“Thomas and the Magic Railroad” is a popular family adventure movie that stars Peter Fonda, Cody McMains, Russell Means, and Alec Baldwin. The Island of Sodor, a land of talking trains, has been a realm of magic and innocence for as long as anyone can remember. Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends embark on a fun-fueled adventure in this first film ever, directed by Britt Allcroft.
The film follows Thomas the Tank Engine, who searches for gold dust to protect himself from mean-spirited Diesels. Rentals include 30 days to start watching the video and 48 hours to finish once started. The movie is available on various streaming services, including Apple TV, Google Play Movies, and Fandango At Home.
The movie is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, and Pluto TV. The title may not be available to watch from your location, so visit amazon.com to see the video catalog in the United States.
In this combination live-action/animation feature film version of the hit TV series, Thomas the Tank Engine, you can watch it for free with ads on Starz Apple TV Channel, Starz Roku Premium Channel, Starz, and Starz Amazon Channel. Join Thomas the Tank Engine and meet lots of new friends in this enchanting family adventure movie.
📹 Visiting Thomas and the Magic Railroad Filming Locations
Join me as I show you guys a handful of filming locations used in the (slightly disastrous) movie, Thomas and the Magic Railroad!
Did Thomas survive Sodor Fallout?
A cure for the engines was found, and Thomas and James were cured, allowing them to be no longer mutated. Sir Topham Hatt agreed to turn Knapford Sheds into a memorial site for his lost friends. A year later, life on the Island of Sodor returned to normal, and Edward stopped at Wellsworth Station with a local passenger train. His fireman ended his diary with a happy ending, stating “The End”.
Did they take Thomas off Netflix?
Mattel partnered with Netflix in February 2020 to stream the twenty-third series of Thomas and Friends in the US, ending the Nickelodeon deal in December 2019. The remaining twenty-fourth series episodes were released in September 2020. Mattel also streamed the 2021 reboot and the two series, but announced that Cartoon Network acquired the US broadcast rights for it. Series 23 and 24 were removed from Netflix US on January 14, 2022, but specials from each series remained. Later, the two series were re-added on January 19, 2022. Thomas and Friends is available on Netflix in many other countries, including the UK/IRL, UK, and IRL.
Is Thomas the train A Boy or a girl?
Thomas the Tank Engine is a television series that features a steam locomotive and has been broadcast since its inception in 2009. The series has featured a number of different actors in various roles, including Ben Small, John Hasler, Aaron Barashi, Shaun Jemmett, Martin Sherman, Joseph May, Meesha Contreras, David Kohlsmith, Kai Harris, and Keiko Toda. The program has achieved considerable popularity in Japan.
What streaming service is Thomas and the Magic Railroad on?
“Thomas and the Magic Railroad” is available for streaming on various platforms including Starz Apple TV Channel, Starz Roku Premium Channel, Starz Amazon Channel, and Amazon Video. The story revolves around Mr. Conductor’s quest to obtain magic gold dust to travel between Shining Time and Thomas’s island, as his supply is low. Thomas faces attacks from diesel engines and must rely on the help of his cousin, friend Lily, her grandfather, and the secret engine to obtain more gold dust.
Do autistic kids love Thomas the train?
Trains have enduring and developing interests that can be used as motivation or rewards for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Children, including those on the spectrum, enjoy train characters in videos and TV shows like Thomas the Tank Engine and Chuggington. Model trains can be fun to build and have mechanical features that can be interesting to disassemble. Caregivers can use trains as a motivation or reward to reinforce desired behaviors, such as completing a medical visit without a tantrum or watching train videos on YouTube.
Engaging with a passionate interest in trains can provide an enjoyable opportunity to engage with the child, whether it involves discussing a favorite video or a recent family trip to a local train depot.
Is Thomas and the Magic Railroad for kids?
Thomas and the Magic Railroad is a wholesome train movie that emphasizes the power of believing in oneself and others. However, younger viewers may be scared of the mean diesel trains, and a scene in which one of them is thrown off a train might confuse them. Despite these concerns, the film is a beloved part of many fans and has been a part of their children’s lives. The final cut for the film is not the way Britt Alcroft intended, but it still has some good moments. The film’s appeal extends beyond its critics, who would love to see the directors cut. Overall, Thomas and the Magic Railroad is a wholesome family movie that encourages belief in oneself and others.
Why did Thomas and the Magic Railroad flop?
Thomas and the Magic Railroad, a 2000 film, was criticized for its acting, plot, special effects, and lack of fidelity to its source material. However, it became a box office success, grossing $19. 7 million worldwide against a production budget of $19 million. The company Allcroft resigned in September 2000 due to the film’s poor performance. HiT Entertainment acquired the company two years later, including the television rights to Thomas. As of October 2020, a second theatrical live-action animated Thomas and Friends film is in development at Mattel Films, a division of Mattel, the current owner of HiT Entertainment.
In Shining Time, Mr. Conductor faces a crisis as his supply of magic gold dust is too low for him to return from Sodor. Diesel 10 announces his plan to rid Sodor of steam engines by destroying Lady, the lost engine. The steam engines agree to find Lady before Diesel 10, unaware that his sidekicks, Splatter and Dodge, are spying on them. Diesel 10 destroys the shed where the steam engines are sleeping with his claw, scaring Mr. Conductor away.
The next day, Mr. Conductor calls his cousin, Mr. C. Junior, to help him with the gold dust crisis. They discover a secret railway between Sodor and Shining Time and Diesel 10 tells Splatter and Dodge of his plans to destroy Lady. Toby overhears and distracts Diesel 10, who knocks one of the shed supports with his claw, causing the roof to collapse. Thomas is abducted by Diesel 10, who threatens to drop him off a viaduct unless he divulges the location of the buffers.
Is Thomas and Friends still on Netflix?
Netflix removed Series 23 and 24 from the US on 14 January 2022, but the specials from each series remained. On 19 January 2022, the two series were re-added. Thomas and Friends is available on Netflix in many other countries, including the UK/IRL. The series includes various episodes, such as Digs and Discoveries: All Tracks Lead to Rome, Digs and Discoveries: Mines of Mystery, Steam Team to the Rescue, Thomas and the Royal Engine, Marvellous Machinery: A New Arrival, and Marvellous Machinery: World of Tomorrow. The series also includes episodes from Series 1 to Series 2, Race for the Sodor Cup, The Mystery of Lookout Mountain, and Series 2 from 1 April 2024 to present.
Does Netflix have Thomas the Train?
Thomas and his colleagues are to be commended for their exemplary work, as all engines are now accessible.
Is Thomas on Disney plus?
Thomas’ Tales from Sodor is an animated web television series based on The Railway Series books by Wilbert and Chrstopher Awdry and the television series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends by Britt Allcroft. The series is created for Disney+ and produced by Pixar Animation Studios, with their involvement from Marc Forster’s 2021 film.
The series features a cast of major characters, including Thomas the Tank Engine, Emily the Stirling Single, Percy the Small Engine, Edward the Blue Engine, James the Red Engine, Rosie the Cheery Engine, Molly the Shy Engine, Diesel, and Winston the Yorkshire Engine. Thomas is portrayed as more mature and mature, while Emily is portrayed as a kind, helpful, and compassionate engine.
