Trusty Trunky
Written by:
Becky Overton
Yet another writer returns to us this season, Becky Overton. Last writing for Season 19 in 2015, it's quite interesting that she has only just now come back. She wrote some pretty good episodes for that season, my favorite being the "Diesel's Ghostly Christmas" two-part episode. It was something new and experimental for this show, and also an adaptation of one of my favorite Christmas stories. So how did she do writing for Thomas in India? For this episode pretty good I'd say. It's a nice little story to introduce us to the India setting and the characters well meet and get to know during the episodes set here. The premise of this episode is that Thomas has just arrived on the Indian Railway, and is taken aback at how busy it is. Even more so when Ashima tells him how elephants were used to shunt trucks at one point, which Thomas can hardly believe!
This story is nice and simple, and flows pretty well. It does a great job of showing off how busy the Indian Railway station and railway is, and just how many differences there are. What with how engines are decorated, there are royal engines, and also how animals are pretty much everywhere. Thomas' reactions to everything all feel genuine, and help the audience feel not so alone in reacting to the different settings and all. There are also some nice bits of Indian culture thrown into the mix. The information, obviously, about how elephants were used to help on railways at one point. Also I really loved the small scene about how cows are special to people in India. It was handled genuinely and with care. Though maybe not the best example, as if engines are always letting cows sleep on the tracks, how many trains will be late and all? Not too distracting, but a small observation.
The characters in this story are well done for the most part, especially Rajiv and Shankar. Rajiv instantly is memorable as almost an Indian version of James. Except maybe a little less of a jerk than James can be sometimes. His voice definitely suits him as well, and it makes him stand out. Shankar is also really good too! In a small scene he gives off the hilarious vibe of being so done with everything yet still does his best to be a hard worker and do his jobs. These two are definitely the standouts of the more tame Indian episode, in my opinion.
Continuing on, Ashima is okay, as she still feels like did in "The Great Race" but that's about it, she has nothing new added to her and it's kind of a shame. These would've been a great chance to expand her character, but we get nothing new really. Even more so for Noor Jehan, she's just there, says one line and is gone. If you are going to introduce these characters, you should at least try and make them stand out. But it's not a big deal overall, and doesn't make me enjoy the episode any less. Perhaps in future seasons if we go back, they'll be developed some more.
As for the humor, not as much as some other episodes, but the scenes that are there, they certainly are funny. Rajiv's defensiveness of his crown and how snarky he acts, plus Shankar's reactions to his antics are pretty amusing to watch. Also some of Thomas' facial expression's when Ashima tells him about some of the Indian Railway traits is funny. The best bit is probably when the elephant pushes Thomas back onto the rails, his general reactions and the way his voice sounds is hilarious! Sure the butt in his face joke was unnecessary to be repeated, but granted it was a more subtle "butt" joke than say other kids cartoons have done. Just please not too much of them, so I can just forget they happened, okay team?
As for the fantasy sequence, it's kinda meh. Sure it is well animated and decently funny, but it's not super relevant to the plot of the episode and kind of oddly done. What I mean is, by having TFC be an elephant, it's kind of like he just turned into one, not an actual animal controlling the railway. Had it been an actual elephant that just made elephant sounds, it may have worked better. But it was funny somewhat, and the way he gets snapped out of it by missing a signal causing him to derail, as well as the "I really need to stop day dreaming!" line were done nicely and added to the scene overall, perhaps a nod to the older fans maybe? So it was a bit meh, but it doesn't detract much (you'll find most things like this I don't get too hung up on mostly).
So in the end, the first India episode is pretty good. Nice story, pretty good characters and some nice humor. Sure there were some slightly bigger flaws than other episodes so far, and the story is a bit tamer, but the whole thing was very enjoyable still and a good start to the India episodes. Plus Shankar is such a mood sometimes it's not even funny, and Rajiv has become one of my favorite international engines. So, yeah, not much else to say really, other than a good episode.
Rating: 7/10 - Good
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