All Engines Go NEWS

Some of the discussions and theories on the future of Thomas & Friends have been verging into tin foil hat territory when some of the reasons behind Mattel's actions are probably not that complicated. Remember when this forum was worrying about Tomy losing their Thomas license six years ago?

The original article in the Sun newspaper (UK). Note that The Sun is not noted for presenting news in a balanced and thoughtful manner!

• "dramatic change backfired"
  
• "hordes of angry mums"
  
• "youngsters devastated"
  

Um yeah, I can see the reboot only lasting a year or two. It will probably get pulled from the UK and Japan with eventually moving to the graveyard hours on Cartoon Network and episodes will get burned off quickly.

Motorized Kana:




Sodor Cup Push Along 10 Pack:

If the Prophets of Doom are correct, the All Engines Go! merchandise could all become short-lived and highly desirable rarities. Better snap it up while you can! That's a big IF.

@Chrisjo, Even if they were rare, I doubt they would be highly desired. I'd love to buy one just to test it out against Jeremy Clarkson's "vast and sophisticated toolkit" (hammer).

The reboot already has the second to lowest ratings on Cartoonito which means once the other shows premier things will most likely start looking bad for the reboot but good for Thomas fans.

I bet Mattel is going to be super sad, And us fans will be super glad.

Well, I went out yesterday with a friend to see 'Race For the Sodor Cup', effectively the debut 'movie' of All Engines Go, on it's premiere day in the UK.

No spoilers for anyone with the constitution to actually sit through an hour of this, but I did it so you don't [potentially] have to, along with a freind, who fortunately is as into trains as I am, and therefore was totally on board with the entire thing lmao [well, that and a day out away from London] .

So, after a quick trip down to the mega-mall Bluewater, located in Kent [south-east of London] using the UK's HS1 Shinkansen service and a rather interesting bus rapid-transit called Fastrack, we sat down to what we both agreed was the most diabolical animated garbage we have ever seen, only slightly less bad than the stinker that was Foodfight [argued as the worst animated film of all time]. This is coming from two guys who watch bad movies, cartoons and Japanese anime for fun, especially the kind that are bad, but in that charmingly incompetent way that makes them unintentionally hilarious, so yeah, it's rare for us to find something we genuinely dislike with no redeeming features.


  The class 395

In fact, given within 15 minutes of the beginning we were literally the only people in the theater [the only family present got up and left that quickly, and I don't blame them], we spent the entire feature cracking jokes at how godawful the thing was, RiffTrax style, and by the end, we were in fits of laughter, mainly at our own wisecracks, because the movie sure wasn't providing them . 

Why did anyone at Mattel actually think turning Thomas into an obnoxious cartoon, with no respect for the original works, or indeed the intelligence of it's target audience [and the longtime fans] was a decent idea? Other than money, there can be no explanation as to why anyone actually would think this was a good idea, as far as i'm concerned, and frankly, I'd say it's a disgrace to the Rev. Awdry's memory that this is now somehow tied to his creation, responsible for so many people's [including my own] introduction to railways as an interest and hobby.

Incidentally, the animation was handled by Nelvana studios; They're a company already in both I and my freind's bad books, as we are both fans of the anime/manga Cardcaptor Sakura, which was dubbed and distributed as Cardcaptors by Nelvana back in the early 2000's - Nelvana royally screwed up the dubbing, cutting out several key elements from the original material to make it more kid-safe [not that it was particularly NSFW anyway, being made for kids in Japan].




While normally we wouldn't be so bothered by this as other versions are usually avaliable here, until very recently, the Nelvana version was the only version widely avaliable in the UK, so we've had to put up with substandard product for years, simply because Nelvana hashed up the dubbing, so frankly, to see them eviscerate Thomas like they have is basically just them proving they're still on top form for destroying the cultural icons they can buy from whatever country will sell to them

Anyway; My verdict? It sucks. This is a family freindly forum, so unfortunately I can't use the many colourful adjectives me and my freind used to describe the film over a portion of 'Atomic' spicy chicken wings for lunch, even if justified. The serious killer heartburn from said chicken wings was actually probably more pleasurable than the film itself, and at least that can be sorted with Gaviscon   

Point is, don't buy it, don't watch it, don't bother with it. You want a Thomas movie, go and watch literally anything else, and I mean it. Magic Railroad, for the flaws it had, might as well be Schindler's List when compared to this, hell, give Gullane, Sony, Icon, whoever mandated the cuts to TATMR an Oscar - even if they corrupted Britt's vision for the film and hired half the cast of the crappy DiC Enterprises dub of Sailor Moon to voice the background engines as opposed to Michael Angelis et al, at least Magic Railroad is watchable, even if I mainly watch it nowadays for nostalgia [and it's higher quality than AEG]! 

That, and of course most important for a Plarail forum, only Magic Railroad has THIS on the beginning of the UK VHS release



So, my overall score?

-10/10
'You have caused confusion and delay!'

Now i'm off to stick my feet in my new foot-spa, relax, and plan my layout extensions, while forgetting I willingly watched Race For the Sodor Cup. Might even dig out the Magic Railroad VHS while i'm at it to remind myself what REAL Thomas looks like 

Later