Percy the Small Engine is played by Roman Griffin Davis, while Edward the Blue Engine is played by Jim Broadbent. James the Red Engine is played by Richard Hammond, who has matured and shown a caring side to himself. Other major protagonists include Gordon the Big Engine, Henry the Green Engine, Toby the Tram Engine, and Duck the Great Western Engine.
Miror characters include Winston the Yorkshire Engine, 98462 and 87546, Donald and Douglas the Scottish Twin Engines, Oliver the Great Western Engine, Bill and Ben, BoCo the Diesel Engine, Mavis the Quarry Diesel, Bear, Stepney the “Bluebell” Engine, and Rex, Mike, and Bert.
The main characters in the series are Thomas, Emily, Percy, Edward, James, Rosie, Molly, Diesel, Donald and Douglas, Oliver, Bill and Ben, BoCo the Diesel Engine, Mavis the Quarry Diesel, Bear, Stepney the “Bluebell” Engine, and Rex, Mike, and Bert.
The series is set in the same universe as its spin-off sequel series, The Railway Series, and is produced by Pixar Animation Studios. The characters’ personalities and relationships are based on the books and the classic series, making it a unique and engaging experience for viewers.
📹 How This Movie Derailed a Franchise — An Analysis of Thomas & the Magic Railroad
CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 4:07 How’d This Thing Get Made? 15:43 It Ain’t Allll Bad! 25:31 Why the Movie Sucks 37:38 The Movie We …
30:58 reminds me of how James Cameron pitched a documentary about the Titanic. But when nobody gave him the okay, he adds a Romeo and Juliet story and gets approved. And when you take a look at that movie, nearly half of the film focuses on the side characters (especially in the deleted scenes), and the budget was overspent to make the sets for the ship as precise as possible. It was simply Titanic first, love story last. Just like Magic Railroad. Shining Time first, Thomas last.
47:32 AGREED. The thing about Thomas is that Wilbert Awdry always meant for Thomas and the Railway Series to take place in the real world. As I got older, it always bothered me that TATMRR changed it so that the Island of Sodor was some magical place in a different dimension. That was never Awdry’s original vision. The only magical thing is that the trains were sentient; other than that, it was pretty much grounded in a real-world setting.
To be fair, if the first theatrical Thomas film was gonna be The Adventure Begins there would probably be the issue that most fans would see it as too simular to Season 1. I feel like part of what made The Adventure Begins so special is that it’s a CGI movie, it adapts the oldest stories of the franchise in a modern style of making kids media.
It’s hard to say what Britt’s intentions were with removing real world references from the show. It could have been in an attempt to make the show more timeless, as references can sometimes date a piece of media. But on the other hand, it very well could have been to try and make Sodor seem like more of a fantasy land rather than a real place.
Third time’s the charm, hopefully. I only saw this film once as a kid, and I was asleep for everything except Harold’s scene, the Conductor being dangled over the viaduct, and the last 10 minutes or so. Of course I still liked what I saw and immediately got the Diesel 10 and Lady Wooden Railway figures, but the fact remains, that I was completely disengaged for most of it, especially when the humans were on screen. My opinion isn’t much different now, though I do really appreciate the time and effort it took to make. Still, I can’t help but wonder what Britt Alcroft was thinking. As Tug says, it should’ve been a movie about Thomas, not a movie about these humans, with Thomas in it.
To be fair, as a kid I had no idea that Thomas and the Magic Railroad was a theatrical feature. I actually thought it was like a PSA about trains on cassette. All while at the last minute slapping the Thomas branding on it to make it seem all the more interesting. That is until I got a physical copy of Magic Railroad. And to my surprise—it actually was a theatrical feature.
To say that the fandom’s relationship with this movie is complicated would be a massive understatement. For me, even though this movie makes a lot of missteps and unintentionally derailed the franchise, I just can’t bring myself to hate this movie. Because I don’t see it as an empty, soulless, cash grab of film like Day of the Diesels or Big Cringe Big Mistake, I see a flawed movie but still has passion put into it. But those are just my thoughts. I’m glad the review is back up, and hopefully it won’t get taken down again. Keep up the good work, Tug! 👍❤️
My opinion on fixing Thomas and the Magic Railroad: Remove the 2 worlds part. Have it all in sodor. Keep the grandpa plot. He lives on Thomas’s branchline, so the granddaughter rides Thoas’s train to visit him. You could even name the station shining time as a reference. Have the two conductors stand in for the fat controller as more relateable trainline authories then the literal owner, but take out the golddust. And have the plot be Diesel 10 looking for Lady, who’s kept safe by the grandpa. You could even add PT Boomer as a Diesel 10 duo. So the story will be how Lady, the oldest steam engine, older than Edward and Emily, facing being scrapped. The Granda hides her from the fat controller, and diesel10, and his grandaughter coming over risks the hiding place being discovered. Have the bad guys find lady, take her to scrap, and have Thomas help the humans to rescue her, kinda like Doughlas saves Oliver or Rusty saves Stepni. The chase scene with Thomas pulling lady away from the scrapyard and Diesel 10 on his heels would fit better this way too. Then finish it by having the conductors use their authority as fat controller, or something, standins to conserve lady as a historical piece. The grandpa works at the museum where she is, and thrre we go.
I said this on the original article, so I might as well say it again lol Lost Treasure is what Magic Railroad should’ve been. Season 5 was greenlit so they could test out some whacky concepts for a movie and then all that happened in TATMR was Diesel 10 knocked down a small part of the sheds that was being repaired and the viaduct collapsed. Lost Treasure is the perfect follow up to Season 5 as it really goes to town with the action and destruction, has everything a Thomas movie could want and even does stuff Magic Railroad did. A story with Thomas as the main focus:✅ Action and even Explosions on the sets:✅ More Worldbuilding:✅ Humans that can be greenscreen’d onto the sets:✅ New characters that can have toys galore:✅ A possible grand finale to the series:✅ Not to mention, the movie’s longer runtime would allow for a backstory for Skiff and Sailor John, and there would be a use for the large scale models of Thomas and Percy built during Season 5’s production, so they can build models of the miniature engines and also have a giant pirate ship prop for the climax.
I still have a certain fondness for this movie, despite its many flaws. Even so, I do feel that Britt should have approached this as a magic realism film: grounded in reality, but with magical undertones. Also, I’ll say this; yes, this movie did derail the franchise. But it’s unfair to hold Britt Allcroft solely accountable. HiT didn’t have to dumb Thomas down as a result of this movie, just as Hasbro didn’t necessarily dumb Transformers down as a whole because of the Bay films. What HiT and Mattel did with Thomas should be held to them, and them alone.
Regardless of what anyone says, this movie was my childhood. Scariest antagonist a child’s movie may ever have produced, filled with nostalgic childhood magic, and connects to the real world no matter how failed the attempt was. It leaves enough to interpret however you choose, and the music always brings me to tears. Maybe I just love trains too much!!!!!
My Fiancé and I have been perusal this movie as well as several other Thomas film specials we got over the years. My Fiancé and I definitely agreed with A LOT of what Tug said about the movie. Two years from now in 2025 will mark 80 years of when Thomas was created. So as a fan of Thomas and what his legacy really stands for, I decided to make a fan made Thomas film and actually screen it at my local movie theater. The film will be screened at the Hamburg Palace in Buffalo New York in Summer 2025. I wanna do this because I think this will send the correct message of what Thomas is supposed to be. My film however won’t be a remake of Thomas and the Magic Railroad but instead about Thomas on Sodor complete with realism ACTUALLY being a part of the movie- no magic, no main human cast, just Thomas and his Friends. I’ll be making the announcement at a later date on my YouTube website!
