one only I would come up with! So by no means is it a negative against this episode. As I always say nowadays, nobody should doubt the quality of the CGI animation.

If you are wondering why I've spent so much time rambling about things other than the episode's plot, it's simple. I've gone over all of this before. Engine X does something/is told something, goes out and does something three times before returning to the original location and the episode ends with everyone laughing or someone getting laughed at at his/her own expense.

It's predictable, it's boring, and in this instance, where two of the accidents directly contradict general, realistic railway movements in fog, it's summed up with “poor research undertaken” yet again.

In the three years we've been doing reviews of some form with this blog, and with the last four seasons of Thomas & Friends, we've aired the same complaints repeatedly.

We were told it wouldn't change just yet and it has proven so. The great thing is, we're extremely confident that this is all going to change from next season.

As a fanbase, we've had the lowest of low points with Season 15, and Season 16 is proving no better. But it's not all in vain. Just you wait and see.

Well, what do you know – I've gone through a whole review without actually mentioning much of the episode in question. Probably for the best!

Thoughts From Other SiF Members

Ian (ERS Mod):

Wow. What a let down after yesterday. I had hoped for something along the lines of series 5... no chance.

Some plus points (yes, I did find some!) –

Salty's story could have been plucked right out of series 7, and his sudden "OK, I'm off now!" at the end was wonderfully well delivered. Nice for him to get some proper use- give him his own episode, someone!

Rocky and Butch making appearances was nice (Rocky's doing some talking so far this series isn't he?) as was Diesel- his fury at being called a monster was one of the few delights of the episode.

Percy's 'special' (while admittedly stupid) wasn't a ''special' special'- just a 'special'.

Top marks for the animations as always, and admittedly this is what makes the show worth more than one viewing- trying to spot all the little details crammed into the sets such as the docks. Shame they always use the same bit of running line though at Brendam.

Negatives; plot was obvious from the start; repetition; Percy racing around the island instead of staying at Brendam; Edward and Toby racing TOWARDS the so-called monsters (surely you'd go the other way like Henry did?); repetition; Butch having his magnet on for no reason; Rocky being plonked out in the countryside on his own for no reason; Diesel's "Get out of my way!" to Percy when they are on different tracks; repetition... this list stops here only because I may get RSI from all the typing if I were to do a comprehensive list.

End on a positive Ian... no speaking role for Thomas (out of interest, when was the last time that happened?) and no sign of Charlie or Misty Island Morons.

Ryan (Admin):

I couldn’t help but feel that this one had a lot of potential for some really great atmospheric scenes set within Brendam Docks. An alternative in my own mind would be to have Percy doing something constructive like shunting trucks around the Harbour yard whilst he waited for the ship, which would have still allowed for the usual storyline structure to play out.

Surely the Monster of Brendam would be lurking somewhere within the Harbour – not on the Main Line?

There were ample opportunities to use the Harbour’s empty buildings, wide derelict spaces and other shadowy places to make better use of Rocky, Butch and Diesel during the fog. It made very little sense to take the route they did with the storyline.

Christopher (ERS Mod):

I was right not to have gotten my hopes up too high - this episode was as alliterative and cut-and-pasted as ever. The overuse of "Cranky Cranked", the Monster's description and the catchphrases were oh-so grating after the first 2 minutes.

But the biggest fowl-up made by Miller was the obvious - if the Monster is at Brendam, what the Hell was Percy doing looking for it on the Main Line!?

Not happy with how Edward, Henry and Toby were used either. Now had Toby and Edward been written properly, they would have bravely and carefully gone in closer to look to help Percy - whilst Henry would have scoffed at the story until being scared himself.

However, I have to admit, I did actually laugh at the last half of the story. Cliched as the ending was - even I knew who the "monster" was right from the start - the timing and deliveries from Diesel and Cranky respectively were brilliant.

"Who's calling me a monster!?" Best line from Diesel since forever! ;D

And as always, the animation was top banana. The new rolling stock looks amazing, which I hope we'll see more of later on in the season, the fog effects brought back some Series 2 / Series 5 memories (especially with Toby and Percy's scene. (Ghost Train, anyone?) and I always get a grin from Salty.

His voice-acting and facial expressions make for a lovely couple.

So yes, Miller didn't make an effort at all to bring us the first "spooky" episode in ages, but flawed and tiresome as her writing is, she did surprise me with the laughs here and there. But in all, Nitrogen wins out again in the end.

…..oh, and Thomas hardly appeared at all. Yeeeey!

Final Conclusions

In short, this was awful. Too little substance, too many plotholes, absolutely no educative value, and you feel that once again, poor Percy – the hero of Day of the Diesels – has just been typecast as the permanent infant of the steam team.

The problem is, there's so little logical development in “it's the monster of Brendam” and then going out to find it on the mainline on Sodor, that you know from the instant you see Edward charging into the fog and having a crash, that this episode can only go downhill fast. Which is a shame, as Salty, both in style and voice acting, is underutilised and for the last four years has not played anywhere near the sort of role he could have done.

Individual Episode Score: 1/10 - Fiery Flynn 3/10 – Ol’ Wheezy Wobbles 7/10 - Express Coming Through 3/10 - Percy & The Monster of Brendam

Total Season Score So Far: 14/40

Average Season Score So Far: 3.5/40

Quick Character Stats

Speaking Roles:

Percy, Salty, Cranky, Edward, Rocky, Toby, Butch, Henry, Diesel

Cameos:

Thomas, Stanley, Gordon, James, Emily, The Fat Controller