Season 16 - Episode 8: Thomas Toots The Crows

February 2012 saw the eighth 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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Thomas Toots The Crows

Writer: Jessica Sandys Clarke

At the farm, Farmer McColl needs help. His scarecrow is so old, he has to send it away for mending. This means there is nothing to scare away the crows and they are eating all the seed he has planted in his fields! Farmer McColl doesn't know what to do. But Thomas does! 

Overall Thoughts

Why?

Why in god's name would anyone pass this episode for production?

The storyline, even from the eyes of a child, would make little sense.

It's not funny, it's not entertaining, and it's just absolutely dire.

Let's start with the big flaw: Thomas is a railway locomotive. Generally, it's a waste of fuel, time and money to keep a steam locomotive running around an island on its own chasing crows.

Far from railway realism, it leaves the planes of reality altogether.

Then there's the first big leap of faith – specific crows go to specific locations where engine X or Y is doing something and Thomas whistles loudly thus waking up/draws a moustache/aggravates that engine.

The helicopter shots in this episode, looking down from a great height onto the action are probably the worst of Nitrogen's work for the series. Still brilliant on a technical level, but they do nothing for me and it's a shame you don't get to see the detail of engines like Rosie and Hiro.

The shots of the fields with the tractor, and men planting seeds felt very much like a hark back to the days of Season 1. I love the fact we suddenly get some actual real world scenarios like this (instead of balloons on flat beds or transporting clowns), but the whole concept is flawed at the base level.

The final point I want to make is a good one. Who on earth would cope with a steam locomotive tooting their whistle every so often throughout the whole of the night?!

Even Farmer McColl would surely get thoroughly fed up of Thomas by then (even if wasn't already in the first thirty sections of the episode).

I cannot understand how and why this was passed for production.

Thoughts From Other SiF Members

Kyle (ERS Mod):

After watching this episode I must admit that I cannot understand what message this episode is trying to get across, after Thomas rushes off to chase two crows all over the Island instead of staying at Farmer McColl's field to make sure no others cause problems. Is it to do your job properly? Look at the bigger picture? Don’t get distracted by small details? For the life of me I cannot figure out what this was supposed to be about!

Once again, the positives of the episode go to the usual suspects; the folks at Nitrogen and the Voice Cast. Both have done superb work with the sub-par scripts they have to deal with, with some notable examples including the delivery of Mavis’ confused “Goodbye Thomas…” line as our little blue tank engine puffs away from the quarry, the rendering of the crows themselves, and Gordon with a paint moustache.

Kudos must also go to Nitrogen for getting more rolling stock onto Sodor again – in this episode alone I noticed open trucks, coal hoppers, oil tankers, a CCT van, the Works Van, flat beds and breakvans! When you consider that train loads are also increasing to more realistic lengths, it seems that Sodor is actually trying to carry out more of the functions of a regular railway (at least in the cameos).

One positive I can say for the story is that Thomas didn’t put off other duties to try and help Farmer McColl; in this instance he only offered to help because he had nothing else left to do. So a few points there.

Otherwise, this was just another confusing story with little to no merit to it, seemingly cannon fodder on the path to the completion of the first 80 CGI episodes…

A few other notes:

• Breakvans on all trains

• Crows animated beautifully

• Farmer McColl looking thoroughly exasperated at the crows

• Gordon looked quite amusing with his “moustache”. It did strangely suit him though…

• Although Gordon’s catchphrase “Oh, the indignity” appears, in this case it actually appeared justified and wasn’t awfully grating.

• Nice to see the trucks groan again when Mavis hits them.

• I liked the cameo of the goods shed after Thomas left the quarry (although I’m confused as to why it had points leading to it from both sides, and why there was nothing around to justify its’ existence)

• Interesting to note that Farmer McColl’s bedroom light came on after Thomas blew his whistle at night. A very nice touch!

Eric (SiF Co-Admin):

To be honest, I quite enjoyed Thomas Toots the Crows. The message, as far as I understood it, was more subtle. I took it to mean prioritization. I couldn't tell you how many times at work I needed to do something (that should take precedence) only to turn around and complete several other clients' requests just to save myself some time. The concept was subtle enough.

Would have been nice to see the crows literally "scratching" paintwork in order to make them seem more antagonizing -- not in a scary way, mind, but then again I don't think we actually saw them eat the seeds too? Oh well.

Also would have been nice for the workman with the paintbrush to make some sort of noise as Thomas surprises him. The trucks do it, why can't the people! It also would have added a nice touch had we seen Thomas' driver and fireman to huddled in the cab with cups warm coffee or tea while Thomas spent the night. No worries, I'm sure their families didn't miss them.

Having McColl deliver more than two or three lines was a great step up in terms of writing. There was at least 26-7 seconds where the narrator took a break and let Thomas and McColl have a naturally flowing conversation. This works. This is perfect, and this should happen more often.

Final Conclusions

My right honourable friends on the Staff team have done an excellent job of reviewing the episodes in the staff room along with me over the last few weeks, so I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank them, one and all, for their help in putting together this season's reviews.

I am particularly grateful to Kyle and Eric's insights today as there were several notable, and excellent, pieces of animation which tug at the heart strings which I had completely missed.

The potential for the franchise to grow from this point on – particularly on a day in which we've seen a very tasty trailer for this year's film special (and we'll be covering our thoughts on that in full later this week) grows with every day, but it's still utterly exasperating to see such dire writing as that seen in today's episode.

I just cannot understand how anyone with any semblance understanding of this franchise can write something this dire, particularly with all the material out there to help you along the way. If not SiF, then there's a multitude of previous episodes and books to fall back on for inspiration. Trying a twist on a familiar works, but this doesn't.

For me, there were so many leaps of faith in the writing today that I just gave up on trying to justify any of it. It's worse than the rubbish train, and that puts it in the same bracket as the Flynn episodes.

Individual Episode Score: 1/10 - Fiery Flynn 3/10 – Ol’ Wheezy Wobbles 7/10 - Express Coming Through 3/10 - Percy & The Monster of Brendam 2/10 - Ho Ho Snowman 8/10 - Flash Bang Wallop! 2/10 - Thomas & The Rubbish Train 1/10 - Thomas Toots The Crows

Total Season Score So Far: 27/80

Average Season Score So Far: 3.4/10

Quick Character Stats

Speaking Roles:

Thomas, Famer McColl, Crows 1- God knows how many,

Den, Gordon, Mavis

Cameos:

Hiro, Rosie, James, Henry