Fun Fact: Susan Roman, the voice of James in the movie was also the original English voice of Sailor Jupiter in Sailor Moon and Percy’s voice, Linda Ballentyne, also voiced Sailor Moon herself in the third and fourth seasons of the original 90’s dub (following Tracey Moore, the first dub voice in the first 11 episodes, plus episodes 15 and 21, and Terri Hawkes, the second voice for the rest of season 1, season 2, and the original dubs for the three movies). Speaking of which, Thomas’s voice actor, Eddie Glen has done some anime voice over work as well with roles such as Ryoma in Power Stone (1999 series), Shigeo Shiba in Patlabor (mostly in the original MangaUK English dub of the first two movies), and Jean-Paul Barthez in Beyblade: G Revolution.
I’ve always liked the idea of having human actors interact with the trains, but I feel it also caused the movie to suffer from that issue a lot of movies about non-human characters featuring live-action actors tends to fall into where the titular characters are barely in it in favor of the live-action actors.
While I am able to enjoy the movie out of sheer nostalgia, I will admit that the movie is flawed and maybe would’ve done better by ditching the magic element. I still stand by what I said earlier this year, and say that Thomas’ big movie adventure should’ve been based on the greatest train story of all time: Flying Scotsman’s USA Tour. As for the villain, perhaps a human pro-scrapper/anti-preservationist like Alfred E. Perlman would work okay. Still want Diesel 10? I suppose changing him into an E or F unit could work… Perlman chasing Thomas in a clawed F unit seems like an interesting visual.
Honestly, I’d love to see him review all the Thomas Movies as individual articles in the order of The Thomas Retrospective. He did this after season 5, so how about, like after Season 19, he goes more in-depth with The Adventure begins. I know he did the whole movie ranking thing, but I would find it interesting if Tug went more into it. Just an idea.
It’s such a shame that there was so much potential for this movie yet it was ultimately wasted. 😕 Plus side, many years later, Andrew Brenner really helped the show become so much better. Though sadly you know what has happened come into reality and made it worse than the film itself. sigh I hope someday the show returns to it’s glory again. sigh Darn 🥺
The magic railroad sort of makes sense because if you take shining time station to account, you meet mr conductor in the show and he’s a small magical man that can travel through magic, and he says he goes to the island of sodor and has met the engines by talking about them. I think this movie is more about shining time than Thomas really.
Very happy to see this back. Sad that it was struck down by YouTube but hopefully it will remain because it is a fantastic review of a film that was doomed before it began. As I said in my previous comment, the ‘magic’ aspect should have been reworked to feature ancient Sudrain folklore or something. It would have been an interesting take but it would have kept the film grounded potentially somewhat. I’d be more than happy to elaborate if anyone is interested 😂
Magic Railroad has always been an odd one for me. I only watched it once or twice when I was younger, but I remember being confused with how little Thomas was in it and all the Shining Time stuff. I seemed to like Hero of the Rails more around that time, probably because the story is about Thomas. Some of the sets and filming locations for TAMTR are gorgeous though, and are probably my favorite part of it other than the insanity that is Alec Baldwin’s performance.
I definitely agree that Britt wanted to adapt Shining Time Station and not Thomas the Tank Engine. And honestly, if it aired as originally intended – when Shining Time Station was still airing/as the Family Specials were being made – I can see where that would make sense. But there’s a couple problems with that. One, by the time Magic Railroad was released, Shining Time Station hadn’t released a new episode since 1995 (or 1996 if you’re counting Mr. Conductor’s Thomas Tales). That’s five whole years, and those final Shining Time episodes were specials that aired during prime time, not regular episodes that aired on PBS during the day, which is how I watched the show (I’ve only seen one Family Special). And two, I get that Britt, as co-creator of Shining Time Station, wanted her show to be popular and accepted – I’m a writer and blogger, and I understand wanting people to see my content. But what I think Britt failed to understand (and seemingly still fails to understand) was that, as you mentioned, kids were not perusal Shining Time Station for the humans; they were perusal it for Thomas. The trains almost seem like an afterthought to this movie. As if she’d written the script and realized, “Oh, wait, we need to include these characters, don’t we?” As for my personal experience with this movie, I saw it once in the theater (I was nearly 12 years old when it was released, and saw it with my two cousins, who were 2 and 3 at the time) and when it was released on home media, I rented it from Blockbuster, but shut it off around the time Junior first appeared because I was bored, and that’s the last time I watched this movie.
This movie is a real guilty pleasure. It’s great to have this review back after how YouTube wronged you and convinced me to never sit through 15-20 second unskippable ads again. While I don’t fully agree with the title of the article as I think derailed is a bit far. Magic Railroad, while it didn’t help of course, didn’t really destroy Thomas, but it does prove how much Britt began to misunderstand what he franchise. It better not get taken down again though because otherwise YouTube will lose any respect I still have for them.
Here’s my take on how to fix this movie: Remove: 1. Magic 2. Gold Dust 3. Real World Settings/Places 4. Two other plot lines 5. Countless Scenes of Humans Only 6. Moments of the Conductor talking to himself or to the audience 7. Moments of Characters being thrown in the air 8. Other human side characters we don’t care about Keep/Have: -Have Thomas receive more screen time doing his daily jobs -Keep Edward -Have Lily introduced as a very close girl friend of Thomas (A character whom the children can relate to and see themselves involved in the story) -Have 50% of scenes and moments with Trains only, 40% with Trains and Humans Together, and 10% of Humans Only. -Keep Sodor as the only main setting -Have Michael Angelis as the Narrator -Have Mr. Conductor as Thomas’s Driver -Have Junior as Thomas’s Fireman -Keep P.T. Boomer as Diesel 10’s Driver (since both have the same goal) -Have P.T. Boomer as the silent type villain plotting for revenge, and Diesel 10 as the loud one who actually wants to destroy lady -Keep Burnett Stone’s Short Sad Story, that means Lady too, not as some fairy Godmother Train, but as a symbol of Burnett’s Guilt. The Plot (In my opinion): -Keep the introduction of Diesel 10 with Gordon and Thomas reacting to his return, but this time… -Have Lily witness Diesel 10 too while riding Annie and Clarabel, right after noticing the ground and the coaches started shaking due to an incoming train when she looked out the window. -Have Lily ask Thomas, Mr. Conductor and Junior who Diesel 10 is.
I feel so incredibly silly sitting here thinking about Thomas as I’m now considered an adult. Despite that I am still in love with this movie. I can’t bring myself to hate it. I adored it as a little kid and I adore it now at 20. I think they did their absolute best with what they had. Is it perfect? No. Is my heart happy everytime to watch the movie? uh, YES! It’s a movie I watch when I’m sick, sad, or lonely. It’s a comfort.
I’m so grateful the analysis vid is back!! 😄. This is one of my favorite articles from @The Unlucky Tug 👍. TATMR is such a unique movie to me, I don’t like all the scenes in the film but there’s a lot that I find entertaining and still enjoy from it (and that includes the human scenes as well). Also One of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard! Tug’s take on this movie was very fun to listen to, he should really be a writer for films.
