#thomas and friends cgi

[greatwesternway]

Thomas and Friends S13E04 "Double Trouble"

Oh fuck, two bangers in a row? Well, bangers for this era, but still. And we're only four episodes in!

This is the one with Sir Lowham Hatt, Topham's no account brother.

So it's Sir Topham Hatt's birthday and Thomas is supposed to pick him and Lady Hatt up to take them to the party. When he arrives at Maithwaite station, however, he finds that Sir Topham Hatt has a mustache all the sudden.

He also greets Thomas in oddly familiar way and laughs a bit obnoxiously about it. Fuckin' strange! Stranger still, Hatt wants to go to the Whispering Woods instead of the planned destination, saying that there's plenty of time before the party.

Now Thomas is perplexed by all this. Hatt's acting weird! And Thomas wants to ask about the mustache and the other weird behavior, but he "doesn't want to look silly".

Now one thing I do not care for in this era of the show is that being afraid of "looking silly" is a plot point in a lot of episodes. I don't like it because it encompasses a lot of nuanced experiences and feelings. However, I do see why they've elected to phrase it this way.

How much of learning to navigate the world as a child is worrying about looking stupid? Almost all of it! Thomas and Friends, though, ain't about to be throwing the word "stupid" around. It's immediately negative and demoralizing and it's not keeping with the Awdry styleguide anyway. So everything is about "looking silly".

But Looking Silly can be a stand in for any number of specific scenarios a child might experience. In the previous episode, Looking Silly meant when you have to wear an outfit you don't like and you think people will tease you for. In this one, it's about the risk of speaking up when you don't understand why an authority figure is behaving the way that they are and you're not even sure if you're allowed to question them.

So Thomas decides not to ask.

He takes Hatt to the Whispering Woods and finds that Edward is there with the children he's supposed to bring to the party. Hatt gets out and Thomas reminds him that they can't stay long because they have to get to the party on time.

"Party smarty," he says. So I guess that's a thing on Sodor around this time. "We got plany off time." And then he goes to play Hide and Seek with the kids.

Now here's the coolest part of this episode. Edward, wisest motherfucker on railway, notes the strangeness of this behavior too. Sir Topham Hatt never plays Hide and Seek. And he's got this weird new mustache. He and Thomas have this short little gossip session about it and I'm sure it's a great relief to Thomas that Edward thinks this is fuckin' weird too.

Mustache Hatt finally decides to get back on the train when Thomas tells him that they'll be late for the party and Edward comments that the children will be late too. To which Hatt instructs Edward not to rush the children to leave.

And Edward does not question this, thereby signalling that not questioning Hatt here is the appropriate thing to do.

Now, granted, Edward is still being mischaracterized by the show at this point in time, but I think there's one other thing at play here that's not actually being articulated.

I think engines observe an etiquette that, like children, states they are mostly to be seen and not heard. On the whole, this is probably just a good idea because you don't want large, loud machines calling passengers out and demanding their attention on the platform. Certainly we're shown that if a person wants to speak with an engine, they are welcome to do so, but an engine asking for a person's attention seems to be frowned upon.

There's one other episode later on, Series 19's "Thomas and the Emergency Cable", where Thomas does break this protocol to ask a birdwatcher what he's doing (because he's also appears to be behaving strangely). When Thomas asks, though, he does so rather gingerly, like he knows he's overstepping his bounds a bit. Another one of those things they reached back to revisit maybe?

Anyway, if this is the case and in view that they do think this is Sir Topham Hatt, it explains why even Edward doesn't want to speak up and address the strangeness he's observing and just does as he's told.

So Thomas is on his way again, when he has to stop at a junction. And as he's waiting, Hatt jumps out and just invites himself into the signal box, much to the surprise of the signalman too. And of course, the signalman also thinks this is Sir Topham Hatt, so he also does not question letting him "have a turn" on the levers. As a result, Gordon (who is bringing all the important visitors) get switched to a branchline and away from the party so he's going to be late too.

At this point, Thomas really thinks he ought to be asking Hatt what the fuck he's doing, but when he has the opportunity, he stays quiet. And I mean, fair, right? Both Edward and an actual person didn't speak up either, so what place does he have to question Sir Topham fkn Hatt?

They end up back at Maithwaite (to pick up Lady Hatt, in a bit of logic that might have given the gag away if Thomas wasn't a dumbass train), but when he arrives, the stationmaster is mad at him because the actual Hatts had to go to the party in Bertie the Bus when Thomas didn't show up on time and neither the children nor the important visitors are at the party either.

And now Thomas is like, "If Sir Topham Hatt is on Bertie, then who the hell is this?"

So finally, Thomas asks.

"Excuse me, Sir Topham, you don't quite seem yourself today. Is everything all right?"

"Yes, Thomas, but I'm not Sir Topham Hatt. I'm sir Lowham Hatt, Sir Topham's brother!"

