Thomas and the Dragon
Written by:
Davey Moore
So far the China episodes are delivering! The premise of this episode is one of my favorite types of stories done with Thomas, when a character is frightened of something unknown. Perfectly relatable moral for children and also a fun way of telling a story. This episode is no exception honestly.
The premise is Thomas is in China for the Chinese New Year celebration, and Yong Bao tells him about the best part of the whole festival, the dragon! Thomas assumes it's a real dragon, and is afraid, even more so when Yong Bao asks him to take the dragon to the festival!
First off, Thomas' fear is natural. The engines are supposed to represent children, as Awdry once said, and adding that he's in a new place with different scenery and customs, a child may think they would have a real dragon! So it very easily fits as a learning experience for children regarding fear. Also some say that Thomas should know that dragons aren't real (i.e. Thomas, Percy and the Dragon in Season 3), but if you remember, Thomas actually thinks the dragon is real at first until his driver explains it's only made of paper. So throwing in him being in a new location, it doesn't feel off for him to think that there is a real dragon. I do wish that maybe he had articulated his fear a bit more to Yong Bao and the others, but it's not too big a deal for me.
I do love some of the atmosphere in this episode, as the scenes of Thomas chuffing around with sort of ominous music in the background while he is worried there might be a "dragon around every corner" as he puts it. It really gives a nice and different tone than the usual feeling of Thomas episodes. In addition, this is one of the episodes I feel where his narrations actually work for the better. It gives deeper insight into how he is feeling and what he is thinking as he goes about his work. It's rather nice, in my opinion.
There's a good deal of comedy also thrown in the episode, the bit at the beginning with the peach blossoms falling onto his face in funny shapes, the way the diesel startles him and his eyes roll, and my favorite bits: Yong Bao spooking him twice (Yong Bao is great by the way), and when the chicken is on his lamp, he thinks it talks to him when it's actually Hong-Mei. The way he exclaims "a talking chicken?!" is really funny!
However I do feel some of the comedy was dragged out a bit too long. For instance, the opening part uses a bit of the blossoms falling on Thomas three times, the fist time I feel could have been cut out, as he does the same thing about 20 seconds later. Also they should have stopped the bit where certain things kept him from hearing Yong Bao clearly after the passing diesel startled him. It just felt kind of extra after that honestly, and certainly feels like it was added for padding to fit the time limit. But it wasn't too distracting from the episode.
As for the fantasy sequence, this episode is probably one of the best uses of it. That wonderful foggy landscape with the mine shaft, from which the dragon emerges, and just the music and camera angles used throughout it. It feels very grandiose and also intimidating. Plus I love how the glowing dragon eyes in the mine were added. Also a small note, the way they animated Thomas' steam when he first found out about the dragon was really nice and a very cool transition. Certainly this episode was one of the more creative and imaginative ones to use the fantasy elements.
So in conclusion, this episode was pretty great. Had nice atmosphere, music, animation, plot and morals. Sure there were some things a little off, but not too distracting in the end for me. The animation is really well done overall, especially at the ending scene of the whole celebration. A great episode theme with a nice way of teaching kids about the Chinese culture and customs. It was a very fun watch, perfect for New Year's.
The premise is Thomas is in China for the Chinese New Year celebration, and Yong Bao tells him about the best part of the whole festival, the dragon! Thomas assumes it's a real dragon, and is afraid, even more so when Yong Bao asks him to take the dragon to the festival!
First off, Thomas' fear is natural. The engines are supposed to represent children, as Awdry once said, and adding that he's in a new place with different scenery and customs, a child may think they would have a real dragon! So it very easily fits as a learning experience for children regarding fear. Also some say that Thomas should know that dragons aren't real (i.e. Thomas, Percy and the Dragon in Season 3), but if you remember, Thomas actually thinks the dragon is real at first until his driver explains it's only made of paper. So throwing in him being in a new location, it doesn't feel off for him to think that there is a real dragon. I do wish that maybe he had articulated his fear a bit more to Yong Bao and the others, but it's not too big a deal for me.
I do love some of the atmosphere in this episode, as the scenes of Thomas chuffing around with sort of ominous music in the background while he is worried there might be a "dragon around every corner" as he puts it. It really gives a nice and different tone than the usual feeling of Thomas episodes. In addition, this is one of the episodes I feel where his narrations actually work for the better. It gives deeper insight into how he is feeling and what he is thinking as he goes about his work. It's rather nice, in my opinion.
There's a good deal of comedy also thrown in the episode, the bit at the beginning with the peach blossoms falling onto his face in funny shapes, the way the diesel startles him and his eyes roll, and my favorite bits: Yong Bao spooking him twice (Yong Bao is great by the way), and when the chicken is on his lamp, he thinks it talks to him when it's actually Hong-Mei. The way he exclaims "a talking chicken?!" is really funny!
However I do feel some of the comedy was dragged out a bit too long. For instance, the opening part uses a bit of the blossoms falling on Thomas three times, the fist time I feel could have been cut out, as he does the same thing about 20 seconds later. Also they should have stopped the bit where certain things kept him from hearing Yong Bao clearly after the passing diesel startled him. It just felt kind of extra after that honestly, and certainly feels like it was added for padding to fit the time limit. But it wasn't too distracting from the episode.
As for the fantasy sequence, this episode is probably one of the best uses of it. That wonderful foggy landscape with the mine shaft, from which the dragon emerges, and just the music and camera angles used throughout it. It feels very grandiose and also intimidating. Plus I love how the glowing dragon eyes in the mine were added. Also a small note, the way they animated Thomas' steam when he first found out about the dragon was really nice and a very cool transition. Certainly this episode was one of the more creative and imaginative ones to use the fantasy elements.
So in conclusion, this episode was pretty great. Had nice atmosphere, music, animation, plot and morals. Sure there were some things a little off, but not too distracting in the end for me. The animation is really well done overall, especially at the ending scene of the whole celebration. A great episode theme with a nice way of teaching kids about the Chinese culture and customs. It was a very fun watch, perfect for New Year's.
Rating: 8/10 - Great
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