I think the reception to this movie is a lot like that for Transformers: The Movie. It’s a movie that made dumb decisions, but people appreciate it for nostalgic reasons, even though they realize that it wasn’t as good as they remember. The difference though is that there are a handful of people that do actually enjoy Transformers: The Movie despite the issues it has
I was already out of what one would call the ‘Thomas Age’ by the time this movie came out but to this day, I remember reading the paper (REMEMBER THOSE KIDS?!?) and reading reviews for this thing and the critics, including the ones in my city, tore this movie to shreds to the point of acting like this movie was destroying the world. It was honestly the first time I was shocked by critics reaction because I was old enough to understand how they viewed movies but still being young enough to be utterly thrown about that they were THAT ANGRY over a movie about Thomas the fucking Tank Engine. As an adult and looking into film and animation the flaws hang out a lot more but even within that, I can’t gear up my anger to hate the film as much as the people did back when the movie came out. If anything, my biggest issue with this film was the tone. It honestly is the first time the movie made Thomas out to be ‘for babies’ even though this was more of an American/Canadian thing thanks in part to Shining Time Station doing just that. THAT was the version of Thomas I grew up with and the tonal shift between the Thomas segments and the live action bits are very clear; one is a show that while made for children doesn’t TREAT them like children. The live action bits however DO BUT that in of itself is not a bad thing. What was bad was how so much of this was brought over into the film and when the greater US audience got a better look at Thomas that WASN’T on PBS, that was the general idea they now had about the series; it was a baby show.
I remember that, after perusal this movie at a young age, I was so hypnotized by the giant movie poster in the cinema (presumably while my mother was in the bathroom), that the clerk eventually took it off and gave it to me… I had it hanging proudly above my bed for way too long, probably until I was 17 or so. Say what you will, the posters for this film were beautiful. And although the movie itself never left a big impression on me, the fact that I had seen this beautiful model train on the big screen did. It’s almost like the thought of a Thomas movie was worth more to me than the actual movie.
A curious fact is that before the engines had voices for each one, in Japan it was the first to implement it in the original series, and in the movie its voice actors repeated their roles, including if it was minor, the curious fact is that the The narrator of the series narrates the film as if it were part of the series and not as a voice of Mr. Conductor (who has another voice, although like the original cut it is rare for Mr. Conductor to break the fourth wall) and even narrates some parts that were not as an example explain that Thomas did not realize that one of the trucks went into one of the bumpers.
I didn’t even realize that Shining Time Station was a US exclusive thing. For a long time I thought it was the other way around since, despite being from the US, I’d never seen Shining Time and had exclusively watched Thomas as a standalone show, so I assumed it was a framing device from the UK version.
Very glad that this is now back, I have been really wanting to see this article come back. My own opinion on this movie is that, I really like this movie still to this day. If you’re able to see this movie from a different perspective rather than seeing it as a Thomas Movie, then it isn’t so bad. Though I did rewatch the movie recently and I didn’t really like it. I personally prefer the original plot over the final version.
Oh it’s good to be back!!!! I basically loved perusal this movie on DVD when I was younger. But now as an adult and now knowing the production history, it seems contempt for the part. Yes I’m nostalgic, but now reflecting back on the impact of the series really shows how the changes didn’t make it better than what we wanted. SPARKLE SPARKLE SPARKLE!!!!!
Here’s a proposition: you’re sent back in time and are offered to become the head writer for season 6, BUT you have to make Magic Railroad canon. What do you do? I would make it a normal Thomas season, but throw in lines like “remember when I went through some magic buffers?” just to confuse people.
I doubt you’ll see this but with Mattel going forward with movies based on all their properties due to the success of Barbie, I got to ask.. what would you do for a Thomas big budget movie? I for one think it should take a lot of the meshing of the real and fantasy worlds like the Barbie movie did. Imagine it’s based on the relationship between Wilbert and Christopher Awdry, having them going to Sodor figuratively and literally. Would be beautiful.
NO WONDER I couldn’t find this, I thought I was going insane when I tried searched the your original review of the movie and got nothing, and the gaslighted myself think that the thomas movie ranking was the big funny tangent bout film. But such a bummer bout it getting blocked, so much work and editing. Hopefully this will stay up.
This is the plot I want based on what I’ve got from this article: – Diesel 10 arrives on the island and is immediately jealous of how much love and attention the steam locomotives get, whereas diesels are ignored and given thankless jobs. – He finds out Lady is the source of the magic that makes these steam locomotives special, unlike any other locomotives in the world. – He tries to destroy Lady to take Sodor for the diesels. – Twist – the diesels rely on her magic too. Without her, they will just revert to cold, hard machines – Diesel 10 realises this after he has already set his plan in motion, and has to sacrifice himself to save Lady and the rest of Sodor. – Redemption arc for Diesel 10.
Well, regarding the engines being able to drive themselves, it makes more sense for the fat controller to scold them for mistakes if they can drive themselves than if they needed a person driving them because if the drivers are responsible for controlling the engines, they should be the ones getting scolded and not the machines
31:14, (please note that a lot of this I got from the Original Steaming To Legacy documentary) around the time Magic Railroad started development, there were talks about a potential Shining Time Station movie. This would’ve involved a Circus Train coming to Shining Time, but then the Evil Ringmaster of the circus kidnapped Mr. Conductor, and would have Thomas and his Friends coming to Shining Time to rescue him(I guess they get there by Magic or something cause how the hell would they even get to a “real world human place?”). The story would’ve had the Shining Time Station kids befriending a circus performer girl and would’ve had a hilarious scene of Schemer being shot out of a cannon. Take note how Thomas is, ONCE AGAIN, kinda shafted in this story concept. This film was eventually cancelled, but you mentioning how Magic Railroad incorporating Shining Time Station as a key element made it really seemed like they wanna “renewed” the show after it had already finished. I mean as part of promotion for the movie, the show was aired on Nick Jr. It’s so confusing why they want people to care SO MUCH about Shining Time Station, when they should know, the audience wanna see THOMAS THE GOD DAMN TANK ENGINE AND HIS FRIENDS ON THE ISLAND OF SODOR. Yes we know it was created to bring Thomas to US Market, but it’s over now! Thomas is ALREADY in US Markets, we don’t need to be reminded by being smacked in the head with an baseball bat. 43:07, there actually was a sequel started being planned out before Magic Railroad came out, but it was quickly cancelled after the movie’s failure.
While I wasn’t around when this movie came out, I’m also very nostalgic for Thomas and the Magic Railroad as I watched it a lot on DVD. Around the 2010s, I began to hear that this movie was really bad, and I totally couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe that this amazing movie from my childhood could be bad. But around 2018 or so, I started to realize that this movie isn’t as amazing as I thought it was. In 2021, around the time I saw your Thomas Movie Rankings article, is when I started to get very confusing, conflicting, and mixed feelings. Like, if you asked for my thoughts on this movie, I couldn’t give a straight or definitive answer. However, after perusal this review, learning about the production history, reading the original script, and checking out the workprint, I can now finally give a straight or definitive answer to the question, “What are my thoughts on Thomas and the Magic Railroad?” To summarize, I think this is a good movie. Firstly, I will say there are a lot of problems with this movie, such as the plot being a mess and the lack of Thomas and his friends. But I say this is a good movie because it was made by people who gave a crap about Thomas, unlike some of the other movies that came after it. Also, all the Thomas stuff in this movie feels right, I particularly love the banter between all of the engines in this movie. Combined with the amazing score by Hummie Mann, I find this movie really entertaining. As for the Workprint, I do agree with Britt Allcroft that some scenes should’ve been left, but I still think the final cut is the superior version, particularly when you consider P.