Son of a bitch.

Thomas also realizes that if Sir Topham isn't at the party yet, that means Bertie must have broken down and needs to be found, which Sir Lowham thinks is great fun. But now Thomas is stern; he's had e-fuckin-nough of this guy today, engine etiquette or no. He tells Sir Lowham that he has to work very hard very quickly to fix all the confusion and delay he's caused and they won't be playing fucking Hide and Seek about it.

They find Bertie pretty easily and at first Sir Topham is cross with Thomas, until Sir Lowham gets out and immediately Sir Topham recognizes the real culprit here and directs all his ire at his brother. Which just goes to show that he understands how this could come to pass, that an engine was not likely to question his brother or his behavior because they would not question him.

Thomas rushes about getting Edward and Gordon back on track and everyone gets to the party eventually. And once everyone is there, Sir Topham Hatt enjoys himself so much, he actually plays with the children and laughs even louder than Sir Lowham did. Curious behavior indeed!

It's hard to say there's a moral in this one exactly, because at every turn, not asking was reinforced as the correct course of action. However, is that not also something that happens in real life? Maybe the moral is that sometimes some weird shit is afoot and everyone else is going to ignore the elephant in the room. Maybe you will join them; maybe you will finally say enough is enough. If it's the former, good odds no one will blame you, especially if they didn't ask either.

[masterj]

Shoutout to Nino's Productions for an AWESOME re-write of the infamous 2011 special Day Of The Diesels which just premiered!

[monstersteam]

Photo-accurate “upscale” painting attempt

[noble-atomics-railway]

A sketchy Victor and Kevin. Victor is one of my favourite CGI characters. I love his demeanour and the fact that he never loses his temper no matter how ridiculous things become around him. Kevin is his son who he spends his life being fondly exasperated by, I cannot be convinced otherwise.

[stinkysussenger]

This guy attempted murder in The Magic Railroad, and now he's here looking like a little kid being scolded by their parents

[theredengineapologist]

Sometimes a family can be just a dad and his seven giant steam locomotive children.

Bonus James-centric screenshots because I have a favorite child (clearly):

[mwolf0epsilon]

I think out of all of Gordon's siblings, Great Northern being his very first sibling would have made them very close. Not just in age, but emotionally as well.

Think about it.

Gordon as a prototype existed specifically as proof of concept and for stress testing the original draft design of Gresley's A1 Pacifics. He was likely put through a very meticulous and arduous trial phase to gauge all of his strengths and limitations, as well as single out whatever faults the original concept design would need to have ironed out before the final product was put into production.

He would have been alone and been worked to the frame, holding the potential fate of whatever kin may come out of his hard work over his funnel, never quite knowing if he was enough to warrant a new class of locomotive being brought into being.

Until one day another engine who's his spitting image but fully finished and painted, rolls over to him and greets him as his newly-built brother. That would have probably been a very impactful moment for him. Which, of course, only makes what happened to that particular sibling (who was once a very iconic and beloved engine in his own right) all the much worse...

As the prototype of Gresley's A1 Pacifics, Gordon likely never wanted to outlive any of his brothers. Especially not his first little brother who's mere existence proved that Gordon accomplished his very purpose in life with flying colours...

[dailyttteedward]

S19, A Cranky Christmas

Interestingly there’s a fanfic that takes place during this episode but the twist is that Thomas doesn’t stop in time, and Edward’s buffers start bleeding as a result of the collision.

I know he’s a giant thing of hot metal but sometimes I just wanna hug him so badly

[rizpatcatlovers]

Get challenged by one of my friend, so here's Hiro in his full glory! Spencer version will be posted in future. Enjoy!

[lordvonbunnyv]

On especially hot summer days, Donald will bring Dilly down to the beach. Dilly loves the beach, she likes swimming in the surf, splashing in the shallows, and running on the sand. Of course, fans and locals always have to stop and take a picture of her, it’s a duck on the beach after all. The day always ends with a homemade waffle cone from the local ice cream shop, and a nap in Donald’s lap. Being a local celebrity can be very exhausting.

Inspired by @the-quackeroos drawings of duck and Donald on the beach.

[bruhstation]

younger henry cringe compilation

[greatwesternway]

Thomas and Friends S13E03 "Tickled Pink"

You forgot "Tickled Pink" was this early in the CGI era, didn't you? Third episode in and we've already got an episode most people remember and like.

So aside from an oft repeated and rephrased comment that made me harrumph enough to do this in the first place ("The CGI sucks"), another reason I wanted to do these is because Tug's recap of Season 13 also just came out and he claimed to have so little to say about it that he had to fill the last ten minutes of his video with some unpleasant skit where one of his friends resentfully shouts through a door about having to talk about this season.

But one of the few things Tug did find to say I quite agree with!

The exposition of the episode involves James being told to go get repainted, being sanded down, and then given a protective pink undercoating to keep water out.

