to think that Thomas the Tank Engine should be sent to the smelter's yard?

[WorriedMummy73]

I watched the original episodes with my youngest brother when he was little. And we bought the original series 1 for DS (now 8). He was really into Thomas and now ds2 (age 4) is too. He's had the latest film for three Christmases in a row and I really feel that Thomas has become a sanctimonious little turd who causes problems which then take over a bloody hour to sort out!

Case in point - the one with the sodding Jobi wood. Fat Controller says the most useful engine will get to collect the wood. So Diesel says he will be the most useful. Thomas - 'oh no, only steamies can be really useful'. Cue Diesel trying to prove he's really useful, failing miserably, Thomas saves the day. Which, if he'd been a bit more sensitive in the first place, he wouldn't have had to do.

Case in point 2 - two new engines arrive on Sodor. Thomas (obviously, because every other engine is fecking useless compare to him) is chosen to show them around. Goes off to do so, blatantly bins off Percy (best friend) in the process, Percy falls in with a bad lot (diesels again - and how camp is Diesel 10?) and tragedy ensues.

Am I the only one thinking that for the hero of the show he's a bit of a shit?

Disclaimer: this is not a serious post. I am not for one second really suggesting that an engine be sent to the smelters yard or otherwise punished. I don't need to be told 'it's only a kids show' or that 'I'm taking it far too seriously'. Am now awaiting the first person to tell me that they feel sorry for my children :)

[HollyBerryBush]

I always thought Thomas was a bit camp amyway.

Do they still have a Fat Controller - hasnt he been renamed, other than Sir Topham Hat

[LynetteScavo]

Diesel is bad.

Thomas is good.

The controler is fat.

Bad things happen on the railway, but Thomas will always come out a winner. Every fecking time.

That is all you need to know.

[NotInMyDay]

I find myself inwardly yelling "just listen and do as you are told you wee shite"
Of course the episode would be very short - The Fat Controller asked Thomas the take Dowager Hatt to Maithwaite station. He did. The end.

[Sparklingbrook]

My Dc are 13 and 11. I can still remember the episode where some poor engine gets bricked into a tunnel.

[manicbmc]

I love Thomas the Tank and so does my 18 year old ds.

[BreconBeBuggered]

I'm surprised it hasn't happened already. Look at poor old Henry getting walled up in that tunnel for being a bit poncey. I bloody loathed reading Thomas to stories to DS1, and was always thankful DS2 wasn't interested enough in the little shit to justify investing in any of the new stories. My 2-year-old nephew used to have trouble saying Fat Controller and called him the Fuckin Troll instead, which was a little light relief in a dark dark time.

[Mytimewillcomebutwhen]

Hell no, don't joke. I'll wheel him to the smelters yard myself. DS is obsessed with your Case Study 2. I hear the words to the song in my sleep

Diesel10 is our favourite.

[Floggingmolly]

Ds1 moved onto Thomas from the Teletubbies. I'll always feel a debt of gratitude to Thomas; still love him now

[WorriedMummy73]

Pmsl at 'you wee shite'. I do a hell of a lot of inward shouting at a hell of a lot of kids tv (especially the stuff with canned laughter on CBBC - save me from Sadie J, please!).

The engine who got bricked up. Henry, I think. He wouldn't come out in the rain. Although why that deserved a bricking up, I don't know. Bit harsh.

I'm also annoyed at the new Noddy (I know it's not strictly new anymore, but still), the new Postman Pat (he flies a helicopter!), Fireman Sam, the list goes on and on.

Bring back Bagpuss and all will be well.

[WorriedMummy73]

Ha! X posted with so many people!

[Mytimewillcomebutwhen]

And now I'm gonna hear the song all night...

listen to the rolling thunder, rolling thunder...

All bloody night now

[Lollydaydream]

Can you transfer allegiances to chuggington? It seems slightly less sanctimonius. The few times I've read Thomas stories to my dds I've been very relieved I had girls and escaped what seems like the obligatory boy-thomas obsession. I may even have (shamefully) disuaded the dds from them by saying they're for boys.

[Mytimewillcomebutwhen]

And the catchphrases, before we move on from Thomas

Cinders and Ashes
They wheeshed and they whooshed

All those tingling fireboxes...

And the repeated exhortations to be Really Useful...

[WorriedMummy73]

Oh but the songs I can get along with. 'Daaaaaaay of the diesels, yeah, yeah'. Brilliant. I actually checked the credits to see if it was Status Quo. And the one with the rapping at the end of one of the earlier films. Absolute genius. Like Snoop Dogg on steroids...

[HollyBerryBush]

I bought the wholeset of books - made a fortune flogging them to Americans on eBay

[PurpleStorm]

I think Thomas does tend to be very irresponsible and cause all sorts of bother, as do all the other engines.

And yes, it was Henry who got bricked up. More than a little bit harsh!

DH thinks that the Fat Controller is often emotionally abusive towards the engines, and holds the Henry being bricked up episode as a prime example of his theory.

[WorriedMummy73]

He loves Chuggington too. I got very excited when he was about 2 and found his older brother's Bob the Builder toys - thought we were going to have a Bob fan, but no. Thomas all the effing way.

And he actually uses the catchphrases while playing and sometimes in conversation, as a way of showing his surprise at something. Must admit that tickles me.

[Mytimewillcomebutwhen]

And if we're doing fireman Sam, don't you just want to sit Norman down and tell him to stop being such a PITA?

[WorriedMummy73]

I did love when the pc brigade got hold of it for awhile and the Fat Controller was renamed. I think he still is in the Americanised versions. And has anyone see The Magic Railroad? Trippy! And scared the living shit out of ds1 when he was smaller. DS2 has yet to see that one...

[HarrietSchulenberg]

Henry was asking for it when he got bricked up in the tunnel. Serves him right for being vain and not going out in the rain in case it messed up his paint.

I love the original Reverend Awdry TtTE books as they were much more true to life (1950s life that is) and had top tips about mending steam engines. Who'd have thought you could fix brake pipes with shoelaces and newspaper? Although I did feel a bit sorry for the poor passenger who was hounded into removing his footwear so this could happen.

And the one where Gordon is depressed because all his Doncaster brothers have been scrapped, so the Fat Controller brings Flying Scotsman to see him. Brings a tear to my eye every time.

Modern Thomas is utter pants.

[WorriedMummy73]

Why is Norman Price not in care? Why are there four firefighters (well, 3 and a bit for Elvis) looking after, essentially, four households? Why is Mike a handman when he's so bloody useless?

So many Fireman Sam questions.

Quite like Octonauts though. Kwazii Kitten - yow!

[LilyAmaryllis]

Yes the series 1 and 2 where its the original stories and its narrated by Ringo Starr (how did that happen?) are alright and well worth it. Anything modern after that is TERRIBLE and you are quite right, terrible terrible plots

[MrsGeologist]

It's not just Henry. A narrow gauge engine gets turned into a generator for being naughty, positioned so he can see the trains going past, and the bus gets turned into a chicken coup for stealing the railway passengers, and (correct me if I'm wrong, I wasn't paying attention) but aren't Bash, Dash and Ferdinand essentially abandoned on misty Island for not being useful enough?

Fat Controller is evil.

[MrsGeologist]

In the Freat Fire if Ponty Pandy, they have to evacuate the town, and they make a big song and dance about it, when there's only, like, ten of them in this quite large village. It's, frankly, a bit bloody embarrassing for them. They could all fit on Trevor's mini bus.