Thomas and the Magic Railroad traumatized me when I was 3-4 years old, I had nightmares about Diesel 10. And the main reason I remember the movie so positively despite that, is that the only time I ever watched it in full was 2003-2004, with my Grandma. Who passed away not long after. Even if it’s not a great movie, I still remember the film mainly for that memory of sitting with my Grandma, cowering when Pinchy came on camera.
After perusal Usual Bloke Luke’s review of Season 4, I think the main culprit behind the Island of Sodor being treated as a “magical place that can only be reached through magical means” is the sing-along song The Island of Sodor. The lyrics describe Sodor as “a faraway land of make believe” and “a magical land where dreams come true”, which may make sense in our reality, but it was still treated as if it were a real island with real events throughout the book and TV series.
Thinking again, one of the ideas apparently was for it to start off as a storybook? Here’s one thought. * It starts off with an older Lily telling it as a story to some children to kill time. * instead of getting on the wrong train she goes to Shining Time Station – which is the station on the mainland nearest to the Island of Sodor. * Sodor doesn’t take place in some magical alternate plane of existence – but is in the same world. She just follows Mr. Conductor (The Thin Controller? 😛 ) there because she’s told to go there by her depressed uncle or whatever since “Sodor’s rather fun and it’s safe”. * Mr. Conductor isn’t some miniature person. * Blah blah blah, Boomer villain. * She takes Mr. Conductor because she thinks the engine that her uncle has in storage is actually Lady. * Diesel 10 is just a flunky / extension of the human villain, and it ends with Lady being at the preservation society and Boomer just leaving in Diesel 10 going “Darn it…” * It ends with her saying “Now, let’s not dawdle, our train is arriving.” And the older Lily takes the kids off… and you see they’re walking towards a building thatl ooks like Shining Time Station… then you see a blue E2 locomotive pulling two coaches that look like Annie and Clarabelle. This serves as a “Maybe magic, maybe mundane” but also “Oooooh is she just telling the story of something that happened while she was growing up?” And then a stinger involves the Fat controller returning and saying “I’m banishing you to the shadow realm”-okay okay no.
“Thomas and the Magic Railroad” is probably my ultimate guilty pleasure movie. When I was a kid, this was actually one of my favorite movies, believe it or not…but as an adult, I recognize it is EXTREMELY flawed, and I completely understand why fans remain polarized about the picture, and why general audiences and critics of the time were not exactly welcoming. It simply is NOT a good movie. But I still find myself revisiting it very frequently – more frequently than any other Thomas film, including ones that are by far much better – and there are so many things I think it did right, despite the TONS of things it did HORRIFICALLY wrong. So I’ll always have a warm spot in my heart for it. I will say, in regards to the Magic Element…I don’t think it was the magic ITSELF that was the problem. I think it’s how it was INTEGRATED. Like, picture this: imagine if, instead of having the whole real world subplot, the entire movie took place on Sodor. And the plot there would basically be the same, with Diesel 10 trying to find this mysterious lost engine. Maybe Lady’s Magic wouldn’t directly be tied to the engines’ life force, or however the heck it works in the final product. Maybe it’s something that helps to keep Sodor safe, or maybe the magic isn’t even REAL magic, playing off that element that is so common in the show. Maybe it’s just SUGGESTED, like in stories such as “Rusty and the Boulder” and “Duncan Gets Spooked.” Basically, I think you still could have had a lot of things in this movie work, if you just reworked things to focus more on the engines and their adventures.
Magic Railroad is one of those movies that, while incredibly flawed, I would gladly sit and watch the whole thing through and enjoy it immensely. I do like the idea of a magic railroad, but not that it’s the reason why the engines in Thomas are alive. While perusal this article, I thought about a different approach to a magic railroad movie. Instead of it having Thomas, it would focus entirely on the human world and Shining Time, with the magic railroad being the source of ALL life, and have Burnett, Lily, and Mr. C stopping Boomer from scrapping the magic engine and bringing the Magic Railroad and its engine back to life. I’m not a writer, but I hope y’all get the idea I was going for. I’ll probably work on some sort of detailed story outline, or maybe a full story, at some point.
One thing that the final edits did was make Burnett Stone a much more likable character. I get that he’s supposed to be an old shut in who has lost hope but some of the original scenes make him kind of a jerk! He just shuts down Lily’s attempts at conversation and plays dumb when Patch hears Lady’s whistle. The final cut makes the audience relate so much better (which is ironic considering his past was explored more in the original cut) and I think what really helps that is moving the scene of Patch finding the cave toward the beginning. The audience sees early on why he’s the way he is and honestly gives more reason to root for him.
You know, it sucks coming to terms with the fact that the “Mysterious Unseen TATMR Director’s Cut” was probably not very good. But to be honest, it’s probably for the best we got the version we have now. I would honestly like to see how the original cut would be like mostly or fully finished, with the score and everything. Even if from a movie and story standpoint, TATMR, and the original version might be bad films, I still can’t bring myself to dislike it
I didn’t have much of an opinion of this movie on the whole as a child, I barely understood movie plots at all if that at the age of maybe 4 – 7. However, there were elements of this movie that I found satisfying to watch: like when the conductor put on the top hat and was wearing it, him eating the carrots and celery in that one scene (for lack of a better description), him using the phone flower things, certain visual and audio cues.
John Bellis honestly would’ve fit Edward perfectly, I know he was never intended to appear but still Edit: yknow I see a lot of complaints online about the effects of this movie but tbh the CGI Thomas model is actually pretty damn good for 2000 imo Edit 2: Honestly I think the original script would’ve been the best way to go. Had a much better balance of Thomas and his friends and the humans
I feel this film would’ve been more successful had they given a reason and an explanation of things that didn’t confuse the audience when the film came out. Given a back story on the discovery of gold dust, Lady’s origin story before Magic Railroad, The Conductor family trusting Burnett and Lady to keep it safe, and the danger it would face if it fell into the wrong hands. An explanation of why all the engines are so fearful of Diesel 10 why Diesel 10 has Splatter & Dodge has his henchmen how they came together. Why did The Fat Controller go on holiday? Including Edward in the film like he should’ve been. Why did The Fat Controller trust The Conductor family to look after his railway while he was away. Who are The Conductor Family that Junior and Mr. Conductor come from? There are so many things that could’ve made it an all-time great Thomas Movie had they had an explanation as to why these events are happening. Along with a series of events that take place leading up to it that would be longer than a two hour film. Episodes from the TV Show would’ve tied into it, that’s what i envision. I think there’s a ton of potential that could’ve made this work. Sure the magic element isn’t realistic but there are things in the real world that are unexplainable or events that have happened. Which have still yet to be determined if that actually did happen or not. I think if you suspend your belief a little i think the Goldust element could’ve gotten away with the show along with staying true to the show itself as well.