This is a sort of practical train maintenance and operations detail that we don't see so much of in a story at this point, but we're not just painting James in bee stripes because Percy decided so this is a stark improvement. There is an actual reason to paint James pink like this and they explain that purpose to you. They also bring this detail back in The Adventure Begins.

The great strength - and great irony - of Thomas and Friends is that aside from the talking trains with faces, the original books and most of the best parts of the show are very much grounded in reality. The show does forget this sometimes, but we generally all like it best when the trains are busy, are observing correct railway procedures, and no one is giving an engine too much human responsibility.

So yeah, James gets painted pink for a very serious and non-silly reason.

But before he can be given his proper top coat of red paint, Sir Topham Hatt shows up and says James must fill in for Emily at the last minute and take his granddaughter and her friends to a birthday party. Kind of silly allocation of resources, but this is also the cotton candy economy.

James is a fragile and sensitive little train though. When he encounters Emily in the siding at the junction, she laughs at his pink paint. He caint let that stand so he resolves not to let anyone else see him in the stupid outfit his mom Sir Topham Hatt made him wear.

But Sodor Karma is a fickle mistress and though James didn't actually do anything wrong yet, his decision to hide from other engines risks his being late and so must be severely discouraged.

First he happens upon Toby coming in the opposite direction and hides under the branches of a weeping willow tree. But Gordon also comes rushing by and blows all the branches about, revealing James to Toby, who obviously laughs.

Then James happens on Diesel who's shunting a bunch of trucks about. James hides behind some of them, but Diesel - fastest shunter on the roster - cleans the yard out only too quickly.

You know what though? Of all the engines who have and will laugh at James today, Diesel was actually the most restrained about it. "You're a big pink steamie!" and then, like, a second and half of "heheh". Not a mirthful guffaw, not a prolonged chuckle. Barely even a remark upon a such novel sighting.

But somehow Diesel was worst of all. Hmm.

Now James really is almost late so he decides to take a shortcut through a tunnel. Fine and well, except Gordon then approaches... from the same direction that he approached from before? Seems logistically wrong, but whatev.

James pulls back into the tunnel to hide so Gordon won't see, but Gordon's on the same track as James. Luckily, Detective Gordon saw James' steam billowing out before he just charged into him. Gordon demands that James come out because he's holding up the express, but James just backs in deeper.

Then Thomas and Percy show up and now the conversation sounds like someone locked themselves into the only bathroom in the office. Remember Salaryman Thomas? This is like if you crossed that with the set piece from The Simpsons' episode "Stark Raving Dad" where Homer had to go to work in a shirt that had been dyed pink in the wash.

Anyway, James rationalizes that now he's making everyone late, including the children, so he nuts up and leaves the tunnel. Percy, Gordon, and Thomas all laugh heartily at him and it's bad but somehow not as bad as Diesel.

But now he ain't got no time to ruminate on that 'cause damn it, those children need to get to the party! He meets Spencer and Henry along the way, who also laugh at him but even though that's embarrassing, James has committed not to let it stop him.

What's interesting here is, he hasn't committed to not care that other engines are laughing. He very much does care that he looks silly. He's just not letting it stop him from working. That is a great life lesson. Sometimes you can't not care, but that's okay. Sometimes you feel the way you feel and sometimes you can't set it aside, but you still have to finish the job you're doing.

As the ancient Project Runway wisdom goes, "You better cry and cut."

And James does! Although he has one last point of hesitation because he's worried the children will laugh at him, he arrives to pick up the children on time.

What he finds is that not only do the children not laugh (they're all girls which was a fact carefully hidden until this point), but Sir Topham Hatt's granddaughter is delighted that James is pink. It's her favorite color and the party is pink themed.

Even at that age, she must know enough about trains to realize how special it is for an engine to dress on theme for a party.

The moral of the story is sometimes your mom is going to send you to school in an outfit she thinks is just darling but that is definitely gonna get you picked on today. You're allowed to hate it, but you still have to go to class and for what it worth, you probably do look darling.

[masterj]

Joe Mills reprises his role from the CGI series as Douglas in The Unlucky Tug's lastest episode of "Sodor's Finest," featuring the Scottish Twins!

I don't usually watch too much of Unlucky Tug's content, but there's some amazing voice acting in the cutscenes for this, so I highly recommend checking this out!

(Wow, out of all the Thomas characters, Donald and Douglas have been getting a lot of attention on my account so far - and rightfully so, they're awesome 😎👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿)

[monstersteam]

CGI Edward (especially in TAB/S19) would absolutely hug and squeeze and make dad jokes with AEG Gordon

[noble-atomics-railway]

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2. Cosmic

Gordon is based on a Mako shark, the fastest shark in the ocean.

[stinkysussenger]

Huh?

Aren't you supposed to be in jail over grand larceny and other things?