18:18 Two minds think alike: I love the recast voices for the engines and Michael Angelis as James as well (and you’re right for his James voice to link with the UK dub of the TV series, but also it would’ve been totally cool to see him bounce off with his American counterpart Alec Baldwin, especially in the scene of James and Mr. Conductor). Also, I’d like to point out Britt Allcroft does NOT misunderstand what Thomas is for she actually knows the characters and what makes it appeal to all ages alike. Sure, this movie may’ve been the start of the downfall of Thomas’ reputation in future years, but from the way Britt Allcroft was trying to envision is a lot more stellar and passionate that brings her and the others’ heart and souls into trying their best to make a good movie. We have to take it into consideration that her company was independent, and Destination Films is a corporate executive company owned by Sony Pictures. So it was only then they messed up what Britt tried to accomplish and like Alec Baldwin stated, there’s a swarm of non-creative people who are going to give you their opinions of the film. I have a lot of respect and heart for Britt Allcroft. She along with Wilbert Awdry and David Mitton are the true Thomas legends at making our childhoods brilliant as possible.
Part of me wishes they would have used Lady a bit more in the series – maybe give her a more real world origin, like make her a very old mountain engine, or have her be shipped to Sodor from America, something like that without any magic element. I remember really liking her when I watched this last, and wondering if we could get to know her character a bit more….
The biggest problem with Thomas and the Magic Railroad in my eyes is that the story doesn’t focus on Thomas and his friends. This is basically The Shining Time Station Movie instead of a Thomas the Tank Engine movie. Talk about false advertising! I like the story about Burnett Stone, Lady, and PT Boomer as it’s own story. But it doesn’t fit in as a Thomas the Tank Engine story. Like you said if this movie was about Mr. Conductor and Junior being brothers who reconnect after having a falling out on Sodor, then this movie might have been pretty good. Heck they could even be introduced into the main series as reoccurring human characters. Despite it’s problems this isn’t the worst thing that has come out of the series; and I would watch Thomas and the Magic Railroad over the entirety of Season 12, and All Engines GO any day.
Mattel needs its Greedy Employees Replaced with Employees who ACTUALLY LISTEN to the people buying their products. Also, someone should Tell YouTube that on the internet, People should be free to make Parody’s of articles without Fully Copying a article, and some content should be Free to be copied and spread out.
Admittedly, the title of the film does not fit the plot, it should be called something like A Girl on Railway Adventure or something like that. I agree that the result of the finished movie is better than it was intended to be. I understand that children at that time least preferred a Thomas & Friends movie or special with such a plot, with more focus on people than locomotives, but what I wonder is whether many children today would accept such a Thomas plot to a movie/special, maybe the story needs to be properly thought out.
Brilliant seeing the article back up, after all that YouTube controversy! I’ll keep this short, but I personally liked the movie. Yeah, I really loved the movie in my childhood, and I have noticed the flaws with it now (at least since I heard everybody mention them), I still find it good because I still admire it for its qualities. Plus it’s not so awful like other movies out there. However, I get the Thomas show really suffered afterwards. We all do. Different people wanted to rewrite the show after the movie flopped. 😔 And unfortunately, some people see it that way, Thomas being unrealistic and just for kids. Heck, I was bullied in school for still liking Thomas! God, what has the world come to?! 😠 But the movie still reached out to the kids and the cast had a blast. There’s still those good qualities, too. 🙂 So I’ll say the movie was good. Not the best, but not terrible. And everyone should remember Thomas was meant to be the way it was before the movie came out. Doubt that’ll happen immediately…and Mattel is still making bad choices, but hopefully, my words and many others’ will reach out… sooner or later. 🤞
Despite all the problems this movie has I can look past them and even use head canon to fill the gaps. like instead of sodor existing because of the magic I head canon it to it being a secret special way to access sodor and alter some lines like this. Toby: and if he finds her I hear that’ll destroy us all. To this. Toby: and if he finds her he’ll destroy us next.
12:43 Michael Angelis is iconic as James and the voice they replaced him with was one of the very worst ones in the film (which is saying a lot.) Absolute sacrilege! 18:43 Thank you, Tug! 13:10 D10’s original voice was so much better than the obnoxious voice he was given instead (I guess it’s more his constant terrible jokes that’s what’s really obnoxious.)
In my opinion, (especially after perusal the Thomas Retrospective) is that TTTE in it’s tried and true form ended in 1998. Seasons 1-5 are the TRUE classic seasons of the show. I also feel Mitton’s lack of involvement really shows especially if you look at how cinematic season 5 was. Season 6 is the 1st season where Thomas feels like a more generic money making kids show. I honestly have the feeling that those 1st 5 seasons, like “Tugs” were products of their time. I’m under the impression that TTTE had ended after season 5, (and possibly an actual movie about Thomas (possibly taking elements from the OG script of THIS film like the railway needing repairs and Diesel 10 coming to help out on the railway) then maybe TTTE could have existed as art rather than a children’s brand. As for the story about Lily and Burnett, that could have and should have been it’s own separate film. Also, seeing that workprint is even more of a letdown if you take into consideration that it’s basically the same movie but with more human scenes and PT Boomer.
I have fond memories of seeing this movie on a lonely night home alone. I know it has its problems, but I still remember enjoying perusal the movie. My favorite part was the fourth wall breaking moments when Mr. Conductor was saved and when Thomas briefly entered the REAL WORLD via the magic railroad.
This movie did hold a very special place in my heart as child. I kinda thought the movie was a little boring, but that was mainly due to the human scenes. To be completely honest, the magic element of the movie never clicked with me, and I still felt like Thomas took place in the real world. I knew that Lady was a magical engine in another dimension, but I always thought that Mr. Conductor had his own way of getting to Sodor. Nothing really persuaded me that the engines were all magic. So the core appeal of Thomas the tank engine and friends never got destroyed, for me at least.
So glad that this article has been finally reposted. Thomas and The Magic Railroad had a lot of problems but it’s not a bad movie. I think there are actually a lot of good things in the movie. Diesel 10 is a great villain, probably the most dangerous villain in Thomas. Alec Baldwin did a fantastic job as Mr Conductor, the score is great, the final chase is a great scene. The Magic plot doesn’t work at all and that really brings down the movie. However it is an ok movie and it’s much better than the later SGI Thomas specials. This is really far better than Misty Island Rescue and Big World Big Adventures. Great review, it was very well detailed. For quite some time I thought this article will never be reposted especially after the retrospectives on Seasons 6 and 7 have been made. I am happy that it’s finally here and it had not been taken down again. I don’t think this movie derailed the franchise at all. Seasons 6 and 7 are great and they are my favorite seasons along with Season 4. And even Season 8 is really good. I really liked the review.
I wonder if the story may have been better if it was an equal split of Thomas & Friends and Shining Time Station, and we see both sides of the crossover. If Mr Conductor was visiting the Island of Sodor, then maybe Sir Topham Hatt (the fact we never saw a live-action version of him still annoys me, that was the ONE thing I was looking forward to) could end up at Shining Time and find himself in an unexpected adventure of his own. From there, the plot I see feels sorta like a cross between the actual TATMR and Hero of the Rails, funnily enough. Whilst at Shining Time, Topham learns about an old engineer who has lost his motivation after an engine he worked hard to build was taken away from him and out of the kindness of his heart, plans to find her before a dastardly rival of the engineer can, as he plans to sell her for scrap. Meanwhile, on Sodor, Thomas and Mr C. actually find the engine in question hidden in an old siding on a part of the railway long abandoned. They take it upon themselves to try and fix her, all the while trying to avoid the attention of an evil diesel who seems to have a rivalry with said engine and wants to destroy her. As the story continues, both plotlines merge together and, well, you can imagine the rest.
Even with the the failure of the movie, I still hold a lot of respect for Britt. Even if she may not have truly understood what was captivating about Thomas, she still held the idea of not talking down to kids, and that seems like a genuine thing she held onto from working with Awdry. If she had been able to keep going with Thomas longer that she had, maybe she would have been able to give us something to show that she was learning from the movie.
Truly the Thomas franchise is a modern-day tragedy. With each step as it moved away from its creator it seemed to get worse and worse. I won’t say that the good Reverend was perfect in his total vision and there were a lot of good things added along the way, but from Britt passed down through the rest of the corporations that would come to Own Thomas it’s like the world’s worst game of telephone where they keep the most catchy things and shed away the things that truly made it special.
22:30 it still amazes me that Britt Allcroft said “don’t play down to kids” and then started the infantilisation of the franchise with this patronising script. The only way it doesn’t insult your intelligence is by being so convolutedly overcomplex and hard to understand which is not the same as being clever. See what I mean? 34:12
I cannot overstate how much I hate Thomas & The Magic Railroad. IT’S SUCH A BAD MOVIE!!! Everything from the stupid magic crap to the annoying voices some of the characters have and of course, the absolute fever dream of a script that makes fuck all sense (even with the edits considered.) I remember what I liked about Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends when was a child so even though I was like 15 when this cinematic abortion was released, I know for a fact I would still have despised it as a kid. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! LOL However, I do like this article.
I know everyone’s gonna disagree with me but i do think they shouldve kept all the original voices except for diesel 10 because they sound better and fitted more with the characters. The reason i say except diesel 10 is because i think his new voice fits him being evil but also unable to be looked at or heard seriously
Got here after going down a nostalgia rabbit hole. Didn’t realize there was such a divided opinion on this movie. I just remember loving it as a kid. I’m still not convinced it was as bad as you pointed out but you made some good points. I don’t hate the crossover aspect from humans to the Island of Sodor. I never viewed it as some alternate dimension that from the real world but rather a disconnected part of our world that was lost. Lady was the piece of Sodor that remained in our world that still connected the two. I get the magic convolutes that but it’s how I viewed it as a kid. And like I said I enjoyed it as a kid and I think that is the overall goal of a kids movie. I do agree that there was a lack of Thomas and Friends in the movie. That is one thing I particularly remembered as a kid was Thomas didn’t seem to be present as much as a I wanted. And everything revolving around shining time station and Lili and Burnette were kind of cringe. I remember the dog scene and the grandpa’s emotionless state as something that was confusing even for a kid. But I generally enjoyed Mr. Conductor and Junior. I think the premise of the movie could have been fine but it was done badly. Take my interpretation as a kid. I think that would have been a great plot point that keeps all of the original premises of the film in tact. Sodor and Our world were originally connected but Diesel 10 and PT Boomer were responsible for ending that connection using the gold dust. We still have lady in the care of Burnette but she was damaged trying to stop the world of Sodor from being separated and the knowledge of gold dust creation was lost with her.
I never liked “Thomas the Tank Engine”, even back when I was a child, I didn’t enjoy it. However something compelled me to give this article a watch, at least for a few minutes, and I was genuinely impressed by what you had to share, to where I saw the whole thing. There’s typically that risk where a fan might focus on some specific elements that to an outsider seem completely irrelevant, you however came off as someone well-spoken, who put a lot of time into writing a proper script for this article, and I found what you had to say most interesting. As someone once said: “You can recognise a bad content creator by the fact that they can talk about something that you care about, and make it sound boring. A good content creator however can talk about something that you do NOT care about, but still make it sound interesting!”
Didn’t the trains have some autonomy in their movement before this movie? There was a story where Thomas was getting excited about pulling coaches but prematurely leaves the station before he was coupled and gets embarrassed. If its just his driver controlling him then shouldn’t the driver be embarrassed and blamed
I have several questions: 1. Where are the long lasting characters like Boco, bill and Ben, Stepney and Trevor? (The only season 2 character we got is Harold.) 2. All 6 characters? Where’s Edward and Terence? And 3. Where are the narrow gauge engines? (Skarloey, Rheneas, sir Handel, Peter Sam, Rusty, Duncan and Duke)
The way I inderstood Diesel 10’s plot was that he’s part of Lady’s history. And he has a personal vendetta against her. Also, the gold dust has no effect on sodor. Its just the magic to travel between sodor and real world. Thats also why golddust teleports people around. Its just dimension/location hopping juoce. And Lady is just the engine/machine maintaining the in-between world travel capabilitues. Cause magic. So, yrah. Simple 2 plots with the conductor and the girl, connected by the grandfather and Lady.
I grew up in the early 2000s in England and was a huge Thomas fan, we had and still have this film on DvD. Can confirm I never knew what Shining Time was, but as a child I just accepted it as a new location for the film. Like you I also loved this film as a child. I haven’t really gone back to re-watch it in retrospect. But eh, I still love Mr. Conductor and I like the film still. I remember not liking James’ voice though. And now knowing we could have got the British narrator to voice James like he always has, but it was cut because some test audience of (probably) American kids who didn’t recognize him sucks. Curse you test audience from the late 90’s! This will probably still be my favourite Thomas film due to it using the real models instead of CGI, and also the show since has been progressively Americanised to such an extent I can’t even bear to hear the new voices of some of the characters.
This is basically just Shining Time the movie using Thomas as a crutch to get funding for it. Personally Diesel 10 was the best part as he struck a blend between blithering comedic idiot and threatening monster. It seemed like his crane had a mind of it’s own and was annoyed with D10’s antics a lot and got in his way a lot too but they did desire the same things and when united in purpose could be a force to be reckoned with.
I feel like the engines being able to move about themselves is an element that was already relevant in the series prior. A lot of moments happen because of the engines’ own choices, which I doubt their human conductors would’ve allowed them to do if the engines had zero agency over their actions. The movie just amplifies it since there aren’t any conductors outside of the cousins.
Things I would change in this film: 1. Instead of a magic railroad, I would have an underground railroad that connects the Island of Sodor to Shining Time station and Muffle Mountain. The Atlantic Ocean would be the major issue for this idea, however. 2. We only got to see 6 of the first 7 engines that came to the Island of Sodor. I’m okay with the Narrow Gauge engines not making an appearance, but Edward, Duck, Donald, Douglas, and Oliver should have had at least one scene where they are shown or had some mention of their whereabouts during the film. 3. The main reason the engines operate without people controlling them is because of a scientific invention that allows them to do so. The main reason behind this is to prepare for possible worker shortages on the main land. However, it only works on steam engines, and Lady was the first engine to have this new device tested on her. I would still have PT Boomer as the main antagonist who wants to know how these devices operate so that he can make an identical one for diesels. Diesel 10 is equipped with one of these, but it doesn’t work the same way as the ones on steam engines, which explains why PT has to manually control Diesel 10 in certain scenes. 4. PT Boomer spends the majority of the film looking for Lady in Muffle Mountain as well as the Shining Time entrance to the forgotten underground railway while Diesel 10 searches for the other entrance from Sodor’s side. The Sodor engines in response try to find the entrance before Diesel 10 so they can protect its location from him.
I believe I’m a few years younger than you, but I also watched this movie a lot when I was young. I loved Thomas and watched VHS tapes of the show from the library, but we did have this movie at home so I watched it a lot. It’s such a strange movie. At home we called those grabber arm things pinchy claws after diesel’s arm. That’s how much everyone in my family knew this movie to some degree.
I basically stopped perusal Thomas after this movie. I was twelve when it came out. I was so excited. We didn’t go to the theater, but I watched it a couple times on pay-per-view, so that’s kind of like … lazily not going to the theater but still perusal it new. The more I watched it, the more I didn’t like it. And I knew for a flat fact, that the adults with me hated it. I don’t see well, so I asked people to describe some of the scenes with more difficult elements to pick out from audio. They did describe it. But you can tell when someone’s describing something because you ask and when someone’s describing because they want you to know about it and appreciate it too. Yeah. I asked. They told — skeptically. “i’m glad to know, from this article, that there actually are Thomas movies worth perusal, that there’s anything worth seeing in the franchise after Season 5. I’d already had my doubts, because I never read the actual Railroad series (that’s now on my list), so I thought Scarloey and co. were just merchandizing that cut my favorites out of the limelight to sell more toys. Wow. Writing this, I feel like I was a cynical kid. Anyway, thanks for the great article.
I love how the “treatment” of the movie tug decides to put out is… literally just a retelling of the first 7 episodes all over again Like that’s just kinda dumb to think about, the whole thing about the adventure begins is that it’s been like a long time, enough for it to happen as a retelling of the first 7 episodes to see how big the differences were Having it happen in 2000 is just… not
40:55: I mean, that backstory of Burnett and Tasha wasn’t cut out of the movie. Just cut down. Truth be told, I would’ve kept the flashback scene in the movie and the scenes describing Tasha more just to emphasize why Burnett is depressed in the movie. The framing device of an adult Lily and P.T. Boomer on the other hand, I’m glad they cut those out. Adult Lily because I think having Mr. Conductor narrate the movie is a closer accuracy to both Thomas & Friends, with the U.S. narrator, and Shining Time Station, where Mr. Conductor would always narrate the Thomas stories told. And P.T. Boomer for the reasons Unlucky Tug here mentioned. Too scary my ass, more like too ineffective.
I don’t care what anyone else says about this film, I love it! Always did as a child, and still even to this day! This film, along with The Great Race, is REALLY overhated, underrated and needs more love. I agree with TrainBoy that it needs deserves more credit and should stand as a piller of what once was and as a example of what classic TTTEAF did right. Link to his article: youtube.com/watch?v=yBn0FLNcRM8 Also, I love how they had live actors interact with the models. To me, the whole live actors interacting with CGI characters is overused. Plus this movie, along with S1-8, did really well at playing with tone. And Diesel 10 is the best villian ever! Though, I have to admit that it would have been cool if they kept Michael Angelis as the voice for James as well as the song Night Train and the original main villian, PT Boomer. Not to mention that this film would have been a great way to end George the Steamroller’s Character Arc (Since he was originally going to be in the film as part of Diesel 10’s gang). However, that doesn’t spoil my views on this movie and it will always be my number one favourite! And to be brutally honest, I would rather watch this film over Big World, Big Adventures and the…. Cough-Cough Reboot, All Engines Go… #ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad #ClassicThomasDoesBETTER
Like the review. I never know this movie even exists when I first watch it around late 2000s when i was very young. Interesting analysis of the movie on the final and original and a shock that change Thomas forever. Between the two versions, the final one is way better; that’s my own opinon. No offence, I like this movie so lot regardless how bad it is and I think this is the best 50/50 movie compared to Misty Island, Day of the diesel, BWBA which are not good for me. Also the music in the movie is a banger.
0:00 pattern and re edit 0:41 intro to review 4:07 How did this thing get made? 10:41 The first cut 13:46 The audience results 15:43 It ain’t all bad 16:08 1. Trains are cool (YES!!!) 19:15 2. Diesel 10 21:31 3. The score slaps 22:49 4. Set ups & pay offs 25:29 Why the movie sucks 25:40 1. The plot is a mess 27:59 2. Thomas who? 31:31 3. Every human character is stupid 33:41 4. Bad acting, bad dialogue 37:33 The movie we didn’t get 46:21 Do you believe in magic? (I couldn’t help but think of “Meet the Pyro” for some reason) 52:10 Tug’s treatment and end of the article
I loved perusal this film as a kid but i will say as i got older the more i started to understand the problems this movie had and i can say this film is just in the middle for me i don’t hate it nor do i love it it’s just in the middle ok. If the adventure begins was released in the 2000s maybe the show would have been a lot different, but then again would TAB film gotten passed the test audience my answer would be a 50/50 because there would be some good and some who would have problems with the film and probably want some changes. Maybe one day someone on youtube will make a fan made version of the TAB 2000 but only time will tell. anyway glad to have this article back up now i only hope it can stay up
Here’s an idea for what should be renewal for a Thomas movie. Make it about Thomas Overcoming some kind of obstacle in his life. He receives guidance from Mr. Conductor(Alec Baldwin) and learns about himself. The bad guys include Diesel 10, Arry, Bert, Diesel, Spencer and the main villain being Smoke from the cancelled live action movie. Then have Ringo Starr and Pierce Brosnan play two other conductors. It would be Thomas No Way Home without the multiverse elements. Just an idea.
It always seemed strange to me that despite the fact that there were humans, they kind of wanted to avoid having humans on Sodor (And that they still imply that the humans of Sodor are figures by Bertie’s driver, the photo of Lady Hatt and the posters of Sir Topham hatt) I think it would have made more sense if there were real humans on Sodor and it would make child viewers see that dream that it’s possible for real people to visit Sodor, and that Magical like animals, flower phone and the bush had life only with the little that Mr. Conductor has left of Magical Dust to help him on his journey to recover more Dust (And get away from the subject that the Engines are Magical because they are not). I think another idea would be that the Wizarding Railway was a track that used to connect all the railways and over time that has gone with the clearing of tracks and short tracks and disconnecting different railways, including Sodor.
Look I still like it because it brought 2 characters that could’ve been done really well if the movie wasn’t bad those were Diesel 10 one of my favorite characters & Lady a character who had potential to be a main character but since the movie went bad she didn’t really appear outside of a dream sequence
this is a prime example of why American Studios should not touch shows made by other countries that reach popularity even in the USA. but it keeps happening. my son loves Thomas, but he hates the episodes and this movie due to the massive changes in the stories and yet the BBC keeps pushing the post 2000 series and he hates this movie. he was thrilled to learn about a movie then he saw this and switched before it was even halfway through.
I think the roles of Edward and Toby should’ve been reversed and Edward should’ve taken Toby’s role in Tatmr. I feel like if Percy was female instead of male (but still have her be named Percy and have her look and sound identical to her male counterpart in every single way) then that would’ve been the case since Edward would’ve been the 5th boy instead of the 6th. Edward would’ve also had 2 starring episodes in season 5 with Edward, Percy, and Old Slow Coach and Edward and the Wedding. (Basically Thomas, Percy, and Old Slow Coach, but Thomas swapped out with Edward and Happy Ever After, but Percy is swapped out with Edward and Thomas swapped out with Percy.)